Magpie

Saturday, September 6, 2003

Where Magpie went.

For quite awhile earlier today, Magpie was completely inaccessible. It turns out that Blogger and Blogspot were being hit by a denial-of-service attack. Hopefully that's done with now.

| | Posted by Magpie at 6:56 PM | Get permalink

Another drop in Dubya's approval ratings.

A new Zogby poll reports that 54 percent of those surveyed gave the Prez poor marks for his job performance. Only 45 percent approved. Last month, Zogby found a 52-48 split, with slightly more people approving of Dubya's performance.

There's potentially bad news for his re-election prospects, too: Slightly over half those polled think it's time to put someone other than Dubya in the White House.

More complete results are here.

| | Posted by Magpie at 6:51 PM | Get permalink

Wampum's on a roll.

Wampum may have been on vacation for a few weeks, but all that time in the South hasn't slowed MB down one bit. She has excellent posts on the new US economic numbers here, here, and here.

And even with that posting, MB still had time to crank up the time machine and take us back to September 1991.

CONGRESS RETURNING WITH DEMOCRATS READY TO PRESS DOMESTIC ISSUES
Helen Dewar, Washington Post
September 9, 1991

After months of languishing in President Bush's shadow on issues of war and peace, Democrats will seek to stake a claim to the nation's domestic agenda when Congress returns this week from its summer recess and prepares to tackle a daunting stack of unfinished business.

A direct confrontation between Bush and the Democrats is regarded as likely on issues such as abortion, civil rights, recession relief and contested nominations to the Supreme Court and to director of the CIA.

Much later: Magpie wandered over to Wampum again because she couldn't recall whether MB noticed that the drop in the US unemployment rate was due to people getting discouraged and dropping out of the workforce. (She had.) While there, we noticed a couple of paragraphs that bear citing here:

A number of areas of the report which I've followed for months now continue their earlier trends: The number of discouraged workers has now grown by 125K, or 25%, to 503K; the percentage of those unemployed for more than 27 weeks (6 months) has increased to almost 22%; and the number of those desiring work, but still not counted by the Administration as truly "unemployed" has grown to 1.7 million, up from 1.4 million a year earlier.

The number of workers who have left the civilian labor force, for whatever reason (inability to find work, incarceration, returning to school full-time, no childcare, etc.,) has increase by over one million in just two months.

Magpie isn't holding her breath waiting for the recovery that Dubya keeps saying is almost here.

| | Posted by Magpie at 3:07 PM | Get permalink

Blame Iraq.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has identified the culprits responsible for the increasingly violent conditions in Iraq. Responding to Iraqi complaints that US forces have done a bad job of making the country safe since the invasion, Rumsfeld said that the Iraqi people — not the US — are responsible for security in Iraq.

Rumsfeld's comments, at the end of a three-day tour of Iraq, were intended to stem mounting criticism of U.S. forces for failing to control lawlessness and prevent a string of car bombs which have killed more than 120 people in the last month.

He challenged Iraqis to provide more information on militants in their midst, described by Washington as Saddam loyalists aided by foreign Islamic extremists.

"Instead of pointing fingers at the security forces of the coalition because there are acts of violence taking place against Iraqi people in this country, it's important for the Iraqi people to step up and take responsibility."

Even coming from an administration that habitually shifts the blame for any problems it's having to someone else, Magpie thinks that Rumsfeld's comments show a particularly disturbing level of &$151; well, we don't quite know what word to use. The US invades Iraq, disbands the army and much of the security forces, spends months talking about how US forces will have things under control Any Time Now, and the bad result is the responbility of the Iraqis?

Via Reuters.

| | Posted by Magpie at 10:45 AM | Get permalink

Pop quiz!

Quick! Where did this quote come from?

To be perfectly honest, we would love to keep playing Santa Claus. We could pretend the debt doesn't exist . . . and let the next Congress deal with the rising sea of red ink. . . Regrettably, this is precisely the approach the President has chosen with his most recent budget plan. In what we regard as a spectacular abdication of leadership, the President's plan to deal with the debt is to do--nothing. . .

A Democratic attack on Dubya's half-trillion dollar budget deficit, maybe?

Nope, it's from "Restoring the Dream, The Bold New Plan," put out by the Republicans in the US House of Representatives in 1995. An astute BuzzFlash reader compiled a bunch of juicy quotes from this document. You can see them here.

| | Posted by Magpie at 12:00 AM | Get permalink

Friday, September 5, 2003

Going hat in hand to the UN.

That's pretty much what the US is having to do now, says Jim Lobe of Inter Press Service, and the only real question is what price the UN will exact for taking Dubya's irons out of the fire. The French and German objections to the initial US proposals for UN involvement in Iraq indicate that there's a lot of tough bargaining ahead. Given the deteriorating situation in Iraq and the overstretched US military, however, the US may not have a lot of time to haggle.

[T]he Joint Chiefs of Staff, who normally report only through the secretary of defense, have established an independent line to Powell in recent weeks to circumvent the Pentagon's civilian leadership. Long skeptical of the hawks' optimism about the plans for postwar Iraq, the uniformed military appears to have moved toward open revolt against Rumsfeld and chief deputies Paul Wolfowitz and Under Secretary for Defense for Policy Douglas Feith.

The reasons are clear. US soldiers are still getting killed at the rate of at least one every other day, while, according to another Post report published on Wednesday, "almost 10 American troops a day [are] now being officially declared 'wounded in action'."

Worse, the military has long known what the Congressional Budget Office reported this week: the current troop presence in and around Iraq - about 180,000 soldiers - will be unsustainable in two months' time unless Washington recruits a bigger army or reduces its commitments elsewhere.

In other words, the military concluded that unless the occupation becomes much more international, the Iraq situation spells institutional disaster. But it was not only the military's alignment behind Powell that brought Bush around. Karl Rove, his veteran chief political adviser, has also backed up Powell, reportedly warning that the bad news from Iraq could well prove fatal to the president's chances for being re-elected 14 months from now.

Via Asia Times.

| | Posted by Magpie at 11:23 PM | Get permalink

Another amazing coincidence.

Dubya's having a bad week, what with the failure of the Estrada nomination, continuing problems in Iraq, and an uptick in unemployment applications. Once again, Magpie is certain there's no connection between those problems and the fact that the administration has issued new warnings about terrorist attacks on the US.

The Department of Homeland Security warned yesterday that al Qaeda might launch attacks in the United States using tactics not employed here in the past, such as car bombs, men dressed as women to avoid scrutiny and hijacking airliners in Mexico or Canada that can be flown into U.S. targets.

Via Washington Post.

| | Posted by Magpie at 12:15 AM | Get permalink

The Hong Kong 'anti-subversion' bill.

It's history.

The AP reports that the administration of Tung Chee-hwa has withdrawn the bill, citing public opposition and the need to deal with Hong Kong's economic problems. The legislation had been in limbo since the massive July 1 demonstration, which brought over a half-million people into the streets to oppose the bill.

If enacted, the 'anti-subversion' bill would have put draconian limits on freedom of expression and the right to assembly, and given the authorities broad powers to ban 'seditious' organizations and activities.

| | Posted by Magpie at 12:00 AM | Get permalink

Thursday, September 4, 2003

The future of overtime pay in the US is in the balance.

But it's not too late for you to help.

Sen. Tom Harkin thinks that he has enough votes to pass an amendment that would bar the Labor Department from implementing new overtime rules that would make it easier for employers to make workers put in longer hours for little or no extra pay. (The Labor Department has even told employers how to manipulate the new rules to keep workers' paychecks down.) Dubya is so sure that Harkin is right that he's threatening to veto an entire US $138 billion spending bill if the overtime amendment is attached to it. A vote is expected soon.

A main reason why the Senate is having an attack of conscience is the more than 100,000 letters and emails that have poured into senators' offices, demanding that they act to protect overtime pay. The AFL-CIO wants people to keep the heat on in the final hours (or days) before the Senate vote, and they have a web page that makes it really easy to send email messages to both of your senators. You'll find the page here.

And if you need more encouragement, here's part of the message Magpie got from the AFL-CIO earlier today.

This is the most important chance we've had to block the overtime pay cuts before they go into effect. The overtime pay cuts proposed by the Bush administration could take away overtime pay from at least 8 million workers. Overtime pay protections are the heart of the 40-hour workweek--and even the weekend. Without them, employers would have no reason to treat workers fairly--they could require longer and longer days without paying workers extra for their overtime hours.

The Bush overtime pay take-away would save employers billions--right from workers' paychecks. They would allow employers to do almost anything they want by blurring the rules for overtime eligibility.

The Bush administration changes could make large numbers of workers who have job-related training ineligible for overtime. Health care, technical, computer, law enforcement, firefighting and skilled trades training could cost workers their right to overtime pay. This is completely outrageous and we need to stop it.

| | Posted by Magpie at 9:02 PM | Get permalink

Speaking of crows.

Magpie was poking around the Macleans website, and found this wonderful quote about crows from Sylvia Tyson.

"I think of them as the bikers of the bird world," jokes the internationally renowned Toronto-based folksinger and songwriter.

| | Posted by Magpie at 7:34 PM | Get permalink

And while we're on the subject of conspiracies.

There's one up in Canada, with the ruling Liberal Party in bed (figuratively) with those nasty homosexuals.

Or at least that's what Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper is charging. According to Harper, the Liberals wanted to make it legal for same-sex partners to marry, but they didn't want to do it directly through Parliament. So they decided to take a dive when the ban on same-sex marriages came before provincial courts in Ontario and BC.

Mr. Harper said the Liberals wanted to avert the political pressure of changing marriage laws so they did it with the help of the justice system.

The long-time plan involved stacking the lower courts with liberal judges, he charged at a news conference in the foyer of the Commons.

"I think it's a typical hidden agenda of the Liberal party.... They had the courts do it for them, they put the judges in they wanted, then they failed to appeal ? failed to fight the case in court.

"I think the federal government deliberately lost this case in court and got the change to the law done through the back door."

Via Globe & Mail.

Magpie has to wonder what Mr. Harper has been smoking.

| | Posted by Magpie at 7:15 PM | Get permalink

What's worse than a quagmire?

Iraq, says military affairs analyst Dan Smith.

A quagmire is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as (1) "Land with a soft, muddy surface" or (2) "A precarious or difficult situation". In either definition, circumstances are not irreversible. A "soft muddy surface" suggests something more solid somewhere beneath, while "difficult" is not the same as impossible.

But media reports the past week in August have made it very clear that the administration has plunged the US over the lip - what is called the "event horizon" - of the human and financial black hole that is post-war Iraq. The significance of passing the astronomical event horizon is that whatever crosses it, even light, cannot recover or be recovered. It is a one-way trip down a "tunnel" at whose end there is no light, only crushing gravity.

Smith's recounting of the human and financial costs of the Iraq adventure, along with his assessment of the likelihood of success for Washington's plans to get the Iraqi economy rolling again, leave little doubt that a quagmire would be far preferrable to what the US is facing as it deals with the consequences of its decision to topple Saddam Hussein.

Via Asia Times.

| | Posted by Magpie at 6:27 PM | Get permalink

Humiliation and conspiracies.

They often go hand-in-hand. One example is the way that Muslims can blame anything and everything on Israel and the Jews. At alt.muslim, Haroon Moghul looks at how the 'sham politics' of conspiratorial thinking has kept Muslims from engaging with the world as it is.

We were sitting around, chit-chatting about the things Muslims do. Five minutes went by and nobody mentioned Israel. Ten minutes. What was going on? Then, incredibly, almost twenty minutes. We were talking into tangents, wandering childhood neighborhoods, the type of conversation we too often take for granted. But then, thankfully, someone had the good sense to recall the pitiable state of today's Muslims, by way of a reference to Iraq 's immediate defeat and current, seemingly hopeless situation. Now everything felt alright again. Comforting themes of distress, alienation and embarrassment, to such extents that we no longer are unfortunate, but ridiculous. Such macabre humor as this: A suggestion from someone in our group that I pick up a copy of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

It's a forgery; prepared by the Tsar's secret police in ages past, The Protocols blame Jews for the world's problems, detailing their supposed plot to conquer the world. This was, in fact, the Tsar's way of drawing attention away from his own autocracy, getting people to blame the Jews, a minority in Russia, and not his own regime. In 1917, a violent (Communist) revolution overthrew the Tsar, his dynasty destroyed by a bloody basement murder. What a remarkable subterfuge he produced. To this day, people all over the world take The Protocols seriously, so much that they view the Russian revolution as the work of Jews operating according to the principles revealed in The Protocols. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy.

There's a lot of criticism about Israel, its policies, its practice and its history. Most of that is legitimate and necessary. But underneath a lot of Muslim analysis lies an unspoken, unfair and irresponsible practice, which finds fault with Israel for things that have nothing to do with her - the practice of a people who no longer understand the world, feel themselves incapable of handling it, or even want to attempt counteracting it.

Not that this kind of conspiracy-weaving is peculiar to Muslims, mind you.

When Magpie read the description 'people who no longer understand the world, feel themselves incapable of handling it, or even want to attempt counteracting it,' our thoughts immediately drifted to the White House. And to a president and government who blame everything on 'terrorism' or 'al-Qaeda,' and continue clinging to those answers long after they cease to explain anything.

Via veiled4allah.

| | Posted by Magpie at 6:09 PM | Get permalink

Ceilidhs in Israel?

Yep.

"Almost every fiddler in this country was classically trained on violin, because we have no traditional fiddle playing here," [mandolin and bouzouki player Ehud Nathan] says. "To play folk music, classically trained musicians have to change their habits of playing and acquire new ones. It's a completely new technique. The whole concept of rhythm is difficult for them, because classical music changes rhythm all the time but Irish music is basically dance music... And you have to think in chords, rather than reading notes."

Despite this, there are now five bands playing Irish traditional music around Israel - apart from Black Velvet there is also Irish Cream, Evergreen, Shamrock Five and Blue - and a hard-core pool of about 25 musicians. There are even two people in Israel who have mastered the tricky uilean pipes, a softer and more plaintive Irish cousin of the Scottish bagpipe.

Via The Age.

| | Posted by Magpie at 12:01 AM | Get permalink

HaidaBucks 1, Starbucks 0.

Back in June, Magpie pointed to a story in Indian Country Today about HaidaBucks, an Indian-run restaurant in Masset, BC. It seems that coffee giant Starbucks decided that people would have trouble telling the difference between a cafe that looks somewhat like a traditional longhouse and those green & black corporate storefronts that inhabit trendy (and some not-so-trendy areas worldwide).

Starbucks threatened to sue. HaidaBucks refused to back down, and the Haida cafe waged an Internet campaign to protect its name and (not coincidentally) embarass its opponent. The Globe and Mail now reports that Starbucks has thrown in the towel.

Having created a public-relations nightmare for itself, the Seattle-based global enterprise, which prides itself on "support for local communities" and fair trade practices, has officially announced that the case is closed.

"We won," said Darin Swanson, one of four HaidaBucks co-owners. "We did more than defend our name; we defended our honour as indigenous peoples and our right to our heritage." [...]

Unlike Starbucks, which primarily serves beverages, desserts and ready-made snacks, HaidaBucks employs a full-time chef who dishes up everything from sushi to steak dinners.

Of course, it also sells coffee.

It once brewed Seattle's Best, the main rival to the Starbucks brand until Starbucks bought it a few months back. Now, HaidaBucks offers self-serve Canterbury coffee for $1 a cup.

The HaidaBucks website is here. Make sure to look at the page about the differences between Starbucks and other bucks.

| | Posted by Magpie at 12:00 AM | Get permalink

Wednesday, September 3, 2003

The secret court.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is a US court that issues wiretap and search warrants for use in the investigation of people believed to be working as agents of foreign powers. The court's proceedings are secret and, if you are unlucky enough to be prosecuted as the result of a FISA warrant, you have no right to see the evidence against you that was found pursuant to that warrant.

Sound creepy? You bet it is. Over at Open Source Politics, Laura Poyneer takes a look at how the FISA Court works and how the government commits fraud to get FISA warrants — all in the interests of 'national security,' of course.

| | Posted by Magpie at 10:44 PM | Get permalink

Life in 'liberated' Afghanistan.

A co-ed elementary school 40 miles south of Kabul was put to the torch on Tuesday night. Two of the five classrooms were destroyed by attackers, who left behind leaflets saying that girls should not be going to school. The leaflets also threatened any teachers who continue to teach female students.

While authorities blame the Taliban for the attack, no group has taken yet responsibility.

Despite the threat, classes resumed Wednesday in three undamaged rooms. [Military spokesperson] Amir [Jahn] said about 200 of the school's 400 boys and girls showed up for class.

"The teachers are obliged to continue because they are poor. They have no choice but to work," he said.

The AP reports that this is the third school in that area that has been burned in the last month.

| | Posted by Magpie at 8:48 PM | Get permalink

Can you say 'half a trillion'?

If you can't, you better learn how, because Dubya's about to ask for enough additional money for Iraq to push the US deficit over a half-trillion dollars for the first time ever. (If Magpie were cruel, she'd remind you that this is a request from the president who inherited a balanced budget from his Democratic predecessor, but we're not like that.)

According to Reuters, the White House will be asking Congress to approve another US $65 billion to fund the occupation and reconstuction of Iraq. (The request will also contain small amounts for Afghanistan.)

The reason for the request is basically bad planning. Among other things, the administration hadn't counted on needing so many troops in Iraq for so long; it hadn't figured that reconstruction would be so costly; it had believed that other countries would be sending significant amounts of money and troops to help out; and it had anticpated paying for the whole shebang out of Iraq's oil revenues. We all know how those expectations worked out.

Earlier this year, Congress gave Bush $79 billion to pay for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, including $2.5 billion as seed money for Iraq's postwar restoration.

By asking for extra money sooner than expected, Bush could demonstrate his commitment to Iraq before appealing to other nations to volunteer their own troops to a multinational force. Secretary of State Colin Powell has began negotiations with Security Council members on a draft U.N. resolution that would adjust the arrangements for running postwar Iraq.

A massive spending request could be politically risky for Bush.

Administration officials have played down the cost of reconstruction for months, although they now concede oil revenues will not meet Iraq's needs as the White House had hoped.

Magpie notes that no one's mentioning whose pockets the US $65 billion will be coming from.

| | Posted by Magpie at 8:31 PM | Get permalink

We'll bet you didn't know it.

But if you live in the US, you're paying Dubya's new tax.

For the "average" individual tax payer, I figured it amounts to about $342.20 per year, or (($1.73 - $1.40)*20gal)*52wks. That is, if the "average" American fills his gas tank up once a week. Then there is the recently instituted Bush "travel" tax, for those of us whose used our cars/trucks/RVs last month to visits friends or family, or to just get away from it all. Our two week contribution: $66.00.

Problem is, these new "taxes" don't go into the coffers of the US, and thus we can't even feel that at least we're doing our part to decrease the massive red ink the Bush Administration has amassed in just two and a half years. No, these funds go directly into the accounts of Exxon, Shell and other gasoline producers who are swimming in the sudden cash flow that a single month 20 cents per gallon jump in prices will bring in. And while US consumers were assured by the Administration that the Iraq War would open the oil gates and we'd see prices fall through the floor, gasoline prices are at their highest ever, up almost 25%, or an average of $.33/gallon over last summer.

Go visit Wampum to get the rest of the story.

| | Posted by Magpie at 7:54 PM | Get permalink

Texas standoff about to end?

The Houston Chronicle reports that one of the Democratic state senators on the lam in New Mexico may be breaking his compatriots' boycott of the legislature. That boycott is an attempt to prevent the Republican majority from redrawing the state's congressional districts.

According to the paper, Sen. John Whitmire of Houston flew home last night. It's not known whether he plans to attend the next special session, if one is called.

Eleven of the Senate's 12 Democratic members bolted the state July 28 to prevent a quorum in the Senate for the second special session, which ended Aug. 26.

But if the Legislature is called into a third session and even one of the runaway Democrats returns to the Capitol, the 31-member Senate will have a quorum of 21 and the Republican majority likely will have the votes to pass a congressional redistricting bill.

So far, no one seems to know much about what to expect. The Texas Democrats aren't saying much. And Magpie's favorite source for Texas political news, Burnt Orange Report, doesn't yet know anything more than we do.

Easter Lemming (which is where we found out about this story) has a good question, though: What was his [Whitmire's] price?

Update: Off the Kuff has some interesting speculation about what's up.

| | Posted by Magpie at 6:26 PM | Get permalink

Tuesday, September 2, 2003

Open Source Politics.

That's the name of the new group blog in town, and it's having its big debut today. You'll likely recognize the names of a lot of the people who're contributing.

Magpie tried to pick out one or two things to link to, but it's all so good we couldn't make a choice. Take a look for yourself.

| | Posted by Magpie at 6:11 PM | Get permalink

US Muslim leaders make plans for the 2004 election.

In the 2000 presidential election, about three out of four Muslim voters cast their ballots for Dubya. That lopsided Republican vote was in large part a result of extensive voter registration and education by four Muslim advocacy groups. The same groups met this past weekend during the annual conference of the Islamic Society of North America in Chicago, and made plans to get as many as a million Muslim voters to the polls next year. According to AFP, however, those voters won't be likely to support Dubya this time around.

"Feelings are running strongly against Bush in the community," he [Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations] said."We feel that civil liberties have deteriorated in this country."

Among the policies that have alienated Muslims are ones that allow for the racial profiling of Arab and Muslim men, the use of secret evidence in cases said to touch on national security, and the detention and deportation of many Arab and Muslim nationals without the right to legal representation.

Community leaders say a rash of hate attacks on Muslims and Arabs and verbal assaults on Islam by leading evangelical preachers have increased the community's sense of isolation.

"Muslims are eager to vote in defense of their liberties and in defense of their future," said Awad, who heads up the best-known of the four groups. "We want equal respect and equal treatment under the law."

For more information on the Muslim vote in the 2000 election, see this December 2000 article in the Washingon Report on Middle Eastern Affairs.

| | Posted by Magpie at 12:15 AM | Get permalink

Are you a self-defeating Democrat?

Well, are you?

Via Village Voice.

| | Posted by Magpie at 12:02 AM | Get permalink

Wooohooo!

The inimitable Ayn Clouter has listed Magpie as an 'Evil Leftist.' Admittedly, it doesn't give us quite the notoriety of getting onto Ann Coulter's list, but it ain't bad.

Don't miss Ayn's latest screed here.

| | Posted by Magpie at 12:01 AM | Get permalink

Krugman talks.

Liberal Oasis scored an interview with economist and NY Times columnist Paul Krugman. Krugman's new book, The Great Unravelling is about to be released by Viking Penguin in the US and Penguin in Canada.

It's a very good, wide-ranging interview, and you should read more than the tidbit we're presenting here. (And while you're at it, go read his newest Times column here. [Free reg. req'd.])

LO: In the intro of "The Great Unraveling," you mention how you came across an old book by Henry Kissinger from 1957 that you believe helps explain what’s happening in American politics today. How so?

PK: What Kissinger told me was not so much what the people running the country are doing, as why it’s so difficult for reasonable, sensible people to face up to what it is in fact dead obvious.

He talked in very generic terms about the difficulty of people who have been accustomed to a status quo, diplomatically, coping with what he called a "revolutionary power."

The book is about dealing with revolutionary France, the France of Robespierre and Napoleon, but he was clearly intending that people should understand that it related to the failure of diplomacy against Germany in the 30s.

But I think it’s more generic than that. It’s actually the story about how confronted with people with some power, domestic or foreign, that really doesn’t play the rules, most people just can’t admit to themselves that this is really happening.

They keep on imagining that, "Oh, you know, they have limited goals. When they make these radical pronouncements that’s just tactical and we can appease them a little bit by giving them some of what they want. And eventually we’ll all be able to sit down like reasonable men and work it out."

Then at a certain point you realize, "My God, we’ve given everything away that makes system work. We’ve given away everything we counted on."

And that’s basically the story of what’s happened with the Right in the United States. And it’s still happening.

You can still see people writing columns and opinion pieces and making pronouncements on TV who try to be bipartisan and say, "Well, there are reasonable arguments on both sides." And advising Democrats not to get angry – that’s bad in politics. And just missing the fact that – my God, we’re facing a radical uprising against the system we’ve had since Franklin Roosevelt.

Via skippy.

| | Posted by Magpie at 12:00 AM | Get permalink

Monday, September 1, 2003

Happy Labor Day.

For those of you in the US, that is. And a happy Labour Day to everyone in Canada.

As you can see, Magpie has taken the day off. But we decided to post this once, to make sure we pointed out this excellent set of labor-related links compiled by Nathan Newman.

| | Posted by Magpie at 9:08 PM | Get permalink

Sunday, August 31, 2003

Patriot II, in detail.

In more proof that you never know where good information will turn up, the website of the right-wing Gun Owners of America ('The only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington') has the best point-by-point analysis of the proposed 'Patriot II' legislation that Magpie has seen.

Patriot II is formally called the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, and has been circulating on Capitol Hill since early this year. It seems to have been written with the assumption that the original Patriot Act was nowhere near draconian enough. While the Justice Department formally disavows it, most observers see the fingerprints of Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft all over it. Patriot II may or may not have been replaced by the so-called VICTORY Act.

Via Occasional Subversion.

| | Posted by Magpie at 6:20 PM | Get permalink

Ooooooooh, shiny!

Aurora pictures!

Via Dublog.

| | Posted by Magpie at 2:18 PM | Get permalink

It's not Irish music.

But it's really good.

Azam Nemati of The Iranian has compiled an array of stunning violin music by Iranian musicians. You can find the page with links to RealAudio files here.

Magpie especially recommends the first group of tracks (listed only by numbers), and another listed near the bottom of the page called 'Goosheye Hejaaz.' Yow!

| | Posted by Magpie at 1:54 PM | Get permalink

Federal workers get to pay for Dubya's budget bungling.

Magpie is certain that readers of this blog aren't surprised when we find yet another way in which the 'war on terror' is being used to cloak assaults on civil liberties. But we have to admit that this Dubya decision rates pretty high on the cynicism scale.

About 1.2 million workers were supposed to be getting a 2.7 percent increase in January, but Dubya has cut that down to just 2 percent, using his authority to deal with the national emergency that has existed since 9/11. (Even Magpie forgot that we're still under that one.)

Bush said granting those full raises would cost about $11 billion more than he had proposed in his budget. "Such cost increases would threaten our efforts against terrorism or force deep cuts in discretionary spending or federal employment to stay within budget," Bush wrote. "Neither outcome is acceptable."

So because Dubya gave big tax cuts to the wealthy, and got the US into a war that's further breaking the budget, the paychecks of federal workers have to be slashed? We guess that's the best that people who can't afford $2000-a-plate Republican fundraising dinners can expect from the current occupant of the White House.

| | Posted by Magpie at 1:20 AM | Get permalink

Delivering the Republican vote in Ohio.

Diebold, Inc. is one of the companies vying for a contract to provide a new electronic voting system for the US state of Ohio. Diebold's CEO, Wally O'Dell, sent out invitations last week asking Ohio Republicans to raise $10,000 in time for a Republican Party event to be held at his home. In that invitation, O'Dell says that he is 'committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President next year.'

Should Diebold be able to supply Ohio's new voting system, given this fairly obvious partisanship at the top level of the company? Two Democratic leaders in the state legislature think that answer should be 'No,' and they're asking Ohio officials to drop Diebold from the list of potential suppliers.

Via Black Box Voting and The Mad Prophet.

| | Posted by Magpie at 12:54 AM | Get permalink

Another telling graphic about the current US economic 'recovery.'

The one included in this post at General Glut's Globblog shows how the US is in the worst labor-market slump since the Second World War. (For the historically impaired, the war ended in 1945, almost 60 years ago.) Make sure to follow the link to the General's early-August comments on the 'recovery.'

Magpie notes that the only other recovery that had negative job growth was the one that occurred at the end of Pappy Bush's term in the early 1990s. The elder Bush lost the next election to Bill Clinton, largely on the basis of his handling of the economy.

| | Posted by Magpie at 12:34 AM | Get permalink

No one likes us. I don't know why.

Body and Soul points us to an LA Times article in which songwriter/performer Randy Newman talks about the changing reactions to his song, 'Political Science.' Newman recorded the song on his 1972 album, Sail Away.

For those who don't know the song, the first two verses are:

No one likes us-I don't know why
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try
But all around, even our old friends put us down
Let's drop the big one and see what happens

We give them money-but are they grateful?
No, they're spiteful and they're hateful
They don't respect us-so let's surprise them
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them.

Needless to say, times have changed since 1972, and the song isn't quite the outlandish piece of mock-jingoism it was when it first appeared.

The years passed, foreign policy ebbed and flowed, spats with allies came and went, but the wonderful thing about "Political Science," Newman realized, was that no matter how absurd America's behavior toward the rest of the world seemed to people like him, it could never approximate his song's hyperbolic jingoism. "Nobody talked like that, not even [ultra-hawkish Vietnam-era general] Curtis Le May."

And then came Sept. 11, when somebody else "dropped the big one," followed by the buildup to the Iraq war, strident criticism from many U.S. allies and the stated determination of a popular president to invade. Resentful acts of American nationalism played out -- like Congress changing the name of French fries on Capitol Hill menus and calls for boycotting French wine.

The full lyrics for 'Political Science' can be found here.

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