Mokhiber: MSNBC reported this week that Israel's nuclear weapons arsenal rivals that of France and Britain. Given that arsenal, does the President support Syria's call to make the Middle East a region free of weapons of mass destruction?
Ari Fleischer: The United States has always supported the Middle East as a region free of weapons of mass destruction. Lester.
Mokhiber: If I could follow up. Does Israel have nuclear weapons?
Ari Fleischer: That's a question you need to ask to Israel. Lester.

q you're saying they've turned the corner, they just haven't gone quite far enough?
mr. fleischer: i'll leave it as i put it.
q why won't you answer the question about --
mr. fleischer: greg.
q hold on. we're entitled to follow up, ari -- this isn't homeroom.
mr. fleischer: greg.
q why won't you answer the question about whether or not -- he said there are going to be consequences --
mr. fleischer: david, there are other qualified reporters in here, too, who can follow-up.
q i didn't say they were not qualified, ari. i'm saying you're running it like it's homeroom, like we can't follow-up when you're refusing to answer a question that's been posed twice to you, directly. the secretary of state said that there would be consequences. why won't you say what they might be?
mr. fleischer: greg.
q do you want to elaborate on what those consequences would be?
mr. fleischer: i addressed it earlier. you heard what i said about consequences.
q you didn't address it, which is the point. but you can't tolerate that kind of dissent.

SHOCKER IN THE WORLD OF MEDIA COVERAGE! Fox News on top of Media Research Center's grades for war coverage! Who is the Media Research Center? "a group of young determined conservatives set out to not only prove - through sound scientific research - that liberal bias in the media does exist and undermines traditional American values, but also to neutralize its impact on the American political scene." Being on top of the grade means avoiding, "too little skepticism of enemy propaganda, too much mindless negativism about America's military prospects, and a reluctance on the part of most networks to challenge the premises of the anti-war movement or expose its radical agenda."

Anchors and commentators on the Fox News Channel refused to adopt the liberal media's standard for "objective" war reporting, where objectivity demanded an indifference to whether America succeeded or failed. "There is nothing wrong with taking sides here," FNC's Neil Cavuto stated in an on-air reply to a critic on March 28. "You see no difference between a government that oppresses people, and one that does not, but I do." ...

When it came to covering the anti-war protesters, FNC also broke with the rest of the media pack. On March 22, the day CNN offered sympathetic and sanitized coverage of anti-war demonstrators, FNC's Rebecca Gomez stressed that, "the vast majority of Americans support President Bush and his decision to launch Operation Iraqi Freedom....But the anti-crowd, anti-war crowd, refuses to acknowledge the polls and once again shut down and disrupted a great part of the Big Apple."

Gomez showed a taped interview in which she asked one protester, a woman, whether she would "agree with the decision that Saddam Hussein needed to go?" The woman affirmed, "Yeah." Gomez then asked, "But you don't agree that it should have been done by a war?" Again, the woman said, "Yeah." Gomez then asked the logical follow-up, "So then how?" The woman offered no response other than a confused sigh.

Gomez also told anchor Gregg Jarrett that some in the crowd had been hostile: "They were cursing at us; they were pushing us. You know, we were trying to do interviews and they were getting in the way, and pushing the microphone, and saying to us a lot of things that I can't mention on television, and just very angry at the media, thinking that somehow we're helping this war effort that they're against."

Fair and balanced, INDEEEEEEEED! Congrats, Fox News. Conservatives know you're slanted, and they love it.


Wed, April 23, 4:22pm

permanent link | -Eric.

BANAL COMPARISONS: Remember, Tom Delay only considers one of these comments to be traitorous:

"I'm saddened, saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war. Saddened that we have to give up one life because this president couldn't create the kind of diplomatic effort that was so critical for our country."
Tom Daschle, 3/18/2003

"The last seven months have involved six months of diplomatic failure and one month of military success. The first days after military victory indicate the pattern of diplomatic failure is beginning once again and threatens to undo the effects of military victory."
Newt Gingrich, 4/22/2003

As reported by L.H. Carter, his campaign treasurer, Newt said of Jacqueline: "She's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of the President. And besides, she has cancer." Hard to believe, although according to the New Yorker, his wife did tell the congregation of her Baptist church: "The devil has taken his heart." Maybe she was referring to his being so miserly in the matter of child support and alimony, but as Newt points out, we do have a safety net of private charity, and the congregants chipped in to help pay the utility bills.

The man has chutzpah. In his 1974 campaign, he ran on the slogan, "Newt's family is like your family." A sad but perhaps accurate commentary on life in suburban Georgia. In 1978, he ran an ad blasting his opponent, Virginia Shapard, saying, "If elected, Virginia will move to Washington, but her husband and her children will remain in Griffin." Under Gingrich's photo, it said: "When elected, Newt will keep his family together."

And he did, until he filed for divorce 16 months later. His wife told the court she wanted to stay married although she had "ample grounds" for divorce herself. But she complained bitterly that he failed to support the family. As her petition stated:

"Despite repeated notices . . . plaintiff has failed and refused to voluntarily provide reasonable support sufficient to include payment of usual and normal living expenses, including drugs, water, sewage, garbage, gas, electric and telephone service for defendant and the minor children. As a result, many of such accounts are two or three months past due with notices of intent to cut off service . . . . "

Picky, picky. True, Newt was not broke, he was a sitting congressman with a substantial salary, but he had to maintain another residence in Washington and was about to remarry. How many garbage bills could he be expected to pay?

Newt argued that the mother of his two children could always go back to teaching, demonstrating his respect for women in the workforce. But the judge disagreed and ordered Newt to pay the utility bills, as well as $400 a month in child support and $1,300 in alimony. He also ordered that if Newt's income ever rose over $100,000 a year, the court could modify payment.

Fast-forward 12 years to 1993 and back to court, where Jacqueline Gingrich pleaded that Newt had failed to obey the divorce decree from the day it was issued. She asked that "this court issue an order directing the sheriff of Carroll County, state of Georgia, to arrest and seize the defendant and incarcerate him in the common jail until said individual complies fully and completely with this court's final judgment."

HRC lays the hammer on Santorum:

The Human Rights Campaign today called on the Senate GOP Caucus to reconsider Sen. Rick Santorum's, R-Pa., leadership position within the Republican Party after making deeply divisive and hurtful statements comparing homosexuality to incest in an interview with The Associated Press. Santorum issued a misleading statement on Tuesday that distances himself from his own remarks and fails to apologize for maligning the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

"Senator Santorum's remarks to The Associated Press betray a deep discrimination against an entire group of Americans that is inappropriate for a senior leader of the United States Senate. We need leaders who will unite the country, and affirm the inherent dignity, value and equality of every citizen — not just the citizens he happens to like," said HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch. "When Trent Lott made similar comments, he lost his position as majority leader, and it is time for the Republican Party to consider similar steps with Senator Santorum."

In the AP profile of Santorum that was published Monday, he likened homosexuality to incest, bigamy and polygamy. He went on to say that homosexuality, feminism and liberalism are all threats to the American family.

On Tuesday, the AP released the full text of Santorum's interview in which Santorum, while discussing the implications of the constitutional right to privacy, went on to say, "That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing … the idea is that the state doesn't have the right to limit individuals' wants and passions. I disagree with that."

"The argument that Senator Santorum is making in his statements is that granting civil rights to the GLBT community could lead the country to 'man on child' or 'man on dog' sex — which is as hurtful and insensitive as it is mean-spirited," said Birch. "Most Americans support basic equality for the country's GLBT community, and this country's leadership should reflect that."

In a written statement on Tuesday, Santorum said, "My discussion with The Associated Press was about the Supreme Court privacy case, the constitutional right to privacy in general, and in context of the impact on the family. I am a firm believer that all are equal under the Constitution. My comments should not be misconstrued in any way as a statement on individual lifestyles."

"Senator Santorum's statement on the AP interview is grossly misleading. Make no mistake, he absolutely meant to malign the country's GLBT community and is now trying to backpedal because it is politically expedient. Santorum is not fit for the leadership role he holds. HRC is calling on the Republican leadership to demonstrate their compassionate conservatism and affirm the equality of all Americans by removing Santorum from his position within the party," said Birch.

And meanwhile, you know Santorum is in trouble when the bigots at the Family Research Council is defending him:

"The law has historically respected and protected the marital union and has distinguished it from acts outside that union, such as fornication, adultery and sodomy. To extend homosexual sodomy the same protections given to the marital union would undermine the definition of marriage and could lead to homosexual marriage."

Typical Republican scare tactics. We'll summon up Sodom and Gomorrah, the end of the world, the apocalypse, God's angels coming down and judging society, 9-11 caused by the gays and ACLU. Of course, no one wants incest, or adultery. But if we allow gays the right to have sex ... my god! We'll allow brothers and sisters to have sex with each other! Jeepers.

I've debated the merits of ENDA, Don't Ask Don't Tell, and other privacy laws, and conservatives have not come up with a single legitimate argument. I'll give credit to conservatives about other things, like economics, race, and state rights matters. Still, when Republicans attack gays they can't bring themselves to debate the issue at hand: whether or not someone has the right to privacy in their own homes, between two consenting adults. Libertarians know this is wrong, and they admit it. Good for them. But conservative Christians have to conjure up scary buzz words like incest, fornication, and adultery. Where's the Christian values in attacking and condemning people for the way they were born, they way they are? Where's the compassion in preventing people from happiness between two consenting adults?

I don't understand why people like the FRC or Santorum complain about the homosexual agenda yet just don't say what's really on their mind: they hate gays, and they want to stop them from achieving equal rights at every turn. Don't mask it behind state rights, slippery slopes, or judicial precedent. That's a disservice to people who have legitimate arguments. Just say it, you don't like gays. It's pathetic, and people like Santorum are ridiculous, and it's sad that these people actually have power.


Wed, April 23, 12:12am

permanent link | -Eric.

Post-War Oil Management Should Bolster Rights, Benefit Iraqis
Human Rights Watch
HamsterChatter: "Human Rights Watch said oil revenues should be directed first to meeting the humanitarian needs of Iraq's people. Prior to the war, approximately 60 percent of Iraqi families received their sole sustenance from the Oil-for-Food program. Because of the conflict and the initial suspension of the Oil-for-Food program, humanitarian needs will increase substantially. Human Rights Watch said another pressing issue was who should manage the oil. Any reversion to foreign control, or the appearance of foreign control, in the aftermath of U.S.-led military intervention will likely be a major issue of contention and popular opposition ."

Complex picture for Earth Day card
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
HamsterChatter: "On this Earth Day, the picture is mixed in the region, in America, in the world. The Worldwatch Institute's "State of the World 2003" report found that in many places, citizens create ways to address environmental issues despite little official help. When governments respond, results multiply. The institute said the worldwide cuts in chlorofluorocarbons have slowed the growth of the Antarctic ozone hole. The administration has set a pattern of talking well but acting poorly. A new report from the Washington Public Interest Research Group, "Behind Closed Doors," documents how the administration helps polluting industries while limiting public involvement ."

Now Rumsfeld has Newt Gingrich railing against the State Department. It's time for Powell to resign
Joe Conason's Journal
HamsterChatter: "The loyal soldier Colin Powell is a marked man. For his adversaries on the neoconservative right, it wasn't enough that the secretary of state went to the U.N. and said things he didn't fully believe about Iraq, in order to advance the White House war agenda. Although he won plaudits for his show-and-tell at the Security Council, the brief truce between Powell and his rightist critics could not outlast the hostilities in Iraq. Still regarded as an "appeaser" in neocon circles because he insists on recognizing the existence of the rest of the world, he is now once again their target. And to add further indignity to the right-wing insults, the designated assassin is none other than Newt Gingrich ."

Earth Day In The Shadow Of War: Militarism And Environmental Destruction Go Hand In Hand
Mark Engler
HamsterChatter: "With controversial depleted-uranium weaponry in use and with ecosystems still reeling from the last conflict, revelations of environmental damage in the Persian Gulf may emerge for years to come."

A New Federal Law Could Spoil Your Summer Fun
villagevoice
HamsterChatter: "Anybody who's been to a concert, festival, or club in the last 50 years knows people do drugs, whether it is an acid tab ingested at a rock show, a line of cocaine inhaled in a discotheque, or more recently, a hit of Ecstasy taken at a superclub. It is because of this pervasive use that many fear the new law could curtail all kinds of concerts—not just raves. Like the State Palace Theater in New Orleans, the wildly popular SummerStage series often hosts DJ dance parties; trained medical staff are on hand and pricey bottled water is sold. Now that the law applies to outdoor and one-night-only events, it could be argued that the promoters of these shows "knowingly and intentionally" allow drug use ."

Kraft Censors Talk of Tobacco Connection at Annual Shareholders' Meeting as Pressure of Tobacco Liability Builds
INFACT
HamsterChatter: "At Kraft Foods annual shareholders' meeting, Infact activists representing a Kraft shareholder were refused timely entry into the meeting, preventing the corporate accountability group from addressing shareholders and executives. Last year Infact representatives were the only people to speak directly to Kraft's tobacco connection at the annual meeting. This year, Infact representatives were held at the door with questionable claims of concerns about their paperwork until the meeting was nearly over. The corporate accountability organization Infact has involved millions of consumers in challenging Philip Morris/Altria to stop addicting new young customers with promotional campaigns like the Marlboro Man, and to stop interfering in public health policy around the world. A major strategy in this campaign is Infact's growing Boycott of Kraft, the tobacco giant's food business ."

War Profiteers, in Africa, as Well as Iraq
Dena Montague
HamsterChatter: "One of the latest announcements concerning executive positions in post-war Iraq was that Philip Carroll, former chief executive of Shell Oil Company, is a "a leading contender to oversee Iraqi oil production," according to the New York Times. Mr. Carroll, who headed Shell through the 1990, oversaw the company's Nigeria operations during the dictatorship of Sani Abacha, a time of massive political upheaval ."

Fighting media monopoly
SFBay Guardian
HamsterChatter: "IT TOOK A concerted effort from media activists led by the Center for Digital Democracy and Media Alliance, but the Federal Communications Commission will actually hold a public hearing in San Francisco April 26 on plans to further deregulate the nation's major news media. In a sense, San Francisco is the perfect place for one of the very few public hearings on a plan that FCC chair Michael Powell is hatching almost entirely in secret. This liberal city, with its historic traditions of freewheeling publications and open debate, is now under the thumb of a handful of out-of-town media corporations that don't come close to reflecting the political, cultural, and artistic diversity of the community ."

Gay marriage: Will the SJC follow the law or cave in to politics?
bostonphoenix
HamsterChatter: "Meanwhile, supporters of gay marriage have authored 11 amicus briefs. These supporters include nine top scholars in Massachusetts constitutional law from Harvard and Rutgers, among other universities; local and state bar associations; and 16 international human-rights organizations. In their amicus briefs, mental-health and child-welfare groups have laid out the scientific consensus that gay men and lesbians are as good at parenting as heterosexuals. And the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, along with clergy from 13 other denominations, have filed amicus briefs endorsing the right of gay people to marry under civil laws ."


Tuesday, April 22, 8:42pm

permanent link | -Eric.

Ah yes, and a happy Earth Day it is ...

Behind Closed Doors: The Local Impacts Of The Bush Administration's Assault On The Environment And Public Health

Each state in the Union will share the burden of policies written by the polluters and enacted by the Bush administration. This report details some of the administration's worst attacks on the environment and reveals how communities across the country will experience the very real, very local effects of these harmful actions.

• Darkening our skies. Owners of dirty power plants have been pushing for new loopholes in the Clean Air Act for years. On New Year's Eve, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized the first phase of its rollbacks to the Clean Air Act's "New Source Review" program, allowing the country's oldest and dirtiest power plants, refineries and other industrial sources to expand their plants without installing modern pollution control equipment. On the same day, EPA announced the second and more severe phase of its rollbacks to the New Source Review program. In addition, in February 2003, Congress acted to codify the Bush administration's so-called "Clear Skies" plan as law. These actions will result in more air pollution, contributing to more asthma attacks, more premature deaths, more acid rain and more global warming.

• Letting the Department of Defense off the hook. The Department of Defense is one of the most prolific polluters in the United States. The Pentagon, capitalizing on increased public sympathy for the military and desire for homeland security, has petitioned Congress for blanket exemptions from five environmental laws. These laws are designed to protect people living on and near military sites from exposure to toxic waste and air pollution; preserve critical habitat for endangered species; and protect marine mammals from harm caused by military activities.

• Shortchanging Superfund. Superfund is the nation's preeminent law for making polluters clean up the country's most contaminated toxic waste sites. Unfortunately, the Bush administration is undercutting the letter and spirit of the Superfund law by failing to reinstate the program's funding and shifting the burden of paying for toxic waste cleanups to the American taxpayer. The Bush administration's FY2004 budget for Superfund, released in February 2003, asks taxpayers to pay at least 79 percent of the cleanup costs.

• Foregoing nuclear security. The tragic events of September 11, 2001 raised serious concerns about safety and security at the country's nuclear power plants. Many facilities cannot even meet the current security requirements, which most experts consider inadequate. However, in December 2002, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled that it does not have to consider the threat of terrorist attacks when licensing nuclear reactors or other nuclear facilities.

• Maintaining our dependence on foreign oil. The auto industry has fought every effort to regulate it since the 1970s, often with success. Fuel economy is at a 21-year low, making cars, SUVs and light trucks the largest consumers of oil in the country. America's cars do not have to be gas guzzlers. However, the Bush administration has consistently opposed meaningful increases in fuel economy, finalizing a token 1.5 mpg increase in the fuel economy of SUVs and light trucks in April 2003.

Tuesday, April 22, 8:03pm

permanent link | -Eric.

A national animal rights group has offered Hamburg officials $15,000 to change the town's name to Veggieburg. ''The town's name conjures up visions of unhealthy patties of ground-up dead cows,'' said Joe Haptas, spokesman of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), in a letter faxed Monday to Hamburg Supervisor Patrick Hoak.

PETA offered to supply area schools with $15,000 worth of non-meat patties for the name change.

''Our offer is serious as a heart attack,'' Haptas said.

Poor Dixie Chicks, Billboard:

Despite some backlash at radio and retail for negative comments about President Bush , the Dixie Chicks are flying high in preparation for their upcoming arena tour, according to Rob Light, the act's agent.

"To be brutally honest, there has been no effect, other than the odd phone call to a building inquiring about a refund. There's a lot more noise than action," says Light, head of the music division at Creative Artists Agency.

"Actually, the buildings are getting more asking, if there are refunds, can they buy the tickets." Light says there are no refunds.

He says that of 59 shows, only six have seats left, and those are all 85%-90% sold out and expected to go clean ... The Chicks' March 1 national on-sale moved 867,000 tickets worth $49 million at the box office during one weekend.

Monday, April 21, 3:39pm

permanent link | -Eric.

AP reports:

New Anti-Environment Tack By Bush?

The Bush administration is quietly reshaping environmental policy to expand logging and other development by settling a series of lawsuits, many of them filed by industry groups.

As a result of settlements, the administration has announced plans to remove wilderness protections from millions of acres of land in Utah. It also agreed to review protections for endangered species such as salmon and the northern spotted owl, reversed a Clinton-era ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and softened rules on logging.

None of the decisions were subject to prior public comment or congressional approval.

"I don't know if it's a policy, but it's definitely a pattern," said Kristen Boyles, a lawyer for the environmental group Earthjustice, who has frequently battled the Bush administration in court.

"The industry sues and then the current administration does a poor job of defending itself or comes to a sweetheart settlement," Boyles said.

Critics call it "sue and settle," leaving few fingerprints as officials move to roll back environmental protections.

This was released on Saturday, the news day with the smallest audience. The Bush administration is notorious for releasing new rulings on Friday afternoon.


Saturday, April 19, 2:31am

permanent link | -Eric.

Study Finds Asthma in 25% of Children in Central Harlem

A study has found that one of every four children in central Harlem has asthma, which is double the rate researchers expected to find and, experts say, is one of the highest rates ever documented for an American neighborhood.

Researchers say the figures, from an effort based at Harlem Hospital Center to test every child in a 24-block area, could indicate that the incidence of asthma is even higher in poor, urban areas than was previously believed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that about 6 percent of all Americans have asthma; the rate is believed to have doubled since 1980, but no one knows why. New York City is thought to have a higher rate than other major cities, but that, too, is something of a mystery. The disease kills 5,000 people nationally each year.

Previous studies have pointed to rates above 10 percent, and as high as the high teens, in the South Bronx, Harlem and a few other New York City neighborhoods where a long list of environmental factors put people at higher risk. Several asthma researchers say they know of no well-documented level above 20 percent in the United States.

Asthma is an inflammation and constriction of the airways that makes it difficult to breathe. Scientists believe that only someone with a genetic predisposition can become asthmatic, but environmental factors like pollen, dust, animal dander, air pollution and cold air also contribute to development of the disease and can lead to attacks.

Some of the worst triggers, studies have found, are most prevalent in poor communities, including the feces of cockroaches and dust mites, cigarette smoke and mold and mildew. Harlem, East Harlem and the South Bronx also have a heavy concentration of diesel bus and truck traffic, and the tiny particles in diesel exhaust are thought to be another serious asthma trigger.

This blog has been going so well that I've been offered a commentary spot on MSNBC.

I, unfortunately, had to turn it down. MSNBC could only guarantee me 54 viewers. And 42 of them are Brian Williams's relatives.


Friday, April 18, 12:35am

permanent link | -Eric.

I think Nader ran a selfish, vanity campaign because he resented Gore's embrace of environementalism. Because, for nearly 30 years, no one had opposed his issues or even offered radically different viewpoints on them.

People truly do not understand exactly how influential Nader was in Democratic circles. His various pressure groups had free rein in helping to set policy among Democratic legislators. Even if they didn't have their day, they always got listened to. No single person has been more responsible for training Demcoratic operatives and even politicians than Nader's groups. He has also set the news agenda for nearly two decades.

Do you think 60 Minutes would have been viable without Nader's muckracking?

Nader's activism remade TV journalism. The emphasis on safety issues was due to the volume of information available to journalists and provided by Nader. The nexus between the Nader-trained pols, the little seen, but highly influential staffers who really make policy, and journalists was not well known, but widely understood inside politics.

It would not be an overstatement to say Nader, more than any single politician, defined the way the Democratic party approached policy issues. It also shifted the Dems focus away from national security and worker rights to far more nebulous issues like consumers rights and health. Instead of the class-based issues which had made Democratic politics successful, Nader moved the party towards issues which resonated with the middle class.

The problem with Nader was that he would never assume responsibility for his stands. He took nakedly political positions on a variety of issues, but never owned up to the politics of his stands. He was a technocratic leftist, as wedded to his ideas as the PNAC Cabal is to theirs and just as dedicated and ruthless. You could chart Nader's former employees and see how influencial they have become in the Democratic Party ...

Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore told a spirited, receptive audience last night not to despair that President Bush's popularity continues to soar in polls and conservatives rule. To cheers and boisterous clapping, he told the crowd that liberals and progressives are the majority and exhorted locals to run for Democratic precinct offices to help win the White House and Congress in 2004.

After the Invasion is the After Party. Tim Dunlap notes:;

I've been thinking about it and I can't figure why anyone who bought the justifications for invading Iraq isn't lining up for a repeat performance in Syria. If anything, Syria is more Iraq than Iraq:

Confirmed WMD
Confirmed link with al Qaeda (hey, the biggie)
Nasty dictatorial government - including torture of its own citizens and invasion of neighbours
Arguable long-term violation of UNSC Resolution (687)
A worse record of supporting other (non-al-Qaeda) international terrorists
Really, if Iraq was justified, then we have no excuse for not invading Syria.

Okay, they handed over some good info* on the 911 crowd, but hey, we're not going to fall for that bit of arse-covering, are we?

Why, then, are so many Iraq hawks going all dovish on Syria? Doesn't this make them objectively pro-Bashar al-Asad? Doesn't this make them soft on terrorism? Aren't they giving aid and comfort to a dictator? Isn't our inaction against them a signal to other regimes that they can operate in this way with impunity?

Did I leave anything out?

Exactly, that's the problem with invading Iraq in the first place. The precedent it sets is that we should invade a lot more countries than JUST Iraq.

---

Wed, April 16, 1:24pm

permanent link | -Eric.

Can the Rich Be Good? Bill Gates Sr. believes inherited fortunes are ultimately undemocratic, and to help smooth America's growing class divisions, the father of one of the world's richest men is urging the current generation of millionaire Medicis toward social responsibility
Nina Shapiro, Seattle Weekly
HamsterChatter: "Yet his is essentially a patriotic message. The United States, he believes, has enabled people to become astonishingly rich through huge investments in the public realm through schools, libraries, scientific research, and the like. No doubt because of his son, he pointedly mentions the Internet as one of the government's creations. He calls it "immoral" for the wealthy not to recognize the contributions of society. And comparing such investments in wealth creation to those in a place like Ethiopia, he ends his talk by asking: "The question is, what is it worth to be an American?" Except perhaps for the explicit patriotism, it's a message similar to what lefty activists have been saying for years ."

W.'s Sister-in-Law Schleps Tell-All About First Family
Greg Sargent, NY Observer
HamsterChatter: "In her book, sources said, Ms. Bush hopes to show that Barbara Bush has exercised a good deal more control over the family than previously revealed. She also wants to show that the relationship between the Bush brothers, as well as relations between the President and former President, have been more fraught and complex than previously known, her associates say ."

Can You Odigha It? Nigerian activist Odigha Odigha fights to halt illegal logging
Michelle Nijhuis, Grist
HamsterChatter: "Odigha Odigha grew up in and around these forests, in the Ijagham community of Cross River State. In the mid-1990s, after receiving an MBA at the University of Lagos and pursuing a career in politics, he returned home to find that the forests of his childhood had been obliterated by loggers. He began speaking out against the destruction, especially against illegal logging by the Hong Kong-based Western Metal Products Company. It was a terrifying time to be an activist in Nigeria. The dictatorship of General Sani Abacha was notoriously corrupt and violent; in 1995, the government executed Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa after he criticized the environmental and social destruction wrought by oil development in the Niger Delta. Odigha lived underground from 1996 to 1998, quietly continuing his grassroots work in rainforest communities ."

Seven activists win top environmental prize
Reuters
HamsterChatter: "A coal miner's daughter fighting to end a destructive form of mining and two Aboriginal elders working to block the construction of a nuclear waste dump in Australia were among seven winners of a top environmental prize awarded Monday. Other winners of this year's $125,000 Goldman Environmental Prize include a Nigerian activist who won protections for his country's last remaining rain forests and a Peruvian woman who led a campaign to clean up Peru's fishmeal industry ."

He's weak on faith, hope & clarity
Richard Cohen
HamsterChatter: "But the strongest objection might come from the 10% of the population that follows no religion at all. Should they be taught "faith," as if to straighten them out? Paige's answer to that question - I would guess - is yes. He, like Bennett, links religious faith to values, as if you cannot have the latter without the former. This, though, is nonsense. I know of no evidence to suggest atheists or agnostics are more likely to commit murder or even shoplift than people who have religious faith ."

Slim evidence that wartime tax cuts will spur economy
Houston Chronicle
HamsterChatter: "As usual, the public is ahead of the politicians and holds sounder views. An Associated Press poll found that six out of 10 Americans, and majorities of both Democrats and Republicans, think cutting taxes while war and reconstruction debts pile up is risky business and imprudent on its face. Many Americans suspect that no proposed tax cut would raise their paychecks more than $10-$20 a week, if that. If the vanishing surplus, structural deficit and soaring military and foreign aid spending further hobble the struggling economy, many workers could pay a high price for a puny reward ."

Bush cancellation shows economy's not on his screen
MICHAEL DEN TANDT
HamsterChatter: "With this one gesture, Mr. Bush has sent a clear message to every diplomatic and trade official in his administration: Canada is not a partner. Canada is an irritant. Canada is irrelevant. Whatever role this big, placid, overly comfortable country may play in safeguarding U.S. economic health, it is purely secondary. Ignore it ."

Groups Warn of Diesel Health Risks
AP
HamsterChatter: "Citing health risks from diesel-powered vehicles, two advocacy groups urged the government Tuesday to impose tough emissions and clean-fuel requirements for off-road construction, surface mining and farm vehicles. Among all the pollution caused by transportation, a report by the American Lung Association and Environmental Defense says, off-road engines and the diesel fuel they consume are the biggest sources of sulfur dioxide that causes acid rain and microscopic soot linked to respiratory problems ."

Falling through the safety net
EPI
HamsterChatter: "In this slow economy, low-income single mothers are being hit hard, and the nation's safety net is failing to pick up the slack. While their economic fortunes improved in the context of the late 1990s job boom, with the onset of recession, their income has dropped, yet they are receiving less public assistance on average and little help from the unemployment insurance system. New welfare reform legislation proposed by the House and Bush Administration threaten to create more barriers for these mothers to receive much-needed aid and avoid falling through an already eroding safety net."

Iraq: Killings, Expulsions on the Rise in Kirkuk; U.S. Not Fulfilling Duties of "Occupying Power"
HRW
HamsterChatter: "Human Rights Watch said that U.S. and coalition forces have failed to bring law and order to Kirkuk and ensure the security of civilians, and therefore contravene the Geneva Convention provisions specifying the obligations of an occupying power. Widespread looting and destruction of property are affecting all ethnic groups in the city, while the situation outside of Kirkuk appears even more precarious, Human Rights Watch said. A Human Rights Watch team documented the expulsion of Arabs living in villages south of Kirkuk, on the basis of what one official said were policy decisions by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). ."

Ballots Can Keep Bullets From Flying: A Call To Register For Peace
Elizabeth Ready and John Moyers
HamsterChatter: "Everyone loves a winner, and the unsurprising rout in Iraq by our best-in-the-world U.S. soldiers, cheered on by television news, has produced a spike in American public support for military action in Iraq. (It also proves how overblown the Iraqi threat was to begin with.) The White House obviously hopes to sustain it by shaking the sword at new targets, like Syria, and by crying "we told you so" while pointing to the discovery of buried chemical or biological weapons labs. Those opposed to the adventurism in Iraq and elsewhere must not heed the triumphant certitude of hawks. They must answer it with determination to make change ."

The Enforcer
Elizabeth Drew
HamsterChatter: "No previous presidential aide has had the power and influence that Karl Rove has in the White House of George W. Bush. He has been Bush's closest adviser since he first ran for governor of Texas. The authors of Bush's Brain write that during Bush's six years as governor of Texas "nothing important happened without his [Rove's] imprimatur." Yet Rove's work takes place behind the scenes; he rarely gives television interviews. Most of his activities are carried out in secrecy, and other White House officials are very reluctant to talk about what he does. The Bush White House is more clamped down than any other in recent history: Bush hates leaks, which he believes damaged his father's reelection chances, and Rove is his enforcer ."

Republican Patriot Police Protect Bush from Critics
Gene Lyons
HamsterChatter: "First, the Patriot Police came for the Dixie Chicks, and I said nothing because I'm fed up with the predigested mush that passes for country music these days. I wouldn't include the Chicks in that category, but flag-waving deejays and war-loving singers in cowboy hats strike me as an enormous bore. At a Texas rodeo recently, somebody remained seated when the loudspeaker played Lee Greenwood's cornball ballad "Proud to Be an American." The man said he didn't have to stand for no damn country song, and fisticuffs ensued ."

Hundreds of U.S. Soldiers Emerge as Conscientious Objectors
Inter Press Service
HamsterChatter: "The third, and biggest, group, she says, is made up of young, often naive, people who join the military in their late teens. They are often poor whites, blacks or Hispanics, who either have limited employment opportunities, or are looking for a way to fund their college education. Because military recruiters target poor youth in urban centers--the so-called "poverty draft"--this is probably the fastest-growing group of COs as well as the biggest, added McNeil."

Calif. GOP Asked to Repudiate Anti-Islam Remarks: Former State Party Chairman Says 'Disease of Islam Must be Rectified'
Council on American-Islamic Relations
HamsterChatter: "The Republican Party can no longer remain silent in the face of the anti-Muslim bigotry spewed by a minority of hate-mongers within its ranks. Republican leaders and elected officials must repudiate this latest smear of Islam and reassure Muslims in California that Steel's Islamophobic views do not reflect those of the party. Such incidents can only serve to divide our nation along religious lines, increase discrimination against ordinary Muslims and harm America's image worldwide," said CAIR-Southern California Executive Director Hussam Ayloush. He added that other Republicans officials have recently been involved in similar incidents around the nation ."


Tuesday, April 15, 4:14pm

permanent link | -Eric.

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The-Hamster.com: In Defense of Bill O'Reilly

Now everyone is getting down on Bill O'Reilly for saying about a group of inner-city school kids, "Does anyone know where the Best Men are? I hope they're not in the parking lot stealing our hubcaps." The Left getting mad about this is just political correctness at its worse.

Has anyone ever stopped to think about how expensive these people's hubcaps must be? I mean, Bill O'Reilly makes $20 million a year. He must plunk some of that cheese into his hubcaps. I know if I had that kind of salary, I'd get myself some 14-inch rims, and gosh, I'd be concerned about whether or not the local charity singing group is stealing my hubcaps. And there were big celebrities there, like William Bennett. He's, like, on MSNBC or something! Can you imagine his rims? These are important people and they were worried about their hubcaps, which are stolen all the time in America's parking lots across the country (close the border). How can you get mad at someone for protecting his property!?

And hey, what about these "Best Men" kids? How much do we really know about them? A little suspicious, don't you think? A music "group" from the "inner-city." Haven't you ever heard of NWA? Death Row records? Or P. Diddy? These singers are suspicious characters, and Bill had EVERY RIGHT to make that joke. Besides, it's a topical joke, with that whole inner-city fellow, what's his name, R. Kelly, on trial. See, he's a singer too.

Regardless, the joke is funny. It was about hubcaps. Come now, everyone likes a good hubcap joke now and then. If you don't, you obviously just aren't cultured. I haven't heard a good one like Bill's since I saw the Dice man at the Garden in '89.

And common, people, don't criticize O'Reilly. As the man said, "This thing raised a lot of money for a good charity." It doesn't matter whether or not the kids were treated with respect and pride, because the event wasn't about giving inner city kids pride and racist free good-will. It was about money. And really, that's what these inner-city programs are about: giving back to the community by plunking money and jokes about stereotypes.


Tuesday, April 15, 3:34pm

permanent link | -Eric.

As I noted in my post on the failure of the antiwar movement, a key part of that failure was to build left solidarity with resistance movements in dictatorial countries in order to develop non-war alternatives for promoting democracy. I should note that Cuba's Castro is a far different leader from Hussein, given the real gains in health care and literacy and many areas of freedom aside from the political sphere for the population; Castro would likely win an election in Cuba, although he would also likely have to concede a lot of his absolute power, which is why he has maintained his authoritarianism over the years.

Many on the left will say this is the wrong time for this kind of letter by leftists who oppose the embargo and, even worse, military invasion as a wrong-headed approach to dealing with Castro's regime. I disagree. I think this is exactly the right time for the Left to act in solidarity with the Cuban people in defense of both democracy and social justice in that country. We should not force dissidents to choose between Bush's rightwing capitalist militarism and Castro's authoritarian repressive social justice policies. This is a call for leftist activists to standup for both social justice and human rights against militarists and authoritarians of all persuasions. If you agree with it, add your name by emailing LeoCasey@aol.com

Maybe Bill O'Reilly should declare a "No-Quip Zone."

Emceeing Saturday night's Best Friends rock-and-roll gala at the Marriott Wardman Park -- which raised $800,000 for the 15-year-old charity benefiting inner-city schoolchildren -- the Fox News Channel star was trying to fill dead air during a lull in the entertainment.

Members of the "Best Men," as the sixth-to-eighth-grade boys in the program are called, were delayed getting onstage to perform a lip-synced rendition of the Four Tops standard "Reach Out (I'll Be There)." O'Reilly ad-libbed: "Does anyone know where the Best Men are? I hope they're not in the parking lot stealing our hubcaps."

Many in the audience -- which included Cabinet secretaries Tommy Thompson, Gale Norton and Mel Martinez, Mayor Tony Williams and business types Fred Malek and Jim Kimsey -- apparently didn't hear about the hubcaps amid the hubbub. A witness spotted attendee Bo Derek's jaw dropping, and yesterday she confirmed that she did hear it, but declined to comment further. Channel 9 anchor Andrea Roane was overheard murmuring: "Unbelievable."

"To say that this conservative audience -- dominated undoubtedly by many of Mr. O'Reilly's biggest fans -- was aghast, is an understatement," one attendee e-mailed us, asking for anonymity. "The well-known Republican politicians and their spouses seated at or near my table were appalled."

Yesterday O'Reilly told us: "This is ridiculous and foolish. No good deed goes unpunished. If you guys want to snipe at me, then snipe at me. This thing raised a lot of money for a good charity. Everybody was happy. I don't want to comment on anything else."

Best Friends founder Elayne Bennett, wife of virtues czar William Bennett, said O'Reilly has donated $60,000 to the program over the past 1 1/2 years, including a $5,000 check he handed over Saturday: "Bill has been wonderful to these boys. He puts his money where his mouth is. He's a New York guy. He was a schoolteacher in the New York City public schools. He loves these kids."

As for O'Reilly's attempt at humor, Bennett told us: "I didn't hear it, but it was absolutely a throwaway line."

Why Clark?

Our overriding concern has always been, and will continue to be, defeating Bush in 2004. Our nation and the world simply cannot afford another four years of Bush's ruinous rule. So we have continuously asked ourselves; "Who must we nominate to crush the Neocons, the Paleocons, and all the other unsavory characters that dominate the Republican Party?" "Who can repudiate the Trent Lott disciples of the GOP's 'Southern Strategy' of division?" "What do we need to do to defeat Bush?"

The stakes are high. With the nation's levers of power controlled by the GOP, we have been inflicted with perpetual war, international enmity, record-breaking deficits for years down the road, a ballooning national debt, job losses in the millions, unpunished corporate corruption, destruction of our most precious natural resources, and economic malaise.

Our initial survey of the Democratic Party field was positive -- all of those candidates would mark a clear improvement over Bush. Yet despite all their respective strengths, few of the candidates can boast a solid background in military and international matters. And as recent history indicates (harkening back to November 2002), Karl Rove and the GOP will do everything in its power to keep National Security first and foremost in the eyes of the voters.

In a way, you can't blame them. What else can they run on? Deficits? Joblessness? Enron? Yet while Bush's handling of the economy may be inept (bordering on negligent), the 2002 elections demonstrated that National Security will trump all.

Clark's military career has few parallels, and his provocative criticisms of Bush's war and international diplomacy have been second to none. The GOP's propaganda machine is already smearing Clark, fearful of his eloquence and common sense logic. They recognize one simple fact -- no one, not a single one of the other Democratic candidates, can stand nose to nose with Bush on National Security and come out on top.

Regarding domestic social issues, it's becoming clear that Clark holds liberal, almost libertarian views. He is pro-choice, an ardent backer of affirmative action, a strong believer in a strong safety net to help those less fortunate amongst us. He is a gun supporter -- a position that should play well in the Mountain West and South. And he has stated that portions of the Patriot Act should be repealed.

So once again, why Clark? He's a Democrat's Democrat on the domestic issues, and against Bush on national security, Clark will lead the debate. No other announced candidate can match this potent combination. Hence, the choice is clear. But first...

Run, Clark, run!

It's U.S. policy that's 'untidy': Rumsfeld blames Iraq chaos on joys of freedom
Robert Scheer
HamsterChatter: "The notion that Iraq even has history -- let alone that 7,000 years ago this land was the cradle of civilization -- is not likely to occur to the neocolonialists running a brawny young nation barely more than 200 years old. The United States' earnest innocence is the charm that our entertainment industry markets so successfully around the world, but it is also the perennial seed of disaster as we blithely rearrange corners of the planet we only pretend to understand. To Donald Rumsfeld, the widespread looting that has ravaged hospitals, libraries and museums in Iraq was simply further proof the U.S. invasion of this fractured Muslim country represents liberation. "Freedom's untidy," he said. "And free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes." Translation: You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet ."

FTFA: Vote on Budget Resolution Gimmick Shows Lack of Support for Massive Tax Breaks for Millionaires policy adventures
PFAW
HamsterChatter: "Supporters of President Bush's tax cut plan that would give massive tax breaks to millionaires were forced to take extraordinary measures in the Senate today to stave off total defeat. To secure passage of the budget resolution, the Senate leadership had to bring in Vice President Cheney to break a 50-50 tie vote, and Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa had to pledge on the Senate floor that the reconciliation conference report would not contain a tax cut greater than $350 billion. In a completely unprecedented move, the budget resolution has two different tax cut figures, with the House voting on a tax cut of $550 billion, down from $726 billion, while the Senate effectively established a tax cut cap of $350 billion ."

Fiscal Fantasy: When it comes to the costs of war and tax cuts, Bush is living in a dream world.
Mark Engler
HamsterChatter: "No doubt the Bush administration's attitude is in part public relations -- a bet that calculated statements from on high will shore up consumer confidence and become self-fulfilling prophesies. But a closer look shows that the president's "What, Me Worry?" attitude masks a refusal to take responsibility for the costs of his policies ."

The High Cost of a Corporate Low-Ball Tactic
Marie Cocco
HamsterChatter: "Theirs is yesterday's story. They are ordinary, middle-aged, middle-class people whose complaints were once considered extraordinary enough to make it into the news and congressional hearing rooms. For a while, it seemed, everyone thought they deserved better. Now war has erased their images. Nothing has changed their circumstances. ."

Why no tank at the doors?
Joan Ryan
HamsterChatter: "If I throw my child a birthday party and stuff two-dozen 5-year-old boys full of M&Ms, Oreos and frosting, they soon will be whacking each other with the pinata stick and running into traffic. The children's parents would not likely be satisfied when I shrug, "I didn't allow it. It just happened." Not deploying enough personnel to limit the looting and lawlessness can be explained in one of two ways: It was an oversight, or it was not a priority. Given what we know about this war, I am guessing it was not an oversight ."

Dean's anti-war stance pleases liberal Democrats, but what next?
AP
HamsterChatter: "In campaign appearances, Dean has raised other issues, including health care, education policy and Bush's proposed tax cuts, but they were overshadowed by his anti-war talk. At those events, Dean assailed the administration and also sought to draw a distinction with his Democratic rivals, particularly lawmakers who have backed parts of the president's domestic and national security agenda. "I did not get in this race as the peace candidate," Dean said in a recent interview. "People are turning to my campaign because they want a sense of hope again, they want health insurance and they want leaders who are not afraid to say what they think." Gordon Fischer, chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, says Dean should not be pigeonholed as the anti-war candidate ."


Tuesday, April 15, 10:49am

permanent link | -Eric.

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And in case you wanted to catch more illogical O'Reilly, check his position on this whole Baseball Hall of Fame shebang:

O'REILLY: All right. Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins use entertainment vehicles all the time to make political statements...

BECKER: Correct.

O'REILLY: ... the Academy Awards...

BECKER: That's right.

O'REILLY: ... talk shows, their movies, all of that, all right? Now Petroskey is using an entertainment vehicle, the Baseball...

BECKER: No, the Baseball Hall of Fame is not an...

O'REILLY: ... Hall of Fame. That's his statement.

BECKER: It is not an entertainment vehicle.

O'REILLY: Sure it is.

Whaaaat?!! The Baseball Hall of Fame is an entertainment vehicle, just like the Academy Awards? Wow, don't tell the people who were inducted into the Hall of Fame ... I guess the Smithsonian is just like Universal Studios too, then, huh? And the National History Museum is the MTV Studios, with Carson Daly the head museum curator ... and Kurt Loder that freaky old art patron in the corner ...

But here's the real reason why O'Reilly's mad at Tim Robbins. He won't go on his great, almighty show.

O'REILLY: But I didn't like the letter and I didn't like Tim Robbins hiding under the couch either. If he's going to write a...

BECKER: Why do you think he's hiding under the couch, Bill?

O'REILLY: If he's going to write a letter, then come on and explain the letter. But I will tell you where... look, we called him up, and he could have been on your show or my show or Fox Sports Net. He's hiding under the couch.

So there's the real reason why O'Reilly's mad. Tim Robbins won't bow to his ego. This has been a problem of O'Reilly's for a while. In fact, SNL even parodied O'Reilly's obsession with people not appearing on his show:

Next up on The Factor, our Unresolved Problem segment. Once again, the ongoing saga of San Francisco Giants slugger, Barry Bonds. As you know, Mr. Bonds has repeatedly claimed that, during the 2001 baseball season, he hit 73 home runs. We here at The Factor very much doubt this. We even invited him on the show to argue his case, but he keeps ducking us! Mr. Bonds, by your continued refusal to appear on The Factor and take the heat, you have proven that you're not only a liar, but a coward as well. And even if you had hit 73 home runs, it's still a far cry from the 755 Hank Aaron hit in 1974. And that's tonight's Unresolved Problems.

O'Reilly has done this repeatedly in the past, even with Dr. Phil, as I wrote in a rant, "The O'Reilly Obligation," about a year ago:

Such is the case of Dr. Phil McGraw, a psychologist who regularly appears on Oprah and is the subject of O'Reilly's latest column. An unusual target for O'Reilly, yes, but maybe there's a valid reason for devoting his weekly, nationally-syndicated column to the daytime television personality, right? Wrong.

Though O'Reilly justifies his entire column based on the presumption that McGraw is violating the healthcare principle of, "first, do no harm," the reality is he's actually bitter that the best selling author never appeared on his show. Writes O'Reilly, "So I asked one of the producers on my TV program, 'The O'Reilly Factor,' to call his publisher, Simon & Schuster, and invite Dr. Phil on 'The Factor.' We were turned down very quickly."

O'Reilly, peeved and disturbed by the idea that any sane person would not want to appear on his show, launches on a tirade to smear McGraw.

However, this tactic has worked for O'Reilly before. Indeed, he's gotten people like Dan Rathers and Rosie O'Donnell to come on his show by constant kicking and complaining. Sounds familiar? Yes, O'Reilly's using the tactics of a 2-year old child, a big baby that believes kicking, crying, screaming and complaining works. And that's why he's perfect for Fox News.


Tuesday, April 15, 10:09am

permanent link | -Eric.

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To be very blunt and God watch over Paul's soul, I am a 99 percent improvement over Paul Wellstone,"

Sen. Norm Coleman's recent comments attacking the late Sen. Paul Wellstone are a disgrace to the entire state of Minnesota.

It was not enough for Coleman to attack Wellstone every day up until the day he died. Now, with Wellstone dead and in his grave, Coleman's insensitive, egregious and disrespectful assault on our champion's memory is even more hurtful and offensive.

Coleman should really think about what he meant when he said that he was going to bring people together.

Oh, He's Probably Using Chinese Temple Money. USNews notes:

Something extraordinary is happening in Bill Clinton's Harlem offices. The ex-prez is responding with gifts to written pleas from kids. Spokesman Jim Kennedy reveals that Clinton recently helped an immigrant student get a saxophone. And just last month Kennedy confirmed Clinton's $5,000 check to the Garland County, Ark., Youth Advisory Council. For a prez who likes to brag, Clinton has been quiet about his philanthropy. "It's not something he's talked about," says Kennedy.

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Monday, April 14, 3:24pm

permanent link | -Eric.

Back in the USA, the hysterical Hollywood celebrities who voiced strident protest, obviously, have lost much credibility. And so have The New York Times, The L.A. Times, and other newspapers who wrongly predicted doom. On March 17, The New York Times editorialized, "Washington would be wise to drop the talk of eminent hostilities and come up with a resolution that leads to disarmament and consensus. The current path is reckless." Serious Americans will remember how this war was covered by the press, both print and TV. (my emphasis)

This page remains persuaded of the vital need to disarm Iraq. But it is a process that should go through the United Nations. That is in the best interest both of the United States and of the U.N. With so few of the 14 other members of the Security Council convinced that war is the best immediate option, Washington would be wise to drop the talk of imminent hostilities and come up with a resolution that leads to disarmament and consensus. The current path is reckless.

Let's hope for the best after this war
James O. Goldsborough
HamsterChatter: "Let's hope the alliances, friendships and institutions such as the United Nations that were left in tatters on the way to America's first "pre-emptive" war can be put back together. This was not a popular war among the world's peoples, including our own and the British. Let's hope the damage is not irreparable ."

Canaries in a missile silo: Crackdown on anti-militarist protesters continues: three elderly nuns get harsh sentences for prayerful protest
Geov Parrish
HamsterChatter: "While the nation's attention was focused on the far side of the world, a federal jury in Denver, Colorado provided some of the first conclusive evidence last week that anti-government protesters are facing increasing danger from John Ashcroft's War On Terror. On Monday, the jury convicted three elderly Roman Catholic nuns -- Sister Carol Gilbert, 55, of Baltimore; Sister Ardeth Platte, 66, of Saginaw, Mich.; and Sister Jackie Marie Hudson, 68, of Bremerton, Wash. -- of "obstructing national defense" and of damaging government property in an anti-nuclear protest last October 6. The obstruction conviction could net the women 30 years in federal prison; sentencing is scheduled for July 25 ."

Sister Nicole Fights the Good Fight as Financier
NY Times
HamsterChatter: "For her, ethical investing means buying stocks in the companies that have the best records in caring for their staff, providing training, minimizing pollution and waste and developing a fair policy toward the community, especially in poor countries. It means avoiding stocks in tobacco, alcohol and weapons ."


Monday, April 14, 8:44am

permanent link | -Eric.

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Pentagon Warned of Risks to Museums but Rummy Did Nothing; These Are the People That Want to Cut NEA Funding for Bombs; Are You Surprised?
WashingtonPost
HamsterChatter: "Late in January, a mix of scholars, museum directors, art collectors and antiquities dealers asked for and were granted a meeting at the Pentagon to discuss their misgivings. McGuire Gibson, an Iraq specialist at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, said yesterday that he went back twice more, and he and colleagues peppered Defense Department officials with e-mail reminders in the weeks before the war began ."

Coalition Says It Will Fight Local Pursuit of Immigrants
NY Times
HamsterChatter: " Taking on a job traditionally done by federal agents, a small number of police departments has begun arresting people accused of civil violations of immigration law, like overstaying visas, since the Justice Department announced its new interpretation of existing laws last year, officials say. Officials say the change was necessary to provide assistance to federal immigration officers and to remove criminals and potential terrorists from the streets. But the Justice Department has refused to release the documents on which it based its decision to advocacy groups, who say the decision violates the law and undermines confidence in local law enforcement ."

The Iraq Money Tree
NY Times
HamsterChatter: "Companies unfairly excluded from bidding for these contracts are justifiably upset, including those based in Britain, America's most important military ally in Iraq. Under World Trade Organization rules, procurement contracts are supposed to be open to all bidders, domestic and foreign. Even if a legal basis can be found for these closed bidding arrangements, they are unacceptable. The Iraq war was fought in the name of high principles. Victory should not turn into an undeserved financial bonanza for companies that have cultivated close ties with the Bush administration ."

Rumsfeld's War Leaves Iraq in Pieces
Marcus Corbin
HamsterChatter: " The lack of troops now, in the post-invasion phase, is emblematic of Rumsfeld's focus on raw force. Rumsfeld may understand modern combat but doesn't seem attuned to the more complex, difficult and political challenges of nation-building, peacekeeping and occupation missions. His inexplicable comments on the looting and chaos in many Iraqi cities illustrates a troubling lack of appreciation for the difficulties and requirements of this occupation, and of modern political conflicts more generally ."

Dean may be a long shot, but he's a straight shooter
Steve Neal
HamsterChatter: "During his tenure as governor, Dean passed a program assuring that every child under 18 and more than 92 percent of adults were eligible for health care. "If I become president," he said, "the first item on the agenda is to bring health care to every man, woman and child in America." Dean, who managed to preserve hundreds of thousands of acres for the people of Vermont, vows that he would do the same for the country. The administration's assault on the environment is among the president's biggest vulnerabilities ."


Monday, April 14, 7:34am

permanent link | -Eric.

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OUCH: Ron Reagan Jr. blasts Bush: "My father crapped bigger ones than George Bush," says the former president's son, in a flame-throwing conversation about the war and the Bush administration's efforts to lay claim to the Reagan legacy.
Salon
HamsterChatter: "Reagan took a swipe at Bush during the 2000 GOP convention in Philadelphia, which featured a tribute to his father, telling the Washington Post's Lloyd Grove, "The big elephant sitting in the corner is that George W. Bush is simply unqualified for the job... What's his accomplishment? That he's no longer an obnoxious drunk?" Since then he's been quiet about the current occupant of the White House -- until now.

Some observers have compared Bush's persona as an intellectually challenged but politically gifted leader to that of Reagan. But the younger Reagan vehemently rejects the analogy. "The gunslinging cowboy, the actor who just read his lines -- that stereotype doesn't fit who my father really was.

"My father had decades of experience in public life. He was president of his union, he campaigned for presidential candidates, he served two terms as governor of California -- and that was not a ceremonial office as it is in Texas. And he had already run for president, against Ford in '76, nearly unseating the sitting president in his own party. He knew where he was coming from, he had spent years thinking and speaking about his views. He didn't have to ask Dick Cheney what he thought.

"Sure, he wasn't a technocrat like Clinton. But my father was a man -- that's the difference between him and Bush. To paraphrase Jack Palance, my father crapped bigger ones than George Bush." ...

Reagan says his family feels particularly alienated from the Republican Party over its opposition to embryonic stem cell research, which could have significant benefit for Alzheimer patients like his father. "Now ignorance is one thing, ignorance can be cured. But many of the Republican leaders opposing this research know better, people like [Senate Majority Leader] Bill Frist, who's a doctor, for God's sake. People like him are blocking it to pander to the 20 percent of their base who are mouth-breathers. And that's unconscionable -- there are lives at stake here. Stem cell research can revolutionize medicine, more than anything since antibiotics." ."


Monday, April 14, 12:04am

permanent link | -Eric.

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The Onion:

Bush Subconsciously Sizes Up Spain For Invasion

During a White House meeting with visiting Spanish prime minister and fellow allied-forces leader Jose Maria Aznar, President Bush subconsciously sized up Spain for invasion Monday.

"Aznar was pledging his ongoing support for the Iraqi war effort when, out of nowhere, this odd look came across George's face," National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said. "He sat quiet for a moment, like he was going to say something, but then he just shook his head as if to chase the thought away."

At the meeting, Aznar ruled out sending Spanish combat troops to Iraq but pledged to provide a hospital vessel, a mine-clearing unit, a team of chemical-detection experts, and several oil tankers.

"And you have no nuclear weapons, right?" Bush asked Aznar. "And no chemical or biological weapons or anything like that? Just curious."

One wonders what role Stuttering John will play in the post-Aznar government.

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Great. I watch Chris Matthews for one minute and he's blasting the Democrats for not showing joy that Iraq has been liberated. "Did any Democrats cheer for the country today?" And now he's saying, 'Yeah, yeah' to Tony Blankley.

Chris Matthews. What can I say. Good thing the webcam of my empty Dasani water bottle gets higher ratings than him.

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Hamster Rant of the Day: Great, But ...

Some commentators, especially within the so-called liberal media, are quick to say that this war was not the bloodbath people were predicting, and that this is largely a testament to the great war planning of President Bush. Indeed, with people dancing in the streets of Iraq, some Americans may be quick to judge that President Bush is a smart politician. Nothing could be further from the truth.

While we did end up the victors, that doesn't change the fact that there were large amounts of civilian casualties and in this unnecessary and unneeded war that's one too many.

We also need to look at the loss of international diplomacy. We cannot measure the decrease of world opinion in American soldier lives, thankfully, but we can point to a hypothetical future when the United States needs the help of the rest of the world and they turn their backs on us. After September 11, America had all the international political capital in the world (ha), and Bush squandered it on the wet dreams of neoconservative hawks. Where will that leave us one, two, ten years down the road? If we don't have our own regime change (yes, I said it), world opinion is likely to get worse.

The average American citizen can't see it, riding shotgun through the American outback, but foreign opinion is very crucial in this increasingly interconnected world. It's important for business, it's important for NGO workings, and it's damn important for government diplomacy. That's a huge casualty of war, and Bush, with his diplomatic incompetence, wouldn't get it back. Sure, we'll have Britain, but is Blair going to be in power for much longer? And if so, how influential is Spain and Britain, while we're boycotting France, Russia and Germany?

I don't want to sound like the eternal pessimist, because I'm not – it can't rain all the time – but while I'm glad the Iraqi citizens no longer have to live under a brutal tyrant named Saddam Hussein, I have to look at the big picture, and that's the reality that after this war America may be in worse shape than ever before. How has anything been accomplished? 1) American soldiers died in an unnecessary war. 2) Countless civilians were killed, possibly creating new Osama bin Ladens. 3) World opinion is going to be hard, if not impossible, to repair under GW. 4) It doesn't appear the neocons will stop with Iraq. Who knows how far their conquest will go. 5) The war has damaged the Iraqi land, possibly causing severe environmental damage with its bombing and 6) we still have domestic problems.

So great, we got rid of Saddam. That's fine. But don't close the book yet. But as Robert Fisk wrote, "But winning a war is one thing. Succeeding in the ideological and economic project that lies behind this whole war is quite another. The "real" story for America's mastery over the Arab world starts now."

And that's a rant. -Eric. Link to day's entry.


Wednesday, April 9, update 2

permanent link

The House-Senate Conferees met today on the Feeney Amendment. The news is not good. Senator Kennedy submitted a secondary amendment to strike the Feeney provisions altogether and direct the Sentencing Commission to study departures. That failed on a strictly party line vote, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against it.

Hatch and Sensenbrenner submitted an Amendment. They are presenting it as a compromise amendment that only limits prevention of downward departures to sex cases with minor children and merely requires the Commission to study other departures. It's not true. We've seen a preliminary point-by point-analysis prepared by two pre-eminent legislative analysts. We can't publish it yet because it's not in final form and we don't have the authors' permission. We hope to have a final analysis from them tomorrow and will reprint it here.

Here's what we can say for now. The Hatch-Sensenbrenner Amendment Retains Much of the Underlying Feeney Amendment and Dramatically Limits Departures in All Cases. In fact, the Amendment directs the Sentencing Commission to amend the guidelines and policy statements "to ensure that the incidence of downward departures are [sic] substantially reduced." There's a lot more, stay tuned.

Cleaning up diesel
On the heels of finding that diesel exhaust likely causes lung cancer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed a promising proposal to sharply curb diesel pollution.

Soot and smog from diesel engines also cause asthma attacks, other respiratory illnesses and even deaths. America should use its technological know-how to reduce these harmful emissions and improve air quality for all Americans.

Fortunately, we're already making progress cleaning up diesel truck and bus engines, and the same cleaner fuels and state-of-the-art emission controls can be used in construction equipment and other heavy diesel-powered machinery. These produce more deadly soot each year than cars, trucks, and buses combined.

EPA's diesel proposal is a breath of fresh air, considering the Bush administration's actions to weaken pollution limits on power plants.

The administration should press forward with these crucial health protections, which would prevent an estimated 268 premature deaths annually in Minnesota.

Eric Hananoki, Washington D.C.
U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

What is going to happen to American standards of living? We enter this new era of globalization with incredibly high levels of national, corporate and personal debt.

The problem with unregulated globalization is there are no protections against exploitation, and our world has pre-existing unemployment, forcing everyone to "race for the bottom" by trying to outbid those poorer than themselves. So Mexico is losing jobs to Thailand, which is losing jobs to VietNam, which is losing jobs to China and Bangladesh, where many people work for just enough to survive (or less).

Meanwhile, because of the job loss, people everywhere can afford less and less, so the volume of trade drops along with prices and wages. AND the countries with no environmental regulations, worker protections, etc. have an economic advantage over those that care about their people and the earth. It is a recipe for a race to the bottom, with now winners except those who start out with the most. Short-term they benefit from paying lower wages -- until the customer pool dries up. But, of course, they've made a killing by then. What matters is getting that corporate jet next year, not killing of your industry five years down the road.

If you pay attention to right-wing ideology (and I do) then you know they say that if someone will work for less than you, they should have the job and you should not, period, end of story. If they will work without health insurance, they should have the job. If they will work on a machine that might cut their hand off, and you won't, then they should have the job. They say the only criteria is corporate profit.

And it's not just on the homefront that celebrities keep us safe from evil despots. Day in and day out, for over a hundred years now, Hollywood has been shocking and aweing the world with our most persuasive visions of freedom, affluence, self-indulgence, iconoclasm, rebellion, hedonism, and, most importantly, self-determination. How powerful are such visions? Just ask the Taliban, who outlawed movies, TV, and music, while imposing no such strictures on guns. Just ask Joseph Stalin, who, as Reason's Charles Paul Freund recounts in his essay "In Praise of Vulgarity," "attempted to extirpate every aspect of American culture from Soviet life" and criminalized even the mere mention of jazz.

In the last three weeks or so, we've dropped over 20,000 bombs on Iraq, but bombs will never destroy anti-Americanism with the same efficiency that 20,000 American Pie sequels could. Expose a generation of 14-year-old Iraqis to the former and you're more than likely going to inspire at least a few terrorists. Expose a generation of 14-year-old Iraqis to the latter and the worst that you'll end up with are some Maxim subscribers deeply indoctrinated with the notion that life is about drinking beer, watching sports, playing videogames, and ogling famous women in bikinis.

Why, then, do celebrities inspire so much hatred these days? Many anti-actorvists take care to explain that they don't hate celebrities out of hand: they just hate celebrities who espouse their (liberal) political opinions via newspaper ads, talk-show appearances, and other public means.

But what is this really saying about America? We champion freedom of expression here, unless you actually have the power to make that freedom meaningful? In the end, it's celebrities' power to reach large numbers of people, more than their ignorance or hypocrisy, that seems to enflames anti-actorvists. After all, if your argument is merely that celebrities are stupid, then why advocate executing them, like New York Post columnist Steve Dunleavy did? Or why organize boycotts designed to destroy their marketability and economic prospects, and thus their power to disseminate their beliefs? Stupid people trivialize themselves, so obviously it's not just celebrity stupidity that bedevils the Steve Dunleavys of the world. Instead, they can't stand the idea that diversity of opinion, even in difficult times, isn't just an empty platitude, but an actual possibility in American life, at least if you were once on a hit TV series. So, go ahead, anti-actorvists! Crush your Dixie Chicks CDs! Boycott Susan Sarandon's public appearances! But while you're at it, drink a toast to Saddam, because that's exactly the kind of thinking he loves: the fewer private citizens there are with the power to express their opinions to the masses, the better.