May I suggest that you send whatever child tax credit you receive this year (up to $400), or the amount of the reduction in your taxes for 2003, to your favorite Democratic candidate or a Democratic organization that will help the Democrats defeat Bush in 2004. Unless you're filthy rich you aren't going to be receiving much in the way of reduced taxes anyway, so may as well put it to a good cause, no?

Thanks, C-SPAN

If you've been depressed and need a Clinton fix, here's almost 2 hours of him.

The Failure to Defend the Skies on 9/11 - by Paul Thompson

HERE is probably the most detailed on-line accounting of the events of 9-11 regaring how Bush and the Air Force may have purposely allowed three of the four hijacked planes to hit their targets and then shot down the fourth one after the passengers apparently had overtaken the hijackers. Very long article, but very disturbing reading.

THIS is a companion article that accounts for Bush's activities the morning of the attack. Disturbing reading is the understatement of the day.

And HERE is a detailed (in the truest sense of the word) accounting of events on that fateful morning.

Bert's Back!

The Terrorism Alert Level has just been lowered to Yellow! Yippee! I feel so much better! Let's party! We're all much safer now. Thank you Bush for doing such a great job protecting us. Thank you for keeping us correctly alert and fearful for our lives during the Orange days and only slightly afraid now during the Yellow days. Now the alert level color matches all the yellow ribbons tied on trees and sign posts all over my neighborhood, in anticipation of our soldiers coming home. Any day now. That'll be real soon, right? The war is over and we won, right? We defeated those nasty, uncivilized Iraqi scum and taught them a lesson about how wrong it is to live in a non-christian non-democracy, no? And now they are suffering our rightful wrath by living in total chaos, afraid to come out of their houses, lacking most basic civilized necessities such as clean water, electricity, law enforcement and jobs, because that's what they deserve, right? Let it be a lesson to the rest of the weak nations of this planet: Bush and America will not tolerate non-christian, non-democratic societies - it's un-American and therefore it's wrong. Look out Iran, you may be next!

"So why the hell are we doing it again?"

The latest Ted Rall... "We Told You So." Snippet:

"We warned the Bush Administration that invading Iraq would destabilize the Middle East and spread radical anti-American Islamism. We told the American people that taking out Saddam Hussein without a viable government to replace him would open a vacuum for anarchy, civil war and a power grab by radical Iranian-backed Shiite clerics. Now the antiwar movement's doomsday scenarios have been fulfilled so completely that military history scarcely mentions a more thoroughly botched endeavor--and we'll be living with the fallout for years.

When we argued that Donald Rumsfeld's low-budget occupation of Iraq would turn out as disastrously as it had in Afghanistan, right-wing Republicans called us stupid and un-American. Now that we've been proven correct on every count, is it too much to expect an apology? Maybe so. Given George W. Bush's performance on the economy and the war on terrorism (where's Osama? Saddam? the WMDs? the surplus?), betting against him hardly makes one a prophet. And no one is less pleased with the speed and totality of the Iraqi catastrophe than those of us who called it in advance.

As I predicted last July, the war has meant the end of a unified Iraq and the beginning of chaos throughout the Middle East."

If you are frustrated and want to post some literature around your neighborhood, check out this site. (suggestion: do it late at night)

Wag the Public

Read Paul Krugman's editorial from today's NY Times. In the snippet below I've emphasized the most glaring problem:

"It's now also clear that George W. Bush had no intention of reaching a diplomatic solution. According to The Financial Times, White House sources confirm that the decision to go to war was reached in December: "A tin-pot dictator was mocking the president. It provoked a sense of anger inside the White House," a source told the newspaper. Administration officials are now playing down the whole W.M.D. issue. Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, recently told Vanity Fair that the decision to emphasize W.M.D.'s had been taken for "bureaucratic reasons . . . because it was the one reason everyone could agree on." But it was the W.M.D. issue that stampeded the Senate into giving Mr. Bush carte blanche to wage war.

For the time being, the public doesn't seem to care — or even want to know. A new poll by the Program on International Policy Attitudes finds that 41 percent of Americans either believe that W.M.D.'s have been found, or aren't sure. The program's director suggests that "some Americans may be avoiding having an experience of cognitive dissonance." And three-quarters of the public thinks that President Bush showed strong leadership on Iraq.

So what's the problem? Wars fought to deal with imaginary threats have real consequences. Just as war critics feared, Al Qaeda has been strengthened by the war. Iraq is in chaos, with a rising death toll among American soldiers: "We have reports of skirmishes throughout the central region," a Pentagon official told The Los Angeles Times. Meanwhile, the administration has just derived considerable political advantage from a war waged on false premises. At best, that sets a very bad precedent. At worst. . . . "You want to win this election, you better change the subject. You wanna change this subject, you better have a war," explains Robert DeNiro's political operative in "Wag the Dog." "It's show business."

UPDATE: Republicans Screw Low-Income Citizens

From the New York Times:

Tax Law Omits Child Credit in Low-Income Brackets
By DAVID FIRESTONE
WASHINGTON, May 28 — A last-minute revision by House and Senate leaders in the tax bill that President Bush signed today will prevent millions of minimum-wage families from receiving the increased child credit that is in the measure, say Congressional officials and outside groups. Most taxpayers will receive a $400-a-child check in the mail this summer as a result of the law, which raises the child tax credit, to $1,000 from $600. It had been clear from the beginning that the wealthiest families would not receive the credit, which is intended to phase out at high incomes.

But after studying the bill approved on Friday, liberal and child advocacy groups discovered that a different group of families would also not benefit from the $400 increase — families who make just above the minimum wage. Because of the formula for calculating the credit, most families with incomes from $10,500 to $26,625 will not benefit. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal group, says those families include 11.9 million children, or one of every six children under 17.

Complete article HERE.

And THIS from the May 30th edition:

"The Tax Bill's Final Indignity
The tax bill that President Bush triumphantly signed into law on Wednesday is not just unfair, dishonest and economically unsound. It is also cruel to low-income families. In a last-minute revision, Senate and House negotiators dropped a provision that would have extended child tax credits to millions of these families. The stated reason was that the total cost of the bill had to be kept to an agreed-upon limit of $350 billion. This excuse is typical of the shifty argumentation that has accompanied this legislation from the start. Under the new law, which raises the child tax credit to $1,000 from $600, most families with children will receive a $400-per-child check this summer. It was never intended that the wealthiest families — or the very poorest families, making less than the minimum wage — would get the credit. As it turns out, however, millions of families with incomes between $10,500 and $26,625 will not get it either. Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat, had insisted that the Senate version of the bill extend the enlarged credit to this particular group of working families, who have nearly 12 million children. The provision would have cost $3.5 billion, or exactly 1 percent of the advertised price of the bill. But because it would have helped push the tab above $350 billion, out it went. Set aside for the moment the fact that the official $350 billion figure is a phony. The real cost of the bill over 10 years will more nearly approximate $800 billion if all the provisions that are scheduled to "sunset" in the next few years are eventually made a permanent part of the tax code, as they almost certainly will be. But even if the cost of the bill were actually $350 billion, there were fairer ways to reach that target than by depriving low-income families of the tiny crumbs the bill gives them.

(1-time registration required).

Note to Flag-Wavers: You're Not Getting It!

Rumsfeld's admission that Iraq may have destroyed its WMD before the invasion is creating quite a furor in Great Britain (but unfortunately not in the USA). KOS has a summary of it all. I think the main point is this:

"Alan Simpson, Labour MP for Nottingham South, said MPs "supported war based on a lie". He said: "If it's right Iraq destroyed the weapons prior to the war, then it means Iraq complied with the United Nations resolution 1441."

This is really the whole crux of the issue. Since the US cannot find any WMD they now say that they were destroyed before the invasion. If so, then the invasion was for nothing. Bush said the reason for our invasion was because Hussein wouldn't destroy his WMD, and now Bush says (via Rumsfeld) that maybe he did! Does anyone out there who is flying their american flag on their SUV see what's going on? Ask your 10-year-old to explain it to you. YOU"RE NOT GETTING IT!

Read HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

If Only This Could Happen

He says this change probably wouldn't apply to him, but it's nice to dream, no? Intro:

Clinton wants change in presidential term limits
Thursday, May 29, 2003 Posted: 1:21 AM EDT (0521 GMT) Clinton said he advocates changing the 22nd Amendment.
BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- Former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday Congress should change the rule that barred him from seeking a third term in the White House, but stopped short of saying he wants to return as commander-in-chief. Speaking at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum here, Clinton questioned certain aspects of the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prevents a person from being elected president more than twice. Clinton said the amendment, passed after Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to a record fourth term, should be changed simply to keep a person from being elected to more than two consecutive terms as president.

"I think since people are living much longer ... the 22nd Amendment should probably be modified to say two consecutive terms instead of two terms for a lifetime," Clinton said. The former president said such a change probably wouldn't apply to him but would benefit future generations. "There may come a time when we elect a president at age 45 or 50, and then 20 years later the country comes up against the same kind of problems the president faced before," he said. "People would like to bring that man or woman back but they would have no way to do so."

DeLay'ed Investigation

Josh Marshall brings us up-to-date on developments regarding the potentially criminal activities of Representative Tom DeLay during the Texas Democratic plane scandal. Snippet:

"As everyone now knows, a couple weeks ago, most Democrats in the Texas state House ran off to neighboring Oklahoma to avoid a vote on a DeLay-designed redistricting bill. Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick ordered the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to arrest the runaway Democrats and bring them back to Austin.

State troopers from the DPS eventually roped the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into the manhunt. By tricking them into thinking they were searching for a missing or crashed plane, the DPS got Homeland Security to help track down the airplane of former Texas Speaker Peter Laney (D), whom they suspected of helping ferry Democratic legislators out of the state. That’s where things stood when I wrote about this last week.

Then last Thursday, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge declined to release the transcripts of conversations between the Texas DPS and his department because, he said, his department’s internal inquiry was “potentially a criminal investigation.” The scope of the potential wrong-doing further expanded when it was revealed that the DPS had ordered all its records of the manhunt destroyed on May 14. A grand jury in Austin is now investigating what laws the DPS might have violated by destroying those documents."

"Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death"

THE FOLLOWING IS A REPOST OF A JANUARY 29TH POST. I REPEAT IT BECAUSE THIS FILM IS NOW BEING RELEASED IN THE U.S. AND YOU CAN PURCHASE IT FROM YOUR LOCAL PACIFICA RADIO STATION.

The title of this post is actually the title of a documentary film soon to be released in the United States within the next month or two. In essence it shows how President Bush's military is responsible for the murder of more than 3,000 captured Taliban soldiers in November 2001. If any portion of this is true, then the American public is going to be all over this, unless Bush is coy enough to start the Iraq invasion beforehand, to distract the public's attention (which unfortunately is darn easy). HERE and HERE and HERE are some links to the story.

On a related note, unless you have a strong stomach, you don't want to watch this film. It clearly shows American servicemen massacring probable Afghanis from afar. This makes me brutally embarrassed at being an American, and totally understanding of why much of the world hates us. Note: the file is a large download (20 MB).

***NEWS ALERT***___WMD Finally Found!

From the Guardian:

"The good news for the Pentagon yesterday was that its investigators had finally unearthed evidence of weapons of mass destruction, including 100 vials of anthrax and other dangerous bacteria. The bad news was that the stash was found, not in Iraq, but fewer than 50 miles from Washington, near Fort Detrick in the Maryland countryside."

Read the entire article HERE.

Tax Cut Man to the Rescue!

War Planner

And They ALL Live in My City!

"Most U.S. Drivers Admit to Bad Habits: Survey
Wed May 28, 2003 01:22 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Almost all U.S. motorists admit to bad driving habits, from speeding to eating behind the wheel or chatting on cell phones, according to a survey released Tuesday. A whopping 91 percent of respondents said they engaged in at least one risky activity while driving, according to the survey commissioned by Drive for Life: The National Safe Driving Test and Initiative, a group that promotes driver education. The national poll of more than 1,100 licensed drivers found that 56 percent identified "inattentive drivers" as the greatest threat to driving safety. Speeding topped the list of bad habits -- seven in 10 respondents said they drove a little above the speed limit now and then. Other risky practices drivers admitted to included crossing on a red or yellow light (35 percent), not using turn signals (26 percent) and aggressive driving (13 percent). The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points."

Green Alert: Oscar Less Grouchy?

They can't undo the horrible damage made in the 2000 election, but it's good to hear that they may be coming to their senses. Snippet:

"AS THE Green Party hashes out its plans for next year’s presidential election, some of its activists are urging the party to forgo the race and, instead, throw its support behind one of the Democratic candidates — all in the hopes of unseating President Bush. It isn’t an especially popular idea, but it is being seriously considered. “At the moment, everything is on the table and everything is being discussed,” said John Strawn, co-chairman of the group’s presidential exploratory committee."

Party of Invertebrates; Party of Inhumanity

Check out Arianna's latest column about the spineless Democratic Party leadership... and I do mean spineless.

Anthony Shadid of the Washington Post gives detailed stories of the extreme difficulties citizens of Baghdad are having today during the American occupation. It's sobering, very embarrassing for America, and cause for impeachment of the Bush Administration.

Okay, I've got it! The Democratic Party needs flags, shirts and caps! Notice how people get all worked up about their favorite team and put flags and bumper stickers on their cars, jerseys on their bodies and caps on their heads? That's what we need! Let's start making and selling those donkey flags for cars - I'll put one on my Prius! I'll wear the donkey shirt and cap! Heck, I'll trade donkey trading cards. Let's put out the Democratic symbol on merchandise and go for it! Let's show some spirit! (By the way, I'm serious about this.)

So, So Sad

When you read something like this, you wonder how some people are able to walk and breathe at the same time. And by the way, what about pulling the electric plug?

"Pomona Mother Charged With Putting Toddler In Washing Machine
POMONA, Calif. 5.27.03, 4:11p -
Prosecutors charged a woman with felony child endangerment Tuesday for allegedly putting her 2-year-old daughter into a washer at a coin laundry and closing the door, which started the machine. Erma Osborne, 35, of Pomona was scheduled for arraignment Wednesday in Pomona Superior Court, said Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Gail Ehrlich. Osborne remained jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail. The woman allegedly put the girl into a washer at Lucy's Laundromat in Pomona on Saturday. Authorities said the washer had unexpired time and when the door closed it began operating. The woman and bystanders were unable to unlock the machine, so police were called. They used batons to break open the washer's glass window and rescue the submerged girl. The girl required stitches on her arms and legs and was in stable condition Tuesday at Children's Hospital in Orange County, the district attorney's office said. The Associated Press"

Liberals: Enemies of the State

Maureen Farrell writes about those treasonous liberals. It's a great essay with a lot of supporting links. Snippet:

"One could also argue that Jews and Blacks have been wrongly hated for who they are, while liberals and Democrats are justifiably loathed for how they think. Yet, in a democracy, one assumes, there is more than one acceptable point of view. And, unless the Clinton years were but a dream, one also assumes that criticizing the president is part of a great American tradition. Yet though Bush repeatedly deceived and frightened the public into accepting a preemptive war (if not an impeachable offense ala lying about sex, isn't this gross violation of the public trust worth a peep of protest?) and the press dutifully complied, these days, anyone, including traditional conservatives, who stands up for truth and open debate, is often targeted or intimidated [LINK]. Meanwhile a frightened public is manipulated into betraying decency and democracy."

Shout Together?

Well HERE'S a sh*tload of peace blogs! My god, with so many of us trying to get the message out, why are we failing so miserably? We've got to move to the next step, whatever that may be. We've got to unionize peace bloggers! All of us talking individually just makes a lot of unintelligible noise. If we all shout in unison, we'll get heard! So... how do we do it? (I never said I had the answer, just lots of questions.)

Need to Convince the Wifey or Hubby to Quit Smoking? Have 'Em Read This

The American Journal of Epidemiology just released a study that shows a significant increase in kids missing school when they live with smokers. Snippet of article soon to be released in Reuters Health News:

"Children Who Live With Smokers More Likely to Miss School
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) May 23 - New study findings show that fourth-graders who live with a smoker are more likely than those who do not to miss school because of a respiratory disease. Living with more than one smoker further increased the risk of school absence, especially if the child had asthma, according to the report. These findings indicate that even children who are old enough to attend school full-time, and therefore spend every weekday away from home, still feel the effects of secondhand smoke, lead author Dr. Frank Gilliland and colleagues, from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, note. "Although (secondhand smoke) exposure among school-aged children is likely to be substantially lower than that among preschool children, the adverse effects appear to be substantial," they write in the May 15th issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology."

Quotes

""If there ever was in the history of humanity an enemy who was truly universal, an enemy whose acts and moves trouble the entire world, threaten the entire world, attack the entire world in any way or another, that real and really universal enemy is precisely Yankee imperialism." --Fidel Castro

"Every time anyone says that Israel is our only friend in the Middle East, I can't help but think that before Israel, we had no enemies in the Middle East." -- John Sheehan, S.J. (a Jesuit priest)

"A public that hears only praise and no criticism will predictably answer "yes" to pollsters who ask whether the President is doing a good job." -- Mark Weisbrot , co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington D.C.

"It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder." --Albert Einstein

"Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that . . . I want to tell you something very clear: Don't worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it." -- Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, October 3, 2001.

"The first casualty of war is truth." --Rudyard Kipling

"Most people prefer to believe their leaders are just and fair even in the face of evidence to the contrary, because once a citizen acknowledges that the government under which they live is lying and corrupt, the citizen has to choose what he or she will do about it. To take action in the face of a corrupt government entails risks of harm to life and loved ones. To choose to do nothing is to surrender one's self-image of standing for principles. Most people do not have the courage to face that choice. Hence, most propaganda is not designed to fool the critical thinker but only to give moral cowards an excuse not to think at all." -- Michael Rivero

Phase II Begins

The "war" aka invasion/massacre is over. Now starts the second phase, the guerrilla warfare. From Reuters:

"Wave of Attacks Claim U.S. Casualties in Iraq Mon May 26, 2003 07:13 PM ET By Nadim Ladki
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and others wounded in Iraqi ambushes and an explosion on Monday and, in another incident, U.S. forces seized a brother-in-law of Saddam Hussein, the U.S. military said. The U.S. fatalities were among the rare few attributed to "hostile actions" since President Bush declared the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1 -- three weeks after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam. Gunmen fired machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades at a convoy of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment near Haditha, 110 miles northwest of Baghdad, a U.S. statement said. Hours later, an explosion ripped through a U.S. military convoy on the outskirts of Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding three others and destroying their Humvee military car.

"They deserved it and they deserve more. They are occupiers, not liberators," said Ali Abbas, a resident of the Amiriyah area in western Baghdad."

We should have never gone in, as we said all along and now know for sure, and now we can't get out.

Will Halliburton Get the Remodeling Contract?

We gotta go halfway around the world to find out Bush's next scheme. From Australia's The Courier-Mail:

"THE US has floated plans to turn Guantanamo Bay into a death camp, with its own death row and execution chamber. Prisoners would be tried, convicted and executed without leaving its boundaries, without a jury and without right of appeal, The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported yesterday."

Entire article HERE.

Afghanistan: Done. Iraq: Almost Done. Next Up: Iran.

Maureen Dowd outlines the next step in Bush's Middle Eastern dance: Iran. Snippets:

"When Colin Powell went to the UN in February to make the case for attacking Iraq, he raised the specter of 25,000 liters of anthrax, tons of chemical weapons and a dictator on the brink of a nuclear bomb. Flash forward to May. Stymied U.S. arms inspectors are getting ready to leave Iraq, having uncovered moldy vacuum cleaners, pesticides and playground equipment, but nary a WMD. One of the weapons hunters compared his work to a Scooby-Doo mystery - stuff seems pretty scary at first, but then turns out to be explainable. Even before the war, some CIA analysts and British spymasters were complaining of puffed-up intelligence. Now Congress wants to know if it was flawed as well. As Representative Jane Harman, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, put it: "This could conceivably be the greatest intelligence hoax of all time." Her innocence is touching. The Iraq WMD's and ties to Al Qaeda were merely MacGuffins, as Alfred Hitchcock called devices that drove the plot but were otherwise inconsequential.

The plot was always to remake the Middle East, while remaking a George W. Bush into a Ronald Reagan. And the Bushies were not above playing on American fears and desire for 9/11 payback. Far from being chagrined about the little problem of having no casus belli, and no plan for smoothly delivering Pax Americana to Iraq and Afghanistan, the hawks are hawking the next regime change. If Iraq was not harboring Al Qaeda and going nuclear, then certainly Iran is.

The Taliban and Al Qaeda are resurgent; Afghanistan and Iraq are a mess; the vice police are back arresting women in Afghanistan and looters are tearing up archeological sites in Iraq; Saddam and Osama are still wanted, dead or alive. Yet the MacGuffin has moved on. It is paradoxical that the hawks were passionate about breeding idealism by bringing democracy to the Middle East, but are unconcerned about breeding cynicism by refusing to admit mistakes or overreaching. By the time the CIA delivers its report, it will be time to investigate how our intelligence was hyped in the prelude to the strike on Iran."

Also read THIS ARTICLE in the San Jose Mercury News.

Fire on Crossfire

In case you missed CNN's Crossfire today, read the fascinating transcript.

Look, Up in the Sky: It's a Bird? It's a Plane? No, It's Superdrone!

From the Phoenix Business Journal: Ridge endorses drones for border patrol duty

"Federal Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Thursday that unmanned drones could be patrolling the Mexican border by the end of the year. Ridge endorsed the idea of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) during testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee."

Forget Bush; It's All Willie Nelson's Fault

Mike Hudson of the Niagra Falls Reporter has done the impossible: He's figured out that Bush et al is Willie Nelson's fault! Snippets:

"I never thought I'd say this, but President George W. Bush reminds me more and more of Willie Nelson every day. And not just because they're both from Texas and have had problems in the past with substance abuse, although both of those things are interesting enough. No, it's because George W. has seemingly taken Willie's offhand remark and turned it into political philosophy. In matters as diverse as the situation in Iraq, the economy and the environment, Bush's rhetoric attempts to create perceptions entirely at odds with any objective reality.

That our most recent war was fought for nothing more than oil and Bush family pride seems transparent. Vice President Cheney's former company, Halliburton, and the president's father's company, the Carlyle Group, stand to make a killing on the thousands of dead bodies -- American, British and Iraqi -- racked up during our recent overseas adventure.

Our smirking, and often apparently medicated, president -- who, by the way, lost the general election by 500,000 votes -- will tell us only, "Are you going to believe what you see or are you going to believe what I tell you?" Damn you, Willie Nelson."

Bush to Health Care: GO AHEAD AND BLEED!

Just as important as the effects of Bush Administration's tax cuts on public education (see post below) are the effects on our national health care...

More health care cuts will push fragile system over the edge
Health care cuts are dangerous, union warns
HEALTH CARE CUTS
County officials criticize proposed health care cuts
These Cuts won’t Heal…
State budget deficits may mean health care cuts and worse
Other Voices: Medical Association opposes health care cuts...
REP. FARR DECRIES HEALTH CARE CUTS;
Budget crisis forces state to look at health care cuts
Health care cuts now will be costly later
Health care cuts under fire
Health care cutbacks has moms up in arms (Note to Bush: Don't make moms angry.)
Health care cuts could cost county 9,000 jobs

Bush to Education: NO!

In case you're attention has been elsewhere, the Bush Administration-induced school crisis has started...

School, town officials decry school cuts
Proposed school cuts draw fire
Byrd Concedes Budget Will Force School Cuts
Reality of school cuts takes effect
School cuts begin
Board OKs $1 million school cuts
Panel urges Olympia school cuts
Elmore County School Cuts
Limestone County School Cuts
Schwarzenegger opposes after-school cuts
$400,000 in school cuts under review
Potential school cuts outlined
Montgomery School Cuts Deeper Than Expected
Hundreds Protest Oakland School Cuts
$1.7 million in planned cuts threaten school services
Education bears brunt of state cuts

That's just the tip of the tip of the iceberg. This is all the result of Bush's 2001 tax cuts and education policies. Now that the 2004 tax cut package has passed, the disappearance in improvements in public education made in the 1990's will only accelerate over the next decade. Hope your kids got their education in the '90's.

Added Guerrilla News Network to the "Media Sources" links.

Clearer Channel?

If THIS is really true, then that's the best news of the year for Liberals. Snippet:

"At a Saturday talk radio industry event put on by Talkers Magazine, Gabe Hobbs, Clear Channel Radio's vice president of News/Talk/Sports, announced that in the near future this corporate owner of over 1,200 radio stations is considering programming some of their talk stations "in markets where there are already one or two stations doing conservative talk" with all-day back-to-back all-liberal talk show hosts."

From CDGUY:

"There is a rage building in this nation. I see it in the blogs. I hear it in the streets. The lies are getting too blatant, the audacity of abuse of power too insulting. No technical arguing about needed proof will stop the rage. The national debate that forms the national psyche is not held in a court of law. It is held in cafes, bars, after church services, during parties, while sitting on the bus or subway.
I have heard many whom voted for Bush say they will not do so again. I have heard none whom voted for Gore say they will vote for Bush. Bush lost the popular vote the first time around. Now he's losing the undecides. He will not get them back."

Good Morning. This is Your Wakeup Call.

Found this letter on BuzzFlash:

"Wake Up, America! An Open Letter to the Sheeple
A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY by MC

Dear BuzzFlash,

I'm sure that many a Republican is lifting a glass in celebration tonight. They celebrate another round of obscene tax cuts financed by the child care, job training, educational opportunities, health care, and retirement security of the most vulnerable among us. Has there ever been a more depraved and morally bereft administration in our history? Are the American people so besotted by Fox, and "Survivor" and "Funniest Home Videos" that they really don't care that they are treated like mindless idiots, too uninformed and apathetic to raise even the slightest voice against a mind-numbing string of atrocities committed in the name of "compassionate conservatism?" Are they going to let a third-rate human being, coddled by a wealthy family and spoon-fed by a cadre of right-wing political hacks take away their basic human rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness fought for and guaranteed by our forefathers?

Wake up America! What are you waiting for? For your children to come home and tell you that they've laid off a third of the school faculty? For your phone to be tapped because you have an Arab on your bowling team? For that adult site you visit on the Internet to be downloaded to Poindexter's database? For your garbage to sit on the curb for a month because your town budget has been decimated? For your mother in the nursing home to be cared for by an uneducated, poorly paid aide who may be harboring a contagious illness because she can't afford health care? Think all of these decisions aren't going to affect you and your loved ones? Think again.

If you're lucky you'll get a couple hundred bucks from this latest round of tax cuts for the wealthy. And your state and local taxes are going to go up to make up for the massive cuts in federal funding for vital programs. By the way, do you really believe this tax cut is a "jobs and growth" program? Did the last massive tax cut create any jobs in your neighborhood or did more of your friends and family get the ax? Do you really believe that you and most of the people you know are going to save tons of money on your stock dividends? Do you really own enough stocks, if any, for this to affect you in any way? Stop buying the BS Bush's team feeds to the corporate media and educate yourself.

Tear yourself away from the TV screen, the video game, and the shopping mall long enough to pay attention to what's going down. It ain't pretty and it's going to get worse. Bush and his cronies are feeling pretty confident right now. They've managed to cloak their truly immoral, un-American agenda in the American flag and con the middle class into believing these regressive policies are for their benefit. Don't let that American flag in the window of your pick-up block your view. You're smarter than that. Don't let these people continue to make a fool of you."

Kinda what I've been saying under my breath for months now.

Boycott These Companies

THESE COMPANIES subscribe to Gator. From Mike Elgan:

"Gator software tracks what you do on your computer and where you go on the web, displaying pop-up ads based on what kind of sites you go to. The pop-ups appear to come from the site you're looking at, when in fact they're generated by Gator, invisibly running in the background. You can't tell which ads are from Gator, and which are part of the site."

Aberash Andreos

Before you go out dining and maybe complain to the waitress that your steak is a tad overcooked, read THIS ARTICLE. (One-time registration required, but worth it.)

God Bless the Rich

Click HERE and see how two types of households at various income levels will benefit from the recently passed tax cut. If this doesn't raise your ire, then you really don't care, do you? (Thanks to Angry Bear for this table.)

UPDATE: Angry Bear sent this comment: "I'd add that if you only look at you the graph, you miss half the story: how it's definitely skewed to inflate the benefits to the $41k family and possibly skewed to shrink the gains to the over $500k family. See the post related to the graph at http://www.angrybear.blogspot.com/2003_05_18_angrybear_archive.html#94801761" AB (Click HEREfor that link.)

On the Brink of Catastrophe?

From Times Online:

"Bush 'is on brink of catastrophe'
From Roland Watson in Washington

THE most senior Republican authority on foreign relations in Congress has warned President Bush that the United States is on the brink of catastrophe in Iraq. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that Washington was in danger of creating “an incubator for terrorist cells and activity” unless it increased the scope and cost of its reconstruction efforts. He said that more troops, billions more dollars and a longer commitment were needed if the US were not to throw away the peace.

Mr Lugar’s warning came as it emerged that the CIA has launched a review of its pre-war intelligence on Iraq to check if the US exaggerated the threats posed by Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. The review is intended to determine if the Pentagon manipulated the assessment of intelligence material for political ends.

Democrats have begun to say that the US is in danger of jeopardising the success of the military action in Iraq, but Mr Lugar is by far the most senior Republican to break ranks with the White House over the issue. Mr Lugar, a moderate who expressed initial reservations about the war, said that the Govevrnment’s planning for post-war Iraq had clearly been inadequate.

Read the entire article.

"The Truth Will Emerge"

Yet another great speech by Senator Byrd. Excerpt:

"As so many warned this Administration before it launched its misguided war on Iraq, there is evidence that our crack down in Iraq is likely to convince 1,000 new Bin Ladens to plan other horrors of the type we have seen in the past several days. Instead of damaging the terrorists, we have given them new fuel for their fury. We did not complete our mission in Afghanistan because we were so eager to attack Iraq. Now it appears that Al Queda is back with a vengeance. We have returned to orange alert in the U.S., and we may well have destabilized the Mideast region, a region we have never fully understood. We have alienated friends around the globe with our dissembling and our haughty insistence on punishing former friends who may not see things quite our way.

The path of diplomacy and reason have gone out the window to be replaced by force, unilateralism, and punishment for transgressions. I read most recently with amazement our harsh castigation of Turkey, our longtime friend and strategic ally. It is astonishing that our government is berating the new Turkish government for conducting its affairs in accordance with its own Constitution and its democratic institutions.

Indeed, we may have sparked a new international arms race as countries move ahead to develop WMD as a last ditch attempt to ward off a possible preemptive strike from a newly belligerent U.S. which claims the right to hit where it wants. In fact, there is little to constrain this President. Congress, in what will go down in history as its most unfortunate act, handed away its power to declare war for the foreseeable future and empowered this President to wage war at will.

As if that were not bad enough, members of Congress are reluctant to ask questions which are begging to be asked. How long will we occupy Iraq? We have already heard disputes on the numbers of troops which will be needed to retain order. What is the truth? How costly will the occupation and rebuilding be? No one has given a straight answer. How will we afford this long-term massive commitment, fight terrorism at home, address a serious crisis in domestic healthcare, afford behemoth military spending and give away billions in tax cuts amidst a deficit which has climbed to over $340 billion for this year alone? If the President's tax cut passes it will be $400 billion. We cower in the shadows while false statements proliferate. We accept soft answers and shaky explanations because to demand the truth is hard, or unpopular, or may be politically costly."

The Texas Cover-Up

HERE is the latest information on the developing story of the cover-up (i.e. destruction) of records that may indicate the illegal use of federal resources to retrieve the Texas state legislatures who fled the state in order to avoid voting on a gerrymandering bill sponsored by the Texas GOP.

GO TAKE THE MSNBC POLL NOW!

American Brutality at Its "Best"

CSM reports on the civilian war casualties in Iraq. Intro:

"Surveys pointing to high civilian death toll in Iraq
Preliminary reports suggest casualties well above the Gulf War.
By Peter Ford | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

BAGHDAD – Evidence is mounting to suggest that between 5,000 and 10,000 Iraqi civilians may have died during the recent war, according to researchers involved in independent surveys of the country. None of the local and foreign researchers were willing to speak for the record, however, until their tallies are complete. Such a range would make the Iraq war the deadliest campaign for noncombatants that US forces have fought since Vietnam. Though it is still too early for anything like a definitive estimate, the surveyors warn, preliminary reports from hospitals, morgues, mosques, and homes point to a level of civilian casualties far exceeding the Gulf War, when 3,500 civilians are thought to have died. "Thousands are dead, thousands are missing, thousands are captured," says Haidar Taie, head of the tracing department for the Iraqi Red Crescent in Baghdad. "It is a big disaster."

By one measure of violence against noncombatants, as compared with resistance faced by soldiers, the war in Iraq was particularly brutal. In Operation Just Cause, the 1989 US invasion of Panama, 13 Panamanian civilians died for every US military fatality. If 5,000 Iraqi civilians died in the latest war, that proportion would be 33 to 1."

AFDB - Order Yours Today

The way things are progressing, the Bush Administration will eventually govern us with mind control. Well, here's one way to prevent it.

Deadly Pilfering

Jeanne d'Arc republishes an L.A. TImes article about radiation poisoning of Iraqi civilians near a Baghdad nuclear research facility.

One Step Closer to the Apocalypse

From today's New York Times:

"Against some of the best economic advice in the land, President Bush and his Republican Congressional leaders have concocted a benighted final tax-cut plan that will do far more to deepen the nation's deficits and debt than to stimulate the wallowing economy. In a rush for approval by Memorial Day, the leaders have cannibalized parts of competing packages into a tentative $318 billion grab bag that again offers the most significant relief to the upper-bracket Americans so dear to the administration. Dividend taxes will be cut, not eliminated as the president hoped, but so will capital gains taxes. The latter was a conservative chestnut rejected two years ago when the first Bush cuts were enacted in the long-ago euphoria of an actual budget surplus.

This time, with the budget hemorrhaging red ink, the G.O.P. takes care to include $20 billion in much needed fiscal relief for battered state and local budgets, whose problems can be traced in part to the first Bush cuts. And the leaders are wrapping their package in middle-class sweeteners like child-care credits and relief for married taxpayers. But those boons are cynically "sunsetted" to expire after three years to fit into fictitious limits of fiscal responsibility. In contrast, there is no such asterisk on the accelerated cut in all tax rates, including the most controversial drop in the top rate, to 35 percent from 38.6 percent — a windfall of scores of thousands of dollars annually for wealthy Americans.

This version of the president's "growth" plan will increase the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars across the next decade. To help pay for it, the G.O.P. budget hawks of yore, born again now as deficit spenders of record proportions, will soon have to raise the national debt limit by almost a trillion dollars from the current $6.4 trillion. This is particularly urgent now that the current year's deficit is ballooning beyond estimates, toward $400 billion, with the two Bush tax cuts expected to add well over $2 trillion in deficits by 2013. "Deficits do matter," the Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, warned Congress, sounding like a Dickensian wraith ominously foreseeing a future of red-ink borrowing and rising interest rates. But the Republicans appear set to party on now and roll the tab over the far horizon."

Well, now we're even more f*cked. Thanks, you heartless congress. (Note: one-time registration is required - and worth it.) Also, see Angry Bear's analysis.

Engel Eyes Our State Legislatures

A British observation of American state legislatures. Snippet:

"Yet under normal circumstances - barring sexy stuff such as the Texan fun or budget cuts or smoking bans - no one takes any interest. Press scrutiny is very limited and declining, as monopolist local papers cut back; and TV news, the dominant source of local information, is far more interested in blood and gore. Thus it is very hard to know what goes on, day-to-day, in these state legislatures."

No SARS on Mars

Is SARS just the beginning of new outbreaks of worldwide epidemics? Alex Stone reports on how restrictive government policies, pharmaceutical companies and rapidly changing population demographics are creating havoc with attempts to identify and contain outbreaks of new diseases.

Bush Deceived Us? How Unusual!

Back in January Bush bragged about spending $15B to fight AIDS in Africa. Well the truth is now out. Read it HERE.

Thanks to Angry Bear for making this graph (and letting me steal it without his/her knowledge):

If you're STILL confused about whose pockets are receiving nearly all of the Bush Tax Cuts, then please have one of your elementary school-age children interpret this graph for you.

And if you're really into the number details, go HERE.

Belgium is Anti-War Crime

Belgium will attempt to try Gen. Tommy Franks for War Crimes. Snippet

"Belgium is becoming an interesting country. In the course of a week, it has managed to upset both liberal opinion in Europe - by granting the far-right Vlaams Blok 18 parliamentary seats - and illiberal opinion in the US. On Wednesday, a human rights lawyer filed a case with the federal prosecutors whose purpose is to arraign Thomas Franks, the commander of the American troops in Iraq, for crimes against humanity. This may be the only judicial means, anywhere on earth, of holding the US government to account for its actions. The case has been filed in Belgium, on behalf of 17 Iraqis and two Jordanians, because Belgium has a law permitting foreigners to be tried for war crimes, irrespective of where they were committed. The suit has little chance of success, for the law was hastily amended by the government at the beginning of this month. But the fact that the plaintiffs had no choice but to seek redress in Belgium speaks volumes about the realities of Tony Blair's vision for a world order led by the US, built on democracy and justice. Franks appears to have a case to answer. The charges fall into four categories: the use of cluster bombs; the killing of civilians by other means; attacks on the infrastructure essential for public health; and the failure to prevent the looting of hospitals. There is plenty of supporting evidence."

Arianna on Bush on Tax Cuts

Snippets from Huffington's latest column:

"I've been racking my brain, trying to reconcile the ever-widening chasm between what the White House claims to be true and what is actually true. After all, we know the president and his men are not stupid. And despite the tidal wave of misinformation pouring out of their mouths, I don't believe they are consciously lying.

"Jobs are on the line," said Bush after the Senate passed its version of the tax cut. "I call on Congress to resolve their differences quickly so I can sign a bill that will help create jobs, boost take home pay and spur economic growth." And for those with "…illionaire" as part of their economic description, it probably will.

It obviously makes no difference to the president that 10 Nobel Prize winning economists have condemned his tax cuts as "not the answer" to high unemployment, or that a new Congressional Budget Office study found that the "jobs and growth package" will actually have very little effect on long-term growth. Not interested. Not listening. The 1.4 million jobs the White House repeatedly says the tax cuts will create are more a matter of a fanatic's faith than of dispassionate forecasting. The fact is there are now 2.1 million more unemployed Americans than when Bush took office -- the vast majority of them having lost their jobs after the president's initial $1.3 trillion tax cut was passed in 2001. Difficult evidence to ignore -- unless "ignore the evidence" is your eleventh commandment."

And HERE is NDOL's description of the Three Stooges of the Economy. Read it and weep (unless of course you are an "...illionaire").

Axles of Evil

HERE is a reasonably unbiased article from The Age about the popularity of SUV's in America. Snippet:

"Someone who drives an SUV, according to its detractors, does not care about the environment or America's dependence on Middle Eastern states that are soft on terrorism. At the heart of this controversy, like so many here in recent years, is America's favourite drug - oil. Federal figures show that four-wheel-drive SUVs average 6.9 kilometres per litre and on some larger models that goes down to 4.8. Hummers are even worse. In comparison, the average petrol-fuelled saloon manages 12. In a country where, according to the US department of energy, per-capita energy consumption has been about 4.5 times greater than the world average, the debate over SUVs is inextricably linked to the broader national debate - namely what responsibility America has to the rest of the world and how it should go about fulfilling it."

Bye bye for now, Bert. Hope to see you real soon. Hello again, Ernie. Don't stay long.

Kerry's Service Program for our Youth

From NDOL: Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) made a major policy speech on national service yesterday in Manchester, New Hampshire. Addressing a theme central to the New Democrat movement, Kerry called for a "new era of national service open to everyone in the nation," including a big expansion of the AmeriCorps' ranks and a universal community service obligation for high school graduates, among other initiatives.

(From the Kerry website):

"The plan's highlights include:

"SERVICE FOR COLLEGE" INITIATIVE will offer Americans the chance to earn the equivalent of their state's four-year public college tuition in exchange for two years of service. Kerry will set a goal within the next decade of enlisting 500,000 young people a year in Service for College.

HIGH SCHOOL SERVICE REQUIREMENT to ensure that every high school student in America does community service as a requirement for graduation. States would design service programs that meet their community and educational needs.

100,000 OLDER AMERICANS IN SERVICE and a SUMMER OF SERVICE for thirteen to seventeen year olds.

A REBIRTH FOR THE PEACE CORPS by expanding the Peace Corps to 25,000 members.

RECRUITING MORE AMERICANS TO THE MILITARY

CREATING A NEW COMMUNITY DEFENSE SERVICE"

HERE is Kerry's speech where he details his program. And HERE is NDOL's analysis of the program.

What do YOU think of this proposed program? Is it too much or is it something way overdue that will be embraced by our youth? Let me know your comments...

Cows With Guns

Remember 9-11 Warnings

"FBI Warns Of Possible Attacks In U.S.
WASHINGTON 5.20.03, 8:37a -
The car-bombings in Saudi Arabia last week indicates the al-Qaida terrorist network remains active and could launch new attacks in the United States, the FBI is warning. Not only that, the terrorist organization also could hit U.S. and Western targets overseas, the bureau said in an advisory to state and local law enforcement agencies."

So the first question raised is, will this FBI memo sit on Bush's desk for two months (like in 2001) before he reads it (or has his official helper-reader read it to him)?

Democratic Candidates: Pay Attention!

From ISTE:

"Consumer prices are causing deflation fears, bankruptcies and foreclosures are at an all time high, industrial capacity is at its lowest level since the Reagan recession, jobless claims are still above 400K, and retails sales slid into the negative territory just when analyst thought they were on the rebound. Did I mention all these were from this week's news?"

MEN: If you're having trouble in the dark, here's the solution for which you've been patiently waiting.

Yippee, I guess.

Shockingly Conservative

Kurt Vonnegut writes:

"I note that construction has stopped of a Mark Twain Museum here in Hartford —behind the carriage house of the Mark Twain House at 351 Farmington Avenue. Work persons have been sent home from that site because American “conservatives,” as they call themselves, on Wall Street and at the head of so many of our corporations, have stolen a major fraction of our private savings, have ruined investors and employees by means of fraud and outright piracy. Shock and awe.

And now, having installed themselves as our federal government, or taken control of it from outside, they have squandered our public treasury and then some. They have created a public debt of such appalling magnitude that our descendants, for whom we had such high hopes, will come into this world as poor as church mice. Shock and awe.

What are the conservatives doing with all the money and power that used to belong to all of us? They are telling us to be absolutely terrified, and to run around in circles like chickens with their heads cut off. But they will save us. They are making us take off our shoes at airports. Can anybody here think of a more hilarious practical joke than that one? Smile, America. You’re on Candid Camera. And they have turned loose a myriad of our high-tech weapons, each one costing more than a hundred high schools, on a Third World country, in order to shock and awe human beings like us, like Adam and Eve, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

The other day I asked former Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton what he thought of our great victory over Iraq, and he said, “Mohammed Ali versus Mr. Rogers.” What are conservatives? They are people who will move heaven and earth, if they have to, who will ruin a company or a country or a planet, to prove to us and to themselves that they are superior to everybody else, except for their pals. They take good care of their pals, keep them out of jail—and so on. Conservatives are crazy as bedbugs. They are bullies. Shock and awe.

Class war? You bet. They have proved their superiority to admirers of Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain and Jesus of Nazareth, with an able assist from television, making inconsequential our protests against their war. What has happened to us? We have suffered a technological calamity. Television is now our form of government."

Roy and Robbins Speak

This is a damn good speech by Arundhati Roy that seems to cover everything about current U.S. imperialism.

And Tim Robbins recently lectured about freedom of speech.

Pre 9-11: So Bush Did Know?

So, you think the Bush White House wasn't aware of the impending 9-11 attack? Read THIS reporter's story and then see if doubts form.

Money, Money. $o Much Money.

From TOM PAINE:

"Bringing Home The Bacon
The Senate has passed its $350 billion tax-cut bill and, coincidentally, Bush and Cheney's recent financial disclosures have hit the media. The Prez's assets are valued between $8.8 million and $21.9 million; the Veep's are between $19.1 million and $86.4 million. That should put both of them solidly in the tax bracket that receives a handsome cut of $64,431 or more. Cheney, who cast a tie-breaking vote on the dividend tax-cut amendment, will also receive a $107,000 reduction on his own dividend income. Contrast these generous gifts to what a working-class stiff like a Marine might get. An average E-2 level private makes about $29,000. In that bracket, he'd receive $213. A higher-ranking E-3 level lance corporal who's served for four years makes about $32,000 -- she'd get a whopping $310. When Bush called on Congress today to reconcile the bills quickly so that he can sign something and "boost take-home pay" we can only wonder whose pay he was thinking of."

Bush CV

George Bush's Resume

"We Can't Sink. We're on the Titanic!"

Matt Peiken dissects the latest polls that show Bush's soaring popularity. Snippets:

"The latest New York Times/CBS poll shows 67 percent of Americans approve of President Bush's job performance. Yet the same poll showed ambivalence with Bush on nearly every indicator of governmental leadership. Only half believe the Bush administration has at all improved the nation's economy, only 42 percent believe public schools have improved under Bush, just 35 percent believe Bush has ensured the existence of Social Security and Medicare for future generations, only 36 percent say he's helped create new jobs and just 19 percent believe Bush has helped reduce the cost of prescription drugs for the elderly. These polls only illustrate Americans are confused. How are people measuring their satisfaction? Can anyone among the supposed satisfied articulate and detail for us unsatisfied souls why they believe George W. Bush is doing his job at a satisfactory level or better? Can someone point out one significant area of national life that hasn't nose-dived since Bush took office? People aren't wealthier, happier, healthier, safer or more hopeful, and they don't care to address that. They're holding fast to the Titanic, keeping their eyes peeled for evil outside the gaping hole in the bow, impervious to the water rushing up to their collarbones. The day it was announced the nation's unemployment rate had ballooned to 6 percent, the president had the audacity to convert the grim news into ammunition to push his proposed tax cuts.

Are Americans' memories are so short or selective they can't remember how well his 2001 tax cut worked? The United States has lost 2 million jobs since Bush took office, affecting every employment sector and income level. The stock market continues to plummet, the national debt continues to climb and consumer confidence is at a decade low. This, in addition to the environmental protections Bush has stripped, eroded and erased, the public schools and universities choked under Bush's watch and the hike in health insurance coinciding with shrinking benefits. You'd think people would connect the dots between Bush's policies and the sadness around them."

DU You Care?

Scott Peterson of the C.S. Monitor exposes the un(der)-reported dangers of Depleted Uranium (DU) fragments now in Baghdad. Snippet:

"During the latest Iraq conflict Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and A-10 Warthog aircraft, among other military platforms, all fired the DU bullets from desert war zones to the heart of Baghdad. No other armor-piercing round is as effective against enemy tanks. While the Pentagon says there's no risk to Baghdad residents, US soldiers are taking their own precautions in Iraq, and in some cases have handed out warning leaflets and put up signs. "After we shoot something with DU, we're not supposed to go around it, due to the fact that it could cause cancer," says a sergeant in Baghdad from New York, assigned to a Bradley, who asked not to be further identified.

Television footage of the war last month showed Iraqi armored vehicles burning as US columns drove by, a common sign of a strike by DU, which burns through armor on impact, and often ignites the ammunition carried by the targeted vehicle. "We were buttoned up when we drove by that - all our hatches were closed," the US sergeant says. "If we saw anything on fire, we wouldn't stop anywhere near it. We would just keep on driving."

...depleted-uranium bullets are made of low-level radioactive nuclear-waste material, left over from the making of nuclear fuel and weapons. It is 1.7 times as dense as lead, and burns its way easily through armor. But it is controversial because it leaves a trail of contamination that has half-life of 4.5 billion years - the age of our solar system."

The U.S. government refuses to accept the horrific dangers of DU ammunition, and always downplays any legitimate research that exposes such dangers. See also HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

If Not Kucinich, Then Who?

Josh Frank's pessimistic outlook of the '04 election. Snippet:

"Even though it’s early, the 2004 elections will probably break down as follows. The Dem’s will put up a shadowy character who is DLC bred and groomed. His only real qualms with Bush will come with the economy. But that may not do too hot. In November of 2002 they couldn’t put together a critique and lost control of the senate. Why should '04 be any different? Rove already has that one handled anyway. Bush can’t lose on the economic front - provided no new terrorist attacks Dubya will be viewed as a great hero that’s saving America from terror. It wont be easy to disrobe a president so tightly wrapped in the American flag. And Bush is a patriotic prostitute. So ultimately it will come down to us. People like you and I. Who shall we vote for? The democrat alternative to warmonger Bush, or not? I mean he’s sure made his enemies. Bush has alienated the international community. He has inflamed many Arab nations. He’s rolled back environmental safeguards while raping social services. He's given his rich friends tax relief. Plus he’s dumb as an ox. MBA degree or nothing -- the guys a dope. So do we vote Dem? Just because we hate Junior?"

Sounds frighteningly correct. What we all need is a RED PILL.

Snow Job

Jared Bernstein give quite a convincing argument on how the Bush budget and tax cuts will cripple, not help, the economy. Snippet:

"Then there's all this nonsense about investors and small businesses, the latest target of the administration's economic spin machine. This is more pure supply-side fluff: Give rich people more money and they'll make productivity-enhancing investments. But does anybody really believe that what's holding investors back right now is access to capital? Interest rates are at 45-year lows, industrial capacity at a 20-plus-year low. Information-technology inventories are still overstocked. Ask any business economist not in this administration and they'll tell you that what's holding back investment is not the cost of capital or even cash flow, it's weak consumer demand outside of a couple of sectors, primarily housing and health care.

And by the way, there's another huge contradiction here. Remember that the target of supply-side economics is the rate of productivity growth -- the idea being that if you free up capital investment, you raise the trend in this key determinant of our living standards. But these same spinners brag about how well productivity growth is holding up in the recession. Their program targets the one economic variable that's doing well right now!"

And then there's all those lost jobs, as Harold Meyerson points out. Snippet:

"The private sector has shrunk by more than 2.6 million jobs since George W. Bush became president. That is, by any standard, quite a record: No American president has presided over a net loss of jobs during his term in office since Herbert Hoover grappled so disastrously with the real 1929. When Bill Clinton was in the White House, America gained an average of 239,000 jobs per month. Since Bush took office, the number of jobs has declined at a monthly clip of 69,000. On the basis of no credible evidence whatsoever, the White House boasts that Bush's proposed tax cut would create 1.4 million jobs by the end of 2004. Even if it did, Bush would still have presided over a net loss of 1.3 million jobs during the 2001–2005 presidential term.

Presidents do not really pay a penalty for holding office when the economy first implodes. Americans did not turn against Hoover because the market crashed; they turned against him because his recovery program, such as it was, failed to produce a recovery, because the economy cascaded downward for three and a half years while he rejected one plausible remedy after another. Likewise, no one holds Bush accountable for the dot-com bust or the shock of September 11. His problems are that he's enacted and proposed nothing that would arrest the current slide, and that his policies have actually worsened it. More precisely, his policy has actually worsened it. For it is the distinctive feature of the Bush presidency that there is but one economic policy come boom or bust, fire or flood. That, of course, is tax cuts, preponderantly for the rich. As a candidate in 2000, Bush argued for tax cuts because the government was actually running a surplus, and it was a more productive use of funds to return that money to taxpayers. Then the bubble burst, the surplus turned to deficit and those same tax cuts were repackaged as an economic stimulus. The $1.6 trillion tax cut of 2001 was so advertised, though it didn't really kick in for the better part of the decade, and most of it was targeted to the wealthy—the class of Americans least likely to spend it. Since it was enacted, it has stimulated the economy to the tune of 1.7 million jobs lost."

Additional commentary HERE and HERE.

Ivins on Texas

Molly Ivins on the Texas Legislature. Snippet:

"The creepy thing about the far-right Republicans, who are definitely in the majority in the House, is not that they are dismantling government because they won't raise taxes -- they're dismantling government because they think it shouldn't help people. They really think that health and human services should not be provided.

It's an old line among liberals that anti-choice people care more about the unborn than they do about the born, but I'm telling you that it's not just some clever line -- these people are writing it into the state budget."

Iranian Blogger

HERE is a new blog from Plate in Iran. Let's give him our support.

"hi I'm plate and from Iran. I'm writing about Iran's reformist movement in my Weblog. As I know that your Weblog has many vistor ; -if it is possible for u- please put my weblog's link to your weblog. My weblog address: http://plate.blogspot.com with best regards, PLATE!"

Lunar Looniness

Be Sure to catch tonight's TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE

Cyberterrorism Exposed

Ever since the internet became popular the U.S. government has hyped cyberterrorism as a major threat (even more so by the Bush Administration since 9-11). Joshua Green describes why this is mosty a very expensive myth that has caused too much panic. Snippets:

"Concern over cyberterrorism is particularly acute in Washington. As is often the case with a new threat, an entire industry has arisen to grapple with its ramifications--think tanks have launched new projects and issued white papers, experts have testified to its dangers before Congress, private companies have hastily deployed security consultants and software designed to protect public and private targets, and the media have trumpeted the threat with such front-page headlines as this one, in The Washington Post last June: "Cyber-Attacks by Al Qaeda Feared, Terrorists at Threshold of Using Internet as Tool of Bloodshed, Experts Say."

"There's just one problem: There is no such thing as cyberterrorism--no instance of anyone ever having been killed by a terrorist (or anyone else) using a computer. Nor is there compelling evidence that al Qaeda or any other terrorist organization has resorted to computers for any sort of serious destructive activity. What's more, outside of a Tom Clancy novel, computer security specialists believe it is virtually impossible to use the Internet to inflict death on a large scale, and many scoff at the notion that terrorists would bother trying. "I don't lie awake at night worrying about cyberattacks ruining my life," says Dorothy Denning, a computer science professor at Georgetown University and one of the country's foremost cybersecurity experts. "Not only does [cyberterrorism] not rank alongside chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, but it is not anywhere near as serious as other potential physical threats like car bombs or suicide bombers."

Read the entire article HERE.

Al From and Bruce Reed tear down the 5 Myths of the Democratic Party:

Myth #1: Real Democrats Always Turn Left
Myth #2: Candidates on the Left Have the Inside Track
Myth #3: The Primary Calendar Is Stacked Against New Democrats
Myth #4: Democrats Are a Mushy Bunch of Wimps with Nothing to Say
Myth #5: Democrats Can't Win in 2004

Read the entire article HERE.

Democrats for National Security

Until very recently the Democratic Party was the party of national security. In 2001 they ceded that fundamental platform to the Republicans, who now use it as a weapon against the Democrats. Here is a new web site that appears to address this issue. There is also a wealth of links to sites addressing national security policy and government resources. I plan to check it regularly and keep my fingers crossed.

Helen Thomas Sings

Posted in Common Dreams:

"Even in victory, we Americans have a price to pay in the loss of our prestige as a peace-loving nation, once known for its magnanimity in victory. We used to spread democracy with the Peace Corps, the story of our inspiring struggle for independence, our values, our Constitution, our ideas, exchange students, the Voice of America, cable news, etc.

In diplomacy, old friends now fear us and wonder whether they can deal with us. We have alienated longtime allies who felt that Iraq already had been reined in over 12 years under tight trade restrictions and U.S. and British enforcement of no-fly zones. They worry where our pre-emptive attack policy will take us next. Feeling newly empowered, Bush and his Cabinet officials have been sternly warning other nations to toe the U.S. line or face "serious consequences." It's diplomacy with not-so-veiled threats. The United Nations is another casualty of the war, weakened because the United States rejected its authority and took unilateral military action.

On May 7, 1918, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote in an editorial in the Kansas City Star during World War I that standing by a president when right or wrong "is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." He said it was his duty as a citizen to get as much information as he could "to keep the government in check." Roosevelt also said "patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official...." The adage "my country right or wrong" is a deeply embedded tradition with Americans. It is also a dangerous one when our government is pursuing the wrong goals.

If the new Bush doctrine of pre-emption means more U.S. armed attacks on countries perceived as potential threats, we will incur more bitter enemies and continue to deeply disappoint our remaining friends. This policy carries a steep price. "

A "Muscular" Presence

BOB HERBERT in the New York Times examines the latest policy of American occupation forces shooting Iraqi looters on sight (snippet):

"This controversy is one more screaming example of the need for the U.N. to be handed the major responsibility for administering Iraq. This is not an appropriate mission for the U.S., and we're making a hash of it already. Americans should take a long, honest look in the mirror. We'll find that it's impossible to look good in the ugly garb of a colonial power."

The Winners (Wealthy) and The Losers (Us)

More on the Bush Tax Plan by the Washington Post. Snippet:

"The losers are those near the bottom: low-income working families eligible to receive money under the Earned Income Tax Credit. The House bill approved last week accelerates a planned increase in the child tax credit and relief from the so-called marriage penalty -- for everyone except those who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit. The pending Senate bill accelerates child tax credits for some in this group, but like the House version it would provide no marriage penalty relief for EITC recipients -- who can face a particularly steep hit. Consider the situation of two single parents, each with one child and each earning $10,000. If they remain single, each receives about $2,500. If they marry, their total tax benefits fall by more than $1,000. As Sen. James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.) argued without success in the Senate Finance Committee, leaving the penalty in place discourages marriage -- exactly the opposite of what conservatives who voted against the Jeffords amendment say they want."

Is It Trash Day Yet?

From the Guardian: "The US military task force hunting for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in Iraq is to leave within a month, having found no trace of any illegal weapons, according to a report yesterday. Troops with the 75th Exploitation Task Force, which has led the search for Saddam Hussein's banned weapons programme over the past seven weeks, say they are increasingly frustrated with their failure to find any banned weapons, the Washington Post said." "Of a US central command list of 19 top weapons sites, all but two have been searched already. Another 45 sites searched so far from a list of 68 thought to contain some evidence of banned weapons have also yielded nothing."

Please remind me again the reasons Bush gave for invading Iraq:

"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."

"The danger is clear: using chemical, biological or, one day, nuclear weapons, obtained with the help of Iraq, the terrorists could fulfill their stated ambitions and kill thousands or hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country, or any other."

"The United States of America has the sovereign authority to use force in assuring its own national security. That duty falls to me, as Commander-in-Chief, by the oath I have sworn, by the oath I will keep."

Bush, you are personally responsible for the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians, for the massive destruction of significant parts of their country, for the current increase in lawlessness, chaos and anarchy, and for the loss of large amounts of their cultural history. You are not only the least intelligent person ever to hold your office (not your fault), but also the cruelest, most savage, and pervasively evil to do so (definitely your fault). You single-handedly have brought shame to our once mighty nation and forced the rest of the world to despise us. You are currently doing everything within your ill-begotten power to steal hard-earned savings from the lower and middle class Americans and hand it on a silver platter to the wealthiest, in the guise of a economy-boosting and jobs-creating tax cut. And let's not forget your shameless drive to remove as many of our constitutional civil liberties as possible during your term in office.

For these reasons I hate you and every one of your cohorts. For these reasons, If I could, I would stuff you into a plastic bag and leave you next to the curb on trash day.

Otherwise, you've doing a super bang-up job!

More on Our Bad Tax Cuts

NDOL gives one last cry for sanity before the Senate and House debate and finalize the new tax-cut budget: "But the bottom line should not be obscured: this debate is about the president's efforts to spend money we don't have on people who don't need it, in a way that is likely to hurt, not help, our economy." Snippet:

"It's increasingly clear that the GOP's tax cut drive is one of those three-cushion shots that White House political chief Karl Rove is so famous for. It allows the President and his party to look like they are trying to do something about the economy, while actually pursing two long-range Republican goals:

1. Paralyzing and then shrinking the federal government by deliberately engineering large federal budget deficits (the so-called "starve the beast" theory); and

2. Shifting the nation's tax burden from the wealthy to the middle class.

Both these dishonorable goals are being pursued in a dishonorable manner. The "starve the beast" approach to limiting the size of government is inherently deceptive and cowardly. Republicans who don't have the courage to propose cuts in popular federal programs -- or the intelligence to figure out how to reform programs to get more for less -- instead use the strategy of going on a national borrowing binge that will eventually force draconian cuts by future Congresses and future Administrations. And the GOP's assault on the principle of progressive taxation is being disguised as a tax cut rather than as a tax shift -- the shifting will occur down the road when taxpayers have to pay off the debts being run up to finance those tax cuts targeted to the wealthiest Americans.

It's up to Democrats to expose these deceptions, and to stop the implementation of these two profoundly destructive and irresponsible strategies."

Freedom, Democracy, Fire!

In a sign that the U.S. continues to lose control as Iraq descends into chaos, the American military will now have the right to shoot Iraqi civilians on sight. I should mention that this policy is strictly targeted at suspected looters, but that the decision to shoot rests with the whim of the shooter. It sounds like a real live arcade game. Kill first, judge later... wow. I mention "suspected" looters, since you can't know for sure if a person is running around with something he picked up on lay-away or actually sole the item from the store shelves. Maybe he's just in a hurry to get home to hear his favorite show on Armed Forces Radio Network, or needs to pee really badly. Doesn't matter. If you decide to run out of a Baghdad Target Store with items in a Target bag, just be sure to hold the bag as far away as possible from your body. Otherwise, walk.

Nazi Potus

THIS is way over the top, but I know my 11 year-old will like it.

Kudos to Texas

FINALLY! Some Democrats with balls! Let's hear it for Texas Democrats and hope more of the whiny, inactive Dems in this country finally wake up. It's time to stop complaining and start attacking.

Speaking of Klingon

Okay, time for some humor.

Gardens and Pineapples

Here's an amazing fact courtesy Mental Floss:

"If you're 50 years of age or younger, you've never voted in a presidential election that didn't have a member of either the Bush or Dole family on the ticket."

Here's a simple graph, courtesy It's Still the Economy, Stupid, showing the distribution of tax savings, a la Bush's tax plan, for the various income groups of our economy:

Space, The Next Frontier

Sounds like NASA is totally clueless on how to restart the space program. Worst idea: "...the remaining three shuttles will have to be modified to minimize the risk of another tragedy when and if they return to flight. Operating overlapping shuttles and space planes for a number of years would be a substantial expense." We'd better get on the ball soon; after Bush finishes Americanizing this planet, the only thing left is outer space, and we're no longer a patient-enough civilization to properly and fully inspect our little-known frontier before invading it.

Terrorism + Tax Cuts... Let's Do It!

Democrats take note: Left Coaster has a simple but effective plan to defeat Bush in '04:

"...let’s simplify the campaign next year to the only two major themes and issues it appears Rove plans to run on. According to various media reports over the last several days, Bush’s whole agenda and reason for re-election will be boiled down to the fight against terrorism and the need for annual tax cuts to ostensibly create jobs. We know that both of these agenda items are disingenuous. The fight against terror is nothing more than an ongoing diversionary maneuver away from having to address real domestic problems and international challenges. And a sole domestic agenda of annual tax cuts is nothing more than a transparent attempt to drain the federal treasury of revenues wanted by Democrats to address the unmet needs of the nonwealthy, reflecting a basic craven choice of the GOP to pander to their interest groups and engage in class warfare to the detriment of the poor and working class Americans. Such an annual looting of the federal treasury to benefit the few will be spun by Rove each year as a necessary tonic to create more jobs. Yet he will hope that the public doesn’t notice that the previous tax cuts do nothing but line the pockets of the few at the expense of our children."

BBC vs. US Media

Why is it that the BBC, which is government-owned and controlled, was far more impartial to the Iraq war news than the privately-owned U.S. media? Paul Krugman explains. (One-time registration required - it's worth it.)

Public release of a congressional report on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks

Has the Bush Administration got something to hide? Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bob Graham thinks so. (One-time registration required - it's worth it.)

An Appropriate Description of Bush's Leadership

"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." __ Isaac Asimov, Salvor Hardin in "Foundation"

Forklifts 101A

Here is a hilarious video (in German, but it doesn't matter) about Forklift Safety. (Note: not good viewing for the little 'uns.)

You may have to paste the following into your browser's address field:

http://www.sunpoint.net/~uliina/video/staplerfahrer_klaus.wmv

Ted Rall: How the Dems Can Win in '04

Ted Rall's lowdown on what the Democrats must do in order to win back the Presidency: Act like Republicans. Snippet:

"Democratic leaders ought to select their nominee in a smoke-filled room, call off the expensive and divisive primary process and order all other comers to stand down. Forget the union rallies, the badges and the buttons--whoever wins the nomination should invest every dime he can raise on the cruelest TV attack ads this country has ever seen.

Go after Bush's ultimate Achilles' heel: run countless loops of the inarticulate Resident's clashes with the English language. "Too dumb to talk," a sinister voiceover reads. "Too stupid to trust." Use time-proven Republican methods, like name-calling: Extremist. Out of touch. Tax and spender. Hates workers. Racist. Homophobe. Corrupt CEO coddler. Idiot. Drunk. Cut to the post-pretzel-incident photo: "America needs a sober president."

Forget ideas--voters respond to the personal stuff. Dwell on the two years Bush went AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard. "Brave Americans gave their lives in Vietnam," a 30-second spot should intone as the camera pans over names of the fallen on the black wall in Washington. "Rich kid George W. Bush deserted. This coward snorted coke and drove drunk while other kids died." Who doubts that if Gore had played up Bush's DUI arrest, he would have picked up an extra 500 votes in Florida?"

Cheney in '04

Check out Cheney's partial voting record during the years he was a congressman from Wyoming.

"Most museum artifacts found"

If THIS story in the Chicago Tribune is true then that's really great news. (One-time registration required, but it's worth it.)

Using the Military "Prop"erly

Another great speech by Senator Byrd.

Cowards, All of Us

Sidney Hall, Jr. writes about a nation of cowards... whoops, he's referring to us:

"For a brief moment after 9/11, we recognized some genuine heroes in our midst, those who put their lives on the line to rescue strangers and those who put their own needs in back of the needs of others in the middle of tragedy. The celebration of this heroism may have become a little gaudy, but it was sincere.

Since then we seem to have become a nation of cowards celebrating illusions.

There is a president, who, in reaction to the devastation of 9/11, does not act with forbearance, curiosity to understand the root cause, and as a world leader. Instead he lashes out at blurry targets with more force than we were met with. This is not the act of a brave man. This is the act of a coward.

There is a senator who sees his country yawing dangerously off course and, for the first time in its history abusing its power openly and shamelessly. The senator says nothing, though he knows better, because he is afraid of an emotional backlash if he engages in rational discussion. He is afraid he will lose the next election. This is the act of a coward.

There is a citizen who is unable to think. He succumbs to fear, believes every scary story he hears, buys duct tape for his doors and windows, when a bit of thinking would tell him he is in more danger from getting into his car. This is the act of a coward.

There is a journalist who knows there are young children dying in hospitals in Iraq, with their bodies horribly disfigured as the result of our country’s doings, yet he will not show pictures of these children so that people can weigh the consequences of war for themselves. He shows pictures of massively-armed Americans and reports every “coalition” news release as gospel truth. This is the act of a coward."

Read the entire article HERE.