Saturday, March 26, 2005
That Warm Fuzzy Feeling
Well, after a week of the non-stop "culture of life" rhetoric--though somehow Georgie couldn't be bothered calling the Red Lake Chippewa Tribe to offer his compassion over their loss--it appears that the Pentagon, or whoever is in charge of making such decisons, has concluded that,
Well, after a week of the non-stop "culture of life" rhetoric--though somehow Georgie couldn't be bothered calling the Red Lake Chippewa Tribe to offer his compassion over their loss--it appears that the Pentagon, or whoever is in charge of making such decisons, has concluded that,
Despite recommendations by Army investigators, commanders have decided not to prosecute 17 American soldiers implicated in the deaths of three prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004, according to a new accounting released Friday by the Army.The Orwellian language coming out of the Pentagon leaves me just speechless.
Investigators had recommended that all 17 soldiers be charged in the cases, according to the accounting by the Army Criminal Investigation Command. The charges included murder, conspiracy and negligent homicide. While none of the 17 will face any prosecution, one received a letter of reprimand and another was discharged after the investigations.
'We take each and every death very seriously and are committed and sworn to investigating each case with the utmost professionalism and thoroughness. We are equally determined to get to the truth wherever the evidence may lead us and regardless of how long it takes.'Presumably the spokesperson said this with a straight face and doesn't have a drinking or sleeping problem or anything like that as a result of his job.
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Friday, March 25, 2005
$37 Million for Wal-Mart...chump change for the poor
The AP via The New York Times reports, "The U.S. House has approved a federal highway bill that includes $37 million for widening and extending the Bentonville street that provides the main access to the headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores Inc." It must be nice to have friends in high places.
The AP via The New York Times reports, "The U.S. House has approved a federal highway bill that includes $37 million for widening and extending the Bentonville street that provides the main access to the headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores Inc." It must be nice to have friends in high places.
Compassion Indeed
Bob Herbert reminds us what the Radical Republicans are up to with the latest budget. They are, of course, hoping that we'll all be so distracted by the various "news" stories that we'll ignore the fact that according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Bob Herbert reminds us what the Radical Republicans are up to with the latest budget. They are, of course, hoping that we'll all be so distracted by the various "news" stories that we'll ignore the fact that according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Figures in the budget show that child-care assistance would be ended for 300,000 low-income children by 2009. The food stamp cut would terminate food stamp aid for approximately 300,000 low-income people, most of whom are low-income working families with children. Reduced Medicaid funding most certainly would cause many states to cut their Medicaid programs, increasing the ranks of the uninsured.I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Radical Republican strategy can be summed by in the phrase, "Fuck the Poor." Under this budget schools will have to fire teachers, local governments will have to fire police and firefighters, and more and more families will be homeless, hungry, sicker, and out of luck. Compassion indeed.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
LIght at the End of the Tunnel?
It appears that the incredibly shrinking coalition of the bribed is having real effects on the ability of the U.S. Army to field a fighting force. Reuters.com reports that "The U.S. Army is ordering more people to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan involuntarily from a seldom-used personnel pool as part of a mobilization that began last summer." Of course, this "seldom-used personnel pool" has been used with regularity for about a year now as the U.S. armed forces struggle with Georgie's ill-advised war. Things could get worse if the British decide to pull out, which might be likely given the fact that there is firestorm of protest over revelations that the British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith first thought the war against Iraq was illegal without a second UN resolution and then magically changed his mind on the eve of the war. The flip-flop on Goldsmith's part is revealed in the Wilmshurst letter. Wilmhurst was deputy legal adviser to the Foreign Office before resigning over the decison to go to war. In her letter, she notes that:
It appears that the incredibly shrinking coalition of the bribed is having real effects on the ability of the U.S. Army to field a fighting force. Reuters.com reports that "The U.S. Army is ordering more people to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan involuntarily from a seldom-used personnel pool as part of a mobilization that began last summer." Of course, this "seldom-used personnel pool" has been used with regularity for about a year now as the U.S. armed forces struggle with Georgie's ill-advised war. Things could get worse if the British decide to pull out, which might be likely given the fact that there is firestorm of protest over revelations that the British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith first thought the war against Iraq was illegal without a second UN resolution and then magically changed his mind on the eve of the war. The flip-flop on Goldsmith's part is revealed in the Wilmshurst letter. Wilmhurst was deputy legal adviser to the Foreign Office before resigning over the decison to go to war. In her letter, she notes that:
I regret that I cannot agree that it is lawful to use force against Iraq without a second Security Council resolution to revive the authorisation given in SCR 678. I do not need to set out my reasoning; you are aware of it.It seems that Tony Blair's government has been caught red-handed in an attempt to cover-up its role in rushing to war against Iraq. Add to this a new report out of the House of Commons that
[The following italicised section was removed by the Foreign Office but later obtained by Channel 4 News]
My views accord with the advice that has been given consistently in this office before and after the adoption of UN security council resolution 1441 and with what the attorney general gave us to understand was his view prior to his letter of 7 March. (The view expressed in that letter has of course changed again into what is now the official line.)
Coalition forces failed to plan properly for Iraq's insurgency after the ousting of Saddam Hussein, a committee of MPs says in a report.and one has to wonder how many more weeks will pass before Blair caves and decides to bring British troops home in an attempt to stave off election night defeat this summer. I think Tony Blair will come to rue the day he ever met Cowboy George and his gang.
Planning for the post-conflict phase in Iraq was "marred by a series of mistakes and misjudgements", the Commons Defence Committee said.
[. . .]
the committee said the coalition should have foreseen the insurgency that followed the defeat of Saddam's regime.
It also failed to foresee the influx of foreign fighters and should have realised that their presence would be resented as "cultural and economic" imperialism, the MPs added.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
The Bottom of the Barrel? Or Doing Everything possible to Avoid the Draft.
CNN reports
CNN reports
The U.S. Army, stung by recruiting shortfalls caused by the Iraq war, has raised the maximum age for new recruits for the part-time Army Reserve and National Guard by five years to 39, officials said Monday.Whew! what a relief! For a moment there I was thinking that I was out of options.
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Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Sense of the Senate on Social Security
shows that the Republicans are willing to borrow trillions of dollars on some half-baked privatization scheme or cut Social Security benefits in order to "save" it. In a Roll Call Vote 50 Senators voted NO on this:
If your Senator or Senators are listed, write them. Hold them responsible for their vote. Let them know you're following what they do on the Senate floor.
shows that the Republicans are willing to borrow trillions of dollars on some half-baked privatization scheme or cut Social Security benefits in order to "save" it. In a Roll Call Vote 50 Senators voted NO on this:
The 50 Senators voting against this sensible sounding amendment were:
Amendment Number:
S.Amdt. 145 to to S.Con.Res. 18 (Budget resolution FY2006 )
Statement of Purpose:
To express the sense of the Senate that Congress should reject any Social Security plan that requires deep benefit cuts or a massive increase in debt.
| Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Allen (R-VA) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burns (R-MT) Burr (R-NC) Chafee (R-RI) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Coleman (R-MN) Cornyn (R-TX) Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) | DeMint (R-SC) Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Frist (R-TN) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Kyl (R-AZ) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN) Martinez (R-FL) | McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) Roberts (R-KS) Santorum (R-PA) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH) Talent (R-MO) Thomas (R-WY) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA) |
If your Senator or Senators are listed, write them. Hold them responsible for their vote. Let them know you're following what they do on the Senate floor.
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Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Two Years Ago...
Monday, March 14, 2005
War Profiteering on a Grand Scale.
From The New York Times
From The New York Times
Overbilling for postwar fuel imports to Iraq by the Halliburton Company totaled more than $108 million, according to a report by Pentagon auditors that was completed last fall but has not been officially released to the public or to Congress.The audit "by the Defense Contract Audit Agency" was completed in October of 2004 has been stamped "confidential" by the White House, this despite numerous calls by Republicans and Democratic members of Congress for its release. Yet another example of how the Bushies cooked the books and skewed that "accountability moment" otherwise known as the November elections. One has to wonder how many other "reports" the White House is hiding under its collective beds. It's beyond clear that the Bushies and the Radical Republicans have a fundamental problem with the premise that the people should be informed about how their elected officials spend tax dollars and how those same elected officials arrive at policy decisions. Democracy is about more than just periodically holding elections; unfortunately, the Radical Republicans just don't understand what it means to have a functioning democracy. The sooner they're all turned out of office and held accountable for their various crimes and misdeeds the better off we'll all be.
In one case, according to the auditing report, the company claimed that it had paid more than $27 million to transport liquified petroleum gas it had purchased in Kuwait for just $82,000, a charge the auditors dismissed as 'illogical."
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Supporting the Troops?
MSNBC - Pentagon misses troops’ repayment deadline : "The Defense Department hasn’t developed a plan to reimburse soldiers for equipment they’ve bought to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan despite requirements in a law passed last year [. . .] Under the law, the Defense Department had until Feb. 25 to develop regulations on the reimbursement, which is limited to $1,100 per item." The Pentagon had no comment. This speaks for itself.
MSNBC - Pentagon misses troops’ repayment deadline : "The Defense Department hasn’t developed a plan to reimburse soldiers for equipment they’ve bought to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan despite requirements in a law passed last year [. . .] Under the law, the Defense Department had until Feb. 25 to develop regulations on the reimbursement, which is limited to $1,100 per item." The Pentagon had no comment. This speaks for itself.
Fuck the Poor.
That's the policy of the Radical Republicans. The New York Times reports that rather than cut the money going to rich mega-farms the Radical Republicans would rather cut food stamps and other food aid to the poor.
That's the policy of the Radical Republicans. The New York Times reports that rather than cut the money going to rich mega-farms the Radical Republicans would rather cut food stamps and other food aid to the poor.
Cuts in food programs for the poor are getting support in Congress as an alternative to President Bush's idea of slicing billions of dollars from the payments that go to large farm operations.Rather than cut back of coroporate farming pork, "Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said the $36 billion food stamp program is a good place to look for savings." Chambliss went on to say, "'I want this to be as painless to every farmer in America as we can make it.''' Yeah...hungry kids don't feel pain. They also don't write fat checks to Chambliss's re-election campaign or pay for Congressional junkets or provide cushy jobs for family members, they just go hungry.
Friday, March 11, 2005
Up IS Down.
The New York Times reports
The New York Times reports
The United States trade deficit hit $58.3 billion, its second-highest level on record in January, defying predictions that a weakened dollar and lower oil prices would improve the American trade picture.For those who haven't been following the spiraling trade deficit that's a 4.5% increase over December's deficit. In a typical White House reaction an administration lackey "said these trade figures should be seen as testimony to the strength of the American economy and its role as an engine of global growth." Yeah....tell that to all the factory works who lost their jobs over the past four years to outsourcing. Oh...and the dollar fell on the news which means those refrigerators, tvs, and other gee gaws, not to mention clothing and shoes, we used to produce here in the US just got a whole lot more expensive. So combined with falling wages, the falling dollar has officially entered the U.S. in the race to the bottom. Once the Radical Republicans finish dismantling the rest of the Great Society we'll start seeing an influx of manufacturing jobs and the return of the good ol' days of robber barons, 16 hour work days, and corrupt government. Oh...wait....
Those Republicans and "Values."
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has areport out highlighting the extent to which some of the most vocal Congressional opponents of pornography accept contributions from corporations profiting from selling pornography. Some key players of the report include:
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has areport out highlighting the extent to which some of the most vocal Congressional opponents of pornography accept contributions from corporations profiting from selling pornography. Some key players of the report include:
Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) accepted $24,000 from corporations and executives who profit from pornography. In 1999, the National Republican Congressional Committee sent a letter signed by Rep. DeLay, in which he pointed to “pornographer Larry Flynt” as a “pro-Clinton tool” and said he was “fighting back against this porn-and-smut peddler.” Further, the Majority Leader of the House has called pornography “a destructive force in society.”Now it would seem if you speak out so vocally against pornography you'd be a bit more careful about accepting money from corporations who profit from producing and selling it. So much for being the party of "values."
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) accepted $17,000 in contributions from corporations and executives who profit from pornography. As chair of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Science, Technology and Space Subcommittee, Sen. Brownback held a hearing on pornography addiction in November, 2004. After hearing testimony from experts about how porn affects the brain, Sen. Brownback said, “[i]t is the crack cocaine of sexual addiction” and “its pervasiveness affects our families.” In early 2005, Sen. Brownback praised U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales when he announced he would appeal the dismissal of federal criminal indictments against a California pornography producer, stating “[t]he Justice Department’s decision indicates a renewed effort to go against purveyors of pornography, whose products are so damaging to our culture, our families, and our nation.”
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Freedom and Democracy...
CNN.com reports that there was another outbreak of messy freedom and democracy in Iraq today.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, the Iraqi police had a tough day as well.
CNN.com reports that there was another outbreak of messy freedom and democracy in Iraq today.
A suicide bombing at a Shiite Muslim funeral procession killed at least 47 people Thursday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, hospital officials said.
The explosion also wounded at least 81 others.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, the Iraqi police had a tough day as well.
Col. Hamad Ubeyis, chief of central Baghdad's al-Salihiya police station, was killed when gunmen opened fire on his marked police car. Two officers with Ubeyis were injured.So it appears that the insurgents aren't limited to killing police recruits standing around waiting for their physicals. But hey, that democracy and freedom stuff can be messy. One day the Iraqis will look back fondly on these days as the founding moments of their new liberal democracy.
Col. Aiyad Abdul Razaq, chief deputy of Jisrdiala police station, was gunned down in southeastern Baghdad while driving to work.
Gen. Adbul Karim Raheem, a police official in the Iraqi Interior Ministry, was critically wounded in an attack on his car, also in southeast Baghdad.
Oil Soars, Georgie Fiddles
Reuters.com reports:
Reuters.com reports:
U.S. crude oil prices came within pennies of their record peak on Wednesday before slipping back, as worries over demand growth overshadowed rising stockpile levels in the United States.I vaguely remember Georgie saying something the first time he was running for president that he would be able to "speak" with OPEC and get them to lower oil prices. Guess that was just another lie.
Cold weather in the U.S. Northeast, the world's largest heating oil market, also helped support red-hot prices, which have surged more than 25 percent since the start of the year.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
WTF
More proof via Jonah Goldberg that conservatives aren't really conservative but regressive.
Now just to highlight how much of a hack Jonah Goldberg is, you have to read pretty far into the Op-Ed to get to his "principled" objection to universal suffrage; early on he goes right for the race-baiting jugular with this nifty little bit: "One has to assume Michael Dukakis got Willie Horton's vote." Because you know all ex-cons are rapists and they always vote Democratic. ;)
More proof via Jonah Goldberg that conservatives aren't really conservative but regressive.
But as a matter of principle, I oppose voting by ex-cons because voting should be harder, not easier — for everybody.Just let that sink in for a moment. Ok. Goldberg goes on to explain his well-thought out belief thusly:
[. . .] The principle behind Clinton's proposed legislation — which would make voting easier for criminals and noncriminals alike — is that the nation's democracy is "enriched" when more people vote.The criminals Goldberg is talking about are folks who have, by and large, served their sentences. And yeah, the level of political discourse in this country has suffered because ex-cons might be allowed to vote. I guess Goldberg missed the Republican National Conventions of 2004 and 1992 where Pat Buchanan and Pat Robertson gave civil speeches. It seems Goldberg is longing for those good ol' days when only white men of property could vote because you know things were better then. Or perhaps Goldberg would like to institute new rules for deciding who should and shouldn't vote? Maybe something like only allowing those who can prove that their ancestors were citizens of the "homeland" before say 1900? Or maybe, only allowing those over the age of thirty-five to vote? Or maybe only allowing men to vote? Or maybe only allowing those who can prove that their assets exceed their debts? Or maybe there should be some sort of history and current affairs test administered by some private firm like Halliburton? Or maybe Goldberg would like to see some reform in the actual carrying out of elections? Something like banning the use of automobiles on election day? Or maybe banning the use of cell-phones? Or maybe even doing away with publicly identified candidates? Or maybe instituting some sort of "loyalty oath?" In any event, Goldberg's principles make me dizzy and think that somehow I've been transported back to the nineteenth century. You know those good ol' days of slavery, sweatshops, patent medicines, masses old people living in poverty, robber barons, etc.
Who says? If you are having an intelligent conversation with somebody, is it enriched if a mob of uninformed louts, never mind ex-cons and rapists, barges in? People who want to make voting easier are in effect saying that those who previously didn't care or know enough about the country to vote are exactly the kind of voters this country needs now.
Now just to highlight how much of a hack Jonah Goldberg is, you have to read pretty far into the Op-Ed to get to his "principled" objection to universal suffrage; early on he goes right for the race-baiting jugular with this nifty little bit: "One has to assume Michael Dukakis got Willie Horton's vote." Because you know all ex-cons are rapists and they always vote Democratic. ;)
Monday, March 07, 2005
Criminal...Simply Criminal.
The New York Times walks us through the horror that was the Bush Administration's support for the troops they sent in harm's way. Apparently, despite Georgie's claims to the contrary, he and his henchmen never really took the plight of the troops seriously and didn't do everything possible to support the troops they sent off on a fool's mission.
Now before you go off steaming there's more....
And if all of this wasn't bad enough, the NYT story is based on an "April 20, 2004, report by the inspector general that remained confidential until it was released to The New York Times under the Freedom of Information Act." So while Georgie was letting Uncle Karl rip into John Kerry for being "soft on terrorism" and "weak on defense" Georgie knew that his administration had dropped the ball...or never really cared about the ball. Still wondering why it was stamped "top-secret" until well after the election? It's hard to have an "accountability moment" when those in power do everything possible to obscure the facts.
The New York Times walks us through the horror that was the Bush Administration's support for the troops they sent in harm's way. Apparently, despite Georgie's claims to the contrary, he and his henchmen never really took the plight of the troops seriously and didn't do everything possible to support the troops they sent off on a fool's mission.
The war in Iraq was hardly a month old in April 2003 when an Army general in charge of equipping soldiers with protective gear threw the brakes on buying bulletproof vests.If nothing else, this account highlights the total failure on the part of Georgie & Co. to fully understand exactly what they were doing in Iraq. In the rush to war, the Bushies forgot about a lot of things...like thinking through their assumptions about Iraq's supposed WMD, giving diplomatic efforts a chance, letting the UN inspectors do the work they were appointed to do, and perhaps most tragically, making sure that the young men and women they were sending into battle had the equipment they needed to do the job.
The general, Richard A. Cody, who led a Pentagon group called the Army Strategic Planning Board, had been told by supply chiefs that the combat troops already had all the armor they needed, according to Army officials and records from the board's meetings. Some 50,000 other American soldiers, who were not on the front lines of battle, could do without.
[. . .]
The insurgency had already taken root in Iraq when General Cody made his decision on April 17, 2003, that enough soldiers had bulletproof vests. As more casualty reports flowed in during the next month, he came to recognize that the advice he had gotten from staff members in Washington did not reflect the reality of the war.
In the following weeks, as Iraqi snipers and suicide bombers stepped up deadly attacks, often directed at those very soldiers behind the front lines, General Cody realized the Army's mistake and did an about-face. On May 15, 2003, he ordered the budget office to buy all the bulletproof vests it could [. . .]
it took the Army 47 days from when General Cody issued his order for bulletproof vests to allocate the necessary funds so that contracts could be awarded
Now before you go off steaming there's more....
The delivery and tracking of body armor was so chaotic that by Jan. 23, 2004, when the last American soldiers got theirs, 10,000 plates were still missing. Yep...that's right...somehow the Armed Forces, under the command of George Bush lost 10,000 badly needed armored vests. I'm sure some of the family and friends of the 10,000 plus wounded soldiers find that bit of news heart warming. But it gets better. The general in charge of getting all those armored vests to the troops had this to say:
"Our planning process wasn't keeping up with the changes that were required," said Gen. Paul J. Kern, the head of the Army's Materiel Command [. . .]. "That resulted in the lag in response in acquisition. While we would all like to be faster and more responsive, it was fairly responsive."Yeah..."fairly responsive." When I read these lines Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" came to mind. Of course, we shouldn't be too hard on Gen. Kern because as the NYT points out
American military commanders and Pentagon officials now concede that they consistently misjudged the strength and ingenuity of the insurgency in Iraq, which has grown more sophisticated in its tactics. Because commanders failed to take that force into account, the Army's procurement machine could never catch up, no matter how hard it tried.Sounds like a failure of leadership to me.
And if all of this wasn't bad enough, the NYT story is based on an "April 20, 2004, report by the inspector general that remained confidential until it was released to The New York Times under the Freedom of Information Act." So while Georgie was letting Uncle Karl rip into John Kerry for being "soft on terrorism" and "weak on defense" Georgie knew that his administration had dropped the ball...or never really cared about the ball. Still wondering why it was stamped "top-secret" until well after the election? It's hard to have an "accountability moment" when those in power do everything possible to obscure the facts.
Supporting the Troops
The Counterpoint has some nice little tidbits about how Bush and the rest of the Radical Republicans treat veterns and members of the National Guard. Some examples that might help explain why the military is having such a tough time with recruiting, "roughly 20% of Guard members [. . .] have no health insurance at all," the "2006 budget proposes cutting veteran’s benefits by $910 million, including funding for nursing homes and research on prosthetics for disabled vets," or the fact that the Republicans "cut military housing funding by $1.5 billion." There's more, but I wouldn't want to be accused of not supporting the troops or anything like that.
The Counterpoint has some nice little tidbits about how Bush and the rest of the Radical Republicans treat veterns and members of the National Guard. Some examples that might help explain why the military is having such a tough time with recruiting, "roughly 20% of Guard members [. . .] have no health insurance at all," the "2006 budget proposes cutting veteran’s benefits by $910 million, including funding for nursing homes and research on prosthetics for disabled vets," or the fact that the Republicans "cut military housing funding by $1.5 billion." There's more, but I wouldn't want to be accused of not supporting the troops or anything like that.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Those Unemployment Numbers
The Economic Policy Institute's JobWatch digs into the recent unemployment numbers trumpeted by the popular press and the spin machine otherwise known as the White House as being good news:
The Economic Policy Institute's JobWatch digs into the recent unemployment numbers trumpeted by the popular press and the spin machine otherwise known as the White House as being good news:
Payroll jobs are now 332,000, or 0.3%, greater than at the start of the recession 47 months ago (March 2001). However, private-sector jobs are still down by 477,000, a contraction of 0.4%. The 809,000 jobs created in the government sector in this time explain the difference between growth in total payroll and private-sector jobs. Overall, this level of creation represents the worst job performance since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began collecting monthly jobs data in 1939 (at the end of the Great Depression).So, just how bad is the Bush "recovery?" EPI estimates that if historical precedents had held the tax-cut fueled "recovery" would have created some 7,282,000 "private-sector jobs." Now, I've never been very good at math, but it seems to me that the Radical Republican rhetoric about perusing a pro-growth and pro-job agenda rings just a bit hollow.
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
The Economy is Just Spinning Along.
From The New York Times, "Job cuts announced by U.S. corporations in February increased 17 percent from the prior month." The report by the firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas notes that with 108,387 layoffs, this is the fourth time in five months that more than 100,000 people have been laid off by corporate America. Despite four years of handouts by the Radical Republicans and despite their claims that they are the pro-growth and pro-job party, more Americans keep getting laid off by the corporate fat cats that back Georgie & Co.
From The New York Times, "Job cuts announced by U.S. corporations in February increased 17 percent from the prior month." The report by the firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas notes that with 108,387 layoffs, this is the fourth time in five months that more than 100,000 people have been laid off by corporate America. Despite four years of handouts by the Radical Republicans and despite their claims that they are the pro-growth and pro-job party, more Americans keep getting laid off by the corporate fat cats that back Georgie & Co.
More of that Democracy and Freedom Stuff...
Aljazeera.Net and other news outlets are reporting that "[a]rmed men have killed a criminal court judge in Baghdad and a car bomb has killed many in the western part of the city." Judge Barawiz Mahmud and his brother, a lawyer, were shot in front of their house. Mahmud works on human rights cases and may be on the tribunal established to try Saddam Hussein and members of his government.
Now let's all try to remember the last time Gerogie Bush mentioned Iraq.
Aljazeera.Net and other news outlets are reporting that "[a]rmed men have killed a criminal court judge in Baghdad and a car bomb has killed many in the western part of the city." Judge Barawiz Mahmud and his brother, a lawyer, were shot in front of their house. Mahmud works on human rights cases and may be on the tribunal established to try Saddam Hussein and members of his government.
Now let's all try to remember the last time Gerogie Bush mentioned Iraq.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Rummy in the Dock?
Reuters.com reports:
Reuters.com reports:
Two U.S. human rights groups on Tuesday sued Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying he first authorized and then failed to stop torture of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.It'll be interesting to see if this suit will actually go through or whether it will be dismissed. Reuters goes on,
The suit against Rumsfeld focuses on an order he signed on Dec. 2, 2002 which authorized new interrogation techniques for detainees in the "war on terror" being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The techniques included "stress positions," hooding, 20-hour interrogations, removal of clothing, exploiting phobias to induce stress, prolonged isolation and sensory deprivation.Discourse.net has more on the suit. The ACLU's site has information about the suit as does Human Rights First's site. It just might be worth listening to Rush in the next few days to see how he and FOXNews plan on spinning this bit of news.