Tuesday, July 13, 2004
As Texas goes, so goes the nation?
News Item: The Republican Party of Texas, President Bush's home state, has approved a plank in its platform affirming that "the United States of America is a Christian nation."
Delaying Those Elections (cont.)
Aside from trying to keep us nervous (and hoping for terrorism?- ever notice the slight smile that creeps across Condi’s and Junior’s face when they reference this?), this is another chance to spin that the “appeasement” party won in Spain, that the terrorists won’t accomplish that here (i.e. Kerry is the appeaser) But we know that terrorists have profited from Bush’s actions. Now the question is whether bin Laden et al take this as a challenge.
Reaction around the world. Example from a BBC solicitation:
I cannot even believe that this is being considered by Homeland Security. America cannot set yet another negative precedent of going against our Constitution. I do not see as how a terrorist attack should stop the American people from voting. I am strongly opposed to this idea, as I feel that we are leaning more towards some kind of Totalitarianism State rather than a Democracy. I am in no way a conspiracy theorist, but this current thought process portrayed from the top is making me extremely nervous. -Jenna, Texas, USA http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/3887049.stm
Are We Ready for Terrorist Attack?
Psychiatrist Stanley Greenspan comments (Wash. Post)
Perhaps the most compelling evidence that this is so is the answer to this simple question: Would the average person really know what to do if there were a nuclear, biological or chemical attack in his or her neighborhood? Do people know a great deal more now about what to do than they did before Sept. 11?
The answer is no.
Almost as compelling is a logical follow-up question: Are there fully developed, organized plans between the federal, state and local governments to handle any type of nuclear, biological or chemical attack? If these plans are organized, in place and well-rehearsed, does the general public know about them?
The answer is no.
Have we fully solved the pre-Sept. 11 challenge of agency coordination and response to terrorist threats? It's been three years. Are we treating this challenge as a true emergency and harnessing our best efforts? Have we used every bit of skill, leadership and leverage available to fully engage the international community in preventing terrorism?
It was heartening to hear in Sept. 11 commission testimony that if a rogue airplane flew toward a major U.S. city today, we would be able to respond much more efficiently than we did before Sept. 11. But that information does little to prevent or deal with the consequences of the next attack, unless, of course, we really expect the next one to be an exact replica. http://65.54.186.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=2aa8045e27ee4ec9e383ec9c2e996786&lat=1089647320&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fletters%2ewashingtonpost%2ecom%2fW6RH05A0A19F8EBA439543F962BA40
Logging Rule Changes. Still another example…
The Bush administration on Monday proposed scuttling a rule from the Clinton administration that put nearly 60 million acres of national forest largely off limits to logging, mining or other development in favor of a new system that would leave it to governors to seek greater - or fewer - strictures on road construction in forests.
The announcement abandoning the so-called roadless rule was made by Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman in Boise, Idaho, where opposition to the rule issued by President Bill Clinton as he was leaving office was most pronounced.
Ms. Veneman described the proposal as a way to sidestep the tangle of litigation over building roads through national forests and to improve local participation and federal flexibility in determining the use of national forests.
"State governments are important partners in the stewardship of the nation's lands and natural resources," she said.
A spectrum of environmental groups reacted with disappointment and outrage to the announcement. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/13/politics/13forest.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Son of Star Wars. In case you forgot, it’s still out there. Kerry’s position?
The US Department of Defense is negotiating with Poland and the Czech Republic over positioning a missile defense site and related advanced radar stations in central Europe, reports the Guardian.
Pentagon officers have been scouting the mountain territory of southern Poland, pinpointing suitable sites for two or three radar stations connected to the so-called "Son of Star Wars" program... . Senior officials in Prague also confirmed that talks were under way over the establishment of American advanced radar stations in the Czech Republic as part of the missile shield project.
From its first days in office the Bush administration planned to build a missile interceptor shield to defend the US and its allies from rogue missile attacks. Two sites are currently being built in the US - one in California, the other in Alaska.
A site in Poland would be the first outside US territory and the only one in Europe. http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0713/dailyUpdate.html
MEDIA:
Political Action: CBS-or was it Fox?- News Deserves a Complaint
CBS News carried the following report last week. Do note.
When Andrea and Dennis Cariello got married last year, they thought their taxes would go up, and were dreading writing out that check on April 15. But instead, they got back $4,000.
"It was just a tremendously wonderful surprise that we weren't being hit at the same rate I'd expected, and we weren't being hit with the marriage penalty," says Dennis Cariello.
The Cariellos are putting the money right back into the economy, and that means fixing up their house.
They've got just one request. "I'd tell the President to keep doing what he's doing and hopefully drop taxes down even further," says Dennis Cariello. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/05/eveningnews/main627510.shtml
The trouble with this “news” item is that Dennis is the President of the NYC Young Republican Club. http://www.nyyrc.com/Officers.html
Don’t like this faux news? You can send a complaint to CBS via the following form. http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/feedback/fb_news_form.shtml
Outfoxed: The gist of the documentary is that the Fox News network is not news, is not ‘conservative’, but rather is an organ of the (far right) Republican Party. ‘Outing’ Fox is critical, as the other networks emulate it, to varying degrees, and otherwise commonly ‘report’ whatever the RNC / White House provide.
From outfoxed.org: “Outfoxed examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to know” plays well with their core constituency that they have grown with repetition, dumbed down messenging, and attitude more than information. and the like. And it looks like some of it is NOT working as well as they hoped
From Salon’s Andrew O'Hehir:
As media critic Robert McChesney says in the film, it is much easier to propagandize a public that believes in its own freedom, and does not expect propaganda, than it was in a Soviet-style system where people were always suspicious of official pronouncements. In that context, it's no longer accurate to haul out the tiresome leftist chestnut and refer to a development like the rise of Fox News as "Orwellian." It's subtler, lusher, more sweeping and far more effective than anything Orwell ever imagined. http://www.salon.com/ent/indie/2004/07/13/outfoxed/index_np.html
Jon Stewart helps Wolf Blitzer look back: From Monday’s Daily Show;
STEWART: So what does the media do differently [now]?
BLITZER: I think we learned from our mistakes and try to do it better next time.
STEWART: Specifically. BLITZER: Specifically, we learned from our mistakes and try to do it better next time. We look back and we say, "You know what, we should have been more skeptical."
STEWART: But...Wolf...Come on! It was a...
BLITZER: We're trained to be skeptical by our very nature, that's what journalists...
STEWART: Why weren't you? Because people...
BLITZER: I think we could have been more skeptical, I think we...
STEWART: Are they afraid of the Bush administration? Is the Bush administration so ham-handed that - ham-handed, and this is coming from a Jew who knows nothing of ham - but are they so forceful that they have intimidated the press corps into NOT asking those questions?
BLITZER: No. The answer's no.
STEWART: So...is the press corps, and again I'm gonna use the word, suffering from groupthink? OR...OR...or another word, retardation?
(Audience explodes in cheers as Stewart grabs Blitzer by the shoulder and rocks him)
STEWART: Come on! Tell me the truth! I want to know! I'm really curious. I'm baffled.
BLITZER: It's groupthink. Not retardation. You know, when you're told repeatedly - and I was told going into the [Kuwait] war...everybody said the same thing. There is no doubt, there are stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and it's only a matter of time before he has a nuclear bomb. Condoleezza Rice said on my show..."We can't wait for a smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." You remember that?
STEWART: And as it turns out, Pakistan had already sold mushroom cloud material to every country in the area BUT Iraq! It's crazy! The whole thing's crazy!
http://hoffmania.blogspot.com/2004_07_11_hoffmania_archive.html#108970204769365157
E.J. Dionne on Bush Campaign emphasis on Values
Bush gave a powerful speech in York, Pa., last week describing his "values." He declared: "The culture of America is changing from one that has said 'If it feels good, do it, and if you've got a problem, blame somebody else' to a culture in which each of us understands we are responsible for the decisions we make in life."
That's a great idea. Applying it to the president means that he, not the CIA, is responsible for the case that was made for the war in Iraq. By the president's own logic, he can't blame a bunch of bureaucrats ("if you've got a problem, blame somebody else") for his administration's eagerness to offer the most lopsided picture possible of the threat Hussein posed.
"If it feels good, do it." Bush is absolutely right that this is an inadequate approach to the decisions we face in life. The "values" that lead Bush to reject this concept should pertain especially to decisions to start wars and to the methods used to sell them. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45366-2004Jul12.html
Republican Convention: Who Controls the Billboards?
From the WaPost (Michelle Garcia)
A public interest group on Monday accused media giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. of stifling speech by reneging on a contract to post an antiwar billboard in the heart of Times Square during the Republican National Convention in August.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court here, the Berkeley-based Project Billboard said Clear Channel, a company whose leaders have been strong supporters of the Bush administration, had breached a contract to put up the highly visible billboard that depicted a bomb with the words "Democracy Is Best Taught by Example, Not by War."
Clear Channel Outdoor, the division that controls the company's billboard leasing, rejected the ad, calling it "distasteful" and "politically charged," according to an e-mail the company sent to Project Billboard. After negotiations over the imagery, Project Billboard offered to replace the bomb with a dove but still failed to win approval. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45134-2004Jul12.html
Polls: I know it’s politically ‘incorrect’ to keep citing ‘em, but the public is curious.
From SurveyUSA:
Florida: Kerry 47-44%
Arkansas: Bush 49-47%
Missouri: Bush 48-46%
Virginia: Bush 50-45%
Rasmussen:
Virginia: Bush 48-45%
Michigan: Kerry 46-44%
Nationwide: Newsweek: Kerry 51-45%
USA Today/CNN/Gallup: Kerry 50-45%
-R
News Item: The Republican Party of Texas, President Bush's home state, has approved a plank in its platform affirming that "the United States of America is a Christian nation."
Delaying Those Elections (cont.)
Aside from trying to keep us nervous (and hoping for terrorism?- ever notice the slight smile that creeps across Condi’s and Junior’s face when they reference this?), this is another chance to spin that the “appeasement” party won in Spain, that the terrorists won’t accomplish that here (i.e. Kerry is the appeaser) But we know that terrorists have profited from Bush’s actions. Now the question is whether bin Laden et al take this as a challenge.
Reaction around the world. Example from a BBC solicitation:
I cannot even believe that this is being considered by Homeland Security. America cannot set yet another negative precedent of going against our Constitution. I do not see as how a terrorist attack should stop the American people from voting. I am strongly opposed to this idea, as I feel that we are leaning more towards some kind of Totalitarianism State rather than a Democracy. I am in no way a conspiracy theorist, but this current thought process portrayed from the top is making me extremely nervous. -Jenna, Texas, USA http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/3887049.stm
Are We Ready for Terrorist Attack?
Psychiatrist Stanley Greenspan comments (Wash. Post)
Perhaps the most compelling evidence that this is so is the answer to this simple question: Would the average person really know what to do if there were a nuclear, biological or chemical attack in his or her neighborhood? Do people know a great deal more now about what to do than they did before Sept. 11?
The answer is no.
Almost as compelling is a logical follow-up question: Are there fully developed, organized plans between the federal, state and local governments to handle any type of nuclear, biological or chemical attack? If these plans are organized, in place and well-rehearsed, does the general public know about them?
The answer is no.
Have we fully solved the pre-Sept. 11 challenge of agency coordination and response to terrorist threats? It's been three years. Are we treating this challenge as a true emergency and harnessing our best efforts? Have we used every bit of skill, leadership and leverage available to fully engage the international community in preventing terrorism?
It was heartening to hear in Sept. 11 commission testimony that if a rogue airplane flew toward a major U.S. city today, we would be able to respond much more efficiently than we did before Sept. 11. But that information does little to prevent or deal with the consequences of the next attack, unless, of course, we really expect the next one to be an exact replica. http://65.54.186.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=2aa8045e27ee4ec9e383ec9c2e996786&lat=1089647320&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fletters%2ewashingtonpost%2ecom%2fW6RH05A0A19F8EBA439543F962BA40
Logging Rule Changes. Still another example…
The Bush administration on Monday proposed scuttling a rule from the Clinton administration that put nearly 60 million acres of national forest largely off limits to logging, mining or other development in favor of a new system that would leave it to governors to seek greater - or fewer - strictures on road construction in forests.
The announcement abandoning the so-called roadless rule was made by Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman in Boise, Idaho, where opposition to the rule issued by President Bill Clinton as he was leaving office was most pronounced.
Ms. Veneman described the proposal as a way to sidestep the tangle of litigation over building roads through national forests and to improve local participation and federal flexibility in determining the use of national forests.
"State governments are important partners in the stewardship of the nation's lands and natural resources," she said.
A spectrum of environmental groups reacted with disappointment and outrage to the announcement. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/13/politics/13forest.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Son of Star Wars. In case you forgot, it’s still out there. Kerry’s position?
The US Department of Defense is negotiating with Poland and the Czech Republic over positioning a missile defense site and related advanced radar stations in central Europe, reports the Guardian.
Pentagon officers have been scouting the mountain territory of southern Poland, pinpointing suitable sites for two or three radar stations connected to the so-called "Son of Star Wars" program... . Senior officials in Prague also confirmed that talks were under way over the establishment of American advanced radar stations in the Czech Republic as part of the missile shield project.
From its first days in office the Bush administration planned to build a missile interceptor shield to defend the US and its allies from rogue missile attacks. Two sites are currently being built in the US - one in California, the other in Alaska.
A site in Poland would be the first outside US territory and the only one in Europe. http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0713/dailyUpdate.html
MEDIA:
Political Action: CBS-or was it Fox?- News Deserves a Complaint
CBS News carried the following report last week. Do note.
When Andrea and Dennis Cariello got married last year, they thought their taxes would go up, and were dreading writing out that check on April 15. But instead, they got back $4,000.
"It was just a tremendously wonderful surprise that we weren't being hit at the same rate I'd expected, and we weren't being hit with the marriage penalty," says Dennis Cariello.
The Cariellos are putting the money right back into the economy, and that means fixing up their house.
They've got just one request. "I'd tell the President to keep doing what he's doing and hopefully drop taxes down even further," says Dennis Cariello. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/05/eveningnews/main627510.shtml
The trouble with this “news” item is that Dennis is the President of the NYC Young Republican Club. http://www.nyyrc.com/Officers.html
Don’t like this faux news? You can send a complaint to CBS via the following form. http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/feedback/fb_news_form.shtml
Outfoxed: The gist of the documentary is that the Fox News network is not news, is not ‘conservative’, but rather is an organ of the (far right) Republican Party. ‘Outing’ Fox is critical, as the other networks emulate it, to varying degrees, and otherwise commonly ‘report’ whatever the RNC / White House provide.
From outfoxed.org: “Outfoxed examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to know” plays well with their core constituency that they have grown with repetition, dumbed down messenging, and attitude more than information. and the like. And it looks like some of it is NOT working as well as they hoped
From Salon’s Andrew O'Hehir:
As media critic Robert McChesney says in the film, it is much easier to propagandize a public that believes in its own freedom, and does not expect propaganda, than it was in a Soviet-style system where people were always suspicious of official pronouncements. In that context, it's no longer accurate to haul out the tiresome leftist chestnut and refer to a development like the rise of Fox News as "Orwellian." It's subtler, lusher, more sweeping and far more effective than anything Orwell ever imagined. http://www.salon.com/ent/indie/2004/07/13/outfoxed/index_np.html
Jon Stewart helps Wolf Blitzer look back: From Monday’s Daily Show;
STEWART: So what does the media do differently [now]?
BLITZER: I think we learned from our mistakes and try to do it better next time.
STEWART: Specifically. BLITZER: Specifically, we learned from our mistakes and try to do it better next time. We look back and we say, "You know what, we should have been more skeptical."
STEWART: But...Wolf...Come on! It was a...
BLITZER: We're trained to be skeptical by our very nature, that's what journalists...
STEWART: Why weren't you? Because people...
BLITZER: I think we could have been more skeptical, I think we...
STEWART: Are they afraid of the Bush administration? Is the Bush administration so ham-handed that - ham-handed, and this is coming from a Jew who knows nothing of ham - but are they so forceful that they have intimidated the press corps into NOT asking those questions?
BLITZER: No. The answer's no.
STEWART: So...is the press corps, and again I'm gonna use the word, suffering from groupthink? OR...OR...or another word, retardation?
(Audience explodes in cheers as Stewart grabs Blitzer by the shoulder and rocks him)
STEWART: Come on! Tell me the truth! I want to know! I'm really curious. I'm baffled.
BLITZER: It's groupthink. Not retardation. You know, when you're told repeatedly - and I was told going into the [Kuwait] war...everybody said the same thing. There is no doubt, there are stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and it's only a matter of time before he has a nuclear bomb. Condoleezza Rice said on my show..."We can't wait for a smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." You remember that?
STEWART: And as it turns out, Pakistan had already sold mushroom cloud material to every country in the area BUT Iraq! It's crazy! The whole thing's crazy!
http://hoffmania.blogspot.com/2004_07_11_hoffmania_archive.html#108970204769365157
E.J. Dionne on Bush Campaign emphasis on Values
Bush gave a powerful speech in York, Pa., last week describing his "values." He declared: "The culture of America is changing from one that has said 'If it feels good, do it, and if you've got a problem, blame somebody else' to a culture in which each of us understands we are responsible for the decisions we make in life."
That's a great idea. Applying it to the president means that he, not the CIA, is responsible for the case that was made for the war in Iraq. By the president's own logic, he can't blame a bunch of bureaucrats ("if you've got a problem, blame somebody else") for his administration's eagerness to offer the most lopsided picture possible of the threat Hussein posed.
"If it feels good, do it." Bush is absolutely right that this is an inadequate approach to the decisions we face in life. The "values" that lead Bush to reject this concept should pertain especially to decisions to start wars and to the methods used to sell them. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45366-2004Jul12.html
Republican Convention: Who Controls the Billboards?
From the WaPost (Michelle Garcia)
A public interest group on Monday accused media giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. of stifling speech by reneging on a contract to post an antiwar billboard in the heart of Times Square during the Republican National Convention in August.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court here, the Berkeley-based Project Billboard said Clear Channel, a company whose leaders have been strong supporters of the Bush administration, had breached a contract to put up the highly visible billboard that depicted a bomb with the words "Democracy Is Best Taught by Example, Not by War."
Clear Channel Outdoor, the division that controls the company's billboard leasing, rejected the ad, calling it "distasteful" and "politically charged," according to an e-mail the company sent to Project Billboard. After negotiations over the imagery, Project Billboard offered to replace the bomb with a dove but still failed to win approval. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45134-2004Jul12.html
Polls: I know it’s politically ‘incorrect’ to keep citing ‘em, but the public is curious.
From SurveyUSA:
Florida: Kerry 47-44%
Arkansas: Bush 49-47%
Missouri: Bush 48-46%
Virginia: Bush 50-45%
Rasmussen:
Virginia: Bush 48-45%
Michigan: Kerry 46-44%
Nationwide: Newsweek: Kerry 51-45%
USA Today/CNN/Gallup: Kerry 50-45%
-R
