Friday, November 07, 2003
No More Questions!
Fearing more awkward situations, the White House sent out an email to Democratic members of the Appropriations committees, saying that in view of the plethora of requests for information as to how taxpayer monies are spent, they would no longer respond to such requests. Note: This is hardly business as usual.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9708-2003Nov6.html
Environment: Still More
(1) Rule Drafted That Would Dilute the Clean Water Act
More favors to the developers-supporters. Here they’re hoping to open more streams and wetlands to development, principally in California and other western regions that have long had water problems. Via the LA Times (Elizabeth Shogren)
Bush administration officials have drafted a rule that would significantly narrow the scope of the Clean Water Act, stripping many wetlands and streams of federal pollution controls and making them available to being filled for commercial development.
The rule, spelled out in an internal document provided to The Times by a senior government official, says that Clean Water Act protection would no longer be provided to "ephemeral washes or streams" that do not have groundwater as a source. Streams that flow for less than six months a year would also lose protection, as would many wetlands...
(2) Thursday’s NY Times lead story focused on changes in EPA enforcement efforts. According to the front page story (Christopher Drew, Richard A. Oppel, Jr.) investigators will drop 50 cases of violations of the Clean Water Act, since the newer less stringent rules would supersede the stricter ones that the cases were built on.
The lawyers said the change grew out of a recommendation by Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, which urged the government two years ago to study industry complaints about its enforcement actions. The Bush administration has said its goal is to ensure cost-effective improvements to air quality.
Congressional critics, environmental groups and officials in some Northeast states described the change as a major victory for the utility industry and a defeat for environmentalists, who had viewed the cases as the best way to require the companies to install billions of dollars of new pollution controls.
Representatives of the utility industry have been among President Bush's biggest campaign donors, and a change in the enforcement policies has been a top priority of the industry's lobbyists.
Follow-up: Dean:
His “gaffe” was ”well” covered , infinitely more ink than, for example (and there are many) when Bush lied about “Kenny Boy” Lay being a Richards supporter in the’94 election, and that he hardly knew him.
With New Hampshire 3 months away, he’s looking solid, if not inevitable. The polls have held up, the money’s rolling in and now the SEIU endorsement and a likely one coming from AFSCME which severely damage the Gephardt hopes. With Lieberman and Kerry fading and Clark not getting ‘traction’, more talk of a dead-locked convention may emerge as the only way to stop Dean.
Krugman on Dean Gaffe: How overdone the reaction has been. Perspective from Mr. Krugman.
The fact that so many poor and lower middle class white southerners support a president (and party) whose economic policies demonstrably benefit the already affluent at their expense can only be explained by the Republicans' coded (and sometimes overt) appeals to racism and intolerance. That's where the rage belongs…
Mr. Dean wasn't suggesting that his party adopt the G.O.P. strategy of coded racial signals, and by and large African-Americans — my wife included — understand that. What he meant by his flag remark was that Democrats must make the case to working Americans of all colors that the right's elitist agenda isn't in their interest. And he's right.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/07/opinion/07KRUG.html
Follow-up: The Reagan Program
Effective political work by the Right. Keep in mind that the Reagan Legacy Project and other 'activists' are not satisfied with the airport and a federal building being named for the index-card reading ex-President. They are still working on replacing Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill, putting a monument on the Washington Mall, and installing Reagan's bust on Mount Rushmore. http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/dailynews/reagan_010330.html
Jobs:
“Good news”, that the official rate is now 6.0%. Some new jobs were created in the month; we are averaging 125,500 per month, for the last two months. We need between 170,000 and 200,000 per month to keep up with population growth. Yet, the Administration and the media are crowing about the 'surprising' job news.
War was Unnecessary, (encore une fois)
The flurry of activity in February-March revealed on the front pages yesterday further confirms that the Administration was determined to go to war over the “weapons of mass destruction.” Saddam had signaled that he no wmd, that we could endlessly comb the country for them, etc., yet there is no evidence that these signals were even treated seriously. Of course the White House now dismisses them with the general statement that "The United States exhausted every legitimate and credible opportunity to resolve this peacefully." The cautious New York Times editorialized: Administration supporters were fond of saying at the time that there were things Bush officials knew but could not share with the public. Little did we imagine that among those things was an offer that might have provided a way to avoid the war.
An Assessment by The Economist
The very Establishment magazine did an extensive summary of the Bush economic program. It ain’t pretty.
Although Team Bush wants a reformed tax code, aimed at consumption rather than income, their strategy of tax reform via tax cuts will not produce a clean reform. Many of the subsidies and loopholes of the current system will remain. The result will be a narrower tax base, full of distortions, which shifts the burden of taxation towards poorer Americans…
At some point, however, both Mr Bush and the rest of Washington will be forced to leave this fiscal Neverland. When will that be? Many look to the late 1980s and early 1990s as a model. Then, years of persistent fiscal deficits persuaded Americans that belt-tightening was necessary. Budget rules were introduced, spending was cut and taxes were raised. It was politically painful (particularly for George Bush senior, who thereby lost the 1992 election). But the tide of red ink was turned.
This time the turnaround will be much tougher. There will be no “peace dividend” from the end of the cold war (indeed, the pressure on military spending may continue to increase). America is unlikely to see another stockmarket bubble, with its surge in tax revenues. As baby-boomers retire, the pressure from entitlement spending will be more acute. Set against this background, the path back to a sustainable fiscal policy will be extremely painful, even without any dramatic fiscal crisis. Long after Dubya is back on his ranch, Americans will be trying to recover from the mess he created. http://www.economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2189237
Demonstration:
The Guardian reports that 100,000 Israelis staged a demonstration to denounce the Occupation and call for peace. It marked the eighth anniversary of the Yitzhak Rabin assassination.
Chutzpah:
The Democrats were vowing to expose what it said were the Bush administration's "misleading, if not flagrantly dishonest, methods and motives" in making the case for war.
Angry Republicans accused the Democratic side of playing politics.
"It is a disgusting possibility that members of the Senate would actually try to politicize intelligence, especially at a time of war, even apparently reaching conclusions before investigations have been performed," said Republican Sen. John Kyl of Arizona. http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/11/05/intelligence.flap/index.html
-R
Fearing more awkward situations, the White House sent out an email to Democratic members of the Appropriations committees, saying that in view of the plethora of requests for information as to how taxpayer monies are spent, they would no longer respond to such requests. Note: This is hardly business as usual.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9708-2003Nov6.html
Environment: Still More
(1) Rule Drafted That Would Dilute the Clean Water Act
More favors to the developers-supporters. Here they’re hoping to open more streams and wetlands to development, principally in California and other western regions that have long had water problems. Via the LA Times (Elizabeth Shogren)
Bush administration officials have drafted a rule that would significantly narrow the scope of the Clean Water Act, stripping many wetlands and streams of federal pollution controls and making them available to being filled for commercial development.
The rule, spelled out in an internal document provided to The Times by a senior government official, says that Clean Water Act protection would no longer be provided to "ephemeral washes or streams" that do not have groundwater as a source. Streams that flow for less than six months a year would also lose protection, as would many wetlands...
(2) Thursday’s NY Times lead story focused on changes in EPA enforcement efforts. According to the front page story (Christopher Drew, Richard A. Oppel, Jr.) investigators will drop 50 cases of violations of the Clean Water Act, since the newer less stringent rules would supersede the stricter ones that the cases were built on.
The lawyers said the change grew out of a recommendation by Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, which urged the government two years ago to study industry complaints about its enforcement actions. The Bush administration has said its goal is to ensure cost-effective improvements to air quality.
Congressional critics, environmental groups and officials in some Northeast states described the change as a major victory for the utility industry and a defeat for environmentalists, who had viewed the cases as the best way to require the companies to install billions of dollars of new pollution controls.
Representatives of the utility industry have been among President Bush's biggest campaign donors, and a change in the enforcement policies has been a top priority of the industry's lobbyists.
Follow-up: Dean:
His “gaffe” was ”well” covered , infinitely more ink than, for example (and there are many) when Bush lied about “Kenny Boy” Lay being a Richards supporter in the’94 election, and that he hardly knew him.
With New Hampshire 3 months away, he’s looking solid, if not inevitable. The polls have held up, the money’s rolling in and now the SEIU endorsement and a likely one coming from AFSCME which severely damage the Gephardt hopes. With Lieberman and Kerry fading and Clark not getting ‘traction’, more talk of a dead-locked convention may emerge as the only way to stop Dean.
Krugman on Dean Gaffe: How overdone the reaction has been. Perspective from Mr. Krugman.
The fact that so many poor and lower middle class white southerners support a president (and party) whose economic policies demonstrably benefit the already affluent at their expense can only be explained by the Republicans' coded (and sometimes overt) appeals to racism and intolerance. That's where the rage belongs…
Mr. Dean wasn't suggesting that his party adopt the G.O.P. strategy of coded racial signals, and by and large African-Americans — my wife included — understand that. What he meant by his flag remark was that Democrats must make the case to working Americans of all colors that the right's elitist agenda isn't in their interest. And he's right.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/07/opinion/07KRUG.html
Follow-up: The Reagan Program
Effective political work by the Right. Keep in mind that the Reagan Legacy Project and other 'activists' are not satisfied with the airport and a federal building being named for the index-card reading ex-President. They are still working on replacing Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill, putting a monument on the Washington Mall, and installing Reagan's bust on Mount Rushmore. http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/dailynews/reagan_010330.html
Jobs:
“Good news”, that the official rate is now 6.0%. Some new jobs were created in the month; we are averaging 125,500 per month, for the last two months. We need between 170,000 and 200,000 per month to keep up with population growth. Yet, the Administration and the media are crowing about the 'surprising' job news.
War was Unnecessary, (encore une fois)
The flurry of activity in February-March revealed on the front pages yesterday further confirms that the Administration was determined to go to war over the “weapons of mass destruction.” Saddam had signaled that he no wmd, that we could endlessly comb the country for them, etc., yet there is no evidence that these signals were even treated seriously. Of course the White House now dismisses them with the general statement that "The United States exhausted every legitimate and credible opportunity to resolve this peacefully." The cautious New York Times editorialized: Administration supporters were fond of saying at the time that there were things Bush officials knew but could not share with the public. Little did we imagine that among those things was an offer that might have provided a way to avoid the war.
An Assessment by The Economist
The very Establishment magazine did an extensive summary of the Bush economic program. It ain’t pretty.
Although Team Bush wants a reformed tax code, aimed at consumption rather than income, their strategy of tax reform via tax cuts will not produce a clean reform. Many of the subsidies and loopholes of the current system will remain. The result will be a narrower tax base, full of distortions, which shifts the burden of taxation towards poorer Americans…
At some point, however, both Mr Bush and the rest of Washington will be forced to leave this fiscal Neverland. When will that be? Many look to the late 1980s and early 1990s as a model. Then, years of persistent fiscal deficits persuaded Americans that belt-tightening was necessary. Budget rules were introduced, spending was cut and taxes were raised. It was politically painful (particularly for George Bush senior, who thereby lost the 1992 election). But the tide of red ink was turned.
This time the turnaround will be much tougher. There will be no “peace dividend” from the end of the cold war (indeed, the pressure on military spending may continue to increase). America is unlikely to see another stockmarket bubble, with its surge in tax revenues. As baby-boomers retire, the pressure from entitlement spending will be more acute. Set against this background, the path back to a sustainable fiscal policy will be extremely painful, even without any dramatic fiscal crisis. Long after Dubya is back on his ranch, Americans will be trying to recover from the mess he created. http://www.economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2189237
Demonstration:
The Guardian reports that 100,000 Israelis staged a demonstration to denounce the Occupation and call for peace. It marked the eighth anniversary of the Yitzhak Rabin assassination.
Chutzpah:
The Democrats were vowing to expose what it said were the Bush administration's "misleading, if not flagrantly dishonest, methods and motives" in making the case for war.
Angry Republicans accused the Democratic side of playing politics.
"It is a disgusting possibility that members of the Senate would actually try to politicize intelligence, especially at a time of war, even apparently reaching conclusions before investigations have been performed," said Republican Sen. John Kyl of Arizona. http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/11/05/intelligence.flap/index.html
-R
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Vietnam Redeux:
The major media have generally avoided the story of the massacres perpetrated in Vietnam that have been unmasked by The Blade, a small independent newspaper in Toledo, Ohio. My Lai had always been cited as an exception, yet it turns out the crimes committed in this case overlapped with My Lai and were protracted. Seymour Hersh has a fine summary in the current (11/10) New Yorker.
In early 1971, the Blade wrote, these events became known to Army investigators, who, over a four-and-a-half-year period, conducted an inquiry that eventually concluded that eighteen Tiger Force members had participated in as many as twenty war crimes. It was the longest war-crimes investigation of the Vietnam War. But no one was charged, and in 1975 the investigation was quietly shut down. By then, six suspects had been allowed to resign from the Army, which removed them from military jurisdiction. The only soldier to be officially punished was a sergeant who had triggered the investigation by reporting that a member of the Tiger Force had decapitated an infant. (He was reprimanded for stating that he had witnessed the incident when in fact he had learned of it from others.) Two former Tiger Force members told the Blade that they had been encouraged by Army investigators not to say anything about what had occurred; in addition, investigators failed to pursue leads and made no effort to interview eyewitnesses in South Vietnam...
There is, of course, a hesitancy in time of war—and, in particular, during an increasingly unpopular war against an entrenched guerrilla enemy—to publish stories that could be interpreted as undermining military morale. And news organizations instinctively debunk scoops from their competitors, especially those in smaller markets. It may be that others in the media are planning to do their own Tiger Force investigations. Let’s hope so. Terrible things always happen in war, and the responsibility of the press is to do exactly what the Blade has done—to find, verify, and publish the truth
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?031110ta_talk_hersh
In the same issue, Jane Kramer has a full portrait of Silvio Berlusconi’s “monopoly on Italy”. The media magnate-premier rules with minimalist checks, as he owns or intimidates the media that should be policing him. We know well what happens when a ruler, be it of a country or a social service agency, is unaccountable. No link available; sorry.
Media Sounds: The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz, no flaming progressive he, has asked a most basic question, “When the Bushies say they want the bad news put in perspective, do they really mean they don't want it reported at all?”
I ask this because of a piece out of Baghdad by veteran New York Times foreign correspondent Raymond Bonner. He reflects the anger that some U.S. officials are feeling toward the Fourth Estate, but also cites instances in which they try to suppress, downplay or minimize bad news.
In other words, even as the president complains about the "filter" of the national media, his team in Iraq seems to be doing some filtering of its own.
That's how a credibility gap takes root. If American officials want journalists to believe their claims of progress, they need to own up to unfortunate developments as well. And isn't it telling that the only time Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld described Iraq as a "long hard slog," it was in a private memo that was leaked?
http://64.4.16.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=52d392dc68250f18322c89c452ccce1b&lat=1067964163&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ewashingtonpost%2ecom%2fwp%2ddyn%2farticles%2fA61774%2d2003Nov4%2ehtml
Senator Byrd Speaks:
Before us today is a massive $87 billion supplemental appropriations package that commits this nation to a long and costly occupation and reconstruction of Iraq, and yet the collective wisdom of the House and Senate appropriations conference that produced it was little more than a SHADOW PLAY, choreographed to stifle dissent and rubber stamp the President's request.
Perhaps this take-no-prisoners approach is how the President and his advisers define victory, but I fear they are fixated on the muscle of the politics instead of the wisdom of the policy. The fact of the matter is, when it comes to policy, the Iraq supplemental is a monument to failure.
Rumor Central:
I normally don’t circulate such, but this comes via Danny Schechter, a marvelous resource at mediachannel.org. The former "News Dissector" at WBCN in Boston for many years, circulates info he received from "Peacewatchers", who are located at the U.S. bases in Scotland. The info:
Since Saturday, people in the Highlands of Scotland have been witnessing large movements of US warplanes overhead. Experienced observers say the large numbers are reminiscent of those that preceded the bombing of Iraq in 1998 and military strikes on Libya in the1980's as well as the first Gulf War. At the weekend warplanes were flying over at a rate of roughly one every 15 minutes. As well as watching them from the ground the plane spotters have also been able to overhear pilots talking by listening to their radio frequencies.
At this rate some 288 warplanes would have passed over Scotland in three days.
It is thought that the planes have flown on a route from the US over the north pole to bases in Europe and the Mediterranean. The size and scale of the movement suggests that the US may be preparing to strike at a country in the Middle East in the next week to ten days.
Polls: Always ambivalent, I still report:
Bush's poll ratings on Iraq are now below 50 per cent for the first time. An ABC-Washington Post poll taken on Saturday, before the attack on the helicopter, gave him a 47 per cent approval figure compared with 51 per cent disapproval.
Yet, his overall approval ratings as president stood at 56 per cent in favor and 42 per cent against.
More Re-writing at the White House
I’ve observed the cleaning up of Bush’s words on the official White House transcripts. This has helped him appear to be almost articulate. But, they go further at the White House. I had noted when he had visited Australia his curious statement, that “We see a China that is stable and prosperous, a nation that respects the peace of its neighbors and works to secure the freedom of its own people.” But now the White House site claims that he said, “We seek a China that is stable…” Ethics, schmethics…
Jobs and Economic Recovery
After all the talk of the 7.2% growth in the “third quarter”, more disturbing news emerges that questions whether this “growth” means we will continue to have a jobloss so-called recovery. The official figures will be released Thursday morning, but for now, an outplacement firm reported that in October U.S. companies more than doubled the job cuts of September. The Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. announced that in October, companies announced plans to eliminate 171,874 positions, compared with 76,506 jobs in September.
Rumsfeld’s Words: Perspective
Recall when the Secretary minimized the dangers to our soldiers, comparing occupied Baghdad favorably to Washington D.C. and its frightening murder rate. Well, let’s compare.
Last year, D.C. had 262 murders. As of Wednesday, 264 “coalition” soldiers have been killed in Iraq, i.e. since Bush’s notorious “Mission Accomplished” speech on May 1.
The Draft: It sounds like the Administration has floated this, seeking to test the waters. Reports from the Selective Service Administration and Defense Department web sites note that there is a need to recruit volunteers to fill the rash of vacancies on local draft boards. While I’m hardly thrilled with the idea- and re full disclosure I have a 23 year old son- bringing the Draft back certainly would rally more opposition to the Administration…which is why they wouldn’t do it, at least before the election…
What’s Happening, Iraq:
The Turks are having second and third thoughts about sending troops. Sounds like it won’t happen. This will further pressure the U.S. to send more reservists in early 2004. The frantic training of Iraqi police and the ambivalent flirting with re-hiring vets of the old Iraqi army seem unlikely to forestall a call-up.
Email and activism
It’s been a grand help. Thought I’d mention, however, the (rare) story of someone being targeted…. in New Zealand! An Auckland peace activist, Bruce Hubbard, was charged with “misuse of a telephone” after he sent an email to the US Embassy objecting to the Iraq war.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Hubbard said “he had been charged under the Telecommunications Act and had been told by police they would seize information from his computer under the Counter Terrorism Act”.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/31/1067233349746.html
Reagan Program Censored/Cancelled:
So, CBS cancelled its showing of the program on the Reagans, one that included noting Nancy’s well-known control, Reagan’s obliviousness and occasional callousness. The Right intervened, claiming that the portrayal played too loose with the facts. Yet, it was OK when Showtime showed the travesty re September 11 where Bush was pictured to be a totally in-charge, articulate leader.
Congressman John Dingall (D-MI) had sent his ideas for the program to CBS so as to achieve balance.
I share the concerns expressed by others that it may not present an accurate depiction of the Reagan administration and America during the 1980s. I trust that CBS will not be a party to a distorted presentation of American history, and that the mini-series will present a fair and balanced portrayal of the Reagans, the 1980s and their legacy.
As someone who served with President Reagan, and in the interest of historical accuracy, please allow me to share with you some of my recollections of the Reagan years that I hope will make it into the final cut of the mini-series: $640 Pentagon toilets seats; ketchup as a vegetable; union busting; firing striking air traffic controllers; Iran-Contra; selling arms to terrorist nations; trading arms for hostages; retreating from terrorists in Beirut; lying to Congress; financing an illegal war in Nicaragua; visiting Bitburg cemetery; a cozy relationship with Saddam Hussein; shredding documents; Ed Meese; Fawn Hall; Oliver North; James Watt; apartheid apologia; the savings and loan scandal; voodoo economics; record budget deficits; double digit unemployment; farm bankruptcies; trade deficits; astrologers in the White House; Star Wars; and influence peddling.
-R
The major media have generally avoided the story of the massacres perpetrated in Vietnam that have been unmasked by The Blade, a small independent newspaper in Toledo, Ohio. My Lai had always been cited as an exception, yet it turns out the crimes committed in this case overlapped with My Lai and were protracted. Seymour Hersh has a fine summary in the current (11/10) New Yorker.
In early 1971, the Blade wrote, these events became known to Army investigators, who, over a four-and-a-half-year period, conducted an inquiry that eventually concluded that eighteen Tiger Force members had participated in as many as twenty war crimes. It was the longest war-crimes investigation of the Vietnam War. But no one was charged, and in 1975 the investigation was quietly shut down. By then, six suspects had been allowed to resign from the Army, which removed them from military jurisdiction. The only soldier to be officially punished was a sergeant who had triggered the investigation by reporting that a member of the Tiger Force had decapitated an infant. (He was reprimanded for stating that he had witnessed the incident when in fact he had learned of it from others.) Two former Tiger Force members told the Blade that they had been encouraged by Army investigators not to say anything about what had occurred; in addition, investigators failed to pursue leads and made no effort to interview eyewitnesses in South Vietnam...
There is, of course, a hesitancy in time of war—and, in particular, during an increasingly unpopular war against an entrenched guerrilla enemy—to publish stories that could be interpreted as undermining military morale. And news organizations instinctively debunk scoops from their competitors, especially those in smaller markets. It may be that others in the media are planning to do their own Tiger Force investigations. Let’s hope so. Terrible things always happen in war, and the responsibility of the press is to do exactly what the Blade has done—to find, verify, and publish the truth
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?031110ta_talk_hersh
In the same issue, Jane Kramer has a full portrait of Silvio Berlusconi’s “monopoly on Italy”. The media magnate-premier rules with minimalist checks, as he owns or intimidates the media that should be policing him. We know well what happens when a ruler, be it of a country or a social service agency, is unaccountable. No link available; sorry.
Media Sounds: The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz, no flaming progressive he, has asked a most basic question, “When the Bushies say they want the bad news put in perspective, do they really mean they don't want it reported at all?”
I ask this because of a piece out of Baghdad by veteran New York Times foreign correspondent Raymond Bonner. He reflects the anger that some U.S. officials are feeling toward the Fourth Estate, but also cites instances in which they try to suppress, downplay or minimize bad news.
In other words, even as the president complains about the "filter" of the national media, his team in Iraq seems to be doing some filtering of its own.
That's how a credibility gap takes root. If American officials want journalists to believe their claims of progress, they need to own up to unfortunate developments as well. And isn't it telling that the only time Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld described Iraq as a "long hard slog," it was in a private memo that was leaked?
http://64.4.16.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=52d392dc68250f18322c89c452ccce1b&lat=1067964163&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ewashingtonpost%2ecom%2fwp%2ddyn%2farticles%2fA61774%2d2003Nov4%2ehtml
Senator Byrd Speaks:
Before us today is a massive $87 billion supplemental appropriations package that commits this nation to a long and costly occupation and reconstruction of Iraq, and yet the collective wisdom of the House and Senate appropriations conference that produced it was little more than a SHADOW PLAY, choreographed to stifle dissent and rubber stamp the President's request.
Perhaps this take-no-prisoners approach is how the President and his advisers define victory, but I fear they are fixated on the muscle of the politics instead of the wisdom of the policy. The fact of the matter is, when it comes to policy, the Iraq supplemental is a monument to failure.
Rumor Central:
I normally don’t circulate such, but this comes via Danny Schechter, a marvelous resource at mediachannel.org. The former "News Dissector" at WBCN in Boston for many years, circulates info he received from "Peacewatchers", who are located at the U.S. bases in Scotland. The info:
Since Saturday, people in the Highlands of Scotland have been witnessing large movements of US warplanes overhead. Experienced observers say the large numbers are reminiscent of those that preceded the bombing of Iraq in 1998 and military strikes on Libya in the1980's as well as the first Gulf War. At the weekend warplanes were flying over at a rate of roughly one every 15 minutes. As well as watching them from the ground the plane spotters have also been able to overhear pilots talking by listening to their radio frequencies.
At this rate some 288 warplanes would have passed over Scotland in three days.
It is thought that the planes have flown on a route from the US over the north pole to bases in Europe and the Mediterranean. The size and scale of the movement suggests that the US may be preparing to strike at a country in the Middle East in the next week to ten days.
Polls: Always ambivalent, I still report:
Bush's poll ratings on Iraq are now below 50 per cent for the first time. An ABC-Washington Post poll taken on Saturday, before the attack on the helicopter, gave him a 47 per cent approval figure compared with 51 per cent disapproval.
Yet, his overall approval ratings as president stood at 56 per cent in favor and 42 per cent against.
More Re-writing at the White House
I’ve observed the cleaning up of Bush’s words on the official White House transcripts. This has helped him appear to be almost articulate. But, they go further at the White House. I had noted when he had visited Australia his curious statement, that “We see a China that is stable and prosperous, a nation that respects the peace of its neighbors and works to secure the freedom of its own people.” But now the White House site claims that he said, “We seek a China that is stable…” Ethics, schmethics…
Jobs and Economic Recovery
After all the talk of the 7.2% growth in the “third quarter”, more disturbing news emerges that questions whether this “growth” means we will continue to have a jobloss so-called recovery. The official figures will be released Thursday morning, but for now, an outplacement firm reported that in October U.S. companies more than doubled the job cuts of September. The Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. announced that in October, companies announced plans to eliminate 171,874 positions, compared with 76,506 jobs in September.
Rumsfeld’s Words: Perspective
Recall when the Secretary minimized the dangers to our soldiers, comparing occupied Baghdad favorably to Washington D.C. and its frightening murder rate. Well, let’s compare.
Last year, D.C. had 262 murders. As of Wednesday, 264 “coalition” soldiers have been killed in Iraq, i.e. since Bush’s notorious “Mission Accomplished” speech on May 1.
The Draft: It sounds like the Administration has floated this, seeking to test the waters. Reports from the Selective Service Administration and Defense Department web sites note that there is a need to recruit volunteers to fill the rash of vacancies on local draft boards. While I’m hardly thrilled with the idea- and re full disclosure I have a 23 year old son- bringing the Draft back certainly would rally more opposition to the Administration…which is why they wouldn’t do it, at least before the election…
What’s Happening, Iraq:
The Turks are having second and third thoughts about sending troops. Sounds like it won’t happen. This will further pressure the U.S. to send more reservists in early 2004. The frantic training of Iraqi police and the ambivalent flirting with re-hiring vets of the old Iraqi army seem unlikely to forestall a call-up.
Email and activism
It’s been a grand help. Thought I’d mention, however, the (rare) story of someone being targeted…. in New Zealand! An Auckland peace activist, Bruce Hubbard, was charged with “misuse of a telephone” after he sent an email to the US Embassy objecting to the Iraq war.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Hubbard said “he had been charged under the Telecommunications Act and had been told by police they would seize information from his computer under the Counter Terrorism Act”.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/31/1067233349746.html
Reagan Program Censored/Cancelled:
So, CBS cancelled its showing of the program on the Reagans, one that included noting Nancy’s well-known control, Reagan’s obliviousness and occasional callousness. The Right intervened, claiming that the portrayal played too loose with the facts. Yet, it was OK when Showtime showed the travesty re September 11 where Bush was pictured to be a totally in-charge, articulate leader.
Congressman John Dingall (D-MI) had sent his ideas for the program to CBS so as to achieve balance.
I share the concerns expressed by others that it may not present an accurate depiction of the Reagan administration and America during the 1980s. I trust that CBS will not be a party to a distorted presentation of American history, and that the mini-series will present a fair and balanced portrayal of the Reagans, the 1980s and their legacy.
As someone who served with President Reagan, and in the interest of historical accuracy, please allow me to share with you some of my recollections of the Reagan years that I hope will make it into the final cut of the mini-series: $640 Pentagon toilets seats; ketchup as a vegetable; union busting; firing striking air traffic controllers; Iran-Contra; selling arms to terrorist nations; trading arms for hostages; retreating from terrorists in Beirut; lying to Congress; financing an illegal war in Nicaragua; visiting Bitburg cemetery; a cozy relationship with Saddam Hussein; shredding documents; Ed Meese; Fawn Hall; Oliver North; James Watt; apartheid apologia; the savings and loan scandal; voodoo economics; record budget deficits; double digit unemployment; farm bankruptcies; trade deficits; astrologers in the White House; Star Wars; and influence peddling.
-R
Monday, November 03, 2003
I firmly believed we should not march into Baghdad ...To occupy Iraq would instantly shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us and make a broken tyrant, into a latter-day Arab hero. ...assigning young soldiers to a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning them to fight in what would be an unwinnable urban guerrilla war.- Bush, Sr., in A World Transformed
Resolve vs Correcting a Mistake: The Bush people are on message, that we must show resolve and stick with the policy. The media then follow, with headlines such as the NY Times, “Will Resolve Falter?” This is a particularly odious following of the Administration’s framing of the news. Instead, we would hope, ‘Time to Admit Misjudgments?” would be the appropriate question.
There’s also much talk of not “running,” but clearly the timetable is being rapidly speeded up so that our troops are less likely to be in future helicopters.
Wall Street “irregularities”
This has been an outrageous betrayal of the public trust by that agency; The regulators who were supposed to have been watching this industry were asleep at the switch. And I'm going to pull that switch.- Eliot Spitzer, NY Attorney General re the Security Exchange Commission
Spitzer's doing his part. And, Deborah Solomon and Susanne Craig noted in their Wall Street Journal piece,
The Securities and Exchange Commission, in a confidential report, blasted the New York Stock Exchange for failing to police its elite floor-trading firms and for ignoring blatant violations in which investors were shortchanged by millions of dollars in trades involving more than two billion shares over the past three years.
The 40-page report, dated Oct. 10 and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, is a severe rebuke of both the floor-trading firms, known as "specialists," and the self-regulatory structure that monitors the Big Board floor. It paints a picture of a floor-trading system riddled with abuses, with firms routinely placing their own trades ahead of those by customers -- and an in-house regulator either ill-equipped or too worried about increasing its workload to care. And it concludes that when the NYSE does act on investor abuses, the exchange often does little more than admonish the specialists in a letter or slap them on the wrist with a light fine….
The findings are likely to bolster those who argue that the NYSE's regulatory arm should be taken out from under the exchange's control.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB10678146664412100-search,00.html?collection=wsjie%2F30day&vql_string=Deborah+Solomon+%3Cin%3E%28article%2Dbody%29
Commentary from William Pfaff. The International Herald Tribune’s fixture is usually to the point. This one is no exception.
...what actually has happened during the past nine months is something Americans have yet to grasp, and that others have yet to say out loud: People outside the United States have stopped believing the American story.
They don't think terrorism is an Evil force the United States is going to defeat. They say instead that terrorism is a way people wage war when they don't have F-16's or armored divisions.
They say that Chechens, Moros, Taliban, Colombian insurgents, Palestinian bombers and Iraqi enemies of the U.S. occupation do not really make up a single global phenomenon that the world must mobilize to defeat.
They say that, actually, they had never really believed the American story in the first place. They had listened to it because Washington said it, and they respected Washington. Now they don't. http://warincontext.org/2003_10_26_archive.html
Still another voice re “no WMD”
Former deputy prime minister and media fixture Tariq Aziz is the latest to be quoted as saying that WMD didn’t exist. So, we have another voice for ‘bad intentions’, but no threat. From Steve Coll in the Washington Post
Aziz, who surrendered to U.S. authorities on April 24, has also said Iraq did not possess stocks of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons on the eve of the war, an assertion that echoes the previously reported statements of other detained Iraqi leaders and scientists. Yet Hussein personally ordered several secret programs to build or buy long-range missiles in defiance of international sanctions,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55022-2003Nov2.html
Wolfowitz, the nice guy.
Pleasant report of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz having a pointed exchange with a student at Georgetown University forum.
What do you plan to do when Bush is defeated in 2004 and you will no longer have the power to push forward the project for New American Century's policy of American military and economic dominance over the people of the world? [Applause]
Wolfowitz: …It seems to me that the north star of your comment is that you dislike this country and its policies.
When in doubt, attack their patriotism!
Support our Troops: The latest from the Administration
Might as well go to the source. Army Times reports that the Administration is targeting family benefits. Karen Jowers reports that
Commissaries and the Defense Department’s stateside schools are in the crosshairs of Pentagon budget cutters, and military advocates, families and even base commanders are up in arms.
Defense officials notified the services in mid-October that they intend to close 19 commissaries and may close 19 more, mostly in remote areas.
At the same time, the Pentagon is finishing a study to determine whether to close or transfer control of the 58 schools it operates on 14 military installations in the continental United States.
The two initiatives are the latest in a string of actions by the Bush administration to cut or hold down growth in pay and benefits, including basic pay, combat pay, health-care benefits and the death gratuity paid to survivors of troops who die on active duty.
The roots of all these efforts reach back to the highest levels of the Defense Department.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made no secret of his desire to get the military out of support activities that are not central to its core war-fighting functions...
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=0-ARMYPAPER-2335705.php
Pakistanis supporting al-Qaida?
There have been previous assertions and reports, most notably by Seymour Hersh, that the Pakistanis have protected bin Laden, were allowed to escape with the al-Qaida leader when they were potentially entrapped last December in the Tora Bora mountains. Now comes this report from India’s ndtv.com.
Three Pakistani armymen were captured inside Afghan territory during a raid on an Al-Qaida hideout in the Kandahar region, the main stronghold of the former Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. Afghan officials later handed them over to the Pakistan embassy in Kabul. Although the Afghan government says the men have been released as a goodwill gesture, it is bound to cause a lot of embarrassment to Pakistan. http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=Alqaida&slug=Pak+soldiers+nabbed+in+Al+Qaida+hideout&id=44480&callid=1
Voting Problems: HR 2239; Does your Representative support it?
To try to rectify some of the problems from the 2000 election, many states are seeking to replace their older equipment with new electronic voting computers. From all reports, the technology is not yet adequate to the task. Machines are still prone to errors, companies (Diebold) that control most of the machines have close ties to the Bush Administration, etc. According to verifiedvoting.org, we have the following problems,
Americans will use voting computers with secret software that has not been sufficiently scrutinized, just as they have in past elections.
They will have to trust computers to record and count their votes correctly – computers that are not advanced enough to ensure the security and accuracy that could justify their trust.
If something odd occurs, manual recounts of the original ballots will be impossible, because the only record of the votes will be in electronic form, which will, of course, match the questionable tally.
A solution, many are noting, is Representative Rush Holt’s proposed bill introduced into the House. The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (H.R. 2239) would mandate the necessary safeguards for U.S. elections in every state. The bill, currently in the Committee on House Administration, would require all states to use election equipment that provides a voter-verifiable paper audit trail.
This means that voters could check a paper ballot or paper record of the ballot for accuracy before casting the vote --without having to trust the voting machine. Voter verification of ballots is crucial, because only the voter can check whether the ballot is accurate.
A paper audit trail makes it possible to reconstruct the election results from the original voter-verified records, without having to trust the election equipment. In other words, it is possible to do a meaningful recount if an election is in dispute. http://www.verifiedvoting.org/
-R
Resolve vs Correcting a Mistake: The Bush people are on message, that we must show resolve and stick with the policy. The media then follow, with headlines such as the NY Times, “Will Resolve Falter?” This is a particularly odious following of the Administration’s framing of the news. Instead, we would hope, ‘Time to Admit Misjudgments?” would be the appropriate question.
There’s also much talk of not “running,” but clearly the timetable is being rapidly speeded up so that our troops are less likely to be in future helicopters.
Wall Street “irregularities”
This has been an outrageous betrayal of the public trust by that agency; The regulators who were supposed to have been watching this industry were asleep at the switch. And I'm going to pull that switch.- Eliot Spitzer, NY Attorney General re the Security Exchange Commission
Spitzer's doing his part. And, Deborah Solomon and Susanne Craig noted in their Wall Street Journal piece,
The Securities and Exchange Commission, in a confidential report, blasted the New York Stock Exchange for failing to police its elite floor-trading firms and for ignoring blatant violations in which investors were shortchanged by millions of dollars in trades involving more than two billion shares over the past three years.
The 40-page report, dated Oct. 10 and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, is a severe rebuke of both the floor-trading firms, known as "specialists," and the self-regulatory structure that monitors the Big Board floor. It paints a picture of a floor-trading system riddled with abuses, with firms routinely placing their own trades ahead of those by customers -- and an in-house regulator either ill-equipped or too worried about increasing its workload to care. And it concludes that when the NYSE does act on investor abuses, the exchange often does little more than admonish the specialists in a letter or slap them on the wrist with a light fine….
The findings are likely to bolster those who argue that the NYSE's regulatory arm should be taken out from under the exchange's control.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB10678146664412100-search,00.html?collection=wsjie%2F30day&vql_string=Deborah+Solomon+%3Cin%3E%28article%2Dbody%29
Commentary from William Pfaff. The International Herald Tribune’s fixture is usually to the point. This one is no exception.
...what actually has happened during the past nine months is something Americans have yet to grasp, and that others have yet to say out loud: People outside the United States have stopped believing the American story.
They don't think terrorism is an Evil force the United States is going to defeat. They say instead that terrorism is a way people wage war when they don't have F-16's or armored divisions.
They say that Chechens, Moros, Taliban, Colombian insurgents, Palestinian bombers and Iraqi enemies of the U.S. occupation do not really make up a single global phenomenon that the world must mobilize to defeat.
They say that, actually, they had never really believed the American story in the first place. They had listened to it because Washington said it, and they respected Washington. Now they don't. http://warincontext.org/2003_10_26_archive.html
Still another voice re “no WMD”
Former deputy prime minister and media fixture Tariq Aziz is the latest to be quoted as saying that WMD didn’t exist. So, we have another voice for ‘bad intentions’, but no threat. From Steve Coll in the Washington Post
Aziz, who surrendered to U.S. authorities on April 24, has also said Iraq did not possess stocks of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons on the eve of the war, an assertion that echoes the previously reported statements of other detained Iraqi leaders and scientists. Yet Hussein personally ordered several secret programs to build or buy long-range missiles in defiance of international sanctions,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55022-2003Nov2.html
Wolfowitz, the nice guy.
Pleasant report of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz having a pointed exchange with a student at Georgetown University forum.
What do you plan to do when Bush is defeated in 2004 and you will no longer have the power to push forward the project for New American Century's policy of American military and economic dominance over the people of the world? [Applause]
Wolfowitz: …It seems to me that the north star of your comment is that you dislike this country and its policies.
When in doubt, attack their patriotism!
Support our Troops: The latest from the Administration
Might as well go to the source. Army Times reports that the Administration is targeting family benefits. Karen Jowers reports that
Commissaries and the Defense Department’s stateside schools are in the crosshairs of Pentagon budget cutters, and military advocates, families and even base commanders are up in arms.
Defense officials notified the services in mid-October that they intend to close 19 commissaries and may close 19 more, mostly in remote areas.
At the same time, the Pentagon is finishing a study to determine whether to close or transfer control of the 58 schools it operates on 14 military installations in the continental United States.
The two initiatives are the latest in a string of actions by the Bush administration to cut or hold down growth in pay and benefits, including basic pay, combat pay, health-care benefits and the death gratuity paid to survivors of troops who die on active duty.
The roots of all these efforts reach back to the highest levels of the Defense Department.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made no secret of his desire to get the military out of support activities that are not central to its core war-fighting functions...
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=0-ARMYPAPER-2335705.php
Pakistanis supporting al-Qaida?
There have been previous assertions and reports, most notably by Seymour Hersh, that the Pakistanis have protected bin Laden, were allowed to escape with the al-Qaida leader when they were potentially entrapped last December in the Tora Bora mountains. Now comes this report from India’s ndtv.com.
Three Pakistani armymen were captured inside Afghan territory during a raid on an Al-Qaida hideout in the Kandahar region, the main stronghold of the former Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. Afghan officials later handed them over to the Pakistan embassy in Kabul. Although the Afghan government says the men have been released as a goodwill gesture, it is bound to cause a lot of embarrassment to Pakistan. http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=Alqaida&slug=Pak+soldiers+nabbed+in+Al+Qaida+hideout&id=44480&callid=1
Voting Problems: HR 2239; Does your Representative support it?
To try to rectify some of the problems from the 2000 election, many states are seeking to replace their older equipment with new electronic voting computers. From all reports, the technology is not yet adequate to the task. Machines are still prone to errors, companies (Diebold) that control most of the machines have close ties to the Bush Administration, etc. According to verifiedvoting.org, we have the following problems,
Americans will use voting computers with secret software that has not been sufficiently scrutinized, just as they have in past elections.
They will have to trust computers to record and count their votes correctly – computers that are not advanced enough to ensure the security and accuracy that could justify their trust.
If something odd occurs, manual recounts of the original ballots will be impossible, because the only record of the votes will be in electronic form, which will, of course, match the questionable tally.
A solution, many are noting, is Representative Rush Holt’s proposed bill introduced into the House. The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (H.R. 2239) would mandate the necessary safeguards for U.S. elections in every state. The bill, currently in the Committee on House Administration, would require all states to use election equipment that provides a voter-verifiable paper audit trail.
This means that voters could check a paper ballot or paper record of the ballot for accuracy before casting the vote --without having to trust the voting machine. Voter verification of ballots is crucial, because only the voter can check whether the ballot is accurate.
A paper audit trail makes it possible to reconstruct the election results from the original voter-verified records, without having to trust the election equipment. In other words, it is possible to do a meaningful recount if an election is in dispute. http://www.verifiedvoting.org/
-R
