Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Number of Americans who have permanently lost the right to vote due to a felony conviction: 3.9 million
Ratio of black men who have permanently lost the right to vote due to a felony conviction to the number of black men who hold a college degree: 1.166:1 http://www.drummajorinstitute.org/plugin/template/dmi/44/250
What’s Happening, Iraq: The Administration persists with its absurd claim that the Iraq situation is improved- witness the “desperate” attacks. Terrorism experts note, we’re in a “big mess and an unsustainable level of casualties leading up to a presidential election." (Alyssa Rubin, LA Times), http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-resist27oct27,1,7463372.story?coll=la-home-leftrail.
More civilians (6) were killed by U.S. troops, though that was pushed back to page A11 in the NY Times. (Alex Berenson, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/29/international/middleeast/29IRAQ.html).
Mainstream media are noting that the public relations campaign isn't working. That's because there comes a point where you can't spin reality. (Howard Kurtz. Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28640-2003Oct28.html)
Aside from the 10,000+ in D.C. and a somewhat smaller number in San Francisco last Saturday, there are other public expressions. Hundreds demonstrated in Brussels and in Lisbon, for example. And, USA Today (John Diamond) notes that Pentagon / U.S. Central Command intelligence analysts are admitting that with all of the small arms available throughout Iraq, the resistance could “maintain their pace of attacks indefinitely.” http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&expire=&urlID=8061354&fb=Y&partnerID=1660
As to casualties: Many reports on the number of wounded, the severity of wounds. This one from the communist Wall Street Journal (Yaroslav Trofimov) "Since May, the number and the rate of casualties has increased," says Col. Doug Liening, commander of the 21st Combat Support Hospital, which also operates a facility in the northern city of Mosul. "People in the United States do not appreciate what's going on here." http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106737808452447200,00.html?mod=home%5Fpage%5Fone%5Fus
And, the San Francisco Chronicle (Matt Kelly) had a fine piece on this “war” that will outlive many of us. Privately, administration officials have said for months that they see the anti-terrorism fight as a decades-long struggle similar to the Cold War that dominated the second half of the 20th century. A private memo from Rumsfeld to his top aides brought the issue once again to the public's eye last week. http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/10/25/national1257EDT0540.DTL
The Administration’s primary goal is re-election, not Iraqi democracy. Thus, if the ensuing months bring ongoing security problems and attendant casualties, they could be tempted to suddenly withdraw or precipitously transfer authority to the UN, claiming “victory”, and/or “we always were going to transfer responsibility…” The resulting chaos (and worse) would hopefully hold off till after next November, and Iraq would be less of an election issue. This is not a good scenario. Our exit – which many of us favor- must be done responsibly.
What’s Happening, Afghanistan: Ongoing trouble. The AP reports two CIA agents were “ambushed and killed in a mountainous border region of Afghanistan” in the region of a “six-hour firefight” near the Pakistan border, “the most evil place in Afghanistan”. http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1073332,00.html
Concern about Rumsfeld continues. Newsweek (John Barry) reports that Congress complains that he rarely provides more information than they read in the morning newspapers. One senior Republican senator was furious at Rumsfeld’s vague responses at a recent Hill session. “When a senator asked how many troops we would have in Iraq a year from now, he said, ‘We’re hoping for a sizable foreign involvement, and we’re optimistic that things will be improved,’ and blah, blah, blah,” he told NEWSWEEK. “It was a typical nonsensical, nonsubstantive briefing, like he always gives.” And within the administration he’s increasingly isolated. We shouldn’t forget that in early September of 2001 the consensus of pundits was that Rumsfeld would be the first cabinet official to be ushered out. More at http://www.msnbc.com/news/985259.asp
Taxes: The push continues. House Republicans are pushing a new corporate tax break to the tune of $128 billion. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/29/business/29tax.html
Bolivia: Jeffrey Sachs critiques U.S. policy in South America in reporting on the fall of the Bolivian president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, seen as “further evidence that the U.S. approach to the region, and to impoverished and fragile countries across the world, is simplistic and prone to failure.” The roots of Bolivia's upheaval lie in chronic poverty and a regional economic crisis. But three precipitating factors were directly related to the United States and a rising tide of anti-Americanism. The most important was the U.S. demand in recent years that Bolivia eradicate tens of thousands of hectares of coca, thereby robbing 50,000 or so peasant farmers (and perhaps five times as many dependents) of their livelihoods, without offering any realistic alternatives. .http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A15037-2003Oct25?language=printer
Michael Moore, from Dude, Where’s My Country?
Mr. Bush, in case you don't understand just how bizarre the media's silence is regarding your family's connections with bin Laden, let me draw an analogy to how the press or Congress might have handled something like this if the same shoe had been on the Clinton foot. If after the terrorist attack on the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, it was revealed that President Bill Clinton and his family had financial dealings with Timothy McVeigh's family, what do you think your Republican Party and the media would have done with that one? Do you think at least a couple of questions might have been asked, like "What is that all about?" Be honest, you know the answer. They would have skinned Clinton alive and thrown what was left of his carcass in Gitmo.
Or, to use the Clinton analogy again, imagine, in the hours after the Oklahoma City bombing, Bill Clinton suddenly started worrying about the "safety" of the McVeigh family up in Buffalo—and then arranged a free trip for them out of the country. What would you and the Republicans have said about that? Suddenly, a stain on a blue dress probably wouldn't have been the top priority for a witch hunt, would it? Mr. Bush, the bin Ladens are not the only Saudis with whom you and your family have a close personal relationship. The entire royal family seems to be indebted -to you—or is it the other way around?
-R
Blogs are posted at http://www.global-equality.org/news/blog
Ratio of black men who have permanently lost the right to vote due to a felony conviction to the number of black men who hold a college degree: 1.166:1 http://www.drummajorinstitute.org/plugin/template/dmi/44/250
What’s Happening, Iraq: The Administration persists with its absurd claim that the Iraq situation is improved- witness the “desperate” attacks. Terrorism experts note, we’re in a “big mess and an unsustainable level of casualties leading up to a presidential election." (Alyssa Rubin, LA Times), http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-resist27oct27,1,7463372.story?coll=la-home-leftrail.
More civilians (6) were killed by U.S. troops, though that was pushed back to page A11 in the NY Times. (Alex Berenson, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/29/international/middleeast/29IRAQ.html).
Mainstream media are noting that the public relations campaign isn't working. That's because there comes a point where you can't spin reality. (Howard Kurtz. Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28640-2003Oct28.html)
Aside from the 10,000+ in D.C. and a somewhat smaller number in San Francisco last Saturday, there are other public expressions. Hundreds demonstrated in Brussels and in Lisbon, for example. And, USA Today (John Diamond) notes that Pentagon / U.S. Central Command intelligence analysts are admitting that with all of the small arms available throughout Iraq, the resistance could “maintain their pace of attacks indefinitely.” http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&expire=&urlID=8061354&fb=Y&partnerID=1660
As to casualties: Many reports on the number of wounded, the severity of wounds. This one from the communist Wall Street Journal (Yaroslav Trofimov) "Since May, the number and the rate of casualties has increased," says Col. Doug Liening, commander of the 21st Combat Support Hospital, which also operates a facility in the northern city of Mosul. "People in the United States do not appreciate what's going on here." http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106737808452447200,00.html?mod=home%5Fpage%5Fone%5Fus
And, the San Francisco Chronicle (Matt Kelly) had a fine piece on this “war” that will outlive many of us. Privately, administration officials have said for months that they see the anti-terrorism fight as a decades-long struggle similar to the Cold War that dominated the second half of the 20th century. A private memo from Rumsfeld to his top aides brought the issue once again to the public's eye last week. http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/10/25/national1257EDT0540.DTL
The Administration’s primary goal is re-election, not Iraqi democracy. Thus, if the ensuing months bring ongoing security problems and attendant casualties, they could be tempted to suddenly withdraw or precipitously transfer authority to the UN, claiming “victory”, and/or “we always were going to transfer responsibility…” The resulting chaos (and worse) would hopefully hold off till after next November, and Iraq would be less of an election issue. This is not a good scenario. Our exit – which many of us favor- must be done responsibly.
What’s Happening, Afghanistan: Ongoing trouble. The AP reports two CIA agents were “ambushed and killed in a mountainous border region of Afghanistan” in the region of a “six-hour firefight” near the Pakistan border, “the most evil place in Afghanistan”. http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1073332,00.html
Concern about Rumsfeld continues. Newsweek (John Barry) reports that Congress complains that he rarely provides more information than they read in the morning newspapers. One senior Republican senator was furious at Rumsfeld’s vague responses at a recent Hill session. “When a senator asked how many troops we would have in Iraq a year from now, he said, ‘We’re hoping for a sizable foreign involvement, and we’re optimistic that things will be improved,’ and blah, blah, blah,” he told NEWSWEEK. “It was a typical nonsensical, nonsubstantive briefing, like he always gives.” And within the administration he’s increasingly isolated. We shouldn’t forget that in early September of 2001 the consensus of pundits was that Rumsfeld would be the first cabinet official to be ushered out. More at http://www.msnbc.com/news/985259.asp
Taxes: The push continues. House Republicans are pushing a new corporate tax break to the tune of $128 billion. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/29/business/29tax.html
Bolivia: Jeffrey Sachs critiques U.S. policy in South America in reporting on the fall of the Bolivian president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, seen as “further evidence that the U.S. approach to the region, and to impoverished and fragile countries across the world, is simplistic and prone to failure.” The roots of Bolivia's upheaval lie in chronic poverty and a regional economic crisis. But three precipitating factors were directly related to the United States and a rising tide of anti-Americanism. The most important was the U.S. demand in recent years that Bolivia eradicate tens of thousands of hectares of coca, thereby robbing 50,000 or so peasant farmers (and perhaps five times as many dependents) of their livelihoods, without offering any realistic alternatives. .http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A15037-2003Oct25?language=printer
Michael Moore, from Dude, Where’s My Country?
Mr. Bush, in case you don't understand just how bizarre the media's silence is regarding your family's connections with bin Laden, let me draw an analogy to how the press or Congress might have handled something like this if the same shoe had been on the Clinton foot. If after the terrorist attack on the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, it was revealed that President Bill Clinton and his family had financial dealings with Timothy McVeigh's family, what do you think your Republican Party and the media would have done with that one? Do you think at least a couple of questions might have been asked, like "What is that all about?" Be honest, you know the answer. They would have skinned Clinton alive and thrown what was left of his carcass in Gitmo.
Or, to use the Clinton analogy again, imagine, in the hours after the Oklahoma City bombing, Bill Clinton suddenly started worrying about the "safety" of the McVeigh family up in Buffalo—and then arranged a free trip for them out of the country. What would you and the Republicans have said about that? Suddenly, a stain on a blue dress probably wouldn't have been the top priority for a witch hunt, would it? Mr. Bush, the bin Ladens are not the only Saudis with whom you and your family have a close personal relationship. The entire royal family seems to be indebted -to you—or is it the other way around?
-R
Blogs are posted at http://www.global-equality.org/news/blog
