features rare footage of war crimes against the Iraqi people suffered during and after the Gulf War. The footage is from former Attorney General Ramsey Clark in his attempt to document the injustice of United States military actions in the region.
features a film on the struggle of the indigenous people of West Papua to remain sovereign in the face of an Indonesian invasion backed by world capital. Footage of Noam Chomsky on Western involvments in the region and the relation to East Timor.
From Wash Post The only African American Republican in Congress is headed home. Can the party of Lincoln -- and Trent Lott -- afford the loss of J.C. Watts? Evidently Watts time in Congress was not easy. This article, very complex and full of details about Watts time in Congress, deserves a careful reading. It suggests, with evidence, that in the Republican fold, but never an "insider", Watts was not a happy camper. And, according to another article in Wash Post, regardless of Watts departure, prospects for Republicans, even with their majorities, of smooth sailing are not as rosy as they might like.
These are fragments from article on Watts:
Watts is ready. Despite being a star within the GOP and holding a coveted leadership position for four years, he was always a solitary figure on Capitol Hill. More outsider than insider, unwilling or unable to master the give and take of building alliances and wielding power.
When he announced his retirement in July, he was fed up, though he didn't come out and say so. Watts has never been one for introspection. And his years as a political lightning rod -- hammered by both liberal black Democrats and conservative white Republicans for not following the company line -- have only made him more cautious and circumspect. But emotions have a way of spilling out, and, as Watts talks, it becomes clear that a great deal of hurt and anger churn beneath his genial, upbeat veneer....The conservative fold does include some prominent -- and powerful -- blacks: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. But they remain rare. And, in the minds of some in the liberal black establishment, suspect.
TIME.com: TIME Magazine -- Partnership of the Year: Double Edged Sword
This Time magazine puff-piece that celebrates Bush and Cheney makes it clear that Cheney is prime force running Bush. The Woodward book tends to leave Cheney on the side as if its Powell vs. Rumsfeld and the zealout hawks. Cheney IS the major rightwinger of the Bush administration and probably the most hawkist of the warmongers. This is really scary that the mainstream media puff up Cheney and fail to note, except in passing in this article, his negative qualities, hardright record, and business scandals. TIME.com: TIME Magazine -- Partnership of the Year: Double Edged Sword
Here is a highly intelligent review of Woodward's BUSH AT WAR from the American Conservative site. It depicts Bush as dangerously out of touch and confirms a position I've been arguing since GRAND THEFT 2000: that the Bush-Cheney gang are not really conservatives in the classic sense but are betrayers of all that is positive in the conservative and American democratic tradition; that they are liars, sociopaths, crooks, whores for corporate capital and warmongers (to put it succintly); it is good that some American conservatives see this. You’re Invited to the War Party
The 'Axis of Good' Will Continue to Stand Up Against Bush, We Hope!
Aftermath of Brazil leader's inauguration After the inauguration, Chavez ...dubbed the troika a Latin American "axis of good." Silva had breakfast with Chavez on Thursday and dinner with Castro that night. Beforehand, Castro said Lula's election augured well for Cuban-Brazilian relations.
More on Lula's Inauguration: Who was there, who wasn't there? President Bush dispatched U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick as his personal representative at the inauguration.
The selection [of Zoellick] was seen by some Brazilians as a snub because Zoellick suggested last October that Brazil's only trading partner would be Antarctica if it did not join a proposed hemispheric free trade zone. Silva responded by calling Zoellick "the sub secretary of a sub secretary of a sub secretary" during his election campaign. Zoellick is a member of Bush's Cabinet.
Buzz Flash--When the Emperor flashes, it ain't pretty
Here's some very asute commentator by Buzzflash readers on Bush; why is it that people here and there get it better than media professionals? Anyway, here are some highlights: 1) Bush on the ranch talking to reporters off the top: "First we get this: "Our economy is strong, it's resilient, we've got to continue to make it strong and resilient". Then we get this: "This economy cannot afford to stand an attack."
I ask, if our economy is so strong and resilient, how can it even be threatened by a fourth class military power like Iraq, that's surrounded on three sides by the US Armed Forces? Makes you wonder if he has any idea what can affect the economy."
2) another reader noted: "I was aghast when I heard Bush say, in a snippet on public radio, in an arrogant voice to a timid reporter:
"You said we're headed to war in Iraq. I don't know why you say that. I'm the person who gets to decide, not you."
DK comments: I heard this also and was appalled and noted this in a blogleft commentary; it is so typical of Bush's arrogance and grandiosity.
3) Here's an excellent summary of some of the frightening revelations of Bush in Woodward's book which is basically puffery and mythologizing but through the cracks one gets a disturbing picture of Bush in which
"a kind of religiously-inspired grandiosity of character is revealed. For instance:
“This will be a monumental struggle between good and evil,” he says just after 9/11. He returns to the White House from Camp David one day, makes a brief statement to the press, and takes five questions: “He referred to ‘evil’ or ‘evildoers’ seven times and three times voiced amazement at the nature of the attacks,” Woodward writes. In another place, from Bush: “We haven’t seen this kind of barbarism in a long period of time.” He stops at a hockey game in Philadelphia, and, when the fans demand to watch his speech on the stadium’s overhead video screens and the players huddle to watch,” Bush says with wonder, “They wanted to hear what the commander in chief, the president of the United States, had to say during this moment! I have never felt more comfortable in my life.”
Another time, he says to Woodward, “I’m the commander—see, I don’t need to explain—I do not need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don’t feel like I owe anybody an explanation.”
At still another point after the Afghan war has started, the president says to his staff, “Look, our strategy is to create chaos, to create a vacuum.” And Woodward ends the book with another quote from the president, in which he again reflects the obsessive chaos theory of the neoconservatives surrounding him like sentinels and for whom Iraq has become the sina quo non of political existence: “We will export death and violence to the four corners of the earth in defense of our great nation.” Whew.
The principle behind the Bush thinking, the book says, is, “this is a new world.” As a matter of fact, the world that we face today is an exceedingly old world: terrorism as a substitute for armed strength, violence against “the other,” the arrogance of the affluent, the careless expectations of the powerful, and the ambitions of the zealous are all as old as the Bible to which George W. Bush so passionately ascribes.
The president says testily at one point in the book to Democrat Thomas Daschle, “I’m in the Lord’s hands.” One rather thinks, after reading this book, that much of the time now we all are indeed.
For Venezuelans, Chavez Has Brought Politics to Life
From LA Times [Chavez] may be beleaguered, but many who saw civil affairs as belonging only to the upper crust have been energized by his plight. This article is the first I've encountered in the mainstream press to give balanced coverage to all sides of the current "class warfare" in Venezuela:
Like leftist uprisings in Nicaragua and Cuba, Chavez's nascent "Bolivarian revolution" has awakened a political consciousness in the poor. For the first time in Venezuela's history, small grass-roots groups, called Bolivarian Circles, have formed in impoverished neighborhoods to demand improved living conditions such as running water and new sewers.
According to Nancy Perez, who came down from her poor neighborhood in the hills to protest for the first time in her life last month against Lopez and her allies, "all they want is for Chavez to leave. They have never taken into account the poor. They call him a murderer, but we don't see him that way. He's our leader."
There is no question that many people hate Chavez. Polls -- more accurate and professional here than in many Latin American countries -- show that about 70% of the population disapproves of him. Opposition is strongest in the upper and middle classes, but a bare majority of the lowest economic class also has turned against him.
But there is also no question that many people still love Chavez. He has the rock-solid support of about 30% of the people, and the figure is even higher among the poorest of the poor, who see him as a savior finally paying attention to their misery, even if he has not yet eased it.
The question is: Should Chavez resign or leave early, thereby weakening a democracy that has established, fixed presidential terms? Or should he stay stubbornly in power until his term ends in 2007, trying to govern a country heading toward economic collapse?
From Wash PostBush to Double Stimulus Package: Pelosi Leads Democrats in Criticism of Plan Pelosi was not mentioned in NYT article (previous post):
...House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) questioned Bush's plan to cut taxes on stock dividends, saying that it would favor the wealthy. In her first news conference as leader, Pelosi said much of the tax package would benefit the rich. She said 25 percent of the dividend tax credit would go to Americans earning $1 million a year and that some of the companies that would benefit from it do not pay taxes. ... "The thought that this helps the American people is an illusion," she said. Pelosi's sharp criticism of the president's economic plan signaled her determination to draw distinctions between the two parties. "The American people expect and deserve the members of Congress to find our common ground where we can for the American people," she said. "But where we cannot, they expect us to stand our ground."
Pelosi did not disclose any details of the House Democrats' economic stimulus package, which she plans to unveil Monday. She ruled out a payroll tax holiday, however, saying that would drain funds from the Social Security trust fund.
... Even a 50 percent reduction in dividend taxes would total about $150 billion over 10 years and would probably be the centerpiece of his tax plan. Under such a plan, the tax benefits flow almost exclusively to the very wealthiest taxpayers because they are the ones who receive most dividends. Calculations by the Tax Policy Center, a nonprofit research group run by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, show that about 64 percent of the benefits will go to the wealthiest 5 percent of taxpayers.Administration officials acknowledge that wealthy taxpayers will be the primary beneficiaries, but they argue that reducing dividend taxes will reduce distortions in the current tax system and lift the stock market. ...
Where are the Dems? Why aren't they leading on economic policy, instead of following, by proposing a plan earlier?
The latest plans suggest that Mr. Bush is girding for a partisan battle with Democratic leaders in Congress, who accused him today of pursuing a misguided plan that would favor the rich and do little to help the sluggish economy. Firing a shot even before Mr. Bush formally outlines his tax package next week, the Senate Democratic leader, Tom Daschle, said the president's plan would be "the wrong idea at the wrong time to help the wrong people." Democratic lawmakers are pushing for tax breaks intended for lower- and middle-income families, with some proposing a temporary "holiday" from payroll taxes for Social Security and others proposing one-time rebates. ...Democratic lawmakers are not the only critics. Many economists and business analysts, even those who favor the tax cuts in theory, said today that Mr. Bush's core idea of slashing dividend taxes would do little to increase economic growth or job creation.
Brazil's new leftist government today suspended a $760 million purchase of a dozen new jet fighter planes for its air force, saying the money could be better used to relieve hunger.
For me, this is 'thinking outside the box'. In the current paradigm, however, it's "arm yourself to the hilt". How can this cycle of thinking be chnaged? Use this comparison: The US military budget is larger than the NEXT 25 military budgets combined.
Question is, can Lula hold out against pressures from the Bushies? Canada, as one example, is being chastised by US for not upgrading its military. Canadian public opinion, though, does not support such a shift in funds. Instead (from above link),
Six months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a Compas poll found that only 7 per cent thought more money should go to defence against terrorism, while 72 per cent of Canadians wanted the government to focus spending on health care or education.
Fragment of Transcript From Jim Lehrer Newshour. I particularily enjoyed the focus on the Dems who have declared that their hats are in the ring for 2004. (Except, I was disappointed that my longshot favorite, Gary Hart, hasn't come up on the radar yet. but, it won't be long, I bet! Why is Hart my favorite right now? Nobody can declare that he hasn't paid his dues. He has experience in the Senate. He is a proven thinker.)
Blogleft regulars are familiar with my penchant for listening to Mark Shields spar with David Brooks Fridays over the week's political events on the Jim Lehrer Newshour. Tonite did not disappoint. Both were in top form, but I give Shields the nod because of his powerful abilty to recall past political events. It's uncanny, Shields, I swear, has a photographic memory. Click on the link and read the whole transcript. Here is a fragment:
MARK SHIELDS: Jim, from 1940 to 1988, it was inconceivable that the American people would elect anybody into the presidency of the United States who did not meet the commander in chief test from FDR to Harry Truman to Dwight Eisenhower to Jack Kennedy -- all the way through, they were first of all plausible convincing commanders in chief. That ceased at the end of the Cold War.
Bill Clinton, who served in the Arkansas ROTC band, I think, beat George Bush, the youngest combat pilot of War World II. And Sunday before the election in 1992, Bush's aides wanted to prepare him for the defeat, he said no, the American people would never elect a draft dodger and they never would have during the Cold War. And it didn't matter in '96 when Bill Clinton beat Bob Dole or it didn't matter in 2000 when George W. Bush bet Al Gore, but now it is a changed definition. If 9/11 had happened 2000 instead of 2001, George W. Bush would have lost by ten points to Al Gore, no question.
washingtonpost.com: Is Edwards Still the Golden Boy?
Howie thinks Edwards has peaked already; indeed, as this confirms, the media were very nasty to Edwards yesterday, can you imagine them attacking Bush in this fashion when he decided to run? washingtonpost.com: Is Edwards Still the Golden Boy?
Generally speaking, said Alan Brinkley, a Columbia University historian, while secrecy has been increasingly attractive to recent administrations, "this administration has taken it to a new level."
Its "instinct is to release nothing," Professor Brinkley said, adding that this was not necessarily because there were particular embarrassing secrets to hide, but "they are just worried about what's in there that they don't know about."...The Bush administration has put a much tighter lid than recent presidents on government proceedings and the public release of information, exhibiting a penchant for secrecy that has been striking to historians, legal experts and lawmakers of both parties....Some of the changes have sparked a passionate public debate and excited political controversy. But other measures taken by the Bush administration to enforce greater government secrecy have received relatively little attention, masking the proportions of what dozens of experts described in recent interviews as a sea change in government openness.
Email Post From IPA on Flawed US Policies on North Korea
Under the Auspices if the Institute for Public Accuracy, Scholarly Specialists on the Koreas Voice Their Reservations About Current US Policies Toward North Korea. Includes their personal email addresses and website urls. Institute_for_Public_Accuracy_1-2-03.html
M.I.T. Studies Accusations of Lies and Cover-Up of Flaws in Antimissile System
Here's an excellent article on how MIT Prof Ted Postol has been constantly attacking fraud concerning testing of missile defense systems; he was first to expose the fraud of the Patriot missiles, as this article makes clear, and has been a sharp critic of the current anti-missile systems touted by the Pentagon. He has the cahones to take on his own institution of MIT as being implicit in the fraud, this guy is a real patriot and great American. M.I.T. Studies Accusations of Lies and Cover-Up of Flaws in Antimissile System
Bush is sabre-rattling again, his constant insults of North Korean leader just promote hostilities and potential war; the guy is the worst diplomat and representative of the US we've ever had, a boorish, aggressive boob, looking for a fight, arrogant and without shame Bush Criticizes North Korea's Leader
A new year's wish for Mideast. These same thoughts, I bet, reflect the the thinking and behavior of the vast majority of Americans as well. Well-intentioned, well-argued, this piece shows that many of our problems might be solved more easily if, across borders, across oceans, across cultures, people were talking WITH each other, not AT each other.
Hundreds of millions of ordinary Arabs, Israelis, Iranians, Turks, Kurds, Berbers, Armenians and other people wake up every morning, send their children to school, go to work, hold their heads up, breathe deeply, look their prevailing power structures in the eye, and declare that they will not succumb to the violence, they will not betray or relinquish their humanity. ...Most ordinary people in the Middle East will not embrace savagery as a routine operating procedure, refuse to adopt hypocrisy as a foreign policy guideline, and reject autocracy as a defining value of public governance. The problem is, these ordinary people do not make policy. This is why our region is so plagued by failed violence, domestic tyranny, the moral scourge of terror, degenerate occupations, civil wars, institutionalised corruption and mediocrity, and the barbarisms of assassination, colonialism and slow-motion ethnic cleansing as official policies
Conservative Pundit Bob Novak Expresses Concern About Frist
Worrying About Frist The conservatives are worried that Frist is a Dem in Republican clothing, quite a charge for a Senator expected to obstruct the Dems' agenda. This next session of Congress could prove to be interesting indeed. Claims Novak:
Frist's acceptance speech dwelled on Senate unity across party lines. In fact, he will face unremitting Democratic intransigence on tort reform, judicial nominees, abortion limitations, the faith-based initiative, anti-cloning legislation and President Bush's priority of tax reduction. On Dec. 23, Frist did not mention taxes. Instead, he delivered a pronouncement on health care that, with hardly any editing, could have been echoed by Senate Democratic Leader Thomas Daschle: "We will improve and strengthen Medicare, address prescription drugs for our seniors and individuals with disabilities, and focus on the uninsured and the obvious health care disparities I've witnessed firsthand." Those are clearly Democratic issues where Republicans have to play defense.
The Bush rhetoric has had another consequence as well. While North Korea can be hard to read, it apparently forced this crisis out of fear that it would become the next target for U.S. military action. In recent weeks it has offered to end its nuke program in return for a written guarantee that the United States will not attack. U.S. officials have responded so far by saying they don't respond to blackmail.
From their point of view, the North Koreans' fear is understandable. As part of its rejection of the Clinton approach, the Bush administration raised tensions by ending U.S.-North Korean talks immediately upon taking office. Then, shortly after Sept. 11, the president publicly targeted North Korea as part of the "axis of evil" that he pledged to eradicate, pre-emptively if necessary....If the North Koreans have taken that rhetoric seriously, we should not be surprised. Talk, after all, does have consequences.
Here's, finally, is Christopher de Bellaigue's article in the New York Review of Books, Jan 16, 2003. (Unfortunately, it's not available free online. Go to your library and read it and download it -- you can even send yourself an email version-- off a subscription database like Proquest.) The latter, much more detailed than Zakaria's, is the work of a writer who has witnessed first hand conditions in Iran. Interesting, too, is that he challenges the credibility of a National Review writer, Michael Ledeen, who evidently served in Iran, under Reagan's presidency, during the Iran-Contra scandal. From the Zakaria article:
...Iran’s democracy is a sham. The president, Mohammed Khatami, is a figurehead, allowed to give high-minded speeches and do little else. Almost three quarters of the way through his reign, he has accomplished virtually nothing by way of political reform. In some ways Iran is more closed today than it was when he was elected in 1997. For example, more than 80 reformist newspapers have been shut down in the last few years. The fundamental mistake people make about today’s Iran is to assume that the reformers—who speak in tones that the West can understand—wield power. There have always been such figures. The first president of the Islamic republic was Abolhassan Bani Sadr, a Paris-educated liberal. He lasted a year. Iran is a theocracy; the reformers and moderates are window dressing. Real power rests with a tiny clerical establishment [better known as the Mullahs, a topic that Tom Friedman has covered frequently]
THE STRANGE RETURN OF GARY HART."From the New Republic:Though still publicly coy about whether he'll run, Hart is preparing a series of policy speeches that he will deliver at universities across the country beginning in January."
For official Washington, the buzz about a possible Hart resurrection erupted on November 3, when George Stephanopoulos told viewers of ABC's "This Week" that early talks were underway. But the gears first began turning back in March, when Polkinghorn and Smith, who befriended Hart in 2000 when all three were attending Oxford University, started pressing their pal and political idol to save a moribund Democratic Party from itself. "They were the catalyst," says a Hart veteran close to the situation. "They were able to outline to him a rationale for how and why Gary should re-enter politics."
Lula Promises to Uplift Brazil's 50 Million Impoverished
Brazil first elected leftist president pledges to end hunger, ease misery of poorAt his swearing in, newly elected Brazilian President promises to help Brazil's vast poor population: "If at the end of my mandate all Brazilians have the possibility to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, I [Lula] will have fulfilled the mission of my life" AP reporter from Brasilia:
Brazil's first elected leftist president took office Wednesday, pledging to ease the agony of countless impoverished and hungry Brazilians who inhabit South America's biggest country -- a fertile land the size of the continental United States. Choking back tears as he spoke to an estimated 200,000 supporters, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said there was no excuse for hunger among any of Brazil's estimated 50 million poor. [The US has over 40 million without health insurance]
Silva warned, however, that the task would be difficult. Brazil's weakened economy has produced double-digit inflation and a currency that lost 35 percent of its value against the dollar last year. ... Leaders and representatives of 119 countries -- including presidents of seven other Latin American nations -- attended the inauguration. Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez watched from the front row of Congress as Silva was sworn in. Silva counts them as friends, and will have breakfast Thursday with Chavez and lunch with Castro, who looked healthy and showed no signs of difficulty walking after recovering from a serious leg infection. Castro last month spent nearly two weeks out of sight while undergoing treatment.
The bad news. Rather than going himself, or at least sending Colin Powell, Bush sent U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick. He and Sen. Michael Enzi, a Wyoming Republican, met Wednesday morning for an hour with Antonio Palocci, Silva's finance minister."It was a listen-and-learn visit, in which the basic economic problems of Brazil were discussed," Zoellick said in a statement.
Here is more on Venezuela's current situation. Written for the LA Times by a free lance journalist, Sandra Hernandez, evidently a reporter with a Latin American background, the story still disappoints because it lacks the focus and depth of Mother Jones piece that I just posted. It also confirms that getting solid background info on an issue like the venezuela revolution is difficult in the North American mainstream media, even though the LA Times is reputed to be the best english language source on Latin American issues. As I note in the preceding piece, events in Latin America are taking a turn that is an anathema to the Bushies. Populist leaders, increasingly, are being elected, leaders who enfranchise the lower classes, and give them hope. Brazil will be next. See this NYRB article
Doug asked me to post this article from the currrent Mother Jones. I took the liberty of enhancing it with bolding, creating headings, inserting links, and the like, basically attempting to make an article with convincing content a little more attractive to read. The 'convincing content' is the disclosure, for me at least, of details about the role of the lower classes in this turmoil, much of which is not known because these details are not in the mainstream North American media and are therefore hard to trace. venezuela_revolution_mother_jones.html
Camera Works: Audio and Video (washingtonpost.com)-- Bush on war
Here's a video of Bush in Crawford yesterday rambling to reporters about North Korea which he will resolve with "a diplomatic showdown" and Iraq where Saddam still "doesn't get the message"; a woman reporter presses him hard about whether the country can afford a war against Iraq and Bush starts getting testy; curiously, the tape cuts off just before Bush snaps out an answer to question, "Is war against Iraq inevitable?" with a nasty: "I'm the one that gets to choose when we go to war against Iraq and not you!" [this clip was on CBS News last night]: Its scary to think that indeed this shallow, petty, and incompetent man does get to make decisions of war and peace; its interesting that the video here cut off his nastiest remark; often press transcripts also leave out his misstatements or stupidities Camera Works: Audio and Video (washingtonpost.com)
...The administration now is in the awkward position of choosing to give war with Iraq priority over the most serious threat to stability in Asia since the last North Korean nuclear crisis a decade ago. Moreover, the North Koreans are moving to develop their nuclear stockpile with such dispatch that the administration's delaying tactics appear to have little chance to succeed....While it's uncertain how far North Korea's missiles will be able to travel, it is certain that the Bush administration now faces an immediate loss of credibility. Its report on National Security Strategy, released in September, claims the right of pre-emption as a means to deal with the type of threat that Iraq is said to represent by virtue of its efforts to build weapons of mass destruction. There is no sign, however, that the administration plans to use this doctrine against North Korea, which poses a danger to the vital interests of the United States by virtue of what it has already accomplished.
Tom, Don't Run! You Don't Have the 'Fire in Your Belly'!
Daschle Close to Joining Presidential Pack for '04 My gut reaction is "A Waste of Time". Daschle is to nice to run for president. The NYT article is, basically, noncommital about Daschle's chances. Money is the biggest initial hurdle. Edsall's article in Wash Post is also noncommital about Daschle. Again, I think it's a waste of time. To run, he'll probably have to give up his South Dakota Senate seat. Incidentally, 'Fire in Your Belly', including the ego, the drive, the talent, the discipline, taken together, all the personal components that creates a viable presidential candidate, are the ingredients necessary for a successful campaign. I have doubts that Daschle possesses all of these characteristics. Am I correct? Check the results of this vivisimo search with keywords "fire in the belly" and "daschle".
Outflanked Democrats Wonder How to Catch Up in Media Wars
Dems getting slaughtered on media, the corporate media are conservative and pro-Republican, the stupidest position out there is that media have a liberal bias. As this article makes clear, the right has voices all over the mainstream media, the left and even liberals are marginalized Outflanked Democrats Wonder How to Catch Up in Media Wars
Warmonger Bush rambles illogically on his way to get a cheeseburger on North Korea and Iraq, making it pretty clear he's intent on Iraq war Bush Contends That North Korea Is No Iraq
9/11 scams from folks posing as victims; Bush and Cheney and Ashcroft created a whole new regime on scamming 9/11, Welcome to 1984 and Orwell's prophecy; in fact, George W. Bush pulled off the scam of the year by his president impersonation as cheney, rummy, rove, and daddy pulled the chains and powell did the work. Separating Fakes From 9/11 Victims
Does Bush focus on Iraq deflect from North Korea? Which is the most dangerous threat? Can US a la Rumsfeld fight two wars at once PLUS Terror War? It looks like 2003 will be the Year of the Wars and perhaps catastrophes; once a regime privileges military solutions it finds itself in a spiral of war, perhaps getting out of control. Happy New Year and God Bless us all, may we have a regime change in the US so that the world can sleep better at night and smell the roses Foreign Policy Loses Its Logic
Inspectors 'Have Zilch' Thus Far. Special correspondent Sergei L. Loiko reported from Baghdad and staff writer Maggie Farley from the United Nations.
In their search for hidden Iraqi arms, U.N. inspectors have so far faced little conflict, have found little evidence and have received little outside intelligence to guide them, said one inspector. The teams have discovered two technical matters that could be considered violations of U.N. resolutions but have yet to find a smoking gun, a trace of radiation or a single germ spore.
"If our goal is to catch them with their pants down, we are definitely losing," the inspector said on condition he wouldn't be named. "We haven't found an iota of concealed material yet."
Warren Christopher Ain't the Only One Who Argues That Our NK Policy Off Track
From Wash Post: U.S. Faces Obstacles in Strategy on North Korea: Containment Plan Resisted In Asia, Doubted by Experts
North Korea, one of the world's poorest, most isolated countries, is a difficult place to employ the containment strategy the United States is now pursuing. The world has little left to withdraw or withhold, according to diplomats and specialists. What levers exist largely have been pulled already -- most recently when the Bush administration cut fuel shipments upon learning that North Korea has a program to create enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. "Economically, there really isn't that much else that we can do to pressure North Korea," said Lee Chung Min, a North Korea expert at Yonsei University in Seoul. For the Bush administration, simply intensifying economic and political pressure on the North involves enormous political obstacles. South Korea has embraced engagement and dialogue as the best way to address the reclusive country to its north. It appears committed to that course -- a fact underscored today as South Korea's president, Kim Dae Jung, rejected containment as a failed doctrine.....Ultimately, any effort that does not enjoy China's genuine backing is doomed to fail, experts say. China is not only North Korea's largest external source of food and fuel, but also its largest trading partner and its gateway to the rest of the world.
Yesterday we posted a piece on California's growing health care problems, by LA Times' Ron Brownstein. Today, from the other end of the country, the Wash Post has an article on the same topic: L.A. Tax Hike Shows Growing Voter Concerns On Health Care In Los Angeles County, ... more than 2.5 million residents have no medical insurance...
In their desperation to keep hospitals open, voters here last month did just that, approving new property taxes for the first time in a generation. The county hasn't had a property tax referendum on the ballot since the statewide, landmark anti-tax Proposition 13 in 1978, but this year's passed overwhelmingly, with 73 percent of the vote. ...The measure's success, they add, may tell another important story: that health care is returning to the top of voter concerns. The struggles of Los Angeles County, where more than 2.5 million residents have no medical insurance, are one sign among many across the country of how growing economic hardships in states are creating new crises in health care.
Former Secretary of State Gives Us His Take On North Korea, Iraq, War On Terrorism
Warren Christopher writes in an Op Ed the NYT today that "Iraq Belongs on the Back Burner" "In foreign affairs," Christopher argues, Washington is chronically unable to deal with more than one crisis at a time".
North Korea's startling revival of its nuclear program, coupled with the unrelenting threat of international terrorism, presents compelling reasons for President Bush to step back from his fixation on attacking Iraq and to reassess his administration's priorities. North Korea's reopening of its plutonium reprocessing plant at Yongbyon puts it within six months of being able to produce sufficient weapons-grade material to generate several nuclear bombs. Contrast this with Iraq. Not only is North Korea much further along than Iraq in building nuclear weapons but, by virtue of its longer-range missiles, it has a greater delivery capability. Every option for dealing with this situation including the administration's "structured containment" is fraught with danger and potentially disastrous consequences.... And then there is the war on terrorism. Deadly terrorist attacks continue around the globe, wreaking havoc in far-flung places such as Indonesia, Kenya, Jordan and Yemen, where three American missionaries were killed by a gunman yesterday. Here at home, we remain highly vulnerable to terrorist attacks and woefully unprepared to cope with the consequences. We cannot put this issue on the back burner.
An alarm bell is ringing in California. Will President Bush and the new Republican majority in Congress respond? The alarm is warning of an approaching catastrophe in the health-care system. It's a perfect storm collision of threatening trends.
From one side, the sagging economy and skyrocketing costs of insurance are pressuring more employers to drop health-care coverage for their workers.
From the other side, the cavernous deficits in state budgets are forcing governors and legislators to slash Medicaid, the joint state-federal health program for the poor.
As these two trends meet, the result could be a tidal wave in the number of Americans without access to health care. ...
More families without care, longer lines in emergency rooms, more hospitals and public clinics bleeding red ink, more kids sick at school: That's what is looming if Washington continues to close its ears to the health-care alarm ringing now in California -- and soon in state capitals from coast to coast.
In Baghdad, Many Insist Americans Would Regret an Invasion
Survey of public opinion in Baghdad. LA Times:Saddam Hussein doesn't need his people's love to command their loyalty, Iraqis contend, saying the U.S. faces a populace primed to fight back..."What Americans really care for is oil -- and help to Israel," he said. "They are not concerned with the fate of human rights and freedoms in Iraq." ..... "You don't need to be in love with Saddam to defend your country to the last," he said. "Americans think they will come here and rule us. They don't know what they are coming into. If they get food from someone, it will be poisoned. If they turn around with their back to us, we will stick a knife in it. Snipers will be looking for them from every rooftop." ... In Iraq today, talk among artists and intellectuals revolves around United Nations sanctions, U.N. weapons inspectors and what is widely seen as the prelude to war. Public anger is fueled by the sanctions, which are viewed as unfair and inhumane, and by memories of the bombing that Baghdad endured during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, when a U.S.-led effort drove out Iraqi forces that had taken Kuwait. Iraqis do not necessarily see their country as the aggressor in that invasion.
Arab leaders looking for a way to avoid a US-Iraq war they fear would ignite their volatile region are considering the possibility of pressing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to step down and go into exile, diplomats say....“There is a strong feeling that the United States is after Saddam and not after weapons of mass destruction and therefore efforts should focus on how to persuade Saddam to leave,” one Arab diplomat said on condition of anonymity....Jordanian analyst Nedal Mansour said Saddam could choose exile over losing everything, if a way is found for him to leave with his family, members of his inner circle and a significant portion of the fortune he has amassed over his decades of dictatorship.
Gulf War syndrome is stil an engima; thousands of US troops in the Gulf contracted mysterious illnesses, perhaps from anthrax and other innoculations, perhaps from US weapons like depleted uranium bombs, perhaps from bombing Iraqi chemical weapons, perhaps from desert viruses; hence while official casualty figures were low, ruined lives were high as this article attests; it could be the same for Afghanistan and Gulf War II, there are risks and costs that the warmongers do not talk about The Fallout of War (washingtonpost.com)
Frightening admission that Bush war policy and unleashing the dogs of war could have deadly unintended consequences; we need to return to saner era where multilateral solutions to conflicts is the norm and the antinuclear movement fights to shut down all nukes, not just those of perceived enemies Pakistan Was Prepared to Use Nuclear Weapons
Bushonomics produced one of worst business years in history, though some, no doubt the Bush family and friends, had a good year Coming Up Roses in 2002
A Fresh Look at Old News: US Hands Bloody in Making Iraq the Threat It is Today
From Wash Post: U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup: Trade in Chemical Arms Allowed Despite Their Use on Iranians, Kurds. Read the details in the article. Convinces you that any talk about "moral clarity" in US foreign policy is pure Orwellian doublespeak. On Iraq, the role of the US was neither 'moral', nor 'clarity'. And Rumsfeld seems to be the man with the bloodiest hands.
A review of thousands of declassified government documents and interviews with former policymakers shows that U.S. intelligence and logistical support played a crucial role in shoring up Iraqi defenses against the "human wave" attacks by suicidal Iranian troops. The administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush authorized the sale to Iraq of numerous items that had both military and civilian applications, including poisonous chemicals and deadly biological viruses, such as anthrax and bubonic plague....
According to a sworn court affidavit prepared by Teicher in 1995, the United States "actively supported the Iraqi war effort by supplying the Iraqis with billions of dollars of credits, by providing military intelligence and advice to the Iraqis, and by closely monitoring third country arms sales to Iraq to make sure Iraq had the military weaponry required." Teicher said in the affidavit that former CIA director William Casey used a Chilean company, Cardoen, to supply Iraq with cluster bombs that could be used to disrupt the Iranian human wave attacks. Teicher refuses to discuss the affidavit.
At the same time the Reagan administration was facilitating the supply of weapons and military components to Baghdad, it was attempting to cut off supplies to Iran under "Operation Staunch." Those efforts were largely successful, despite the glaring anomaly of the 1986 Iran-contra scandal when the White House publicly admitted trading arms for hostages, in violation of the policy that the United States was trying to impose on the rest of the world.
Although U.S. arms manufacturers were not as deeply involved as German or British companies in selling weaponry to Iraq, the Reagan administration effectively turned a blind eye to the export of "dual use" items such as chemical precursors and steel tubes that can have military and civilian applications. According to several former officials, the State and Commerce departments promoted trade in such items as a way to boost U.S. exports and acquire political leverage over Hussein. Read on...
DK comments: This is an interesting story but it leaves out some key points: 1) Rumsfeld not only negotiated weapons transfers and loans with Hussein but raised building a one billion dollar oil Irqi pipeline through Jordan to the Gulf of Aqaba. In William Arkin's summary: "Rumsfeld had every reason to think his trip had been successful. On Jan. 10, 1984, the US interests section in Baghad sent a cable to Rumssfeld and Washington saying that the Revolutionary Command Council had approved the pipeless project. 'Tariq Aziz had gone out of his way to praise Rumsfeld as a person, nothing that he was a good listener and had presented the US position in a convincing manner,' the cable reported. A follow-up cable Jan. 31 said that 'the Iraqis will want US firms heavily involved in the project,' adding that the Iraqis were 'directly in touch with a major US construction company.' (Later that year, the US Export-Import Bank approved a $425-million loan guarantee to Iraq for building the pipeline, and in November, the US Embassy in Baghdad was reopened." Source= William Arkin, "Why a War with Iraq is Inevitable, Los Angeles Times, September 15, 2002). Thus, US interests were cultivating Iraqi oil deals since the 1980s and Rumsfeld was at the center of these negotiations, as was Bush Daddy.Rumsfeld's claim that "he had nothing to do" with helping Iraq in its war against Iran shows what a brazen and shameless liar he is. Moreover, the Arkin article cited above indicates that official State Department notes show that Rumsfeld did not bring up chemical weapons in official discussion with Iraq as he had claimed. In fact, last week on 60 Minutes Rumsfeld insisted that the proposed US invasion of Iraq had "nothing to do with oil. Nothing!" this is also a brazen lie and Arken's story shows that Rumsfeld and the Bush gang have had their eyes on Iraqi oil since the 1980s. 2) In fact, the WP article fails to mention that it was Bush Senior who was Saddam's point-man during the Reagan administration, securing a series of loans for Iraq weapons build-up and the Export-Import Bank loan that was supposed to be used for an oilpipeline.
Sources: The Bureau of Justice Statistics' Capital Punishment 1999 bulletin, available on-line here. Information on those states banning the imposition of the death penalty on mentally retarded defendants was taken from the Illinois Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment's April 15, 2002 report, which is available on-line here. The Supreme Court's 1972 decision declaring capital punishment as then applied unconstitutional was Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972) and its decision accepting new capital punishment procedures was Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976); these cases are on-line via Findlaw.com.
From AP:
Death Penalty Information Center: "What we are finding is that the use of the death penalty is becoming more and more concentrated in Texas and a few other states in the South," said Richard Dieter, who heads the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-death-penalty group that published the study. "And increasingly, Texas is finding itself standing alone in its increasing application of the death penalty," Dieter said.
Bob Herbert on States' Plights From Lost Revenues. No Wonder the Bushies Are Politicizing the 'Endless War on Terror'!
States of Alarm...states are facing "the most dire fiscal situation since World War II." Nearly every state "is in fiscal crisis," The two passages below are from Herbert's op ed:
There is something eerie, even a little unnerving, about the budget crises that continue to spread, like a contagious, crippling disease, to states and cities across the U.S.... The Washington Post reported last week that some rural school districts in seven states had shifted to a four-day week in an effort to cut costs, and other districts may follow. But Julie Underwood of the National School Boards Association told me on Friday that a shorter week wouldn't do much to ease the enormous funding problems facing the nation's public schools
... California's budget crisis is monumental; a shortfall over the next 18 months of $34.8 billion. As The Times's John Broder wrote, that deficit "is bigger than the annual budgets of every other state except New York." Gov. Gray Davis is already hacking away at services, and big tax hikes are sure to come. If you want a story with legs, this is it. President Bush will have a heck of a time getting the national economy back on track while states from coast to coast are trying to balance their budgets by raising taxes, cutting spending and laying off employees. The National Governors Association, in a report last month, said states are facing "the most dire fiscal situation since World War II." Nearly every state "is in fiscal crisis," the governors said.
Republican Campaign Document Politicizes War on Terrorism. Don't you just love it! The Republicans do! It brings back the 'edge' -- "you can't trust Democrats on issues that threaten national security"-- that the Republicans exploited during the Cold War. A virtual endless war on terrorism
An internal White House document outlining President Bush's re-election agenda starts with "War on terrorism (Con't)" and domestic security. ... Mr. Bush has said the fight against terrorism will take years to win. But Democrats said the document bolstered their claim that White House officials had methodically worked to politicize the fight against terrorism....It is the latest sign, critics say, that presidential advisers are seeking political gain from the Sept. 11 attacks.... The document lists 10 issues including health care costs and access, legal reform, faith-based services, education, higher education, Social Security, taxes and immigration.
Naturally, inspired by such Bush concepts as Tax Cuts for the Rich, the Faith-Based Initiative, are, in classic Orwellian 'doublespeak,' being cited by Republicans as civil rights issues. This NYT article takes you through the litany:
... The issues championed today by traditional civil rights groups, from affirmative action to ending racial profiling, have become virtually identical to the Democratic Party platform, and many are antithetical to the race-neutral goals of Republicans...."I would argue that unemployment benefits are a form of civil rights," said Eleanor Holmes Norton, the Democratic delegate who represents the District of Columbia in the House. "Because of the great work of the 1960's, there are only a few clear-cut issues left, like hate crimes and racial profiling. Now we're following the bread-and-butter issues that we share with a broader array of Americans, because issues like health insurance and unemployment affect us so disproportionately."
The Obvious Answer to the States' Plight Over Lost Revenue: Cut Taxes!
The States Are Reeling in Reduced Revenues. California's Budgetary Short Run is Reputed to be Over $30 Billion, an Amount Greater Than Any State Total Budget Except New York. All This While the Bushies and Their Rightwing Cohorts Are Yelling for Tax Cuts. Where is "No Child Left Behind"? Check out the hits on this vivisimo search: "no child left behind" "tax cuts"
Across Oregon, schools struggling to save money in this year of budget woes have come up with a response: shorten the academic year. No other states have done that, education watchdog groups said this week. Laws in most states require 180 days of school.But a loophole in Oregon's laws allows its school districts to deviate from the requirements for two school years, and that has led superintendents around the state to consider chopping as many as 15 days from the academic calendar. Other states are cutting teacher pay, increasing class size, not filling vacancies and laying off employees, said Dave Griffith, the director of public affairs for the National Association of State Boards of Education.
