Monthly Archives: March 2005

Letters-to-the-Editor

Happy Anniversary

Today is the 2nd anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. Two full years of destruction and death; how many more?

As you pause to wish all the soldiers could go home soon, knowing they won’t, don’t forget how we got into Iraq. Our President and everyone around him pushed as hard as they could. I’m certain they lied at times; you can say they mislead or misjudged — why is a fool a better leader than a liar?

Remember that after the first arguments (‘a mushroom cloud’) were so clearly wrong to everyone, the arguments shifted to ‘freeing Iraqis from a brutal dictator.’ Nobody mentioned that two years ago.

Remember as well that the same people who either bungled or deceived are still in power for 3+ more years, with eyes on the environment, Social Security and we don’t know what else yet. Stay alert and informed. Don’t let them get away with more.

peace, mjh

US Troops still in Iraq – nearly 150,000
US dead – over 1,500
US wounded – over 11,500
Iraqi dead – over 100,000
Iraqi wounded – I don’t know

loco

Party with the Air Force!

ABQjournal: Del Norte Wins ‘Perfect Prom’

Del Norte students thought they were attending a regular St. Patrick’s Day assembly Thursday but were surprised when representatives from the Air Force gave them $20,000 to put on the “Perfect Prom.”

Del Norte junior Erin Whitaker’s entry was randomly chosen out of 80,000 for the Air Force’s annual “Perfect Prom Sweepstakes.”

“She was just randomly picked,” said Air Force Tech. Sgt. Dominic Bartholomeo, who presented the check.

The contest aims to get high school students around the country to think about participating in alcohol-free proms. It is sponsored by the Air Force and StudentAware, a group that promotes safe proms. …

The entire grand prize package totaled more than $70,000, Bartholomeo said.

“I’m very proud of our school,” said Del Norte principal Rebecca Almeter. “We found out about (the award) two weeks ago, but we wanted to surprise the students.”

Whitaker said she entered the sweepstakes because she wants her school to have a safe and sober prom. But will other students keep to that goal?

“We’ve got some OK ones. We’ve got some crazy ones, too,” said a smiling Whitaker. “But we’ll be OK.”

$70,000 should buy a pretty decent prom — or a year’s wages for 70 workers in prom dress factories overseas. It’ll really go far if you’re not buying booze or drugs (bring your own).

Let me ask all my Republican readers something. Jim, what do you think of THE AIR FORCE doing this?

Seriously, everybody, as noble a purpose as this is, WHY is the Air Force involved. Is this recruitment in disguise? Are the only hand-outs acceptable to the Radical Right going to and coming from the military? mjh

Theirs

Payneful Moments

From No Payne – No Gain:

(1) “the ultra-sensitive ‘thinking class’ at the Journal editorial board”

(2) “But the Journal’s action brings to mind a line from Hamlet. To paraphrase, ‘The Biosphere doth protest to much, me thinks.'”

(3) “Thanks for saddling our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren with your debt, Gordo!”

(1) I don’t know what the “thinking class” is, but it doesn’t sound bad, to me. Or does GP imply with his original quotes that they aren’t really the thinking class. By the way, I agree with GP that it was quite unusual for the Journal to respond to a letter to the editor.

(2) WTF? Paraphrasing usually makes a quote fit better, but not in this case.

(3) This one made me laugh out loud because “Gordo” isn’t Duhbya, who has saddled us with more debt than Raygun AND has only just begun. mjh

Dump Duhbya

Oil and Gas Contributes $179.7 million – 74 percent to Republicans

The Money Behind the Debate Over Drilling in ANWR

Oil companies are hoping their considerable political clout, built up over years of generous campaign giving and lobbying, will put drilling in ANWR over the top. The oil and gas industry has contributed $179.7 million since 1989 to federal candidates and political parties, 74 percent to Republicans. …

Exxon Mobil is a member of Arctic Power, which bills itself as a grassroots, non-profit organization endorsed by the Alaska legislature that has been at the forefront of the ANWR drilling issue since 1992. …

Oil and gas companies have contributed $368,000 in individual and PAC contributions to Stevens since 1989, more than any other industry.

Other Alaska officials have struck it big from the industry as well.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R), who won a tight election last year, raised $195,000 from the industry in the 2004 election cycle alone, enough for a No. 10 ranking among all federal candidates. Alaska’s lone representative in the House, Don Young (R), has raised $874,000 from oil and gas interests since 1989, more than from any other industry. Murkowski and Young both support ANWR drilling. …

[Arctic Power] contends on its Web site that drilling could create as many as 736,000 jobs. Artic Power has spent $1.7 million on federal lobbying since 1997. …

The promise of new job creation has brought the International Brotherhood of Teamsters into an unusual alliance with oil companies on the subject of ANWR. The Teamsters, which have openly opposed many of Bush’s policies, broke from the heavily Democratic labor movement to support drilling.

The Teamsters are among the nation’s largest campaign donors, having contributed $21.9 million since 1989 in individual, PAC and soft money donations, 93 percent to Democrats. The union has spent $7.7 million on lobbying since 1997.

Mike Mathis, director of government affairs for the Teamsters, said the union has sent representatives to lobby new GOP members and lawmakers from labor-heavy states such as Pennsylvania. He added that the union is working to “firm up as many Democrats as we can.”

Mathis said the Teamsters have been working with Sen. Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican who has long supported drilling. Teamsters members in Alaska also have been coordinating with Arctic Power. The union has not contributed money to the group, as it did a few years ago, but it would do so if “there was a need,” Mathis said.

[mjh: Number junkies should follow this link] Industry Totals: Oil & Gas Long-Term Contribution Trends

Theirs

One Facet of Liberalism

Colorado Luis

[T]his compromise is a victory for liberalism, broadly defined as the belief that government is something more than just the enemy that steals your money through taxation. It’s just too bad it has taken a fiscal crisis to make that case for us in this state.

Mine

Another Crisis, this one in energy

Senate votes for Arctic drilling

“How high do gas prices have to get, and how over-a-barrel does OPEC have to get us, before we realize what the American people have realized a long time ago: that we have an energy crisis here in America today,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.

Thune was one of four Republicans elected to the Senate in November who favor drilling in ANWR; each replaced a Democrat opposed to opening the refuge to exploration.

Do you know when the term “energy crises” was first used? It was in the early 1970’s when Dick Nixon honored the White House. OPEC tightened the spigot and prices skyrocketed above 50 cents (yes, .50!) for the first time in anyone’s lifetime (in the US — it was 4 times more expensive in Europe already). Dazed drivers waited in line for hours, oblivious to the irony of burning gas waiting to buy gas. Gas stations rationed gas, limiting you to so many gallons or dollars. You couldn’t buy gas every day — the last digit of your license determined which day you could buy. I’m not talking about the Great Depression or the Great War, kids — there was real panic in the air. It’s all true; I was there. So were Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney; Duhbya was drunk (rude, I admit, but the truth).

We really learned nothing from that national shock 30+ years ago. OPEC learned to squeeze less harshly, fearing that if they turned the screws too tight we might eventually kick our jones (Opec considers second output hike). At least someone has faith in our intelligence.

Now, people argue we can drill ourselves out of this crisis. We cannot and we will not. We’ll just keep paying the dealer until we’ve used up all the oil in the world. That should take 50 years. Worried about Social Security? Don’t be — you’ll be burning your check for heat. mjh

mjh’s Blog: The Short List of Noteworthy Senators

Theirs

QOTD

CEOs are fond of saying “Our employees are our most valuable asset,” and then they merrily go about announcing layoffs, which means they are giving away, for free, the company assets. You can tell a lot about an organization by how it treats people who are leaving, whether voluntarily or not.

Dale Dauten