Thursday, January 31, 2008
Iraq:
Think Progress: Bush Issues Signing Statement On Defense Act, Waiving Ban On Permanent Bases In Iraq
"President Bush yesterday signed the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act after initially rejecting Congress’s first version because it would have allegedly opened the Iraqi government to 'expensive lawsuits.'
Even though he forced Congress to change its original bill, Bush’s signature yesterday came with a little-noticed signing statement, claiming that provisions in the law 'could inhibit the President’s ability to carry out his constitutional obligations.' CQ reports on the provisions Bush plans to disregard:
One such provision sets up a commission to probe contracting fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another expands protections for whistleblowers who work for government contractors. A third requires that U.S. intelligence agencies promptly respond to congressional requests for documents. And a fourth bars funding for permanent bases in Iraq and for any action that exercises U.S. control over Iraq’s oil money.
In his 'Memorandum of Justification' for the waiver, Bush cited his Nov. 26 'Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship' between Iraq and the United States. This agreement has been aggressively opposed by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress as not only unprecedented, but also potentially unconstitutional because it was enacted without the agreement of the legislation branch..."
The Bush League sees fit to dictate the terms of special treatment for U.S. contractors to the Iraqis...
Raw Story: US quietly demands Iraq give defense contractors, US military immunity from prosecution
"US officials are dragooning Iraq into accepting immunity for US civilian contractors in new negotiations with the Iraqi government just months after a feud over a private defense contractor exploded into an international outcry.
The Bush administration insists that Baghdad give the US 'broad authority to conduct combat operations and guarantee civilian contractors specific legal protections from Iraqi law, according to administration and military officials,' a front page story in Friday's New York Times reports.
The Administration's proposed security agreement would replace the current United Nations mandate authorizing the US presence in Iraq, which is set to expire Dec. 31, 2008.
No other country working with the US military in Iraq is exempt from local laws."
Think Progress: Bush Issues Signing Statement On Defense Act, Waiving Ban On Permanent Bases In Iraq
"President Bush yesterday signed the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act after initially rejecting Congress’s first version because it would have allegedly opened the Iraqi government to 'expensive lawsuits.'
Even though he forced Congress to change its original bill, Bush’s signature yesterday came with a little-noticed signing statement, claiming that provisions in the law 'could inhibit the President’s ability to carry out his constitutional obligations.' CQ reports on the provisions Bush plans to disregard:
One such provision sets up a commission to probe contracting fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another expands protections for whistleblowers who work for government contractors. A third requires that U.S. intelligence agencies promptly respond to congressional requests for documents. And a fourth bars funding for permanent bases in Iraq and for any action that exercises U.S. control over Iraq’s oil money.
In his 'Memorandum of Justification' for the waiver, Bush cited his Nov. 26 'Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship' between Iraq and the United States. This agreement has been aggressively opposed by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress as not only unprecedented, but also potentially unconstitutional because it was enacted without the agreement of the legislation branch..."
The Bush League sees fit to dictate the terms of special treatment for U.S. contractors to the Iraqis...
Raw Story: US quietly demands Iraq give defense contractors, US military immunity from prosecution
"US officials are dragooning Iraq into accepting immunity for US civilian contractors in new negotiations with the Iraqi government just months after a feud over a private defense contractor exploded into an international outcry.
The Bush administration insists that Baghdad give the US 'broad authority to conduct combat operations and guarantee civilian contractors specific legal protections from Iraqi law, according to administration and military officials,' a front page story in Friday's New York Times reports.
The Administration's proposed security agreement would replace the current United Nations mandate authorizing the US presence in Iraq, which is set to expire Dec. 31, 2008.
No other country working with the US military in Iraq is exempt from local laws."
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Economics:
Democracy Now ! - Economics Journalist Robert Kuttner on the 'Most Serious Financial Crisis Since the Great Depression' - 'This is the Result of Rightwing Ideology and the Political Power of Wall Street'
One can take the following with a grain of salt, and still find it compelling...
Democrats.com - THE LEGACY OF GEORGE W. BUSH’S PRESIDENCY - The Country He Inherited, The Country He Leaves Behind
Energy:
Reuters: Huge kite fitted on container ship
"...Higher fuel costs and mounting pressure to curb emissions are leading modern merchant fleets to rediscover the ancient power of the sail.
The world's first commercial ship powered partly by a giant kite set off on a maiden voyage from Bremen to Venezuela on Tuesday, in an experiment that inventor Stephan Wrage hopes can wipe 20 percent, or $1,600, from the ship's daily fuel bill...
...In Hamburg, the Hapag-Lloyd shipping company is not waiting for 2012. It reacted to rising fuel prices by cutting the throttle on its 140 container ships traveling the world's oceans, ordering its captains to slow down.
The company in the second half of last year reduced the standard speed of its ships to 20 knots from 23-1/2 knots, and said it saved a 'substantial amount' of fuel..."
High Crimes:
Richard Behan: Nancy Pelosi, You Must Impeach!
"Speaker Pelosi, President Bush could have achieved his goal of 'regime change' in Iraq quickly and without the violence of war. Saddam Hussein offered, weeks before his country was invaded, to leave Iraq and go into exile. President Bush withheld this offer from public view-and refused it. Nor did the President need to invade Afghanistan to apprehend Osama bin Laden. On five different occasions, George Bush refused a standing offer from the Taliban to surrender Osama bin Laden-three times before 9/11 and twice thereafter, again without public disclosure.
No, the military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan are not directed against terrorism. They are territorial in nature. Mr. Bush intended from his first days in office to invade the two countries: as early as late January, 2001, his Administration was developing the decisions and beginning the preparations for both military incursions. 9/11 was in the distant future, so the conflicts cannot be exercises in counter-terrorism, as the Bush Administration frequently and dishonestly insists. They are premeditated wars of unprovoked conquest and occupation.
Madam Speaker, if you know this, and if you continue refusing impeachment, then you are a criminal accomplice in violating the trust of the American people-and in violating both U.S. and international law.
If you do not know this truth about the wars, Madam Speaker, you must learn its details and embrace it, and then you must seek with dispatch and justice to impeach George Bush and Richard Cheney..."
Capitalism For the Poor, Socialism For The Rich:
Democracy Now! - 'Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You with the Bill)'
"...AMY GOODMAN: Speaking of sports teams, talk about President Bush and where you believe, really, ultimately, he got his wealth.
DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: Well, it isn’t a function of belief, Amy. I’ve got the documents. President Bush, who will go down in history as the great tax cutter, owes almost all of his fortune to a tax increase that was funneled into his pocket. What happened is, an oil man named Eddie Chiles wanted to sell his money-losing Texas Rangers baseball team. They played in a little stadium, smaller than the one we have here in Rochester, New York, and of course couldn’t make any money. So George Bush put together a group of very wealthy investors to buy the team. He put up himself $600,000 of borrowed money. The partners then gave him a 10 percent stake as the managing partner. That’s a very common arrangement in business. Then they held a special election in January of the year in question to increase the sales tax in the town of Arlington, Texas, by one half-cent. That money was used to build a new baseball stadium. It’s an incredibly nice baseball stadium.
Then the power of government to seize land by eminent domain—and I go back to what was talked about in Kenya, the leader there can give you land, he can presumably therefore also take it away—the government used its power of eminent domain to seize land from people, not for a public purpose—not for a military base, for a school, for a highway, for a sewer plant—but because it was coveted by President Bush and his friends, and they were unwilling to go into the market and buy it through market economics. So the government seized this land. People were paid far less than they were owed, and we know that because one family fought back, and a jury, after being out just a matter of minutes, awarded them about six times what they had been offered by the government of Arlington.
The value of this subsidy, according to Ray Hutchison, who is the husband of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, is a prominent Republican insider in Texas and is the leading authority on municipal bond finance in Texas, was $202.5 million. The profit that President Bush and his partners made when they sold the team was $164 million. What does that tell you? Every single penny of additional money President Bush got from that investment, his gain, came from the taxpayers. He did not add one cent to the value of that team through his skill as an MBA manager. This gets repeated all over the country.
And then when President Bush filed his tax return, he should have reported that the 10 percent share he had, the one that was given to him as compensation for being general manager, was wage income. And, of course, we tax wages at a higher rate than we do capital income, like capital gains. President Bush therefore shorted the government $3.4 million. Under our system, you sign your tax return subject to audit. If you’re not audited and you don’t pay the government the right amount, if it’s too much, the government keeps it, if it’s too little, you short the government, but nothing happens to you..."
Public Safety:
The failure to warn people about the air quality at the WTC site was unconscienable.
Why should citizens trust the motives behind this move?
Chris Thompson: Runnin' Scared: NYPD Seeks an Air Monitor Crackdown for New Yorkers
"A city councilman and the cops don't want you to have that Geiger counter without their permission..."
Cybercrime:
Washington Post: 'Money Mules' Help Haul Cyber Criminals' Loot
Productivity:
Walter Kirn: The Autumn of the Multitaskers
"...Through a variety of experiments, many using functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain activity, they’ve torn the mask off multitasking and revealed its true face, which is blank and pale and drawn.
Multitasking messes with the brain in several ways. At the most basic level, the mental balancing acts that it requires—the constant switching and pivoting—energize regions of the brain that specialize in visual processing and physical coordination and simultaneously appear to shortchange some of the higher areas related to memory and learning. We concentrate on the act of concentration at the expense of whatever it is that we’re supposed to be concentrating on.
What does this mean in practice? Consider a recent experiment at UCLA, where researchers asked a group of 20-somethings to sort index cards in two trials, once in silence and once while simultaneously listening for specific tones in a series of randomly presented sounds. The subjects’ brains coped with the additional task by shifting responsibility from the hippocampus—which stores and recalls information—to the striatum, which takes care of rote, repetitive activities. Thanks to this switch, the subjects managed to sort the cards just as well with the musical distraction—but they had a much harder time remembering what, exactly, they’d been sorting once the experiment was over.
Even worse, certain studies find that multitasking boosts the level of stress-related hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline and wears down our systems through biochemical friction, prematurely aging us. In the short term, the confusion, fatigue, and chaos merely hamper our ability to focus and analyze, but in the long term, they may cause it to atrophy..."
Democracy Now ! - Economics Journalist Robert Kuttner on the 'Most Serious Financial Crisis Since the Great Depression' - 'This is the Result of Rightwing Ideology and the Political Power of Wall Street'
One can take the following with a grain of salt, and still find it compelling...
Democrats.com - THE LEGACY OF GEORGE W. BUSH’S PRESIDENCY - The Country He Inherited, The Country He Leaves Behind
Energy:
Reuters: Huge kite fitted on container ship
"...Higher fuel costs and mounting pressure to curb emissions are leading modern merchant fleets to rediscover the ancient power of the sail.
The world's first commercial ship powered partly by a giant kite set off on a maiden voyage from Bremen to Venezuela on Tuesday, in an experiment that inventor Stephan Wrage hopes can wipe 20 percent, or $1,600, from the ship's daily fuel bill...
...In Hamburg, the Hapag-Lloyd shipping company is not waiting for 2012. It reacted to rising fuel prices by cutting the throttle on its 140 container ships traveling the world's oceans, ordering its captains to slow down.
The company in the second half of last year reduced the standard speed of its ships to 20 knots from 23-1/2 knots, and said it saved a 'substantial amount' of fuel..."
High Crimes:
Richard Behan: Nancy Pelosi, You Must Impeach!
"Speaker Pelosi, President Bush could have achieved his goal of 'regime change' in Iraq quickly and without the violence of war. Saddam Hussein offered, weeks before his country was invaded, to leave Iraq and go into exile. President Bush withheld this offer from public view-and refused it. Nor did the President need to invade Afghanistan to apprehend Osama bin Laden. On five different occasions, George Bush refused a standing offer from the Taliban to surrender Osama bin Laden-three times before 9/11 and twice thereafter, again without public disclosure.
No, the military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan are not directed against terrorism. They are territorial in nature. Mr. Bush intended from his first days in office to invade the two countries: as early as late January, 2001, his Administration was developing the decisions and beginning the preparations for both military incursions. 9/11 was in the distant future, so the conflicts cannot be exercises in counter-terrorism, as the Bush Administration frequently and dishonestly insists. They are premeditated wars of unprovoked conquest and occupation.
Madam Speaker, if you know this, and if you continue refusing impeachment, then you are a criminal accomplice in violating the trust of the American people-and in violating both U.S. and international law.
If you do not know this truth about the wars, Madam Speaker, you must learn its details and embrace it, and then you must seek with dispatch and justice to impeach George Bush and Richard Cheney..."
Capitalism For the Poor, Socialism For The Rich:
Democracy Now! - 'Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You with the Bill)'
"...AMY GOODMAN: Speaking of sports teams, talk about President Bush and where you believe, really, ultimately, he got his wealth.
DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: Well, it isn’t a function of belief, Amy. I’ve got the documents. President Bush, who will go down in history as the great tax cutter, owes almost all of his fortune to a tax increase that was funneled into his pocket. What happened is, an oil man named Eddie Chiles wanted to sell his money-losing Texas Rangers baseball team. They played in a little stadium, smaller than the one we have here in Rochester, New York, and of course couldn’t make any money. So George Bush put together a group of very wealthy investors to buy the team. He put up himself $600,000 of borrowed money. The partners then gave him a 10 percent stake as the managing partner. That’s a very common arrangement in business. Then they held a special election in January of the year in question to increase the sales tax in the town of Arlington, Texas, by one half-cent. That money was used to build a new baseball stadium. It’s an incredibly nice baseball stadium.
Then the power of government to seize land by eminent domain—and I go back to what was talked about in Kenya, the leader there can give you land, he can presumably therefore also take it away—the government used its power of eminent domain to seize land from people, not for a public purpose—not for a military base, for a school, for a highway, for a sewer plant—but because it was coveted by President Bush and his friends, and they were unwilling to go into the market and buy it through market economics. So the government seized this land. People were paid far less than they were owed, and we know that because one family fought back, and a jury, after being out just a matter of minutes, awarded them about six times what they had been offered by the government of Arlington.
The value of this subsidy, according to Ray Hutchison, who is the husband of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, is a prominent Republican insider in Texas and is the leading authority on municipal bond finance in Texas, was $202.5 million. The profit that President Bush and his partners made when they sold the team was $164 million. What does that tell you? Every single penny of additional money President Bush got from that investment, his gain, came from the taxpayers. He did not add one cent to the value of that team through his skill as an MBA manager. This gets repeated all over the country.
And then when President Bush filed his tax return, he should have reported that the 10 percent share he had, the one that was given to him as compensation for being general manager, was wage income. And, of course, we tax wages at a higher rate than we do capital income, like capital gains. President Bush therefore shorted the government $3.4 million. Under our system, you sign your tax return subject to audit. If you’re not audited and you don’t pay the government the right amount, if it’s too much, the government keeps it, if it’s too little, you short the government, but nothing happens to you..."
Public Safety:
The failure to warn people about the air quality at the WTC site was unconscienable.
Why should citizens trust the motives behind this move?
Chris Thompson: Runnin' Scared: NYPD Seeks an Air Monitor Crackdown for New Yorkers
"A city councilman and the cops don't want you to have that Geiger counter without their permission..."
Cybercrime:
Washington Post: 'Money Mules' Help Haul Cyber Criminals' Loot
Productivity:
Walter Kirn: The Autumn of the Multitaskers
"...Through a variety of experiments, many using functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain activity, they’ve torn the mask off multitasking and revealed its true face, which is blank and pale and drawn.
Multitasking messes with the brain in several ways. At the most basic level, the mental balancing acts that it requires—the constant switching and pivoting—energize regions of the brain that specialize in visual processing and physical coordination and simultaneously appear to shortchange some of the higher areas related to memory and learning. We concentrate on the act of concentration at the expense of whatever it is that we’re supposed to be concentrating on.
What does this mean in practice? Consider a recent experiment at UCLA, where researchers asked a group of 20-somethings to sort index cards in two trials, once in silence and once while simultaneously listening for specific tones in a series of randomly presented sounds. The subjects’ brains coped with the additional task by shifting responsibility from the hippocampus—which stores and recalls information—to the striatum, which takes care of rote, repetitive activities. Thanks to this switch, the subjects managed to sort the cards just as well with the musical distraction—but they had a much harder time remembering what, exactly, they’d been sorting once the experiment was over.
Even worse, certain studies find that multitasking boosts the level of stress-related hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline and wears down our systems through biochemical friction, prematurely aging us. In the short term, the confusion, fatigue, and chaos merely hamper our ability to focus and analyze, but in the long term, they may cause it to atrophy..."
Thursday, January 24, 2008
The Warmongers:
From Team Bush...
Reuters: Database assembles U.S. warnings of Saddam threat
"...The Center for Public Integrity, a Washington research group highly critical of U.S. policy in Iraq, put together 935 comments uttered by eight top administration officials including President George W. Bush in the run-up to the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion...
...The Center for Public Integrity, which released the database on its Web site at www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/, said the comments show how Bush and senior administration officials 'methodically propagated erroneous information over the two years beginning on Sept. 11, 2001,'..."
...and the cheerleader for attacking Iran (right at home in the Opinion pages of Rupert Murdoch's most recent newspaper acquisition)...
Norman Podhoretz: Stopping Iran
Race For The Nomination:
Washington Post: Four Pinocchios for Romney on MLK - Fact Checker
" 'They [George Romney and Martin Luther King] were hand in hand...They led the march. We all swung our hands, and they held their hands up above everybody else's.'
Quote distributed by the Mitt Romney campaign from Shirley Basore, 72, describing a June 1963 civil rights march through Grosse Pointe, MI.
After news reports challenged Mitt Romney's repeated accounts of his father marching with Martin Luther King, his campaign put a reporter from Politico in touch with eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen the former Michigan governor 'hand in hand' with the civil rights leader. But their memories are almost certainly flawed as contemporaneous news reports show that King was addressing a meeting in New Jersey at the time the eyewitnesses supposedly saw him in Grosse Pointe, MI..."
The Economy:
Bob Herbert: Good Jobs Are Where the Money Is
"...the way to put money into the hands of working people is to make sure they have access to good jobs at good wages. That has long been known, but it hasn't been the policy in this country for many years.
Big business and the federal government have worked hand in hand to squeeze the daylights out of working people, stripping them (in an era of downsizing and globalization) of much of their bargaining power while ferociously pursuing fiscal policies that radically favored the privileged few.
My colleague at The Times, David Cay Johnston, took a look at income patterns in the U.S. over the past few decades in his new book, 'Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill).'
From 1980 to 2005 the national economy, adjusted for inflation, more than doubled. (Because of population growth, the actual increase per capita was about 66 percent.) But the average income for the vast majority of Americans actually declined during that period. The standard of living for the average family has improved not because incomes have grown, but because women have gone into the workplace in droves.
The peak income year for the bottom 90 percent of Americans was way back in 1973 - when the average income per taxpayer (adjusted for inflation) was way back in 1973 - when the average income per taxpayer (adjusted for inflation) was $33,001. That is nearly $4,000 higher than the average in 2005.
It's incredible but true: 90 percent of the population missed out on the income gains during that long period.
Mr. Johnston does not mince words: 'The pattern here is clear. The rich are getting fabulously richer, the vast majority are somewhat worse off, and the bottom half - for all practical purposes, the poor - are being savaged by our current economic policies.'
His words are echoed in a proposed stimulus plan currently offered by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. (The plan is available on its Web site, epi.org.) Stressing that any stimulus package should be 'fair,' the authors of the institute's proposal wrote:
'The distribution of wages, income and wealth in the United States has become vastly more unequal over the last 30 years. In fact, this country has a more unequal distribution of income than any other advanced country.'
Economic alarm bells have been ringing in the U.S. for some time. There was no sense of urgency as long as those in the lower ranks were sinking in the mortgage muck and the middle class was raiding the piggy bank otherwise known as home equity.
But now that the privileged few are threatened (Merrill Lynch took a $9.8 billion fourth-quarter hit, and the stock market has spent the first part of the year behaving like an Olympic diving champion), it's suddenly time to take action.
There is no question that some kind of stimulus package geared to the needs of ordinary Americans is in order. But that won't begin to solve the fundamental problem.
Good jobs at good wages - lots of them, growing like spring flowers in an endlessly fertile field - is the absolutely essential basis for a thriving American economy and a broad-based rise in standards of living..."
Taxation:
FairTaxFraud.com - The Book, The Crook, and the Followers
"...What do pro-FairTax websites and books never mention? Answer: How the FairTax treats the Super Wealthy. Every argument they make leads you to believe that the FairTax 'untaxes' the poor by providing a magical monthly check that covers all their basic needs, but at the same time it 'untaxes' the rich by taking away all business taxes, estate taxes, gift taxes, and capital gains taxes. Yet all this is supposed to pull in the same revenue as the old tax system. Well, if the poor are paying less taxes, and the rich are paying less taxes, and it's still revenue neutral, then who pays the taxes to make up for the cuts in the poor and rich classes? Hmm...can you say middle class?
The charts that Boortz uses, and all the website examples of how the FairTax works never consider incomes over $250,000. That is supposed to be 'rich' according to Boortz. They also set the middle class range too low. Well if you follow the examples provided then the poor ($0-$10,000 per year) will pay little, the middle class ($10,000 - $50,000 per year) will pay a little more, and the wealthy ($50,000 to $250,000 per year) will pay the most. Mysteriously, there is no mention of anything over $250,000 per year. In the FairTax literature nobody makes that much money so they don't talk about it or deal with it. They sweep that really wealthy class under the rug so we don't look at it.
No, lets take a moment and look at it. Three percent of the people in the United States own nearly 70 percent of the wealth. Many of these people, from the moment they are born, never have to work. They simply draw money from accounts set up for them that earn interest - every kid gets one - think Paris Hilton. If the FairTax becomes a reality all that 'free income' is suddenly tax free too. They don't need houses or cars (they get them as gifts from rich family members - also tax free under the FairTax). The only things they would need to buy are food, electricity, heat, gas, and health insurance (taxable under the FairTax). With the FairTax billionaires can keep all the rest tax-free to hand to the next generation tax-free. These are the same heirs of billionaires who didn't work for the money that complain the loudest about 'taxing success'.
A poor person can spend a week's income on heat and electricity for the month. After rent, clothing, and food they are pretty much tapped out (but because they spend everything they make on consumption, they are taxed on 100 percent of their income. Under the FairTax a typical billion dollar heir already has a tax-free house, and tax-free income so they only spend a tiny percentage of their income on basic needs - which means they are only taxed on a tiny percentage of their income under the FairTax. The result is pretty evident - billionaires get a free ride while the poor get shafted.
The next time you talk to a pro-FairTax person, have them compute what percentage of income that is taxed under the FairTax, by comparing a middle class person making $75,000 per year to a billionaire who inherited a home, car and has an all-interest income from a trust or inheritance. Boortz deliberately hides the super wealthy incomes from his book, charts and figures so you won't realize how badly you are being screwed. If you think the loopholes are bad now, the FairTax will force the average billionaire to be taxed on less than 5 percent of his income while the poor get their whole income (100%) taxed because they spend it all on consumption..."
From Team Bush...
Reuters: Database assembles U.S. warnings of Saddam threat
"...The Center for Public Integrity, a Washington research group highly critical of U.S. policy in Iraq, put together 935 comments uttered by eight top administration officials including President George W. Bush in the run-up to the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion...
...The Center for Public Integrity, which released the database on its Web site at www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/, said the comments show how Bush and senior administration officials 'methodically propagated erroneous information over the two years beginning on Sept. 11, 2001,'..."
...and the cheerleader for attacking Iran (right at home in the Opinion pages of Rupert Murdoch's most recent newspaper acquisition)...
Norman Podhoretz: Stopping Iran
Race For The Nomination:
Washington Post: Four Pinocchios for Romney on MLK - Fact Checker
" 'They [George Romney and Martin Luther King] were hand in hand...They led the march. We all swung our hands, and they held their hands up above everybody else's.'
Quote distributed by the Mitt Romney campaign from Shirley Basore, 72, describing a June 1963 civil rights march through Grosse Pointe, MI.
After news reports challenged Mitt Romney's repeated accounts of his father marching with Martin Luther King, his campaign put a reporter from Politico in touch with eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen the former Michigan governor 'hand in hand' with the civil rights leader. But their memories are almost certainly flawed as contemporaneous news reports show that King was addressing a meeting in New Jersey at the time the eyewitnesses supposedly saw him in Grosse Pointe, MI..."
The Economy:
Bob Herbert: Good Jobs Are Where the Money Is
"...the way to put money into the hands of working people is to make sure they have access to good jobs at good wages. That has long been known, but it hasn't been the policy in this country for many years.
Big business and the federal government have worked hand in hand to squeeze the daylights out of working people, stripping them (in an era of downsizing and globalization) of much of their bargaining power while ferociously pursuing fiscal policies that radically favored the privileged few.
My colleague at The Times, David Cay Johnston, took a look at income patterns in the U.S. over the past few decades in his new book, 'Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill).'
From 1980 to 2005 the national economy, adjusted for inflation, more than doubled. (Because of population growth, the actual increase per capita was about 66 percent.) But the average income for the vast majority of Americans actually declined during that period. The standard of living for the average family has improved not because incomes have grown, but because women have gone into the workplace in droves.
The peak income year for the bottom 90 percent of Americans was way back in 1973 - when the average income per taxpayer (adjusted for inflation) was way back in 1973 - when the average income per taxpayer (adjusted for inflation) was $33,001. That is nearly $4,000 higher than the average in 2005.
It's incredible but true: 90 percent of the population missed out on the income gains during that long period.
Mr. Johnston does not mince words: 'The pattern here is clear. The rich are getting fabulously richer, the vast majority are somewhat worse off, and the bottom half - for all practical purposes, the poor - are being savaged by our current economic policies.'
His words are echoed in a proposed stimulus plan currently offered by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. (The plan is available on its Web site, epi.org.) Stressing that any stimulus package should be 'fair,' the authors of the institute's proposal wrote:
'The distribution of wages, income and wealth in the United States has become vastly more unequal over the last 30 years. In fact, this country has a more unequal distribution of income than any other advanced country.'
Economic alarm bells have been ringing in the U.S. for some time. There was no sense of urgency as long as those in the lower ranks were sinking in the mortgage muck and the middle class was raiding the piggy bank otherwise known as home equity.
But now that the privileged few are threatened (Merrill Lynch took a $9.8 billion fourth-quarter hit, and the stock market has spent the first part of the year behaving like an Olympic diving champion), it's suddenly time to take action.
There is no question that some kind of stimulus package geared to the needs of ordinary Americans is in order. But that won't begin to solve the fundamental problem.
Good jobs at good wages - lots of them, growing like spring flowers in an endlessly fertile field - is the absolutely essential basis for a thriving American economy and a broad-based rise in standards of living..."
Taxation:
FairTaxFraud.com - The Book, The Crook, and the Followers
"...What do pro-FairTax websites and books never mention? Answer: How the FairTax treats the Super Wealthy. Every argument they make leads you to believe that the FairTax 'untaxes' the poor by providing a magical monthly check that covers all their basic needs, but at the same time it 'untaxes' the rich by taking away all business taxes, estate taxes, gift taxes, and capital gains taxes. Yet all this is supposed to pull in the same revenue as the old tax system. Well, if the poor are paying less taxes, and the rich are paying less taxes, and it's still revenue neutral, then who pays the taxes to make up for the cuts in the poor and rich classes? Hmm...can you say middle class?
The charts that Boortz uses, and all the website examples of how the FairTax works never consider incomes over $250,000. That is supposed to be 'rich' according to Boortz. They also set the middle class range too low. Well if you follow the examples provided then the poor ($0-$10,000 per year) will pay little, the middle class ($10,000 - $50,000 per year) will pay a little more, and the wealthy ($50,000 to $250,000 per year) will pay the most. Mysteriously, there is no mention of anything over $250,000 per year. In the FairTax literature nobody makes that much money so they don't talk about it or deal with it. They sweep that really wealthy class under the rug so we don't look at it.
No, lets take a moment and look at it. Three percent of the people in the United States own nearly 70 percent of the wealth. Many of these people, from the moment they are born, never have to work. They simply draw money from accounts set up for them that earn interest - every kid gets one - think Paris Hilton. If the FairTax becomes a reality all that 'free income' is suddenly tax free too. They don't need houses or cars (they get them as gifts from rich family members - also tax free under the FairTax). The only things they would need to buy are food, electricity, heat, gas, and health insurance (taxable under the FairTax). With the FairTax billionaires can keep all the rest tax-free to hand to the next generation tax-free. These are the same heirs of billionaires who didn't work for the money that complain the loudest about 'taxing success'.
A poor person can spend a week's income on heat and electricity for the month. After rent, clothing, and food they are pretty much tapped out (but because they spend everything they make on consumption, they are taxed on 100 percent of their income. Under the FairTax a typical billion dollar heir already has a tax-free house, and tax-free income so they only spend a tiny percentage of their income on basic needs - which means they are only taxed on a tiny percentage of their income under the FairTax. The result is pretty evident - billionaires get a free ride while the poor get shafted.
The next time you talk to a pro-FairTax person, have them compute what percentage of income that is taxed under the FairTax, by comparing a middle class person making $75,000 per year to a billionaire who inherited a home, car and has an all-interest income from a trust or inheritance. Boortz deliberately hides the super wealthy incomes from his book, charts and figures so you won't realize how badly you are being screwed. If you think the loopholes are bad now, the FairTax will force the average billionaire to be taxed on less than 5 percent of his income while the poor get their whole income (100%) taxed because they spend it all on consumption..."
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Wanting To Use Fear As A Weapon:
It is, after all, the only thing that's easier to sell than sex.
WIRED Blog: Pentagon Explores 'Human Fear'; Chemicals; Scare-Sensors, 'Contagious' Stress in the Works?
"American military researchers are working to uncover and harness the most terrifying chemical imaginable: that most primal odor, the scent of fear..."
Economics:
Richard Blair: The GOP Price of Living (and Dying)
"Those of us of a certain age have seen the economy expand, then contract, then expand again on many occasions. Things have changed, though - from Reagan’s 'revolution' to GHW Bush’s 'voodoo economics' through the unprecedented wealth transfer that has happened during Bush II’s reign, there’s a fundamental difference. In that difference lies the reason that I’m a progressive Democrat..."
The 2008 Presidential Race:
Mitt Romney wears his 'private business experience' like a badge on the campaign trail. Does America really know what kind of a businessman he is? He sounds like Gordon 'Greed Is Good' Gecko.
Democracy Now! - Romney's Bain Capital Profited Through Offshore Tax Havens, Closing U.S. Factories, Laying Off Workers
"During his campaign, Republican candidate Mitt Romney has preached a message of economic populism by vowing to fight to keep jobs in America. We take a look at Romney’s days heading up the buyout firm Bain Capital with Los Angeles Times reporter, Bob Drogin. He writes, 'From 1984 until 1999, Romney led Bain Capital, a Boston-based private equity group that earned jaw-dropping profits through leveraged buyouts, debt hedge funds, offshore tax havens and other financial strategies. In some cases, Romney’s team closed U.S. factories, causing hundreds of layoffs, or pocketed huge fees shortly before companies collapsed,'..."
Energy:
Here in the U.S. we're hearing plenty from nuclear industry cheerleaders about how wonderful their (Congressionally subsidized) cash cow is, but not a word about the 'back end' - the deadly waste problem.
AP: Nuclear revival rekindles waste concerns
"...Industry officials hope renewed worldwide interest in nuclear energy will break a long, awkward silence surrounding nuclear waste. They want to revive momentum for scientific and political breakthroughs on waste that stalled after the accidents at Three Mile Island in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986, which raised worldwide fears about radioactivity's risks to human and planetary health.
So far, though, recent talk of a nuclear renaissance has focused on the 'front end,' or reactor construction. Engineers are designing the next generation of reactors to be safer than today's — and they're being billed as a solution to global warming. Nuclear reactors do not emit carbon dioxide, blamed for heating the planet.
Few people have been talking about the 'back end,' industry-speak for the hundreds of thousands of tons of waste that nuclear plants produce each year, and the lucrative, secretive business of storing it away.
Waste 'is the main problem with this so-called nuclear rebirth,' said Mycle Schneider, an independent expert who co-authored a recent study for the European Parliament casting doubt on a global nuclear resurgence. He says government efforts to revive nuclear energy will stall without a 'miracle' solution to waste disposal..."
...and an interesting item about energy grid security...
Information Week: CIA Admits Cyberattacks Blacked Out Cities
"The CIA on Friday admitted that cyberattacks have caused at least one power outage affecting multiple cities outside the United States.
Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, said that CIA senior analyst Tom Donahue confirmed that online attackers had caused at least one blackout. The disclosure was made at a New Orleans security conference Friday attended by international government officials, engineers, and security managers from North American energy companies and utilities.
Paller said that Donahue presented him with a written statement that read, 'We have information, from multiple regions outside the United States, of cyber intrusions into utilities, followed by extortion demands. We suspect, but cannot confirm, that some of these attackers had the benefit of inside knowledge. We have information that cyberattacks have been used to disrupt power equipment in several regions outside the United States. In at least one case, the disruption caused a power outage affecting multiple cities. We do not know who executed these attacks or why, but all involved intrusions through the Internet.'
Information about which foreign cities were affected by the outage and other information related to the attack was not mentioned and is unlikely to be forthcoming, said Paller..."
What Worker Would Want To Use This?
The Times (UK) - Microsoft seeks patent for office 'spy' software
"Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical wellbeing and competence.
The Times has seen a patent application filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolism. The system would allow managers to monitor employees’ performance by measuring their heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression and blood pressure. Unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer’s assessment of their physiological state.
Technology allowing constant monitoring of workers was previously limited to pilots, firefighters and Nasa astronauts. This is believed to be the first time a company has proposed developing such software for mainstream workplaces.
Microsoft submitted a patent application in the US for a 'unique monitoring system' that could link workers to their computers. Wireless sensors could read 'heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure', the application states.
The system could also 'automatically detect frustration or stress in the user' and 'offer and provide assistance accordingly'. Physical changes to an employee would be matched to an individual psychological profile based on a worker’s weight, age and health. If the system picked up an increase in heart rate or facial expressions suggestive of stress or frustration, it would tell management that he needed help.
The Information Commissioner, civil liberties groups and privacy lawyers strongly criticised the potential of the system for 'taking the idea of monitoring people at work to a new level,'..."
The Environment:
AP: Judge Threatens Jail for Bush Official
"A federal judge in Montana said Friday he's prepared to hold the U.S. Forest Service in contempt of court for a 'duplicitous' strategy of skirting the law so it can keep fighting wildfires with retardant that kills fish.
Judge Donald W. Molloy set a Feb. 26 hearing in U.S. District Court in Missoula to give the Forest Service a chance to convince him that Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey should not be put in jail and fire retardant drops from aircraft be stopped nationwide until the agency properly considers the dangers to the environment.
'The Forest Service, throughout these proceedings, evidenced a strategy of circumventing, rather than complying with,' the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, the judge wrote. 'The apparent pattern suggests a strategy of looking for ways to avoid the law's mandate as opposed to looking for a means of complying with the law.
'In my view, the Forest Service is in contempt of the law and the prior orders of this court. Nonetheless, a hearing is appropriate before reaching a final conclusion on that issue.'
Potential sanctions include sending Rey to jail, putting him under house arrest and banning the Forest Service from using any fire retardants but water in air tankers, Molloy wrote..."
It is, after all, the only thing that's easier to sell than sex.
WIRED Blog: Pentagon Explores 'Human Fear'; Chemicals; Scare-Sensors, 'Contagious' Stress in the Works?
"American military researchers are working to uncover and harness the most terrifying chemical imaginable: that most primal odor, the scent of fear..."
Economics:
Richard Blair: The GOP Price of Living (and Dying)
"Those of us of a certain age have seen the economy expand, then contract, then expand again on many occasions. Things have changed, though - from Reagan’s 'revolution' to GHW Bush’s 'voodoo economics' through the unprecedented wealth transfer that has happened during Bush II’s reign, there’s a fundamental difference. In that difference lies the reason that I’m a progressive Democrat..."
The 2008 Presidential Race:
Mitt Romney wears his 'private business experience' like a badge on the campaign trail. Does America really know what kind of a businessman he is? He sounds like Gordon 'Greed Is Good' Gecko.
Democracy Now! - Romney's Bain Capital Profited Through Offshore Tax Havens, Closing U.S. Factories, Laying Off Workers
"During his campaign, Republican candidate Mitt Romney has preached a message of economic populism by vowing to fight to keep jobs in America. We take a look at Romney’s days heading up the buyout firm Bain Capital with Los Angeles Times reporter, Bob Drogin. He writes, 'From 1984 until 1999, Romney led Bain Capital, a Boston-based private equity group that earned jaw-dropping profits through leveraged buyouts, debt hedge funds, offshore tax havens and other financial strategies. In some cases, Romney’s team closed U.S. factories, causing hundreds of layoffs, or pocketed huge fees shortly before companies collapsed,'..."
Energy:
Here in the U.S. we're hearing plenty from nuclear industry cheerleaders about how wonderful their (Congressionally subsidized) cash cow is, but not a word about the 'back end' - the deadly waste problem.
AP: Nuclear revival rekindles waste concerns
"...Industry officials hope renewed worldwide interest in nuclear energy will break a long, awkward silence surrounding nuclear waste. They want to revive momentum for scientific and political breakthroughs on waste that stalled after the accidents at Three Mile Island in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986, which raised worldwide fears about radioactivity's risks to human and planetary health.
So far, though, recent talk of a nuclear renaissance has focused on the 'front end,' or reactor construction. Engineers are designing the next generation of reactors to be safer than today's — and they're being billed as a solution to global warming. Nuclear reactors do not emit carbon dioxide, blamed for heating the planet.
Few people have been talking about the 'back end,' industry-speak for the hundreds of thousands of tons of waste that nuclear plants produce each year, and the lucrative, secretive business of storing it away.
Waste 'is the main problem with this so-called nuclear rebirth,' said Mycle Schneider, an independent expert who co-authored a recent study for the European Parliament casting doubt on a global nuclear resurgence. He says government efforts to revive nuclear energy will stall without a 'miracle' solution to waste disposal..."
...and an interesting item about energy grid security...
Information Week: CIA Admits Cyberattacks Blacked Out Cities
"The CIA on Friday admitted that cyberattacks have caused at least one power outage affecting multiple cities outside the United States.
Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, said that CIA senior analyst Tom Donahue confirmed that online attackers had caused at least one blackout. The disclosure was made at a New Orleans security conference Friday attended by international government officials, engineers, and security managers from North American energy companies and utilities.
Paller said that Donahue presented him with a written statement that read, 'We have information, from multiple regions outside the United States, of cyber intrusions into utilities, followed by extortion demands. We suspect, but cannot confirm, that some of these attackers had the benefit of inside knowledge. We have information that cyberattacks have been used to disrupt power equipment in several regions outside the United States. In at least one case, the disruption caused a power outage affecting multiple cities. We do not know who executed these attacks or why, but all involved intrusions through the Internet.'
Information about which foreign cities were affected by the outage and other information related to the attack was not mentioned and is unlikely to be forthcoming, said Paller..."
What Worker Would Want To Use This?
The Times (UK) - Microsoft seeks patent for office 'spy' software
"Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical wellbeing and competence.
The Times has seen a patent application filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolism. The system would allow managers to monitor employees’ performance by measuring their heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression and blood pressure. Unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer’s assessment of their physiological state.
Technology allowing constant monitoring of workers was previously limited to pilots, firefighters and Nasa astronauts. This is believed to be the first time a company has proposed developing such software for mainstream workplaces.
Microsoft submitted a patent application in the US for a 'unique monitoring system' that could link workers to their computers. Wireless sensors could read 'heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure', the application states.
The system could also 'automatically detect frustration or stress in the user' and 'offer and provide assistance accordingly'. Physical changes to an employee would be matched to an individual psychological profile based on a worker’s weight, age and health. If the system picked up an increase in heart rate or facial expressions suggestive of stress or frustration, it would tell management that he needed help.
The Information Commissioner, civil liberties groups and privacy lawyers strongly criticised the potential of the system for 'taking the idea of monitoring people at work to a new level,'..."
The Environment:
AP: Judge Threatens Jail for Bush Official
"A federal judge in Montana said Friday he's prepared to hold the U.S. Forest Service in contempt of court for a 'duplicitous' strategy of skirting the law so it can keep fighting wildfires with retardant that kills fish.
Judge Donald W. Molloy set a Feb. 26 hearing in U.S. District Court in Missoula to give the Forest Service a chance to convince him that Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey should not be put in jail and fire retardant drops from aircraft be stopped nationwide until the agency properly considers the dangers to the environment.
'The Forest Service, throughout these proceedings, evidenced a strategy of circumventing, rather than complying with,' the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, the judge wrote. 'The apparent pattern suggests a strategy of looking for ways to avoid the law's mandate as opposed to looking for a means of complying with the law.
'In my view, the Forest Service is in contempt of the law and the prior orders of this court. Nonetheless, a hearing is appropriate before reaching a final conclusion on that issue.'
Potential sanctions include sending Rey to jail, putting him under house arrest and banning the Forest Service from using any fire retardants but water in air tankers, Molloy wrote..."
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Keeping This Petro-Dollar Treadmill Spinning:
Greg Palast: George of Arabia: Better Kiss Your Abe ‘Goodbye’
"...Let’s begin by stating why Bush is not in Saudi Arabia. Bush ain’t there to promote ‘Democracy’ nor peace in Palestine, nor even war in Iran. And, despite what some pinhead from CNN stated, he sure as hell didn’t go to Riyadh to tell the Saudis to cut the price of oil.
What’s really behind Bush’s hajj to Riyadh is that America is in hock up to our knickers. The sub-prime mortgage market implosion, hitting a dozen banks with over $100 billion in losses, is just the tip of the debt-berg..."
Greg Palast: George of Arabia: Better Kiss Your Abe ‘Goodbye’
"...Let’s begin by stating why Bush is not in Saudi Arabia. Bush ain’t there to promote ‘Democracy’ nor peace in Palestine, nor even war in Iran. And, despite what some pinhead from CNN stated, he sure as hell didn’t go to Riyadh to tell the Saudis to cut the price of oil.
What’s really behind Bush’s hajj to Riyadh is that America is in hock up to our knickers. The sub-prime mortgage market implosion, hitting a dozen banks with over $100 billion in losses, is just the tip of the debt-berg..."
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Sabre-Rattling & Iran:
Since this story broke, there is even reporting of the radio traffic attributed to the Iranian boats was actually coming from a ham-radio operator.
Gareth Porter: Official Version of Naval Incident Starts to Unravel
"Jan 10 (IPS) - Despite the official and media portrayal of the incident in the Strait of Hormuz early Monday morning as a serious threat to U.S. ships from Iranian speedboats that nearly resulted in a 'battle at sea, new information over the past three days suggests that the incident did not involve such a threat and that no U.S. commander was on the verge of firing at the Iranian boats.
The new information that appears to contradict the original version of the incident includes the revelation that U.S. officials spliced the audio recording of an alleged Iranian threat onto to a videotape of the incident. That suggests that the threatening message may not have come in immediately after the initial warning to Iranian boats from a U.S. warship, as appears to do on the video.
Also unraveling the story is testimony from a former U.S. naval officer that non-official chatter is common on the channel used to communicate with the Iranian boats and testimony from the commander of the U.S. 5th fleet that the commanding officers of the U.S. warships involved in the incident never felt the need to warn the Iranians of a possible use of force against them..."
Democracy Now! - Official Version of U.S.-Iranian Naval Incident Starts to Unravel
"...GARETH PORTER: Well, this alleged crisis or confrontation on the high seas is really much less than what met the eyes of the American public as it was reported by news media. And the story really began from leaks from the Pentagon. I mean, there were Pentagon officials apparently calling reporters and telling them that something had happened in the Strait of Hormuz, which represented a threat to American ships and that there was a near battle on the high seas. The way it was described to reporters, it was made to appear to be a major threat to the ships and a major threat of war. And that’s the way it was covered by CNN, by CBS and other networks, as well as by print media.
Then I think the next major thing that happened was a briefing by the commander of the 5th fleet in Bahrain, the Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, which is very interesting. If you look carefully at the transcript, which was not reported accurately by the media, or not reported at all practically, the commander—or rather, Vice Admiral Cosgriff actually makes it clear that the ships were never in danger, that they never believed they were in danger, and that they were never close to firing on the Iranian boats. And this is the heart of what actually happened, which was never reported by the US media.
So I think that the major thing to really keep in mind about this is that it was blown up into a semi-crisis by the Pentagon and that the media followed along very supinely. And I must say this is perhaps the worst—the most egregious case of sensationalist journalism in the service of the interests of the Pentagon, the Bush administration, that I have seen so far..."
Economics:
Paul Krugman: The Comeback Continent
"Today I'd like to talk about a much-derided contender making a surprising comeback, a comeback that calls into question much of the conventional wisdom of American politics. No, I'm not talking about a politician. I'm talking about an economy - specifically, the European economy, which many Americans assume is tired and spent but has lately been showing surprising vitality.
Why should Americans care about Europe's economy? Well, for one thing, it's big. The G.D.P. of the European Union is roughly comparable to that of the United States; the euro is almost as important a global currency as the dollar; and the governance of the world financial system is, for practical purposes, equally shared by the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve.
But there's another thing: it's important to get the facts about Europe's economy right because the alleged woes of that economy play an important role in American political discourse, usually as an excuse for the insecurities and injustices of our own society..."
Domestic Surveillance:
Raw Story: US drafting plan to allow government access to any email or Web search
"National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is drawing up plans for cyberspace spying that would make the current debate on warrantless wiretaps look like a 'walk in the park,' according to an interview published in the New Yorker's print edition today.
Debate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 'will be a walk in the park compared to this,' McConnell said. 'this is going to be a goat rope on the Hill. My prediction is that we’re going to screw around with this until something horrendous happens.'
The article, which profiles the 65-year-old former admiral appointed by President George W. Bush in January 2007 to oversee all of America's intelligence agencies, was not published on the New Yorker's Web site.
McConnell is developing a Cyber-Security Policy, still in the draft stage, which will closely police Internet activity..."
Cars The U.S. Supposedly 'Doesn't Want':
The EU is targeting 120g CO2/km as the average they'd like autos to emit.
Detroit, it seems, has yet to even admit that CO2 is a problem they plan to deal with by making smaller vehicles. In their ostrich-like minds, no admission = no problem...
Green Car Congress: Renault Introduces Logan Renault Eco2 Concept at Challenge Bibendum; Taking a Production Car from 120g CO2/km to 97g
"...The Logan Renault eco2 Concept was manufactured at the Pitesti plant in Romania, which has been ISO 14001-certified since 2005, while the finished vehicle contains 8.3% of recycled plastics and is 95%-reusable by weight. The vehicle has a low CO2 emissions rating of 97 g/km.
Powered by a 1.5 dCi (63kW/85hp) engine which runs on B30 biofue1, Logan Renault eco2 Concept incorporates a variety of technical enhancements and innovations, all of which are paths for future vehicle development at Renault.
The powertrain is based on the 1.5 dCi (85hp) engine launched at the end of 2007 and homologated at 120g CO2/km. The final drive ratio has been lengthened 8% to reduce fuel consumption while ensuring a level of mid-range acceleration that is suitable for ordinary use. This enhancement enabled a saving of 4g of CO2/km.
Renault also re-calibrated the injection system by introducing seven-hole nozzles (instead of five as is the case with production models) and widening the piston bowl for enhanced fuel spray and combustion. This modification produced a saving of 5g of CO2/km.
Finally, by optimizing the play between certain moving parts and using low-viscosity lubricants (5W20 plus additives instead of the standard 5W30), Renault reduced internal engine friction. The gear oil is also less viscous. This work helped cut CO2 emissions by a further 2g/km.
Analysis of the most cost-effective solutions enabled Renault to identify six points which, together, produced significant aerodynamic gains..."
Since this story broke, there is even reporting of the radio traffic attributed to the Iranian boats was actually coming from a ham-radio operator.
Gareth Porter: Official Version of Naval Incident Starts to Unravel
"Jan 10 (IPS) - Despite the official and media portrayal of the incident in the Strait of Hormuz early Monday morning as a serious threat to U.S. ships from Iranian speedboats that nearly resulted in a 'battle at sea, new information over the past three days suggests that the incident did not involve such a threat and that no U.S. commander was on the verge of firing at the Iranian boats.
The new information that appears to contradict the original version of the incident includes the revelation that U.S. officials spliced the audio recording of an alleged Iranian threat onto to a videotape of the incident. That suggests that the threatening message may not have come in immediately after the initial warning to Iranian boats from a U.S. warship, as appears to do on the video.
Also unraveling the story is testimony from a former U.S. naval officer that non-official chatter is common on the channel used to communicate with the Iranian boats and testimony from the commander of the U.S. 5th fleet that the commanding officers of the U.S. warships involved in the incident never felt the need to warn the Iranians of a possible use of force against them..."
Democracy Now! - Official Version of U.S.-Iranian Naval Incident Starts to Unravel
"...GARETH PORTER: Well, this alleged crisis or confrontation on the high seas is really much less than what met the eyes of the American public as it was reported by news media. And the story really began from leaks from the Pentagon. I mean, there were Pentagon officials apparently calling reporters and telling them that something had happened in the Strait of Hormuz, which represented a threat to American ships and that there was a near battle on the high seas. The way it was described to reporters, it was made to appear to be a major threat to the ships and a major threat of war. And that’s the way it was covered by CNN, by CBS and other networks, as well as by print media.
Then I think the next major thing that happened was a briefing by the commander of the 5th fleet in Bahrain, the Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, which is very interesting. If you look carefully at the transcript, which was not reported accurately by the media, or not reported at all practically, the commander—or rather, Vice Admiral Cosgriff actually makes it clear that the ships were never in danger, that they never believed they were in danger, and that they were never close to firing on the Iranian boats. And this is the heart of what actually happened, which was never reported by the US media.
So I think that the major thing to really keep in mind about this is that it was blown up into a semi-crisis by the Pentagon and that the media followed along very supinely. And I must say this is perhaps the worst—the most egregious case of sensationalist journalism in the service of the interests of the Pentagon, the Bush administration, that I have seen so far..."
Economics:
Paul Krugman: The Comeback Continent
"Today I'd like to talk about a much-derided contender making a surprising comeback, a comeback that calls into question much of the conventional wisdom of American politics. No, I'm not talking about a politician. I'm talking about an economy - specifically, the European economy, which many Americans assume is tired and spent but has lately been showing surprising vitality.
Why should Americans care about Europe's economy? Well, for one thing, it's big. The G.D.P. of the European Union is roughly comparable to that of the United States; the euro is almost as important a global currency as the dollar; and the governance of the world financial system is, for practical purposes, equally shared by the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve.
But there's another thing: it's important to get the facts about Europe's economy right because the alleged woes of that economy play an important role in American political discourse, usually as an excuse for the insecurities and injustices of our own society..."
Domestic Surveillance:
Raw Story: US drafting plan to allow government access to any email or Web search
"National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is drawing up plans for cyberspace spying that would make the current debate on warrantless wiretaps look like a 'walk in the park,' according to an interview published in the New Yorker's print edition today.
Debate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 'will be a walk in the park compared to this,' McConnell said. 'this is going to be a goat rope on the Hill. My prediction is that we’re going to screw around with this until something horrendous happens.'
The article, which profiles the 65-year-old former admiral appointed by President George W. Bush in January 2007 to oversee all of America's intelligence agencies, was not published on the New Yorker's Web site.
McConnell is developing a Cyber-Security Policy, still in the draft stage, which will closely police Internet activity..."
Cars The U.S. Supposedly 'Doesn't Want':
The EU is targeting 120g CO2/km as the average they'd like autos to emit.
Detroit, it seems, has yet to even admit that CO2 is a problem they plan to deal with by making smaller vehicles. In their ostrich-like minds, no admission = no problem...
Green Car Congress: Renault Introduces Logan Renault Eco2 Concept at Challenge Bibendum; Taking a Production Car from 120g CO2/km to 97g
"...The Logan Renault eco2 Concept was manufactured at the Pitesti plant in Romania, which has been ISO 14001-certified since 2005, while the finished vehicle contains 8.3% of recycled plastics and is 95%-reusable by weight. The vehicle has a low CO2 emissions rating of 97 g/km.
Powered by a 1.5 dCi (63kW/85hp) engine which runs on B30 biofue1, Logan Renault eco2 Concept incorporates a variety of technical enhancements and innovations, all of which are paths for future vehicle development at Renault.
The powertrain is based on the 1.5 dCi (85hp) engine launched at the end of 2007 and homologated at 120g CO2/km. The final drive ratio has been lengthened 8% to reduce fuel consumption while ensuring a level of mid-range acceleration that is suitable for ordinary use. This enhancement enabled a saving of 4g of CO2/km.
Renault also re-calibrated the injection system by introducing seven-hole nozzles (instead of five as is the case with production models) and widening the piston bowl for enhanced fuel spray and combustion. This modification produced a saving of 5g of CO2/km.
Finally, by optimizing the play between certain moving parts and using low-viscosity lubricants (5W20 plus additives instead of the standard 5W30), Renault reduced internal engine friction. The gear oil is also less viscous. This work helped cut CO2 emissions by a further 2g/km.
Analysis of the most cost-effective solutions enabled Renault to identify six points which, together, produced significant aerodynamic gains..."
Friday, January 11, 2008
Law Enforcement Getting In Their Own Way:
AP: FBI wiretaps dropped due to unpaid bills
"Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.
A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000.
In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation 'was halted due to untimely payment,' the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal and intelligence investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies.
'We also found that late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence,' according to the audit by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.
More than half of 990 bills to pay for telecommunication surveillance in five unidentified FBI field offices were not paid on time, the report shows..."
AP: FBI wiretaps dropped due to unpaid bills
"Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.
A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000.
In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation 'was halted due to untimely payment,' the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal and intelligence investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies.
'We also found that late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence,' according to the audit by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.
More than half of 990 bills to pay for telecommunication surveillance in five unidentified FBI field offices were not paid on time, the report shows..."
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Lies That Took A Country To War:
AFP: Report reveals Vietnam War hoaxes, faked attacks
"During the war, North Vietnamese intelligence units sometimes succeeded in penetrating US communications systems, and they could monitor American message traffic from within, according to the report 'Spartans in Darkness.'
On several occasions 'the communists were able, by communicating on Allied radio nets, to call in Allied artillery or air strikes on American units,' it said.
'That's something I have never heard before,' Steven Aftergood, director of the FAS project on government secrecy, told AFP.
But he said that probably the 'most historically significant feature' of the declassified report was the retelling of the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident.
That was a reported North Vietnamese attack on American destroyers that helped lead to president Lyndon Johnson's sharp escalation of American forces in Vietnam.
The author of the report 'demonstrates that not only is it not true, as (then US) secretary of defense Robert McNamara told Congress, that the evidence of an attack was 'unimpeachable,' but that to the contrary, a review of the classified signals intelligence proves that 'no attack happened that night,'' FAS said in a statement.
'What this study demonstrated is that the available intelligence shows that there was no attack. It's a dramatic reversal of the historical record,' Aftergood said..."
...in light of the government's willingness to lie a country into a war 40 years ago, we can see how little things have changed...
George McGovern: Why I Believe Bush Must Go
"As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president...
...Of course, there seems to be little bipartisan support for impeachment. The political scene is marked by narrow and sometimes superficial partisanship, especially among Republicans, and a lack of courage and statesmanship on the part of too many Democratic politicians. So the chances of a bipartisan impeachment and conviction are not promising.
But what are the facts?
Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly 'high crimes and misdemeanors,' to use the constitutional standard.
From the beginning, the Bush-Cheney team's assumption of power was the product of questionable elections that probably should have been officially challenged -- perhaps even by a congressional investigation.
In a more fundamental sense, American democracy has been derailed throughout the Bush-Cheney regime. The dominant commitment of the administration has been a murderous, illegal, nonsensical war against Iraq. That irresponsible venture has killed almost 4,000 Americans, left many times that number mentally or physically crippled, claimed the lives of an estimated 600,000 Iraqis (according to a careful October 2006 study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and laid waste their country. The financial cost to the United States is now $250 million a day and is expected to exceed a total of $1 trillion, most of which we have borrowed from the Chinese and others as our national debt has now climbed above $9 trillion -- by far the highest in our national history..."
Expanding The So-Called War On Terror:
Reading the article below, I am reminded of James Madison's observations on war's effects on liberty.
"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." ['Political Observations' (1795-04-20); also in Letters and Other Writings of James Madison (1865), Vol. IV, p. 491]
NY Times: US Considering New Covert Push Within Pakistan
"President Bush's senior national security advisers are debating whether to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan. The debate is a response to intelligence reports that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are intensifying efforts there to destabilize the Pakistani government, several senior administration officials said..."
Economics:
The very notion of this study will upset the corporatists, and especially growth-a-holics.
I've worked for Executives of this very flavor. Somehow, many ordinary people still believe that a growing GDP necessarily equates to a better life for them. The invalid assumption is that the oligarchs of industry have any desire to share, as the trend in wages vs. corporate profits over the last decade demonstrates.
AFP: Stiglitz says GDP may be poor indicator of economy
"Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel laureate economist tapped to head a new French study, said Tuesday he sees gross domestic product (GDP), the most often cited yardstick, as an imperfect indicator.
Stiglitz, named by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to head a panel to find a new method of economic calculation that will include quality-of-life factors, said the current yardsticks 'only reward governments if they increase materialistic production.'
'If you improve the quality of life, but it doesn't show up in more material consumption, it doesn't show up in GDP, and you'll be criticized,' the US economist told AFP in a phone interview..."
Paul Krugman: From Hype to Fear
"...The November election will take place against that background of economic distress, which ought to be good news for candidates running on a platform of change.
But the opponents of change, those who want to keep the Bush legacy intact, are not without resources. In fact, they’ve already made their standard pivot when things turn bad - the pivot from hype to fear. And in case you haven’t noticed, they’re very, very good at the fear thing.
You see, for 30 years American politics has been dominated by a political movement practicing Robin-Hood-in-reverse, giving unto those that hath while taking from those who don’t. And one secret of that long domination has been a remarkable flexibility in economic debate. The policies never change - but the arguments for these policies turn on a dime.
When the economy is doing reasonably well, the debate is dominated by hype - by the claim that America’s prosperity is truly wondrous, and that conservative economic policies deserve all the credit.
But when things turn down, there is a seamless transition from 'It’s morning in America! Hurray for tax cuts!' to 'The economy is slumping! Raising taxes would be a disaster!'
Thus, until just the other day Bush administration officials were in denial about the economy’s problems. They were still insisting that the economy was strong, and touting the 'Bush boom' - the improvement in the job situation that took place between the summer of 2003 and the end of 2006 - as proof of the efficacy of tax cuts...
...there’s a powerful political faction in this country that understands very well that any real change will create losers as well as winners. In particular, any serious progressive reform of health care, let alone a broader attempt to reduce middle-class insecurity and inequality, will have to mean higher taxes on the affluent. And members of that faction will do whatever it takes to scare people into believing that change means disaster for the economy.
I don’t think they’ll succeed. But it would be a big mistake to assume that they won’t."
The Dail Telegraph (UK) Bush convenes Plunge Protection Team
"Bears beware. The New Deal of 2008 is in the works. The US Treasury is about to shower households with rebate cheques to head off a full-blown slump, and save the Bush presidency. On Friday, Mr Bush convened the so-called Plunge Protection Team for its first known meeting in the Oval Office. The black arts unit - officially the President's Working Group on Financial Markets - was created after the 1987 crash.
It appears to have powers to support the markets in a crisis with a host of instruments, mostly by through buying futures contracts on the stock indexes (DOW, S&P 500, NASDAQ and Russell) and key credit levers. And it has the means to fry 'short' traders in the hottest of oils.
The team is led by Treasury chief Hank Paulson, ex-Goldman Sachs, a man with a nose for market psychology, and includes Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and the key exchange regulators.
Judging by a well-briefed report in the Washington Post, a mood of deep alarm has taken hold in the upper echelons of the administration..."
Hollywood As A Propaganda Machine:
Chalmers Johnson: Imperialist Propaganda - Second Thoughts on 'Charlie Wilson’s War':
"I have some personal knowledge of Congressmen like Charlie Wilson (D-2nd District, Texas, 1973-1996) because, for close to twenty years, my representative in the 50th Congressional District of California was Republican Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, now serving an eight-and-a-half year prison sentence for soliciting and receiving bribes from defense contractors. Wilson and Cunningham held exactly the same plummy committee assignments in the House of Representatives — the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee plus the Intelligence Oversight Committee — from which they could dole out large sums of public money with little or no input from their colleagues or constituents.
Both men flagrantly abused their positions — but with radically different consequences. Cunningham went to jail because he was too stupid to know how to game the system — retire and become a lobbyist — whereas Wilson received the Central Intelligence Agency Clandestine Service’s first 'honored colleague' award ever given to an outsider and went on to become a $360,000 per annum lobbyist for Pakistan.
In a secret ceremony at CIA headquarters on June 9, 1993, James Woolsey, Bill Clinton’s first Director of Central Intelligence and one of the agency’s least competent chiefs in its checkered history, said: 'The defeat and breakup of the Soviet empire is one of the great events of world history. There were many heroes in this battle, but to Charlie Wilson must go a special recognition.' One important part of that recognition, studiously avoided by the CIA and most subsequent American writers on the subject, is that Wilson’s activities in Afghanistan led directly to a chain of blowback that culminated in the attacks of September 11, 2001 and led to the United States’ current status as the most hated nation on Earth...
...if Charlie Wilson’s War is a comedy, it’s the kind that goes over well with a roomful of louts in a college fraternity house. Simply put, it is imperialist propaganda and the tragedy is that four-and-a-half years after we invaded Iraq and destroyed it, such dangerously misleading nonsense is still being offered to a gullible public. The most accurate review so far is James Rocchi’s summing-up for Cinematical: 'Charlie Wilson’s War isn’t just bad history; it feels even more malign, like a conscious attempt to induce amnesia,'."
The Rule of Law:
ABC News: Pentagon Won't Probe KBR Rape Charges
"The Defense Department's top watchdog has declined to investigate allegations that an American woman working under an Army contract in Iraq was raped by her co-workers.
The case of former Halliburton/KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones gained national attention last month. An ABC News investigation revealed how an earlier investigation into Jones' alleged gang-rape in 2005 had not resulted in any prosecution, and that neither Jones nor Democratic and Republican lawmakers have been able to get answers from the Bush administration on the state of her case.
In letters to lawmakers, DoD Inspector General Claude Kicklighter said that because the Justice Department still considers the investigation into Jones' case open, there is no need for him to look into the matter..."
AFP: Report reveals Vietnam War hoaxes, faked attacks
"During the war, North Vietnamese intelligence units sometimes succeeded in penetrating US communications systems, and they could monitor American message traffic from within, according to the report 'Spartans in Darkness.'
On several occasions 'the communists were able, by communicating on Allied radio nets, to call in Allied artillery or air strikes on American units,' it said.
'That's something I have never heard before,' Steven Aftergood, director of the FAS project on government secrecy, told AFP.
But he said that probably the 'most historically significant feature' of the declassified report was the retelling of the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident.
That was a reported North Vietnamese attack on American destroyers that helped lead to president Lyndon Johnson's sharp escalation of American forces in Vietnam.
The author of the report 'demonstrates that not only is it not true, as (then US) secretary of defense Robert McNamara told Congress, that the evidence of an attack was 'unimpeachable,' but that to the contrary, a review of the classified signals intelligence proves that 'no attack happened that night,'' FAS said in a statement.
'What this study demonstrated is that the available intelligence shows that there was no attack. It's a dramatic reversal of the historical record,' Aftergood said..."
...in light of the government's willingness to lie a country into a war 40 years ago, we can see how little things have changed...
George McGovern: Why I Believe Bush Must Go
"As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president...
...Of course, there seems to be little bipartisan support for impeachment. The political scene is marked by narrow and sometimes superficial partisanship, especially among Republicans, and a lack of courage and statesmanship on the part of too many Democratic politicians. So the chances of a bipartisan impeachment and conviction are not promising.
But what are the facts?
Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly 'high crimes and misdemeanors,' to use the constitutional standard.
From the beginning, the Bush-Cheney team's assumption of power was the product of questionable elections that probably should have been officially challenged -- perhaps even by a congressional investigation.
In a more fundamental sense, American democracy has been derailed throughout the Bush-Cheney regime. The dominant commitment of the administration has been a murderous, illegal, nonsensical war against Iraq. That irresponsible venture has killed almost 4,000 Americans, left many times that number mentally or physically crippled, claimed the lives of an estimated 600,000 Iraqis (according to a careful October 2006 study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and laid waste their country. The financial cost to the United States is now $250 million a day and is expected to exceed a total of $1 trillion, most of which we have borrowed from the Chinese and others as our national debt has now climbed above $9 trillion -- by far the highest in our national history..."
Expanding The So-Called War On Terror:
Reading the article below, I am reminded of James Madison's observations on war's effects on liberty.
"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." ['Political Observations' (1795-04-20); also in Letters and Other Writings of James Madison (1865), Vol. IV, p. 491]
NY Times: US Considering New Covert Push Within Pakistan
"President Bush's senior national security advisers are debating whether to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan. The debate is a response to intelligence reports that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are intensifying efforts there to destabilize the Pakistani government, several senior administration officials said..."
Economics:
The very notion of this study will upset the corporatists, and especially growth-a-holics.
I've worked for Executives of this very flavor. Somehow, many ordinary people still believe that a growing GDP necessarily equates to a better life for them. The invalid assumption is that the oligarchs of industry have any desire to share, as the trend in wages vs. corporate profits over the last decade demonstrates.
AFP: Stiglitz says GDP may be poor indicator of economy
"Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel laureate economist tapped to head a new French study, said Tuesday he sees gross domestic product (GDP), the most often cited yardstick, as an imperfect indicator.
Stiglitz, named by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to head a panel to find a new method of economic calculation that will include quality-of-life factors, said the current yardsticks 'only reward governments if they increase materialistic production.'
'If you improve the quality of life, but it doesn't show up in more material consumption, it doesn't show up in GDP, and you'll be criticized,' the US economist told AFP in a phone interview..."
Paul Krugman: From Hype to Fear
"...The November election will take place against that background of economic distress, which ought to be good news for candidates running on a platform of change.
But the opponents of change, those who want to keep the Bush legacy intact, are not without resources. In fact, they’ve already made their standard pivot when things turn bad - the pivot from hype to fear. And in case you haven’t noticed, they’re very, very good at the fear thing.
You see, for 30 years American politics has been dominated by a political movement practicing Robin-Hood-in-reverse, giving unto those that hath while taking from those who don’t. And one secret of that long domination has been a remarkable flexibility in economic debate. The policies never change - but the arguments for these policies turn on a dime.
When the economy is doing reasonably well, the debate is dominated by hype - by the claim that America’s prosperity is truly wondrous, and that conservative economic policies deserve all the credit.
But when things turn down, there is a seamless transition from 'It’s morning in America! Hurray for tax cuts!' to 'The economy is slumping! Raising taxes would be a disaster!'
Thus, until just the other day Bush administration officials were in denial about the economy’s problems. They were still insisting that the economy was strong, and touting the 'Bush boom' - the improvement in the job situation that took place between the summer of 2003 and the end of 2006 - as proof of the efficacy of tax cuts...
...there’s a powerful political faction in this country that understands very well that any real change will create losers as well as winners. In particular, any serious progressive reform of health care, let alone a broader attempt to reduce middle-class insecurity and inequality, will have to mean higher taxes on the affluent. And members of that faction will do whatever it takes to scare people into believing that change means disaster for the economy.
I don’t think they’ll succeed. But it would be a big mistake to assume that they won’t."
The Dail Telegraph (UK) Bush convenes Plunge Protection Team
"Bears beware. The New Deal of 2008 is in the works. The US Treasury is about to shower households with rebate cheques to head off a full-blown slump, and save the Bush presidency. On Friday, Mr Bush convened the so-called Plunge Protection Team for its first known meeting in the Oval Office. The black arts unit - officially the President's Working Group on Financial Markets - was created after the 1987 crash.
It appears to have powers to support the markets in a crisis with a host of instruments, mostly by through buying futures contracts on the stock indexes (DOW, S&P 500, NASDAQ and Russell) and key credit levers. And it has the means to fry 'short' traders in the hottest of oils.
The team is led by Treasury chief Hank Paulson, ex-Goldman Sachs, a man with a nose for market psychology, and includes Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and the key exchange regulators.
Judging by a well-briefed report in the Washington Post, a mood of deep alarm has taken hold in the upper echelons of the administration..."
Hollywood As A Propaganda Machine:
Chalmers Johnson: Imperialist Propaganda - Second Thoughts on 'Charlie Wilson’s War':
"I have some personal knowledge of Congressmen like Charlie Wilson (D-2nd District, Texas, 1973-1996) because, for close to twenty years, my representative in the 50th Congressional District of California was Republican Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, now serving an eight-and-a-half year prison sentence for soliciting and receiving bribes from defense contractors. Wilson and Cunningham held exactly the same plummy committee assignments in the House of Representatives — the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee plus the Intelligence Oversight Committee — from which they could dole out large sums of public money with little or no input from their colleagues or constituents.
Both men flagrantly abused their positions — but with radically different consequences. Cunningham went to jail because he was too stupid to know how to game the system — retire and become a lobbyist — whereas Wilson received the Central Intelligence Agency Clandestine Service’s first 'honored colleague' award ever given to an outsider and went on to become a $360,000 per annum lobbyist for Pakistan.
In a secret ceremony at CIA headquarters on June 9, 1993, James Woolsey, Bill Clinton’s first Director of Central Intelligence and one of the agency’s least competent chiefs in its checkered history, said: 'The defeat and breakup of the Soviet empire is one of the great events of world history. There were many heroes in this battle, but to Charlie Wilson must go a special recognition.' One important part of that recognition, studiously avoided by the CIA and most subsequent American writers on the subject, is that Wilson’s activities in Afghanistan led directly to a chain of blowback that culminated in the attacks of September 11, 2001 and led to the United States’ current status as the most hated nation on Earth...
...if Charlie Wilson’s War is a comedy, it’s the kind that goes over well with a roomful of louts in a college fraternity house. Simply put, it is imperialist propaganda and the tragedy is that four-and-a-half years after we invaded Iraq and destroyed it, such dangerously misleading nonsense is still being offered to a gullible public. The most accurate review so far is James Rocchi’s summing-up for Cinematical: 'Charlie Wilson’s War isn’t just bad history; it feels even more malign, like a conscious attempt to induce amnesia,'."
The Rule of Law:
ABC News: Pentagon Won't Probe KBR Rape Charges
"The Defense Department's top watchdog has declined to investigate allegations that an American woman working under an Army contract in Iraq was raped by her co-workers.
The case of former Halliburton/KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones gained national attention last month. An ABC News investigation revealed how an earlier investigation into Jones' alleged gang-rape in 2005 had not resulted in any prosecution, and that neither Jones nor Democratic and Republican lawmakers have been able to get answers from the Bush administration on the state of her case.
In letters to lawmakers, DoD Inspector General Claude Kicklighter said that because the Justice Department still considers the investigation into Jones' case open, there is no need for him to look into the matter..."
Friday, January 04, 2008
Counting The Votes:
Christopher Bollyn: Israeli defense firm that tallies the Iowa caucus
"...The Iowa caucus is only a few days away and the nation's attention will be directed to the results, which signify the beginning of the U.S. presidential race. But does anyone watch who tallies the results of the Iowa caucus?
The Iowa caucus results were tallied in 2004 by a company that is headed by a man whose company was bought by Elron Electronics, the Israeli defense firm. I suspect that it will be the same this year. Don't expect to see any grassroots political activists doing the tally in Iowa. The Israeli defense establishment takes care of that part of the American 'democratic' election process..."
The So-Called War On Terror As A War On Your Rights:
The Nation: What GWOT Has Wrought
"On September 20, 2001, before a joint session of Congress, President George W. Bush declared, 'Our war on terror begins with Al Qaeda, but it does not end there.... Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.' As it turned out, those fateful words ushered in not a concerted worldwide campaign against militant fundamentalism but a wave of repression felt around the globe. Instead of being a standard-bearer for human rights and civil liberties, the United States lowered the bar, creating secret prisons or 'black sites,' erecting Guantánamo, rationalizing torture and curtailing civil liberties at home.
The US-fashioned 'global war on terror' (GWOT) was then replicated in country after country, adapting to local circumstances to provide rhetorical refuge for tyrants and forsaking democratic principles. As the articles that follow show, the 'war on terror' has been invoked to arrest and torture prodemocracy activists in Egypt, round up street vendors and protesters in El Salvador, rationalize politically motivated assassinations in the Philippines, jail bloggers and censor websites in Thailand and condone military dictatorship in Pakistan. The criminalization of dissent is not new to these places, and it does not always reflect US intervention or security interests. But the 'war on terror' is a new paradigm, and it has proven remarkably versatile and severely damaging. While purporting to protect democracy against its enemies, the 'war on terror' has become one of them."
Christopher Bollyn: Israeli defense firm that tallies the Iowa caucus
"...The Iowa caucus is only a few days away and the nation's attention will be directed to the results, which signify the beginning of the U.S. presidential race. But does anyone watch who tallies the results of the Iowa caucus?
The Iowa caucus results were tallied in 2004 by a company that is headed by a man whose company was bought by Elron Electronics, the Israeli defense firm. I suspect that it will be the same this year. Don't expect to see any grassroots political activists doing the tally in Iowa. The Israeli defense establishment takes care of that part of the American 'democratic' election process..."
The So-Called War On Terror As A War On Your Rights:
The Nation: What GWOT Has Wrought
"On September 20, 2001, before a joint session of Congress, President George W. Bush declared, 'Our war on terror begins with Al Qaeda, but it does not end there.... Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.' As it turned out, those fateful words ushered in not a concerted worldwide campaign against militant fundamentalism but a wave of repression felt around the globe. Instead of being a standard-bearer for human rights and civil liberties, the United States lowered the bar, creating secret prisons or 'black sites,' erecting Guantánamo, rationalizing torture and curtailing civil liberties at home.
The US-fashioned 'global war on terror' (GWOT) was then replicated in country after country, adapting to local circumstances to provide rhetorical refuge for tyrants and forsaking democratic principles. As the articles that follow show, the 'war on terror' has been invoked to arrest and torture prodemocracy activists in Egypt, round up street vendors and protesters in El Salvador, rationalize politically motivated assassinations in the Philippines, jail bloggers and censor websites in Thailand and condone military dictatorship in Pakistan. The criminalization of dissent is not new to these places, and it does not always reflect US intervention or security interests. But the 'war on terror' is a new paradigm, and it has proven remarkably versatile and severely damaging. While purporting to protect democracy against its enemies, the 'war on terror' has become one of them."
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Pakistan:
The Bhutto family has its own legacy of corruption, but this charge is interesting nonetheless, in light of the assassination...
McClatchy Newspapers: Bhutto report: Musharraf planned to fix elections
"NAUDERO, Pakistan — The day she was assassinated last Thursday, Benazir Bhutto had planned to reveal new evidence alleging the involvement of Pakistan's intelligence agencies in rigging the country's upcoming elections, an aide said Monday.
Bhutto had been due to meet U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., to hand over a report charging that the military Inter-Services Intelligence agency was planning to fix the polls in the favor of President Pervez Musharraf..."
Health Care:
Reuters: Free drug samples go to wealthy, insured: U.S. study
"Insured and wealthy Americans are more likely than needy patients to get the billions of dollars in free drug samples distributed by pharmaceutical companies to win patient and doctor loyalty, a study released on Wednesday said.
Free prescription samples are popular with doctors who want to try new drugs, and the pharmaceutical industry contends that such samples also help the low income and the uninsured.
But the study of prescription use of nearly 33,000 U.S. residents during 2003 found the neediest are least likely to get free samples.
'Our findings suggest the free samples serve as a marketing tool, not a safety net,' said Dr. Sarah Cutrona, co-author of the report to be published in the February issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (Phrma), a trade group representing most major drugmakers, in a statement called the study out of date. It said samples were one way to tackle the problem of getting prescription drugs to the estimated 47 million Americans without health insurance.
About $16.4 billion in free drug samples were distributed in the United States in 2004, up from $4.9 billion in 1996, the study said. Samples are nearly always the newest and most expensive prescriptions, according to the report..."
The Bhutto family has its own legacy of corruption, but this charge is interesting nonetheless, in light of the assassination...
McClatchy Newspapers: Bhutto report: Musharraf planned to fix elections
"NAUDERO, Pakistan — The day she was assassinated last Thursday, Benazir Bhutto had planned to reveal new evidence alleging the involvement of Pakistan's intelligence agencies in rigging the country's upcoming elections, an aide said Monday.
Bhutto had been due to meet U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., to hand over a report charging that the military Inter-Services Intelligence agency was planning to fix the polls in the favor of President Pervez Musharraf..."
Health Care:
Reuters: Free drug samples go to wealthy, insured: U.S. study
"Insured and wealthy Americans are more likely than needy patients to get the billions of dollars in free drug samples distributed by pharmaceutical companies to win patient and doctor loyalty, a study released on Wednesday said.
Free prescription samples are popular with doctors who want to try new drugs, and the pharmaceutical industry contends that such samples also help the low income and the uninsured.
But the study of prescription use of nearly 33,000 U.S. residents during 2003 found the neediest are least likely to get free samples.
'Our findings suggest the free samples serve as a marketing tool, not a safety net,' said Dr. Sarah Cutrona, co-author of the report to be published in the February issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (Phrma), a trade group representing most major drugmakers, in a statement called the study out of date. It said samples were one way to tackle the problem of getting prescription drugs to the estimated 47 million Americans without health insurance.
About $16.4 billion in free drug samples were distributed in the United States in 2004, up from $4.9 billion in 1996, the study said. Samples are nearly always the newest and most expensive prescriptions, according to the report..."
