Oh, gag... Like we didn't know...

but statistics have a certain way of hammering things home... the nyt continues with its series on class and income disparity in the u.s... (from the sunday edition...)

"Draw a line under the top 0.1 percent of income earners - the top one-thousandth. Above that line are about 145,000 taxpayers, each with at least $1.6 million in income and often much more.

"The average income for the top 0.1 percent was $3 million in 2002, the latest year for which averages are available. That number is two and a half times the $1.2 million, adjusted for inflation, that group reported in 1980. No other income group rose nearly as fast.

and if that's not gagging enough...

"The share of the nation's income earned by those in this uppermost category has more than doubled since 1980, to 7.4 percent in 2002. The share of income earned by the rest of the top 10 percent rose far less, and the share earned by the bottom 90 percent fell.

Under the Bush tax cuts, the 400 taxpayers with the highest incomes - a minimum of $87 million in 2000, the last year for which the government will release such data - now pay income, Medicare and Social Security taxes amounting to virtually the same percentage of their incomes as people making $50,000 to $75,000.

Those earning more than $10 million a year now pay a lesser share of their income in these taxes than those making $100,000 to $200,000.

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"Rant alert" on Kos

how have we come to this...? a current diary on kos contains a review of far right reactions to the "friday-night-nobody-
home" revelation that guards at guantanamo did indeed descrate the koran... the author staggers under the load of pure venom and hate as will you if you have the stomach to read it... a wee sample...

MUSLIMS ARE IDIOTS.....
by: redacted name (42/M/San Pedro) 06/04/05 10:47 am
Msg: 16040 of 16154

Hey, they should have used the Quran as toilet paper to wipe their butts after they defecated - to hell with you Muslim suck-wads - we hate you and don't care what you think - you all suck - I hope you all die painfully - the rest of the civilized world doesn't even care what "you think" about whether you've been offended or not -

when i read this type of thing, i can only shake my head... it is our own president of the united states that has given implicit sanction to rage and hate at any and all that "differs" from your own personal idea of what's right... i don't even recognize my own country any more...

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Is this the straw for Bolton...?

John R. Bolton flew to Europe in 2002 to confront the head of a global arms-control agency and demand he resign, then orchestrated the firing of the unwilling diplomat in a move a U.N. tribunal has since judged unlawful, according to officials involved.

if bush pushes this guy through on a recess appointment or, worse yet, just sends him to the u.s. without a senate confirmation vote (see steve clemons' comments at the washington note), i don't know what we can do about it except break out the rakes and hoes and prepare to storm the bastille... this cabal at the white house and its party-loyal, litmus-tested minions are so far out of control it's not funny... and bolton has clearly demonstrated that he is undeserving of ANY reponsible government post whatsoever...

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9/11 Pilot's Widow Denied Pension by United Airlines

this says it all... read it and weep... (this letter was originally posted on a privately-run united airlines employee group site...)

To Congressman Miller;

My name is Ellen Saracini. My husband Captain Victor J. Saracini was the captain of United Flight 175 that struck the south tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 at 9:03 am. While no one could have imagined the events of that infamous day, neither could Victor have imagined what would be happening right now to his wife and his two daughters.

(continue reading here)

I am writing this letter to voice to you what is being taken away from Victor and his family. If you knew my husband you would know he was a true family man who made sure his family's future was provided for. I am currently receiving the spousal portion of Victor's pension, which is 50% of what he thought would be there for his family. After United took away our ESOP stock, this pension is how I am supporting our two daughters and myself.

I was given a choice to sue the Airlines, Port Authority, and others, or join in the victims' compensation fund set up by the government. I pledged I would not sue and proceeded with the fund; after all, this is the company Victor was so proud to work for and the same company of his United brothers and sisters. Every bit of preparation that Victor and I worked for was used against the claim. Life insurance was deducted. My full pension was deducted from the award. Now I will have a double jeopardy as I will again loose my pension with no recourse on either side.

During the last three years, my girls and I have been impacted more than words can explain. One daughter is in counseling, the other won't talk, and both have medical problems stemming from the loss of their father while at the same time maintaining excellent grades in honors and AP courses. I have stood up and been an advocate on the steering committee of the terrorist's lawsuits, gaining information to aid our Government. I have worked with APSA to defend our cockpits. I am fundraising for the Garden of Reflection, a memorial park dedicated to all we lost on that day. I have started a flight scholarship in Victors name to continue his legacy in flight. We are doing everything that can be done to make it better for all.

I can't help but to ask myself at what point are companies allowed to take away so much from the lives of dedicated employees and their families? At what point does our Government step in and stop atrocities such as this before they are allowed to irrevocably change the lives of so many? I refuse to believe that this is the only solution that can be reached.The PBGC's decision to allow United Airlines to end their pensions is just wrong. If this monumental verdict moves forward, I will be faced with many hardships. Victor was a proud United pilot, husband, father and friend who fought a war with terrorists. Never would he have imagined that he would have to fight for his family's well-being with the very company he so proudly spread his wings.

Sincerely

Ellen Saracini

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"America is not like America before. They can arrest you."

the title quote comes from a meeting of muslims in brooklyn where grievances over perceived unnecessary harsh treatment at the hands of authorities pursuing terrorism suspects were aired in front of, among others, fbi special agent charles e. frahm... as you might suspect, the meeting was loaded with tension but i think frahm's closing remark pretty well sums it up...

"I hear you, and I will continue to hear you," he said. "I can also say we make no apologies for actions we must take to protect Americans."

the point that the people at the meeting made over and over again is that they ARE americans TOO... yes, i can just hear the greek chorus in the background, wailing that all muslims are the enemy but it ain't just the muslims at risk, my friends...

on sunday, a 57 year-old des moines grandmother and middle school principal, cecilia beaman, was arrested at lax for possession of a knife she had used to make sandwiches for the kids she had been escorting to a band festival with a side trip to disneyland... she had packed the other knives in her checked baggage but couldn't find one of them and thought it had been lost... it surfaced in her carry-on items at security screening...

"You've committed a felony," Beaman says a security screener announced. "And you're considered a terrorist." Beaman says she was told her name would go on a terrorist watch-list and that she would have to pay a $500 fine. She says screeners refused to give her paperwork or documentation of her violation, documentation of the pending fine, or a copy of the photograph of the knife. "They said 'no' and they said it's a national security issue. And I said what about my constitutional rights? And they said 'not at this point ... you don't have any'."

after confirming her story, they could have simply confiscated the knife... the screener obviously had a cob up his butt but, the point is, this is where we're ALL headed, folks...

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Of COURSE they "played it down..."

what the hell else would you expect from this crowd...? accountability...? i don't think so...

The White House on Friday played down a report in which U.N. weapons inspectors documented additional materials missing from weapons sites in Iraq.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the Bush administration had taken steps to ensure sites were secured, and he suggested it was doubtful the looted material was being used to boost other countries' weapons programs.

while not one to wish difficulties on anyone, i nonetheless sincerely hope scott mcclellan has trouble sleeping at night...

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They SHOULD be on the defensive, dammit

An official of Amnesty International said Friday that the term gulag in its annual report to describe the United States prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, was chosen deliberately, and she shrugged off harsh criticism of the report by the Bush administration.

The official, Kate Gilmore, the group's executive deputy secretary general, said the administration's response was "typical of a government on the defensive," and she drew parallels to the reactions of the former Soviet Union, Libya and Iran under Ayatollah Khomeini, when those governments were accused of human rights abuses.

when it has been clearly documented (among many other documented instances) that the president of the united states signed a memorandum authorizing the waiver of geneva for detainees (as bush did in february 2002), that general ricardo sanchez authored interrogation techniques based on that waiver which officialy set the stage for torture at abu ghraib, and that general sanchez, in a hearing before the senate armed services committee, denied writing those techniques thus committing perjury under oath, i would say the bush administration has every reason to be defensive...

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While in the neighborhood, Rummy attacks China

(picking up a thread from yesterday on the apparent u.s. strategy of provoking other nations...)

oh, and i suppose OUR military spending doesn't upset ANY balances...??

(sometimes i try to put myself in the mindset of an alien visiting from another planet - no smart remarks, please - trying to understand human beings and what's happening on earth... then i go get some ibuprofen...)

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in an unusually blunt public critique of China, said Saturday [in a keynote address at an Asian security conference in Singapore] that Beijing's military spending threatened the delicate security balance in Asia and called for an emphasis instead on political freedom and open markets.

[...]

Washington's stance regarding Beijing appears to be growing more critical. The United States has accused China of manipulating the value of its currency, for example, in order to increase exports, and of exerting heavy-handed pressure on Taiwan.

it's getting more and more painful to observe reality...

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Dramatic planetary changes

(thanks to the bbc...)

An atlas of environmental change compiled by the United Nations reveals some of the dramatic transformations that are occurring to our planet.


Where China's Huang He - or Yellow River,
the muddiest river on Earth - flows into the
ocean, sediments such as mica and feldspar
are deposited in the delta, causing it to
change dramatically in recent decades.

[...]

Among the transformations highlighted in the atlas are the huge growth of greenhouses in southern Spain, the rapid rise of shrimp farming in Asia and Latin America and the emergence of a giant, shadow puppet-shaped peninsula at the mouth of the Yellow River [see above] that has built up through transportation of sediment in the waters.

you can see it in the u.s. as well... flying over denver, phoenix, las vegas, and reno as i did twice last week, the amount of land under development is staggering... driving around colorado springs is a similar story...

p.s. (snark... sorry, can't resist...) keep in mind, if john bolton is confirmed as u.s. ambassador to the u.n., it won't be too long before the u.n. is dismantled and then we won't have to be upset with such disturbing images...

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Watergate and Felt

i haven't posted on this cuz there's been just too damn much on it already... but thanks to atrios, i just read this on arianna huffington's blog... robert george lays it all out quite well... go read the whole thing... it's good...

[Ken Duberstein, Ronald Reagan's chief of staff] said that, in reading all the media reports of the last few days, he put himself back in his shoes as White House chief of staff. He thought, with the information Felt had in front of him, "What options did he have?" "He couldn't go to the White House Chief of Staff (Haldeman or Ehrlichman); he couldn't go to the Justice Department (John Mitchell); he couldn't go to the White House Counsel (John Dean). He did something responsible. The congressional committees hadn't been formed yet. What do you do? Felt put America first."

at the risk of repeating what everyone else has been saying ad nauseam for days, where is "deep throat" when we need him...?

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The Friday-evening-while-nobody's-home news...

oh, my goodness...!! and where is scott mcclellan this friday evening...? expressing his outrage about how his boss put him in an indefensible position while dining out in a fashionable foggy bottom restaurant, no doubt...??

US guards at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre kicked, threw water and splashed urine on copies of Koran.

The Pentagon has released details of five incidents in which the Koran was mishandled by US personnel at the camp, some intentional and others accidental.

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Thoughts on the EU, post-constitutional rejection

(from the international strategic analysis group...)

First, expansion to the east and the south has reached the limits of what most EU citizens will accept. There was already a great deal of apprehension at the admission of Central European and Baltic countries last year, but this is nothing in comparison to the potential membership of Turkey or Ukraine. In short, a clear majority of EU citizens do not want to see the EU expand further, despite the wishes of Brussels.

(more)

Second, the easier forms of integration have been accomplished. Any further integration will enter the areas of foreign policy, defense, taxation and the like and it is these areas where many EU citizens will defend their national interests most strongly. Third, Brussels has become the convenient scapegoat for many of the ills that have befallen many EU countries. As such, any integration and expansion efforts being driven by Brussels are likely to run into more opposition from disgruntled EU voters. With referendums likely to grow in popularity, this latest period of EU expansion and integration has come to a screeching halt.

astute comments but they still beg the question... why would eu accession by turkey and the ukraine be so vehemently opposed...? sadly, the deep division and historical enmity between christianity and islam underlies a great deal of the resistance and that needs to be placed squarely on the table...

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Good news for Argentina (again)

yes, i like this plucky not-so-little country and i'm delighted to see how they've been able to move forward following the devastating economic crisis of 2001 that left over 25% of the country unemployed...



Argentina has completed its $100 billion debt exchange after months of wrangling with investors over the terms of the agreement. The government announced Thursday the last payments had finally been made, La Nacion reported. Economic Minister Roberto Lavagna had spent months trying to persuade bondholders to accept about 34 cents on the dollar.

While three-quarters of investors accepted the deal, the remainder argued in a New York court they were entitled to more. The argument, however, was rejected earlier this year.

what's particularly interesting is why argentina took this route, defying the terms of its repayment agreement with the imf (international monetary fund)... it's very simple... argentina decided that the interests of its citizens take precedence over the interests of foreign bondholders... now THERE'S a concept...!

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The oracle speaks: Henry the K

“The great game is developing again,” [Henry Kissinger, former US secretary of state] told a meeting of the US-India Business Council. “The amount of energy is finite, up to now in relation to demand, and competition for access to energy can become the life and death for many societies. It would be ironic if the direction of pipelines and locations become the modern equivalent of the colonial disputes of the 19th century.”

boy, i tell ya... you don't have to read too far between the lines to understand what this man really thinks... for one thing, saying the "amount of energy is finite" only clues you in to his rejection of the viability of alternative energy sources... saying that competition for "locations and directions of pipelines" and "access to energy" "WOULD be ironic" is completely disingenuous... that competition exists now and has already been engaged in for some time by the u.s... if you look at where u.s. forces are strategically deployed around the world, you will be looking at a global map of energy resources...

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N. Korea thinks twice

after all the trash talk and the lobbing of molotov cocktails (is there anybody besides me old enough to remember that term?) back and forth between pyongyang and washington (see previous posts), n. korea seizes on a trifle and talks nice for a change...

North Korea gave rare praise to President Bush on Friday, welcoming his use of the honorific "Mr." when referring to leader Kim Jong Il and saying the softened tone could lead to its return to nuclear arms talks.

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Good... Tony may have a pair after all...

with all the accusations that tony blair is bush's poodle, maybe he's decided to show a little moxie of his own...

Britain is considering establishing a European alliance on Group of Eight plans for African aid and debt relief, the Guardian reported Thursday.

In the face of seemingly immutable U.S. opposition to proposals for the cancellation of debt and the tripling of aid to the poorest nations, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown are now considering going ahead without Washington fully on board.

blair has invested a great deal of his own political capital in this effort and, with his upcoming turn as the top eu official, he's got a lot at stake in making this happen...

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Speaking of provocative...

after my cheney post yesterday (big hat, no horse), after cheney calls amnesty international's report "reprehensible," and just minutes after i post a comment on bushco's generally provocative behavior (see previous post), i see yet another example of what such provocation produces... after cheney seriously disses n. korea, calling kim jong il “one of the world’s most irresponsible leaders” who runs a police state and leaves his people in poverty and malnutrition, n. korea understandably fires back...

(more)

North Korea called Vice President Dick Cheney a “bloodthirsty beast” and said Thursday his recent remarks labeling ruler Kim Jong Il irresponsible are another reason for it to stay away from six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.

“What Cheney uttered at a time when the issue of the six-party talks is high on the agenda is little short of telling (North Korea) not to come out for the talks,” an unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

now, don't get me wrong... n. korea is hardly an exemplar of enlightened nationhood... quite the contrary, in fact... but, folks, they are either building or already have NUCLEAR WEAPONS and have said time after time that they don't intend to take any crap from anybody... is it really necessary to rub their nose in it...? loss of face in the orient is a big deal unless, of course, the plan is to create enough hostility to justify military action rather than a negotiated disarmament... meanwhile, back at the ranch, scott mcclellan speaks...

Mr McClellan said this was "more of the same kind of bluster we hear from North Korea from time to time".

"All of the parties are saying to North Korea that it needs to abandon its nuclear weapon ambitions. We all share the goal of a nuclear free (Korean) peninsula. North Korea is the one that must make a strategic decision if they want to have a better relation with the international community," Mr McClellan said.

"They may make provocative statements but they will only further isolate themselves from the international community.

"We've made very clear that we are committed to the six party talks."

bullshit... who's making the provocative statements that PRODUCE the provocative statements...??? and what's this committed crap...???

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Caution - don't irritate the bear!

"don't wake the sleeping bear" has always been a reference to russia and being careful not to provoke it into action... bushco is an inherently provocative bunch, however, and lately the bear is becoming increasingly annoyed...

Taking aim at the United States, Russia’s defense minister Thursday threatened retaliatory steps if any country puts weapons in space and said Moscow won’t negotiate controls over tactical nuclear arms with nations that deploy them abroad, Russian media reported.

i would interpret that last remark to mean any country that has tactical nukes physically stored outside its own borders... yes...? no...?

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Republican lesson from Watergate

and they learned it well... thanks to robert parry from consortium news...

[T]he lesson learned by the Republicans [from the Watergate scandal] was the need to intimidate freewheeling journalists as much as possible and to make sure editors grant them little leeway in pursuing a politically sensitive story that could harm the conservative cause.

When I interviewed Spencer Oliver [R. Spencer Oliver, a Watergate-era Democratic staffer] in 1992, he told me, “What [the Republicans] learned from Watergate was not ‘don’t do it,’ but ‘cover it up more effectively.’ They have learned that they have to frustrate congressional oversight and press scrutiny in a way that will avoid another major scandal.”

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The Management Style 'du jour" and "Life without Rummy..."

thanks to james wolcott for the link to this inventory of devastation...

Among the many unhappy developments in American industry in recent decades has been the advent of "wreck it and run" management. A small coterie of senior managers takes over a company and makes a brilliant show of short-term profits while actually driving the business into the ground. They bail out just before it crashes, cashing in their stock options as they go, and leave the employees, ordinary stockholders, and customers holding an empty bag.

wow...! i just had this incredible flashback to united airlines... ~shakes head~ i must still be de-toxifying...

in all seriousness, what william lind describes is precisely the approach to management that is being encouraged by bushco... with cox's appointment to the sec, expect debacles that will make enron look like a sunday school picnic...

It is increasingly clear that under Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. armed forces have also been taken over by "wreck it and run" management. When Rumsfeld leaves office, what will his successor inherit?

(to catch all the color commentary, go read the full post here...)

• A volunteer military without volunteers.
• The world's largest pile of wrecked and worn-out military equipment.
• A military tied down in a strategically meaningless backwater, Iraq.
• Commitments to hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of future weapons programs that are militarily as useful as Zeppelins but less fun to watch.
• A world wary of U.S. intentions and skeptical of any American claims about anything.
• Finally, the equivalent of an unfavorable ruling by a bankruptcy judge in the form of a lost war.

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Wal-Mart doesn't just flip off the U.S. and Canada

Nearly one out of three foreign-invested ventures in China have set up trade unions to protect legal rights of employees, a senior unionist has announced.

While naming Wal-Mart again for its refusal to organize unions, the official criticized some foreign enterprises for not abiding by China's Trade Union Law.

"Some (foreign) enterprises, with Wal-Mart being representative, turned a blind eye to China's Trade Union Law and set very negative examples during the country's unionizing effort," Guo Wencai, organization department director of All-China Federation of Trade Unions, was quoted by the People's Daily yesterday.

dontcha feel better now that you know they're being GLOBALLY CONSISTENT...?

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In Belarus - "A Modest Proposal" a la Alexander Swift

A Belarusian parliamentarian proposed Thursday to introduce a law allowing forced sterilization of citizens, Interfax reports. This way the state will avoid the birth of handicapped children instead of having to support them, Sergei Kostyan claims.

“This law will be a strict warning for those whose sexual life is disgustingly promiscuous,” Sergei Kostyan said at a meeting dedicated to problems of state-supported children.

“Everyone is talking about humanism, but is it humane to watch children of promiscuous parents suffer?” the MP asked.

lessee... if "promiscuous parents" takes on a negative religious connotation, could this happen here...? nah... in bushworld, there is no such thing as "state-supported children..."

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Worried for the safety of "others...?" Jerk...

President Bush said Wednesday that he doesn't spend much of his time worrying but that he does fear for Americans and others in insurgency-wracked Iraq and for the safety of his 23-year-old twin daughters.

you miserable hypocrite... send 'em to be killed and maimed, indefinitely extend their tours, make sure they don't have any benefits when they get back, and then WORRY about 'em...?? why don't you send those twins over to do some volunteer work in baghdad... it'd do 'em a world of good...

and, btw, who are these "OTHERS...?"

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Keep the internet free - register your comments BY TOMORROW, JUNE 3

kos has a run-down on what's at stake in the proposed fec (federal election commission) regulation regarding the internet... (Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act; implementation: Internet communications...) view the proposed regulation here... register your comments here... don't forget, the deadline for submitting comments is TOMORROW, june 3...

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What, me worry...?

George W. Bush

Alfred E. Neuman

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Bolton: "There IS no United Nations."

you must watch this video... it's absolutely, positively chilling... i had not seen it until i picked up on steve clemons' link... THIS is the kind of person george w. bush and dick cheney are so intent on having as the u.s. ambassador to the united nations... THIS is straight from the heart of our president and his team... THIS is the embodiment of what we must resist with every fiber of our collective beings...

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Mark Fiore - laugh or cry

the very best political cartoons have the sharpest edges of truth... i'm also glad to see them migrating to animation... so much more can be communicated...

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Giving the finger not only to Africa but to Tony Blair

President Bush refused on Wednesday to budge on his administration's opposition to doubling aid for Africa, a major proposal on the agenda for a summit meeting of industrial nations next month in Scotland.

The long-simmering dispute could culminate next week when Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, who has advocated the plan, visits Washington in advance of the July session, a meeting of the Group of 8. As host of the meeting, Mr. Blair set the agenda, and he argued during his successful campaign for a third term in office that the world's richest nations had to make a $25 billion increase in support for Africa. But Mr. Bush has been cool to the idea from the start and has resisted making new aid commitments.

Asked Wednesday about the issue, Mr. Bush said, "It doesn't fit our budgetary process."

of COURSE it doesn't... not after tax giveaways to millionaires... not after billions flushed down the toilet in iraq... not after homeland security and tsa squandered more billions on useless technology and adding layers of bureaucracy... the "budgetary process" aid to africa "doesn't fit" is providing any kind of support to poor people who, if they were any damn good in the first place, wouldn't BE poor...

note to tony: you may think bush owes you but you've obviously got him confused with somebody who gives a damn...

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As predicted - naked greed should not be punished

Mr. Khodorkovsky's prosecution by Vladimir Putin's government and the dismantlement of his Yukos oil company has . . . become the centerpiece of Mr. Putin's rollback of Russia's freedom.

[...]

[I]t confirmed Mr. Putin's Russia as a place where power is exercised arbitrarily, courts are a mere instrument, and private capital, media and civil society are tolerated only if they dodge the displeasure, or the avarice, of the ruling elite.

putin is no prize but the west simply has no idea of the scale of thievery and looting of national wealth that has taken place at the hands of the oligarchs in the former communist countries since the 1989 breakup... this kind of sanctimoniousness is disingenuous in the extreme... putin himself has acknowledged that pulling in the reins on such untrammeled avarice abridges freedoms... but how the hell else can you send a message that the rootin' tootin' days of plunder are over...?

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Cheney: big hat, no horse

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is a war we are winning," Cheney told the 906 graduating cadets, their families and underclassmen gathered in Falcon Stadium [at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs]. But much hard work remains, he added. "After 9/11, this nation made a decision. We will not sit back and wait for future attacks. We will prevent those attacks by taking the fight to the enemy."



day before yesterday, i drove by falcon stadium and wondered when the graduation ceremonies would be held... maybe i shoulda stuck around to hear this delusionary nitwit expound on "winning" and "taking the fight to the enemy..." i bet he secretly wishes saddam was still around so he could have someone identifiable he could point his finger at... oh, well, there's still osama...

p.s. i know a nice dark place where i'd like to put that hat...

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Theoligarchy Watch: SEC handed to the finance community on a plate

no surprise... the securities and exchange commission, an agency supposedly in place to protect citizens against corporate excess, can't be allowed to show teeth... god forbid they should in any way obstruct the pursuit of naked greed... when bush appointed his loyalty-tested friend and republican party member william donaldson in february 2003, he no doubt thought he had served appearances and the hoo-hah over enron and its ilk would fade into the sunset like every other major issue he's been able to sweep under the rug... well, dagnabit, donaldson thought he was there to do a JOB...! son-of-a-gun... ya think ya know somebody and then they go and stab you in the back... so, after the finance industry raises a hue and cry (a$ only they can do, witne$$ the pa$$age of the recent bankruptcy bill), donaldson decides to go bye-bye... enter chris cox, another loyalty-tested friend and republican party member, primed to NOT TO DO THE JOB RIGHT this time... the pandering is so transparent... i wonder what people are watching on tv now that american idol's over...? just a thought...

pander
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Form(s): pan·dered; pan·der·ing /-d(&-)ri[ng]/
: to act as a pander; especially : to provide gratification for others' desires

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From Argentina... Something to feel good about...

The first operating licence ever granted by the Argentine government to an indigenous community radio station is being hailed as a major step forward in giving a voice to this sector of the population, while posing formidable challenges.

The FM radio station, which has been operating without a licence for six years and has yet to be given a name, is run by the Mapuche Indian community of Linares, made up of around 700 members and located in the municipality of Aucapán, in the southern province of Neuquén.

what may not be apparent to the casual reader is that argentina does not have a particularly large, discrete indigenous population... most have been culturally assimilated for many years...

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The U.S., the IMF, the World Bank, the G7, and the largest global banks

many of the world's downtrodden have known for a long time "from whence the trodding cometh..."

The world's multilateral institutions -- which preside over the political and economic destinies of more than six billion people -- have come under heavy fire at a meeting of 350-plus representatives of civil society and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) here.

The United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and World Trade Organisation (WTO) were criticised as lacking transparency and accountability and practising political elitism and decision-making dictated by the rich and powerful.

Rajesh Tandon, chair of the board of the Montreal International Forum (also known by its French initials, FIM), singled out the United States, France, and Britain -- three veto-wielding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- for what he termed their political double standards.

i witnessed a very interesting scene in buenos aires not long ago that kind of summed it all up...(taken from a previous post...)

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So far during my time living here [Buenos Aires] I have avoided the bustling downtown, the Microcentro, and have thus missed seeing some of the grand old architecture there. Today, however, I decided to venture into new territory and was enjoying the crowded pedestrian mall when I stumbled on a most interesting spectacle. It took me a few minutes to grasp what I was seeing.

There were roughly fifteen to twenty people pounding with hammers on a corrugated metal wall that had been erected immediately around the outside of a tall office building and they were making one hell of a racket. The wall was clearly not new and showed evidence of severe pounding that must have occurred over quite a period of time. I noticed that the "pounders" were casually dressed and were accompanied by protestors carrying signs. My first thought was that it was a construction site and they were demonstrating against some new development. As I examined the building in greater detail, I noticed a familiar white and blue sign and logo high up as well as blue and white trim partially exposed behind the corrugated metal. Slowly it dawned on me. This wasn't a construction site, it was CitiBank's main office in Buenos Aires. I also realized that there was a heavily guarded door at the corner of the building where employees coming and going were flashing their badges. "I'll be dipped in shit," I thought. "This is a day-in, day-out deal. This goes on every damn day!"

yep... SOME folks in this world know who's picking their pockets... if we tried that here, we'd be tossed in the slam so fast our heads would spin...

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Bush is a fool... Who knew...? :) [UPDATE]

President Bush criticized Senate Democrats on Tuesday for "stalling" a vote on John R. Bolton's nomination as ambassador to the United Nations, and indicated that he would not grant them access to intelligence documents they have demanded to see before allowing the confirmation to go ahead.

fine... be my guest... go ahead, declare war on congress and see where it leads... nowhere good, i can tell you... blaming it on the democrats completely ignores that you are also flipping off the r's that have serious doubts about bolton and, in the advise and consent role of the senate, are not only entitled but OBLIGATED to review ALL relevant information before making a decision... the more of a fool you let yourself appear (and you're really working hard on it at the moment), the clearer the picture we all have of the monstrosity we have elected as president of the united states...

just caught steve clemons' thoughts over at the washington note... seems we share the same strong reaction... i'm not going to add bold to any of it cuz it's all good...

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President Bush has the gall to suggest that it is Senate Democrats who are stalling the Bolton vote.

With all due respect, Mr. President, it is time that you start reading again -- and read (occasionally) this blog. You will learn that not only have your staff not provided routine information and materials that the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is required to ask of the administration in fulfilling its oversight function, but some on your staff have allowed the Bolton fiasco to become enormously important to your stature and that of your administration.

How did that happen?

Had you recognized early on that Bolton just was not right for the job, that the push-back was going to be more serious than anticipated, that the calculation that Bolton's obscurity as a relatively unknown bureaucrat was blown apart when his behavior and views became subjects of kitchen-table discussion, then you could have just offered him the Ambassadorship to France or Germany (many apologies to my French and German friends) or a position in Dick Cheney's office -- maybe something akin to "Mini-Me" to Dick Cheney's Dr. . .well, you get it.

It is the White House that has stalled this process -- and rather than Senate moderates on both sides of the aisle being forced by intimidation-prone bullies in the White House to choke down a nomination that undermines American interests -- it is the White House that is now choking on John Bolton.

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Absurd...? Reprehensible...? First Bush, now Rumsfeld...

Rumsfeld said the U.S. military has done more than any other force to liberate oppressed people and has gone to great lengths to ensure that detainees are free to practice their religion.

"Indeed, that's why the recent allegation that the U.S. military is running a gulag at Guantanamo Bay is so reprehensible," he said.

just like bush, rumsfeld can and will say whatever serves his purpose at the time... calling the amnesty international allegation "reprehensible" or "absurd" or whatever other choice epithets either one of them cares to use does not change the facts... i am sick and tired of listening to this garbage and watching the complete lack of accountability... these people need to go and the sooner the better...

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And the results are in... No, no, no...

Dutch voters overwhelmingly rejected the European Union constitution Wednesday.

once again, thanks to my prescient friend... be sure to take another look at his analysis...

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Watch out for Harry... He bites...!

thanks to raw story...

In an upcoming interview with Rolling Stone, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) re-asserts his reputation as an outspoken critic of the his political rivals.

after doing a job on frist, we are treated to this...

RS: You've called Bush a loser.

HR: And a liar.

RS: You apologized for the loser comment.

HR: But never for the liar, have I?

MY senator... gotta love 'im...

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Theoligarchy Watch (cont'd) - in the dark

it's become the accepted way of doing business in this post-coup d'etat, one-party government...

The Patriot Act was passed in haste, in the angst-filled days after the Sept. 11 attacks, with some lawmakers candidly admitting they never read the details. That was one of the reasons key sections included expiration dates, so calmer heads of the future would have an opportunity to fix mistakes. Now that opportunity is here, and far from removing obvious threats to civil liberties in the law, the White House and eager Senate Republicans seem bent on making it worse.

Citizens who want to keep an eye on the process will have no easy task. The most crucial debates of the Senate Intelligence Committee are being kept closed to the public.

after all, what could WE as CITIZENS possibly NEED TO KNOW about how our CIVIL LIBERTIES ARE BEING COMPROMISED...?

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Theoligarchy Watch - privacy invasions roll forward

this oughta put dobson and fotf in high spirits... (btw, i drove past fotf headquarters in colorado springs on sunday... no lack of money THERE, i can assure you... also saw a bumper sticker that caught my eye - "focus on YOUR OWN DAMN FAMILY...!")

Planned Parenthood of Indiana has to show state investigators the medical records of some of its youngest patients, a judge ruled on Tuesday. The judge rejected the organization's contention that disclosing such records could have a chilling effect on patients across the state.

chilling...? yeah, i would say so...

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Washington Post praises Bush's increased accessibility to the press

Yesterday the president held his seventh news conference in as many months (and that doesn't count a session with newspaper editors in April at which Mr. Bush answered questions).

[...]

The scoffers will say . . . that Mr. Bush is making himself available only because -- take your pick -- he no longer has to worry about being reelected, or he finds his agenda floundering so badly he has no choice but to submit to the indignity of a news conference.

To be honest, we don't care. Neither Mr. Bush's motives nor the headlines he generates matters much. The point is that in a democratic society, leaders ought to make themselves regularly available for sustained questioning.

well, i must say that i completely agree... i do believe, however, that he is being forced to subject himself up to the grilling of the press out of the view that, if he didn't, the grim poll numbers would predominate without counterpoint... however, calling the amnesty international report "absurd" may just have the opposite effect of what he hopes to accomplish... using insulting language directed at a prestigious global human rights body may only succeed at presenting himself as a whole burnt offering...

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An email exchange on Iraq

in the "for what it's worth department..."

i posted a comment on the nashif report in response to comments by the blog proprietor about the wisdom of invading iraq on the occasion of remembering those who have lost their lives this past memorial day...

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my post...

bush has sent thousands of young men and women off to a war that is being waged on lies and deceit... if i had a son or daughter that returned from iraq mentally or physically damaged or, worse yet, dead, i'm not sure if i could cope... it would be bad enough to lose a child for a just war but to lose a child for iraq would be a tragedy beyond my comprehension...

the response...

Thank you for your views and opinions. It is a common argument that most Liberals seem to cling too. However I have just have a one question for you, How do you think the families of the thousands of Iraqi Men, Women and Children felt who were tortured by by the hands of Sadam and his sons? This is a question that only you can answer for yourself, your answer will be based on two things: humanity and a desire for Justice.

Amidst all the suffering they endured at the hands of this insane modern day Hitler, iraqi's found a way to cope, and to move on and live their lives. The admiration I have for what the Iraqi's have endured, is special. Because I know that I may not be able to be as brave as these human beings were and still are today.

The one fact we as human beings cannot escape, no matter how much we hate our government or president, is that had Sadam remained in power, children would still be dying, their fathers would be slaughtered, and their mothers raped. Liberals claim to be humanitarians, but think that is okay to turn their backs on these innocent people who were led like lambs to the slaughter. And at the same time say that Terrorists who murdered these same iraqi citizens, should have lawyers and stand trial.

Where does your humanity, and your desire for justice lie? That is for you to decide, because you have to live with yourself.

Thanks again for your input.

and my rebuttal...

i don't condone repression, oppression, brutality, torture, or murder in any form... and yes, saddam was guilty of all of those and, yes, i am glad he's gone... what troubles me is this...

-the reasons we were given for attacking iraq were baseless... wmd did not exist and whether our intelligence was either seriously flawed or was shaped to fit a preconceived plan are both equally disturbing... (the weight of evidence for the fact that attacking iraq had been decided upon as early as spring 2002 continues to pile up...) even more disturbing is the fact that, as mohamed al baradei and hans blix had both repeatedly stated, saddam had complied and was continuing to comply with u.n. inspections... whether he would have continued to do so is, of course, open to speculation...

-the stated objective following 9/11 was to pursue al qaeda as the nucleus of the war on terror and osama bin laden as the principal head of that group... with no demonstrable link between iraq and al qaeda, despite false claims to the contrary, vast resources that could have been otherwise directed toward al qaeda were diverted, giving al qaeda breathing space to re-group and re-organize - which they used to their advantage...

-the reasons given now for attacking iraq have significantly shifted from the reasons originally given... deposing a brutal ruler and seeding a middle east country for the growth of democracy, no matter how noble, are, in the contexts in which they are usually presented, extremely disingenuous, since they are virtually never accompanied by any acknowledgement that they are indeed rationales after the fact...

-president bush signed a memorandum in 2002 waiving geneva for detainees... subsequent directives authorized interrogation techniques based on that memo, the most notable of which were outlined in the memorandum from general ricardo sanchez (see full details here) pertaining to abu ghraib, authorship of which was later denied by general sanchez in sworn testimony before the senate armed services committee... as information continues to emerge, it is clear that abu ghraib is far from an isolated instance and that, in fact, guantanamo was the model which later was imported to abu ghraib, bagram and elsewhere... if the u.s. is to have any hope of "seeding democracy" in the rest of the world, we cannot compromise our own stated principles and values in doing so... saying that it is a "different type of war" and a "different type of enemy" is no justification for the abandonment of moral principles, the principles upon which the u.s. was founded...

my humanity and desire for justice is all-encompassing and cannot exclude my own country... i feel as strongly about tyrants like saddam as i do about the vile leader in uzbekistan, musharraf in pakistan, mubarak in egypt, and anyone who either directly or indirectly condones and/or promotes human suffering... for president bush to call allegations of detainee torture "absurd" (as he did just the other day) is itself absurd... i intensely dislike being lied to and manipulated... anyone who can step forward and tell the truth, no matter how difficult it might be, has my respect... clinton lost it and bush lost it long ago... our country is better than this (or at least i thought it was)...

one last word on humanity and life... i value ALL life... let me repeat - ALL life... i regard life in every form sacred whether it be animal, vegetable or mineral... i believe that discriminating about which forms of life are sacred and which are not is the basest form of hypocrisy... while that view is often portrayed as soft and weak, it is neither... true love and respect for all life requires a degree of spiritual strength that seems to be sadly lacking in these times...

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky, "tycoon" or "oligarch...?"

the choice of words so often reflects basic beliefs...

Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison on fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion charges.

ty·coon
Pronunciation: tI-'kün
Function: noun
Etymology: Japanese taikun
1 : SHOGUN
2 a : a top leader (as in politics) b : a businessman of exceptional wealth and power

ol·i·gar·ch
Pronunciation: 'ä-l&-"gär-k, 'O-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -s
1 : a member or supporter of government by the few
2 : a member or supporter of a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes; also : a person exercising such control

let the hand-wringing about the repression of unimitigated greed and thwarting of free-market capitalism begin...

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The guilty verdict against the man who was once Russia's richest citizen drew new criticism here and abroad as evidence that rule of law has yet to take root in the post-communist state.

"Here, you're innocent until proven guilty," President Bush said in Washington, "and it appeared to us, at least people in my administration, that it looked like he had been judged guilty prior to having a fair trial."

[...]

Many people believe that the wealth of Khodorkovsky and other business magnates known as oligarchs was stolen in shady deals involving the sell-off of state industries in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

these "shady deals" were endemic throughout the former communist states and, cumulatively, have been to a large degree responsible for the fact that many of those states remain at 85% or less of their real GDP levels at the time of the break-up in 1989... (see my earlier post, here...) free-market capitalism and privatization, shoved down the throats of those countries with wholesale abandon by the u.s., the world bank, and the imf, in the absence of supporting infrastructure, led to some of the most spectacular periods of outright looting in modern history... after yelstin's wild west era, putin had little choice but to pick on one of the most egregious examples, khodorkovsky, as his poster boy... now, from our superior perspective, we can accuse putin of regressive behavior and thwarting democracy and free markets even though WE had a great deal to do with the rise of khodorkovsky and his fellow oligarchs in the first place...

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Did we expect anything less...?

this guy is so friggin' PREDICTABLE...! nothing, absolutely NOTHING is ever his fault...

President Bush dismissed yesterday suggestions that his influence is waning less than six months into his second term, blaming partisanship and timidity in Congress for the lack of action on his plans to bring change to the United Nations, restructure Social Security and enact a new energy policy this year.

if it wasn't so pathetic, this would make for terrific stand-up comedy...

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Secretary General Bill...?

if you contemplate other recent placements (or proposed placements) - wolfowitz, karen hughes, alberto gonzales, karl rove, condi, bolton, etc. - visualizing clinton as u.n. secretary general feels pretty damn good...

"We can't relate to the rest of the world only through a negative prism, and only through telling them to do things," he [former President Clinton] told the Chamber of Commerce in Lancaster, Pa. "Why? Because if you live in a world where you can't kill, jail or occupy all your enemies, security will never be enough. You've got to make a world where you've got more friends and fewer enemies, where you make partners."

kinda makes good sense, doesn't it...?

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Theoligarchy Watch: Don't let this guy fool ya...

he may be issuing calls for reconciliation with the orthodox church and making statements about harmony across religious divides but RAT-zinger has no intention whatsoever of backing off from his ultra-conservative views...

Pope Benedict XVI waded gingerly into Italian politics on Monday for his first time, endorsing a call by Italian bishops for a boycott of a contentious referendum on medically assisted fertility.

The referendum seeks to overturn key provisions in a law passed here last year that is the most restrictive on medically assisted fertility in Europe.

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TPM Cafe

josh marshall of the always worthwhile talking points memo has today launched a new effort entitled tpm cafe... please visit...

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The Dutch may follow France...

Dutch voters threatened to join France in rejecting a proposed European constitution.

see my prescient friend's comment in yesterday's post... the dutch referendum is this wednesday...

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Disgusting...

one more way bushco is working to totally dismantle any form of implied or explicit social contract in this country... as a veteran, i can hardly restrain myself when i see bumper stickers that say "veterans for bush..." i can only assume that they are clueless about the hosing they are taking under this man...

[P]roposed user fees are expected to push about 200,000 veterans out of the VA health care system, according to the veterans' organizations and critics of the administration budget plan.

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4 years and 6 months too late...

Two days after winning reelection last fall, President Bush declared that he had earned plenty of "political capital, and now I intend to spend it." Six months later, according to Republicans and Democrats alike, his bank account has been significantly drained.

i take very little satisfaction from this in light of the enormous destruction this man and his cabal has wreaked on this country beginning with the florida election challenge in 2000... the reality is that, insofar as anything remotely relating to the "common wealth" of this country is concerned, the son-of-a-bitch never had a red cent in his goddam bank account in the first place...

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Air America lives... (and it can't be good...)

i flew on air america (the c.i.a.-run airline that operated during the vietnam era) several times from danang to hue... i remember it was a "stol" (short take-off and landing), single-engine aircraft with a stick rather than the more common handle-grip wheel... i also remember quite vividly that, on one of the flights, the pilot carried a hip flask full of whiskey...

When the Central Intelligence Agency wants to grab a suspected member of Al Qaeda overseas and deliver him to interrogators in another country, an Aero Contractors plane often does the job.

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[...]

Behind a surprisingly thin cover of rural hideaways, front companies and shell corporations that share officers who appear to exist only on paper, the C.I.A. has rapidly expanded its air operations since 2001 as it has pursued and questioned terrorism suspects around the world.

An analysis of thousands of flight records, aircraft registrations and corporate documents, as well as interviews with former C.I.A. officers and pilots, show that the agency owns at least 26 planes, 10 of them purchased since 2001. The agency has concealed its ownership behind a web of seven shell corporations that appear to have no employees and no function apart from owning the aircraft.

[...]

[T]he C.I.A. planes have been used for carrying out renditions, the legal term for the agency's practice of seizing terrorism suspects in one foreign country and delivering them to be detained in another, including countries that routinely engage in torture. The resulting controversy has breached the secrecy of the agency's flights in the last two years, as plane-spotting hobbyists, activists and journalists in a dozen countries have tracked the mysterious planes' movements.

as something of a plane-spotter myself, all i have to say is, "you go, guys...! track them babies...! if the administration won't give us transparency (see previous post), we'll go for it ourselves...

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Absurd...? Such an interesting word...

absurd... notice how it has a satisfying feel as your lips and tongue form the sound...? a few other words spring to mind as i read the following from dear leader... delusionary is one... denial is another... incredible is floating around there somewhere too... all of those pale, however, against LIAR...!

The US president bristled when asked at a White House press conference about an Amnesty International report last week which said the Guantanamo detention camp for terrorist suspects had become the "gulag of our times".

"I'm aware of the Amnesty International report, and it's absurd. It's an absurd allegation," Bush replied.

"The United States is a country that promotes freedom around the world. When there's accusations made about certain actions by our people, they're fully investigated in a transparent way. It's just an absurd allegation."

absurd... not once, but three times... it's high time we simply stop giving this man any respect whatsoever... he has choicefully crossed all lines of acceptable behavior... the only option left to him is to resign which, of course, he won't do...

i cannot conceive how our country, at least as we have come to know it, can last until the end of this man's term...

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Death of a dream...

The U.S. is now widely viewed as a brutal, bullying nation that countenances torture and operates hideous prison camps at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and in other parts of the world - camps where inmates have been horribly abused, gruesomely humiliated and even killed.

yah, well, ok... to quote a friend... "what the hell do we care what THEY think about US...?"

it's not like there aren't a lot of other countries who have engaged in similar behavior... but we here in the u.s. have always set ourselves up as the moral example, the "shining city on the hill," the model nation... the folks i talk to in other countries are less enraged than simply very sad and disppointed... they feel like a dream has been shattered...

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Theoligarchy - no mercy

In 2000, the Philadelphia sheriff auctioned 300 to 400 foreclosed properties a month; now he handles more than 1,000 a month. Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, had record auctions of foreclosed homes, and officials speak of a "Depression-era" problem. The foreclosures fall particularly hard on black and Latino families.

yep, the holders of the capital are gonna get their money one way or another... never mind that the money was loaned originally via practices that if they aren't predatory are very close to it...

"Mortgage companies convinced us to refinance, and each time our bill went up," O'Mara said as he surveyed his narrow street from his shaded front porch. "You fall behind and they swoop down on you."

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Military service - another implied social contract trashed

i've maintained all along that bushco is bound and determined to destroy any and all elements of the social contract that has been the foundation of life in this country for going on 100 years... working hard and being a good citizen no longer means a thing... if you're poor, it's because your no damn good... indentured servitude is the order of the day... and the worst of all are those crappy jobs where you might just lose your life... once again, krugman's vision is piercing...

[T]he Bush administration, which was ready neither to look for a way out of Iraq nor to admit that staying there would require a much bigger army, simply threw out the rulebook. Regular soldiers are spending a lot more than a third of their time overseas, and many reservists are finding their civilian lives destroyed by repeated, long-term call-ups.

and here's where the social contract (please pardon the unfortunate but perhaps appropriate pun) is d.o.a...

From their foot-dragging on armoring Humvees to their apparent policy of denying long-term disability payments to as many of the wounded as possible, officials seem almost pathologically determined to nickel-and-dime those who put their lives on the line for their country.

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More R's are taking an independent line...

this is good...

[T]hree United States senators on Sunday called for an international investigation into the violence. They also issued a stern rebuke to Uzbekistan's authoritarian government.

The statement by the three Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Sununu of New Hampshire, came amid new details of the conduct of the Uzbek security forces during and after the violence, including claims that injured victims have disappeared from hospitals and that troops had fired on a civilian ambulance during the crackdown, killing three medical workers inside.

every r that comes out and questions bushco's policies regarding the treatment of detainees, the methods of countries that have been used by the u.s. for "extraordinary rendition" and/or claimed by the u.s. as "allies in the 'war against terror,'" the higher the odds that, at some point, there may actually be some forced accountability... however, i'm not holding my breath...

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Defending the indefensible...

Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States has done a good job of treating detainees humanely. [...] "This is a different kind of struggle, a different kind of war," Myers said on "Fox News Sunday." [...] "We struggle with how to handle them, but we've always handled them humanely and with the dignity that they should be accorded."

'scuse me...? 'scuse ME...??" there's no way in hell you can read the memo signed by president bush waiving the rights of geneva for detainees, the subsequent interrogation techniques written by general ricardo sanchez (later denied under oath before the senate armed services committee), view the pictures taken at abu ghraib, and read the accounts from guantanamo and respond to this with anything other than, "excuse me, general myers, sir, i know you are a five-star general, but you are spouting complete and utter BULLSHIT...!"

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Having your cake and eating it too...? Pro'ly not...

it's fascinating to watch (at least for me) the issues surrounding illegal immigration on our southern border... there are so many competing interests that, sadly, often cross the line into outright rascism and, even worse, violence... from the "close-the-door-behind-you" attitude of some immigrants (ah-nold being one of the most prominent), to the white supremacists, to businesses that rely on cheap labor, to government and human services officials struggling with overburdened and underfunded programs, to border security issues, to mexico's on-going disparity between the have's and the have-not's, to the frightening appearance of the minuteman militia, the issus are deep and complex... here's just a snapshot in microcosm featuring, in high irony, an hispanic republican in idaho, the home of white supremacy in the u.s...

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Mr. [Robert] Vasquez, 55, a Republican county commissioner and Mexican-American in a region where Latinos are ascendant, has been on a crusade against illegal immigration, what he calls "an imminent invasion" from south of the border.

Mr. Vasquez has tried to have Canyon County declared a disaster area because of the strain from illegal immigrants. He has also sent a bill to the Mexican government for more than $2 million; that is the cost, he said, of Mexicans who are in the county illegally.

Mr. Vasquez says the newcomers overwhelm public services, bring gang violence and drugs, spread diseases like tuberculosis and insist on rights that should not be granted to noncitizens.

His latest salvo, a plan to sue employers who hire illegal immigrants, has angered the solidly Republican business community and many of the senior political leaders in this heavily Republican state. The plan would make Canyon County the only local government in the country to use federal racketeering statutes against people who employ illegal immigrants, said Howard Foster, a Chicago lawyer advising the county.

As a result, Mr. Vasquez has forced a sharp fight on an issue that poses difficulties for Republicans, pitting people and business owners who rely on illegal immigrants for labor against people who see them as a threat to jobs and security.

and there ya have it...

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EU Constitution goes down in France... But why...?

a good friend with whom i reconnected yesterday after many years, someone who has always provided me with more than my minimum daily requirement of intellectual stimulation, offers some interesting and, i believe, pretty accurate thoughts regarding the defeat of the eu constitution in france and why it may well do so again in the netherlands... (bold and italics mine...)

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france says no, so will the dutch.........the undercurrent to all this is the reality of non christian members set to join the eu........i think the french were designated the "secular state" to undo things for awhile and create enough chaos to derail eu expansion to let the rest of the old europe figure out what to make of all the involuntary change underway.......by leveraging work and economic issues the french rejection could be presented as an economic and not a cultural/religious/immigration rejection of the impacts of the new constitution and the eu expansion plan.

supporting that view, i offer this story from amsterdam, although it's worth noting that nothing in the story connects back to the possible defeat of the eu constitution in holland...

The Sept. 11 attacks, although far away in the United States, had strong aftershocks here, exposing long-simmering tensions between conservative Muslim immigrants and the city's liberal traditions.

Many Dutch felt they now had a license to complain openly that the newcomers - from Morocco, Turkey, the Middle East - were changing their society for the worse, while the Muslims protested that they were being treated as aliens in their adopted country.

even with plenty of knowledge beforehand, i was unprepared for the depth of enmity between christians and muslims i encountered on my first stint working in the balkans... i am not at all convinced that will be lessened any time soon...

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