Monday, September 30


  • Hamster Spin. Democrats are anti-military? The AP reports:
    Would you favor or oppose taking military action in Iraq to end Saddam Hussein's rule, even if it meant that U.S. forces might suffer thousands of casualties?

    Overall — 48 percent favor, but that drops to 25 percent if no allies.

    Republicans — 66 percent favor; 20 percent favor if no allies.

    Democrats — 35 percent favor; 13 percent favor if no allies.

    Independents — 47 percent favor; 24 percent favor if no allies.

    So ... 66% of Republicans don't mind if thousands of American soldiers die in an invasion, so long as we get rid of Saddam, whereas 35% of Democrats don't. If I were a conservative, foaming at the mouth, spewing anti-liberal, 'the left hates America and American soldiers' rhetoric, I'd have a field day (and my own radio show). But I'll spare you.

  • Attack Mode. The issue-less Right is back in full-swing. They could push issues. They could push new ideas. Instead, they're attacking Al Gore. Conservatives are found of saying how Al Gore has no importance as a private citizen (Bill O'Reilly: "Here's one of the reasons that we don't -- we wouldn't go to Al Gore's speech no matter what. He is a private citizen. We don't do that.") yet they devote so much ink to Gore. For example:
    Charles Krauthammer . "A pudding with no theme but much poison. Such was the foreign policy speech Al Gore delivered in San Francisco on Monday."
    Ollie North. "Al Gore returned to the political stage last week just as he left it 17 months ago -- as a man who just can't make peace with the concepts of truthfulness and honesty, and has never been able to lasso his wild imagination. "
    Michael Kelly. "Gore uttered his first big lie in the second paragraph ... "
    Doug Bandow . "Al Gore's selective amnesia."
    Andrew Sullivan. "In his pathetic attempt to find a way to attack his nemesis, Gore has actually reverted to the kind of bellicose hysteria we usually associate with the far right."
    Newsmax. "Sen. Simpson: Gore Politicized First Gulf War Vote."
    And I haven't even bothered reading Fox News or the Washington Times ... The point? Conservative pundits miss Gore because he was such an easy target. Attack politics is what conservatives do. Issue politics is what liberals do. Here's news: attack politics won't win elections.

  • Whiz-kid Ben Shapiro writes:

    If I applied to UCLA today, I'd probably be rejected -- I'm a middle-class Jewish male from a private school. My nearly 16-year-old sister wants to go to UCLA. She'll ace the SATs next year, but it may be futile. I've advised her to write on her application that she is a Hispanic inner-city youngster who hears gunshots every night outside her window; that her classmates are all drug pushers, but she volunteers at a homeless shelter every night; that she has to study in the closet because my parents work in a sweatshop and can't afford electricity. She says she won't do it because it's false. But if she wants to get into UCLA, she may not have a choice.

    How come Ben Shapiro wasn't MY college counselor!? If I had used racial stereotypes, I'd be at Harvard!

  • Oh? Bush adviser says he wishes Bill Clinton were President. Writes NY Daily News: "As an investor, I wish Bill Clinton was still President," he moaned. "And I say that almost half-seriously."

  • Writes Andrew Sullivan:
    HITCH LEAVES THE NATION: According to Josh Marshall. Now there really is no reason to read it any more.
    A non-endorsement from Andrew Sullivan! Better start reading The Nation again.

  • Rep. Patsy Mink, a congresswomen from my home state, died this weekend. My condolences. She was a great leader. -Eric. Link.

    Undermining Environmental Law
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "The Bush administration has been seeking to ignore or limit the reach of the National Environmental Policy Act, regarded as the Magna Carta of environmental protection ."

    Nancy Reagan Fights Bush Over Stem Cells
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Mrs. Reagan believes that embryonic stem cell research could uncover a cure for Alzheimer's, the disease that has wiped out her husband's memory. She was dismayed, friends say, when the White House took issue on Monday with a new California law that encourages embryonic stem cell research ."

    Analysis Of Census Bureau's Poverty and Income Data For 2001
    Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
    HamsterChatter: "Census data issued today show that poverty increased in 2001, while median household income fell, and the income gap between the affluent and the rest of society either tied or set new all-time recorded highs ."

    Fighting Street to Street
    London Times
    HamsterChatter: "After a weekend of intense but largely fruitless lobbying by the United States and Britain to win backing from China, France and Russia for a new ultimatum against Iraq, Hans Blix, the UN's chief weapons inspector, will meet a high-ranking Iraqi delegation in Vienna this morning ."

    No Blank Check for Bush War
    Americans for Democratic Action
    HamsterChatter: "ADA believes the United States should be a leader, not a laggard, in pressing for multi-lateral diplomacy and actions to achieve international peace and security and respect for human rights. Our actions with respect to Iraq and other international situations will have much more credibility if we follow these principles and will decrease the prospects for violence and terrorism in the world ."

    New Doctrine Irks Europeans
    Washington Post
    HamsterChatter: "U.S. policy of preemption seen as ending decades of coalition-building ."

    Poll: Support for Iraq Action Drops
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Would you favor or oppose taking military action in Iraq to end Saddam Hussein's rule, even if it meant that U.S. forces might suffer thousands of casualties? Overall — 48 percent favor ."

    Mink remembered for her resolve, integrity
    Honolulu Advertiser
    HamsterChatter: "From the suburbs of Honolulu and the Neighbor Islands that Mink represented in Congress to the governor's office to Washington, D.C., political allies, sometime foes, campaign workers and everyday people stopped to remember a woman whose career spanned more than 40 years and directly or indirectly touched so many people ."

    Streisand Helps Raise Money for Democrats and Tells Them to Play Offense
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Barbra Streisand and much of the Hollywood liberal elite were gathering tonight to raise $5 million for the Democratic leadership and to prod it to be more forceful in opposing President Bush on Iraq and domestic policy ."

    Ready. Aim. Fire first
    USNews
    HamsterChatter: "Earlier this summer, a top aide to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld outlined for his boss a concept for striking North Korea's weapons of mass destruction–a case study in the application of the Bush administration's new doctrine of pre-emptive military action. The hypothetical scenario envisioned a swift attack, carried out without consulting South Korea, America's ally on the peninsula. When word of the briefing spread, administration heavyweights, including Secretary of State Colin Powell and Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, worked to bury the scheme ."

    Ours Not To Reason Why
    Michael Kinsley
    HamsterChatter: "To be sure, the fatuous hypocrisy of the Bush case for war is no reason to let Saddam Hussein drop a nuclear bomb on your head. Iraq may be an imminent menace to the United States even though George W. Bush says it is. You would think that if honest and persuasive arguments were available, the administration would offer them. But maybe not ."

    Protests That Make the Grade
    Mother Jones
    HamsterChatter: "Each year, Mother Jones surveys the state of campus activism across the country. The result is the Top 10 ranking, a view of how the nation's students are reacting to issues of concern, and of what issues seem to be striking a chord on college campuses ."

    Russia resists new Iraq resolution: The US is having trouble selling its Iraq policy
    BBC
    HamsterChatter: "A US envoy has ended talks in Moscow with no sign that he has won Russian support for a tough new draft UN resolution on Iraq. Speaking after the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Moscow "still favours the quickest possible return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq". ."

    France to unveil air-powered car
    BBC
    HamsterChatter: "Engineers in France believe they have come up with the answer that environmentalists and economists have spent years searching for: a commercially viable, 100% non-polluting car, which costs next to nothing to run ."

    Weapons of mass distraction
    Dan Plesch
    HamsterChatter: "President Bush wouldn't want to talk about the many issues which the Iraq crisis is obscuring ."

    Nuclear Dangers Beyond Iraq
    Michael Levi
    HamsterChatter: "In a New York Times Op-Ed, Strategic Security Project director Michael Levi questions the current focus on Iraq. He argues that if we remove the threat of Saddam Hussein while leaving the rest of our nonproliferation policy unchanged, we will achieve only a marginal improvement in our security against nuclear terror ."

    War Fever
    Bear Left
    HamsterChatter: "Remember the Maine? The missile gap? The Gulf of Tonkin? The passion of those clamoring for war does not always mean that their cause is wise, just, or sound ."

    Tempers flare in quarrel over Iraq
    Int. Herald Tribune
    HamsterChatter: "A fierce U.S.-French diplomatic quarrel that has blown up about the next Security Council step against Iraq is centered on two objections by Paris. ."

    Oil firms wait as Iraq crisis unfolds
    SF Chronicle
    HamsterChatter: "The world's biggest oil bonanza in recent memory may be just around the corner, giving U.S. oil companies huge profits and American consumers cheap gasoline for decades to come. And it all may come courtesy of a war with Iraq ."

    War critics raise profile in Maine
    Portland Press
    HamsterChatter: "President Bush apparently has the support of a majority of Mainers for his aggressive policy on Iraq, but the anti-war march that spun out of control in Portland last week — leaving 14 people under arrest — raised the visibility of the state's increasingly active peace movement ."


    Friday / Weekend, September 27-29 (Sat Update)


  • The media ignored this ad , maybe you can do better. Thanks to Bear-Left.

  • Let's play a game, shall we? The game is called, 'O'Reilly Logic.' Bill O'Reilly had the following exchange with Democrats.com's Bob Fertik
    FERTIK: He should have gotten full coverage of the entire speech because it was such an important speech, because this has tied up hours of debate in the British parliament, it is tying up the Congress of the United States. And the man who led the Democratic Party in the last election to victory that was stolen from him...
    O'REILLY: All right. Well, that's stupid. Don't get into that. That's just dopey. But...
    FERTIK: Perhaps you don't like your votes to be thrown out. But there were 175,000 voters in the state of Florida…
    O'REILLY: Perhaps I, perhaps I believe in the Supreme Court, OK, Mr. Fertik? You don't like it here take a bus down to Mexico.
    FERTIK: Five votes on the Supreme Court -- all five of whom were appointed when George Bush was the vice president...
    O'REILLY: Look, you don't like the country, take a bus to Mexico.
    So, Fertik brought up a perfectly legitimate point: Al Gore received more votes than Bush, yet Gore receives poor and often hostile coverage. Fertik also alluded to voter fraud, Supreme Court injustice and a voting system where someone wins the popular vote yet loses the election. Fertik brought up problems. And O'Reilly's solution? You have problems, get out!

    Well …

    Let's play the game, 'O'Reilly Logic.' I'll interview Bill. (Note: my following comments aren't necessarily my views on the issue, just meant to prove a point).

    O'Reilly, on Supreme Court's virtual porn ruling, August 28: If you're a pervert who is a predator, that you're not going to go for this stuff -- all right. That you're going to go for that stuff in lieu of getting a little boy or girl you don't at that point. So I think the Supreme Court was wrongheaded here, because I think protecting children is a responsibility of the federal government.
    Me: Ok, look, this is America. And I believe in America. I believe in the Supreme Court. And if you don't like it, Mr. O'Reilly, go take a bus to Mexico.

    O'Reily, July 1, 2002: But this court (9th circuit) is anti-American. I don't care what they do. I don't care what they say about hiding behind the Constitution.
    Me: You don't like the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals? You don't like the court system, or the legal system? Well, I have news for you. No one is making you stay in this country, so go take a plane to France..

    O'Reilly, July 29, 2002: But Senator Hollings, incredibly, refused to hear the woman, saying the committee didn't have time, even though Mrs. Saracini petitioned for a hearing months ago.
    Me: Hey, call me old fashioned, but I believe in the legislative branch of the government. I believe in balance-of-powers. And you don't like the legislative branch, made by our founders? Well, you don't like it and you have a problem with our country, go take a bus to Canada. We don't have room for dissent here in America.

    And that's how the game is played. O'Reilly has no room for people who don't think like him (it's called being narrow-minded - a problem if you're a 'journalist'). What, you don't like it? Go take a bus to Mexico.

  • Says PageSix, not necessarily a bastion of truth, but well ... it's an interesting scenario (and one a Hamster would salivate at):
    IS Sen. John McCain going to quit the Republican Party and become the running mate of Sen. John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race? McCain's chief political adviser, John Weaver, has become a Democrat and is now working for Dick Gephardt. McCain's new legislative director, Christine Dodd, last worked for a liberal congressman - a Democrat. Now Kerry of Massachusetts, who has made clear his plans to run in 2004, is making overtures towards McCain. A rumored head-to-head between Kerry and McCain is said to be scheduled at McCain's cabin in Sedona, Ariz., next month. And for "Man of the People," the new McCain biography by Paul Alexander, Kerry provided a blurb that reads more like a love letter. After noting that McCain's 2000 presidential campaign "set the standard for honor, dignity, courage, and truth," Kerry declares: "I have had no greater privilege in all my life than finding and then standing on common ground with John McCain, and I look forward to fighting side by side with him on yet another day to make our country stronger."
  • Donald Rumsfield has too much fun with reporters. He should have to pay for an admissions ticket ... I guess I'd do the same thing, though.

  • Jon Stewart is one smart man. He pretends to be dumb, like Harvard American History major Conan O'Brien, but he is smart. Smart, smart, smart. So smart, I repeated it 3 times. Actually 5. Smart. William and Mary taught him well.

    "Finland? What about Finland? Do we bomb them if they get a desire for nuclear weapons as well?"

    "I'd hate for us to break the 'axis of evil' like that. I'd hate for us to be the Yoko Ono."

  • CBS Poll: "The newly articulated Bush doctrine of pre-emption gets mixed reviews from the country; 44% of Americans say the U.S. should NOT attack another country unless that country has attacked the U.S. first. On the other hand, 43% say the U.S. should be able to attack any country it thinks might attack the U.S."

    Hardly a mandate.

  • I don't know what Rittenhouse is talking about, Buffy kicks ass! -Eric. Link.

    Mink's condition worsens, prospects poor, party says
    Honolulu Advertiser
    HamsterChatter: "Andy Winer, a spokesman for the Democratic Party's coordinated campaign, said he was called at about 11:30 a.m. by a "representative of the family" and told that she had "taken a turn for the worse" and that the chances she will recover are slim ."

    Hundreds Arrested at D.C. Protest
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Protesters opposed to war, capitalism and global trade policies clashed with police Friday as finance ministers from around the world began a weekend of meetings. More than 600 people were arrested, and one protester was slightly injured ."

    Reasons Why We Shouldn't
    TomPaine.com
    HamsterChatter: "TomPaine.com's collection of reasons why we shouldn't invade Iraq."

    In an Effort to Save Salmon, Irrigation Policy Is Reversed
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Federal officials have reversed an earlier water policy following the death of more than 10,000 salmon in the Klamath River in northern California ."

    A Draft U.S. Plan on Iraq Inspections Authorizes Force
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "The Bush administration has drafted a plan for inspections that provides for immediate access to all sites in Iraq and authorizes the use of military force if Baghdad interferes ."

    Sen. Kennedy Blasts Bush's Iraq Policy
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "A leading liberal voice, Kennedy said in a speech war with Iraq could provoke the use of weapons of mass destruction, lead to a wider war in the Middle East and weaken efforts to destroy the al Qaeda network blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States."

    Bush cannot justify unprovoked attack
    CincyPost
    HamsterChatter: "Which country has developed and amassed the most weapons of mass destruction in the world? • Which country has its troops deployed in more foreign countries than any other? ."

    Ashcroft's Baghdad Connection: Why the attorney general and others in Washington have backed a terror group with ties to Iraq
    Newsweek
    HamsterChatter: "THE 27-PAGE DOCUMENT—entitled "A Decade of Deception and Defiance"—made no mention of any Iraqi ties to Osama bin Laden. But it did highlight Saddam's backing of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), an obscure Iranian dissident group that has gathered surprising support among members of Congress in past years. One of those supporters, the documents show, is a top commander in President Bush's war on terrorism: Attorney General John Ashcroft, who became involved with the MKO while a Republican senator from Missouri ."

    Bush Administration Heeds Windbags of War
    Joe Conason
    HamsterChatter: "The Bush White House is so worked up over Iraq that it is discarding our long relationship with Germany in a tantrum ."

    My Government Went to Afghanistan And All I Got Was This Stupid Pipeline
    Ted Rall
    HamsterChatter: "Plans for a pipeline dated back to the mid-'90s, even before the Taliban seized power in 1996. After the Taliban consolidated control over more than 90 percent of the country, Western oil companies restarted negotiations with renewed vigor; the hardline Islamist regime crushed the warlordism that threatened the safety of a pipeline ."

    Defend the Country, Not the Party
    Richard Gephardt
    HamsterChatter: "But now there's no denying it. President Bush himself has decided to play politics with the safety and security of the American people. It started in New York two days after the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11 ."

    Fighting Street to Street
    NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
    HamsterChatter: "That could be a nightmare. As the last gulf war showed, a bombing campaign can knock out bridges and barracks, but unless we're incredibly lucky, we won't kill Saddam, trigger a coup or wipe out his Republican Guard forces. We'll have to hunt out Saddam on the ground — which may be just as hard as finding Osama in Afghanistan, and much bloodier ."

    Sierra Standoff: Was the Forest Service claiming portions of Lassen National Forest were dead just so it could allow commercial logging to proceed?
    Sac. News and Review
    HamsterChatter: "Hanson means these trees are dead on paper only; dead in a way that gives the Forest Service a good reason to sell healthy trees off to the highest bidder among the many logging companies that do business in this part of the Sierra ."

    The Politicization of the Debate on Iraq
    Diane Fienstein
    HamsterChatter: "Now it is our job - our Constitutional duty - to debate this resolution. We must not, and we will not, be rushed into a vote. The decision to go to war is perhaps the most grave and significant decision that any nation makes. It is a decision that must be made on its merits, with a timetable determined by the cause and the case, and not based on political considerations and upcoming elections. Congress must not rush to judgement before it has had ample opportunity to answer the many questions that still remain regarding why a war - a pre-emptive war - should be fought against Iraq ."

    Gore on War
    Richard Cohen
    HamsterChatter: "So, bully for Gore. He has raised some important issues. This is the solemn obligation of the opposition party and its de facto leader. And the solemn obligation of the president and his supporters is not to shout appeasement but to provide some answers. We're waiting ."

    A New Kind of Race
    Newsweek
    HamsterChatter: "Minority candidates were once confined to the 'ethnic ghetto.' These days, they are reaching far beyond ."

    Reviving the living wage
    Sac. News and Review
    HamsterChatter: "After long delays that critics dub stalling, Sacramento officials finally could vote on the living-wage ordinance this fall ."

    G.O.P. Is Seen Ahead by Nose in House Races
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "With six weeks to go until the midterm elections, Republicans appear to hold a slight edge in this year's fight for control of the House of Representatives ."

    Beach banking babylon
    Molly Ivins
    HamsterChatter: "Zany antics! Extravagant costumes! Offshore financing! ."

    NAM Named Clean Air `Villain of the Month': Lobby Forms `Flying Wedge' to Block for Bush Plan to Weaken Clean Air Act
    Clean Air Trust
    HamsterChatter: "The manufacturing lobby earned this dubious distinction by "forming the lobbying equivalent of a flying wedge to help the Bush Administration jam through a plan to weaken the Clean Air Act," explained Frank O'Donnell, executive director of the Trust. "The manufacturers seek to knock aside any effort to stop the Bush plan," said O'Donnell. "This crackback-blocking effort confirms our worst suspicions - that the Bush plan really would be a dirty-air touchdown for the big polluters." ."

    Researchers Probe Whether Sonar Caused Deaths of Whales
    Los Angeles Times
    HamsterChatter: "At least a dozen beaked whales--including eight that died--beached themselves in the Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa on Tuesday following a NATO exercise that involved a cluster of warships and submarines ."

    Interview: William Rivers Pitt, Essayist and Author of "War on Iraq
    Buzzflash
    HamsterChatter: "This is what I mean when I say that he is our monster. Someone might argue that Don Rumsfeld's embracing of Saddam Hussein happened in ancient history. Because of the Cold War, it was just the way it had to be. But Dick Cheney was dealing with these people right up until the point he became the Vice-president ."

    Inouye at center of political fight
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Inouye noted that the Senate appropriations defense subcommittee, which he chairs, unanimously approved $356 billion for defense. This was done in the belief that "in order to avoid war, we should be prepared for war. "I'm concerned about the security of this country," Inouye said. "I'm concerned about what history will say about this nation 50 years from now. Did we brutalize people, or did we carry on ourselves as civilized people?" Inouye echoed Byrd, saying, "To attack a nation that has not attacked us will go down in history as something that we should not be proud of." The Hawaii senator said he supports Bush as his president and was saddened by his criticism of the Democratically controlled Senate."

    Bush under fire at home over war with Iraq
    Sydney Morning Herald.
    HamsterChatter: "President George Bush is fighting on two fronts over Iraq, with critics in the United Nations Security Council and the US Congress arguing that the White House is refusing to accept any compromise that will prevent it from launching an early pre-emptive strike against Saddam Hussein ."

    In Israel's Interest? Not necessarily
    American Prospect
    HamsterChatter: "What's more, says political sociologist Lev Grinberg, head of the Hubert Humphrey Institute for Social Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, an American victory could spark "desire throughout the Arab world for revenge," as in Germany after World War I or in Egypt and Syria after the Six Day War. "Israel will be the address for that frustration," he says. ."

    U. of C. prof says don't overthrow Saddam
    Mark Brown
    HamsterChatter: "There is no evidence that Saddam is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons, Mearsheimer said, nor is there evidence that he is working hand in hand with al-Qaida. Saddam is dangerous, Mearsheimer repeats, but certainly not as dangerous as Joseph Stalin or Mao Zedong, two other tyrants who the United States was able to fend off with its policy of deterrence and containment ."

    Casualties of War
    Matthew R. Skomarovsky
    HamsterChatter: "It has been said that the first casualty of war is truth, but truth often dies long before the war begins. This is especially the case when war is painstakingly engineered by our leaders, rather than thrust upon them by the Forces of Evil. Earlier this week, Iraq took a bold step to avoid military conflict by allowing weapons inspectors immediate and unconditional access; but with enough duplicity President Bush should be back on the road to war in no time ."

    South Florda Sun Sentinel: Who will stand tall against war machine?
    South Florida Sun-Sentinel
    HamsterChatter: "We must stop this war and save the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people - men, women and children, who will die in the next few months if Bush and Blair get their way ."

    International Starbucks protest comes to town
    Berkeley Daily
    HamsterChatter: "Under the Fair Trade system, designed to avoid exploitation of farmers, small coffee growers across the globe, organized into collectives, receive a minimum of $1.26 per pound regardless of the international price of coffee, which currently stands at 43 cents per pound ."


    Thursday, September 26


  • If the United States pursues unilateral actions against Iraq, why can't …

    Russia nuke Chechnya for posing a threat to the motherland?

    North Korea invade South Korea for having weapons of mass destruction (US)?

    China invade Taiwan for building defenses?

    Iraq invade Saudi Arabia for building military defenses?

    Israel remove Arafat from power with force?

    India invade Pakistan for building weapons of mass destruction?

    The FBI invade US militias for stockpiling weapons?

    Why not? Go ahead. The United States is doing the same thing with Iraq.

    Isn't it great being the world's superpower?

  • Silly Woman. Ann Coulter is such a publicity whore. And, well, she'll get it with these kinds of comments … it's not like it isn't true though. If you dropped a nuclear bomb on Iraq, I'm more than sure you'd get the world's attention …
    They should be worried. They hate us? We hate them. Americans don't want to make Islamic fanatics love us. We want to make them die. There's nothing like horrendous physical pain to quell angry fanatics. So sorry they're angry -- wait until they see American anger. Japanese kamikaze pilots hated us once too. A couple of well-aimed nuclear weapons, and now they are gentle little lambs. That got their attention.
    And then Ann goes for the kill ….
    Instead of obsessing over why angry primitives hate Americans, a more fruitful area for Democrats to examine might be why Americans are beginning to hate Democrats.
    Ohhhh!! *takes knife out of chest* Ann is such an angry person. Maybe what she needs is love ...

    Ann, what happened to the love? You hit me, I'll turn the check and beg for more. You know I love you. You and Hamster, we're like Sunny and Cher, minus the breakup and the marriage, and the singing. Marry me, Ann, and we'll make love, not war.

  • It's an age old method. When you can't attack someone's ideas, attack the person. Case and point, Michael Crowley's article on Scott Ritter.

  • Atrios asks, "What if Senator Daschle said "The Bush administration is more interested in special interests in Washington, and not interested in the security of the American people?"

  • Posts about Bill O'Reilly are always fun.

  • Talking Points Memo reports:
    Hitchens is finally leaving The Nation. He'll apparently make the announcement in a column in the magazine's next issue. Hitchens seems to no longer believe the Nation audience is a receptive or congenial one for him, given his hawkish stands on the war on terrorism and Iraq and -- I would imagine at least -- more or less everything he's written for the last half dozen years or so.
    Media Whores Online rejoices…

  • More Hollywood for Carville? Says Lloyd Grove:
    "Hollywood" James Carville and movie mogul Mike Medavoy are in serious talks to co-produce a film remake of Robert Penn Warren's "All the King's Men," the classic novel about a Huey Long-like demagogue in Carville's native Louisiana. Broderick Crawford starred in the 1949 movie version and, decades later, John Goodman played the title role in an HBO version. This time, we hear, the focus will be less on the "king" than on his "men." We hear that Columbia Pictures Chairman Amy Pascal has expressed interest in the project -- Columbia's parent company, Sony, owns the rights to the book -- and that Medavoy is busy trying to line up a screenwriter and nail down a deal. Carville, who has acted in a couple of cameo parts, told us yesterday he's ready to stay behind the camera: "I'm involved because I think it's the greatest piece of literature that has ever been written in the history of the planet. It's about all the stuff that makes for a good story: power, corruption, love."
  • Thank you, Tom Daschle. As Drudge reports:
    Daschle: But then I read in the paper this morning. Now, even the president. The president is quoted in ``The Washington Post'' this morning as saying that Democratic--the Democratic-controlled Senate is not interested in the security of the American people. Not interested in the security of the American people? You tell Senator Inouye he is not interested in the security of the American people. You tell those who fought in Vietnam and in World War II they are not interested in the security of the American people. That is outrageous--outrageous.

    The president ought to apologize to Senator Inouye and every veteran who fought in every war who is a Democrat in the United States Senate. He ought to apologize to the American people. That is wrong. We ought not politicize this war. We ought not to politicize the rhetoric about war in life and death.

    I was in Normandy just last year. I've been in national cemeteries all over this country, and I have never seen anything but stars, the Star of David, and crosses on those markers. I have never seen Republican and Democrat.

    This has got to end, Mr. President. We've got get on with the business of our country. We've got to rise to a higher level. Our founding fathers would be embarrassed by what they are seeing going on right now. We've got to do better than this. Our standard of deportment ought to be better. Those who died gave their lives for better than what we are giving now.

    So, Mr. President, it's not too late it end this politicization. It's not too late to forget the pollsters, forget the campaign fund-raisers, forget making accusations about how interested in national security Democrats are, and let's get this job done right, let's rise to the occasion. That's what American people are expecting. And we ought to give them no less.
    A whole slew of pundits, like Fox News's Tony Snow, have criticized Daschle's speech. You know what? Who cares. The same people who are criticizing Daschle are the ones who are covering for Bush on Iraqi. -Eric. Link.

    Daschle Defends Democrats' Stand on Security
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Senator Tom Daschle demanded an apology from President Bush for saying that Democrats were "not interested in the security of the American people" ."

    War is peace?
    Molly Ivins
    HamsterChatter: "Ignorance is strength in Bush Security Strategy 2002."

    Another Oil War
    Cynthia McKinney
    HamsterChatter: "Before we send our young men and women off to war, we need to really make sure that we're not sacrificing them so that rich and powerful men can prosecute a war for oil ."

    W., the Little Corporal
    SF Examiner
    HamsterChatter: "He thinks he's Napoleon! He's behaving exactly like a corrupt, warmongering megalomaniacal totalitarian. All he needs now is one hand stuffed inside a snappy red, white and blue military jacket. I'm kind of afraid to look in his closet ."

    Dry Drunk: Is Bush making a cry for help?
    Alan Bisbort
    HamsterChatter: "Whether George W. Bush is or was an alcoholic is not the point here. I am taking him at his word that he stopped what he termed "heavy drinking" in 1986, at age 40. The point here is that, based on Bush's recent behavior, he could very well be a "dry drunk." Of course, he may just be an immature bully who will gladly sacrifice thousands of lives to get his way even against the advice of the most respected and mature members of his own party ."

    "Chosen By God To Lead America"
    Rick Friedman & Stewart Nusbaumer, Intervention Mag
    HamsterChatter: "All of us know that Osama bin Laden is a Muslim religious fanatic hell-bent on implementing his demented version of Armageddon in the Middle East. What we're not sure about, however, is whether or not George Bush is a Christian religious fanatic hell-bent on his demented version of Armageddon in the Middle East. It's this scary thought planted in the air of public consciousness that our timid mainstream media has begun to explore, lightly explore, delicately dancing around the edges to avoid setting off the land mine of religion ."

    According To Plan -- But Whose Plan?
    Stephen Morgan
    HamsterChatter: "After one year in Afghanistan, are U.S. troops close to winning the war or is Al Qaeda about to release a devastating death trap? ."

    The Hospice Raid and the War on Drugs
    Ethan A. Nadelmann, AlterNet
    HamsterChatter: "Last week, DEA agents armed with automatic weapons raided a hospice on the outskirts of Santa Cruz, California, because it grew and used marijuana for its patients, most of them terminally ill. The founder and director, Valerie Corral, who uses marijuana herself to control debilitating seizures as a result of head trauma following a 1973 car accident, was taken away in her pajamas. Suzanne Pfeil, a paraplegic patient suffering from postpolio syndrome, was told to stand up and then was handcuffed in bed when she could not. All the plants were destroyed ."

    Carter Says Mistake for U.S. to Attack Iraq Alone
    AP
    HamsterChatter: ""I think it would be a tragic mistake for this country, for peace in the Mideast region," Carter said during a presentation at his non-profit Carter Center in Atlanta. "We would have to go into the streets" of Baghdad to capture Saddam," said Carter, who added that the effort could further destabilize the Middle East and cost the United States the support of allies ."

    Who cares about the people?
    IHTribune
    HamsterChatter: "Not only have the people of Iraq continued to suffer at the hands of the government - torture, extrajudicial execution, "disappearances," arbitrary detention and unfair trial - they have also borne the brunt of the United Nations sanctions regime since 1990. Sanctions have jeopardized the right to food, health, education and, in many cases, life of hundreds of thousands of individuals, many of them children. ."

    Bush plots war while innocent starve
    The Mirror
    HamsterChatter: "We must stop this war and save the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people - men, women and children, who will die in the next few months if Bush and Blair get their way ."

    Can Israel Also Defy the UN?
    CSMonitor
    HamsterChatter: "The US also can't help worrying that any excessive use of force by Israel could derail efforts to muster support among Arab leaders for military action against Iraq. Certainly Israeli defiance of the UN resolution will generate new charges of a double standard: Why can Israel violate such resolutions while Iraq can't? ."

    Oil may hit $100 a barrel
    The Telegraph
    HamsterChatter: "Sheikh Yamani, the former head of Opec who terrorised the West with threats over oil supplies in the 1970s, returned to the fray yesterday when he warned that the price of crude could triple to $100 a barrel if there is a war against Iraq ."

    G.O.P. Death-Penalty Feud Sinks to First-Name Calling
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan filed a lawsuit against Gov. George Ryan to halt clemency hearings for all 158 inmates on the state's death row ."

    Dicked Again
    Philadelphia City Paper
    HamsterChatter: "Splashed across the front pages of newspapers across the nation last month was a report that Vice President Dick Cheney was interested in running for re-election with President Bush in 2004, despite his fragile heart condition and the ongoing investigation of Halliburton's business practices while he was the CEO. However, these stories failed to note that there is one person more interested in Cheney running for re-election than Cheney himself: George W. Bush."

    We all have AIDS
    New Internationalist
    HamsterChatter: "There are no more boundaries. AIDS is everywhere and no single nation can stop the spread of the virus on its own ."

    Restore Liberty, Peace
    Progressive Populist
    HamsterChatter: "Iraq is an oilfield to Bush, nothing more. We fight terrorism by supporting freedom -- not just oil companies -- but with an Iran-leaning majority in Iraq the CIA would never risk a free election there. So tell Saddam that his next adventure will be his last, but until his neighbors are willing to gang up on him, leave Iraq alone and let's find Osama instead."

    The Right Judge?
    Bob Herbert
    HamsterChatter: "For those who are concerned about reproductive rights, civil liberties, health and safety issues, the environment, and on and on — it might be a good idea to pay much closer attention to the continuing takeover of the federal courts by the right ."

    U.S. Set to Train Iraqi Rebels
    Washington Post
    HamsterChatter: "Bush could sign off on readying 1,000 Hussein foes to aid in a U.S. attack ."

    For Reservists, Reservations: Prospect of Lengthy Service Worries Many Troops
    WPost
    HamsterChatter: "The prospect of calling up another 100,000 reservists -- a figure that analysts estimate could be needed as support to fight and occupy Iraq -- is causing anxiety for many of the troops and their families. It is also arousing concern among some military analysts and elected officials, who say the Pentagon is using the reserves inappropriately, risking long-term damage to the morale and viability of the force ."

    Economic Downturn Hurts the Working Poor
    E. J. Dionne Jr
    HamsterChatter: "Perhaps the White House and Congress might take just a little time away from war planning to consider what the economic downturn has been doing to poor Americans, especially the working poor ."

    With AIDS Soaring, China Should Welcome Activism
    Newsday
    HamsterChatter: "If you doubt the adage that AIDS is the world's first political disease, consider the plight of Dr. Wan Yanhai. An activist best known for exposing a blood contamination scandal in China, the doctor disappeared from Beijing's streets on Aug. 25 and was held for nearly a month based on claims that he revealed state secrets. He was released Friday ."

    House passes abortion bill; Senate not expected to act on measure
    Reuters
    HamsterChatter: "The House backed a bill Wednesday that supporters say would strengthen "conscience clauses" allowing health care providers to decline to perform abortions, but critics said it would severely curtail women's access to the procedure ."

    The arrogance of the Bush Doctrine
    Robert Scheer
    HamsterChatter: "The president's new foreign policy will only anger other countries, and provoke them to take their own "preemptive action"."

    In the Northwest: War hero stockpiles ammo for a White House run
    Seattle PI
    HamsterChatter: "But the man who won a Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts fighting in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam seems to have an ear cocked to hear the cry of "Incoming!" so that he can return fire. "By trying to define me, they'll give me the opportunity to define myself," Kerry said during an interview. "I'm proud of my state, and its contributions to the country. The last president from Massachusetts served this country well ."


    Wednesday, September 25


  • William Rivers Pitt's new book, 'War on Iraq,' is now out. Check it out:
    cover
    War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You To Know
    "During the seven years that U.N. weapons inspections took place in Iraq, Ritter and other inspectors confirmed that Saddam Hussein's chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons programs had been effectively destroyed. This fact undermines the Bush administration's false premise for waging war on Iraq. Pitt and Ritter go on to explore the White House's premise for war, demonstrating among many startling revelations, the utter lack of any plausible link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. We learn that Osama bin Laden is in agreement with the Bush administration, and has called for the death of Saddam Hussein. Pitt and Ritter highlight the absurdity of Team Bush's dual aim of bringing down Hussein and forcing democracy on a nation that has been divided for centuries. Ritter enumerates the many ways in which it is impossible for Iraq to pose a credible threat. WAR ON IRAQ closes with a stark forecast for American troops if a ground war ensues and urges the White House to seek a diplomatic solution before it is too late."

  • Atrios linked it, from BartCop, I believe. I'll show it again. I just saw it. It's too good to resist.



  • You know what's bull? How Bush and Condi are so quick, so very, very quick to dismiss the idea that they're invading Iraq for Republican political advantage, yet you get these statements:
    Bush, via WashPost: the Democratic-controlled Senate is "not interested in the security of the American people."

    Cheney, via WashPost: Vice President Cheney said security would be bolstered if Taff were to defeat Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kan.). "Cheney talks about Iraq at congressional fund-raiser/ Electing Taff would aid war effort," read the headline in the Topeka Capital-Journal.

    Houston Chron: Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who once led his party's campaign arm in the Senate, said, "I do believe the issue of terrorism and Iraq will be very much on the mind of voters going into Election Day." He noted that Republicans traditionally have a strong lead over Democrats when it comes to such national security issues.

    Houston Chron: In recent days, the White House has handed out to key Republicans in Congress a one-page summary of a published poll from its Office of Strategic Initiatives, which is run by Karl Rove, Bush's chief political adviser, to underscore that Bush has wide and growing public support. "Americans say president acting to protect nation while Democrats playing politics," the document said.
  • Looks like Charlton Heston is not a complete partisan. He believes in his cause, not a political party. Good for him, since he's the head of a interest group (though too bad his group's reason for being is arming people).

  • There You Go. Lloyd Grove reports:
    New York Times foreign affairs ace Thomas L. Friedman is obviously well past his Bush White House source-greasing phase. Critiquing President Bush in the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone magazine, the best-selling author says in an interview: "I don't think he is a particularly complex human being, and a lot of the rap on him is true: There is a real, silly frat-boy side to him."

    Waxing acidic, Friedman continues: "The Bush people are really good at smashing things. If you've got a wrecking job, they are your guys. They're cold. They're calculating, and they have the potential to be cruel." Cruel, Friedman adds, "in the best sense of the word."

    The Timesman goes on: "I think these guys are bought and paid by Big Oil in America, and they are going to do nothing that will in any way go against the demands and interests of the big oil companies. I mean, let's face it. Exxon, Mobil -- I think this is a real group of bad guys, considering that they have funded all the anti-global-warming propoganda out there in the world. And Bush is just not gonna go against guys like that. They are bad, bad guys. I mean, Bush's ranch is going to look like a moonscape in ten years if these trends continue."
  • Bush Wants to be a Macho Man. American's foreign policy has been reduced to a bunch of macho guys fighting with each other. First, Bush and Rummy won't accept Germany's apology for the Hitler slur. Why? Maybe Bush is trying to avoid having his dad's 'wimp' image rub off on him, and he's being a tough guy. Tough guys don't accept apologizes, they just say 'whatever.' Now we have Iraq. More macho guys. The US can't admit it was wrong when it didn't get rid of Saddam in the first Gulf War, so now we're going back for the sequel. But we're not doing it with help, no, no. We're doing it unilaterally. Macho guys don't like help, they never ask for directions, why should macho man Bush?

    The war on Iraq is peripheral to the war on terrorism. If it were linked, the White House wouldn't have given up on its al-Qaeda link. So what does it come down to? The US showing everyone else who's the world's superpower, just like a macho man flexing his muscles -Eric. Link.

    The proportion of Americans living in poverty rose significantly last year, increasing for the first time in eight years
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "The report also suggested that the gap between rich and poor continued to grow. All regions except the Northeast experienced a decline in household income, the bureau reported. For blacks, it was the first significant decline in two decades; non-Hispanic whites saw a slight decline. Even the incomes of Asians and Pacific Islanders, a group that achieved high levels of prosperity in the 1990's, went down significantly last year ."

    Dean says he'll lead Democrats to center
    Daily Iowan
    HamsterChatter: ""Bush is a big-spending liberal," Dean said Monday night at the IMU. "I am a fiscal conservative who would only spend money on social issues that work." Dean, the nation's longest-serving Democratic governor, said no Republican president has balanced the budget since Dwight Eisenhower ."

    Death Penalty Ruled Unconstitutional
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "A federal judge declared the federal death penalty unconstitutional Tuesday in the second such ruling in less than three months. U.S. District Judge William Sessions said the law does not adequately protect defendants' rights ."

    WSJ: Is the stock market sending an antiwar message?
    WSJ
    HamsterChatter: "But the renewed decline in stock prices also appears to correlate closely to the rise in the Bush administration's apparent determination to use armed force against Iraq ."

    In Oregon, a bold healthcare proposal
    CSMonitor
    HamsterChatter: "Nine years ago, then-First Lady Hillary Clinton put together a comprehensive healthcare proposal that crashed and burned – probably a key factor in Republicans taking over the US House a year later. Since then, various attempts to reform national healthcare have also faltered. Now, states are taking the lead in considering universal healthcare – providing government medical care to everyone. Thirteen states are on this path, with Oregon in the forefront. In November, voters here will consider a revolutionary ballot measure that would use tax dollars to provide full healthcare for every state resident ."

    War is a Lousy Way to Win an Election
    Minneapolis Star Tribune
    HamsterChatter: "Yes, Saddam Hussein is a very bad man. He was when he was the ally of the Reagan and previous Bush administrations and a cornerstone of their regional strategy. He was when he invaded Kuwait and became our enemy. And there is no doubt that he has worked to acquire the most terrible weapons. But we have known all this for decades. There is nothing new here ."

    BLAIR WAR DOSSIER 'NOTHING NEW'
    The Mirror
    HamsterChatter: "But the contents of the report were dismissed as "nothing new" by critics and military experts. Major Charles Heyman, editor of military bible Jane's World Armies, said: "It does not produce any convincing evidence, or any 'killer fact', that says that Saddam Hussein has to be taken out straight away" ."

    IT'S TIME TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP, MR BLAIR
    The Mirror
    HamsterChatter: "And that is: Don't do it, Prime Minister. Don't follow a right-wing US president who is hell-bent on war. Don't commit our forces if there is no real evidence of a genuine threat from Saddam Hussein ."

    Untold Casualties
    David Hackworth
    HamsterChatter: "Before we commit to another Gulf War, our government must come clean on what happened to our Desert Storm heroes ."

    U.S. Sees Evil at Risk of Going Blind
    Edward Rhodes
    HamsterChatter: "This call to the American people is emotionally powerful. It rests, however, on a deeply troubling and profoundly flawed conception of America and America's role in the world. The road charted by the administration leads only to tragedy, both for the world and for America ."

    Tropical Terrorist Tourist Trap:
    TAP
    HamsterChatter: "As Fidel creaks toward irrelevance, U.S.-Cuban relations creak toward normalcy -- even as Bush stands in the way. Dusko Doder reports ."

    Containment Contentment: Saddam's latest ploy gives America a chance to get what it wants -- without war
    Robert Kuttner
    HamsterChatter: "Saddam Hussein's latest offer to readmit weapons inspectors is both a strategic gain and a political setback for the Bush administration. Iraq's apparent concession also reminds us that the basic principle of international politics is that even odious regimes get to stay in power as long as they leave their neighbors alone. Better to contain Saddam than to risk wider war, and the UN plan may yet accomplish that ."

    INSPECTORS YES, WAR NO.
    TNR
    HamsterChatter: "The only compelling reason for targeting Saddam is the belief that he will never give up the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. But even this is not persuasive. Faced with a unified international community committed to the enforcement of an inspections regime, with soldiers ready to move, Saddam would almost certainly suspend his pursuit--and the suspension would last as long as the commitment did ."

    People For the American Way Urges Senate Judiciary Committee to Reject Appeals Court Nominee Michael McConnell
    PFAW
    HamsterChatter: "McConnell's Legal Philosophy Poses Severe Threat to Civil Rights, Religious Liberty, Reproductive Choice ."

    Four gay men attacked in apparent hate crimes in San Diego
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Police are stepping up patrols following several hate-crime attacks on gay men earlier this month. The suspects in all three cases yelled anti-gay epithets and attacked their victims after dark in San Diego's Hillcrest neighborhood, the center of the city's gay community, said San Diego police Capt. Bruce Pfefferkorn ."

    Cheney's Travel Budget Raises Eyebrows
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Vice President Dick Cheney's staff says he needs an extra $100,000 for his travel budget, but Democrats disagree."

    No More Bratwurst!
    Maureen Dowd
    HamsterChatter: "In their eagerness to apply adolescent torture methods, Bush hawks seem to have forgotten history: Do we really want to punish the Germans for being pacifists? Once those guys get rolling in the other direction, they don't really know how to put the brakes on ."

    Asking questions / Why assume that war must be waged?
    Minn. Star-Tribune
    HamsterChatter: "One sad casualty of Sept. 11 has been the concept that dissent is often a patriotic act. These days, challenging the White House has become tantamount to treason. But Americans can't go along with such nonsense. If spilling blood in Iraq is justified, the case must be proved against the strongest of challenges. Americans must express their every doubt, and the promoters of war must allay them. Only then can the first volley be launched. In a democracy, that's how the process works ."


    Tuesday, September 24


  • ACLU offers an interesting list: The 10 Most Challenged Books of 2001:
    (No order given) Harry Potter Series, Of Mice and Men, The Chocolate War, I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing, Catcher in the Rye, Summer of My German Soldier, Alice series, Go Ask Alice, Blood and Chocolate, Fallen Angels.
  • Will New Vatican Laws Work? If you go by Kevin Smith's "Dogma," maybe not. A quote. "Church laws are fallible because they're created by man."

  • Gallup reports:
    State of the Nation George W. Bush Approval Rating
    Most Recent Rating: 2002 Sep 20-22
    66% Approve
    30% Disapprove

    "State of the Country" Satisfaction Rating
    Most Recent: 2002 Sep 5-8
    47% Satisfied
    51% Dissatisfied

    Economic Confidence Ratings
    Most Recent: 2002 Sep 5-8
    24% Excellent/Good
    76% Only fair/Poor

    Time for more wagging, Mr. Bush.
  • How long do you think it will take to find a link between El Paso Corporation and Bush?

  • Talk Left has the left's legal arguments down once again:
    If Ashcroft and Justice are allowed to censor or delay reports they don't like, no one other than prosecutors and law enforcement is likely to agree to serve on future projects. The researchers, scholars and defense bar will abandon them if they are not independent. There is no financial payment for the work, and it involves a serious time commitment over a year or two period. Why bother if the results can be sat on, or worse, altered?
  • Atrios has his own booklist now. Ah, the power of Amazon.com capitalism.

  • Hamster Prediction: Jeb Bush will lose to McBride in Florida. 3 reasons: 1) Bush fatigue in Florida (poor media image, many mistakes, e.g. children foster system). 2) Democratic coalition power - nationwide campaign to oust Bush. 3) Bush campaign too defensive (dodging questions about daughter, foster system, voting) and not about pushing new ideas, agendas. -Eric. Link.

    3 Retired Generals Warn of Peril in Attacking Iraq Without Backing of U.N.
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "But the three commanders, some of whom warned that a war with Iraq could detract from the campaign against terrorism, said the Bush administration must work harder to exhaust diplomatic options before resorting to unilateral military action to oust President Saddam Hussein and eliminate any weapons of mass destruction Iraq may have ."

    The Legacy of Abraham
    Time
    HamsterChatter: "He is beloved by Jews, Christians and Muslims. Can this bond stop them from hating one another? "

    Post-9/11 Economic Windfalls for Arms Manufacturers
    Arms Trade Resource Center
    HamsterChatter: "President Bush's military budget increase and the war time "unity" on Capitol Hill have created an environment in which weapons makers can enjoy the best of both worlds-- continuing to make money on the weapons systems of the cold war while reaping the benefits of a war time bonanza of new defense contracts ."

    White Man's Burden
    Paul Krugman
    HamsterChatter: "It's hard not to suspect that the proposed war is a diversion from the issues of dysfunctional security agencies, a sinking economy, a devastated budget and a tattered relationship with our allies ."

    Winning without a vision
    Bob Novak
    HamsterChatter: "The crowding out of corporate corruption by war against Iraq unquestionably has brightened Republican prospects for winning both houses of Congress, saving President Bush from electoral disasters frequently visited on new presidents at midterm. However, apart from the war on terrorism, the Republican Party flinches from standing for much of anything in the 2002 election ."

    TOP GENERAL: WE WILL SUFFER 37,000 CASUALTIES
    The Mirror
    HamsterChatter: "It is estimated that around 15 per cent of invading troops would be wounded or killed in an assault on Baghdad - 37,000 soldiers in a total force of 250,000. The recently retired general said the dossier of evidence against Saddam would not prove the case for a war ."

    Oil price leaps towards one-year high on Iraq threat
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Oil prices surged to within sight of recent one-year high points here after Iraq said it would reject a new UN resolution that would impose fresh conditions on disarmament."

    After invasion of Iraq, then what? Cost, demands, hazards of post-Hussein patrols concern military officers
    Baltimore Sun
    HamsterChatter: "In addition, current and former military leaders fear that an extensive occupation could further stretch the active and reserve components of the U.S. military, particularly the Army, which is already engaged in operations from the Balkans to the Sinai desert to Afghanistan ."

    Reining in exchange rates: A better way to stabilize the global economy
    EPI
    HamsterChatter: "The overvaluation of the dollar has had serious consequences for the U.S. and foreign economies. To avoid exposing industrialized and many emerging economies to rapid, large, and uncontrolled currency fluctuations, a new, more regulated exchange rate regime is needed. Such a system would allow governments to take more control of their economic destinies and help avoid crises like those underway in Latin America ."

    War on Words: Censorship in Times of Crisis
    ACLU
    HamsterChatter: "For since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the government has not merely issued vague warnings against subversive speech. In October, in the wake of the attacks, Congress passed a law that allows the government to monitor confidential attorney-client conversations and conduct secret military tribunals for accused terrorists, and which gives the government unprecedented power to tap phones, read private email, and investigate individuals' medical and financial records ."

    Gore Comes Out Swinging On Iraq
    CBS
    HamsterChatter: "In his first major speech on the Iraq situation, the once and possibly future Democratic presidential candidate accused Mr. Bush of abandoning the goal of a world where nations follow laws. "That concept would be displaced by the notion that there is no law but the discretion of the president of the United States," an idea Gore said would encourage instability around the globe ."

    House Democrat Warns Against Iraq-ANWR Oil Link
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "A senior House Democrat on Monday warned the Bush administration and the U.S. oil industry against using the threat of war in Iraq as justification for opening an Alaskan wilderness area to oil and gas drilling."

    Nominee for Court Faces Two Battles: Senate Panel to Focus on Ideology, Immigrant Past
    Washington Post
    HamsterChatter: "To veterans of the increasingly rancorous judicial nomination process, the fight over Estrada's appointment has a familiar ring. Senate Democrats and liberal interest groups say Estrada represents the latest Bush administration attempt to "pack the courts with people who will roll back critical rights and protections," in the words of Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice. Republicans accuse Estrada's opponents of trying to block a well-qualified lawyer because he does not conform to their ideology ."

    Don't Ask, Don't Tell
    TAP
    HamsterChatter: "As last week's hearings on September 11 intelligence failures unfolded, the Bush administration continued to play politics -- and stand in the way of a full public accounting ."

    ''America's war on the world''
    Matthew Riemer, YellowTimes
    HamsterChatter: "The report, a 76 page document, authored by Thomas Donnelly and co-chaired by Donald Kagan and Gary Schmitt, ostensibly calls for increased U.S. global domination via unprecedented military action in every corner of the planet. Possible objectives could include "regime change" in China, the report states."

    The Day After
    Nick Kristof
    HamsterChatter: "So before we rush into Iraq, we need to think through what we will do the morning after Saddam is toppled. Do we send in troops to try to seize the mortars and machine guns from the warring factions? Or do we run from civil war, and risk letting Iran cultivate its own puppet regime? In the north, do we suppress the Kurds if they take advantage of the chaos to seek independence? Do we fight off the Turkish Army if it intervenes in Kurdistan? "

    Enviro Lawyer Says Job Cut in Retaliation
    Washington Post
    HamsterChatter: "John MacKnight Fitzgerald, 51, an environmental policy analyst at the U.S. Agency for International Development, filed a federal whistleblower complaint alleging that he is losing his job because he challenged government officials for weakening his environmental reviews of projects funded by multilateral banks, such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank ."

    Bush to Arab world: Drop dead
    Salon
    HamsterChatter: "Driven by right-wing ideologues and his own zeal, Bush has taken Sharon's side in the Middle East even while plotting a war with Iraq. Foreign policy experts say that's a dangerous combination ."

    Nepal: Troops kill 76 Maoist rebels
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Government soldiers in Nepal's mountains killed some 76 rebels in a continuing drive to wipe out insurgents who want to topple the constitutional monarchy, an official said Monday ."

    Professor Al-Arian's challenging journey: The assault on academic freedom in an age of jingoism
    Bill Berkowitz
    HamsterChatter: "Not only is the future of academic freedom at stake - exemplified by the attack on Professor Al Arian - but union rights, tenure and the way the entire university system is organized are all up for grabs ."


    Monday, September 23


  • Will convicting Bill Clinton of war crimes be the next right-wing cause?

  • Spare Ten Bucks? Subscribe to Mother Jones, help the left. One year for just $10!

  • Fox's New Reality Show. Though Rupert Murdoch owns FX, the network that's producing an American Idle-type show where Americans chose a presidential candidate, it would be a mistake to say that the candidate would automatically have a right-wing slant. Murdoch only has strong influence over his news networks and rarely his entertainment ventures. To the contrary, Fox TV and 20th Century Fox has produced a lot of liberal products (e.g. The Simpsons, Minority Report).

  • Quote. Here's a quote for those patriotic Americans who support the President in everything he does militarily, including Iraq.
    It is sad that being a good patriot often means being the enemy of the rest of mankind.
    Indeed, if we invade Iraq we risk being the enemy of the rest of the world. Not including Britain, of course.

  • I don't know about you, but I don't follow politics for the women.

  • Why would anyone buy this book, conservatives included? If I robbed a bank, I'd try to keep the robber out of the spotlight as much as possible. The left-wing pundits should have a field day with this book.

  • In what's probably a good thing for liberals, Cato says that this nation's governors have become less fiscally responsible.

  • The Progressive Majority is a nice group that's increasing its presence, especially on the internet. They have a section on how to take action.

  • Got Links? I've been pretty delinquent with updating the left bar of the page. Sorry. If you have links, and would like me to take a look at them, let me know. -Eric. Link.

    U.S. Taking Steps to Ready Forces for Iraq Fighting
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "American commanders have taken many steps to prepare and deploy forces, Defense Department and military officials say ."

    Putin's fragile balance with US over Iraq
    Financial Times
    HamsterChatter: "Whatever Mr Putin expected to follow in terms of Russia's foreign relations, he cannot be entirely happy with what he has now. He finds himself pressed to back an impending second US action, this time in Iraq, which, to Russia, has little justification or merit ."

    U.S. Senators Warn of Possible 'Arab-Israeli' War
    Reuters
    HamsterChatter: "Prominent members of the U.S. Congress warned on Sunday that a unilateral U.S. attack on Iraq could draw in Israel and lead to a wider Middle East war ."

    Falwell: Homosexuals are Committing a "Sexual Sin"
    Buzzflash
    HamsterChatter: "However, through His death, Christ called us to follow Him as "new creatures," leaving behind the sins that plague us in our life without Him. And whether homosexuals want to admit it, or not, the Bible clearly rebukes homosexuality and all other sexual sin that is outside the traditional man-woman marriage relationship. If we are truly to follow Christ, we must accept and uphold this truth ."

    Hawks won't stop with Baghdad
    Guardian
    HamsterChatter: "The US hawks won't want Iraq's cdoncessions on weapons inspections to prevent war. Their ambitions to transform the Middle East don't stop with Baghdad - yet they leave many crucial questions unanswere."

    Schröder's coalition wins narrow victory
    Fin.Times
    HamsterChatter: "Germany's ruling Social Democrat-Green coalition led by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder won the narrowest of parliamentary majorities in the country's general elections ."

    Lawmakers Hear Pleas Against War
    WashPost
    HamsterChatter: "It was a familiar story to Castle, whose own views -- along with those of many of his other constituents -- mirror those of Babiarz, who wants to see Hussein deposed but is reluctant to see the United States take unilateral military action to make it happen ."

    Culture War With B-2's
    Maureen Dowd
    HamsterChatter: "Don't feel bad if you have the uneasy feeling that you're being steamrolled. You are not alone. As my girlfriend Dana said: "Bush is like the guy who reserves a hotel room and then asks you to the prom"."

    Smallpox Vaccine Guidelines Readied: Emergency Plan To Cover All of U.S.
    Washington Post
    HamsterChatter: "Intended as a blueprint for state and local health officials nationwide, the unprecedented move reveals a growing belief within the Bush administration that even one case of smallpox anywhere in the Western Hemisphere would signify a terrorist assault and should therefore trigger a far more massive response than officials had previously suggested, said two experts involved in the planning ."

    Building the underground computer railroad
    Salon
    HamsterChatter: "If it all works out, they say, this will be only the first of many international computer donations. Henshaw-Plath says he has plans to send machines to Brazilian landless peasants, and to people in Argentina hurt by that country's economic meltdown."

    Bringing the war home
    Salon
    HamsterChatter: "The military's domestic violence program -- the largest domestic violence intervention and treatment program in the world -- is failing its neediest victims by being both too harsh and too lenient, driving battered spouses underground and allowing some of the most sophisticated batterers to escape appropriate penalties ."

    Gulf War General Says Iraq Invasion 'Totally Unjustified'
    Sean Rayment
    HamsterChatter: "The officer who commanded the British 7th Armored Brigade in the Gulf War has revealed that he is strongly opposed to a military invasion of Iraq. Maj Gen Patrick Cordingley, who commanded the brigade - the renowned Desert Rats - in 1991, believes that Iraq poses no imminent threat to Britain or its interests and that "the case for war has not yet been made by the politicians". ."

    Democratic Power Surge?
    SF Chronicle
    HamsterChatter: "If congress changes hands, Progressives from the Bay Area would assume chairships of some of the most powerfull committees."

    G.O.P. Oregon Senator Has a Gay-Friendly Campaign
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Senator Gordon H. Smith, Republican of Oregon, is expanding the definition of compassion in the Republican lexicon by advertising his support for gay issues in his campaign ."

    New Jersey Towns Rethink Alcohol Ban
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "And Willingboro is hardly alone. Most of New Jersey's 43 dry towns are here in the southern part of the state, which is dotted with old summer resorts founded by teetotaling Protestants who purposefully turned their backs on the wet temptations of New York and Philadelphia. But now that old dry rigor is being shaken by the hard truths of economics and taxes, which may yet make wets out of many of the region's longtime prohibitionists ."

    Government Proposing Cuts in Many Medicare Payments
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "The Bush administration is proposing deep reductions in Medicare payments for a wide range of drugs and medical devices used to treat people who are elderly or disabled ."

    U.S. lawmakers agree to trim vehicle gasoline use
    Reuters
    HamsterChatter: "WASHINGTON Senate and House negotiators working on a final energy bill agreed Thursday to modestly trim the amount of gasoline burned by light trucks and sport utility vehicles by 5 billion gallons over 7 years. But critics countered that such an amount would do little to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The 5-billion-gallon reduction would have the effect of the raising the average fuel economy by less than 1 mile per gallon, according to Democrats who wanted much tougher standards."


    Saturday-Sunday, September 21-22 (Sun. Update)


  • I'm working on an article that will probably appear on YellowTimes.org or some other site ... so not much blogging for me. Regardless, it's the weekend, so there's not much news.

  • But the Onion has NEWS. More evidence of warhawk-influence in the Bush administration.

  • From MediaWhoresOnline.com (part of a larger story)
    Liddy, we've got news for you. It's 2002. Clinton isn't running against you. Maybe you're just traumatized by the memory of 1996, when Clinton did run against your husband -- and beat his butt. (They've since healed the breach and are raising money together on behalf of the families of victims of 9/11. Pretty tacky to attack your husband's new partner in humanitarian works, isn't it Liddy. But we digress.) But whatever. Liddy Dole is tough. She wants power. Always has and always will. And she will do anything and say anything to get it. But will the news media of North Carolina catch her out on her lies and evasions, especially on her privatizing record?
  • From Time.com's Tony Karon's
    The Bush administration has no intention of allowing Iraq to define the process from here. It continues to press for a a tough UN Security Council resolution to specify exactly what is required of Iraq, but the latest Iraqi offer — and Russia's enthusiastic embrace of Baghdad's move — suggest that while Washington is likely to get Security Council endorsement of a resolution spelling out what is required of Iraq, it may have a harder time including the authorization of force for non-compliance in the same resolution. The French have insisted that this would require a second resolution and that certification of Iraq's compliance or non-compliance is the prerogative of the Security Council, but Bush administration officials want the right to make their own determination of whether Iraq is in compliance. Also, as the Sydney Morning Herald points out, expect a tough debate in the coming days on the exact meaning of 'unconditional' — the Iraqis are assuming the inspection process will take at least eight months, and will do their best to ensure that it's a lot longer than. But the Bush administration has no intention of simply restoring the pre-1998 inspection regime, and will be agitating for a far shorter fuse than the one envisaged by Baghdad.
  • From Rittenhouse Review
    Coulter citing the Times? And without a footnote, no less? What gives? Is this the same Ann Coulter who wished a horrible death on everyone working at the paper? Maybe she's being sly, thinking something along the lines of, "That stupid Times, reporting about dogs finding explosives where there were none. Can't liberals get anything right?"
    -Eric. Link.

    Matthews to Host New Weekly Talker
    Reuter
    HamsterChatter: "Dovish perhaps, but not retiring. Matthews, who begins hosting a new nationally syndicated weekly news show this weekend, accused the Bush administration of taking advantage of the national grief over last year's attacks on New York and Washington to lead America into war with Iraq. "I think a lot of people have the gut feeling that we go over and kill 3,000 Arabs and we've somehow gotten even. I disagree that it's going to enhance our security," he said ."

    Bush: Build Up Military Might
    Washington Post
    HamsterChatter: "A report on national security priorities affirms the preemptive strike strategy ."

    Iraq Rejects UN Resolutions
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Iraq on Saturday rejected U.S. efforts to secure a U.N. resolution threatening war, with Iraqi state-run radio announcing Baghdad will not abide by unfavorable new resolutions adopted by the U.N. Security Council ."

    Hollywood Seeks to Block Nude-Free Re-Edited Films
    Reuters
    HamsterChatter: "The directors told the court that offering the re-edited versions of the films violates a U.S. law that prohibits trademark infringement, false advertising and unfair competition. The directors noted that this law has been applied in the past to protect artists' rights not to be associated with unauthorized, edited versions of their work ."

    G.O.P. Gains From War Talk but Does Not Talk About It
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Senior Republican Party officials say the prospect of at least two more weeks of Congressional debate on Iraq is allowing their party to run out the clock on the fall election, blocking Democrats as they try to seize on the faltering economy and other domestic concerns as campaign issues. At the same time, Republicans said that as they entered the final six weeks of contests in which control of Congress is at stake, they did not want to be perceived as exploiting the talk of war for political gain. They said they were urging candidates not to do anything that might give Democrats ammunition to turn the war issue against them ."

    Congress Promises Quick Iraq Vote
    Reuters
    HamsterChatter: "This politician is going to have to campaign for votes AND TV ratings. Inspired by the success of the Fox hit "American Idol," which turned an unknown talent into an overnight pop star, sister cable network FX is developing a reality show called "American Candidate" that will choose a "people's" nominee for president in 2004 ."

    Israel Tightens Siege on Arafat
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Israel tightened its siege on Yasser Arafat late Friday, using tanks to destroy a stairwell in his compound, digging a deep trench and running coils of barbed wire around his offices ."

    No Sex Please, We're Soldiers
    Reuters
    HamsterChatter: "Germans mulling joining the army may think twice now thanks to a new regulation banning soldiers from having sex while in active service ."

    Inspections could take months
    USA Today
    HamsterChatter: "Restarting weapons inspection in Iraq and gauging whether leader Saddam Hussein has chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs could take many months. That's much longer than the weeks the Bush administration wants before determining whether to use military force to destroy any weapons programs and depose Saddam ."

    Voting and the States: Can Anyone Here Count?
    Time
    HamsterChatter: "The clock is ticking on election reform. Is anyone in Washington listening? ."

    Deliver Us From Evil
    Michael Kinsley
    HamsterChatter: "Of all the explanations for Sept. 11, 2001, and the subsequent alleged war on terrorism, the least illuminating is that it's all about evil. We didn't know or didn't appreciate that there is evil in the world. Now we do know, or ought to. In President Bush's "axis of evil" speech last January, the first item on his list of truths "we have come to know" after 9/11 is that "evil is real, and it must be opposed". "

    Cities colorblind to terror warnings
    USA Today
    HamsterChatter: "Many of the nation's cities have taken little or no action in response to the federal government's elevated terrorism alert, a survey by the National League of Cities shows. Only about 25% have prepared plans to conform to the national five-color alert system."

    Shoot First: Bush's whitewashed national security manifesto
    Slate
    HamsterChatter: "In other words, we now face an enemy that seeks advantage over us not through the ability to exceed us in material strength, but through its willingness to exceed us in ruthlessness. How do we adjust to this enemy? The intuitive, if unpleasant, answer is to pare our scruples to even the fight a bit. But Bush doesn't want to admit this. Instead of embracing the blunt Cold War realpolitik of Henry Kissinger, Bush redefines terms to conceal his moral compromises."

    Oil Security Sham: New Energy Bill Changes Will Increase Oil Demand
    Natural Resources Defense Council
    HamsterChatter: "As Congress and the White House tout the need for increased energy security, members of the House-Senate conference committee consolidating the energy bill today further weakened the already minuscule effort to reduce oil imports. Instead of saving fuel, changes approved by negotiators today will actually increase gasoline consumption by millions of gallons. The move comes amid rising oil prices, falling inventories and growing concern over price and supply disruptions in the Middle East."


    Friday, September 20


  • Interesting website ... FoxNewsSucks.com . You click, you decide.

  • It's working ... Bush's approval rating, in the wake of the proposed Iraq attacks, have gone back up into the 70s.

  • Talk Left brings this post about Bill O'Reilly's complaint against David Westerfield's lawyer ...

  • Skippy rants about Ashleigh Banfield with cap-less enthusiasm ...

  • More from the Blogworld: Nate Newman opines about the GOP tax cut:
    When the GOP designed their tax plan last year, they used two tricks to balloon its costs beyond its stated sticker price. As most folks know, they set it to expire in ten years, meaning that its longer term costs were hidden. But they planned to campaign to make the cuts permanent. The other trick was knowledge that the Alternative Minimum Tax would increasingly snare upper middle class taxpayers, creating a constituency for modifying or repealing the AMT to further increase tax relief
    -Eric. Link.

    Congress Promises Quick Iraq Vote
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Congress is promising a quick vote on President Bush's request for authority to use military force against Iraq, moving toward a show of unity to back up the president's effort to gain support on Iraq from Russia and other wary nations ."

    Helping the Jobless
    Hillary Clinton
    HamsterChatter: "Congress must act quickly to extend unemployment insurance and disaster unemployment assistance in New York City ."

    The Vision Thing
    Paul Krugman
    HamsterChatter: "The economic similarity between our current difficulties and the slump under the first George Bush is stronger than most people realize ."

    Profiling charged on 'nightmare' flight: A doctor on Delta Flight 442 was detained by U.S. marshals
    Philadelphia Inquirer
    HamsterChatter: "The incident on Delta Flight 442 was scary enough last month: U.S. marshals seized an unruly passenger, then one aimed a pistol at other passengers for a half hour and shouted at them to stay seated. The event, however, didn't end there. Unknown to most passengers on the Atlanta-to-Philadelphia flight, the marshals upon landing also seized an Indian passenger from first class and silently whisked him away in handcuffs ."

    Bush, the Polls & 2004
    Consortium
    HamsterChatter: "Many Republican strategists saw the American people's anger over Sept. 11 and George W. Bush's "united-we-stand" poll numbers as a way to lock down a second term in 2004. But recent poll numbers suggest a less certain future ."

    No Thank You, Mr. President
    Dr. Lev Grinberg
    HamsterChatter: "Any reasonable Israeli must object to a war endangering him and his family, that can spell a disaster to the future of his country. But we are stuck in the same 35-year-old problem: our government is run by messianic-nationalists and a war-craving military elite, who get support and encouragement from the extremist conservatives of the Bush administration ."

    Bush speeds up environment reviews
    MSNBC
    HamsterChatter: "A new environmental battleground emerged Thursday after President Bush signed an executive order to streamline the environmental reviews of high-priority transportation projects. Environmentalists called it an assault on a landmark 1969 law, while in Congress lawmakers heard from administration officials who argued that the reviews stall vital projects ."

    Bush Seeks Sweeping Powers
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "The sweeping authority sought by President Bush to confront Iraq would allow him to ignore the United Nations and fight Saddam Hussein at the time, place and manner of his choosing. Some legal experts said the proposed resolution would even permit the president to use military force beyond Iraq's borders ."

    A Parody of Partnership
    Washington Post
    HamsterChatter: "VLADIMIR PUTIN, the soul-baring friend of President Bush, is offering another demonstration of why the administration's flighty rhetoric about the "transformation" of U.S.-Russian relations has been premature. Mr. Putin's government is doing its best to hamstring Mr. Bush's campaign against Iraq ."

    The Right's Judical Juggernaut
    Jack Newfield
    HamsterChatter: "In the confirmation process, ideology should matter in direct proportion to how much it mattered in the President's thinking when he made the nomination. Since Bush said during the campaign that Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas are his favorite judges, this sent a vivid message about his judicial role models, and how his mind works ."

    A Dangerous Game
    The Nation
    HamsterChatter: "The challenge before the American people is the most serious since the rise of fascism and the long encounter wth the Soviet Union ."

    Bush to Outline Doctrine of Striking Foes First
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Today, the Bush administration will publish a comprehensive explanation for shifting military strategy toward pre-emptive action against hostile states and terrorist groups ."

    Asking But Not Telling
    TomPaine.com
    HamsterChatter: "The current president has broken Clinton's campaign cash-grabbing record, but hardly anybody seems to have noticed, commented or cared ."

    Iraq: The phantom menace
    Robert Scheer
    HamsterChatter: "The phantom menace: George W. Bush's war plans in the Middle East have more to do with elections than global security ."

    Saddam 2, Bush(es) 0
    Benjamin J. Toff
    HamsterChatter: "The American response to Iraq's announcement demonstrates just how backwards this administration's thought process has become. This administration decided a full year ago it wanted to invade Iraq; last October, Iraq was named a possible Phase Two of the war on terrorism, despite no evidence linking it to al Qaeda. Ever since, the White House has tried vigorously to find a reason to justify invasion. Bringing his case to the U.N. was a gamble, and Bush only took it believing Iraq would never agree to unconditional terms. But now it appears he lost that gamble—just don't expect him to give up any time soon ."

    Untested administration hawks clamor for war
    USA Today
    HamsterChatter: "Beware of war hawks who never served in the military. That, in essence, was the message of retired four-star Marine Corps general Anthony Zinni, a highly decorated veteran of the Vietnam War and the White House point man on the Middle East crisis. Zinni is one of a growing number of uniformed officers, in and out of the Pentagon, urging caution on the issue of a pre-emptive strike against Iraq ."

    Bush-Hitler Remark Shows U.S. as Issue in German Election
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "A reported remark by a German minister comparing President Bush's tactics over Iraq to those of Hitler envenomed a close-fought German election today and demonstrated how anti-Americanism had moved to the center of political debate here ."


    Thursday, September 19


  • Wild Wild Space? Writes Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds on Foxnews.com ...

  • People for the American Way's redesigned website looks pretty "pimp," as the youngsters would say. For those of you in blogworld, link this site ... No one does better work than these guys.

  • Letters.
    I am reluctantly coming to the conclusion that "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central is the best place to get the complete story these days. A case in point is the Bush Light speech to the United Nations last Thursday.

    Despite my hillbilly upbringing, I know that the word "nuclear" is not pronounced "nuk-u-lar." So when Bush Light seemed to get it right on CNN's Inside Politics, I though that maybe he had been taking speech lessons. But I drew that conclusion only because CNN allowed me to hear just the following brief quote from the speech, and his pronunciation was not that clear:

    BUSH: Should Iraq acquire fissile material, it would be able to build a nuclear weapon within a year.

    "The Daily Show" played a more extensive portion of the speech, in which Bush clearly goes on about "nuk-u-lar" threats and "nuk-u-lar" policy. And they went on to make the joke about the distinction between America's "nuk-u-lar" policy and our nuclear policy. Given the brevity of the quote and the importance of the issue, I have to wonder whether CNN considered it embarrassing to show Bush Light proving his intellectual limits on a world stage.

    Should the media run stories that show that the leader of the free world is an idiot? That's part of what makes it a free world.

    Tony Daughtrey
    Knoxville, TN

    I love your site and visit every day. But I have to disagree about leaving Noelle Bush alone.

    Harping on Noelle could be just the kind of "catalyzing event" you said is necessary for the creation of hot political issues. Florida's drug laws, like its election process, are in serious need of reform. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Florida's drug laws discriminate against poor and minority people, by punishing families who live in public housing. The press ought to be demanding to know why Jeb continues to live in public housing (and I'd love to hear the argument saying he doesn't) in light of his daughter's repeat drug offenses. How else can reform happen, unless rulers are forced to abide by their own rules? -W. Michie.
  • Bush and Prince William are related? I guess that explains their love for "Mary Jane" (Cheap shot, bad Hamster).

  • "Bald Corpse Mistaken for Mop-Haired Uncle." What else is new?

    And while we're on weird news, Reuters writes: "Virgin Atlantic Airways is to replace tables in its newest planes because passengers have broken them during illicit trysts, the Sun newspaper said on Monday ... " -Eric. Link.

    Bush seeks Congress approval
    CNN
    HamsterChatter: "The Bush administration Thursday will give Congress a proposed resolution that explicitly authorizes the use of military force if President Bush concludes diplomacy will fail to get Iraq to keep its commitments to the United Nations, administration and congressional sources told CNN ."

    From the Right: Religious Networks Squeezing Out Liberal NPR
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Here in Lake Charles, American Family Radio has silenced what its boss detests. It knocked two NPR affiliate stations off the local airwaves last year, transforming this southwest Louisiana community of 95,000 people into the most populous place in the country where "All Things Considered" cannot be heard ."

    Rumsfeld dismisses Iraq's inspections offer
    Financial Times
    HamsterChatter: "Iraq's offer to allow United Nations weapons inspectors to re-enter the country was roundly dismissed by Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary."

    Minnesota Poll: Wellstone, Coleman still running tight
    Minneapolis Star Tribute
    HamsterChatter: "The race between Wellstone and Coleman has been tight for months, although Wellstone has always maintained a nominal lead, even if only a percentage point or two. Since June, the two candidates and their allies have engaged in a full-blown advertising war ."

    9-11's environmental nightmare
    Bill Berkowitz
    HamsterChatter: "New book exposes government cover up, downplay of World Trade Center's toxic after-effects ."

    The Bush family tree: What do Prince William and George Bush have in common? Blood, apparently
    The Guardian
    HamsterChatter: "Oh my God, you are never going to believe this but Prince William, not content at being second in line to the throne and sending the hearts of all those posh teenage girls aflutter, is related to George Dubya Bush ."

    Cops encouraged to go to McDonald's
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Big Mac, fries and a burly police constable please. Officers are being encouraged to eat at McDonald's and other fast food outlets while on duty to help cut street crime, police officials said Wednesday ."

    House Democrats Grapple With Iraq
    Roll Call
    HamsterChatter: "With Congress facing imminent debate on whether to attack Iraq, House Democrats find themselves confounded by the massive new variable that has imposed itself on the issue landscape, and with a strong impulse to change the subject as the party totters at the threshold of a majority in the chamber ."

    Daschle Attacks Bush's Record on the Economy
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "The Senate majority leader offered a blistering assessment of President Bush's fiscal record today, citing a "tragic trend" of two million lost jobs, weak economic growth and a stock market decline he called unparalleled since Herbert Hoover. ."

    Where's the Movement? Corporate reformers need to target the radically possible
    Nick Penniman, TAP
    HamsterChatter: "Why hasn't the moment been seized? It's been almost a year since Enron evaporated and two years since the "new" economy lost its giddiness. But where's the grass-roots groundswell? What happened to all of those daring anticorporate protesters who paralyzed Seattle during the 1999 World Trade Organization meetings? "

    The big NEA-Sept. 11 lie, cont'd
    Spinsanity
    HamsterChatter: "Blaming the NEA for preaching tolerance toward al-Qaida is too much fun for conservatives to stop. Even if it isn't true ."

    Thug Lite: Why are the cowards in the White House calling for blood?
    Alan Bisbort
    HamsterChatter: "We have a renegade president and vice president, neither of whom ever wore a military uniform in combat -- and neither of whom was duly elected by the majority of America's voters -- lumbering drunkenly around the globe looking to kick some ass. Well, looking for surrogates -- yours and my sons and daughters -- to kick some ass for them."

    This Little Student Went to Market: When colleges sell themselves to applicants -- and vice versa -- fairness falls by the wayside
    David L. Kirp and Jeffrey T. Holman Times
    HamsterChatter: "More controversial is the way that many schools now use financial aid as leverage to recruit students from relatively wealthy backgrounds with their relatively high SAT scores. It's a strategy that both bolsters the college's status and minds the bottom line."

    Don't mention the O-word: If America goes to war against Iraq, what will become of all that oil?
    Economist
    HamsterChatter: "But the Saudis do not like the way the Bush administration is setting about Iraq. The regime also faces great anger on the "street" for its cosiness with the American government. Add to that the Saud dynasty's precarious grip on power, and the ruling family might find it politically impossible to crank up production to help the Americans. The result could be chaos in the world markets, and OPEC left firmly in control ."

    Ladies and Gentlemen ... the Band
    Martha Brant
    HamsterChatter: "How a young group of White House up-and-comers are selling the war in Iraq ."

    Many children left behind
    SF Chronicle
    HamsterChatter: "But in his budget, Bush has only proposed $1 billion in additional Title I funding -- and those funds came from eliminating or downscaling 60 other programs. Overall, Bush's education budget represents the smallest increase in seven years -- this from a president who came to office proclaiming education to be his top priority ."

    Danger In The Air: The 2001 Ozone Season Summary
    US PIRG
    HamsterChatter: "Ground-level ozone or smog is a dangerous respiratory irritant that affects the health of millions of Americans each year. More than half of all Americans reside in places where smog levels are high enough to cause asthma attacks, hospital visits, decreased lung function, coughing, wheezing, and eye and throat irritation. Recent studies have even linked smog with mortality from strokes and with the onset of asthma in children and adults. Despite the progress made as a result of the 1970 landmark public health law – the Clean Air Act – our cities, suburbs and even our national parks are shrouded in smog for much of the summer ."

    Students, Educators and Activists Speak Out Against Federally Mandated Blocking Software in Schools
    ACLU
    HamsterChatter: "Students, parents, educators and free speech advocates across the country spoke out today against the federal mandate for Internet blocking software on school computers that went into effect at the beginning of this school year. School communities and free speech advocates like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Youth Free Expression Network (YFEN) are urging the repeal of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which requires public schools and libraries receiving certain federal funds or Internet service discounts to install Internet filters ."

    Two Koreas Start Clearing DMZ Land mines
    Reuters
    HamsterChatter: "South and North Korean troops marched into the Demilitarized Zoneseparating their countries on Thursday to clear a path through minefields for rail and road links across the world's last Cold War frontier."

    GOP Nominees Make Iraq a Political Weapon
    Washington Post
    HamsterChatter: "Pearce isn't alone. Across the country, GOP House and Senate candidates are emphasizing the possibility of war in Iraq, either touting their support for Bush or highlighting their opponents' reservations -- past or present -- about military strikes against the Baghdad regime, according to several candidates and party strategists."


    Wednesday, September 18


  • HMMM?? "You go get him."

    This is what CNN's Kyra Phillips said to fellow anchor Arthel Neville in conclusion to a preview for Neville's interview with Scott Ritter.

    Am I reading too much into this simple 4-word sentence? Did CNN anchor Kyra Phillips mean it as a friendly, "you go get him," words of encouragement, to fellow CNN anchor Arthel Neville? Or did she mean, "you go get him," as in, get the traitor Scott Ritter? It's hard to believe that neutral anchors would encourage other neutral anchors to go and "get" an interviewer, especially one such as Ritter. Would Phillips say the same thing about Tom Cruise or Gerald Ford? The connotation of Phillips' tone certainly seemed to indicate that Phillips wanted Neville to rip him apart.

    ... Boy. Watching Arthel Neville's interview with Scott Ritter was painful. For Arthel Neville. Fox must not be losing any sleep about her departure. Anyway, the Neville's interview was pretty slanted to the Right, so Fox trained her well.

  • I like how these Arab men in Florida who were accused of being terrorists now have to PROVE they're NOT GUILTY.

  • John Chipman, from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, on NPR:
    I think if the inspectors were permitted back in by the Iraqi government, it would take them at least a year just to develop the inspection techniques and even the tradecraft to deal with the inevitable denial and concealment techniques that the Iraqis would use. What the inspectors are being asked to do is to confirm that there is no weapons of mass destruction activity going on. And so to prove that negative will require a great deal of time, no matter what Saddam Hussein does.
  • Like The Hamster? Donate!

  • Slow newsday? CNN covers "pledge across America" (Bush leads the country in the pledge of allegiance) live. I do agree with Bush that students need to learn their history better.

  • Playing Politics? Two weeks ago, as told by CNN's Bill Schneider, Dick Morris wrote in the NY Post that the only issue on which voters prefer Bush is terrorism. Only ONE ISSUE. Are you surprised, therefore, that Bush is so eager to invade Iraq?

  • Writes Chris Matthews:
    So I'll say it: I hate this war that's coming in Iraq. I don't think we'll be proud of it. Oppose this war because it will create a millennium of hatred and the suicidal terrorism that comes with it. You talk about Bush trying to avenge his father. What about the tens of millions of Arab sons who will want to finish a fight we start next spring in Baghdad?
  • Writes Newsweek (see below):
    Like most foreign-policy insiders, Rumsfeld was aware that Saddam was a murderous thug who supported terrorists and was trying to build a nuclear weapon. (The Israelis had already bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osirak.) But at the time, America's big worry was Iran, not Iraq.
    If this were Bill Clinton, we'd have 4 books and Fox News bitching that Clinton cost the lives of thousands of Iraqis and Americans. Liberal media indeed. -Eric. Link.

    How Saddam Happened
    Newsweek
    HamsterChatter: "America helped make a monster. What to do with him—and what happens after he's gone—has haunted us for a quarter century."

    Bush's Dangerous Obsessions
    Eleanor Clift
    HamsterChatter: "Before becoming president, Bush had been out of this country only a handful of times, and that was counting Mexico. Such limited exposure to the world is a rarity for somebody of his class and with his connections. And even though he was draft-age during the Vietnam War and in an academic environment where people were protesting, he seems remarkably untouched by the Vietnam experience. It's as though he slept through that period, or wasn't mature enough to grasp the enormity of the nation's disillusionment with its leaders."

    Bush Tells UN, Make War or I Will
    David Corn Times
    HamsterChatter: "As far as the public knows, Bush so far has failed to persuade any head of state--but Britain's Tony Blair--that war against Saddam is necessary at this point. He hasn't even won over key advisers to his dad, including former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft and former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger. His UN address brought nothing fresh to the podium. Bush was not leading; he was pushing."

    Civil liberties, R.I.P.
    SF Bay Guardian
    HamsterChatter: "How George Bush and John Ashcroft used the Sept. 11 tragedy to shred the Bill of Rights and begin the greatest period of political repression since the McCarthy era. A selective chronology ."

    The economic costs of war with Iraq
    Miriam Pemberton, Asia Times
    HamsterChatter: "The preponderance of evidence suggests that if we start this war we will be endangering our economic health."

    U.S., Russia Clash Over Iraqi Offer at U.N.
    LA Times
    HamsterChatter: "The two differ on whether to still confront Baghdad with new conditions or ultimatums. Meanwhile, weapons inspectors and Iraqi officials are to meet in 10 days ."

    Nation of spies is a sad reality
    NY Daily News
    HamsterChatter: "In New York, the young men from Lackawanna may or may not be terrorists. But what happened down South last week, and the roundup of six Muslim men upstate, offer uneasy glimpses into the country we live in during this open-ended war against terrorism ."

    Iraq, Upside Down
    Thomas Friedman, NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "If we don't find some way to help Arab nations, their young, angry radicals will blow us up long before Saddam ever does ."

    A Rush to Get It Right in Florida Produces More Election Wrongs
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Election experts say Florida rushed headlong into overhauling its voting system and did not allow enough time to test new machines."

    McBride may become Bush's 'worst nightmare'
    Orlando Sentinel
    HamsterChatter: "Having survived a three-way primary race and weeks of televised attacks by the Republican Party of Florida, the Tampa-area attorney threatens Bush with a personal appeal and political platform calculated to keep Bush up nights ."

    Reform Party vote completes ouster of Buchanan faction
    Washington Times
    HamsterChatter: "The remaining members hope the exodus will end a tumultuous few years. The February 2000 meeting in Nashville, Tenn., featured a full-blown fistfight in the hallways between two factions of the party ."

    What happened at Shoney's? The corps didn't know. So they told you the story they liked
    Daily Howler
    HamsterChatter: "But on Friday night, only one possibility was fully active on our cable "news" channels. Cable's hacks were widely assuming what they couldn't know—that the men had conducted a "joke," "hoax" or prank." Almost no one considered the possibility that their comments had simply been misunderstood. This led to a wonderful Connie Chung moment on CNN, the Fox wannabe channel ."

    How to Lose a Friend
    Mother Jones
    HamsterChatter: "Washington's souring relations with Germany reflect how far the US has gone in using the pain of last September as justification for a single-minded dismissal of criticism ."

    The World Isn't Watching: The Forgotten Refugee Crisis
    In These Times
    HamsterChatter: "This moral cause is noble but sadly inadequate. The great powers of the West, specifically the United States, need a new policy toward refugees. Although richer countries should acknowledge their moral responsibility for poorer ones, post-September 11 America needs to rethink its attitude toward refugees for more pragmatic reasons as well."

    American Historians Speak Out: 'Consulting' Congress On Iraq Is Not Enough
    TomPaine.com
    HamsterChatter: "The Constitution is clear, say thousands of historians in a petition presented on Capitol Hill today, Congress must debate and vote on whether to declare war on Iraq."

    Interior Secretary held in contempt
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "-- A federal judge Tuesday held Interior Secretary Gale Norton in contempt for failing to heed his order to fix oversight problems with a trust handling hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties from Indian land."

    Costs of Imperial Adventurism
    Geov Parrish
    HamsterChatter: "The Iraqis may have agreed to weapon inspections, but the campaign for "regime change" in Baghdad continues. And most other nations will go along -- for a price ."

    Iraqi move seen as effort to rob U.S. of support
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Iraq made its inspection offer Monday night, apparently hopeful that it will generate strong international opposition to the U.S. goal of installing a new regime in Baghdad, by force if necessary ."


    Tuesday, September 17


  • Who, What? Republicans claim Democrats exploit a poor economy for political advantage. Democrats claim Republicans exploit a tense Iraqi situation for political advantage. Which one is worse? Enacting corporate reform or invading a country and causing thousands of deaths, US and Iraqi, to stop something we're not even sure will happen?

  • It looks likely that the UN will send weapons inspectors to Iraq. Great. International action on Iraq is needed before unilateral action by the United States. Unfortunately, history is against the United Nations. Everyone remembers how futile the previous inspections were, with Iraq clearly dodging inspections. But this time, Bush is hell-bent on overthrowing Saddam. If Iraq screws up this time, Saddam is a dead man. Not a bad thing, if it's done right (I sound like a mobster).

  • MWO on O'Reilly. Here's what MediaWhoresOnline.com , everyone's favorite media criticism site, has to say about O'Reilly's fight with conservatives over gays:
    You see, Bill -- this is what the right wing that you've been consorting with is really about. Wing-nut correctness. Enforcing the party line. Such as hating gays on the basis of weird, extremist, bigoted readings of Scripture. Let this be a lesson to you, Bill. Cross your buddies even slightly, on any issue, and they will try and defame you. And you'll even get Freeped! Until now, they've loved you Bill. Because, let's face it, most of the time you have toed their line. But, just once, call a spade a spade -- or a religious fanatic a religious fanatic -- and they all try and get medieval on you. It's the latest sign that the conservative movement is really in desperate shape, far worse than it (or Karl Rove, or the Wall Street Journal) imagine. Giving credit where credit is due, we appreciate that, at least once, Bill O'Reilly has made a decent call. We only hope that he reconsiders his choice of "friends," and stops hanging around with the wrong crowd.
  • William Rivers Pitt, a frequent poster at Democratic Underground and columnist for Truthout.com, has written a new book with Scott Ritter about the war on Iraq . Here's an AP story on it. Amazon.com has the book at 2,000. Not bad for a small publishing house and a book that's out in 3 or so weeks. Make it a best-seller!

  • In this debate over Iraq, I've heard little from Condi Rice. Maybe that's just me ...

  • Hamster Prediction: When the next terrorist attack occurs - even the Bush Administration admits it's only a matter of time - conservative pundits will blame the attack on liberals. Why? Because liberals "scared" away common citizens like Eunice Stone from reporting "suspicious" Arab men. -Eric. Link.

    U.N. Inspectors Can Return Unconditionally, Iraq Says
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Iraq, responding to worldwide pressure after President Bush demanded that it comply with United Nations resolutions, said today that it would allow international weapons inspectors to return "without conditions." Secretary General Kofi Annan announced Baghdad's decision here after receiving a letter this afternoon from the Iraqi foreign minister, Naji Sabri al-Hadithi, and credited Mr. Bush and pressure from Arab leaders for Iraq's apparent change of hear "

    My Reprehensible Suspicions on Iraq
    Matt Miller
    HamsterChatter: "And yet - is it just me? - I can't shake the suspicion that we'll be doing this again in 2004, when the real invasion is close at hand as Bush's reelection campaign looms. And Dick Cheney will again be calling questions of timing "reprehensible"."

    Man of steel
    The Guardian
    HamsterChatter: "In 1995, after the accident which left him paralysed, Christopher Reeve said he wanted to be on his feet by his 50th birthday. That's next week, and although he has made amazing progress, he won't be standing - and for that, he says, George Bush must share the blame. "

    ''Put up or shut up''
    Matt Osborne
    HamsterChatter: "Stop your knee-jerk reaction and think about what that means: Bush, the penultimate isolationist, is telling the UN that if it doesn't act like the world's government, then it serves no purpose. I couldn't be happier with that "

    McBride's breakthrough
    St. Petersburg Times
    HamsterChatter: "Lost in the anguish over missing poll workers and voting machine malfunctions is the astonishing political story of small-town hero Bill McBride. He was 40 points down in the polls after former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno entered the Democratic primary last year, and he was 30 points down as recently as June. Few political experts gave him a chance, and some openly dismissed him."

    Student suspension shines light on zero-tolerance rule
    Omaha World-Herald
    HamsterChatter: "The suspended boy's mother and grandmother, however, say that the situation is simple and that there's nothing more to tell. Joshua Erdkamp threw away the marijuana that was handed to him. He kept a little in a pen cap to show his counselor. He couldn't get in to see the counselor right away, so he put in a request to see him and went back to class. He turned in the marijuana when he met up with the counselor. "

    Call to Arms
    The New Republic
    HamsterChatter: "Ryan Lizza on a new Iraq plan--and why the hawks hate it. "

    At Ground Zero And The United Nations -- "A Terrible Beauty"
    Regis T. Sabol, Intervention Mag
    HamsterChatter: "National Democrats are paying close attention to H. Carl McCall's race against New York's incumbent Republican governor, George E. Pataki "

    The Bush Way Is No Way
    Marc Ethier, Intervention Mag
    HamsterChatter: "The ridiculous, pervading skepticism of global warming that Bush so defiantly trumpets, and that drives U.S. diplomacy on all environmental issues now, clearly poisoned the well in Johannesburg. A concomitant problem was America's complete disregard for the opinions of other countries, which it wears like a badge of honor. What we saw over the ten days of the summit was the U.S. shoring up the support of a few vested nations, like Japan and Saudi Arabia, and bullying the rest of the conferees into agreement "

    Aide says Gore undecided about 2004 race
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "But Gore spokesman Jano Cabrera said the Drudge Report is inaccurate. "With all due respect to Mr. Drudge, I have a better-placed and more-definitive source -- Al Gore," Cabrera said. "And I can tell you that he has not made up his mind." Gore has said publicly that he will announce early next year whether he will run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004."

    A conservative breaks ranks with both the right and left to oppose an Iraq attack
    Seattle Weekly
    HamsterChatter: "So what's Iraq about? In the end, it's not about that nasty man or the nasty things he's collecting. It's about what the policy wonks call "destabilization." It's about taking the next step into a regional and a global chaos that could wreck this planet "

    On War in Iraq
    Harold Meyerson
    HamsterChatter: "Hard to say what's more suspect: the case for intervention or the timing of the debate. "

    Cronies in Arms
    Paul Krugman
    HamsterChatter: "But he was no Magoo. Jason Leopold, a reporter writing a book about California's crisis, has acquired Enron documents that show Mr. White fully aware of what his division was up to. Mr. Leopold reported his findings in the online magazine Salon, and has graciously shared his evidence with me. It's quite damning "

    The Iraqi Chessboard
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Iraq's offer to allow United Nations weapons inspectors back to Baghdad without conditions, if sincere, could open the way to resolving the crisis peacefully and should certainly be tested."

    Fire in the Hole
    Mother Jones
    HamsterChatter: "A year after the worst coal-mining accident in nearly two decades, those left behind sue for answers and justice "

    Democrats Question Iraq Timing: Talk of War Distracts From Election Issues
    Washington Post
    HamsterChatter: "Bush provoked suspicions Friday when he warned Democrats not to wait for the United Nations to act. "If I were running for office, I'm not sure how I'd explain to the American people -- say, vote for me, and, oh, by the way, on a matter of national security, I think I'm going to wait for somebody else to act," he said. The president's words closely followed those used by one of his top advisers in a briefing Thursday, indicating a coordinated White House strategy "


    Monday, September 16


  • Monday, Monday .... Monday. Zzzzzz -Eric. Link.

    Fox's O'Reilly in fight with conservatives
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "In the past two weeks, O'Reilly has come under attack from the right, from the same ideologues who helped make the Fox News Channel personality one of the most popular figures on cable television "

    Hot Ticket in Washington: H. Carl McCall
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "National Democrats are paying close attention to H. Carl McCall's race against New York's incumbent Republican governor, George E. Pataki "

    A Voice of Caution: Former U.N. chief weapons inspector speaks out against attacking Iraq
    Terje Langeland
    HamsterChatter: "Ritter isn't your stereotypical anti-war activist. He's a former marine who served under Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf in Operation Desert Storm, he's a Republican, and he voted for George W. Bush for president "

    Reno builds her case to blame touch-screen voting machines
    Orlando Sentinel
    HamsterChatter: "The case, summarized in a draft document obtained by The Miami Herald, would not be used to challenge the results of last week's election, even if Bill McBride is certified Tuesday as the nominee, campaign officials said Saturday. Instead, the evidence would become part of a larger effort to put the blame for Florida's latest election fiasco at the feet of Gov. Jeb Bush and the election-reform law he signed with great fanfare last year "

    Did President 43 Say to 41, 'You Be Dad, I'll Be Son'? governor, George E. Pataki
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Now these conversations between the 41st and 43rd presidents have become part of the loud background noise in the war talk of Washington. Is 43 driven to finish the Iraq war that his father began? Is 41 warning 43 to be cautious and to get support — just like he did — from the United Nations and Congress? "

    The Need to Know
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "During the 2000 presidential campaign, Gore warned that Bush's sweeping tax-cut plan, which will reduce government receipts by about $1.4 trillion, was too "risky" for the U.S. economy. His Saturday speech was a not-so-subtle "I told you so"."

    After four days of U.N. speeches, only Britain supports unilateral U.S. action against Iraq
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Arab countries have come out against an attack on Iraq, a fellow Arab nation, arguing that a war would destabilize a Middle East already embroiled in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But Arab ministers took the lead in pressing Iraq to accept U.N. weapons inspectors without delay and avoid a harsher U.S.-backed resolution "

    Running Against History in Texas
    WashPost
    HamsterChatter: "Running in the glare of one of the most closely watched races in the country, Ron Kirk, Democratic candidate for the Senate in Texas, is up against much more than a solid, credible Republican opponent in John Cornyn, the Texas attorney general and a former judge."

    China's Looming Catastrophe
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "China took some halting steps forward this month in its belated efforts to catch up with a widening H.I.V.-AIDS epidemic "

    Anthrax at tabloid office spread by photocopiers
    USA Today
    HamsterChatter: "Spores reportedly found on all machines in Florida building "

    Courting Terrorists
    Dahlia Lithwick
    HamsterChatter: "Why wars don't stop terrorism "

    On Any Given Sunday
    Philly City Beat
    HamsterChatter: "Major League Baseball wishes it had the NFL's competitive balance "


    Saturday-Sunday, September 14-15


  • I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did it. I don't know what drove me to do it. But Gary Aldrich says in his column, "Death by Liberals," that I, along with other liberals, helped blow up the WTC. I'm so sorry.
    The liberals' solution was always to make nice with terrorists while whittling away at our liberties and freedoms with symbolic rent-a-cop checkpoints, laughable metal detectors and meaningless photo ID checks. Thank God adults have returned to our White House. Now, if only they can find a way to keep the liberals at bay while a man's work finally gets done. Too late for the victims in New York and Virginia, I'm sorry to say.

    Excuse me if I absent myself from the national political group-hug that's going on. You see, I believe the liberals are largely responsible for much of what happened Tuesday, and may God forgive them.

    My job, and the job of all conservatives now, is to keep liberals out of power as long as humanly possible. Our country is not safe when liberals are in power. How much more evidence do we need?
    I hope God will forgive me when I go to heaven for being an evil liberal. Gee, you know who else would have made nice to terrorists? Jesus.

  • The Nation has a new layout. I've always thought The Nation's site was one of the worst on the internet, especially given their prestige. A year ago they barely updated once every two weeks.

  • Started doing a poll. Just for fun. -Eric. Link.

    Terror Scare in Florida: False Alarm, but Televised
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "But the three men proved to be medical students on their way to a hospital here, there were no explosives in their cars, and the authorities said their plotting may have been the work of smart alecks, not fanatics."

    The Need to Know
    David Corn
    HamsterChatter: "Can the Bush administration be expected to tell the truth about a war that is supposedly up for debate?"

    My Tax Paradise: How I (almost) felt the tropical breeze of an offshore haven
    Corey Pein, TAP
    HamsterChatter: "After my own disappointing tax experience, followed by weeks of unpaid labor at this magazine, I realized that I had something to learn from the super-rich. I began thinking: "When I start making big bucks as a beat reporter at a small daily, why should I pay taxes if I don't have to?" It's a popular sentiment, after all, extending to the highest levels of government. Our president was a director of an oil company that inverted itself."

    Never Forget What?
    Frank Rich
    HamsterChatter: "The unofficial motto of the 9/11 anniversary may have been "Never forget," but by 9/12, if not before, the war on Al Qaeda was already fading from memory ."

    The Great Airport Fire-Off
    Michael Flaherty, The Nation
    HamsterChatter: "Section 111 of the ATSA sets the absurd precedent that immigrants can join the military but not scan sneakers at airline security posts ."

    Bush's Worst-Case Scenario
    William Raspberry
    HamsterChatter: "President Bush, playing prosecutor before the "court" of the United Nations, did a splendid job of proving the defendant a murderous, lying and unremorseful slimeball. But he made no headway in proving what badly needs proving: that the slimeball did the particular crime with which he is now charged -- and for which the prosecutor is demanding the death penalty."

    Richard Perle's posse; Right-wing 'think' tanks dominate discourse
    Bill Berkowitz
    HamsterChatter: "Since the beginning of 2002, representatives from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy have placed more than 65 articles - more than two a week - in dozens of newspapers, magazines and websites ranging from the New York Times, to The New Republic.."

    Bush Doubts Saddam Will Meet UN Demands
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "President Bush said yesterday that it was "highly doubtful" that Saddam Hussein would meet United Nations demands to disarm, and American officials said they would seek wording in any new Security Council resolution authorizing any member nation to use force if Iraq did not comply."


    Friday, September 13 (mid-day update)


  • Starting doing what I'm calling, "mid-day updates" here at The Hamster. In other words, instead of just one update (daily), I'll try to post new items whenever warranted (ala Drudge, Buzzflash). Feature articles, though, I'll keep mostly to the daily posts. The moral of the story: check back often.

  • Headlines at FoxNews.com's opinion section:

    "When the NAACP questions whether a political candidate is 'black enough,' what they're really saying is he's not liberal enough"
    "By the time the world has 'convincing evidence' that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, the smoking gun might be a mushroom cloud"
    "As midterm elections approach, the belief that voters want bigger government to protect them from corporate scandals and terrorism is a misreading of the public mood"
    also featured: Books from Sean Hannity and Oliver North. Fox News: Flaunting conservative bias.

  • Crazy, fun Conservatives. Alex Beam's article below says that conservatives have more fun than liberals. Do I agree? Oh yes, completely. Liberalism is based on academia. Conservatism is based on attacking people. There's a reason why Paul Krugman is a Princeton Prof and Rush Limbaugh is a college drop-out who used to be on welfare. The only issue conservatives have is attacking liberals (what issue advocacy does Rush or Ann take part in?). The issues liberals have are ... well, thinking. And who wants to think? Isn't it more fun to just bitch at everything and bemoan the downfall of civilization than write about "Stirrings in Kabul" and "Fight-Back in Bolivia." I thought homework was for high school! The point that Alex Beam and LA Weekly's John Powers make can be summed up in this paragraph:
    "Back in the '60s, the left was the home of humor, iconoclasm, pleasure. But over the last two decades, the joy has gone out of the left -- it now feels hedged in by shibboleths and defeatism -- while the right has been having a gas, be it Lee Atwater grooving to the blues, Rush Limbaugh chortling about Feminazis or grimly gleeful Ann Coulter serving up bile as if it were chocolate mousse, even dubbing Katie Couric "the affable Eva Braun of morning television." (Get your political allegiances straight, babe. Katie's the Madame Mao of morning television. You're Eva Braun.)"
    If the left wants to appeal more to the masses and less to the intellectuals (I suspect many don't), they should look at what liberal books have sold well these past years: inventive books with attitude (Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, Stupid White Men, Nickel and Dimed, Blinded by the Right) , not dreary academic writings.

  • Death to the Death Penalty. LA Weekly has a nice archive of death penalty articles. In blogland, Talk Left always does good work on this issue as well.

  • The Janet Recount? Unfortunately, Janet Reno should concede the Florida elections. I hate to have ballot problems derail another member of the Clinton Administration, but there's no light at the end of the tunnel. If Janet does the recount, McBride will likely lose because of Democratic fatigue. If Janet wins, it's unlikely she'll win against Jeb Bush. -Eric. Link.

    Greenspan: "Depressing effects still linger"
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress on Thursday that a year after the terrorist attacks, the U.S. economy appears to have done a good job of withstanding a series of severe blows, "although the depressing effects still linger." Greenspan cautioned that such problems as the terrorist attacks and the huge drop in stock prices were still having a lingering impact on growth as the country tries to mount a sustained recovery from last year's recession."

    Greens urge McKinney to run for president
    AJC
    HamsterChatter: "McKinney, who couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday, hasn't revealed her plans. But Green Party officials said many of her views make her a perfect fit either to lead the ticket or serve as 2000 nominee Ralph Nader's vice presidential choice, should he decide to run again."

    GOP Pulls 'Reverse Reparations' Ad
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "A Republican interest group yanked a radio ad aimed at black voters in Kansas and Missouri and comparing Social Security benefits to slavery reparations — except paid to whites by blacks "

    Conservatively speaking, I say right on
    Alex Beam
    HamsterChatter: "Is it true, to paraphrase the famous Clairol marketing campaign: Do conservatives really have more fun? The answer is yes, incontrovertibly so. Who would you rather be? Me, plodding through errands on my bicycle, sporting my pathetic ''One Less Car'' T-shirt, or one of the many SUV drivers who blast exhaust in my face as they roar off to fill up on cheap gas?"

    Not So Fast: Bush Will Invade Iraq ... Eventually
    Doug Ireland, In These Times
    HamsterChatter: "With reams of disinformation spewing from Washington—much of it designed to keep the odious Saddam Hussein off-balance, some of it scripted to torpedo resumption of U.N. arms inspections—it is difficult to separate fact from fiction in the administration's plans for Iraq. But one thing is clear: Bush is bent on war ."

    Prior Knowledge of Sept. 11 Not Just Urban Legend
    Insight Mag
    HamsterChatter: "What are you looking at?" asked the schoolteacher as she approached one of her freshman students. The boy, a young Palestinian, seemed captivated as he stared out the window across Brooklyn toward the lower downtown area of Manhattan. "Do you see those two buildings?" he asked while pointing toward the World Trade Center. "They won't be standing there next week." It was noon, Sept. 6, 2001." Note: blogger Jane Galt and I too wonder if this story is true.

    How Global Warming Will Burn Bush
    Stephanie Mencimer, Washington Monthly
    HamsterChatter: "But the wildlife that Bush so enjoys is imperiled by unchecked global warming. Because of its topography, Texas is second only to California among the states likely to be the hardest hit by climate change."

    Where Iraq Fits in the War on Terror
    Madeline Albright
    HamsterChatter: "I hope, however, that the president will not be pushed by his hard-line advisers into an unwise timetable for military action. We should pick this fight at a moment that best suits our interests. And right now, our primary interest remains the thorough destruction and disruption of Al Qaeda and related terrorist networks ."

    Stocks and Bombs
    Paul Krugman
    HamsterChatter: "The idea that war would actually be good for the economy seems like just one more step in this progression ."

    Imagining the Worst-Case Scenario in Iraq
    Milton Vorst
    HamsterChatter: "Another is that Saddam Hussein, prior to an American attack, goes after Israel with the chemical or biological weapons that Mr. Bush says Iraq possesses. Israel, if it survives, will retaliate, perhaps even with nuclear weapons. Such retaliation might indeed bring about the "regime change" Mr. Bush seeks, but it would not end the story ."

    Like a marketing campaign to sell toothpaste, the Bush Administration has launched a campaign to sell the product of war
    Regist T. Sabol, Intervention Mag
    HamsterChatter: "Andrew H. Card Jr., White House chief of staff, even used advertising terms to describe the Administration's strategy. "From a marketing point of view," he said, "you don't introduce new products in August." Card, who is coordinating the marketing campaign, made the remark to explain why the White House decided to wait until after Labor Day to kick off the campaign ."

    The Crossover Candidate Did the GOP take down Cynthia McKinney?
    Eli Kintisch, TAP
    HamsterChatter: "The American Prospect has learned that Majette actually considered running as a Republican for the 4th District. She also got a good deal of Republican help. Roughly a month before Majette resigned her seat in February as a state court judge in DeKalb County, she met with Eric Tanenblatt, a powerful Atlanta Republican who served as George W. Bush's state chairman in 2000. Tanenblatt refuses to say whether Majette asked for his blessing to run as a Republican in the 4th District. "I told her she needed to run where she was the most comfortable," he told the Prospect. "I think it would be impossible for a Republican to win in DeKalb." Tanenblatt confirmed that he met with Majette "several times" after she announced her primary challenge. (Majette, who provided plenty of access to the Prospect before her victory, wouldn't return calls about the meeting afterward.)."

    Turning The Debate On Iraq To A Debate On The United Nations
    Tom Paine.com
    HamsterChatter: "This international chess game begins in earnest now, but Bush's speech was a masterful first move. With the members of the United Nations clamoring for Bush to seek their support, Bush framed the debate in a way that makes it hard for him to lose it. This isn't just about the United States. It's about whether a dictator can flaunt United Nations resolutions with impunity ."

    The Implacable Other
    Barbara Ehrenreich
    HamsterChatter: "We had been following, I now realized, the plot-line of innumerable horror films, in which the thoughtless teenagers party hard in some ramshackle, out of the way site until one of the group shows up dead and hideously mutilated. That is the point at which it dawns on them that they are not alone, that there is someone out there -- some incomprehensible Other who wants them dead. But with the beer flowing and the hormones surging, they have no way of organizing against the threat ."

    The most dangerous man in Washington: Let's get ready to Rumsfeld
    Alex Cockburn
    HamsterChatter: "Rumsfeld reached a peak in effrontery when, a few weeks ago, he contradicted decades-worth of U.S. foreign policy and declared that Israel had every right and every reason to occupy the West Bank ."

    Bush's Address Draws Praise in Congress, but Doubts Linger
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "President Bush's call for the United Nations to confront Iraq drew wide support from Congress today, strengthening his hand and winning praise from lawmakers who had warned against unilateral American military action. Even so, it was too soon to say whether the president's address setting out the case against Saddam Hussein was a turning point on Capitol Hill ."

    Hunting Tax Cheats, I.R.S. Vows to Focus More Effort on the Rich
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "The I.R.S. said that it will ease its examination of ordinary wage earners and devote more of its attention to wealthy taxpayers suspected of hiding income."

    GOP Disavows Social Security 'Privatization'
    Washington Post
    HamsterChatter: "White House officials this summer approved an election-year effort by Republicans to distance themselves from the term Social Security "privatization," but White House allies now say the GOP's counterattacks on the Social Security issue could set back President Bush's efforts to reform the system ."

    Retreat on AIDS
    Wash Post
    HamsterChatter: "Needless to say, the challenge posed by AIDS is not shrinking in line with Washington's enthusiasm for facing it. In Africa, the continent worst affected, the disease kills 5,000 people per day; the virus is advancing fast in other regions, such as India and Eastern Europe, too ."

    The Republican Con Game: And the Democratic acquiescence
    TAP
    HamsterChatter: "One reason is that Republicans have gotten so good at stealing the atmospherics of Democratic themes (though rarely the substance). Master Republican strategist Karl Rove, the chief White House political adviser, has encouraged GOP candidates to blur partisan differences, especially where Democrats have the more popular position."

    Gay Candidate Wins Providence Vote
    Data Lounge
    HamsterChatter: "Rhode Island state Rep. David Cicilline, the openly gay candidate who presented himself as the agent of change to a city disgusted by the corruption scandals of former Providence Mayor Vincent Cianci Jr., has won the Democratic nomination, effectively making him the city's next mayor."

    Things We Lost in the Fire
    Village Voice
    HamsterChatter: "While the Ruins of the World Trade Center Smoldered, the Bush Administration Launched an Assault on the Constitution."


    Thursday, September 12 (mid-day update)


    One of the issues that's been buried in the wake of 9-11 is the environment. Before Sept. 11, there was widespread criticism of Bush for his poor environmental record. Now, that criticism hardly registers with the national media. Indeed, on the evening liberal news, the recent Earth Conference barely got a minute of television time. The Bush administration actually shifted attention from the conference to the war on Iraq, with press releases and meetings with foreign leaders at the conference about Iraq.

    In order for the environment to reemerge as a political issue, one of two things must happen. First, there needs to be a catalyzing event. Voters respond to single events. Enron sparked corporate reform. 9-11 sparked international and domestic security issues. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the very nature of the environment doesn't allow a single, large event to occur until it's too late. Glaciers melt slowly. The ozone disappears part by part, not all at once. The degradation of the environment is not measured in events, but in parts-per-million, inches and gallons. Hardly headline news.

    The second, therefore, is for political leaders to make the environment a hot-button issue. For example, no a single event made education an important issue. It's important to voters because politicians emphasize it ever year, creating a social value that quality education is desirable. Similarly, politicians need to create a social value that a clean environment is as important to society as a child's education. If enough politicians say it, and the words are repeated yearly with force, voters would warm to the idea. Society thinks and acts alike. If 5 of your friends like Bon Jovi, you'll like him too. Likewise, if political leaders say the environment is important, and continue hammering this point, it will become entrenched in the national psyche.

    Further, the infrastructure for change is already in existence. Mainstream groups like the Sierra Club or Environmental Defense Fund already provide lobbying and legal power. College campuses and grassroots movements provide the activist ground soldiers. Therefore, people in power need to incorporate these existing entities into a cohesive movement.

    Chris Bosso and Deborah Guber wrote: "Because the average citizen … is willing to be convinced, environmentalists need to press their arguments more forcefully and artfully than ever. Within challenge there is opportunity."

    The point here is that more needs to be done about the environment. The solutions are out there. Is anyone listening?

  • I think the Noelle Bush story should be off-limits. It serves no purpose than to make a mockery of the drug problem in this country.

  • By the way, if you're a parent and you want your kids to NEVER do drugs (marijuana not included), show them the movie, "Requiem for a Dream." Seriously. No, seriously. Do it. Now. You.

  • 9-11 Online. Democratic Underground did a really nice job with its 9-11 tribute. Kudos to them.

  • Back Up Again? Chris Matthews said on MSNBC that after all the 9-11 tributes, Bush's approval rating will go back up into the 70s. Unfortunately, I agree.

  • Overall, though, I thought the media coverage of 9-11 was pretty good. Clinton on Letterman was even better. -Eric. Link.

    Bush Urges United Nations to Hold Iraq Accountable
    LA Times
    HamsterChatter: "President urges U.N. to compel Iraq to disarm, and supports appeal with documents accusing Hussein of defying U.N. resolutions."

    Who Cares: GOP criticizes Wellstone's link to anti-Bush Web site
    Minn. Star-Tribune
    HamsterChatter: "A Web site that includes satirical material disparaging President Bush's handling of the Sept. 11 attacks has raised "a considerable amount of money" for Sen. Paul Wellstone's campaign, one of its founders said Wednesday."

    McBride Likely Winner in Florida
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "McBride was leading the former U.S. atttorney general by less than 8,000 votes in an Associated Press count from Tuesday's primary. The spread would be enough to avoid an automatic recount in an election marred by voting disarray in Reno's South Florida stronghold."

    Stocks Mired Lower After Jobs Data
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Stocks drooped in late morning trade on Thursday as a surprise rise in weekly jobless claims exacerbated Wall Street's worries over possible war against Iraq and the health of the U.S. economy."

    CNN's Hatchet Job on Scott Ritter: Media smear ex-Marine for seeking answers on Iraq
    Antonia Zerbisias
    HamsterChatter: "The network followed up with more interviews vilifying Ritter, neither of which cut to the heart of the matter: Why declare war? On what grounds? At what cost? Ritter was characterized as "misguided," "disloyal" and "an apologist for and a defender of Saddam Hussein"."

    9-11
    TAP
    HamsterChatter: Collection of articles about policy issues after 9-11.

    Politics and The 'Ideopolis'
    George Will
    HamsterChatter: "The most important political number is 270. Twenty states and the District of Columbia have voted Democratic in the last three presidential elections. In 2004 their combined electoral votes will be 260. Republicans have work to do, beginning with a book to read. "

    Terror and Liberalism
    TAP
    HamsterChatter: "The present war, if that is the correct word, may very well be, as President Bush has observed, a war of a new kind--the "first war of the twenty-first century." But in one important respect, the present war also appears to be--and this, too, the president has hinted at indirectly--a war of an old kind, perhaps even the last war of the twentieth century. The terror assault was an astonishing event, but also a familiar event. And so it is possible, by glancing at the century that has just passed, to hazard a few guesses about the torrent of events that is already pouring over us . "

    A nation changed - and unchanged
    Boston Globe
    HamsterChatter: "It is playing with fire when we continue to rub our consumption in the world's face. Sept. 11 brought the United States into the world of unsuspected bombing and terror. The world for the most part has joined the United States in going after the terrorists. For all this asking and demanding of help, it might be a good idea for the United States to join the world . "

    Senate Defies Bush on Drought Aid
    Washington Post
    HamsterChatter: "Although such aid is routinely approved for victims of tornadoes, hurricanes and other disasters, the drought-aid package took on special significance this year because many of the states with the biggest losses are those with the closest Senate races this fall. They include South Dakota, Missouri, Minnesota, Arkansas, Colorado and Iowa, where incumbent senators who are running for reelection this fall, regardless of party, voted for the drought aid. "

    U.N. Chief Warns Bush on Unilateral Iraq Action
    Washington Post
    HamsterChatter: "U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan warned today that launching a military campaign against Iraq without the support of the United Nations would be a grave mistake and a blow to international law, striking a defiant pose against the Bush administration on the eve of President Bush's address to the U.N. General Assembly. "

    Again, Sunshine State Is in Dark a Day After the Vote
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "For the second time in less than two years, Florida voters woke up this morning not knowing whom they had elected the day before. "

    50 Senators Ask Daschle for Debate on Renewing Welfare Law
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "More than half the Senate, including many Democrats, called on the majority leader today to schedule a debate on reauthorizing the welfare program created by an innovative 1996 law that expires in three weeks . "

    Pakistan Wants No Part in an Attack on Iraq
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan said yesterday that an American decision to attack Iraq would inflame Islamic extremism in his country and across the region and that therefore "we would not like to be involved" in it. "

    Parents pay to choose baby's sex
    The Observer
    HamsterChatter: "The Observer has learnt of a fertility centre in Ghent which offers a discreet service to couples who already have one or two children, but want their next to be of the opposite gender. Neither the couples nor the clinic is breaking any law, but the fact that they are resorting to using a controversial 'sperm-sorting' method before its full medical effects are known has caused concern among fertility experts . "

    Speak No Evil: The media, civil liberties and 9/11
    Phily City Paper
    HamsterChatter: "As the issue of national security reached a frenzied pitch, many American journalists appeared to impose gag orders on themselves and stayed away from any tough questions for the George W. Bush administration . "

    Lame Duck Looks Likely
    Roll Call
    HamsterChatter: "An unwieldy workload and jumbled schedule has left Republican and Democratic leaders in both chambers with no clear exit strategy in sight and the prospect of a lame duck or a longterm continuing resolution increasingly inevitable. "

    Iraq attack could alter world rules
    CSMonitor
    HamsterChatter: "By attacking Iraq without UN endorsement, Washington would be arrogating to itself the right to decide what constitutes a threat to world peace, and what to do about it. That would be a significant break from international norms. "

    Reno may contest Fla. election
    MSNBC
    HamsterChatter: "With votes still being counted Wednesday in Florida's primary election, former Attorney General Janet Reno may go to court to challenge the outcome. After many voters were turned away from polling places in Broward and Miami-Dade counties due to voting machine malfunctions and untrained election workers, Reno trailed political novice Bill McBride in the Democratic primary for governor by about 19,000 votes . "

    Nelson Mandela: The United States of America is a Threat to World Peace
    Newsweek
    HamsterChatter: "But the most catastrophic action of the United States was to sabotage the decision that was painstakingly stitched together by the United Nations regarding the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace. "

    Russia to play key role in building Iraq attack support
    Knight-Ridder
    HamsterChatter: "As Bush seeks to rally U.N. support for possible military action, Russia looms as a pivotal swing vote. With veto power on the U.N. Security Council and longstanding ties to Iraq, Moscow could become a formidable obstacle in Bush's path to Baghdad or help clear the way for a U.S.-led invasion. "

    Iraq course set from tight White House circle
    USA Today
    HamsterChatter: "President Bush's determination to oust Iraq's Saddam Hussein by military force if necessary was set last fall without a formal decision-making meeting or the intelligence assessment that customarily precedes such a momentous decision. "


    Wednesday, September 11


  • On this day of mourning, and in the wake of tragedy, there must be progress. As Americans we need to discuss and reexamine the nation and our lives after September 11th. Public discussions and debates must include all opinions. Dissentions, from the left or right, are a fundamental part of a free society. As demonstrated this past year, the line between civil liberties and law enforcement powers is thin. We must tightly protect our civil liberties and guard them against powers, foreign and domestic. We must also acknowledge the need for cooperation in international policy. It is naïve to believe we can win our war on terrorism with bombs and missiles. International cooperation and global networking are key. America must increase the importance of international organizations in diplomacy and build partnerships with the Arab world.

    Ultimately, though, this September 11th should be about one thing: remembrance. It should never be forgotten that on this day, one year ago, thousands of men and women unjustly lost their lives. To those who we lost and those who continue to fight for our freedom, we salute you. -Eric. Link.

    A Nation Challenged: One Year Later
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Nothing has been forgotten. That could never be. But things go on, start anew, revert to some mean. Even on the E train downtown, where the stations still advise, "To World Trade Center all times," and the conductors intone, "E train to World Trade." One year after it faced its own mortality, New York, in its daily curiosities and unexpungeable flavor, is still New York. For some time, no one knew if that could happen. "

    One Year Later
    Washington Post
    HamsterChatter: "So a year has passed and on the eve of a terrible anniversary Americans readied the candles and prayers and songs of remembrance -- and spoke with unease of the possibility of another terrorist strike in the days to come ."

    The Meaning of 9/11? It's Too Soon to Know
    Marie Cocco
    HamsterChatter: "We must commemorate Sept. 11, with respect and with sorrow. But we are under no obligation to comprehend it just now. History does not digest anything so quickly. Neither can we ."

    25 Lives: In Their Own Words
    Newsday
    HamsterChatter: "Newsday reporters Stephanie McCrummen and Indrani Sen interviewed 25 New Yorkers who spoke about how the terrorist attacks one year ago have affected their lives. Read their stories."

    Echo of the Bullhorn
    Maureen Dowd
    HamsterChatter: "The more Bush officials insisted upon these dubious connections, the less persuaded Americans seemed to be. And the more they showed their hand with insistence that Saddam had to go, the more they made people worry what a psycho dictator with plenty of poison and nothing to lose might do to Israel or the U.S. ."

    O'Neill Versus Osama
    New York Metro
    HamsterChatter: "Most of the victims of the September 11 attack seemed tragically random -- they were just going to work. Not John O'Neill. Until last August, he'd been the FBI's top expert on Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, a lead investigator of the USS Cole and African embassy bombings. Leaving the Bureau in frustration, he'd taken a job he thought of as retirement: World Trade Center security chief. But when he died it became clear: His own life contained as many mysteries as his enemy's ."

    One Year Later
    Time
    HamsterChatter: "Holding two contradictory ideas in your head was supposed to be a sign of first-rate intelligence. Now it just feels like a vital sign. To say we have changed feels like rewarding the enemy, but to deny it risks losing the knowledge for which we paid a terrible price—knowledge about who we become under pressure, in public and private."

    An Unlikely Hero: The Marine who found two WTC survivors
    Rebecca Liss, Slate
    HamsterChatter: "Only 12 survivors were pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center after the towers fell on Sept. 11, despite intense rescue efforts. Two of the last three to be located and saved were Port Authority police officers. They were not discovered by a heroic firefighter, or a rescue worker, or a cop. They were discovered by Dave Karnes."

    One year on America is a different place
    Independent
    HamsterChatter: "This was the blessed land, separated from the world by oceans, watching with detachment the rest of the world that it never really needed to understand. International terrorism was for other people. Individual Americans might suffer from it, but only if they were "over there". Such complacency is gone, for ever."

    One year on: A view from the Middle East
    Robert Fisk
    HamsterChatter: "The September 11 attacks were an undoubted outrage. But, says The Independent's Middle East correspondent, they were an inevitable result of the great gulf between the Arabs and the US."

    Flashback to 10 September
    BBC
    HamsterChatter: "Sitting atop of the longest economic boom in living memory, America was complacent, abundant and trivia-obsessed. The restaurants were packed every night with people oblivious to the fact that their pension funds might be fuelled by illusory earnings. No-one imagined that the CEOs so worshipped in the press could turn out to be frauds. Afghanistan was just another distant Third World country. Terrorism was something that happened elsewhere ."

    How the World Changed
    BBC
    HamsterChatter: "The suicide attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001 sent shock waves around the world. Most commentators thought the world had changed forever. Twelve months on and some countries have been severely affected whilst others seem relatively unchanged ."

    U.S. Braces For Terrorism
    CBS
    HamsterChatter: "The Bush administration raised the nation's terror alert warning Tuesday to its second highest level code orange signaling a "high risk" of attack ahead of the Sept. 11 anniversary. The government closed nine U.S. embassies overseas and heightened security at federal buildings and landmarks in America as new intelligence warned of car bombings, suicide attacks and other strikes linked to the Sept. 11 anniversary ."

    Noah and 9/11
    Thomas Friedman
    HamsterChatter: "In short, numbing ourselves to the post-9/11 realities will not work. Military operations, while necessary, are not sufficient. Building higher walls may feel comforting, but in today's interconnected world they're an illusion. Our only hope is that people will be restrained by internal walls — norms and values. Visibly imposing them on ourselves, and loudly demanding them from others, is the only viable survival strategy for our shrinking planet."

    'Everything' didn't change — but no one is the same
    USA Today
    HamsterChatter: "This is how it is in America a year after Sept. 11: Most Americans act the same, but most don't feel the same. A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll released Tuesday finds people more worried and more vigilant, more vulnerable and more unified. And more proud than ever to be Americans ."

    Bush plans to shame UN into action on Iraq
    Financial Times
    HamsterChatter: "George W. Bush will on Thursday seek to shame the international community into action, when he tells the United Nations general assembly that it is being defied by Saddam Hussein's "outlaw regime". Emphasising the perceived threat posed by Iraq, Mr Bush is expected to deliver what would be seen as an ultimatum, telling the general assembly that the UN's credibility is at stake."

    The call to arms
    Economist
    HamsterChatter: "A year after the terrorist onslaught on America that provoked President George Bush's "war against terrorism", his administration is stepping up efforts to win support for the war's next phase: an attack on Iraq. But international backing is still very limited, and America has not ruled out unilateral action ."

    Changing History
    Eric Foner
    HamsterChatter: "The study of history should transcend boundaries rather than reinforce or reproduce them. In the wake of September 11, it is all the more imperative that the history we teach be a candid appraisal of our own society's strengths and weaknesses, not simply an exercise in self-celebration--a conversation with the entire world, not a complacent dialogue with ourselves ."

    The Same and Different
    The New Republic
    HamsterChatter: "The sense of destiny that characterized George W. Bush in the weeks and the months after the attacks, that lifted him unexpectedly above his own sorry limitations, was long ago dissipated by business as usual. He liberated Afghanistan and went back to fund-raising. The hollowness of the president, the poverty of his resources for leadership, is plain, and it is "partisanship" to find anything Churchillian in the man ."

    9-11: One Year Later
    Paul Starr, TAP
    HamsterChatter: "A different president could have asked for broadly shared sacrifice, avoided the overreach into Iraq, worked more closely with our allies to cultivate support for American policy and limited the damage to liberty from the fight against terrorism. On the grim political anniversary that we observe September 11, we must remember these things, too ."

    One Year After
    David Remnick & Hendrik Hertzberg
    HamsterChatter: "Grief is the most pervasive emotion of this commemoration, but it is not the only one. There are no names for everything we felt that day, felt for weeks and months after, and feel still—for the new sense of vulnerability and dread while crossing the Brooklyn Bridge or glancing up at the Chrysler Building, for the pride and defiance as we learned about the countless acts of heroism on September 11th and of kindness in the days after, for the childlike love at the mere sight of a fire engine."

    Democracy and Dread
    Robert Kuttner
    HamsterChatter: "Whatever the national mood, there is no escape from the responsibilities of citizenship. Americans -- especially Democrats -- will either grasp that soon or pay the price of a reckless war, an unstable economy and a dwindling democracy ."


    Tuesday, September 10


  • USNEWS passes on this weird item:
    Love former President Clinton or not, you've got to admit that his sex life and personal behavior are an easy target. Sadly for Bubba, maybe too easy. Political allies and friends say he's being dogged by women trying to put him in compromising situations, and normally in front of flashing cameras. A typical example is of a woman in a low-cut top at a Clinton event trying to catch a gander from the ex-prez. The women often stand out as they try to re-create that classic rope-line scene with Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Clinton's allies claim the supermarket tabloids are behind the gotcha effort, though they deny the accusation. Paranoia, you say? Maybe not. Consider: During a Little Rock Democratic meet-and-greet last month, our tipsters saw a woman step from the receiving line and grab Clinton's private parts. They say Clinton was shocked but went through with the picture-taking. The woman later claimed booze made her do it. Tacky groupie or setup job? Clintonites wonder.
    Somewhere in the South, Jimmy Carter, with lust in his heart, is envious.

  • Bad O'Reilly. First, right-wing talk radio receives his show with lukewarm ratings. Then, conservaties throw a fit over his support for gays. Now, the WSJ editorial page is attacking O'Reilly. Fun.

  • Gee, how timely.

  • Iraq. What's missing in this debate about Iraq is a smoking gun. Iraq may be developing weapons of mass destruction, but so is the United States. So, supposedly, is North Korea. So is Russia and China. So what? Where's the smoking gun? Where's the evidence that Iraq will use weapons of mass destruction and is planning an attack. The only evidence of ANYONE planning an unprovoked attack is the United States. Remember, if the United States invades Iraq without UN or congressional consent, US soldiers become no different than the people who attacked Pearl Harbor without provocation. The chickenhawks in DC should not subject American soldiers to that scenario. -Eric. Link.

    No war on Iraq unless the United Nations allows the use of force, top Vatican official says
    AP
    HamsterChatter: "Pope John Paul II has decried terrorism several times since Sept. 11. But while the Vatican has acknowledged the right of legitimate defense against terrorists, it has made clear that any "just war" needs to avoid harming innocent people."

    Mr Bush and Mr Blair have still not produced the evidence to justify war
    The Independent
    HamsterChatter: "If it were true that Saddam was on the point of acquiring nuclear weapons, the case for military action would be overwhelming. But there is no evidence that this is the case, and neither Mr Bush in his address to the UN on Thursday, nor Mr Blair in his "dossier", whenever he chooses to publish it, is likely to produce much more than we know already."

    Bush Intensifies Lobbying Effort
    Washington Post
    HamsterChatter: "President Bush fought skepticism about his Iraq plans abroad and on Capitol Hill Monday as he began lobbying world leaders in person and dispatched his war cabinet to give classified briefings to lawmakers."

    The Long Haul
    Paul Krugman
    HamsterChatter: "The challenge now is to find a way to cope with the threat of terrorism without losing the freedom and prosperity that make America the great nation it is."

    For Buchanan, a New Pulpit and Target
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Having failed to become president, Mr. Buchanan is back to save the country from the faux conservatives. Instead of leading the "pitchfork brigade" of average Joes, he has corralled a group of like-minded intellectuals to produce a magazine of opinion. It will be called The American Conservative, reflecting both his bottom-line values and unapologetic nature."

    Terrorism, drugs, and you: 'Traffickers, Terrorists & You' exhibit opens at DEA Museum
    Bill Berkowitz
    HamsterChatter: "These are some of the stories that you won't find at United States Drug Enforcement Administration's Museum & Visitor's Center. Despite the failed drug war, the agency recently announced it was expanding the facility by 1,500 square feet. The first exhibit in the new gallery, timed for 9/11, will be devoted to the "connection" between drugs and terrorism ."

    9/11/02: A Different America: Changes In United States Not All For Better
    Helen Thomas
    HamsterChatter: "What other arrows do Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft have in their quivers? Who or what might stop them? Maybe the courts will. They seem to be more combative as more constitutional rights are being set aside. In this atmosphere, many Americans have become wary of dissent and criticism of the administration. Many Democrats, in particular, have lost their voices as the loyal opposition ."

    How to Squander Moral Capital
    Todd Gitlin
    HamsterChatter: "In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the world expressed its sympathy and solidarity with America. One year later, the Bush administration's illogic and arrogance have pumped new life into anti-Americanism."


    ACLU Condemns Secret Review of Wiretap Court's Ruling on Government Abuse of Surveillance Powers
    ACLU
    HamsterChatter: "The government argued in the lower court for new rules to allow the use of foreign intelligence warrants when its purpose is primarily criminal investigations. The court rejected that argument, holding that the law does not authorize criminal prosecutors to direct counterintelligence surveillance and gather information from what the judges describe as "highly intrusive FISA surveillances and searches." Because the Fourth Amendment requires a higher showing of probable cause to approve surveillance in criminal cases, the ACLU argues that the government's new proposed rules also violate the Constitution."


    Remembering Sept. 12
    Arianna Huffington
    HamsterChatter: "In the days and weeks following Sept. 11, our leaders encouraged us to return as quickly as possible to our normal lives. Regrettably, they got their wish ."

    The Origin of Specious: And why reductionists are winning the Darwin wars
    American Prospect
    HamsterChatter: "With Gould gone, the hedgehogs control the Darwinian heights. It would be nice to have at least one fox around to right the intellectual balance. But there seems no one now prepared to brave, and perhaps dull, their needles."

    What to Do About the Media Mess
    Consortium News
    HamsterChatter: "Yet, the man who got more votes in Election 2000, Al Gore, rarely gets to make his case directly to the American people. Indeed, most of what the public hears about Gore's speeches is filtered through the hostility and ridicule of cable-news TV commentators and other pundits."

    The Chicken Hawk Factor
    Jim Lobe
    HamsterChatter: "At the moment, the vast majority of the men pushing for war in Washington are what The New Hampshire Gazette defines as "Chicken Hawks": "public persons -- generally male -- who (1) tend to advocate military solutions to political problems, and who have personally (2) declined to take advantage of significant opportunity to serve in uniform during wartime"."

    Ten Reasons Why Many Gulf War Veterans Oppose Re-Invading Iraq
    Alternet
    HamsterChatter: "With all the war fever about re-invading Iraq, the press and politicians are ignoring the opinion of the veterans of our last war in the Gulf. But we veterans were there, and we have unique and critical first-hand knowledge of the course and consequences of warfare in Iraq. Our opinions should be solicited and heard before troops deploy for battle, not after they have returned wounded, ill or in body bags ."

    Osama On Al-Jazeera Tape?
    CBS
    HamsterChatter: "Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera aired excerpts Monday from a videotape in which a voice said to be Osama bin Laden's is heard naming the leaders of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers. Though the identity of the speaker could not immediately be confirmed, his voice sounded similar to that of the Saudi-born dissident as heard in previous tapes aired by Al-Jazeera over the past year and in which he appeared. The United States says Bin Laden was the mastermind of the attacks in which some 3,000 people died ."

    Dick Cheney's Nightmare of Peace
    Robert Scheer
    HamsterChatter: "Maybe the elusive Cheney has a bunch of good explanations for all of this bad-smelling stuff. Until he decides to publicly share them, however, his passion on Iraq will remind many of us of the old saying that patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels. For Cheney and his embattled cohorts in the White House, facing a potential second recession in their first term, peace is just too risky ."

    Enemy Aliens and American Freedoms
    David Cole
    HamsterChatter: "The Administration has yet to make the case that the terrorist threats justify compromising our fundamental principles of liberty and justice."


    Monday, September 9


  • The Hamster starts back up again. Hello to you. Starting in September, there will be a lot more links. Also, expect updates more than once a day.

  • I Need Drugs? In commercials for prescription drugs, an announcer tells you about a series of symptoms that may warrant the use of a certain drug. Then, at the end of the commercial, the announcer instructs you to tell your doctor to prescribe XYZ pill if you have XYZ symptoms. Ask your doctor? Shouldn't a doctor, not a drug company, be telling you what to use?

  • Going to War with Iraq? So we might go war with Iraq. Funny, it seems like we've been at war with Iraq since the end of the Gulf War. As a link from Buzzflash points out, the United States is bombing Iraqi targets. Who needs congressional approval?

  • Death to the Death Penalty? TalkLeft picks up on Illinois Governor George Ryan and the death penalty:
    If he does, he has good cause. After declaring a moratorium on the death penalty in 2000, he commissioned a study as to what went wrong with the death penalty in Illinois and how it could corrected. The report was issued in April, 2002 and contained 85 specific recommendations to remedy the problems. Yet none have been implemented.

    Governor Ryan is quoted in the article as saying, "I don't know how I could pick and choose. That's why I have to determine whether it's going to be for everybody or for nobody."

    Reading between the lines, we think Governor Ryan is saying he will commute all the death sentences in Illinois unless the legislature first enacts a meaningful number of the recommended reforms. That's not unfair. What's the point of having a fact-finding commission if its conclusions and recommendations are just going to be ignored?
  • Fun with Google. Rittenhouse Review posted odd and unusual search terms that brought users to their page. The post reminded me of the pundit popular practice of using Lexis-Nexis searches as an indication of media trends. For example, conservatives claim that the media uses the tag "conservative" more than "liberal" when writing articles.

    In Al Franken's 1996 book, "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot," he too had fun with search terms. For example, using Lexis-Nexis, he searched for ONE TERM and ANOTHER TERM. For example:

    Gingrich and Grotesque = 432 results.
    Specter AND hopeless = 452
    Limbaugh AND fat = 1084
    Buchanan AND racist = 1089

  • Unemployed workers = angry voters. Take note incumbents. -Eric. Link.

    Retirement out of reach: Financial markets will not generate adequate retirement income for average household
    Economic Policy Institute
    HamsterChatter: "Because the current system will not generate enough retirement savings for the average household, policies that expose households to more risk make little sense. But new policies are needed and could include mandatory coverage, direct or matching contributions by the government to retirement accounts, reduced risk exposure for retirement savings, and promotion of traditional defined-benefit plans."

    Deals for Dubya: Bush's family ties to shady bank BCCI help explain his "success." in the oil biz
    Bob Fitrakis
    HamsterChatter: "Senator John Kerry's BCCI investigatory committee established that BCCI was a conduit for opium money laundering from the Golden Crescent where Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan come together. The Arab oil sheiks were fronts to create the illusion of "petro dollars" funding the bank. Dubya and Harken Energy's friends at BCCI were the core of a group of people—supported by the CIA, the Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence Agency and the Saudi royal family—secretly funding the al Qaeda terrorist network and Islamic fundamentalist groups in their successful campaign to destroy the Soviet Union."

    Poll Finds Unease on Terror Fight and Concerns About War on Iraq
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Americans increasingly doubt that their government has done enough to protect them against terrorist attacks and are convinced, despite misgivings, that there will be a war against Iraq, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll shows. Majorities do not want war without Congressional and allied support first and a clear explanation from President Bush. ."

    Rumsfeld's War
    Newsweek
    HamsterChatter: "Smart and tough, Don Rumsfeld wants to take the fight to Iraq. The hawk who's battling for Bush's soul."

    My vision for peace
    Bill Clinton
    HamsterChatter: "On the anniversary of the attacks in New York and Washington, former US President Bill Clinton says we can only counter the threat of terrorism by reparing the widening rift between the haves and the have-nots of our planet."

    Devil in a Blue Dress
    Eric Alterman
    HamsterChatter: "It's degrading to have to write about Coulter again. As a pundit, she is about on a par with Charles Manson, better suited to a lifelong stay in the Connecticut Home for the Criminally Insane than for the host's seat on Crossfire. Her books are filled with lies, slander and phony footnotes that are themselves lies and slanders."

    General Ashcroft's Detention Camps: Time to Call for His Resignation
    Nat Hentoff, Village Voice
    HamsterChatter: "Now more Americans are also going to be dispossessed of every fundamental legal right in our system of justice and put into camps. Jonathan Turley reports that Justice Department aides to General Ashcroft "have indicated that a 'high-level committee' will recommend which citizens are to be stripped of their constitutional rights and sent to Ashcroft's new camps."

    An Army of One?
    Washington Monthly
    HamsterChatter: "In the war on terrorism, alliances are not an obstacle to victory. They're the key to it."

    For Arizona Democrats, a Rare Air of Optimism
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Even so, Democratic victories for governor and the two other House races, high-profile as they are, would reflect a discernible shift in Arizona politics when failing state agencies are being asked to do more with less money and fewer people. For Democrats, especially the candidate for governor, it has become as potent a campaign issue as they could want."

    As the World Burns
    Stephanie Mencimer
    HamsterChatter: "What will global warming do to the Bush ranch?"

    Caller ID is reducing response to pollsters
    Detriot Free Press
    HamsterChatter: "It isn't easy taking the pulse of the nation these days, not when the nation is checking its caller ID. While the presence of polls hasn't declined in newspapers and TV newscasts -- especially now, as the election season begins to boil -- faith in their reliability has. In the age of voice mail and computer modems, pollsters are reaching a smaller percentage of people they're trying to reach, which may be giving us a skewed view of public opinion."

    Who Is Promoting Violence?
    Thomas Oliphant
    HamsterChatter: "What has happened is that the spirit of coalition that ennobled the initial response has ebbed. Bush has an opportunity to reverse this drift when he journeys to the United Nations this week, the day after the sad anniversary of Sept. 11. Whether it is Iraq or Al Qaeda, Hezbollah or Syria, there is a case to be made and allies ready to hear it and respond. The work, military and political, is grubby and hard, but as a practical and moral matter it must involve others."

    The Truth About Global Warming
    Intervention Mag
    HamsterChatter: "In the nineteen months since George W. Bush moved into the White House, global warming, once purely a scientific and social concern, has evolved into a polarizing ideological debate. With an eye to the paramount importance of action -- and without the lens of politics -- an honest assessment of the facts is needed to clarify the climate change dilemma."

    How 9/11 Changed Our Lives
    The Nation
    HamsterChatter: "Hundreds of readers, aged 16 to 94, replied to our request for letters detailing how September 11 changed (or didn't) "your views of your government, your country, your world, your life"."

    Hitler Human? What?
    Salon
    HamsterChatter: "The film, "Max," breaks with cinematic precedent by depicting the young Hitler as an emotionally poisoned man, but nonetheless human, and even sympathetic in his longing for recognition as a struggling and impoverished artist in the postwar Munich of 1918. While scores of biographies and history books have presented fully dimensional portraits of Hitler, no major movie until now has offered anything more than a cartoon picture of the 20th century's apogee of evil: we have seen him on the screen only as a ranting and wild-eyed hysteric."

    Will Bush Take Iraq Strike to U.N.?
    Time
    HamsterChatter: "After a day making his case to Congress for going after Saddam, the President appears ready to set an arms inspection ultimatum, if only to legitimize an attack."

    The President's War Plan
    Eleanor Clift
    HamsterChatter: "Saddam Hussein has won the early diplomatic skirmishes. But Bush ultimately will do exactly what he wants—with or without world approval ."

    Long-Term Jobless Rose by 50 Percent Over the Last Year
    NY Times
    HamsterChatter: "Almost three million people nationwide have been out of work for at least 15 weeks, up more than 50 percent from a year ago. Half of them have not worked in at least 6 months, the Department of Labor said. Another million Americans appear to have dropped out of the labor force in each of the last two years, no longer looking for work or counted as unemployed."

    Cheney defends Halliburton tenure
    CNN
    HamsterChatter: "Vice President Dick Cheney defended his management of Halliburton Co. Sunday, saying he had assumed the oil giant's insurance would shield it against asbestos lawsuits that have cost it hundreds of millions of dollars and helped devalue its stock."

    In war, some facts less factual
    CSMonitor
    HamsterChatter: "Some US assertions from the last war on Iraq still appear dubious."

    Fuel For the Anti-Bush Fire
    John Passacantando
    HamsterChatter: "It's not just evironmentalists who are angry at Bush, but firemen, cops, soccer moms, surfers, cabbies, anarchists and even Republicans. You have to go back to the dark days of Richard Nixon to find such widespread fury toward a U.S. leader ."

    The Brutal War on Medical Marijuana
    Alternet
    HamsterChatter: "The war on drugs is making a comeback -- with a vengeance. Six days short of the Sept.11 anniversary, D.E.A. agents put federal tax dollars to work by raiding the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (better known as WAMM), a Santa Cruz County, Calif.-based cooperative and one of the most successful medicinal marijuana programs in the nation."

    Making A Case For Attacking Iraq
    CBS
    HamsterChatter: "Cheney and top administration officials took to the Sunday talk shows as part of President Bush's effort to convince the public, Congress and other countries that action against Saddam is urgently needed. The officials cited the Sept. 11 attacks in making the case that the world cannot wait to find out whether the Iraqi president has weapons of mass destruction."