Thursday, September 02, 2004
"Liberal" NPR report pushes American aggression against Iran?
I’m nervous enough that the Administration could stage more of a confrontation with Iran at its choosing. So, a tad unsettling to hear stories that could be construed as making the case for aggressive intervention, if not war with Iran. NPR did a story that interviewed only right wingers from places like the Project for the New American Century. I don’t have comprehensive info re Iran, but do know that the International Atomic Energy Agency has said that there is no “conclusive evidence” that Iran is involved in illicit activity. So, there’s no rush… Attention Kerry campaign!
As George Jahn of the Associated Press reported:
"New findings by the UN agency appear to strengthen Iran's claim that it has NOT enriched uranium domestically and (this) weakens US arguments that the country is hiding a nuclear weapons program."
Oil, Bases: Excerpt from Oil: Anatomy of an Industry by Matthew Yeomans
Since 2001, new military bases have been established in Eastern Europe and Central Asia -- including Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Romania, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan -- allowing the U.S. to keep watch over the Islamic tinderbox of Central Asia and the strategically crucial Caspian Sea oil region which will soon supply millions of barrels of oil to the U.S. and Western Europe markets. Other bases in Afghanistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti and Oman (not to mention the huge military garrison in Iraq), guarantee a strong and long-term presence in the Persian Gulf, while new pacts with Nigeria and other West African nations will ensure the U.S. military keeps a watchful eye on another important oil region, the Gulf of Guinea.
Energy security has been a mainstay of U.S. foreign policy ever since Franklin Roosevelt pledged to provide military protection to Saudi Arabia in return for unfettered access to the Kingdom's oil. In 1980, the so-called Carter Doctrine declared the U.S.'s intention to intervene militarily to counter any threat to Middle East security. And in May 2001, Dick Cheney's National Energy Policy announced that the Bush administration would make "energy security a priority of our trade and foreign policy." The most recent redeployment of military forces is just one more reaffirmation that in the post-Cold War global order, preserving access to energy resources is the prime strategic imperative. http://www.salon.com/tech/books/2004/09/02/oil/print.html
Blair Ditches Bush (?)
John Kerry supporters in America have been told by Peter Hain that Downing Street is hoping the Democratic candidate wins the US presidential election in November.
Mr Hain, who sits in the cabinet as Leader of the Commons, has been in the US on a near-private visit. He met Labour supporters in New York, as well as members of the Kerry team. He has declined to discuss the visit, and his public remarks at a party thrown by the former Sunday Times editor Harold Evans were largely bland. But in private discussions with guests, his tone was markedly different. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1294572,00.html
Incompetence: “Terror” Case Thrown Out: From the outset, defense lawyers had suggested that the allegations against the men were cooked up by “Hmimssa”, a scam artist who had lived briefly with some of the defendants.This case is further evidence of Ashcroft’s overhyped arrests/prosecutions, part of the ‘reassuring’ activity that is supposed to prove that there is an active prosecuting of the so-called “war on terror.”
The Justice Department on Wednesday assailed its own legal strategy in the case that had brought its first courtroom victory in the war on terror.
In a 60-page filing released Wednesday, prosecutors asked a federal judge to end the terror case against what they once called a "sleeper operational combat cell" based here. They are asking for a new trial of three men only on document fraud.
After nine months of investigation, federal prosecutors compiled a wealth of evidence that they said fatally undermined every aspect of their terror case. They also sharply rebuked the prosecutor who led the case, Richard G. Convertino, suggesting he knowingly withheld evidence that he was obligated to share with defense lawyers. Mr. Convertino, who was removed as the case prosecutor last year and is the subject of a department investigation, has denied accusations that he did anything wrong and has filed a lawsuit against the department.
The developments were a stunning reversal in a case once hailed by Attorney General John Ashcroft as a major victory in the war on terror. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/02/national/02terror.html?pagewanted=all
Single Payer Health Care: The Campaign for a National Health Program NOW is pushing John Conyers’s HR 675 which would provide universal publicly funded, privately delivered health care for all. A coalition behind this includes the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the United Steelworkers, the United Methodist Church, the Older Women’s League plus the American Medical Students Association.
Also:An inventive video explanation of single payer is at this link. Kerry should watch. http://www.grahamazon.com/sp/whatissinglepayer.php
ELECTION:
RNC Lowlights: Constant repetition from the hate pit:
* So much 9/11; Al-Qaeda and Saddam: They’re re-linked, big time. Democrats were accused of ‘divorcing’ the two!
*Bush: Turning more money over to the supremely, obscenely rich, terror/fear, repetition of familiar themes, LIES and generalizations, i.e. nothing new, even some of the same phrases from 2000- ‘soft bigotry of low expectations’- he’s compassionate, once again! NPR commentators even praising Bush for ‘taking the huge risk’…of giving the speech ‘in the round.’
Yet, can’t forget the comments during the week about not winning the war, then, winning the war, or: "Had we had to do it over again," we would look at the consequences of catastrophic success, being so successful so fast that an enemy that should have surrendered or been done in escaped and lived to fight another day." The Media held back, as usual.
* Zell Miller labels Democrats traitors, including bringing back the evil 1960’s and flag burning; Even conservative Andrew Sullivan termed it “crude.” Don’t forget that the Repub big-wigs carefully reviewed it; it wasn’t Zell flipping out. Lowlite: "Today, at the same time young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrats' manic obsession to bring down our commander in chief."
Yet Miller continues to post the following re Kerry on his own Site:
He was once a lieutenant governor – but he didn't stay in that office 16 years, like someone else I know. It just took two years before the people of Massachusetts moved him into the United States Senate in 1984.In his 16 years in the Senate, John Kerry has fought against government waste and worked hard to bring some accountability to Washington. Early in his Senate career in 1986, John signed on to the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Deficit Reduction Bill, and he fought for balanced budgets before it was considered politically correct for Democrats to do so.John has worked to strengthen our military, reform public education, boost the economy and protect the environment. Business Week magazine named him one of the top pro-technology legislators and made him a member of its "Digital Dozen." http://miller.senate.gov/speeches/030101jjdinner.htm
The Globe laid out the severe changes Miller has gone through since 1992: http://www.boston.com/news/politics/conventions/articles/2004/09/02/zell_miller_then_and_now/
* Cheney- Same old lies and character assassination
* Romney/Healey: Awful. Healey had a snide tone throughout, they both lied, and Romney did the sleazy “I respect Kerry’s four months under fire in Vietnam” while sounding McCarthyesque/Weimaresque with his “America is under attack from almost every direction.” and “America’s values are under attack from within.”
*Arnold: He actually brought up Nixon!
* Tom Delay: We’ve had al-Qaeda blurring into Iraq, now we have the Palestinian-Israeli conflict blurring with, of course, “terrorism.” From the mouth of Delay- "My friends, there is no Palestinian-Israeli conflict. There is only the global war on terrorism."
Where’s Kerry? What’s been missing is the much-publicized ‘turning the boat into the attack’; The sum result of his failure to respond is NPR’s Melissa Block saying that “Democrats are reeling” from Cheney and Zell Miller’s words. If Kerry/Edwards fought back, NPR would more likely say, ‘Democrats vigorously fought back against charges they termed wildly off-base’. They don’t lack for material. They could:
1) Counter the b.s. re the ‘98 tax hikes, a figure that comes from counting the numerous procedural votes on one bill as separate votes
2) Show that Miller’s charges re Kerry cutting weapons systems are laughable, as Cheney, as Secretary of Defense, tried to or actually did eliminate all of the weapons systems that Miller cited.
3) Portray Bush as leader as laughable; and, it is he who has ‘flip-flopped or whatever to call it—talking of getting bin Laden ‘dead or alive’, then saying ‘bin Laden doesn’t matter’, opposing creating Homeland Security then endorsing it, opposing the 9/11 Commission, then (reluctantly) accepting it, ETC, ETC
4) Focus on the bizarre ‘can’t win the war on terror’ then ‘we will win’, the talk of the invasion’s “catastrophic success” (as to why Baghdad wasn’t secured).
LATE WORD: Kerry’s Midnight speech: Apparently, he’s finally doing it. It must continue. The advance text:
We all saw the anger and distortion of the Republican Convention. For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as Commander-in-chief. We'll, here's my answer. I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq.
The Vice President even called me unfit for office last night. I guess I'll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty.
Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty. Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead this nation. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting 45 million Americans go without healthcare makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting the Saudi Royal Family control our energy costs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Handing out billions of government contracts to Halliburton while you're still on their payroll makes you unfit. That's the record of George Bush and Dick Cheney. And it's not going to change. I believe it's time to move America in a new direction; I believe it's time to set a new course for America.
Tony S. at the RNC From Salon:
James Gandolfini came before the crowd and spoke briefly and pithily. "I can't tell you how mad I am these people are in my city," the actor who plays Tony Soprano bellowed, pointing backward at Madison Square Garden. "I can't tell you how mad I am it took Bush four days to get here after 9/11." And the crowd of New Yorkers -- sheet metal workers, transportation workers, teachers -- erupted. http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room//index.html
But, Tony, he inspired us, he pulled the country together, he…
Media and the Republicans’ B.S. They continue to mail in critiques of the lies. Glenn Kessler of the WaPost at least made an attempt on Giuliani’s speech, but could only say that Rudy “didn’t provide context”, as opposed to “lied.”
Pro-Kerry Media: Glenn Harlan Reynolds… With a straight face!
The election coverage from Big Media has been unusually partisan this time around. As Newsweek's Evan Thomas famously remarked: "Let's talk a little media bias here. The media, I think, wants Kerry to win. . . . They're going to portray Kerry and Edwards as being young and dynamic and optimistic and there's going to be this glow about them . . . that's going to be worth maybe 15 points." When he made that remark, many were worried. If the big media all tilted toward one party (which was pretty clearly true) and if their influence was worth 15 points, enough to swing most any presidential election (which was plausible), then the institutional power of big media seemed to be a threat to democracy itself. But it hasn't worked out that way -- or if it has, John Kerry must be an awfully weak candidate to be neck-and-neck with President Bush despite a built-in 15-point advantage. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109399346571806317,00.html?mod=opinion%5Fmain%5Fcommentaries
Swift Boat Summary: Time, Newsweek, dailies all tended to look for balance, fearing to say the obvious, that the Bush vets charges don’t hold up. Eric Boehlert offers a full picture:
"It used to be we as the press would adjudicate the facts of the battle," says Scott Shepherd, a political correspondent for the Cox newspaper chain who is covering his fifth presidential election. "We don't do that anymore. Now we present attacks. That's troublesome to me. We've gotten the idea if we say something is 'fact,' then somehow we're biased," he says, referring to the constant charge on the part of conservatives that the press shows a liberal bias. "The attacks have worked. People are intimidated."
A Dallas Observer headline was typical of the shoulder-shrugging quality of the Swift Boat coverage: "A group of veterans says John Kerry stretches the truth about his Vietnam service. Whom can you believe? Who knows?" USA Today, ignoring the official Navy records, threw up its hands and announced, "A clear picture of what John Kerry did or did not do in Vietnam 35 years ago may never emerge." Early on in the controversy, ABC's "Nightline" reported: "The Kerry campaign calls the charges wrong, offensive and politically motivated. And points to naval records that seemingly contradict the charges." (Emphasis added.)
Seemingly? A more accurate phrasing would have been that Navy records "completely" or "thoroughly" contradict the Swift Boat Veterans charges that emerged 35 years after the fact. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/01/kerry_media/print.html
Additionally, what’s ignored is that Wall Street Journal articles prior to the August attacks had signaled that the swift boat attacks were coming. Yet, the media did zero fact-checking, and the Kerry campaign was unprepared.
Ben Barnes to be on 60 Minutes.
Maybe now the media will dare to look at more of the lies, how Junior was frequently bailed out and showered with extra funds, what a pathetic fraud he’s always been.
The campaign battle over Vietnam War records is still raging, but President Bush may soon be the one answering uncomfortable questions about his past service. Ben Barnes, the former lieutenant governor of Texas, will finally break his silence and talk to the press about what role he played in helping Bush get a coveted slot in the Texas Air National Guard in 1968. Sources say Barnes has already sat down for a "60 Minutes" interview that will air a week from Sunday. A "60 Minutes" spokesperson declined to comment, saying the program does not discuss reports that are in progress.
Over the weekend, the national press, which for weeks has been amplifying factually challenged allegations against John Kerry by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, gave Barnes' stunning remarks only cursory coverage. The Washington Post, for instance, ran a brief wire story on Saturday, the same day it printed yet another exhaustive piece about allegations surrounding Kerry's war past. In a subsequent WashingtonPost.com online chat, the Post reporter covering the Swift boat story suggested Barnes' comments didn't qualify as "fresh information," and consequently he wasn't interested in "simply regurgitating old controversies." The New York Times ran a brief item on Barnes' statements deep inside its Saturday news section, next to yet another lengthy profile of Kerry's longtime Swift boat nemesis, John O'Neill.
With Barnes now being featured in a sit-down interview with "60 Minutes," the highly rated CBS news magazine, reporters may finally be forced to address the consistent curiosities of Bush's National Guard record. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/01/barnes60minutes/print.html
Bush Military Record:
About to come under more assault on Sunday’s 60 Minutes, circulating on the internet is the photo of Bush apparently wearing a uniform that contained honors he didn’t earn. That’s a no-no. The award in question is an “Air Force Outstanding Unit Award which AWOL Bush never earned. Also out there is word that Bush was sent out of Texas back in ’72 by his family, that he was ‘getting into trouble’ in his home state. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/02/allison/index_np.html
Florida: Primary Results aid Bush
Al Hunt has a point, that Mel Martinez’ victory will aid turnout for Bush.
This, top Republican strategists say, is a golden double for the party: It enhances prospects of winning this seat, helping in the crucial struggle for the Senate, and helps energize the big Cuban-American bloc in Florida for President Bush.
On the Democratic side, educator Betty Castor overwhelmingly won the primary, and Democrats noted she received a lot more votes than her fall GOP rival. The race is to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Bob Graham. Republicans insist, however, that Mr. McCollum will overcome the enmity and embrace Mel Martinez.http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109404735504906841,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
Polls:
* The ICR Presidential Election Poll: Kerry 48%, Bush 45%, Nader 2%. * Annenberg Survey: Bush "has erased the modest gains" Kerry made on him after the Democratic National Convention.
* The latest Economist Poll shows Bush and Kerry in a tie, 45% to 45%. Kerry had a three point lead in last week's poll.Wisconsin: Kerry 49%, Bush 45% (Lake Snell Perry)
Michigan: Kerry 51%, Kerry 43% (Lake Snell Perry)
Finally, Kerry headquarters were vandalized in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/local/9561730.htm http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw103565_20040901.htm
-R
I’m nervous enough that the Administration could stage more of a confrontation with Iran at its choosing. So, a tad unsettling to hear stories that could be construed as making the case for aggressive intervention, if not war with Iran. NPR did a story that interviewed only right wingers from places like the Project for the New American Century. I don’t have comprehensive info re Iran, but do know that the International Atomic Energy Agency has said that there is no “conclusive evidence” that Iran is involved in illicit activity. So, there’s no rush… Attention Kerry campaign!
As George Jahn of the Associated Press reported:
"New findings by the UN agency appear to strengthen Iran's claim that it has NOT enriched uranium domestically and (this) weakens US arguments that the country is hiding a nuclear weapons program."
Oil, Bases: Excerpt from Oil: Anatomy of an Industry by Matthew Yeomans
Since 2001, new military bases have been established in Eastern Europe and Central Asia -- including Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Romania, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan -- allowing the U.S. to keep watch over the Islamic tinderbox of Central Asia and the strategically crucial Caspian Sea oil region which will soon supply millions of barrels of oil to the U.S. and Western Europe markets. Other bases in Afghanistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti and Oman (not to mention the huge military garrison in Iraq), guarantee a strong and long-term presence in the Persian Gulf, while new pacts with Nigeria and other West African nations will ensure the U.S. military keeps a watchful eye on another important oil region, the Gulf of Guinea.
Energy security has been a mainstay of U.S. foreign policy ever since Franklin Roosevelt pledged to provide military protection to Saudi Arabia in return for unfettered access to the Kingdom's oil. In 1980, the so-called Carter Doctrine declared the U.S.'s intention to intervene militarily to counter any threat to Middle East security. And in May 2001, Dick Cheney's National Energy Policy announced that the Bush administration would make "energy security a priority of our trade and foreign policy." The most recent redeployment of military forces is just one more reaffirmation that in the post-Cold War global order, preserving access to energy resources is the prime strategic imperative. http://www.salon.com/tech/books/2004/09/02/oil/print.html
Blair Ditches Bush (?)
John Kerry supporters in America have been told by Peter Hain that Downing Street is hoping the Democratic candidate wins the US presidential election in November.
Mr Hain, who sits in the cabinet as Leader of the Commons, has been in the US on a near-private visit. He met Labour supporters in New York, as well as members of the Kerry team. He has declined to discuss the visit, and his public remarks at a party thrown by the former Sunday Times editor Harold Evans were largely bland. But in private discussions with guests, his tone was markedly different. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1294572,00.html
Incompetence: “Terror” Case Thrown Out: From the outset, defense lawyers had suggested that the allegations against the men were cooked up by “Hmimssa”, a scam artist who had lived briefly with some of the defendants.This case is further evidence of Ashcroft’s overhyped arrests/prosecutions, part of the ‘reassuring’ activity that is supposed to prove that there is an active prosecuting of the so-called “war on terror.”
The Justice Department on Wednesday assailed its own legal strategy in the case that had brought its first courtroom victory in the war on terror.
In a 60-page filing released Wednesday, prosecutors asked a federal judge to end the terror case against what they once called a "sleeper operational combat cell" based here. They are asking for a new trial of three men only on document fraud.
After nine months of investigation, federal prosecutors compiled a wealth of evidence that they said fatally undermined every aspect of their terror case. They also sharply rebuked the prosecutor who led the case, Richard G. Convertino, suggesting he knowingly withheld evidence that he was obligated to share with defense lawyers. Mr. Convertino, who was removed as the case prosecutor last year and is the subject of a department investigation, has denied accusations that he did anything wrong and has filed a lawsuit against the department.
The developments were a stunning reversal in a case once hailed by Attorney General John Ashcroft as a major victory in the war on terror. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/02/national/02terror.html?pagewanted=all
Single Payer Health Care: The Campaign for a National Health Program NOW is pushing John Conyers’s HR 675 which would provide universal publicly funded, privately delivered health care for all. A coalition behind this includes the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the United Steelworkers, the United Methodist Church, the Older Women’s League plus the American Medical Students Association.
Also:An inventive video explanation of single payer is at this link. Kerry should watch. http://www.grahamazon.com/sp/whatissinglepayer.php
ELECTION:
RNC Lowlights: Constant repetition from the hate pit:
* So much 9/11; Al-Qaeda and Saddam: They’re re-linked, big time. Democrats were accused of ‘divorcing’ the two!
*Bush: Turning more money over to the supremely, obscenely rich, terror/fear, repetition of familiar themes, LIES and generalizations, i.e. nothing new, even some of the same phrases from 2000- ‘soft bigotry of low expectations’- he’s compassionate, once again! NPR commentators even praising Bush for ‘taking the huge risk’…of giving the speech ‘in the round.’
Yet, can’t forget the comments during the week about not winning the war, then, winning the war, or: "Had we had to do it over again," we would look at the consequences of catastrophic success, being so successful so fast that an enemy that should have surrendered or been done in escaped and lived to fight another day." The Media held back, as usual.
* Zell Miller labels Democrats traitors, including bringing back the evil 1960’s and flag burning; Even conservative Andrew Sullivan termed it “crude.” Don’t forget that the Repub big-wigs carefully reviewed it; it wasn’t Zell flipping out. Lowlite: "Today, at the same time young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrats' manic obsession to bring down our commander in chief."
Yet Miller continues to post the following re Kerry on his own Site:
He was once a lieutenant governor – but he didn't stay in that office 16 years, like someone else I know. It just took two years before the people of Massachusetts moved him into the United States Senate in 1984.In his 16 years in the Senate, John Kerry has fought against government waste and worked hard to bring some accountability to Washington. Early in his Senate career in 1986, John signed on to the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Deficit Reduction Bill, and he fought for balanced budgets before it was considered politically correct for Democrats to do so.John has worked to strengthen our military, reform public education, boost the economy and protect the environment. Business Week magazine named him one of the top pro-technology legislators and made him a member of its "Digital Dozen." http://miller.senate.gov/speeches/030101jjdinner.htm
The Globe laid out the severe changes Miller has gone through since 1992: http://www.boston.com/news/politics/conventions/articles/2004/09/02/zell_miller_then_and_now/
* Cheney- Same old lies and character assassination
* Romney/Healey: Awful. Healey had a snide tone throughout, they both lied, and Romney did the sleazy “I respect Kerry’s four months under fire in Vietnam” while sounding McCarthyesque/Weimaresque with his “America is under attack from almost every direction.” and “America’s values are under attack from within.”
*Arnold: He actually brought up Nixon!
* Tom Delay: We’ve had al-Qaeda blurring into Iraq, now we have the Palestinian-Israeli conflict blurring with, of course, “terrorism.” From the mouth of Delay- "My friends, there is no Palestinian-Israeli conflict. There is only the global war on terrorism."
Where’s Kerry? What’s been missing is the much-publicized ‘turning the boat into the attack’; The sum result of his failure to respond is NPR’s Melissa Block saying that “Democrats are reeling” from Cheney and Zell Miller’s words. If Kerry/Edwards fought back, NPR would more likely say, ‘Democrats vigorously fought back against charges they termed wildly off-base’. They don’t lack for material. They could:
1) Counter the b.s. re the ‘98 tax hikes, a figure that comes from counting the numerous procedural votes on one bill as separate votes
2) Show that Miller’s charges re Kerry cutting weapons systems are laughable, as Cheney, as Secretary of Defense, tried to or actually did eliminate all of the weapons systems that Miller cited.
3) Portray Bush as leader as laughable; and, it is he who has ‘flip-flopped or whatever to call it—talking of getting bin Laden ‘dead or alive’, then saying ‘bin Laden doesn’t matter’, opposing creating Homeland Security then endorsing it, opposing the 9/11 Commission, then (reluctantly) accepting it, ETC, ETC
4) Focus on the bizarre ‘can’t win the war on terror’ then ‘we will win’, the talk of the invasion’s “catastrophic success” (as to why Baghdad wasn’t secured).
LATE WORD: Kerry’s Midnight speech: Apparently, he’s finally doing it. It must continue. The advance text:
We all saw the anger and distortion of the Republican Convention. For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as Commander-in-chief. We'll, here's my answer. I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq.
The Vice President even called me unfit for office last night. I guess I'll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty.
Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty. Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead this nation. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting 45 million Americans go without healthcare makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting the Saudi Royal Family control our energy costs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Handing out billions of government contracts to Halliburton while you're still on their payroll makes you unfit. That's the record of George Bush and Dick Cheney. And it's not going to change. I believe it's time to move America in a new direction; I believe it's time to set a new course for America.
Tony S. at the RNC From Salon:
James Gandolfini came before the crowd and spoke briefly and pithily. "I can't tell you how mad I am these people are in my city," the actor who plays Tony Soprano bellowed, pointing backward at Madison Square Garden. "I can't tell you how mad I am it took Bush four days to get here after 9/11." And the crowd of New Yorkers -- sheet metal workers, transportation workers, teachers -- erupted. http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room//index.html
But, Tony, he inspired us, he pulled the country together, he…
Media and the Republicans’ B.S. They continue to mail in critiques of the lies. Glenn Kessler of the WaPost at least made an attempt on Giuliani’s speech, but could only say that Rudy “didn’t provide context”, as opposed to “lied.”
Pro-Kerry Media: Glenn Harlan Reynolds… With a straight face!
The election coverage from Big Media has been unusually partisan this time around. As Newsweek's Evan Thomas famously remarked: "Let's talk a little media bias here. The media, I think, wants Kerry to win. . . . They're going to portray Kerry and Edwards as being young and dynamic and optimistic and there's going to be this glow about them . . . that's going to be worth maybe 15 points." When he made that remark, many were worried. If the big media all tilted toward one party (which was pretty clearly true) and if their influence was worth 15 points, enough to swing most any presidential election (which was plausible), then the institutional power of big media seemed to be a threat to democracy itself. But it hasn't worked out that way -- or if it has, John Kerry must be an awfully weak candidate to be neck-and-neck with President Bush despite a built-in 15-point advantage. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109399346571806317,00.html?mod=opinion%5Fmain%5Fcommentaries
Swift Boat Summary: Time, Newsweek, dailies all tended to look for balance, fearing to say the obvious, that the Bush vets charges don’t hold up. Eric Boehlert offers a full picture:
"It used to be we as the press would adjudicate the facts of the battle," says Scott Shepherd, a political correspondent for the Cox newspaper chain who is covering his fifth presidential election. "We don't do that anymore. Now we present attacks. That's troublesome to me. We've gotten the idea if we say something is 'fact,' then somehow we're biased," he says, referring to the constant charge on the part of conservatives that the press shows a liberal bias. "The attacks have worked. People are intimidated."
A Dallas Observer headline was typical of the shoulder-shrugging quality of the Swift Boat coverage: "A group of veterans says John Kerry stretches the truth about his Vietnam service. Whom can you believe? Who knows?" USA Today, ignoring the official Navy records, threw up its hands and announced, "A clear picture of what John Kerry did or did not do in Vietnam 35 years ago may never emerge." Early on in the controversy, ABC's "Nightline" reported: "The Kerry campaign calls the charges wrong, offensive and politically motivated. And points to naval records that seemingly contradict the charges." (Emphasis added.)
Seemingly? A more accurate phrasing would have been that Navy records "completely" or "thoroughly" contradict the Swift Boat Veterans charges that emerged 35 years after the fact. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/01/kerry_media/print.html
Additionally, what’s ignored is that Wall Street Journal articles prior to the August attacks had signaled that the swift boat attacks were coming. Yet, the media did zero fact-checking, and the Kerry campaign was unprepared.
Ben Barnes to be on 60 Minutes.
Maybe now the media will dare to look at more of the lies, how Junior was frequently bailed out and showered with extra funds, what a pathetic fraud he’s always been.
The campaign battle over Vietnam War records is still raging, but President Bush may soon be the one answering uncomfortable questions about his past service. Ben Barnes, the former lieutenant governor of Texas, will finally break his silence and talk to the press about what role he played in helping Bush get a coveted slot in the Texas Air National Guard in 1968. Sources say Barnes has already sat down for a "60 Minutes" interview that will air a week from Sunday. A "60 Minutes" spokesperson declined to comment, saying the program does not discuss reports that are in progress.
Over the weekend, the national press, which for weeks has been amplifying factually challenged allegations against John Kerry by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, gave Barnes' stunning remarks only cursory coverage. The Washington Post, for instance, ran a brief wire story on Saturday, the same day it printed yet another exhaustive piece about allegations surrounding Kerry's war past. In a subsequent WashingtonPost.com online chat, the Post reporter covering the Swift boat story suggested Barnes' comments didn't qualify as "fresh information," and consequently he wasn't interested in "simply regurgitating old controversies." The New York Times ran a brief item on Barnes' statements deep inside its Saturday news section, next to yet another lengthy profile of Kerry's longtime Swift boat nemesis, John O'Neill.
With Barnes now being featured in a sit-down interview with "60 Minutes," the highly rated CBS news magazine, reporters may finally be forced to address the consistent curiosities of Bush's National Guard record. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/01/barnes60minutes/print.html
Bush Military Record:
About to come under more assault on Sunday’s 60 Minutes, circulating on the internet is the photo of Bush apparently wearing a uniform that contained honors he didn’t earn. That’s a no-no. The award in question is an “Air Force Outstanding Unit Award which AWOL Bush never earned. Also out there is word that Bush was sent out of Texas back in ’72 by his family, that he was ‘getting into trouble’ in his home state. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/02/allison/index_np.html
Florida: Primary Results aid Bush
Al Hunt has a point, that Mel Martinez’ victory will aid turnout for Bush.
This, top Republican strategists say, is a golden double for the party: It enhances prospects of winning this seat, helping in the crucial struggle for the Senate, and helps energize the big Cuban-American bloc in Florida for President Bush.
On the Democratic side, educator Betty Castor overwhelmingly won the primary, and Democrats noted she received a lot more votes than her fall GOP rival. The race is to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Bob Graham. Republicans insist, however, that Mr. McCollum will overcome the enmity and embrace Mel Martinez.http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109404735504906841,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
Polls:
* The ICR Presidential Election Poll: Kerry 48%, Bush 45%, Nader 2%. * Annenberg Survey: Bush "has erased the modest gains" Kerry made on him after the Democratic National Convention.
* The latest Economist Poll shows Bush and Kerry in a tie, 45% to 45%. Kerry had a three point lead in last week's poll.Wisconsin: Kerry 49%, Bush 45% (Lake Snell Perry)
Michigan: Kerry 51%, Kerry 43% (Lake Snell Perry)
Finally, Kerry headquarters were vandalized in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/local/9561730.htm http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw103565_20040901.htm
-R
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Bombs in Israel, Russia; Execution of Nepalese hostages in Iraq?
Corporate Sponsorship at the Conventions:
Bill Moyers’ NOW ran an expose of the corporate parties at the conventions, including almost gory film of Nancy Pelosi being feted by Time Warner, Sen. Corzine skipping out on Teddy K’s speech about Big Money while attending one such extravaganza. Corporate sponsorship of Governor Arnold was also highlighted. The LA Times picked it up:
Instead, he will stick to familiar venues during his three-day visit, the estimated $350,000 cost of which is being paid by corporations, including drug companies who oppose healthcare related bills that soon will land on his desk. He plans to visit a Harlem school to highlight his support for after-school programs, attend a tribute organized by the motion picture and recording industries and drop by a lunch for the California delegation at Planet Hollywood. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-arnold31aug31,1,1173996.story?coll=la-home-headlines
What’s Happening, Iraq: Attacks- 60 a day!- and Casualties Up Since the Handover
Two months after the U.S. handed sovereignty back to Iraq amid hopes of reduced violence, more than 110 U.S. troops have been killed and much of the country remains hostile territory. The toll of U.S. dead since the war began last year is fast approaching 1,000.Although attention in recent weeks has focused on Najaf, where U.S. forces battled Shiite Muslim militiamen, most of the deadly confrontations for American troops in newly independent Iraq have occurred in the Baghdad area and the so-called Sunni Triangle to the north and west.The concentration of attacks in those areas is a reminder that the fiercest and most organized opposition to U.S. forces and the U.S.-backed interim government continues to be in Sunni-dominated cities, such as Fallouja. Nationwide, U.S. forces are being attacked 60 times per day on average, up 20% from the three-month period before the hand-over. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-military31aug31,1,6647155,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Opposition Caucus:
Dozens of Iraqis opposing the American occupation of their country attended a Sunday meeting in Beirut that is designed to form a national council.
The group would form a national council in Iraq parallel to the current one that was formed earlier this month in Baghdad.
The coordinator of the preparatory meeting, Abdul Amir al-Rekabi, told United Press International the gathering includes representatives of different tribes, as well as leftists and pan-Arab nationalists.
He said a preparatory committee meeting soon in Baghdad is expected to attract 1,000 people. http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?StoryId=CqtfuWeidBgvIyw5VBI1PCMfX
Ongoing Prison Abuse/Torture: Reports that the abuse is more widespread and ongoing than will be admitted.
While the latest reports investigating the widely condemned events at Abu Ghraib prison attempt to close the book on the Pentagon's culpability with a somber critique, new evidence gathered for a class action lawsuit filed against two US-based private contractors could prove that the scandal at Abu Ghraib was far from an isolated series of incidents perpetrated by a few rowdy "bad apples" working the night shift during Ramadan.
An attorney representing former detainees says his recent fact-finding mission to Baghdad uncovered dozens of cases of physical and psychological abuse, sexual humiliation, religious desecration and rape in ten US-run prisons throughout occupied Iraq. http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=911&printmode=true
The Pentagon Policies have Hurt U.S. Troops
Thoughtful article by Paul Rieckhoff and Dafna Hochman
Four major Pentagon policies in the past year have undermined the morale of U.S. troops and their families - and are likely to leave a negative long-term impact on the ability of the armed services to recruit and retain service members in the long term.
.
First, in the dog days of August 2003, while Congress recessed, the Pentagon quietly cut payments for imminent danger and family separation. Earlier that summer, Congress had given the nearly 150,000 U.S. troops serving in Iraq and the 9,000 serving in Afghanistan a $75 a month imminent danger pay increase and a $150 monthly allowance to fund rent and child care for their families at home…
Third, though the Pentagon had not planned sufficiently to protect and equip U.S. troops, in early September 2003 it decided to lengthen the deployment of nearly 20,000 National Guard and Reservists serving in Iraq.
http://www.iht.com/articles/536423.html
Franklin-Israel-Iran Scandal:
How else to identify this? Again, Larry Franklin is the Wolfowitz aide who has been identified as the individual who was telling the Israelis what U.S. actions/thoughts about Iran were. Apparently word getting out has shaken enough people that much shredding has been happening.
It appears to be the case that someone in the Pentagon got wind that Larry Franklin had been flipped, and was terrified that the investigation might go on up the ladder at the Pentagon, in AIPAC, and with the Israelis. So they leaked news of the investigation to make sure that everybody clammed up and shredded everything.The NYT piece today reflects continued efforts at the Pentagon to paint Franklin as a low-level desk grunt with little access to Paul Wolfowitz. This last is just a lie. In a conversation with me, Franklin indicated that he was in very close contact with Wolfowitz, and he offered to get me an audience. www.juancole.com
Election Stuff:
So where is the Democrats’ “Rapid Response Team”?
http://blog.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/
In fact, Kerry’s campaign may finally realize it’s floundering. Al Hunt’s Wall Street Journal piece:
As the Bush campaign commands an exquisitely directed convention, the faltering Kerry campaign might be on the verge of a major shake-up.
Ever since the Boston convention, the Bush campaign has dominated the agenda, putting the Democratic nominee on the defensive. While polls still show a close race, everything is tilting in the GOP direction, a movement that almost surely will be enhanced by a successful New York convention.
Dispirited Democrats -- prominent senators, top fundraisers, even a few Kerry confidants -- have told the candidate, who is in Nantucket, that high-level changes are imperative. A few very well-connected Democrats report something will occur in the next few days. One person who might assume more control is Joe Lockhart, a former press secretary to Bill Clinton and a respected public-relations figure, but one who has almost no experience in the high-stakes world of presidential campaigns. Another possibility: veteran Democratic politico John Sasso, currently at the Democratic National Committee.
If there is a change -- Sen. Kerry privately is said to be "bouncing off the walls" in frustration -- it has to be imminent as the eight-week campaign is in full swing by Labor Day. "We have 48 hours," acknowledges an insider. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109396051280705705,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
Late Tuesday it was announced that there are some “additions” to the campaign- Joe Lockhart as senior adviser plus a a director of rapid response (Joel Johnson) and 4 others.
FastShip and Swift Boats: Seems like one of Kerry’s new accusers is a Repub. Loyalist who gave Bush big money and whose client (FastShip) received a $40 million contract. Details from Dana Milbank at the Washington Post:
Kerry has said Schachte was not on the boat that night, adding another mystery to the disputed events of 36 years ago. But other events are not in dispute. According to a March 18 legal filing by Schachte's firm, Blank Rome, Schachte was one of the lobbyists working for FastShip on issues such as the effort to win funding for a new marine cargo terminal. On Feb. 2, Philadelphia-based FastShip announced that it would receive $40 million in federal funding for the project.
In addition, David Norcross, Schachte's colleague in the Washington office of Blank Rome, is chairman of this week's Republican convention in New York. Records also show that Schachte gave $1,000 to Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns.
The Kerry campaign alleges foul play. "It's amazing what a $40 million government contract can do for your memory," Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton said, noting that Schachte did not challenge Kerry's Purple Heart while describing the incident in an interview last year. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47542-2004Aug30.html
Low Moments at Their Convention: Many, but I “liked”:
(1) Giuliani, b.s’ing as to 9/11- when realizing there was an attack, “I said, ‘Thank God George Bush is our president.’”
[Let’s not forget that for most of his time in office, Giuliani was an arrogant, combative, divisive mayor, especially battling the black community, the press and the cultural establishment. 9/11 re-made him as much as Junior.]
(2) Then, there’s the South Carolina delegation’s spokesperson identifying S.C. as the "most patriotic state in the country.” Guess they’ve come a-ways since leading the states rights charge in the 1830’s and the secession/treason [vs the Republican president] in 1861.
Entertaining Moment Away From the Convention:
Bush re the smear-ad: "I can understand why Senator Kerry is upset with us. I wasn't so pleased with the ads that were run about me. And my call is get rid of them all, now."
Hmmm. And what does he mean, "Us"?? He wasn’t supposed to have had anything to do with it. The media, of course, ignored his comment.
Bush Flip Flopping Flipping: In a 28 hour period:
1)"We have a clear vision on how to win the war on terror and bring peace to the world."
2) "I don’t think you can win [the war on terror]. But I think you can create conditions so that the — those who use terror as a tool are — less acceptable in parts of the world.”
3) "Not only are we winning it, but we will win it."
The Media, such as NPR, let him off with “Bush clarified his remark…” while allowing spokespersons attack the media, “If you paid attention to the context of his remarks you’d realize that…”
Military Records:
I casually mentioned “Ben Barnes”, the “prominent Texas politician” noted below, who confessed to getting Bush into the Texas Air National Guard. Mainstream media have continued to ignore it, while the internet is abuzz…
Faced with fresh news in the ongoing debate about the presidential candidates’ military service during the Vietnam War, the media blinked this weekend, doing its collective best to ignore an embarrassing new revelation by the prominent Texas politician who says he landed President Bush a coveted pilot spot in the Texas Air National Guard during the height of the Vietnam War, and is now "ashamed" of his actions.
The explosive comments from a central player in the National Guard drama -- captured on video and available online -- have received just cursory coverage in the mainstream media since it was brought to light on Friday. The shoulder-shrugging response stands in stark contrast to the media orgy that’s greeted the hollow, secondhand allegations made about John Kerry’s Vietnam service by the Republican-financed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has yet to make a single factual allegation stick about the circumstances surrounding Kerry’s five war medals. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/30/barnes_update/index_np.html
Bush Second Term: More Transfer to the Extremely Wealthy
The lack of troops may constrain the imperial ambitions, but you know the ongoing transfer of wealth to the extremely wealthy will continue. John Cassidy in next week’s New Yorker posits something similar.
When the President pledges to create an “era of ownership,” he is not talking merely about encouraging people to buy their own homes and start small businesses. To conservative Republicans who understand his coded language, he is also talking about extending and expanding the tax cuts he introduced in his first term; he is talking about allowing wealthy Americans to shelter much of their income from the I.R.S.; about using the tax code to curtail the government’s role in health care and retirement saving; and, ultimately, about a vision that has entranced but eluded conservatives for decades: the abolition of the graduated income tax and its replacement with a levy that is simpler, flatter, and more favorable to rich people. http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/040906fa_fact
Newspaper “Bravery’: St Petersburg Times Retracts Endorsement of Repub. Mel Martinez (former Bush Cabinet member)
The Times originally recommended former U.S. Housing Secretary Mel Martinez to Republican voters in Tuesday's U.S. Senate primary, but that was before Martinez took his campaign into the gutter with hateful and dishonest attacks on his strongest opponent, former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum. The Times is not willing to be associated with bigotry. As a result, we are taking the almost unprecedented step of rescinding our recommendation of Martinez…
No matter what else Martinez may accomplish in public life, his reputation will be forever tainted by his campaign's nasty and ludicrous slurs of McCollum in the final days of this race. The slurs culminated with Martinez campaign advertisements that label McCollum - one of the most conservative moralists in Washington during his 20 years as a U.S. representative - "the new darling of the homosexual extremists" because he once favored a hate crime law that had bipartisan support. A few days earlier, the Martinez campaign arranged a conference call with reporters in which a group of right-wing Martinez supporters labeled McCollum "antifamily." Why? Because McCollum supports expanded stem cell research to find cures for deadly diseases - a position that is identical to those of Nancy Reagan, Connie Mack and many other prominent Republicans. http://www.sptimes.com/2004/08/30/news_pf/Opinion/McCollum_for_GOP.shtml
A Comment: San Francisco Chronicle’s Mark Morford:
So, let's see: Bona-fide war hero turned incredibly articulate, educated, gifted Vietnam War protester and respected senator on one side, alcoholic AWOL failed-businessman born-again pampered daddy's boy evangelical Christian on the other. Is this really the contest? Bush slugs gin and tonics like Evian while Kerry is accused of ... what again? Not being incredibly heroic enough? Wow. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/08/27/notes082704.DTL&type=printable
The foreign press’s horror re Bush continues. Jefferson Morley at the WaPost:
The Republican Party is about to nominate him by acclamation.
Almost half of all American voters polled say they will vote for him in November.
But in the international online media, the vast majority of commentators are harshly critical of President George W. Bush. On every continent pundits are faulting Bush for his persona as well as his policies. Most dislike his conduct of the war in Iraq. Many say his attitude toward the rest of the world is contemptuous, misinformed and dangerous. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A47622-2004Aug30?language=printer
Including, Haroon Siddiqui of the Toronto Star, who notes
The American presidential election on Nov. 2 is John Kerry's to lose. He very well may, so ineffective has he been thus far.
No contemporary incumbent president has been in so much trouble on so many fronts so early in the campaign as George W. Bush. The sins for which Lyndon Johnson quit, and Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush were defeated, were minuscule by comparison.
There is, of course, the Iraq war, waged illegally and under false pretences. And there is the botched occupation.
There is the anti-Americanism worldwide, including among democratic allies.
There is Abu Ghraib — the initial crimes and the subsequent avoiding of responsibility.
There is Guantanamo Bay, and the setting aside of the rule of law on American soil as well.
There is the fanning of fear and paranoia, along with the creation of a surveillance society where snoops have all the power and citizens few…[The list goes on and on] http://www.maxlogan.com/siddiqui.0829.htm
2008: Repubs line up- Giuliani, Romney et al
[Sen. Chuck] Hagel’s visit began a parade of possible presidential contenders before the Iowa delegation this week.
Today, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will appear at a breakfast reception held by U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney also is scheduled to stop by the reception.
Later this week, New York Gov. George Pataki is scheduled to meet with Iowa’s convention delegates. http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1034184&t=Nation+%2F+World&c=26,1034184
Polls: Bush Surge- From Strategic Vision
Florida: Bush 48%, Kerry 44%
Ohio: Bush 48%, Kerry 42%
Wisconsin: Bush 48%, Kerry 46%
But it’s only September… (9 weeks)
-R
Corporate Sponsorship at the Conventions:
Bill Moyers’ NOW ran an expose of the corporate parties at the conventions, including almost gory film of Nancy Pelosi being feted by Time Warner, Sen. Corzine skipping out on Teddy K’s speech about Big Money while attending one such extravaganza. Corporate sponsorship of Governor Arnold was also highlighted. The LA Times picked it up:
Instead, he will stick to familiar venues during his three-day visit, the estimated $350,000 cost of which is being paid by corporations, including drug companies who oppose healthcare related bills that soon will land on his desk. He plans to visit a Harlem school to highlight his support for after-school programs, attend a tribute organized by the motion picture and recording industries and drop by a lunch for the California delegation at Planet Hollywood. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-arnold31aug31,1,1173996.story?coll=la-home-headlines
What’s Happening, Iraq: Attacks- 60 a day!- and Casualties Up Since the Handover
Two months after the U.S. handed sovereignty back to Iraq amid hopes of reduced violence, more than 110 U.S. troops have been killed and much of the country remains hostile territory. The toll of U.S. dead since the war began last year is fast approaching 1,000.Although attention in recent weeks has focused on Najaf, where U.S. forces battled Shiite Muslim militiamen, most of the deadly confrontations for American troops in newly independent Iraq have occurred in the Baghdad area and the so-called Sunni Triangle to the north and west.The concentration of attacks in those areas is a reminder that the fiercest and most organized opposition to U.S. forces and the U.S.-backed interim government continues to be in Sunni-dominated cities, such as Fallouja. Nationwide, U.S. forces are being attacked 60 times per day on average, up 20% from the three-month period before the hand-over. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-military31aug31,1,6647155,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Opposition Caucus:
Dozens of Iraqis opposing the American occupation of their country attended a Sunday meeting in Beirut that is designed to form a national council.
The group would form a national council in Iraq parallel to the current one that was formed earlier this month in Baghdad.
The coordinator of the preparatory meeting, Abdul Amir al-Rekabi, told United Press International the gathering includes representatives of different tribes, as well as leftists and pan-Arab nationalists.
He said a preparatory committee meeting soon in Baghdad is expected to attract 1,000 people. http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?StoryId=CqtfuWeidBgvIyw5VBI1PCMfX
Ongoing Prison Abuse/Torture: Reports that the abuse is more widespread and ongoing than will be admitted.
While the latest reports investigating the widely condemned events at Abu Ghraib prison attempt to close the book on the Pentagon's culpability with a somber critique, new evidence gathered for a class action lawsuit filed against two US-based private contractors could prove that the scandal at Abu Ghraib was far from an isolated series of incidents perpetrated by a few rowdy "bad apples" working the night shift during Ramadan.
An attorney representing former detainees says his recent fact-finding mission to Baghdad uncovered dozens of cases of physical and psychological abuse, sexual humiliation, religious desecration and rape in ten US-run prisons throughout occupied Iraq. http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=911&printmode=true
The Pentagon Policies have Hurt U.S. Troops
Thoughtful article by Paul Rieckhoff and Dafna Hochman
Four major Pentagon policies in the past year have undermined the morale of U.S. troops and their families - and are likely to leave a negative long-term impact on the ability of the armed services to recruit and retain service members in the long term.
.
First, in the dog days of August 2003, while Congress recessed, the Pentagon quietly cut payments for imminent danger and family separation. Earlier that summer, Congress had given the nearly 150,000 U.S. troops serving in Iraq and the 9,000 serving in Afghanistan a $75 a month imminent danger pay increase and a $150 monthly allowance to fund rent and child care for their families at home…
Third, though the Pentagon had not planned sufficiently to protect and equip U.S. troops, in early September 2003 it decided to lengthen the deployment of nearly 20,000 National Guard and Reservists serving in Iraq.
http://www.iht.com/articles/536423.html
Franklin-Israel-Iran Scandal:
How else to identify this? Again, Larry Franklin is the Wolfowitz aide who has been identified as the individual who was telling the Israelis what U.S. actions/thoughts about Iran were. Apparently word getting out has shaken enough people that much shredding has been happening.
It appears to be the case that someone in the Pentagon got wind that Larry Franklin had been flipped, and was terrified that the investigation might go on up the ladder at the Pentagon, in AIPAC, and with the Israelis. So they leaked news of the investigation to make sure that everybody clammed up and shredded everything.The NYT piece today reflects continued efforts at the Pentagon to paint Franklin as a low-level desk grunt with little access to Paul Wolfowitz. This last is just a lie. In a conversation with me, Franklin indicated that he was in very close contact with Wolfowitz, and he offered to get me an audience. www.juancole.com
Election Stuff:
So where is the Democrats’ “Rapid Response Team”?
http://blog.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/
In fact, Kerry’s campaign may finally realize it’s floundering. Al Hunt’s Wall Street Journal piece:
As the Bush campaign commands an exquisitely directed convention, the faltering Kerry campaign might be on the verge of a major shake-up.
Ever since the Boston convention, the Bush campaign has dominated the agenda, putting the Democratic nominee on the defensive. While polls still show a close race, everything is tilting in the GOP direction, a movement that almost surely will be enhanced by a successful New York convention.
Dispirited Democrats -- prominent senators, top fundraisers, even a few Kerry confidants -- have told the candidate, who is in Nantucket, that high-level changes are imperative. A few very well-connected Democrats report something will occur in the next few days. One person who might assume more control is Joe Lockhart, a former press secretary to Bill Clinton and a respected public-relations figure, but one who has almost no experience in the high-stakes world of presidential campaigns. Another possibility: veteran Democratic politico John Sasso, currently at the Democratic National Committee.
If there is a change -- Sen. Kerry privately is said to be "bouncing off the walls" in frustration -- it has to be imminent as the eight-week campaign is in full swing by Labor Day. "We have 48 hours," acknowledges an insider. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109396051280705705,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
Late Tuesday it was announced that there are some “additions” to the campaign- Joe Lockhart as senior adviser plus a a director of rapid response (Joel Johnson) and 4 others.
FastShip and Swift Boats: Seems like one of Kerry’s new accusers is a Repub. Loyalist who gave Bush big money and whose client (FastShip) received a $40 million contract. Details from Dana Milbank at the Washington Post:
Kerry has said Schachte was not on the boat that night, adding another mystery to the disputed events of 36 years ago. But other events are not in dispute. According to a March 18 legal filing by Schachte's firm, Blank Rome, Schachte was one of the lobbyists working for FastShip on issues such as the effort to win funding for a new marine cargo terminal. On Feb. 2, Philadelphia-based FastShip announced that it would receive $40 million in federal funding for the project.
In addition, David Norcross, Schachte's colleague in the Washington office of Blank Rome, is chairman of this week's Republican convention in New York. Records also show that Schachte gave $1,000 to Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns.
The Kerry campaign alleges foul play. "It's amazing what a $40 million government contract can do for your memory," Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton said, noting that Schachte did not challenge Kerry's Purple Heart while describing the incident in an interview last year. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47542-2004Aug30.html
Low Moments at Their Convention: Many, but I “liked”:
(1) Giuliani, b.s’ing as to 9/11- when realizing there was an attack, “I said, ‘Thank God George Bush is our president.’”
[Let’s not forget that for most of his time in office, Giuliani was an arrogant, combative, divisive mayor, especially battling the black community, the press and the cultural establishment. 9/11 re-made him as much as Junior.]
(2) Then, there’s the South Carolina delegation’s spokesperson identifying S.C. as the "most patriotic state in the country.” Guess they’ve come a-ways since leading the states rights charge in the 1830’s and the secession/treason [vs the Republican president] in 1861.
Entertaining Moment Away From the Convention:
Bush re the smear-ad: "I can understand why Senator Kerry is upset with us. I wasn't so pleased with the ads that were run about me. And my call is get rid of them all, now."
Hmmm. And what does he mean, "Us"?? He wasn’t supposed to have had anything to do with it. The media, of course, ignored his comment.
Bush Flip Flopping Flipping: In a 28 hour period:
1)"We have a clear vision on how to win the war on terror and bring peace to the world."
2) "I don’t think you can win [the war on terror]. But I think you can create conditions so that the — those who use terror as a tool are — less acceptable in parts of the world.”
3) "Not only are we winning it, but we will win it."
The Media, such as NPR, let him off with “Bush clarified his remark…” while allowing spokespersons attack the media, “If you paid attention to the context of his remarks you’d realize that…”
Military Records:
I casually mentioned “Ben Barnes”, the “prominent Texas politician” noted below, who confessed to getting Bush into the Texas Air National Guard. Mainstream media have continued to ignore it, while the internet is abuzz…
Faced with fresh news in the ongoing debate about the presidential candidates’ military service during the Vietnam War, the media blinked this weekend, doing its collective best to ignore an embarrassing new revelation by the prominent Texas politician who says he landed President Bush a coveted pilot spot in the Texas Air National Guard during the height of the Vietnam War, and is now "ashamed" of his actions.
The explosive comments from a central player in the National Guard drama -- captured on video and available online -- have received just cursory coverage in the mainstream media since it was brought to light on Friday. The shoulder-shrugging response stands in stark contrast to the media orgy that’s greeted the hollow, secondhand allegations made about John Kerry’s Vietnam service by the Republican-financed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has yet to make a single factual allegation stick about the circumstances surrounding Kerry’s five war medals. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/30/barnes_update/index_np.html
Bush Second Term: More Transfer to the Extremely Wealthy
The lack of troops may constrain the imperial ambitions, but you know the ongoing transfer of wealth to the extremely wealthy will continue. John Cassidy in next week’s New Yorker posits something similar.
When the President pledges to create an “era of ownership,” he is not talking merely about encouraging people to buy their own homes and start small businesses. To conservative Republicans who understand his coded language, he is also talking about extending and expanding the tax cuts he introduced in his first term; he is talking about allowing wealthy Americans to shelter much of their income from the I.R.S.; about using the tax code to curtail the government’s role in health care and retirement saving; and, ultimately, about a vision that has entranced but eluded conservatives for decades: the abolition of the graduated income tax and its replacement with a levy that is simpler, flatter, and more favorable to rich people. http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/040906fa_fact
Newspaper “Bravery’: St Petersburg Times Retracts Endorsement of Repub. Mel Martinez (former Bush Cabinet member)
The Times originally recommended former U.S. Housing Secretary Mel Martinez to Republican voters in Tuesday's U.S. Senate primary, but that was before Martinez took his campaign into the gutter with hateful and dishonest attacks on his strongest opponent, former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum. The Times is not willing to be associated with bigotry. As a result, we are taking the almost unprecedented step of rescinding our recommendation of Martinez…
No matter what else Martinez may accomplish in public life, his reputation will be forever tainted by his campaign's nasty and ludicrous slurs of McCollum in the final days of this race. The slurs culminated with Martinez campaign advertisements that label McCollum - one of the most conservative moralists in Washington during his 20 years as a U.S. representative - "the new darling of the homosexual extremists" because he once favored a hate crime law that had bipartisan support. A few days earlier, the Martinez campaign arranged a conference call with reporters in which a group of right-wing Martinez supporters labeled McCollum "antifamily." Why? Because McCollum supports expanded stem cell research to find cures for deadly diseases - a position that is identical to those of Nancy Reagan, Connie Mack and many other prominent Republicans. http://www.sptimes.com/2004/08/30/news_pf/Opinion/McCollum_for_GOP.shtml
A Comment: San Francisco Chronicle’s Mark Morford:
So, let's see: Bona-fide war hero turned incredibly articulate, educated, gifted Vietnam War protester and respected senator on one side, alcoholic AWOL failed-businessman born-again pampered daddy's boy evangelical Christian on the other. Is this really the contest? Bush slugs gin and tonics like Evian while Kerry is accused of ... what again? Not being incredibly heroic enough? Wow. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/08/27/notes082704.DTL&type=printable
The foreign press’s horror re Bush continues. Jefferson Morley at the WaPost:
The Republican Party is about to nominate him by acclamation.
Almost half of all American voters polled say they will vote for him in November.
But in the international online media, the vast majority of commentators are harshly critical of President George W. Bush. On every continent pundits are faulting Bush for his persona as well as his policies. Most dislike his conduct of the war in Iraq. Many say his attitude toward the rest of the world is contemptuous, misinformed and dangerous. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A47622-2004Aug30?language=printer
Including, Haroon Siddiqui of the Toronto Star, who notes
The American presidential election on Nov. 2 is John Kerry's to lose. He very well may, so ineffective has he been thus far.
No contemporary incumbent president has been in so much trouble on so many fronts so early in the campaign as George W. Bush. The sins for which Lyndon Johnson quit, and Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush were defeated, were minuscule by comparison.
There is, of course, the Iraq war, waged illegally and under false pretences. And there is the botched occupation.
There is the anti-Americanism worldwide, including among democratic allies.
There is Abu Ghraib — the initial crimes and the subsequent avoiding of responsibility.
There is Guantanamo Bay, and the setting aside of the rule of law on American soil as well.
There is the fanning of fear and paranoia, along with the creation of a surveillance society where snoops have all the power and citizens few…[The list goes on and on] http://www.maxlogan.com/siddiqui.0829.htm
2008: Repubs line up- Giuliani, Romney et al
[Sen. Chuck] Hagel’s visit began a parade of possible presidential contenders before the Iowa delegation this week.
Today, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will appear at a breakfast reception held by U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney also is scheduled to stop by the reception.
Later this week, New York Gov. George Pataki is scheduled to meet with Iowa’s convention delegates. http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1034184&t=Nation+%2F+World&c=26,1034184
Polls: Bush Surge- From Strategic Vision
Florida: Bush 48%, Kerry 44%
Ohio: Bush 48%, Kerry 42%
Wisconsin: Bush 48%, Kerry 46%
But it’s only September… (9 weeks)
-R
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Scandal: Iran-Contra, II?
This has been festering for a while. The office of Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Douglas Feith, which was previously at the center of the (brief) storm about leaking info. to Chalabi, is now involved with the current investigation of a suspected mole in the DoD who passed American intelligence about Iran to Israel. The investigation into the individual, Larry Franklin, has called attention to the struggle for direction of U.S. policy toward Iran. They involve so-called “back channel” communications- Pentagon officials organizing meetings with foreign intelligence folk behind the back of the CIA, neocon operative Michael Ledeen, and infamous Iranian Manucher Ghorbanifar who was involved in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980’s, then known to the CIA as a “serial fabricator.”
Got it? This is the key summary of the article by Josh Marshall, Paul Glastris and Irene Rozen:
Over the last year, the Senate Intelligence Committee has conducted limited inquiry into the meetings, including interviews with Feith and Ledeen. But under terms of a compromise agreed to by both parties, a full investigation into the matter was put off until after the November election. Republicans on the committee, many of whom sympathize with the "regime change" agenda at DoD, have been resistant to such investigations, calling them an election-year fishing expedition. Democrats, by contrast, see such investigations as vital to understanding the central role Feith's office may have played in a range of a dubious intelligence enterprises, from pushing claims about a supposed Saddam-al Qaeda partnership and overblown estimates of alleged Iraqi stocks of WMD to what the committee's ranking minority member Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) calls "the Chalabi factor" (Rhode and others in Feith's office have been major sponsors of the Iraqi exile leader, who is now under investigation for passing U.S. intelligence to Iran). With the FBI adding potential espionage charges to the mix the long-simmering questions about the activities of Feith's operation now seem certain to come under renewed scrutiny. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0410.marshallrozen.html
Basics of investigation into Franklin
The FBI investigation into whether classified information was passed to the Israeli government is focused on a Pentagon analyst who has served as an Air Force reservist in Israel, and the probe has been broadened in recent days to include interviews at the State and Defense departments and with Middle Eastern affairs specialists outside government, officials and others familiar with the inquiry said yesterday.
FBI officials have been quietly investigating for months whether Franklin gave classified information -- which officials said included a draft of a presidential directive on U.S. policies toward Iran -- to two Israeli lobbyists here who are alleged to have passed it on to the Israeli government. Officials said it was not yet clear whether the probe would become an espionage case or perhaps would result in lesser charges such as improper release of classified information or mishandling of government documents. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42625-2004Aug28.html
Who is Franklin? From the LA Times:
"You're not talking about someone toiling away in the bowels of the U.S. government," said a former Pentagon official who worked for Feith until last year and spoke on condition of anonymity."Franklin was the go-to guy on Iran issues for Wolfowitz and Feith." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-spy29aug29,1,4892543.story?coll=la-home-headlines
This was front page stuff on Sunday; will it be from here on?
NY Demo: Large, no police estimate of the crowd. “Peaceful, said Michael Bloomberg, NYC mayor.
Globe Hails Bush: A lifetime of risk-taking shapes Bush's leadership
That’s the outrageous headline for Michael Kranish’s tome to Bush; They’re doing their part in the myth-making of the towel-snapper. I guess they couldn’t say, “A lifetime of sloth, privilege and failure shapes Bush’s hubris.”
When George W. Bush accepted the presidential nomination four years ago, he laced his speech with extraordinary clues about his governing style. ''I do not need to take your pulse before I know my own mind," Bush told Americans. Mocking criticism that his platform was filled with ''risky schemes," Bush told the story of a patriot who ignored warnings that he would lose his property if he signed the Declaration of Independence, saying, ''Damn the consequences, give me the pen."
In retrospect, the Texan left no doubt: He intended his presidency to be built on a foundation of bold and broad risks. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/29/a_lifetime_of_risk_taking_shapes_bush146s_leadership/
Najaf: Assessment: Juan Cole, U. of Michigan Middle East expert, widely quoted by major media:
I think the big losers from the Najaf episode (part deux) are the Americans. They have become, if it is possible, even more unpopular in Iraq than they were last spring after Abu Ghuraib, Fallujah and Najaf Part 1. The US is perceived as culturally insensitive for its actions in the holy city of Najaf. The Allawi government is also a big loser. Instead of looking decisive, as they had hoped, they ended up looking like the lackeys of neo-imperialists.The big winner is Sistani, whose religious charisma has now been enhanced by solid nationalist credentials. He is a national hero for saving Najaf.For Muqtada, it is a wash. He did not have Najaf until April, anyway, and can easily survive not having it. His movement in the slums of the southern cities is intact, even if its paramilitary has been weakened. http://www.juancole.com/2004_08_01_juancole_archive.html#109359005659851262
Iraq, Iran: A Perspective. Ehsan Ahrari from Asia Times:
What the US may not have realized is that the real struggle about the future of Iraq has just entered another phase. Through Muqtada, Iran is emerging as a potent power in the political maneuvering with the US over whether Iraq will become some sort of a secular or semi-secular democracy, or an Islamic democracy. Through this, the chances of Iran's preference for the emergence of an Islam-based Iraqi government seem to have perceptibly improved. The shock and awe aspects of the Bush doctrine in Iraq suffered a serious setback because of the deteriorating security situation, but US aspirations to transform the shape of the political map of Iraq and the larger Middle East remain undeterred. That is one reason why Washington made a very crucial tactical shift from an overall preference for unilateralism to selective application of multilateralism in Iraq, and allowed the United Nations to play a limited role in the formation of the interim government. However, a potent competition between the US and Iran is currently taking place, not only to maintain control over the shape of events in Iraq, but also to determine whether the future elected government there will have a heavy presence and influence of the Islamic or secular elements. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FH28Ak01.html
Former BBC Head Blisters Blair
The BBC's former director general Greg Dyke has made a scathing attack on Downing Street over the Iraq war and its treatment of the BBC.
In the Mail on Sunday, Mr Dyke accuses Tony Blair of either being incompetent or lying to Parliament about the war in Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3609072.stm
Same choice applies to Bush, of course.
Australian Elections Announced
An important up or down for a Bush ally: Prime Minister John Howard has announced that Australians will go to the polls on October 9.
Slander of the Day: Denny Hastert on moveon.org contributor George Soros: [on Fox News]
"You know, I don't know where George Soros gets his money; I don't know where -- if it comes overseas or from drug groups or where it comes from.”
From the mouth of Kevin Phillips, conservative:
As Phillips recalls the moment, his fellow panelists spoke of Bush and the Republicans in terms, to Phillips's mind, that were far too mild and tempered.
"The Democrats understand that they killed themselves politically when they reached a point where they couldn't talk to the blue-collar worker in South Philadelphia or Queens," he says. "But now they just want to raise as much money as the Republicans, and so they're mute." The Democrats accumulated all this dirt on Bush, but they wouldn't use it," he says. "These people have no taste for the jugular."
Phillips's critique meets with eager nods from the Democratic left. Richard Borosage,
Nixon, he says, regarded the elder Bush as a lightweight and so assigned him to the United Nations. Nixon then appointed him as chairman of the Republican National Committee, where Bush proved swell at sweet-talking donors into parting with large sums of money for the sake of the party. (In this way, Phillips says, the father prefigured the son. George W. Bush never ran a profitable oil business, but he was terrific at raising copious sums of finance capital and walked away from each oil venture with a fatter bank account. What bothers him is that generation after generation of Bushes are so unwilling to transcend their class interests.
"An old buccaneer and bootlegger like Joe Kennedy became an SEC head for Roosevelt and cracked down on his own class," Phillips says, adding: "The Bush family would just appoint a Gucci-shoe-licking sycophant. The family has simply developed a culture of being enormously supportive of their class."
Even the president's Texas twang grates on Phillips, whose own accent is clipped and clear and, we must note, a tad patrician. "Listen to them! Assemble the very best panel of linguists you could find and have them listen to brothers Jeb and G.W. -- they wouldn't even guess they're in the same family," Phillips says. "G.W. talks like a cowboy and he's no more a backwoods Texan than I am."
"I'm hoping that Kerry's a seven on a scale of 10, but I'm afraid maybe he's just a five," Phillips says. "But Kerry's running against a zero. So my choice is clear." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42831-2004Aug28_3.html
Swift Boat:
Following the Right’s playbook, Bush has taken the “high” road, letting 3 weeks of attacks on Kerry pass and then says such should stop. He’s also seeking to flee the admission by Texan Ben Barnes who noted last week that he still felt guilty for being the one to get Bush out of military service and into the Texas Air National Guard. Bush is still hoping we swallow, "They just had an opening for a pilot and I was there at the right time."
Polls:
The Zogby/Williams poll of 20,900 voters finds Kerry leading President Bush, 50.8% to 46.7%, among likely voters, with only 2.4% "undecided or so soft in their support of either candidate that they could easily change."
CNN’s analysis of state polls has Bush ahead in the electoral college by 274-264. The Electoral Vote Predictor still has Kerry leading, 270 to 259.
Minnesota: Kerry 48%, Bush 44% (Rasmussen)
Alabama: Bush 53%, Kerry 42% (Rasmussen)
Arkansas: Bush 49%, Kerry 43% (Rasmussen)
Georgia: Bush 54%, Kerry 43% (Rasmussen)
Iowa: Kerry 48%, Bush 46% (Rasmussen)
Maine: Kerry 49%, Bush 44% (Rasmussen)
Missouri: Bush 49%, Kerry 44% (Rasmussen)
Ohio: Kerry 48%, Bush 46% (Rasmussen)
California: Kerry 51%, Bush 42% (Rasmussen) http://politicalwire.com/
Dark Chocolate: The Benefits [cont.]: I’ve been trying to tell you…
Good news for chocoholics: Eating dark chocolate improves healthy blood flow, according to research published today.
Greek scientists said they had demonstrated for the first time how chocolate improved blood vessels' function, allowing them to dilate and preventing the formation of potentially damaging clots.
The heart-protecting properties of dark chocolate, which contains high levels of antioxidants known as flavonoids, have been acknowledged for some time. But the latest research sheds new light on how the mechanism might work, protecting blood vessels from damage by unstable oxygen compounds called free radicals.
The results showed that functioning of the endothelium, a thin layer covering the innermost surface of blood vessels, was improved in the dark chocolate group but not in the other.
Last year, Italian and British scientists found plain chocolate increased levels of antioxidants in the blood by nearly 20 percent. Milk chocolate did not have the same effect, possibly because milk interferes with absorption. http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/08/29/dark_chocolate_found_to_aid_blood_flow/
-R
This has been festering for a while. The office of Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Douglas Feith, which was previously at the center of the (brief) storm about leaking info. to Chalabi, is now involved with the current investigation of a suspected mole in the DoD who passed American intelligence about Iran to Israel. The investigation into the individual, Larry Franklin, has called attention to the struggle for direction of U.S. policy toward Iran. They involve so-called “back channel” communications- Pentagon officials organizing meetings with foreign intelligence folk behind the back of the CIA, neocon operative Michael Ledeen, and infamous Iranian Manucher Ghorbanifar who was involved in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980’s, then known to the CIA as a “serial fabricator.”
Got it? This is the key summary of the article by Josh Marshall, Paul Glastris and Irene Rozen:
Over the last year, the Senate Intelligence Committee has conducted limited inquiry into the meetings, including interviews with Feith and Ledeen. But under terms of a compromise agreed to by both parties, a full investigation into the matter was put off until after the November election. Republicans on the committee, many of whom sympathize with the "regime change" agenda at DoD, have been resistant to such investigations, calling them an election-year fishing expedition. Democrats, by contrast, see such investigations as vital to understanding the central role Feith's office may have played in a range of a dubious intelligence enterprises, from pushing claims about a supposed Saddam-al Qaeda partnership and overblown estimates of alleged Iraqi stocks of WMD to what the committee's ranking minority member Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) calls "the Chalabi factor" (Rhode and others in Feith's office have been major sponsors of the Iraqi exile leader, who is now under investigation for passing U.S. intelligence to Iran). With the FBI adding potential espionage charges to the mix the long-simmering questions about the activities of Feith's operation now seem certain to come under renewed scrutiny. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0410.marshallrozen.html
Basics of investigation into Franklin
The FBI investigation into whether classified information was passed to the Israeli government is focused on a Pentagon analyst who has served as an Air Force reservist in Israel, and the probe has been broadened in recent days to include interviews at the State and Defense departments and with Middle Eastern affairs specialists outside government, officials and others familiar with the inquiry said yesterday.
FBI officials have been quietly investigating for months whether Franklin gave classified information -- which officials said included a draft of a presidential directive on U.S. policies toward Iran -- to two Israeli lobbyists here who are alleged to have passed it on to the Israeli government. Officials said it was not yet clear whether the probe would become an espionage case or perhaps would result in lesser charges such as improper release of classified information or mishandling of government documents. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42625-2004Aug28.html
Who is Franklin? From the LA Times:
"You're not talking about someone toiling away in the bowels of the U.S. government," said a former Pentagon official who worked for Feith until last year and spoke on condition of anonymity."Franklin was the go-to guy on Iran issues for Wolfowitz and Feith." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-spy29aug29,1,4892543.story?coll=la-home-headlines
This was front page stuff on Sunday; will it be from here on?
NY Demo: Large, no police estimate of the crowd. “Peaceful, said Michael Bloomberg, NYC mayor.
Globe Hails Bush: A lifetime of risk-taking shapes Bush's leadership
That’s the outrageous headline for Michael Kranish’s tome to Bush; They’re doing their part in the myth-making of the towel-snapper. I guess they couldn’t say, “A lifetime of sloth, privilege and failure shapes Bush’s hubris.”
When George W. Bush accepted the presidential nomination four years ago, he laced his speech with extraordinary clues about his governing style. ''I do not need to take your pulse before I know my own mind," Bush told Americans. Mocking criticism that his platform was filled with ''risky schemes," Bush told the story of a patriot who ignored warnings that he would lose his property if he signed the Declaration of Independence, saying, ''Damn the consequences, give me the pen."
In retrospect, the Texan left no doubt: He intended his presidency to be built on a foundation of bold and broad risks. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/29/a_lifetime_of_risk_taking_shapes_bush146s_leadership/
Najaf: Assessment: Juan Cole, U. of Michigan Middle East expert, widely quoted by major media:
I think the big losers from the Najaf episode (part deux) are the Americans. They have become, if it is possible, even more unpopular in Iraq than they were last spring after Abu Ghuraib, Fallujah and Najaf Part 1. The US is perceived as culturally insensitive for its actions in the holy city of Najaf. The Allawi government is also a big loser. Instead of looking decisive, as they had hoped, they ended up looking like the lackeys of neo-imperialists.The big winner is Sistani, whose religious charisma has now been enhanced by solid nationalist credentials. He is a national hero for saving Najaf.For Muqtada, it is a wash. He did not have Najaf until April, anyway, and can easily survive not having it. His movement in the slums of the southern cities is intact, even if its paramilitary has been weakened. http://www.juancole.com/2004_08_01_juancole_archive.html#109359005659851262
Iraq, Iran: A Perspective. Ehsan Ahrari from Asia Times:
What the US may not have realized is that the real struggle about the future of Iraq has just entered another phase. Through Muqtada, Iran is emerging as a potent power in the political maneuvering with the US over whether Iraq will become some sort of a secular or semi-secular democracy, or an Islamic democracy. Through this, the chances of Iran's preference for the emergence of an Islam-based Iraqi government seem to have perceptibly improved. The shock and awe aspects of the Bush doctrine in Iraq suffered a serious setback because of the deteriorating security situation, but US aspirations to transform the shape of the political map of Iraq and the larger Middle East remain undeterred. That is one reason why Washington made a very crucial tactical shift from an overall preference for unilateralism to selective application of multilateralism in Iraq, and allowed the United Nations to play a limited role in the formation of the interim government. However, a potent competition between the US and Iran is currently taking place, not only to maintain control over the shape of events in Iraq, but also to determine whether the future elected government there will have a heavy presence and influence of the Islamic or secular elements. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FH28Ak01.html
Former BBC Head Blisters Blair
The BBC's former director general Greg Dyke has made a scathing attack on Downing Street over the Iraq war and its treatment of the BBC.
In the Mail on Sunday, Mr Dyke accuses Tony Blair of either being incompetent or lying to Parliament about the war in Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3609072.stm
Same choice applies to Bush, of course.
Australian Elections Announced
An important up or down for a Bush ally: Prime Minister John Howard has announced that Australians will go to the polls on October 9.
Slander of the Day: Denny Hastert on moveon.org contributor George Soros: [on Fox News]
"You know, I don't know where George Soros gets his money; I don't know where -- if it comes overseas or from drug groups or where it comes from.”
From the mouth of Kevin Phillips, conservative:
As Phillips recalls the moment, his fellow panelists spoke of Bush and the Republicans in terms, to Phillips's mind, that were far too mild and tempered.
"The Democrats understand that they killed themselves politically when they reached a point where they couldn't talk to the blue-collar worker in South Philadelphia or Queens," he says. "But now they just want to raise as much money as the Republicans, and so they're mute." The Democrats accumulated all this dirt on Bush, but they wouldn't use it," he says. "These people have no taste for the jugular."
Phillips's critique meets with eager nods from the Democratic left. Richard Borosage,
Nixon, he says, regarded the elder Bush as a lightweight and so assigned him to the United Nations. Nixon then appointed him as chairman of the Republican National Committee, where Bush proved swell at sweet-talking donors into parting with large sums of money for the sake of the party. (In this way, Phillips says, the father prefigured the son. George W. Bush never ran a profitable oil business, but he was terrific at raising copious sums of finance capital and walked away from each oil venture with a fatter bank account. What bothers him is that generation after generation of Bushes are so unwilling to transcend their class interests.
"An old buccaneer and bootlegger like Joe Kennedy became an SEC head for Roosevelt and cracked down on his own class," Phillips says, adding: "The Bush family would just appoint a Gucci-shoe-licking sycophant. The family has simply developed a culture of being enormously supportive of their class."
Even the president's Texas twang grates on Phillips, whose own accent is clipped and clear and, we must note, a tad patrician. "Listen to them! Assemble the very best panel of linguists you could find and have them listen to brothers Jeb and G.W. -- they wouldn't even guess they're in the same family," Phillips says. "G.W. talks like a cowboy and he's no more a backwoods Texan than I am."
"I'm hoping that Kerry's a seven on a scale of 10, but I'm afraid maybe he's just a five," Phillips says. "But Kerry's running against a zero. So my choice is clear." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42831-2004Aug28_3.html
Swift Boat:
Following the Right’s playbook, Bush has taken the “high” road, letting 3 weeks of attacks on Kerry pass and then says such should stop. He’s also seeking to flee the admission by Texan Ben Barnes who noted last week that he still felt guilty for being the one to get Bush out of military service and into the Texas Air National Guard. Bush is still hoping we swallow, "They just had an opening for a pilot and I was there at the right time."
Polls:
The Zogby/Williams poll of 20,900 voters finds Kerry leading President Bush, 50.8% to 46.7%, among likely voters, with only 2.4% "undecided or so soft in their support of either candidate that they could easily change."
CNN’s analysis of state polls has Bush ahead in the electoral college by 274-264. The Electoral Vote Predictor still has Kerry leading, 270 to 259.
Minnesota: Kerry 48%, Bush 44% (Rasmussen)
Alabama: Bush 53%, Kerry 42% (Rasmussen)
Arkansas: Bush 49%, Kerry 43% (Rasmussen)
Georgia: Bush 54%, Kerry 43% (Rasmussen)
Iowa: Kerry 48%, Bush 46% (Rasmussen)
Maine: Kerry 49%, Bush 44% (Rasmussen)
Missouri: Bush 49%, Kerry 44% (Rasmussen)
Ohio: Kerry 48%, Bush 46% (Rasmussen)
California: Kerry 51%, Bush 42% (Rasmussen) http://politicalwire.com/
Dark Chocolate: The Benefits [cont.]: I’ve been trying to tell you…
Good news for chocoholics: Eating dark chocolate improves healthy blood flow, according to research published today.
Greek scientists said they had demonstrated for the first time how chocolate improved blood vessels' function, allowing them to dilate and preventing the formation of potentially damaging clots.
The heart-protecting properties of dark chocolate, which contains high levels of antioxidants known as flavonoids, have been acknowledged for some time. But the latest research sheds new light on how the mechanism might work, protecting blood vessels from damage by unstable oxygen compounds called free radicals.
The results showed that functioning of the endothelium, a thin layer covering the innermost surface of blood vessels, was improved in the dark chocolate group but not in the other.
Last year, Italian and British scientists found plain chocolate increased levels of antioxidants in the blood by nearly 20 percent. Milk chocolate did not have the same effect, possibly because milk interferes with absorption. http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/08/29/dark_chocolate_found_to_aid_blood_flow/
-R
