Friday, December 17, 2004
Hysteria re “War on Christianity" I would have loved to be a fly on the wall at the Radical Right meetings where this was developed. The ‘heavy weights’- Richard Viguerie, Bill O’Reilly, Newt Gingrich, etc.- are talking about ‘Christianity under Siege.’ No specifics are offered, but, as we know, that doesn’t matter. Soon, a significant percentage of the population will be mouthing the message.
Frank Rich focuses on it in this coming Sunday’s column:
In the latest and most bizarre twist on this theme, even Christmas is now said to be a target of the anti-Christian mob. "Are we going to abolish the word Christmas?" asked Newt Gingrich, warning that "it absolutely can happen here." Among those courageously leading the fight to save the holiday from its enemies is Bill O'Reilly, who has taken to calling the Anti-Defamation League "an extremist group" and put the threat this way: "Remember, more than 90 percent of American homes celebrate Christmas. But the small minority that is trying to impose its will on the majority is so vicious, so dishonest — and has to be dealt with."
If more than 90 percent of American households celebrate Christmas, you have to wonder why the guy is whining. The only evidence of what Pat Buchanan has called Christmas-season "hate crimes against Christianity" consists of a few ridiculous and isolated incidents, like the banishment of a religious float from a parade in Denver and of religious songs from a high school band concert in New Jersey. (In scale, this is nothing compared with the refusal of the world's largest retailer, Wal- Mart, to stock George Carlin's new best seller, "When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?," whose cover depicts its author at the Last Supper.) Yet the hysteria is being pumped up daily by Fox News, newspapers like The New York Post and The Washington Times, and Web sites like savemerrychristmas.org. Mr. O'Reilly and Jerry Falwell have gone so far as to name Michael Bloomberg an anti-Christmas conspirator because the mayor referred to the Christmas tree as a "holiday tree" in the lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/arts/19rich.html?pagewanted=print&position=
So, we have another issue to counter.
This is an example of what’s actually going on:
Emboldened by their Election Day successes, some Christian conservatives around the country are trying to put more Christ into Christmas this season.
In Terrebonne Parish, La., an organization is petitioning to add "Merry Christmas" to the red-lighted "Season's Greetings" sign on the main government building and is selling yard signs that read, "We believe in God. Merry Christmas." And a Raleigh, N.C., church recently paid $7,600 for a full-page newspaper ad urging Christians to spend their money only with merchants who include the greeting "Merry Christmas" in ads and displays.
"There is a revival taking place. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20041215/D870269G0.html
Missile Defense: Once again, under ideal conditions (remember, North Korea, you must warn us and attack us only with good weather.), insane missile defense fails. Despite the expense, despite the obviousness as to this being an unworkable idea, we’ve had almost 20 years of this nuttiness.
But, remember, as the WaPost notes, it’s well-intentioned, since they are making an “effort to build a system for defending the country…”
The Bush administration's effort to build a system for defending the country against ballistic missile attack suffered an embarrassing setback yesterday when an interceptor missile failed to launch during the first flight test of the system in two years.
Wednesday's test had been put off several times because of bad weather, and a malfunction of a recovery vessel not directly related to the equipment being tested, The Associated Press reported.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A700-2004Dec15.html
Rule of Law, Here and There As conservative judges have reprimanded the Administration here, British courts have passed judgment on Britain’s role.
Detaining foreigners without trial under emergency anti-terror powers breaks European human rights legislation, law lords ruled today.
A specially-convened committee of nine law lords upheld an appeal by nine foreigners who have been detained without charge or trial, most of them in Belmarsh prison, south-east London, for around three years.
The decision by the law lords, Britain's highest court, throws the government's security policies into chaos and was a blow for Charles Clarke on his first day as home secretary following the resignation of David Blunkett last night. http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5087121-111274,00.html
Economic Policy Coherence
President Bush, facing complaints from a European ally about the weakening dollar, said Wednesday that he favored a strong dollar and would work with Congress to cut the massive federal budget deficit that puts downward pressure on the U.S. currency.But before Bush spoke, Vice President Dick Cheney reiterated to a White House economic conference that the administration supported more tax cuts, which some analysts said could deepen the budget deficit and threaten the dollar's value.The White House conference, which continues today, is intended to pave the way for Bush to promote changes to Social Security that the White House has said would probably require more federal borrowing.Despite Bush's statement of support for a strong dollar, the U.S. currency weakened further on international markets, losing more than 1% of its value against the Japanese yen and nearly 1% against the euro. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-econ16dec16,0,6199843,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
But, no one is upset with the state of things. Just sample the comments of the attendees of the Economic “Summit”
"Vice President Dick Cheney: 'If we stay on that path, the years ahead will bring even greater progress and prosperity.' "
Larry Mocha, a Tulsa, Okla., manufacturer of truck air brake systems: 'I want to thank the administration for all the positive things you've done for our economy. ... It hasn't always been this good.'
Treasury Secretary John Snow: 'We are the envy of the world.'
Harvard economics professor Martin Feldstein: 'I'm pleased to say the economy is now in very good shape.'
Social Security (cont): Krugman. So, where’s the DNC?
Yet, aside from giving the Cato Institute and other organizations promoting Social Security privatization the space to present upbeat tales from Chile, the U.S. news media have provided their readers and viewers with little information about international experience. In particular, the public hasn't been let in on two open secrets:
Privatization dissipates a large fraction of workers' contributions on fees to investment companies.
It leaves many retirees in poverty…
So the Bush administration wants to scrap a retirement system that works, and can be made financially sound for generations to come with modest reforms. Instead, it wants to buy into failure, emulating systems that, when tried elsewhere, have neither saved money nor protected the elderly from poverty. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/opinion/17krugman.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=
What’s Happening, Iraq:
Campaigning, Allawi style. I know the Bush events were controlled, but this reaches new heights.
Dr. Allawi's campaign started on an unpropitious note, when American and Iraqi forces closed off sections of central Baghdad so he could leave the Green Zone and cross the Tigris River to declare his candidacy at a sports club. But Western reporters judged the three-mile journey to be too hazardous in the bus provided by Allawi aides, and remained behind.
Five hours later, he stood before fewer than 60 people, about half of whom were his own aides. With American bodyguards in flak jackets and cradling automatic weapons patrolling the club's auditorium, Dr. Allawi read a brief statement and returned hastily to the Green Zone.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/international/middleeast/16iraq.html?oref=login&pagewanted=all&position=
National Guard’s next generation:
In the latest signs of strains on the military from the war in Iraq, the Army National Guard announced on Thursday that it had fallen 30 percent below its recruiting goals in the last two months and would offer new incentives, including enlistment bonuses of up to $15,000. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/politics/17reserves.html?hp&ex=1103346000&en=ec0828fe89a6661d&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Taking Care of Adults at the Expense of Kids.
The federal government is using money that was intended for vaccinating children to pay for experimental flu vaccines for adults, federal health officials said yesterday.
But some state health officials say that protecting adults at the expense of children is wrong.
"We should not be pitting vaccines for children against vaccines for adults," said Mary Selecky, the secretary of health in Washington State. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/health/16flu.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
You didn’t think the money was coming out of the Iraqi invasion budget, yes?
Career Path: First you sabotage Medicare, then you collect.
Representative Billy Tauzin, a principal author of the new Medicare drug law, will become president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the chief lobby for brand-name drug companies, the trade group announced Wednesday.
Mr. Tauzin (pronounced TOE-zan) and Mr. White refused to discuss Mr. Tauzin's new salary, except to say it was comparable to the pay at other large trade associations. People at other trade groups said they believed that Mr. Tauzin would receive $2 million a year or more. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/politics/16drug.html
-R
Frank Rich focuses on it in this coming Sunday’s column:
In the latest and most bizarre twist on this theme, even Christmas is now said to be a target of the anti-Christian mob. "Are we going to abolish the word Christmas?" asked Newt Gingrich, warning that "it absolutely can happen here." Among those courageously leading the fight to save the holiday from its enemies is Bill O'Reilly, who has taken to calling the Anti-Defamation League "an extremist group" and put the threat this way: "Remember, more than 90 percent of American homes celebrate Christmas. But the small minority that is trying to impose its will on the majority is so vicious, so dishonest — and has to be dealt with."
If more than 90 percent of American households celebrate Christmas, you have to wonder why the guy is whining. The only evidence of what Pat Buchanan has called Christmas-season "hate crimes against Christianity" consists of a few ridiculous and isolated incidents, like the banishment of a religious float from a parade in Denver and of religious songs from a high school band concert in New Jersey. (In scale, this is nothing compared with the refusal of the world's largest retailer, Wal- Mart, to stock George Carlin's new best seller, "When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?," whose cover depicts its author at the Last Supper.) Yet the hysteria is being pumped up daily by Fox News, newspapers like The New York Post and The Washington Times, and Web sites like savemerrychristmas.org. Mr. O'Reilly and Jerry Falwell have gone so far as to name Michael Bloomberg an anti-Christmas conspirator because the mayor referred to the Christmas tree as a "holiday tree" in the lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/arts/19rich.html?pagewanted=print&position=
So, we have another issue to counter.
This is an example of what’s actually going on:
Emboldened by their Election Day successes, some Christian conservatives around the country are trying to put more Christ into Christmas this season.
In Terrebonne Parish, La., an organization is petitioning to add "Merry Christmas" to the red-lighted "Season's Greetings" sign on the main government building and is selling yard signs that read, "We believe in God. Merry Christmas." And a Raleigh, N.C., church recently paid $7,600 for a full-page newspaper ad urging Christians to spend their money only with merchants who include the greeting "Merry Christmas" in ads and displays.
"There is a revival taking place. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20041215/D870269G0.html
Missile Defense: Once again, under ideal conditions (remember, North Korea, you must warn us and attack us only with good weather.), insane missile defense fails. Despite the expense, despite the obviousness as to this being an unworkable idea, we’ve had almost 20 years of this nuttiness.
But, remember, as the WaPost notes, it’s well-intentioned, since they are making an “effort to build a system for defending the country…”
The Bush administration's effort to build a system for defending the country against ballistic missile attack suffered an embarrassing setback yesterday when an interceptor missile failed to launch during the first flight test of the system in two years.
Wednesday's test had been put off several times because of bad weather, and a malfunction of a recovery vessel not directly related to the equipment being tested, The Associated Press reported.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A700-2004Dec15.html
Rule of Law, Here and There As conservative judges have reprimanded the Administration here, British courts have passed judgment on Britain’s role.
Detaining foreigners without trial under emergency anti-terror powers breaks European human rights legislation, law lords ruled today.
A specially-convened committee of nine law lords upheld an appeal by nine foreigners who have been detained without charge or trial, most of them in Belmarsh prison, south-east London, for around three years.
The decision by the law lords, Britain's highest court, throws the government's security policies into chaos and was a blow for Charles Clarke on his first day as home secretary following the resignation of David Blunkett last night. http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5087121-111274,00.html
Economic Policy Coherence
President Bush, facing complaints from a European ally about the weakening dollar, said Wednesday that he favored a strong dollar and would work with Congress to cut the massive federal budget deficit that puts downward pressure on the U.S. currency.But before Bush spoke, Vice President Dick Cheney reiterated to a White House economic conference that the administration supported more tax cuts, which some analysts said could deepen the budget deficit and threaten the dollar's value.The White House conference, which continues today, is intended to pave the way for Bush to promote changes to Social Security that the White House has said would probably require more federal borrowing.Despite Bush's statement of support for a strong dollar, the U.S. currency weakened further on international markets, losing more than 1% of its value against the Japanese yen and nearly 1% against the euro. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-econ16dec16,0,6199843,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
But, no one is upset with the state of things. Just sample the comments of the attendees of the Economic “Summit”
"Vice President Dick Cheney: 'If we stay on that path, the years ahead will bring even greater progress and prosperity.' "
Larry Mocha, a Tulsa, Okla., manufacturer of truck air brake systems: 'I want to thank the administration for all the positive things you've done for our economy. ... It hasn't always been this good.'
Treasury Secretary John Snow: 'We are the envy of the world.'
Harvard economics professor Martin Feldstein: 'I'm pleased to say the economy is now in very good shape.'
Social Security (cont): Krugman. So, where’s the DNC?
Yet, aside from giving the Cato Institute and other organizations promoting Social Security privatization the space to present upbeat tales from Chile, the U.S. news media have provided their readers and viewers with little information about international experience. In particular, the public hasn't been let in on two open secrets:
Privatization dissipates a large fraction of workers' contributions on fees to investment companies.
It leaves many retirees in poverty…
So the Bush administration wants to scrap a retirement system that works, and can be made financially sound for generations to come with modest reforms. Instead, it wants to buy into failure, emulating systems that, when tried elsewhere, have neither saved money nor protected the elderly from poverty. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/opinion/17krugman.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=
What’s Happening, Iraq:
Campaigning, Allawi style. I know the Bush events were controlled, but this reaches new heights.
Dr. Allawi's campaign started on an unpropitious note, when American and Iraqi forces closed off sections of central Baghdad so he could leave the Green Zone and cross the Tigris River to declare his candidacy at a sports club. But Western reporters judged the three-mile journey to be too hazardous in the bus provided by Allawi aides, and remained behind.
Five hours later, he stood before fewer than 60 people, about half of whom were his own aides. With American bodyguards in flak jackets and cradling automatic weapons patrolling the club's auditorium, Dr. Allawi read a brief statement and returned hastily to the Green Zone.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/international/middleeast/16iraq.html?oref=login&pagewanted=all&position=
National Guard’s next generation:
In the latest signs of strains on the military from the war in Iraq, the Army National Guard announced on Thursday that it had fallen 30 percent below its recruiting goals in the last two months and would offer new incentives, including enlistment bonuses of up to $15,000. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/politics/17reserves.html?hp&ex=1103346000&en=ec0828fe89a6661d&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Taking Care of Adults at the Expense of Kids.
The federal government is using money that was intended for vaccinating children to pay for experimental flu vaccines for adults, federal health officials said yesterday.
But some state health officials say that protecting adults at the expense of children is wrong.
"We should not be pitting vaccines for children against vaccines for adults," said Mary Selecky, the secretary of health in Washington State. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/health/16flu.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
You didn’t think the money was coming out of the Iraqi invasion budget, yes?
Career Path: First you sabotage Medicare, then you collect.
Representative Billy Tauzin, a principal author of the new Medicare drug law, will become president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the chief lobby for brand-name drug companies, the trade group announced Wednesday.
Mr. Tauzin (pronounced TOE-zan) and Mr. White refused to discuss Mr. Tauzin's new salary, except to say it was comparable to the pay at other large trade associations. People at other trade groups said they believed that Mr. Tauzin would receive $2 million a year or more. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/politics/16drug.html
-R
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
What’s Happening, Iraq:
“Force Protection”: Rumsfeld was not surprised by the GI last week. The following is from a May 13 visit to Iraq. Rumsfeld didn’t answer, but stood next to General Myers, who said the following.
Q How you doing, sir? (Inaudible.) I have force protection questions, sir.
SEC. RUMSFELD: You have what?
Q Force protection.
SEC. RUMSFELD: General Myers. (Laughter.)
Q Sir, my unit, the 2nd Brigade -- (inaudible) -- Cav, we have five out of the six red zones in this country. And with the up- armored humvees, the new -- (off mike) -- humvees they're bringing over with the -- (inaudible) -- those doors are not as good as the ones on the up-armored humvees -- (inaudible). We even lost quite -- we lost some soldiers due to them, and we're trying to make a change -- (inaudible). The question is, are we going to get more up-armored humvees?
Production is ramping up this month. I think it's around 220, 225 per month. We've gathered them from all other services that had them except for a few we held back for a nuclear security role back in the United States. The rest of them shipped over here. We're trying to get them to you as fast as we can http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2004/tr20040513-secdef0747.html
Casualties: Apart from the Iraqis…
1,440 allied killed1,294 U.S. killed2.27 killed per day9,766 U.S. wounded in action http://icasualties.org/oif/
Hired Help in Iraq: Colombians please apply
A US company has recruited 25 retired Colombian police and army officers to provide security for oil infrastructure in Iraq, according to the newspaper El Tiempo.
The officers met in northern Bogota on December 2 with a Colombian colonel, who, on behalf of “Halliburton Latin America,” offered them monthly salaries of 7,000 dollars to provide security for oil workers and infrastructure in several Iraqi cities, according to one of the men, who spoke on condition of anonymity. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2004/December/focusoniraq_December105.xml§ion=focusoniraq
Spain: Bush’s Model? They’re not only secretive, but the ousted Aznar regime (which, you’ll recall, blamed last March’s bombing on the Basque separatists, fearing a backlash against their support of the Iraq invasion) has destroyed all of its documents from those days, and then charged the cost to the government.
Socialists claim that Señor Aznar deliberately withheld from the public evidence of an Islamic link, fearing a backlash against his support for the American-led war in Iraq. Those claims have been denied by Señor Aznar.
Yesterday Señor Zapatero said that it had been impossible to establish the truth because computer records had been destroyed.
Giving evidence under oath he said: “In the Prime Minister’s office we did not have a single document or any data on computer because the whole Cabinet of the previous Government carried out a massive erasure.
“That means that we have nothing about what happened, information that might have been received, meetings or decisions that were taken from March 11 until March 14.”
Señor Zapatero confirmed a report in El País, the left- of-centre daily newspaper, that a wide range of policy documents covering the eight years of Señor Aznar’s administration was missing.
The newspaper said that Señor Aznar’s Government had paid a private company €12,000 (£8,000) to destroy the documents. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1402824,00.html
Social Security: The first details emerge. The b______d’s want to kill the principal program that provides our social glue. Again, minor tweaking is all that is needed. The system is fine until at least 2042, perhaps 10 more years and even then… Anyway, Medicare is much more of a problem, but we should shiver at the prospect of the Bushies dealing with it.
As President Bush gears up for a major public push to overhaul Social Security, he has focused almost all his rhetorical energy on the need to let people divert some of their taxes to private retirement accounts.
But nearly every leading Republican proposal on Capitol Hill acknowledges that private accounts by themselves do little to solve the system's projected shortfall of at least $3.5 trillion. Instead, those proposals rely on deep cuts in benefits to future retirees.
That uncomfortable political truth was driven home on Monday by the head of the investigative arm of Congress.
"The creation of private accounts for Social Security will not deal with the solvency and sustainability of the Social Security fund," that official, David M. Walker, comptroller general of the Government Accountability Office, said in a speech on Monday.
Or, as Thomas Saving, a Republican-appointed trustee to the Social Security trust fund put it last week: "Fundamentally, if you don't reduce the benefits, you don't reduce the debt."
Some of the Republican proposals would raise the age when people can start to receive benefits. Others would reduce payments to beneficiaries to account for longer life expectancies. Still others would reduce payments to married couples and scale back the annual increases that are made to keep pace with inflation. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/14/politics/14social.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Electoral Cheating… in the NY Times, page A23. It remains a very long shot, but at least…
The ranking Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, plans to ask the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a county prosecutor in Ohio today to explore "inappropriate and likely illegal election tampering" in at least one and perhaps several Ohio counties.
The request for an investigation, made in a letter that was also provided to The New York Times, includes accounts from at least two county employees, but is based largely on a sworn affidavit provided by the Hocking County deputy director of elections, Sherole Eaton.
Among other things, Ms. Eaton says in her affidavit that a representative of Triad Governmental Systems, the Ohio firm that created and maintains the vote-counting software in dozens of Ohio counties, made several adjustments to the Hocking County tabulator last Friday, in advance of the state's recount, which is taking place this week. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/15/politics/15ohio.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
U.S. vs the World: Upshot
The leaders of India, Russia and China are planning to hold a summit next year aimed at countering the dominance of the United States in international affairs, a newspaper reported on Saturday. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed the possibility of a three-way dialogue at a meeting in New Delhi on Friday, the Asian Age newspaper reported. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_5-12-2004_pg4_16
Frist and the ‘Nuclear Option’: Will he or won’t he? This refers to eliminating the filibuster.
As speculation mounts that Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist will step down from the Supreme Court soon because of thyroid cancer, Senate Republican leaders are preparing for a showdown to keep Democrats from blocking President Bush's judicial nominations, including a replacement for Rehnquist.
Republicans say that Democrats have abused the filibuster by blocking 10 of the president's 229 judicial nominees in his first term -- although confirmation of Bush nominees exceeds in most cases the first-term experience of presidents dating to Ronald Reagan. Describing the filibusters as intolerable, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has hinted he may resort to an unusual parliamentary maneuver, dubbed the "nuclear option," to thwart such filibusters.
"One way or another, the filibuster of judicial nominees must end," he said in a speech to the Federalist Society last month, labeling the use of filibusters against judicial nominees a "formula for tyranny by the minority."
So far, at least, Democrats are refusing to forgo filibusters and say they will fight any effort by Frist to act unilaterally to end them for judicial nominations. They warn that it could poison the well for bipartisan cooperation on other issues in the upcoming Congress.
"If they, for whatever reason, decide to do this, it's not only wrong, they will rue the day they did it, because we will do whatever we can do to strike back," incoming Senate Democratic leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) said last week. "I know procedures around here. And I know that there will still be Senate business conducted. But I will, for lack of a better word, screw things up." http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59877-2004Dec12?language=printer
-R
“Force Protection”: Rumsfeld was not surprised by the GI last week. The following is from a May 13 visit to Iraq. Rumsfeld didn’t answer, but stood next to General Myers, who said the following.
Q How you doing, sir? (Inaudible.) I have force protection questions, sir.
SEC. RUMSFELD: You have what?
Q Force protection.
SEC. RUMSFELD: General Myers. (Laughter.)
Q Sir, my unit, the 2nd Brigade -- (inaudible) -- Cav, we have five out of the six red zones in this country. And with the up- armored humvees, the new -- (off mike) -- humvees they're bringing over with the -- (inaudible) -- those doors are not as good as the ones on the up-armored humvees -- (inaudible). We even lost quite -- we lost some soldiers due to them, and we're trying to make a change -- (inaudible). The question is, are we going to get more up-armored humvees?
Production is ramping up this month. I think it's around 220, 225 per month. We've gathered them from all other services that had them except for a few we held back for a nuclear security role back in the United States. The rest of them shipped over here. We're trying to get them to you as fast as we can http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2004/tr20040513-secdef0747.html
Casualties: Apart from the Iraqis…
1,440 allied killed1,294 U.S. killed2.27 killed per day9,766 U.S. wounded in action http://icasualties.org/oif/
Hired Help in Iraq: Colombians please apply
A US company has recruited 25 retired Colombian police and army officers to provide security for oil infrastructure in Iraq, according to the newspaper El Tiempo.
The officers met in northern Bogota on December 2 with a Colombian colonel, who, on behalf of “Halliburton Latin America,” offered them monthly salaries of 7,000 dollars to provide security for oil workers and infrastructure in several Iraqi cities, according to one of the men, who spoke on condition of anonymity. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2004/December/focusoniraq_December105.xml§ion=focusoniraq
Spain: Bush’s Model? They’re not only secretive, but the ousted Aznar regime (which, you’ll recall, blamed last March’s bombing on the Basque separatists, fearing a backlash against their support of the Iraq invasion) has destroyed all of its documents from those days, and then charged the cost to the government.
Socialists claim that Señor Aznar deliberately withheld from the public evidence of an Islamic link, fearing a backlash against his support for the American-led war in Iraq. Those claims have been denied by Señor Aznar.
Yesterday Señor Zapatero said that it had been impossible to establish the truth because computer records had been destroyed.
Giving evidence under oath he said: “In the Prime Minister’s office we did not have a single document or any data on computer because the whole Cabinet of the previous Government carried out a massive erasure.
“That means that we have nothing about what happened, information that might have been received, meetings or decisions that were taken from March 11 until March 14.”
Señor Zapatero confirmed a report in El País, the left- of-centre daily newspaper, that a wide range of policy documents covering the eight years of Señor Aznar’s administration was missing.
The newspaper said that Señor Aznar’s Government had paid a private company €12,000 (£8,000) to destroy the documents. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1402824,00.html
Social Security: The first details emerge. The b______d’s want to kill the principal program that provides our social glue. Again, minor tweaking is all that is needed. The system is fine until at least 2042, perhaps 10 more years and even then… Anyway, Medicare is much more of a problem, but we should shiver at the prospect of the Bushies dealing with it.
As President Bush gears up for a major public push to overhaul Social Security, he has focused almost all his rhetorical energy on the need to let people divert some of their taxes to private retirement accounts.
But nearly every leading Republican proposal on Capitol Hill acknowledges that private accounts by themselves do little to solve the system's projected shortfall of at least $3.5 trillion. Instead, those proposals rely on deep cuts in benefits to future retirees.
That uncomfortable political truth was driven home on Monday by the head of the investigative arm of Congress.
"The creation of private accounts for Social Security will not deal with the solvency and sustainability of the Social Security fund," that official, David M. Walker, comptroller general of the Government Accountability Office, said in a speech on Monday.
Or, as Thomas Saving, a Republican-appointed trustee to the Social Security trust fund put it last week: "Fundamentally, if you don't reduce the benefits, you don't reduce the debt."
Some of the Republican proposals would raise the age when people can start to receive benefits. Others would reduce payments to beneficiaries to account for longer life expectancies. Still others would reduce payments to married couples and scale back the annual increases that are made to keep pace with inflation. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/14/politics/14social.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Electoral Cheating… in the NY Times, page A23. It remains a very long shot, but at least…
The ranking Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, plans to ask the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a county prosecutor in Ohio today to explore "inappropriate and likely illegal election tampering" in at least one and perhaps several Ohio counties.
The request for an investigation, made in a letter that was also provided to The New York Times, includes accounts from at least two county employees, but is based largely on a sworn affidavit provided by the Hocking County deputy director of elections, Sherole Eaton.
Among other things, Ms. Eaton says in her affidavit that a representative of Triad Governmental Systems, the Ohio firm that created and maintains the vote-counting software in dozens of Ohio counties, made several adjustments to the Hocking County tabulator last Friday, in advance of the state's recount, which is taking place this week. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/15/politics/15ohio.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
U.S. vs the World: Upshot
The leaders of India, Russia and China are planning to hold a summit next year aimed at countering the dominance of the United States in international affairs, a newspaper reported on Saturday. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed the possibility of a three-way dialogue at a meeting in New Delhi on Friday, the Asian Age newspaper reported. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_5-12-2004_pg4_16
Frist and the ‘Nuclear Option’: Will he or won’t he? This refers to eliminating the filibuster.
As speculation mounts that Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist will step down from the Supreme Court soon because of thyroid cancer, Senate Republican leaders are preparing for a showdown to keep Democrats from blocking President Bush's judicial nominations, including a replacement for Rehnquist.
Republicans say that Democrats have abused the filibuster by blocking 10 of the president's 229 judicial nominees in his first term -- although confirmation of Bush nominees exceeds in most cases the first-term experience of presidents dating to Ronald Reagan. Describing the filibusters as intolerable, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has hinted he may resort to an unusual parliamentary maneuver, dubbed the "nuclear option," to thwart such filibusters.
"One way or another, the filibuster of judicial nominees must end," he said in a speech to the Federalist Society last month, labeling the use of filibusters against judicial nominees a "formula for tyranny by the minority."
So far, at least, Democrats are refusing to forgo filibusters and say they will fight any effort by Frist to act unilaterally to end them for judicial nominations. They warn that it could poison the well for bipartisan cooperation on other issues in the upcoming Congress.
"If they, for whatever reason, decide to do this, it's not only wrong, they will rue the day they did it, because we will do whatever we can do to strike back," incoming Senate Democratic leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) said last week. "I know procedures around here. And I know that there will still be Senate business conducted. But I will, for lack of a better word, screw things up." http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59877-2004Dec12?language=printer
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Monday, December 13, 2004
