John Dickerson on Incurious George

".......shouldn't he have asked something?"

John Dickerson on Incurious George

Was I surprised to learn that President Bush had absolutely no questions to ask on the eve of the Hurricane Katrina disaster? Hell, no. He's proven himself incurious one too many times.




It's precisely why I do not trust that he is an apt leader. Were you surprised to hear he'd made the noise of a Pet Rock at the Katrina briefings?

At Slate, John Dickerson says:

"....the president's question-free briefing is more than a momentary bad piece of public relations. It's a blow to a key Bush myth. The Bush management philosophy relies on him as an interrogator. He delegates, but that's OK because he knows how to question those he empowers to make sure they're focused. Question-asking is also a central public tool in the "trust me" presidency. We aren't supposed to worry that the NSA wiretapping program goes too far because the president has asked all the questions. When the president was wrong about the level of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or the strength of the insurgency, it wasn't because he didn't ask enough questions, we have been told, it was because he was given the wrong answers.."

I suspect that President Bush has depended on his chosen staff and cabinet members to do too much of his thinking for him. He "just trusts them".....and when they screw up, he asks us to "just trust him." It's no wonder he has a 34% approval rating at the present time.

We don't trust the incurious. It's not the American way. We expect fully engaged, interested, decisive, and responsible leaders.

Dan Froomkin reminds us of George W's incurious nature when caught on tape on the awful morning of 9/11/01. Our Pet Rock meets My Pet Goat.

Democrats Seek to Punish War Profiteers

Democrats Seek to Punish War Profiteers

A new bill introduced today by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and other Democrats aims to punish war profiteers with tough penalties and to “force real competition'’ in bidding for lucrative federal contracts. Democrats have been critical of contracts awarded to companies like Halliburton for the reconstruction of Iraq and the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.

*See the rest of my post today at AMERICAN STREET

_________

Related Stories:

-Halliburton Strikes Again

UAE/US Ports Deal - Silence Says It All

UAE/US Ports Deal - Silence Says It All

Read this exchange on Capitol Hill between Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and members of the U.S. Treasury Department and other Federal agencies responsible for investigating and overseeing the UAE/American Ports deal (from a CNN/Lou Dobbs transcript March 1, 2006). It's bone-chilling to see what President Bush wants to shove down our nation's collective throat before he knows exactly who the the UAE players truly are:

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On Capitol Hill, a grilling for four agencies who approved the Dubai ports deal.

REP. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Here's my question. According to the 9/11 Commission, UAE top officials and royal family members associated with Osama bin Laden. Can you tell us absolutely that these very same people will not be running six major American ports in the United States? Can you tell me that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will pledge to get that information back to you, Mr. Sanders.

SANDERS: All right. Can anybody else tell me that we will know for a fact that some of these very same officials will not be running this company?

I'm not hearing it! And to my mind, it is beyond comprehension that if you cannot answer that simple question, I cannot understand why we would go through with this transaction.

CHRISTINE ROMANS (voiceover): So much for government scrutiny when foreign governments buy critical U.S. assets. Just last year...

KIMMITT (U.S. Treasury Dept): There were 65 notifications, of which 12 were government owned or controlled.

CHRISTINE ROMANS (voiceover): The Treasury Department won't disclose what governments or what assets they acquired. But many now fear an American giveaway is well under way.

These Federal employees have no idea who the foreign investors in the shadows really ARE - or what involvement they've had with terrorists or the funding of terror. They went silent as Pet Rocks when Rep. Sanders confronted them. They wouldn't "talk turkey."

If that doesn't raise an alarm for you, then you couldn't possibly care about America's National Security.

On the Blogs Today

On the Blogs Today

Carpetbagger Report - Bush sees political capital that doesn't seem to exist

Crooks and Liars - Frank Zappa debates Lieberman's pals on Crossfire '86

Wonkette - Blogs: Too Dirty Even For Karl Rove?


Anonymoses on Bill Sammons' "Strategery":

"Karl Roverer, the so-called "genius" behind the so-called "successful" Bush residency, is still with the use of the hindbrain, from which he now predicts a stunning Republican victory in 2008, according to infamous catamite to the Reich, Matt Drudge, and slick Fox-fed opportunist, Bill Sammon -- neither of whom bear the least resemblance to Nostrodamus.


Mr. Sammon is hawking his new book, which is running with the title, "Strategery", which, for all we know, is but a vain attempt to legitimate one of Bush's copious blunders, in much the same way that Bush's whipping boys keep repeating "nucular" -- a move which only moves the speaker down into the sub-cerebral bushosphere.

Drudge, Rove & Sammons. Foxes that cry wolf. On cue. Pavlov's foxes. Ring the bell and turds as words begin to flow into a sort of cloaca of consciousness, or unconsciousness, the aggregate of which we refer to collectively as simply BushWorld.

BushWorld! Where the Tao fears to tread, and Nature knows no Reason.
BushWorld! The darkening of the Light.
BushWorld! Where the world is an oyster for the Topnazis to molest with their mouths, and spit up on the poor.

It's a stratragedy. Written by a shakespoon."

Salon.com - Iraq's worst week -- and Bush's by Juan Cole


AmericaBlog - 100,000 'welcome' Bush to India

Robert Scheer (Huffington Post) - Mixed Messages in the War on Terror

Larry Johnson (Huffington Post) - The Nile In Iraq?

News Hounds - Fox Guest: 1300 Dead In Iraq In 6 Days - But, There's Some Good News

The Rejection of Most Things American

The Rejection of Most Things American
In the Middle East, An Unfortunate Result of Bush's Policy On Iraq

Paul McGeough, the Chief Sydney Herald correspondent in Amman, Jordan, reports that Tehran has gained influence. He calls it the staggering consequences of what many in the Middle East see as America's policy failure in the area - - "the firming supremacy of non-Arab Iran."

A Jordanian businesswoman told the Herald: "We'll look back at this period as a turning point in everyone's history - you can smell the change coming."

Middle Easterners are faulting the decidedly neoconservative idea that democracy could take root in societies that do not have the cultural or institutional depth for it. King Abdullah of Jordan has accused Tehran of peddling influence in Iraq to create a "Shiite crescent" that might extend from Afghanistan to Lebanon.

The fear across the region now is that a full-blown conflict in Iraq might speed the shaping of that crescent by sparking sectarian conflict in neighbouring Sunni-led countries.

An unnamed Jordanian analyst has said that,

...because the regimes in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states were entrenched, the only identity they had projected was their Arabness. But with the increasing influence of Shiite Iran, those regimes now felt obliged to project their Sunniness, and to take sides accordingly.

It's being said that Washington DC missed some extremely telling signs in 2004:

The Americans might have read something into the refusal of the rest of the Shiite religious leaders to help their failed attempt to arrest the radical Shiite firebrand Moqtada al Sadr on charges of a brutal murder in 2004. They didn't, but some Jordanian analysts draw a line from that act of defiance to the present crisis in Iraq to conclude that the Shiites have made a choice - they are Shiite before they are Iraqi. (See my own post from April of 2004).

Because of this and other misreadings of the culture in Iraq, Iran, in effect, is holding the US a virtual hostage while mired down in the uncontrollable violence in Iraq.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Jagdish Bhagwati offers the Bush administration some advice: Take some lessons from the history of India.

..as the U.S. goes about its business of pressure-cooked democratization in Iraq, we need to appreciate that Indian democracy succeeded because her political institutions were a legacy that evolved over decades under British rule. During those years, the rule of law, elections, the judiciary, even NGOs, developed through the land. Iraq's difficulties illustrate, by contrast, how hard it is to transplant functioning democratic institutions.

There was always a better approach to sure, steady, and positive democratic development, yet for all his passion for global democratic and economic reform, President Bush had a blind spot when it came to Iraq. He risked his Presidency on acting as a radical revolutionary - unilaterally removing Saddam Hussein and transplanting democratic institutions rather than taking an organic and cooperative approach. He lied to American citizens about his confidence in (and the soundness of) the WMD intelligence. He offered 20-plus rationales for going to an elective war with Iraq. There was no plan for victory and no visible goalposts. We're in a bind in Iraq today - chaos reigns - and our President continues to deny it in public interviews.

William Buckley Jr. knows it didn't work. Christopher Hitchens rails at Francis Fukuyama for abandoning the brand of neoconservatism that brought us the Iraq War. Josh Marshall is quoting Peter Galbraith who is referring to Iraq as "The Mess." As we approach its Third Anniversary, Scott Ritter calls the Iraq War a solution to nothing.

The Sunni insurgency is stronger than ever, and Shiite death squads roam the street in the guise of government police and soldiers. Torture, rape and murder are rampant as official tools of government suppression. And American troops appear to be powerless to stop this mindless slide into the abyss, all the while being killed and maimed for a cause that has always been nebulous.

..herein lies the problem: We continue to try to solve a problem we have yet to define, meaning we are seeking a solution to nothing.


- Scott Ritter

2007 Federal Budget Drains Lifeblood of U.S. Communities

2007 Federal Budget Drains Lifeblood of U.S. Communities

CBPP -
Another Stab at the Heart of the Poor - A Look at Some of the Federal Grants That Have Been Eliminated or Severely Cut by the 2007 Federal Budget

The reductions in grant funds are spread throughout a wide range of budget categories and programs. In some cases nominal funding is slated for a cut. In others, the proposed funding fails to keep pace with the cost of the program.

Examples of grants that are being terminated include:

HOPE VI grants, which help to revitalize public housing and nearby communities and promote resident involvement

The Community Services Block Grant, which provides funding for a range of social services and other types of assistance to low-income families and elderly and disabled individuals

The Preventive Care Block Grant, which is operated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and provides grants to states for preventive health services for underserved populations



The Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provides nutritional food packages for less than $20 a month to more than 400,000 low-income elderly people; and

A variety of education programs, including the Safe and Drug Free Schools grant.


Grants that are being cut significantly include:

The Child Care Development Block Grant;

Community Oriented Policing Services;

The Community Development Block Grant formula grant program;

Other education programs including vocational and adult education;

CSM -
Who will feel budget's impact?
- Medicaid recipients can expect higher copayments and deductibles.
- College students may face higher interest rates on student loans, as lenders are squeezed.
- Work requirements for women on welfare are likely to be tightened.
- Federal aid to states for child-support enforcement will be curtailed.

"There's a fairness issue here," says Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow in economics at the Brookings Institution. "We're basically cutting programs that serve low-income families and the middle class in order to pay for tax cuts that go overwhelmingly to the very wealthy. Even some Republicans have been uncomfortable with that."

The Rutherford Institute -
War Machine Drains the Lifeblood of America
by John W. Whitehead

With so much allocated to fighting the war in Iraq, the Bush Administration and Congress have cut funding elsewhere. For the most part, this has meant cutting funds for the poor and elderly. In December 2005, Congress passed a budget bill (with Dick Cheney as the deciding vote) to cut $40 billion in federal spending by ending funding for foster care, child support and student loans. It also imposed new fees on Medicaid recipients and new work restrictions on state welfare programs.

In Iowa -

"I can't believe that there's a will to cut $36 billion out of Medicare," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. "I can't imagine the Republican Party . . . is going to allow this to come through this year, in an election year. We all know who votes in election years," Harkin added, referring to the high voting rate for senior citizens who rely on the health care program for the aged.

In Pennsylvania -

Pennsylvania's safety net will fray even further and vulnerable children, women and families will disproportionately bear the burden of budget choices outlined within President Bush's 2007 budget request.

In New Mexico -

The idea of handing off more responsibilities to the states is swell, theoretically. But the idea is pretty much meaningless for needy states that can't afford to take on those responsibilities. New Mexico, more than most other states, will bleed from these cuts.

In Virginia -

Most Americans assume that those who make the most pay the most -- on the contrary, the administration's budget of the 21st century is looking more like a voodoo economic program to keep the rich richer and the poor worse off.If the administration could shoot the deficit as well as it can shoot its friends, our generation would be much better off. However, it is up to the more level-headed Congress and the American people to make sure all Americans pay their fair share in the economy.

In South Dakota -

South Dakota is among nine states that would receive less federal money next year under President Bush's $2.7 trillion budget proposal, according to an independent analysis.

In Massachusetts -

Massachusetts will receive more than $5 billion in Medicaid reimbursements this year. That number would drop in 2007 to $4.3 billion -- endangering thousands of poor families who rely on the benefit for healthcare. The state is also scheduled lose an estimated $69 million in federal money from a variety of other programs, including $288,000 from child support enforcement, $8.6 million from Title 1 education grants and $6.9 million from the Environmental Protection Agency's clean water fund, the study found.

In Georgia -

His budget simply extends the fiction that spending on social services can be reduced while tax breaks cannot, leaving the coming crisis for someone else to deal with. That "someone else" is the younger generations of Americans who will have to pay the bill for the current foolhardy fiscal policies. To assure that Social Security and Medicare can deliver promised benefits three generations from now, the federal government would have to set aside $5 trillion and $30 trillion, respectively, in interest-bearing accounts today, according to U.S. Comptroller General David Walker. Deep deficits make that impossible.

For Black Americans -

Civil rights activists and congressional leaders assailed President George W. Bush’s proposed budget, saying the $2.77 trillion spending plan will dramatically reduce funding for domestic initiatives while eliminating social programs that serve millions of black Americans.

John Edwards Leads the Fight Against Poverty

John Edwards Leads the Fight Against Poverty

Jim Morrill/Charlotte Observer -
Edwards blends poverty, politics

Ed Tibbetts/Quad-City Times -
Edwards: Katrina brought poverty back to political forefront

From One America blog -
Illinois blogger writes about Senator Edwards

Scott McFarland is a young blogger from Moline, Illinois, who recently saw Senator Edwards at a Democratic fundraiser in Davenport, IA. In his blog post about the event..

Chicago Chronicle -
Edwards to share his message on lifting Americans out of poverty by Rob McManamy

The charismatic, passionate and articulate former U.S. Sen. John Edwards is speaking out about the need to lift more Americans out of poverty and into the middle class.[...] "Speakers like Sen. Edwards provoke, inspire and foster dialogue in a way that complements students’ experiences at the University and in their academic training," said [Susan Mayer, Dean of the Harris School]..."

_________________

Recent Stories on Poverty in the U.S.


Salt Lake Tribune -
When the spotlight fades: Katrina a powerful lens for seeing response to poverty: Battling poverty: For some, the hurricane just compounded problems, such as lack of job skills, that already existed

The stories of Hurricane Katrina survivors provide a powerful lens for viewing this country's response to poverty. Whether former Gulf Coast residents were impoverished before the storm, many fit the criteria now. "Katrina victims are what we've termed in social work circles the undeserving poor. The hurricane hits and they become the symbol for how we focus our resources. They were in the headlines, and we could see their poverty and their need," said Mary Jane Taylor, a University of Utah social work professor. "The question then becomes how soon are they going to become invisible, sent to the back of the line and become the deserving poor again?"

NewStandardNews.net -
Poor Pay Biggest Share of State, Local Taxes

Federal program cuts, tax breaks for the wealthy and state budget crises are not the only forces squeezing the working poor. According to a study by a progressive think tank, low-income households are getting pinched yet again by state income-tax policies that turn what little they have into even less.[...]Antipoverty groups say such tax policies add a perverse twist to an already tattered social safety net, and are demanding tax relief for the poor through redistributive fiscal policies..

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities -
The Impact Of State Income Taxes On Low-Income Families In 2005
by Jason A. Levitis and Nicholas Johnson

Some states levy income tax on working families in severe poverty. In Alabama, families with two children owe income tax when their earnings reach $4,600...Taxing the incomes of working-poor families runs counter to the efforts of policymakers across the political spectrum to help families work their way out of poverty. The federal government has exempted such families from the income tax since the mid-1980s, and a majority of states now do so as well.....States seeking to reduce or eliminate income taxes on low-income families can choose from an array of mechanisms to do so. These mechanisms include state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs) and other low-income tax credits, no-tax floors, and personal exemptions and standard deductions that are adequate to shield poverty-level income from taxation. Some states go beyond exempting poor families from income tax by making their EITCs or other low-income credits refundable. These policies mean a lot to a family struggling to escape poverty, but they are relatively inexpensive to states, since these families have little income to tax.

PDF of Full Report

GulfLive.com (Mississippi) op-ed -
We Need To Talk

"...it is time to have a serious discussion to find serious solutions to the poverty problem in America. Katrina has opened a window. The question is: Do our elected leaders have the courage to move beyond politics and truly address a genuine problem that must be remedied if America is to live up to its promise?

David Jones/Gotham Gazette -
Taking On Poverty

Urban efforts to combat poverty are on the march. Just last month, the U.S. Conference of Mayors announced that it is forming a Taskforce on Poverty and Opportunity in America. Yet it has taken a storm of unprecedented magnitude – Hurricane Katrina - to bring the poor to the surface of the nation’s consciousness.

The Republican/MassLive.com -
Many Hispanics facing hunger

Latinos are the poorest population in the United States and the least likely to seek emergency food assistance, according to a study issued by America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest food bank network.[..]The national study also found that more than 40 percent of people who depend on charity for nourishment have to choose between eating and paying utility bills. And 35 percent choose between the rent or mortgage and food.

America's Second Harvest -
New Study: More Than 25 Million Americans Seek Food Assistance Each Year

• 42% of clients served by the A2H National Network report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel
• 35% had to choose between paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage
• 32% had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care.

Ann Doss Helms/Charlotte Observer -
9 [CMS] schools join poverty aid list

Nine more Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, including three "middle ring" high schools, will get extra aid in 2006-07 because of high poverty levels this year

In These Times -
Lies, Damn Lies and Poverty Statistics: How an archaic measurement keeps millions of poor Americans from being counted
By Christopher Moraff

...the gulf between the “haves” and “have nots” is reaching crisis proportions. Compounding the crisis is an archaic method for determining America’s poverty rate, which is then used to formulate the funding of programs that alleviate poverty. When President Bush sat down with his advisors to draft his FY 2007 budget, it’s debatable whether he took the time to examine the national poverty statistics provided each year by the Census Bureaus. What’s not debatable is that the Census Bureau’s methodology is woefully inadequate..

Op-ed News -
Behind The Curtain No Longer: Six Months After Katrina by Todd Huffman, M.D.

Since January 2001 .. the ranks of the poor in America have swelled by over four million. Today, one in five children in the greatest nation on earth live in poverty. Nearly 50 million Americans are without health care. Meanwhile, astoundingly, out of spite or simply in oblivion, Republican leaders in Washington are this year set to consider further tax cuts for the rich and budget cuts for the poor.

_______________

Alleviating Poverty Around the World

GreenBiz.com -
Social Entrepreneurs' "Base of the Pyramid" Movement: Sustainable Business from the Bottom up

".."we try to create an enabling ecosystem of entrepreneurs, whom no one else is willing to fund."

- A quote from Upendra Bhatt of Bhatt's Aavishkaar, a company harnessing the poor's ingenuity and entrepreneurship to build profitable businesses serving basic needs.

..Fisher and Bhatt are part of a growing BOP (base or bottom of the economic pyramid) movement, whose common call is to alleviate poverty while generating sustainable profits for companies large and small. Poverty alleviation and profit making are rarely considered complementary activities. BOP practitioners -- social entrepreneurs such as Fisher and Bhatt -- seek a middle ground where the private sector's power is brought to bear on persistent social, economic, and environmental problems.

Robert Fripp/Charlotte/February 22, 2006

Robert Fripp Concert
Charlotte/February 22, 2006

*Robert Fripp's Live Soundscapes CD is:
Love Cannot Bear


I traveled from Syracuse, N.Y. to Charlotte, N.C. last week to see guitarist Robert Fripp perform at the Neighborhood Theatre. His soundscapes transported me from a mundane Wednesday evening existence deep into one of my inner chambers where no one is generally allowed admission - - not even me.

The audience was offered a screen with colorful images generated as impulses, hypersensitive to sound. It was easy to get completely lost in those ever-changing images - or in simply watching the graceful gentleman in the black leather jacket facing his intricate electronic equipment with guitar in capable hands. Often, as the sound reverberated, I would close my eyes and imagine spirits summoned to turn my worldworn thoughts toward the one light that we call home. It isn't just any man who can feed such inspiration into the hungry soul. Mr. Fripp is the living hymnal, dust blown off the cover and the ancient notes come to life.




When it came time to speak to his audience, he showed that he cared so much for his craft - and for passing it on - that he would go beyond the norm to tolerate the corrupt of this world in order to reach those men and women who would never otherwise have had an opportunity to experience the joy of music.

He said that playing inside an old church or cathedral is the most enriching experience for the player as well as the listener because of all the melodious strains in the building's history that have preceded that performance.

The two photos above are credited to www.dgmlive.com, where Robert Fripp's own diary about the Charlotte show can be found. I was one of the people who offered the kind words as Mr. Fripp left the venue. I recall thanking him for feeding my soul with such richness. To have failed to have thanked him would have seemed as unappreciative as failing to give thanks to Mother Earth for a precious sunny afternoon. His Soundscapes are a diamond in this coal mine of a world.

I am quite shy, but I had secretly wanted to tell Mr. Fripp about a time - more than once, actually - when I got lost in the West Virginia countryside in my search for a place I knew he was quite familiar with - a Washingtonian estate in the Shenandoah Valley called Claymont Court .



I had attended the Fripp concert with a fellow fan (a dear friend) who had gotten lost along with me while searching for the Gurdjieff/Bennett school - and the places to which the wrong roads took us were the places we will never forget for the surprising joys they'd brought our way. Life is, indeed, the lovely book of experiences that are written while you're on your journey to the places you think you're going to.

..that evening was my favorite
driving back from a day of discovery
sun setting below the mountains
sky turning a Parrish blue...

I have also posted a review to DMGLIVE.

On U.S./Russia Relations

On U.S./Russia Relations

From Democracy Arsenal:

The opportunities for our relationship with India and Bush’s visit there this week are contrasted by the challenges for our relationship with another great power, Russia, and another critical Bush trip: to St. Petersburg this summer for the Russian-hosted G-8 summit.

This promises to be one of the most difficult trips Bush will make as President. After all, he’ll have to explain why he’s at a meeting of the world’s most important economies and democracies that is being hosted by someone (Putin) who is definitely not a democrat. According to a front-page story in Sunday’s Washington Post, there’s a feisty debate brewing inside the Administration about Russia’s direction and how to handle the summit. This is part of a broader reassessment of Russia and what the U.S. can or should do about it – something that will only get more attention as the summit approaches. Soon a bipartisan Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on U.S.-Russia relations led by former Republican Congressman Jack Kemp and former Senator John Edwards will offer its assessment and a way forward. So stay tuned.

St. Petersburg Times -

Presenting itself as a reliable energy supplier is the centrepiece of Russia’s 2006 agenda as president of the G8 club of rich countries.[...]President Vladimir Putin makes a sensitive visit to Eastern Europe this week to try to convince countries that suffered most from gas disruptions this year that Russia can be trusted as a supplier.

The G8 Ministers have endorsed Energy Security as the focus of the July summit. Energy needs seem to be compelling the Bush administration to cooperate with an increasingly autocratic Russian government. Senator John McCain has expressed serious reservations about G8 leaders attending the summit in St. Petersburg.

In a recent Podcast, Senator John Edwards mentioned that he'd written a NYT op-ed [Moscow's Empty Red Square, 12/07/05] with Jack Kemp about recent disturbing changes in the US relationship with Russia. Jack Kemp and Senator Edwards have been working together on a Task Force for the Council on Foreign relations - they recently went to Russia and visited with leaders and activists. The NYT op-ed was about legislation in DUMA keeping NGOs from having offices in Russia - suspected of political activities. President Vladmir Putin, through a surrogate in DUMA, is trying to squash political opposition undemocratically. Background: In recent years under Putin, there have been rollbacks in democracy - regulating the elimination of direct elections of governors, prosecution of oligarchs, and Russian government taking over the mass media - all to squash of political opposition. From a democratic standpoint, Senator Edwards believes that Russia is headed in the wrong direction.

Grassroots Cry: "No More D.C. Gooberheads!"

Grassroots Cry: "No More D.C. Gooberheads!"
Jim Hightower: Outside the Beltway, Progressives are Agitating, Organizing, and Mobilizing for a Little More Justice

From: All Good Politics Are Local by Jim Hightower/Alternet:

What an embarrassment our national government is. Mired in the sickening muck of corrupt corporate money and right-wing ideology, our so-called leaders continue to divert our public treasury and our nation's unlimited potential for good into war, into the pockets of the superrich, into the self-serving whims of greedheaded corporate executives, into a rising police state, into the careless desecration of nature … into waste...Then why am I laughing, why am I almost giddy with optimism about where we're heading?

[...] Washington is ignoring our country's real needs and squandering our democratic promise, but out beyond the Beltway (and below the radar of the Powers That Be) there are folks, groups, coalitions, and even elected leaders who're taking action at the state and local level to build an America based on our historic ideals of fairness, justice, and equal opportunity for all. I have great hope, because grassroots people are so much stronger, more resilient, more creative, and more American than the gooberheads at the top, and they'll not long be held down or held back.

My Thoughts on the Port Situation

My Thoughts on the Port Situation

I was away last week and did not have an opportunity to voice some of my thoughts about the Ports deal with the government of Dubai/UAE. When the Head Office controlling U.S. Ports could be suspect, in any way real or imagined, of being the proverbial Fox guarding the Henhouse, it is politically correct for an elected U.S. representative to cry at the top of the lungs for no less than 100% transparency. Consider how much fear has been placed in the heads of Americans after all of the Islamophobia sent their way courtesy of Bush, Cheney, Rove, Foxnews, Rush, RNC, and Co. over these past few years.

When one or more prominent members of President Bush's cabinet (or any political appointees such as David Sanborn) stand to benefit from the Ports deal that would concurrently enrich the government of a nation with connections to 9/11, especially since the Bush administration waged a tragic war of option against a nation with no connections to 9/11, we have solidly sane reasons to not simply "trust them" (as they would like us to do).

When we have been fed color-coded terror alerts, duct tape & plastic instructions, and assorted xenophobic lines.

As always (a tale as old as time), the rich who feed off the backs of the American worker will find a way to cooperate with one another, regardless of the fact that there is no trust between them. It's the American way. Those who imagine that the "American Dream" of opportunity will apply at any particular juncture of this story has to be certifiable. This deal will go through - mark my words. Neither Democrat nor Republican can look any of us in the eye and tell us they haven't supported an overall economic/trade system that has led us to this embarrassing situation.

Ask yourself: Is this Port deal necessary because of the politics that have been employed for too long by the Washington D.C. elite? Are rich and connected D.C. types worried about their incestual relations with the rich governing class in Dubai? Do they need to bail them out because their "bourses are weak?" Is this Ports deal some kind of U.S.welfare program for the well-connected?

So is the recent weakness of bourses in the UAE and Qatar something more than the booking of profits by investors? Is there some reason to think that the business cycle peaked in 2005, and that corporate profits from here onwards will be more difficult to achieve?

Because of all the unchecked and unregulated outsourcing of American jobs to India, China and beyond, are we forced to compete for the riches of Dubai investors (even when they may have also funded the terror that brought us 9/11?)

Because of emergence of China and India as big economic powers we are particularly interested in promoting ties between Arab and Asian businesses. We have just organised a major conference that attracted 100 CEOs and included a 40-strong contingent from China."

Arab states and D.C. Lobbyists - - what can I say other than economic incest and influence that should cause any thinking American to demand transparency on this Ports deal? According to Raw Story, Bob Dole (former Presidential candidate and husband of an incumbent North Carolina Senator) has been hired by Dubai Ports World to lobby for the approval of the deal that would give the company control of several major U.S. ports. Why is Bob Dole saying 'Yes! Yes!' while his wife is saying 'No! No!' to the Ports deal on the floor of the Senate? Is this not bizarre?

It's come to be the American Way, hasn't it? And it's totally unethical. If we don't like it, we'd best stop being silent like stones on such matters.

Since 9/11, George W. Bush has misled Americans with his rhetoric about evil people who finance terrorists while, behind the scenes, it is understood that business goes on with participation from many of the same Arab governments used as examples for the RNC's never-ending fear-mongering factory.

President Bush has not denounced the many xenophobes such as Rush Limbaugh, whose ugly-mouthed hypocrisy is astounding. I heard him accusing Democrats of "Islamophobia" regarding the Ports situation last week when the only Islamophobes I've seen over these past four years have come directly from the right wing. (The entire 2004 RNC Convention was little more than a fear-mongerer's xenophobic paradise!)

Neocon Michael Ledeen suggests a "cleaner" way - an American front for rich Dubai investors - let the rich governing class of Dubai feast on the profits and wall them off on the operations side. If the deal must take place, it's probably the only idea that will save the well-connected. The only thing missing from the whole idea is any viable line of political or moral defense for enriching those who likely funded 9/11 terrorists (while we're still struggling with the war in Iraq in which Iraq had no 9/11 connection):

There is a clean way to handle things such as the port operations, and it still astonishes me that it wasn't done properly. It's been done thusly for many years, actually many decades:

1. Create an American company to handle the matter (if foreigners wish to buy in, or even buy it, that's ok);
2. Wall off the foreign investors/owners. They are silent partners. They have no say in the actual operation;
3. Create a "classified Board" composed of people with security clearances and experience in sensitive matters;
4. Appoint a CEO and other top executives with experience and clearances.

We do this all the time with, say, foreigners who want to buy companies that manufacture parts for weapons sytems, etc. It seems the obvious solution here

Update:
Speaking of Michael Ledeen, Larisa Alexandrovna has interviewed Mr. Ledeen for Raw Story, and I highly recommend it. My impression is that Mr. Ledeen has an extremely negative and fearful view of human nature - a view he claims is proven by history. Yet, for all his distrust and negativity, when Ms. Alexandrovna asks him who, "if our political leaders align with their party and the leader of that party, will be able to hold anyone accountable for war crimes?"..Ledeen replies:

ML: Just as we always have, by speaking and writing what we believe in, challenging lies when we think we see them, and appealing to mankind's better instincts. (my emphasis) But again, one has to have a sense of history and context. For the most part, it takes a considerable passage of time before we get a full sense of what actually happened.

If, as Mr. Ledeen suggests, mankind has such tiny capacity for the "better instincts", then how can he be intellectually honest in saying that he thinks accountability will occur by appealing to those "better instincts?" If we follow Ledeen's logic throughout his interview, I'd say if we're relying on writing and appealing to the "better nature" of our partisan political leaders as the only route to gaining accountability from them, we're totally screwed. Mr. Ledeen's logic has left me unconvinced regarding the rationality and cohesiveness of his overall argument. His denial of his Likud-ness and closeness to the Right in his view of foreign policy is not at all credible. Ms. Alexandrovna has presented some great questions and counterpoints, posing a real challenge to the balance of Mr. Ledeen's storyline. I can't wait to read the rest of the interview which will soon be forthcoming.

Clooney- The Cooler George

Clooney- The Cooler George

"A good-looking, independently minded, lapsed-Catholic, clean-and-sober actor versus a bought-and-paid-for, dry-drunk fundamentalist and four-decade failure of a human glove-puppet? Voters, the choice is clear!"

The Guardian wants to know:
If Ronald Reagan could do it, why not George Clooney?

In the News...

In the News

Iraq
Anthony Loyd, Times (UK) correspondent in Baghdad, says that a day-time curfew kept a lid on the violence in Iraq today but the future is far from clear and civil war is a very real possibility.

Ted Koppel/NYT op ed - It's about the oil. (NYT Select)

From a Detroit Metro Times interview with Professor Juan Cole:

MT: We got into this war with this neoconservative blueprint that we would quickly take Iraq, democratize it and move on through the region. Do you see a clear philosophy guiding what the administration is doing at this point?

Cole: No. I think they get up in the morning and they face a set of situations in Iraq and they try to develop policies to deal with those situations, and they get up the next day and there's a new set of situations and they develop policies to deal with those. I think it's reactive. I think it's ad hoc. I don't think there's a big picture. I think they're hoping that they can ultimately muddle through, that things will settle down enough so that they can get out of it with some dignity. I think it's probably a forlorn hope. In many ways it's over with, it's lost. I hear from my contacts who talk to military people on the ground there, and they say it's over with. If your counterinsurgency operation is about winning hearts and minds, that's finished..

NYT -

US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad: "What we've seen in the past two days, the attack has had a major impact here, getting everyone's attention that Iraq is in danger." The country's leaders, he added, "must come together, they must compromise with each other to bring the people of Iraq together and save this country."

On the 2008 Election
Poughkeepsie Journal - Most think Clinton won't be president in '08: Marist College's Institute for Public Opinion poll results show that voters believe Senator Clinton would lose if she ran. Almost 80 percent said it is unlikely Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a Republican, could win the White House. As with other national polls, Senator Clinton leads the list of potential contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination. She has the support of 33 percent of potential primary voters in the WNBC/ Marist poll to 17 percent for former Vice President Al Gore, 16 percent for John Edwards and 11 percent for John Kerry. No other Democrat breaks into double digits.

From The Niner Online (UNCC)-

In an American Research Group poll taken Feb. 2 - 9 of 600 likely Republican primary voters in South Carolina, McCain was the choice of 42 percent. All other potential candidates scored in single digits. Forty percent remained undecided. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus three percent. U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York led among Democrats, with 30 percent of the support. John Edwards was her closest rival with 15 percent. An additional 36 percent were undecided. In a hypothetical November matchup, McCain beats Clinton, 52 - 32 percent, in South Carolina.

Revolutions in the Globalized World

Revolutions in the Globalized World

From Eurozine: A Ukranian citizen, Tatiana Zhurzhenko, compares and contrasts the Orange Revolution and the election of Evo Morales as president of Bolivia. She asks: What remains of revolutions in the globalized world?

Unlike the leaders of the Orange Revolution, the new Bolivian president received no congratulations from the White House. On the contrary, the US Secretary of State expressed her concern about the "recent developments" in Latin America. And she has reason to be concerned. Unlike the Orange Revolution, which was about complying with Western norms and values, the leftist, defensive nationalism of Evo Morales challenges the "universal rules" of the global order, its established hierarchy of values and priorities.

*Tip of the hat to Political Theory Daily Review

LA Times -

....the importance of Morales' electoral victory should not be underestimated, both because of its symbolic importance and because of its implications for the rest of the hemisphere. In a region where power and wealth have always been outrageously concentrated — and more so than anywhere in the world — having a president belonging to the indigenous communities is not a minor affair

Fukuyama Abandons Neoconservatism

Fukuyama Abandons Neoconservatism

"...it seems very unlikely that history will judge either the intervention [in Iraq] itself or the ideas animating it kindly."

- Francis Fukuyama, who wrote the best-selling book The End of History and was a member of the neoconservative project, who now has gone as far as to say that "the [neoconservative] movements' advocates are Leninists who "believed that history can be pushed along with the right application of power and will. Leninism was a tragedy in its Bolshevik version, and it has returned as farce when practised by the United States".

Group's Freedom Appeal for jailed Kurdish dissident

Group Appeals for jailed Kurdish dissident's freedom
Detained for nearly 4 months by KDP for criticizing Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, group now fears for Dr. Qadir's safety

From Kurdish media: A group called the Free Dr Kamal Sayid Qadir Campaign is appealing to the international media, all human right organizations, and all western democracies countries, "particularly those that participated in ending the dictatorship and tyranny of Saddam’s regime" to support human rights, freedom of press, freedom of expression in Kurdistan and put effective pressure on the Barzani leadership to free Dr Kamal Sayid Qadir, without any conditions, bails and restrictions to enable him to return to his job in Austria as a free man with untarnished character and intellectual integrity.

Bob Woodruff Update

Bob Woodruff Update

We haven't heard a lot about ABC News co-anchor Bob Woodruff's healing progress in the news. The last I read, Bob was still in a drug-induced coma at a hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. People magazine's website provides a message from David Woodruff, Bob's brother:

"On behalf of all the Woodruffs I wanted to reach out to Bob's entire ABC family and thank you again for your seemingly endless supply of love and support. It means everything to us and to everyone involved in Bob's recovery." Regarding his brother's condition, David Woodruff said: "Bob's amazing team of doctors, nurses and corpsmen continue to be pleased with the progress he makes each day and they are optimistic about his recovery. But the more we learn about Bob's injuries the more we appreciate just how lucky he is. We need to remind ourselves it's only been 2 1/2 weeks since he sustained his injuries in Iraq. We live in a world of instant gratification where patience as a virtue is rarely practiced. Our family now has a whole new appreciation for the word and what it truly means to be patient."

Bush & Ahmadinejad Thrive on Belligerency of Each Other

Bush & Ahmadinejad Thrive on Belligerency of Each Other

Norman Solomon on the Iran crisis:
First the Bush administration will be diplomatic, then they can bomb.

We Are Free....

We Are Free....

...to create cartoons to inspire new terrorists.

...to laugh at ourselves in the face of taunts and slurs.

...to create a group of innocent victims of two extreme positions, who recently happen to be the majority of moderate Muslims living in the West.

...to hear an explanation as to why certain cartoons were published in a Danish newspaper.

...to spread fearful rhetoric that creates Islamophobia, leading to hopelessness and the inevitability of war with another culture.

...to clearly see that a government being framed as evil (by those who employ the rhetoric of fear) do not wish for their own people to continue to participate in the cycle of extremism.

...to seek peace, justice, tolerance, and cooperation or to seek war.

Tar Heel Tavern - 1st Anniversary

Tar Heel Tavern - 1st Anniversary



Bora at Science and Politics hosts a dynamite first anniversary edition of the Tar Heel Tavern.