follow-up on Russian/Georgian controversy

PORTOROZ, Slovenia, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Tensions over Georgia boiled over at NATO-Russia talks on Friday as Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov accused some alliance nations of illicitly selling weapons to the ex-Soviet country. "Some members of NATO -- shall we call them the younger generation? -- are supplying Georgia with arms and ammunition of Soviet production," Ivanov told a news briefing after the talks in the Slovenian coastal resort of Portoroz. Ivanov did not name the countries, but he was referring to some of the seven eastern European nations that joined NATO in 2004. He said Soviet arms exports to the region were made under the strict understanding they would not get into the hands of third parties. "It means these countries are breaching world practice," he said.

fraud, waste and abuse

silliness: A new report from the Government Accountability Office finds that more than 100 laptop computers purchased with cards that the Homeland Security Department issued after hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast last year are missing and presumed stolen. ~~~ Other examples of improper use of the cards included the purchase of a beer brewing kit, a 63-inch, $8,000 plasma TV and “tens of thousands of dollars for training at golf and tennis resorts,” the report states.

exactly

On the NIE: The report’s few positive notes were couched in conditional terms... and of course the full document won't be declassified. Anyone who honestly thought it would (or could) be is on some other planet.

Taliban: open for business in Waziristan

Post 'truce'... the Taliban have opened up a local office in Miran Shah for the purpose of "curbing crimes and anti-social activities".

"There is complete lawlessness in the area and crimes have increased. So after the peace accord the Taliban have set up office to serve residents of the area and restore peace,” read one pamphlet, apparently referring to the agreement signed between the Pakistani federal government and the Taliban on 5 September in North Waziristan which lies on the Pakistan-Afghan border.

Georgia arrests 4 Russian Army Officers

on suspicion of spying... Russian Foreign Ministry responds: "They have put forward unsubstantiated accusations." More at RIA Novosti.

Israelis developing hijack-proof jetliner

worth a shot, I guess.

Saudi Arabia + Israel = a tedious alliance

Jerusalem Post: Analysis: Saudi-Israeli footsie is a sign of need, not love Might be time to fire this "diplomatic official"...

"If you would have asked me three years ago, or five years ago, what country would be the last one in the region to make peace with us, I would have said Saudi Arabia," one diplomatic official said. "So if they are meeting with us now, it shows just how worried they are."

Talk about self-destructive! Of all the positive statements he could've made, yet he goes with "they're worried". Not, "we welcome any opportunity to make peace with our neighbors", or "hopefully we can build on this and develop a long term relationship built upon mutual trust and understanding"... or anything constructive, for that matter.

Ready, Set, Fraud

to torture or not to torture?

Arms and Influence: Don't stay up waiting for a small number of Congressional Republicans to save the American republic. Their opposition matters, particularly in an election year. However, what would matter a lot more is a broader, organized coalition against immoral, unconstitutional, and ineffective policies. Too bad the press is more interested in continuing their public adulation for McCain, instead of asking how effective his occasional "maverick" stances really are.

truth hurts

Time For Us To Go Conservatives on why the GOP should lose in 2006

iraq redux

"U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials say Bush political appointees and hard-liners on Capitol Hill have tried recently to portray Iran's nuclear program as more advanced than it is and to exaggerate Tehran's role in Hezbollah's attack on Israel in mid-July," they write.. "President Bush, who addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, has said he prefers diplomacy to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, but he hasn't ruled out using military force. Several former U.S. defense officials who maintain close ties to the Pentagon say they've been told that plans for airstrikes - if Bush deems them necessary - are being updated." [False Reports on Iran a Replay of Run-Up to Iraq War?]

mea culpa

at least he was honest

Congratulations to Adrian Fenty!

DC residents, meet your new mayor. Though it was only the primary, the general election is a non-factor. Fenty has effectively already won. Good stuff. Brighter days ahead for the District of Columbia.

go away Kristol

your views on Iraq are considered entirely irrelevant.

USMC Col. Pete Devlin

"We haven't been defeated militarily but we have been defeated politically -- and that's where wars are won and lost." - in his most recent assessment of Anbar province.

Anbar is a key province; it encompasses Ramadi and Fallujah, which with Baghdad pose the greatest challenge U.S. forces have faced in Iraq. It accounts for 30 percent of Iraq's land mass, encompassing the vast area from the capital to the borders of Syria and Jordan, including much of the area that has come to be known as the Sunni Triangle. The insurgency arguably began there with fighting in Fallujah not long after U.S. troops arrived in April 2003, and fighting has since continued. Thirty-three U.S. military personnel died there in August -- 17 from the Marines, 13 from the Army and three from the Navy. A second general who has read the report warned that he thought it was accurate as far as it went, but agreed with the defense official that Devlin's "dismal" view may not have much applicability elsewhere in Iraq. The problems facing Anbar are peculiar to that region, he and others argued. But an Army officer in Iraq familiar with the report said he considers it accurate. "It is best characterized as 'realistic,' " he said. "From what I understand, it is very candid, very unvarnished," said retired Marine Col. G. I. Wilson. "It says the emperor has no clothes."

Iraq: not a quagmire

BAGHDAD, Sept. 7 -- Baghdad's morgue almost tripled its count for violent deaths in Iraq's capital during August from 550 to 1,536, authorities said Thursday, appearing to erase most of what U.S. generals and Iraqi leaders had touted as evidence of progress in a major security operation to restore order in the capital.

ha... how... unscary

Iran deploys locally-manufactured warplane Iran deployed its first locally-manufactured fighter bomber plane on Wednesday during large-scale military exercises, state-run television reported. "The bomber Saegheh or lightening is similar to (the American) F-18 but more powerful. It was designed, optimised and improved by Iranian experts," the report said. c/o Opfor.

pentagon lawyers vs The White House

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department's top uniformed lawyers took issue Thursday with a key part of a White House plan to prosecute terrorism detainees, telling Congress that limiting the suspects' access to evidence could violate treaty obligations. Their testimony to a House of Representatives committee marked the latest time that military lawyers have publicly challenged Bush administration proposals to keep some evidence - such as classified information - from accused terrorists. In the past, some military officials have expressed concerns that if the U.S. adopts such standards, captured American troops might be treated the same way. [more]

some tip

HUTCHINSON, Kan. -- The bartender at an Applebee's restaurant in Kansas, who last week was left a $10,000 tip by a regular customer, now has the cash. Cindy Kienow got a check from the franchise owner for $6,300 -- her share of the tip, after taxes. [more]

William Donald Schaefer: "sexist dinosaur"

damn... when will this old senile SOB go away?

today's wrap up...

Chicago Sun-Times

Drill today to close streets, reroute buses

By Annie Sweeney

September 7, 2006

The West Loop will be the scene of an evacuation drill today, forcing the closure of several streets and the rerouting of CTA bus lines, officials said.

Baltimore Sun

Bird flu strain in Md.

But virus found on Shore poses no human risk, scientists say

By Ted Shelsby and Justin Fenton

Originally published September 7, 2006

Avian flu has been detected in mallard ducks on a farm on the Eastern Shore, though officials caution that the low-pathogenic strain poses no risk to humans and is not the type that has been blamed for more than 140 deaths around the world.

Disaster News

IL sees flooding

By Heather Moyer

September 7, 2006

Officials are now estimating that more than 150 structures were damaged by flooding in Rockford, Illinois, Monday afternoon.

Guardian

US says 9/11 suspect planned Heathrow attack

James Sturcke and agencies

Thursday September 7, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

The terror suspect accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks also planned to crash hijacked airliners into Heathrow airport, according to documents released by the US government.

Wired

Future Be Warned: Keep Out!

By Vince Beiser

Sep, 07, 2006

A half-mile below the surface of the New Mexico desert, the federal government is interring thousands of tons of monstrously dangerous leftovers from its nuclear weapons program --plutonium-infested clothing, tools and chemical sludge that will remain potentially lethal for thousands of years to come.

FCW

Walker: FEMA lacks financial reporting for Katrina

By Wade-Hahn Chan

Published on Sept. 6, 2006

Comptroller General David Walker announced today three new Government Accountability Office reports detailing the problems surrounding the response to Hurricane Katrina.

Govexec

Reports call for improvements to DHS response plans

By Jonathan Marino, jmarino@govexec.com

September 6, 2006

The Government Accountability Office on Wednesday released reports that reviewed emergency response planning and staffing at the Homeland Security Department and called for improvements in both area

Reuters

New Yorkers need to be ready to evacuate: experts

By Michelle Nichols

Wed Sep 6, 2006

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Yorkers are growing complacent about safety and evacuation planning and training is the key to the city combating another September 11-style attack or natural disaster, experts said on Wednesday.

USA Today

Report: U.S. not ready for disaster

By Mimi Hall and Anne Rochell Konigsmark, USA TODAY

September 6, 2006

WASHINGTON — The U.S. isn't prepared to handle disasters and lacks an effective way to track $88 billion doled out to help rebuild the Gulf Coast after last year's killer hurricanes, according to government reports released Wednesday.

Govexec

Security still high on lawmakers' agenda

By Chris Strohm, CongressDaily

September 6, 2006

Facing the five-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and mindful of the looming elections, House and Senate Republicans plan to tackle a myriad of homeland security issues this month, including debate on a major maritime security bill, public hearings with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, authorizing the president's domestic wiretapping program and possibly pushing through more border security legislation.

CBS Evening News

We're Watching

How Chicago Authorities Keep An Eye On The City

Sept. 6, 2006

If we have learned anything in the last five years, it is this: one man's symbol of prosperity could be another man's target. And in Chicago, the heartland's largest city, there are plenty of targets.

Reuters

Frist says immigration overhaul impossible

Wed Sep 6, 2006

By Donna Smith

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. congressional leaders are giving up on broad immigration legislation that would legalize millions of illegal immigrants and will concentrate instead on border security before the elections, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said on Wednesday.

WTOP

Capital Beltway in Maryland Reopens

September 7, 2006

WASHINGTON - A police standoff with a man and a woman in a stolen Honda shut down the Capital Beltway for more than an hour during the height of morning drive Thursday.

Guardian

Bush doctrine on terror fails to convince public

Poll shows rising anxiety in both US and Europe

Ewen MacAskill, Diplomatic editor

Thursday September 7, 2006

The annual Transatlantic Trends survey, conducted in the US and 12 European countries, records that concern among Americans has risen from 72% last year to 79% this year, and among Europeans from 58% to 66%. The biggest jump in concern about Islamist fundamentalism is in the UK, up 22 points.

Editor and Publisher

Controversy Over 9/11 Film Hits Press -- Here's First Full Preview of Movie

By E&P Staff

Published: September 07, 2006

NEW YORK Just bubbling up from the blogs into the mainstream press -- a New York Times article appears on Wednesday -- is debate over the "The Path to 9/11," the TV movie to be aired on ABC this coming Sept. 10 and 11. Liberals have charged that it reportedly pins most of the blame for the 9/11 terrorist attacks on President Clinton, often citing conservative bloggers or talk show hosts who made this very point after attending screenings.

Nasdaq.com

UPDATE: Dem US Sens Seek Halt To Private Tax Collectors

By Rob Wells, Of Dow Jones Newswires

September 6, 2006

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- As the IRS prepared to use private debt collectors for the first time, three leading Senate Democrats on Wednesday urged the agency to halt the project.

Whitehouse.gov

President Discusses Creation of Military Commissions to Try Suspected Terrorists

The East Room

September 6, 2006

All Headline News

Bush Admits To Secret CIA Prisons

By Nidhi Sharma - All Headline News Staff Writer

September 7, 2006 6:08 a.m. EST

Washington DC (AHN) - On Wednesday, President George W. Bush finally admitted that the CIA runs secret prisons overseas. He also acknowledged that tough interrogation forced terrorist leaders to reveal plots to attack the United States and its allies.

NBC4

Seventh Member Of Blair's Government Quits

September 7, 2006

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair was locked in a fight Wednesday to keep control over when he leaves office, with 15 Labour lawmakers demanding he step down. They included eight junior members who resigned to protest his refusal to do so.

NBC4

Harsh Words Fly Over Rumsfeld's Tenure

September 6, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats pushed for a vote Wednesday calling for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to be fired, but Republicans moved to head them off.

USA Today

Ex-Illinois Gov. Ryan gets 6 1/2 years for graft

September 6, 2006

CHICAGO (AP) — Former Gov. George Ryan, who was acclaimed by capital punishment foes for suspending executions in Illinois and emptying out death row, was sentenced Wednesday to 6 1/2 years behind bars in the corruption scandal that ruined his political career.

UN Observer

Was Homeland Security Behind Attack On 9/11 Investigative Journalist?

Christopher Bollyn, American Free Press

September 6, 2006

The "undercover tactical unit" involved in the assault and TASERing of a 9/11 investigative journalist at his Chicago-area home was most likely an operation ordered by the Department of Homeland Security, according to a former high-ranking police official.

Since the bizarre and brutal attack against me by three heavily-armed agents at my family home in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, a number of people have commented on the seemingly odd use of an "undercover tactical unit" to respond to a non-emergency 911 call.

New State Department Releases on the "Future of Iraq" Project

available online at GWU's National Security Archive and... more from PR Watch:

"Newly-available documents detailing the early work of the "Future of Iraq Project," the U.S. State Department's massive planning effort for post-regime change Iraq, have been posted online by the National Security Archive, a non-profit research institute. The new documents "provide a behind-the-scenes look at the formation of 17 working groups consisting of 'free' Iraqis and experts, 14 of which met throughout 2002 and early 2003 to plan for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq," according to the National Security Archive. "The first planning meeting with Iraqis took place at the Middle East Institute in Washington D.C. from April 9-10, 2002." In other Iraq news, Mother Jones magazine has launched "Lie by Lie," a timeline seeking to answer the question, "What did our leaders know and when did they know it?" The online reference currently covers from August 1990 to March 2003."

nursing home owners sue over katrina

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Two nursing home owners who were arrested after 34 of their patients died in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are suing the government, saying federal, state and local officials failed to keep residents safe and evacuate vulnerable citizens as the storm approached. An attorney for Salvador and Mabel Mangano said Tuesday that the lawsuit was filed last week, just before the anniversary of the storm. The Manganos own St. Rita's nursing home in St. Bernard Parish, a coastal suburb of New Orleans badly flooded by Katrina. Louisiana's attorney general had them booked for negligent homicide last fall after investigating the 34 deaths there, but the couple wasn't formally charged by a grand jury. No grand jury has been convened because damage to St. Bernard Parish government buildings and the displacement of the parish's residents have hobbled the court system, the attorney general's office said. One is expected to be convened this month. Attorney James Cobb said any liability in the deaths should be shared by governing agencies that failed to make appropriate evacuation preparations before the storm. "Gov. (Kathleen) Blanco had an obligation to make sure the state was in compliance with its own emergency operations plan," Cobb said. The Manganos have argued that their hurricane plan _ to keep frail residents in place with food, water and generators rather than risk moving them _ was a responsible course of action, and if the levees had held, the tragedy would have been avoided. So far, more than 30 lawsuits have been filed against the couple by patients injured at the nursing home and the families of people who died there, Cobb said. The lawsuit filed by the Manganos on Aug. 28 also accused the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of failing to build adequate flood protection, subjecting the nursing home to 13 feet of flood waters. The property sits 12 feet above sea level, higher than most of the parish downriver from New Orleans, Cobb said. Kris Wartelle, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Charles Foti, said the office hadn't yet seen the lawsuit and declined to comment on the case. A call for comment from the governor's office wasn't immediately returned Tuesday.

Bush's war on FEMA and his fundamental misunderstanding of disaster relief programs

Bush decided to enter Labor Day weekend, 1 year after Hurricane Katrina destroyed an entire city, displaced hundreds of thousands of Americans and (so far) has cost the US government more than $100 Billion, by "getting out in front" and issuing an Executive Order to "Improve Assistance for Disaster Victims". The most substantive action taken by the administration by virtue of this EO is the creation of another beaurocratic layer of government; a special Task Force on Disaster Assistance Coordination. So, what's the problem? FEMA HAS NO REPRESENTATION on this task force, despite the fact that FEMA (and ONLY FEMA) is responsible for administering disaster assistance programs for both victims and local and State governments. Following Katrina's landfall, the Federal government suffered from beaurocratic paralysis. FEMA Director Michael Brown, having to work through an incompetent surrogate in Michael Chertoff, was never given the authorities or the tools necessary to rapidly respond to the needs of those who were affected. Yet, the administration's most significant policy adjustment on the 1 year anniversary of Katrina manages only to further cripple the one agency capable of fixing what the Bush administration themselves broke. Mr. Bush has shown (again) that his administration would prefer to hackishly strengthen the amorphous nothingness otherwise known as DHS to the detriment of anyone who may suffer from a future disaster. Incompetence. There's no other word.

bing bong

c/o No Quarter... some choice excerpts:

From Melanie Sloan, Executive Director, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Response to Wash Post Editorial of 9/1/06

Allegation: It is untrue that the WH orchestrated leak of Plame’s identity to ruin her career and punish Joe Wilson

• According to Washington Post article of 10/12/03: “two top White House officials disclosed Plame’s identity to at least six Washington journalists.” An administration source told the Post: “officials brought up Plame as part of their broader case against Wilson . . . It was unsolicited . . . They were pushing back. They used everything they had.”
• After Novak’s column appeared Rove called Chris Matthews and told him Mr. Wilson’s wife was “fair game” (Newsweek 7/11/05)
• Mr. Fitzgerald, who has long been aware of Mr. Armitage’s role, stated in court filing: “there is ample evidence that multiple officials in the White House discussed [Valerie Wilson’s] employment with reporters prior to (and after) July 14, “ and further that “it is hard to conceive of what evidence there could be that would disprove the existence of White House efforts to ‘punish’ [Mr.] Wilson.” (Washington Post 4/7/06)

Allegation: Mr. Wilson’s charge that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger is false

• The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Assessment of Iraq describes Mr. Wilson’s role:
  • The CIA’s decision to send Mr. Wilson to Niger was part of an effort to obtain responses to questions from the Vice President’s Office and State and Defense on “the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal” (p. 39)
  • Two CIA staffers debriefed Mr. Wilson upon his return from Niger and wrote a draft intelligence report that was sent to the CIA Director of Operations (“DO”) reports officer. (p. 43)
  • The intelligence report based on Mr. Wilson’s trip was disseminated on March 8, 2002, and was “widely distributed.” It did not identify Mr. Wilson by name to protect him as a source, which the CIA had promised Mr. Wilson. (p. 43)
    • According to the report, the CIA’s DO gave Mr. Wilson’s information a grade of “good” “which means it added to the IC’s body of understanding on the issue.” (p. 46)

• After Mr. Wilson’s July 6, 2003 New York Times op-ed, the Administration acted as if he had made a major revelation:
  • The day after a spokesman for the President told The Washington Post: “the sixteen words [“The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa”] did not rise to the level of inclusion in the State of the Union.” (NY Times 7/8/03)
  • On July 11, 2003, CIA Director George Tenet said “These 16 words should never have been included in the text written for the president.” (LA Times 7/12/03).

• According to a Washington Post article, the National Intelligence Council stated in a January 2003 memo that “the Niger story [that Iraq had been caught trying to buy uranium from Niger] was baseless and should be laid to rest.” (Washington Post 4/9/06)
• According to a Vanity Fair article of July 2006, there was a last-minute decision before the President’s State of the Union Address to attribute the Niger uranium deal to British intelligence even though “the CIA had told the White House again and again that it didn’t trust the British reports.”
• On March 7, 2003, Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director General of the IAEA, publicly disclosed that the Niger documents which formed the basis for reports of a Iraq-Niger uranium transaction were false. He stated that “the IAEA has concluded, with the concurrence of outside experts, that these documents . . . are in fact not authentic. We have therefore concluded that these specific allegations are unfounded.”

Allegation: Mr. Wilson “ought to have expected . . . that the answer [to why he was sent to Niger] would point to his wife.”

• A July 22, 2003 Newsday article cites a senior intelligence officer who confirmed that “she [Valerie Plame] did not recommend her husband to undertake the Niger assignment.”
• Joe Wilson’s July 15, 2005 letter to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence explains that Valerie Wilson was not at the meeting at which the subject of him traveling to Niger was raised for the first time and then only after a discussion of what the participants at the meeting did not know about Niger. This is confirmed by SSCI report at p. 40.

CSM on Israel's internal struggle

JERUSALEM – Soon after Israel's war with Hizbullah came to a halt with a tenuous cease-fire, Israel's internal war began.

Now, amid widespread disappointment over how the war was waged, the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is under pressure to set up a state commission of inquiry on various aspects of a war in which Israelis see innumerable mishaps.

Sixty-four percent of Israelis, according to an Israeli Radio poll released Thursday, want an independent inquiry into the war - not unlike the 9/11 Commission in Washington. Such high figures serve an embarrassing blow to Mr. Olmert, who has tried to downsize the issue by appointing two lower-level committees Monday to investigate the handling of the war.

The possibility of a wider probe evinces the degree of disillusionment with the war, but also the extent to which Israelis are now willing to put the decisions of a sitting government and even the country's near-omnipotent military under a critical microscope.

Internal critique over the war appears to be making its impact on both sides of the border: Olmert has acknowledged that there were shortcomings, while Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in an interview this week that had he known how Israel would retaliate, he would not have ordered the kidnapping attack.

Commissions of inquiry have only been held at grave moments in Israeli history, such as the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and after the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

"The public impact of a commission of inquiry is much greater than any other. The public confidence in officials who direct a commission of inquiry is huge," says Prof. Stuart Cohen, a political scientist at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University, near Tel Aviv.

"They also have judicial powers which no internal committee possesses," he explains, meaning that the commission has the power to hold officials personally responsible for civil or criminal offenses, order them dismissed from their positions, and ban them from holding similar positions in the future.

The crux of the controversy focuses on how the war was conducted, and not whether it should have been waged at all. But even those questions have the potential to sway policy, and an inquiry could have a lasting impact on the military options Israel exercises in the future.

Israelis also want an investigation into the government shortcomings in protecting civilians during the war. Volunteer organizations and not government officials, critics say, did most of the aid work. A decision to evacuate bombarded northern towns did not come until a month into the war.

"The rights and wrongs are not the issue - nobody here disputes the justice of the use of force," says Dr. Cohen. Israel began bombing Lebanon soon after Hizbullah staged a cross-border attack on July 12, killing eight soldiers and kidnapping two. The men are still being held.

"People are upset but they're not saying, 'My son died for no reason.' He died because somebody made a mistake," he adds. "The mistake was not to have gone to war, but not to have conducted the war properly." [more here]

heh

so true... Steve from No More Mister Nice Blog:

Shorter Michelle Malkin: I no longer believe that San Francisco hit-and-run driver was a jihadist terrorist, but at least I had the courage to jump to conclusions -- not like those liars in the MSM who got the story right.

this administration's jig is up

the divisive up-is-downism has become entirely transparent:

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Rumsfeld betrays his own cynicism and moral confusion when he attacks the patriotism, courage and moral fiber of millions of his fellow Americans, then bewails those who try to divide this country ~ It is not patriotism to sit in silent submission to those who have led this country into the most serious foreign policy blunder in our history. It is not moral confusion to point out that with its embrace of torture as a legitimate weapon, and with its refusal to abide by the Geneva Conventions, it is the Bush administration that has undercut the moral standing of the United States in a struggle in which moral standing is of utmost importance. And it is neither appeasement nor surrender to search for a better way, because it is clear to many that the road we have taken so far does not lead to victory.

Wake the hell up America.

US healthcare... a National disgrace

an editorial in yesterday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The long goodbye

08/31/2006

The number of Americans without health insurance grew by nearly 1.3 million in 2005, the sixth straight year it has increased. Nearly 46.6 million people are now uninsured, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this week. If that doesn't push health care into the center ring of the 2008 election circus, it is hard to know what will. What this means is that about 16 percent of Americans had no health coverage in 2005. From 2000 to 2005, the number of Americans without health insurance grew by nearly 7 million. It is now inescapably clear that a structural change is underway in how Americans pay for health care:Employers want out from under the costs, and government can't afford them, either. That change will not be eased by an improving economy, it leaves increasing numbers of working people either without access to care or impoverished by its costs. In the absence of a national plan, these changes could sink the health care system we all depend upon. That's because the cost of caring for people without insurance is covered either by tax dollars (through Medicaid, which makes payments to hospitals based on their number of uninsured patients), or by "cost-shifting." That's a long-standing practice by hospitals of charging people with insurance slightly more than what to costs to care for them; the extra money covers care to those who can't pay. The fewer Americans without health insurance, the smaller the cost shift; conversely, the more Americans without health insurance, the greater the cost shift. Some experts estimate that the cost shift adds $900 a year to the premiums of those with health insurance. And as premiums increase, more individuals and employers can't afford them, feeding the vicious cycle. At some point -- no one knows exactly where -- the cost shift becomes unsustainable and hospitals can't stay in business. Most Americans still have access to health care, and most still get health insurance through their jobs. But that's changing rapidly. In 2000, 64 percent of Americans had employer-provided health coverage; last year, only 59.5 percent did. Demographers say the drop in employer-provided coverage accounts for most of the increase in the number of uninsured. As always, low-income, low-skill workers and their children are the hardest hit. About one child in five living in poverty has no health insurance. About one adult in four earning less than $25,000 a year has no health insurance. A study prepared for the Missouri Foundation For Health found that 178,000 Missourians, including 16,000 children, lost health insurance coverage between 2000 and 2004. That was before the big Medicaid cuts passed by the Legislature, which slashed 100,000 people from the Medicaid rolls. From 2000 to 2004, the same study found, the number of people making twice the federal poverty level or less in Missouri increased by 330,000. That's significant, because poor people are more likely to be uninsured since low-wage jobs often don't include health benefits. Meanwhile, Congress has voted to cut billions of dollars from Medicaid, which will further increase the ranks of the uninsured. It's long past the time for Congress, employers, insurance companies, workers and health care providers to come together and hammer out a viable, long-range health care strategy for all of America -- those with good benefits, those with dwindling benefits and those with none at all -- that spreads risk, pools resources and contains costs. The conversation should start now, while we still have a health care system to save.

bill arkin nails Rumsfeld

ouch Either Rumsfeld has delivered one of the most important speeches of the modern era, or he's gone crazy. I think the latter, not just because I think the secretary is wrong on his intellectual characterization of terrorism, and not just because he is wrong about the media and its intentions, and not because he is so pugnacious, or because he has been wrong so many times before. Rumsfeld is so wrong about America. His use of World War I history and the specter of fascism and appeasement, and his argument about moral weakness or even treason in any who oppose him, is not only polarizing but ineffective in provoking debate and discussion about the proper course this country must take to "fight" terrorism. This is not the first time that Rumsfeld has shown himself to be so out of touch, so contemptuous of America. Rumsfeld as secretary of defense has displayed a contempt from long before 9/11 for anyone who disagrees with him, particularly in his initial wars against those in the uniformed military. Moreover, Rumsfeld's declaration of war yesterday follows from his basic view that the Defense Department has to do it all: He has created an intelligence bureaucracy because he is distrustful and contemptuous of the CIA and all others. He has built up a secret army and covert capabilities in special operations forces because he wants to control and to rely only upon his own warriors. He has created a homeland security apparatus that looks over the shoulder of the Department of Homeland Security and is the ultimate arbiter of security. He has created his own FBI in the Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), and fought to ensure that the NSA stays under Pentagon control. He has created his own law and his own human rights policy. He has subverted Congress through unexamined supplemental budgets and super-secret programs. Even as a military strategist, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld pushed a losing strategy in Afghanistan. This is not just because he went to war with an initially small force. After all, the war against the Taliban and al Qaeda began just weeks after 9/11 and that was what could be mobilized in that short period. The tragic error was that Rumsfeld continued to think that the terrorist threat existed in the form of a small army to be routed by his fabulous "transformed" warriors. It is Rumsfeld who declared "mission accomplished" long before President Bush stepped on to the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln. Rumsfeld has been wrong in fighting and too quick to declare victory thereafter. Rumsfeld declared victory in Afghanistan, in addition, because he was twitching to move on to the next enemy, and the next and the next. But even when the weaknesses and problems became apparent about how the Afghanistan war had been fought, Rumsfeld still pushed an identical military strategy in Iraq, brushing aside any criticism as naïve and appeasing and out of touch with the new gathering storm of weapons of mass destruction. And even as Iraq has become one of the biggest hornets' nests in history, the secretary has convinced himself over and over that progress is being made and victory is just around the corner. America, Rumsfeld says, is not to blame, conflating a just war with a preemptive American strike. America is not to blame and therefore Rumsfeld is not to blame: no missteps, no errors of judgment. The secretary just wants his soldiers to believe now that he anticipated all along that the enemy was totalitarian and fascist and that Iraq was part of the big plan. If I were the conspiratorial type, I'd say Rumsfeld was a particular menace to America because in his view of a monolithic and totalitarian terrorist enemy, and in his analysis of the weakness of American society, he can only come to the messianic conclusion that he indeed needs to takeover the country in order to save it.