The Scallion says, “VOTE ABSENTEE!!!”
That’s right, fellow Freedom Fighters™ and Defenders of Democracy™, if you want to have your vote counted, voting absentee by paper is your best bet. It’s not infallible, but it’s better than handing over your vote to the Republicans unconditionally--at least we can say we tried!
Now is the time to apply for your absentee ballot.
To apply for an absentee ballot, click the link below and follow the directions; however, DO NOT fill in accurate personal voter information about yourself. Why? Because heaven only knows where that information goes, that’s why! The website looks as though it will use your information to fill out the absentee ballot application so that all you have to do is print it out, but that is not the case. When you finally arrive at the absentee ballot application form, it is blank! So, do yourself a favor and fill in dummy information. Here’s a pseudo identity used by The Scallion:
Bush Sux
123 Faux St
[your town], [your state] [your zip code]
SSN: 314-15-9267 (that’s just a little piece of pi for our Readers)
Remember, that’s just what you fill in to get to the blank form. When you get to the blank form, just print it out and fill it carefully and accurately in by hand. Don’t forget to check your county’s website so that you can mail your application in by the deadline for your voter precinct.
You’ll sleep better knowing that you’re on your way to giving your vote its best chance to be counted without putting your personal information out there on the web for potential identity thieves.
https://electionimpact.votenet.com/declareyourself/absentee/index.cfm
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Calling George W. Bush “the devil” is wrong WHY?
We of The Scallion fail to understand why Republicans have their knickers in a twist about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s calling George W. Bush “the devil.” (Read Chavez’s comments for yourself; he was completely accurate in his assessment of the cynicism, imperialism, hypocrisy, and hegemony of the Bush administration: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/21/1538241.)
Haven’t Republicans been calling Democrats “devils” since Bush’s junta took over the White House in their bloodless coup in 2000? Haven’t Republicans been calling the majority of Americans even worse things recently, like morally and intellectually “confused” because said majority strenuously disapproves of Bush’s handling of foreign and domestic affairs? Because Americans want their troops home now?
Like the spoiled playground bullies that they are, the Republicans are yet again showing that they can dish it out, but they can’t take it. To them, name-calling is only wrong when someone badmouths a Republican, and terrorism is only terrorism when they aren’t perpetrating it. To them, slander is truth-telling, and torture is Freedom Tickles. To them, the Geneva Conventions, the United States Constitution, and the Magna Carta are outdated, outmoded, passe, and quaint. To them, these long-revered laws should be eliminated so that America’s brand of christofascism can rule the nation and the world under the guise of “freedom” and “democracy.”
Bloody hypocrites. They are the devils here, and they all smell a lot worse than sulfur. Chavez was being polite.
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From our mailbag
Reader R.R. sent in this quotation that too many Americans appear to have forgotten these days:
"The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion."
-- John Adams
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Recommended links
Dot Calm sent in this link about the threat of corporate media to the Internet, saying, “Canons to the left of us, canons to the right …!”
http://www.iwantmedia.com/people/people5.html
Send your child to Jesus camp: brainwashing, cultism, intolerance, and polarization being brought to a child near you! Want your child to worship George W. Bush? Then send him or her here:
http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/09/christianism_wa_1.html
A train wreck waiting to happen: the 10 worst places in America to try to vote:
http://www.alternet.org/stories/41483/
Dot Calm also says, “Google this: ‘One Thousand Reasons.’” Heh, heh.
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From our information clearinghouse
These are items we receive from the countless mailing lists to which The Scallion collectively subscribes. They are worth the effort of at least a good skim.
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From HuffPo
Bill Clinton: "I Am Sick Of Karl Rove's Bullsh*t"...
APA recent issue of the New Yorker turned out an astonishing 23-page profile on Bill Clinton, written by the magazine's editor David Remnick. The former President sounds off on almost every topic available during the course of the article, but saves his choicest words for the Bush administration, uttering the particularly damning phrase, "I am sick of Karl Rove's bullsh*t."
Clinton does devote some time to refreshing self-examination, saying that authorizing the war in Iraq "was a mistake, and I would have made it, too." But he delivers a biting critique of Bush's handling of the run-up to the war, saying, "the administration did not shoot straight on the nuclear issue or on Saddam's supposed ties to Al Qaeda prior to 9/11." Clinton's general assessment of his successor is no kinder. "It just makes me mad," he says about the current administration, "I just wish I were there trying to articulate an alternative vision."
Click here to read the whole story.
Click here to discuss it on HuffPost.
On AOL News... Now Appearing For Democrats: Bush Stars In Their Campaign Ads
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Arianna Huffington: FearWatch: The Fear-Mongering Hall of ShameJames Pinkerton: The Once and Future John McCain
Michael Patrick King: Etiquette According to Emily POPE
Barbara Ehrenreich: The Shame Game
ReplyReply to allForward
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Americans Overwhelmingly Disapprove Of The Republican-Controlled Congress...
From cs.ucf.eduA poll released yesterday by CBS News and The New York Times found that 77% of Americans believe that most members of the Republican-controlled Congress do not deserve to be reelected. Respondents cited special interests and an inability to connect with "average" Americans as primary concerns.
Disapproval of Congress is the strongest it has been since 1994, when Republicans picked up 52 seats to regain control of both the House and Senate. The marked negative sentiments underline just how challenging a political climate Republicans face in the weeks leading up to the midterm elections.
Click here to read the whole story.
Click here to discuss it on HuffPost.
On AOL News... Remembering The "Crocodile Hunter"
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Arianna Huffington: Bill Clinton and Laura Bush: Homogenizing the '06 ElectionNathan Gardels: The Importance of Being Ahmadinejad & Chavez
Max Blumenthal: Sen. John Cornyn Meets the Racist Right
Matt Stoller: Glover Park, Rip-off Strategists and Unethical Behavior
in the Polling Community
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Torture Worse In Iraq Now Than Under Saddam...
APA UN expert called torture in Iraq "totally out of hand," adding, "the situation is so bad many people say it is worse than it has been in the times of Saddam Hussein." He added, "That means something, because the torture methods applied under Saddam Hussein were the worst you could imagine."
A report released by the UN states that bodies in the Baghdad morgue "often bear signs of severe torture." Private militias, security forces, and anti-US insurgents are responsible for the gruesome actions. The torture is a major concern in the "generalized breakdown of law and order which presents a serious challenge to the institutions of Iraq," the report added.
Click here to read the whole story.
Click here to discuss it on HuffPost.
On AOL News...Is He Better Out of Office? Clinton Raises Billions in Aid, Rate His Second Act
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Arianna Huffington: D??j?? Vu All Over Again: It's Not the Economy, Stupid!Debrah Constance: On Fearlessness: Finding the Place Called Home
Marty Kaplan: The Fox Conventions
Patricia Zohn: BOYS: Emperors With, or Without, their Clothes
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U.S. Spy Agencies: The War In Iraq Has Fueled Terrorism Across The Globe...
APThe National Intelligence Estimate, a classified report containing a consensus view of the 16 governmental spy agencies, states that the Iraq war has worsened the threat of terrorism across the globe. Washington leaders are engaging in a heated debate over Bush's failed Iraq policy and questioning the president's ability to protect the American people.
Senate minority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said, "No election-year White House P.R. campaign can hide this truth -- it is crystal clear that America's security demands we change course in Iraq." Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) added, "Even capturing the remaining top Al Qaeda leadership isn't going to prevent copycat cells, and it isn't going to change a failed policy in Iraq. This administration is trying to change the subject. I don't think voters are going to buy that."
Click here to read the whole story.
Click here to discuss it on HuffPost.
On AOL News: Bin Laden May Feel Lure to Disprove His 'Death'
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Arianna Huffington: Bill Clinton's Bipartisan Love-In Blows Up in His FaceJames Pinkerton: Once Upon a Midnight Dreary, I Had a Visitor
Kathy Eldon: On Being the Change
Suzanne Nossel: Democracy after Bush: 10 Lessons for Progressives
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From AlterNet
Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers
A Link TV report about the film "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers," including an interview with director/producer Robert Greenwald.
Blogs
Creeping fascism is a threat to national security
Hot Conservative on Conservative action
Post by Evan Derkacz
Trouble in paradise
Cable News Confidential
By Don Hazen, AlterNet
FAIR co-founder, media critic and former Fox News commentator Jeff Cohen explains the importance of independent media and what it'll take to outfox Rupert Murdoch.
The Activism Industry
By Dana R. Fisher, The American Prospect
Progressive groups are outsourcing their grassroots canvassing to national organizations. What happens when paid employees replace committed activists?
John Lennon and the Politics of Deportation
By Jon Wiener, Truthdig
A new documentary shows how Nixon abused power in an attempt to deport Lennon for his antiwar activism. But Bush has gone much further to get rid of noncitizens he doesn't like.
Bigger Than Hip-Hop
By Glen Ford, In These Times
Hip-hop is arguably the most potent musical force in the country today, and African-American activists are working to shape it into a political movement as well.
Powell Stands Up to Bush on Torture
By Arianna Huffington, HuffingtonPost.com
Is the Bush administration's top salesman for the Iraq war finally done peddling fear?
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Colbert on Bush's twisted torture logic
Stephen Colbert breaks down Bush's logic on torture.
Blogs
Just how queer are those queers, anyway?
Post by Melissa McEwan
ABC investigates The Gays
Crossfire with Jeff Cohen and Robert Novak, February 1996: Feminist Weenies
Post by Deanna Zandt
Novak's intolerance for independent women and the men who support them comes flying out.
The Disastrous Rule of a Mayberry Machiavelli
By Sidney Blumenthal, AlterNet
Bush ran as a moderate, tacked right and governed ineffectually -- before 9/11. Since then he has become the most radical American president in history, and arguably the worst.
Black Men, Asian Women
By Rinku Sen, ColorLines
The hype about interracial television couples is that Americans have moved so far past race they don't even notice.
Inside the Feds' Secret Wiretapping Rooms
By Jeffrey Klein, Paolo Pontoniere, New America Media
Congress is considering three bills to "reform" massive surveillance programs. But secret facilities around the country are already eavesdropping on Americans.
Defense Contractors Gone Wild
By Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com
The billions we're spending on the worthless F-22 fighter plane is just the latest taxpayer rip-off. When will the military-industrial complex get the smackdown it deserves?
Obrador Supporters Continue Long Protest
By Rebecca Ruiz, AlterNet
As fallout from the disputed Mexican election continues, Obrador's supporters are still rallying for change.
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Countdown: Halliburton CEO has made over $100 million since war began
Keith Olbermann discusses "obscene war profiteering" with IRAQ FOR SALE director Robert Greenwald.
The Mix
Alaska leading the way in femicide!
Post by Laura Barcella
New Mexico and Wyoming a close second...
'Wait! Don't Move to Canada' (AUDIO)
Post by Evan Derkacz
PEEK Interviews Liberal Oasis
Young, Childless and Opting for Sterilization
By Stephanie Konefall, The Tyee
More and more young women are tying their tubes before even tying the knot. Is the 'tubal' the new birth control pill?
Search for Black Ancestry Isn't Easy
By Christopher Rabb, The Black Commentator
In order to learn about my black ancestors, I had to research the white people who owned them.
Former Bush Admin. Lawyer Still Flacking for Torture
By Greg Grandin, AlterNet
John Yoo, the law professor who helped draft the infamous "torture memo," is still defending Bush's policies even though the rest of us have long lost patience.
Pope Benedict: The First Year
By Matthias Beier, Tikkun
Although unity, peace, and love have been key words of Benedict's papacy, his actions or inactions are at odds with that rhetoric.
Fierce Female Candidates in New Mexico
By Kate Nelson, Women's Media Center
In this dead-heat congressional race, both candidates are women. But they're too busy mudslinging to talk about "women's issues."
Rendering Unto Syria
By Robert Scheer, AlterNet
For those, like Bush, who view torture as a variant of fraternity hazing, it would be instructive to consider the fate of Canada's Maher Arar.
Music to Hate By
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, New America Media
Prussian Blue, a set of 14-year-old white supremacist singers, are using tunes to spread their message of hate.
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Colbert gives Republicans midterm election advice
Stephen Colbert has a foolproof way for the Republicans to win.
Blogs
America legalizes torture; Dems get played badly
Post by Joshua Holland
This could not possibly have worked out any worse ...
How to suppress discussions of racism
Post by Lindsay Beyerstein
Six easy steps to invincible ignorance.
Dobson's 4% factor
Post by Evan Derkacz
The Muslims are coming! Well, some of them...
America's Juiced-Up Jock Culture
By Robert Lipsyte, Tomdispatch.com
From the recently disqualified Tour de France-winner Floyd Landis to home-run beefcake Barry Bonds, American atheletes have become overly obsessed with being freaks of physique.
Secret CIA Prisons in Your Backyard
By Onnesha Roychoudhuri, Truthdig
The largest covert CIA operation since the Cold War is run not only by shadowy government contractors in the darkest corners of Afghanistan, but also by unassuming Americans in places like Dedham, Mass.
Top Ten Ways We Got Jacked by Conservatives
By Nomi Prins, AlterNet
If you ever wanted to see how badly 'conservatives' have been shaking the silver out of our pockets in the past six years, this list is it.
The Presidential Three-Year-Old
By Molly Ivins, AlterNet
...Or the worst press conference in history.
Racism Charges at DC Moonie Paper
By Max Blumenthal, The Nation
There's a desperate fight for control at the top of the Washington Times, and accusations from the staff are flying that the newsroom is run by racist good ole' boys.
Who Killed Immigration Reform?
By Jorge Mursuli, TomPaine.com
Conservatives were never serious about reforming immigration. They ramped up the threat of illegal immigrants to distract Americans from the failing war on terror.
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Sneak Preview: Media Matters gets hands on O'Reilly's book
O'Reilly's weapons? 'Facts and superior analysis based on those facts...'
Black republican ad 'with a servant's heart' [AUDIO]
Post by Evan Derkacz
MLK was a Republican; Dems launched KKK
If America's So Great, Where's Our Health Care?
By Sarah Ruth van Gelder, Doug Pibel, YES! Magazine
The rest of the industrialized world gets universal health care. The U.S. gets limited access at a far higher cost. It's time for Americans to get the health care system they want, and the savings that go with it.
What's Wrong With Calling Bush A Devil?
By Jeff Cohen, AlterNet
Conservatives were quick to lash out at Hugo Chavez for calling President Bush a "devil," but that's exactly what Rush Limbaugh was calling Democrats only a few years ago.
9/11 Leaders Ain't So Popular Anymore
By Angus Reid, The Tyee
Not just in US and UK, political support once pumped up after 9/11 for political leaders across the planet is leaking away.
As Pissed as Ever, Young Voters Get Organized
By Scott Thill, WireTap
The League of Young Voters -- born in 2003 as the League of Pissed Off Voters -- is mobilizing young people across the country to make a difference in the midterm elections and a neighborhood near you.
'Maverick' GOP Senators Cave to Torture President
By Cenk Uygur, HuffingtonPost.com
After huffing and puffing about principles, three GOP senators essentially gave Bush what he wanted on the Geneva Conventions.
A Tortured Debate
By Molly Ivins, AlterNet
Bush's problem is that despite repeated warnings, he went ahead with 'the program' without waiting for Congress to provide a fig leaf of legality.
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Clinton sets record, Fox, straight
'Now let me answer'
Blogs
Pakistan says Bush admin threatened to bomb it 'Back to the Stone Age'
Post by Evan Derkacz
Bumbling Bush is baffled...
How to suppress discussions of racism
Post by Lindsay Beyerstein
Invincible ignorance in 6 easy steps.
Congressman brags about stealing election
Post by Evan Derkacz
On the House floor...
What the War on Terror Has Done to Texas
By Mary Jo McConahay, Texas Observer
Five years after 9/11, Bush's war on terror has turned the Texas border area into a military zone -- where soldiers call immigrants "the enemy," and regular patrols "reconaissance."
Bush Offers Himself Amnesty for Human Rights Crimes
By Robert Parry, Consortium News
The focus of Bush's recent fight with the Senate has been about the Geneva Conventions, but also under debate is whether U.S. government operatives can be prosecuted for crimes in the 'war on terror.'
Gore's Green Earth
By Amanda Griscom Little, Grist Magazine
Now that he's awakened a sleepy nation to the crisis, Gore focuses on the solutions to global warming.
Taking Latinos from the Streets to the Polls
By Paloma Esquivel, The Nation
Young, U.S.-born Latinos who took to the streets in massive numbers to push for immigrant rights are hoping to become a potent political force in this year's midterm elections and beyond.
Enough With the 'One God' Stuff
By James Foley, AlterNet
In the world today, one ancient religious ideology, monotheism, stands out as especially dangerous, repressive and loony.
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From "Democracy Now!"
* UN General Assembly Hears Bush, Ahmadinejad Trade Criticism *
Speaking from the same lectern within hours of each other, President Bush
and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traded criticism at the opening
session of the UN General Assembly. This year's agenda for 192 UN member
states includes trying to promote Mideast peace, curb Iran's nuclear
ambitions, get UN peacekeepers into conflict-wracked Darfur, and promote
democracy. We speak with UN specialist Phyllis Bennis.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/20/1412242
* Thai Military Leaders Stage Military Coup *
In Thailand, military leaders have staged a bloodless coup, suspending the
constitution and declaring martial law. We go to the capital Bangkok to get
reaction on the ground.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/20/1412246
* Why Did the FCC Bury Studies on Media Consolidation? *
The Federal Communications Commission has ordered an investigation into why
two reports that called into question media consolidation were never
released to the public. Both reports have come to light in just the last
week. A former FCC lawyer says top agency officials ordered staff to destroy
every last copy of one of the studies.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/20/1412251
* One Day After Complete Exoneration, Maher Arar Yet to Receive Apology From
Canada, US for Year-Long Imprisonment, Torture in Syrian Jail *
Canada and the US are refusing to apologize to Maher Arar despite his
exoneration by a Canadian government inquiry. The Syrian-born Canadian was
detained nearly four years ago by U.S. authorities at JFK airport and was
sent to Syria where he was jailed for a year and repeatedly tortured. Maher
Arar joins us with his reaction.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/20/1412258
* Headlines for September 20, 2006 *
- Bush, Ahmadinejad Trade Criticism in GA Speeches
- 17 Arrested Protesting Bush Outside UN
- New Darfur Envoy Made Controversial Remarks on Africa
- 64 Killed in Iraq Violence; US Wounded Reach 20,000
- UN: Up to 350,000 Unexploded Cluster Bombs in Lebanon
- CAIR: Anti-Muslim Incidents Up 30%
- Marijuana Arrests at Record Level
- HP Mulled Planting Spies in Newsrooms
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/20/1412233
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* Chavez Calls Bush 'The Devil' in UN Address, Predicts Fall of 'U.S.
Empire' and Calls For Major UN Reforms *
At the United Nations, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez slammed the United
States for its military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as its
support for Israel's invasion of Lebanon. Chavez described President Bush as
the 'devil' and predicted the 'U.S. empire' would fall. He also called for
major reforms at the United Nations. We play an extended excerpt of the
address and speak with Latin American History professor, Greg Grandin.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/21/1538241
* Thirty Years After the Assassination of Chilean Diplomat Orlando Letelier,
His Son Francisco is Still Seeking Justice *
Today is the thirtieth anniversary of the assassination of Chilean diplomat
Orlando Letelier and his U.S. colleague, Ronni Moffit in a car bomb on the
streets of Washington DC. The assassination was eventually traced back to
the regime of General Augusto Pinochet, which was in the midst of a
U.S.-backed campaign against Chilean activists. We speak with Orlando
Letelier's son, Francisco, as well as Peter Korbluh, author of "The Pinochet
File."
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/21/1538247
* Headlines for September 21, 2006 *
- UN: 6,600 Iraqi Civilians Killed in July & August
- BBC Reveals Israel is Training Kurds in Northern Iraq
- Maryland Gov. Calls For End of Electronic Voting System
- Activists Decry Voter ID Bill As Modern-Day Poll Tax
- Chavez Slams Bush Administration; Predicts End of U.S. Empire
- NATO to Send Thousands of More Troops to Afghanistan
- Alberto Gonzales Forced to Retract Comments On Maher Arar
- Military Regime in Thailand Bans Political Rallies
- Ex-Argentine Police Commander Sentenced to Life in Prison
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/21/1538230
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* Juan Cole on Civil War in Iraq, the Hyping of WMD Intel on Iran, and How
The Lebanon War Has Weakened Israel *
University of Michigan professor and blogger Juan Cole reviews recent news
from the Middle East and discusses Hugo Chavez's 'devil' comment at the
United Nations.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/25/1318238
* Steal This Vote: Andrew Gumbel on the Growing Controversy Over Electronic
Voting Machines *
As the governor of Maryland calls for the state to scrap its electronic
voting system and revert to paper ballots, we talk to the Los Angeles-based
reporter Andew Gumbel on voting scandals and his book "Steal this Vote:
Dirty Elections and the Rotten History of Democracy in America"
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/25/1318243
* Arlington West: Veterans For Peace Member in California Pays Homage to
Soldiers Killed in Iraq *
Stephen Sherrill of Santa Barbara, California, discusses his Arlington West
Memorial where he has planted over 2,700 crosses - one for each dead U.S.
soldier in Iraq.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/25/1318247
* Headlines for September 25, 2006 *
- U.S. Spy Agencies: Iraq War Worsened Terrorist Threat
- U.S. War Deaths Exceed 9/11 Death Toll
- Top Women's Official Killed in Afghanistan
- German Prosecutor Investigates CIA Kidnapping of El Masri
- Clinton Defends Handling of Bin Laden Threat Pre-9/11
- U.S. Blocks UN Effort to Declare Israel a Nuclear Threat
- Bush Estate in Maine Could Become Victim Of Global Warming
- Report: 580 Journalists Killed Over Past 15 Years
- Bush Urged to Halt Exports of Surveillance Gear to China
- Dozens Arrests in Declaration of Peace Week Protests
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/25/1318231
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From the Center for American Progress
GOOD NEWS
A "record number of major U.S. companies now offer fair benefits and protections" to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, Human Rights Campaign's 2006 Corporate Equality Index shows.
STATE WATCH
OHIO: An audit of Hamilton County's Department of Job and Family Services found the agency cannot account for $150 million in children's services funds.
FLORIDA: Cabinet approves a new $70 million, 340-bed homeless shelter in Miami.
NEW YORK: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to offer $1,000-per-child tax credits to help impoverished families pay for child care, stay in school and receive basic medical care.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Fox guest: We should ignore McCain since he "was so traumatized" by P.O.W. experience.
JIM INHOT WATER: Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) invites another controversial climate skeptic to testify.
HARPERS: Recently retired head of key CIA unit calls for Iraq "exit strategy"; says there was "no evidence" of Saddam/bin Laden links.
TPM MUCKRAKER: Swift Boat money man reunites with Swift Boat media firm
DAILY GRILL
"[My administration is] working to develop an effective and science-based approach to addressing the important issues of global climate change."
-- President Bush, 6/11/01
VERSUS
"[W]hy can't we have one of the other guys then?"
-- Email from Commerce Dept. public affairs officer, 10/19/05, blocking a federal scientist from discussing the link between global warming and hurricanes on television
[Read the emails, released yesterday.]
ARCHIVES
Progress Report
STUDENTS
Politics with an Attitude: Everyone from Barack Obama to Stephen Colbert talks to Campus Progress. Right-wingers seem scared of us. Find out why here.
by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney
Amanda Terkel and Payson Schwin
September 20, 2006
Failing The Course
Go Beyond The Headlines
Coffee and Donuts Not Included
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IRAQ
Failing The Course
For the past few weeks, President Bush and members of his administration have undertaken an aggressive public relations campaign to spread the message about their stay the course strategy for Iraq. Bush couches such pronouncements with the precondition that he will first "listen to [military] generals." Yesterday, Gen. John Abizaid, the chief of the U.S. Central Command, gave Bush what he demanded, telling reporters that the current contingent of more than 140,000 troops "will probably have to be sustained through the spring" of next year. The statement "effectively ended hopes for a big troop withdrawal from Iraq this year." Abizaid suggested, however, that the Bush's administration's strategy in Iraq is failing. He said he had hoped six months ago for the withdrawal of several thousand U.S. troops from Iraq by now, but noted, "We clearly did not achieve the force levels that we had hoped to." Given the dysfunctional and evolving mission the U.S. military has been given, it is unsurprising that force levels have remained high. Bush has previously stated that as Iraqi troops stand up, U.S. forces will stand down. Yet, there are now 294,000 Iraqi troops according to the Pentagon, and the American troop levels have only experienced "a big jump" over the last several months. Bush refuses to acknowledge that the massive troop presence is fueling, rather than calming, the insurgency. A policy of strategic redeployment might be the last best hope for the Iraqi people, who are growing frustrated with their political leadership and a government which is being hampered by the presence of U.S. forces.
AMERICAN PUBLIC FOCUSED ON IRAQ: While the media's attention has largely strayed from the ongoing chaos in Iraq, the American public remains focused on that issue, ranking it as the most important factor they will consider when going to the polls this November. Sixty-one percent of Americans believe that the Bush administration does not have a clear plan for handling Iraq, and 58 percent believe Congress is not doing enough to oversee the administration's policy. Recognizing their weakness on this issue, conservatives such as Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) have said "the focus should not be on Iraq, it should be on Iran." Rather than addressing the key questions that the public has about Iraq, administration officials have instead offered beyond-the-pale rhetoric comparing war critics to Hitler appeasers and assailing them as terrorist abetters.
ANARCHIC CIVIL WAR PERSISTS: The conditions on the ground in Iraq continue to reflect an anarchic civil war, characterized by a lack of order and rampaging violence. "The everyday life of Iraqi people is dominated by the constant threat of sectarian violence and civil strife," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said recently. "Both the Bush administration and military have said sectarian killings and violence are surging around Iraq and in the capital." "It's barbaric but sadly we've become used to it," an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said of bodies found around the capital, in both Sunni and Shi'ite areas. "Forty bodies, 60 bodies -- it's become a daily routine." Nearly 200 bodies of Iraqis who had been tortured and shot have turned up around Baghdad in the past week. Today, a suicide truck bomb slammed into the Baghdad police headquarters, killing seven and wounding more than a dozen. The problem isn't isolated to Baghdad. The situation in western Iraq -- the Anbar province -- is also "dire," and the military has reported that the battle for hearts and minds has been lost there.
NOT READY TO REPORT FOR DUTY: The dimming prospects for troop withdrawals from Iraq "means the Pentagon may soon face a difficult and politically sensitive decision: either make more frequent call-ups of some National Guard and Reserve troops or expand still further the size of the active-duty Army." The Army is undersized and should be increased by at least 86,000 troops over the next five years, according to a defense review published by the Center for American Progress. But in the interim, sending more troops to Iraq would "threaten to break our nation's all-volunteer Army and undermine our national security." Yet that is what some conservatives are calling for. The strategic cost of staying the course is immense. Financially, "it costs about $1.2 billion a month to keep a U.S. Army division in combat in Iraq." The costs of restoring destroyed and damaged Army and Marine Corps equipment is now estimated to be close to $30 billion, and it will grow by an additional $14 billion for every additional year we stay in Iraq. And staying in Iraq will continue to strengthen Iran's hand and weaken U.S. influence in the region.
A FALSE START: Vice President Cheney said recently that going into Iraq "was the right thing to do and if we had it to do over again, we'd do exactly the same thing." While Cheney may be unwilling to concede that all the justifications the administration proffered for going into Iraq have collapsed, a new Senate Intelligence Committee report makes that point clear. Declassified portions of Committee's Phase II report on pre-war Iraq intelligence explain that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were enemies, not collaborators. The report states, "Postwar findings indicate that Saddam Hussein was distrustful of al-Qaeda. No postwar information suggests that the Iraqi regime attempted to facilitate a relationship with bin Ladin." The report also claims Saddam "did not have a relationship with, harbor, or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi." Yet Bush and other White House officials continue to assert the false link.
INCOMPETENCE IN THE POST-WAR PHASE: A new book by Washington Post reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran reveals that early decisions made by the administration to rebuild Iraq were guided by political considerations and resulted in the selection of unqualified candidates. The entire post-war reconstruction phase has been marked by incompetence. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) released a new report by the Campaign for America's Future that provides an overview of the corporate profiteering and mismanagement in Iraq. At a hearing on the issue, former Halliburton truck drivers accused the company of sending its employees into hazardous areas, despite warnings that the routes were unsafe. Dorgan is calling for a Truman-style commission to investigate the gross misuse of government funds spent by contractors in Iraq. "Nobody seems to give a damn" about the abuses ongoing in Iraq due to no-bid, unsupervised contracts, he said. Dorgan's efforts have been amplified by the release of a new movie that documents "the connections between private companies making a killing in Iraq and the decision makers who allow them to do so." Click here to see if Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers, a film produced and directed by Robert Greenwald, is being screened in a location near you, or buy a copy for yourself.
Under the Radar
DARFUR -- BUSH ADMINISTRATION UNDERMINES GENOCIDE DIVESTMENT CAMPAIGNS: Bush administration officials and business interests are holding up legislation aimed at supporting state and private campaigns that divest from companies doing business with Sudan's genocidal government. The Senate version of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act put forward by Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) last week removed language included in the House bill that officially endorses Sudan divestment campaigns. Jason Miller, national policy director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force, which is coordinating the campaigns, called the language "critical": "If the federal government is for divestment outright, they should publicly state so. If they are against divestment, they should publicly state so. If there's some middle ground where they agree with certain types of divestment but not others, they should have been open to compromise on Section 11 language. Instead, they gave us complete ambiguity." Despite being early to label the atrocities in Darfur as genocide, the Bush administration's response has been riddled with inconsistency and carelessness. On Tuesday, as violence flared in Sudan, Bush announced Andrew Natsios, notorious for his mismanagement of Boston's big dig project and his gross underestimates of Iraqi rebuilding cost, as his special envoy to Darfur.
TORTURE -- PUBLIC SUPPORTS PRESERVING GENEVA CONVENTIONS; COMPROMISE UNCLEAR: A new ABC News/Washington Post poll reveals overwhelming public opposition to the Bush administration's current policy of holding suspected terrorists indefinitely without charges at Guantanamo Bay. Seven in ten Americans say the detainees "should either be given POW status or charged with a crime." The New York Times reports today that the Bush administration has "dropped its insistence on redefining the obligations of the United States under the Geneva Conventions." This new development suggests the administration has "blinked first in its standoff" with the group of senators who have blocked White House efforts to authorize torture. "But few details were available, and it was not clear whether a compromise was imminent or whether the White House had shifted its stance significantly."
ENVIRONMENT -- BRITISH SCIENTISTS DEMAND EXXON STOP FUNDING GLOBAL WARMING DENIERS: The Guardian reports, "Britain's leading scientists have challenged the US oil company ExxonMobil to stop funding groups that attempt to undermine the scientific consensus on climate change." The Royal Society, "Britain's premier scientific academy," examined Exxon's public reporting and found the company "last year distributed $2.9m to 39 groups that the society says misrepresent the science of climate change." According to the group Exxon had promised it would no provide "any further funding to these organizations." An Exxon spokesman responded that the company had "stopped funding the Competative Enterprise Institute this year," the group that "responded to the recent release of Al Gore's climate change film, An Inconvenient Truth, with adverts that welcomed increased carbon dioxide pollution." Read the Royal Society's letter to Exxon here.
Think Fast
"There is so much political corruption on Capitol Hill that the FBI has had to triple the number of squads investigating lobbyists, lawmakers and influence peddlers."
Iraq is the deadliest place for journalists to work, a new study by the Committee to Protect Journalists found. Of the 580 journalists who have been killed over the last 15 years, 78 reporters died in Iraq.
"A state judge yesterday rejected a Georgia law requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification, writing in his decision, 'This cannot be.'" The judge said the law, which critics call a modern day poll tax, "disenfranchises citizens who are otherwise qualified to vote."
Restricting or taxing greenhouse gas emissions would be the "most cost-effective" global warming policy, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report. The report says climate change policy should "reduce carbon emissions by increasing the costs of emitting carbon... to reflect the damages that those emissions are expected to cause."
"Federal judges decided Tuesday to require faster and fuller disclosure of their expense-paid trips, a response to criticism that the travel could undermine the public's faith in an impartial judiciary."
"The nation's airports face a looming crisis in their ability to screen checked luggage for bombs that will require billions of dollars to avert," a new GAO report shows. Many airports "have too few screeners and use slow, labor-intensive bomb detectors that are being overwhelmed."
And finally: Unibrow-gate drops in Pennsylvania. An anonymous tipster alerted Roll Call that someone on gubernatorial candidate Bob Casey's "official Web site, apparently doctored an old photo of Casey to make it look as if he had normal eyebrows." (Casey had a unibrow.) When presented with the ironclad proof, a Casey spokesperson responded, "I think we've hit upon the next great debate: to pluck or to wax."
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GOOD NEWS
"Using stem cells harvested from patients' own bone marrow, researchers improved cardiac function in heart attack patients months, years -- and even decades -- after the attacks."
STATE WATCH
CALIFORNIA: U.S. House panel slashes funding for San Francisco HIV/AIDS funding, and could "prompt a crisis for local AIDS care agencies."
FLORIDA: Miami-Dade County discusses plans to implement a countywide wireless Internet network.
UTAH: Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson addressed the Clinton Global Initiative about his city's efforts to combat climate change.
COLORADO: A proposal to raise the state's minimum wage is the most popular item on the ballot, with 74 percent support.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Video: Fifth former Joint Chiefs Chairman objects to Bush's plan to authorize torture.
ESCHATON: Bush's "bounce" in perspective.
ALTERCATION: Check out Eric Alterman's new blogging home at MediaMatters.
RAW STORY: Tony Snow, Alberto Gonzales will speak at forum this week with Ann Coulter, Jerry Falwell
DAILY GRILL
"Saddam Hussein was distrustful of al-Qa'ida and viewed Islamic extremists as a threat to his regime, refusing all requests from al Qa'ida to provide material or operational support ... Saddam issued a general order that Iraq should not deal with al Qa'ida . No postwar information suggests that the Iraqi regime attempted to facilitate a relationship with bin Ladin."
-- Senate Intelligence Committee report, 9/8/06
VERSUS
"The Rest of the Story: Iraq's Links to Al Qaeda."
-- White House "fact sheet," 9/15/06
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by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney
Amanda Terkel and Payson Schwin
September 21, 2006
State of Incompetence
Go Beyond The Headlines
Coffee and Donuts Not Included
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IMMIGRATION
State of Incompetence
In July, President Bush stressed that "if you're going to address the issue of immigration, you've got to address all aspects of the immigration. It's got to be a comprehensive bill if we want there to be an effective bill." That's no longer his position. Yesterday, Congress "gave up on comprehensive immigration reform" and pursued ineffective, enforcement-only legislation. This approach largely tracks the recommendations of Pat Buchannan and other hard-liners. In his new book, State of Emergency, Buchanan recommends harsh immigration laws in order to preserve the dominance of white Europeans -- who he believes are the only group with the "genetic endowments" to keep America from collapsing. President Bush is playing along. Yesterday in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Bush said he would abandon his pledge to pass a comprehensive bill and sign whatever legislation comes out of Congress. (Get the facts about immigration and the need for a comprehensive approach from the Center for American Progress.)
THE MODERN DAY POLL TAX: Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted "to require Americans to show proof of citizenship in order to vote." While the legislation sounds like common sense, it would disenfranchise voters, specifically "the poor, the elderly and others unable to easily obtain the documents required." Similar Voter ID laws in Missouri and Georgia have been struck down as unconstitutional. Moreover, there is "no data to show that illegal immigrants [have] voted."
THE FENCE: Congress is also focusing its efforts on a bill that would "require building 700 miles of fence on the southwestern border." This is a poll-tested political maneuver that does little to address the fundamental problems with our immigration policy. The Los Angeles Times explains, "A wall is fine, but not by itself. Addressing border security alone won't fulfill the economy's need for a legal supply of labor, and it will leave millions of illegal immigrants already here hidden in a vast underground. And fence or no fence, the 45 percent of illegal immigrants who overstay legal visas instead of returning across the border would continue to do so." The fence-only proposal was blasted by several prominent conservative senators, including Rick Santorum (R-PA), Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Larry Craig (R-ID).
ENFORCEMENT ONLY HAS BEEN TRIED AND FAILED: The approach being advanced by Congress -- enforcement only -- has been tried before, and failed. The Center for Trade and Policy Studies notes, "Despite tripling the size of the U.S. Border Patrol along the southern border between 1990 and 2005 and increasing its funding tenfold between 1986 and 2002, the undocumented population in the United States doubled in size."
BIPARTISAN COMMISSION RECOMMENDS COMPREHENSIVE REFORM: Yesterday, a bipartisan task force on immigration -- chaired by former Bush Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (R) and former 9/11 Commission Vice-Chair Lee Hamilton (D) -- released an extensive report stressing the need for comprehensive reform. Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and John McCain (R-AZ) released a joint statement: "Those members of Congress who support an enforcement-only approach may think it is good politics. But after careful study, the Independent Task Force came to the same understanding as President Bush, a bipartisan majority in the Senate, and the American people: Immigration is a serious and complex issue that calls for thoughtful and serious solutions and a comprehensive approach." Apparently, McCain and Kennedy were not aware that President Bush has abandoned his insistence on a comprehensive bill.
Under the Radar
GLOBAL WARMING -- BUSH ADMINISTRATION PLAN TO CURB WARMING FALLS SHORT: "The Bush administration yesterday laid out a long-term 'strategic plan' for using technology to curb the impact of global warming, reiterating its position that basic scientific research and voluntary actions can curb greenhouse gases linked to climate change." The administration's "Climate Change Technology Program Strategic Plan" proclaims a commitment to using technology to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but fails to mandate any cuts in carbon dioxide emissions. A report issued yesterday by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concludes that relying exclusively on research and development (R&D) funding is not the most effective strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL) argued that "the program is more than four years past due." Another conservative lawmaker, Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), the Chairman of House Government Reform Committee, said the key question that "we're asking is, is this sufficient? You've got to have some teeth and focus." In its proposal, the administration says it plans to spend almost $3 billion a year on the Climate Change Technology research and development programs. Yet according to Department of Energy figures, that total is a mere seven percent increase over this year's appropriated amount (see Table A-1). Ken Caldeira, a senior scientist at the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University, said the country would require spending "hundreds of billions of dollars a year" to move away from a carbon-dependent economy. "He added that the government would have to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, either through a tax or cap-and-trade system, to create incentives to develop and implement cleaner technologies."
MEDIA -- WHITE HOUSE OPPOSES LAW PROTECTING CONFIDENTIAL SOURCES: In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty said that a bill protecting journalists who refuse to reveal their confidential sources would "significantly weaken" the Justice Department's ability to collect critical national security information. The bill is a response to the recent spate of journalists being threatened or punished with imprisonment for refusing to reveal their anonymous sources. Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) rejected the opposition and said he wants to "push forward" with the bill. His sentiment was echoed by Theodore Olson, a former solicitor general in the Bush Administration, who supported the bill because it would "support investigative journalism." The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press calls the bill "the best effort in more than 30 years for Congress to take steps to recognize the importance of providing protection needed by journalists and their confidential sources to fully inform the public."
HEALTH CARE -- BRAND-NAME DRUG PRICES INCREASE FASTER THAN INFLATION: The prices of brand-name prescription drugs continue to rise faster than inflation while "generic drugs hold steady," says a new report by the AARP. During the 12 months ending in June, prices of 193 brand-name drugs most commonly used by older Americans increased by 6.3 percent, "outpacing the 3.8 percent inflation rate for the period." For seniors regularly taking four common brand-name drugs, this increase "translates to an estimated $283 average increase in costs." Meanwhile, a report by minority members on the House Government Reform Committee found that the 10 largest pharmaceutical companies' profits "jumped more than $8 billion during the first half of 2006." Although the prices of the 75 generic drugs commonly used by older Americans remain unchanged, the Office of Generic Drugs has a "backlog of more than 800 generic drug applications." This number is expected to "grow as more than $100 billion in brand products" will lose patent protection by 2010.
Think Fast
Attorney General Gonzales defended U.S. actions that led to a Canadian citizen being falsely imprisoned, rendered to Syria, and tortured. "Well, we were not responsible for his removal to Syria," Gonzales said. "I'm not aware that he was tortured." In an "embarrassing turnabout," a Justice Dept. official later "backed away" from Gonzales' remarks.
"The number of civilians slain in Iraq reached an unprecedented level in July and August, which saw 6,599 violent deaths," a new U.N. report shows. Researchers also noted "the growth of sectarian militias and death squads, and a rise in 'honor killings' of women."
25: Percentage of Americans who approve of the job Congress is doing. "[M]ost said they could not name a single major piece of legislation that cleared this Congress."
Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), who has pled guilty to selling his votes for tens of thousands of dollars, "will be eligible to receive his congressional pension after he serves his prison sentence." Congress has failed to pass a measure proposed this summer to deny pensions to members convicted of a felony.
"Despite the firm opposition of the Pentagon and ecumenical chaplain groups," right-wing members of Congress are trying to include a provision in a defense spending bill that would "license zealot chaplains to violate policies of religious tolerance at secular ceremonies."
"An Army of None": Senior Army and Marine Corps officers are warning "that without a reduction in Iraq, the present schedule of combat tours would be difficult to sustain without an increase in the number of forces." "You can start seeing the [effect of deployments] on the leadership of the active force," one official said.
CIA officials say President Bush had to empty the agency's secret prison network this month "because interrogators had refused to continue their work until the legal situation was clarified because they were concerned they could be prosecuted for using illegal techniques."
"Four government auditors who monitor leases for oil and gas on federal property say the Interior Department suppressed their efforts" to recover more than $30 million from energy companies they said were cheating the government.
And finally: Everyone's a critic, including the FBI. A new documentary reveals FBI informants who conducted extensive surveillance on John Lennon often took notes on the "artistic merits" of his new music. "Lacking Lennon's usual standards," one agent reported. "Yoko can't even remain on key."
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GOOD NEWS
Virgin CEO Richard Branson pledged $3 billion to fight climate change yesterday at the Clinton Global Initiative. The donation exceeds the total amount of commitments -- $2.5 billion -- from last year's conference.
STATE WATCH
SOUTH CAROLINA: Veterans Affairs Department works with state clergy to help Iraq and Afghanistan veterans cope with post-traumatic stress disorder.
GEORGIA: New poll shows Georgians overwhelmingly support embryonic stem cell research.
BALLOT WATCH: Voters in a record number of states will weigh in on initiatives to raise the minimum wage.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Video: Administration officials caught on tape ignoring the Senate Intel Report and misleading America about Iraq/al Qaeda link.
GRISTMILL: How to raise $3 billion with one conversation: moral leadership.
BALKINIZATION: Marty Lederman on the three big problems with the torture compromise.
WAR ROOM: Why do 1/3 of Americans still believe that Saddam was personally involved in 9/11
DAILY GRILL
"We're all winners because we've been able to come to an agreement through a process of negotiations and consensus."
-- Sen. John McCain, 9/21/06
VERSUS
"[T]he deal reached in Congress today...in effect, would permit CIA interrogators to use harsh techniques critics call torture."
-- ABC News, 9/21/06
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by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney
Amanda Terkel and Payson Schwin
September 22, 2006
Bush Critics Need Not Apply
Go Beyond The Headlines
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ETHICS
Bush Critics Need Not Apply
A new inspector general's report, portions of which were obtained by the Progress Report, document how the top U.S. housing official, Alphonso Jackson, "urged staff members to favor friends of President Bush when awarding Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) contracts." Jackson is a "longtime Bush friend" and former neighbor in Dallas, Texas, who "has led the $32 billion agency since March 2004." Three top HUD officials testified that Jackson told them that "it was important to consider presidential supporters when candidates for HUD discretionary contracts were being considered," the report states. Jackson's chief of staff told investigators that Jackson "personally intervened with contractors whom he did not like ... these contractors had Democratic political affiliations." Awarding contracts on the basis of party affiliation "violates federal law." Yesterday, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), ranking member on the Government Reform Committee, called for Jackson to resign immediately. The White House gave him "a tepid vote of confidence."
JACKSON TOLD SENIOR STAFF TO REWARD BUSH SUPPORTERS WITH CONTRACTS: Jackson admitted to investigators "that he did have a bias, in that he wasn't likely to assist someone who would 'castigate' him or the president, although he would not interfere with a contract on that basis." But HUD officials say "he told a senior staff meeting...that they should look at contractors' political leanings. He urged them to give contracts to supporters of President Bush, and voiced concerns about other contracts going to active Democratic donors, the aides said." "I have never touched a contract," Jackson said Wednesday in his first interview about the incident. "I just ad-libbed a little more than I should have, and I regret that." But the report also states that Jackson "would meet with individuals who were either contractors or who wanted to obtain contracts at HUD," despite testimony from a former HUD lawyer saying "we warned him against it." Investigators "so far have found no direct proof that Jackson's staff obeyed." HUD is refusing to release the full, 340-page report on Jackson's conduct to the media, but the Dallas Business Journal has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain it.
JACKSON ADMITS LYING ABOUT RETRIBUTION FOR BUSH CRITIC: The HUD investigation was triggered after the Dallas Business Journal reported last April that Jackson had closed a speech "with a cautionary tale, relaying a conversation he had with a prospective advertising contractor." The contractor had "made a heck of a proposal...so we selected him," Jackson told a group of real estate officials. "He came to see me and thank me for selecting him. Then he said something ... he said, 'I have a problem with your president.' I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'I don't like President Bush.' I thought to myself, 'Brother, you have a disconnect -- the president is elected, I was selected. You wouldn't be getting the contract unless I was sitting here. If you have a problem with the president, don't tell the secretary.'" Jackson continued, "He didn't get the contract. Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president? Logic says they don't get the contract. That's the way I believe." When the story first broke, a HUD press secretary said that Jackson's story was actually "hypothetical," pure fiction, since Jackson is "not part of the contracting process." But Jackson's chief of staff said he had "personally intervened with contractors whom he did not like," and the inspector general confirmed with HUD officials that the conversation did take place, although the contractor in question never had his contract canceled. Jackson admitted to investigators that he had "lied, and I regret having done that."
JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG: The U.S. federal government spends roughly $315 billion annually on contracted goods and services, making it "the largest consumer of goods and services in the world." Shielded from accountability by a secretive executive branch and a drought of oversight by congressional conservatives, the cash-flush federal contracting process has become a prime source of government corruption. Most notably in Iraq and in the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast, the last several years have seen an explosion in contract fraud, waste, abuse, and cronyism. Rep. Waxman has compiled a database -- Dollars, Not Sense -- to track the extent of waste, fraud, and abuse in federal contracts. "Currently, there are 124 contracts in the database, and the total value of the costs incurred or projected to be incurred under the contracts is $752 billion." Calls by progressives to establish a Truman Commission to investigate waste and fraud in Iraq contracts, and by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and others to establish a federal Anti-Fraud Commission for Katrina spending, have been repeatedly rejected by conservatives.
Under the Radar
HUMAN RIGHTS -- DETAINEE AGREEMENT ALLOWS 'SCENIC ROUTE' TO TORTURE: "We're all winners," Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said about the recent agreement on detainee legislation, "because we've been able to come to an agreement through a process of negotiations and consensus." "But the details - not to mention crowing from the White House - indicate that the administration is walking off with a major victory while allowing the Senate to save face." The White House agreed "not to reinterpret the Geneva Conventions," but the legislation "would give the president explicit authority to interpret 'the meaning and application' of the relevant provisions in Common Article 3." The War Crimes Act will now include a list of "grave breaches" of the conventions, while the president "could decide on his own what actions might be a lesser breach...and what interrogation techniques he considered permissible." The legislation "would permit CIA interrogators to use harsh techniques critics call torture." "In effect, the agreement means that U.S. violations of international human rights law can continue as long as Mr. Bush is president, with Congress's tacit assent." The administration admitted it had gotten exactly what it wanted from the Senate. "We proposed a more direct approach to bringing clarification," Dan Bartlett said. "This one is more of the scenic route, but it gets us there."
ENVIRONMENT -- BUSH RELEASES WEAK NEW STANDARDS ON LETHAL AIR POLLUTANTS: For the first time in nearly a decade, the Bush administration yesterday released new air quality standards for particle soot, "the most lethal of common air pollutants." The new rule "lowers the limit on how much fine particulate matter Americans may be exposed to over a 24-hour period," but "leaves unchanged the annual limit for 'fine particulate matter,' or soot, in the air." Medical groups, environmentalists, and local public health officials blasted the announcement. "For the first time in its 36-year history, EPA has ignored the recommendations of its independent scientific advisers, as well as agency staff experts, in setting health-based air quality standards," said one director of an association representing state and local air-pollution control officials. "This final action will result in thousands of avoidable premature deaths, and thousands of cases of cardiovascular and lung disease throughout the country,'' he said. Frank O'Donnell of Clean Air Watch called it "the single worst action the Bush administration has taken on air pollution," and noted that "literally dozens of medical and health groups -- including the American Medical Association, the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics -- had all urged the EPA to set much tougher standards."
AFGHANISTAN -- NATO LOSING GROUND AGAINST TERROR-LINKED DRUG PRODUCTION: According to a top NATO commander, General James Jones, the Taliban and Al Qaeda are raking in record profits from opium sales and NATO is losing ground in efforts to quell poppy production. Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has risen 59 percent from 2005 levels to record highs, with most of the increases seen in the Taliban strongholds of Kandahar and Helmand provinces. Recently, a former Chief of Intelligence for the Drug Enforcement Agency said the failures go back to decisions made by U.S. officials in 2001: "The White House and Pentagon position was that drugs don't matter," and U.S. beat back British efforts to focus on uprooting the Afghan opium economy. But drugs do matter. House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde said yesterday during a hearing on Afghanistan, "The [drug] revenues are financing and strengthening the Taliban and anti-Coalition activity, increasing crime and corruption, and eroding the authority of central governing institutions." Addressing these failures requires a comprehensive anti-drug policy that combines harsher crack-downs on drug lords with more development assistance that "makes farmers think twice about planting opium."
Think Fast
A national black conservative group is "running a radio advertisement accusing Democrats of starting the Ku Klux Klan and saying the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican, a claim challenged by civil-rights researchers."
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage threatened to bomb Pakistan "back to the stone age" if it did not cooperate with the U.S. after 9/11. "I think it was a very rude remark," Musharraf said.
Genocide update: Sudan's army continues to bomb villages in Darfur, UN human rights workers report, "killing and injuring civilians, and driving hundreds of people from their homes."
Meanwhile, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced legislation in the House to bar companies receiving government contracts from doing business with Sudan.
$11 billion. The cost of implementing the Real ID Act over five years, according to a new report. "The days of going to the DMV and getting your license on the same day are probably over," said one National Governors Association representative.
Stress on Guard and Reserve may worsen. "Strains on the Army from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have become so severe that Army officials say they may be forced to make greater use of the National Guard to provide enough troops for overseas deployments."
1,137. The number of laptops lost by the Commerce Department since 2001. Hundreds "contained personal information."
$4. Cost for a one month supply of certain generic drugs at Wal-Mart under a program the chain announced yesterday. It could mean significant savings for some consumers. But the special pricing only applies to "fewer than 150 products" which is only a small fraction "of the estimated 2,100 generic products available."
And finally: No Spin Zone an Al Qaeda Free Zone? It is, at least according to federal law enforcement. Bill O'Reilly told Barbara Walters, "[T]he FBI came in and warned me and a few other people at Fox News that al Qaeda had us on a death list." But one official responded, "I'm not aware of any FBI agents warning anyone at Fox News of their presence on any list." "That sounds like absolute bulls**t to me - it's typical of O'Reilly," added an exec from a rival cable news network.
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GOOD NEWS
More than a year after Hurricane Katrina hit, the New Orleans Saints will be reopening the Superdome tonight "with a game against Atlanta that's got all the trappings of a Super Bowl."
STATE WATCH
OREGON: Hospitals go organic.
PENNSYLVANIA: State Senate considers a bill requiring hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims.
TEXAS: Ethanol coming to Texas markets, slowly.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Video: Clinton sets the record straight, smacks down Fox News.
CARPETBAGGER REPORT: President Bush says the war in Iraq will be "just a comma" in the history books.
THOUGHTS OF AN AVERAGE WOMAN: Detainee "compromise" includes loopholes for sexual assault.
DPC: Webcast at 1:30PM ET: Military officials testify on the planning and conduct of the Iraq war
DAILY GRILL
CLINTON: "I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked: Why didn't you do anything about the Cole? I want to know how many you asked: Why did you fire Dick Clarke?"
WALLACE: "We asked -- we asked."
--President Bill Clinton responding to Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, 9/24/06
VERSUS
Since 2001, Chris Wallace has interviewed the top national security officials from the Bush administration -- Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Hadley -- 42 times. According to a database search, none of them have been asked about the USS Cole or why Clarke was demoted.
--ThinkProgress.org, 9/23/06, 9/23/06
IRAQ
The Hornet's Nest
Last April, intelligence analysts completed a report entitled, "Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States," a classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that "represents a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government." The NIE "found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism," and the "Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse." "It paints a fairly stark picture of what we all know, and that this is a movement that is spreading and gaining momentum around the world," said one official who has seen the document. "Things like the Iraq war have given the terrorists recruiting tools and places to ply their trade and a training ground." Although it cites several factors that fuel extremism, "the reference to Iraq was the main one." The CIA's former Director of the Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program told Harper's recently, "Iraq has galvanized jihadists; our presence is what is attracting them. We need to get out of there." A Center for American Progress/Foreign Policy Magazine survey found 87 percent of terrorism experts from across the political spectrum believed the war in Iraq has had a negative impact on our national security. The first step toward a more successful counterterrorism strategy should be a change of course in Iraq.
STATING THE OBVIOUS: "It's stating the obvious," one intelligence official said of the NIE. Back in Jan. 2005, the National Intelligence Council released a report that found Iraq had "replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of 'professionalized' terrorists." Iraq, the report found, was a "magnet for international terrorist activity" and gave terrorists "a training ground, a recruitment ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills." Former CIA Director Porter Goss admitted the following month that "Islamic extremists are exploiting the Iraqi conflict to recruit new anti-U.S. jihadists." "Our policies in the Middle East fuel Islamic resentment," the former Defense Intelligence Agency director added. Other CIA and State Department studies from 2005 confirmed that "Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the prime training ground for foreign terrorists." In 2004, former terrorism czar Richard Clarke wrote in his book, Against All Enemies, "Nothing America could have done would have provided al Qaeda and its new generation of cloned groups a better recruitment device than our unprovoked invasion of an oil-rich Arab country."
AFTER RECEIVING NIE, WHITE HOUSE MISLED AMERICANS: Since April 2006, the Bush administration has ignored the NIE and has consistently argued its Iraq policies have made the American people safer from terrorism. "The world is safer," Bush argued last month, "the Iraqi people are better, the cause for liberty is more advanced because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power." "America is safer. ... We are safer because we are on the offensive against our enemies overseas." "I've heard this theory about everything was just fine until we arrived [in Iraq]," Bush said last month, "and kind of 'we're going to stir up the hornet's nest' theory. It just doesn't hold water, as far as I'm concerned." When confronted with a poll showing most Americans think our actions overseas are creating more terrorists, Dick Cheney said, "I can't buy that." (Cheney also has dismissed the suggestion "that by liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein, we simply stirred up a hornet's nest.") "We will replace violent dictatorships with peaceful democracies," Bush said in Atlanta recently. "We'll make America, the Middle East, and the world more secure."
VIOLENCE MORE LIKE AN EXCLAMATION POINT: "I like to tell people when throwing the final history is written on Iraq," Bush told CNN's Wolf Blitzer yesterday, the violence "will look like just a comma." The ongoing violence belies Bush's dismissive tone. A recent U.N. report found the "number of civilians slain in Iraq reached an unprecedented level in July and August, which saw 6,599 violent deaths." "The official start to Ramadan on Monday was punctuated with violent attacks around Iraq, including an assault on a police station and the discovery of more apparent victims of sectarian death squads in the capital." The U.S. death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan now equals the number killed in the 9/11 attacks. (2,973 as of last Friday.) More than 20,000 U.S. troops have been wounded in Iraq. As Bush continues to spin an overly optimistic view of Iraq, it is "today a broken, war-torn country." "Violence, not growing democracy, is the dominant feature of Iraqi life," the New York Times wrote this weekend. "Every Iraqi knows this. Americans need to know it too."
Under the Radar
TERRORISM -- CLINTON SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON HIS RECORD ON AL QAEDA, SMACKS DOWN FOX NEWS: Yesterday on Fox News Sunday, former President Bill Clinton "vigorously defended his efforts to capture and kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden." Host Chris Wallace attempted to falsely accuse Clinton of having given aid and comfort to bin Laden by withdrawing from Somalia six months after the downing of a Black Hawk in 1993, an incident which -- as Clinton noted -- had no connection to bin Laden. Clinton set the record straight on the numerous times his administration tried to kill bin Laden. "That's the difference in me and some, including all the right wingers who are attacking me now. They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try and they didn't...I tried. So I tried and failed. When I failed, I left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy and the best guy in the country, Dick Clarke." Clinton pressed Wallace on why he had never asked the Bush administration why it demoted Clarke. Wallace claimed "we asked" and shot back, "Do you ever watch Fox News Sunday, sir?" In fact, a Progress Report analysis found that, since 2001, Wallace has interviewed the top national security officials from the Bush administration -- Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Hadley -- 42 times. According to a Lexis-Nexis database search, he never asked any of them why Clarke was demoted, nor did he ask why they failed to respond to the USS Cole attack. Days after it was revealed that President Bush had received a President's Daily Brief that said "Bin Laden Determined to Strike U.S.," Wallace did not even bring it up in an interview with former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. (Watch the video of the Clinton interview HERE.)
CONGRESS -- DO-NOTHING CONGRESS LEAVES UNDONE VITAL WORK: Congress will be leaving vital bills and high-profile legislation unattended as it breaks for the campaign season. As the New York Times points out, Congress has stumbled in its efforts to pass much-touted bills on lobbying reform, immigration, offshore oil drilling, minimum wage, and the estate tax. It has also neglected to pass an annual budget, and "it appears that just 2 of the 11 required spending bills will pass, and not one has been approved so far, forcing a stopgap measure to keep the federal government open." Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) stated, "This Republican Congress has wasted 20 months on horse slaughtering; the Schiavo case...gay marriage; the nuclear option; flag burning; repealing the estate tax. ... But they could not find a day for some time to look at the President's mistakes, missteps, and misconduct, which have hurt American security and plunged Iraq into a civil war -- not a day." Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) added, "It is disappointing where we are, and I think Republicans need to be upfront about this. ... We have not accomplished what we need to accomplish."
AFGHANISTAN -- EDUCATION UNDER ATTACK: Progress in education "has slowed dramatically" as the Taliban increasingly target schools in Afghanistan, "especially those teaching girls." Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the United Nations that "about 200,000 Afghan children had been forced out of school this year by threats and physical attacks." Human Rights Watch has found "found entire districts where attacks had closed all schools." In the southern province of Kandahar, attackers threw hand grenades through windows and "threatened to throw acid on girls who attend school." In a neighboring province, "a high school principal was beheaded" and half a dozen schools were burned. Since Jan. 2005, there have been "204 documented incidents" against teachers and students. More attacks have occurred in the "first six months of 2006 than in all of the previous year." Women's education took another step backwards recently when a leading Afghan official, Safia Ahmed-jan, was slain outside her home "in apparent retribution for her efforts to help educate women."
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From Thom Hartmann
Reclaiming The Issues: "Keep George Out Of Jail"
The Republicans are trying to keep George W. Bush out of jail. So far, the media and the Democrats haven't done much to stop them.
On the surface, it seems the Republicans are having a debate about "wiretapping terrorists" and "harsh interrogation of prisoners." These frames about the current "rebellion" by McCain, Graham, Warner, et al, are today embraced by both the Republican Party and the mainstream media.
But the real issue is whether Republicans in Congress will trade the principles of democracy and the rule of law to keep George W. Bush and several of his colleagues out of jail, or whether they'll uphold the rule of law and American democracy while abandoning him to face the consequences of his illegal acts.
On June 29, 2006, in the Hamden Case, the US Supreme Court ruled that Donald Rumsfeld and the Bush Administration had violated the Geneva Convention and other international treaties with regard to the treatment and prosecution of detainees in the so-called "war on terror."
The logic of the decision could subject Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, and Rumsfeld - along with those down the chain of command who followed their orders - to prosecution as war criminals both in the United States and internationally. If they violated Common Article 3 and others of the Geneva Conventions, they could be subject to lengthy imprisonment in the US for violating US laws, as well as being brought before the United Nation's International Court of Justice at The Hague, the same as Slobodan Milosevic.
A hastily convened conference call by the Justice Department to discuss the ruling caused Brian Roehrkasse at the Department of Justice Public Affairs Office to comment to those on the call that "the Supreme Court's holding indicates the military commissions, as currently constituted by DOD, while robust in affording enemy combatants more process than this or any other country has ever afforded enemy combatants, are not consistent with current congressional statutes, especially the UCMJ and treaty provisions, Common Article 3."
A plain English translation would be close to: "The Supreme Court said we've broken US law, we've broken the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and we've broken the Geneva Conventions' Common Article 3."
About six weeks later, on August 17, 2006, Federal Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled in Detroit that George W. Bush and his administration had committed numerous felonies with regard to wiretapping American citizens without a legal warrant, including violating the FISA act (which carries a 5-year prison term as the penalty for each violation) and violating the Constitution (which carries impeachment as its penalty). Later in the day, the Department of Homeland Security facilitated the arrest in Thailand of John Mark Karr for killing JonBenet Ramsey, sweeping the story off the front page and out of the weekend news analysis shows, but the ruling is still there.
Thus the Republicans are scrambling.
If either of these precedents carry forward or are seriously prosecuted - as could happen if Democrats take either the House or the Senate and gain the power to investigate crimes of the Bush Administration, or could simply happen as the normal course of events if lawyers in the Justice Department and the United Nations enforce the law - Republicans are faced with the very real possibility that George W. Bush and others in his administration could go to prison. Impeachment is a virtual given.
Thus the spin. And the compromises. And the debates within the Republican Party. And the corporate media's efforts to limit the discussion to the "wiretapping debate" and the "prisoner interrogation/torture debate."
Scratch the veneer off, though, and you quickly see that this is really about keeping George out of jail.
This one will be interesting to watch.
Will the Republicans bail George out the way Osama's half-brother, Salem Bin Laden (who soon thereafter died in a plane crash in Texas), did when Dubya's Harken Oil Company was going bust? Will they keep him from being prosecuted the way his father did when Poppy shut down an SEC investigation of Junior's inside trading? Will they keep him out of federal custody the way his daddy did when Dubya left the Texas Air National Guard to desert the military and go on a year-long drinking binge in Alabama?
And will the Democratic Party seize the frame - or use as an October Surprise - the fact of George W. Bush's vulnerability to criminal prosecution?
Or will the Republicans - and maybe even Poppy Bush (who's spending an eerie amount of time with his new surrogate son, Bill Clinton) - simply decide that after sixty years it's finally time for George to fend for himself, and leave our laws intact?
It could, after all, be the best way for a "maverick" Republican like McCain to reclaim the Republican party and pin all the blame for five years of High Crimes And Misdemeanors on Dubya, paving the way for a "cleaner" Republican slate in the '08 elections. Many of these same Republicans, remember, were pushing hard for jail time for Bill Clinton for lying to a Grand Jury about having sex in the Oval Office - and were quite vocal about how a president could be both impeached and prosecuted for crimes.
The next few weeks - and the fine print in the "compromises" being hammered out among Republicans in the Senate right now - will tell.
Thom Hartmann is a Project Censored Award-winning best-selling author, and host of a nationally syndicated daily progressive talk show carried on the Air America Radio network and The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight," "Unequal Protection," "We The People: A Call To Take Back America," "What Would Jefferson Do?" and "Ultimate Sacrifice." His most recent book is "Screwed: The Undeclared War on the Middle Class and What We Can Do About It."
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From Greg Palast
CHAVEZ' COMMENTS: STRATEGY OR RAVINGS OF MADMAN?
September, 21, 2006"I've known Hugo Chavez for years, let me tell you that man knows a diablo when he sees one." -- Greg Palast
Watch my recent exclusive BBC interview with President Chavez
Read the article here
Also watch my LinkTV Chavez Special "Finding Bolivar's Heir"
"Finding Bolivar's Heir" (Large File)
"Finding Bolivar's Heir" (Small File)
*****
From The Progressive
By Greg Palast
You'd think George Bush would get down on his knees and kiss Hugo Chavez's behind. Not only has Chavez delivered cheap oil to the Bronx and other poor communities in the United States. And not only did he offer to bring aid to the victims of Katrina. In my interview with the president of Venezuela on March 28, he made Bush the following astonishing offer: Chavez would drop the price of oil to $50 a barrel, "not too high, a fair price," he said -- a third less than the $75 a barrel for oil recently posted on the spot market. That would bring down the price at the pump by about a buck, from $3 to $2 a gallon.
But our President has basically told Chavez to take his cheaper oil and stick it up his pipeline. Before I explain why Bush has done so, let me explain why Chavez has the power to pull it off -- and the method in the seeming madness of his "take-my-oil-please!" deal.
Venezuela, Chavez told me, has more oil than Saudi Arabia. A nutty boast? Not by a long shot. In fact, his surprising claim comes from a most surprising source: the U.S. Department of Energy. In an internal report, the DOE estimates that Venezuela has five times the Saudis' reserves. However, most of Venezuela's mega-horde of crude is in the More...form of "extra-heavy" oil -- liquid asphalt -- which is ghastly expensive to pull up and refine. Oil has to sell above $30 a barrel to make the investment in extra-heavy oil worthwhile. A big dip in oil's price -- and, after all, oil cost only $18 a barrel six years ago -- would bankrupt heavy-oil investors. Hence Chavez's offer: Drop the price to $50 -- and keep it there. That would guarantee Venezuela's investment in heavy oil.
But the ascendance of Venezuela within OPEC necessarily means the decline of the power of the House of Saud. And the Bush family wouldn't like that one bit. It comes down to "petro-dollars." When George W. ferried then-Crown Prince (now King) Abdullah of Saudi Arabia around the Crawford ranch in a golf cart it wasn't because America needs Arabian oil. The Saudis will always sell us their petroleum. What Bush needs is Saudi petro-dollars. Saudi Arabia has, over the past three decades, kindly recycled the cash sucked from the wallets of American SUV owners and sent much of the loot right back to New York to buy U.S. Treasury bills and other U.S. assets.
The Gulf potentates understand that in return for lending the U.S. Treasury the cash to fund George Bush's $2 trillion rise in the nation's debt, they receive protection in return. They lend us petro-dollars, we lend them the 82nd Airborne.
Chavez would put an end to all that. He'll sell us oil relatively cheaply -- but intends to keep the petro-dollars in Latin America. Recently, Chavez withdrew $20 billion from the U.S. Federal Reserve and, at the same time, lent or committed a like sum to Argentina, Ecuador, and other Latin American nations.
Chavez, notes The Wall Street Journal, has become a "tropical IMF." And indeed, as the Venezuelan president told me, he wants to abolish the Washington-based International Monetary Fund, with its brutal free-market diktats, and replace it with an "International Humanitarian Fund," an IHF, or more accurately, an International Hugo Fund. In addition, Chavez wants OPEC to officially recognize Venezuela as the cartel's reserve leader, which neither the Saudis nor Bush will take kindly to.
Politically, Venezuela is torn in two. Chavez's "Bolivarian Revolution," a close replica of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal a progressive income tax, public works, social security, cheap electricity -- makes him wildly popular with the poor. And most Venezuelans are poor. His critics, a four-centuries' old white elite, unused to sharing oil wealth, portray him as a Castro-hugging anti-Christ.
Chavez's government, which used to brush off these critics, has turned aggressive on them. I challenged Chavez several times over charges brought against Sumate, his main opposition group. The two founders of the nongovernmental organization, which led the recall campaign against Chavez, face eight years in prison for taking money from the Bush Administration and the International Republican [Party] Institute. No nation permits foreign funding of political campaigns, but the charges (no one is in jail) seem like a heavy hammer to use on the minor infractions of these pathetic gadflies.
Bush's reaction to Chavez has been a mix of hostility and provocation. Washington supported the coup attempt against Chavez in 2002, and Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld have repeatedly denounced him. The revised National Security Strategy of the United States of America, released in March, says, "In Venezuela, a demagogue awash in oil money is undermining democracy and seeking to destabilize the region."
So when the Reverend Pat Robertson, a Bush ally, told his faithful in August 2005 that Chavez has to go, it was not unreasonable to assume that he was articulating an Administration wish. "If he thinks we re trying to assassinate him," Robertson said, "I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war . . . and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."
There are only two ways to defeat the rise of Chavez as the New Abdullah of the Americas. First, the unattractive option: Cut the price of oil below $30 a barrel. That would make Chavez's crude worthless. Or, option two: Kill him.
Q: Your opponents are saying that you are beginning a slow-motion dictatorship. Is that what we are seeing?
Hugo Chavez: They have been saying that for a long time. When they're short of ideas, any excuse will do as a vehicle for lies. That is totally false. I would like to invite the citizens of Great Britain and the citizens of the U.S. and the citizens of the world to come here and walk freely through the streets of Venezuela, to talk to anyone they want, to watch television, to read the papers. We are building a true democracy, with human rights for everyone, social rights, education, health care, pensions, social security, and jobs.
Q: Some of your opponents are being charged with the crime of taking money from George Bush. Will you send them to jail?
Chavez: It's not up to me to decide that. We have the institutions that do that. These people have admitted they have received money from the government of the United States. It's up to the prosecutors to decide what to do, but the truth is that we can't allow the U.S. to finance the destabilization of our country. What would happen if we financed somebody in the U.S. to destabilize the government of George Bush? They would go to prison, certainly.
Q: How do you respond to Bush's charge that you are destabilizing the region and interfering in the elections of other Latin American countries?
Chavez: Mr. Bush is an illegitimate President. In Florida, his brother Jeb deleted many black voters from the electoral registers. So this President is the result of a fraud. Not only that, he is also currently applying a dictatorship in the U.S. People can be put in jail without being charged. They tap phones without court orders. They check what books people take out of public libraries. They arrested Cindy Sheehan because of a T-shirt she was wearing demanding the return of the troops from Iraq. They abuse blacks and Latinos. And if we are going to talk about meddling in other countries, then the U.S. is the champion of meddling in other people's affairs. They invaded Guatemala, they overthrew Salvador Allende, invaded Panama and the Dominican Republic. They were involved in the coup d'etat in Argentina thirty years ago.
Q: Is the U.S. interfering in your elections here?
Chavez: They have interfered for 200 years. They have tried to prevent us from winning the elections, they supported the coup d'etat, they gave millions of dollars to the coup plotters, they supported the media, newspapers, outlaw movements, military intervention, and espionage. But here the empire is finished, and I believe that before the end of this century, it will be finished in the rest of the world. We will see the burial of the empire of the eagle.
Q: You don't interfere in the elections of other nations in Latin America?
Chavez: Absolutely not. I concern myself with Venezuela. However, what's going on now is that some rightwing movements are transforming me into a pawn in the domestic politics of their countries, by making statements that are groundless. About candidates like Morales [of Bolivia], for example. They said I financed the candidacy of President Lula [of Brazil], which is totally false. They said I financed the candidacy of Kirchner [of Argentina], which is totally false. In Mexico, recently, the rightwing party has used my image for its own profit. What s happened is that in Latin America there is a turn to the left. Latin Americans have gotten tired of the Washington consensus -- a neoliberalism that has aggravated misery and poverty.
Q: You have spent millions of dollars of your nation's oil wealth throughout Latin America. Are you really helping these other nations or are you simply buying political support for your regime?
Chavez: We are brothers and sisters. That's one of the reasons for the wrath of the empire. You know that Venezuela has the biggest oil reserves in the world. And the biggest gas reserves in this hemisphere, the eighth in the world. Up until seven years ago, Venezuela was a U.S. oil colony. All of our oil was going up to the north, and the gas was being used by the U.S. and not by us. Now we are diversifying. Our oil is helping the poor. We are selling to the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, some Central American countries, Uruguay, Argentina.
Q: And the Bronx?
Chavez: In the Bronx it is a donation. In all the cases I just mentioned before, it is trade. However, it's not free trade, just fair commerce. We also have an international humanitarian fund as a result of oil revenues.
Q: Why did George Bush turn down your help for New Orleans after the hurricane?
Chavez: You should ask him, but from the very beginning of the terrible disaster of Katrina, our people in the U.S., like the president of CITGO, went to New Orleans to rescue people. We were in close contact by phone with Jesse Jackson. We hired buses. We got food and water. We tried to protect them; they are our brothers and sisters. Doesn't matter if they are African, Asian, Cuban, whatever.
Q: Are you replacing the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as "Daddy Big Bucks"?
Chavez: I do wish that the IMF and the World Bank would disappear soon.
Q: And it would be the Bank of Hugo?
Chavez: No. The International Humanitarian Bank. We are just creating an alternative way to conduct financial exchange. It is based on cooperation. For example, we send oil to Uruguay for their refinery and they are paying us with cows.
Q: Milk for oil.
Chavez: That's right. Milk for oil. The Argentineans also pay us with cows. And they give us medical equipment to combat cancer. It's a transfer of technology. We also exchange oil for software technology. Uruguay is one of the biggest producers of software. We are breaking with the neoliberal model. We do not believe in free trade. We believe in fair trade and exchange, not competition but cooperation. I'm not giving away oil for free. Just using oil, first to benefit our people, to relieve poverty. For a hundred years we have been one of the largest oil-producing countries in the world but with a 60 percent poverty rate and now we are canceling the historical debt.
Q: Speaking of the free market, you've demanded back taxes from U.S. oil companies. You have eliminated contracts for North American, British, and European oil companies. Are you trying to slice out the British and American oil companies from Venezuela?
Chavez: No, we don't want them to go, and I don't think they want to leave the country, either. We need each other. It's simply that we have recovered our oil sovereignty. They didn t pay taxes. They didn't pay royalties. They didn't give an account of their actions to the government. They had more land than had previously been established in the contracts. They didn't comply with the agreed technology exchange. They polluted the environment and didn't pay anything towards the cleanup. They now have to comply with the law.
Q: You've said that you imagine the price of oil rising to $100 dollars per barrel. Are you going to use your new oil wealth to squeeze the planet?
Chavez: No, no. We have no intention of squeezing anyone. Now, we have been squeezed and very hard. Five hundred years of squeezing us and stifling us, the people of the South. I do believe that demand is increasing and supply is dropping and the large reservoirs are running out. But it's not our fault. In the future, there must be an agreement between the large consumers and the large producers.
Q: What happens when the oil money runs out, what happens when the price of oil falls as it always does? Will the
Bolivarian revolution of Hugo Chavez simply collapse because there's no money to pay for the big free ride?
Chavez: I don't think it will collapse, in the unlikely case of oil running out today. The revolution will survive. It does not rely solely on oil for its survival. There is a national will, there is a national idea, a national project. However, we are today implementing a strategic program called the Oil Sowing Plan: using oil wealth so Venezuela can become an agricultural country, a tourist destination, an industrialized country with a diversified economy. We are investing billions of dollars in the infrastructure: power generators using thermal energy, a large railway, roads, highways, new towns, new universities, new schools, recuperating land, building tractors, and giving loans to farmers. One day we won't have any more oil, but that will be in the twenty-second century. Venezuela has oil for another 200 years.
Q: But the revolution can come to an end if there's another coup and it succeeds. Do you believe Bush is still trying to overthrow your government?
Chavez: He would like to, but what you want is one thing, and what you cannot really obtain is another.
*******
Greg Palast is the author of the just-released New York Times bestseller, "ARMED MADHOUSE: Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats Bush Sinks, the Scheme to Steal '08, No Child's Behind Left and other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War" from which this is adapted. Go to www.GregPalast.com.
For Media Requests contact: interviews (at) GregPalast.com
posted by The Scallion @ 8:56 PM
