Thursday, December 30, 2004
South Asia Horror: Increasingly beyond words
Republican Ethics (cont.)
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is leaning toward removing the House ethics committee chairman, who admonished House Majority Leader Tom DeLay this fall and has said he will treat DeLay like any other member, several Republican aides said yesterday.
Although Hastert (Ill.) has not made a decision, the expectation among leadership aides is that the chairman, Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), long at odds with party leaders because of his independence, will be replaced when Congress convenes next week.
The aides said a likely replacement is Rep. Lamar S. Smith, one of DeLay's fellow Texans, who held the job from 1999 to 2001. Smith wrote a check this year to DeLay's defense fund. An aide said Smith was favored for his knowledge of committee procedure. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32307-2004Dec28?language=printer
Social Security: It’s a start
AARP, the influential lobby for older Americans, signaled Wednesday for the first time how fervently it would fight President Bush's proposal for private Social Security accounts, saying it would begin a $5 million two-week advertising campaign timed to coincide with the start of the new Congress. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/politics/30retire.html?pagewanted=print&position=
"It's going to be like San Francisco, where you look out your window and see people living in cardboard boxes; It's coming."
German Social Safety Net: As the fellow, above, noted, fears are growing that the German welfare state is being drastically re-fashioned.
The changes will cut by more than half the amount of money that once came into Hans's home, thanks to a thriving German economy and a generous state, from a comfortable 2,350 euros, or $3,200, with Hans employed and Sabine collecting benefits, to around 1,050 euros, with only Hans receiving benefits.
"I find all this an absolutely unfair system now," Hans said. "I paid taxes for years to finance social assistance, and now it's gone."
Multiply this situation by a few million, add a measure of frustration and resignation, and that about approximates the mood of the German work force this holiday season, mulled wine and roasted chestnuts aside. At the start of the year, 4.5 million unemployed Germans, 10.8 percent of the work force, will enter a new world of dwindling benefits. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/business/worldbusiness/30hartz.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
The Clinton Shadow. Insecurity continues. Truly pathetic
Earlier yesterday, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the president was confident he could monitor events effectively without returning to Washington or making public statements in Crawford, where he spent part of the day clearing brush and bicycling. Explaining the about-face, a White House official said: "The president wanted to be fully briefed on our efforts. He didn't want to make a symbolic statement about 'We feel your pain.' "
Many Bush aides believe Clinton was too quick to head for the cameras to hold forth on tragedies with his trademark empathy. "Actions speak louder than words," a top Bush aide said, describing the president's view of his appropriate role. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32337-2004Dec28?language=printer
Hanging on the Internet: The price paid
According to the study, an hour of time spent using the Internet reduces face-to-face contact with friends, co-workers and family by 23.5 minutes, lowers the amount of time spent watching television by 10 minutes and shortens sleep by 8.5 minutes. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/technology/30internet.html?pagewanted=print&position=
What’s Happening, Iraq: Welcome back to Fallujah!
Fighting continues, but some are returning. But what they find…
Yasser Abbas Atiya swore he'd sooner sleep on the streets of his beloved hometown of Fallouja than spend another night in the squalid Baghdad shelter where his family had been squatting.Thirty minutes after he returned home this week, however, Atiya had seen enough. He left in disgust and had no plans to go back."I couldn't stand it," the grocer said. "I was born in that town. I know every inch of it. But when I got there, I didn't recognize it."Lakes of sewage in the streets. The smell of corpses inside charred buildings. No water or electricity. Long waits and thorough searches by U.S. troops at checkpoints. Warnings to watch out for land mines and booby traps. Occasional gunfire between troops and insurgents.
At least we “warned” them:
U.S. troops handed them leaflets warning against a myriad of dangers and advising them that the U.S. military could not guarantee their safety. Don't drink the water, the leaflets warned, or eat food left behind. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-fallouja30dec30,0,233792,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Luminary Losses:
Susan Sontag- so wise, so admirably blunt- passionate about literature, the language, the moral obtuseness of the political establishment.
And, Jack Newfield: His method, from his memoir [Somebody's Gotta Tell It]
"Pick an issue. Study it. Figure out who the decision makers you want to influence are. Name the guilty men. Make alliances with experts. Combine activism with the writing. Create a constituency for reform. And don't stop till you have achieved some progress. This is what I mean by the Joe Frazier method. Keep coming forward. Be relentless. Don't stop moving your hands. Break the other guy's will."
-R
Republican Ethics (cont.)
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is leaning toward removing the House ethics committee chairman, who admonished House Majority Leader Tom DeLay this fall and has said he will treat DeLay like any other member, several Republican aides said yesterday.
Although Hastert (Ill.) has not made a decision, the expectation among leadership aides is that the chairman, Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), long at odds with party leaders because of his independence, will be replaced when Congress convenes next week.
The aides said a likely replacement is Rep. Lamar S. Smith, one of DeLay's fellow Texans, who held the job from 1999 to 2001. Smith wrote a check this year to DeLay's defense fund. An aide said Smith was favored for his knowledge of committee procedure. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32307-2004Dec28?language=printer
Social Security: It’s a start
AARP, the influential lobby for older Americans, signaled Wednesday for the first time how fervently it would fight President Bush's proposal for private Social Security accounts, saying it would begin a $5 million two-week advertising campaign timed to coincide with the start of the new Congress. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/politics/30retire.html?pagewanted=print&position=
"It's going to be like San Francisco, where you look out your window and see people living in cardboard boxes; It's coming."
German Social Safety Net: As the fellow, above, noted, fears are growing that the German welfare state is being drastically re-fashioned.
The changes will cut by more than half the amount of money that once came into Hans's home, thanks to a thriving German economy and a generous state, from a comfortable 2,350 euros, or $3,200, with Hans employed and Sabine collecting benefits, to around 1,050 euros, with only Hans receiving benefits.
"I find all this an absolutely unfair system now," Hans said. "I paid taxes for years to finance social assistance, and now it's gone."
Multiply this situation by a few million, add a measure of frustration and resignation, and that about approximates the mood of the German work force this holiday season, mulled wine and roasted chestnuts aside. At the start of the year, 4.5 million unemployed Germans, 10.8 percent of the work force, will enter a new world of dwindling benefits. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/business/worldbusiness/30hartz.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
The Clinton Shadow. Insecurity continues. Truly pathetic
Earlier yesterday, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the president was confident he could monitor events effectively without returning to Washington or making public statements in Crawford, where he spent part of the day clearing brush and bicycling. Explaining the about-face, a White House official said: "The president wanted to be fully briefed on our efforts. He didn't want to make a symbolic statement about 'We feel your pain.' "
Many Bush aides believe Clinton was too quick to head for the cameras to hold forth on tragedies with his trademark empathy. "Actions speak louder than words," a top Bush aide said, describing the president's view of his appropriate role. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32337-2004Dec28?language=printer
Hanging on the Internet: The price paid
According to the study, an hour of time spent using the Internet reduces face-to-face contact with friends, co-workers and family by 23.5 minutes, lowers the amount of time spent watching television by 10 minutes and shortens sleep by 8.5 minutes. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/technology/30internet.html?pagewanted=print&position=
What’s Happening, Iraq: Welcome back to Fallujah!
Fighting continues, but some are returning. But what they find…
Yasser Abbas Atiya swore he'd sooner sleep on the streets of his beloved hometown of Fallouja than spend another night in the squalid Baghdad shelter where his family had been squatting.Thirty minutes after he returned home this week, however, Atiya had seen enough. He left in disgust and had no plans to go back."I couldn't stand it," the grocer said. "I was born in that town. I know every inch of it. But when I got there, I didn't recognize it."Lakes of sewage in the streets. The smell of corpses inside charred buildings. No water or electricity. Long waits and thorough searches by U.S. troops at checkpoints. Warnings to watch out for land mines and booby traps. Occasional gunfire between troops and insurgents.
At least we “warned” them:
U.S. troops handed them leaflets warning against a myriad of dangers and advising them that the U.S. military could not guarantee their safety. Don't drink the water, the leaflets warned, or eat food left behind. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-fallouja30dec30,0,233792,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Luminary Losses:
Susan Sontag- so wise, so admirably blunt- passionate about literature, the language, the moral obtuseness of the political establishment.
And, Jack Newfield: His method, from his memoir [Somebody's Gotta Tell It]
"Pick an issue. Study it. Figure out who the decision makers you want to influence are. Name the guilty men. Make alliances with experts. Combine activism with the writing. Create a constituency for reform. And don't stop till you have achieved some progress. This is what I mean by the Joe Frazier method. Keep coming forward. Be relentless. Don't stop moving your hands. Break the other guy's will."
-R
