Thursday, December 30, 2004
South Asia Horror: Increasingly beyond words
Republican Ethics (cont.)
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is leaning toward removing the House ethics committee chairman, who admonished House Majority Leader Tom DeLay this fall and has said he will treat DeLay like any other member, several Republican aides said yesterday.
Although Hastert (Ill.) has not made a decision, the expectation among leadership aides is that the chairman, Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), long at odds with party leaders because of his independence, will be replaced when Congress convenes next week.
The aides said a likely replacement is Rep. Lamar S. Smith, one of DeLay's fellow Texans, who held the job from 1999 to 2001. Smith wrote a check this year to DeLay's defense fund. An aide said Smith was favored for his knowledge of committee procedure. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32307-2004Dec28?language=printer
Social Security: It’s a start
AARP, the influential lobby for older Americans, signaled Wednesday for the first time how fervently it would fight President Bush's proposal for private Social Security accounts, saying it would begin a $5 million two-week advertising campaign timed to coincide with the start of the new Congress. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/politics/30retire.html?pagewanted=print&position=
"It's going to be like San Francisco, where you look out your window and see people living in cardboard boxes; It's coming."
German Social Safety Net: As the fellow, above, noted, fears are growing that the German welfare state is being drastically re-fashioned.
The changes will cut by more than half the amount of money that once came into Hans's home, thanks to a thriving German economy and a generous state, from a comfortable 2,350 euros, or $3,200, with Hans employed and Sabine collecting benefits, to around 1,050 euros, with only Hans receiving benefits.
"I find all this an absolutely unfair system now," Hans said. "I paid taxes for years to finance social assistance, and now it's gone."
Multiply this situation by a few million, add a measure of frustration and resignation, and that about approximates the mood of the German work force this holiday season, mulled wine and roasted chestnuts aside. At the start of the year, 4.5 million unemployed Germans, 10.8 percent of the work force, will enter a new world of dwindling benefits. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/business/worldbusiness/30hartz.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
The Clinton Shadow. Insecurity continues. Truly pathetic
Earlier yesterday, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the president was confident he could monitor events effectively without returning to Washington or making public statements in Crawford, where he spent part of the day clearing brush and bicycling. Explaining the about-face, a White House official said: "The president wanted to be fully briefed on our efforts. He didn't want to make a symbolic statement about 'We feel your pain.' "
Many Bush aides believe Clinton was too quick to head for the cameras to hold forth on tragedies with his trademark empathy. "Actions speak louder than words," a top Bush aide said, describing the president's view of his appropriate role. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32337-2004Dec28?language=printer
Hanging on the Internet: The price paid
According to the study, an hour of time spent using the Internet reduces face-to-face contact with friends, co-workers and family by 23.5 minutes, lowers the amount of time spent watching television by 10 minutes and shortens sleep by 8.5 minutes. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/technology/30internet.html?pagewanted=print&position=
What’s Happening, Iraq: Welcome back to Fallujah!
Fighting continues, but some are returning. But what they find…
Yasser Abbas Atiya swore he'd sooner sleep on the streets of his beloved hometown of Fallouja than spend another night in the squalid Baghdad shelter where his family had been squatting.Thirty minutes after he returned home this week, however, Atiya had seen enough. He left in disgust and had no plans to go back."I couldn't stand it," the grocer said. "I was born in that town. I know every inch of it. But when I got there, I didn't recognize it."Lakes of sewage in the streets. The smell of corpses inside charred buildings. No water or electricity. Long waits and thorough searches by U.S. troops at checkpoints. Warnings to watch out for land mines and booby traps. Occasional gunfire between troops and insurgents.
At least we “warned” them:
U.S. troops handed them leaflets warning against a myriad of dangers and advising them that the U.S. military could not guarantee their safety. Don't drink the water, the leaflets warned, or eat food left behind. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-fallouja30dec30,0,233792,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Luminary Losses:
Susan Sontag- so wise, so admirably blunt- passionate about literature, the language, the moral obtuseness of the political establishment.
And, Jack Newfield: His method, from his memoir [Somebody's Gotta Tell It]
"Pick an issue. Study it. Figure out who the decision makers you want to influence are. Name the guilty men. Make alliances with experts. Combine activism with the writing. Create a constituency for reform. And don't stop till you have achieved some progress. This is what I mean by the Joe Frazier method. Keep coming forward. Be relentless. Don't stop moving your hands. Break the other guy's will."
-R
Republican Ethics (cont.)
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is leaning toward removing the House ethics committee chairman, who admonished House Majority Leader Tom DeLay this fall and has said he will treat DeLay like any other member, several Republican aides said yesterday.
Although Hastert (Ill.) has not made a decision, the expectation among leadership aides is that the chairman, Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), long at odds with party leaders because of his independence, will be replaced when Congress convenes next week.
The aides said a likely replacement is Rep. Lamar S. Smith, one of DeLay's fellow Texans, who held the job from 1999 to 2001. Smith wrote a check this year to DeLay's defense fund. An aide said Smith was favored for his knowledge of committee procedure. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32307-2004Dec28?language=printer
Social Security: It’s a start
AARP, the influential lobby for older Americans, signaled Wednesday for the first time how fervently it would fight President Bush's proposal for private Social Security accounts, saying it would begin a $5 million two-week advertising campaign timed to coincide with the start of the new Congress. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/politics/30retire.html?pagewanted=print&position=
"It's going to be like San Francisco, where you look out your window and see people living in cardboard boxes; It's coming."
German Social Safety Net: As the fellow, above, noted, fears are growing that the German welfare state is being drastically re-fashioned.
The changes will cut by more than half the amount of money that once came into Hans's home, thanks to a thriving German economy and a generous state, from a comfortable 2,350 euros, or $3,200, with Hans employed and Sabine collecting benefits, to around 1,050 euros, with only Hans receiving benefits.
"I find all this an absolutely unfair system now," Hans said. "I paid taxes for years to finance social assistance, and now it's gone."
Multiply this situation by a few million, add a measure of frustration and resignation, and that about approximates the mood of the German work force this holiday season, mulled wine and roasted chestnuts aside. At the start of the year, 4.5 million unemployed Germans, 10.8 percent of the work force, will enter a new world of dwindling benefits. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/business/worldbusiness/30hartz.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
The Clinton Shadow. Insecurity continues. Truly pathetic
Earlier yesterday, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the president was confident he could monitor events effectively without returning to Washington or making public statements in Crawford, where he spent part of the day clearing brush and bicycling. Explaining the about-face, a White House official said: "The president wanted to be fully briefed on our efforts. He didn't want to make a symbolic statement about 'We feel your pain.' "
Many Bush aides believe Clinton was too quick to head for the cameras to hold forth on tragedies with his trademark empathy. "Actions speak louder than words," a top Bush aide said, describing the president's view of his appropriate role. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32337-2004Dec28?language=printer
Hanging on the Internet: The price paid
According to the study, an hour of time spent using the Internet reduces face-to-face contact with friends, co-workers and family by 23.5 minutes, lowers the amount of time spent watching television by 10 minutes and shortens sleep by 8.5 minutes. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/technology/30internet.html?pagewanted=print&position=
What’s Happening, Iraq: Welcome back to Fallujah!
Fighting continues, but some are returning. But what they find…
Yasser Abbas Atiya swore he'd sooner sleep on the streets of his beloved hometown of Fallouja than spend another night in the squalid Baghdad shelter where his family had been squatting.Thirty minutes after he returned home this week, however, Atiya had seen enough. He left in disgust and had no plans to go back."I couldn't stand it," the grocer said. "I was born in that town. I know every inch of it. But when I got there, I didn't recognize it."Lakes of sewage in the streets. The smell of corpses inside charred buildings. No water or electricity. Long waits and thorough searches by U.S. troops at checkpoints. Warnings to watch out for land mines and booby traps. Occasional gunfire between troops and insurgents.
At least we “warned” them:
U.S. troops handed them leaflets warning against a myriad of dangers and advising them that the U.S. military could not guarantee their safety. Don't drink the water, the leaflets warned, or eat food left behind. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-fallouja30dec30,0,233792,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Luminary Losses:
Susan Sontag- so wise, so admirably blunt- passionate about literature, the language, the moral obtuseness of the political establishment.
And, Jack Newfield: His method, from his memoir [Somebody's Gotta Tell It]
"Pick an issue. Study it. Figure out who the decision makers you want to influence are. Name the guilty men. Make alliances with experts. Combine activism with the writing. Create a constituency for reform. And don't stop till you have achieved some progress. This is what I mean by the Joe Frazier method. Keep coming forward. Be relentless. Don't stop moving your hands. Break the other guy's will."
-R
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
South Asian Tsunamis:
What can one say about 33 foot waves traveling 500 miles an hour, killing 50, 60, 70,000 people...?
At the risk of being petty, the Administration pledged $15 million to the devastated nations, which the UN humanitarian-aid head termed “stingy.” A point, in view of the budget for the Inauguration- $40 million- not counting “security”.
Follow-up: Today they added another $20 million and the UN fella said he didn’t mean to target the U.S.
Helping: via the Washington Post:
American Red Cross Contributions should be sent toInternational Response FundP.O. Box 37243Washington, D.C. 20013For more information about donating, call 800-435-7669. For information about friends or relatives who may have been affected, call 866-438-4636
Asia Relief The Maryland-based nonprofit organization is accepting donations of cash, nonperishable food, clothing and toys for victims in Sri Lanka. Donations should be dropped off or mailed to Asia Relief19409 Olive Tree WayGaithersburg, MD 20879Contact Rizwan Mowlana at 301-672-9355 for more information.
Association for India's Development Inc. The Maryland-based nonprofit organization is accepting cash donations to help relief work in India. Contributions can be made on the Web at AidIndia.org or mailed to AID Zone 3P.O. Box 4801Mountain View, Calif., 94040-0801, with checks made payable to AID. Contact Priya Ranjan at 301-422-4441 for more information.
Tsunami Relief Inc. The Virginia-based nonprofit group has been set up to help victims in Sri Lanka. Donors can call 703-934-6922 or mail checks payable to Tsunami Relief Inc. to 9302 Lee Hwy.Fifth FloorFairfax, Va. 22031
B'nai B'rith International Donations can be made online at BnaiBrith.org or mailed toB'nai B'rith Disaster Relief Fund2020 K St. NW, Seventh FloorWashington, D.C. 20006
More information about donations to humanitarian organizations can be found on the U.S. Agency for International Development's Web site, USAid.gov. Donors can also call the Center for International Disaster Information at 703-276-1914.
(Ex-Homeland) Security Official Criticizes
The government agency responsible for protecting the nation against terrorist attack is a dysfunctional, poorly managed bureaucracy that has failed to plug serious holes in the nation's safety net, the Department of Homeland Security's former internal watchdog warns. Clark Kent Ervin, who served as the department's inspector general until earlier this month, said in an interview last week that airport security isn't tight enough and that little has been done to safeguard other forms of mass transit. Ervin said ports remain vulnerable to terrorists trying to smuggle weapons into the country. He added that immigration and customs investigators are hampered in their efforts to track down illegal immigrants because they often lack gas money for their cars. http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=USATODAY.com+-+Ex-official+tells+of+Homeland+Security+failures&expire=&urlID=12706172&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fwashington%2F2004-12-27-homeland-usat_x.htm&partnerID=1660
Kudos the the Globe: They understand the Social Security “Crisis” talk
The run-up to President Bush's plan to deal with Social Security is looking a lot like the run-up to his plan to deal with Saddam Hussein.
The expected Social Security shortfall has been a perennial domestic concern in much the same way that Hussein's intransigence with arms inspectors was a perennial foreign-policy concern: From the White House to Congress to think tanks, policy makers worried about it, but presidents (including Bush) felt no immediate need to deal with it.
Then Bush decided to focus on it, and suddenly a long-term concern became intense and immediate.
Much as the Iraq war was preceded by speeches designed to show Hussein in the most threatening light, the Bush economic summit seemed designed to dominate a slow news week with the idea that failing to deal with Social Security now will hurt the national economy.
"The time to start making sacrifices is now . . . so that the markets can have confidence that we're on a course that is going to avoid a train wreck," Bush said at the summit.
Still, the link between the current economy and a Social Security deficit that will begin to strike benefits in decades is every bit as speculative and theoretical as the link between Hussein and the war on terrorism in late 2002. But few people in the political mainstream would dismiss the idea out of hand, and arguing that Bush's predictions are a bit too dire seems unnecessary to most Democrats at this stage...
If Democrats plan to come out against Bush's plan, they should weigh in now. As many of their leaders can attest, the public has little patience for complaints registered too softly or too late. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2004/12/28/plan_for_social_security_relies_on_an_immediate_familiar_bush_strategy?mode=PF
Administration Delays Tax Changes
They’re too busy propagandizing the Social Security issue, so they’re putting off further enriching themselves via the tax code.
Wholesale changes to the tax code that just weeks ago were identified as a Bush administration goal by the end of 2005 are being pushed back for at least another year.
White House economists, Republican tax aides in Congress and outside economic advisers say key White House officials have determined that they have their hands full with Bush's pledge to overhaul Social Security and a budget plan that will demand politically painful cuts to non-defense spending. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30440-2004Dec27.html
Who Can Afford Dentistry?
Among the nation's reservists, a common reason for not being sent to Iraq has been poor teeth. The military offers dental insurance to reservists and members of the National Guard, but for those who opt for it, the benefit of $1,200 a year does not cover many procedures and still requires reservists to pay as much as half the cost of the care.
The reservists are hardly alone. With dental costs rising and employers cutting dental coverage, an increasing number of working Americans cannot afford to see a dentist even for chronic problems.
Roughly a quarter of reservists in seven early-deploying Army units had dental problems that could require emergency attention within the next year, according to an analysis done last year by the Government Accountability Office. Similar problems surfaced in the first gulf war. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/business/28dental.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
Torture: Lo, no frequent flyer miles can be accumulated.
The Washington Post reports on the Gulfstream V turbojet used to carry U.S. detainees out of the country in luxury to be tortured elsewhere
The airplane is a Gulfstream V turbojet, the sort favored by CEOs and celebrities. But since 2001 it has been seen at military airports from Pakistan to Indonesia to Jordan, sometimes being boarded by hooded and handcuffed passengers.
The plane's owner of record, Premier Executive Transport Services Inc., lists directors and officers who appear to exist only on paper. And each one of those directors and officers has a recently issued Social Security number and an address consisting only of a post office box, according to an extensive search of state, federal and commercial records.
Bryan P. Dyess, Steven E. Kent, Timothy R. Sperling and Audrey M. Tailor are names without residential, work, telephone or corporate histories -- just the kind of "sterile identities," said current and former intelligence officials, that the CIA uses to conceal involvement in clandestine operations. In this case, the agency is flying captured terrorist suspects from one country to another for detention and interrogation.
The CIA calls this activity "rendition." Premier Executive's Gulfstream helps make it possible. According to civilian aircraft landing permits, the jet has permission to use U.S. military airfields worldwide.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, secret renditions have become a principal weapon in the CIA's arsenal against suspected al Qaeda terrorists, according to congressional testimony by CIA officials. But as the practice has grown, the agency has had significantly more difficulty keeping it secret. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A27826-2004Dec26?language=printer
Michael Moore Alert:
Some pharmaceutical companies are telling their employees to look out for the scruffy guy in the baseball cap.
The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that at least six drug companies have released internal communications telling employees to be wary of filmmaker Michael Moore.
Moore's targets have included General Motors ("Roger & Me"), the gun lobby (the Oscar-winning "Bowling for Columbine") and President Bush ("Fahrenheit 9/11").
Moore, normally seen sporting a beard and a ball cap, has now set his sights on the health care industry, including insurance companies, HMOs, the Food and Drug Administration and drug companies.
"We ran a story in our online newspaper saying Moore is embarking on a documentary and if you see a scruffy guy in a baseball cap, you'll know who it is," said Stephen Lederer, a spokesman for Pfizer Global Research and Development.
In September and October, Wyeth, AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, the second-largest in retail sales, sent out Moore alerts, instructing employees that questions posed by the media or filmmakers should be handled by corporate communications.
Heavyweights Sanofi-Aventis Pharmaceuticals and Synthelabo sent similar memos before their recent merger. http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2004/12/26/moore/print.html
Al Franken re Rush Limbaugh:
"He says things like, liberals hate Americans, and we're trying to undermine the war on terror," says comedian Al Franken, a host for liberal radio station Air America who has also entertained troops on four USO tours. "It's a bad message for troops to be hearing and is a very skewed picture of what liberals and Democrats stand for. They're broadcasting a very, very partisan guy -- [with] nobody from the other side -- and they're using taxpayer money to do it." http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/05/26/rush_limbaugh/print.html
Electoral Stealing?: Mixed Signals from Kerry camp. Once again (?) they’re confusing us. Until late yesterday they seemed to be revving up. Latest from Keith Olbermann, (a guest on Tuesday’s Tonight Show.)
"I would caution the media not to read more into what the Kerry-Edwards campaign has said," Mr. Hoffheimer advised us by e-mail, "than what you hear in the plain meaning of our comments. There are many conspiracy theorists opining these days. There are many allegations of fraud. But this presidential election is over. The Bush-Cheney ticket has won. The Kerry-Edwards campaign has found no conspiracy and no fraud in Ohio, though there have been many irregularities that cry out to be fixed for future elections. Senator Kerry and we in Ohio intend to fix them. When all of the problems in Ohio are added together, however bad they are, they do not add up to a victory for Kerry-Edwards. Senator Kerry's fully-informed and extremely careful assessment the day after the election and before he conceded remains accurate today, notwithstanding all the details we have since learned."
The problem is, of course, that it was not some great, conspiracy-based, tin-foil-hat, piece of linguistic gymnastics, to infer from the conclusion to Mr. Hoffheimer's Thursday statement, that the Kerry-Edwards campaign did not believe that "the integrity of the entire electoral process and the election of Bush-Cheney" warranted the public trust. It is, in fact, to use Mr. Hoffheimer's phrase, "the plain meaning" of the first statement.
How do I know that? To borrow Chairman Sam Ervin's answer to that same question, as posed by John Ehrlichmann at the Senate Watergate hearings in 1973: "Because I can understand the English language. It's my mother's tongue."
The Kerry campaign spent much of 2004 being accused by its critics of trying to be all things to all people. It seems poised to continue to wear the bull's eye well into the New Year. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6667405/#041227a
Meanwhile, the recount ended in Ohio, w/ Bush up 118,400.
The completion of the recount will not bring an end to questions surrounding the vote in Ohio.
A group of voters citing fraud have challenged the election results with the Ohio Supreme Court. The voters, supported by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, have cited irregularities including long lines, a shortage of voting machines in minority precincts and problems with computer equipment.
Attorney General Jim Petro has called the challenge frivolous and argued that the state Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction over a federal election.
The Government Accountability Office, an arm of Congress, also is investigating election problems. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=366128
Holiday Bonus Season:
The year-end bonus is a Wall Street tradition, and for a second consecutive year, the amounts are significant. Three major Wall Street firms - Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns - have reported record profits for the year and all are said to have given out handsome bonuses.
The totals in 2003 were already impressive: Lloyd S. Blankfein, the president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs made $20.1 million, of that only $600,000 was salary; and E. Stanley O'Neal, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch, received a bonus of $13.5 million and restricted stock worth $11.2 million on top of his $500,000 salary. At the other end of the compensation spectrum, an investment banking analyst right out of college would have made a $65,000 salary and a $35,000 bonus last year. An associate just out of business school might have made $85,000 in salary and a $115,000 bonus.
This year, investment bankers are expected to see gains in bonuses of 10 to 15 percent, amid a year-end flurry of mergers. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/business/28bonus.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
Holiday Review: The rich are spending.
Despite worries that holiday sales had lost steam after a roaring first-day start, consumers came through after all: Holiday spending was a healthy 8.1% ahead of last year, according to one early projection of national retail spending. Spending by higher-income consumers drove the gains. Sales at apparel and home-furnishings stores were especially strong, while sales of books, music and videos inched up. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110411106162309772,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
-R
What can one say about 33 foot waves traveling 500 miles an hour, killing 50, 60, 70,000 people...?
At the risk of being petty, the Administration pledged $15 million to the devastated nations, which the UN humanitarian-aid head termed “stingy.” A point, in view of the budget for the Inauguration- $40 million- not counting “security”.
Follow-up: Today they added another $20 million and the UN fella said he didn’t mean to target the U.S.
Helping: via the Washington Post:
American Red Cross Contributions should be sent toInternational Response FundP.O. Box 37243Washington, D.C. 20013For more information about donating, call 800-435-7669. For information about friends or relatives who may have been affected, call 866-438-4636
Asia Relief The Maryland-based nonprofit organization is accepting donations of cash, nonperishable food, clothing and toys for victims in Sri Lanka. Donations should be dropped off or mailed to Asia Relief19409 Olive Tree WayGaithersburg, MD 20879Contact Rizwan Mowlana at 301-672-9355 for more information.
Association for India's Development Inc. The Maryland-based nonprofit organization is accepting cash donations to help relief work in India. Contributions can be made on the Web at AidIndia.org or mailed to AID Zone 3P.O. Box 4801Mountain View, Calif., 94040-0801, with checks made payable to AID. Contact Priya Ranjan at 301-422-4441 for more information.
Tsunami Relief Inc. The Virginia-based nonprofit group has been set up to help victims in Sri Lanka. Donors can call 703-934-6922 or mail checks payable to Tsunami Relief Inc. to 9302 Lee Hwy.Fifth FloorFairfax, Va. 22031
B'nai B'rith International Donations can be made online at BnaiBrith.org or mailed toB'nai B'rith Disaster Relief Fund2020 K St. NW, Seventh FloorWashington, D.C. 20006
More information about donations to humanitarian organizations can be found on the U.S. Agency for International Development's Web site, USAid.gov. Donors can also call the Center for International Disaster Information at 703-276-1914.
(Ex-Homeland) Security Official Criticizes
The government agency responsible for protecting the nation against terrorist attack is a dysfunctional, poorly managed bureaucracy that has failed to plug serious holes in the nation's safety net, the Department of Homeland Security's former internal watchdog warns. Clark Kent Ervin, who served as the department's inspector general until earlier this month, said in an interview last week that airport security isn't tight enough and that little has been done to safeguard other forms of mass transit. Ervin said ports remain vulnerable to terrorists trying to smuggle weapons into the country. He added that immigration and customs investigators are hampered in their efforts to track down illegal immigrants because they often lack gas money for their cars. http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=USATODAY.com+-+Ex-official+tells+of+Homeland+Security+failures&expire=&urlID=12706172&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fwashington%2F2004-12-27-homeland-usat_x.htm&partnerID=1660
Kudos the the Globe: They understand the Social Security “Crisis” talk
The run-up to President Bush's plan to deal with Social Security is looking a lot like the run-up to his plan to deal with Saddam Hussein.
The expected Social Security shortfall has been a perennial domestic concern in much the same way that Hussein's intransigence with arms inspectors was a perennial foreign-policy concern: From the White House to Congress to think tanks, policy makers worried about it, but presidents (including Bush) felt no immediate need to deal with it.
Then Bush decided to focus on it, and suddenly a long-term concern became intense and immediate.
Much as the Iraq war was preceded by speeches designed to show Hussein in the most threatening light, the Bush economic summit seemed designed to dominate a slow news week with the idea that failing to deal with Social Security now will hurt the national economy.
"The time to start making sacrifices is now . . . so that the markets can have confidence that we're on a course that is going to avoid a train wreck," Bush said at the summit.
Still, the link between the current economy and a Social Security deficit that will begin to strike benefits in decades is every bit as speculative and theoretical as the link between Hussein and the war on terrorism in late 2002. But few people in the political mainstream would dismiss the idea out of hand, and arguing that Bush's predictions are a bit too dire seems unnecessary to most Democrats at this stage...
If Democrats plan to come out against Bush's plan, they should weigh in now. As many of their leaders can attest, the public has little patience for complaints registered too softly or too late. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2004/12/28/plan_for_social_security_relies_on_an_immediate_familiar_bush_strategy?mode=PF
Administration Delays Tax Changes
They’re too busy propagandizing the Social Security issue, so they’re putting off further enriching themselves via the tax code.
Wholesale changes to the tax code that just weeks ago were identified as a Bush administration goal by the end of 2005 are being pushed back for at least another year.
White House economists, Republican tax aides in Congress and outside economic advisers say key White House officials have determined that they have their hands full with Bush's pledge to overhaul Social Security and a budget plan that will demand politically painful cuts to non-defense spending. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30440-2004Dec27.html
Who Can Afford Dentistry?
Among the nation's reservists, a common reason for not being sent to Iraq has been poor teeth. The military offers dental insurance to reservists and members of the National Guard, but for those who opt for it, the benefit of $1,200 a year does not cover many procedures and still requires reservists to pay as much as half the cost of the care.
The reservists are hardly alone. With dental costs rising and employers cutting dental coverage, an increasing number of working Americans cannot afford to see a dentist even for chronic problems.
Roughly a quarter of reservists in seven early-deploying Army units had dental problems that could require emergency attention within the next year, according to an analysis done last year by the Government Accountability Office. Similar problems surfaced in the first gulf war. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/business/28dental.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
Torture: Lo, no frequent flyer miles can be accumulated.
The Washington Post reports on the Gulfstream V turbojet used to carry U.S. detainees out of the country in luxury to be tortured elsewhere
The airplane is a Gulfstream V turbojet, the sort favored by CEOs and celebrities. But since 2001 it has been seen at military airports from Pakistan to Indonesia to Jordan, sometimes being boarded by hooded and handcuffed passengers.
The plane's owner of record, Premier Executive Transport Services Inc., lists directors and officers who appear to exist only on paper. And each one of those directors and officers has a recently issued Social Security number and an address consisting only of a post office box, according to an extensive search of state, federal and commercial records.
Bryan P. Dyess, Steven E. Kent, Timothy R. Sperling and Audrey M. Tailor are names without residential, work, telephone or corporate histories -- just the kind of "sterile identities," said current and former intelligence officials, that the CIA uses to conceal involvement in clandestine operations. In this case, the agency is flying captured terrorist suspects from one country to another for detention and interrogation.
The CIA calls this activity "rendition." Premier Executive's Gulfstream helps make it possible. According to civilian aircraft landing permits, the jet has permission to use U.S. military airfields worldwide.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, secret renditions have become a principal weapon in the CIA's arsenal against suspected al Qaeda terrorists, according to congressional testimony by CIA officials. But as the practice has grown, the agency has had significantly more difficulty keeping it secret. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A27826-2004Dec26?language=printer
Michael Moore Alert:
Some pharmaceutical companies are telling their employees to look out for the scruffy guy in the baseball cap.
The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that at least six drug companies have released internal communications telling employees to be wary of filmmaker Michael Moore.
Moore's targets have included General Motors ("Roger & Me"), the gun lobby (the Oscar-winning "Bowling for Columbine") and President Bush ("Fahrenheit 9/11").
Moore, normally seen sporting a beard and a ball cap, has now set his sights on the health care industry, including insurance companies, HMOs, the Food and Drug Administration and drug companies.
"We ran a story in our online newspaper saying Moore is embarking on a documentary and if you see a scruffy guy in a baseball cap, you'll know who it is," said Stephen Lederer, a spokesman for Pfizer Global Research and Development.
In September and October, Wyeth, AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, the second-largest in retail sales, sent out Moore alerts, instructing employees that questions posed by the media or filmmakers should be handled by corporate communications.
Heavyweights Sanofi-Aventis Pharmaceuticals and Synthelabo sent similar memos before their recent merger. http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2004/12/26/moore/print.html
Al Franken re Rush Limbaugh:
"He says things like, liberals hate Americans, and we're trying to undermine the war on terror," says comedian Al Franken, a host for liberal radio station Air America who has also entertained troops on four USO tours. "It's a bad message for troops to be hearing and is a very skewed picture of what liberals and Democrats stand for. They're broadcasting a very, very partisan guy -- [with] nobody from the other side -- and they're using taxpayer money to do it." http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/05/26/rush_limbaugh/print.html
Electoral Stealing?: Mixed Signals from Kerry camp. Once again (?) they’re confusing us. Until late yesterday they seemed to be revving up. Latest from Keith Olbermann, (a guest on Tuesday’s Tonight Show.)
"I would caution the media not to read more into what the Kerry-Edwards campaign has said," Mr. Hoffheimer advised us by e-mail, "than what you hear in the plain meaning of our comments. There are many conspiracy theorists opining these days. There are many allegations of fraud. But this presidential election is over. The Bush-Cheney ticket has won. The Kerry-Edwards campaign has found no conspiracy and no fraud in Ohio, though there have been many irregularities that cry out to be fixed for future elections. Senator Kerry and we in Ohio intend to fix them. When all of the problems in Ohio are added together, however bad they are, they do not add up to a victory for Kerry-Edwards. Senator Kerry's fully-informed and extremely careful assessment the day after the election and before he conceded remains accurate today, notwithstanding all the details we have since learned."
The problem is, of course, that it was not some great, conspiracy-based, tin-foil-hat, piece of linguistic gymnastics, to infer from the conclusion to Mr. Hoffheimer's Thursday statement, that the Kerry-Edwards campaign did not believe that "the integrity of the entire electoral process and the election of Bush-Cheney" warranted the public trust. It is, in fact, to use Mr. Hoffheimer's phrase, "the plain meaning" of the first statement.
How do I know that? To borrow Chairman Sam Ervin's answer to that same question, as posed by John Ehrlichmann at the Senate Watergate hearings in 1973: "Because I can understand the English language. It's my mother's tongue."
The Kerry campaign spent much of 2004 being accused by its critics of trying to be all things to all people. It seems poised to continue to wear the bull's eye well into the New Year. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6667405/#041227a
Meanwhile, the recount ended in Ohio, w/ Bush up 118,400.
The completion of the recount will not bring an end to questions surrounding the vote in Ohio.
A group of voters citing fraud have challenged the election results with the Ohio Supreme Court. The voters, supported by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, have cited irregularities including long lines, a shortage of voting machines in minority precincts and problems with computer equipment.
Attorney General Jim Petro has called the challenge frivolous and argued that the state Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction over a federal election.
The Government Accountability Office, an arm of Congress, also is investigating election problems. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=366128
Holiday Bonus Season:
The year-end bonus is a Wall Street tradition, and for a second consecutive year, the amounts are significant. Three major Wall Street firms - Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns - have reported record profits for the year and all are said to have given out handsome bonuses.
The totals in 2003 were already impressive: Lloyd S. Blankfein, the president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs made $20.1 million, of that only $600,000 was salary; and E. Stanley O'Neal, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch, received a bonus of $13.5 million and restricted stock worth $11.2 million on top of his $500,000 salary. At the other end of the compensation spectrum, an investment banking analyst right out of college would have made a $65,000 salary and a $35,000 bonus last year. An associate just out of business school might have made $85,000 in salary and a $115,000 bonus.
This year, investment bankers are expected to see gains in bonuses of 10 to 15 percent, amid a year-end flurry of mergers. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/business/28bonus.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
Holiday Review: The rich are spending.
Despite worries that holiday sales had lost steam after a roaring first-day start, consumers came through after all: Holiday spending was a healthy 8.1% ahead of last year, according to one early projection of national retail spending. Spending by higher-income consumers drove the gains. Sales at apparel and home-furnishings stores were especially strong, while sales of books, music and videos inched up. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110411106162309772,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
-R
Sunday, December 26, 2004
Exit Polls(!) gave the Ukrainian race to opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko; possibly 15,000 killed by the South Asian tsunami. And:
Electoral Cheating (cont.) Olbermann:
Representative John Conyers of Michigan is awaiting a staff report before deciding whether or not to formally challenge Ohio’s electoral votes a week from tomorrow. Ted Kalo, the Minority General Counsel of the House Judiciary Committee, advises us by email that Conyers “is waiting until all the facts are in,” but notes that Representative Maxine Walters of Los Angeles has already spoken publicly about her willingness to be the house signatory on the challenge. Whether or not there’s a senator willing to do the same is still an open question. http://www.bloggermann.com/
http://www.donotconcede.com is a nonprofit that has produced a documentary video (click the link) that it claims to prove the disenfranchisement of Blacks in Franklin County, Ohio. At minimum it further documents the long lines / too few machines in Democrat-leaning districts.
Social Security Resource: Economic Policy Institute- All you need to know…
Social Security has been providing benefits to millions of workers for 65 years.Social Security—sometimes referred to by its full name, Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)—is a social insurance system established in 1935 to provide benefits to workers and their family members upon retirement, disability, or death. It is an earned benefit insurance program, which means that only those who work and pay taxes are eligible for Social Security benefits.
At the end of December 2003, Social Security provided monthly benefits to 47 million beneficiaries (or one in every 6 Americans). Social Security paid a total of $471 billion to retired workers, disabled workers, and to the surviving family members of deceased workers in 2001 (SSA 2004 Trustees Report). In 2002, Social Security beneficiaries included about 3 million children under the age of 18. http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issueguide_socialsecurityfacts
Advocacy Loss: Spitzer Reorients
After nearly three years of high-profile prosecutions of investment banks, mutual funds and insurance companies, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer of New York said yesterday that he is ready to cede those investigations to federal regulators.
Mr. Spitzer said he believed the era of state attorneys general crusading against misdeeds on Wall Street was ending. He said he was concerned that 50 different investigations would balkanize regulations, and added that once-lax federal agencies had become more aggressive about rooting out fraud and wrongdoing.
The shift, first reported in The Financial Times, represents a remarkable turnabout for Mr. Spitzer, who has built a reputation as a giant-killer with his investigations of Merrill Lynch, one of the country's largest brokerage firms; Marsh & McLennan, the world's largest insurance broker; and Richard A. Grasso, the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
His decision comes just two weeks after he declared his candidacy for governor of New York in 2006, a campaign in which he will need to raise large sums to be competitive. Traditionally, many of those donations in a governor's race come from Wall Street, but Mr. Spitzer said his move away from big-business investigations was not related to his campaign. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/25/nyregion/25spitzer.html?pagewanted=print&position=
What’s Happening (or isn’t happening in) Iraq: Minimal reconstruction
Of the estimated 18.3 billion dollars allocated for reconstruction projects in Iraq, through October, roughly one billion dollars had been spent with officials citing security concerns as the main obstacle.
Kolbe also said there has been "little planning" in the way funds are spent as the White House requested earlier this year that more of the money be diverted from infrastructure to the training of Iraqi security forces. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041224/pl_afp/iraqusmilitarybudget&cid=1521&ncid=1473
Ongoing Lies: Rumsfeld and General (Richard) Meyers:
“I think the country does understand that we lost 3,000 people on September 11th and the fact that those people were operating in this part of the world ... You've seen the evil up close and personal, you know the danger that this poses." -Rumsfeld
"This attack [in Mosul], of course, is the responsibility of insurgents, the same insurgents who attacked on 9/11, the same type of insurgents who attacked in Beirut, the same insurgents who -- type of insurgents who attacked the Cole, Khobar Towers, and the list goes on."- Gen. Meyers
Environmental Isolation: Even the Saudis are more ‘environmental’
George Bush's two closest allies in his attempt to sabotage international action to combat global warning last week dramatically distanced themselves from him.
Saudi Arabia announced that it had approved the Kyoto Protocol, the treaty on climate change which President Bush has been trying to kill. And Australia, while still rejecting it, parted company from the United States by saying that it was prepared to negotiate its successor.
The moves follow a tense international negotiating session in Buenos Aires where, as The Independent on Sunday reported last week, the US brought the talks to the brink of collapse by obstructing even anodyne proposals. This breached an assurance given by President Bush in 2001, when he pulled out of the protocol, that America would not try to stop other countries reaching agreement. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=596062
Asians’ Diet
The opening of a Western fast-food outlet is now an everyday occurrence. McDonald's owns and operates more than 600 stores across 105 Chinese cities, with plans to add more than 100 annually in coming years, according to the company. Kentucky Fried Chicken has more 1,200 shops in China. It opened 270 new outlets this year and plans to launch at least 200 more in 2005, said a spokesman for Yum Brands Inc., which owns the KFC brand.
Where foreign brands in China have often met with more frustration than profit, fast food amounts to a lucrative exception. Major brands have enjoyed striking and visible success, carving into what now stands as a $48 billion-a-year Chinese fast-food industry, according to Bloomberg News. With urban incomes up 40 percent from 1999 through 2003 and city-dwellers increasingly inclined to eat on the run, sales at McDonalds are growing faster here than in the United States.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25868-2004Dec25.html
Oil: Chavez and China: The Chinese apparently haven’t heard of the Monroe Doctrine: They have made a deal with Venezuela on oil and gas following reaching economic cooperation agreements with Brazil.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has offered China wide-ranging access to the country's oil reserves.
The offer, made as part of a trade deal between the two countries, will allow China to operate oil fields in Venezuela and invest in new refineries.
Venezuela has also offered to supply 120,000 barrels of fuel oil a month to China.
Venezuela - the world's fifth largest oil exporter - sells about 60% of its output to the United States.
Mr Chavez's administration, which has a strained relationship with the US, is trying to diversify sales to reduce its dependence on its largest export market. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4123465.stm
Cuba and Oil Every little bit helps the embargoed Cubans
President Fidel Castro said a crude oil deposit has been discovered off Cuba containing up to 100 million barrels, good news for a country that imports about half the petroleum it needs. "This is the first discovery since 1999," Castro said Friday in a speech to a closed session of the National Assembly. His comments were aired on state television Saturday. Castro said the deposit was located off the coast of Santa Cruz del Norte, east of Havana, during an exploratory drilling. He said production at the site could begin during 2006. http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-cuba-oil,0,1498670,print.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
-R
Electoral Cheating (cont.) Olbermann:
Representative John Conyers of Michigan is awaiting a staff report before deciding whether or not to formally challenge Ohio’s electoral votes a week from tomorrow. Ted Kalo, the Minority General Counsel of the House Judiciary Committee, advises us by email that Conyers “is waiting until all the facts are in,” but notes that Representative Maxine Walters of Los Angeles has already spoken publicly about her willingness to be the house signatory on the challenge. Whether or not there’s a senator willing to do the same is still an open question. http://www.bloggermann.com/
http://www.donotconcede.com is a nonprofit that has produced a documentary video (click the link) that it claims to prove the disenfranchisement of Blacks in Franklin County, Ohio. At minimum it further documents the long lines / too few machines in Democrat-leaning districts.
Social Security Resource: Economic Policy Institute- All you need to know…
Social Security has been providing benefits to millions of workers for 65 years.Social Security—sometimes referred to by its full name, Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)—is a social insurance system established in 1935 to provide benefits to workers and their family members upon retirement, disability, or death. It is an earned benefit insurance program, which means that only those who work and pay taxes are eligible for Social Security benefits.
At the end of December 2003, Social Security provided monthly benefits to 47 million beneficiaries (or one in every 6 Americans). Social Security paid a total of $471 billion to retired workers, disabled workers, and to the surviving family members of deceased workers in 2001 (SSA 2004 Trustees Report). In 2002, Social Security beneficiaries included about 3 million children under the age of 18. http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issueguide_socialsecurityfacts
Advocacy Loss: Spitzer Reorients
After nearly three years of high-profile prosecutions of investment banks, mutual funds and insurance companies, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer of New York said yesterday that he is ready to cede those investigations to federal regulators.
Mr. Spitzer said he believed the era of state attorneys general crusading against misdeeds on Wall Street was ending. He said he was concerned that 50 different investigations would balkanize regulations, and added that once-lax federal agencies had become more aggressive about rooting out fraud and wrongdoing.
The shift, first reported in The Financial Times, represents a remarkable turnabout for Mr. Spitzer, who has built a reputation as a giant-killer with his investigations of Merrill Lynch, one of the country's largest brokerage firms; Marsh & McLennan, the world's largest insurance broker; and Richard A. Grasso, the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
His decision comes just two weeks after he declared his candidacy for governor of New York in 2006, a campaign in which he will need to raise large sums to be competitive. Traditionally, many of those donations in a governor's race come from Wall Street, but Mr. Spitzer said his move away from big-business investigations was not related to his campaign. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/25/nyregion/25spitzer.html?pagewanted=print&position=
What’s Happening (or isn’t happening in) Iraq: Minimal reconstruction
Of the estimated 18.3 billion dollars allocated for reconstruction projects in Iraq, through October, roughly one billion dollars had been spent with officials citing security concerns as the main obstacle.
Kolbe also said there has been "little planning" in the way funds are spent as the White House requested earlier this year that more of the money be diverted from infrastructure to the training of Iraqi security forces. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041224/pl_afp/iraqusmilitarybudget&cid=1521&ncid=1473
Ongoing Lies: Rumsfeld and General (Richard) Meyers:
“I think the country does understand that we lost 3,000 people on September 11th and the fact that those people were operating in this part of the world ... You've seen the evil up close and personal, you know the danger that this poses." -Rumsfeld
"This attack [in Mosul], of course, is the responsibility of insurgents, the same insurgents who attacked on 9/11, the same type of insurgents who attacked in Beirut, the same insurgents who -- type of insurgents who attacked the Cole, Khobar Towers, and the list goes on."- Gen. Meyers
Environmental Isolation: Even the Saudis are more ‘environmental’
George Bush's two closest allies in his attempt to sabotage international action to combat global warning last week dramatically distanced themselves from him.
Saudi Arabia announced that it had approved the Kyoto Protocol, the treaty on climate change which President Bush has been trying to kill. And Australia, while still rejecting it, parted company from the United States by saying that it was prepared to negotiate its successor.
The moves follow a tense international negotiating session in Buenos Aires where, as The Independent on Sunday reported last week, the US brought the talks to the brink of collapse by obstructing even anodyne proposals. This breached an assurance given by President Bush in 2001, when he pulled out of the protocol, that America would not try to stop other countries reaching agreement. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=596062
Asians’ Diet
The opening of a Western fast-food outlet is now an everyday occurrence. McDonald's owns and operates more than 600 stores across 105 Chinese cities, with plans to add more than 100 annually in coming years, according to the company. Kentucky Fried Chicken has more 1,200 shops in China. It opened 270 new outlets this year and plans to launch at least 200 more in 2005, said a spokesman for Yum Brands Inc., which owns the KFC brand.
Where foreign brands in China have often met with more frustration than profit, fast food amounts to a lucrative exception. Major brands have enjoyed striking and visible success, carving into what now stands as a $48 billion-a-year Chinese fast-food industry, according to Bloomberg News. With urban incomes up 40 percent from 1999 through 2003 and city-dwellers increasingly inclined to eat on the run, sales at McDonalds are growing faster here than in the United States.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25868-2004Dec25.html
Oil: Chavez and China: The Chinese apparently haven’t heard of the Monroe Doctrine: They have made a deal with Venezuela on oil and gas following reaching economic cooperation agreements with Brazil.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has offered China wide-ranging access to the country's oil reserves.
The offer, made as part of a trade deal between the two countries, will allow China to operate oil fields in Venezuela and invest in new refineries.
Venezuela has also offered to supply 120,000 barrels of fuel oil a month to China.
Venezuela - the world's fifth largest oil exporter - sells about 60% of its output to the United States.
Mr Chavez's administration, which has a strained relationship with the US, is trying to diversify sales to reduce its dependence on its largest export market. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4123465.stm
Cuba and Oil Every little bit helps the embargoed Cubans
President Fidel Castro said a crude oil deposit has been discovered off Cuba containing up to 100 million barrels, good news for a country that imports about half the petroleum it needs. "This is the first discovery since 1999," Castro said Friday in a speech to a closed session of the National Assembly. His comments were aired on state television Saturday. Castro said the deposit was located off the coast of Santa Cruz del Norte, east of Havana, during an exploratory drilling. He said production at the site could begin during 2006. http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-cuba-oil,0,1498670,print.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
-R
