Thursday, August 21, 2003
The Administration Gets Its Wish!
What's Happening, Iraq:
Yesterday's bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad was the latest evidence that America has taken a country that was not a terrorist threat and turned it into one- Jessica Stern (Kennedy School, NY Times, op. ed.) Indeed. Or, the Administration asserted that there were terrorists in Iraq, so we invaded. Now, terrorists are purportedly pouring into Iraq, so the Administration is right! There are terrorists in Iraq!
Single Payer: The Globe is Coming Around.
In case you missed it:
This approach represents a major contrast with the incrementalism that has resulted in a few improvements in coverage since the Clinton health plan died in Congress nine years ago would replace this with a single revenue stream generated by taxes. That would cause the antitax lobby to howl, but it is better to confront the costs directly and debate them in a democratic process rather than having decisions diffused among government, employers, drug companies, and private insurers
Yet a majority believe that health care should not be a market commodity. The popularity of Medicare suggests that at least here, government is doing a creditable job
A hodgepodge health care system is failing too many Americans. It's time for a new approach with a goal of universal coverage. Single payer is a prominent option.
Colombia: Rumsfeld has granted permission for Colombian fighter pilots to shoot down planes suspected of ferrying drugs. Firstly, this "program" violates United States law-enforcement principles on use of force, which are limited to 'imminent threats'. By now most of us have forgotton that that on April 20, 2001, a Peruvian fighter shot down a plane carrying a group of American missionaries, killing Veronica Bowers and her baby daughter.
Protests Awaiting Bush in Washington State
Kenneth Vogel at the Tacoma News Tribune (tribnet.com) previewed what Bush will face tomorrow:
They're planning at least three protests - not to mention full-page ads in some of the state's biggest newspapers - to mark Bush's first trip here as president, where he plans to tout his administration's efforts to improve salmon habitat.
"His (environmental) record has been abysmal," said Kathleen Casey of the Sierra Club. The group is organizing an 8:45 a.m. protest Friday at Jack Hyde Park on Ruston Way in Tacoma, featuring U.S. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Tacoma), among others.
What's Happening, Afghanistan: Still more reports as to its failure, one from Bryan Bender (theage.com), noting that the entire operation is "at risk":
As the hunt for Saddam Hussein grows more urgent and the guerilla war in Iraq shows little sign of abating, the Bush Administration is continuing to shift highly specialised intelligence officers from the hunt for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to the Iraq crisis, according to intelligence officials involved.
The activity, involving both analysts in Washington and specially trained field operatives, followed the transfer of hundreds of elite commandos from Afghanistan to Iraq, Pentagon officials said. It reflected the priority of capturing Saddam quickly, ending the guerilla war, and locating possible weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
It also gives further ammunition, however, to critics who have long claimed that fighting the Iraq war would divert resources and attention from the hunt for bin Laden and other al-Qaeda fugitives.
The moves come as opposition to the Kabul Government increases. Taliban guerillas killed three Afghan Government soldiers and kidnapped four others in a raid in the south-eastern province of Paktika, a day after killing six soldiers in the same area...
And, John Sifton in Salon (salon.com)- though much of it is "premium", thus only for subscribers- doesn't mince his words in noting that "we're losing the war in Afghanistan, too." ...like the people in U.S.-occupied Iraq, they described lives of constant physical threat and deprivation. Many families reported regular robberies by army and police troops there -- soldiers under the command of Paghman's local leader -- as well as rapes, kidnapping and ransom schemes by local military commanders...
Bush Job Performance: Zogby International (zogby.com) now finds that Bush has a 52% favorable, 48% unfavorable rating. That's hardly extraordinary popularity, and is virtually where he was pre-9/11.
Veterans Anger. Dennis Camire / Gannett News Service / detnews.com) has an array of quotes that convey the outrage over the House Republicans failing to boost the VA's budget by 3.2 billion, intended to deal with the agency's waiting list for medical care.
"A shameless betrayal" is how AMVETS sums it up. "A moral outrage," the American Legion said. "Abominable" is the word from the Non Commissioned Officers Association;"Veterans have been pushed to the limits," said Joe Violante, national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans. "They're being lied to, and they're not tolerating it."
Philippines: Can we look at this too?
Very messy, very much not in the news. We can thank Naomi Klein from Toronto's Globe and Mail (and Common Dreams, http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0820-08.htm) for her report on our ally's shenanigans.
The Philippines and Indonesia may have missed the cut for the "Axis of Evil," but the two countries do offer Washington something Iran and North Korea do not: U.S.-friendly governments willing to help the Pentagon secure an easy win. Both Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri have embraced President George W. Bush's crusade as the perfect cover for their brutal cleansing of separatist movements from resource-rich regions -- Mindanao in the Philippines, Aceh in Indonesia...Maybe it just seemed too outlandish: an out-of-control government fanning the flames of terrorism to pump up its military budget, hold onto power and violate civil liberties. Why would Americans be interested in something like that?
Homeland Security:
Bush opposed the agency, was forced to OK it; now, it is a joke. Today's NY Times (Philip Shenon, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/21/national/21HOME.html?pagewanted=print&position=) writes: Two private studies released this week have found that police officers, firefighters, public school safety officers and other emergency response workers believe that nearly two years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, they are unprepared if terrorists strike again.
The larger of the studies, prepared for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and made public today by the Rand Corporation, found that police officers and firefighters agreed that "they do not know what they need to be protected against, what form of protection is appropriate and where to look for such protection."
Mental Health: "Mental Patients Turning to ERs" (Katherine Lutz) was the Globe headline yesterday, fittingly in the week of positive coverage of single payer in both the news and editorial departments of the Globe.As many have now noted, mental health has always been the 'step-child' (terrible term) of health, suffering terribly under managed care. A sampling:
Boston emergency rooms are grappling with soaring numbers of mental patients this year as cuts in insurance for the poor, coupled with slashed services at community clinics, leave patients with few options but to show up at the nearest hospital.
Massachusetts General Hospital's emergency room saw a 49 percent jump in psychiatric patients from April of last year to April of this year, an increase that has held steady over the summer, and the ER at Boston Medical Center is struggling to accommodate 20 percent more psychiatric patients than it saw last year.
"Far East": Japan Modernizes: With the focus on North Korea, we can overlook how that country's nuclear program is influencing its important neighbors. The Taipei Times (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/08/20/2003064480) reports that Japan is modernizing its armed forces, including a planned deployment of a missile defense system.
Gray Davis: He has a pulse... and more; Dems take notice:
Fighting for his political life, Davis hit the right notes.
This recall is bigger than California. What's happening here is part of an ongoing national effort to steal elections Republicans cannot win.
It started with the impeachment of President Clinton, when the Republicans could not beat him in 1996. It continued in Florida, where they stopped the vote count, depriving thousands of Americans of the right to vote.
This year, they're trying to steal additional congressional seats in Colorado and Texas, overturning legal redistricting plans. Here in California, the Republicans lost the governor's race last November. Now they're trying to use this recall to seize control of California just before the next presidential election.
-R
Yesterday's bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad was the latest evidence that America has taken a country that was not a terrorist threat and turned it into one- Jessica Stern (Kennedy School, NY Times, op. ed.) Indeed. Or, the Administration asserted that there were terrorists in Iraq, so we invaded. Now, terrorists are purportedly pouring into Iraq, so the Administration is right! There are terrorists in Iraq!
Single Payer: The Globe is Coming Around.
In case you missed it:
This approach represents a major contrast with the incrementalism that has resulted in a few improvements in coverage since the Clinton health plan died in Congress nine years ago would replace this with a single revenue stream generated by taxes. That would cause the antitax lobby to howl, but it is better to confront the costs directly and debate them in a democratic process rather than having decisions diffused among government, employers, drug companies, and private insurers
Yet a majority believe that health care should not be a market commodity. The popularity of Medicare suggests that at least here, government is doing a creditable job
A hodgepodge health care system is failing too many Americans. It's time for a new approach with a goal of universal coverage. Single payer is a prominent option.
Colombia: Rumsfeld has granted permission for Colombian fighter pilots to shoot down planes suspected of ferrying drugs. Firstly, this "program" violates United States law-enforcement principles on use of force, which are limited to 'imminent threats'. By now most of us have forgotton that that on April 20, 2001, a Peruvian fighter shot down a plane carrying a group of American missionaries, killing Veronica Bowers and her baby daughter.
Protests Awaiting Bush in Washington State
Kenneth Vogel at the Tacoma News Tribune (tribnet.com) previewed what Bush will face tomorrow:
They're planning at least three protests - not to mention full-page ads in some of the state's biggest newspapers - to mark Bush's first trip here as president, where he plans to tout his administration's efforts to improve salmon habitat.
"His (environmental) record has been abysmal," said Kathleen Casey of the Sierra Club. The group is organizing an 8:45 a.m. protest Friday at Jack Hyde Park on Ruston Way in Tacoma, featuring U.S. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Tacoma), among others.
What's Happening, Afghanistan: Still more reports as to its failure, one from Bryan Bender (theage.com), noting that the entire operation is "at risk":
As the hunt for Saddam Hussein grows more urgent and the guerilla war in Iraq shows little sign of abating, the Bush Administration is continuing to shift highly specialised intelligence officers from the hunt for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to the Iraq crisis, according to intelligence officials involved.
The activity, involving both analysts in Washington and specially trained field operatives, followed the transfer of hundreds of elite commandos from Afghanistan to Iraq, Pentagon officials said. It reflected the priority of capturing Saddam quickly, ending the guerilla war, and locating possible weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
It also gives further ammunition, however, to critics who have long claimed that fighting the Iraq war would divert resources and attention from the hunt for bin Laden and other al-Qaeda fugitives.
The moves come as opposition to the Kabul Government increases. Taliban guerillas killed three Afghan Government soldiers and kidnapped four others in a raid in the south-eastern province of Paktika, a day after killing six soldiers in the same area...
And, John Sifton in Salon (salon.com)- though much of it is "premium", thus only for subscribers- doesn't mince his words in noting that "we're losing the war in Afghanistan, too." ...like the people in U.S.-occupied Iraq, they described lives of constant physical threat and deprivation. Many families reported regular robberies by army and police troops there -- soldiers under the command of Paghman's local leader -- as well as rapes, kidnapping and ransom schemes by local military commanders...
Bush Job Performance: Zogby International (zogby.com) now finds that Bush has a 52% favorable, 48% unfavorable rating. That's hardly extraordinary popularity, and is virtually where he was pre-9/11.
Veterans Anger. Dennis Camire / Gannett News Service / detnews.com) has an array of quotes that convey the outrage over the House Republicans failing to boost the VA's budget by 3.2 billion, intended to deal with the agency's waiting list for medical care.
"A shameless betrayal" is how AMVETS sums it up. "A moral outrage," the American Legion said. "Abominable" is the word from the Non Commissioned Officers Association;"Veterans have been pushed to the limits," said Joe Violante, national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans. "They're being lied to, and they're not tolerating it."
Philippines: Can we look at this too?
Very messy, very much not in the news. We can thank Naomi Klein from Toronto's Globe and Mail (and Common Dreams, http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0820-08.htm) for her report on our ally's shenanigans.
The Philippines and Indonesia may have missed the cut for the "Axis of Evil," but the two countries do offer Washington something Iran and North Korea do not: U.S.-friendly governments willing to help the Pentagon secure an easy win. Both Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri have embraced President George W. Bush's crusade as the perfect cover for their brutal cleansing of separatist movements from resource-rich regions -- Mindanao in the Philippines, Aceh in Indonesia...Maybe it just seemed too outlandish: an out-of-control government fanning the flames of terrorism to pump up its military budget, hold onto power and violate civil liberties. Why would Americans be interested in something like that?
Homeland Security:
Bush opposed the agency, was forced to OK it; now, it is a joke. Today's NY Times (Philip Shenon, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/21/national/21HOME.html?pagewanted=print&position=) writes: Two private studies released this week have found that police officers, firefighters, public school safety officers and other emergency response workers believe that nearly two years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, they are unprepared if terrorists strike again.
The larger of the studies, prepared for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and made public today by the Rand Corporation, found that police officers and firefighters agreed that "they do not know what they need to be protected against, what form of protection is appropriate and where to look for such protection."
Mental Health: "Mental Patients Turning to ERs" (Katherine Lutz) was the Globe headline yesterday, fittingly in the week of positive coverage of single payer in both the news and editorial departments of the Globe.As many have now noted, mental health has always been the 'step-child' (terrible term) of health, suffering terribly under managed care. A sampling:
Boston emergency rooms are grappling with soaring numbers of mental patients this year as cuts in insurance for the poor, coupled with slashed services at community clinics, leave patients with few options but to show up at the nearest hospital.
Massachusetts General Hospital's emergency room saw a 49 percent jump in psychiatric patients from April of last year to April of this year, an increase that has held steady over the summer, and the ER at Boston Medical Center is struggling to accommodate 20 percent more psychiatric patients than it saw last year.
"Far East": Japan Modernizes: With the focus on North Korea, we can overlook how that country's nuclear program is influencing its important neighbors. The Taipei Times (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/08/20/2003064480) reports that Japan is modernizing its armed forces, including a planned deployment of a missile defense system.
Gray Davis: He has a pulse... and more; Dems take notice:
Fighting for his political life, Davis hit the right notes.
This recall is bigger than California. What's happening here is part of an ongoing national effort to steal elections Republicans cannot win.
It started with the impeachment of President Clinton, when the Republicans could not beat him in 1996. It continued in Florida, where they stopped the vote count, depriving thousands of Americans of the right to vote.
This year, they're trying to steal additional congressional seats in Colorado and Texas, overturning legal redistricting plans. Here in California, the Republicans lost the governor's race last November. Now they're trying to use this recall to seize control of California just before the next presidential election.
-R
