Friday, September 26, 2003
"We are able to keep his arms from him. His military forces have not been re-built- Condi Rice re the Saddam threat, April, 2001
So??? The above statement by Rice, coupled with the lead quote from Powell (2/01) in the last blog constituted the Administration’s record on Saddam and wmd pre 9/11. The comments were part of a consensus- in and out of the Administration- that Saddam was very much contained, that the sanctions were ‘working’. Thus far, only MSNBC and their 8PM program Wednesday (Keith Olbermann) have highlighted these statements, which were broadcast on a British t.v. program headed by John Pilger I couldn’t find any other coverage … aside from the blogging world.
More at http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/23/1064082978207.html.
Bush the Environmentalist: Good summary from the New Yorker’s Elizabeth Kolbert. Many centrist periodicals such as the New Yorker have moved ‘left,’ i.e. they’re printing more critical pieces.
Each year, the Detroit Edison plant in Monroe, Michigan, burns roughly eight million tons of coal. That is enough to generate electricity for three million homes and also to make the plant one of the nation’s most extravagant polluters. In 2001, the last year for which complete data are available, Monroe’s smokestacks emitted, among other things: more than a hundred thousand tons of sulfur dioxide (the principal pollutant in acid rain), nearly forty-six thousand tons of nitrous oxide (the chief ingredient of smog), and seventeen and a half million tons of carbon dioxide (the major culprit in global warming). Widely accepted statistical models project that the plant will cause some three hundred premature deaths annually, from ailments like lung disease and stroke. All of which makes President Bush’s visit to Monroe last week to tout his latest air-quality initiatives either horribly ill-advised or, if you prefer, perversely appropriate.
Even in the catalogue of depredations that is the Bush Administration’s environmental record—a list that includes the decision to reclassify various forms of mining waste as “fill” so that it can be dumped in valleys and streams; the attempt to open up millions of acres of public lands (including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) for oil exploration; and the so-called Healthy Forests initiative, whose major beneficiary is the logging industry—the President’s assault on the Clean Air Act stands out. http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?talk/030929ta_talk_kolbert
Patriot Act: Legislative Actions we can Support!
Legislation exists to repeal portions of the Patriot Act.
(1) The Freedom to Read Protection Act, HR 1157, sponsored by Bernie Sanders -and C.L. Otter (R-Idaho). It prohibits using funds to access bookstore and library records under the Patriot Act.
(2) S1507 which was introduced by Senators Feingold and Jeffords, raises the threshold necessary to obtain a warrant under the Patriot Act for library and bookstore records by requiring the government to show that the records sought are those of a suspected terrorist or spy.
Call the toll-free Congressional switchboard, 800-839-5276, ask for your congressperson, and register your support or call the state offices of your legislators.
Dissent: ACLU Effort.
They may have rested in the California election issue, but they’re pushing on the Secret Service’s violation of the rights of protesters, the right to express views critical of government who are commonly being moved away from public officials at public demonstrations, while Bushites are allowed to be in closer proximity. (At other times, observers are allowed to be closer than demonstrators). The national lawsuit, filed in Philly, is on behalf of United for Peace and Justice, USAction, NOW, and ACORN.
What’s Happening, Iraq:
Governing Council Breaking with their Bosses
Bit by bit, the appointed group makes independent steps. Our former agent, Ahmed Chalabi, made statements last week that the U.S. should leave immediately. Jim Lobe of Asia Times reports that others on the Council are joining the call. Lobe notes that these voices
… reflect real fears by pro-US Iraqis that Washington's occupation of their country represents not only a serious liability to their own political futures in Iraq, but is also the focus of a mounting anger among ordinary Iraqi civilians that apparently is feeding resistance to the occupation
The council, which late last week called for US troops to withdraw from towns and cities to bases and turn over police duties to Iraqi militias and police, has clearly reached the conclusion that the occupation is turning into a disaster. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EI25Ak02.html
WMD: The front page of the NY Times and foreign papers on Thursday summarized the fate of the disappearing Kay Report. A blunt account from Germany (Deutsche Welle):
A preliminary report from US and British arms inspectors tracking Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, according to a U.S. official, will show that such weapons have not been found. The BBC quoted the unnamed US government source as saying the so-called Iraq Survey Group will report that not even "minute" amounts of biological or chemical weapons material have been discovered. Addressing the same issue, America's Central Intelligence Agency says that the interim report by former weapons inspector David Kay is unlikely to reach any final conclusions. http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,4789_W_978704,00.html
Back to that UN Speech: Other countries were disappointed-but not surprised- that the Bush speech didn’t break with the past. They were also befuddled by some odd contents. Some made sense of it when they reasoned that the speech was meant for domestic consumption. Thus, a quick detour to pull at heartstrings by tossing in comments about the slave trade. More baffling was the diversion supplied by the speech’s call for a new anti-proliferation resolution intended to combat the spread of weapons (of mass destruction). It was out-of-the-blue for the attending diplomats, including our own. Witness the AP report (Dafna Linzer, http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/09/23/international0232EDT0446.DTL) "U.S. and British diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were surprised by Bush's call for a weapons resolution and that Tuesday was the first time they had heard about the idea."
Other Comments on the Speech: (via the Guardian)
Fred Kaplan, Slate
Has an American president ever delivered such a bafflingly impertinent speech before the general assembly as the one George W Bush gave this morning?
Here were the world's foreign ministers and heads of state, anxiously awaiting some sign of an American concession to realism-even the sketchiest outline of a plan to share not just the burden but the power of postwar occupation in Iraq. And Bush gave them nothing, in some ways less than nothing.
The Daily Star (Lebanon)
US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld has accused critics of Bush's policies in Iraq of encouraging terrorists. In actuality, it is American aimlessness that offers succour to its enemies by creating the impression that for all its might, the superpower is a very confused beast. Countries like France and Germany do not want America to fail, but nor do they want to be part of a disaster that they rightly see as being perfectly preventable. Their involvement might come with a heavy political price tag, but their continuing estrangement will be even more expensive.
Amir Taheri, Gulf News
The only justification for involving the UN (in Iraq) may have to do with American domestic politics. Bush may want to be in a position to tell his electorate that the UN is now on board in Iraq.
And this is precisely why France, Germany and a few others, who do not wish to see Bush re-elected, are determined to push the price so high as to make it impossible for Washington to accept without losing control of the situation in Iraq. The message that Paris and Berlin wish to convey is this: Bush and his "neo-cons" created a mess, now we enter to save Iraq from destruction.
Daily Nation, Kenya
The appeal (for help on Iraq) is mainly financial and technical and, therefore, is aimed especially at Japan (and) the European Union, especially Germany and France.
But the last two were the very same states which Mr Bush treated with such arrogance when they disagreed with his methods. You would, therefore, expect the US leader to come to them like a chastened man.
But not Mr Bush. He is still demanding that the UN do it strictly under US terms. Yet the mess is America's own. If it wants the international community to mop it up for him, he should ask for it with at least some studied humbleness. Should he not, in fact, hand over everything to the UN?
Schwarzenegger’s Future:
The aforementioned New Yorker issue carries a profile of the actor-candidate. Hendrik Hertzberg reminds us moviegoers that in the movie “Demolition Man”, Sylvester Stallone’s character is projected into the future where he encounters the Schwarzenegger Presidential Library.
This was satire, not prognostication. Either way, though, it appears, at the moment, to be right on schedule. The big technicality, of course, is a clause in Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution—the one that states, “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.” On July 10th, Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, quietly introduced what he hopes will become the twenty-eighth amendment:
A person who is a citizen of the United States, who has been for 20 years a citizen of the United States, and who is otherwise eligible to the Office of President, is not ineligible to that Office by reason of not being a native born citizen of the United States.
As it happens, Arnold Schwarzenegger (who, according to the Deseret News, Hatch’s home-town paper, is both a “pal” and a “fund-raising helper” of the Senator’s) became a citizen of the United States precisely twenty years ago. Hatch is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where constitutional amendments originate. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030929fa_fact
-R
So??? The above statement by Rice, coupled with the lead quote from Powell (2/01) in the last blog constituted the Administration’s record on Saddam and wmd pre 9/11. The comments were part of a consensus- in and out of the Administration- that Saddam was very much contained, that the sanctions were ‘working’. Thus far, only MSNBC and their 8PM program Wednesday (Keith Olbermann) have highlighted these statements, which were broadcast on a British t.v. program headed by John Pilger I couldn’t find any other coverage … aside from the blogging world.
More at http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/23/1064082978207.html.
Bush the Environmentalist: Good summary from the New Yorker’s Elizabeth Kolbert. Many centrist periodicals such as the New Yorker have moved ‘left,’ i.e. they’re printing more critical pieces.
Each year, the Detroit Edison plant in Monroe, Michigan, burns roughly eight million tons of coal. That is enough to generate electricity for three million homes and also to make the plant one of the nation’s most extravagant polluters. In 2001, the last year for which complete data are available, Monroe’s smokestacks emitted, among other things: more than a hundred thousand tons of sulfur dioxide (the principal pollutant in acid rain), nearly forty-six thousand tons of nitrous oxide (the chief ingredient of smog), and seventeen and a half million tons of carbon dioxide (the major culprit in global warming). Widely accepted statistical models project that the plant will cause some three hundred premature deaths annually, from ailments like lung disease and stroke. All of which makes President Bush’s visit to Monroe last week to tout his latest air-quality initiatives either horribly ill-advised or, if you prefer, perversely appropriate.
Even in the catalogue of depredations that is the Bush Administration’s environmental record—a list that includes the decision to reclassify various forms of mining waste as “fill” so that it can be dumped in valleys and streams; the attempt to open up millions of acres of public lands (including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) for oil exploration; and the so-called Healthy Forests initiative, whose major beneficiary is the logging industry—the President’s assault on the Clean Air Act stands out. http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?talk/030929ta_talk_kolbert
Patriot Act: Legislative Actions we can Support!
Legislation exists to repeal portions of the Patriot Act.
(1) The Freedom to Read Protection Act, HR 1157, sponsored by Bernie Sanders -and C.L. Otter (R-Idaho). It prohibits using funds to access bookstore and library records under the Patriot Act.
(2) S1507 which was introduced by Senators Feingold and Jeffords, raises the threshold necessary to obtain a warrant under the Patriot Act for library and bookstore records by requiring the government to show that the records sought are those of a suspected terrorist or spy.
Call the toll-free Congressional switchboard, 800-839-5276, ask for your congressperson, and register your support or call the state offices of your legislators.
Dissent: ACLU Effort.
They may have rested in the California election issue, but they’re pushing on the Secret Service’s violation of the rights of protesters, the right to express views critical of government who are commonly being moved away from public officials at public demonstrations, while Bushites are allowed to be in closer proximity. (At other times, observers are allowed to be closer than demonstrators). The national lawsuit, filed in Philly, is on behalf of United for Peace and Justice, USAction, NOW, and ACORN.
What’s Happening, Iraq:
Governing Council Breaking with their Bosses
Bit by bit, the appointed group makes independent steps. Our former agent, Ahmed Chalabi, made statements last week that the U.S. should leave immediately. Jim Lobe of Asia Times reports that others on the Council are joining the call. Lobe notes that these voices
… reflect real fears by pro-US Iraqis that Washington's occupation of their country represents not only a serious liability to their own political futures in Iraq, but is also the focus of a mounting anger among ordinary Iraqi civilians that apparently is feeding resistance to the occupation
The council, which late last week called for US troops to withdraw from towns and cities to bases and turn over police duties to Iraqi militias and police, has clearly reached the conclusion that the occupation is turning into a disaster. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EI25Ak02.html
WMD: The front page of the NY Times and foreign papers on Thursday summarized the fate of the disappearing Kay Report. A blunt account from Germany (Deutsche Welle):
A preliminary report from US and British arms inspectors tracking Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, according to a U.S. official, will show that such weapons have not been found. The BBC quoted the unnamed US government source as saying the so-called Iraq Survey Group will report that not even "minute" amounts of biological or chemical weapons material have been discovered. Addressing the same issue, America's Central Intelligence Agency says that the interim report by former weapons inspector David Kay is unlikely to reach any final conclusions. http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,4789_W_978704,00.html
Back to that UN Speech: Other countries were disappointed-but not surprised- that the Bush speech didn’t break with the past. They were also befuddled by some odd contents. Some made sense of it when they reasoned that the speech was meant for domestic consumption. Thus, a quick detour to pull at heartstrings by tossing in comments about the slave trade. More baffling was the diversion supplied by the speech’s call for a new anti-proliferation resolution intended to combat the spread of weapons (of mass destruction). It was out-of-the-blue for the attending diplomats, including our own. Witness the AP report (Dafna Linzer, http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/09/23/international0232EDT0446.DTL) "U.S. and British diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were surprised by Bush's call for a weapons resolution and that Tuesday was the first time they had heard about the idea."
Other Comments on the Speech: (via the Guardian)
Fred Kaplan, Slate
Has an American president ever delivered such a bafflingly impertinent speech before the general assembly as the one George W Bush gave this morning?
Here were the world's foreign ministers and heads of state, anxiously awaiting some sign of an American concession to realism-even the sketchiest outline of a plan to share not just the burden but the power of postwar occupation in Iraq. And Bush gave them nothing, in some ways less than nothing.
The Daily Star (Lebanon)
US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld has accused critics of Bush's policies in Iraq of encouraging terrorists. In actuality, it is American aimlessness that offers succour to its enemies by creating the impression that for all its might, the superpower is a very confused beast. Countries like France and Germany do not want America to fail, but nor do they want to be part of a disaster that they rightly see as being perfectly preventable. Their involvement might come with a heavy political price tag, but their continuing estrangement will be even more expensive.
Amir Taheri, Gulf News
The only justification for involving the UN (in Iraq) may have to do with American domestic politics. Bush may want to be in a position to tell his electorate that the UN is now on board in Iraq.
And this is precisely why France, Germany and a few others, who do not wish to see Bush re-elected, are determined to push the price so high as to make it impossible for Washington to accept without losing control of the situation in Iraq. The message that Paris and Berlin wish to convey is this: Bush and his "neo-cons" created a mess, now we enter to save Iraq from destruction.
Daily Nation, Kenya
The appeal (for help on Iraq) is mainly financial and technical and, therefore, is aimed especially at Japan (and) the European Union, especially Germany and France.
But the last two were the very same states which Mr Bush treated with such arrogance when they disagreed with his methods. You would, therefore, expect the US leader to come to them like a chastened man.
But not Mr Bush. He is still demanding that the UN do it strictly under US terms. Yet the mess is America's own. If it wants the international community to mop it up for him, he should ask for it with at least some studied humbleness. Should he not, in fact, hand over everything to the UN?
Schwarzenegger’s Future:
The aforementioned New Yorker issue carries a profile of the actor-candidate. Hendrik Hertzberg reminds us moviegoers that in the movie “Demolition Man”, Sylvester Stallone’s character is projected into the future where he encounters the Schwarzenegger Presidential Library.
This was satire, not prognostication. Either way, though, it appears, at the moment, to be right on schedule. The big technicality, of course, is a clause in Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution—the one that states, “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.” On July 10th, Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, quietly introduced what he hopes will become the twenty-eighth amendment:
A person who is a citizen of the United States, who has been for 20 years a citizen of the United States, and who is otherwise eligible to the Office of President, is not ineligible to that Office by reason of not being a native born citizen of the United States.
As it happens, Arnold Schwarzenegger (who, according to the Deseret News, Hatch’s home-town paper, is both a “pal” and a “fund-raising helper” of the Senator’s) became a citizen of the United States precisely twenty years ago. Hatch is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where constitutional amendments originate. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030929fa_fact
-R
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
…the sanctions exist- not for the purpose of hurting the Iraqi people, but for the purpose of keeping in check Saddam Hussein’s ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction. We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that they are directed toward that purpose. That purpose is ever bit as important now as it was ten years ago when we began it. And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors.
-Colin Powell, 2/4/01 (via state Department web site, emphasis added).
Economy and the Election:
The Bush Administration is getting nervous about Junior’s prospects. Instead of changing policies, spin and blame are the operative words, how to reframe their policies so as to better sell them, and to blame other forces for their failed policies. Case in point: China is responsible for the 3 million lost jobs!
There has been sporadic references to complaints by US manufacturers that the Chinese currency, the yuan, was undervalued, and not subject to fluctuations as occur normally in the global market. Skipping a mini course in economics, complaints have been that China’s manipulation of its currency results in jobs lost in Japan and the U.S. Some Democrats have joined these complaints, playing into the hands of an Administration needing to shift blame for the sluggish “jobloss” economy. So, prepare for more China bashing… More on this via the Wall Street Journal, at http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106430923383329700,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
Blame the Media (1)
The Governing Council of Iraq, appointed and directed by the U.S., has “decided” to limit the leading Arabic news channels. The accusation? “Encouraging terrorism.” The official statement:
The Governing Council has decided to ban al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya from covering council activities and official press conferences, and to deny their correspondents access to ministries and council buildings for two weeks."
Blame the Media (2)
A Democratic legislator, Rep. Jim Marshall of Georgia, is blaming the media for limiting our chance of success in Iraq. Marshall said that unnecessarily bleak dispatches from Iraq have been the rule since the May 1 moment for faux airman Bush. These dispatches “contrast sharply with reports of hope and progress presented to Congress by Department of Defense representatives -- a real disconnect, Vietnam déja vu.”
What’s Happening, Iraq:
UN Agreement Near? The speech was a bust, playing to the (Slim) domestic audience, amounting to ‘nothing new’ for the attending diplomats. But there are reports, including this one from The Scotsman (Tim Cornwell, (http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=1058702003) that behind the public disagreements is an emerging consensus.
After the closed meeting between Mr Bush and Mr Chirac, a US official said: “They talked about the difference there, but they pledged to try to work together. The French president said he wouldn’t stand in the way, but obviously France would like to try to help.”
That $87 Billion
The Democrats have made clear that they will vote for the $, but want to make points as to what’s being spent in Iraq while needs mount at home.
From today’s Wall Street Journal: Democrats who have dissected the reconstruction plan are highlighting how, in areas such as hospital construction and infrastructure repair, Mr. Bush intends to spend far more per capita in Iraq next year than in the U.S. Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee, for instance, asserted in a report that the Bush plan would spend $255 on electricity generation for every Iraqi, compared with 71 cents on federally funded electricity work in the U.S. http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB106435944774657700,00.html
WMD Update of the updates.
Whither the Kay Report? The report re wmd was due in September, long predicted to be a p.r. effort to make the confused American public that wmd existed and posed an “imminent threat.” As Colin Powell said earlier this month (9/7, Meet the Press), “David Kay is in charge of our effort now, with some 1,500 inspectors and analysts and experts. He will provide an interim report later this month, and I am confident when people see what David Kay puts forward they will see that there was no question that such weapons exist, existed, and so did the programs to develop one.”
But on Monday, Condi Rice backed off. “David Kay is not going to be done with this for quite some time. And I would not count on reports. I suppose there may be interim reports. I don't know when those will be, and I don't know what the public nature of them will be.”
So, the press had better keep asking…
Saudi Arabia Doth Protest…
The Saudis are claiming that the U.S. has stifled their efforts to combat terrorism. Their inveterate ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar (bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz) claimed that the State Department urged Saudi Arabia to go easy on its problem citizens, “telling us we were terrible to these dissidents.” He added that “efforts by Saudi Arabia to track funneling of money to groups with terrorist ties was thwarted to some degree by US financial regulations and privacy safeguards surrounding US financial institutions.” http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_24-9-2003_pg4_4 (Pakistan)
Arnold on the Environment: He won’t debate unless he gets the questions in advance. (What next?) And, he wants us to know that "I want clean air, clean water and a clean environment.”
Perhaps in a real debate someone would point out that the actor drives a Hummer and purportedly spurred the campaign to bring us a civilian version of the Humvee, following his being enamored of one during the Gulf War of ’91.
What’s Happening, Afghanistan: Documentary on Massacre
There is a new documentary, “Afghan Massacre” that chronicles the saga of 3000 or so prisoners who had surrendered at Kunduz. The claim in the movie is that American Special Forces were present for the mass shooting and burial and that the Pentagon then orchestrated the requisite cover-up. The movie was produced amidst threats and beatings of participants and killings of eyewitnesses. More at http://www.acftv.com/archive/article.asp?archive_id=1
9/11: Coverage of the Confession
Editor and Publisher (Seth Porges) reported that Bush’s admission that Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11 was viewed as a major story by some of the media.
”Of America's twelve highest-circulation daily papers, only the L.A. Times, Chicago Tribune, and Dallas Morning News ran anything about it on the front page. In The New York Times, the story was relegated to page 22. USA Today: page 16. The Houston Chronicle: page 3. The San Francisco Chronicle: page 14. The Washington Post: page 18. Newsday: page 41. The New York Daily News: page 14. “
Bush the Reader: According to the AP report, (Scott Lindlaw), “Bush said he insulates himself from the opinions” that seep into news coverage by getting his news form his own aides. He said he scans headlines, but rarely reads news stories. “I appreciate people’s opinions, but I’m more interested in news…and the best way to get the news is form objective sources, and the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what’s happening in the world.”
No comment
Tax Cuts
The NY Times (David Cay Johnston) reminds us that the tax cuts will cost individuals and the country far more than the miniscule benefit they bring the average tax payer in the short run.
The government is basically borrowing $1,000 in your name and then handing you $250 of it," said Robert McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice, a labor-backed research group in Washington. "The net effect is to leave you deeper and deeper in debt." In a report to be released this morning, Citizens for Tax Justice estimates that the 26 million taxpayers on the middle rungs of the income ladder, those making $28,000 to $45,000, are especially hard hit by federal borrowing.
Only the top 1 percent income group comes out ahead, the analysis found.
----Ideology rules, as so-called experts debate the upshot of the cuts.
Both Daniel J. Mitchell, a Heritage tax policy expert, and William G. Gale, a Brookings Institution economist, said that how borrowed money was used was crucial.
Mr. Mitchell said that "if you go into debt to win World War II it is a good thing; if you are going into debt to finance a trip to Las Vegas to blow your pension fund that is a bad purpose."
"The current borrowing is good because we will get long-term investment."
Mr. Gale used the same analogy, but came to a different conclusion. Federal debt "skyrocketed in World War II, but everybody thinks it was for a good reason," he said.
"Now federal debt is rising again and a significant chunk is to finance tax cuts for the very wealthiest families, which in my view is not a good reason."
-R
-Colin Powell, 2/4/01 (via state Department web site, emphasis added).
Economy and the Election:
The Bush Administration is getting nervous about Junior’s prospects. Instead of changing policies, spin and blame are the operative words, how to reframe their policies so as to better sell them, and to blame other forces for their failed policies. Case in point: China is responsible for the 3 million lost jobs!
There has been sporadic references to complaints by US manufacturers that the Chinese currency, the yuan, was undervalued, and not subject to fluctuations as occur normally in the global market. Skipping a mini course in economics, complaints have been that China’s manipulation of its currency results in jobs lost in Japan and the U.S. Some Democrats have joined these complaints, playing into the hands of an Administration needing to shift blame for the sluggish “jobloss” economy. So, prepare for more China bashing… More on this via the Wall Street Journal, at http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106430923383329700,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
Blame the Media (1)
The Governing Council of Iraq, appointed and directed by the U.S., has “decided” to limit the leading Arabic news channels. The accusation? “Encouraging terrorism.” The official statement:
The Governing Council has decided to ban al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya from covering council activities and official press conferences, and to deny their correspondents access to ministries and council buildings for two weeks."
Blame the Media (2)
A Democratic legislator, Rep. Jim Marshall of Georgia, is blaming the media for limiting our chance of success in Iraq. Marshall said that unnecessarily bleak dispatches from Iraq have been the rule since the May 1 moment for faux airman Bush. These dispatches “contrast sharply with reports of hope and progress presented to Congress by Department of Defense representatives -- a real disconnect, Vietnam déja vu.”
What’s Happening, Iraq:
UN Agreement Near? The speech was a bust, playing to the (Slim) domestic audience, amounting to ‘nothing new’ for the attending diplomats. But there are reports, including this one from The Scotsman (Tim Cornwell, (http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=1058702003) that behind the public disagreements is an emerging consensus.
After the closed meeting between Mr Bush and Mr Chirac, a US official said: “They talked about the difference there, but they pledged to try to work together. The French president said he wouldn’t stand in the way, but obviously France would like to try to help.”
That $87 Billion
The Democrats have made clear that they will vote for the $, but want to make points as to what’s being spent in Iraq while needs mount at home.
From today’s Wall Street Journal: Democrats who have dissected the reconstruction plan are highlighting how, in areas such as hospital construction and infrastructure repair, Mr. Bush intends to spend far more per capita in Iraq next year than in the U.S. Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee, for instance, asserted in a report that the Bush plan would spend $255 on electricity generation for every Iraqi, compared with 71 cents on federally funded electricity work in the U.S. http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB106435944774657700,00.html
WMD Update of the updates.
Whither the Kay Report? The report re wmd was due in September, long predicted to be a p.r. effort to make the confused American public that wmd existed and posed an “imminent threat.” As Colin Powell said earlier this month (9/7, Meet the Press), “David Kay is in charge of our effort now, with some 1,500 inspectors and analysts and experts. He will provide an interim report later this month, and I am confident when people see what David Kay puts forward they will see that there was no question that such weapons exist, existed, and so did the programs to develop one.”
But on Monday, Condi Rice backed off. “David Kay is not going to be done with this for quite some time. And I would not count on reports. I suppose there may be interim reports. I don't know when those will be, and I don't know what the public nature of them will be.”
So, the press had better keep asking…
Saudi Arabia Doth Protest…
The Saudis are claiming that the U.S. has stifled their efforts to combat terrorism. Their inveterate ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar (bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz) claimed that the State Department urged Saudi Arabia to go easy on its problem citizens, “telling us we were terrible to these dissidents.” He added that “efforts by Saudi Arabia to track funneling of money to groups with terrorist ties was thwarted to some degree by US financial regulations and privacy safeguards surrounding US financial institutions.” http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_24-9-2003_pg4_4 (Pakistan)
Arnold on the Environment: He won’t debate unless he gets the questions in advance. (What next?) And, he wants us to know that "I want clean air, clean water and a clean environment.”
Perhaps in a real debate someone would point out that the actor drives a Hummer and purportedly spurred the campaign to bring us a civilian version of the Humvee, following his being enamored of one during the Gulf War of ’91.
What’s Happening, Afghanistan: Documentary on Massacre
There is a new documentary, “Afghan Massacre” that chronicles the saga of 3000 or so prisoners who had surrendered at Kunduz. The claim in the movie is that American Special Forces were present for the mass shooting and burial and that the Pentagon then orchestrated the requisite cover-up. The movie was produced amidst threats and beatings of participants and killings of eyewitnesses. More at http://www.acftv.com/archive/article.asp?archive_id=1
9/11: Coverage of the Confession
Editor and Publisher (Seth Porges) reported that Bush’s admission that Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11 was viewed as a major story by some of the media.
”Of America's twelve highest-circulation daily papers, only the L.A. Times, Chicago Tribune, and Dallas Morning News ran anything about it on the front page. In The New York Times, the story was relegated to page 22. USA Today: page 16. The Houston Chronicle: page 3. The San Francisco Chronicle: page 14. The Washington Post: page 18. Newsday: page 41. The New York Daily News: page 14. “
Bush the Reader: According to the AP report, (Scott Lindlaw), “Bush said he insulates himself from the opinions” that seep into news coverage by getting his news form his own aides. He said he scans headlines, but rarely reads news stories. “I appreciate people’s opinions, but I’m more interested in news…and the best way to get the news is form objective sources, and the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what’s happening in the world.”
No comment
Tax Cuts
The NY Times (David Cay Johnston) reminds us that the tax cuts will cost individuals and the country far more than the miniscule benefit they bring the average tax payer in the short run.
The government is basically borrowing $1,000 in your name and then handing you $250 of it," said Robert McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice, a labor-backed research group in Washington. "The net effect is to leave you deeper and deeper in debt." In a report to be released this morning, Citizens for Tax Justice estimates that the 26 million taxpayers on the middle rungs of the income ladder, those making $28,000 to $45,000, are especially hard hit by federal borrowing.
Only the top 1 percent income group comes out ahead, the analysis found.
----Ideology rules, as so-called experts debate the upshot of the cuts.
Both Daniel J. Mitchell, a Heritage tax policy expert, and William G. Gale, a Brookings Institution economist, said that how borrowed money was used was crucial.
Mr. Mitchell said that "if you go into debt to win World War II it is a good thing; if you are going into debt to finance a trip to Las Vegas to blow your pension fund that is a bad purpose."
"The current borrowing is good because we will get long-term investment."
Mr. Gale used the same analogy, but came to a different conclusion. Federal debt "skyrocketed in World War II, but everybody thinks it was for a good reason," he said.
"Now federal debt is rising again and a significant chunk is to finance tax cuts for the very wealthiest families, which in my view is not a good reason."
-R
Monday, September 22, 2003
Amazon.com: Sign of Changing Times:
I don’t tend to patronize, preferring the independents. But, I note that Al Franken’s best seller and Jim Hightower’s latest have been packaged.
Buy Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and... and get Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our Country... at an additional 5% off Amazon.com's everyday low price.
What’s Happening, Afghanistan:
Urban Renewal…of sorts: Aside from the increased targeting of troops, officials and humanitarian workers, (arabtimesonline.com), there is much outrage amongst locals over a Karzai government plan to build high-end residences in central Baghdad. To make way for the handsome structures, police used bulldozers to begin demolishing the modest mud houses of 30-odd families. The UN Human Rights Commission got involved, and Karzai himself condemned the action. This bodes poorly, as Karzai, whose rule is largely limited to the Baghdad city limits, has been widely criticized for the slow pace of reconstruction efforts.
And, aljazeera.net reports that tensions are high along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Three Pakistani soldiers allegedly were captured after crossing the border, and more troops were then sent to the region.
What’s Happening, Iraq: Privatization
A theme seems to be emerging! Widely reported since Sat. evening is Iraq’s Governing Council "deciding" to end most obstacles to foreign investment, offering very low tax rates for corporations and individuals. All industries except for oil, are open to private, foreign investment. One chuckles at the statements of US officials who are "pleased" with the development. Pleased, but hardly surprised, since the "Governing Council" was told by U.S. officials to make this decision.
This wide-open environment allows for "investors" to avoid customary screening by the government, and breaking with custom, profits do not have to be stored for a period of time with an Iraqi institution. We should note that this practice is not followed elsewhere in the Arab world; foreign ownership is usually highly restricted.
Saddam wanting out? Rumors over the weekend spread by the Daily Mirror (UK) of Saddam trying to negotiate his way into Belarus in exchange for info re his bank accounts and about wmd. The U.S. is denying the reports. Supposedly, Saddam "is desperate, trapped and finding fewer and fewer people willing to give him shelter."
Democrats Giving up on pre-war deception? Danny Schechter at mediachannel.org carried a report that the Democrats have decided to "move on", as the wmd/intelligence deception issue has been "eclipsed" by President Bush's request for $87 billion from Congress to continue funding the war there.
"We're past that," said a Congressional aide referring to the intelligence issue. "Those questions were eclipsed by the supplemental request by President Bush for $87 billion" to fund the Iraq war. "Congress, if focusing on asking questions about the $87 billion, what it will be used for and whether it's worth it.
Kennedy Speaks: "This is a failed flawed, bankrupt policy... a fraud that was made up in Texas… my belief is that this money is being shuffled all around to these political leaders in all parts of the world, bribing them to send in troops…’
No quibbles there.
Halliburton’s Iraqi Rates: 60 Minutes carried a report that Halliburton is charging $50,000 per day for a five man team.
Support Our Troops (cont.) George McEvoy from the Palm Beach Post (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/auto/epaper/editions/saturday/opinion) reports that …senior Republicans on the House Veterans Affairs Committee were joining with the Democrats in an attempt to keep the Bush administration from taking benefits away from disabled veterans.
Under the Bush plan, the Department of Veterans Affairs would disqualify about 1.5 million veterans, two-thirds of those now in the VA disability program.
Recruitment: Monday’s NY Times (Eric Schmitt) reassures us that the "slumping American economy has proved to be a boon to the Army’s efforts to recruit" the numbers required. Thank goodness! They’re paying bonuses of "as much as $20,000" for intelligence analysts.
Hmmm.
Election Reform:
The White House has been holding up disbursement of the $3.9 billion that had been appropriated in the “Help America Vote Act”. An intention was to end the use of punch-card ballots in the 39 states that used them in the 2000 election, but thus far only 6 have made the move. The LA Times (Faye Fiore, Nick Anderson) quotes the nonpartisan Election Center director, R. Doug Lewis,
"We promised the voters we would do something about this. They passed legislation to fix it. But because they have not yet funded what they promised, we have high expectations and low ability to deliver."
We should note that the media and the Democratic candidates have been rather quiet on the issue.
Ed. Reform: Good opinion piece in the Washington Post by a retired Iowa elementary principal (Jerry Parks) which captures the Bush ‘No Child Left Behind’ nonsense. "No Illusion Left Behind" describes how unrealistic expectations are intended to set-up so many schools to be "failures" that privatizing is seen as the only solution. This is consistent with the People for The American Way study, "Voucher Veneer: The Deeper Agenda to Privatize Public Education," that shows how privatization has been the agenda behind the Bush policy, seeking for-profit management companies, religious organizations and home schools to replace our public schools.
-R
I don’t tend to patronize, preferring the independents. But, I note that Al Franken’s best seller and Jim Hightower’s latest have been packaged.
Buy Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and... and get Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our Country... at an additional 5% off Amazon.com's everyday low price.
What’s Happening, Afghanistan:
Urban Renewal…of sorts: Aside from the increased targeting of troops, officials and humanitarian workers, (arabtimesonline.com), there is much outrage amongst locals over a Karzai government plan to build high-end residences in central Baghdad. To make way for the handsome structures, police used bulldozers to begin demolishing the modest mud houses of 30-odd families. The UN Human Rights Commission got involved, and Karzai himself condemned the action. This bodes poorly, as Karzai, whose rule is largely limited to the Baghdad city limits, has been widely criticized for the slow pace of reconstruction efforts.
And, aljazeera.net reports that tensions are high along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Three Pakistani soldiers allegedly were captured after crossing the border, and more troops were then sent to the region.
What’s Happening, Iraq: Privatization
A theme seems to be emerging! Widely reported since Sat. evening is Iraq’s Governing Council "deciding" to end most obstacles to foreign investment, offering very low tax rates for corporations and individuals. All industries except for oil, are open to private, foreign investment. One chuckles at the statements of US officials who are "pleased" with the development. Pleased, but hardly surprised, since the "Governing Council" was told by U.S. officials to make this decision.
This wide-open environment allows for "investors" to avoid customary screening by the government, and breaking with custom, profits do not have to be stored for a period of time with an Iraqi institution. We should note that this practice is not followed elsewhere in the Arab world; foreign ownership is usually highly restricted.
Saddam wanting out? Rumors over the weekend spread by the Daily Mirror (UK) of Saddam trying to negotiate his way into Belarus in exchange for info re his bank accounts and about wmd. The U.S. is denying the reports. Supposedly, Saddam "is desperate, trapped and finding fewer and fewer people willing to give him shelter."
Democrats Giving up on pre-war deception? Danny Schechter at mediachannel.org carried a report that the Democrats have decided to "move on", as the wmd/intelligence deception issue has been "eclipsed" by President Bush's request for $87 billion from Congress to continue funding the war there.
"We're past that," said a Congressional aide referring to the intelligence issue. "Those questions were eclipsed by the supplemental request by President Bush for $87 billion" to fund the Iraq war. "Congress, if focusing on asking questions about the $87 billion, what it will be used for and whether it's worth it.
Kennedy Speaks: "This is a failed flawed, bankrupt policy... a fraud that was made up in Texas… my belief is that this money is being shuffled all around to these political leaders in all parts of the world, bribing them to send in troops…’
No quibbles there.
Halliburton’s Iraqi Rates: 60 Minutes carried a report that Halliburton is charging $50,000 per day for a five man team.
Support Our Troops (cont.) George McEvoy from the Palm Beach Post (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/auto/epaper/editions/saturday/opinion) reports that …senior Republicans on the House Veterans Affairs Committee were joining with the Democrats in an attempt to keep the Bush administration from taking benefits away from disabled veterans.
Under the Bush plan, the Department of Veterans Affairs would disqualify about 1.5 million veterans, two-thirds of those now in the VA disability program.
Recruitment: Monday’s NY Times (Eric Schmitt) reassures us that the "slumping American economy has proved to be a boon to the Army’s efforts to recruit" the numbers required. Thank goodness! They’re paying bonuses of "as much as $20,000" for intelligence analysts.
Hmmm.
Election Reform:
The White House has been holding up disbursement of the $3.9 billion that had been appropriated in the “Help America Vote Act”. An intention was to end the use of punch-card ballots in the 39 states that used them in the 2000 election, but thus far only 6 have made the move. The LA Times (Faye Fiore, Nick Anderson) quotes the nonpartisan Election Center director, R. Doug Lewis,
"We promised the voters we would do something about this. They passed legislation to fix it. But because they have not yet funded what they promised, we have high expectations and low ability to deliver."
We should note that the media and the Democratic candidates have been rather quiet on the issue.
Ed. Reform: Good opinion piece in the Washington Post by a retired Iowa elementary principal (Jerry Parks) which captures the Bush ‘No Child Left Behind’ nonsense. "No Illusion Left Behind" describes how unrealistic expectations are intended to set-up so many schools to be "failures" that privatizing is seen as the only solution. This is consistent with the People for The American Way study, "Voucher Veneer: The Deeper Agenda to Privatize Public Education," that shows how privatization has been the agenda behind the Bush policy, seeking for-profit management companies, religious organizations and home schools to replace our public schools.
-R
