Monday, March 14, 2005
Our Infrastructure: The American Society of Civil Engineers did their first report in 3+ years. Do we care about our water, buildings, bridges, etc?
With new grades for the first time since 2001, our nation's infrastructure has shown little to no improvement since receiving a collective D+ in 2001, with some areas sliding toward failing grades.
http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/index.cfm
Culture Wars: Evolution under the gun: Bush said ‘the jury is still out’ as to the ‘theory’, and the Right is pushing policies in 19 different states that seek to take us back to pre-Enlightenment days, i.e. to question the science of evolution and to teach “intelligent design.”
The growing trend has alarmed scientists and educators who consider it a masked effort to replace science with theology. But 80 years after the Scopes "monkey" trial -- in which a Tennessee man was prosecuted for violating state law by teaching evolution -- it is the anti-evolutionary scientists and Christian activists who say they are the ones being persecuted, by a liberal establishment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32444-2005Mar13.html
DeLay’s Troubles: Even Republicans are getting queasy as to his future
"The situation is negatively fluid," said one consultant. "If death comes from a thousand cuts, Tom DeLay is into a couple hundred." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32389-2005Mar13.html
Anonymous’ Take on Extraordinary Rendition: Michael Scheuer, the former CIA asset, asserts that Gonzales, Bush et al knew what the policy meant- that suspects were being sent to countries where they were likely to be tortured.
Because it makes clear that in dealing with detainees in 1998, and today as well, the C.I.A. is following orders from the president and his National Security Council advisers. Likewise, in 1998 and today, the agency is executing operations under those orders only after they are approved by a vast cohort of lawyers at the security council, the Justice Department and the C.I.A. itself.
I know this because, as head of the C.I.A.'s bin Laden desk, I started the Qaeda detainee/rendition program and ran it for 40 months. And in my 22 years at the agency I never a saw a set of operations that was more closely scrutinized by the director of central intelligence, the National Security Council and the Congressional intelligence committees. Nor did I ever see one that was more blessed (plagued?) by the expert guidance of lawyers. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/11/opinion/11scheuer.html?
Israel’s Plans to Attack Iran? The Times of London has a report that an air and land attack is drawn up. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’ll happen…More likely is a drawn out “diplomatic” game where the Bushies appear to be supportive of European efforts, then the issue is referred to the UN and, once again, the Organization is stymied and the Bushies can say “Told ya!” What happens then…?
Israel has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to halt the Iranian nuclear programme.
The inner cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave “initial authorisation” for an attack at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert.
Israeli forces have used a mock-up of Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment plant in the desert to practise destroying it. Their tactics include raids by Israel’s elite Shaldag (Kingfisher) commando unit and airstrikes by F-15 jets from 69 Squadron, using bunker-busting bombs to penetrate underground facilities. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1522978,00.html
Filibuster Threatened: The time is approaching when the Republican Right could effect the big change in the Senate, the so-called “nuclear option”. Will “moderate” Republicans resist?
Though the nuclear option was ostensibly designed to overcome Democratic filibusters of George W. Bush’s appellate-court nominees—twelve of whom he recently, defiantly renominated—it would apply to Supreme Court appointments, too. With Rehnquist on his way out and more justices soon to follow, Republicans, with nothing more than a bare 51-vote majority (as opposed to the 60 needed to halt a filibuster), could confirm anyone they pleased. “I keep saying to people, ‘I know you care about the Supreme Court,’ ” says People for the American Way president Ralph Neas. “But in the next four to eight weeks, there could be a vote that would render moot all the future votes on Supreme Court nominees. The right knows this is its 45-month window to shape the Court for the next 30 to 40 years. If Republicans win on the nuclear option, they could get John Ashcroft confirmed as chief justice, or Pat Robertson.” http://www.nymetro.com/nymetro/news/politics/columns/nationalinterest/11263/index.html
NY Times piece on Bush Propaganda machine. Kudos to the Times for a thorough review of the $254 million spent on public relations.
It is the kind of TV news coverage every president covets.
"Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.," a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. A second report told of "another success" in the Bush administration's "drive to strengthen aviation security"; the reporter called it "one of the most remarkable campaigns in aviation history." A third segment, broadcast in January, described the administration's determination to open markets for American farmers.
To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three. The report from Kansas City was made by the State Department. The "reporter" covering airport safety was actually a public relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. The farming segment was done by the Agriculture Department's office of communications.
Under the Bush administration, the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html?ei=5094&en=13c49ccf73932e2e&hp=&ex=1110690000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position=
Left Disaffection: Can’t We Just Get Along…and work together?
Danny Schechter reports on his tiff with Moveon.org, that MoveOn has moved Right, dropping withdrawal from Iraq as one of its positions. Norman Solomon’s post on the internecine strife is on Danny’s web site:
Making Peace With the War in Iraq
Groundbreaking group not pushing for U.S. withdrawal
Sadly, it has come to this. Two years after the invasion of Iraq, the online powerhouse MoveOn.org— which built most of its member base with a strong antiwar message — is not pushing for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
With a network of more than three million “online activists,” the MoveOn leadership has decided against opposing the American occupation of Iraq. During the recent bloody months, none of MoveOn’s action alerts have addressed what Americans can do to help get the U.S. military out of that country. Likewise, the MoveOn.org website has continued to bypass the issue—even after Rep. Lynn Woolsey and two dozen cosponsors in the House of Representatives introduced a resolution in late January calling for swift removal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. http://www.newsdissector.org/blog/
What’s Happening, Iraq; We Had the Elections; So? Iraqis, much praised for voting, are wondering when the voting will affect security.
That leaves Iraqis, frightened by two large suicide bombings this month that killed nearly 200 people, wondering why they braved insurgents' threats to go to the ballot box.
Shopkeeper Mohammed Saddoun stood in front of his storefront grocery last week with several friends, lamenting the delay.
"I am not only frustrated, I am ready to burst with anger," Saddoun said. "We put our souls in the … palms of our hands and went to the ballot centers. You remember the threats there were that they would kill people who voted.
"Well, if they cannot form a government, then I think they are not qualified to manage the country's affairs. This vacuum of power increases the number of terrorist acts, it opens the way for the terrorists." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-frustrated13mar13,0,4558088,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Europeans Investigate Rendition Policy They’re not happy w/ possible law-breaking.
Although the CIA usually carries out the operations with the help or blessing of friendly local intelligence agencies, law enforcement authorities in Italy, Germany and Sweden are examining whether U.S. agents may have broken local laws by detaining terrorist suspects on European soil and subjecting them to abuse or maltreatment.
The CIA has kept details of rendition cases a closely guarded secret, but has defended the controversial practice as an effective and legal way to prevent terrorism. Intelligence officials have testified that they have relied on the tactic with greater frequency since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Bush administration has received backing for renditions from governments that have been criticized for their human rights records, including Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan, where many of the suspects are taken for interrogation. But the administration is getting a much different reception in Europe, where lawmakers and prosecutors are questioning whether the practice is a blatant violation of local sovereignty and human rights. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30275-2005Mar12.html
-R
With new grades for the first time since 2001, our nation's infrastructure has shown little to no improvement since receiving a collective D+ in 2001, with some areas sliding toward failing grades.
http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/index.cfm
Culture Wars: Evolution under the gun: Bush said ‘the jury is still out’ as to the ‘theory’, and the Right is pushing policies in 19 different states that seek to take us back to pre-Enlightenment days, i.e. to question the science of evolution and to teach “intelligent design.”
The growing trend has alarmed scientists and educators who consider it a masked effort to replace science with theology. But 80 years after the Scopes "monkey" trial -- in which a Tennessee man was prosecuted for violating state law by teaching evolution -- it is the anti-evolutionary scientists and Christian activists who say they are the ones being persecuted, by a liberal establishment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32444-2005Mar13.html
DeLay’s Troubles: Even Republicans are getting queasy as to his future
"The situation is negatively fluid," said one consultant. "If death comes from a thousand cuts, Tom DeLay is into a couple hundred." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32389-2005Mar13.html
Anonymous’ Take on Extraordinary Rendition: Michael Scheuer, the former CIA asset, asserts that Gonzales, Bush et al knew what the policy meant- that suspects were being sent to countries where they were likely to be tortured.
Because it makes clear that in dealing with detainees in 1998, and today as well, the C.I.A. is following orders from the president and his National Security Council advisers. Likewise, in 1998 and today, the agency is executing operations under those orders only after they are approved by a vast cohort of lawyers at the security council, the Justice Department and the C.I.A. itself.
I know this because, as head of the C.I.A.'s bin Laden desk, I started the Qaeda detainee/rendition program and ran it for 40 months. And in my 22 years at the agency I never a saw a set of operations that was more closely scrutinized by the director of central intelligence, the National Security Council and the Congressional intelligence committees. Nor did I ever see one that was more blessed (plagued?) by the expert guidance of lawyers. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/11/opinion/11scheuer.html?
Israel’s Plans to Attack Iran? The Times of London has a report that an air and land attack is drawn up. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’ll happen…More likely is a drawn out “diplomatic” game where the Bushies appear to be supportive of European efforts, then the issue is referred to the UN and, once again, the Organization is stymied and the Bushies can say “Told ya!” What happens then…?
Israel has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to halt the Iranian nuclear programme.
The inner cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave “initial authorisation” for an attack at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert.
Israeli forces have used a mock-up of Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment plant in the desert to practise destroying it. Their tactics include raids by Israel’s elite Shaldag (Kingfisher) commando unit and airstrikes by F-15 jets from 69 Squadron, using bunker-busting bombs to penetrate underground facilities. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1522978,00.html
Filibuster Threatened: The time is approaching when the Republican Right could effect the big change in the Senate, the so-called “nuclear option”. Will “moderate” Republicans resist?
Though the nuclear option was ostensibly designed to overcome Democratic filibusters of George W. Bush’s appellate-court nominees—twelve of whom he recently, defiantly renominated—it would apply to Supreme Court appointments, too. With Rehnquist on his way out and more justices soon to follow, Republicans, with nothing more than a bare 51-vote majority (as opposed to the 60 needed to halt a filibuster), could confirm anyone they pleased. “I keep saying to people, ‘I know you care about the Supreme Court,’ ” says People for the American Way president Ralph Neas. “But in the next four to eight weeks, there could be a vote that would render moot all the future votes on Supreme Court nominees. The right knows this is its 45-month window to shape the Court for the next 30 to 40 years. If Republicans win on the nuclear option, they could get John Ashcroft confirmed as chief justice, or Pat Robertson.” http://www.nymetro.com/nymetro/news/politics/columns/nationalinterest/11263/index.html
NY Times piece on Bush Propaganda machine. Kudos to the Times for a thorough review of the $254 million spent on public relations.
It is the kind of TV news coverage every president covets.
"Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.," a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. A second report told of "another success" in the Bush administration's "drive to strengthen aviation security"; the reporter called it "one of the most remarkable campaigns in aviation history." A third segment, broadcast in January, described the administration's determination to open markets for American farmers.
To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three. The report from Kansas City was made by the State Department. The "reporter" covering airport safety was actually a public relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. The farming segment was done by the Agriculture Department's office of communications.
Under the Bush administration, the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html?ei=5094&en=13c49ccf73932e2e&hp=&ex=1110690000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position=
Left Disaffection: Can’t We Just Get Along…and work together?
Danny Schechter reports on his tiff with Moveon.org, that MoveOn has moved Right, dropping withdrawal from Iraq as one of its positions. Norman Solomon’s post on the internecine strife is on Danny’s web site:
Making Peace With the War in Iraq
Groundbreaking group not pushing for U.S. withdrawal
Sadly, it has come to this. Two years after the invasion of Iraq, the online powerhouse MoveOn.org— which built most of its member base with a strong antiwar message — is not pushing for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
With a network of more than three million “online activists,” the MoveOn leadership has decided against opposing the American occupation of Iraq. During the recent bloody months, none of MoveOn’s action alerts have addressed what Americans can do to help get the U.S. military out of that country. Likewise, the MoveOn.org website has continued to bypass the issue—even after Rep. Lynn Woolsey and two dozen cosponsors in the House of Representatives introduced a resolution in late January calling for swift removal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. http://www.newsdissector.org/blog/
What’s Happening, Iraq; We Had the Elections; So? Iraqis, much praised for voting, are wondering when the voting will affect security.
That leaves Iraqis, frightened by two large suicide bombings this month that killed nearly 200 people, wondering why they braved insurgents' threats to go to the ballot box.
Shopkeeper Mohammed Saddoun stood in front of his storefront grocery last week with several friends, lamenting the delay.
"I am not only frustrated, I am ready to burst with anger," Saddoun said. "We put our souls in the … palms of our hands and went to the ballot centers. You remember the threats there were that they would kill people who voted.
"Well, if they cannot form a government, then I think they are not qualified to manage the country's affairs. This vacuum of power increases the number of terrorist acts, it opens the way for the terrorists." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-frustrated13mar13,0,4558088,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Europeans Investigate Rendition Policy They’re not happy w/ possible law-breaking.
Although the CIA usually carries out the operations with the help or blessing of friendly local intelligence agencies, law enforcement authorities in Italy, Germany and Sweden are examining whether U.S. agents may have broken local laws by detaining terrorist suspects on European soil and subjecting them to abuse or maltreatment.
The CIA has kept details of rendition cases a closely guarded secret, but has defended the controversial practice as an effective and legal way to prevent terrorism. Intelligence officials have testified that they have relied on the tactic with greater frequency since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Bush administration has received backing for renditions from governments that have been criticized for their human rights records, including Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan, where many of the suspects are taken for interrogation. But the administration is getting a much different reception in Europe, where lawmakers and prosecutors are questioning whether the practice is a blatant violation of local sovereignty and human rights. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30275-2005Mar12.html
-R
