nothing to see here

Blogger loses to WordPress

... finally. Much better.

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.

Broadcast Chief Misused Office, Inquiry Reports

By STEPHEN LABATON WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 — State Department investigators have found that the head of the agency overseeing most government broadcasts to foreign countries has used his office to run a “horse racing operation” and that he improperly put a friend on the payroll, according to a summary of a report made public on Tuesday by a Democratic lawmaker. The report said that the official, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, had repeatedly used government employees to perform personal errands and that he billed the government for more days of work than the rules permit. The summary of the report, prepared by the State Department inspector general, said the United States attorney’s office here had been given the report and decided not to conduct a criminal inquiry. The summary said the Justice Department was pursuing a civil inquiry focusing on the contract for Mr. Tomlinson’s friend. Through his lawyer, James Hamilton, Mr. Tomlinson issued a statement denying that he had done anything improper. The office of the State Department inspector general presented the findings from its yearlong inquiry last week to the White House and on Monday to some members of Congress. Three Democratic lawmakers, Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Representatives Howard L. Berman and Tom Lantos of California, requested the inquiry after a whistle-blower from the agency had approached them about the possible misuse of federal money by Mr. Tomlinson and the possible hiring of phantom or unqualified employees. Mr. Tomlinson, a Republican with close ties to the White House, was ousted last year from another post, at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, after another inquiry found evidence that he had violated rules meant to insulate public television and radio from political influence. His renomination to a new term as chairman of the State Department office that oversees foreign broadcasts, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, is pending before the Senate. Mr. Tomlinson’s position at the broadcasting board makes him one of the administration’s top officials overseeing public diplomacy and puts him in charge of the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. The State Department report noted his use of his office to oversee a stable of thoroughbreds but did not mention one specific way in which his professional responsibilities and personal interests appear to have intersected. The horses, according to track records, include Karzai, as in Hamid Karzai, and Massoud, from the late Ahmed Shah Massoud) references to Afghan leaders who have fought against the Taliban and the Russians, as well as Panjshair, the valley that was the base used by forces to overthrow the Taliban. In providing the report to the members of Congress, the State Department warned that making it public could violate federal law, people who have seen the report said. On Tuesday, Mr. Berman released the summary. The lawmakers who requested the inquiry sent a letter to the president on Tuesday urging him to remove Mr. Tomlinson from his position immediately “and take all necessary steps to restore the integrity of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.” A spokeswoman for the White House, Emily Lawrimore, said President Bush continued to support Mr. Tomlinson’s renomination. Ms. Lawrimore declined to comment on the State Department report. In the statement issued through his lawyer, Mr. Tomlinson said that he was “proud of what I have accomplished for U.S. international broadcasting’’ and that the investigation “was inspired by partisan divisions inside the Broadcasting Board of Governors.’’ He implied that it was more efficient for him to work for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting at his office at the broadcasting board. About his horse racing work, he said the inspector general had concluded that it amounted to “an average of one e-mail and two and a half minutes a day’’ at the office. He also said he spent more time on broadcasting responsibilities at his farm and residences than he spent on his horses at the office. “In retrospect, I should have been more careful in this regard,’’ he said. Mr. Tomlinson, 62, is a former editor of Reader’s Digest who has close ties to Karl Rove, Mr. Bush’s political strategist and senior adviser. Mr. Rove and Mr. Tomlinson were on the board of the predecessor to the broadcasting board in the 90’s. Mr. Tomlinson has been chairman of the broadcasting board since 2002. The board, whose members include the secretary of state, has a central role in public diplomacy. It supervises the government’s foreign broadcasting operations, including Radio Martí, Radio Sawa and Al Hurra; transmits programs in 61 languages; and says it has more than 100 million listeners a week. Mr. Tomlinson’s ouster in November from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was prompted by a separate investigation by that inspector general at the corporation. That inquiry found evidence that Mr. Tomlinson had violated rules as he sought more conservative programs and that he had improperly intervened to help the staff of the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal win a $4.1 million contract, one of the corporation’s largest programming contracts, to finance a weekly public television program. The heavily edited State Department report on Mr. Tomlinson’s activities at the Broadcasting Board of Governors did not identify the friend who received the improper employment contract. The report said that there was no competitive bidding to hire him, that he was retired and on a government pension when Mr. Tomlinson hired him and that he never filed the required paperwork with the board. In his statement, Mr. Tomlinson identified the man as Les Daniels and said he had worked for 35 years at the Voice of America. Mr. Tomlinson said, Mr. Daniels did important work as a liaison aide with the public and working on significant projects. Mr. Daniels was paid nearly $250,000 over two and a half years, ending last year. Mr. Tomlinson was rebuked in the earlier report at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for improperly hiring an acquaintance from a journalism center founded by the American Conservative Union. The corporation paid the person more than $20,000 to monitor public radio and television programs for bias, including “Now,” with Bill Moyers as host. The State Department report said that from 2003 through 2005 Mr. Tomlinson had requested compensation in excess of the 130 days permitted by law for his post. The report said that he had requested and received pay from the broadcasting board and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the same days worked on 14 occasions but that investigators were unable to substantiate whether they were for the same hours worked on the same days. Investigators who seized Mr. Tomlinson’s e-mail, telephone and office records found that he had improperly and extensively used his office at the broadcasting board for nongovernmental work, including work for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the horse racing and breeding ventures. The material seized included racing forms and evidence that he used the office to buy and sell thoroughbreds. Mr. Tomlinson owns Sandy Bayou Stables near Middleburg, Va., Records show that most of the horses have not been in the money, although Massoud appears to have been quite successful, earning purses of more than $140,000 over the last two years. People who have seen the report said it noted that Mr. Tomlinson, on his lawyer’s advice, ended an interview with investigators early. One person familiar with the inquiry said Mr. Hamilton ended the interview as the investigators began to ask about using the office for horse racing business. Mr. Hamilton would not comment about the interview. Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

great job Bushie!

letters

The Roots of FEMA's Problems

Thursday, August 31, 2006; A24

R. David Paulison, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, offers a good guide for what needs to be done before the next natural disaster strikes ["Weathering the Next Storm," op-ed, Aug. 27].

But improving the federal government's responsiveness may be more difficult than he indicates. FEMA's management problems did not start with Michael Brown; they were initiated by Joe Allbaugh, whose management style and interpersonal skills motivated many competent and experienced professionals to leave FEMA.

In addition, the formation of the Department of Homeland Security reduced FEMA's authority and eliminated effective programs, such as Project Impact, that provided planning expertise and technical assistance to help communities take steps to lessen the impact of and repair the damage from disasters. Other programs were transferred to DHS. These actions resulted in a further exodus of experienced FEMA employees to other federal agencies and the business sector.

Transitions between administrations need not be so traumatic. The transition at FEMA from the first Bush administration, when FEMA was deemed to be less competent, to the Clinton administration resulted in fewer than 20 new political appointees. James Lee Witt, President Bill Clinton's FEMA director, brought leadership to the career employees and insisted that political appointees be experienced emergency managers.

Mr. Paulison wrote, "I have invested heavily in hiring the right leaders with emergency management experience to coordinate federal response efforts." I hope that he is successful.

OLLIE DAVIDSON

Chevy Chase

misc.

Levey: Iran 'Central Banker of Terror' 'Britain poses greater terror threat to US than Iraq and Iran' Homegrown terror suspects raise concern

Katrina's unclaimed souls

Will and Strength to be buried in Gulfport

Iraq: are you safer?

re: Details on the British Terrorist Arrest

• There was some serious cash flow from someone, presumably someone abroad.
• There was no imminent threat.
• However, the threat was real. And it seems pretty clear that it would have bypassed all existing airport security systems.
• The conspirators were radicalized by the war in Iraq, although it is impossible to say whether they would have been otherwise radicalized without it.
• They were caught through police work, not through any broad surveillance, and were under surveillance for more than a year.

c/o Bruce Schneier

too funny

from RP Online: The British have reacted to the recent terrorism alerts by raising their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." Londoners have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940, when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been recategorized from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance". The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was during the great fire of 1666. Also, the French Government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France are "Surrender" and "Collaborate." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability. It's not only the English and French that are on a heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides." The Germans also increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose." Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday, as is customary, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

marked

Zakaria Dughmush

don't call it a quagmire

Main Entry: quag·mire Pronunciation: 'kwag-"mI(-&)r, 'kwäg- Function: noun 1 : soft miry land that shakes or yields under the foot 2 : a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position: PREDICAMENT

call it a paradox

Iraq looting portends handover trouble By HAIDAR HANI Associated Press Writer AMARAH, Iraq — Iraqis looted a military base vacated by British troops and stripped it of virtually everything removable on Friday, an indication of possible future trouble for U.S.-led coalition forces hoping to hand over security gradually to the Iraqi government.

Men, some with their faces covered, ripped corrugated metal from roofs, carried off metal pipes and backed trucks into building entrances to load them with wooden planks. Many also took away doors and window frames from Camp Abu Naji.

"The British forces left Abu Naji and the locals started looting everything," 1st Lt. Rifaat Taha Yaseen of the Iraqi Army's 10th Division told Associated Press Television News. "They took everything from the buildings."

~

Camp Abu Naji, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, had come under almost daily attack when the Britons were in control, an indication of the hostility for foreign troops.

~

"British forces evacuated the military headquarters without coordination with the Iraqi forces," Jabbar said Thursday.

But the British military rejected the assertion, with Maj. Charlie Burbridge saying the hand-over was coordinated with Amarah authorities 24 hours in advance.

"It was understood that the governor was likely to use the camp as a police training camp," he said in an e-mail Thursday, adding that Iraqi forces had secured the base after the British soldiers left.

In the midst of the looting, one man who refused to give his name, said: "This is war loot and we are allowed to take it."

~

Militants inside the Al Qadir Al Kilami mosque fired small arms, machine guns and rocket propelled grenades at U.S. forces, a statement by the U.S. command said. They also hurled hand grenades and a bomb, it said.

American soldiers returned fire at first, and finally unleashed several rounds from M1 tanks into the mosque, said the statement.

"The mosque suffered serious structural damage to the dome and minaret," it said.

~

Elsewhere, two worshippers were killed at a Shiite mosque in the southern city of Basra during an exchange of fire between the mosque guards and gunmen. A police officer was killed in a drive-by shooting in downtown Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Iraqi army soldiers reportedly shot and killed two recruits and injured 10 others outside a recruiting center in southern Kut after they threw hand grenades.

'bout time

Japanese Police Arrest Mitutoyo Chief TOKYO -- The president of precision instrument maker Mitutoyo Corp. was arrested in the alleged export to Malaysia of equipment that can be used in making nuclear weapons, officials said Friday. Tokyo police arrested Kazusaku Tezuka, along with four other Mitutoyo executives and employees, on suspicion of violating foreign trade control laws, trade ministry official Hiroyuki Murakami said. NTI: 14 January 2006 Japanese firm, Mitutoyo Corporation, is suspected of illegally exporting three dimensional measuring tools to Scomi Precision Engineering (SCOPE) in Malaysia, China, and Thailand. Associates of the A.Q. Khan network are suspected of conducting illicit nuclear trafficking activities from SCOPE factories in Malaysia. A Tale of Nuclear Proliferation: How Pakistani Built His Network

big whoop

MOSCOW, August 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russian strategic bombers launched a series of cruise missiles during command and staff exercises at a northern testing ground, a Russian Air Force spokesman said Thursday. During a 10-hour flight, two Tu-160 and two Tu-95MS from strategic long-range aviation units, designated by NATO as Blackjack and Bear-H, respectively, successfully hit targets and performed a number of tasks, including in-flight refueling. "All cruise missiles hit their targets," Alexander Drobyshevsky said. He added that six Tu-22M, or Backfire-C, long-range bombers simultaneously conducted successful missions with bombardment and missile launches at the Guryanovo testing ground in southern Russia, and at Emba, a testing ground that Russia leases from Kazakhstan.

cool plane though.

mike luckovich's latest

Bruce Schneier's column in today's Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Focus on terrorists, not tactics It's easy to defend against what they planned last time, but it's shortsighted. Hours-long waits in the security line. Ridiculous prohibitions on what you can carry onboard. Last week's foiling of a major terrorist plot and the subsequent airport security graphically illustrates the difference between effective security and security theater.

None of the airplane security measures implemented because of 9/11 -- no-fly lists, secondary screening, prohibitions against pocket knives and corkscrews -- had anything to do with last week's arrests. And they wouldn't have prevented the planned attacks, had the terrorists not been arrested. A national ID card wouldn't have made a difference, either.

Instead, the arrests are a victory for old-fashioned intelligence and investigation. Details are still secret, but police in at least two countries were watching the terrorists for a long time. They followed leads, figured out who was talking to whom, and slowly pieced together both the network and the plot.

The new airplane security measures focus on that plot, because authorities believe they have not captured everyone involved. It's reasonable to assume that a few lone plotters, knowing their compatriots are in jail and fearing their own arrest, would try to finish the job on their own. The authorities are not being public with the details -- much of the "explosive liquid" story doesn't hang together -- but the excessive security measures seem prudent.

But only temporarily. Banning box cutters since 9/11, or taking off our shoes since Richard Reid, has not made us any safer. And a long-term prohibition against liquid carry-ons won't make us safer, either. It's not just that there are ways around the rules, it's that focusing on tactics is a losing proposition.

It's easy to defend against what the terrorists planned last time, but it's shortsighted. If we spend billions fielding liquid-analysis machines in airports and the terrorists use solid explosives, we've wasted our money. If they target shopping malls, we've wasted our money. Focusing on tactics simply forces the terrorists to make a minor modification in their plans. There are too many targets -- stadiums, schools, theaters, churches, the long line of densely packed people before airport security -- and too many ways to kill people.

Security measures that require us to guess correctly don't work, because invariably we will guess wrong. It's not security, it's security theater: measures designed to make us feel safer but not actually safer.

Airport security is the last line of defense, and not a very good one at that. Sure, it'll catch the sloppy and the stupid -- and that's a good enough reason not to do away with it entirely -- but it won't catch a well-planned plot. We can't keep weapons out of prisons; we can't possibly keep them off airplanes.

The goal of a terrorist is to cause terror. Last week's arrests demonstrate how real security doesn't focus on possible terrorist tactics, but on the terrorists themselves. It's a victory for intelligence and investigation, and a dramatic demonstration of how investments in these areas pay off.

And if you want to know what you can do to help? Don't be terrorized. They terrorize more of us if they kill some of us, but the dead are beside the point. If we give in to fear, the terrorists achieve their goal even if they were arrested. If we refuse to be terrorized, then they lose -- even if their attacks succeed.

Bruce Schneier is a security technologist and author of "Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World."

Putin promises to back Boeing business in Russia

(RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he would support U.S. aircraft giant Boeing in Russia. Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Russian titanium giant Vsmpo-Avisma (RTS: VSMO) announced Friday the establishment of a joint venture with an authorized capital of $60 million to assemble titanium products for Boeing passenger liners. "Today you have started forming a joint venture to produce titanium," Putin told Alan Mullaly, president and chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airlines, on his first visit to Moscow. "We are ready to support the development of your business in Russia." The president said that Boeing had been cooperating with Russia since 1992 and had concluded deals worth a total of $3.5 billion. "Your company has always been a reliable partner," the president said, adding that Russia was working with Boeing on various projects, including in space. Mullaly said he had joined the company 37 years ago and had worked to design all Boeing models, except the 707. He said Boeing had been his dream because it was cooperating with international companies, and he wanted to work with Russia's best aircraft building companies. Mullaly said his company invested heavily in Russia's high-tech sectors, including titanium production and aerospace industry, and 2,000 Russian engineers were helping to design Boeing airliners. He said Boeing would buy materials worth $18 billion in the long-term under the Vsmpo-Avisma deal. The U.S. aircraft giant said the joint venture would produce titanium aircraft parts for the medium-sized Dreamliner, which Boeing says will be able to fly distances once reserved for large jets, first in the Urals region of Sverdlovsk and then at a Boeing plant in Portland, Oregon. Vsmpo-Avisma director general Vladislav Tetyukhin who was also attending the meeting said, "The agreement signed by Vsmpo-Avisma and Boeing develops the relationship between the two countries that began in 1996. Boeing and Vsmpo-Avisma will continue joint work aimed to increase the productivity, quality and timely supplies, as well as to reduce the prime cost of products." Tetyukhin said Boeing had signed a contract to buy 65 types of forgings for Boeing-787s made of composite materials and titanium alloys. He said the contract could vary between $250 and $400 million depending on aircraft sales. Tetyukhin added that 30 carriers had already bought 403 Boeing-787s and that Boeing valuated the market for this type of planes to be worth $1 trillion and planned to produce 1,500 Boeing-787s. He also said that 10% of the plane consisted of Russian titanium parts. Vsmpo-Avisma was established in July 2005, when Avisma (Special Aviation Materials, a Soviet-era enterprise) merged with Vsmpo (Verkhnaya Salda Metallurgical Production Association). The corporation controls a third of the global titanium market.

too funny

Rude Pundit: Late post today. The Rude Pundit was busy slathering himself with all his lotions, cooking oil, and toothpaste while drinking everything in his fridge and liquor cabinet just in case he needs to fly in the next couple of days. Back in a bit with more rudeness.

the hacks in Annapolis

Not Illegal -- Just Arbitrary In Maryland, a probe exposes the governor's cavalier approach. Friday, August 11, 2006; A18 THE UNSAVORY tale of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s "Prince of Darkness" seems finally and mercifully to be on its final chapter. The dark "prince," you may recall, is Joseph Steffen, a Republican party hack who was for years the governor's factotum and self-proclaimed dirty trickster. It was Mr. Steffen who boasted online of having spread malicious rumors about the governor's chief Democratic rival, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley. And it was Mr. Steffen who strutted through the halls of state government, a statuette of the grim reaper on his desk, bragging that he was authorized to pick career civil servants who should be fired to make room for Ehrlich loyalists. That last role has been the focus of an inquiry into whether Mr. Steffen -- and by extension Mr. Ehrlich -- was intent on dismissing state workers specifically because they were Democrats; to do so would be illegal. After dodging state lawmakers, and a subpoena, since May, Mr. Steffen finally appeared before a special legislative committee this week. He denied having axed public employees based on their party affiliation -- though he said he wasn't heedless of it either. Yet at the same time he exposed the Ehrlich administration's approach to firing state workers as cavalier, arbitrary and witless. Mr. Ehrlich, the first Republican governor of Maryland in a generation, was elected on a platform of reforming the political culture in Annapolis; he was entitled to hire and fire when he took office. In the event, he removed 340 workers from their jobs; not all that many but among those ousted were dozens of competent, experienced mid-level managers. Some of them were culled by Mr. Steffen, a high school graduate with no relevant managerial or personnel experience, based on who-knows-what criteria. Lacking access to performance evaluations, he targeted some employees for dismissal based on "what some in the department told me," he told lawmakers. Well, that's fair! After initially saying it welcomed the inquiry into its personnel policies, Mr. Ehrlich's administration turned mildly obstructionist, denouncing lawmakers as embarked on a witch hunt. Some documents sought by the committee seemed impossible to find. The governor's aides insisted Mr. Steffen was a mid-level nobody, despite evidence that he was well known and in contact with the governor's inner circle. Then Mr. Steffen went AWOL for three months. Now that he has finally testified, there is no evidence of illegality -- just of a slapdash approach to state government. Lawmakers, too, have dropped the ball. Legislation enacted in the past decade empowered the governor, at a whim, to fire any of some 6,000 state workers, more than the president can fire at will from the federal government. That is wildly excessive and an invitation to abuse, as the Steffen episode illustrates. Inexplicably, the General Assembly did nothing this year to rectify that situation. It should do so in the next session, by identifying a sensible list of positions -- senior managers, executive secretaries and the like -- who may be removed when a new administration takes office, and offering some protection against arbitrariness to the rest of the state's workforce.

if its not a quagmire

Then what is it?: A review of previously unreleased statistics on American and Iraqi patrols suggests that as Americans handed over responsibilities to the Iraqis, violence in Baghdad increased.

AJC: Crime will feed off lax U.S. gun laws

A congressional OK of weaker rules stands to appease lobbyists — and the public would pay a fatal price As gun lobbyists often point out, states with stringent gun-safety laws such as New York often have some of the highest firearm murder rates in the country. The implication is that stringent gun laws don't work. However, what the lobbyists never mention is that the firearms used to kill and maim people in states with stringent gun laws often flow from states with weaker laws. [more]

more like this please

pretty please: World War IV will cause a shift in classical centers of gravity from the will of governments and armies to the perceptions of populations. Victory will be defined more in terms of capturing the psycho-cultural rather than the geographical high ground. Understanding and empathy will be important weapons of war. Soldier conduct will be as important as skill at arms. Culture awareness and the ability to build ties of trust will offer protection to our troops more effectively than body armor. Leaders will seek wisdom and quick but reflective thought rather than operational and planning skills as essential intellectual tools for guaranteeing future victories.

concerned about terrorism?

you really should read this (.pdf)

what the f**k is wrong with people?

seriously The Conservative government is trying to push global climate change off the federal map, shutting down the main federal website on the topic and removing mention of it from speeches and postings, opposition MPs and environmentalists say. Like their U.S. Republican counterparts, who have been caught censoring top climate change researchers and have questioned the scientific merits of the theory, Conservatives are avoiding or casting doubt on the problem, critics charge.

Quote of the day

"Intelligent design can lead only to unintelligent students, or at least badly educated ones."

when that 'little petty crime"...

turns into "the largest data breach in Federal government history". Too funny.

BBC: Iran to ignore nuclear resolution

Iran has vowed to pursue its nuclear programme, in its first official response to last week's UN resolution urging it to curb nuclear activities. Chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Tehran would continue to develop nuclear energy within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). [more]

Nasrallah goes ballistic

FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT As the UN Security Council edges agonisingly slowly towards approving a resolution to stop the war in Lebanon and Israel, the leader of Hizbullah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has issued a threat to take the conflict into new and more dangerous territory through launching missiles at Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial capital. Mr Nasrallah emphasised that he would only resort to such a measure--likely to involve unleashing as yet unused Zelzal missiles--were Israel to bomb central Beirut, as opposed to the southern suburbs where most of Hizbullah's offices are located. He also offered to cease firing missiles altogether if Israel stopped its air strikes against Lebanon. However, the mere mention of Tel Aviv as a possible target has highlighted the very real risk of the conflict spreading: Israel may be sorely tempted to respond to such a move by carrying the fight to Hizbullah's backers in Syria and Iran. Bravado? Mr Nasrallah's statement was consistent with earlier references to his organisation's capability to strike "beyond Haifa and beyond beyond Haifa" and of the existence of further "surprises" in store for Israel. It is unclear whether his warning regarding any Israeli strike in central Beirut was meant to establish a red line, denoting that Hizbullah is in a position to dictate terms in the conflict, or whether he had some indication that Israel may be planning to attack specific targets in or near the city centre. With most of Hizbullah's facilities in the southern suburbs already flattened, the organisation may have shifted some of its key operations into Beirut proper, including perhaps the Iranian embassy, according to some accounts. If Mr Nasrallah's threat is aimed primarily for political effect, rather than being a statement of military intent, it is likely to have been framed with the imminent UN call for a ceasefire in mind. Hizbullah has made clear that it has no intention of stopping military operations until all Israeli forces are out of Lebanese territory, but a halt to its rocket attacks in response to or in advance of a UN resolution would establish the party's credentials as an essential party to any negotiations, while the declaration that it could hit Tel Aviv if provoked by Israel would enable it to maintain that it is approaching such negotiations from a position of strength. Alternatively, a Hizbullah strike on Tel Aviv could serve the purpose of derailing the current efforts to impose a ceasefire and drawing Israel further into a war in which solid military gains have been hard to come by. Punishment Israel response to the prospect of a ceasefire has been to seek to complete the job of inhibiting any resupply of Hizbullah by land, sea or air. This has entailed maintaining a blockade on Lebanese ports, rendering the country's airports unusable and destroying all road connections between Lebanon to Syria. On August 4th, this operation included the destruction of a bridge on the main highway leading north out of Beirut in an area almost exclusively inhabited by Christians. Some 30 farm workers were also killed in an Israeli raid on a packing plant in northern Lebanon, near the border with Syria. The message from Israel appears to be that it aims to stop the movement of any goods within Lebanon, and particularly near its borders, to guard against the possibility that these may include supplies for Hizbullah. The net effect has been to cripple efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to the estimated 1m displaced people in the country. Diplomatic wheels The August 3rd agreement between the US and France on a two-stage approach to tackling the crisis at the UN Security Council offers the prospect of a ceasefire in due course, but there evidently remain some disagreements over the wording of the text of the proposed first resolution, calling for a ceasefire and laying the basis for a political agreement--the second resolution would have the purpose of setting up an international peacekeeping force. One of the critical elements of a ceasefire resolution will be whether it will require Israel to relinquish positions that it has occupied in South Lebanon and to cease all flights over Lebanon, even for reconnaissance. The French draft that have been circulated call for full respect of the "Blue Line" (the border established after the 1949 armistice between the two countries), which clearly implies that Israel should withdraw, something that the US is likely to resist. The resolution is also expected to reiterate calls for Hizbullah to disarm. The organisation has implicitly approved this demand by lending its backing to the seven-point plan drawn up by the prime minister, Fouad Siniora. However, it remains doubtful whether it has any intention of living up to this pledge. As the discussions go on at the Security Council, Israel is continuing its quest for a knockout blow against Hizbullah, despite the accumulating evidence that this will be hard, if not impossible, to achieve. Hizbullah in the meantime has secured considerable political advantages, at a huge cost to Lebanon's economic and social fabric, but has yet to spell out what it intends to do with them.

head in the sand: the Bush administration's disastrously-bad habit

of depicting the World's ugly realities as merely "hypothetical".

indeed

"frightening prospect" - Eric Martin on Billmon's latest:

It is a stunning testament to the political devolution of this country that the most effective anti-war movement in America is inside the walls of the Pentagon or buried deep in the bowels of the CIA!

your President is a moron

“I thought the Iraqis were Muslims!”

Ambassador Galbraith: “From the president and the vice president down through the neoconservatives at the Pentagon, there was a belief that Iraq was a blank slate on which the United States could impose its vision of a pluralistic democratic society. The arrogance came in the form of a belief that this could be accomplished with minimal effort and planning by the United States and that it was not important to know something about Iraq.”

"This is a civil war"

"senior adviser to the commander of the Iraqi Army's 6th Division, which oversees much of Baghdad. "

today's Lebanese fun fact

DID YOU KNOW? According to Colbert C. Held's book Middle East Patterns, which contains the only substantive (recent) estimate of religious affiliation in Lebanon, there are nearly twice as many Christians (1.3 Million) as there are Sunni Muslims (701k).

"INFORMATION OPERATIONS IN OPERATIONS ENDURING FREEDOM AND IRAQI FREEDOM

WHAT WENT WRONG?" by Major Joseph L. Cox, US Army, 124 pp. [download from FAS (.pdf)]

excellent name

Five Soldiers and eight NCOs showed they deserved to be in the National Capital Region competition July 26 and 27, but the rules were only two could take the top honors. One was MDW's Soldier of the Year, Spc. Xeriqua Garfinkel of the 241st MP Detachment at Fort Meade.

a grave mistake

Iran is playing with fire, and shows no signs of stopping.

Imperial torturer

I really wish Congress had the nuts to impeach this POS. Chicago Tribune: "When Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) proposed a bill banning the "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of detainees in U.S. custody abroad, President Bush opposed it and Vice President Dick Cheney lobbied unsuccessfully to exempt the CIA. In the face of opposition in Congress and the rest of the world, the president eventually signed the measure, to show that "this government does not torture." But there was a catch: Bush attached a statement saying he could ignore the ban if he thought it necessary." The Boston Globe: "THE BUSH administration is trying to get Congress to endorse trials for prisoners in the war on terrorism that would allow coerced testimony, hearsay evidence, and the exclusion of the defendants and their civilian lawyers from parts of the proceedings in which classified evidence is presented. The proposal makes a mockery of the nation's proud history of due process under law, and Congress should reject it outright."

Bill Arkin: thank you!

With hurricane season upon us, with the fifth anniversary of 9/11 approaching, with the “war” against going whole hog, the Department of Homeland Security, the most useless and hopeless entity of the United States government, is involved in a marketing campaign to celebrate National Preparedness Month. [more]

feeding the cycle of death

and profiting from both sides of future conflict. Ahh... the world we've created.

U.S. Plans $4.6Billion in Mideast Arms Sales

report: Shimon Peres' lecture at CFR

NEW YORK—Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Monday the conflict pitting Israel against Hamas and Hezbollah is an “unprecedented war” with no clear end. Peres told the Council on Foreign Relations that Israel is not fighting a defined conflict against the established military of a state, but a struggle against an amorphous group of terrorists that could drag on for years. “Clearly, it won’t be the sort of victory we’re used to having with armies,” Peres said. “You can’t beat terrorism with military strength or maneuvers.” Peres dismissed international criticism of Israeli actions like the July 30 bombing of the Lebanese village of Qana, which killed nearly sixty civilians, more than half of them children. He said Hezbollah was using civilians as human shields by hiding its missile caches under their homes or schools. “The Lebanese people know they are not suffering because of Israel, but because of Hezbollah,” he said. He also denied that Israel’s actions are driving previously moderate Muslims into the Hezbollah camp. “How do you radicalize radical people?” he asked. “In wars, there are mistakes, unfortunately,” Peres said. “The biggest mistake is the war itself.” Defining victory A tactical victory fromIsrael’s perspective, Peres said, would mean that Hezbollah cannot endanger Israeli lives from southern Lebanon; the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped July 12 are returned; control is established over Hezbollah’s arsenal of some 12,000 rockets; and a serious attempt is made to disarm the group. Peres said it would be catastrophic for the region if Iran succeeded in using Syria, Hamas, and Hezbollah to extend its influence and establish Shiite hegemony. “It would be going back to the Dark Ages. The [countries in the region] would lose modernity, freedom, and change.” The regional perspective Peres said the international community’s longer-term goals in the region must include stabilizing Lebanon and drawing it away from Iran’s influence. “Hezbollah wants a Lebanon with an Iranian orientation,” Peres said. “The Lebanese must decide if they will control their own destiny, or will be swallowed up by a larger threat.” If that happened, he said, “Lebanon would be a tragedy of Iranian ambition.” Peres spoke at length about the threat posed by a rising Iran, saying the country’s influence derives not from economic or military strength, but its plans for a nuclear weapon, which it pursues because the global community allows it. “As long as the world remains divided, Iran will run wild,” he said. He said Iran is using Hezbollah and the fight in Lebanon to “divert attention from their nuclear bomb, which is still their first priority.” Despite Iran’s growing threat, Israel will not preemptively attack Tehran, he said; it will only respond if attacked. Peres said Iran, taking advantage of a weakened Syria, is working with Hamas—which he called a “state-in-the-making”—and Hezbollah—a “state-within-a-state”—to assert Iranian influence in the region. Sunni countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and the Gulf states—which have reason to fear the advent of a “Shiite crescent”—initially criticized the July 12 Hezbollah raid and kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers that started the latest conflict. However, Israel’s attacks onLebanonhave caused Arab states to line up against Israel. Syria is running a “double-standard policy,” Peres said, by harboring Hamas leader Khalid Meshal in Damascus and shuttling Iranian arms and funds to Hezbollah in Lebanon. “Assad Sr. [former Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad, who died in 2000] never allowed Hezbollah to run the affairs of Lebanon,” Peres said, “but Assad Jr. [current Syrian President Bashar al-Assad] is a friend of [Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan] Nasrallah.” Peres called Bashar al-Assad “the son of a wise man” who had not learned enough from his father. Peres said Israel, and what he called the “responsible countries of the world,” would eventually prevail in the current crisis, because groups like Hamas and Hezbollah are “shooting without reason or purpose, but [only] to destroyIsraeland bring down our spirit.” He said the militant Islamic groups have no message for their people and cannot meet their needs for employment, education, or a stable, responsible, transparent government. The current violence could even create an opportunity for change in the region. “I think this is a chance to reinvent the Middle East,” he said. Israelis united Peres said that, even as much of the Arab world throws its support behind Hamas and Hezbollah, Israelis are uniting behind their government. “I went through all the wars and all the peace,” Peres said, “and Israelis have never been as united as they are now.” He said Israelis feel that they were clearly attacked and that they did not choose the war, but are fighting to protect themselves from persistent, deadly rocket fire from Hamas and Hezbollah fighters. Peres denied that Israel has territorial ambitions in Lebanon. “What we want to be is a nation that lives in peace with our neighbors,” he said.

3,700 pissed off soldiers

The Washington Post: Defense Department officials announced yesterday that the Army's 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which has been deployed in Mosul since last summer, will be extended for as long as 120 days to boost security in Baghdad.

progress in the WOT

slow and steady... this is encouraging: KOLKATA (Reuters) - Pakistan has sought the help of an Indian state to revamp its system of madrasas after accusations some of the Islamic schools teach religious hatred and are breeding grounds for militancy. ~ "We have read about the madrasas of West Bengal and hopefully we can replicate them in our reforms program," Mohammed Khalid Jamali, a first secretary at the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi, told Reuters late on Thursday.

"We have written to the West Bengal government to gather knowledge about religious tolerance practiced in the madrasas, the curriculum and the successful reforms program," he said.