Tuesday, July 20, 2004
MEDIA:
Outfoxed: Virtually no media coverage of the Sunday event. The Wall Street Journal’s take on the “liberals fighting back”:
During presidential election years, conservative politicians have often attacked the media for their liberal bias. But during this year's campaign, liberals are fighting back with what they see as a powerful issue -- the alleged conservative slant of the Fox News Channel, a unit of the media conglomerate News Corp. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB109027556196467837,00.html?mod=todays%5Ffree%5Ffeature
Talking Points: The White House and/or affiliated ideologues put out the message of the day (or week) and it’s repeated, with little variation, first by a slew of ‘talking heads’ in the media, then by ‘ordinary citizens’. Jon Stewart does a fine job explaining. Best with audio or video, via the link, but here’s the transcript.
Jon Stewart: "It’s not easy keeping up with current events. As soon as you catch up, more happens. That’s where conventional wisdom fits in.
Conventional wisdom is the agreed upon understanding of an event or person:
John Kerry is a flip flopper.
George Bush has sincere heartland values and is stupid.
What matters is not that the designation be true just that it be agreed upon by the media so that no further thought has to be put into it.
So how is conventional wisdom arrived at?
For instance, let’s take the example of the addition of John Edwards to the Democratic ticket. I don’t know how to feel about that. I don’t know what it means. Here’s how I will:
CNN: "This is 28 pages from the Republican National Committee. It says, ‘Who is Edwards? It starts off by saying a disingenuous, unaccomplished liberal.’ We also saw from the Bush-Cheney camp they released talking points to their supporters."
Jon Stewart: "Talking points. That’s how we learn things. But how will I absorb a talking point like ‘Edwards and Kerry are out of the mainstream’ unless I get it jack hammered into my skull? That’s where television lends a hand."
Fox News: "He stands way out of the main stream."CNN – Terry Holt, Spokesman for Bush Camp: "…way out of the main stream."CNN – Communication Director, Bush-Cheney: "He stands so far out of the main stream."CNN – Lynn Cheney: "He’s so out of the main stream." CNN - Terry Holt: "They’re out of the main stream." CNN – Frank Donatelli, GOP Strategist: "…well out of the main stream.
Jon Stewart: I’m getting a feeling. I think, I think they’re out of the main stream. But, what if I wonder why?
CNN – Frank Donatelli: "…two of the foremost liberal senators of the US Senate." CNN – Crossfire: "…two of the foremost liberal senators of the US Senate." MSNBC – Ed Gillespie: "…the most liberal rated senator in the US Senate." Hardball – Lynn Cheney: "…the most liberal senator of the Senate." Fox News: "…who was rated as the number 1 liberal in the US Senate." Fox News – Elizabeth Dole: "…the number 1 most liberal senator in the US Senate."
Jon Stewart: Wow! Those guys are liberals!! In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d say they’re the first and fourth most liberal in the whole Senate. Wow! And while we don’t have any idea what that means and where those rankings come from and how they were arrived at or whether it’s even true, I don’t like the sounds of it. And it’s certainly not something for the media to question. As a matter of fact, I would imagine people like that, liberal and out of the main stream, hang out in some pretty extreme places.
ABC – This Week – Lindsey Graham: "…talking about the hatefest." CNN: "…Hollywood hatefest." Fox News: "…last Thursday night’s hatefest." Pat Boone: "…Radio City Music Hall hatefest…"
Jon Stewart: "Yeah. See, out of the main stream, liberals, and hatefest. Keeping up with current events is easier than you thing. Talking points – they’re true because they’re said a lot."
http://www.moveleft.com/moveleft_essay_2004_07_18_the_daily_
show_does_a_great_bit_re_talking_points.asp
British Chastise Fox News
The British Government's Office of Communications (Ofcom) – the official regulator of the UK's communications industries - recently chastised Fox News and found it in violation of various regulations in that country aimed at preventing the media from deliberately spreading misinformation. Ofcom found that Fox News anchor John Gibson made "false statements by undermining facts." Its report stated, "Fox News was unable to provide any substantial evidence to support the overall allegation that the BBC management had lied and the BBC had an anti-American obsession. http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=6228#7
Letter to ‘the editor’ Sent to Eric Alterman (What Liberal Media?); Well-said.
Sarah Jefferies, Copperas Cove TX
Dr. A~My husband, who until his recent retirement was a First Sergeant in a Division Cavalry unit who got that all-expenses-paid trip to Iraq last year, refuses to forgive those in Congress of either party for their avowal that if they'd known then what they know now....like you said in your "Nation" column today...they wouldn't have authorized the invasion. Well, whoop-de-doo.
The First Sergeant says that if HE could tell from here that the case for invasion was mostly fabricated, THEY certainly should have been able to tell that from the freakin' Capitol.
And I guess that pretty much sums up the problem many of us are having with our government right now---nobody will take responsibility for anything, everything is someone else's fault, and if you don't like it, you can go f**k yourself.
Some country we've got here, huh? http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/
What’s Happening, Iraq:
Allawi as murderer?
Still no coverage in the U.S., basically just the Washington Times, the Moonie paper. Do we have a responsible press- checking it out before reporting- or an intimidated press? At least they could post, “Some say that new PM Allawi…” Compare with the Australian press, which has helped generate an investigation by the Iraqi Human Rights Minister. At least “ABC Online” has noted it. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1156598.htm
Election Surprise?: Russian troops to Iraq (or Afghanistan) Not the surprise we anticipate / fear, but it would be noteworthy. Stratfor reports that Russia is giving very serious (implicitly likely) consideration to sending a hefty number to bail us out.
Russia, reports Stratfor, is seriously considering sending up to 40,000 troops to Iraq. If so, this has the potential to seriously affect the ongoing situation in Iraq and the campaign at home. Putin is reported to be asking the Generals to draw up a plan. Significant boost for Bush, and frees up some of our troops to either come home or go elsewhere. http://www.stratfor.com/coms2/page_home
Casualties Increasing. A rare media report from the Globe’s Brian Bender
Nearly as many US soldiers lost their lives in Iraq in the first half of July as in all of June, even as Iraqi insurgents seem to have shifted focus from attacking US targets to aiming instead at Iraqi security forces and government officials.
The relatively high rate of US military casualties has dimmed hope that the handover of power to the Iraqi government would help stabilize the country and reduce pressure on US soldiers.
June was substantially less violent for US and coalition troops than the two preceding months, fueling hopes that US casualties were on the downswing. However, military officials and defense specialists are increasingly concerned that the guerrilla war could last for years and the number of dead could climb into the thousands.
Since the June 28 handover of power, the 160,000 coalition forces have averaged more than two deaths a day, among the highest rate of losses since the war began 15 months ago. By Saturday, 36 US soldiers had died this month, compared with 42 last month, according to a Globe analysis of official statistics. http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/07/19/us_casualty_rate_high_since_handover?mode=PF
Douglas Feith, Undersecretary Uncovered
Media starting to (finally) write about this fellow, the Undersecretary of Defense for Planning. Feith was key in the disinformation campaign to get us to invade Iraq, but his motivation is allegedly for aiding right-wing Israelis. Excerpts from the UPI guest editorial by Greg Guma:
In the 1990s, Feith churned out anti-Arab diatribes in Israeli newspapers, Bamford reveals. In those articles, he urged Israel to establish more settlements and end the Oslo peace process. When George H.W. Bush was president, he organized a group to denounce the elder Bush for his "mistreatment of Israel . . ." Once back in government, Feith created an Office of Strategic Influence after 9/11. Senior officials have called it a disinformation factory . . .
According to Woodward, Secretary of State Colin Powell felt that Feith was running a "Gestapo office" determined to find a connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11. It was so effective, notes Woodward, that even generals were intimidated.
In "Against All Enemies," Richard Clark, who coordinated counterintelligence for both the Clinton and Bush administrations, mentions Feith in a post-war context. When Bush's assertions about an al-Qaida-Saddam link began to unravel in 2003, Feith promised a congressional committee that he would prove it. Instead, he sent a highly classified memo that added little.
More important, writes Clark, is the fact that someone leaked the memo to a neoconservative magazine, "which promptly printed the secret information. Neoconservative commentators then pointed to the illegally leaked document as conclusive proof of the al-Qaida-Iraq nexus." It was a typical move, sidestepping officials to publicly reinforce a misconception.
But if you really want to understand Feith's role, the basics are provided in "A Pretext for War," James Bamford's look at the abuse of U.S. intelligence agencies both before and after 9/11. Bamford argues that Feith and Perle developed their blueprint for the Iraq operation while working for pro-Israeli think tanks.
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040716-104354-4970r
Richard Ben Cramer on Israel. Important book from a versatile observer. It’s been in the media for more than a month; didn’t want it to escape un-posted.
"How Israel Lost" is a mournful, passionate, hilarious lament for the endangered soul of a nation he loves. In a style that slips from the wisecracking cadences of a Miami Beach hondler to the dispassionate observations of a veteran journalist to the moral outrage of a world-weary humanist, Cramer argues that in the 20-plus years since he originally lived there, the Jewish state has suffered a cataclysmic sea-change, a blow to its spirit all the more tragic for being self-inflicted.
The cause of Israel's malaise, Cramer writes, is very simple: Its 37-year occupation of Palestinian land. The occupation, Cramer argues, is a gross and continuing injustice that has coarsened Israel's moral fiber, corrupted her politics and economy, and split Israeli Jews into bitterly opposed, self-interested tribes who have lost all sense of allegiance to anything beyond their own needs. The occupation has also had a deadly effect on Palestinians, stomping out the last embers of hope and creating a generation of sad, hardened children who know Israelis only as soldiers with guns.
"[T]here are no lives in Israel or Palestine that have not been heated or hardened," Cramer writes. "On the Palestinian side, there are so many lives and dreams on hold ('We are under occupation -- what can we do?') that the conflict has more or less replaced life -- or cooked it to a standstill. The only consolation is that everything can be (and is) blamed on Israel. Among the Jews, the effects are harder to pinpoint -- and, to me, more insidious -- because the whole point of Israel was to create a place where Jews could live the best life -- and liveliest -- according to their values." http://www.salon.com/books/int/2004/07/19/ben_cramer/print.html
The Economy: The Wealthier are Doing Better. Surprise!
Still another piece of ‘evidence’ as to the 23 year trend. This was front page WSJ, and on NPR’s On Point.
Joshua Berry and Ricky Williams, both Houstonians, have seen two very different economic recoveries.
Mr. Berry, an entrepreneur, has profited handsomely from the stock market, in the real-estate boom and by selling a business. Mr. Williams, an airline baggage handler, has been waiting since 2001 for a pay raise.
With the U.S. economy expanding and the labor market improving, it isn't clear how well the Democrats' message of a divided America will resonate with voters this fall. But many economists believe the economic recovery has indeed taken two tracks, exemplified by the experiences of these two Texas residents.
Upper-income families, who pay the most in taxes and reaped the largest gains from the tax cuts President Bush championed, drove a surge of consumer spending a year ago that helped to rev up the recovery. Wealthier households also have been big beneficiaries of the stronger stock market, higher corporate profits, bigger dividend payments and the boom in housing. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109027263697767730,00.html?mod=home%5Fpage%5Fone%5Fus
Sandy Berger Messes Up:
Nothing like handing a distraction to the Right Wing. Former Clinton National Security Adviser Berger sloppily took notes and documents related to the threat of a 1999 Millenium terrorist attack from a ‘secure reading room.’ While it’s not clear if these documents were originals or copies and awfully difficult to figure out any damage inflicted, it’s a technical violation of rules, and if the documents are originals, possibly a breaking of the law. Dumb, dumb, dumb. And, obviously, this is much worse than starting a war and killing over 12,000 or outing a CIA agent.
Some Republicans are naturally accusing him of giving these documents to Kerry, seeking to show that Kerry's people are "sloppy" with highly classified materials in the war on terrorism. So, how could Kerry be trusted with the responsibility of protecting the American people in the future? A no brainer!
Linda Ronstadt: It Doesn’t Matter Any More
She always traveled to the beat of a Different Drum, but this time stayed too long on the Dark End of the Street. The coverage has not been complimentary. So, Hasten Down the Wind, Linda.
The AP report:
Singer Linda Ronstadt not only got booed, she got the boot after lauding filmmaker Michael Moore and his new movie, Fahrenheit 9/11 during a performance at the Aladdin hotel-casino.
Before singing "Desperado" for an encore Saturday night, the 58-year-old rocker called Moore a "great American patriot" and "someone who is spreading the truth." She also encouraged everybody to see the documentary about President Bush.
”Ronstadt's comments drew loud boos and some of the 4,500 people in attendance stormed out of the theater. People also tore down concert posters and tossed cocktails into the air…
" In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal before the show, Ronstadt said "I keep hoping that if I'm annoying enough to them, they won't hire me back."
Knowing she always had a Heart Like A Wheel and wanting to make his points, Michael Moore sent a letter of complaint to the Aladdin head. http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=93
Think I’ll re-visit her mid 70’s albums…
ELECTION:
Former (Republican) Environmental Chief Castigates Administration:
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency for two Republican presidents criticized President Bush's record on Monday, calling it a ``polluter protection'' policy. Russell E. Train, who headed the EPA from September 1973 to January 1977 - part of the Nixon and Ford administrations - said Bush's record on the environment was so dismal that he would cast his vote for Democrat John Kerry. http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4328886,00.html
Polls: As many of us say, it shouldn’t be this close.
Minnesota: Kerry 45%, Bush 44%, Nader 2% (Minnesota Public Radio)
Florida: Bush 48%, Kerry 46% (Strategic Vision)
North Carolina: Bush 49%, Kerry 44% (News and Observer)
New York: Kerry 51%, Bush 29% (Sienna Research)
Marist College Poll. "Kerry has the support of 45% of the national electorate compared with 44% for Bush. Ralph Nader receives 2%, and 9% are undecided. In the 17 battleground states, Kerry receives the support of 47% of registered voters and Bush receives 42%
Rasmussen Presidential Tracking [Nat’l] has Bush leading Kerry, 47% to 45%.
Arizona: Kerry 42%, Bush 41%
-R
Outfoxed: Virtually no media coverage of the Sunday event. The Wall Street Journal’s take on the “liberals fighting back”:
During presidential election years, conservative politicians have often attacked the media for their liberal bias. But during this year's campaign, liberals are fighting back with what they see as a powerful issue -- the alleged conservative slant of the Fox News Channel, a unit of the media conglomerate News Corp. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB109027556196467837,00.html?mod=todays%5Ffree%5Ffeature
Talking Points: The White House and/or affiliated ideologues put out the message of the day (or week) and it’s repeated, with little variation, first by a slew of ‘talking heads’ in the media, then by ‘ordinary citizens’. Jon Stewart does a fine job explaining. Best with audio or video, via the link, but here’s the transcript.
Jon Stewart: "It’s not easy keeping up with current events. As soon as you catch up, more happens. That’s where conventional wisdom fits in.
Conventional wisdom is the agreed upon understanding of an event or person:
John Kerry is a flip flopper.
George Bush has sincere heartland values and is stupid.
What matters is not that the designation be true just that it be agreed upon by the media so that no further thought has to be put into it.
So how is conventional wisdom arrived at?
For instance, let’s take the example of the addition of John Edwards to the Democratic ticket. I don’t know how to feel about that. I don’t know what it means. Here’s how I will:
CNN: "This is 28 pages from the Republican National Committee. It says, ‘Who is Edwards? It starts off by saying a disingenuous, unaccomplished liberal.’ We also saw from the Bush-Cheney camp they released talking points to their supporters."
Jon Stewart: "Talking points. That’s how we learn things. But how will I absorb a talking point like ‘Edwards and Kerry are out of the mainstream’ unless I get it jack hammered into my skull? That’s where television lends a hand."
Fox News: "He stands way out of the main stream."CNN – Terry Holt, Spokesman for Bush Camp: "…way out of the main stream."CNN – Communication Director, Bush-Cheney: "He stands so far out of the main stream."CNN – Lynn Cheney: "He’s so out of the main stream." CNN - Terry Holt: "They’re out of the main stream." CNN – Frank Donatelli, GOP Strategist: "…well out of the main stream.
Jon Stewart: I’m getting a feeling. I think, I think they’re out of the main stream. But, what if I wonder why?
CNN – Frank Donatelli: "…two of the foremost liberal senators of the US Senate." CNN – Crossfire: "…two of the foremost liberal senators of the US Senate." MSNBC – Ed Gillespie: "…the most liberal rated senator in the US Senate." Hardball – Lynn Cheney: "…the most liberal senator of the Senate." Fox News: "…who was rated as the number 1 liberal in the US Senate." Fox News – Elizabeth Dole: "…the number 1 most liberal senator in the US Senate."
Jon Stewart: Wow! Those guys are liberals!! In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d say they’re the first and fourth most liberal in the whole Senate. Wow! And while we don’t have any idea what that means and where those rankings come from and how they were arrived at or whether it’s even true, I don’t like the sounds of it. And it’s certainly not something for the media to question. As a matter of fact, I would imagine people like that, liberal and out of the main stream, hang out in some pretty extreme places.
ABC – This Week – Lindsey Graham: "…talking about the hatefest." CNN: "…Hollywood hatefest." Fox News: "…last Thursday night’s hatefest." Pat Boone: "…Radio City Music Hall hatefest…"
Jon Stewart: "Yeah. See, out of the main stream, liberals, and hatefest. Keeping up with current events is easier than you thing. Talking points – they’re true because they’re said a lot."
http://www.moveleft.com/moveleft_essay_2004_07_18_the_daily_
show_does_a_great_bit_re_talking_points.asp
British Chastise Fox News
The British Government's Office of Communications (Ofcom) – the official regulator of the UK's communications industries - recently chastised Fox News and found it in violation of various regulations in that country aimed at preventing the media from deliberately spreading misinformation. Ofcom found that Fox News anchor John Gibson made "false statements by undermining facts." Its report stated, "Fox News was unable to provide any substantial evidence to support the overall allegation that the BBC management had lied and the BBC had an anti-American obsession. http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=6228#7
Letter to ‘the editor’ Sent to Eric Alterman (What Liberal Media?); Well-said.
Sarah Jefferies, Copperas Cove TX
Dr. A~My husband, who until his recent retirement was a First Sergeant in a Division Cavalry unit who got that all-expenses-paid trip to Iraq last year, refuses to forgive those in Congress of either party for their avowal that if they'd known then what they know now....like you said in your "Nation" column today...they wouldn't have authorized the invasion. Well, whoop-de-doo.
The First Sergeant says that if HE could tell from here that the case for invasion was mostly fabricated, THEY certainly should have been able to tell that from the freakin' Capitol.
And I guess that pretty much sums up the problem many of us are having with our government right now---nobody will take responsibility for anything, everything is someone else's fault, and if you don't like it, you can go f**k yourself.
Some country we've got here, huh? http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/
What’s Happening, Iraq:
Allawi as murderer?
Still no coverage in the U.S., basically just the Washington Times, the Moonie paper. Do we have a responsible press- checking it out before reporting- or an intimidated press? At least they could post, “Some say that new PM Allawi…” Compare with the Australian press, which has helped generate an investigation by the Iraqi Human Rights Minister. At least “ABC Online” has noted it. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1156598.htm
Election Surprise?: Russian troops to Iraq (or Afghanistan) Not the surprise we anticipate / fear, but it would be noteworthy. Stratfor reports that Russia is giving very serious (implicitly likely) consideration to sending a hefty number to bail us out.
Russia, reports Stratfor, is seriously considering sending up to 40,000 troops to Iraq. If so, this has the potential to seriously affect the ongoing situation in Iraq and the campaign at home. Putin is reported to be asking the Generals to draw up a plan. Significant boost for Bush, and frees up some of our troops to either come home or go elsewhere. http://www.stratfor.com/coms2/page_home
Casualties Increasing. A rare media report from the Globe’s Brian Bender
Nearly as many US soldiers lost their lives in Iraq in the first half of July as in all of June, even as Iraqi insurgents seem to have shifted focus from attacking US targets to aiming instead at Iraqi security forces and government officials.
The relatively high rate of US military casualties has dimmed hope that the handover of power to the Iraqi government would help stabilize the country and reduce pressure on US soldiers.
June was substantially less violent for US and coalition troops than the two preceding months, fueling hopes that US casualties were on the downswing. However, military officials and defense specialists are increasingly concerned that the guerrilla war could last for years and the number of dead could climb into the thousands.
Since the June 28 handover of power, the 160,000 coalition forces have averaged more than two deaths a day, among the highest rate of losses since the war began 15 months ago. By Saturday, 36 US soldiers had died this month, compared with 42 last month, according to a Globe analysis of official statistics. http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/07/19/us_casualty_rate_high_since_handover?mode=PF
Douglas Feith, Undersecretary Uncovered
Media starting to (finally) write about this fellow, the Undersecretary of Defense for Planning. Feith was key in the disinformation campaign to get us to invade Iraq, but his motivation is allegedly for aiding right-wing Israelis. Excerpts from the UPI guest editorial by Greg Guma:
In the 1990s, Feith churned out anti-Arab diatribes in Israeli newspapers, Bamford reveals. In those articles, he urged Israel to establish more settlements and end the Oslo peace process. When George H.W. Bush was president, he organized a group to denounce the elder Bush for his "mistreatment of Israel . . ." Once back in government, Feith created an Office of Strategic Influence after 9/11. Senior officials have called it a disinformation factory . . .
According to Woodward, Secretary of State Colin Powell felt that Feith was running a "Gestapo office" determined to find a connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11. It was so effective, notes Woodward, that even generals were intimidated.
In "Against All Enemies," Richard Clark, who coordinated counterintelligence for both the Clinton and Bush administrations, mentions Feith in a post-war context. When Bush's assertions about an al-Qaida-Saddam link began to unravel in 2003, Feith promised a congressional committee that he would prove it. Instead, he sent a highly classified memo that added little.
More important, writes Clark, is the fact that someone leaked the memo to a neoconservative magazine, "which promptly printed the secret information. Neoconservative commentators then pointed to the illegally leaked document as conclusive proof of the al-Qaida-Iraq nexus." It was a typical move, sidestepping officials to publicly reinforce a misconception.
But if you really want to understand Feith's role, the basics are provided in "A Pretext for War," James Bamford's look at the abuse of U.S. intelligence agencies both before and after 9/11. Bamford argues that Feith and Perle developed their blueprint for the Iraq operation while working for pro-Israeli think tanks.
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040716-104354-4970r
Richard Ben Cramer on Israel. Important book from a versatile observer. It’s been in the media for more than a month; didn’t want it to escape un-posted.
"How Israel Lost" is a mournful, passionate, hilarious lament for the endangered soul of a nation he loves. In a style that slips from the wisecracking cadences of a Miami Beach hondler to the dispassionate observations of a veteran journalist to the moral outrage of a world-weary humanist, Cramer argues that in the 20-plus years since he originally lived there, the Jewish state has suffered a cataclysmic sea-change, a blow to its spirit all the more tragic for being self-inflicted.
The cause of Israel's malaise, Cramer writes, is very simple: Its 37-year occupation of Palestinian land. The occupation, Cramer argues, is a gross and continuing injustice that has coarsened Israel's moral fiber, corrupted her politics and economy, and split Israeli Jews into bitterly opposed, self-interested tribes who have lost all sense of allegiance to anything beyond their own needs. The occupation has also had a deadly effect on Palestinians, stomping out the last embers of hope and creating a generation of sad, hardened children who know Israelis only as soldiers with guns.
"[T]here are no lives in Israel or Palestine that have not been heated or hardened," Cramer writes. "On the Palestinian side, there are so many lives and dreams on hold ('We are under occupation -- what can we do?') that the conflict has more or less replaced life -- or cooked it to a standstill. The only consolation is that everything can be (and is) blamed on Israel. Among the Jews, the effects are harder to pinpoint -- and, to me, more insidious -- because the whole point of Israel was to create a place where Jews could live the best life -- and liveliest -- according to their values." http://www.salon.com/books/int/2004/07/19/ben_cramer/print.html
The Economy: The Wealthier are Doing Better. Surprise!
Still another piece of ‘evidence’ as to the 23 year trend. This was front page WSJ, and on NPR’s On Point.
Joshua Berry and Ricky Williams, both Houstonians, have seen two very different economic recoveries.
Mr. Berry, an entrepreneur, has profited handsomely from the stock market, in the real-estate boom and by selling a business. Mr. Williams, an airline baggage handler, has been waiting since 2001 for a pay raise.
With the U.S. economy expanding and the labor market improving, it isn't clear how well the Democrats' message of a divided America will resonate with voters this fall. But many economists believe the economic recovery has indeed taken two tracks, exemplified by the experiences of these two Texas residents.
Upper-income families, who pay the most in taxes and reaped the largest gains from the tax cuts President Bush championed, drove a surge of consumer spending a year ago that helped to rev up the recovery. Wealthier households also have been big beneficiaries of the stronger stock market, higher corporate profits, bigger dividend payments and the boom in housing. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109027263697767730,00.html?mod=home%5Fpage%5Fone%5Fus
Sandy Berger Messes Up:
Nothing like handing a distraction to the Right Wing. Former Clinton National Security Adviser Berger sloppily took notes and documents related to the threat of a 1999 Millenium terrorist attack from a ‘secure reading room.’ While it’s not clear if these documents were originals or copies and awfully difficult to figure out any damage inflicted, it’s a technical violation of rules, and if the documents are originals, possibly a breaking of the law. Dumb, dumb, dumb. And, obviously, this is much worse than starting a war and killing over 12,000 or outing a CIA agent.
Some Republicans are naturally accusing him of giving these documents to Kerry, seeking to show that Kerry's people are "sloppy" with highly classified materials in the war on terrorism. So, how could Kerry be trusted with the responsibility of protecting the American people in the future? A no brainer!
Linda Ronstadt: It Doesn’t Matter Any More
She always traveled to the beat of a Different Drum, but this time stayed too long on the Dark End of the Street. The coverage has not been complimentary. So, Hasten Down the Wind, Linda.
The AP report:
Singer Linda Ronstadt not only got booed, she got the boot after lauding filmmaker Michael Moore and his new movie, Fahrenheit 9/11 during a performance at the Aladdin hotel-casino.
Before singing "Desperado" for an encore Saturday night, the 58-year-old rocker called Moore a "great American patriot" and "someone who is spreading the truth." She also encouraged everybody to see the documentary about President Bush.
”Ronstadt's comments drew loud boos and some of the 4,500 people in attendance stormed out of the theater. People also tore down concert posters and tossed cocktails into the air…
" In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal before the show, Ronstadt said "I keep hoping that if I'm annoying enough to them, they won't hire me back."
Knowing she always had a Heart Like A Wheel and wanting to make his points, Michael Moore sent a letter of complaint to the Aladdin head. http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=93
Think I’ll re-visit her mid 70’s albums…
ELECTION:
Former (Republican) Environmental Chief Castigates Administration:
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency for two Republican presidents criticized President Bush's record on Monday, calling it a ``polluter protection'' policy. Russell E. Train, who headed the EPA from September 1973 to January 1977 - part of the Nixon and Ford administrations - said Bush's record on the environment was so dismal that he would cast his vote for Democrat John Kerry. http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4328886,00.html
Polls: As many of us say, it shouldn’t be this close.
Minnesota: Kerry 45%, Bush 44%, Nader 2% (Minnesota Public Radio)
Florida: Bush 48%, Kerry 46% (Strategic Vision)
North Carolina: Bush 49%, Kerry 44% (News and Observer)
New York: Kerry 51%, Bush 29% (Sienna Research)
Marist College Poll. "Kerry has the support of 45% of the national electorate compared with 44% for Bush. Ralph Nader receives 2%, and 9% are undecided. In the 17 battleground states, Kerry receives the support of 47% of registered voters and Bush receives 42%
Rasmussen Presidential Tracking [Nat’l] has Bush leading Kerry, 47% to 45%.
Arizona: Kerry 42%, Bush 41%
-R
