Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Enough on the “Capture”
Let’s dispense with this, as it’s been a blend of monotony and too much pathetic media cheerleading. Bush got his temporary ‘bump’ in popularity.
Invading Iraq was a diversion from the more difficult task of finding bin Laden and defeating al-Qaeda. Finding him was not a function of the “bravery” of our soldiers, but some combination of either former aides or his ex-wife (Sydney Morning Herald story) turning him in, Kurdish intelligence (www.debka.com/article.php?aid=743) or even his being held by his former underlings, a virtual prisoner till ‘found’ in his hole.
As with all diversions, we’ve wasted resources and unnecessarily killed 450 American boys, 80 European young men, and tens of thousands of Iraqis. We’re still unprepared for terror attacks on nuclear or chemical facilities; ditto our ports and infrastructure.
Of course Dean, amongst others, was right: Saddam’s capture does not makes us safer. As Rob Corddry of The Daily Show noted, ‘At long last we’ve captured the guy who had nothing to do with 9/11.’ Or, as with Noreiga, we arrested a former thug-ally who we needed to demonize for domestic, political purposes.
Lieberman ought to seek Cheney’s spot on the Bush ticket.
Mchael Moore’s summary:
America used to like Saddam. We LOVED Saddam. We funded him. We armed him. We helped him gas Iranian troops.
But then he screwed up. He invaded the dictatorship of Kuwait and, in doing so, did the worst thing imaginable -- he threatened an even BETTER friend of ours: the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia, and its vast oil reserves. The Bushes and the Saudi royal family were and are close business partners, and Saddam, back in 1990, committed a royal blunder by getting a little too close to their wealthy holdings. Things went downhill for Saddam from there.
Stay strong, Democratic candidates. Quit sounding like a bunch of wusses. These bastards sent us to war on a lie, the killing will not stop, the Arab world hates us with a passion, and we will pay for this out of our pockets for years to come. Nothing that happened today (or in the past 9 months) has made us ONE BIT safer in our post-9/11 world. Saddam was never a threat to our national security. www.michaelmoore.org
One more absurd contention, which ranks amongst the better lies, from Florida Today (John McCarthy).
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Monday the Bush administration last year told him and other senators that Iraq not only had weapons of mass destruction, but they had the means to deliver them to East Coast cities.
Nelson, D-Tallahassee, said about 75 senators got that news during a classified briefing before last October's congressional vote authorizing the use of force to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Nelson voted in favor of using military force.
Nelson said the senators were told Iraq had both biological and chemical weapons, notably anthrax, and it could deliver them to cities along the Eastern seaboard via unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones.
"They have not found anything that resembles an UAV that has that capability," Nelson said [...]
"That's news," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington, D.C.-area military and intelligence think tank. "I had not heard that that was the assessment of the intelligence community. I had not heard that the Congress had been briefed on this." http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/localstoryN1216NELSON.htm
Democrats Trash Dean:
At least the committee calling itself “Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values” has been outed by a Washington Post editorial (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A61289-2003Dec12?language=printer&JServSessionIdr006=enm9eoskg2.app193a). It has spent over $250,000 this week, airing TV ads in Iowa linking Dean with everything from the policies of George Bush to being in league with Saddam Hussein. The list of “leaders” includes… former US Representative Ed Feighan, whose family is to the Democratic party in Cleveland, Ohio what the Daleys are to Chicago; David Jones, the organization’s treasurer, used to work for Rep. Dick Gephardt; the spokesman of the group is Robert Gibbs, a former press aide to Kerry.
War on Workers: Bob Herbert of the New York Times had a goodie on Monday, reminding us of this ongoing “war.”
The Bush administration and its corporate allies give the impression that they would welcome a big surge in employment that would raise the wages and quality of life for all working Americans and their families. But their policies tell an entirely different story. A fierce and bitter war — not bloody like the war in Iraq, but a war just the same — is being waged against American workers. And so far, at least, the Bush administration has been on the wrong side.
The war is being fought on several fronts. For example, after years of shipping manufacturing jobs out of the U.S. to absurdly low-wage venues, we are now also exporting increasing numbers of technical and professional jobs.
Another example: Despite the loss of more than two million jobs over the past three years, and the fact that nearly nine million Americans are officially unemployed, the Bush administration has refused to support a Christmastime extension of crucial unemployment benefits.
Worse, the administration is trying to implement a regulation that would deny overtime protection for more than eight million men and women. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/15/opinion/15HERB.html?ei=1&en=d289a697e29e7780&ex=1072490161&pagewanted=print&position=
IBM Does Its Share
IBM Corp. plans to move up to several thousand skilled software jobs from the United States to India, China and other countries, which could amount to one of the biggest such actions yet in the technology industry. IBM documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal said about 4,700 programming jobs could be shifted overseas to save costs, a growing high-tech industry trend known as "offshoring."
More than 900 people are already scheduled to be told of the move in the first half of 2004, while another 3,700 jobs have been identified as having the "potential to move offshore," the Journal said. IBM already has hired 500 engineers in India to take on some of the work that will be moved, the Journal reported.
The division affected is IBM's Application Management Services group, part of Big Blue's huge technology services division. The IBM facilities where workers could be replaced include offices in Dallas, Southbury, Conn., Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Raleigh, N.C., and Boulder, Colo.
IBM spokesman James Sciales said he would not comment on "internal presentations" but noted that most of IBM's work force, which now totals 315,000, has been overseas for years.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&e=1&u=/ap/20031215/ap_on_hi_te/ibm_offshoring
Environmental Victories:
A federal district judge invalidated the Bush Administration / National Parks’ latest rule of allowing snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks.
The ruling bristled with sharp characterizations of the Bush administration's actions.
"The gap between the decision made in 2001, and the decision made in 2003 is stark," Judge Sullivan wrote. "In 2001, the rule-making process culminated in a finding that snowmobiling so adversely impacted the wildlife and resources of the parks that all snowmobile use must be halted."
Judge Sullivan continued, "A scant three years later, the rule-making process culminated in the conclusion that nearly 1,000 snowmobiles will be allowed to enter the park each day." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/17/politics/17PARK.html
And, the EPA sees the light, as it
announced Tuesday that it would jettison plans to remove federal protection from millions of acres of wetlands
Mr. Leavitt emphasized that the impetus for the decision was President Bush's determination to preserve streams and wetlands. "At the root of this is a commitment from the Bush administration to achieve the goal of no net loss of wetlands," he said, adding that these waters "function as nature's kidneys" and "add immense value to economic and aesthetic bounties of this country."
Our environmental president! http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/17/politics/17WATE.html
-R
Let’s dispense with this, as it’s been a blend of monotony and too much pathetic media cheerleading. Bush got his temporary ‘bump’ in popularity.
Invading Iraq was a diversion from the more difficult task of finding bin Laden and defeating al-Qaeda. Finding him was not a function of the “bravery” of our soldiers, but some combination of either former aides or his ex-wife (Sydney Morning Herald story) turning him in, Kurdish intelligence (www.debka.com/article.php?aid=743) or even his being held by his former underlings, a virtual prisoner till ‘found’ in his hole.
As with all diversions, we’ve wasted resources and unnecessarily killed 450 American boys, 80 European young men, and tens of thousands of Iraqis. We’re still unprepared for terror attacks on nuclear or chemical facilities; ditto our ports and infrastructure.
Of course Dean, amongst others, was right: Saddam’s capture does not makes us safer. As Rob Corddry of The Daily Show noted, ‘At long last we’ve captured the guy who had nothing to do with 9/11.’ Or, as with Noreiga, we arrested a former thug-ally who we needed to demonize for domestic, political purposes.
Lieberman ought to seek Cheney’s spot on the Bush ticket.
Mchael Moore’s summary:
America used to like Saddam. We LOVED Saddam. We funded him. We armed him. We helped him gas Iranian troops.
But then he screwed up. He invaded the dictatorship of Kuwait and, in doing so, did the worst thing imaginable -- he threatened an even BETTER friend of ours: the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia, and its vast oil reserves. The Bushes and the Saudi royal family were and are close business partners, and Saddam, back in 1990, committed a royal blunder by getting a little too close to their wealthy holdings. Things went downhill for Saddam from there.
Stay strong, Democratic candidates. Quit sounding like a bunch of wusses. These bastards sent us to war on a lie, the killing will not stop, the Arab world hates us with a passion, and we will pay for this out of our pockets for years to come. Nothing that happened today (or in the past 9 months) has made us ONE BIT safer in our post-9/11 world. Saddam was never a threat to our national security. www.michaelmoore.org
One more absurd contention, which ranks amongst the better lies, from Florida Today (John McCarthy).
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Monday the Bush administration last year told him and other senators that Iraq not only had weapons of mass destruction, but they had the means to deliver them to East Coast cities.
Nelson, D-Tallahassee, said about 75 senators got that news during a classified briefing before last October's congressional vote authorizing the use of force to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Nelson voted in favor of using military force.
Nelson said the senators were told Iraq had both biological and chemical weapons, notably anthrax, and it could deliver them to cities along the Eastern seaboard via unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones.
"They have not found anything that resembles an UAV that has that capability," Nelson said [...]
"That's news," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington, D.C.-area military and intelligence think tank. "I had not heard that that was the assessment of the intelligence community. I had not heard that the Congress had been briefed on this." http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/localstoryN1216NELSON.htm
Democrats Trash Dean:
At least the committee calling itself “Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values” has been outed by a Washington Post editorial (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A61289-2003Dec12?language=printer&JServSessionIdr006=enm9eoskg2.app193a). It has spent over $250,000 this week, airing TV ads in Iowa linking Dean with everything from the policies of George Bush to being in league with Saddam Hussein. The list of “leaders” includes… former US Representative Ed Feighan, whose family is to the Democratic party in Cleveland, Ohio what the Daleys are to Chicago; David Jones, the organization’s treasurer, used to work for Rep. Dick Gephardt; the spokesman of the group is Robert Gibbs, a former press aide to Kerry.
War on Workers: Bob Herbert of the New York Times had a goodie on Monday, reminding us of this ongoing “war.”
The Bush administration and its corporate allies give the impression that they would welcome a big surge in employment that would raise the wages and quality of life for all working Americans and their families. But their policies tell an entirely different story. A fierce and bitter war — not bloody like the war in Iraq, but a war just the same — is being waged against American workers. And so far, at least, the Bush administration has been on the wrong side.
The war is being fought on several fronts. For example, after years of shipping manufacturing jobs out of the U.S. to absurdly low-wage venues, we are now also exporting increasing numbers of technical and professional jobs.
Another example: Despite the loss of more than two million jobs over the past three years, and the fact that nearly nine million Americans are officially unemployed, the Bush administration has refused to support a Christmastime extension of crucial unemployment benefits.
Worse, the administration is trying to implement a regulation that would deny overtime protection for more than eight million men and women. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/15/opinion/15HERB.html?ei=1&en=d289a697e29e7780&ex=1072490161&pagewanted=print&position=
IBM Does Its Share
IBM Corp. plans to move up to several thousand skilled software jobs from the United States to India, China and other countries, which could amount to one of the biggest such actions yet in the technology industry. IBM documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal said about 4,700 programming jobs could be shifted overseas to save costs, a growing high-tech industry trend known as "offshoring."
More than 900 people are already scheduled to be told of the move in the first half of 2004, while another 3,700 jobs have been identified as having the "potential to move offshore," the Journal said. IBM already has hired 500 engineers in India to take on some of the work that will be moved, the Journal reported.
The division affected is IBM's Application Management Services group, part of Big Blue's huge technology services division. The IBM facilities where workers could be replaced include offices in Dallas, Southbury, Conn., Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Raleigh, N.C., and Boulder, Colo.
IBM spokesman James Sciales said he would not comment on "internal presentations" but noted that most of IBM's work force, which now totals 315,000, has been overseas for years.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&e=1&u=/ap/20031215/ap_on_hi_te/ibm_offshoring
Environmental Victories:
A federal district judge invalidated the Bush Administration / National Parks’ latest rule of allowing snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks.
The ruling bristled with sharp characterizations of the Bush administration's actions.
"The gap between the decision made in 2001, and the decision made in 2003 is stark," Judge Sullivan wrote. "In 2001, the rule-making process culminated in a finding that snowmobiling so adversely impacted the wildlife and resources of the parks that all snowmobile use must be halted."
Judge Sullivan continued, "A scant three years later, the rule-making process culminated in the conclusion that nearly 1,000 snowmobiles will be allowed to enter the park each day." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/17/politics/17PARK.html
And, the EPA sees the light, as it
announced Tuesday that it would jettison plans to remove federal protection from millions of acres of wetlands
Mr. Leavitt emphasized that the impetus for the decision was President Bush's determination to preserve streams and wetlands. "At the root of this is a commitment from the Bush administration to achieve the goal of no net loss of wetlands," he said, adding that these waters "function as nature's kidneys" and "add immense value to economic and aesthetic bounties of this country."
Our environmental president! http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/17/politics/17WATE.html
-R
