Thursday, January 01, 2004
Say Goodbye to ‘03
I won’t post a year-end summary or offer prognostications. Barry Crimmins had a humorous summary in last week’s Boston Phoenix, Bob Kuttner predicts in Wednesday’s Globe and- eeek- William Safire offers his in today’s NYTimes. I’ll only note that ’03 continued the trend of engorging the wealthy at the expense of (almost) everyone else and that Bush is beatable (though…) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/31/opinion/31SAFI.html http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/12/31/the_outlook_for_2004/
On to ELECTION ‘04
Despite it being ‘holiday season’, it’s heated up. The all-out assault on Dean- not by the Republicans, but by the pundits and, lo, the Democrats- is underway. The DLC and the Democratic candidates blister him, NPR commentators make fun of him, the Washington Post termed the candidate's views to be "not just unfounded but ludicrous" and complained of his "departure from the Democratic mainstream."
Dean complicated matters by suggesting that should he not get the nomination, many of his supporters may balk at supporting one of the “Washington Democrats.”
Oy vey. This is too familiar. Democrats- and too many progressive activists- have always been talented at eating their own while reserving their “action” to protesting policies of the opposition. Too little energy is put to offering alternative visions/programs and fighting hard against the reactionary opposition. The Democrats have to simply pledge to vigorously support the nomination winner, whomever…
Assuredly Dean will be emphasizing his centrism, most recently his Christianity. We should also not be surprised at notes of “moderation” that will be trumpeted by the Bush Campaign, new evidence of compassionate conservatism. This will contrast with the right-wing diatribes coming from the hard core.
Witness the “public manifesto” that was publicly “sent” to Bush by Richard Perle et al, co-author (w/ David Frum) of a new book that calls for a renewed “will to win” the terrorism business. The Independent (David Rennie) reports that the Manifesto demands regime change for Syria and Iran as well as a military blockade / quarantine of North Korea and urges planning for preemptive strikes on Korea’s nuclear sites. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/12/31/wcons31.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/12/31/ixportaltop.html
Republican Media Advantage: The NY Times (Jim Rutenberg) piece demonstrated the coordinated media efforts.
But on one recent Thursday, Terry Holt, Mr. Bush's campaign press secretary, called in to "The Marc Bernier Show," at 1150 and 1490 on the AM dial here, to talk extensively about how the president wanted to help orange growers and would not be satisfied until "every American who wants a job can have a job."
It was one of several telephone visits Mr. Holt made to radio stations in the past few weeks, though he has not appeared on a national television program since he started his job in early November.
While the Bush campaign maintains a low profile on the national campaign stage — content for now to watch the Democrats beat on one another — it is aggressively working the expansive hustings of Republican-friendly talk radio, priming the grass roots faithful for battle next year.
Mr. Bernier's program is part of a network of conservative-minded local radio shows in politically important states on which campaign officials are heard daily, programs like "Mid-Day With Charlie Sykes" in Milwaukee, "The Martha Zoller Show" in Atlanta and "The Jerry Bowyer Program" in Pittsburgh.
It is a network that the Democrats do not have — though they are trying to cultivate one — and one that Mr. Bush's campaign strategists believe will give him an edge in an election that could go to whichever side best mobilizes its core voters.
Presidents have used radio to reach voters virtually since its invention. But strategists and radio experts say the Bush campaign has taken it to a new level of sophistication, using it far earlier in the campaign cycle and appearing regularly on shows with even the tiniest of audiences. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/29/politics/campaigns/29RADI.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=
Army Times Salutes the Soldiers.
The newspaper honored those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2003 by publishing photos of them, rare publicity of our casualties, a modeling for others. [Elsewhere in their periodical they note that “the men and women in uniform strongly back President Bush and his policies in Iraq, according to a Military Times Poll.”] http://www.armytimes.com/
Rosy Economy, or Happy Talk? The desire to be positive/optimistic is human, the need to project success is Republican. So, powerful forces are urging a celebrating of the economy’s “recovery”. The stock market has had a bountiful 9 months, that third quarter looked great, etc. However, minimalist detective work leads one to the conclusion that most people are not benefiting.
Indeed, workers are losing ground, or their jobs. My compatriot Chuck Palson and I have no trouble finding measuring sticks that demonstrate that jobs pay less, are disappearing, and benefits are declining as well as noting the growing number of underemployed or "permanently discouraged" workers. As part of Fairness in Taxes for Everyone's [FITE] efforts, Chuck prowled through the Bureau of Labor Statistics to come up with another barometer. He found that unemployed persons are taking increasingly lengthy periods to find jobs, that the minimal period for such has steadily increased since the 1960’s.
So, beware the happy talk.
What’s Happening, Iraq: Tiresome, preoccupying, but must report!
* Didn’t see, but heard from two sources about Christianne Amanpour’s report on 60 Minutes, including how we train- but don’t trust- the new Iraq police.
* Arab News had a report on Saddam threatening to tell all as to his past dealings with the U.S. reports.
According to the European source close to US investigators, Saddam also said that he would ask the International Court of Justice in The Hague to try the United States for its crimes against the Iraqi people for allegedly using internationally prohibited weapons against the Iraqis during the last two wars against his country.
If the Americans want to try me in a court of law, they should also try high-ranking international officials," the source quoted the former Iraqi dictator as saying. Saddam has insisted that his statements are recorded verbatim, the paper said. The source said Saddam neither prayed not read the Qur'an, it added.... http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=37091&d=27&m=12&y=2003 I
* Southern Iraq relatively tranquil: Luke Harding of the Guardian conveyed how well it’s going in the South.
In contrast to the daily mayhem in the rest of Iraq, the British-occupied south of the country is - comparatively - a tranquil place. There is violence here too - kidnappings and car-jackings by armed bandits who lurk on the road north of Basra are common; last week gunmen shot dead a Christian alcohol-seller as he went to buy vegetables in Basra's market.
But Iraq's increasingly well-organised resistance has made little effort to launch attacks on the British troops who have been encamped in Basra since June, in one of Saddam's riverside palaces, a short stroll from his un-sunken yacht. The last British soldier killed in action in Iraq died in late August.
"It's all about managing the Shia mood," Brigadier David Rutherford-Jones said last week, as his men tucked into a Christmas dinner of turkey and mince pies, served in the palace's tinsel-covered mosque. "Their expectations are very high. I sense that they are outpacing reality a little."
But the reality is that the 10,000 British soldiers in Iraq are not confronting the same kind of brutal insurgency faced by the Americans further north. Iraq is now divided into three chunks - the tranquil south; Kurdistan, which has enjoyed self-government since 1991; and Baghdad and the Sunni triangle. http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1113623,00.html
“Astroturf”, Ongoing:
That is, the placing of campaign verbiage in media, nation-wide, often attaching bogus names to the “letters.” Missives to various periodicals reproduce phrases, sections, or entire model letters that come from RNC / Bush-Cheney campaign sources. It’s mighty effective. Many illustrations, the “Healthy Forest” initiative being a recent one. On the campaign web site:
On December 3, 2003, President Bush signed into law the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to help to prevent catastrophic wildfires and strengthen America’s long-term forest health. The legislation, based on the President’s Healthy Forest Initiative, will reduce the risk of catastrophic fire to communities, help save the lives of firefighters and citizens, and protect
As a nation, we have watched helplessly as parts of America were devastated by wildfires that displaced families, ruined communities and took lives. In the past two years alone, 147,049 fires burned nearly 11 million acres. The President understands the necessity to manage forest and rangelands to protect the land and prevent further destruction caused not only by fires, but also disease and infestation of insects.
Then, letters to the editor appeared in a host of publications, including the Delaware Coast Press web site http://www.delmarvanow.com/deweybeach/stories/20031224/102202.html \
On Dec. 3, President Bush signed into law the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to help to prevent catastrophic wildÞres and strengthen America's long-term forest health. The legislation, based on the president's Healthy Forest Initiative, will reduce the risk of catastrophic Þre to communities, help save the lives of ÞreÞghters and citizens, and protect threatened and endangered species.
As a nation, we have watched helplessly as parts of America were devastated by wildÞres that displaced families, ruined communities and took lives. In the past two years alone, 147,049 Þres burned nearly 11 million acres. The president understands the necessity to manage forest and range lands to protect the land and prevent further destruction caused not only by Þres, but also disease and infestation of insects. By working with Congress, he achieved bipartisan support for a bill that will not only protect endangered species, but also protect our nations' forests and nearby communities for generations to come. Uncontrolled growth, the result of years of unwise forest policy, has left our forests vulnerable to catastrophic Þres
Notice the substitution of “Pres” for “fire/fires”… not my doing; perhaps the editor was making a statement…
“Person of the Year”- the U.S. Soldier. Being someone who values truth-telling, I would’ve hoped that exemplary individuals would have captured this ‘honor’. Hans Blix, however taciturn, could’ve served as poster boy.
The Spin Continues as to Libya “triumph” The Repubs are repeating this claim, hoping the public will buy it as fact, as with all of their previous claims/misrepresentations/lies. The Wall Street Journal (Jackie Calmes) reports that Condi Rice “ has made the Libyan initiative a top priority -- as vindication of the Bush doctrine of threatening pre-emptive force.” http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107239125852700000,00.html?mod=politics%5Fsecondary%5Fstories%5Fhs
Public Broadcasting Under Siege!
Marguerite R. passed this piece of good news.
The Bush Administration has awarded two major Republican donors seats on the nine-member board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Bush appointees Cheryl Halpern and Gay Hart Gaines and their families have given over $800,000 to Republican causes in recent years.
But just as troubling are the agendas that Halpern and Hart Gaines would bring to the CPB. Both have stated views or espoused causes thatcall into question their qualifications to service on a board whose mission is to promote and fund public television and radio programming.
Halpern, in her confirmation hearings, indicated that she would welcome empowering the CPB board members to intervene in program content when they felt a program was biased. And, Gaines was an ardent supporter of Representative Newt Gingrich (R-GA). http://www.commoncause.org/news/default.cfm?ArtID=270
-R
I won’t post a year-end summary or offer prognostications. Barry Crimmins had a humorous summary in last week’s Boston Phoenix, Bob Kuttner predicts in Wednesday’s Globe and- eeek- William Safire offers his in today’s NYTimes. I’ll only note that ’03 continued the trend of engorging the wealthy at the expense of (almost) everyone else and that Bush is beatable (though…) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/31/opinion/31SAFI.html http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/12/31/the_outlook_for_2004/
On to ELECTION ‘04
Despite it being ‘holiday season’, it’s heated up. The all-out assault on Dean- not by the Republicans, but by the pundits and, lo, the Democrats- is underway. The DLC and the Democratic candidates blister him, NPR commentators make fun of him, the Washington Post termed the candidate's views to be "not just unfounded but ludicrous" and complained of his "departure from the Democratic mainstream."
Dean complicated matters by suggesting that should he not get the nomination, many of his supporters may balk at supporting one of the “Washington Democrats.”
Oy vey. This is too familiar. Democrats- and too many progressive activists- have always been talented at eating their own while reserving their “action” to protesting policies of the opposition. Too little energy is put to offering alternative visions/programs and fighting hard against the reactionary opposition. The Democrats have to simply pledge to vigorously support the nomination winner, whomever…
Assuredly Dean will be emphasizing his centrism, most recently his Christianity. We should also not be surprised at notes of “moderation” that will be trumpeted by the Bush Campaign, new evidence of compassionate conservatism. This will contrast with the right-wing diatribes coming from the hard core.
Witness the “public manifesto” that was publicly “sent” to Bush by Richard Perle et al, co-author (w/ David Frum) of a new book that calls for a renewed “will to win” the terrorism business. The Independent (David Rennie) reports that the Manifesto demands regime change for Syria and Iran as well as a military blockade / quarantine of North Korea and urges planning for preemptive strikes on Korea’s nuclear sites. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/12/31/wcons31.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/12/31/ixportaltop.html
Republican Media Advantage: The NY Times (Jim Rutenberg) piece demonstrated the coordinated media efforts.
But on one recent Thursday, Terry Holt, Mr. Bush's campaign press secretary, called in to "The Marc Bernier Show," at 1150 and 1490 on the AM dial here, to talk extensively about how the president wanted to help orange growers and would not be satisfied until "every American who wants a job can have a job."
It was one of several telephone visits Mr. Holt made to radio stations in the past few weeks, though he has not appeared on a national television program since he started his job in early November.
While the Bush campaign maintains a low profile on the national campaign stage — content for now to watch the Democrats beat on one another — it is aggressively working the expansive hustings of Republican-friendly talk radio, priming the grass roots faithful for battle next year.
Mr. Bernier's program is part of a network of conservative-minded local radio shows in politically important states on which campaign officials are heard daily, programs like "Mid-Day With Charlie Sykes" in Milwaukee, "The Martha Zoller Show" in Atlanta and "The Jerry Bowyer Program" in Pittsburgh.
It is a network that the Democrats do not have — though they are trying to cultivate one — and one that Mr. Bush's campaign strategists believe will give him an edge in an election that could go to whichever side best mobilizes its core voters.
Presidents have used radio to reach voters virtually since its invention. But strategists and radio experts say the Bush campaign has taken it to a new level of sophistication, using it far earlier in the campaign cycle and appearing regularly on shows with even the tiniest of audiences. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/29/politics/campaigns/29RADI.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=
Army Times Salutes the Soldiers.
The newspaper honored those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2003 by publishing photos of them, rare publicity of our casualties, a modeling for others. [Elsewhere in their periodical they note that “the men and women in uniform strongly back President Bush and his policies in Iraq, according to a Military Times Poll.”] http://www.armytimes.com/
Rosy Economy, or Happy Talk? The desire to be positive/optimistic is human, the need to project success is Republican. So, powerful forces are urging a celebrating of the economy’s “recovery”. The stock market has had a bountiful 9 months, that third quarter looked great, etc. However, minimalist detective work leads one to the conclusion that most people are not benefiting.
Indeed, workers are losing ground, or their jobs. My compatriot Chuck Palson and I have no trouble finding measuring sticks that demonstrate that jobs pay less, are disappearing, and benefits are declining as well as noting the growing number of underemployed or "permanently discouraged" workers. As part of Fairness in Taxes for Everyone's [FITE] efforts, Chuck prowled through the Bureau of Labor Statistics to come up with another barometer. He found that unemployed persons are taking increasingly lengthy periods to find jobs, that the minimal period for such has steadily increased since the 1960’s.
So, beware the happy talk.
What’s Happening, Iraq: Tiresome, preoccupying, but must report!
* Didn’t see, but heard from two sources about Christianne Amanpour’s report on 60 Minutes, including how we train- but don’t trust- the new Iraq police.
* Arab News had a report on Saddam threatening to tell all as to his past dealings with the U.S. reports.
According to the European source close to US investigators, Saddam also said that he would ask the International Court of Justice in The Hague to try the United States for its crimes against the Iraqi people for allegedly using internationally prohibited weapons against the Iraqis during the last two wars against his country.
If the Americans want to try me in a court of law, they should also try high-ranking international officials," the source quoted the former Iraqi dictator as saying. Saddam has insisted that his statements are recorded verbatim, the paper said. The source said Saddam neither prayed not read the Qur'an, it added.... http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=37091&d=27&m=12&y=2003 I
* Southern Iraq relatively tranquil: Luke Harding of the Guardian conveyed how well it’s going in the South.
In contrast to the daily mayhem in the rest of Iraq, the British-occupied south of the country is - comparatively - a tranquil place. There is violence here too - kidnappings and car-jackings by armed bandits who lurk on the road north of Basra are common; last week gunmen shot dead a Christian alcohol-seller as he went to buy vegetables in Basra's market.
But Iraq's increasingly well-organised resistance has made little effort to launch attacks on the British troops who have been encamped in Basra since June, in one of Saddam's riverside palaces, a short stroll from his un-sunken yacht. The last British soldier killed in action in Iraq died in late August.
"It's all about managing the Shia mood," Brigadier David Rutherford-Jones said last week, as his men tucked into a Christmas dinner of turkey and mince pies, served in the palace's tinsel-covered mosque. "Their expectations are very high. I sense that they are outpacing reality a little."
But the reality is that the 10,000 British soldiers in Iraq are not confronting the same kind of brutal insurgency faced by the Americans further north. Iraq is now divided into three chunks - the tranquil south; Kurdistan, which has enjoyed self-government since 1991; and Baghdad and the Sunni triangle. http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1113623,00.html
“Astroturf”, Ongoing:
That is, the placing of campaign verbiage in media, nation-wide, often attaching bogus names to the “letters.” Missives to various periodicals reproduce phrases, sections, or entire model letters that come from RNC / Bush-Cheney campaign sources. It’s mighty effective. Many illustrations, the “Healthy Forest” initiative being a recent one. On the campaign web site:
On December 3, 2003, President Bush signed into law the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to help to prevent catastrophic wildfires and strengthen America’s long-term forest health. The legislation, based on the President’s Healthy Forest Initiative, will reduce the risk of catastrophic fire to communities, help save the lives of firefighters and citizens, and protect
As a nation, we have watched helplessly as parts of America were devastated by wildfires that displaced families, ruined communities and took lives. In the past two years alone, 147,049 fires burned nearly 11 million acres. The President understands the necessity to manage forest and rangelands to protect the land and prevent further destruction caused not only by fires, but also disease and infestation of insects.
Then, letters to the editor appeared in a host of publications, including the Delaware Coast Press web site http://www.delmarvanow.com/deweybeach/stories/20031224/102202.html \
On Dec. 3, President Bush signed into law the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to help to prevent catastrophic wildÞres and strengthen America's long-term forest health. The legislation, based on the president's Healthy Forest Initiative, will reduce the risk of catastrophic Þre to communities, help save the lives of ÞreÞghters and citizens, and protect threatened and endangered species.
As a nation, we have watched helplessly as parts of America were devastated by wildÞres that displaced families, ruined communities and took lives. In the past two years alone, 147,049 Þres burned nearly 11 million acres. The president understands the necessity to manage forest and range lands to protect the land and prevent further destruction caused not only by Þres, but also disease and infestation of insects. By working with Congress, he achieved bipartisan support for a bill that will not only protect endangered species, but also protect our nations' forests and nearby communities for generations to come. Uncontrolled growth, the result of years of unwise forest policy, has left our forests vulnerable to catastrophic Þres
Notice the substitution of “Pres” for “fire/fires”… not my doing; perhaps the editor was making a statement…
“Person of the Year”- the U.S. Soldier. Being someone who values truth-telling, I would’ve hoped that exemplary individuals would have captured this ‘honor’. Hans Blix, however taciturn, could’ve served as poster boy.
The Spin Continues as to Libya “triumph” The Repubs are repeating this claim, hoping the public will buy it as fact, as with all of their previous claims/misrepresentations/lies. The Wall Street Journal (Jackie Calmes) reports that Condi Rice “ has made the Libyan initiative a top priority -- as vindication of the Bush doctrine of threatening pre-emptive force.” http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107239125852700000,00.html?mod=politics%5Fsecondary%5Fstories%5Fhs
Public Broadcasting Under Siege!
Marguerite R. passed this piece of good news.
The Bush Administration has awarded two major Republican donors seats on the nine-member board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Bush appointees Cheryl Halpern and Gay Hart Gaines and their families have given over $800,000 to Republican causes in recent years.
But just as troubling are the agendas that Halpern and Hart Gaines would bring to the CPB. Both have stated views or espoused causes thatcall into question their qualifications to service on a board whose mission is to promote and fund public television and radio programming.
Halpern, in her confirmation hearings, indicated that she would welcome empowering the CPB board members to intervene in program content when they felt a program was biased. And, Gaines was an ardent supporter of Representative Newt Gingrich (R-GA). http://www.commoncause.org/news/default.cfm?ArtID=270
-R
Sunday, December 28, 2003
What’s Happening, Iraq: Retreat. Giving Up on many a goal, while claiming great success. This week featured ominous, coordinated attacks that resulted in 39 coalition deaths. So much for Saddam’s capture marking a turning point. What’s to follow? The Administration hopes for a quiet summer and early fall, and perhaps the media will have moved so that we can reprise the Reagan re-election ‘Morning in America’ theme. The Washington Post (Rajiv Chandrasekaran) has a good summary of the current situation.
The United States has backed away from several of its more ambitious initiatives to transform Iraq's economy, political system and security forces as attacks on U.S. troops have escalated and the timetable for ending the civil occupation has accelerated.
Plans to privatize state-owned businesses -- a key part of a larger Bush administration goal to replace the socialist economy of deposed president Saddam Hussein with a free-market system -- have been dropped over the past few months. So too has a demand that Iraqis write a constitution before a transfer of sovereignty.
With the administration's plans tempered by time and threat, the U.S. administrator of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, and his deputies are now focused on forging compromises with Iraqi leaders and combating a persistent insurgency in order to meet a July 1 deadline to transfer sovereignty to a provisional government.
"There's no question that many of the big-picture items have been pushed down the list or erased completely," said a senior U.S. official involved in Iraq's reconstruction, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Right now, everyone's attention is focused [on] doing what we need to do to hand over sovereignty by next summer." http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A35053-2003Dec27?language=printer
Daily Life in Iraq: Good summary from Herbert Docena (Asia Times Online)
Even if the occupation were working perfectly well, it would still be wrong. This has become trite commentary among Iraqis who bitterly want the occupation of their country to fail but, at the same time, also earnestly hope that the reconstruction of their country succeeds. Still, no matter how hard the occupiers try to make the reconstruction go right, the US and its corporations still have no right staying here.
… neither could they have expected the occupation forces to completely bungle such simple tasks as switching the lights back on. The lack of power is most Iraqis' number one gripe, but the list is long: uninstalled phone lines, shoddily repaired schools, clogged roads, uncollected garbage, defective sewerage, a nonexistent bureaucracy, mass unemployment and widespread poverty - the general chaos that Iraq is still in today.
Iraqis are in broad agreement that life is deteriorating rather than improving. The prevailing sentiment is a complex mix of resentment and resignation, frustration and incredulity. On the one hand, Iraqis feel bitter about being occupied, and yet many are resigned to entrusting their day-to-day survival to the hands of the Americans. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EL25Ak05.html
Casualties: The UPI Report (Mark Benjamin)
The total number of wounded soldiers and medical evacuations from the war in Iraq is nearing 11,000, according to new Pentagon data provided in response to a request from United Press International. The military has made 8,581 medical evacuations from Operation Iraqi Freedom for non-hostile causes in addition to the 2,273 wounded – a total of 10,854, according to the new data. The Pentagon says that 457 troops have died.
Leak of Bush Strategy vs Dean: The NY Times was handed this. Adam Navourney and Richard W. Stevenson report:
President Bush's campaign has settled on a plan to run against Howard Dean that would portray him as reckless, angry and pessimistic, while framing the 2004 election as a referendum on the direction of the nation more than on the president himself, Mr. Bush's aides say.
That’s not surprising. One would think that Dean (or whomever) could certainly counter as to who’s been reckless, (and petulant and pessimistic/fear-mongering). Who, after all, invaded a weak, non-threatening country based on fraud and lies, killing hundreds of Americans and thousands of Iraqi citizens while... you know the rest.
And, noting Lieberman, Kerry et al’s assault on Dean…
Some advisers to Mr. Bush, increasingly convinced that Dr. Dean will become their opponent next fall, are pushing to begin a drive to undercut him even before a Democratic nominee becomes clear. But others said the more likely plan would be to hold back until after the Democratic contest had effectively ended, probably no later than March.
As a Bush strategist put it, Dr. Dean's rivals are "doing a great job for us" with their increasingly tough attacks on him [...]
Mr. Bush's campaign aides left little doubt that if Dr. Dean captured the nomination, those Democratic criticisms would be put to service in Republican television advertisements next year, a tactic that would fit with the White House's general goal of keeping Mr. Bush personally above the partisan fray. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/26/politics/campaigns/26REPU.html?pagewanted=all
Interesting Thought from Josh Marshall (talkingpointsmemo.org):
Is it really reasonable to expect that the values which undergird liberal democracy in America will be effectively spread abroad by the most illiberal people in America?
Plame Investigation: ‘Leak Probe Gathering Momentum’ was the headline. So, it is happening. The latest from the Washington Post (Mike Allen and Dana Milbank)
The Justice Department has added a fourth prosecutor to the team investigating the leak of an undercover CIA officer's identity, while the FBI has said a grand jury may be called to take testimony from administration officials, sources close to the case said.
Administration and CIA officials said they have seen signs in the past few weeks that the investigation continues intensively behind closed doors, even though little about the investigation has been publicly said or seen for months.
According to administration officials and people familiar with some of the interviews, FBI agents apparently started their White House questioning with top figures -- including President Bush's senior adviser, Karl Rove -- and then worked down to more junior officials. The agents appear to have a great deal of information and have constructed detailed chronologies of various officials' possible tie to the leak, people familiar with the questioning said.
The Justice Department has added a prosecutor specializing in counterintelligence, joining two other counterintelligence prosecutors and one from Justice's Public Integrity section.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30842-2003Dec25.html
9/11: Most have accepted the settlement, but the 73 families make a point: From the Toronto Star (Tim Harper)
For some, it's blood money, a repugnant payoff they feel they have no choice but to accept.
For a handful of others, the process of claiming compensation is too painful: they find themselves paralyzed by grief and unable to reopen emotional wounds barely healed from the deaths of their loved ones in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
But as many as 73 families see the process of U.S. government compensation as an attempt to protect those who should be held accountable for what they believe was mass murder.
They ignored a midnight deadline last night, their last chance to apply for government cash.
And today, they begin a new stage in an arduous odyssey and will sue their government, airlines and state and local authorities.
"This may be uncharted waters, but I was thrown in a pool on Sept. 11, 2001 and had to learn to swim," said Monica Gabrielle, who lost her husband Richard in the World Trade Center attack.
"I am doing this for my husband. He was a gentle man, and he was alive, trying to get out of that building that day. The dead. The dying. The smoke. The terror. No one should have suffered like that. I want accountability. I need answers." http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1072134612206&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724
Krugman on Political Reporting: A sample from Friday’s column
Beware of personal anecdotes. Anecdotes that supposedly reveal a candidate's character are a staple of political reporting, but they should carry warning labels.
For one thing, there are lots of anecdotes, and it's much too easy to report only those that reinforce the reporter's prejudices. The approved story line about Mr. Bush is that he's a bluff, honest, plain-spoken guy, and anecdotes that fit that story get reported. But if the conventional wisdom were instead that he's a phony, a silver-spoon baby who pretends to be a cowboy, journalists would have plenty of material to work with. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/26/opinion/26KRUG.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists
Republican Conservatives’ Discomfort with Bush:
R. Jeffrey Smith of the Washington Post had the details.
About 20 Republican congressmen -- all fiscal conservatives -- gathered nervously in a back room at the Hunan Dynasty restaurant on Capitol Hill on Nov. 21, trying to shore up their resolve to defy President Bush. It was the night of the big vote on the Bush administration's Medicare prescription drug bill, which they had concluded was too costly, and they began swapping tales about the intense lobbying bearing down on them.
Over egg rolls and pu-pu platters, one complained that a home-state politician had insinuated that he would run against him in the next primary unless the lawmaker voted for the bill. Another said House leaders had warned that if the bill was defeated because of his no vote, he might lose his subcommittee chairmanship. Several recalled being telephoned by insistent lobbyists from the health care industry.
But the most dramatic account was given by Rep. Nick Smith (Mich.), who is to retire next year and hopes his son will succeed him. According to two other congressmen who were present, Smith told the gathering that House Republican leaders had promised substantial financial and political support for his son's campaign if Smith voted yes. Smith added that his son, in a telephone call, had urged him to vote his conscience, and with the support of dissident colleagues, Smith stuck to his no vote.
The matter might have ended there had Smith not written his account in a Michigan newspaper column, adding an allegation involving threats of retaliation against his son's campaign if he voted no. Since then, he has declined to specify who might have pressured him, but his complaints have prompted outrage among Democrats and consternation among some Republican colleagues.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A22782-2003Dec22?language=printer
Pakistan: US pressuring. A report on attempts to police the Pakistanis as to their lack of cooperation vs al-Qaeda and their nuclear activities. From The Asia Times Online .(Syed Saleem Shahzad)
…Washington is now placing heavy pressure on Pakistan to abandon its nuclear program. Pakistan and India are believed to be ready next week to exchange lists of their nuclear installations and facilities, and members of the international nuclear club want them to create a South Asian nuclear-free zone by signing a bilateral agreement along the lines of the Treaty of Tlatelolco in which two nuclear rivals in South America - Argentine and Brazil - in the 1990s declared the region a weapons-free zone and abandoned their long-range missile programs, as well as nuclear plants.
Another bone of contention between Pakistan and the US is Pakistan's remote, mountainous and volatile tribal areas that border Afghanistan and which are acknowledged as a base for the resurgent Taliban. Pakistan has repeatedly promised to control the area, but without any significant results. Indeed, sectors within the Pakistani security apparatus are suspected of actively aiding the Taliban in maintaining their supply lines. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/EL25Df01.html
Environmental Degredation #204B via the NY Times (Jennifer S. Lee)
The Bush administration announced on Tuesday that the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, the largest in the country, would be exempted from a Clinton-era rule, potentially opening up more than half of the 17 million-acre forest for more development and as many as 50 logging projects.
The decision stems from the settlement of a lawsuit between Alaska and the federal government over the so-called roadless rule, which prohibited the building of roads in 58.5 million acres of undeveloped national forest across the country.
Environmental groups attacked the administration for the settlement in July, saying it was an underhanded strategy for circumventing the regulation. Conservation groups said the administration had failed to defend the roadless designation adequately. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/24/politics/24ENVI.html?pagewanted=print&position
Dumbing Down of America: The Chicago Tribune (Lisa Anderson) has a commentary re the public’s inattention to the Democratic race.
Nine may be the perfect number for baseball teams, Supreme Court justices, the name of a long-running Broadway musical and the planets in our solar system, but it has proved to be a devilishly difficult numeral when applied to the field of Democratic presidential candidates.
In a nation with a famously short attention span, nine candidates appear to be about nine too many for most Americans to remember at this point. A CBS News poll released last month found that half of all registered voters couldn't name even one of the Democratic candidates--nor could 45 percent of those planning to vote in the Democratic primaries.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0312230206dec23,1,3726308,print.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Blair-Bush not so Chummy: London’s Daily Mirror (Chris McLaughlin) reports there is trouble in the Coalition of the Willing, that Tony Blair may no longer be so willing. Not surprising, as it always was a one-way relationship.
Tony Blair and George Bush's love-in has collapsed over the rebuilding of Iraq. The two leaders have fallen out over plans for the reconstruction of the country and the heavy-handed action of American troops against the civilian population. And the rift has been deepened by a Washington ban on a proposed morale-boosting visit by the PM to British troops in Iraq during the Christmas holiday.
According to diplomats, relations between the allies have gone into "deep freeze" since the capture of Saddam Hussein last weekend. President Bush was incensed that Mr Blair stole Washington's thunder by being the first Western leader to confirm that the former dictator had been arrested by US troops. Downing Street rushed out Mr Blair's announcement before he had spoken to the American leader early last Sunday, when Mr Bush - six hours behind London - was still in bed. Whitehall insiders confirmed that Mr Blair's decision was partly out of anger over a US veto on his proposed visit to British troops in Iraq during the Christmas holiday… http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/news/content_objectid=13746358_method=full_siteid=106694_headline=-BUSH-AND-BLAIR--THE-BIG-FALL-OUT-name_page.html
FYI: Jill Stein update: Locals might be interested that the Green Party candidate for Governor will shortly announce that she is running for the House of Representatives in the 9th Middlesex District (Waltham/Lexington). Her campaign will focus on “universal health care, a revitalized economy, a safe environment, affordable housing, real democracy and more.” Her opponent is Tom Stanley, a Finneran fella.
-R
The United States has backed away from several of its more ambitious initiatives to transform Iraq's economy, political system and security forces as attacks on U.S. troops have escalated and the timetable for ending the civil occupation has accelerated.
Plans to privatize state-owned businesses -- a key part of a larger Bush administration goal to replace the socialist economy of deposed president Saddam Hussein with a free-market system -- have been dropped over the past few months. So too has a demand that Iraqis write a constitution before a transfer of sovereignty.
With the administration's plans tempered by time and threat, the U.S. administrator of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, and his deputies are now focused on forging compromises with Iraqi leaders and combating a persistent insurgency in order to meet a July 1 deadline to transfer sovereignty to a provisional government.
"There's no question that many of the big-picture items have been pushed down the list or erased completely," said a senior U.S. official involved in Iraq's reconstruction, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Right now, everyone's attention is focused [on] doing what we need to do to hand over sovereignty by next summer." http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A35053-2003Dec27?language=printer
Daily Life in Iraq: Good summary from Herbert Docena (Asia Times Online)
Even if the occupation were working perfectly well, it would still be wrong. This has become trite commentary among Iraqis who bitterly want the occupation of their country to fail but, at the same time, also earnestly hope that the reconstruction of their country succeeds. Still, no matter how hard the occupiers try to make the reconstruction go right, the US and its corporations still have no right staying here.
… neither could they have expected the occupation forces to completely bungle such simple tasks as switching the lights back on. The lack of power is most Iraqis' number one gripe, but the list is long: uninstalled phone lines, shoddily repaired schools, clogged roads, uncollected garbage, defective sewerage, a nonexistent bureaucracy, mass unemployment and widespread poverty - the general chaos that Iraq is still in today.
Iraqis are in broad agreement that life is deteriorating rather than improving. The prevailing sentiment is a complex mix of resentment and resignation, frustration and incredulity. On the one hand, Iraqis feel bitter about being occupied, and yet many are resigned to entrusting their day-to-day survival to the hands of the Americans. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EL25Ak05.html
Casualties: The UPI Report (Mark Benjamin)
The total number of wounded soldiers and medical evacuations from the war in Iraq is nearing 11,000, according to new Pentagon data provided in response to a request from United Press International. The military has made 8,581 medical evacuations from Operation Iraqi Freedom for non-hostile causes in addition to the 2,273 wounded – a total of 10,854, according to the new data. The Pentagon says that 457 troops have died.
Leak of Bush Strategy vs Dean: The NY Times was handed this. Adam Navourney and Richard W. Stevenson report:
President Bush's campaign has settled on a plan to run against Howard Dean that would portray him as reckless, angry and pessimistic, while framing the 2004 election as a referendum on the direction of the nation more than on the president himself, Mr. Bush's aides say.
That’s not surprising. One would think that Dean (or whomever) could certainly counter as to who’s been reckless, (and petulant and pessimistic/fear-mongering). Who, after all, invaded a weak, non-threatening country based on fraud and lies, killing hundreds of Americans and thousands of Iraqi citizens while... you know the rest.
And, noting Lieberman, Kerry et al’s assault on Dean…
Some advisers to Mr. Bush, increasingly convinced that Dr. Dean will become their opponent next fall, are pushing to begin a drive to undercut him even before a Democratic nominee becomes clear. But others said the more likely plan would be to hold back until after the Democratic contest had effectively ended, probably no later than March.
As a Bush strategist put it, Dr. Dean's rivals are "doing a great job for us" with their increasingly tough attacks on him [...]
Mr. Bush's campaign aides left little doubt that if Dr. Dean captured the nomination, those Democratic criticisms would be put to service in Republican television advertisements next year, a tactic that would fit with the White House's general goal of keeping Mr. Bush personally above the partisan fray. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/26/politics/campaigns/26REPU.html?pagewanted=all
Interesting Thought from Josh Marshall (talkingpointsmemo.org):
Is it really reasonable to expect that the values which undergird liberal democracy in America will be effectively spread abroad by the most illiberal people in America?
Plame Investigation: ‘Leak Probe Gathering Momentum’ was the headline. So, it is happening. The latest from the Washington Post (Mike Allen and Dana Milbank)
The Justice Department has added a fourth prosecutor to the team investigating the leak of an undercover CIA officer's identity, while the FBI has said a grand jury may be called to take testimony from administration officials, sources close to the case said.
Administration and CIA officials said they have seen signs in the past few weeks that the investigation continues intensively behind closed doors, even though little about the investigation has been publicly said or seen for months.
According to administration officials and people familiar with some of the interviews, FBI agents apparently started their White House questioning with top figures -- including President Bush's senior adviser, Karl Rove -- and then worked down to more junior officials. The agents appear to have a great deal of information and have constructed detailed chronologies of various officials' possible tie to the leak, people familiar with the questioning said.
The Justice Department has added a prosecutor specializing in counterintelligence, joining two other counterintelligence prosecutors and one from Justice's Public Integrity section.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30842-2003Dec25.html
9/11: Most have accepted the settlement, but the 73 families make a point: From the Toronto Star (Tim Harper)
For some, it's blood money, a repugnant payoff they feel they have no choice but to accept.
For a handful of others, the process of claiming compensation is too painful: they find themselves paralyzed by grief and unable to reopen emotional wounds barely healed from the deaths of their loved ones in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
But as many as 73 families see the process of U.S. government compensation as an attempt to protect those who should be held accountable for what they believe was mass murder.
They ignored a midnight deadline last night, their last chance to apply for government cash.
And today, they begin a new stage in an arduous odyssey and will sue their government, airlines and state and local authorities.
"This may be uncharted waters, but I was thrown in a pool on Sept. 11, 2001 and had to learn to swim," said Monica Gabrielle, who lost her husband Richard in the World Trade Center attack.
"I am doing this for my husband. He was a gentle man, and he was alive, trying to get out of that building that day. The dead. The dying. The smoke. The terror. No one should have suffered like that. I want accountability. I need answers." http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1072134612206&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724
Krugman on Political Reporting: A sample from Friday’s column
Beware of personal anecdotes. Anecdotes that supposedly reveal a candidate's character are a staple of political reporting, but they should carry warning labels.
For one thing, there are lots of anecdotes, and it's much too easy to report only those that reinforce the reporter's prejudices. The approved story line about Mr. Bush is that he's a bluff, honest, plain-spoken guy, and anecdotes that fit that story get reported. But if the conventional wisdom were instead that he's a phony, a silver-spoon baby who pretends to be a cowboy, journalists would have plenty of material to work with. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/26/opinion/26KRUG.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists
Republican Conservatives’ Discomfort with Bush:
R. Jeffrey Smith of the Washington Post had the details.
About 20 Republican congressmen -- all fiscal conservatives -- gathered nervously in a back room at the Hunan Dynasty restaurant on Capitol Hill on Nov. 21, trying to shore up their resolve to defy President Bush. It was the night of the big vote on the Bush administration's Medicare prescription drug bill, which they had concluded was too costly, and they began swapping tales about the intense lobbying bearing down on them.
Over egg rolls and pu-pu platters, one complained that a home-state politician had insinuated that he would run against him in the next primary unless the lawmaker voted for the bill. Another said House leaders had warned that if the bill was defeated because of his no vote, he might lose his subcommittee chairmanship. Several recalled being telephoned by insistent lobbyists from the health care industry.
But the most dramatic account was given by Rep. Nick Smith (Mich.), who is to retire next year and hopes his son will succeed him. According to two other congressmen who were present, Smith told the gathering that House Republican leaders had promised substantial financial and political support for his son's campaign if Smith voted yes. Smith added that his son, in a telephone call, had urged him to vote his conscience, and with the support of dissident colleagues, Smith stuck to his no vote.
The matter might have ended there had Smith not written his account in a Michigan newspaper column, adding an allegation involving threats of retaliation against his son's campaign if he voted no. Since then, he has declined to specify who might have pressured him, but his complaints have prompted outrage among Democrats and consternation among some Republican colleagues.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A22782-2003Dec22?language=printer
Pakistan: US pressuring. A report on attempts to police the Pakistanis as to their lack of cooperation vs al-Qaeda and their nuclear activities. From The Asia Times Online .(Syed Saleem Shahzad)
…Washington is now placing heavy pressure on Pakistan to abandon its nuclear program. Pakistan and India are believed to be ready next week to exchange lists of their nuclear installations and facilities, and members of the international nuclear club want them to create a South Asian nuclear-free zone by signing a bilateral agreement along the lines of the Treaty of Tlatelolco in which two nuclear rivals in South America - Argentine and Brazil - in the 1990s declared the region a weapons-free zone and abandoned their long-range missile programs, as well as nuclear plants.
Another bone of contention between Pakistan and the US is Pakistan's remote, mountainous and volatile tribal areas that border Afghanistan and which are acknowledged as a base for the resurgent Taliban. Pakistan has repeatedly promised to control the area, but without any significant results. Indeed, sectors within the Pakistani security apparatus are suspected of actively aiding the Taliban in maintaining their supply lines. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/EL25Df01.html
Environmental Degredation #204B via the NY Times (Jennifer S. Lee)
The Bush administration announced on Tuesday that the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, the largest in the country, would be exempted from a Clinton-era rule, potentially opening up more than half of the 17 million-acre forest for more development and as many as 50 logging projects.
The decision stems from the settlement of a lawsuit between Alaska and the federal government over the so-called roadless rule, which prohibited the building of roads in 58.5 million acres of undeveloped national forest across the country.
Environmental groups attacked the administration for the settlement in July, saying it was an underhanded strategy for circumventing the regulation. Conservation groups said the administration had failed to defend the roadless designation adequately. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/24/politics/24ENVI.html?pagewanted=print&position
Dumbing Down of America: The Chicago Tribune (Lisa Anderson) has a commentary re the public’s inattention to the Democratic race.
Nine may be the perfect number for baseball teams, Supreme Court justices, the name of a long-running Broadway musical and the planets in our solar system, but it has proved to be a devilishly difficult numeral when applied to the field of Democratic presidential candidates.
In a nation with a famously short attention span, nine candidates appear to be about nine too many for most Americans to remember at this point. A CBS News poll released last month found that half of all registered voters couldn't name even one of the Democratic candidates--nor could 45 percent of those planning to vote in the Democratic primaries.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0312230206dec23,1,3726308,print.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Blair-Bush not so Chummy: London’s Daily Mirror (Chris McLaughlin) reports there is trouble in the Coalition of the Willing, that Tony Blair may no longer be so willing. Not surprising, as it always was a one-way relationship.
Tony Blair and George Bush's love-in has collapsed over the rebuilding of Iraq. The two leaders have fallen out over plans for the reconstruction of the country and the heavy-handed action of American troops against the civilian population. And the rift has been deepened by a Washington ban on a proposed morale-boosting visit by the PM to British troops in Iraq during the Christmas holiday.
According to diplomats, relations between the allies have gone into "deep freeze" since the capture of Saddam Hussein last weekend. President Bush was incensed that Mr Blair stole Washington's thunder by being the first Western leader to confirm that the former dictator had been arrested by US troops. Downing Street rushed out Mr Blair's announcement before he had spoken to the American leader early last Sunday, when Mr Bush - six hours behind London - was still in bed. Whitehall insiders confirmed that Mr Blair's decision was partly out of anger over a US veto on his proposed visit to British troops in Iraq during the Christmas holiday… http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/news/content_objectid=13746358_method=full_siteid=106694_headline=-BUSH-AND-BLAIR--THE-BIG-FALL-OUT-name_page.html
FYI: Jill Stein update: Locals might be interested that the Green Party candidate for Governor will shortly announce that she is running for the House of Representatives in the 9th Middlesex District (Waltham/Lexington). Her campaign will focus on “universal health care, a revitalized economy, a safe environment, affordable housing, real democracy and more.” Her opponent is Tom Stanley, a Finneran fella.
-R
