Saturday, August 23, 2003
Iraq is turning out to be a continuing battle in the war on terrorism (sic)- Bush, at
http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=BUSH-BADWEEK-08-22-03&cat=WW
9/11: Cover-Up Continues; Moms Battle Back:
With the Republicans in control of Congress, and with other news dominating, the investigation of 9/11 remains on the slow and quiet track.
What explains the Administration's actions before and after 9/11? As with other Bush policies, the choice is always between incompetence and deviousness/secrecy. In her article in the New York Observer, http://www.nyobserver.com/pages/frontpage3.asp, Gail Sheehy tosses those possibilities around, while citing the efforts of four widows of 9/11, the "Just Four Moms from New Jersey" who continue to investigate 9/11. Their findings include:
Lorie checked out the North American Aerospace Defense Command, whose specific mission includes a response to any form of an air attack on America. It was created to provide a defense of critical command-and-control targets. At 8:40 a.m. on 9/11, the F.A.A. notified NORAD that Flight No. 11 had been hijacked. Three minutes later, the F.A.A. notified NORAD that Flight No. 175 was also hijacked. By 9:02 a.m., both planes had crashed into the World Trade Center, but there had been no action by NORAD. Both agencies also knew there were two other hijacked planes in the air that had been violently diverted from their flight pattern. All other air traffic had been ordered grounded. NORAD operates out of Andrews Air Force Base, which is within sight of the Pentagon. Why didn’t NORAD scramble planes in time to intercept the two other hijacked jetliners headed for command-and-control centers in Washington? Lorie wanted to know. Where was the leadership?
Mindy pieced together the actions of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He had been in his Washington office engaged in his "usual intelligence briefing." After being informed of the two attacks on the World Trade Center, he proceeded with his briefing until the third hijacked plane struck the Pentagon. Mindy relayed the information to Kristen:
"Can you believe this? Two planes hitting the Twin Towers in New York City did not rise to the level of Rumsfeld’s leaving his office and going to the war room to check out just what the hell went wrong." Mindy sounded scared. "This is my President. This is my Secretary of Defense. You mean to tell me Rumsfeld had to get up from his desk and look out his window at the burning Pentagon before he knew anything was wrong? How can that be?"
Needed: Letters-to-the-editor, major newspapers grabbing the issue (how about a special anniversary follow-up in 2+ weeks?)...
What's Happening, Iraq: An ominous week. U.S. efforts to internationalize the Occupation while maintaining control are thus far doomed by that very need to keep control as well as by the bombing and what it represents, an unstable guerilla war situation, not fitting for UN peacekeeping.
Despite Administration insistence that Saddam remnants are the source of the trouble, observers have been consistently noting the breadth of the resistance to our Occupation.
Pepe Escobar, Asian Times, (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EH20Ak04.html):
It is a complex guerrilla resistance movement, controlled by a shadowy joint chiefs of staff, fueled by patriotism - as it was in Vietnam - and Iraqi nationalism: the difference is that instead of the Communist Party, the vanguard is with sheikhs in mosques. The discipline does not come from the teachings of Vladimir Lenin: it comes from Allah. And the banned Ba'ath Party and its remnants are just minor players in this equation: Iraqi patriots simply don't trust them...
The rationale of the Iraqi resistance is clear, and follows the anti-American graffiti found on countless walls around Baghdad. There's no nostalgia at all for Saddam, but he is considered to be a lesser evil than the Americans, who are regarded as not treating Iraqis with even an inch of respect. Americans are simply incapable of understanding how deep is the average Iraqi's anger and resentment. With the Americans bunkered in a "circle the wagons" mentality, there's simply no possibility of winning any hearts and minds. So, contrary to Washington's argument, the liberation struggle has nothing to do with bringing Saddam's regime back, but with having Iraq ruled by Islam and not by a foreign invader.
Casualties: They keep, will keep happening; 3 British soldiers today. The Salt Lake Tribune (sltrib.com, Dawn House) noted the issue of WIAs, wounded in action, the totals of which aren't usually listed. As of Friday, 1,007 U.S.military personnel had been listed as wounded in the 5 months in Iraq. That is more than double the "non-mortal wounds" of the Gulf War, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The number of civilian dead continues to be listed at iraqbodycount.org (6,113-7,830). Yet, on Bill Moyers' NOW, the BBC's Caroline Hawley observed that 5-10 civilian casualties have entered one particular Baghdad hospital each day. With totals murky and the media reporting combat fatalities only, FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, http://www.fair.org/activism/iraq-casualties-networks.html) urges us to contact the networks and demand to know the actual totals.
Bush in Decline: With Iraq and Afghanistan unstable and the Mid East peace in jeopardy, current scuttlebutt is that Bush is in more trouble. The Republican trump-card, that security is best left to Republicans, is thus in question. Dana Milbank and Mike Allen at the Washington Post note such in a page 1 article yesterday, (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28971-2003Aug21.html), that despite repeated Bush claims, it's now clear that "Peace is not at hand." The ranks of Bush loyalists are thinning. Conservatives such as George Will increasingly articulate their doubts.
Perhaps the administration should recognize that something other than its intelligence reports concerning weapons of mass destruction was wrong. Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of defense, was wrong in congressional testimony before the war. Although he said "we have no idea what we will need until we get there on the ground," he insisted that Gen. Eric Shinseki, a veteran of peacekeeping in the Balkans, was "wildly off the mark" in estimating that several hundred thousand troops would be needed in occupied Iraq.
Jim Hightower
Caught the Texas populist in Cambridge (good crowd) on his Take Back America Organizing (Book) Tour. The dominant message- even from Kucinich people in attendance- was optimism, that the tide has turned, there's much organizing around the country... but that there's a way to go... which requires more hard work.
Blog Posting: I've mentioned it previously; If more convenient, you can find these blogs posted at the web site of the National Association of Socially Responsible Organizations (NASRO), http://www.global-equality.org/news/blog/index.shtml.
-R
http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=BUSH-BADWEEK-08-22-03&cat=WW
9/11: Cover-Up Continues; Moms Battle Back:
With the Republicans in control of Congress, and with other news dominating, the investigation of 9/11 remains on the slow and quiet track.
What explains the Administration's actions before and after 9/11? As with other Bush policies, the choice is always between incompetence and deviousness/secrecy. In her article in the New York Observer, http://www.nyobserver.com/pages/frontpage3.asp, Gail Sheehy tosses those possibilities around, while citing the efforts of four widows of 9/11, the "Just Four Moms from New Jersey" who continue to investigate 9/11. Their findings include:
Lorie checked out the North American Aerospace Defense Command, whose specific mission includes a response to any form of an air attack on America. It was created to provide a defense of critical command-and-control targets. At 8:40 a.m. on 9/11, the F.A.A. notified NORAD that Flight No. 11 had been hijacked. Three minutes later, the F.A.A. notified NORAD that Flight No. 175 was also hijacked. By 9:02 a.m., both planes had crashed into the World Trade Center, but there had been no action by NORAD. Both agencies also knew there were two other hijacked planes in the air that had been violently diverted from their flight pattern. All other air traffic had been ordered grounded. NORAD operates out of Andrews Air Force Base, which is within sight of the Pentagon. Why didn’t NORAD scramble planes in time to intercept the two other hijacked jetliners headed for command-and-control centers in Washington? Lorie wanted to know. Where was the leadership?
Mindy pieced together the actions of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He had been in his Washington office engaged in his "usual intelligence briefing." After being informed of the two attacks on the World Trade Center, he proceeded with his briefing until the third hijacked plane struck the Pentagon. Mindy relayed the information to Kristen:
"Can you believe this? Two planes hitting the Twin Towers in New York City did not rise to the level of Rumsfeld’s leaving his office and going to the war room to check out just what the hell went wrong." Mindy sounded scared. "This is my President. This is my Secretary of Defense. You mean to tell me Rumsfeld had to get up from his desk and look out his window at the burning Pentagon before he knew anything was wrong? How can that be?"
Needed: Letters-to-the-editor, major newspapers grabbing the issue (how about a special anniversary follow-up in 2+ weeks?)...
What's Happening, Iraq: An ominous week. U.S. efforts to internationalize the Occupation while maintaining control are thus far doomed by that very need to keep control as well as by the bombing and what it represents, an unstable guerilla war situation, not fitting for UN peacekeeping.
Despite Administration insistence that Saddam remnants are the source of the trouble, observers have been consistently noting the breadth of the resistance to our Occupation.
Pepe Escobar, Asian Times, (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EH20Ak04.html):
It is a complex guerrilla resistance movement, controlled by a shadowy joint chiefs of staff, fueled by patriotism - as it was in Vietnam - and Iraqi nationalism: the difference is that instead of the Communist Party, the vanguard is with sheikhs in mosques. The discipline does not come from the teachings of Vladimir Lenin: it comes from Allah. And the banned Ba'ath Party and its remnants are just minor players in this equation: Iraqi patriots simply don't trust them...
The rationale of the Iraqi resistance is clear, and follows the anti-American graffiti found on countless walls around Baghdad. There's no nostalgia at all for Saddam, but he is considered to be a lesser evil than the Americans, who are regarded as not treating Iraqis with even an inch of respect. Americans are simply incapable of understanding how deep is the average Iraqi's anger and resentment. With the Americans bunkered in a "circle the wagons" mentality, there's simply no possibility of winning any hearts and minds. So, contrary to Washington's argument, the liberation struggle has nothing to do with bringing Saddam's regime back, but with having Iraq ruled by Islam and not by a foreign invader.
Casualties: They keep, will keep happening; 3 British soldiers today. The Salt Lake Tribune (sltrib.com, Dawn House) noted the issue of WIAs, wounded in action, the totals of which aren't usually listed. As of Friday, 1,007 U.S.military personnel had been listed as wounded in the 5 months in Iraq. That is more than double the "non-mortal wounds" of the Gulf War, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The number of civilian dead continues to be listed at iraqbodycount.org (6,113-7,830). Yet, on Bill Moyers' NOW, the BBC's Caroline Hawley observed that 5-10 civilian casualties have entered one particular Baghdad hospital each day. With totals murky and the media reporting combat fatalities only, FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, http://www.fair.org/activism/iraq-casualties-networks.html) urges us to contact the networks and demand to know the actual totals.
Bush in Decline: With Iraq and Afghanistan unstable and the Mid East peace in jeopardy, current scuttlebutt is that Bush is in more trouble. The Republican trump-card, that security is best left to Republicans, is thus in question. Dana Milbank and Mike Allen at the Washington Post note such in a page 1 article yesterday, (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28971-2003Aug21.html), that despite repeated Bush claims, it's now clear that "Peace is not at hand." The ranks of Bush loyalists are thinning. Conservatives such as George Will increasingly articulate their doubts.
Perhaps the administration should recognize that something other than its intelligence reports concerning weapons of mass destruction was wrong. Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of defense, was wrong in congressional testimony before the war. Although he said "we have no idea what we will need until we get there on the ground," he insisted that Gen. Eric Shinseki, a veteran of peacekeeping in the Balkans, was "wildly off the mark" in estimating that several hundred thousand troops would be needed in occupied Iraq.
Jim Hightower
Caught the Texas populist in Cambridge (good crowd) on his Take Back America Organizing (Book) Tour. The dominant message- even from Kucinich people in attendance- was optimism, that the tide has turned, there's much organizing around the country... but that there's a way to go... which requires more hard work.
Blog Posting: I've mentioned it previously; If more convenient, you can find these blogs posted at the web site of the National Association of Socially Responsible Organizations (NASRO), http://www.global-equality.org/news/blog/index.shtml.
-R
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
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Incidentally, there seems to be a weird reluctance to face up to what happened in California. Since the blackout, I've seen national news reports attributing California's woes in part to environmental restrictions, while ignoring the role of market manipulation. Huh? There's no evidence that environmental restrictions played any role; meanwhile, even the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which strongly backs deregulation, has concluded that market manipulation played a major role. What's with the revisionist history?
Have we learned our lesson? Early indications are not promising. President Bush now says that "our grid needs to be modernized . . . and I've said so all along." But two years ago Tom DeLay blocked a modest Democratic plan for loan guarantees for system upgrades, calling it "pure demagoguery." And press reports say that despite the blackout, the administration will bow to pressure from Senate Republicans and put on ice the only part of its energy plan that had any relevance to the blackout, a FERC proposal for expanded oversight of the transmission system.
This nation needs to invest billions in its power grid, yet given recent history, it's crucial that this investment not be simply another occasion for energy-industry profiteering. Somehow, I'm not optimistic. - Paul Krugman's NY Times column, 8/19
"Paul Krugman is the indispensable American columnist, a voice of truth in a political world of lies and calculated injustice."- Anthony Lewis, recommending Krugman's new book, The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century
Bombings: Much in the news. The Road Map's in more trouble, and our Iraq/Afghanistan positions are more untenable. More, below.
John Dean on the Bush Lawlessness re Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson, the CIA agent ( http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030815.html) He makes a case!
The Espionage Act (of 1917), though thrice amended since then, continues to criminalize leaks of classified information, regardless of the reason for the leak. Accordingly, the "two senior administration officials" who leaked the classified information of Mrs. Wilson's work at the CIA to Robert Novak (and, it seems, others) have committed a federal crime.
Another applicable criminal statute is the Intelligence Identities Act, enacted in 1982.
Support Our Troops! Support our Clinicians!
After the Pentagon's embarrassment re the pay raise / cut for the troops, it's good to appreciate that like many other workers in America, soldiers' pay has not kept up with inflation. Combat pay during the Vietnam War was approximately $75 per month. Inflation since then should mean that soldiers should get almost $450 monthly. They receive $225. Similarly, I earned $18.50 per hour as a fee-for-service clinician in 1979. Accordingly, inflation adjusted it would be over $45 now. For those not exposed to it, the average is $27-28/hour.
Example of an Outraged Journalist:
He has consistently lied to the American people about how much the war would cost -- and how long it would last, and why we were fighting it, and, gosh, just about everything...
Soldiers make a great backdrop for presidential speeches, but let's face it, they just eat up money that could be better spent for shiny new weapons systems. And God knows we wouldn't want to raise taxes to pay our soldiers more. No, here's the plan: Increase the deficit and call it a growth package. Also, the soldiers should stop whining to reporters because their tours of duty keep getting extended. Oh, and sorry about the Taliban creeping back into Afghanistan, but we're a little overextended. Hold that line and fight fight fight, and we'll see you when we see you. --Jon Carroll, San Francisco Chronicle
Example of a (Model) Letter-to-the-editor
A terrific letter to the editor from the Salt Lake Tribune (sltrib.com), that is effective in content and title.
Ask questions
Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Where is Bin Laden? Where is my 401K? How did a huge governmental surplus become a huge deficit in two years? During the campaign, why did George Bush say he was a great uniter? Why did the reasons we went to war with Iraq change after the troops landed?
Where were President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Attorney General Ashcroft and members of Congress during the Vietnam War? Where are their kids during this war? Was there a plan for postwar Iraq, or is it trial and error? Where have 2 million jobs gone over the last two years? How many people died during Clinton's "lie?" How many have died during Bush's "truth?"
How can they say they are for the military, yet cut veterans' benefits? Why were we told the 2003 tax cut would benefit all families, then find out -- after it is passed -- that 20 million would not benefit?
If we are a democracy, a voice of truth and freedom, why isn't the full report released on the 9-11 attacks? Why aren't the names of those who sat on the Bush/Cheney Energy Panel released? Why is it wrong to ask questions? Why do I feel we have gone back to the 1950s' secret, paranoid, McCarthyism atmosphere?
Why will I, a retired military vet with two boys serving overseas -- or any American -- be called an un-American, yellow-bellied liberal for asking these questions? Why?
Greg Dunn
Tooele
Washington Post Follow-up:
Eric Alterman develops what I wrote about previously, the discrepancy between the terrific summary piece in the Post on the Bush lies, and the supine editorial.
Ignoring the facts on page one of its own newspaper to launch ideologically inspired attacks on the truth is a time-honored tactic for the wingnuts who run the Wall Street Journal editorial page, but it is dismaying to see the same phenomenon taking hold at the Post--an editorial page that was considered "liberal" so recently that The American Prospect's new editor, Michael Tomasky, mistakenly included it as such in his recent study of the relative ferocity of conservatives versus liberals.
It's worth noting, by contrast, that in Britain, Tony Blair is on the ropes for offenses against democracy that--while significant--pale in comparison to Bush's. Blair faces an aggressive, independent-minded media whose members consider it their job, in the words of the BBC's head of newsgathering, Adrian Van Klaveren, "to question governments...to hold governments to account.... This is not passive journalism. This is about trying to get information which others don't want us to know." not as if the information we need to judge our government is kept from us. The reporters are, for the most part, doing their jobs. But as the Guardian's New York correspondent, Gary Younge, pointed out to the New School audience, "In the political context in America, there weren't that many takers for certain kinds of information." Indeed, you can learn what liars the members of the Bush Administration are on the front page of the Washington Post. But if you say so aloud, be prepared to be smeared as "paranoid" by the paper's editors.
What's Happening: Afghanistan:
This AP report captures the status of the conflict
Hundreds of insurgents in a convoy of trucks attacked a police headquarters in southeastern Afghanistan, triggering a gunbattle Sunday that killed 22 people, officials said. It was one of the largest shows of anti-government force in over a year. The fierce fighting in Patktika province...underscored just how unstable Afghanistan remains after U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.
Clinton Speaks Out:
I found him a frustrating disappointment, to put it mildly. Happy to give him a tad of credit now. Excerpts from a report on nymetro.com by Michael Wolf.
Clinton had lost weight and—with a great collection of just-out-of-the-wrapper pastel-colored polo shirts on view throughout the conference—seemed in fabulous form. He was in campaign mode but without the restraints of campaign mode. While there was clear bitterness on his part toward the successor who had rushed “to undo everything I’d done,” and the Republicans who “will run over you unless you beat their brains out,” there was a feisty humor too. Of the disputed Harken oil deal, Clinton said Bush had “sold the stock to buy the baseball team which got him the governorship which got him the presidency.”
Clinton kept referring to the media as (contrary to Kinsley’s view) the “supine” media, pointing out that when Bush insulted Helen Thomas (who, by asking a rough question in the infamous prewar press conference had, Clinton said, “committed the sin of journalism”), no “young journalists” stood up and walked out.
The media, the supine media, was going to have to “go to the meat locker and take out its brains and critical skills...”
This turned out to be the pivotal moment of the conference—even the primal one. When Clinton took questions, a young man from a technology company who identified himself as chairman of Bush-Cheney 2004 in California said he was offended by Clinton’s partisanship. To which Clinton, without hesitation, and with some kind of predatory gleam in his eye, said, “Good!” From there, Clinton went on, with emotion and anger, at a level seemingly foreign to most everyone here, to rip to shreds the motives, values, and legitimacy of the Republicans.
It was all anyone could talk about the next day. People seemed genuinely taken aback (some people kept offering that since it was late at night, in a bar, it didn’t quite count) that one of their own might have violated the accepted codes of lofty liberal behavior. There was a little current of fear at the sudden recognition that testosterone could fuel politics. It was a shock, apparently, that we might be this close to real feelings. That politics could actually be personal.
What's Happening: Iraq:
Building Network of Opposition: From Financial Times (Mark Huband):
Increasing numbers of Saudi Arabian Islamists are crossing the border into Iraq in preparation for a jihad, or holy war, against US and UK forces, security and Islamist sources have warned. A senior western counter-terrorism official on Monday said the presence of foreign fighters in Iraq was "extremely worrying.
Saad al-Faguih, a UK-based Saudi dissident, the Saudi authorities are concerned that up to 3,000 Saudi men have gone "missing" in the kingdom in two months, although it is not clear how many have crossed into Iraq
Casualties Update: A total of 268 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq from either combat or friendly fire incidents since the war started on March 20, the Pentagon said Aug. 18. Of that number, 130 have died since U.S. President George W. Bush declared the major combat phase over on May
"No 10" warned over Saddam claim
Chris Tryhorn and Jason Deans of The Guardian laid out how there was nothing in the documents used to justify the war that contained any proof of "an imminent threat, " that Tony Blair's chief of staff had warned his superior of this reality.
Otherwise: Meanwhile, it's now clear that oil revenues will not be adequate so as to provide reconstruction or even basic services (which the ongoing sabotage and vandalism will cut further); the religious Iraqis are running out of patience, and now the bombing(s). This "quagmire" is only getting deeper...
Kentucky: A model of speaking out
Bush has an almost 70% "approval" rating in Kentucky. Yet, the state's Democratic candidate for Governor is running against Bush, trying to try the Republican candidate to the failed economic policies of the Bush regime. And, as of now, the race is too close to call- a poll completed for Democratic Attorney General Ben Chandler last week showed him in a statistical dead heat with Republican U.S. Rep. Ernie Fletcher.
-R
Have we learned our lesson? Early indications are not promising. President Bush now says that "our grid needs to be modernized . . . and I've said so all along." But two years ago Tom DeLay blocked a modest Democratic plan for loan guarantees for system upgrades, calling it "pure demagoguery." And press reports say that despite the blackout, the administration will bow to pressure from Senate Republicans and put on ice the only part of its energy plan that had any relevance to the blackout, a FERC proposal for expanded oversight of the transmission system.
This nation needs to invest billions in its power grid, yet given recent history, it's crucial that this investment not be simply another occasion for energy-industry profiteering. Somehow, I'm not optimistic. - Paul Krugman's NY Times column, 8/19
"Paul Krugman is the indispensable American columnist, a voice of truth in a political world of lies and calculated injustice."- Anthony Lewis, recommending Krugman's new book, The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century
Bombings: Much in the news. The Road Map's in more trouble, and our Iraq/Afghanistan positions are more untenable. More, below.
John Dean on the Bush Lawlessness re Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson, the CIA agent ( http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030815.html) He makes a case!
The Espionage Act (of 1917), though thrice amended since then, continues to criminalize leaks of classified information, regardless of the reason for the leak. Accordingly, the "two senior administration officials" who leaked the classified information of Mrs. Wilson's work at the CIA to Robert Novak (and, it seems, others) have committed a federal crime.
Another applicable criminal statute is the Intelligence Identities Act, enacted in 1982.
Support Our Troops! Support our Clinicians!
After the Pentagon's embarrassment re the pay raise / cut for the troops, it's good to appreciate that like many other workers in America, soldiers' pay has not kept up with inflation. Combat pay during the Vietnam War was approximately $75 per month. Inflation since then should mean that soldiers should get almost $450 monthly. They receive $225. Similarly, I earned $18.50 per hour as a fee-for-service clinician in 1979. Accordingly, inflation adjusted it would be over $45 now. For those not exposed to it, the average is $27-28/hour.
Example of an Outraged Journalist:
He has consistently lied to the American people about how much the war would cost -- and how long it would last, and why we were fighting it, and, gosh, just about everything...
Soldiers make a great backdrop for presidential speeches, but let's face it, they just eat up money that could be better spent for shiny new weapons systems. And God knows we wouldn't want to raise taxes to pay our soldiers more. No, here's the plan: Increase the deficit and call it a growth package. Also, the soldiers should stop whining to reporters because their tours of duty keep getting extended. Oh, and sorry about the Taliban creeping back into Afghanistan, but we're a little overextended. Hold that line and fight fight fight, and we'll see you when we see you. --Jon Carroll, San Francisco Chronicle
Example of a (Model) Letter-to-the-editor
A terrific letter to the editor from the Salt Lake Tribune (sltrib.com), that is effective in content and title.
Ask questions
Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Where is Bin Laden? Where is my 401K? How did a huge governmental surplus become a huge deficit in two years? During the campaign, why did George Bush say he was a great uniter? Why did the reasons we went to war with Iraq change after the troops landed?
Where were President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Attorney General Ashcroft and members of Congress during the Vietnam War? Where are their kids during this war? Was there a plan for postwar Iraq, or is it trial and error? Where have 2 million jobs gone over the last two years? How many people died during Clinton's "lie?" How many have died during Bush's "truth?"
How can they say they are for the military, yet cut veterans' benefits? Why were we told the 2003 tax cut would benefit all families, then find out -- after it is passed -- that 20 million would not benefit?
If we are a democracy, a voice of truth and freedom, why isn't the full report released on the 9-11 attacks? Why aren't the names of those who sat on the Bush/Cheney Energy Panel released? Why is it wrong to ask questions? Why do I feel we have gone back to the 1950s' secret, paranoid, McCarthyism atmosphere?
Why will I, a retired military vet with two boys serving overseas -- or any American -- be called an un-American, yellow-bellied liberal for asking these questions? Why?
Greg Dunn
Tooele
Washington Post Follow-up:
Eric Alterman develops what I wrote about previously, the discrepancy between the terrific summary piece in the Post on the Bush lies, and the supine editorial.
Ignoring the facts on page one of its own newspaper to launch ideologically inspired attacks on the truth is a time-honored tactic for the wingnuts who run the Wall Street Journal editorial page, but it is dismaying to see the same phenomenon taking hold at the Post--an editorial page that was considered "liberal" so recently that The American Prospect's new editor, Michael Tomasky, mistakenly included it as such in his recent study of the relative ferocity of conservatives versus liberals.
It's worth noting, by contrast, that in Britain, Tony Blair is on the ropes for offenses against democracy that--while significant--pale in comparison to Bush's. Blair faces an aggressive, independent-minded media whose members consider it their job, in the words of the BBC's head of newsgathering, Adrian Van Klaveren, "to question governments...to hold governments to account.... This is not passive journalism. This is about trying to get information which others don't want us to know." not as if the information we need to judge our government is kept from us. The reporters are, for the most part, doing their jobs. But as the Guardian's New York correspondent, Gary Younge, pointed out to the New School audience, "In the political context in America, there weren't that many takers for certain kinds of information." Indeed, you can learn what liars the members of the Bush Administration are on the front page of the Washington Post. But if you say so aloud, be prepared to be smeared as "paranoid" by the paper's editors.
What's Happening: Afghanistan:
This AP report captures the status of the conflict
Hundreds of insurgents in a convoy of trucks attacked a police headquarters in southeastern Afghanistan, triggering a gunbattle Sunday that killed 22 people, officials said. It was one of the largest shows of anti-government force in over a year. The fierce fighting in Patktika province...underscored just how unstable Afghanistan remains after U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.
Clinton Speaks Out:
I found him a frustrating disappointment, to put it mildly. Happy to give him a tad of credit now. Excerpts from a report on nymetro.com by Michael Wolf.
Clinton had lost weight and—with a great collection of just-out-of-the-wrapper pastel-colored polo shirts on view throughout the conference—seemed in fabulous form. He was in campaign mode but without the restraints of campaign mode. While there was clear bitterness on his part toward the successor who had rushed “to undo everything I’d done,” and the Republicans who “will run over you unless you beat their brains out,” there was a feisty humor too. Of the disputed Harken oil deal, Clinton said Bush had “sold the stock to buy the baseball team which got him the governorship which got him the presidency.”
Clinton kept referring to the media as (contrary to Kinsley’s view) the “supine” media, pointing out that when Bush insulted Helen Thomas (who, by asking a rough question in the infamous prewar press conference had, Clinton said, “committed the sin of journalism”), no “young journalists” stood up and walked out.
The media, the supine media, was going to have to “go to the meat locker and take out its brains and critical skills...”
This turned out to be the pivotal moment of the conference—even the primal one. When Clinton took questions, a young man from a technology company who identified himself as chairman of Bush-Cheney 2004 in California said he was offended by Clinton’s partisanship. To which Clinton, without hesitation, and with some kind of predatory gleam in his eye, said, “Good!” From there, Clinton went on, with emotion and anger, at a level seemingly foreign to most everyone here, to rip to shreds the motives, values, and legitimacy of the Republicans.
It was all anyone could talk about the next day. People seemed genuinely taken aback (some people kept offering that since it was late at night, in a bar, it didn’t quite count) that one of their own might have violated the accepted codes of lofty liberal behavior. There was a little current of fear at the sudden recognition that testosterone could fuel politics. It was a shock, apparently, that we might be this close to real feelings. That politics could actually be personal.
What's Happening: Iraq:
Building Network of Opposition: From Financial Times (Mark Huband):
Increasing numbers of Saudi Arabian Islamists are crossing the border into Iraq in preparation for a jihad, or holy war, against US and UK forces, security and Islamist sources have warned. A senior western counter-terrorism official on Monday said the presence of foreign fighters in Iraq was "extremely worrying.
Saad al-Faguih, a UK-based Saudi dissident, the Saudi authorities are concerned that up to 3,000 Saudi men have gone "missing" in the kingdom in two months, although it is not clear how many have crossed into Iraq
Casualties Update: A total of 268 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq from either combat or friendly fire incidents since the war started on March 20, the Pentagon said Aug. 18. Of that number, 130 have died since U.S. President George W. Bush declared the major combat phase over on May
"No 10" warned over Saddam claim
Chris Tryhorn and Jason Deans of The Guardian laid out how there was nothing in the documents used to justify the war that contained any proof of "an imminent threat, " that Tony Blair's chief of staff had warned his superior of this reality.
Otherwise: Meanwhile, it's now clear that oil revenues will not be adequate so as to provide reconstruction or even basic services (which the ongoing sabotage and vandalism will cut further); the religious Iraqis are running out of patience, and now the bombing(s). This "quagmire" is only getting deeper...
Kentucky: A model of speaking out
Bush has an almost 70% "approval" rating in Kentucky. Yet, the state's Democratic candidate for Governor is running against Bush, trying to try the Republican candidate to the failed economic policies of the Bush regime. And, as of now, the race is too close to call- a poll completed for Democratic Attorney General Ben Chandler last week showed him in a statistical dead heat with Republican U.S. Rep. Ernie Fletcher.
-R
