Sunday, January 04, 2004
Plame Scandal: So let's stop the charade. It's clear that from the very beginning the folks at the White House have known who did it. And the Bush Group could’ve exposed the perpetrator, but they, of course, see nothing wrong in what occurred.
The Ashcroft retreat? It’s probably due to “progress” being made, that the investigation is getting close to someone (Rove, hopefully) who is close to Ashcroft.
The Democrats? Should they not be all over this? As soon as the media stopped reporting it as news, they gave it up. Now, they’ve only applauded Ashcroft removing himself, and they certainly avoid relevant words like “criminal” or “treasonous”.
The Repubs stay busy. As Mike Allen reports in the Washington Post,
The Justice Department investigation into the leak of a CIA agent's identity could conclude that administration officials disclosed the woman's name and occupation to the media but still committed no crime because they did not know she was an undercover operative, a legal expert said this week.
"It could be embarrassing but not illegal," said Victoria Toensing, who was chief counsel of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence when Congress passed the law protecting the identities of undercover agents.
The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 specifies that the revelation is a crime only if the accused leaker knew the person was a covert agent. The July column by Robert D. Novak that touched off the investigation did not specify that Valerie Plame was working undercover, but said she was "an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction." That raises the possibility that the senior administration officials he quoted did not know Plame's status. . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47860-2004Jan1.html
Keep in mind that this “Victoria Toensing” who is cited is a Republican operative, so this is spin, not an objective legal opinion. Another low mark for journalism…
Bush Budget Plans:
Today’s NY Times Robert Pear) on the floated cuts, right on page 1. It’s the typical taking from the disempowered, such as ill veterans and the working poor and hurting us in ways that don’t immediately impact the budget, such as biomedical research, job training. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/04/politics/04BUDG.html?ei=5062&en=67f8901a2ea8bd35&ex=1073797200&partner=GOOGLE&pagewanted=print&position
More support for the Troops! The specific screwing of our veterans:
The Bush administration is considering dramatic increases in the fees military retirees pay for prescription drugs, a step that would roll back a benefit extended 33 months ago and risk alienating an important Republican constituency at the dawn of the 2004 campaign season.
Pentagon budget documents indicate that retirees may be asked to pay $10 -- up from $3 -- for each 90-day generic prescription filled by mail through Tricare, the military's health insurance program. Tricare's current $9 co-pay for a three-month supply of each brand-name drug would jump to $20.
The proposal also would impose charges for drugs the retirees now receive free at military hospitals and clinics. There would be a $10 fee for each generic prescription and a $20 charge for brand-name drugs dispensed at those facilities.
A Pentagon spokesman declined Wednesday to comment on the drug plan, calling it "pre-decisional." http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2331523
That Orange-Level Threat:
Unsettling…for the wrong reasons. No one has been arrested and it turns out that flights were cancelled because of, uh, errors. Some of the embarrassing details from the NY Times (Eric Lichtblau).
The Wall Street Journal Europe reports that Air France cancelled three flights over Christmas because the FBI gave French police six passengers names and information indicating they were linked to al Qaeda and were planning to hijack an Air France jet.
One of names listed as the head of a Tunisian-based terror group was a child. Another "terrorist" was a Welsh insurance agent while a third was an elderly Chinese woman who once ran a restaurant in Paris. The other three on the list were French citizens.
And officials have acknowledged that even now, they are uncertain whether they have succeeded in foiling a terrorist plot.
"I don't think we know yet, and we may never know," a senior administration official said.
And, the flight cancellations over the holidays of several of the British Airways flights had nothing to do with U.S. air security, but were the result of BA pilots refusing to fly with armed marshals on board. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/03/national/03TERR.html?ei=5062&en=9f681213929ea54d&ex=1073710800&partner=GOOGLE&pagewanted=print&position
Speaking of Security…and Incompetence
The Energy Department is conducting a widespread review of security at America's nuclear weapons laboratories after reports of hundreds of missing keys, some of which could allow access to sensitive areas.
The review follows reports last summer that a government facility known by its World War II code name "Y-12" had reported "a number" of keys missing.
In fact, 200 keys were missing…
The Energy Department's Inspector General investigated Livermore and recently determined the lab "did not immediately recognize the significant security implications … did not report the security incidents within the required timeframes," and "did not immediately assess the potential security risks."
During the Inspector General's review, Livermore officials admitted five more master keys were missing, some for years. The Inspector General says it will cost $1.7 million dollars to replace 100,000 locks at Livermore alone. The lab claims it won't cost nearly that much. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/01/national/printable591068.shtml
Faith- Based Parks:
Held off on noting this, till now…
In a series of recent decisions, the National Park Service has approved the display of religious symbols and Bible verses, as well as the sale of creationist books giving a non-evolutionary explanation for the Grand Canyon and other natural wonders within national parks, according to documents released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Also, under pressure from conservative groups, the Park Service has agreed to edit the videotape that has been shown at the Lincoln Memorial since 1995 to remove any image of gay and abortion rights demonstrations that occurred at the memorial.
“The Park Service leadership now caters exclusively to conservative Christian fundamentalist groups,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “The Bush Administration appears to be sponsoring a program of Faith-Based Parks.” http://www.peer.org/press/415.html
Environment: Surprise! Bush Strategy Does Zip
As if we’re surprised. The Washington Post (Guy Gugliotta and Eric Pianin) has the details for all to see…and remember…and cite.
Two years after President Bush declared he could combat global warming without mandatory controls, the administration has launched a broad array of initiatives and research, yet it has had little success in recruiting companies to voluntarily curb their greenhouse gas emissions, according to official documents, reports and interviews.
At the heart of the president's strategy is "Climate Leaders," a program that recruits the nation's industrial polluters to voluntarily devise ways to curb their emissions by 10 percent or more in the coming decade. Scientists believe these greenhouse gas emissions, which include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, are contributing to a troubling rise in the earth's temperature that could disrupt weather patterns and cause flooding.
Only a tiny fraction of the thousands of U.S. companies with pollution problems -- 50 in all -- have joined Climate Leaders, and of the companies that have signed up, only 14 have set goals. Many of the companies that are volunteering say they did so either because reducing emissions makes good economic sense or because they were being nudged by state and federal regulators.
Industry groups, meanwhile, have crafted their own programs under a Bush administration initiative called "Climate VISION," but none of the programs requires individual companies to either enlist in the program or set goals for emission reductions.
Many of the companies with the worst pollution records have shunned the voluntary programs because even a voluntary commitment would necessitate costly cleanups or possibly could set the stage for future government regulation, according to industry insiders. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46212-2003Dec31.html
Taxes: How long has it been? A reminder: It’s been 221 days since the Republicans excluded millions of modest or low income families from the increased child tax credit- i.e. the ones who really needed it- while bestowing more tax breaks for those who didn’t need them, as in reducing the tax on stock dividends. No corrective action has been forthcoming. It’s good to keep this one in the public consciousness/domain, The ongoing count is maintained at http://www.dscc.org/
Class Warfare: Too many of “us” are defensive on this one, fearing that if we dare to say that the very wealthy have been overly rewarded in the last years/decades and must give it back we’ll be attacked for “class warfare.” Chuck Palson and I in our efforts for Fairness in Taxes for Everyone (FITE, www.fairnessintaxes.org ) encounter this one on too many occasions. Yet, we clarify/counter that the warfare has been long waged by the very wealthy for their individual pocketbooks and their corporations and we’re merely labeling it and saying they must give it back
It has been relieving to find very similar sentiments elsewhere, Rosie’s Place, the Service founded by Kip Tiernan, called for significantly raising taxes on the wealthy in their newsletter. And, (very) similar sentiments from the veteran blog Left I on the news.
"Class warfare" isn't a verbal construct, it's a fact. Saying that the rich are getting richer isn't "class warfare," and the fact the right wants to trivialize the matter by claiming so should simply be ignored as ludicrous. The real class warfare is being conducted not by the mouths of the left, but by the actions of the rich, whose corporations and politicians continue to accelerate the transfer of money to themselves from working people. This is a deadly serious issue, not a laughing matter. http://lefti.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_lefti_archive.html#107031358087661278
Pat Robertson announced that God has told him that Bush will triumph in a landslide. Now, there’s someone (Robertson) with credibility…
"The Lord has just blessed him… It doesn't make any difference what he does, good or bad, God picks him up because he's a man of prayer and God's blessing him." http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-elect/2004/jan/02/010207952.html
Democratic Candidates: Kerry keeps sinking…in every way; Kucinich, sterling in the debates, continues to demonstrate the sanity and feasibility of single payer health care and other progressive positions, if they’re coupled with the rolling back of the wasteful, regressive tax cuts. And, the Dean camp reassures that the CNN/Time poll found their candidate only 5 points behind the incumbent, that this compares favorably with Clinton trailing incumbent Bush, Sr. by 20 points in April, 1992. http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/002928.html
Jimmy Breslin on the Democats:
Howard Dean then said that he was old-fashioned and he didn't think you could judge or punish Osama bin Laden until you had a trial and found him guilty.
Suddenly, politicians and the news industry shouted, What are you talking about innocent until found guilty? How can this man Dean say that bin Laden deserves a trial? They said that this was a perfect illustration of Dean talking without thought. And completely un-American, too.
In 1945, they had the Nuremburg trials for Nazis who had killed tens and tens of millions, and had judges, witnesses, evidence and defense counsels. Just the other week, one of the Democratic candidates, Wesley Clark, testified in the Hague at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia.
Yet Joseph Lieberman, who is a peripheral candidate now and thus a nasty little man, said that because he relies on the Constitution, Dean is a weakling who would melt in the face of George Bush. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/columnists/ny-nybres043610286jan04,0,3511525.column
-R
The Ashcroft retreat? It’s probably due to “progress” being made, that the investigation is getting close to someone (Rove, hopefully) who is close to Ashcroft.
The Democrats? Should they not be all over this? As soon as the media stopped reporting it as news, they gave it up. Now, they’ve only applauded Ashcroft removing himself, and they certainly avoid relevant words like “criminal” or “treasonous”.
The Repubs stay busy. As Mike Allen reports in the Washington Post,
The Justice Department investigation into the leak of a CIA agent's identity could conclude that administration officials disclosed the woman's name and occupation to the media but still committed no crime because they did not know she was an undercover operative, a legal expert said this week.
"It could be embarrassing but not illegal," said Victoria Toensing, who was chief counsel of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence when Congress passed the law protecting the identities of undercover agents.
The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 specifies that the revelation is a crime only if the accused leaker knew the person was a covert agent. The July column by Robert D. Novak that touched off the investigation did not specify that Valerie Plame was working undercover, but said she was "an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction." That raises the possibility that the senior administration officials he quoted did not know Plame's status. . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47860-2004Jan1.html
Keep in mind that this “Victoria Toensing” who is cited is a Republican operative, so this is spin, not an objective legal opinion. Another low mark for journalism…
Bush Budget Plans:
Today’s NY Times Robert Pear) on the floated cuts, right on page 1. It’s the typical taking from the disempowered, such as ill veterans and the working poor and hurting us in ways that don’t immediately impact the budget, such as biomedical research, job training. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/04/politics/04BUDG.html?ei=5062&en=67f8901a2ea8bd35&ex=1073797200&partner=GOOGLE&pagewanted=print&position
More support for the Troops! The specific screwing of our veterans:
The Bush administration is considering dramatic increases in the fees military retirees pay for prescription drugs, a step that would roll back a benefit extended 33 months ago and risk alienating an important Republican constituency at the dawn of the 2004 campaign season.
Pentagon budget documents indicate that retirees may be asked to pay $10 -- up from $3 -- for each 90-day generic prescription filled by mail through Tricare, the military's health insurance program. Tricare's current $9 co-pay for a three-month supply of each brand-name drug would jump to $20.
The proposal also would impose charges for drugs the retirees now receive free at military hospitals and clinics. There would be a $10 fee for each generic prescription and a $20 charge for brand-name drugs dispensed at those facilities.
A Pentagon spokesman declined Wednesday to comment on the drug plan, calling it "pre-decisional." http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2331523
That Orange-Level Threat:
Unsettling…for the wrong reasons. No one has been arrested and it turns out that flights were cancelled because of, uh, errors. Some of the embarrassing details from the NY Times (Eric Lichtblau).
The Wall Street Journal Europe reports that Air France cancelled three flights over Christmas because the FBI gave French police six passengers names and information indicating they were linked to al Qaeda and were planning to hijack an Air France jet.
One of names listed as the head of a Tunisian-based terror group was a child. Another "terrorist" was a Welsh insurance agent while a third was an elderly Chinese woman who once ran a restaurant in Paris. The other three on the list were French citizens.
And officials have acknowledged that even now, they are uncertain whether they have succeeded in foiling a terrorist plot.
"I don't think we know yet, and we may never know," a senior administration official said.
And, the flight cancellations over the holidays of several of the British Airways flights had nothing to do with U.S. air security, but were the result of BA pilots refusing to fly with armed marshals on board. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/03/national/03TERR.html?ei=5062&en=9f681213929ea54d&ex=1073710800&partner=GOOGLE&pagewanted=print&position
Speaking of Security…and Incompetence
The Energy Department is conducting a widespread review of security at America's nuclear weapons laboratories after reports of hundreds of missing keys, some of which could allow access to sensitive areas.
The review follows reports last summer that a government facility known by its World War II code name "Y-12" had reported "a number" of keys missing.
In fact, 200 keys were missing…
The Energy Department's Inspector General investigated Livermore and recently determined the lab "did not immediately recognize the significant security implications … did not report the security incidents within the required timeframes," and "did not immediately assess the potential security risks."
During the Inspector General's review, Livermore officials admitted five more master keys were missing, some for years. The Inspector General says it will cost $1.7 million dollars to replace 100,000 locks at Livermore alone. The lab claims it won't cost nearly that much. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/01/national/printable591068.shtml
Faith- Based Parks:
Held off on noting this, till now…
In a series of recent decisions, the National Park Service has approved the display of religious symbols and Bible verses, as well as the sale of creationist books giving a non-evolutionary explanation for the Grand Canyon and other natural wonders within national parks, according to documents released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Also, under pressure from conservative groups, the Park Service has agreed to edit the videotape that has been shown at the Lincoln Memorial since 1995 to remove any image of gay and abortion rights demonstrations that occurred at the memorial.
“The Park Service leadership now caters exclusively to conservative Christian fundamentalist groups,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “The Bush Administration appears to be sponsoring a program of Faith-Based Parks.” http://www.peer.org/press/415.html
Environment: Surprise! Bush Strategy Does Zip
As if we’re surprised. The Washington Post (Guy Gugliotta and Eric Pianin) has the details for all to see…and remember…and cite.
Two years after President Bush declared he could combat global warming without mandatory controls, the administration has launched a broad array of initiatives and research, yet it has had little success in recruiting companies to voluntarily curb their greenhouse gas emissions, according to official documents, reports and interviews.
At the heart of the president's strategy is "Climate Leaders," a program that recruits the nation's industrial polluters to voluntarily devise ways to curb their emissions by 10 percent or more in the coming decade. Scientists believe these greenhouse gas emissions, which include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, are contributing to a troubling rise in the earth's temperature that could disrupt weather patterns and cause flooding.
Only a tiny fraction of the thousands of U.S. companies with pollution problems -- 50 in all -- have joined Climate Leaders, and of the companies that have signed up, only 14 have set goals. Many of the companies that are volunteering say they did so either because reducing emissions makes good economic sense or because they were being nudged by state and federal regulators.
Industry groups, meanwhile, have crafted their own programs under a Bush administration initiative called "Climate VISION," but none of the programs requires individual companies to either enlist in the program or set goals for emission reductions.
Many of the companies with the worst pollution records have shunned the voluntary programs because even a voluntary commitment would necessitate costly cleanups or possibly could set the stage for future government regulation, according to industry insiders. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46212-2003Dec31.html
Taxes: How long has it been? A reminder: It’s been 221 days since the Republicans excluded millions of modest or low income families from the increased child tax credit- i.e. the ones who really needed it- while bestowing more tax breaks for those who didn’t need them, as in reducing the tax on stock dividends. No corrective action has been forthcoming. It’s good to keep this one in the public consciousness/domain, The ongoing count is maintained at http://www.dscc.org/
Class Warfare: Too many of “us” are defensive on this one, fearing that if we dare to say that the very wealthy have been overly rewarded in the last years/decades and must give it back we’ll be attacked for “class warfare.” Chuck Palson and I in our efforts for Fairness in Taxes for Everyone (FITE, www.fairnessintaxes.org ) encounter this one on too many occasions. Yet, we clarify/counter that the warfare has been long waged by the very wealthy for their individual pocketbooks and their corporations and we’re merely labeling it and saying they must give it back
It has been relieving to find very similar sentiments elsewhere, Rosie’s Place, the Service founded by Kip Tiernan, called for significantly raising taxes on the wealthy in their newsletter. And, (very) similar sentiments from the veteran blog Left I on the news.
"Class warfare" isn't a verbal construct, it's a fact. Saying that the rich are getting richer isn't "class warfare," and the fact the right wants to trivialize the matter by claiming so should simply be ignored as ludicrous. The real class warfare is being conducted not by the mouths of the left, but by the actions of the rich, whose corporations and politicians continue to accelerate the transfer of money to themselves from working people. This is a deadly serious issue, not a laughing matter. http://lefti.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_lefti_archive.html#107031358087661278
Pat Robertson announced that God has told him that Bush will triumph in a landslide. Now, there’s someone (Robertson) with credibility…
"The Lord has just blessed him… It doesn't make any difference what he does, good or bad, God picks him up because he's a man of prayer and God's blessing him." http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-elect/2004/jan/02/010207952.html
Democratic Candidates: Kerry keeps sinking…in every way; Kucinich, sterling in the debates, continues to demonstrate the sanity and feasibility of single payer health care and other progressive positions, if they’re coupled with the rolling back of the wasteful, regressive tax cuts. And, the Dean camp reassures that the CNN/Time poll found their candidate only 5 points behind the incumbent, that this compares favorably with Clinton trailing incumbent Bush, Sr. by 20 points in April, 1992. http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/002928.html
Jimmy Breslin on the Democats:
Howard Dean then said that he was old-fashioned and he didn't think you could judge or punish Osama bin Laden until you had a trial and found him guilty.
Suddenly, politicians and the news industry shouted, What are you talking about innocent until found guilty? How can this man Dean say that bin Laden deserves a trial? They said that this was a perfect illustration of Dean talking without thought. And completely un-American, too.
In 1945, they had the Nuremburg trials for Nazis who had killed tens and tens of millions, and had judges, witnesses, evidence and defense counsels. Just the other week, one of the Democratic candidates, Wesley Clark, testified in the Hague at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia.
Yet Joseph Lieberman, who is a peripheral candidate now and thus a nasty little man, said that because he relies on the Constitution, Dean is a weakling who would melt in the face of George Bush. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/columnists/ny-nybres043610286jan04,0,3511525.column
-R
