Monday, August 25, 2003
Bush as Underdog: The Guardian led the way, with NPR, Newsweek et al right behind. The item: A poll, asking who would you support in 2004, a Democrat or Bush, has Bush one point down. Novel result and novel coverage. The Republicans are spinning, 'we're not surprised, he isn't campaigning yet, he's being viciously attacked, etc'. Poor Guy!
In other words, again, there's reason for optimism. I mentioned in the last blog re the Jim Hightower gathering, how optimism was in the air and the speech. I especially note how speakers followed up a disconsolate voice re non-voters with encouraging news. A Kucinich rep. spoke up, following a more pointed comment by the aforementioned Chuck Palson, who coordinates FITE, Fairness in Taxes for Everyone. Chuck commented on the response he gets when going door-to-door. Chuck finds that a solid 70% support the notion that the wealthy 'do not pay their fair share of taxes.' It's one powerful example people thinking as we hope they would think; they're just not solicited by us, the media, etc. Perhaps this is the new 'great silent majority?' We have to do our part, to make sure that silence is not the rule...
Activism... After: Madison.com (Lee Sensenbrenner) documents how surviving family members thought it most fitting to honor Sally Baron by adding to her obituary, "Memorials in her honor can be made to any organization working for the removal of President Bush." Her daughter noted, "She thought he was a liar. I think his personality, just standing there with that smirk on his face, and acting like he's this holy Christian, that's what really got her. She'd always watch CNN, C-SPAN, and you know, she'd just swear at the TV and say 'Oh, Bush, he's such a whistle ass!' She'd just get so mad."
What's Happening, Iraq:
Bush notes that conditions are improving in most of the country. Yet, reports are that the GIs are so short of rifles that they're using confiscated Kalashnikovs; we've hired Saddam's secret police; terrorism is escalating; ethnic violecne between Turkomen and Kurds has spread to Kirkuk; the oil, the water...Yes, going great guns...
Latest lie... that's getting play on the internet...and the AP "Experts Doubt U.S. Claim on Iraqi Drones (Dafna Linzer, John J. Lumpkin) Apparently U.S. weapons experts on the scene in Baghdad came to the conclusion that contrary to the claims of the Administration, the unmanned vehicles weren't designed to dispense biological or chemical weapons Colin Powell had raised the notion, even claiming that that they could sneak into the U.S. airspace and wage biological warfare. Minimal laughter greeted this absurd notion.
Ecological Disaster: The oil pipeline. Ahmad Mukhtar at iraq-today.com describes the latest It started as a nuisance, but within days, the stream of oil grew into an ecological disaster that tested the very infrastructure and leadership of communities struggling to recover from the war. On August 12, saboteurs made a gaping hole in the K3 oil pipeline in Haditha, sending thousands of barrels of oil spewing into nearby fields and eventually into Euphrates about 2 KM way.
Scott Ritter: The former Inspector emerges after spending some time in Iraq, noting that the search for wmd (remember that?) is fraught with problems, including that key documents at the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate were looted in April.
Protests: A series of actions is planned for late September, coinciding with demonstrations in Europe. Then, International Answer (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) - is organizing a march on Washington slated for October 25.
Arctic Off-Limits? When At first you don't succeed...
They haven't given up. According to Julie Deardorff at the Chicago Tribune (.com), the Adminstration has proposed to open a different, less known/publicized region, the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, or NPRA, in the western Arctic region. As Cindy Shogan, E.D. of the Alaska Wilderness League, noted, "The blackout has obviously speeded up momentum for a bill that was previously on the back burner. But drilling in the refuge or any pristine natural area like the National Petroleum Reserve is not going to help solve our energy problems."
Good Guys Some companies are not always playing ball w/ the anti-environmental Administration. The Wall Street Journal (Jim Carlton, http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106176318241422300,00.html?mod=politics%255Fprimary%255Fhs) notes that KB Home, Staples and Hayward Lumber are all opposing the targeting of southeastern Alaska's Tongass National Forest. They all dispatched letters to the U.S. Forest Service opposing Tongass being excluded from the prohibition against building new roads in national forests.
North Korea / China According to Newsweek, ( Cortlan Bennett and Melinda Liu), China is struggling to cope with a bi-product of North Korea's economic collapse. More than 100,000 illegal North Korean refugees are living in China and are alleged to be engaging in rampant thievery.
What's Happening, Afghanistan:
The Philadelphia Inquirer (Liz Sly, phily.com) led, the NY Times today have noted the "wholesale restructuring" of U.S. operations in that country so as "to combat lawlessness and disillusionment". An infusion of aid, addition of personnel, and an increasingly prominent role for Americans is the general plan; details are still being worked out.
The Times piece quoted a 'senior American diplomat' saying that as Bush is "viewing the situation 'like a businessman,' (he) had decided that investing more reconstruction money here now could lead to an earlier exit for American forces and save money in the long run."
Clean Air: Still another Assault:
The Administration is again rewarding its friends in industry, permitting old factories to update without regard to what's called "new source review," part of the Clean Air Act amendments of 1977. This section requires companies to install modern pollution controls in new plants, and in old plants when they make significant modifications leading to increased emissions.The Times blistered the Bushies in an editorial, and Eliot Spitzer, New York's attorney general, vowed to sue the moment the rule becomes final.
Economy: We hear the hopes, the rosier projections. In the business sections you often find the following, this one by Edmund Andrews in the Sunday Times: "...it is hardly a stretch to say that the fiscal outlook is far more fragile than it may appear."
Blogging Holiday: Taking a break, heading out of town; light to no blogging over the next 10 days.
Missed past blogs? Go to http://www.global-equality.org/news/blog/index.shtml
-R
In other words, again, there's reason for optimism. I mentioned in the last blog re the Jim Hightower gathering, how optimism was in the air and the speech. I especially note how speakers followed up a disconsolate voice re non-voters with encouraging news. A Kucinich rep. spoke up, following a more pointed comment by the aforementioned Chuck Palson, who coordinates FITE, Fairness in Taxes for Everyone. Chuck commented on the response he gets when going door-to-door. Chuck finds that a solid 70% support the notion that the wealthy 'do not pay their fair share of taxes.' It's one powerful example people thinking as we hope they would think; they're just not solicited by us, the media, etc. Perhaps this is the new 'great silent majority?' We have to do our part, to make sure that silence is not the rule...
Activism... After: Madison.com (Lee Sensenbrenner) documents how surviving family members thought it most fitting to honor Sally Baron by adding to her obituary, "Memorials in her honor can be made to any organization working for the removal of President Bush." Her daughter noted, "She thought he was a liar. I think his personality, just standing there with that smirk on his face, and acting like he's this holy Christian, that's what really got her. She'd always watch CNN, C-SPAN, and you know, she'd just swear at the TV and say 'Oh, Bush, he's such a whistle ass!' She'd just get so mad."
What's Happening, Iraq:
Bush notes that conditions are improving in most of the country. Yet, reports are that the GIs are so short of rifles that they're using confiscated Kalashnikovs; we've hired Saddam's secret police; terrorism is escalating; ethnic violecne between Turkomen and Kurds has spread to Kirkuk; the oil, the water...Yes, going great guns...
Latest lie... that's getting play on the internet...and the AP "Experts Doubt U.S. Claim on Iraqi Drones (Dafna Linzer, John J. Lumpkin) Apparently U.S. weapons experts on the scene in Baghdad came to the conclusion that contrary to the claims of the Administration, the unmanned vehicles weren't designed to dispense biological or chemical weapons Colin Powell had raised the notion, even claiming that that they could sneak into the U.S. airspace and wage biological warfare. Minimal laughter greeted this absurd notion.
Ecological Disaster: The oil pipeline. Ahmad Mukhtar at iraq-today.com describes the latest It started as a nuisance, but within days, the stream of oil grew into an ecological disaster that tested the very infrastructure and leadership of communities struggling to recover from the war. On August 12, saboteurs made a gaping hole in the K3 oil pipeline in Haditha, sending thousands of barrels of oil spewing into nearby fields and eventually into Euphrates about 2 KM way.
Scott Ritter: The former Inspector emerges after spending some time in Iraq, noting that the search for wmd (remember that?) is fraught with problems, including that key documents at the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate were looted in April.
Protests: A series of actions is planned for late September, coinciding with demonstrations in Europe. Then, International Answer (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) - is organizing a march on Washington slated for October 25.
Arctic Off-Limits? When At first you don't succeed...
They haven't given up. According to Julie Deardorff at the Chicago Tribune (.com), the Adminstration has proposed to open a different, less known/publicized region, the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, or NPRA, in the western Arctic region. As Cindy Shogan, E.D. of the Alaska Wilderness League, noted, "The blackout has obviously speeded up momentum for a bill that was previously on the back burner. But drilling in the refuge or any pristine natural area like the National Petroleum Reserve is not going to help solve our energy problems."
Good Guys Some companies are not always playing ball w/ the anti-environmental Administration. The Wall Street Journal (Jim Carlton, http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106176318241422300,00.html?mod=politics%255Fprimary%255Fhs) notes that KB Home, Staples and Hayward Lumber are all opposing the targeting of southeastern Alaska's Tongass National Forest. They all dispatched letters to the U.S. Forest Service opposing Tongass being excluded from the prohibition against building new roads in national forests.
North Korea / China According to Newsweek, ( Cortlan Bennett and Melinda Liu), China is struggling to cope with a bi-product of North Korea's economic collapse. More than 100,000 illegal North Korean refugees are living in China and are alleged to be engaging in rampant thievery.
What's Happening, Afghanistan:
The Philadelphia Inquirer (Liz Sly, phily.com) led, the NY Times today have noted the "wholesale restructuring" of U.S. operations in that country so as "to combat lawlessness and disillusionment". An infusion of aid, addition of personnel, and an increasingly prominent role for Americans is the general plan; details are still being worked out.
The Times piece quoted a 'senior American diplomat' saying that as Bush is "viewing the situation 'like a businessman,' (he) had decided that investing more reconstruction money here now could lead to an earlier exit for American forces and save money in the long run."
Clean Air: Still another Assault:
The Administration is again rewarding its friends in industry, permitting old factories to update without regard to what's called "new source review," part of the Clean Air Act amendments of 1977. This section requires companies to install modern pollution controls in new plants, and in old plants when they make significant modifications leading to increased emissions.The Times blistered the Bushies in an editorial, and Eliot Spitzer, New York's attorney general, vowed to sue the moment the rule becomes final.
Economy: We hear the hopes, the rosier projections. In the business sections you often find the following, this one by Edmund Andrews in the Sunday Times: "...it is hardly a stretch to say that the fiscal outlook is far more fragile than it may appear."
Blogging Holiday: Taking a break, heading out of town; light to no blogging over the next 10 days.
Missed past blogs? Go to http://www.global-equality.org/news/blog/index.shtml
-R
