December 29, 2004
Just How Many "Dead-Enders" Are There?
In June of 2003, Donald H. Rumsfeld opined that there was "no question" that where "pockets" of "dead-enders" were "trying to reconstitute", that "General Franks and his team" were "rooting them out", and that, "in short" the "coalition" was "making good progress".
In the same month, Paul Wolfowitz opined that "these people are the last remnants of a dying cause"; while General Ray Odierno opined that "noncompliant forces, former regime members, and common criminals" "really qualify" as "militarily insignificant" and were "having no impact on the way we conduct business on a day-to-day basis."
In August of 2003, Donald H. Rumsfeld opined that the "remnants" of the defeated regime and the "pockets of resistance" were fighting "long after their cause" was lost.
Now, I don't know about you. But to me, this language suggests a fairly miniscule movement.
They were still with us in December of 2004, however, as Richard Myers opined that the Fallujah offensive "will take its toll on their ability to function".
Still with us, but, thankfully, no longer able to function.
Uh, except that now Colin Powell has opined that "the insurgency will continue".
Is it Vietnam, or is it Brazil? Tough call!
Posted by Eddie Tews at 08:35 PM
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He recorded all the payroll taxes he paid into the system (including the matching amount from his employer), tracked down the return the Social Security Trust Fund earned for each of the 45 years, and then compared the result with what he would have gotten had he been able to invest the same amount of payroll tax money over the same period in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (including dividends).
To his surprise, the Social Security investment won out: $261,372 versus $255,499, a difference of $5,873.
The article notes that he (Stanley Logue of San Diego) didn't take into account administrative expenses -- only about 1% for Social Security (!), and, uh, considerably more for Wall Street brokers.
The Social Security "crisis" is unmitigated hokum anyway. But this finding alone should (har har) close the book on the privatisation option.
What More Does One Need To Know?
He recorded all the payroll taxes he paid into the system (including the matching amount from his employer), tracked down the return the Social Security Trust Fund earned for each of the 45 years, and then compared the result with what he would have gotten had he been able to invest the same amount of payroll tax money over the same period in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (including dividends).
To his surprise, the Social Security investment won out: $261,372 versus $255,499, a difference of $5,873.
The article notes that he (Stanley Logue of San Diego) didn't take into account administrative expenses -- only about 1% for Social Security (!), and, uh, considerably more for Wall Street brokers.
The Social Security "crisis" is unmitigated hokum anyway. But this finding alone should (har har) close the book on the privatisation option.
Posted by Eddie Tews at 04:52 PM
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A handful of large farms get most of the water and subsidy dollars delivered by the country's biggest federal water supply project, according to a study by a national environmental organization.
The Central Valley Project, authorized in 1936 to support family farms, now funnels up to $416 million of subsidized water to agricultural giants in California's Central Valley, according to a study released earlier this month by the Environmental Working Group.
Specifically, the report indicated that the top 10 percent of agricultural water users were getting 67 percent of the water.
December 28, 2004
Free Market Miracle #0013
A handful of large farms get most of the water and subsidy dollars delivered by the country's biggest federal water supply project, according to a study by a national environmental organization.
The Central Valley Project, authorized in 1936 to support family farms, now funnels up to $416 million of subsidized water to agricultural giants in California's Central Valley, according to a study released earlier this month by the Environmental Working Group.
Specifically, the report indicated that the top 10 percent of agricultural water users were getting 67 percent of the water.
Posted by Eddie Tews at 05:09 PM
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When the Argentine economy collapsed in December 2001, doomsday predictions abounded: Unless it adopted orthodox economic policies and quickly cut a deal with its foreign creditors, hyperinflation would surely follow, the peso would become worthless, investment and foreign reserves would vanish and any prospect of growth would be strangled.
But three years after Argentina declared a debt default of more than $100 billion, the largest in world history, the apocalypse has not arrived.
Instead, the economy has grown by eight percent for two consecutive years, exports have zoomed, the currency is stable, investors are gradually returning, and unemployment has eased from record highs -- all without a debt settlement or the standard measures required by the International Monetary Fund for its approval.
Note that those "standard measures" are in large part responsible for the poverty-related deaths of 30,000 children worldwide, every single day.
Saving 30,000 niggers' lives may be all well and good, one may say, but shouldn't countries pay off their debts? Not really. The Third World debt is largely a political construct: the debts were incurred when monies were loaned to un-elected governments (often for weapons with which to beat down their populations). Then when interest rates were dramatically (and unilaterally) increased in the early-'80s, the debts skyrocketed.
Most countries have, in fact, paid out a far greater sum in debt service than was originally borrowed, without (owing to the onerous interest rates) actually touching the principle!
This sort of situation is known as "odious debt" in the lingo, and the United States has used the concept of odious debt to argue that Iraq's debts (but not the rest of the Third World's) should be written off. Convenient, isn't it? The United States itself has written off 100% of Iraq's debt to the U.S..
"Lifting the crushing burden of the old regime's debt is one of the most important contributions we can make to Iraq's new beginning," according to Colin Powell. Try asking him whether writing off the rest of the Third World debt could make an "important contribution" it its "new beginning".
So, all together now: "Fuck the IMF...Fuck the IMF...Fuck the IMF..."
And why shouldn't other countries follow Argentina's lead?
Traditional free-market economists remain skeptical of the government's approach. While acknowledging there has been a recovery, they attribute it mainly to external factors rather than the policies of President Nestor Kirchner, who has been in office since May 2003. Increasingly, they also maintain that the comeback is beginning to lose steam.
"Traditional free-market economics" is more religion than science. But, funny thing: poor people would rather eat than pray. Almost the whole of South America is on open revolt over the IMF's strictures. And with the U.S. military bogged down in Asia, and with the greenback in virtual free-fall, there's not a whole hell of a lot the Bush Administration can do about South America's nose-thumbing.
Update, 1/5/05: Satire lives! Check out Andre Gunder Frank's "The Naked Hegemon".
Free Market Miracle #0012
When the Argentine economy collapsed in December 2001, doomsday predictions abounded: Unless it adopted orthodox economic policies and quickly cut a deal with its foreign creditors, hyperinflation would surely follow, the peso would become worthless, investment and foreign reserves would vanish and any prospect of growth would be strangled.
But three years after Argentina declared a debt default of more than $100 billion, the largest in world history, the apocalypse has not arrived.
Instead, the economy has grown by eight percent for two consecutive years, exports have zoomed, the currency is stable, investors are gradually returning, and unemployment has eased from record highs -- all without a debt settlement or the standard measures required by the International Monetary Fund for its approval.
Note that those "standard measures" are in large part responsible for the poverty-related deaths of 30,000 children worldwide, every single day.
Saving 30,000 niggers' lives may be all well and good, one may say, but shouldn't countries pay off their debts? Not really. The Third World debt is largely a political construct: the debts were incurred when monies were loaned to un-elected governments (often for weapons with which to beat down their populations). Then when interest rates were dramatically (and unilaterally) increased in the early-'80s, the debts skyrocketed.
Most countries have, in fact, paid out a far greater sum in debt service than was originally borrowed, without (owing to the onerous interest rates) actually touching the principle!
This sort of situation is known as "odious debt" in the lingo, and the United States has used the concept of odious debt to argue that Iraq's debts (but not the rest of the Third World's) should be written off. Convenient, isn't it? The United States itself has written off 100% of Iraq's debt to the U.S..
"Lifting the crushing burden of the old regime's debt is one of the most important contributions we can make to Iraq's new beginning," according to Colin Powell. Try asking him whether writing off the rest of the Third World debt could make an "important contribution" it its "new beginning".
So, all together now: "Fuck the IMF...Fuck the IMF...Fuck the IMF..."
And why shouldn't other countries follow Argentina's lead?
Traditional free-market economists remain skeptical of the government's approach. While acknowledging there has been a recovery, they attribute it mainly to external factors rather than the policies of President Nestor Kirchner, who has been in office since May 2003. Increasingly, they also maintain that the comeback is beginning to lose steam.
"Traditional free-market economics" is more religion than science. But, funny thing: poor people would rather eat than pray. Almost the whole of South America is on open revolt over the IMF's strictures. And with the U.S. military bogged down in Asia, and with the greenback in virtual free-fall, there's not a whole hell of a lot the Bush Administration can do about South America's nose-thumbing.
Update, 1/5/05: Satire lives! Check out Andre Gunder Frank's "The Naked Hegemon".
Posted by Eddie Tews at 05:05 PM
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But now the surpluses have turned into record deficits. President Bush is not about to take back his tax cuts, but in setting spending levels in the budget he will deliver to Congress early in the new year, he will single out a loser -- perhaps several -- for every winner. [...]
Bush's budget writers have not made all their decisions, and those they have made are closely held. But it is expected that, to help Bush keep his promise of cutting the deficit in half over five years, the budget will "maintain strict discipline", as the president said at a news conference last week.
What You Can Do: Contact your representatives, telling them the budget needs to make steep, ahem, painful cuts in the military and in domestic policing, and that any "supplemental" funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq should be rejected outright, and the soldiers brought home.
Yeah, they're probably going to tell you to get fucked. But the more people that raise their voice, the more likely (relatively speaking) we are to be heard.
Update, 12/28/04: Salinas, California is set to become the nation's largest city without a library system -- for want of $3 Million (about what the United States is spending every thirty minutes in its obliteration of Iraq).
December 27, 2004
Kill The Poor
But now the surpluses have turned into record deficits. President Bush is not about to take back his tax cuts, but in setting spending levels in the budget he will deliver to Congress early in the new year, he will single out a loser -- perhaps several -- for every winner. [...]
Bush's budget writers have not made all their decisions, and those they have made are closely held. But it is expected that, to help Bush keep his promise of cutting the deficit in half over five years, the budget will "maintain strict discipline", as the president said at a news conference last week.
What You Can Do: Contact your representatives, telling them the budget needs to make steep, ahem, painful cuts in the military and in domestic policing, and that any "supplemental" funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq should be rejected outright, and the soldiers brought home.
Yeah, they're probably going to tell you to get fucked. But the more people that raise their voice, the more likely (relatively speaking) we are to be heard.
Update, 12/28/04: Salinas, California is set to become the nation's largest city without a library system -- for want of $3 Million (about what the United States is spending every thirty minutes in its obliteration of Iraq).
Posted by Eddie Tews at 08:08 PM
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The Seattle Times' coverage of yesterday's earthquake and tidal wave -- which, at time of printing, had killed 13,500 people -- spans almost four full pages, including the great majority of the front page. It all adds up to roughly 140 column-inches, five photos, three graphics, and a list of suggested websites for further reading.
On the other hand, the Times' coverage of survey findings, published in the medical field's most respected journal, The Lancet, that 100,000 Iraqis "died since the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq than would have been expected otherwise" amounts to eight paragraphs in the Times' now-defunct blog maintained by staffer Tom Brown. Brown concludes by "having" to "wonder" whether "these numbers anywhere near accurate".
To this blogger's knowledge, the story has never appeared in the paper's print edition.
Which is not to minimise the magnitude of the tragic events unfolding in Southeast Asia. But it is a tragedy, after all, which was unforeseen, and not preventable; in sharp contradistinction with the human tragedy currently unfolding in Iraq -- for which American taxpayers bear the lion's share of the culpability.
For a newspaper which continually boasts, in full page advertisements, of its "independence" (as the Seattle Times does), one can't help "wonder" at its editorial priorities.
No doubt the same can be said of your own hometown daily, not to mention the so-called "trend-setting" media. (If anybody's got similar comparitive statistics of the two stories for the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times; please feel free to provide them.)
Update, 12/29/04: U.S. President George W. Bush pledged to set up an international coalition, with Australia, India and Japan, to co-ordinate the relief effort.
Gee, you think maybe he could set up an international coalition to co-ordinate a relief effort for the hundreds of thousands of Fallujah refugees?
Update, 1/12/04: Ex-Python Terry Jones eloquently sees through the hypocrisy.
By Way Of Comparison
The Seattle Times' coverage of yesterday's earthquake and tidal wave -- which, at time of printing, had killed 13,500 people -- spans almost four full pages, including the great majority of the front page. It all adds up to roughly 140 column-inches, five photos, three graphics, and a list of suggested websites for further reading.
On the other hand, the Times' coverage of survey findings, published in the medical field's most respected journal, The Lancet, that 100,000 Iraqis "died since the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq than would have been expected otherwise" amounts to eight paragraphs in the Times' now-defunct blog maintained by staffer Tom Brown. Brown concludes by "having" to "wonder" whether "these numbers anywhere near accurate".
To this blogger's knowledge, the story has never appeared in the paper's print edition.
Which is not to minimise the magnitude of the tragic events unfolding in Southeast Asia. But it is a tragedy, after all, which was unforeseen, and not preventable; in sharp contradistinction with the human tragedy currently unfolding in Iraq -- for which American taxpayers bear the lion's share of the culpability.
For a newspaper which continually boasts, in full page advertisements, of its "independence" (as the Seattle Times does), one can't help "wonder" at its editorial priorities.
No doubt the same can be said of your own hometown daily, not to mention the so-called "trend-setting" media. (If anybody's got similar comparitive statistics of the two stories for the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times; please feel free to provide them.)
Update, 12/29/04: U.S. President George W. Bush pledged to set up an international coalition, with Australia, India and Japan, to co-ordinate the relief effort.
Gee, you think maybe he could set up an international coalition to co-ordinate a relief effort for the hundreds of thousands of Fallujah refugees?
Update, 1/12/04: Ex-Python Terry Jones eloquently sees through the hypocrisy.
Posted by Eddie Tews at 07:58 PM
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"Performance like this would never be tolerated in the Private Sector." -- from a letter to the editor in the 12/23/04 edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Quote Of The Moment #0083
"Performance like this would never be tolerated in the Private Sector." -- from a letter to the editor in the 12/23/04 edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Posted by Eddie Tews at 07:35 PM
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Bonds posted by companies with federal oil and gas leases cover only a small fraction of the projected costs of plugging wells and restoring land once the fuel is extracted, leaving taxpayers with the potential for huge cleanup bills, an Associated Press analysis of federal records shows. The Bureau of Land Management has collected only $132 million in bonds from oil and gas companies responsible for more than 100,000 wells on federal lands. The government estimates it costs between $2,500 and $75,000 to cap each well and restore the surface area.
In the past five years, the bureau has spent $2.2 million to clean up 187 wells where operators defaulted on their bonds.
At that average rate of $13,066 per well, the shortfall between the bonds and the cleanup costs could leave taxpayers with as much as a $1 billion potential liability if companies reneged on their cleanup responsibilities, the analysis found.
But wait, there's more (as if you couldn't have guessed). Here comes the punchline:
The Bush administration quietly shelved an eight-year effort this fall to increase the minimum bond requirements for oil and gas drilling on federal lands.
Free Market Miracle #0011
Bonds posted by companies with federal oil and gas leases cover only a small fraction of the projected costs of plugging wells and restoring land once the fuel is extracted, leaving taxpayers with the potential for huge cleanup bills, an Associated Press analysis of federal records shows. The Bureau of Land Management has collected only $132 million in bonds from oil and gas companies responsible for more than 100,000 wells on federal lands. The government estimates it costs between $2,500 and $75,000 to cap each well and restore the surface area.
In the past five years, the bureau has spent $2.2 million to clean up 187 wells where operators defaulted on their bonds.
At that average rate of $13,066 per well, the shortfall between the bonds and the cleanup costs could leave taxpayers with as much as a $1 billion potential liability if companies reneged on their cleanup responsibilities, the analysis found.
But wait, there's more (as if you couldn't have guessed). Here comes the punchline:
The Bush administration quietly shelved an eight-year effort this fall to increase the minimum bond requirements for oil and gas drilling on federal lands.
Posted by Eddie Tews at 07:31 PM
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Another document said an executive order signed by President George W Bush had authorised techniques such as "sleep management", stress positions, use of military dogs and sensory deprivation.
Uh, now can we throw his ass in jail?
While denying the claim, Dubya, in explaining his Administration's "dilemma", demonstrated (again) the depths of his delusion:
But you're got to understand the dilemma we're in. These are people that got scooped up off a battlefield attempting to kill U.S. troops. And I want to make sure, before they're released, that they don't come back to kill again.
Imagine that! We invade another country, and its people attempt to kill U.S. troops! But, "scooped off a battlefield" -- textbook Prisoners of War, yes? Well, no. They're "illegal combatants", because only U.S. troops are authorised to attempt to kill.
Hence: "And so I think it's important to let the world know that we fully understand our obligations in a society that honors rule of law to do that."
Right.
Do not pass "Go", George.
December 22, 2004
My Name Is George W. Bush, And I Approve Of These Methods
Another document said an executive order signed by President George W Bush had authorised techniques such as "sleep management", stress positions, use of military dogs and sensory deprivation.
Uh, now can we throw his ass in jail?
While denying the claim, Dubya, in explaining his Administration's "dilemma", demonstrated (again) the depths of his delusion:
But you're got to understand the dilemma we're in. These are people that got scooped up off a battlefield attempting to kill U.S. troops. And I want to make sure, before they're released, that they don't come back to kill again.
Imagine that! We invade another country, and its people attempt to kill U.S. troops! But, "scooped off a battlefield" -- textbook Prisoners of War, yes? Well, no. They're "illegal combatants", because only U.S. troops are authorised to attempt to kill.
Hence: "And so I think it's important to let the world know that we fully understand our obligations in a society that honors rule of law to do that."Right.
Do not pass "Go", George.
Posted by Eddie Tews at 07:57 PM
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Destruction is not total. At the end of a long block of leveled homes, for example, a children's clinic stands untouched.
Happy News From Fallujah!
Destruction is not total. At the end of a long block of leveled homes, for example, a children's clinic stands untouched.
Posted by Eddie Tews at 07:32 PM
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The more progress we make on the ground, the more free the Iraqis become, the more electricity that's available, the more jobs are available, the more kids that are going to school, the more desperate these killers become. -- George W. Bush
December 21, 2004
Reminder
The more progress we make on the ground, the more free the Iraqis become, the more electricity that's available, the more jobs are available, the more kids that are going to school, the more desperate these killers become. -- George W. Bush
Posted by Eddie Tews at 05:48 PM
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Nearly half of all Americans believe the U.S. government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim-Americans, according to a nationwide poll. The survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support curtailing Muslims' civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious.
Yeah, and with the Niggers already having been disenfranchised, and the fags next in the "Christians"' sights...well, we'll be a God-fearing nation soon enough.
December 18, 2004
The "Land Of The Free"
Nearly half of all Americans believe the U.S. government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim-Americans, according to a nationwide poll. The survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support curtailing Muslims' civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious.
Yeah, and with the Niggers already having been disenfranchised, and the fags next in the "Christians"' sights...well, we'll be a God-fearing nation soon enough.
Posted by Eddie Tews at 10:41 AM
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A top Army general said yesterday that the Iraqi insurgency was being run in part by former senior Iraqi Baath Party officials operating in Syria who call themselves the "New Regional Command".
These men, from the former governing party of deposed president Saddam Hussein, are "operating out of Syria with impunity and providing direction and financing for the insurgency," said Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the U.S. commander in Iraq. "That needs to stop," Casey said at a Pentagon briefing.
Right. So, the Resistance is comprised "former Baath officials" "directing" and funding "foreign terrorists" in Iraq. Who's missing in this equation? Uh, oh yeah: Iraqis themselves.
Is there some reason to think that neither the 200,000 refugees from Fallujah that are starving and freezing in makeshift camps outside their city, nor any of the other of the millions of beleaguered and battered Iraqis, could be "directing" themselves to blow the Americans' asses off? Well, sure there is: because we liberated them. Q.E.D..
Never mind that less than 5% of Iraqis have any trust in the Americans, or that the Shiites are emphatically selling the forthcoming election as the categorical end-date of the occupation. It's the "former regime elements" and the bin Ladenites that are running the show. (If we are to believe this, by the way, it's yet another striking Bush Administration admission that Saddam and Osama are still kicking our ass all up and down the sidewalk. And that if the Baathists are able to "direct" the resistance from Syria, that they must have infiltrated the Green Zone to a much greater degree that is currently presumed to be the case.)
But anyway, this scenario sounds somewhat familiar, doesn't it? A rebel army funded and "directed" from abroad -- where have we heard this before? Uh, oh yeah: the Reagan Administration's war on Nicaragua. (Not quite the same: at least the Nicaraguan government was democratically elected, and at least the Contras themselves were Nicaraguans, and at least the presumed Baathists are Iraqis. But these are minor details, yes yes.) The World Court ruled that that war "needed to stop" as well. But we kinda sorta ignored that ruling.
Give Casey props for the name, anyway: "New Regional Command". If it's a sign of more poetic lying to come, that'll at least be better than Rumsfeld's semi-literate spew.
December 16, 2004
How Low Can They Go?
A top Army general said yesterday that the Iraqi insurgency was being run in part by former senior Iraqi Baath Party officials operating in Syria who call themselves the "New Regional Command".
These men, from the former governing party of deposed president Saddam Hussein, are "operating out of Syria with impunity and providing direction and financing for the insurgency," said Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the U.S. commander in Iraq. "That needs to stop," Casey said at a Pentagon briefing.
Right. So, the Resistance is comprised "former Baath officials" "directing" and funding "foreign terrorists" in Iraq. Who's missing in this equation? Uh, oh yeah: Iraqis themselves.
Is there some reason to think that neither the 200,000 refugees from Fallujah that are starving and freezing in makeshift camps outside their city, nor any of the other of the millions of beleaguered and battered Iraqis, could be "directing" themselves to blow the Americans' asses off? Well, sure there is: because we liberated them. Q.E.D..
Never mind that less than 5% of Iraqis have any trust in the Americans, or that the Shiites are emphatically selling the forthcoming election as the categorical end-date of the occupation. It's the "former regime elements" and the bin Ladenites that are running the show. (If we are to believe this, by the way, it's yet another striking Bush Administration admission that Saddam and Osama are still kicking our ass all up and down the sidewalk. And that if the Baathists are able to "direct" the resistance from Syria, that they must have infiltrated the Green Zone to a much greater degree that is currently presumed to be the case.)
But anyway, this scenario sounds somewhat familiar, doesn't it? A rebel army funded and "directed" from abroad -- where have we heard this before? Uh, oh yeah: the Reagan Administration's war on Nicaragua. (Not quite the same: at least the Nicaraguan government was democratically elected, and at least the Contras themselves were Nicaraguans, and at least the presumed Baathists are Iraqis. But these are minor details, yes yes.) The World Court ruled that that war "needed to stop" as well. But we kinda sorta ignored that ruling.
Give Casey props for the name, anyway: "New Regional Command". If it's a sign of more poetic lying to come, that'll at least be better than Rumsfeld's semi-literate spew.
Posted by Eddie Tews at 11:33 PM
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A few months ago, the Los Angeles Times became possibly the first American mainstream news source to "so-call" the Bush Administration's so-called "War On Terror".
Now, it has become possibly the first to dare to label the Administration's wide-ranging torture campaigns just that: "torture", rather that simply "abuse" or "mistreatment":
Marines in Iraq conducted mock executions of juvenile prisoners last year, burned and tortured other detainees with electrical shocks, and warned a Navy medic from Washington state they would kill him if he treated any injured Iraqis, according to military documents made public yesterday. [...]
The photographs of naked Iraqis being tortured by American troops at [Abu Ghraib] prison shocked the world in April.
December 15, 2004
Whoa II
A few months ago, the Los Angeles Times became possibly the first American mainstream news source to "so-call" the Bush Administration's so-called "War On Terror".
Now, it has become possibly the first to dare to label the Administration's wide-ranging torture campaigns just that: "torture", rather that simply "abuse" or "mistreatment":
Marines in Iraq conducted mock executions of juvenile prisoners last year, burned and tortured other detainees with electrical shocks, and warned a Navy medic from Washington state they would kill him if he treated any injured Iraqis, according to military documents made public yesterday. [...]
The photographs of naked Iraqis being tortured by American troops at [Abu Ghraib] prison shocked the world in April.
Posted by Eddie Tews at 03:58 PM
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While insurgents draw on deep wells of fury to expand their ranks in Iraq; the US military is fighting desertion, recruitment shortfalls, and legal challenges from its own troops.
December 11, 2004
Says It All
While insurgents draw on deep wells of fury to expand their ranks in Iraq; the US military is fighting desertion, recruitment shortfalls, and legal challenges from its own troops.
Posted by Eddie Tews at 04:48 PM
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In an apparent reversal of decades of U.S. practice, recent federal Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations bar American companies from publishing works by dissident writers in countries under sanction unless they first obtain U.S. government approval.
The restriction, condemned by critics as a violation of the First Amendment, means that books and other works banned by some totalitarian regimes cannot be published freely in the United States.
The ban is being fought on anti-censorship grounds, as it should. But it's also a marked slap at literacy and knowledge. One would think that in a country whose citizens consistently rank near the bottom in such measures, the Feds would consider anathema the placing of restrictions on learning.
In a very recent "news cycle", for example, we learned that:
Fifteen-year-olds in the United States don't have the math skills to match up to peers in many other industrialized nations, test scores released yesterday show.
Ah well, as long as we've got televangelists to interpret the fucking Bible for us, what else do we really need to know?
December 08, 2004
The Party Of "Small Government" Strikes Again
In an apparent reversal of decades of U.S. practice, recent federal Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations bar American companies from publishing works by dissident writers in countries under sanction unless they first obtain U.S. government approval.
The restriction, condemned by critics as a violation of the First Amendment, means that books and other works banned by some totalitarian regimes cannot be published freely in the United States.
The ban is being fought on anti-censorship grounds, as it should. But it's also a marked slap at literacy and knowledge. One would think that in a country whose citizens consistently rank near the bottom in such measures, the Feds would consider anathema the placing of restrictions on learning.
In a very recent "news cycle", for example, we learned that:
Fifteen-year-olds in the United States don't have the math skills to match up to peers in many other industrialized nations, test scores released yesterday show.
Ah well, as long as we've got televangelists to interpret the fucking Bible for us, what else do we really need to know?
Posted by Eddie Tews at 04:28 PM
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"There's no end to the depravity," said Phillip Cosby, a local activist... Teaming up with pastors, Cosby organized a 100-day, round-the-clock vigil...
What is this depravity which has impelled Cosby to such heroic feats of resistance? 100,000 killed civilians in Iraq? Napalm in Fallujah? The push to privatise Social Security? The House's Tom-DeLay-inspired rules switcheroo? Suppression of the African American vote?
Er...
Adult superstores...are popping up all over rural America -- brightly lit, pointedly clean, as well-organized and well-stocked as Wal-Mart.
Priorities
"There's no end to the depravity," said Phillip Cosby, a local activist... Teaming up with pastors, Cosby organized a 100-day, round-the-clock vigil...
What is this depravity which has impelled Cosby to such heroic feats of resistance? 100,000 killed civilians in Iraq? Napalm in Fallujah? The push to privatise Social Security? The House's Tom-DeLay-inspired rules switcheroo? Suppression of the African American vote?
Er...
Adult superstores...are popping up all over rural America -- brightly lit, pointedly clean, as well-organized and well-stocked as Wal-Mart.
Posted by Eddie Tews at 04:17 PM
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Preliminary findings of a military inquiry suggest that some of the recently published photographs of Navy special forces capturing detainees in Iraq were taken for legitimate intelligence-gathering purposes and showed commandos using approved procedures, a Navy spokesman said yesterday. [...]
Navy Cmdr. Jeff Bender said some of the photos are "consistent with the use of tactics, techniques, and procedures in the apprehension of detainees."
He said a photo in which a uniformed man is holding the head of a prisoner to pose him for a picture was for "identification purposes", not a souvenir.
* * *
FBI agents observed U.S. soldiers mistreating terrorism suspects at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as early as 2002, but the Pentagon has done little to investigate, a letter from a senior agency counterterrorism official said.
* * *
A former U.S. Marine staff sergeant testified at a hearing yesterday that his unit killed at least 30 unarmed civilians in Iraq during the war in 2003 and that Marines routinely shot wounded Iraqis and killed them.
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One of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's closest advisers learned five months ago of allegations that a clandestine military task force in Iraq was beating detainees, ordering trained DIA debriefers out of the room during questioning, confiscating evidence of the abuse, and intimidating the debriefers when they complained.
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Officials in the White House and the Defense Department are developing plans to increase public criticism of Iran's human-rights record...
Terrorists Evil, Liberators Good
Preliminary findings of a military inquiry suggest that some of the recently published photographs of Navy special forces capturing detainees in Iraq were taken for legitimate intelligence-gathering purposes and showed commandos using approved procedures, a Navy spokesman said yesterday. [...]
Navy Cmdr. Jeff Bender said some of the photos are "consistent with the use of tactics, techniques, and procedures in the apprehension of detainees."
He said a photo in which a uniformed man is holding the head of a prisoner to pose him for a picture was for "identification purposes", not a souvenir.
Posted by Eddie Tews at 03:58 PM
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"Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles?" [Army Spc. Thomas] Wilson asked. A big cheer arose from the approximately 2,300 soldiers in the cavernous hangar who assembled to see and hear the secretary of defense. [...]
Rumsfeld replied that troops should make the best of the conditions they face and said the Army was pushing manufacturers of vehicle armor to produce it as fast as humanly possible. [...]
"You can have all the armor in the world on a tank and it can [still] be blown up," Rumsfeld said.
May as well have said, "Better you than me."
Easy For Him To Say
"Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles?" [Army Spc. Thomas] Wilson asked. A big cheer arose from the approximately 2,300 soldiers in the cavernous hangar who assembled to see and hear the secretary of defense. [...]
Rumsfeld replied that troops should make the best of the conditions they face and said the Army was pushing manufacturers of vehicle armor to produce it as fast as humanly possible. [...]
"You can have all the armor in the world on a tank and it can [still] be blown up," Rumsfeld said.
May as well have said, "Better you than me."
Posted by Eddie Tews at 03:42 PM
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Philadelphia wants to expand its public Internet service. A state law, supported by Verizon Communications, may prevent other cities from doing likewise.
The companies are lobbying furiously to block such plans, fearful that their businesses would be hurt. Their efforts most recently paid off Tuesday night in Pennsylvania, where a new law bans local governments from creating their own networks without first giving the primary local phone company the chance to provide service.
Yeah, you know, because the private sector is so fucking much more efficient that the public sector. Because fucking welfare queens need to get off their asses and find a job. Because the fucking "free market" will magically sort the wheat from the chaff.
It's not enough that the taxpayers develop the technology and create the infrastructure which is then turned over to the "private" sector, the taxpayers have to lick the sweat off the "private sector"'s nuts, too.
Companies such as Verizon Communications Inc., which helped shape the Pennsylvania law, argue that telecommunications firms would have little incentive to build networks if they have to compete with government-subsidized service.
Yeah, god motherfucking forbid they should be exposed to the motherfucking "free market"! Here's some fucking incentive for you, fuckface: provide a better service at a competitive price, customers will choose your service, and you'll make a profit. That's how it fucking works, right?
If that's not incentive enough, then fucking go out of business. You think we give a fuck?
"Uh, well, we kinda like it better having you pay all our set-up costs, then turn it over to us so we can have a monopoly. That way, we can provide a lousy service, and still charge whatever price we like."
December 02, 2004
Free Market Miracle #0010
Philadelphia wants to expand its public Internet service. A state law, supported by Verizon Communications, may prevent other cities from doing likewise.
The companies are lobbying furiously to block such plans, fearful that their businesses would be hurt. Their efforts most recently paid off Tuesday night in Pennsylvania, where a new law bans local governments from creating their own networks without first giving the primary local phone company the chance to provide service.
Yeah, you know, because the private sector is so fucking much more efficient that the public sector. Because fucking welfare queens need to get off their asses and find a job. Because the fucking "free market" will magically sort the wheat from the chaff.
It's not enough that the taxpayers develop the technology and create the infrastructure which is then turned over to the "private" sector, the taxpayers have to lick the sweat off the "private sector"'s nuts, too.
Companies such as Verizon Communications Inc., which helped shape the Pennsylvania law, argue that telecommunications firms would have little incentive to build networks if they have to compete with government-subsidized service.
Yeah, god motherfucking forbid they should be exposed to the motherfucking "free market"! Here's some fucking incentive for you, fuckface: provide a better service at a competitive price, customers will choose your service, and you'll make a profit. That's how it fucking works, right?
If that's not incentive enough, then fucking go out of business. You think we give a fuck?
"Uh, well, we kinda like it better having you pay all our set-up costs, then turn it over to us so we can have a monopoly. That way, we can provide a lousy service, and still charge whatever price we like."
Posted by Eddie Tews at 11:00 PM
| Comments (6)
U.S. soldiers now hold all parts of the city, but house-to-house searches continue. Sometimes houses already searched are reoccupied. Insurgents wait for the soldiers to enter before opening fire at close range. The marines try to avoid ambushes by blasting holes in side walls instead of coming in by the front door. They throw grenades into every room before entering.
"Reconstruction", Dubya-Style
U.S. soldiers now hold all parts of the city, but house-to-house searches continue. Sometimes houses already searched are reoccupied. Insurgents wait for the soldiers to enter before opening fire at close range. The marines try to avoid ambushes by blasting holes in side walls instead of coming in by the front door. They throw grenades into every room before entering.
Posted by Eddie Tews at 07:05 PM
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After an anti-tank mine destroyed his foot and part of his leg in Iraq, Capt. David Rozelle, 31, considered his future. In another era, the commander of a cavalry troop would have been heralded for his bravery and likely issued a medical retirement.
But Rozelle experienced a different message while hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. [...]
In a shift in military culture, the U.S. armed forces have recently announced new efforts to keep seriously wounded or disabled soldiers on active duty. Although there is no clear written policy, the sentiment is being echoed down from the White House.
"When we're talking about forced discharge, we're talking about another age and another" military, President Bush told wounded soldiers at Walter Reed last year.
You think maybe Dubya took the wrong message away from Nicholson's visit to the field hospital in The Bridge On The River Kwai?
To be fair, Rozelle is gung-ho enough. But his casual inisistence that, "I'm gonna take a spare leg with me to war. If I need one, I'll e-mail my prosthetist and say, 'Send me a leg,'" is one of the more disturbing utterances of the war to-date.
Our disposable culture has become so disposable that even human body parts are now a dime-a-dozen. And the military has so inculcated its grunts in the culture of death and killing that nothing, not even the loss of a limb, will keep its 21st Century warriors out of the field.
December 01, 2004
The Wheelchair Brigade
After an anti-tank mine destroyed his foot and part of his leg in Iraq, Capt. David Rozelle, 31, considered his future. In another era, the commander of a cavalry troop would have been heralded for his bravery and likely issued a medical retirement.
But Rozelle experienced a different message while hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. [...]
In a shift in military culture, the U.S. armed forces have recently announced new efforts to keep seriously wounded or disabled soldiers on active duty. Although there is no clear written policy, the sentiment is being echoed down from the White House.
"When we're talking about forced discharge, we're talking about another age and another" military, President Bush told wounded soldiers at Walter Reed last year.
You think maybe Dubya took the wrong message away from Nicholson's visit to the field hospital in The Bridge On The River Kwai?
To be fair, Rozelle is gung-ho enough. But his casual inisistence that, "I'm gonna take a spare leg with me to war. If I need one, I'll e-mail my prosthetist and say, 'Send me a leg,'" is one of the more disturbing utterances of the war to-date.
Our disposable culture has become so disposable that even human body parts are now a dime-a-dozen. And the military has so inculcated its grunts in the culture of death and killing that nothing, not even the loss of a limb, will keep its 21st Century warriors out of the field.