Friday, December 19, 2003
Krugman Returns: Need that voice! Not a ground-breaking article, but he reminds us that “we shouldn’t let war supporters use the occasion of Saddam’s capture to re-write the recent history of U.S. foreign policy, to draw a veil over the way the nation was misled into war.” Those messy facts! And, noting that a majority of Americans still believe that Saddam was involved in the 9/11 attack, he opines that “the administration’s long campaign of guilt by innuendo, it seems, is still working.” http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/19/opinion/19KRUG.html
Democracy Acknowledged: Despite years of stocking them with conservatives of various stripes, some courts still come through now and then.
(1) The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City ruled that the President does not have the power to detain an American citizen seized on U.S. soil as an enemy combatant. In reviewing the case of so-called “dirty bomber” Jose Padilla, it said only the Congress can authorize such detentions and it ordered the government to release him from military custody within 30 days. Padilla has been held in a Navy brig for 19 months without access to a lawyer.
(2) The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the U.S. cannot imprison "enemy combatants" indefinitely at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, that such indefinite imprisonment was inconsistent with American law and raised serious concerns under international law. It also said that the more than 600 detainees should have access to lawyers. As Krugman notes in his column, “The (Padilla) ruling was a stark reminder that the Bush administration, which talks so much about promoting democracy abroad, doesn't seem very concerned about following democratic rules at home.”
What’s Happening, Iraq: American media are still focused on Saddam. South Africa’s Mail and Guardian has a different take: "A series of deadly suicide bomb attacks, explosions and drive-by shootings has claimed at least 40 Iraqi lives in the four days since Saddam Hussein was captured, raising the insurgency to a new intensity."
And, Pepe Escobar of the Asia Times reminds us that Saddam was not the resistance. Pepe is characteristically definitive:
The invasion of Iraq was widely perceived as an attack on the Arab world. That's why the resistance is turning pan-Arab. Once again: this is a nationalist and religious resistance movement.
Asia Times Online has ascertained that at least 12 independent guerrilla organizations from different tribes are involved in the mukawama, all vaguely in touch with each other. This loose organization may be about to extend its reach nationwide. But the Iraqi guerrilla movement is extraordinarily complex.
The American tactic of now Iraqifying the war is nothing but a replay of "Vietnamization". Washington's push to make over a complex society in its own image will fail - as it failed in Vietnam. Iraqis, politically very sophisticated despite decades of dictatorship, detect crystal-clear the American plan, imposed at tank point, to privatize the whole country by selling its assets and fabulous natural resources to American - and a few European - corporations. This, most of all, is what is fueling the resistance. They know they cannot let people like Chalabi or Talabani in the IGC decide the future of the nation.
As author and commentator Tariq Ali has forcefully pointed out on the website Counterpunch, this is the "21st-century colonial model: Specialist companies are now encouraged to provide 'security'. They employ the mercenaries, and their profits are ensured by the state that hires them. They are backed up by the real army and, more importantly, by air power, to help defeat the enemy. But none of this will work if the population remains hostile. And large-scale repression only helps to unite the population against the occupiers. The fear in Washington is that the Iraqi resistance might attempt a sensational hit just before the next presidential election. The fear in the Arab east is that [President George W] Bush and [Vice President Dick] Cheney might escalate the conflict to retain the White House in 2004. Both fears may well be justified." http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EL20Ak01.html
Mr. WMD, David Kay, bows out
He’s giving it up before the “final report” is wrapped. David Kay, the head of the wmd search team is giving it up before the Iraq Survey Group’s work is completed. He will leave in February, according to U.S. military and intelligence officials. (Dana Priest, Walter Pincus) The BBC report emphasized Kay’s frustrations with not finding weapons and with his team being broken up to fight the insurgents. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9823-2003Dec17.html
Nader NOT bowing out, at least not yet…Nader has noted that “I would like to run. Substantively there is a strong argument for running. Now it's a question of resources -- just getting on the ballot is a major endeavor." He knocked Dean’s refusal to cut the military budget and said that "The Democrats are damaging each other far more than any Green campaign could. What they are saying about Dean ... all that will be used by Republicans." (via Yahoo, others)
9/11
The 9/11 Commission Chair, Thomas Kean made many critical statements about how preventable the attack was, but refused to criticize either the Clinton or Bush administrations. The organization “September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows” emphasizes that only $3 million has been spent on investigating 9/11, compared to the roughly $100 million that was spent on Whitewater. “It’s not about ‘getting Bush’—I’m no fan of Bill Clinton either. In a democracy it’s always about us- and what we’re willing to let people get away with. http://www.peacefultomorrows.org/ http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=795
Dean Trashing
It continues, by such “Democrats” as Lieberman and by the media. The Washington Post’s Jim VandeHei and Jonathan Finer begin their article,
Howard Dean's penchant for flippant and sometimes false statements is generating increased criticism from his Democratic presidential rivals and raising new questions about his ability to emerge as a nominee who can withstand intense, sustained scrutiny and defeat President Bush.
Later, Dean's remarks, his critics say, are in keeping with his history of making statements that are mean-spirited or misleading. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A9661-2003Dec17?language=printer
Not to be out-done, the LA Times played “gotcha” claiming that Dean was pro-invasion back on Sept. 29, 2002 when he said on Face the Nation, “There’s no question Saddam is a threat to the U.S. and our allies.” Yet, that was taken out of context, as Dean had continued, “The question is, is he an immediate threat? The president has not yet made the case for that.” http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-dean18dec18,1,7251530.story?coll=la-home-headlines
So if Saddam testifies: What the White House fears
Many are commenting on this; conspiracy types suspect a Jack Ruby type is out there who will silence Saddam before he can spill the proverbial beans. Pepe Escobar of Asia Times has some notions on what Saddam could say. It’s a helpful review…
He can expand on how, in February, slightly before the onset of "shock and awe", his negotiators were delivering everything to Washington on a plate: free access to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to look for WMD anywhere in Iraq; full support for the American-penned road map in the Middle East; and the right for American companies to exploit Iraq's oil. The neo-conservative "Prince of Darkness" Richard Perle, who had been calling for an invasion of Iraq for years, was one of the contacts of Saddam's negotiators. The defense will certainly call Perle to testify.
On March 17, Bush said that "should Saddam Hussein choose confrontation, the American people can know that every measure has been taken to avoid war". Bush lied - and it would be very easy for Saddam to prove that he did everything to find a diplomatic alternative, while Washington did everything to prevent it. He can prove that Bush and his European allies - Britain's Tony Blair, Silvio Berlusconi in Italy and President Jose Aznar of Spain - lied to a world public opinion which was overwhelmingly against the war.
He can talk of endless collusions with Washington, right up to the day he invaded Kuwait in August 1990. Still today, nobody has told the real story preceding the invasion of Kuwait. He will say how at the time Washington led him to the conclusion that an invasion was "acceptable". The defense will certainly call April Glaspie, the American ambassador in Baghdad and the last American official to see Saddam eye-to-eye five days before the invasion. She was "retired" by the State Department and has been conveniently silent ever since.
Using equipment bought from National Security Council chief Brent Scowcroft's company, Kuwait was involved in slant-drilling in Iraq in 1989, and was pumping out something like US$14 billion in oil from underneath Iraqi territory. The territory from which Kuwait was drilling had indeed been Iraqi territory. Saddam will say that Glaspie told him the US was neutral in the dispute. Saddam will also say that in 1989, while the CIA was advising Kuwait to put pressure on Iraq, a CIA-affiliated think tank was advising him to put pressure on Kuwait. And at the same time, Bush senior's administration was issuing a secret directive that resulted in billions of dollars of arm sales to Saddam.
He can talk about how, why and by whom the Shi'ite intifada was betrayed after the end of the first Gulf War in 1991. He will give American names. He will detail the American deal under which the US was to have helped the Shi'ites. He will prove that those exhumed bodies incriminate the Anglo-American alliance as much as himself.
He will keep talking all the way back to 1989, to the famous meeting on December 20, 1983 in Baghdad with his friend Donald Rumsfeld, now Pentagon chief… http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EL19Ak01.html
Another low point for Fox News
The Rightist network supposedly added a “progressive Democrat” to its staff. Actually, as the Daily Howler points out, Tammy Bruce is “a fake and a fraud.” Seems that she (whoever she is) has started several broadcasts by praising Bush and trashing Dean.
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh121703.shtml
Bush: The Diane Sawyer interview
I’m no fan of Sawyer, who till now has rarely functioned as a journalist. But she persisted in her interview of Bush and was rewarded with the following. Note the bold sequence, mid-way...
DIANE SAWYER: Fifty percent of the American people have said that they think the administration exaggerated the evidence going into the war with Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, connection to terrorism. Are the American people wrong? Misguided?
PRESIDENT BUSH: The intelligence I operated one was good sound intelligence, the same intelligence that my predecessor operated on. The — there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein was a threat. The — otherwise the United Nations might — wouldn't a passed, you know, resolution after resolution after resolution, demanding that he disarm. ... I first went to the United Nations, September the 12th, 2002, and said you've given this man resolution after resolution after resolution. He's ignoring them. You step up and see that he honor those resolutions. Otherwise you become a feckless debating society. ... And so for the sake of peace and for the sake of freedom of the Iraqi people, for the sake of security of the country, and for the sake of the credibility of institu — in — international institutions, a group of us moved, and the world is better for it.
DIANE SAWYER: But let me try to ask — this could be a long question. ... ... When you take a look back, Vice President Cheney said there is no doubt, Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, not programs, not intent. There is no doubt he has weapons of mass destruction. Secretary Powell said 100 to 500 tons of chemical weapons and now the inspectors say that there's no evidence of these weapons existing right now. The yellow cake in Niger, in Niger. George Tenet has said that shouldn't have been in your speech. Secretary Powell talked about mobile labs. Again, the intelligence — the inspectors have said they can't confirm this, they can't corroborate.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Yet.
DIANE SAWYER: — an active —
PRESIDENT BUSH: Yet.
DIANE SAWYER: Is it yet?
PRESIDENT BUSH: But what David Kay did discover was they had a weapons program, and had that, that — let me finish for a second. Now it's more extensive than, than missiles. Had that knowledge been examined by the United Nations or had David Kay's report been placed in front of the United Nations, he, he, Saddam Hussein, would have been in material breach of 1441, which meant it was a causis belli. And look, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein was a dangerous person, and there's no doubt we had a body of evidence proving that, and there is no doubt that the president must act, after 9/11, to make America a more secure country.
DIANE SAWYER: Again, I'm just trying to ask, these are supporters, people who believed in the war who have asked the question.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, you can keep asking the question and my answer's gonna be the same. Saddam was a danger and the world is better off cause we got rid of him.
DIANE SAWYER: But stated as a hard fact, that there were weapons of mass destruction as opposed to the possibility that he could move to acquire those weapons still
PRESIDENT BUSH: So what's the difference?
DIANE SAWYER: Well —
PRESIDENT BUSH: The possibility that he could acquire weapons. If he were to acquire weapons, he would be the danger. That's, that's what I'm trying to explain to you. A gathering threat, after 9/11, is a threat that needed to be de — dealt with, and it was done after 12 long years of the world saying the man's a danger. And so we got rid of him and there's no doubt the world is a safer, freer place as a result of Saddam being gone.
DIANE SAWYER: But, but, again, some, some of the critics have said this combined with the failure to establish proof of, of elaborate terrorism contacts, has indicated that there's just not precision, at best, and misleading, at worst.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Yeah. Look — what — what we based our evidence on was a very sound National Intelligence Estimate. ...
DIANE SAWYER: Nothing should have been more precise?
PRESIDENT BUSH: What — I, I — I made my decision based upon enough intelligence to tell me that this country was threatened with Saddam Hussein in power.
DIANE SAWYER: What would it take to convince you he didn't have weapons of mass destruction?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Saddam Hussein was a threat and the fact that he is gone means America is a safer country.
DIANE SAWYER: And if he doesn't have weapons of mass destruction [inaudible] —
PRESIDENT BUSH: Diane, you can keep asking the question. I'm telling you — I made the right decision for America —
DIANE SAWYER: But-
PRESIDENT BUSH: — because Saddam Hussein used weapons of mass destruction, invaded Kuwait. ... But the fact that he is not there is, means America's a more secure country.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/primetime/US/bush_sawyer_excerpts_2_031216.html http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/18/politics/18PREX.html (summary)
-R
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Enough on the “Capture”
Let’s dispense with this, as it’s been a blend of monotony and too much pathetic media cheerleading. Bush got his temporary ‘bump’ in popularity.
Invading Iraq was a diversion from the more difficult task of finding bin Laden and defeating al-Qaeda. Finding him was not a function of the “bravery” of our soldiers, but some combination of either former aides or his ex-wife (Sydney Morning Herald story) turning him in, Kurdish intelligence (www.debka.com/article.php?aid=743) or even his being held by his former underlings, a virtual prisoner till ‘found’ in his hole.
As with all diversions, we’ve wasted resources and unnecessarily killed 450 American boys, 80 European young men, and tens of thousands of Iraqis. We’re still unprepared for terror attacks on nuclear or chemical facilities; ditto our ports and infrastructure.
Of course Dean, amongst others, was right: Saddam’s capture does not makes us safer. As Rob Corddry of The Daily Show noted, ‘At long last we’ve captured the guy who had nothing to do with 9/11.’ Or, as with Noreiga, we arrested a former thug-ally who we needed to demonize for domestic, political purposes.
Lieberman ought to seek Cheney’s spot on the Bush ticket.
Mchael Moore’s summary:
America used to like Saddam. We LOVED Saddam. We funded him. We armed him. We helped him gas Iranian troops.
But then he screwed up. He invaded the dictatorship of Kuwait and, in doing so, did the worst thing imaginable -- he threatened an even BETTER friend of ours: the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia, and its vast oil reserves. The Bushes and the Saudi royal family were and are close business partners, and Saddam, back in 1990, committed a royal blunder by getting a little too close to their wealthy holdings. Things went downhill for Saddam from there.
Stay strong, Democratic candidates. Quit sounding like a bunch of wusses. These bastards sent us to war on a lie, the killing will not stop, the Arab world hates us with a passion, and we will pay for this out of our pockets for years to come. Nothing that happened today (or in the past 9 months) has made us ONE BIT safer in our post-9/11 world. Saddam was never a threat to our national security. www.michaelmoore.org
One more absurd contention, which ranks amongst the better lies, from Florida Today (John McCarthy).
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Monday the Bush administration last year told him and other senators that Iraq not only had weapons of mass destruction, but they had the means to deliver them to East Coast cities.
Nelson, D-Tallahassee, said about 75 senators got that news during a classified briefing before last October's congressional vote authorizing the use of force to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Nelson voted in favor of using military force.
Nelson said the senators were told Iraq had both biological and chemical weapons, notably anthrax, and it could deliver them to cities along the Eastern seaboard via unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones.
"They have not found anything that resembles an UAV that has that capability," Nelson said [...]
"That's news," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington, D.C.-area military and intelligence think tank. "I had not heard that that was the assessment of the intelligence community. I had not heard that the Congress had been briefed on this." http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/localstoryN1216NELSON.htm
Democrats Trash Dean:
At least the committee calling itself “Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values” has been outed by a Washington Post editorial (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A61289-2003Dec12?language=printer&JServSessionIdr006=enm9eoskg2.app193a). It has spent over $250,000 this week, airing TV ads in Iowa linking Dean with everything from the policies of George Bush to being in league with Saddam Hussein. The list of “leaders” includes… former US Representative Ed Feighan, whose family is to the Democratic party in Cleveland, Ohio what the Daleys are to Chicago; David Jones, the organization’s treasurer, used to work for Rep. Dick Gephardt; the spokesman of the group is Robert Gibbs, a former press aide to Kerry.
War on Workers: Bob Herbert of the New York Times had a goodie on Monday, reminding us of this ongoing “war.”
The Bush administration and its corporate allies give the impression that they would welcome a big surge in employment that would raise the wages and quality of life for all working Americans and their families. But their policies tell an entirely different story. A fierce and bitter war — not bloody like the war in Iraq, but a war just the same — is being waged against American workers. And so far, at least, the Bush administration has been on the wrong side.
The war is being fought on several fronts. For example, after years of shipping manufacturing jobs out of the U.S. to absurdly low-wage venues, we are now also exporting increasing numbers of technical and professional jobs.
Another example: Despite the loss of more than two million jobs over the past three years, and the fact that nearly nine million Americans are officially unemployed, the Bush administration has refused to support a Christmastime extension of crucial unemployment benefits.
Worse, the administration is trying to implement a regulation that would deny overtime protection for more than eight million men and women. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/15/opinion/15HERB.html?ei=1&en=d289a697e29e7780&ex=1072490161&pagewanted=print&position=
IBM Does Its Share
IBM Corp. plans to move up to several thousand skilled software jobs from the United States to India, China and other countries, which could amount to one of the biggest such actions yet in the technology industry. IBM documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal said about 4,700 programming jobs could be shifted overseas to save costs, a growing high-tech industry trend known as "offshoring."
More than 900 people are already scheduled to be told of the move in the first half of 2004, while another 3,700 jobs have been identified as having the "potential to move offshore," the Journal said. IBM already has hired 500 engineers in India to take on some of the work that will be moved, the Journal reported.
The division affected is IBM's Application Management Services group, part of Big Blue's huge technology services division. The IBM facilities where workers could be replaced include offices in Dallas, Southbury, Conn., Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Raleigh, N.C., and Boulder, Colo.
IBM spokesman James Sciales said he would not comment on "internal presentations" but noted that most of IBM's work force, which now totals 315,000, has been overseas for years.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&e=1&u=/ap/20031215/ap_on_hi_te/ibm_offshoring
Environmental Victories:
A federal district judge invalidated the Bush Administration / National Parks’ latest rule of allowing snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks.
The ruling bristled with sharp characterizations of the Bush administration's actions.
"The gap between the decision made in 2001, and the decision made in 2003 is stark," Judge Sullivan wrote. "In 2001, the rule-making process culminated in a finding that snowmobiling so adversely impacted the wildlife and resources of the parks that all snowmobile use must be halted."
Judge Sullivan continued, "A scant three years later, the rule-making process culminated in the conclusion that nearly 1,000 snowmobiles will be allowed to enter the park each day." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/17/politics/17PARK.html
And, the EPA sees the light, as it
announced Tuesday that it would jettison plans to remove federal protection from millions of acres of wetlands
Mr. Leavitt emphasized that the impetus for the decision was President Bush's determination to preserve streams and wetlands. "At the root of this is a commitment from the Bush administration to achieve the goal of no net loss of wetlands," he said, adding that these waters "function as nature's kidneys" and "add immense value to economic and aesthetic bounties of this country."
Our environmental president! http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/17/politics/17WATE.html
-R
Let’s dispense with this, as it’s been a blend of monotony and too much pathetic media cheerleading. Bush got his temporary ‘bump’ in popularity.
Invading Iraq was a diversion from the more difficult task of finding bin Laden and defeating al-Qaeda. Finding him was not a function of the “bravery” of our soldiers, but some combination of either former aides or his ex-wife (Sydney Morning Herald story) turning him in, Kurdish intelligence (www.debka.com/article.php?aid=743) or even his being held by his former underlings, a virtual prisoner till ‘found’ in his hole.
As with all diversions, we’ve wasted resources and unnecessarily killed 450 American boys, 80 European young men, and tens of thousands of Iraqis. We’re still unprepared for terror attacks on nuclear or chemical facilities; ditto our ports and infrastructure.
Of course Dean, amongst others, was right: Saddam’s capture does not makes us safer. As Rob Corddry of The Daily Show noted, ‘At long last we’ve captured the guy who had nothing to do with 9/11.’ Or, as with Noreiga, we arrested a former thug-ally who we needed to demonize for domestic, political purposes.
Lieberman ought to seek Cheney’s spot on the Bush ticket.
Mchael Moore’s summary:
America used to like Saddam. We LOVED Saddam. We funded him. We armed him. We helped him gas Iranian troops.
But then he screwed up. He invaded the dictatorship of Kuwait and, in doing so, did the worst thing imaginable -- he threatened an even BETTER friend of ours: the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia, and its vast oil reserves. The Bushes and the Saudi royal family were and are close business partners, and Saddam, back in 1990, committed a royal blunder by getting a little too close to their wealthy holdings. Things went downhill for Saddam from there.
Stay strong, Democratic candidates. Quit sounding like a bunch of wusses. These bastards sent us to war on a lie, the killing will not stop, the Arab world hates us with a passion, and we will pay for this out of our pockets for years to come. Nothing that happened today (or in the past 9 months) has made us ONE BIT safer in our post-9/11 world. Saddam was never a threat to our national security. www.michaelmoore.org
One more absurd contention, which ranks amongst the better lies, from Florida Today (John McCarthy).
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Monday the Bush administration last year told him and other senators that Iraq not only had weapons of mass destruction, but they had the means to deliver them to East Coast cities.
Nelson, D-Tallahassee, said about 75 senators got that news during a classified briefing before last October's congressional vote authorizing the use of force to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Nelson voted in favor of using military force.
Nelson said the senators were told Iraq had both biological and chemical weapons, notably anthrax, and it could deliver them to cities along the Eastern seaboard via unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones.
"They have not found anything that resembles an UAV that has that capability," Nelson said [...]
"That's news," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington, D.C.-area military and intelligence think tank. "I had not heard that that was the assessment of the intelligence community. I had not heard that the Congress had been briefed on this." http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/localstoryN1216NELSON.htm
Democrats Trash Dean:
At least the committee calling itself “Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values” has been outed by a Washington Post editorial (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A61289-2003Dec12?language=printer&JServSessionIdr006=enm9eoskg2.app193a). It has spent over $250,000 this week, airing TV ads in Iowa linking Dean with everything from the policies of George Bush to being in league with Saddam Hussein. The list of “leaders” includes… former US Representative Ed Feighan, whose family is to the Democratic party in Cleveland, Ohio what the Daleys are to Chicago; David Jones, the organization’s treasurer, used to work for Rep. Dick Gephardt; the spokesman of the group is Robert Gibbs, a former press aide to Kerry.
War on Workers: Bob Herbert of the New York Times had a goodie on Monday, reminding us of this ongoing “war.”
The Bush administration and its corporate allies give the impression that they would welcome a big surge in employment that would raise the wages and quality of life for all working Americans and their families. But their policies tell an entirely different story. A fierce and bitter war — not bloody like the war in Iraq, but a war just the same — is being waged against American workers. And so far, at least, the Bush administration has been on the wrong side.
The war is being fought on several fronts. For example, after years of shipping manufacturing jobs out of the U.S. to absurdly low-wage venues, we are now also exporting increasing numbers of technical and professional jobs.
Another example: Despite the loss of more than two million jobs over the past three years, and the fact that nearly nine million Americans are officially unemployed, the Bush administration has refused to support a Christmastime extension of crucial unemployment benefits.
Worse, the administration is trying to implement a regulation that would deny overtime protection for more than eight million men and women. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/15/opinion/15HERB.html?ei=1&en=d289a697e29e7780&ex=1072490161&pagewanted=print&position=
IBM Does Its Share
IBM Corp. plans to move up to several thousand skilled software jobs from the United States to India, China and other countries, which could amount to one of the biggest such actions yet in the technology industry. IBM documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal said about 4,700 programming jobs could be shifted overseas to save costs, a growing high-tech industry trend known as "offshoring."
More than 900 people are already scheduled to be told of the move in the first half of 2004, while another 3,700 jobs have been identified as having the "potential to move offshore," the Journal said. IBM already has hired 500 engineers in India to take on some of the work that will be moved, the Journal reported.
The division affected is IBM's Application Management Services group, part of Big Blue's huge technology services division. The IBM facilities where workers could be replaced include offices in Dallas, Southbury, Conn., Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Raleigh, N.C., and Boulder, Colo.
IBM spokesman James Sciales said he would not comment on "internal presentations" but noted that most of IBM's work force, which now totals 315,000, has been overseas for years.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&e=1&u=/ap/20031215/ap_on_hi_te/ibm_offshoring
Environmental Victories:
A federal district judge invalidated the Bush Administration / National Parks’ latest rule of allowing snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks.
The ruling bristled with sharp characterizations of the Bush administration's actions.
"The gap between the decision made in 2001, and the decision made in 2003 is stark," Judge Sullivan wrote. "In 2001, the rule-making process culminated in a finding that snowmobiling so adversely impacted the wildlife and resources of the parks that all snowmobile use must be halted."
Judge Sullivan continued, "A scant three years later, the rule-making process culminated in the conclusion that nearly 1,000 snowmobiles will be allowed to enter the park each day." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/17/politics/17PARK.html
And, the EPA sees the light, as it
announced Tuesday that it would jettison plans to remove federal protection from millions of acres of wetlands
Mr. Leavitt emphasized that the impetus for the decision was President Bush's determination to preserve streams and wetlands. "At the root of this is a commitment from the Bush administration to achieve the goal of no net loss of wetlands," he said, adding that these waters "function as nature's kidneys" and "add immense value to economic and aesthetic bounties of this country."
Our environmental president! http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/17/politics/17WATE.html
-R
Sunday, December 14, 2003
The Flu , Privatization and Political Will: Each time there is a new “flu outbreak” we learn of a shortage of vaccine. We don’t tend to focus on how it is primarily lower income and elderly who comprise the 36,000 that die each year from the flu. That’s extraordinary. I knew our public health system was woefully inadequate, but this hammers it home. http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/flufacts.htm
Medicare Follow-up: Action:
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has published a thorough critique of the AARP's assertions http://www.centeronbudget.org/12-11-03health.htm.
And, there’s an effort to pass legislation to alter the damage to Medicare. One such is S. 1992, the "Defense of Medicare and Real Prescription Drug Benefit Act,'' introduced by Sen. Ted Kennedy with a companion bill introduced by Rep. John Dingell in the House. The bill would amend the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to eliminate privatization of the Medicare program, to improve the Medicare prescription drug benefit, to repeal health savings accounts, and for other purposes; referred to the Committee on Finance.
Chile Follow-up: Some of us older folk remember well the disappearance of Charles Horman, the freelancer-political cartoonist who disappeared in Chile the day of the Pinochet coup on September 11, 1973. Horman’s fate was the subject of the Gosta-Gavras film Missing.
Well, finally, we have confirmation of our suspicions. We already knew that the dictatorship had Horman killed. Now there’s confirmation that a CIA agent was present when Horman was interrogated and the order given to kill him. A retired Chilean air force interrogator, Rafael Agustin Gonzalez Verdugo, the confirming source, was himself indicted. http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/7488950.htm
What’s Happening, Iraq:
Saddam’s Capture:
We’ve grown so accustomed to bin Laden and Saddam evading capture, and so propagandized to believe that he was a threat that it became an over-the-top Sunday story; felt rather weird to me.
As we’ve known, Saddam had not been a threat since 1991. And, there’s just as much chance that more opposition to the Occupation by the Shiites and Sunnis will surface, now that opponents of the Occupation are sure Saddam cannot return to power. From past experience, we also know that movements don’t necessary cease when a leader is captured or is killed…witness the Chechen fighting continuing after the resistance leader Dzokhar Dudayev was killed.
Now, we have to wonder what’s next. Do we need to re-demonize Iran and Syria? Do we allow a trial where Saddam could remind us of the long friendship with the U.S.? Will claims be made that he confessed to maintaining a stockpile of WMD and that he and Mohamed Atta were good buddies?
In the meantime, we can treasure Joe Lieberman’s comments. Lieberman rushed to announce that Saddam should be executed and added, "This news makes clear the choice the Democrats face next year. If Howard Dean had his way, Saddam Hussein would still be in power today, not in prison, and the world would be a much more dangerous place." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&e=11&u=/nm/20031214/pl_nm/iraq_usa_politics_dc_2.
Iraqi army with “Resignations”
The BBC reported that
The U.S. has suffered a setback in its plan to create a new Iraqi army, with hundreds of soldiers having resigned.
Pentagon officials say the army's first 700-man battalion lost 300 troops who were within weeks of being deployed. The soldiers reportedly complained over low salaries and threats by insurgents, and refused to obey orders.
The BBC's Nick Childs at the Pentagon says the resignations will make for red faces as the US plans to build a force of 40,000 by next October.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3310809.stm
“Resigned”? We call these desertions, no?
More Censoring re Casualties:
The Governing Council has followed U.S. instructions to keep civilian casualties quiet. From the Times Argus (Vermont)
Iraqi Health Ministry officials ordered a halt to a count of civilian casualties from the war and told workers not to release figures already compiled, the head of the ministry's statistics department told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The health minister, Dr. Khodeir Abbas, denied that he or the U.S.-led occupation authority had anything to do with the order, and said he didn't even know about the survey of deaths, which number in the thousands.
Dr. Nagham Mohsen, the head of the ministry's statistics department, said the order came from the ministry's director of planning, Dr. Nazar Shabandar, who told her it was on behalf of Abbas. She said the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which oversees the ministry, didn't like the idea of the count either.
http://timesargus.nybor.com/Story/75852.html
And, there’s the Incompetence:
As the NY Times reports (David Sanger, Douglas Jehl), the White House was sending James Baker around to get agreement to write off Iraqi debts while the Pentagon was reminding France-Germany-Russia that they get zip of the Reconstruction booty because they opposed the invasion.
President Bush found himself in the awkward position on Wednesday of calling the leaders of France, Germany and Russia to ask them to forgive Iraq's debts, just a day after the Pentagon said it was excluding those countries and others from $18 billion in American-financed Iraqi reconstruction projects.
White House officials were fuming about the timing and the tone of the Pentagon's directive, even while conceding that they had approved the Pentagon policy of limiting contracts to 63 countries that have given the United States political or military aid in Iraq.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/11/international/middleeast/11PREX.html
Bush on Halliburton:
Karl Rove and company had Bush read a statement re Halliburton’s overcharging, that if found guilty, they’ll be forced to pay up. ("I appreciate the Pentagon looking out after the taxpayers' money.”)
Yet, we should know that last week a directive from Wolfowitz basically instructed the newly developed inspector general’s office in Iraq not to request such information- no audits, subpoenas re “sensitive operation” plans, nationally security matters, etc. In other words, Quiet!
Dean: Newsweek finds him solidifying his lead.
Dean 24 (16)- ( ) indicates last poll
Don't Know 14 (21)
Clark 12 (15)
Lieberman 12 (8)
Gephardt 10 (9)
Sharpton 5 (4)
Kerry 5 (7)
Edwards 5 (6)
Braun 3 (7)
Newsweek’s poll found Bush 6-7 points ahead of Dean or Clark.
Dean Statement on Race:
The web site The Black Commentator notes Dean’s speech, calling it historic. Excerpts. Full, text at links, below
Howard Dean has taken history in his hands by hitching his ascendant campaign to a straightforward, anti-corporate message that does not pander to white racism. He presents whites in the South and elsewhere with the only principled choice they should be offered: to vote their interests, or vote for their bosses' interests…
"To distract people from their real agenda, they [the Republicans] run elections based on race, dividing us, instead of uniting us. The December 7 speech is a clear and definitive break from the lethal grip of the Democratic Leadership Council, the southern-born, corporate-mouthpiece faction of the party…
Where does this leave Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich? Exactly as they are, preaching the same social democratic, anti-racist, pro-peace message as before, for as long as their energies can sustain them. Dean's political leap would not have been possible in the absence of Sharpton's energetic Black candidacy and Kucinich's principled, progressive white voice from the Left. At this historic juncture they dare not go anywhere. Dean has picked up the torch that Sharpton and Kucinich have been carrying and they must stay in the race to make sure he doesn't set it down
http://www.blackcommentator.com/ or http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/002565.html
Bush Biography:
If you made it this far, you get to sample (or ignore) the White House web site. The contents would be high comedy if 50% of the nation didn’t believe the fictions that lie within. [For example, contrary to what’s below, Bush was a passive, junior partner with the Texas Ranger baseball team.
After a campaign in which he outlined sweeping proposals to reform America's public schools, transform our national defense, provide tax relief, modernize Social Security and Medicare, and encourage faith-based and community organizations to work with government to help Americans in need. President Bush served for six years as the 46th Governor of the State of Texas, where he earned a reputation as a compassionate conservative who shaped public policy based on the principles of limited government, personal responsibility, strong families, and local control.
President Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, and he grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas. He received a bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1968, then served as an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. President Bush received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1975. After graduating, he moved back to Midland and began a career in the energy business. After working on his father's successful 1988 presidential campaign, he assembled the group of partners that purchased the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1989.
He served as managing general partner of the Texas Rangers until he was elected Governor on November 8, 1994, with 53.5 percent of the vote. He became the first Governor in Texas history to be elected to consecutive four-year terms when he was re-elected on November 3, 1998, with 68.6 percent of the vote.
Since taking office, President Bush has signed into law bold initiatives… http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html
-R
Medicare Follow-up: Action:
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has published a thorough critique of the AARP's assertions http://www.centeronbudget.org/12-11-03health.htm.
And, there’s an effort to pass legislation to alter the damage to Medicare. One such is S. 1992, the "Defense of Medicare and Real Prescription Drug Benefit Act,'' introduced by Sen. Ted Kennedy with a companion bill introduced by Rep. John Dingell in the House. The bill would amend the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to eliminate privatization of the Medicare program, to improve the Medicare prescription drug benefit, to repeal health savings accounts, and for other purposes; referred to the Committee on Finance.
Chile Follow-up: Some of us older folk remember well the disappearance of Charles Horman, the freelancer-political cartoonist who disappeared in Chile the day of the Pinochet coup on September 11, 1973. Horman’s fate was the subject of the Gosta-Gavras film Missing.
Well, finally, we have confirmation of our suspicions. We already knew that the dictatorship had Horman killed. Now there’s confirmation that a CIA agent was present when Horman was interrogated and the order given to kill him. A retired Chilean air force interrogator, Rafael Agustin Gonzalez Verdugo, the confirming source, was himself indicted. http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/7488950.htm
What’s Happening, Iraq:
Saddam’s Capture:
We’ve grown so accustomed to bin Laden and Saddam evading capture, and so propagandized to believe that he was a threat that it became an over-the-top Sunday story; felt rather weird to me.
As we’ve known, Saddam had not been a threat since 1991. And, there’s just as much chance that more opposition to the Occupation by the Shiites and Sunnis will surface, now that opponents of the Occupation are sure Saddam cannot return to power. From past experience, we also know that movements don’t necessary cease when a leader is captured or is killed…witness the Chechen fighting continuing after the resistance leader Dzokhar Dudayev was killed.
Now, we have to wonder what’s next. Do we need to re-demonize Iran and Syria? Do we allow a trial where Saddam could remind us of the long friendship with the U.S.? Will claims be made that he confessed to maintaining a stockpile of WMD and that he and Mohamed Atta were good buddies?
In the meantime, we can treasure Joe Lieberman’s comments. Lieberman rushed to announce that Saddam should be executed and added, "This news makes clear the choice the Democrats face next year. If Howard Dean had his way, Saddam Hussein would still be in power today, not in prison, and the world would be a much more dangerous place." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&e=11&u=/nm/20031214/pl_nm/iraq_usa_politics_dc_2.
Iraqi army with “Resignations”
The BBC reported that
The U.S. has suffered a setback in its plan to create a new Iraqi army, with hundreds of soldiers having resigned.
Pentagon officials say the army's first 700-man battalion lost 300 troops who were within weeks of being deployed. The soldiers reportedly complained over low salaries and threats by insurgents, and refused to obey orders.
The BBC's Nick Childs at the Pentagon says the resignations will make for red faces as the US plans to build a force of 40,000 by next October.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3310809.stm
“Resigned”? We call these desertions, no?
More Censoring re Casualties:
The Governing Council has followed U.S. instructions to keep civilian casualties quiet. From the Times Argus (Vermont)
Iraqi Health Ministry officials ordered a halt to a count of civilian casualties from the war and told workers not to release figures already compiled, the head of the ministry's statistics department told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The health minister, Dr. Khodeir Abbas, denied that he or the U.S.-led occupation authority had anything to do with the order, and said he didn't even know about the survey of deaths, which number in the thousands.
Dr. Nagham Mohsen, the head of the ministry's statistics department, said the order came from the ministry's director of planning, Dr. Nazar Shabandar, who told her it was on behalf of Abbas. She said the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which oversees the ministry, didn't like the idea of the count either.
http://timesargus.nybor.com/Story/75852.html
And, there’s the Incompetence:
As the NY Times reports (David Sanger, Douglas Jehl), the White House was sending James Baker around to get agreement to write off Iraqi debts while the Pentagon was reminding France-Germany-Russia that they get zip of the Reconstruction booty because they opposed the invasion.
President Bush found himself in the awkward position on Wednesday of calling the leaders of France, Germany and Russia to ask them to forgive Iraq's debts, just a day after the Pentagon said it was excluding those countries and others from $18 billion in American-financed Iraqi reconstruction projects.
White House officials were fuming about the timing and the tone of the Pentagon's directive, even while conceding that they had approved the Pentagon policy of limiting contracts to 63 countries that have given the United States political or military aid in Iraq.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/11/international/middleeast/11PREX.html
Bush on Halliburton:
Karl Rove and company had Bush read a statement re Halliburton’s overcharging, that if found guilty, they’ll be forced to pay up. ("I appreciate the Pentagon looking out after the taxpayers' money.”)
Yet, we should know that last week a directive from Wolfowitz basically instructed the newly developed inspector general’s office in Iraq not to request such information- no audits, subpoenas re “sensitive operation” plans, nationally security matters, etc. In other words, Quiet!
Dean: Newsweek finds him solidifying his lead.
Dean 24 (16)- ( ) indicates last poll
Don't Know 14 (21)
Clark 12 (15)
Lieberman 12 (8)
Gephardt 10 (9)
Sharpton 5 (4)
Kerry 5 (7)
Edwards 5 (6)
Braun 3 (7)
Newsweek’s poll found Bush 6-7 points ahead of Dean or Clark.
Dean Statement on Race:
The web site The Black Commentator notes Dean’s speech, calling it historic. Excerpts. Full, text at links, below
Howard Dean has taken history in his hands by hitching his ascendant campaign to a straightforward, anti-corporate message that does not pander to white racism. He presents whites in the South and elsewhere with the only principled choice they should be offered: to vote their interests, or vote for their bosses' interests…
"To distract people from their real agenda, they [the Republicans] run elections based on race, dividing us, instead of uniting us. The December 7 speech is a clear and definitive break from the lethal grip of the Democratic Leadership Council, the southern-born, corporate-mouthpiece faction of the party…
Where does this leave Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich? Exactly as they are, preaching the same social democratic, anti-racist, pro-peace message as before, for as long as their energies can sustain them. Dean's political leap would not have been possible in the absence of Sharpton's energetic Black candidacy and Kucinich's principled, progressive white voice from the Left. At this historic juncture they dare not go anywhere. Dean has picked up the torch that Sharpton and Kucinich have been carrying and they must stay in the race to make sure he doesn't set it down
http://www.blackcommentator.com/ or http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/002565.html
Bush Biography:
If you made it this far, you get to sample (or ignore) the White House web site. The contents would be high comedy if 50% of the nation didn’t believe the fictions that lie within. [For example, contrary to what’s below, Bush was a passive, junior partner with the Texas Ranger baseball team.
After a campaign in which he outlined sweeping proposals to reform America's public schools, transform our national defense, provide tax relief, modernize Social Security and Medicare, and encourage faith-based and community organizations to work with government to help Americans in need. President Bush served for six years as the 46th Governor of the State of Texas, where he earned a reputation as a compassionate conservative who shaped public policy based on the principles of limited government, personal responsibility, strong families, and local control.
President Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, and he grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas. He received a bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1968, then served as an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. President Bush received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1975. After graduating, he moved back to Midland and began a career in the energy business. After working on his father's successful 1988 presidential campaign, he assembled the group of partners that purchased the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1989.
He served as managing general partner of the Texas Rangers until he was elected Governor on November 8, 1994, with 53.5 percent of the vote. He became the first Governor in Texas history to be elected to consecutive four-year terms when he was re-elected on November 3, 1998, with 68.6 percent of the vote.
Since taking office, President Bush has signed into law bold initiatives… http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html
-R
