Thursday, August 05, 2004
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we," Bush said. "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBCWNR3JXD.html
Pro-Bush Ads Predictably Worsen: The latest smear is of the type you’d expect. Right-wing media are pushing it, especially Limbaugh. The claim: Veterans who claim to have “served with” Kerry (but didn’t), a doctor who claimed to have treated Kerry’s wounds (but didn’t) announce,
KERRY KILLED A LONE, FLEEING, TEENAGE FOE; LIED TO SUPERIORS TO GAIN MEDAL; Slaughters Animals, Burns Down Tiny Village.
Really.
Their book, intended to be a best seller (guaranteed by purchasing by countless right-wing book clubs), Unfit for Command will be out in time for the final weeks. John McCain, hopefully feeling guilty for campaigning with Bush, condemned the group and ad, called on the White House to do the same. One of those web sites: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1185197/posts
Meanwhile, from Republican consultant Mark McKinnon on the Springsteen et al tours: "We think it's unfortunate these particular fine musicians have decided to affiliate with a hate-filled fringe group like MoveOn.”
Democrats Learning: They too have a “Truth Squad” that’s contesting some of the more egregious lies spun by the Bush campaign.
What’s Happening, Iraq: Plenty of fighting, death country-wide.
Insurgents loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr battled fiercely with U.S. and Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf on Thursday and fighting quickly spread to other Shiite areas, threatening a shaky two-month-old truce. A U.S. military helicopter was shot down, injuring the crew. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5455104/
Fighting flared Wednesday between the Iraqi police and insurgents in Mosul, killing at least 12 people, wounding dozens more and prompting city authorities to impose a curfew to restore order, city officials said.
Meanwhile, six foreign hostages were freed elsewhere in Iraq, several of them rescued in a raid by local leaders in Falluja.
About noon, dozens of masked insurgents got out of a minivan on the south side of Mosul and sprayed gunfire along two main roads, witnesses said. Iraqi police officers returned fire and the battle continued for more than three hours, they said. Insurgents attacked at least two other neighborhoods, the authorities said.
The fighting in Mosul, in northern Iraq, was the fiercest there since the American occupation began and raised the specter that the insurgency - already strong in large areas of the Sunni heartland - had taken a menacing turn farther north. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/05/international/middleeast/05iraq.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Robert Fisk’s (predictably) harsh assessment:
Much of Iraq has fallen outside the control of America's puppet government in Baghdad but we are not told. Hundreds of attacks are made against US troops every month. But unless an American dies, we are not told. This month's death toll of Iraqis in Baghdad alone has now reached 700 - the worst month since the invasion ended. But we are not told.
”The stage management of this catastrophe in Iraq was all too evident at Saddam Hussein's "trial". Not only did the US military censor the tapes of the event. Not only did they effectively delete all sound of the 11 other defendants. But the Americans led Saddam Hussein to believe - until he reached the courtroom - that he was on his way to his execution. Indeed, when he entered the room he believed that the judge was there to condemn him to death. This, after all, was the way Saddam ran his own state security courts. No wonder he initially looked "disorientated" - …..
”Indeed, watching any Western television station in Baghdad these days is like tuning in to Planet Mars. Doesn't Blair realize that Iraq is about to implode? Doesn't Bush realise this? The American-appointed "government" controls only parts of Baghdad - and even there its ministers and civil servants are car-bombed and assassinated. Baquba, Samara, Kut, Mahmoudiya, Hilla, Fallujah, Ramadi, all are outside government authority. Iyad Allawi, the "Prime Minister", is little more than mayor of Baghdad. "Some journalists," Blair announces, "almost want there to be a disaster in Iraq." He doesn't get it. The disaster exists now. …” http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp?story=546763
Troop Shortage / Backdoor Draft: Ongoing problem, that’s why the world-wide shifting about and the extended tours. Now the AP reports that the percentage of troops in Iraq that are National Guard or Reservists has gone from 25% (4/03) to 39% (now) to 43% in 2005. http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,FL_reserves_072304,00.html
Bush: Still Holding to "Knowing what I know today, we still would have gone on into Iraq," http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bush3aug03,1,7312796.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Yet, the line about “we”- the Congress, the UN, the American public AND the Administration- were all misled by the CIA ignores that the Bushies always knew the info. was questionable, if not bogus. The doubts re WMD, the al-Qaeda tie, Iraq’s nuclear capacity were well known. Yet they went ahead with war, having long planned to do so. A new article by David Sirota and Christy Harvey definitively (again) makes the case. http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/print/they_knew_0802/
Kerry courting business support; WSJ (Jackie Calmes) Many business folk are alarmed by Bush, and not frightened by Kerry.
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry has persuaded scores of corporate executives to go public with endorsements to prove his moderate appeal and suggest cracks in President Bush's base of business support.
Joined by several business leaders at an economic summit today in Davenport, Iowa, Mr. Kerry is releasing a list of about 200 other corporate supporters. Among the Kerry converts is David Bonderman, founder and managing partner of the Fort Worth, Texas, investment firm Texas Pacific Group, who supported Mr. Bush for president in 2000 and earlier for Texas governor. http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB109158634174482476,00.html
October Surprise (again)
Syed Saleem Shahzad of the Asia Times circulates the latest concern that leading al-Qaeda figures are being held, to be announced at a politically convenient moment. Asia Times is a reliable source; it’s only possible flaw is that it is occasionally a tad dramatic.
The author taps a familiar vein in that he posits that Pakistan’s leaders play to the U.S. while seeking to co-opt/prevent a possible fundamentalist uprising at home, and that they fear that an actual victory over “terrorism” would lead to the U.S. abandoning their no longer useful ally. Then again, this “ally” spread nuclear technology, is a warm host to the Taliban, its intelligence service alternately trains and helps capture al-Qaeda, etc.
When US Central Command commander General John Abizaid visited Islamabad last week, his first priority was not Pakistan sending troops to Iraq, but the arrest of high-value al-Qaeda targets.
....Already, though, under intense pressure from the US, Pakistan has handed over as many as 350 suspected al-Qaeda operators into US custody. Most have been low-ranking, but some important names are, according to Asia Times Online contacts, being held in Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) safe houses to be presented at the right moment.
The contacts say that Pakistan's strategic circles see the high-value al-Qaeda operators as "bargaining chips" to ensure continued US support for President General Pervez Musharraf's de facto military rule in Pakistan. Had Pakistan handed over top targets such as Osama bin Laden, his deputy Dr Aiman al-Zawahir, Tahir Yuldash (leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) and others — assuming it was in a position to do so — the military rulers would have lost their usefulness to the US in its "war on terror". The contacts say that Pakistan's strategic circles see the high-value al-Qaeda operators as "bargaining chips" to ensure continued US support for President General Pervez Musharraf's de facto military rule in Pakistan. Had Pakistan handed over top targets such as Osama bin Laden, his deputy Dr Aiman al-Zawahir, Tahir Yuldash (leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) and others - assuming it was in a position to do so - the military rulers would have lost their usefulness to the US in its "war on terror". http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FH04Df03.html
Jimmy Breslin for a perspective on US War dead
A rocket-propelled grenade came out of the hot afternoon in Iraq on July 7 and made Pfc. Samuel Bowen of Cleveland the 1,000th member of the U.S. military to die in battle since the World Trade Center attack.The number of dead is carefully compiled by the Army Times newspaper, which carries the most news about the war. The others who know he is the 1,000th are those who fought where he died.Bowen died at 38 in the afternoon of July 7 when his Ohio National Guard engineer convoy stopped because one of the trucks broke down. Bowen and a dozen Guardsmen protected the convoy while a mechanic tried to repair the truck. Iraqis fired a rocket-propelled grenade that killed Bowen and wounded two others.With a number of dead this high, an easily remembered figure that stands in the sky and accuses the nation, it was not surprising to have the government throw a little added tension into the steam and announce that huge New York financial buildings have been targeted by al-Qaida. There was an orange alert and cops and troops were all over.Tom Ridge of Homeland Security made the announcement. Whenever I see Ridge, I feel he is another on the Republican campaign staff. It seems that whenever George Bush is in a little trouble, Ridge tells the public that we are going to be attacked. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/columnists/nyc-breslinspks0803,0,3269214.column?coll=ny-ny-columnists
That Rant: Kerry the Most Liberal, Edwards the #4 Liberal
Jon Stewart destroyed the nonsense on his Daily Show, but the Right continues to disseminate this nonsense. (Witness the local Herald screaming ‘He’s left of Ted!’)
One grievous, but predictable example:
Newt Gingrich said on Fox News Sunday, “ I think what decides this race in the end is, do you think America can go forward better with President Bush continuing to lead, or do you really want the most liberal member of the Senate and the fourth most liberal member of the Senate, people to the left of Teddy Kennedy, people to the left of Hillary Clinton? And I think that choice is going to be so wide and so clear by mid-September.
Chris Wallace responded, “I've got to say, Speaker Gingrich, that's the biggest bumper sticker I ever heard, but it was a good answer.”
That’s Fox “journalism”.
What’s Happening, North Korea: Starving people, bulging military
Jane’s Defense Weekly reported that Kim Jong-Il may have the know-how to hit California with sea-launched missiles, that he has 12 submarines formerly in the possession of the Soviet Union. But, of course, they’re much less of a threat than Saddam’s de-fanged, non-nuclear, demoralized Iraqi army.
North Korea is deploying new land- and sea-based ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads and may have sufficient range to hit the United States, according to the authoritative Jane's Defense Weekly.
In an article due to appear Wednesday, Jane's said the two new systems appeared to be based on a decommissioned Soviet submarine-launched ballistic missile, the R-27.
It said communist North Korea had acquired the know-how during the 1990s from Russian missile specialists and by buying 12 former Soviet submarines which had been sold for scrap metal but retained key elements of their missile launch systems.
Jane's, which did not specify its sources, said the sea-based missile was potentially the more threatening of the two new weapons systems.
http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5860277
What’s Happening, Guantanamo: The Mail and Guardian (South Africa):
Repeated abuses allegedly suffered by three British prisoners at the hands of United States interrogators and guards in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba could amount to war crimes, the Red Cross said on Wednesday. The prisoners said they had been beaten, shackled, photographed naked and in one incident questioned at gunpoint while in US custody. http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=13&o=134187
SEC Condemns Halliburton. In case you missed it.
The Halliburton Company secretly changed its accounting practices when Vice President Dick Cheney was its chief executive, the Securities and Exchange Commission said yesterday as it fined the company $7.5 million and brought actions against two former financial officials.
The commission said the accounting change enabled Halliburton, one of the nation's largest energy services companies, to report annual earnings in 1998 that were 46 percent higher than they would have been had the change not been made. It also allowed the company to report a substantially higher profit in 1999, the commission said. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/04/business/04halliburton.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1091716949-ZYr74coUAHbRyPkIhCFAWQ
U.S. Health Care System: Medical Errors Killing How Many Per Year?
Old claims had the figure approaching 100,000. Newer study by HealthGrades, a private company that rates hospitals for insurers and health plans, thinks it’s 575,000 for a three year period, or almost 200,000 per year. As one internist told me, ‘My best medical advice is, stay out of the hospitals!’
I link to the WBUR program of Wednesday as well as to the helpful article from Sunday that noted the study and other news that occurred while the Democratic convention was on.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/01/opinion/01falk.html?ex=1249099200&en=e1d3ac9071d3a3e1&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2004/08/20040804_a_main.asp
Polls Most important is that Kerry has edged ahead in Florida and solidified his lead in Pennsylvania; Bush moved a bit further in front in Ohio, according to Zogby. While Kerry leads in the electoral battle, the Republican convention has yet to occur, so, it is STILL too early. Next notable time to assess will be mid-September, after the convention and 9/11 anniversary. http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-battleground04-an0802.html?mod=home_interactive_features
And,
Ohio: Bush 49%, Kerry 45% (Strategic Vision)
Minnesota: Kerry 49%, Bush 45% (Strategic Vision)
Iowa: Kerry 49%, Bush 46% (Strategic Vision)
-R
Pro-Bush Ads Predictably Worsen: The latest smear is of the type you’d expect. Right-wing media are pushing it, especially Limbaugh. The claim: Veterans who claim to have “served with” Kerry (but didn’t), a doctor who claimed to have treated Kerry’s wounds (but didn’t) announce,
KERRY KILLED A LONE, FLEEING, TEENAGE FOE; LIED TO SUPERIORS TO GAIN MEDAL; Slaughters Animals, Burns Down Tiny Village.
Really.
Their book, intended to be a best seller (guaranteed by purchasing by countless right-wing book clubs), Unfit for Command will be out in time for the final weeks. John McCain, hopefully feeling guilty for campaigning with Bush, condemned the group and ad, called on the White House to do the same. One of those web sites: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1185197/posts
Meanwhile, from Republican consultant Mark McKinnon on the Springsteen et al tours: "We think it's unfortunate these particular fine musicians have decided to affiliate with a hate-filled fringe group like MoveOn.”
Democrats Learning: They too have a “Truth Squad” that’s contesting some of the more egregious lies spun by the Bush campaign.
What’s Happening, Iraq: Plenty of fighting, death country-wide.
Insurgents loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr battled fiercely with U.S. and Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf on Thursday and fighting quickly spread to other Shiite areas, threatening a shaky two-month-old truce. A U.S. military helicopter was shot down, injuring the crew. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5455104/
Fighting flared Wednesday between the Iraqi police and insurgents in Mosul, killing at least 12 people, wounding dozens more and prompting city authorities to impose a curfew to restore order, city officials said.
Meanwhile, six foreign hostages were freed elsewhere in Iraq, several of them rescued in a raid by local leaders in Falluja.
About noon, dozens of masked insurgents got out of a minivan on the south side of Mosul and sprayed gunfire along two main roads, witnesses said. Iraqi police officers returned fire and the battle continued for more than three hours, they said. Insurgents attacked at least two other neighborhoods, the authorities said.
The fighting in Mosul, in northern Iraq, was the fiercest there since the American occupation began and raised the specter that the insurgency - already strong in large areas of the Sunni heartland - had taken a menacing turn farther north. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/05/international/middleeast/05iraq.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Robert Fisk’s (predictably) harsh assessment:
Much of Iraq has fallen outside the control of America's puppet government in Baghdad but we are not told. Hundreds of attacks are made against US troops every month. But unless an American dies, we are not told. This month's death toll of Iraqis in Baghdad alone has now reached 700 - the worst month since the invasion ended. But we are not told.
”The stage management of this catastrophe in Iraq was all too evident at Saddam Hussein's "trial". Not only did the US military censor the tapes of the event. Not only did they effectively delete all sound of the 11 other defendants. But the Americans led Saddam Hussein to believe - until he reached the courtroom - that he was on his way to his execution. Indeed, when he entered the room he believed that the judge was there to condemn him to death. This, after all, was the way Saddam ran his own state security courts. No wonder he initially looked "disorientated" - …..
”Indeed, watching any Western television station in Baghdad these days is like tuning in to Planet Mars. Doesn't Blair realize that Iraq is about to implode? Doesn't Bush realise this? The American-appointed "government" controls only parts of Baghdad - and even there its ministers and civil servants are car-bombed and assassinated. Baquba, Samara, Kut, Mahmoudiya, Hilla, Fallujah, Ramadi, all are outside government authority. Iyad Allawi, the "Prime Minister", is little more than mayor of Baghdad. "Some journalists," Blair announces, "almost want there to be a disaster in Iraq." He doesn't get it. The disaster exists now. …” http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp?story=546763
Troop Shortage / Backdoor Draft: Ongoing problem, that’s why the world-wide shifting about and the extended tours. Now the AP reports that the percentage of troops in Iraq that are National Guard or Reservists has gone from 25% (4/03) to 39% (now) to 43% in 2005. http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,FL_reserves_072304,00.html
Bush: Still Holding to "Knowing what I know today, we still would have gone on into Iraq," http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bush3aug03,1,7312796.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Yet, the line about “we”- the Congress, the UN, the American public AND the Administration- were all misled by the CIA ignores that the Bushies always knew the info. was questionable, if not bogus. The doubts re WMD, the al-Qaeda tie, Iraq’s nuclear capacity were well known. Yet they went ahead with war, having long planned to do so. A new article by David Sirota and Christy Harvey definitively (again) makes the case. http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/print/they_knew_0802/
Kerry courting business support; WSJ (Jackie Calmes) Many business folk are alarmed by Bush, and not frightened by Kerry.
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry has persuaded scores of corporate executives to go public with endorsements to prove his moderate appeal and suggest cracks in President Bush's base of business support.
Joined by several business leaders at an economic summit today in Davenport, Iowa, Mr. Kerry is releasing a list of about 200 other corporate supporters. Among the Kerry converts is David Bonderman, founder and managing partner of the Fort Worth, Texas, investment firm Texas Pacific Group, who supported Mr. Bush for president in 2000 and earlier for Texas governor. http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB109158634174482476,00.html
October Surprise (again)
Syed Saleem Shahzad of the Asia Times circulates the latest concern that leading al-Qaeda figures are being held, to be announced at a politically convenient moment. Asia Times is a reliable source; it’s only possible flaw is that it is occasionally a tad dramatic.
The author taps a familiar vein in that he posits that Pakistan’s leaders play to the U.S. while seeking to co-opt/prevent a possible fundamentalist uprising at home, and that they fear that an actual victory over “terrorism” would lead to the U.S. abandoning their no longer useful ally. Then again, this “ally” spread nuclear technology, is a warm host to the Taliban, its intelligence service alternately trains and helps capture al-Qaeda, etc.
When US Central Command commander General John Abizaid visited Islamabad last week, his first priority was not Pakistan sending troops to Iraq, but the arrest of high-value al-Qaeda targets.
....Already, though, under intense pressure from the US, Pakistan has handed over as many as 350 suspected al-Qaeda operators into US custody. Most have been low-ranking, but some important names are, according to Asia Times Online contacts, being held in Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) safe houses to be presented at the right moment.
The contacts say that Pakistan's strategic circles see the high-value al-Qaeda operators as "bargaining chips" to ensure continued US support for President General Pervez Musharraf's de facto military rule in Pakistan. Had Pakistan handed over top targets such as Osama bin Laden, his deputy Dr Aiman al-Zawahir, Tahir Yuldash (leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) and others — assuming it was in a position to do so — the military rulers would have lost their usefulness to the US in its "war on terror". The contacts say that Pakistan's strategic circles see the high-value al-Qaeda operators as "bargaining chips" to ensure continued US support for President General Pervez Musharraf's de facto military rule in Pakistan. Had Pakistan handed over top targets such as Osama bin Laden, his deputy Dr Aiman al-Zawahir, Tahir Yuldash (leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) and others - assuming it was in a position to do so - the military rulers would have lost their usefulness to the US in its "war on terror". http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FH04Df03.html
Jimmy Breslin for a perspective on US War dead
A rocket-propelled grenade came out of the hot afternoon in Iraq on July 7 and made Pfc. Samuel Bowen of Cleveland the 1,000th member of the U.S. military to die in battle since the World Trade Center attack.The number of dead is carefully compiled by the Army Times newspaper, which carries the most news about the war. The others who know he is the 1,000th are those who fought where he died.Bowen died at 38 in the afternoon of July 7 when his Ohio National Guard engineer convoy stopped because one of the trucks broke down. Bowen and a dozen Guardsmen protected the convoy while a mechanic tried to repair the truck. Iraqis fired a rocket-propelled grenade that killed Bowen and wounded two others.With a number of dead this high, an easily remembered figure that stands in the sky and accuses the nation, it was not surprising to have the government throw a little added tension into the steam and announce that huge New York financial buildings have been targeted by al-Qaida. There was an orange alert and cops and troops were all over.Tom Ridge of Homeland Security made the announcement. Whenever I see Ridge, I feel he is another on the Republican campaign staff. It seems that whenever George Bush is in a little trouble, Ridge tells the public that we are going to be attacked. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/columnists/nyc-breslinspks0803,0,3269214.column?coll=ny-ny-columnists
That Rant: Kerry the Most Liberal, Edwards the #4 Liberal
Jon Stewart destroyed the nonsense on his Daily Show, but the Right continues to disseminate this nonsense. (Witness the local Herald screaming ‘He’s left of Ted!’)
One grievous, but predictable example:
Newt Gingrich said on Fox News Sunday, “ I think what decides this race in the end is, do you think America can go forward better with President Bush continuing to lead, or do you really want the most liberal member of the Senate and the fourth most liberal member of the Senate, people to the left of Teddy Kennedy, people to the left of Hillary Clinton? And I think that choice is going to be so wide and so clear by mid-September.
Chris Wallace responded, “I've got to say, Speaker Gingrich, that's the biggest bumper sticker I ever heard, but it was a good answer.”
That’s Fox “journalism”.
What’s Happening, North Korea: Starving people, bulging military
Jane’s Defense Weekly reported that Kim Jong-Il may have the know-how to hit California with sea-launched missiles, that he has 12 submarines formerly in the possession of the Soviet Union. But, of course, they’re much less of a threat than Saddam’s de-fanged, non-nuclear, demoralized Iraqi army.
North Korea is deploying new land- and sea-based ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads and may have sufficient range to hit the United States, according to the authoritative Jane's Defense Weekly.
In an article due to appear Wednesday, Jane's said the two new systems appeared to be based on a decommissioned Soviet submarine-launched ballistic missile, the R-27.
It said communist North Korea had acquired the know-how during the 1990s from Russian missile specialists and by buying 12 former Soviet submarines which had been sold for scrap metal but retained key elements of their missile launch systems.
Jane's, which did not specify its sources, said the sea-based missile was potentially the more threatening of the two new weapons systems.
http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5860277
What’s Happening, Guantanamo: The Mail and Guardian (South Africa):
Repeated abuses allegedly suffered by three British prisoners at the hands of United States interrogators and guards in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba could amount to war crimes, the Red Cross said on Wednesday. The prisoners said they had been beaten, shackled, photographed naked and in one incident questioned at gunpoint while in US custody. http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=13&o=134187
SEC Condemns Halliburton. In case you missed it.
The Halliburton Company secretly changed its accounting practices when Vice President Dick Cheney was its chief executive, the Securities and Exchange Commission said yesterday as it fined the company $7.5 million and brought actions against two former financial officials.
The commission said the accounting change enabled Halliburton, one of the nation's largest energy services companies, to report annual earnings in 1998 that were 46 percent higher than they would have been had the change not been made. It also allowed the company to report a substantially higher profit in 1999, the commission said. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/04/business/04halliburton.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1091716949-ZYr74coUAHbRyPkIhCFAWQ
U.S. Health Care System: Medical Errors Killing How Many Per Year?
Old claims had the figure approaching 100,000. Newer study by HealthGrades, a private company that rates hospitals for insurers and health plans, thinks it’s 575,000 for a three year period, or almost 200,000 per year. As one internist told me, ‘My best medical advice is, stay out of the hospitals!’
I link to the WBUR program of Wednesday as well as to the helpful article from Sunday that noted the study and other news that occurred while the Democratic convention was on.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/01/opinion/01falk.html?ex=1249099200&en=e1d3ac9071d3a3e1&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2004/08/20040804_a_main.asp
Polls Most important is that Kerry has edged ahead in Florida and solidified his lead in Pennsylvania; Bush moved a bit further in front in Ohio, according to Zogby. While Kerry leads in the electoral battle, the Republican convention has yet to occur, so, it is STILL too early. Next notable time to assess will be mid-September, after the convention and 9/11 anniversary. http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-battleground04-an0802.html?mod=home_interactive_features
And,
Ohio: Bush 49%, Kerry 45% (Strategic Vision)
Minnesota: Kerry 49%, Bush 45% (Strategic Vision)
Iowa: Kerry 49%, Bush 46% (Strategic Vision)
-R
