:: The Rational Radical Blog ::

Saturday, October 11, 2003

Hard Sell on Iraq   What a great line from Bob Herbert:

Selling a misguided war is a lot like selling cigarettes. You can never tell the tragic truth about your product.

Jack Clark 10:19 PM [+]   
Post #106593598479195856

Lessons in Civility

[C]onservatives are distressed because those liberals are so angry and rude... In fact, the right is still calling names and smearing; it wants to prohibit rude behavior only by liberals.

But there's more going on than a simple attempt to impose a double standard. All this fuss about the rudeness of the Bush administration's critics is an attempt to preclude serious discussion of that administration's policies. For there is no way to be both honest and polite about what has happened in these past three years.

Could Krugman have hit the nail on the head any better?

Jack Clark 10:18 PM [+]   
Post #106593590405879687

National Briefing: Southwest

TEXAS: FOUR ARRESTED IN BEATING Four white men have been arrested in the beating of a retarded black man who was found in a ditch near Linden on Sept. 28. The victim, Billy Ray Johnson, 42, suffered facial and brain injuries and remains in a hospital, where he regained consciousness only this week. The four men are residents of the area, including a Cass County jailer who was fired after he belatedly acknowledged that he was present at a party where Mr. Johnson was attacked. The F.B.I. is trying to determine whether the assault should be designated a hate crime. Steve Barnes (NYT)

Yeah, I wonder if it was or not? More good ol' boy evil from Bush's home state.

Jack Clark 10:15 PM [+]   
Post #106593571385748431

House Panel Votes Not to Force Iraq to Repay Aid  Even Republicans are fighting back against rampant Bushian secrecy and un-accountability:

The committee chairman, C. W. Bill Young of Florida, said he was concerned that a recent White House reorganization putting the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, in charge of reconstruction efforts would stymie Congressional efforts to compel administration testimony on Iraq.

As an adviser to the president, Ms. Rice cannot be summoned to Congressional hearings or compelled to turn over information to Congress, unlike officials who are confirmed by the Senate.

As a result, the committee unanimously approved an amendment prohibiting any of the $87 billion to be coordinated by a government officer not subject to confirmation by the Senate.

And the award for Congressional cowardice goes to:

Representative Zach Wamp, Republican of Tennessee, also planned a loan amendment but said he could not withstand the pressure from the president. 'If his eyes would have been lasers,' he said of Mr. Bush, 'mine would have been burned out.'

His name should be Wimp, not Wamp!

Jack Clark 10:12 PM [+]   
Post #106593556046288179

When Prudery Kills

'They've been in office three years, and they've done almost nothing to get the sick and dying on treatment,' said Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University economist and expert on public health. 'Despite a lot of talk and one famous speech, and one plan that isn't in operation, they've essentially accomplished nothing.'

'It's utterly inexcusable,' Mr. Sachs added, 'that 7.5 million people in Africa have died on their watch, and they've not yet reached even 500 Africans on treatment in U.S.A.I.D.-supported programs. They've talked and procrastinated and dissembled while millions of impoverished people have died. Ultimately, history will judge them very severely.'

"Accomplished nothing." That could be the motto for the entire Bush administration in so many areas.

Jack Clark 10:10 PM [+]   
Post #106593543194017184

Have any non-Bushian Congressmen proposed legislation to require that dollar for dollar, expenditures to "rebuild" Iraq be matched by expenditures to rebuild America?

Jack Clark 10:11 PM [+]   
Post #106584907567391409

Last night Sean Hannity said his TV program was "the embodiment of fairness and balance." The sad thing is, I think he really believes that.

Jack Clark 10:09 PM [+]   
Post #106584899869790576

A Further Look At The Criminal ChargesThat May Arise From the Plame Scandal, In Which a CIA Agent's Cover Was Blown  I hope John Dean, who wrote this, is correct. How wonderful it would be to see Karl Rove in prison (we already have Rush in rehab :-) I'd like to look up all the things Rush said about drug addicts and see how he likes his words applied to him.)

Jack Clark 10:01 PM [+]   
Post #106584847411779376

Everywhere and Nowhere, Saddam Retains His Grip on Baghdad's Imagination

[T]he occupation authority is making preparations to dismantle the food distribution system which gave free rations of flour, rice, cooking oil and other staples to every Iraqi.

Described by the UN as the world's most efficient food network, the system still keeps Iraqis from going hungry. But the US civilian administrator of Iraq, Paul Bremer, views it as a dangerous socialist anachronism. The coalition provisional authority (CPA) is planning to abolish it in January, despite warnings from its own technical experts that this could lead to hunger and riots.

Let the Iraqi welfare queens get a job, the bums.

Jack Clark 10:14 PM [+]   
Post #106576285980716733

Claims vs. Facts: President Bush�s New Hampshire Speech to Air National Guard Reservists  More Bush lies. Those who know, have known for a long time, and those who refuse to know, will, I fear, never wake up.

Jack Clark 10:10 PM [+]   
Post #106576264257844643

I only could stomach watching it tonight for a few minutes, but Chris Matthews is obviously still under MSNBC orders to be nice to Ann Coulter. She was totally avoiding answering his questions. His eyes revealed his annoyance and disgust. But he said nothing and meekly let her prattle on.

Jack Clark 10:42 PM [+]   
Post #106567815268207211

Lumps of Labor

Economists call it the 'lump of labor fallacy.' It's the idea that there is a fixed amount of work to be done in the world, so any increase in the amount each worker can produce reduces the number of available jobs. (A famous example: those dire warnings in the 1950's that automation would lead to mass unemployment.) As the derisive name suggests, it's an idea economists view with contempt, yet the fallacy makes a comeback whenever the economy is sluggish.

The "lump of labor" concept is valid when applied to jobs necessary for our society to function -- providing basic food, clothing, shelter etc. A tiny fraction of the population now can provide us with those essentials. All the rest of us work at jobs created by advertising-induced "demand" for a supply of more and more stuff we don't really need.

Jack Clark 10:39 PM [+]   
Post #106567797383820383

Dissonance in a Poll

To the Editor:

Re 'Poll Shows Drop in Confidence on Bush Skill in Handling Crises' (front page, Oct. 3):

There is something terribly out of whack when a clear majority of poll respondents say the country is seriously on the wrong track while at the same time more than 6 in 10 say the president has strong leadership qualities. If people think that quality leadership exists while the country is being driven over the edge of the cliff into the abyss of perpetual war and economic catastrophe, we are in worse shape than I thought.

The cognitive dissonance reflected in these poll results indicates that we may not yet fully understand how completely we've been bamboozled by this administration.

Actually, I think it's because people don't want to believe it. No one likes to admit they've been hoodwinked.

Jack Clark 10:10 PM [+]   
Post #106558980098950567

It gets me sick to my stomach, literally, to think of Arnold as my governor. To have to listen to him for the next how many years?! Ugh! On the other hand, Gray Davis repelled me as well, and Bustamente was no bargain either. My biggest concern is that Arnold's election will help the Bushians in their national and international power grab.

Jack Clark 9:47 PM [+]   
Post #106558845791722294

Report Offered Bleak Outlook About Iraq Oil  Yet another Bush lie. Gotta give him credit, he's a consistent SOB in his mendacity, ain't he?

Jack Clark 10:13 PM [+]   
Post #106550361553431303

A Broad Plan  The following is part of Bush's $87 billion request for Iraq:

Postal and telephone study, $54 million

A business study of the Iraqi Telephone Postal Company to determine its capital needs.

Must be a company owned by a Bush friend to warrant $54 million to study something like that! (Maybe it's a typo?)

Jack Clark 10:11 PM [+]   
Post #106550350443504247

Seige Heil: The Bush-Rove-Schwarzenegger Nazi Nexus and the Destabilization of California  Amazing stuff.

Jack Clark 10:02 PM [+]   
Post #106550292269455342

I don't think I've ever watched Tim Russert before today. He has a reputation as one of the toughest interviewers. I watched the last 45 minutes of his interview with Bill O'Reilly. Russert was an ass-kisser who rarely challenged anything O'Reilly said. And what challenges there were, were pitty-pat timid queries that O'Reilly easily swatted down. Russert is supposed to prepare so carefully for interviews. Russert asked about some of Al Franken's charges against O'Reilly contained in "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them." O'Reilly responded with the exact further lies that Franken demolishes in his book. But Russert had either not read the book, or chose not to embarrass O'Reilly. On his program this week O'Reilly mentioned that Russert had conducted a "fair" interview. I knew what that meant: an interview where everything O'Reilly says is respected as the Gospel. I watched the Russert interview only because I was doing house cleaning and figured maybe I was wrong. I wasn't.

Jack Clark 11:45 PM [+]   
Post #106542273748789428

The War on al-Jazeera:  Written by the wife of a journalist the US murdered.

Jack Clark 11:24 PM [+]   
Post #106542147639106505

Blair 'Knew Iraq Had No WMD'  Wouldn't it be great if some brave American with the knowledge revealed the same thing about Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice and Powell?

Jack Clark 11:11 PM [+]   
Post #106542068526341085