other voices

The War Budget

Craig S. Barnes – Commentary 
The War Budget

Nuclear bombs are of practically no use in the so-called war on terror. Although this is the war that we have, this is not the war that pits can be used for. Nuclear bombs cannot be used in Islamabad, or in Mosul, or to protect nightclubs in London or Bali. They can’t be used in Al Anbar province and they can’t be used—except to level the mountains—in Waziristan; they can’t be used to uncover subversive cells in the United States and they can’t be used against the Chinese or the Russians without starting a final holocaust. They aren’t practical for anything at all except as a jobs program for the defense oligarchy. …

Building bombs creates the impression of great danger. Assuming great danger gives excuse for assuming absolute authority. Assuming absolute authority, Mr. Bush regularly says that he will suspend all, or parts, of laws with which he disagrees. It does not matter that a statute has been enacted exactly as the Constitution requires; if Mr. Bush does not—or thinks he may not some time in the future—agree, he issues a signing statement saying that he will not enforce that law. In so doing he attempts to suspend, not only the law, but also Articles I and III of the Constitution which were intended to give legislative and interpretive authority to the congress and courts. He just plain, flat out, restructures government. The Boston Globe reports that he has declared his intention to suspend legislation over 1,000 times.

When the constitution of the republic is willingly overridden, when the priorities are to build bombs rather than find the water, or fund the trains, or maintain the forests, when a ruling oligarchy of defense contractors is funded while at the same time ignoring all those who actually educate, carry the rifles for, and feed our nation, ignoring all those who wrap up our wounds and inspire us with poetry and song, the time has come to find someone else to draw up the budget.

Craig S. Barnes – Commentary

Dump Duhbya

Duhbya: ‘a clear lesson I learned’ [finally!]

President Bush Participates in Joint Press Availability with President Kagame of Rwanda 

PRESIDENT BUSH: I would say it’s like — as I explained to this fellow here — that one of the lessons of the genocide in Rwanda was to take some of the early warnings signs seriously.

Secondly, a clear lesson I learned in the museum was that outside forces that tend to divide people up inside their country are unbelievably counterproductive. In other words, people came from other countries — I guess you’d call them colonialists — and they pitted one group of people against another. And an early warning sign was — and it’s hard to have seen it, I readily admit, but I’m talking earlier than 1994, and earlier than the ’90s — was the fact that it become a habit to divide people based upon — you know, in this case, whether they were Tutsi or Hutu, which eventually led to exploitation.

Secondly, I would tell my successor that the United States can play a very constructive role. I would urge the President not to feel like U.S. solutions should be imposed upon African leaders. I would urge the President to treat our — the leaders in Africa as partners.

President Bush Participates in Joint Press Availability with President Kagame of Rwanda

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The National Economy 

Among all Americans, 19% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 77% disapprove. When it comes to Bush’s handling of the economy, 14% approve and 79% disapprove.

Among Americans registered to vote, 18% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 78% disapprove. When it comes to the way Bush is handling the economy, 15% of registered voters approve of the way Bush is handling the economy and 79% disapprove.

The National Economy

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 President Bush and President Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia Exchange Toasts

PRESIDENT BUSH: Madam President, I want to make sure I’ve got the following correctly: Here, they call you the “Iron Lady.” (Applause.) And here they call you “Ma.” (Applause.) And I call you friend. (Applause.)  …

It is easy to destroy a country; it is hard to rebuild a country. And I, Madam President, I want you to know that the United States of America supports you as you rebuild your country. (Applause.)

President Bush and President Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia Exchange Toasts

When you read Duhbya’s feckless remarks in Africa, there can be no doubt what a stunning idiot the man is. He has no clue how ironically his words ring in light of Iraq. His mouth noises mean nothing to him or the rest of us. mjh

NADA - New American Dark Ages

Overstating the Terrorists’ Threat

E. J. Dionne Jr. – A ‘Challenge’ Worth Challenging – washingtonpost.com 

Of course, defeating terrorism is important, and no candidate will say otherwise. But the United States has a lot of work to do in the world. If we’re thinking about the next two decades, not to mention the next 90 years, it’s a mistake to see terrorism as a “transcendent challenge” that makes all our other interests secondary.

For conservatives, there is something peculiar about turning Islamic extremism into a mighty ideological force with the power to overrun the world. It’s odd that so many take seriously Osama bin Laden‘s lunatic claims that he will build a new caliphate. (And, by the way, exactly what did the Iraq war contribute to the fight against terrorism?)

In his new book on neoconservatism, “They Knew They Were Right,” Jacob Heilbrunn quotes Owen Harries, an early neoconservative whose realist bent has made him skeptical of the latest turn in the thinking of his erstwhile comrades. Harries argues that viewing terrorism as an ideological challenge akin to Nazism or Soviet communism is neither accurate nor prudent.

“I think it’s to belittle the historical experiences of World War II,” Harries says, “not to speak of the Cold War, to equate the terrorists of today and the damage they’re capable of with the totalitarian regimes of the previous century.” Underestimating our enemies is a mistake, but so, too, is endowing them with more power than they have.

E. J. Dionne Jr. – A ‘Challenge’ Worth Challenging – washingtonpost.com

NADA - New American Dark Ages

Deep Thinkers

Think Progress » Matalin On Global Warming: ‘A Largely Unscientific Hoax,’ A ‘Political Concoction’ 

This week, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer discussed the right wing’s tepid support of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) with right-wing activist Mary Matalin. Matalin explained that McCain is out of step with the far right on several issues, in particular global warming, which many conservatives “loathe” discussing:

BLITZER: They loathe that?

MATALIN: Because it’s a largely unscientific hoax. And it’s a political concoction.

Watch it:

Echoing Matalin, former House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX) recently said that “there is no science to suggest that man is the cause of climate change.” These claims are laughable. As Science Magazine noted, in addition to the IPCC and National Academy of Sciences, there is overwhelming agreement that the causes of global warming are man-made.

Matalin observed that “you haven’t heard [McCain] prioritizing” climate change recently: “What you’ve been hearing him say since he’s achieved the nomination…is to prioritize security issues,” which are less controversial on the right.

(HT: TheGreenMiles)

Think Progress » Matalin On Global Warming: ‘A Largely Unscientific Hoax,’ A ‘Political Concoction’

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Think Progress » GM exec: global warming still a ‘crock of sh*t.’ 

Reuters reports that GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz defended his previous remarks dismissing global warming as a “total crock of shit.” Lutz said his views had no bearing on GM’s commitment to build environmentally-friendly vehicles. He added that those “spewing virtual vitriol” at him for disparaging climate change were “missing the big picture.” “My thoughts on what has or hasn’t been the cause of climate change have nothing to do with the decisions I make,” Lutz alleged.

Think Progress » GM exec: global warming still a ‘crock of sh*t.’

Dump Duhbya

Scare Tactics

1 Comment

Spy Law Lapse Blamed for Lost Information 

By Dan Eggen and Ellen Nakashima

Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, February 23, 2008; Page A03

The Bush administration said yesterday that the government “lost intelligence information” because House Democrats allowed a surveillance law to expire last week, causing some telecommunications companies to refuse to cooperate with terrorism-related wiretapping orders.

But hours later, administration officials told lawmakers that the final holdout among the companies had relented and agreed to fully participate in the surveillance program, according to an official familiar with the issue.

The assertions and revisions marked the latest developments in the battle over the Protect America Act, a temporary surveillance law broadening the government’s spying powers that expired last Saturday.

Spy Law Lapse Blamed for Lost Information – washingtonpost.com

Election

Straight talk?

1 Comment

McCain Disputed On 1999 Meeting – washingtonpost.com 

By James V. Grimaldi and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum

Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, February 23, 2008; Page A01

Broadcaster Lowell “Bud” Paxson yesterday contradicted statements from Sen. John McCain‘s presidential campaign that the senator did not meet with Paxson or his lobbyist before sending two controversial letters to the Federal Communications Commission on Paxson’s behalf.

Paxson said he talked with McCain in his Washington office several weeks before the Arizona Republican wrote the letters in 1999 to the FCC urging a rapid decision on Paxson’s quest to acquire a Pittsburgh television station.

Paxson also recalled that his lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, likely attended the meeting in McCain’s office and that Iseman helped arrange the meeting. “Was Vicki there? Probably,” Paxson said in an interview with The Washington Post yesterday. “The woman was a professional. She was good. She could get us meetings.”

The recollection of the now-retired Paxson conflicted with the account provided by the McCain campaign about the two letters at the center of a controversy about the senator’s ties to Iseman, a partner at the lobbying firm of Alcalde & Fay.

McCain Disputed On 1999 Meeting – washingtonpost.com

Dump Duhbya

Duhbya’s Presidential Library

SMU to Host Bush’s Presidential Library – washingtonpost.com 

By Michael Abramowitz

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 23, 2008; Page A02

President Bush‘s future presidential library and public policy institute will be housed at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, officials announced yesterday, launching a project that could require hundreds of millions of dollars in private donations.

SMU to Host Bush’s Presidential Library – washingtonpost.com

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams