Bmush
sets up team to push tax cuts (10/12/2002)
By Simon English in New York
President Bush named a new economic team yesterday to help him force
through the tax cuts he believes are necessary to ensure he wins a
second term in office. Sticking to his favoured recruiting ground of
Wall Street and the corporate world, he named the head of a railroad
operator to be his new treasury secretary, following the
resignation of the accident-prone Paul O'Neill on Friday./ http://portal.telegraph.co.uk
O’NEILL FIRED
OVER ‘IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID’ REMARK
December 9, 2002
‘Don’t
Call Me Stupid,’ Bush Shot Back - A
clearer picture of the events leading up to Treasury Secretary Paul
H. O’Neill’s forced resignation was revealed today, as White
House aides said that Mr. O’Neill was undone by unintentionally
calling the President “stupid” in a meeting last week. The
heated exchange occurred at the White House late Thursday night,
aides said, when Mr. O’Neill urged the President to focus more on
the economy, telling Mr. Bush,
“Remember, it’s the economy, stupid.” Mr. Bush’s face
reportedly reddened with rage after Mr. O’Neill made his
remark.
“I know it’s the economy,” the President replied, “and
don’t call me ‘stupid.’”
Mr. O’Neill quickly defended his “it’s the economy, stupid”
remark as a figure of speech, but the President “would have none
of it,” aides said.
“I know when someone’s called me stupid, and you just called me
stupid,” Mr. Bush said. “Well if I’m stupid, you’re a
dickwad. How do you like them apples?”
Mr. O’Neill, realizing that he had walked into a rhetorical
minefield, quickly attempted to mend fences with the President.
“When I said ‘it’s the economy, stupid,’ I just meant that
the economy is something you should focus more on,” Mr. O’Neill
said.
“Who are you calling a moron?” a furious Mr. Bush demanded,
leaping from his chair.
“It’s ‘whom,’” corrected Lawrence B. Lindsey, director of
the National Economic Council, who was also present at the meeting.
Moments after Mr. Lindsey’s “whom” remark, the President
called him a “smart-ass” and abruptly demanded his resignation
as well.
“If there’s one thing the President hates more than being called
stupid, it’s being corrected on that whole who-whom thing,” one
aide said. borowitzreport.com
Former UN weapons inspector
denounces Bush war plans against Iraq
9 December 2002 By Jerry Isaacs Scott Ritter speaks at
Oakland University in Michigan Former United Nations chief
weapons inspector Scott Ritter denounced the Bush administration’s
war preparations against Iraq at a public appearance in the Detroit
area last week. Some three hundred students, faculty members and
others attended his December 2 speech at Oakland University, near
Pontiac, Michigan.An ex-US Marine and CIA intelligence officer who
served as a weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, Ritter is
well placed to expose the lies of the Bush administration about
Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction. He has consistently
argued that US charges of Iraqi possession of chemical, biological
and nuclear weapons are groundless. wsws.org
|
Henry
Kissinger and two of his 200,000 innocent victims
|
Back, But Not By Popular Demand
December 9, 2002 By David
Greenberg Who says there are no second acts in American life?
Two weeks ago, President Bush placed Henry Kissinger, a veteran of
the Nixonian era of secrecy, White House intrigue and dubious
foreign ventures, in charge of uncovering intelligence and security
flaws preceding the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Then last week, the
president gave the National Security Council's top Middle East job
to Iran-contra rogue Elliott Abrams. Meanwhile, outrage has
belatedly fastened on February's naming of another Iran-contrarian,
the pipe-puffing John Poindexter, to run a Big Brother-like Pentagon
operation called Total Information Awareness that promises -- if
news reports can be believed -- to harvest all known information
about everybody into a searchable Internet database. Perhaps we'll
see Poindexter and Abrams convene a reunion within the
administration, where they can relive their heyday with other contra
war alumni who are serving in the administration. You might think
that a few of these folks would have had their careers ended by
their misdeeds. And you might think that being tough on crime, long
a GOP mantra, begins at home. You'd be wrong: On the matter of these
men's sordid pasts, the Bush administration has shown an indulgence
and permissiveness that would make Dr. Spock blanch. (If a
conservative is a liberal who's been mugged, a liberal is a
conservative who's been indicted.) As a result, these vintage
villains are not on parole but on parade. It's an '80s nostalgia
party, as thrown by Ed Meese. washingtonpost.com
The Most Biased Name in News
- Fox
News Channel's extraordinary right-wing tilt
December 8, 2002 By Seth Ackerman Since its 1996 launch, Fox
has become a central hub of the conservative movement's well-oiled
media machine. Together with the GOP organization and its satellite
think tanks and advocacy groups, this network of fiercely partisan
outlets--such as the Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal
editorial page and conservative talk-radio shows like Rush
Limbaugh's--forms a highly effective right-wing echo chamber where
GOP-friendly news stories can be promoted, repeated and amplified.
Fox knows how to play this game better than anyone. Yet, at the same
time, the network bristles at the slightest suggestion of a
conservative tilt. In fact, wrapping itself in slogans like
"Fair and balanced" and "We report, you decide,"
Fox argues precisely the opposite: Far from being a biased network,
Fox argues, it is the only unbiased network. So far, Fox's strategy
of aggressive denial has worked surprisingly well; faced with its
unblinking refusal to admit any conservative tilt at all, some
commentators have simply acquiesced to the network's own
self-assessment. FAIR has decided to take a closer look. fair.org
The secret to the conservative
media’s success in reshaping America’s political landscape
is not the pervasive nastiness,
though that’s played a role.
December 8, 2002 The key is that conservatives have created a
“media home” for tens of millions of like-minded viewers,
listeners and readers across the country. Conservatives anywhere can
tune in Fox News, Rush Limbaugh or a host of other broadcast
outlets. They can open the pages of the Wall Street Journal
editorial section, the Washington Times, the Weekly Standard or
dozens of other print or Internet publications. There, they will
find their interests addressed, their outlook validated, their
enemies unmasked. In other words, conservatives are given a comfort
zone by their national media, which in turn gives them a political
cohesion. They are part of a team with shared goals. But what makes
this conservative media such a potent political force is the lack of
anything comparable on the liberal side of the U.S. political
divide. There is no liberal “media home” remotely like what the
conservatives have built. consortiumnews.com
Bush Administration Revs
Up Nuclear Program
December 8, 2002 By Conn Hallinan When 200 people
showed up at the gates of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
last month demanding the right to "inspect" the sprawling
complex for "weapons of mass destruction," the press
either ignored it or dismissed it as clever political theater. But
people had better start paying attention to what Livermore, and its
sister labs at Los Alamos and Sandia, are up to, which includes:
- Undermining the 1972 Nuclear
Non-proliferation Treaty;
- Sabotaging the Comprehensive Test
Ban Treaty;
- And testing bio-weapons in the
heart of the Bay Area.
The demand for "immediate,
unimpeded, unconditional, and unrestricted access" to
Livermore--language lifted from the UN Security Council resolution
on Iraq--might seem tongue-in-cheek, but representatives from
California Peace Action, Tri-Valley CARES, Western States Legal
Foundation, and Veterans for Peace were dead serious. "We are
demanding an end to all weapons of mass destruction," Tara
Dorabji of Tri-Valley CARES told the crowd, "whether developed
in the suburbs by the University of California scientists or in
Iraq." presentdanger.org
New Arctic Research Underscores
Urgency of CO2 Reduction Efforts Says World Wildlife Fund
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today's announcement by the
National Snow and Ice Data Center that there was less arctic sea ice
this summer than ever before measured prompted World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
to underscore the urgency of taking all available steps to reduce
carbon dioxide emissions. News of the new record low follows NASA's
recent announcement of melting in the Arctic at rates faster than
previously thought. "This trend of disappearing arctic sea ice
is one example of the environmental damage that can be linked to
carbon dioxide emissions," said Jennifer Morgan, director of
the WWF Climate Change Program. "When we have the means to
reduce CO2 emissions and prevent further damage, inaction is
irresponsible. National leaders must act now to implement energy
efficiency measures and increase the use of renewable energy sources
like wind and solar before it's too late." usnewswire.com
'Burning Bush' comment draws prison
term Man plans to appeal December
8, 2002 SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota
(AP) -- A man who made a remark about
a "burning Bush" during the president's March 2001 trip to
Sioux Falls was sentenced Friday to 37 months in prison. Richard
Humphreys of Portland, Oregon was convicted in September of
threatening to kill or harm the president and said he plans to
appeal. He has said the comment was a prophecy protected under his
right to free speech. Humphreys said he got into a barroom
discussion in nearby Watertown with a truck driver. A bartender who
overheard the conversation realized the president was to visit Sioux
Falls the next day and told police Humphreys talked about a
"burning Bush" and the possibility of someone pouring a
flammable liquid on Bush and lighting it. "I said God might
speak to the world through a burning Bush," Humphreys testified
during his trial. "I had said that before and I thought it was
funny." cnn.com
 Remember
this Republican monster, Paul O'Neill?
He called for the elimination of taxes on corporations and
the abolition of Social Security and Medicare, and he said,
"The collapse of Enron illustrates
the genius of
capitalism".
O'Neill quits White
House November 7, 2002
By BILL JAMIESON PAUL O’Neill,
the accident-prone US Treasury Secretary, and top economic adviser Lawrence
Lindsey have lost their jobs in a White House reshuffle amid growing concerns
over lack of confidence in the stewardship of US economic policy.
O’Neill’s resignation, announced in a curt letter at the Treasury, ended a
two-year period in office often puctuated by gaffes. In the recent US
congressional elections there had been criticism of the former
industrialist’s ability to be the chief spokesman for the world’s biggest
economy. An administration official said O’Neill quit "at the request
of the White House," making him the first Bush Cabinet official to leave.
Less than an hour later, Lindsey, who is director of the National Economic
Council, also tendered his resignation. thescotsman.co
Bush administration drives United
Airlines into bankruptcy 7
December 2002 By Kate Randall Government panel demands
all-out attack on airline workers. The decision of the Air
Transportation Stabilization Board (ATSB) to reject United
Airlines’ request for $1.8 billion in loan guarantees is the
signal from the Bush administration for an unprecedented attack on
the jobs, wages and working conditions of United Airlines employees
and workers throughout the industry. The three-member ATSB—with
representatives appointed by the White House from the Federal
Reserve, the Treasury Department and the Department of
Transportation—rejected as inadequate United’s plan to impose
$5.2 billion in concessions on its workforce. The board reportedly
demanded that $9 billion be wrenched from United employees for the
loan guarantees even to be considered. The rejection of the loan
package is expected to force United to file for protection from its
creditors under Chapter 11 bankruptcy by the end of the weekend. wsws.org
Bush isn't a moron, he's a
cunning sociopath
December 7,
2002—If any of us are to have a future worth having, the world's
leaders, the members of Congress, the US corporate media and people
of all political persuasions who value freedom and democracy had
better start seeing George W. Bush for what he is: a sociopath and a
passive serial killer. onlinejournal.com
 Moyers
on O'Reilly 7 December, 2002 By
Bill Moyers In a recent column and broadcast Bill O'Reilly makes
a number of assertions about me, in matters large and small, that
are both undocumented and false. It's time to set the record
straight. First, on a rather trivial level, Mr. O'Reilly asserted
that I refused to come to the phone when he called. He's not telling
the truth. One of his staff called my assistant to ask if I would
appear on Mr. O'Reilly's show, but I declined. I would never refuse
a call from Mr. O'Reilly, although my ears are not quite tuned to
his decibel level. truthout.com
HBO Recycling Gulf War Hoax?
December 7, 2002 The fraudulent story of Iraqi soldiers
throwing Kuwaiti babies out of incubators during the occupation of
Kuwait in 1990 is depicted as if it were true in “Live from
Baghdad," the HBO film premiering on the cable network this
Saturday that purports to tell the story behind CNN’s coverage of
the Gulf War. HBO and CNN are both owned by the AOL Time Warner
media conglomerate. In the months before the Gulf War began, media
uncritically repeated the claim that Iraqi soldiers were removing
Kuwaiti babies from incubators. The story was launched by the
testimony of a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl before the Congressional
Human Rights Caucus in October 1990. Eventually, as repeated in the
media by the first President Bush and countless others, it blossomed
into a tale involving over 300 Kuwaiti babies. What was not reported
at the time was the fact that the public relations company Hill
& Knowlton was partly behind the effort, and the girl who
testified was actually the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to
Washington. Subsequent investigations, including one by Amnesty
International, found no evidence for the claims (ABC World News
Tonight, 3/15/91). fair.org
Medical experts warn of devastating
impact of US war vs. Iraq 6
December 2002 By Simon Wheelan A new report by Medact, an
organisation of medical experts, predicts a nightmare scenario of
possibly millions of deaths, human suffering and infrastructure
collapse if the United States once again goes to war against Iraq.
Medact’s report is entitled Collateral Damage: the health and
environmental costs of war on Iraq. It explains how in the event of
the Bush administration utilising nuclear weapons in their effort to
subjugate Iraq, as many as four million Iraqi civilians could be
killed. Before the last Persian Gulf War 11 years ago, the Baathist
regime was threatened with nuclear retaliation if it attacked Israel
with chemical weapons. Should the forthcoming war threaten to become
a drawn out affair, the American and the British governments have
already expressed a willingness to use pre-emptive nuclear strikes.
wsws.org
US manufacturing continues to
decline: thousands more layoffs 6
December 2002 By David Walsh Manufacturing in the US declined
for the third straight month in November, as major corporations
continue to shed thousands of jobs. Contrary to predictions by
financial analysts, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM)
reported that its index of manufacturing activity stood at 49.2 last
month; any figure below 50 represents a contraction. New
manufacturing orders fell for the first time since August, causing
particular concern. The employment component of the index fell to
its lowest level since January. Overall automobile sales dropped by
12.8 percent in November, with US automakers faring considerably
worse. Combined sales for General Motors, Ford and Chrysler fell 18
percent compared to November 2001. The domestic auto
manufacturers’ share of the US market fell to an all-time low last
month, 58.8 percent. wsws.org
ACTION ALERT: FCC Ready to Roll
Back Limits on Media Consolidation December
6, 2002 A range of media scholars and public interest, media and
community groups from across the country have joined FAIR in
issuing a Call for Media Democracy in response to the FCC's current
"review" of the rules that govern big media. FAIR
encourages everyone concerned with this issue to act now. Some
suggestions of how you can take action to strengthen media diversity
are included below. fair.org
Republicans
vow to push for Social Security reform
Posted on Wed, Dec. 06, 2002 BY
WILLIAM E. GIBSON WASHINGTON
- (KRT) - Victorious Republicans who campaigned for Social
Security reform vowed on Wednesday to push aggressively for
congressional action next year to allow workers to invest a portion
of their Social Security taxes in stocks and bonds. Reformers
at a Capitol Hill news briefing claimed this year's elections belied
the conventional wisdom that Social Security is the "third
rail" of politics - touch it and you die. "Not
only were we not hurt by this issue, we were helped by this issue
politically, and on top of that it's the right thing to do,"
said Sen.-elect John Sununu, R-N.H. "That in and of itself
provides great motivation." Most
Democrats, however, remain staunchly opposed to the individual
investment option for fear it would shift revenue from the Social
Security trust fund, deplete the system and put benefits at risk on
the roller-coaster stock market. Many Republicans, while generally
supportive of the proposal, are loathe to pursue this controversial
issue. bradenton.com
Europe: Thousands protest plans for
US-led war against Iraq 6
December 2002 By Steve James Thousands of people have joined
demonstrations across Europe to oppose the planned US-led war
against Iraq. Over 180 organisations marched through Istanbul,
Turkey on December 1. Tens of thousands demonstrated, holding
banners saying, “We will not be America’s soldiers,” and
“We’re on the side of the Iraqi people.” Statements made at a
two-hour rally demanded that the Turkish government refuse to allow
military bases in Turkey to be used for attacks on neighbouring
Iraq. wsws.org
A Brief
(But Creepy) History of America's Creeping Fascism
Dec. 06, 2002 These days, it's
hard to read anything without thinking, "this can't be
true." We're living in an age of secret bunker governments and
stealth legislation, however, and unlikely scenarios are tempered
with the realization our old reality is gone. This America differs
drastically from the country we knew two years ago, when tales of
felons ogling our e-mail would have been capped with a punch line.
Yet here we are, buzzflash.com
Digital Robber Barons?
Dec. 06, 2002 By PAUL
KRUGMAN Bad metaphors make bad policy. Everyone talks about
the "information highway." But in economic terms the
telecommunications network resembles not a highway but the railroad
industry of the robber-baron era — that is, before it faced
effective competition from trucking. And railroads eventually faced
tough regulation, for good reason: they had a lot of market power,
and often abused it. Yet the people making choices today about the
future of the Internet — above all Michael Powell, chairman of the
Federal Communications Commission — seem unaware of this history.
They are full of enthusiasm for the wonders of deregulation,
dismissive of concerns about market power. And meanwhile tomorrow's
robber barons are fortifying their castles. Until recently, the
Internet seemed the very embodiment of the free-market ideal — a
place where thousands of service providers competed, where anyone
could visit any site. And the tech sector was a fertile breeding
ground for libertarian ideology, with many techies asserting that
they needed neither help nor regulation from Washington. nytimes.com
Rush
-- nailed on his own show! Dec. 6,
2002 |
Squawk radio
A plucky Salon reader -- let's just call
him "Greg from Orlando" since that's how his friends over
at the EIB network know him -- sent a fascinating memo Wednesday
about the methods he has used to bring a bit of balance to Rush
Limbaugh's radio show. This is his version of their most recent
encounter: salon.com
Talking Back To Talk Radio - Fairness, Democracy, and Profits
December 5, 2002 By THOM HARTMANN "All Democrats are fat, lazy, and stupid," the
talk-show host said in grave, serious tones as if he were uttering a
sacred truth. We were driving to Michigan for the holidays, and I
was tuning around, listening for the stations I'd worked for two and
three decades ago. I turned the dial. "It's a Hannity For
Humanity house," a different host said, adding that the Habitat
For Humanity home he'd apparently hijacked for his own
self-promotion would only be given to a family that swears it's
conservative. "No liberals are going to get this house,"
he said. Turning the dial again, we found a convicted felon ranting
about the importance of government having ever-more powers to
monitor, investigate, and prosecute American citizens without having
to worry about constitutional human rights protections. Apparently
the combining of nationwide German police agencies (following the
terrorist attack of February 1933 when the Parliament building was
set afire) into one giant Fatherland Security Agency answerable only
to the Executive Branch, the Reichssicherheitshauptamt and its
SchutzStaffel, was a lesson of history this guy had completely
forgotten. Neither, apparently, do most Americans recall that the
single most powerful device used to bring about the SS and its
political master was radio. thepeoplesvoice.org
Thousands
Say No to War Across Country
Dec. 06, 2002 Tens of thousands of
people around
Australia protested against the proposed war with Iraq on
November 30 and December 1. 15,000 persons rallied
[ 1
| 2
] in Melbourne. Some fifteen to twenty thousand rallied
[ 1
| 2
| 3
] in Sydney, while 1500 gathered
in Adelaide and thousands more combined demonstrated in Canberra,
Darwin, Taree, Brisbane, Launceston, Ipswich, Alice Springs, Perth
and Hobart. Read: entire
feature
Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. Warns
of Jewel-Osco's Sale of SureBeam's Irradiated Meat
Dec. 06, 2002 Threatens Consumer
Health CHICAGO, Dec. 06, 2002
/U.S. Newswire/ -- On Nov. 29 "Chicago Tonight" TV, meat
industry representatives admitted that irradiated meat can taste
like "Wet Dog," while supporting Jewel-Osco and SureBeam
claims that the meat is safe. "However, these claims don't even
pass the laugh test," states Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., professor
emeritus of Environmental Medicine at the University of Illinois
School of Public Health, Chicago, and chairman of the Cancer
Prevention Coalition. usnewswire.com
Why the Bush administration
wants war: 5 December 2002 The
politics of American militarism in the 21st century In
preparation for yet another major American military action, the
fifth in less than a decade, the media bombards the public with
empty phrases—such as “weapons of mass destruction”—which
explain nothing about the historical background of the US-Iraqi
conflict or the social interests that determine US foreign policy.
And yet, without any serious public examination of the motives of
the government, the Bush administration is about to launch a war
that will implicate the American people in the killing of countless
thousands of Iraqis and whose long-term consequences could well
prove to be catastrophic for the entire world. wsws.org
Democrats
Urge Bush to Rescind Political Bonuses
Dec. 05, 2002 WASHINGTON
- Congressional Democrats on Thursday urge President Bush to
reverse a decision to award cash bonuses to top political appointees
and to restore scheduled pay increases to federal workers. In
a statement Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota and
incoming House of Representatives Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of
California accused Bush of rewarding political friends at the
expense of federal workers. "This
action, on top of the administration's decision this week to
postpone sending $1.5 billion for anti-terrorism assistance to local
police departments, demonstrates a pattern of disrespect and broken
promises to those workers on the front line in the domestic war
against terrorism," Pelosi said. Daschle
said the administration had its priorities wrong. "These
kinds of cash bonuses to political appointees were banned because
they were abused in the past," Daschle said. bradenton.com
Homeland Security Act Includes
'Corporate Unaccountability' Clauses
December 4, 2002 There is yet another reason to criticize the much-maligned Homeland
Security Act, the largest government restructuring in 50 years. The
act includes special interest bonuses such as reductions in
corporate accountability, partial
exemptions from FOIA requirements, and protection for
pharmaceutical companies - large
GOP contributors - against class action lawsuits.
michiganimc.org
President Bush Plans an
Unprecedented Shift of Almost Half of Government Jobs to Outside
Contractors December 4, 2002 by
Robert Jensen President Bush's announcement last week of his
intention to privatize up to half the federal workforce came with
the usual confident talk that it will reduce government costs and
improve services. Market ideologues may believe that, but there is
no reason citizens should be so gullible. Instead, we might ask
critical questions about the likely consequences of large-scale
privatization and why the Bush gang is so keen on it. Research
suggests that where there is real market competition for relatively
simple goods and services, governments can save money and ensure
quality through privatization. Contracting out tasks such as office
cleaning may save taxpayers money in some cases (though often at the
cost of lower wages and reduced benefits for workers). But that's
not the majority of cases. Often short-term savings evaporate
quickly once competitors drop out. Contractors who underbid to win a
contract are free to raise rates later, often leaving governments
with little choice but to accept. commondreams.org
Kerry Blasts Bush's Tax Cuts, Offers
Own Plan
December 4, 2002 By Dan Balz Likely
Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry yesterday slammed
President Bush's tax cuts as "unfair, unaffordable and
unquestionably ineffective" and said the best way to stimulate
the sluggish economy is by shelving most future installments of the
president's plan in favor of immediate payroll tax relief for all
working Americans. washingtonpost.com
Hey, Lucky Duckies! December
4, 2002 By PAUL KRUGMAN The Journal considers a
hypothetical ducky who earns only $12,000 a year — some guys have
all the luck! — and therefore, according to the editorial,
"pays a little less than 4% of income in taxes." Not
surprisingly, that statement is a deliberate misrepresentation; the
calculation refers only to income taxes. If you include payroll and
sales taxes, a worker earning $12,000 probably pays well over 20
percent of income in taxes. But who's counting? What's interesting,
however, is what The Journal finds wrong with this picture: The
worker's taxes aren't "enough to get his or her blood boiling
with rage." In case you're wondering what this is about, it's
an internal squabble of the right. The Journal is terrified that
future tax cuts might include token concessions to ordinary
families; it wants to ensure that everything goes to corporations
and the wealthy. nytimes.com
Ex-Official Blasts White House
December 4, 2002 By Mike Allen The former head of President
Bush's faith-based office charged in a magazine article released
yesterday that the administration's domestic policies are determined
entirely by political considerations, with "everything"
being run by the office of senior adviser Karl C. Rove. John J.
DiIulio Jr., a Democrat who resigned last year as the first director
of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives,
is one of only a few officials who have left Bush's senior staff
since his inauguration, and the only one who has publicly attacked
his colleagues."There is no precedent in any modern White House
for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy
apparatus," DiIulio is quoted as telling Esquire. "What
you've got is everything -- and I mean everything -- being run by
the political arm. It's the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis."
washingtonpost.com
Australia: Nationwide
protests against war in Iraq 4
December 2002 By our reporters Despite a lack of any
publicity in the media, thousands of people, many of them young,
took part in protests across Australia last weekend against the
impending US-led war against Iraq. The size and national scope of
the demonstrations provide another indication of growing anti-war
sentiment among broad layers of ordinary people. The largest
demonstration took place in Sydney on November 30, where an
estimated 14,000 people—more than double recent anti-war rallies
in the city—marched from the town hall to Hyde Park. Among the
range of banners and placards carried were those declaring,
“Weapons inspections—Inspect weapons in the USA” wsws.org
Inventing a pretext for war against
Iraq - 3 December 2002 By Bill
Vann United Nations weapons inspections are entering their second
week in Iraq without producing any evidence of the “weapons of
mass destruction” continuously invoked by the Bush administration
as justification for war. Washington is therefore laying the
groundwork to launch an invasion using an even less convincing
pretext than the actual discovery of biological, chemical or nuclear
arms. Hence the latest public ruminations of Thomas Friedman, the
foreign affairs columnist of the New York Times. In a column
published December 1, he urges his readers to “pay no attention”
to the inspections taking place in Iraq. Rather, he advises, “the
key to whether we end up in a war with Iraq” lies in a paragraph
inserted into the UN Security Council’s inspections resolution
allowing for the removal of Iraqi scientists, along with their
entire families, to be interviewed abroad. The columnist claims that
this paragraph was among the “least-noticed” passages in the UN
document, but has now become the pivotal issue in “the fate of
Iraq.” This is a deliberate falsification. The provision was
inserted by the Bush administration as part of a series of demands
designed to strip Iraq of even the semblance of national
sovereignty—stipulations meant to be unacceptable and to serve as
the pretext for war. wsws.org
Kerry criticizes
Bush on unemployment, gives preview of economic plan
December 3, 2002 BOSTON
- U.S. Sen. John Kerry attacked the Bush administration Monday for
giving a boost to insurance companies last week while allowing a
million people to lose their unemployment benefits just after
Christmas. "This administration is willing to do terrorism
insurance for big industry, but they weren't willing to do
unemployment compensation for people who are out of work," bostonherald.com
The coming SUV wars Dec.
3, 2002 By Arianna
Huffington Is the tide of public opinion turning against these metal
monstrosities? | Once again, America is a nation divided. I'm talking about a contentious clash that is just
beginning to rage. Call it the SUV war. As you read this, the
opposing camps are staking out their turf. On one side sales of the
gas-guzzling, pollution-spewing, downright dangerous behemoths
continue to soar. And apparently, the more fuel-inefficient the
better: Dealers are having a hard time keeping up with the demand
for the Hummer H2, GM's new $50,000 barely domesticated spinoff of
the Gulf War darling, which struggles to cover 10 miles for every
gallon of gas it burns. The symbolism of these impractical machines'
military roots is too delicious to ignore. We go to war to protect
our supply of cheap oil in vehicles that would be prohibitively
expensive to operate without it. There seems to be no shortage of
Americans who think that consuming 25 percent of the world's oil
just isn't enough. Maybe the next model, the H3, will need to be
connected to an intravenous gas-pump hose all the time. And there
would still be people eager to buy it. salon.com
Quotes by Henry Kissinger
the latest Nazi to join the Bush
regime
December 2,
2002 "Today Americans
would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore
order; tomorrow they will be grateful. This is especially true if
they were told there was an outside threat from beyond, whether real
or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that
all peoples of the world will plead with world leaders to deliver
them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown.
When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be
willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted
to them by their world government."
S--
Henry Kissinger speaking at Evian, France, May 21, 1992
Bilderburgers meeting. Unbeknownst to Kissinger, his speech was
taped by a Swiss delegate to the meeting.
"The
illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little
longer."
Henry
Kissinger
"The US must carry out some act somewhere in the world which
shows its determination to continue to be a world power."
Henry Kissinger, post-Vietnam blues, as quoted in The Washington
Post, April 1975
"I
don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist
due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too
important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for
themselves."
Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State under Richard Nixon, about Chile
prior to the CIA overthrow of the democratically elected government
of socialist President Salvadore Allende in 1973
"Why
should we flagellate ourselves for what the Cambodians did to each
other?"
Henry Kissinger - who (with Richard Nixon) was responsible for the
massive bombing of Cambodia in 1973, which killed three-quarters of
a million peasants and disrupted Cambodian society, setting the
stage for Pol Pot to come to power and ultimately kill another
one-and-a-half million people
"Covert
action should not be confused with missionary work."
Henry Kissinger, commenting on the US sellout of the Kurds in Iraq
in 1975
The Bush dynasty and the Cuban
criminals New book reveals links of two presidents and the governor
of Florida with exiled hardliners December
2, 2002 Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles The brother of
President George Bush, the Florida governor, Jeb Bush, has been
instrumental in securing the release from prison of militant Cuban
exiles convicted of terrorist offences, according to a new book. The
Bush family has also accommodated the demands of Cuban exile
hardliners in exchange for electoral and financial support, the book
suggests. guardian.co.uk
Bush cabinet split becoming evident December
2, 2002 By TOM RAUM WASHINGTON - A foreign policy rift
simmering in the Bush administration shows no signs of mending and
could affect Iraq policy as well as U.S. dealings in the Middle East
and with North Korea and China. For the moment, Secretary of State
Colin Powell, a centrist, appears to have the upper hand, prevailing
over hard-liners like Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld in persuading President George W. Bush to
seek U.N. Security Council approval on disarming Iraq. The victory
could be short-lived. Cheney and Rumsfeld remain a potent force, and
Bush’s natural tendencies appear to favor bold action over
Powell-style cautious diplomacy. Meanwhile, Republican midterm gains
in the House and Senate have diminished Democratic influence as a
force in foreign policy, further emboldening conservatives. showmenews.com
Jeffords blasts Bush move Senator
criticizes weaker clean air law
December 2, 2002 WASHINGTON (AP) - President George W. Bush has
moved the nation backward on environmental issues by weakening clean
air and water laws, Sen. Jim Jeffords said in the Democrats’
weekly radio response aired yesterday. "The Bush administration
has continued its pattern of sacrificing our environment to the
demands of special interests," said Jeffords, outgoing chairman
of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee."This year
the power industry is getting a nice Christmas gift, the biggest
weakening of the Clean Air Act in history," said the Vermont
senator, an independent who generally associates himself with the
Democrats. showmenews.com
Kiss it goodbye
December 2, 2002 By Anthony York With industry henchmen in
complete control of Washington, the Clean Air Act, wilderness
preserves and environmental enforcement are all endangered species.
When Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christie Whitman
loosened clean air rules for power plants and factories last week,
it seemed like the first bold move of a White House newly empowered
by its midterm election victory to reward its industry friends. In
fact, Whitman had the power to make the change unilaterally, and
she'd been moving to do so before the GOP took back the Senate --
and there was little the Democrat-controlled Senate could have done
to stop her. salon.com
Bush
calls on Americans to volunteer, help needy
December 2, 2002 By Sandra
Sobieraj
- President Bush asked the public
on Saturday to make the holidays a "season of service,"
promoting volunteer work and help for those in need. He
said that over the past year, "Millions of Americans have found
renewed appreciation for our liberty and for the men and women who
serve in its defense." Mindful
of that message, some lawmakers took issue with Bush's decision late
Friday to cut scheduled pay raises for nonmilitary government
workers, including the 170,000 who will be transferred to the new
Homeland Security Department. dfw.com
Behold
Bush the diplomat and humanitarian, or are we just too stupid to
see? December 2, 2002 Kirsty
Milne ON holiday we met some liberal Texans, a rare but
spirited breed. The conversation turned to their former governor,
George W Bush. The Texans’ eyes narrowed. They detested the
president’s politics but they took him seriously. There were
none of the dismissive jokes or jeering references that greet his
name on this side of the Atlantic. Underestimating Bush is a
European pastime, a misguided game which allows us to feel
superior while dimming our view of what goes on in the White
House. It is played with relish by otherwise sensible people. The
scientist Richard Dawkins recently described the world’s most
powerful leader as "a squawking chicken". Nor is the
coconut shy confined to Europe. A press aide to Canadian prime
minister Jean Chrétien had to resign last week after calling the
president "a moron". While she denied it, the axe fell
all the quicker because the insult was so plausible.
"Moron" is the exactly sort of word that people use of
Bush, including some Americans. The writer Jay McInerney describes
him as "an under-educated buffoon". For Michael Moore,
author of Stupid White Men, he is "idiot-in-chief".
Whole websites are devoted to ‘Bushisms’ . (A taster:
"The problem with the French is that they don't have a word
for entrepreneur.") scotlandonsunday.com
"The most hateful thing they
could do to us" December 2,
2002 - September 11 widow condemns US war plans By Bill
Vann December 2002 Just over a year after her husband was killed in
the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Jessica Murrow
contacted the World Socialist Web Site to express her agreement with
an article criticizing the Bush administration’s exploitation of
the September 11 tragedy. She said that if her voice, as someone who
had suffered such a terrible loss, carried any weight, she wanted to
raise it as strongly as she could against the drive to war against
Iraq. wsws.org
Janet Rehnquist faces investigation -
Chief Justice’s daughter purges Health and Human Services office
December 1, 2002 By Peter Daniels A series of complaints
about the conduct of the US Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) inspector general has shed some additional light on the
workings of the Bush administration. Janet Rehnquist, who previously
held the relatively low-level post of an assistant US attorney in
Virginia, was appointed in August 2001 to the inspector general’s
job at HHS, where she is responsible for oversight on the spending
of more than $450 billion annually for such programs as Medicare and
Medicaid. She also happens to be the daughter of the chief justice
of the US Supreme Court, William Rehnquist. In the 15 months since
she took office, Ms. Rehnquist has carried out a wholesale purge of
her department, the largest of the 57 inspector general offices
within the federal government. Nineteen career officials, including
five of the six deputies in the department, have been removed
through retirement, forced resignation or transfer. Some of those
who have been removed by Rehnquist have apparently taken their
complaints to Congress and other government agencies. The dispute
has reached into the Republican Party, with Iowa Senator Charles
Grassley, the incoming chairman of the Senate Finance Committee,
calling for a review of Rehnquist’s actions. Grassley said the
loss of the 19 officials could “hinder the performance of an
office that has a stellar reputation for fighting fraud, waste and
abuse in federal health care programs.” wsws.org
In Terror War, 2nd Track for Suspects
Designated 'Combatants' Lose Legal Protections December 1, 2002 By
Charles Lane The Bush administration is developing a parallel
legal system in which terrorism suspects -- U.S. citizens and
noncitizens alike -- may be investigated, jailed, interrogated,
tried and punished without legal protections guaranteed by the
ordinary system, lawyers inside and outside the government say. The
elements of this new system are already familiar from President
Bush's orders and his aides' policy statements and legal briefs:
indefinite military detention for those designated "enemy
combatants," liberal use of "material witness"
warrants, counterintelligence-style wiretaps and searches led by law
enforcement officials and, for noncitizens, trial by military
commissions or deportation after strictly closed hearings. Only now,
however, is it becoming clear how these elements could ultimately
interact. washingtonpost.com
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