Saturday, April 24, 2004
Encouraging Sign
Voting panel recommending that CA do the right thing and not use Diebold touch-screen voting machines:
SACRAMENTO — California should ban the use of 15,000 touch-screen voting machines made by Diebold Election Systems from the Nov. 2 general election, an advisory panel to Secretary of State Kevin Shelley recommended Thursday.
By an 8-0 vote, the state's Voting Systems and Procedures Panel recommended that Shelley cease the use of the machines, saying that Texas-based Diebold has performed poorly in California and its machines malfunctioned in the state's March 2 primary election, turning away many voters in San Diego County
(...)
Panel member Marc Carrel, an assistant secretary of state, said he was "disgusted" by Diebold, which has "been jerking us around." The company, he said, has disenfranchised voters in California and undermined confidence in the new and developing technology of touch-screen voting...
(...)
The secretary of state's investigative report of the March 2 elections found that 573 of 1,038 polling places in San Diego County failed to open on time because Diebold voting machines malfunctioned. Voters were told to come back later or try voting at the county's elections headquarters.
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Voting panel recommending that CA do the right thing and not use Diebold touch-screen voting machines:
SACRAMENTO — California should ban the use of 15,000 touch-screen voting machines made by Diebold Election Systems from the Nov. 2 general election, an advisory panel to Secretary of State Kevin Shelley recommended Thursday.
By an 8-0 vote, the state's Voting Systems and Procedures Panel recommended that Shelley cease the use of the machines, saying that Texas-based Diebold has performed poorly in California and its machines malfunctioned in the state's March 2 primary election, turning away many voters in San Diego County
(...)
Panel member Marc Carrel, an assistant secretary of state, said he was "disgusted" by Diebold, which has "been jerking us around." The company, he said, has disenfranchised voters in California and undermined confidence in the new and developing technology of touch-screen voting...
(...)
The secretary of state's investigative report of the March 2 elections found that 573 of 1,038 polling places in San Diego County failed to open on time because Diebold voting machines malfunctioned. Voters were told to come back later or try voting at the county's elections headquarters.
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Our Heroes
We know how the Bush Administration feels about publishing the photos of our returning fallen soldiers:
..."'America knows full well that our men and women are serving and serving brilliantly both in Iraq and around the world. ... America is aware this is a war against terrorism,' Bush spokesman Trent Duffy said. But, he said, 'The message is, the sensitivity and privacy of families of the fallen must be the first priority.'"...
But it isn't their children being shipped home in flag-draped boxes.
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We know how the Bush Administration feels about publishing the photos of our returning fallen soldiers:
..."'America knows full well that our men and women are serving and serving brilliantly both in Iraq and around the world. ... America is aware this is a war against terrorism,' Bush spokesman Trent Duffy said. But, he said, 'The message is, the sensitivity and privacy of families of the fallen must be the first priority.'"...
But it isn't their children being shipped home in flag-draped boxes.
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Friday, April 23, 2004
Pat Tillman
I remember reading this 1997 article in Sports Illustrated. I'm happy they reposted it:
"As a senior safety-tailback-kick returner at Leland High in San Jose, Tillman so detested leaving the field that once, after his coach pulled the starters at halftime of a first-round playoff romp, he took the field for the second-half kickoff and ran it back for a touchdown. The coach, Terry Hardtke, confiscated Tillman's helmet and shoulder pads and put them under a bench lest Tillman get the urge to score again. One month later, on his recruiting visit to Arizona State, one of three Division I-A schools willing to risk a scholarship on a 5'11', 195-pounder classified by many college coaches as a too-slow, too-small tweener, Tillman was asked by Sun Devils coach Bruce Snyder what he thought of the recruiting process. 'It stinks,' Tillman shot back. 'Nobody tells the truth.'
Taken aback, Snyder filed the comment away. He remembered it the following August when he sat Tillman down to discuss--as he does with all freshmen -- the concept of redshirting. 'I'm not redshirting,' Tillman said. 'I've got things to do with my life. You can do whatever you want with me, but in four years, I'm gone.' Snyder thought, This kid is different."
Pat Tillman was always a man. He died at the age of 27.
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I remember reading this 1997 article in Sports Illustrated. I'm happy they reposted it:
"As a senior safety-tailback-kick returner at Leland High in San Jose, Tillman so detested leaving the field that once, after his coach pulled the starters at halftime of a first-round playoff romp, he took the field for the second-half kickoff and ran it back for a touchdown. The coach, Terry Hardtke, confiscated Tillman's helmet and shoulder pads and put them under a bench lest Tillman get the urge to score again. One month later, on his recruiting visit to Arizona State, one of three Division I-A schools willing to risk a scholarship on a 5'11', 195-pounder classified by many college coaches as a too-slow, too-small tweener, Tillman was asked by Sun Devils coach Bruce Snyder what he thought of the recruiting process. 'It stinks,' Tillman shot back. 'Nobody tells the truth.'
Taken aback, Snyder filed the comment away. He remembered it the following August when he sat Tillman down to discuss--as he does with all freshmen -- the concept of redshirting. 'I'm not redshirting,' Tillman said. 'I've got things to do with my life. You can do whatever you want with me, but in four years, I'm gone.' Snyder thought, This kid is different."
Pat Tillman was always a man. He died at the age of 27.
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Pat Tillman Killed
Former NFL player Pat Tillman was just killed in Afghanistan. Tillman turned down a multi-million dollar contract last year to represent his country. Voluntarily.
A true patriot. More soon.
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Former NFL player Pat Tillman was just killed in Afghanistan. Tillman turned down a multi-million dollar contract last year to represent his country. Voluntarily.
A true patriot. More soon.
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Krugman
Must read.
..."More important, the 'Marketplace' report confirms what is being widely reported: that the common view in Iraq is that members of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council are using their positions to enrich themselves, and that U.S. companies are doing the same. President Bush's idealistic language may be persuasive to Americans, but many Iraqis see U.S. forces as there to back a corrupt regime, not democracy"
Now what? There's a growing sense of foreboding, even panic, about Iraq among national security experts. "This is an extremely uncertain struggle," says Mr. Cordesman, who, to his credit, also says the unsayable: we may not be able to "stay the course." But yesterday Condoleezza Rice gave Republican lawmakers what Senator Rick Santorum called "a very upbeat report."
That's very bad news. The mess in Iraq was created by officials who believed what they wanted to believe, and ignored awkward facts. It seems they have learned nothing.
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Must read.
..."More important, the 'Marketplace' report confirms what is being widely reported: that the common view in Iraq is that members of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council are using their positions to enrich themselves, and that U.S. companies are doing the same. President Bush's idealistic language may be persuasive to Americans, but many Iraqis see U.S. forces as there to back a corrupt regime, not democracy"
Now what? There's a growing sense of foreboding, even panic, about Iraq among national security experts. "This is an extremely uncertain struggle," says Mr. Cordesman, who, to his credit, also says the unsayable: we may not be able to "stay the course." But yesterday Condoleezza Rice gave Republican lawmakers what Senator Rick Santorum called "a very upbeat report."
That's very bad news. The mess in Iraq was created by officials who believed what they wanted to believe, and ignored awkward facts. It seems they have learned nothing.
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Thursday, April 22, 2004
GOP Congessmen angry at WH
It turns out the White House is playing politics with (much needed) funding for Iraq. This is my favorite quote:
Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., said the Army had told his subcommittee that it had nearly $6 billion in unfunded budget requests. "I think the budget request that is provided to us is short-sighted and, in the case of the Army, I think it is outrageous," Weldon said.
And that's a Republican speaking.
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It turns out the White House is playing politics with (much needed) funding for Iraq. This is my favorite quote:
Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., said the Army had told his subcommittee that it had nearly $6 billion in unfunded budget requests. "I think the budget request that is provided to us is short-sighted and, in the case of the Army, I think it is outrageous," Weldon said.
And that's a Republican speaking.
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Voting Problems Still Unsolved
The problems of the 2000 Presidential election are far from being solved according to a new study from the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights. Some details:
...The commission's criticisms focused on the failure to implement President George Bush's Help America Vote Act (Hava), passed in October 2002, which promised $4bn (£2.3bn) to help states overhaul antiquated voting machinery - notably the notorious punchcard devices that caused so much trouble in Florida - and sought to set up a nationwide system of provisional voting for people who believe they have a right to vote but find themselves omitted from the official list.
(...)
Almost half of the states have requested exemptions from updating their voting equipment, and 41 out of 50 have requested extensions until 2006 to consolidate voter registration lists at state level so they can more easily be checked for accuracy. "It will be difficult if not impossible for states to build the necessary election infrastructure by November," it concluded.
The commission report can only heighten the anxieties of an electorate already alarmed by a growing controversy over touchscreen voting machines being introduced - with Hava money - in many parts of the South and West. The machines make meaningful recounts impossible and rely on software developed by companies with strong ties to President Bush and his Republican Party. California is expected to decide this week whether to decertify its touchscreen machines.
The debate over the health of America's electoral procedures is turning into a partisan fight, with Republicans dismissing the concerns as Democratic politicking unworthy of serious examination. When the Commission on Civil Rights convened an expert panel in Washington this month to discuss its report, the Republican Party delegation walked out before the proceedings began, one panel participant, Rebecca Mercuri, a Harvard University voting machinery expert, said.
Perhaps I'm just wasting my breath here, going on about the direction our country is headed. What if the "electoral process" is a sham and Diebold has voting machines in States that will swing the election to Bush, regardless of actual ballot counts? I keep telling myself that there is no conspiracy that big. And then I read this and feel helpless again.
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The problems of the 2000 Presidential election are far from being solved according to a new study from the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights. Some details:
...The commission's criticisms focused on the failure to implement President George Bush's Help America Vote Act (Hava), passed in October 2002, which promised $4bn (£2.3bn) to help states overhaul antiquated voting machinery - notably the notorious punchcard devices that caused so much trouble in Florida - and sought to set up a nationwide system of provisional voting for people who believe they have a right to vote but find themselves omitted from the official list.
(...)
Almost half of the states have requested exemptions from updating their voting equipment, and 41 out of 50 have requested extensions until 2006 to consolidate voter registration lists at state level so they can more easily be checked for accuracy. "It will be difficult if not impossible for states to build the necessary election infrastructure by November," it concluded.
The commission report can only heighten the anxieties of an electorate already alarmed by a growing controversy over touchscreen voting machines being introduced - with Hava money - in many parts of the South and West. The machines make meaningful recounts impossible and rely on software developed by companies with strong ties to President Bush and his Republican Party. California is expected to decide this week whether to decertify its touchscreen machines.
The debate over the health of America's electoral procedures is turning into a partisan fight, with Republicans dismissing the concerns as Democratic politicking unworthy of serious examination. When the Commission on Civil Rights convened an expert panel in Washington this month to discuss its report, the Republican Party delegation walked out before the proceedings began, one panel participant, Rebecca Mercuri, a Harvard University voting machinery expert, said.
Perhaps I'm just wasting my breath here, going on about the direction our country is headed. What if the "electoral process" is a sham and Diebold has voting machines in States that will swing the election to Bush, regardless of actual ballot counts? I keep telling myself that there is no conspiracy that big. And then I read this and feel helpless again.
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Bush: Iran Will be Dealt With
From today's WaPo:
"President Bush told newspaper editors in Washington yesterday that Iran 'will be dealt with, starting through the United Nations' if it does not stop developing nuclear weapons and begin total cooperation with international inspectors.
Bush said he will encourage allies to insist to the Iranians that they live up to commitments to cooperate with U.N. inspectors and end any enriching and reprocessing of uranium.
'The Iranians need to feel the pressure from the world that any nuclear weapons program will be uniformly condemned -- it's essential that they hear that message,' he said. 'The development of a nuclear weapon in Iran is intolerable, and a program is intolerable. . . . Otherwise, they will be dealt with, starting through the United Nations.' "...
"Nucular" weapons. Check.
Cooperation with inspectors. Check.
Outside pressure. Check.
Sound familiar? When I read stuff like this I want to print and save it. It would be nice to refer to it after we go to war with Iran and we find that their weapons cache is as fortified as Iraq's.
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From today's WaPo:
"President Bush told newspaper editors in Washington yesterday that Iran 'will be dealt with, starting through the United Nations' if it does not stop developing nuclear weapons and begin total cooperation with international inspectors.
Bush said he will encourage allies to insist to the Iranians that they live up to commitments to cooperate with U.N. inspectors and end any enriching and reprocessing of uranium.
'The Iranians need to feel the pressure from the world that any nuclear weapons program will be uniformly condemned -- it's essential that they hear that message,' he said. 'The development of a nuclear weapon in Iran is intolerable, and a program is intolerable. . . . Otherwise, they will be dealt with, starting through the United Nations.' "...
"Nucular" weapons. Check.
Cooperation with inspectors. Check.
Outside pressure. Check.
Sound familiar? When I read stuff like this I want to print and save it. It would be nice to refer to it after we go to war with Iran and we find that their weapons cache is as fortified as Iraq's.
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Earth Day
Our President has a habit of bowing to big business at the expense of the environment and our natural resources. Here's a list of his 2004 "accomplishments", to date. Courtesy of the National Resources Defense Council:
April
Bush budget cuts lead poisoning prevention funding (04/11/04)
White House altered scientific findings on mercury threat (04/07/04)
Pentagon again seeking immunity from environmental laws (04/06/04)
Investigator resigns in protest over Interior's cheating Native Americans out of energy royalties (04/06/04)
Mining company gets price break on federal land (04/02/04)
March
Court orders Energy Department to release more Cheney task force records (03/31/04)
EPA chief Leavitt failing to lay down the law (03/31/04)
Yellowstone bison slaughtered to please ranchers (03/31/04)
EPA letting Clean Water Act violators off the hook (03/30/04)
EPA uses utility company memos to craft controversial mercury policy (03/30/04)
Interior Dept. defends loosening of ESA import ban (03/29/04)
Montreal Protocol shirked for U.S. pesticide interests (03/26/04)
Army Corps bends to pressure on Missouri River (03/26/04)
February
More drilling slated for Padre Island (02/27/04)
DOE holds nuke cleanup funds hostage (02/26/04)
More industry materials borrowed by EPA for its mercury rule (02/26/04)
Missouri River management plan ignores fish protections (02/26/04)
Fish and Wildlife Service gives sucker fish a break (02/25/04)
Bush cuts funding for endangered species (02/25/04)
Federal mining whistleblower silenced, demoted (02/24/04)
Get the lead out: EPA fails to protect D.C. drinking water (02/23/04)
January
EPA's mercury pollution plan mirrors industry's recommendations (01/30/04)
Bush administration leaves nuclear plant safety up to contractors (01/29/04)
Energy Department promoting carbon sequestration (01/27/04)
White House wants to let EPA ignore pesticide consultations (01/27/04)
EPA touts new, cleaner cars (01/26/04)
White House offers small funding boost for Northwest salmon recovery (01/26/04)
Forest Service to boost logging in Appalachian forests (01/23/04)
Forest Service drops "survey and manage" rule for loggers (01/23/04)
Links for all of these atrocities at the NRDC web site.
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Our President has a habit of bowing to big business at the expense of the environment and our natural resources. Here's a list of his 2004 "accomplishments", to date. Courtesy of the National Resources Defense Council:
April
Bush budget cuts lead poisoning prevention funding (04/11/04)
White House altered scientific findings on mercury threat (04/07/04)
Pentagon again seeking immunity from environmental laws (04/06/04)
Investigator resigns in protest over Interior's cheating Native Americans out of energy royalties (04/06/04)
Mining company gets price break on federal land (04/02/04)
March
Court orders Energy Department to release more Cheney task force records (03/31/04)
EPA chief Leavitt failing to lay down the law (03/31/04)
Yellowstone bison slaughtered to please ranchers (03/31/04)
EPA letting Clean Water Act violators off the hook (03/30/04)
EPA uses utility company memos to craft controversial mercury policy (03/30/04)
Interior Dept. defends loosening of ESA import ban (03/29/04)
Montreal Protocol shirked for U.S. pesticide interests (03/26/04)
Army Corps bends to pressure on Missouri River (03/26/04)
February
More drilling slated for Padre Island (02/27/04)
DOE holds nuke cleanup funds hostage (02/26/04)
More industry materials borrowed by EPA for its mercury rule (02/26/04)
Missouri River management plan ignores fish protections (02/26/04)
Fish and Wildlife Service gives sucker fish a break (02/25/04)
Bush cuts funding for endangered species (02/25/04)
Federal mining whistleblower silenced, demoted (02/24/04)
Get the lead out: EPA fails to protect D.C. drinking water (02/23/04)
January
EPA's mercury pollution plan mirrors industry's recommendations (01/30/04)
Bush administration leaves nuclear plant safety up to contractors (01/29/04)
Energy Department promoting carbon sequestration (01/27/04)
White House wants to let EPA ignore pesticide consultations (01/27/04)
EPA touts new, cleaner cars (01/26/04)
White House offers small funding boost for Northwest salmon recovery (01/26/04)
Forest Service to boost logging in Appalachian forests (01/23/04)
Forest Service drops "survey and manage" rule for loggers (01/23/04)
Links for all of these atrocities at the NRDC web site.
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Pentagon Deleted Rumsfeld Comment on Web Site
From today's Washington Post. Page A-1:
The Pentagon deleted from a public transcript a statement Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made to author Bob Woodward suggesting that the administration gave Saudi Arabia a two-month heads-up that President Bush had decided to invade Iraq.
At issue was a passage in Woodward's "Plan of Attack," an account published this week of Bush's decision making about the war, quoting Rumsfeld as telling Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, in January 2003 that he could "take that to the bank" that the invasion would happen.
The comment came in a key moment in the run-up to the war, when Rumsfeld and other officials were briefing Bandar on a military plan to attack and invade Iraq, and pointing to a top-secret map that showed how the war plan would unfold. The book reports that the meeting with Bandar was held on Jan. 11, 2003, in Vice President Cheney's West Wing office. Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also attended.
I think someone may be trying to hide the truth.
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From today's Washington Post. Page A-1:
The Pentagon deleted from a public transcript a statement Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made to author Bob Woodward suggesting that the administration gave Saudi Arabia a two-month heads-up that President Bush had decided to invade Iraq.
At issue was a passage in Woodward's "Plan of Attack," an account published this week of Bush's decision making about the war, quoting Rumsfeld as telling Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, in January 2003 that he could "take that to the bank" that the invasion would happen.
The comment came in a key moment in the run-up to the war, when Rumsfeld and other officials were briefing Bandar on a military plan to attack and invade Iraq, and pointing to a top-secret map that showed how the war plan would unfold. The book reports that the meeting with Bandar was held on Jan. 11, 2003, in Vice President Cheney's West Wing office. Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also attended.
I think someone may be trying to hide the truth.
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Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Krugman on Air America Radio
A nice quote from Scoobie Davis Online:
I heard the Paul Krugman interview on Air America’s Morning Sedition last week. A caller asked Krugman why Clinton was investigated from the begining of his presidency to the end and George W. Bush has received little scrutiny. Krugman summed it up succinctly:
The short answer is “Yes Virginia, there is a vast right wing conspiracy.”
[Laughter from hosts]
The Clinton scandals--none of them, except for Monica—was there anything to it. And it was this constant era of scandal that was fomented by a network of think tanks, publications—of which were funded by a handful of angry and personally dysfunctional billionaires. And that’s basically what happened and the media fell for it and continue to circulate it. . . So that’s what happened to Clinton and the same machinery is now turned not against the man in the White House but against anyone who criticizes the man in the White House and that’s the big difference between the two."
Doesn't that make you feel better? Me neither.
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A nice quote from Scoobie Davis Online:
I heard the Paul Krugman interview on Air America’s Morning Sedition last week. A caller asked Krugman why Clinton was investigated from the begining of his presidency to the end and George W. Bush has received little scrutiny. Krugman summed it up succinctly:
The short answer is “Yes Virginia, there is a vast right wing conspiracy.”
[Laughter from hosts]
The Clinton scandals--none of them, except for Monica—was there anything to it. And it was this constant era of scandal that was fomented by a network of think tanks, publications—of which were funded by a handful of angry and personally dysfunctional billionaires. And that’s basically what happened and the media fell for it and continue to circulate it. . . So that’s what happened to Clinton and the same machinery is now turned not against the man in the White House but against anyone who criticizes the man in the White House and that’s the big difference between the two."
Doesn't that make you feel better? Me neither.
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Military Record: Kerry vs. Bush
And the GOP wants to raise this issue? Excellent comparison by Kos.
I think we haven't heard the last of W's military "career".
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And the GOP wants to raise this issue? Excellent comparison by Kos.
I think we haven't heard the last of W's military "career".
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Bush Speech
Through the power of the internet, you can now do your own Bush TV address at this web site. Fun for the whole family.
Until the RNC shuts it down.
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Through the power of the internet, you can now do your own Bush TV address at this web site. Fun for the whole family.
Until the RNC shuts it down.
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Poland is Next
Spain, Honduras and the Dominican Republic have signalled they will withdraw their troops from Iraq within the coming month. Next is Poland:
A senior adviser to the Polish government confirmed to The Irish Times that Warsaw's decision had been influenced by the Spanish move. "Given the circumstances [in Iraq], we will probably diminish significantly the forces at the end of 2004," said Prof Tadeusz Iwinski, secretary of state for international affairs in the office of the prime minister.
I don't think we'll be seeing Polish President, Mr Aleksander Kwasniewski in Crawford anytime soon.
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Spain, Honduras and the Dominican Republic have signalled they will withdraw their troops from Iraq within the coming month. Next is Poland:
A senior adviser to the Polish government confirmed to The Irish Times that Warsaw's decision had been influenced by the Spanish move. "Given the circumstances [in Iraq], we will probably diminish significantly the forces at the end of 2004," said Prof Tadeusz Iwinski, secretary of state for international affairs in the office of the prime minister.
I don't think we'll be seeing Polish President, Mr Aleksander Kwasniewski in Crawford anytime soon.
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Nancy Pelosi Goes on the Offensive
Hopefully we have more than just a Minority Leader here:
“The Bush administration has gone about the transfer of sovereignty precisely backward. Instead of fostering a legitimate government and choosing a date to transfer sovereignty, the administration picked a date off the calendar without any idea who the new government would be,” according to an advance copy of the speech.
Elsewhere, her indictment will be more explicit in its criticism of Bush.
“It is ironic that in a nation obsessed with reality television, we have a president who is increasingly divorced from reality. The president’s resolve may be firm, but his lack of an effective plan for Iraq’s security and stability has been fatal,” Pelosi will say.
Pelosi’s concerns seemed to be widespread in the caucus, and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) also stepped up his criticism in response to the April casualties.
“There were 87 deaths in the first 15 days of the month, which as of April 20 is 101,” Hoyer told reporters.
He added, “As someone who supported the mission, and still believes the mission is a positive one, I have been very disappointed with the management by this administration of this effort from the fall, when General Shinseki indicated he needed to maintain at least 200,000 troops. There is no doubt that he was correct.”
Is anyone listening?
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Hopefully we have more than just a Minority Leader here:
“The Bush administration has gone about the transfer of sovereignty precisely backward. Instead of fostering a legitimate government and choosing a date to transfer sovereignty, the administration picked a date off the calendar without any idea who the new government would be,” according to an advance copy of the speech.
Elsewhere, her indictment will be more explicit in its criticism of Bush.
“It is ironic that in a nation obsessed with reality television, we have a president who is increasingly divorced from reality. The president’s resolve may be firm, but his lack of an effective plan for Iraq’s security and stability has been fatal,” Pelosi will say.
Pelosi’s concerns seemed to be widespread in the caucus, and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) also stepped up his criticism in response to the April casualties.
“There were 87 deaths in the first 15 days of the month, which as of April 20 is 101,” Hoyer told reporters.
He added, “As someone who supported the mission, and still believes the mission is a positive one, I have been very disappointed with the management by this administration of this effort from the fall, when General Shinseki indicated he needed to maintain at least 200,000 troops. There is no doubt that he was correct.”
Is anyone listening?
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Tuesday, April 20, 2004
One Way to Clear a Room
What turned out to be the last question at today's Gaggle:
Question: Scott, Senator McCain is calling for congressional hearings on the $700 million that Woodward alleges was diverted from Afghanistan to Iraq. What's your position on hearings?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think the Department of Defense briefed on that yesterday, and pointed out that that simply was not the case. Congress was kept informed and the funding, the emergency funding from the -- the emergency funding gave the Pentagon broad discretion in how funds were used. And they also pointed out that the funding specifically for Iraq came after the resolution that Congress passed. And Congress was kept fully informed of the funding.
We've got to go. Thanks.
Hold that thought. We'll evade it tomorrow.
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What turned out to be the last question at today's Gaggle:
Question: Scott, Senator McCain is calling for congressional hearings on the $700 million that Woodward alleges was diverted from Afghanistan to Iraq. What's your position on hearings?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think the Department of Defense briefed on that yesterday, and pointed out that that simply was not the case. Congress was kept informed and the funding, the emergency funding from the -- the emergency funding gave the Pentagon broad discretion in how funds were used. And they also pointed out that the funding specifically for Iraq came after the resolution that Congress passed. And Congress was kept fully informed of the funding.
We've got to go. Thanks.
Hold that thought. We'll evade it tomorrow.
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April is the Bloodiest Month
We suffered April's 100th U.S. Combat Death today.
That's an average of five a day if you're scoring at home.
From the President's Prime Time Press Conference:
Question: After 9/11, what would your biggest mistake be, would you say, and what lessons have you learned from it?
President Bush: I wish you would have given me this written question ahead of time, so I could plan for it. (Laughter.) John, I'm sure historians will look back and say, gosh, he could have done it better this way, or that way. You know, I just -- I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer, but it hadn't yet.
I would have gone into Afghanistan the way we went into Afghanistan. Even knowing what I know today about the stockpiles of weapons, I still would have called upon the world to deal with Saddam Hussein. See, I happen to believe that we'll find out the truth on the weapons. That's why we've sent up the independent commission. I look forward to hearing the truth, exactly where they are. They could still be there. They could be hidden, like the 50 tons of mustard gas in a turkey farm.
I think we should try to vote the President out of office.
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We suffered April's 100th U.S. Combat Death today.
That's an average of five a day if you're scoring at home.
From the President's Prime Time Press Conference:
Question: After 9/11, what would your biggest mistake be, would you say, and what lessons have you learned from it?
President Bush: I wish you would have given me this written question ahead of time, so I could plan for it. (Laughter.) John, I'm sure historians will look back and say, gosh, he could have done it better this way, or that way. You know, I just -- I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer, but it hadn't yet.
I would have gone into Afghanistan the way we went into Afghanistan. Even knowing what I know today about the stockpiles of weapons, I still would have called upon the world to deal with Saddam Hussein. See, I happen to believe that we'll find out the truth on the weapons. That's why we've sent up the independent commission. I look forward to hearing the truth, exactly where they are. They could still be there. They could be hidden, like the 50 tons of mustard gas in a turkey farm.
I think we should try to vote the President out of office.
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Ominous
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak speaks plainly::
..."Today there is hatred of the Americans like never before in the region," he said in an interview given during a stay in France, where he met President Jacques Chirac Monday.
He blamed the hostility partly on U.S. support for Israel, which assassinated Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in a missile strike in the Gaza Strip Saturday weeks after killing his predecessor, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
"At the start some considered the Americans were helping them. There was no hatred of the Americans. After what has happened in Iraq, there is unprecedented hatred and the Americans know it," Mubarak said.
"People have a feeling of injustice. What's more, they see (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon acting as he pleases, without the Americans saying anything. He assassinates people who don't have the planes and helicopters that he has."
Should we be surprised?
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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak speaks plainly::
..."Today there is hatred of the Americans like never before in the region," he said in an interview given during a stay in France, where he met President Jacques Chirac Monday.
He blamed the hostility partly on U.S. support for Israel, which assassinated Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in a missile strike in the Gaza Strip Saturday weeks after killing his predecessor, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
"At the start some considered the Americans were helping them. There was no hatred of the Americans. After what has happened in Iraq, there is unprecedented hatred and the Americans know it," Mubarak said.
"People have a feeling of injustice. What's more, they see (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon acting as he pleases, without the Americans saying anything. He assassinates people who don't have the planes and helicopters that he has."
Should we be surprised?
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Irony
It's funny how our foreign policies are uniting people who've hated each other for thousands of years while at the same time dividing the citizens here.
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It's funny how our foreign policies are uniting people who've hated each other for thousands of years while at the same time dividing the citizens here.
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Worst Song Ever
As determined by Blender magazine:
We Built This City by Starship
I don't know about the worst song, but it definitely gets stuck in your head if you sing a few bars.
Give it a try.
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As determined by Blender magazine:
We Built This City by Starship
I don't know about the worst song, but it definitely gets stuck in your head if you sing a few bars.
Give it a try.
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Big Series for the Phils
The World Champion Florida Marlins come to town tonight for a key early season match-up. The Phillies have lost 15 of the last 17 to the Fish and are hoping to increase their four game winning streak. Dontrelle Willis (2-0, 0.00) goes for Florida tonight, batting 1.000 for the season (6-6) against Vicente Padilla (0-1 4.91) for the Phillies. Philadelphia needs at least two from them to erase the bad memories of the stretch run last season and to avoid letting them get further into our heads. After this three-game set we don't play them again until late-July.
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The World Champion Florida Marlins come to town tonight for a key early season match-up. The Phillies have lost 15 of the last 17 to the Fish and are hoping to increase their four game winning streak. Dontrelle Willis (2-0, 0.00) goes for Florida tonight, batting 1.000 for the season (6-6) against Vicente Padilla (0-1 4.91) for the Phillies. Philadelphia needs at least two from them to erase the bad memories of the stretch run last season and to avoid letting them get further into our heads. After this three-game set we don't play them again until late-July.
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Fables of the Reconstruction
This article by Jason Vest details a memo circulated to CPA officials that is damning of the work we're now doing in Iraq.
The first two grafs:
As the situation in Iraq grows ever more tenuous, the Bush administration continues to spin the ominous news with matter-of-fact optimism. According to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Iraqi uprisings in half a dozen cities, accompanied by the deaths of more than 100 soldiers in the month of April alone, is something to be viewed in the context of "good days and bad days," merely "a moment in Iraq's path towards a free and democratic system." More recently, the president himself asserted, "Our coalition is standing with responsible Iraqi leaders as they establish growing authority in their country."
But according to a closely held Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) memo written in early March, the reality isn't so rosy. Iraq's chances of seeing democracy succeed, according to the memo's author—a U.S. government official detailed to the CPA, who wrote this summation of observations he'd made in the field for a senior CPA director—have been severely imperiled by a year's worth of serious errors on the part of the Pentagon and the CPA, the U.S.-led multinational agency administering Iraq. Far from facilitating democracy and security, the memo's author fears, U.S. efforts have created an environment rife with corruption and sectarianism likely to result in civil war.
Read the whole thing. It sounds like Civil War could be on the horizon.
UPDATE: From Kos; Rumor has it that the author is Michael Rubin, card-carryng neoconservative and "scholar" at the American Enterprise Institute. Working out of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, he is a staff adviser for Iran and Iraq and a member of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. He is also an Iraq adviser for the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans.
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This article by Jason Vest details a memo circulated to CPA officials that is damning of the work we're now doing in Iraq.
The first two grafs:
As the situation in Iraq grows ever more tenuous, the Bush administration continues to spin the ominous news with matter-of-fact optimism. According to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Iraqi uprisings in half a dozen cities, accompanied by the deaths of more than 100 soldiers in the month of April alone, is something to be viewed in the context of "good days and bad days," merely "a moment in Iraq's path towards a free and democratic system." More recently, the president himself asserted, "Our coalition is standing with responsible Iraqi leaders as they establish growing authority in their country."
But according to a closely held Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) memo written in early March, the reality isn't so rosy. Iraq's chances of seeing democracy succeed, according to the memo's author—a U.S. government official detailed to the CPA, who wrote this summation of observations he'd made in the field for a senior CPA director—have been severely imperiled by a year's worth of serious errors on the part of the Pentagon and the CPA, the U.S.-led multinational agency administering Iraq. Far from facilitating democracy and security, the memo's author fears, U.S. efforts have created an environment rife with corruption and sectarianism likely to result in civil war.
Read the whole thing. It sounds like Civil War could be on the horizon.
UPDATE: From Kos; Rumor has it that the author is Michael Rubin, card-carryng neoconservative and "scholar" at the American Enterprise Institute. Working out of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, he is a staff adviser for Iran and Iraq and a member of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. He is also an Iraq adviser for the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans.
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Cut 'n Run Nader
Toolbox.
"WASHINGTON - Ralph Nader, the independent presidential hopeful, called Monday for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq in six months.
Nader, who has sounded an anti-war theme since announcing his candidacy in February, laid out a three-point plan for withdrawal. He said he would:
• Create an international peacekeeping force under United Nations auspices.
• Promote Iraqi self-rule through independent elections.
• Provide humanitarian aid to stabilize the country.
``How do you separate the mainstream Iraqis from the insurgents when the mainstream Iraqis now are increasingly opposed to our presence there and increasingly, quietly or otherwise, supporting the insurgents?'' Nader asked.
``The way you do it is you declare you are getting out,'' he said."
Hey everyone! Pay attention to me! I'm running for President!
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Toolbox.
"WASHINGTON - Ralph Nader, the independent presidential hopeful, called Monday for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq in six months.
Nader, who has sounded an anti-war theme since announcing his candidacy in February, laid out a three-point plan for withdrawal. He said he would:
• Create an international peacekeeping force under United Nations auspices.
• Promote Iraqi self-rule through independent elections.
• Provide humanitarian aid to stabilize the country.
``How do you separate the mainstream Iraqis from the insurgents when the mainstream Iraqis now are increasingly opposed to our presence there and increasingly, quietly or otherwise, supporting the insurgents?'' Nader asked.
``The way you do it is you declare you are getting out,'' he said."
Hey everyone! Pay attention to me! I'm running for President!
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Shocker Coming?
From Editor and Publisher
"NEW YORK In an unusual move for the organization, the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) will release what it promises will be a bombshell article related to the Iraq conflict at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday. It will be made available free of charge for publication on all AAN-member Web sites, as well as for print, and more than 60 members papers have expressed interest in using it, according to Executive Director Richard Karpel."
I'll post excerpts upon release.
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From Editor and Publisher
"NEW YORK In an unusual move for the organization, the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) will release what it promises will be a bombshell article related to the Iraq conflict at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday. It will be made available free of charge for publication on all AAN-member Web sites, as well as for print, and more than 60 members papers have expressed interest in using it, according to Executive Director Richard Karpel."
I'll post excerpts upon release.
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Monday, April 19, 2004
Fantastic Combination
Dry wit and politics. Sweet!
The following is an example of art as crafted by Tom Burka at his site; Opinions You Should Have
I suspect we will.
"American Idol Viewers Vote President Off Show
Fans of the Fox television show 'American Idol' tuned in last night and voted immediately and resoundingly to bounce the President from the show.
'It was a one-note performance,' said Terry Ackerly of Dented Fender, New Mexico.
Bush performed 'Stay the Course,' but, according to some fans, was only capable of repeating the same tired phrases in a jerky, halting manner.
'Sometimes it looked like he had totally forgotten the words,' said Ackerly.
Simon Cowell was particularly harsh. 'I don't know why you think you have a chance in this business,' he told Bush, and called it 'perhaps the worst performance of Elton John I have ever witnessed.'
Randy Jackson said that he was 'disappointed' but that 'the vocals weren't there,' and added that the President 'didn't connect with him.' Paula Abdul told the President that 'she really liked his tie,' but that sometimes he was 'awfully smirky and a little pitchy.'
'You could be fresher and more sincere,' said Abdul."
Go take a look and concentrate on not horking your beverage all over your keyboard.
Thanks to tbogg for pointing us in this direction.
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Dry wit and politics. Sweet!
The following is an example of art as crafted by Tom Burka at his site; Opinions You Should Have
I suspect we will.
"American Idol Viewers Vote President Off Show
Fans of the Fox television show 'American Idol' tuned in last night and voted immediately and resoundingly to bounce the President from the show.
'It was a one-note performance,' said Terry Ackerly of Dented Fender, New Mexico.
Bush performed 'Stay the Course,' but, according to some fans, was only capable of repeating the same tired phrases in a jerky, halting manner.
'Sometimes it looked like he had totally forgotten the words,' said Ackerly.
Simon Cowell was particularly harsh. 'I don't know why you think you have a chance in this business,' he told Bush, and called it 'perhaps the worst performance of Elton John I have ever witnessed.'
Randy Jackson said that he was 'disappointed' but that 'the vocals weren't there,' and added that the President 'didn't connect with him.' Paula Abdul told the President that 'she really liked his tie,' but that sometimes he was 'awfully smirky and a little pitchy.'
'You could be fresher and more sincere,' said Abdul."
Go take a look and concentrate on not horking your beverage all over your keyboard.
Thanks to tbogg for pointing us in this direction.
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Blair's Not Toeing the Company Line
If he's not careful, he won't get any more trips to Crawford:
"Tony Blair distanced himself from Washington yesterday by pointedly condemning the Israeli assassination of the Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz Rantissi, at the weekend.
George Bush's administration refused to criticise the killing and said Israel had a right of self-defence.
Mr Blair told parliament: 'We condemn the targeted assassination of Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al Rantissi just as we condemn all terrorism including that perpetrated by Hamas.' While Mr Blair in the past has been quick to condemn Palestinian suicide bombings against Israel, he has been less ready to criticise action against Palestinians.
What makes Mr Blair's intervention even more stark is that it is made on behalf of the leader of an organisation that has launched hundreds of suicide attacks against Israel over the last four years."
Mr Blair could easily have opted, as he has done in the past, to have left the criticism to the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, who at the weekend condemned the assassination.
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If he's not careful, he won't get any more trips to Crawford:
"Tony Blair distanced himself from Washington yesterday by pointedly condemning the Israeli assassination of the Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz Rantissi, at the weekend.
George Bush's administration refused to criticise the killing and said Israel had a right of self-defence.
Mr Blair told parliament: 'We condemn the targeted assassination of Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al Rantissi just as we condemn all terrorism including that perpetrated by Hamas.' While Mr Blair in the past has been quick to condemn Palestinian suicide bombings against Israel, he has been less ready to criticise action against Palestinians.
What makes Mr Blair's intervention even more stark is that it is made on behalf of the leader of an organisation that has launched hundreds of suicide attacks against Israel over the last four years."
Mr Blair could easily have opted, as he has done in the past, to have left the criticism to the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, who at the weekend condemned the assassination.
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When Did They Plan for War?
Josh Marshall's got himself a source:
"When Centcom planners were tasked with preparing to seize Iraq's southern oilfields they took the existing plan for an all-out invasion and essentially whittled it down, since conquering southern Iraq was a smaller version of what would be needed to conquer the entire country.
The chatter around Centcom at the time was this gambit was being pushed by Wolfowitz and was not necessarily done on the say-so of the White House.
How do I know this? From a highly credible source with first-hand knowledge."
Read the entire post, and the one previous to it regarding Saudi Arabia (via the Scotty Shuffle.)
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Josh Marshall's got himself a source:
"When Centcom planners were tasked with preparing to seize Iraq's southern oilfields they took the existing plan for an all-out invasion and essentially whittled it down, since conquering southern Iraq was a smaller version of what would be needed to conquer the entire country.
The chatter around Centcom at the time was this gambit was being pushed by Wolfowitz and was not necessarily done on the say-so of the White House.
How do I know this? From a highly credible source with first-hand knowledge."
Read the entire post, and the one previous to it regarding Saudi Arabia (via the Scotty Shuffle.)
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Australia's Possible Next PM is "Hip"
Labor Party Leader Mark Latham is looking to unseat Bush ally John Howard by appealing to Australia's younger folks:
"Youth of Australia, Labor's policy is bling-bling," Mark Latham, Labor Party leader, said in a radio station interview last week, according to the London Daily Telegraph. The 42-year-old left-wing politician then declared: "Bling-bling is the best policy I have had so far."
(...)
He mocked Howard's staid image, saying the 64-year-old premier, a staunch ally of George W. Bush who sent Australian troops to Iraq, had eyebrows nearly long enough for a comb-over.
(...)
After his interview, the radio station gave Latham a baseball cap and T-shirt and played a rap song that called him "Lath Daddy."
Well.....he's.....um.....possibly.....er....surely.....he's.....trying too hard.
(Sorry for the Fox News link. Unavoidable.)
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Labor Party Leader Mark Latham is looking to unseat Bush ally John Howard by appealing to Australia's younger folks:
"Youth of Australia, Labor's policy is bling-bling," Mark Latham, Labor Party leader, said in a radio station interview last week, according to the London Daily Telegraph. The 42-year-old left-wing politician then declared: "Bling-bling is the best policy I have had so far."
(...)
He mocked Howard's staid image, saying the 64-year-old premier, a staunch ally of George W. Bush who sent Australian troops to Iraq, had eyebrows nearly long enough for a comb-over.
(...)
After his interview, the radio station gave Latham a baseball cap and T-shirt and played a rap song that called him "Lath Daddy."
Well.....he's.....um.....possibly.....er....surely.....he's.....trying too hard.
(Sorry for the Fox News link. Unavoidable.)
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Duke Eliminates 8am Classes
It would seem to me the $25,000 tuition would make the parents sleep deprived:
DURHAM, N.C. - Duke University is eliminating 8 a.m. classes and trying to come up with other ways help its sleep-deprived students, who too often are struggling to survive on a mix of caffeine, adrenaline and ambition.
The school is also considering new orientation programs this fall that would help freshmen understand the importance of sleep.
"Generally, the people I know, we don't see sleep as that important compared to what school and the curriculum have to offer," said Marcel Yang, a Duke freshman from Chapel Hill."...
I think Duke student/spokesperson Yang is a subscriber to the theory that, "We'll get all the sleep we need when we're dead. Or if we're waiting for basketball tickets."
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It would seem to me the $25,000 tuition would make the parents sleep deprived:
DURHAM, N.C. - Duke University is eliminating 8 a.m. classes and trying to come up with other ways help its sleep-deprived students, who too often are struggling to survive on a mix of caffeine, adrenaline and ambition.
The school is also considering new orientation programs this fall that would help freshmen understand the importance of sleep.
"Generally, the people I know, we don't see sleep as that important compared to what school and the curriculum have to offer," said Marcel Yang, a Duke freshman from Chapel Hill."...
I think Duke student/spokesperson Yang is a subscriber to the theory that, "We'll get all the sleep we need when we're dead. Or if we're waiting for basketball tickets."
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Paging Dr. Freud! Please report to the West Wing!
Condi Condi Condi:
...Rice was reportedly overheard saying, “As I was telling my husb—” and then stopping herself abruptly, before saying, “As I was telling President Bush.” Jaws dropped, but a guest says the slip by the unmarried politician, who spends weekends with the president and his wife, seemed more psychologically telling than incriminating. Nobody thinks Bush and Rice are actually an item. A National Security Council spokesman laughed and said, “No comment...”
No column inches used up in the National Enquirer on this. Yet.
UPDATE: Atrios posted on this too and one of the comments was: Ploy for the "swing" voters? Heh.
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Condi Condi Condi:
...Rice was reportedly overheard saying, “As I was telling my husb—” and then stopping herself abruptly, before saying, “As I was telling President Bush.” Jaws dropped, but a guest says the slip by the unmarried politician, who spends weekends with the president and his wife, seemed more psychologically telling than incriminating. Nobody thinks Bush and Rice are actually an item. A National Security Council spokesman laughed and said, “No comment...”
No column inches used up in the National Enquirer on this. Yet.
UPDATE: Atrios posted on this too and one of the comments was: Ploy for the "swing" voters? Heh.
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Sunday, April 18, 2004
Woodward on 60 Minutes
No big surprises, even this wasn't a huge shocker:
”Saturday, Jan. 11, with the president's permission, Cheney and Rumsfeld call Bandar to Cheney's West Wing office, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Myers, is there with a top-secret map of the war plan. And it says, ‘Top secret. No foreign.’ No foreign means no foreigners are supposed to see this,” says Woodward.
“They describe in detail the war plan for Bandar. And so Bandar, who's skeptical because he knows in the first Gulf War we didn't get Saddam out, so he says to Cheney and Rumsfeld, ‘So Saddam this time is gonna be out, period?’ And Cheney who has said nothing says the following: ‘Prince Bandar, once we start, Saddam is toast.’'
After Bandar left, according to Woodward, Cheney said, “I wanted him to know that this is for real. We're really doing it.'
But this wasn’t enough for Prince Bandar, who Woodward says wanted confirmation from the president. “Then, two days later, Bandar is called to meet with the president and the president says, ‘Their message is my message,’” says Woodward.
Prince Bandar enjoys easy access to the Oval Office. His family and the Bush family are close. And Woodward told 60 Minutes that Bandar has promised the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election -- to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on election day.
Woodward says that Bandar understood that economic conditions were key before a presidential election: “They’re [oil prices] high. And they could go down very quickly. That's the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly."
Criminals.
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No big surprises, even this wasn't a huge shocker:
”Saturday, Jan. 11, with the president's permission, Cheney and Rumsfeld call Bandar to Cheney's West Wing office, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Myers, is there with a top-secret map of the war plan. And it says, ‘Top secret. No foreign.’ No foreign means no foreigners are supposed to see this,” says Woodward.
“They describe in detail the war plan for Bandar. And so Bandar, who's skeptical because he knows in the first Gulf War we didn't get Saddam out, so he says to Cheney and Rumsfeld, ‘So Saddam this time is gonna be out, period?’ And Cheney who has said nothing says the following: ‘Prince Bandar, once we start, Saddam is toast.’'
After Bandar left, according to Woodward, Cheney said, “I wanted him to know that this is for real. We're really doing it.'
But this wasn’t enough for Prince Bandar, who Woodward says wanted confirmation from the president. “Then, two days later, Bandar is called to meet with the president and the president says, ‘Their message is my message,’” says Woodward.
Prince Bandar enjoys easy access to the Oval Office. His family and the Bush family are close. And Woodward told 60 Minutes that Bandar has promised the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election -- to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on election day.
Woodward says that Bandar understood that economic conditions were key before a presidential election: “They’re [oil prices] high. And they could go down very quickly. That's the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly."
Criminals.
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ExxonMobil Awarded Bid for Iraqi Oil
Not surprising:
BAGHDAD - Four European firms and one from the United States were awarded bids for the purchase of six million barrels of oil from Iraq (news - web sites)'s northern fields, a spokesman for the Iraqi oil ministry said.
Assem Jihad said US major ExxonMobil had acquired a third of the offer in its second purchase in a month of oil from the Kirkuk fields.
The others, which each took up one million barrels, were named as Spain's Repsol YPF and Cepsa, Hellenic Petroleum from Greece and Tupras of Turkey.
Of course ExxonMobil has put themselves into an excellent position to receive these contracts:
Since 1992, ExxonMobil has donated at least six times as much as Enron to lobbying government officials, over $41 million. In the 2000 election cycle, the company and its employees donated more than $1.22 million to Bush. They still donated to other candidates, aggregately $150,000. ExxonMobil donates money to make its political friends happy, and in return they receive help from government organizations and access to otherwise restricted lands. They give more money to lobbyists than any other competitor and came in second to campaign contributions next to Enron. In return, they have received over $5 billion in taxpayer subsidies over the last ten years. They have received money from the US Export-Import Bank and the World Bank for a total of $1.17 billion for oil field development in Western Siberia, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, from which they received $116 million for oil field development on Russia’s Sakhalin Island. They have received other forms of help from the Bush/Cheney administration such as having a National Energy Strategy drafted, which increased the US reliance on oil and the head of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change changed.
As if this payola wasn't enough, ExxonMobil have been accused of human rights abuses in Indonesia.
How greedy can these people get? Actually, don't answer that...
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Not surprising:
BAGHDAD - Four European firms and one from the United States were awarded bids for the purchase of six million barrels of oil from Iraq (news - web sites)'s northern fields, a spokesman for the Iraqi oil ministry said.
Assem Jihad said US major ExxonMobil had acquired a third of the offer in its second purchase in a month of oil from the Kirkuk fields.
The others, which each took up one million barrels, were named as Spain's Repsol YPF and Cepsa, Hellenic Petroleum from Greece and Tupras of Turkey.
Of course ExxonMobil has put themselves into an excellent position to receive these contracts:
Since 1992, ExxonMobil has donated at least six times as much as Enron to lobbying government officials, over $41 million. In the 2000 election cycle, the company and its employees donated more than $1.22 million to Bush. They still donated to other candidates, aggregately $150,000. ExxonMobil donates money to make its political friends happy, and in return they receive help from government organizations and access to otherwise restricted lands. They give more money to lobbyists than any other competitor and came in second to campaign contributions next to Enron. In return, they have received over $5 billion in taxpayer subsidies over the last ten years. They have received money from the US Export-Import Bank and the World Bank for a total of $1.17 billion for oil field development in Western Siberia, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, from which they received $116 million for oil field development on Russia’s Sakhalin Island. They have received other forms of help from the Bush/Cheney administration such as having a National Energy Strategy drafted, which increased the US reliance on oil and the head of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change changed.
As if this payola wasn't enough, ExxonMobil have been accused of human rights abuses in Indonesia.
How greedy can these people get? Actually, don't answer that...
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Spain to Withdraw Troops 'ASAP'
From bad to worse:
April 18 (Bloomberg) -- Spain's new Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez ordered the country's soldiers home from Iraq, saying there seemed little likelihood that the United Nations will assume control of the occupation in that country.
Zapatero, who was sworn in yesterday after winning the election March 14, said the troops would return to Spain ``in the least time and with the most security possible,'' in a meeting with the media in Madrid, according to government spokesman Manuel Roca.
There is grumbling about more CPA troops to follow. Soon.
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From bad to worse:
April 18 (Bloomberg) -- Spain's new Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez ordered the country's soldiers home from Iraq, saying there seemed little likelihood that the United Nations will assume control of the occupation in that country.
Zapatero, who was sworn in yesterday after winning the election March 14, said the troops would return to Spain ``in the least time and with the most security possible,'' in a meeting with the media in Madrid, according to government spokesman Manuel Roca.
There is grumbling about more CPA troops to follow. Soon.
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PA GOP Sen. Primary Shows Party Differences
Pat Toomey and Arlen Specter will face off on 4/27 in the Republican primary. The winner will face Joe Hoeffel in November. This Los Angeles Times article details some fundamental GOP problems in this race:
The party's philosophic tensions have been obscured by the absence of a primary challenge to Bush. But the president has been unable to paper over fault lines opened by his vast expansion of Medicare, the growth of government spending and other policies that have angered many conservatives.
The Specter-Toomey fight is a cautionary tale for Bush, a reminder of the balancing act he has to perfect to win reelection. He needs to generate enthusiasm among the kind of conservatives represented by Toomey. But in a swing state such as Pennsylvania — where Democrats narrowly outnumber Republicans — Bush cannot afford to alienate the centrist Republicans and Democrats attracted to Specter. That's why some analysts argue that Bush was wise to endorse Specter and would have a harder time winning Pennsylvania if Toomey was on the ticket.
"Bush and Specter are joined at the hip," said G. Terry Madonna, a political scientist at Millersville University, near Lancaster, Pa. And as Republicans strive to maintain or expand their 51 seats in the 100-member Senate, this is an unwelcome fight. A Toomey victory in the primary, some analysts say, should boost the general-election prospects of the expected Democratic Senate nominee, Rep. Joseph M. Hoeffel.
"The truth is, if Toomey wins this nomination, this seat is a lot more difficult for Republicans to hold," said Jennifer Duffy, an analyst with the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Still, for conservative activists concerned about the party's direction, the primary fight is about something even bigger than control of the Senate: It is about the soul of the party.
Specter has infuriated more conservative Republicans over the years by blocking President Reagan's nomination of Robert H. Bork to the Supreme Court, refusing to vote for the impeachment of President Clinton and joining with other centrists in efforts to scale back Bush's tax cuts. Backing Toomey is a phalanx of conservative heavyweights who include Bork, former GOP presidential candidate Steve Forbes and commentator Paul Weyrich.
Toomey also is a marquee candidate for the Club for Growth, an anti-tax political group that finances primary challenges to Republicans it considers insufficiently conservative. The group hopes that by spending $1 million for anti-Specter ads — and urging its members to contribute to Toomey — it will at least intimidate other centrist Republicans into moving to the right.
Some people say that Hoeffel would have a better chance against Toomey, but the thought of Toomey & Santorum representing PA makes me shudder. Bush will be in Pittsburgh Monday raising money for Specter.
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Pat Toomey and Arlen Specter will face off on 4/27 in the Republican primary. The winner will face Joe Hoeffel in November. This Los Angeles Times article details some fundamental GOP problems in this race:
The party's philosophic tensions have been obscured by the absence of a primary challenge to Bush. But the president has been unable to paper over fault lines opened by his vast expansion of Medicare, the growth of government spending and other policies that have angered many conservatives.
The Specter-Toomey fight is a cautionary tale for Bush, a reminder of the balancing act he has to perfect to win reelection. He needs to generate enthusiasm among the kind of conservatives represented by Toomey. But in a swing state such as Pennsylvania — where Democrats narrowly outnumber Republicans — Bush cannot afford to alienate the centrist Republicans and Democrats attracted to Specter. That's why some analysts argue that Bush was wise to endorse Specter and would have a harder time winning Pennsylvania if Toomey was on the ticket.
"Bush and Specter are joined at the hip," said G. Terry Madonna, a political scientist at Millersville University, near Lancaster, Pa. And as Republicans strive to maintain or expand their 51 seats in the 100-member Senate, this is an unwelcome fight. A Toomey victory in the primary, some analysts say, should boost the general-election prospects of the expected Democratic Senate nominee, Rep. Joseph M. Hoeffel.
"The truth is, if Toomey wins this nomination, this seat is a lot more difficult for Republicans to hold," said Jennifer Duffy, an analyst with the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Still, for conservative activists concerned about the party's direction, the primary fight is about something even bigger than control of the Senate: It is about the soul of the party.
Specter has infuriated more conservative Republicans over the years by blocking President Reagan's nomination of Robert H. Bork to the Supreme Court, refusing to vote for the impeachment of President Clinton and joining with other centrists in efforts to scale back Bush's tax cuts. Backing Toomey is a phalanx of conservative heavyweights who include Bork, former GOP presidential candidate Steve Forbes and commentator Paul Weyrich.
Toomey also is a marquee candidate for the Club for Growth, an anti-tax political group that finances primary challenges to Republicans it considers insufficiently conservative. The group hopes that by spending $1 million for anti-Specter ads — and urging its members to contribute to Toomey — it will at least intimidate other centrist Republicans into moving to the right.
Some people say that Hoeffel would have a better chance against Toomey, but the thought of Toomey & Santorum representing PA makes me shudder. Bush will be in Pittsburgh Monday raising money for Specter.
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Bush Denies College Newspaper Admittance to Event
This sounds more like Justics Scalia than our esteemed leader:
Reporters and photographers from two college newspapers said Thursday White House officials denied them access to President Bush's appearance in Des Moines.
Student newspapers at Des Moines Area Community College and Iowa State University were turned away from the noon event at the Marriott hotel in downtown Des Moines after submitting requests for media credentials on time, they said.
Reporters and photographers for the DMACC Chronicle and Iowa State Daily said their organizations were not on the list of approved media when they arrived, despite faxing their request for credentials ahead of the 2 p.m. Wednesday deadline.
Chronicle reporter Mike Allsup said White House advance staff told him his time would be better spent in school. "It really is not fair that we represent 14,000 students at my college and I'm disregarded and sent away," said Allsup, of Des Moines.
A news crew from WQAD television in Moline, Ill., was not on the approved media list but was allowed into the event, Iowa State Daily photography editor Eric Rowley said.
White House officials did not immediately reply to repeated requests for comment.
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This sounds more like Justics Scalia than our esteemed leader:
Reporters and photographers from two college newspapers said Thursday White House officials denied them access to President Bush's appearance in Des Moines.
Student newspapers at Des Moines Area Community College and Iowa State University were turned away from the noon event at the Marriott hotel in downtown Des Moines after submitting requests for media credentials on time, they said.
Reporters and photographers for the DMACC Chronicle and Iowa State Daily said their organizations were not on the list of approved media when they arrived, despite faxing their request for credentials ahead of the 2 p.m. Wednesday deadline.
Chronicle reporter Mike Allsup said White House advance staff told him his time would be better spent in school. "It really is not fair that we represent 14,000 students at my college and I'm disregarded and sent away," said Allsup, of Des Moines.
A news crew from WQAD television in Moline, Ill., was not on the approved media list but was allowed into the event, Iowa State Daily photography editor Eric Rowley said.
White House officials did not immediately reply to repeated requests for comment.
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