Monday, September 22, 2003
Amazon.com: Sign of Changing Times:
I don’t tend to patronize, preferring the independents. But, I note that Al Franken’s best seller and Jim Hightower’s latest have been packaged.
Buy Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and... and get Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our Country... at an additional 5% off Amazon.com's everyday low price.
What’s Happening, Afghanistan:
Urban Renewal…of sorts: Aside from the increased targeting of troops, officials and humanitarian workers, (arabtimesonline.com), there is much outrage amongst locals over a Karzai government plan to build high-end residences in central Baghdad. To make way for the handsome structures, police used bulldozers to begin demolishing the modest mud houses of 30-odd families. The UN Human Rights Commission got involved, and Karzai himself condemned the action. This bodes poorly, as Karzai, whose rule is largely limited to the Baghdad city limits, has been widely criticized for the slow pace of reconstruction efforts.
And, aljazeera.net reports that tensions are high along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Three Pakistani soldiers allegedly were captured after crossing the border, and more troops were then sent to the region.
What’s Happening, Iraq: Privatization
A theme seems to be emerging! Widely reported since Sat. evening is Iraq’s Governing Council "deciding" to end most obstacles to foreign investment, offering very low tax rates for corporations and individuals. All industries except for oil, are open to private, foreign investment. One chuckles at the statements of US officials who are "pleased" with the development. Pleased, but hardly surprised, since the "Governing Council" was told by U.S. officials to make this decision.
This wide-open environment allows for "investors" to avoid customary screening by the government, and breaking with custom, profits do not have to be stored for a period of time with an Iraqi institution. We should note that this practice is not followed elsewhere in the Arab world; foreign ownership is usually highly restricted.
Saddam wanting out? Rumors over the weekend spread by the Daily Mirror (UK) of Saddam trying to negotiate his way into Belarus in exchange for info re his bank accounts and about wmd. The U.S. is denying the reports. Supposedly, Saddam "is desperate, trapped and finding fewer and fewer people willing to give him shelter."
Democrats Giving up on pre-war deception? Danny Schechter at mediachannel.org carried a report that the Democrats have decided to "move on", as the wmd/intelligence deception issue has been "eclipsed" by President Bush's request for $87 billion from Congress to continue funding the war there.
"We're past that," said a Congressional aide referring to the intelligence issue. "Those questions were eclipsed by the supplemental request by President Bush for $87 billion" to fund the Iraq war. "Congress, if focusing on asking questions about the $87 billion, what it will be used for and whether it's worth it.
Kennedy Speaks: "This is a failed flawed, bankrupt policy... a fraud that was made up in Texas… my belief is that this money is being shuffled all around to these political leaders in all parts of the world, bribing them to send in troops…’
No quibbles there.
Halliburton’s Iraqi Rates: 60 Minutes carried a report that Halliburton is charging $50,000 per day for a five man team.
Support Our Troops (cont.) George McEvoy from the Palm Beach Post (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/auto/epaper/editions/saturday/opinion) reports that …senior Republicans on the House Veterans Affairs Committee were joining with the Democrats in an attempt to keep the Bush administration from taking benefits away from disabled veterans.
Under the Bush plan, the Department of Veterans Affairs would disqualify about 1.5 million veterans, two-thirds of those now in the VA disability program.
Recruitment: Monday’s NY Times (Eric Schmitt) reassures us that the "slumping American economy has proved to be a boon to the Army’s efforts to recruit" the numbers required. Thank goodness! They’re paying bonuses of "as much as $20,000" for intelligence analysts.
Hmmm.
Election Reform:
The White House has been holding up disbursement of the $3.9 billion that had been appropriated in the “Help America Vote Act”. An intention was to end the use of punch-card ballots in the 39 states that used them in the 2000 election, but thus far only 6 have made the move. The LA Times (Faye Fiore, Nick Anderson) quotes the nonpartisan Election Center director, R. Doug Lewis,
"We promised the voters we would do something about this. They passed legislation to fix it. But because they have not yet funded what they promised, we have high expectations and low ability to deliver."
We should note that the media and the Democratic candidates have been rather quiet on the issue.
Ed. Reform: Good opinion piece in the Washington Post by a retired Iowa elementary principal (Jerry Parks) which captures the Bush ‘No Child Left Behind’ nonsense. "No Illusion Left Behind" describes how unrealistic expectations are intended to set-up so many schools to be "failures" that privatizing is seen as the only solution. This is consistent with the People for The American Way study, "Voucher Veneer: The Deeper Agenda to Privatize Public Education," that shows how privatization has been the agenda behind the Bush policy, seeking for-profit management companies, religious organizations and home schools to replace our public schools.
-R
I don’t tend to patronize, preferring the independents. But, I note that Al Franken’s best seller and Jim Hightower’s latest have been packaged.
Buy Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and... and get Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our Country... at an additional 5% off Amazon.com's everyday low price.
What’s Happening, Afghanistan:
Urban Renewal…of sorts: Aside from the increased targeting of troops, officials and humanitarian workers, (arabtimesonline.com), there is much outrage amongst locals over a Karzai government plan to build high-end residences in central Baghdad. To make way for the handsome structures, police used bulldozers to begin demolishing the modest mud houses of 30-odd families. The UN Human Rights Commission got involved, and Karzai himself condemned the action. This bodes poorly, as Karzai, whose rule is largely limited to the Baghdad city limits, has been widely criticized for the slow pace of reconstruction efforts.
And, aljazeera.net reports that tensions are high along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Three Pakistani soldiers allegedly were captured after crossing the border, and more troops were then sent to the region.
What’s Happening, Iraq: Privatization
A theme seems to be emerging! Widely reported since Sat. evening is Iraq’s Governing Council "deciding" to end most obstacles to foreign investment, offering very low tax rates for corporations and individuals. All industries except for oil, are open to private, foreign investment. One chuckles at the statements of US officials who are "pleased" with the development. Pleased, but hardly surprised, since the "Governing Council" was told by U.S. officials to make this decision.
This wide-open environment allows for "investors" to avoid customary screening by the government, and breaking with custom, profits do not have to be stored for a period of time with an Iraqi institution. We should note that this practice is not followed elsewhere in the Arab world; foreign ownership is usually highly restricted.
Saddam wanting out? Rumors over the weekend spread by the Daily Mirror (UK) of Saddam trying to negotiate his way into Belarus in exchange for info re his bank accounts and about wmd. The U.S. is denying the reports. Supposedly, Saddam "is desperate, trapped and finding fewer and fewer people willing to give him shelter."
Democrats Giving up on pre-war deception? Danny Schechter at mediachannel.org carried a report that the Democrats have decided to "move on", as the wmd/intelligence deception issue has been "eclipsed" by President Bush's request for $87 billion from Congress to continue funding the war there.
"We're past that," said a Congressional aide referring to the intelligence issue. "Those questions were eclipsed by the supplemental request by President Bush for $87 billion" to fund the Iraq war. "Congress, if focusing on asking questions about the $87 billion, what it will be used for and whether it's worth it.
Kennedy Speaks: "This is a failed flawed, bankrupt policy... a fraud that was made up in Texas… my belief is that this money is being shuffled all around to these political leaders in all parts of the world, bribing them to send in troops…’
No quibbles there.
Halliburton’s Iraqi Rates: 60 Minutes carried a report that Halliburton is charging $50,000 per day for a five man team.
Support Our Troops (cont.) George McEvoy from the Palm Beach Post (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/auto/epaper/editions/saturday/opinion) reports that …senior Republicans on the House Veterans Affairs Committee were joining with the Democrats in an attempt to keep the Bush administration from taking benefits away from disabled veterans.
Under the Bush plan, the Department of Veterans Affairs would disqualify about 1.5 million veterans, two-thirds of those now in the VA disability program.
Recruitment: Monday’s NY Times (Eric Schmitt) reassures us that the "slumping American economy has proved to be a boon to the Army’s efforts to recruit" the numbers required. Thank goodness! They’re paying bonuses of "as much as $20,000" for intelligence analysts.
Hmmm.
Election Reform:
The White House has been holding up disbursement of the $3.9 billion that had been appropriated in the “Help America Vote Act”. An intention was to end the use of punch-card ballots in the 39 states that used them in the 2000 election, but thus far only 6 have made the move. The LA Times (Faye Fiore, Nick Anderson) quotes the nonpartisan Election Center director, R. Doug Lewis,
"We promised the voters we would do something about this. They passed legislation to fix it. But because they have not yet funded what they promised, we have high expectations and low ability to deliver."
We should note that the media and the Democratic candidates have been rather quiet on the issue.
Ed. Reform: Good opinion piece in the Washington Post by a retired Iowa elementary principal (Jerry Parks) which captures the Bush ‘No Child Left Behind’ nonsense. "No Illusion Left Behind" describes how unrealistic expectations are intended to set-up so many schools to be "failures" that privatizing is seen as the only solution. This is consistent with the People for The American Way study, "Voucher Veneer: The Deeper Agenda to Privatize Public Education," that shows how privatization has been the agenda behind the Bush policy, seeking for-profit management companies, religious organizations and home schools to replace our public schools.
-R
