Friday, February 04, 2005
State of Union: What to say. So many lies, the usual great ‘production values.’ To get through it:
1) I didn’t watch it
2) I found the humor.
This time it was easy to do the latter. Appointing Laura Bush to head the national effort to help youth stay out of gangs was just priceless; Catching the big shot in the asbestos industry in Laura’s box in the gallery while Junior talked of the need to stop “frivolous asbestos lawsuits” was equally entertaining, in a very dark kind of way.
By not watching it or hearing the conventional commentary, I missed Cokie Roberts squeal with delight over the hug moment, missed Bush’s kissing Lieberman, missed the heavily Republican ‘analysts’ assessing the speech. http://mediamatters.org/items/200502030009
Trash talking Iran:
Condi made clear that we’re not with the Europeans, then was forced this AM to add that an attack on Iraq “is not on the agenda.”
Less than a day after President Bush declared he was "working with European allies" to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear program, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States would continue to rebuff European requests to participate directly in offering incentives for Iran to drop what is suspected of being a nuclear arms program.
Opening her first overseas trip as secretary, Ms. Rice also declared that the Tehran government's record on human rights was "something to be loathed" - a harsh comment that comes at a time when many European leaders have asked the United States to help lower tensions with Iran. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/04/international/middleeast/04diplo.html?oref=login
Social Security: Let’s not forget that this is ALSO intended as a distraction from what really needs fixing- the existing budget/trade deficits, health care, Medicare.
Back to SS, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities warns of the massive debt to come, if…
Over the first ten years that the plan actually was in effect (2009-18), it would add more than $1 trillion to the debt. Over the next ten years (2019- 28), it would add over $3.5 trillion more to the debt. All told, the plan would add more than $4.5 trillion to the debt over its first 20 years.
· The reported $754 billion estimate is for 2006-15. The plan does not begin until 2009, however, and would be open that year only to somewhat older workers. It would not be until 2011 that all eligible participants could divert payroll tax revenue to the private accounts. Thus, only five full years of the plan are included in the White House’s $754 billion cost estimate.
· When estimates are generated for the first two decades that the plan would actually be in effect, the borrowing costs are seen to be much higher. http://www.cbpp.org/2-2-05socsec4.htm
Repubs Nervousness Continues: His tour ain’t working either.
Congressional Republicans are expressing doubt that President Bush's plan for personal accounts in Social Security can win approval, saying lawmakers fear the political consequences of voting major change to the popular retirement program. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050204/ap_on_go_co/social_security
Shifting Rationale: Not emphasized in news accounts, save in the LA Times, was that the Administration is not claiming their social security “fix” will fix anything:
In a significant shift in his rationale for the accounts, Bush dropped his claim that they would help solve Social Security's fiscal problems — a link he sometimes made during last year's presidential campaign. Instead, he said the individual accounts were desirable because they would be "a better deal," providing workers what he said would be a higher rate of return and "greater security in retirement."A Bush aide, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, was more explicit, saying that the individual accounts would do nothing to solve the system's long-term financial problems.That candid analysis, although widely shared by economists, distressed some Republicans."Oh, my God," one GOP political strategist said when he learned of the shift in rhetoric. "The White House has made a lot of Republicans walk the plank on this. Now it sounds as if they are sawing off the board." http://www.latimes.com/business/la-na-speech3feb03,1,466993,print.story?coll=la-headlines-business
The b_______s at Enron: Finally revealed how they plotted to create the “Energy Crisis” of 2001
A Washington state utility released audiotapes Thursday that it said revealed bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp. plotted to take a power plant off-line in 2001 to jack up electric prices in Western states.
That same day, shortages of power forced rolling blackouts in northern California that affected about 2 million customers.
Eric Christensen, the utility's assistant general counsel, said the tapes show Enron was planning to manipulate Western power markets as early as 1998 -- before California's deregulated energy market opened.
Others imply that Enron used similar tactics in Canada and that traders were aware the actions were illegal.
One Enron employee tells a colleague in another recorded conversation, "I'm just trying to be an honest camper so I only go to jail once." http://us.cnn.com/2005/US/02/03/enron.tapes/index.html
Gonzales: Demerits for Joe (Lieberman) who lauded him for his “independence of spirit”, voted for him. Credits to the NY Times editorial board for the following:
The confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general yesterday was depressing. The president deserves a great deal of leeway in choosing his own cabinet. But beyond his other failings, Mr. Gonzales has come to represent the administration's role in paving the way for the abuse and torture of prisoners by American soldiers and intelligence agents. Giving him the nation's top legal post is a terrible signal to send the rest of the world, and to American citizens concerned with human rights.
The 60-to-36 vote for confirmation was also preceded by a depressing debate. There was the usual comic opera of these Senate votes, with the president's party piously denouncing all opposition as outrageous politicking and the opposition piously denying it. But this debate had a sinister overtone as well: in a ham-handed way, the Republicans tried to portray a vote against Mr. Gonzales as an act of bigotry.
Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, declaring that "I love the Hispanic people," warned that Hispanic Americans were "sensing there's something unfair going on." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/04/opinion/4fri1.html
The Pariah Speaks: Nader on the invasion/occupation, at Wesleyan, last week.
Memorial Chapel was filled to capacity Friday night as Ralph Nader and Patti Smith advocated an end to the war in Iraq and encouraged students to become more politically active. Their visit was the first of a series of events sponsored by WesPEACE to promote sustained opposition to the war in Iraq. Smith, a renowned poet and musician, began the event. She spoke with a mix of candor and humor, urging the audience to protest the Bush administration. "We must be willing to stand up and fight," Smith said. "We need to fight the Bush administration's policies. We have a document called the Declaration of Independence, which is too hot for them to handle. It counsels us to be vigilant." Nader wasted no time in giving his opinion about the current state of our government. "We are gathered here to discuss this criminal, unconstitutional war, which if put into context, the context of the last 30 years, is a reflection of corporate power," Nader said.According to Nader the "corporate machine" is constantly present in our everyday lives— in the media, what we wear, how we think, and even what we consider values. He also highlighted what he considers a growing disparity between America's upper and lower classes. "We need to relearn what civic freedom means," Nader said. "It is a fundamental freedom, meaning that elections are not for sale, that the environment, children, and politicians should be off-limits to commercialism." He added that students should e-mail their representatives with concerns and suggestions. He emphasized that the most daunting aspect of current American politics is that there has been almost no public reaction to what he thinks is a dangerous concentration of power."[The current administration] is using the flag as a gag in people's mouths," Nader said. "We're down to a one-party dominated system. And when your own election becomes selection, the next step is coronation." He then turned to the topic of the war in Iraq. According to Nader, the war is unconstitutional because Congress is the only body that is able to declare war. Following Sept. 11, 2001, Congress surrendered this right to Bush in the War Resolution Act. According to Nader, the best way to end the war in Iraq is through a withdrawal over the next six months, followed by six months of humanitarian aid and international peacekeeping. "But for this to happen, people have to want it to," he said. "This can be accomplished through the use of public education, marches, sit-ins, and even just interrupting meeting, making your dissention known." Many students agreed with his message and were glad for the opportunity to hear him speak. http://www.wesleyanargus.com/article.php?article_id=679
The Iraqi election figures: B.S.? Now that the headlines are written, doubt builds as to what happened on this ‘historic’ day. Aside from the Sunnis not participating and the Shiite religious parties getting 80+ of the votes, the level of participation apparently was less than claimed.
Everyone, of course, is thrilled that so many Iraqis turned out to vote, in the face of threats and intimidation, on Sunday. But in hailing, and at times gushing, over the turnout, has the American media (as it did two years ago in the hyping of Saddam's WMDs) forgotten core journalistic principles in regard to fact-checking and weighing partisan assertions? It appears so. For days, the press repeated, as gospel, assertions offered by an election official that 8 million Iraqis went to the polls on Sunday, an impressive 57% turnout rate. I questioned those figures as early as last Sunday, and offered the detailed analysis below on Wednesday. Now, John Burns and Dexter Filkins of The New York Times report in Friday's paper that Iraqi election officials have quietly "backtracked, saying that the 8 million estimate had been reached hastily on the basis of telephone reports from polling stations across the country and that the figure could change." http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000788083
Chomsky on Iraq’s future
…it is very likely that an independent, sovereign Iraq would try to take its natural place as a leading state in the Arab world, maybe the leading state. And you know that's something that goes back to biblical times. What does that mean? Well it means rearming, first of all. They have to confront the regional enemy. Now the regional enemy, overpowering enemy, is Israel. They're going to have to rearm to confront Israel - which means probably developing weapons of mass destruction, just as a deterrent. So here's the picture of what they must be dreaming about in Washington - and probably 10 Downing street in London - that here you might get a substantial Shi'ite majority rearming, developing weapons of mass destruction, to try to get rid of the US outposts that are there to try to make sure that the US controls most of the oil reserves of the world. Is Washington going to sit there and allow that? That's kind of next to inconceivable. What I've just read from the business press the last couple of days probably reflects the thinking in Washington and London: "Uh well, okay, we'll let them have a government, but we're not going to pay any attention to what they say." In fact, the Pentagon announced at the same time two days ago: we're keeping 120,000 troops there into at least 2007, even if they call for withdrawal tomorrow. And the propaganda is very evident right in these articles. You can even write the commentary now: we just have to do it because we have to accomplish our mission of bringing democracy to Iraq. If they have an elected government that doesn't understand that, well, what can we do with these dumb Arabs, you know? Actually that's very common because look, after all, the US has overthrown democracy after democracy, because the people don't understand. They follow the wrong course. So therefore, following the mission of establishing democracy, we've got to overthrow their governments. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GB04Ak05.html
Conservative Qualms with Bush Fiscal Policy: The Cato Institute:
If we compare the three-year percentage change in real spending during Reagan and Bush's first terms, President Bush comes out as a profligate spender on his own and as compared to Reagan. Under President Bush, real total outlays are estimated to increase by 13.5 percent as opposed to 6.8 percent under Reagan. More importantly, total real discretionary outlays are set to increase by 19.5 percent under the Bush administration while they increased by only 2.8 percent under Reagan.
And it gets worse. Discretionary spending is divided into two parts: defense spending and non-defense spending. When President Reagan pursued his defense buildup, he increased real defense discretionary outlays by 19.2 percent while cutting non-defense discretionary outlays by 13.5 percent. However, if estimates hold, President Bush will have increased real defense discretionary outlays by 21.2 percent-but non-defense discretionary outlays will have risen by 18 percent.
Discretionary spending numbers are telling because they are determined in the annual appropriations process where the President has the most influence. http://www.cato.org/research/articles/dehaven-030326.html
Ethics Cleaning House: While we were ‘elsewhere’, Hastert pulled this off. Those that resisted the ongoing protection of Tom DeLay were ousted. The new chairman is Rep. Doc Hastings, the committee's second-ranking Republican. He was named by House Speaker Hastert to take the gavel from Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.).
In addition, Hastert appointed three new members to the panel, including two — Reps. Lamar S. Smith (R-Texas) and Tom Cole (R-Okla.) — whose political action committees have contributed to DeLay's legal defense fund. That’s right; he appointed people to the ethics committee who contributed to DeLay’s defense against ethics charges by that committee. Wow.
Rep. Kenny Hulshof was removed from the House ethics committee Wednesday, a rebuke the Missouri lawmaker said was directly related to his role in the panel’s admonishment last fall of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Hulshof, R-Columbia, said he was “deeply disappointed” in the decision to yank him from the committee, a move made by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and announced Wednesday morning at a meeting of the House Republican conference.“I believe the decision was a direct result of our work in the last session,” Hulshof said in an interview, “particularly my chairing the investigative subcommittee” that examined ethics charges against DeLay, R-Texas, in the 108th Congress.Hulshof said his opposition to recent proposed changes of the GOP’s ethics standards may also played a role in his removal.The DeLay brouhaha stems to last October when the ethics committee admonished DeLay for pressuring then-Rep. Nick Smith, R-Mich., to vote in favor of a GOP-backed prescription drug bill by offering to endorse Smith’s son in exchange for a yes vote on the bill. The committee said DeLay had not broken any laws or House rules but that he had gone “beyond the boundaries” of party discipline. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/BC750EE4190C5CB186256F9C0080D64E?OpenDocument&Headline=Rep.+Hulshof+removed+from+House+ethics+committee
-R
1) I didn’t watch it
2) I found the humor.
This time it was easy to do the latter. Appointing Laura Bush to head the national effort to help youth stay out of gangs was just priceless; Catching the big shot in the asbestos industry in Laura’s box in the gallery while Junior talked of the need to stop “frivolous asbestos lawsuits” was equally entertaining, in a very dark kind of way.
By not watching it or hearing the conventional commentary, I missed Cokie Roberts squeal with delight over the hug moment, missed Bush’s kissing Lieberman, missed the heavily Republican ‘analysts’ assessing the speech. http://mediamatters.org/items/200502030009
Trash talking Iran:
Condi made clear that we’re not with the Europeans, then was forced this AM to add that an attack on Iraq “is not on the agenda.”
Less than a day after President Bush declared he was "working with European allies" to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear program, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States would continue to rebuff European requests to participate directly in offering incentives for Iran to drop what is suspected of being a nuclear arms program.
Opening her first overseas trip as secretary, Ms. Rice also declared that the Tehran government's record on human rights was "something to be loathed" - a harsh comment that comes at a time when many European leaders have asked the United States to help lower tensions with Iran. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/04/international/middleeast/04diplo.html?oref=login
Social Security: Let’s not forget that this is ALSO intended as a distraction from what really needs fixing- the existing budget/trade deficits, health care, Medicare.
Back to SS, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities warns of the massive debt to come, if…
Over the first ten years that the plan actually was in effect (2009-18), it would add more than $1 trillion to the debt. Over the next ten years (2019- 28), it would add over $3.5 trillion more to the debt. All told, the plan would add more than $4.5 trillion to the debt over its first 20 years.
· The reported $754 billion estimate is for 2006-15. The plan does not begin until 2009, however, and would be open that year only to somewhat older workers. It would not be until 2011 that all eligible participants could divert payroll tax revenue to the private accounts. Thus, only five full years of the plan are included in the White House’s $754 billion cost estimate.
· When estimates are generated for the first two decades that the plan would actually be in effect, the borrowing costs are seen to be much higher. http://www.cbpp.org/2-2-05socsec4.htm
Repubs Nervousness Continues: His tour ain’t working either.
Congressional Republicans are expressing doubt that President Bush's plan for personal accounts in Social Security can win approval, saying lawmakers fear the political consequences of voting major change to the popular retirement program. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050204/ap_on_go_co/social_security
Shifting Rationale: Not emphasized in news accounts, save in the LA Times, was that the Administration is not claiming their social security “fix” will fix anything:
In a significant shift in his rationale for the accounts, Bush dropped his claim that they would help solve Social Security's fiscal problems — a link he sometimes made during last year's presidential campaign. Instead, he said the individual accounts were desirable because they would be "a better deal," providing workers what he said would be a higher rate of return and "greater security in retirement."A Bush aide, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, was more explicit, saying that the individual accounts would do nothing to solve the system's long-term financial problems.That candid analysis, although widely shared by economists, distressed some Republicans."Oh, my God," one GOP political strategist said when he learned of the shift in rhetoric. "The White House has made a lot of Republicans walk the plank on this. Now it sounds as if they are sawing off the board." http://www.latimes.com/business/la-na-speech3feb03,1,466993,print.story?coll=la-headlines-business
The b_______s at Enron: Finally revealed how they plotted to create the “Energy Crisis” of 2001
A Washington state utility released audiotapes Thursday that it said revealed bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp. plotted to take a power plant off-line in 2001 to jack up electric prices in Western states.
That same day, shortages of power forced rolling blackouts in northern California that affected about 2 million customers.
Eric Christensen, the utility's assistant general counsel, said the tapes show Enron was planning to manipulate Western power markets as early as 1998 -- before California's deregulated energy market opened.
Others imply that Enron used similar tactics in Canada and that traders were aware the actions were illegal.
One Enron employee tells a colleague in another recorded conversation, "I'm just trying to be an honest camper so I only go to jail once." http://us.cnn.com/2005/US/02/03/enron.tapes/index.html
Gonzales: Demerits for Joe (Lieberman) who lauded him for his “independence of spirit”, voted for him. Credits to the NY Times editorial board for the following:
The confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general yesterday was depressing. The president deserves a great deal of leeway in choosing his own cabinet. But beyond his other failings, Mr. Gonzales has come to represent the administration's role in paving the way for the abuse and torture of prisoners by American soldiers and intelligence agents. Giving him the nation's top legal post is a terrible signal to send the rest of the world, and to American citizens concerned with human rights.
The 60-to-36 vote for confirmation was also preceded by a depressing debate. There was the usual comic opera of these Senate votes, with the president's party piously denouncing all opposition as outrageous politicking and the opposition piously denying it. But this debate had a sinister overtone as well: in a ham-handed way, the Republicans tried to portray a vote against Mr. Gonzales as an act of bigotry.
Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, declaring that "I love the Hispanic people," warned that Hispanic Americans were "sensing there's something unfair going on." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/04/opinion/4fri1.html
The Pariah Speaks: Nader on the invasion/occupation, at Wesleyan, last week.
Memorial Chapel was filled to capacity Friday night as Ralph Nader and Patti Smith advocated an end to the war in Iraq and encouraged students to become more politically active. Their visit was the first of a series of events sponsored by WesPEACE to promote sustained opposition to the war in Iraq. Smith, a renowned poet and musician, began the event. She spoke with a mix of candor and humor, urging the audience to protest the Bush administration. "We must be willing to stand up and fight," Smith said. "We need to fight the Bush administration's policies. We have a document called the Declaration of Independence, which is too hot for them to handle. It counsels us to be vigilant." Nader wasted no time in giving his opinion about the current state of our government. "We are gathered here to discuss this criminal, unconstitutional war, which if put into context, the context of the last 30 years, is a reflection of corporate power," Nader said.According to Nader the "corporate machine" is constantly present in our everyday lives— in the media, what we wear, how we think, and even what we consider values. He also highlighted what he considers a growing disparity between America's upper and lower classes. "We need to relearn what civic freedom means," Nader said. "It is a fundamental freedom, meaning that elections are not for sale, that the environment, children, and politicians should be off-limits to commercialism." He added that students should e-mail their representatives with concerns and suggestions. He emphasized that the most daunting aspect of current American politics is that there has been almost no public reaction to what he thinks is a dangerous concentration of power."[The current administration] is using the flag as a gag in people's mouths," Nader said. "We're down to a one-party dominated system. And when your own election becomes selection, the next step is coronation." He then turned to the topic of the war in Iraq. According to Nader, the war is unconstitutional because Congress is the only body that is able to declare war. Following Sept. 11, 2001, Congress surrendered this right to Bush in the War Resolution Act. According to Nader, the best way to end the war in Iraq is through a withdrawal over the next six months, followed by six months of humanitarian aid and international peacekeeping. "But for this to happen, people have to want it to," he said. "This can be accomplished through the use of public education, marches, sit-ins, and even just interrupting meeting, making your dissention known." Many students agreed with his message and were glad for the opportunity to hear him speak. http://www.wesleyanargus.com/article.php?article_id=679
The Iraqi election figures: B.S.? Now that the headlines are written, doubt builds as to what happened on this ‘historic’ day. Aside from the Sunnis not participating and the Shiite religious parties getting 80+ of the votes, the level of participation apparently was less than claimed.
Everyone, of course, is thrilled that so many Iraqis turned out to vote, in the face of threats and intimidation, on Sunday. But in hailing, and at times gushing, over the turnout, has the American media (as it did two years ago in the hyping of Saddam's WMDs) forgotten core journalistic principles in regard to fact-checking and weighing partisan assertions? It appears so. For days, the press repeated, as gospel, assertions offered by an election official that 8 million Iraqis went to the polls on Sunday, an impressive 57% turnout rate. I questioned those figures as early as last Sunday, and offered the detailed analysis below on Wednesday. Now, John Burns and Dexter Filkins of The New York Times report in Friday's paper that Iraqi election officials have quietly "backtracked, saying that the 8 million estimate had been reached hastily on the basis of telephone reports from polling stations across the country and that the figure could change." http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000788083
Chomsky on Iraq’s future
…it is very likely that an independent, sovereign Iraq would try to take its natural place as a leading state in the Arab world, maybe the leading state. And you know that's something that goes back to biblical times. What does that mean? Well it means rearming, first of all. They have to confront the regional enemy. Now the regional enemy, overpowering enemy, is Israel. They're going to have to rearm to confront Israel - which means probably developing weapons of mass destruction, just as a deterrent. So here's the picture of what they must be dreaming about in Washington - and probably 10 Downing street in London - that here you might get a substantial Shi'ite majority rearming, developing weapons of mass destruction, to try to get rid of the US outposts that are there to try to make sure that the US controls most of the oil reserves of the world. Is Washington going to sit there and allow that? That's kind of next to inconceivable. What I've just read from the business press the last couple of days probably reflects the thinking in Washington and London: "Uh well, okay, we'll let them have a government, but we're not going to pay any attention to what they say." In fact, the Pentagon announced at the same time two days ago: we're keeping 120,000 troops there into at least 2007, even if they call for withdrawal tomorrow. And the propaganda is very evident right in these articles. You can even write the commentary now: we just have to do it because we have to accomplish our mission of bringing democracy to Iraq. If they have an elected government that doesn't understand that, well, what can we do with these dumb Arabs, you know? Actually that's very common because look, after all, the US has overthrown democracy after democracy, because the people don't understand. They follow the wrong course. So therefore, following the mission of establishing democracy, we've got to overthrow their governments. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GB04Ak05.html
Conservative Qualms with Bush Fiscal Policy: The Cato Institute:
If we compare the three-year percentage change in real spending during Reagan and Bush's first terms, President Bush comes out as a profligate spender on his own and as compared to Reagan. Under President Bush, real total outlays are estimated to increase by 13.5 percent as opposed to 6.8 percent under Reagan. More importantly, total real discretionary outlays are set to increase by 19.5 percent under the Bush administration while they increased by only 2.8 percent under Reagan.
And it gets worse. Discretionary spending is divided into two parts: defense spending and non-defense spending. When President Reagan pursued his defense buildup, he increased real defense discretionary outlays by 19.2 percent while cutting non-defense discretionary outlays by 13.5 percent. However, if estimates hold, President Bush will have increased real defense discretionary outlays by 21.2 percent-but non-defense discretionary outlays will have risen by 18 percent.
Discretionary spending numbers are telling because they are determined in the annual appropriations process where the President has the most influence. http://www.cato.org/research/articles/dehaven-030326.html
Ethics Cleaning House: While we were ‘elsewhere’, Hastert pulled this off. Those that resisted the ongoing protection of Tom DeLay were ousted. The new chairman is Rep. Doc Hastings, the committee's second-ranking Republican. He was named by House Speaker Hastert to take the gavel from Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.).
In addition, Hastert appointed three new members to the panel, including two — Reps. Lamar S. Smith (R-Texas) and Tom Cole (R-Okla.) — whose political action committees have contributed to DeLay's legal defense fund. That’s right; he appointed people to the ethics committee who contributed to DeLay’s defense against ethics charges by that committee. Wow.
Rep. Kenny Hulshof was removed from the House ethics committee Wednesday, a rebuke the Missouri lawmaker said was directly related to his role in the panel’s admonishment last fall of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Hulshof, R-Columbia, said he was “deeply disappointed” in the decision to yank him from the committee, a move made by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and announced Wednesday morning at a meeting of the House Republican conference.“I believe the decision was a direct result of our work in the last session,” Hulshof said in an interview, “particularly my chairing the investigative subcommittee” that examined ethics charges against DeLay, R-Texas, in the 108th Congress.Hulshof said his opposition to recent proposed changes of the GOP’s ethics standards may also played a role in his removal.The DeLay brouhaha stems to last October when the ethics committee admonished DeLay for pressuring then-Rep. Nick Smith, R-Mich., to vote in favor of a GOP-backed prescription drug bill by offering to endorse Smith’s son in exchange for a yes vote on the bill. The committee said DeLay had not broken any laws or House rules but that he had gone “beyond the boundaries” of party discipline. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/BC750EE4190C5CB186256F9C0080D64E?OpenDocument&Headline=Rep.+Hulshof+removed+from+House+ethics+committee
-R
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Iraq Election Follow-up: Yes, there was much cheerleading… But, for perspective, let’s recall the headlines of 37 ½ and 20+ years ago.
U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote :Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times (9/4/1967: p. 2)
United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.
According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.
The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the nation election based on the incomplete returns reaching here.
Before the results of the presidential election started to come in, the American officials warned that the turnout might be less than 80 per cent because the polling place would be open for two or three hours less than in the election a year ago. The turnout of 83 per cent was a welcome surprise.
The turnout in the 1964 United States Presidential election was 62 per cent.
Captured documents and interrogations indicated in the last week a serious concern among Vietcong leaders that a major effort would be required to render the election meaningless. This effort has not succeeded, judging from the reports from Saigon. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nytimes/82602711.html?did=82602711&FMT=ABS&FMTS=AI&date=Sep+ 4%2C+1967&author=By+PETER+GROSE+Special+to+The+New+York+Times&desc=U.S.+ENCOURAGED+BY+VIETNA M+VOTE
Then, there was El Salvador, 1984. Similar announcements of success, of people’s willingness to brave terrorists (then called left-wing guerillas). Then it turned out that the percentages were wildly inflated, the U.S. supported death squads continued their campaign, the results were meaningless.
Robert Fisk’s take:
Now it is all very well for the American media that they came to vote for democracy. They probably did. But they also came because they think and believe and are convinced of the fact that by voting that they'll have a free country without an occupation force. If they are denied this, if they feel they are betrayed that their vote is worth nothing, of course a different question arises. What will they think of democracy and will they join the insurgency? The Kurds, of course, voted for their own autonomy and they are the most pro-American of all Iraqis and in a sense, you see, although they voted in the Iraqi election, they were in a sense trying to continue to vote themselves out of Iraq. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/31/1516244
Refections: Such positive images, voices. “Resounding Success’ was said by Negroponte and others. When someone like Robert Siegel of NPR asks a direct question, “How will this appease the opposition or help with security,” there is no answer other than ‘oh, it was so wonderful to see people lining up to vote…’ Now that the initial glow has been registered, other voices are noting that initial claims of 70% were reduced to 60% or lower, and somce turnout in the secure Kurdish north was 60%, the country-wide rate had to be far short of that, since Sunni participation has been estimated at somewhere between 2 and 20%. In other words, no one knows, spin rules.
Bob Herbert salutes the "uncommonly brave" but "woefully uninformed" electorate, "much of which was voting blind ... half or more of those who went to the polls believed they were voting for a president.” http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/31/opinion/31herbert.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists&oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
Sunday’s attack numbers have been adjusted, now admitted that there were 260, a record, while voting percentages continue to come down. But as expectations were of total chaos, the casualty count -- 45 dead, about 100 wounded- is deemed acceptable. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52500-2005Jan31.html
Coalition of the Shrinking: Juan Cole
Whether the Bush administration can take a hint and begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq when a new, sovereign parliament is seated, the coalition of the willing is not willing to overstay its welcome. Hungary has already decamped, and Holland, the Ukraine, Poland and others are drawing down their troops or leaving altogether. www.juancole.com
Missing Money: Hello, Mr. Bremer…
The U.S. occupation authority in Iraq was unable to keep track of nearly $9 billion it transferred to government ministries, which lacked financial controls, security, communications and adequate staff, an inspector general has found. The U.S. officials relied on Iraqi audit agencies to account for the funds but those offices were not even functioning when the funds were transferred between October 2003 and June 2004, according to an audit by a special U.S. inspector general.
The findings were released Sunday by Stuart Bowen Jr., special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. Bowen issued several reports on the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the U.S. occupation government that ruled Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&u=/ap/20050130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_funds_1&printer=1
Postscript: WMD
In what may be a formal acknowledgment of the obvious, the CIA has issued a classified report revising its prewar assessments on Iraq and concluding that Baghdad abandoned its chemical weapons programs in 1991, intelligence officials familiar with the document said.The report marks the first time the CIA has officially disavowed its prewar judgments and is one in a series of updated assessments the agency is producing as part of an effort to correct its record on Iraq's alleged weapons programs, officials said. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cia1feb01,1,6296401,print.story
Republicans Celebrate their contributions to African Americans Really. They produced a calendar that celebrates 150 years of Republican efforts to advance rights. Lo, most of what they cite took place in the years after the civil war. And, there’s no mention of how well this “history” fits with their efforts to stop African Americans from voting in the last elections or having the IRS investigate the NAACP.
Republican Noise Machine: Another contributor.
And I was missing Pravda…
Have you been wondering about some of those press conferences where questions are either softballs or are basically praise of Bush? Media Matters looks at one source, “Talon News”.
Talon News, a conservative company whose Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent Jeff Gannon is well-known for asking loaded pro-Republican questions at White House press briefings, appears to be more a political organization than a media outlet.
Media Matters for America recently highlighted three Gannon articles that were little more than reprints of Republican and Bush administration releases; Media Matters has also noted Gannon's role as White House press secretary Scott McClellan's lifeline and Talon editor in chief Bobby Eberle's partisan political activities. A more in-depth look at Talon, Gannon, and Eberle casts additional doubt on Talon's claim to be a media outlet and raises questions about whether Gannon should be a credentialed member of the White House press corps. http://mediamatters.org/items/200501280006
Health: Avian Flu Update Concern remains
After smoldering through the summer and fall, avian flu has erupted again in Southeast Asia with 12 confirmed deaths since late December, the latest a 10-year-old Vietnamese girl who died Sunday.Thailand has reported widespread outbreaks among farm poultry, and Vietnam, where all the fatalities have occurred in the last month, now counts bird or human infections in nearly half of its provinces.The growing number of cases suggests that the virus may be mutating into a form that is more easily transmitted to and among humans, increasing the possibility of a pandemic."The situation in Southeast Asia right now is the most significant setup for a very serious public health crisis that I've seen in my 30 years in this business," said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "We're sitting on a time bomb." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-sci-birdflu1feb01,1,7462351,print.story
Media: Death Benefits: NPR gave the Administration a favorable report. Congress had been pushing to raise the amount bestowed on families that lost a member in Iraq. Now that the Administration has made a proposal to raise that figure to $100,000 which the Senate committee thinks too low, the NPR lead was that “Congress is rallying behind the Administration’s proposal.”
Gonzales: As it moves to the Senate floor, it’s timely to
1) praise the Committee’s Democrats who all rejected Gonzales
2) out of Massachusetts residents should pressure their senators to do the same
3) To recall- and tell those senators- that in 1993, Senate Democrats opposed the confirmation of Zoe Baird, President Clinton's choice to be the nation's top law enforcement officer, because of her hiring of undocumented immigrants in violation of the law. We should note that Gonzales’ role in sanctioning/pushing torture, helping Bush evade his DUI, answering zip in his testimony, etc.
Planning your trip to the Rockies? Don’t wait too long…
When he turned Mt. Rushmore into his granite canvas, sculptor Gutzon Borglum wrote that the faces of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln would remain visible, Lord willing, "until the wind and the rain alone shall wear them away."Borglum's vision endures in the Black Hills of South Dakota about 130 miles from here, but for nearly a month every year, it may soon become harder to see the famous faces through the man-made haze generated by the addition of 50,000 gas wells in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana.It is just one of several ways in which the largest expansion of natural gas drilling approved by the federal government is expected to degrade air quality in the region that today has the clearest skies in the lower 48 states.The federal Bureau of Land Management, under pressure from the White House to fast-track energy production, approved the drilling plan two years ago without incorporating any requirements to reduce the resulting air pollution. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-westair29jan29,1,959337,print.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Social Security:
A new analysis by the Congressional Budget Office of the Social Security system gives it a little more breathing room. It says it will be 2020, rather than 2018, before the yearly take is in the red, that more money is paid out than comes in. Of course by then they’ll be a massive surplus, allowing us to go to 2052 before the surplus is exhausted. This can’t be good news for the Bush Administration, as it takes more steam out of the “urgent” case they’re trying to make. http://www.kwwl.com/Global/story.asp?S=2883053
Republicans Fulminate Stated by Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard, an unofficial Republican organ. Another statement of determination to silence voices of opposition, to halt questioning of our Leader.
Senate Democrats have enough votes to block major Bush initiatives like Social Security reform and to reject Bush appointees, including Supreme Court nominees. They may be suicidal, but they could undermine the president's entire second term agenda. At his news conference last week, Bush reacted calmly to their vitriolic attacks, suggesting only a few Democrats are involved. Stronger countermeasures will be needed, including an unequivocal White House response to obstructionism, curbs on filibusters, and a clear delineation of what's permissible and what's out of bounds in dissent on Iraq. Too much is at stake to wait for another Democratic defeat in 2006. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/192gglig.asp
Bunker Busters Budgeted Rummy is looking to revive the funding for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sent a memo last month to then-Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham saying next year's budget should include funds to resume study of building an earth-penetrating nuclear weapon designed to destroy hardened underground targets.
An Energy Department official said yesterday that $10.3 million to restart that study is expected to be included in the Bush administration's budget, which is to be released next week. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52564-2005Jan31.html
-R
U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote :Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times (9/4/1967: p. 2)
United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.
According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.
The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the nation election based on the incomplete returns reaching here.
Before the results of the presidential election started to come in, the American officials warned that the turnout might be less than 80 per cent because the polling place would be open for two or three hours less than in the election a year ago. The turnout of 83 per cent was a welcome surprise.
The turnout in the 1964 United States Presidential election was 62 per cent.
Captured documents and interrogations indicated in the last week a serious concern among Vietcong leaders that a major effort would be required to render the election meaningless. This effort has not succeeded, judging from the reports from Saigon. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nytimes/82602711.html?did=82602711&FMT=ABS&FMTS=AI&date=Sep+ 4%2C+1967&author=By+PETER+GROSE+Special+to+The+New+York+Times&desc=U.S.+ENCOURAGED+BY+VIETNA M+VOTE
Then, there was El Salvador, 1984. Similar announcements of success, of people’s willingness to brave terrorists (then called left-wing guerillas). Then it turned out that the percentages were wildly inflated, the U.S. supported death squads continued their campaign, the results were meaningless.
Robert Fisk’s take:
Now it is all very well for the American media that they came to vote for democracy. They probably did. But they also came because they think and believe and are convinced of the fact that by voting that they'll have a free country without an occupation force. If they are denied this, if they feel they are betrayed that their vote is worth nothing, of course a different question arises. What will they think of democracy and will they join the insurgency? The Kurds, of course, voted for their own autonomy and they are the most pro-American of all Iraqis and in a sense, you see, although they voted in the Iraqi election, they were in a sense trying to continue to vote themselves out of Iraq. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/31/1516244
Refections: Such positive images, voices. “Resounding Success’ was said by Negroponte and others. When someone like Robert Siegel of NPR asks a direct question, “How will this appease the opposition or help with security,” there is no answer other than ‘oh, it was so wonderful to see people lining up to vote…’ Now that the initial glow has been registered, other voices are noting that initial claims of 70% were reduced to 60% or lower, and somce turnout in the secure Kurdish north was 60%, the country-wide rate had to be far short of that, since Sunni participation has been estimated at somewhere between 2 and 20%. In other words, no one knows, spin rules.
Bob Herbert salutes the "uncommonly brave" but "woefully uninformed" electorate, "much of which was voting blind ... half or more of those who went to the polls believed they were voting for a president.” http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/31/opinion/31herbert.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists&oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
Sunday’s attack numbers have been adjusted, now admitted that there were 260, a record, while voting percentages continue to come down. But as expectations were of total chaos, the casualty count -- 45 dead, about 100 wounded- is deemed acceptable. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52500-2005Jan31.html
Coalition of the Shrinking: Juan Cole
Whether the Bush administration can take a hint and begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq when a new, sovereign parliament is seated, the coalition of the willing is not willing to overstay its welcome. Hungary has already decamped, and Holland, the Ukraine, Poland and others are drawing down their troops or leaving altogether. www.juancole.com
Missing Money: Hello, Mr. Bremer…
The U.S. occupation authority in Iraq was unable to keep track of nearly $9 billion it transferred to government ministries, which lacked financial controls, security, communications and adequate staff, an inspector general has found. The U.S. officials relied on Iraqi audit agencies to account for the funds but those offices were not even functioning when the funds were transferred between October 2003 and June 2004, according to an audit by a special U.S. inspector general.
The findings were released Sunday by Stuart Bowen Jr., special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. Bowen issued several reports on the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the U.S. occupation government that ruled Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&u=/ap/20050130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_funds_1&printer=1
Postscript: WMD
In what may be a formal acknowledgment of the obvious, the CIA has issued a classified report revising its prewar assessments on Iraq and concluding that Baghdad abandoned its chemical weapons programs in 1991, intelligence officials familiar with the document said.The report marks the first time the CIA has officially disavowed its prewar judgments and is one in a series of updated assessments the agency is producing as part of an effort to correct its record on Iraq's alleged weapons programs, officials said. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cia1feb01,1,6296401,print.story
Republicans Celebrate their contributions to African Americans Really. They produced a calendar that celebrates 150 years of Republican efforts to advance rights. Lo, most of what they cite took place in the years after the civil war. And, there’s no mention of how well this “history” fits with their efforts to stop African Americans from voting in the last elections or having the IRS investigate the NAACP.
Republican Noise Machine: Another contributor.
And I was missing Pravda…
Have you been wondering about some of those press conferences where questions are either softballs or are basically praise of Bush? Media Matters looks at one source, “Talon News”.
Talon News, a conservative company whose Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent Jeff Gannon is well-known for asking loaded pro-Republican questions at White House press briefings, appears to be more a political organization than a media outlet.
Media Matters for America recently highlighted three Gannon articles that were little more than reprints of Republican and Bush administration releases; Media Matters has also noted Gannon's role as White House press secretary Scott McClellan's lifeline and Talon editor in chief Bobby Eberle's partisan political activities. A more in-depth look at Talon, Gannon, and Eberle casts additional doubt on Talon's claim to be a media outlet and raises questions about whether Gannon should be a credentialed member of the White House press corps. http://mediamatters.org/items/200501280006
Health: Avian Flu Update Concern remains
After smoldering through the summer and fall, avian flu has erupted again in Southeast Asia with 12 confirmed deaths since late December, the latest a 10-year-old Vietnamese girl who died Sunday.Thailand has reported widespread outbreaks among farm poultry, and Vietnam, where all the fatalities have occurred in the last month, now counts bird or human infections in nearly half of its provinces.The growing number of cases suggests that the virus may be mutating into a form that is more easily transmitted to and among humans, increasing the possibility of a pandemic."The situation in Southeast Asia right now is the most significant setup for a very serious public health crisis that I've seen in my 30 years in this business," said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "We're sitting on a time bomb." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-sci-birdflu1feb01,1,7462351,print.story
Media: Death Benefits: NPR gave the Administration a favorable report. Congress had been pushing to raise the amount bestowed on families that lost a member in Iraq. Now that the Administration has made a proposal to raise that figure to $100,000 which the Senate committee thinks too low, the NPR lead was that “Congress is rallying behind the Administration’s proposal.”
Gonzales: As it moves to the Senate floor, it’s timely to
1) praise the Committee’s Democrats who all rejected Gonzales
2) out of Massachusetts residents should pressure their senators to do the same
3) To recall- and tell those senators- that in 1993, Senate Democrats opposed the confirmation of Zoe Baird, President Clinton's choice to be the nation's top law enforcement officer, because of her hiring of undocumented immigrants in violation of the law. We should note that Gonzales’ role in sanctioning/pushing torture, helping Bush evade his DUI, answering zip in his testimony, etc.
Planning your trip to the Rockies? Don’t wait too long…
When he turned Mt. Rushmore into his granite canvas, sculptor Gutzon Borglum wrote that the faces of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln would remain visible, Lord willing, "until the wind and the rain alone shall wear them away."Borglum's vision endures in the Black Hills of South Dakota about 130 miles from here, but for nearly a month every year, it may soon become harder to see the famous faces through the man-made haze generated by the addition of 50,000 gas wells in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana.It is just one of several ways in which the largest expansion of natural gas drilling approved by the federal government is expected to degrade air quality in the region that today has the clearest skies in the lower 48 states.The federal Bureau of Land Management, under pressure from the White House to fast-track energy production, approved the drilling plan two years ago without incorporating any requirements to reduce the resulting air pollution. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-westair29jan29,1,959337,print.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Social Security:
A new analysis by the Congressional Budget Office of the Social Security system gives it a little more breathing room. It says it will be 2020, rather than 2018, before the yearly take is in the red, that more money is paid out than comes in. Of course by then they’ll be a massive surplus, allowing us to go to 2052 before the surplus is exhausted. This can’t be good news for the Bush Administration, as it takes more steam out of the “urgent” case they’re trying to make. http://www.kwwl.com/Global/story.asp?S=2883053
Republicans Fulminate Stated by Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard, an unofficial Republican organ. Another statement of determination to silence voices of opposition, to halt questioning of our Leader.
Senate Democrats have enough votes to block major Bush initiatives like Social Security reform and to reject Bush appointees, including Supreme Court nominees. They may be suicidal, but they could undermine the president's entire second term agenda. At his news conference last week, Bush reacted calmly to their vitriolic attacks, suggesting only a few Democrats are involved. Stronger countermeasures will be needed, including an unequivocal White House response to obstructionism, curbs on filibusters, and a clear delineation of what's permissible and what's out of bounds in dissent on Iraq. Too much is at stake to wait for another Democratic defeat in 2006. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/192gglig.asp
Bunker Busters Budgeted Rummy is looking to revive the funding for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sent a memo last month to then-Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham saying next year's budget should include funds to resume study of building an earth-penetrating nuclear weapon designed to destroy hardened underground targets.
An Energy Department official said yesterday that $10.3 million to restart that study is expected to be included in the Bush administration's budget, which is to be released next week. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52564-2005Jan31.html
-R
Monday, January 31, 2005
World Social Forum Not in the papers, but 100,000+ attended the Brazil meetings. Its goal: fostering hope in democratic, grassroots structures.
The leaders of the industrialised North and the developing South must hold regular meetings, and global reforms must be instituted if the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved, according to the Helsinki Process meeting at the fifth World Social Forum (WSF).
The WSF, the giant civil society meet currently under way in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, has brought together over 120,000 representatives of non-governmental groups from around the globe to reflect on strategies for creating an alternative world order http://allafrica.com/stories/200501280706.html
That Election: A “Resounding Success”; Exit Next? Bush’s words, the spin. The NY Times and most others cooperated by producing banner headlines and most media folk sought to portray it as a success, if not a turning point. Yet, ‘between the lines’ commentators noted that it was a distraction, a temporary reprieve based on extra security that can’t be sustained.
Marty Meehan joined Kennedy (and Russ Feingold) in calling for withdrawal; Kerry opposed such.
One can admire Iraqis for stating, in effect, that they want to participate in their country’s future, but we must continue to note that they want us out. Zogby, our pal who called it for Kerry on Election Day, reports that Iraq has “deep divisions” (duh), that
Majorities of Iraq's Sunni Arabs (82%) and Shiites (69%) favor U.S. forces withdrawing either immediately or after an elected government is in place… http://zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=957
The Washington Post had similar surveys, similar results.
Public opinion polls show 80 percent want the Americans out of their country. In the election campaign, one common theme among candidates was the withdrawal of occupying forces. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46796-2005Jan29.html
Juan Cole offers:
I'm just appalled by the cheerleading tone of US news coverage of the so-called elections in Iraq on Sunday. I said on television last week that this event is a "political earthquake" and "a historical first step" for Iraq. It is an event of the utmost importance, for Iraq, the Middle East, and the world. All the boosterism has a kernel of truth to it, of course. Iraqis hadn't been able to choose their leaders at all in recent decades, even by some strange process where they chose unknown leaders. But this process is not a model for anything, and would not willingly be imitated by anyone else in the region. The 1997 elections in Iran were much more democratic, as were the 2002 elections in Bahrain and Pakistan. http://juancole.com/
Exiting: How is taken care of; now, as to when…
The US and Britain have privately agreed an exit strategy from Iraq based on doubling the number of local police trainees and setting up Iraqi units that would act as a halfway house between the police and the army.
The agreement was reached on Monday between the US secretary of defence, Donald Rumsfeld, and his British counterpart, Geoff Hoon.
It was based on recommendations from retired US general Gary Luck, sent to Iraq by the Pentagon last month to look at the failings of Iraq's security force. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1400634,00.html
Social Security: The Big Push. Bush’s upcoming travel is intended to muscle Republicans who haven’t gotten on board. (e.g. he’ll go to Montana to pressure local Rep. Denny Rehberg after the State of the Union pitch.) The Congressional Repubs have their part to play:
The congressional Republicans' confidential plan was developed with the advice of pollsters, marketing experts and communication consultants, and was provided to The Washington Post by a Republican official. The blueprint urges lawmakers to promote the "personalization" of Social Security, suggesting ownership and control, rather than "privatization," which "connotes the total corporate takeover of Social Security." Democratic strategists said they intend to continue fighting the Republican plan by branding it privatization, and assert that depiction is already set in people's minds. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49938-2005Jan30?language=printer
Another… Typically, this was announced late Friday, so it got buried in Saturday’s papers, the least read.
The Bush administration acknowledged on Friday that it had paid a third conservative commentator, and at least two departments said they were conducting internal inquiries to see if other journalists were under government contract. The investigative arm of Congress also formally began an inquiry of its own.
The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed having hired Michael McManus, who writes a weekly syndicated column and is director of a nonprofit group called Marriage Savers. Mr. McManus was paid $10,000 to help train counselors about marriage, an arrangement first reported in USA Today, but officials said he was paid for his expertise rather than to write columns supporting administration policies. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/29/politics/29column.html?oref=login&oref=login
They Ain’t Journalists: Joe Conason on the previously noted hacks
It is remarkable that Williams and Gallagher, who claim to understand why democracy and freedom are superior to tyranny, don't fully understand why pundit payola is so repugnant. American journalists don't take money from the politicians they cover because we don't live in a totalitarian regime where state-subsidized scribblers are expected to glorify the Beloved Leader.
Yet that's essentially what Williams and Gallagher did. While quietly taking money from the Bush administration, they promoted the president and his party, as well as his policies, while denigrating the opposition. Their misconduct gives off a nauseating whiff of totalitarianism that should outrage any honest conservative. http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2005/01/27/flacks/index.html
Soros Looks Back: Kerry blew it
Billionaire investor George Soros, the biggest financial contributor to the failed effort to defeat President George W. Bush in November's election, said Democratic challenger John Kerry was a flawed candidate.
Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC, spent $26 million in last year's campaign that he said was undermined by the candidate he supported.
``Kerry did not, actually, offer a credible and coherent alternative,'' Soros, 74, said yesterday in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. ``That had a lot to do with Bush being re-elected.'' http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=71000001&refer=top_world_news&sid=aqkoN4tLMDv8
Rove’s Strategy: Good article on the politicization of all, that all steps are chosen so as to disempower the Democrats
…a recurring theme of many items on" President Bush's "second-term domestic agenda is that if enacted, they would weaken political and financial pillars that have propped up Democrats for years.
And,
Many Democrats and independent analysts see a methodical strategy at work. They believe the White House has expressly tailored its domestic agenda to maximize hazards for Democrats and tilt the political playing field in the GOP's favor long after this president is out of the White House. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47559-2005Jan29.html
Afterthought: So why did Obama vote for Condi? What was he risking? Hopefully more will see that he and Hillary are not necessarily the Democrats’ future…
-R
The leaders of the industrialised North and the developing South must hold regular meetings, and global reforms must be instituted if the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved, according to the Helsinki Process meeting at the fifth World Social Forum (WSF).
The WSF, the giant civil society meet currently under way in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, has brought together over 120,000 representatives of non-governmental groups from around the globe to reflect on strategies for creating an alternative world order http://allafrica.com/stories/200501280706.html
That Election: A “Resounding Success”; Exit Next? Bush’s words, the spin. The NY Times and most others cooperated by producing banner headlines and most media folk sought to portray it as a success, if not a turning point. Yet, ‘between the lines’ commentators noted that it was a distraction, a temporary reprieve based on extra security that can’t be sustained.
Marty Meehan joined Kennedy (and Russ Feingold) in calling for withdrawal; Kerry opposed such.
One can admire Iraqis for stating, in effect, that they want to participate in their country’s future, but we must continue to note that they want us out. Zogby, our pal who called it for Kerry on Election Day, reports that Iraq has “deep divisions” (duh), that
Majorities of Iraq's Sunni Arabs (82%) and Shiites (69%) favor U.S. forces withdrawing either immediately or after an elected government is in place… http://zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=957
The Washington Post had similar surveys, similar results.
Public opinion polls show 80 percent want the Americans out of their country. In the election campaign, one common theme among candidates was the withdrawal of occupying forces. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46796-2005Jan29.html
Juan Cole offers:
I'm just appalled by the cheerleading tone of US news coverage of the so-called elections in Iraq on Sunday. I said on television last week that this event is a "political earthquake" and "a historical first step" for Iraq. It is an event of the utmost importance, for Iraq, the Middle East, and the world. All the boosterism has a kernel of truth to it, of course. Iraqis hadn't been able to choose their leaders at all in recent decades, even by some strange process where they chose unknown leaders. But this process is not a model for anything, and would not willingly be imitated by anyone else in the region. The 1997 elections in Iran were much more democratic, as were the 2002 elections in Bahrain and Pakistan. http://juancole.com/
Exiting: How is taken care of; now, as to when…
The US and Britain have privately agreed an exit strategy from Iraq based on doubling the number of local police trainees and setting up Iraqi units that would act as a halfway house between the police and the army.
The agreement was reached on Monday between the US secretary of defence, Donald Rumsfeld, and his British counterpart, Geoff Hoon.
It was based on recommendations from retired US general Gary Luck, sent to Iraq by the Pentagon last month to look at the failings of Iraq's security force. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1400634,00.html
Social Security: The Big Push. Bush’s upcoming travel is intended to muscle Republicans who haven’t gotten on board. (e.g. he’ll go to Montana to pressure local Rep. Denny Rehberg after the State of the Union pitch.) The Congressional Repubs have their part to play:
The congressional Republicans' confidential plan was developed with the advice of pollsters, marketing experts and communication consultants, and was provided to The Washington Post by a Republican official. The blueprint urges lawmakers to promote the "personalization" of Social Security, suggesting ownership and control, rather than "privatization," which "connotes the total corporate takeover of Social Security." Democratic strategists said they intend to continue fighting the Republican plan by branding it privatization, and assert that depiction is already set in people's minds. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49938-2005Jan30?language=printer
Another… Typically, this was announced late Friday, so it got buried in Saturday’s papers, the least read.
The Bush administration acknowledged on Friday that it had paid a third conservative commentator, and at least two departments said they were conducting internal inquiries to see if other journalists were under government contract. The investigative arm of Congress also formally began an inquiry of its own.
The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed having hired Michael McManus, who writes a weekly syndicated column and is director of a nonprofit group called Marriage Savers. Mr. McManus was paid $10,000 to help train counselors about marriage, an arrangement first reported in USA Today, but officials said he was paid for his expertise rather than to write columns supporting administration policies. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/29/politics/29column.html?oref=login&oref=login
They Ain’t Journalists: Joe Conason on the previously noted hacks
It is remarkable that Williams and Gallagher, who claim to understand why democracy and freedom are superior to tyranny, don't fully understand why pundit payola is so repugnant. American journalists don't take money from the politicians they cover because we don't live in a totalitarian regime where state-subsidized scribblers are expected to glorify the Beloved Leader.
Yet that's essentially what Williams and Gallagher did. While quietly taking money from the Bush administration, they promoted the president and his party, as well as his policies, while denigrating the opposition. Their misconduct gives off a nauseating whiff of totalitarianism that should outrage any honest conservative. http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2005/01/27/flacks/index.html
Soros Looks Back: Kerry blew it
Billionaire investor George Soros, the biggest financial contributor to the failed effort to defeat President George W. Bush in November's election, said Democratic challenger John Kerry was a flawed candidate.
Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC, spent $26 million in last year's campaign that he said was undermined by the candidate he supported.
``Kerry did not, actually, offer a credible and coherent alternative,'' Soros, 74, said yesterday in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. ``That had a lot to do with Bush being re-elected.'' http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=71000001&refer=top_world_news&sid=aqkoN4tLMDv8
Rove’s Strategy: Good article on the politicization of all, that all steps are chosen so as to disempower the Democrats
…a recurring theme of many items on" President Bush's "second-term domestic agenda is that if enacted, they would weaken political and financial pillars that have propped up Democrats for years.
And,
Many Democrats and independent analysts see a methodical strategy at work. They believe the White House has expressly tailored its domestic agenda to maximize hazards for Democrats and tilt the political playing field in the GOP's favor long after this president is out of the White House. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47559-2005Jan29.html
Afterthought: So why did Obama vote for Condi? What was he risking? Hopefully more will see that he and Hillary are not necessarily the Democrats’ future…
-R
