ThinkFast: February 28, 2006
ThinkFast: February 28, 2006
Surprise: “Congressional watchdogs are nervous that after an initial burst of energy on reform, lawmakers from both parties have since cooled to the stronger provisions they were pushing just weeks ago.”
President Bush plans to shut down part of the national service program AmeriCorps, which he embraced in 2001. The National Civilian Community Corps, which brings together more than 1,100 18- to 24-year-olds together to work on service projects, will have its budget cut from $27 million to $5 million, “with the goal of closing it down.”
A majority in 33 of 35 countries and 60 percent of people overall believe the Iraq war has increased the likelihood of global terrorist attacks.
The New York Times has sued the U.S. Defense Department demanding that it hand over documents about the NSA’s domestic spying program, including internal memos, emails, and list of the surveillance targets. Also: White House rejects call for a special counsel investigation.
For the first time, the Justice Department approved a $300,000 settlement in the case of an Egyptian national who was detained after 9/11. “The government’s inclination to settle was enhanced when Judge John Gleeson ordered that former Attorney General John Ashcroft and the former head of the FBI testify under oath about the case.”
Genocide spreading: “The chaos in Darfur, the war-ravaged region in Sudan where more than 200,000 civilians have been killed, has spread across the border into Chad, deepening one of the world’s worst refugee crises.”
“Half a dozen Western governors impatient for more federal action on global warming are mounting state campaigns to deal with climate change on their own.”
A new report by Iraq’s Special Inspector General finds inadequate planning, “a poorly structured, ad-hoc personnel management processes,” and “haphazard” hiring practices contributed to the inefficient reconstruction process.
Future budget cuts proposed by Bush could mean “tens of thousands of veterans with non-critical medical issues could suffer delayed or even denied care in coming years.”
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmett, the Central Command deputy commander for planning and strategy in Iraq, has rejected the recent Human Rights First report that found 98 detainees have died in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since Aug. 2002. Kimmett characterized the report as “propaganda,” but provided no evidence to back up his claim.
And finally: McDonalds super-sizes the blogosphere with its new corporate responsibility blog.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
You forgot the big news, Anna Nicole Smith goes to the Supreme Court!
February 28th, 2006 at 9:27 amthinkfast:
No one wants to push real energy reform, the oil companies certianly don’t
No suprise that Bush wants to close down any program that benefits the poor, provides services to the poor, or does anything but help corporations, and the ultrarich make more money.
The majority of the rest of the world has not backed the US in the Iraq war, this poll should not be a surprise to any one.
Six of one half dozen of the other. Even though I don’t like the program, I don’t the idea of someone demanding and getting classified documents. There are some things that need to be kept secret. At least for now.
Not the first time Admistration officials have refused to testify under oath. 9/11 comission anyone?
Sudan doesn’t have oil, why would we care? /sarcasm off
California, is one of the states pushing to issue new laws on fuel effiecincey and clean air. It looks like the federal government will overall any thing done at the state level. Kind of goes against the republican motto of letting states decide not the federal government.
Why bother with competence, when you can give lots of money to halliburton for doing the job sorta, maybe, kinda?
Bush has already severly cut funding for veterans, no suprise that he would continue to do so. I am curious what is defined as non-critical medical issues.
Abu Grhaib, and Gitmo have provided plenty of evidence of how the US treats it detaniees. This paticular story makes me sick. What happened to our country? We don’t win by turning into the same type of monsters that attacked us.
I don’t eat at McDonalds. I also don’t shop at Wal-mart. I don’t like the business practices of either company, and am willing to forego their product.
I apologize for any typo’s or difficult to read sentences. It is still early and I have not had my first cup of coffe.
February 28th, 2006 at 9:41 amOh no! The administration does not want Ashcroft and the former head of the FBI to testify about ANYTHING. Just throw a bunch of taxpayers money at the problem and let it go away, PLEASE!
February 28th, 2006 at 9:46 am“The New York Times has sued the U.S. Defense Department demanding that it hand over documents about the NSA’s domestic spying program, including internal memos, emails, and list of the surveillance targets. Also: White House rejects call for a special counsel investigation.”
It would seem the NYT just can’t help our enemies enough. But I’m sure they’re only interested in how many terrorist affiliated NYT stringers we know about. I think the editors are worried about probable jail time. Good.
February 28th, 2006 at 10:00 amAfter numerous rounds of “We don’t know if Osama is still alive”, Osama
himself decided to send Ted Kennedy a letter in his own handwriting to
let
him know he was still in the game.
Kennedy opened the letter and it appeared to contain a single line of
coded
message:
370HSSV-0773H
Kennedy was baffled, so he e-mailed it to John Kerry. Kerry and his
aides
had no clue either, so they sent it to the FBI.
No one could solve it at the FBI so it went to the CIA, then to the NSA.
With no clue as to its meaning, the FBI finally asked Britain’s MI-6 for
help. Within a minute MI-6 cabled back with this reply:
“Tell the FBI that Kennedy’s holding the message upside down.”
February 28th, 2006 at 10:02 am{Right} Very old joke and re spun by you. It was originaly sent to Bush. That was 4 years ago….
February 28th, 2006 at 10:29 amNate the letter was misaddressed it was meant for you.
February 28th, 2006 at 10:29 amSo IRI, should we be worried about Bush’s old pal Osama, or should we not…I keep getting mixed signals from this administration.
February 28th, 2006 at 10:32 amkrazny you are my new president! thank freaking god for blogs and comments. i know i’m not the only outraged voting mom. christ, the crime unit in the whitehouse is slowly, no quickly making me crazy! WTF will they pull out of there asses next?
February 28th, 2006 at 10:34 amI spent a year in an Americorp program called City Year. It was the most absolutely miserable year of my life. They are so mismanaged and misguided. The majority of the people spent a bulk of their time avoiding work while a few of us did the work. While that wasn’t so bad because it does reflect real life, they treated you like you were some kid in grammar school going to summer camp. I say cut City Year’s funding. Americorp is a great idea but City Year is terrible. Especially the end of the year ceremony CYZYGY… They seriously locked us in a room for eight hours (after making me miss the only fun thing in the whole program – poker tourney – because I was chosen as one of the people to do prep work that day so the rest of the corp didn’t have to do as much work) after forget to feed us while simultaneously not letting us go out to get food (for fear of forfeiting the $3000 scholarship awarded at the end of the year). They finally got us pizzas but told us we could have only one small slice (this is after I didn’t have a meal card for two days) then locked us in that room for eight hours. I tried to leave but they wouldn’t let me. The bald thug guy said it was his fault so if there were any problems come to him. He was called the “Dean” of City Year. After being forced to hear speeches about how their organization was great complete with the fanatical chearing of the faithful, starving us, and showing us footage of City Year’s martyrs they finally let us leave at 1 a.m. to have our site’s team meeting which lasted another half hour and which I walked out of. We were promptly woken at 5 a.m. and rushed to the schools that needed to be painted. Their were no fans ventilating any room, not that it would have mattered since they decided to reroof the building on the same day! The majority of the people (including those in charge) left early since the celebratory post-work carnival was more important. The school was left half painted with paint boot prints all through the hallways.
I’m sure there are more Americorps programs out there that are better but I would like to see City Year shut down.
February 28th, 2006 at 10:36 amI’m sure there are more Americorps programs out there that are better but I would like to see City Year shut down.
Comment by Buckley Roberts
Nope, that’s what you get when do-gooder liberals spend taxpayer money. Next time volunteer for a church run operation. They actually care about what they are doing.
February 28th, 2006 at 10:43 amOn Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear a case that brings together three simmering Republican scandals. The GOP’s unprecedented Congressional gerrymandering, Tom Delay’s ethical failings and the Department of Justice’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 will be among the story lines as the Roberts Court takes on the 2003 Texas redistricting cases.
For the full story, see:
February 28th, 2006 at 11:02 am“GOP Scandals Converge in Texas Redistricting Case.”
…and you get things like the Iraq fiasco, Halliburton and cuts to veterans benefits when the do-badder right wingers spend your tax money
February 28th, 2006 at 11:02 amIt’s Mardi Gras!
February 28th, 2006 at 11:05 amLaissez le Bon Temps Roulez!
…and you get things like the Iraq fiasco, Halliburton and cuts to veterans benefits when the do-badder right wingers spend your tax money
Comment by Fatty bin Laden — February 28, 2006 @ 11:02 am
. . . and your children’s tax money, thanks to their policy of borrow and spend.
February 28th, 2006 at 11:20 amA very pertinent article:
February 28th, 2006 at 11:37 am
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=6723
February 28th, 2006 at 11:38 am#17 – Holy crap. Thanks for the link.
February 28th, 2006 at 11:51 amSudan doesn’t have oil, why would we care?
I thought the entire Sudan ethnic cleansing is because of the oil that was recently discovered there. Is there really more to the story besides oil?.
Sudan
Sudanese crude oil production and exports have risen rapidly over the past few years, with the Sudanese Energy Ministry expecting production to reach 500,000 barrels per day in 2005. Exploration and production are expected to increase as a result of a December 2004 Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end Sudan’s 21-year civil war.
Note: Information contained in this report is the best available as of March 2005.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/sudan.html
February 28th, 2006 at 11:54 am15- Children’s? Hell, with cut and spend reactionaries, this debt will last longer than our children’s grandchildren, and probably increase as long as people keep voting Republican.
February 28th, 2006 at 11:58 amWho, WHO will initiate impeachment proceedings? The longer this goes on, the more ridiculous it becomes. The US, and the entire world, needs this man and his cronies OUT~
February 28th, 2006 at 11:59 amWHo will be the first? Can Byrd say it again “I wish I had…”. Stop wishing and DO IT.
In the article about Dubai and the ports, the connection to the larger number of ports involved is not clearly explained. Is the UK company turning over all its ports, or just the ones originally listed on the East coast? The deal between the two companies is not quite clear in the AmProg article. Can you help?
February 28th, 2006 at 11:59 amCheney-Bush, wht combination!Both should face impeachment andSenate firing, for violating FISA and approving rendition. They are arrogantly assuming they are above the law thanks to JOHN YOO. They are plutocrats and kakistocrats.”Laugher”economics is hurting us.Clintonomics worked.
February 28th, 2006 at 12:02 pmWe are all doomed.If you have no money,influence or political contributions in hand prepare your children for a class war because its coming.People are sick of barely making it,watching EVERYTHING you need for bare survival go up 25% at least and being told that the $7 billion dollars spent each month on ways to kill people will make the rest of the world like us more for our “social contribution of democracy”.I am so scared of that word now.I have two daughters and I am afraid.Afraid that they are not going to enjoy life because traveling outside the confines of America can get you killed because you are the enemy.Pretty soon we may not be able to travel in certain parts of the US as well.I have traveled all over the world and was proud at one time to say I was an American.Now I just quietly hope no one will notice my blue passport until I need it to show the customs official on the way home.Politians are so far removed from the everday Americans plight.Just look at their pension plan and compare it to the pittance the average American gets from Social Security.No wonder they spend $50 million to get a $200,000 a year job!The halls are lined with money in DC.I believe in helping others in the world;but I believe in helping home first.I have no political allegiances and in my mind think the people know whats better for the people then the politicians!Everyone hope that things will change.The peasants shall rise and demand change.
February 28th, 2006 at 12:08 pmThe House must bring impeachment proceedings. Nancy Pelosi is on record as being against impeachment (I was there when she said it last month).
Her reason was that we should focus our energies on the November election. She may have more to say on it, and I wish she would have.
February 28th, 2006 at 12:09 pmGreat comments against CHENEY-BUSH my fellow bloggers!But do discuss poitive measures the federal government can take to counte Cheney-Bush.Oh, forHilllary!
February 28th, 2006 at 12:24 pmPhew! Thank goodness they’re finally shutting down these useless programs and heck now we can give Halliburton the $22 million saved so they can buy 10 hammers or two security guards or 100′ of PVC. That’s what I call money well spent.
February 28th, 2006 at 12:29 pmThe proposed $300K settlement in the Elmaghraby illegal detention and torture case uses our taxpayer money to get Ashcroft, Mueller, and their Bush gestapo partners off the hook and evade justice. The Times article says the settlement has to be approved by a federal judge in Brooklyn.
February 28th, 2006 at 12:32 pm[...] Today’s example, while not on the same level as the heretofore mentioned King of The Idiots, is a poll on the relation between Iraq and the war on terra. A majority in 33 of 35 countries and 60 percent of people overall believe the Iraq war has increased the likelihood of global terrorist attacks. [...]
February 28th, 2006 at 12:34 pmWhere did your “21 ports” come from? P&O operates 4 terminals (of a total of 50) at 6 ports, and is co-operator of 4 others. Meanwhile 700 U.S. navy carriers and warships safely (gasp!) docked in the U.A.E. last year.
Our nutty New York Senator Clinton now files a bill to require all 90 or so terminals (of a total of some 100) nationwide operated by non-U.S. owners to be required to sell their operation to the virtually non-existent U.S. terminal operating community.
Keep it up, Democrats, and even talk-radio will agree you’ve lost touch with reality.
February 28th, 2006 at 12:36 pmOn December 7, 2005 the president issued a directive that the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS) shall coordinate all agencies (including the pentagon) in reconstruction and stabilization of nations, whom we decide to help, like Iraq. Think Progress may want to see what this agency has done to date, what its budget is, and what it should be doing.
February 28th, 2006 at 12:58 pmSen. HARORD FORD will joinPres. Hillary Clinton to bring forth solid progressive laws. Nutty right wingers will go bonkers.The republic will rejoice.
February 28th, 2006 at 12:59 pmJewish World Review Feb. 28, 2006 / 30 Shevat, 5766
February 28th, 2006 at 1:08 pmOOPS! Controversial Dubai firm enforces Arab boycott of Israel
By Michael Freund
Who will “Israel’s best friend” side with?
Will illegal behavior be perfect excuse for prez to sever ties with company?
The parent company of a Dubai-based firm at the center of a political storm in the US over the operating of American ports participates in the Arab boycott against Israel.
The firm, Dubai Ports World, is seeking control over six major US ports, including those in New York, Miami, Philadelphia and Baltimore. It is entirely owned by the Government of Dubai via a holding company called the Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCZC), which consists of the Dubai Port Authority, the Dubai Customs Department and the Jebel Ali Free Zone Area.
“Yes, of course the boycott is still in place and is still enforced,” Muhammad Rashid a-Din, a staff member of the Dubai Customs Department’s Office for the Boycott of Israel, said in a telephone interview.
“If a product contained even some components that were made in Israel, and you wanted to import it to Dubai, it would be a problem,” he said.
A-Din noted that while the head office for the anti-Israel boycott sits in Damascus, he and his fellow staff members are paid employees of the Dubai Customs Department, which is a division of the PCZC, the same Dubai government-owned entity that runs Dubai Ports World.
Moreover, the the website for Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone Area, which is also part of the PCZC, advises importers that they will need to comply with the terms of the boycott.
In a section entitled “Frequently Asked Questions”, the site lists six documents that are required in order to clear an item through the Dubai Customs Department. One of them is called a “Certificate of Origin.” It is “used by customs to confirm the country of origin and needs to be seen by the office which ensures any trade boycotts are enforced,” according to the website.
A-Din of the Israel boycott office confirmed that his office examines certificates of origin as a means of verifying whether a product originated in the Jewish state.
On at least three separate occasions last year, companies were fined by the US government’s Office of Anti-boycott Compliance, an arm of the Commerce Department, on charges connected to boycott-related requests they had received from the Government of Dubai.
US law bars firms from complying with such requests or cooperating with attempts by Arab governments to boycott Israel.
In one instance, according to a Commerce Department press release, a New York-based exporter agreed to pay a fine for having “failed to report in a timely manner its receipts of requests from Dubai” to provide certification that its products had not been made in Israel.
The proposed handover of US ports to DP World has provoked a political storm in Washington, where Republicans and Democrats alike have expressed hostility to the plan, citing national security concerns.
In an attempt to stave off opposition, DP World agreed over the weekend to a highly unusual 45-day second federal investigation of potential security risks.
Government Think-Speak
February 28th, 2006 at 1:08 pmMy fellow citizens, we are being duped. Monday, February 20, in the opinion page of my local newspaper, the East Valley Tribune, Mesa resident and fellow American, Trevor Hanson aligned himself with the Bush Administration concerning the NSA eavesdropping on our phone calls and email. He is far from alone. In the very same paper is an AP report of Senator Frist doing the same thing. Every day someone, Democrat as well as Republican, speaks eloquently about the programs virtues and the need to stifle any more debate about its inner workings for fear of rendering it useless. But buried in the Business section of the very same paper is a third article that shines the glaring light of reality on this entire situation, SKYPE ENCRYPTION TAKES WEB PRIVACY TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL.
Skype (rhymes with type) is an Internet calling service that provides FREE voice calls and text messaging between users. The security encryption Skype routinely employs makes it virtually impossible to listen in on these calls or emails. Connect the dots people. The NSA cannot break this encryption and they know it, Bill Frist knows it, George Bush knows it, everyone that matters knows it except the American citizen. It is naive and dangerous to think that bin Laden and al-Quida doesn’t know about and use this technology or another like it. After all, there are 75,000,000 registered users of Skype alone. Can I assume that most citizens have at least heard about cell phones that can access the Web? Guess what? You can buy them preloaded with Skype. What a wonderful gift technology is, and so simple to use.
I don’t know exactly who the NSA is listening in on, no one does at this point in time, but one thing I am sure of, they are not listening in on the next 911 plot, not unless Inspector Cluso is running al-Quida. So who IS the NSA monitoring? The administration has admitted it is American citizens so the answer is right out of George Orwell’s 1984, Big Brother Is Watching You! Heaven help us if we let the power of our politicians grow beyond our control, because then we will have a REAL problem on our hands, reclaiming lost liberties.
We are all in this together, for better or for worse. My fellow citizens, please get a clue and let your voice and vote be heard loud and clear in November! We are not cowards, we will not cower to al-Quida’s threats no matter how much our politician’s trumpet its sirens song, and we will not condone breaking the law for some imaginary security. We are Americans! Let’s start acting like it and vote in some real leadership come fall.
We are Americans! Let’s start acting like it and vote in some real leadership come fall.
Comment by Charles Lesher
Yep, lets vote for the guys that want to put a camera on every street corner, in every bathroom and throw your ass in jail for calling a spade a spade. Who want to take away your guns, put homo’s in charge of Cub Scouts and teach little boys how to be little girls.
Let’s vote for the guys who go hat in hand to Sadam and to the mullah’s in Iran and everywhere else America is hated and beg forgiveness. Let’s vote for the Democrats!!!
That’ll teach ‘em.
February 28th, 2006 at 1:29 pm[...] (via thinkprogress.org) Surprise: “Congressional watchdogs are nervous that after an initial burst of energy on reform, lawmakers from both parties have since cooled to the stronger provisions they were pushing just weeks ago.†[...]
February 28th, 2006 at 3:08 pmKEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!BUSH AT32% .HE THINKS HEIS GOING SOMEWHERE WITH PLANS FOR THE PLUTOCRATS[PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY,HSA'S]WHER ARE THE PEOPLE WITH THE WHITE JACKET FOR HIM?
February 28th, 2006 at 4:33 pmI read and hear all the time that the ‘media’ has a liberal bias. So when Media Matters finds that over a number of years that the balance has been swung on purpose to the Right on the Sunday Morning Talk Shows among other outlets I do wonder where the outrage has gone.Oh!So you mean that it’s Okay to have biased reporting and analysis just as long as it is’nt liberal? Either way we’re getting a very distorted picture of what’s really happening and for the few who make profits from such confusion they care very little for the real discourse that is the hallmark of any truly free society.Since going down the rightward path has usually wound up with a shrinking freedoms,uncalled for wars of aggression(not self defense)and deeper class fragmentation I would rather err on the side of a path that insures that Our Constitution is lived up to.If people on the right think that the Geneva Convention is quaint and obsolete then what do they really believe about our Constitution?That’s a question you won’t see answered any time soon on our Sunday Talk Shows or on Broadcast News in general.They pit 3 or more rightwing pundits for every 1 neutral/center pundit with 0 liberals/progressives in sight.Even in the bad old heyday of Federally mandated neutrality did we see a packing of the political forums to equal what’s happening today.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:50 pmWORKERS UNDER45 SHORT SHRfted. Wages not advancing.Southerners less welloff. Why can’t demoncrats do well down here?
February 28th, 2006 at 6:48 pmdemocrats.ssorry
February 28th, 2006 at 6:50 pmRealistically, if we can’t impeach Bush/Cheney can we have a “recall election” as was done in California a couple of years ago — remember that’s when they got their wonderful leader, Ahnold, who is also polling in the low 30’s. Will our constitution allow such a move? This is probably pie-in-the-sky thought here, but can anyone set me straight?
February 28th, 2006 at 6:53 pm#35
Yep, lets vote for the guys that want to put a camera on every street corner, in every bathroom and throw your ass in jail for calling a spade a spade. Who want to take away your guns, put homo’s in charge of Cub Scouts and teach little boys how to be little girls.
Or we could vote for the guys who have illegally spied on American citizens’ phone and email conversations, who want to crush all dissent as “unpatriotic terraist sympathizing”, who really want to take away your guns (police confiscated people’s guns in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina), make a significant portion of the population second-class citizens, and allow priests to teach little boys how to be sexual predators with impunity.
Let’s vote for the guys who go hat in hand to Sadam and to the mullah’s in Iran and everywhere else America is hated and beg forgiveness. Let’s vote for the Democrats!!!
Let’s vote for the guys who sold Sadam WMDs, and created the Mullah’s rise to power by reinstating the Shaw to power in ‘53, and continually telling the rest of the world to “fuck off!” so that there is a never-ending supply of “bad guys” who want to harm our citizens. Let’s vote for the Republicans!!!
You’re an ass! Learn some history before you shove your foot in your mouth next time!
February 28th, 2006 at 6:55 pmRegarding the ports problem, has anyone followed the money to see who among the Bush administration’s supporters stands to gain from this transaction? Money has been behind many of the atrocities carried out by these people, why not again?
February 28th, 2006 at 11:30 pmIRI
I’m sorry honey, it looks my allusion were too veiled for you. I was comparing them to a Church. That’s why I thought they were wrong. Looks like you better put on your thinking cap next time you start reading
March 1st, 2006 at 3:28 amFollowing the money trail is always harder than you would think. There are tons of assetts that can’t be tracked including deals and promisses that will play out years down the road…
October 23rd, 2006 at 11:04 am