Friday, April 01, 2005
Air America Radio: 1 year anniversary, HBO documentary
They’re doing well, have a moving, involving documentary showing 25 times this month on HBO. They are a critical resource, morale-booster and more.
Tom Coburn: For those who funded his opponent, Brad Carson, and/or have followed the new term of the freshman Senator from Oklahoma-- He has apparently been inspired by the ethically-challenged Tom DeLay and has resumed his obstetrics practice. This is a clear violation of Senate ethics that forbid earning outside income once sworn in as Senator. Worse, he’s got a scary reputation as an M.D., having been accused of filing a fraudulent Medicaid claim and sterilizing a woman without her consent. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27269-2004Sep16.html
Dems Solid Vs Bolton? Foreign Relations Committee- only Feingold a possible dissenting vote.
Democrats are likely to vote unanimously against John R. Bolton when his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations comes before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next week, according to Democratic and Republican lawmakers and aides.
It would be the first time that committee Democrats unanimously opposed a Bush diplomatic selection, and it could put the nomination in peril if any Republicans defected to vote against Bolton.
There are 10 Republicans and eight Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee. If Chafee switched, creating a 9-9 tie, it would probably kill the nomination, two GOP Senate aides said. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-bolton31mar31,1,1642187.story?coll=la-news-politics-national
Flavor of WaPost Editorial on World Bank: A low of sorts. So, why should the Post sound so threatening?
People who care about this institution and its mission -- as many of Mr. Wolfowitz's detractors do -- should think carefully before they damage it by attacking its new boss. Criticism of Mr. Wolfowitz's agenda for the bank may be healthy once that agenda emerges. But preemptive condemnation because of the Iraq war is not. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A14382-2005Mar30?language=printer
Intelligence Finding: Blame the CIA… and ignore Cheney, Rumsfeld’s brow-beating / cherry-picking. We knew this long ago; the only ‘disappointment’ is that with the election over, this report could have documented the intimidation. But, they were charged otherwise.
Analysts said today's report implicitly absolved the Bush administration of manipulating the intelligence used to launch the invasion, putting the blame for bad intelligence directly on the intelligence community. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1449363,00.html
Dana Milbank, former crack reporter, now commentator notes in the WaPost "The report is plenty tough, but it directs its fire at the intelligence professionals and gives the political figures a pass." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16916-2005Mar31.html
The WaPost account noted the story of CIA officials warning boss Tenet that the mobile labs nonsense was just that, based on a nutty, single source, with Tenet responding, Yeah, yeah,” and nothing that he was “exhausted.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17211-2005Mar31.html
The NY Times editorial doesn’t mince words:
The president's commission on intelligence gathering could have saved the country a lot of time, and considerable paper, by not publishing its report yesterday and just e-mailing everyone the Web addresses for the searching studies already done by the 9/11 commission and the Senate Intelligence Committee. After more than a year's dithering, the panel produced some 600 pages of conventional wisdom about the intelligence failures before the war with Iraq, along with a big dose of political spin that pleased the White House but provided little enlightenment for the public. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/opinion/01fri2.html?
Giving Belated Credit where Credit’s due. Tom Friedman, NY Times op ed’er, did address a bit of our current craziness:
"How will future historians explain it? How will they possibly explain why President George W. Bush decided to ignore the energy crisis staring us in the face and chose instead to spend all his electoral capital on a futile effort to undo the New Deal, by partially privatizing Social Security? We are, quite simply, witnessing one of the greatest examples of misplaced priorities in the history of the U.S. presidency.
"By doing nothing to lower U.S. oil consumption, we are financing both sides in the war on terrorism and strengthening the worst governments in the world.' ...and much more.
Imagine if George Bush declared that he was getting rid of his limousine for an armor-plated Ford Escape hybrid, adopting a geo-green strategy and building an alliance of neocons, evangelicals and greens to sustain it. His popularity at home - and abroad - would soar. The country is dying to be led on this. Instead, he prefers to squander his personal energy trying to take apart the New Deal and throwing red meat to right-to-life fanatics. What a waste of a presidency. How will future historians explain it? http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/27/opinion/27friedman.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists
Pentagon $
A new report by the Government Accountability Office warned yesterday that the costs of the Pentagon's arsenal could soar by hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade.
The Pentagon has said it is building more than 70 major weapons systems at a cost of at least $1.3 trillion. But the Pentagon generally understates the time and money spent on weapons programs by 20 to 50 percent, the new report said.
A survey of 26 major weapons systems showed cost overruns of $42.7 billion, or 41.9 percent, in their research and development phase. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/business/01military.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Oil Worries They never go away. This worrier is not exactly Left.
Oil importing countries should implement emergency oil saving policies if supplies fall by as little as 1m-2m barrels a day, the International Energy Agency will warn next month.
The figure is much lower than the official trigger of 7 per cent of global oil supply equivalent to 6m b/d agreed in the treaty that founded the energy watchdog for industrialised countries after the oil crisis of the 1970s. A fall in supply of just 1m-2m b/d would be equivalent to the disruptions during the 2003 Iraq war or the 2002 oil industry strike in Venezuela.
A warning to set up “demand restraint policies” in the transport sector, such as driving bans or shorter working weeks, is contained in a study to be published next month during the annual IEA meeting of energy ministers.
It comes as oil is trading at more than $55 a barrel and highlights the agency's concern about the possibility of a supply shock, the economic impact of high oil prices, and the need to focus on conserving energy rather than simply encouraging higher production. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d5213f46-a21a-11d9-8483-00000e2511c8.html
Hillary Markets Victimization: She’s rallying her troops with the cry, ‘The Right is gonna target me; send money’! Clever strategy: She may not be a liberal, but she is a victim!
With 19 months to go before the elections and no opponent in sight, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign is nonetheless warning her political supporters that she is the prime target of "the right-wing attack machine."
In a fund-raising e-mail message sent out on Thursday, Mrs. Clinton's campaign also said her critics were preparing an advertising campaign against her similar to the one orchestrated by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that attacked Senator John Kerry's Vietnam service during the presidential election. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/nyregion/metrocampaigns/01hillary.html?pagewanted=all
-R
They’re doing well, have a moving, involving documentary showing 25 times this month on HBO. They are a critical resource, morale-booster and more.
Tom Coburn: For those who funded his opponent, Brad Carson, and/or have followed the new term of the freshman Senator from Oklahoma-- He has apparently been inspired by the ethically-challenged Tom DeLay and has resumed his obstetrics practice. This is a clear violation of Senate ethics that forbid earning outside income once sworn in as Senator. Worse, he’s got a scary reputation as an M.D., having been accused of filing a fraudulent Medicaid claim and sterilizing a woman without her consent. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27269-2004Sep16.html
Dems Solid Vs Bolton? Foreign Relations Committee- only Feingold a possible dissenting vote.
Democrats are likely to vote unanimously against John R. Bolton when his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations comes before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next week, according to Democratic and Republican lawmakers and aides.
It would be the first time that committee Democrats unanimously opposed a Bush diplomatic selection, and it could put the nomination in peril if any Republicans defected to vote against Bolton.
There are 10 Republicans and eight Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee. If Chafee switched, creating a 9-9 tie, it would probably kill the nomination, two GOP Senate aides said. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-bolton31mar31,1,1642187.story?coll=la-news-politics-national
Flavor of WaPost Editorial on World Bank: A low of sorts. So, why should the Post sound so threatening?
People who care about this institution and its mission -- as many of Mr. Wolfowitz's detractors do -- should think carefully before they damage it by attacking its new boss. Criticism of Mr. Wolfowitz's agenda for the bank may be healthy once that agenda emerges. But preemptive condemnation because of the Iraq war is not. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A14382-2005Mar30?language=printer
Intelligence Finding: Blame the CIA… and ignore Cheney, Rumsfeld’s brow-beating / cherry-picking. We knew this long ago; the only ‘disappointment’ is that with the election over, this report could have documented the intimidation. But, they were charged otherwise.
Analysts said today's report implicitly absolved the Bush administration of manipulating the intelligence used to launch the invasion, putting the blame for bad intelligence directly on the intelligence community. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1449363,00.html
Dana Milbank, former crack reporter, now commentator notes in the WaPost "The report is plenty tough, but it directs its fire at the intelligence professionals and gives the political figures a pass." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16916-2005Mar31.html
The WaPost account noted the story of CIA officials warning boss Tenet that the mobile labs nonsense was just that, based on a nutty, single source, with Tenet responding, Yeah, yeah,” and nothing that he was “exhausted.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17211-2005Mar31.html
The NY Times editorial doesn’t mince words:
The president's commission on intelligence gathering could have saved the country a lot of time, and considerable paper, by not publishing its report yesterday and just e-mailing everyone the Web addresses for the searching studies already done by the 9/11 commission and the Senate Intelligence Committee. After more than a year's dithering, the panel produced some 600 pages of conventional wisdom about the intelligence failures before the war with Iraq, along with a big dose of political spin that pleased the White House but provided little enlightenment for the public. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/opinion/01fri2.html?
Giving Belated Credit where Credit’s due. Tom Friedman, NY Times op ed’er, did address a bit of our current craziness:
"How will future historians explain it? How will they possibly explain why President George W. Bush decided to ignore the energy crisis staring us in the face and chose instead to spend all his electoral capital on a futile effort to undo the New Deal, by partially privatizing Social Security? We are, quite simply, witnessing one of the greatest examples of misplaced priorities in the history of the U.S. presidency.
"By doing nothing to lower U.S. oil consumption, we are financing both sides in the war on terrorism and strengthening the worst governments in the world.' ...and much more.
Imagine if George Bush declared that he was getting rid of his limousine for an armor-plated Ford Escape hybrid, adopting a geo-green strategy and building an alliance of neocons, evangelicals and greens to sustain it. His popularity at home - and abroad - would soar. The country is dying to be led on this. Instead, he prefers to squander his personal energy trying to take apart the New Deal and throwing red meat to right-to-life fanatics. What a waste of a presidency. How will future historians explain it? http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/27/opinion/27friedman.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists
Pentagon $
A new report by the Government Accountability Office warned yesterday that the costs of the Pentagon's arsenal could soar by hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade.
The Pentagon has said it is building more than 70 major weapons systems at a cost of at least $1.3 trillion. But the Pentagon generally understates the time and money spent on weapons programs by 20 to 50 percent, the new report said.
A survey of 26 major weapons systems showed cost overruns of $42.7 billion, or 41.9 percent, in their research and development phase. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/business/01military.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Oil Worries They never go away. This worrier is not exactly Left.
Oil importing countries should implement emergency oil saving policies if supplies fall by as little as 1m-2m barrels a day, the International Energy Agency will warn next month.
The figure is much lower than the official trigger of 7 per cent of global oil supply equivalent to 6m b/d agreed in the treaty that founded the energy watchdog for industrialised countries after the oil crisis of the 1970s. A fall in supply of just 1m-2m b/d would be equivalent to the disruptions during the 2003 Iraq war or the 2002 oil industry strike in Venezuela.
A warning to set up “demand restraint policies” in the transport sector, such as driving bans or shorter working weeks, is contained in a study to be published next month during the annual IEA meeting of energy ministers.
It comes as oil is trading at more than $55 a barrel and highlights the agency's concern about the possibility of a supply shock, the economic impact of high oil prices, and the need to focus on conserving energy rather than simply encouraging higher production. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d5213f46-a21a-11d9-8483-00000e2511c8.html
Hillary Markets Victimization: She’s rallying her troops with the cry, ‘The Right is gonna target me; send money’! Clever strategy: She may not be a liberal, but she is a victim!
With 19 months to go before the elections and no opponent in sight, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign is nonetheless warning her political supporters that she is the prime target of "the right-wing attack machine."
In a fund-raising e-mail message sent out on Thursday, Mrs. Clinton's campaign also said her critics were preparing an advertising campaign against her similar to the one orchestrated by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that attacked Senator John Kerry's Vietnam service during the presidential election. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/nyregion/metrocampaigns/01hillary.html?pagewanted=all
-R
