Triumph of the Machine

Krugman: "The campaign for Social Security privatization has degenerated into farce. The "global war on terrorism" has been downgraded to the "global struggle against violent extremism" (pronounced gee-save), which is just embarrassing. Baghdad is a nightmare, Basra is a militia-run theocracy, and officials are talking about withdrawing troops from Iraq next year (just in time for the U.S. midterm elections)."

"In fact, you can argue that the administration does a bad job at governing in part because its highest priority is always to reward its friends. Most notably, the Iraq venture would have had a better chance of succeeding if cronyism and corruption hadn't undermined reconstruction."

"Still, Republicans should feel good. Those legislative successes show that the political machine can still deliver the goods, even at a time when a majority of Americans disapprove of Mr. Bush's leadership and believe that his administration deliberately misled us into war." [NYT]

Everything that this administration has done has been done to reward their rich friends. Let's loosen all regulation on business AND stop taxing them! Let's let them destroy our environment, AND make a killing doing it. Let's let them destroy the soul of our nation by allowing torture, AND let them get away with it.

Herbert: "You won't find many people willing to accuse John McCain, John Warner or Lindsey Graham of being soft on terrorism. But the three Republican senators are giving the White House fits with their attempt to get legislation approved that would expressly prohibit cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody."

"There was a dramatic encounter during the floor debate last week when Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, spoke out against the legislation, saying there was no need for it because, as he put it, the detainees are not prisoners of war, "they are terrorists."

Senator McCain, of Arizona, argued that the debate "is not about who they are. It's about who we are." Americans, said Mr. McCain, "hold ourselves" to a higher standard." [NYT]

Is the entire GOP pro-torture? Bravo to these three that served their country honorably, and are now trying to stop us from denegrating into something we once loathed.

French Family Values

Krugman: "Americans tend to believe that we do everything better than anyone else. That belief makes it hard for us to learn from others. For example, I've found that many people refuse to believe that Europe has anything to teach us about health care policy. After all, they say, how can Europeans be good at health care when their economies are such failures?"

"The answer is no. Americans are doing a lot of strutting these days, but a head-to-head comparison between the economies of the United States and Europe - France, in particular - shows that the big difference is in priorities, not performance. We're talking about two highly productive societies that have made a different tradeoff between work and family time. And there's a lot to be said for the French choice."

"American conservatives despise European welfare states like France. Yet many of them stress the importance of "family values." And whatever else you may say about French economic policies, they seem extremely supportive of the family as an institution. Senator Rick Santorum, are you reading this?" [NYT]

Gard Rips Drop-Off of Used Needles

"An aide to Gov. Jim Doyle delivered a brown paper bag filled with used medical needles to the office of Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo) to help a Door County woman make a statement about the important of stem-cell research."

"Elizabeth Kastner of Fish Creek was unapologetic about sending the used needles to Gard through the governor's office. She also wrote and sent a letter. The needles were collected between July 4, 2004, and July 4, 2005, and were used to administer insulin shots four times a day to her 12-year-old daughter, Isabel. Kastner said she wanted to educate Gard about the importance of stem-cell research, which she thinks could unlock a cure for diabetes." [JSOnline]

John Gard is an uninformed ideologue. He can't see past his beliefs that stem-cell research might help someone out, end pain and suffering. He's too wrapped up in his religious dogma that doesn't allow for such potentially beneficial research. I, as a type I diabetic, know what 12-year old Isabel goes through everyday: endless shots. They are painful. They draw blood. They leave painful bruises and scarring. It's not a pretty thing, but it's how I and many, many others like me stay alive from day to day.
For more information, check out these resources: [WIStemCellNow] [StemPAC]

Oil and Blood

Herbert: "It is now generally understood that the U.S.-led war in Iraq has become a debacle. Nevertheless, Iraqis are supposed to have their constitution ratified and a permanent government elected by the end of the year. It's a logical escape hatch for George W. Bush. He could declare victory, as a senator once suggested to Lyndon Johnson in the early years of Vietnam, and bring the troops home as quickly as possible. His mantra would be: There's a government in place. We won. We're out of there."

"But don't count on it. The Bush administration has no plans to bring the troops home from this misguided war, which has taken a fearful toll in lives and injuries while at the same time weakening the military, damaging the international reputation of the United States, serving as a world-class recruiting tool for terrorist groups and blowing a hole the size of Baghdad in Washington's budget."

"Many high-level government figures believe that U.S. troops will be in Iraq for a minimum of 5 more years, and perhaps 10. That should be understood by the people who think that the formation of a permanent Iraqi government will lead to the withdrawal of American troops. There is no real withdrawal plan. The fighting and the dying will continue indefinitely." [NYT]

CAFTA

Daily Outrage: In order to pass the Central American Free Trade Agreement, the House leadership held the vote open for an additional 47 minutes after the 15 minute voting period had expired. At the end of the original voting period, opponents of CAFTA had defeated the bill by a vote of 180-175. Forty-seven minutes later, conservatives eked out a 217-215 victory by "twist[ing] arms" and exchanging favors for votes. Last night's antics parallel the tactics employed in passing the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill -- a process that has led to congressional ethics investigation. [CAP]

Pretty awesome. In order to pass their crappy "free-trade" bill, the repugs hold voting open for an additional 47 minutes. If you can't win, CHEAT!!! Really glad that we're teaching our kids the right message.

Also check out Sirota's take on the 15 pansy-ass democrats that voted with the repugs on this. More Repugs (27) voted against this crappy bill than these dems that voted for it.

Eight Days in July

Rich: "When a conspiracy is unraveling, and it's every liar and his lawyer for themselves, the story takes on a momentum of its own. When the conspiracy is, at its heart, about the White House's twisting of the intelligence used to sell the American people a war - and its desperate efforts to cover up that flimflam once the W.M.D. cupboard proved bare and the war went south - the story will not end until the war really is in its "last throes."

"As White House counsel, he was the one first notified that the Justice Department, at the request of the C.I.A., had opened an investigation into the outing of Joseph Wilson's wife. That notification came at 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2003, but it took Mr. Gonzales 12 more hours to inform the White House staff that it must "preserve all materials" relevant to the investigation. This 12-hour delay, he has said, was sanctioned by the Justice Department, but since the department was then run by John Ashcroft, a Bush loyalist who refused to recuse himself from the Plame case, inquiring Senate Democrats would examine this 12-hour delay as closely as an 18½-minute tape gap. "Every good prosecutor knows that any delay could give a culprit time to destroy the evidence," said Senator Charles Schumer, correctly, back when the missing 12 hours was first revealed almost two years ago. A new Gonzales confirmation process now would have quickly devolved into a neo-Watergate hearing. Mr. Gonzales was in the thick of the Plame investigation, all told, for 16 months."

"The real crime here remains the sending of American men and women to Iraq on fictitious grounds. Without it, there wouldn't have been a third-rate smear campaign against an obscure diplomat, a bungled cover-up and a scandal that - like the war itself - has no exit strategy that will not inflict pain." [NYT]

Moving Northward

Krugman: "Modern American politics is dominated by the doctrine that government is the problem, not the solution. In practice, this doctrine translates into policies that make low taxes on the rich the highest priority, even if lack of revenue undermines basic public services. You don't have to be a liberal to realize that this is wrong-headed. Corporate leaders understand quite well that good public services are also good for business. But the political environment is so polarized these days that top executives are often afraid to speak up against conservative dogma."

"But U.S. taxpayers will suffer, because the general public ends up picking up much of the cost of health care for workers who don't get insurance through their jobs. Some uninsured workers and their families end up on Medicaid. Others end up depending on emergency rooms, which are heavily subsidized by taxpayers."

"Funny, isn't it? Pundits tell us that the welfare state is doomed by globalization, that programs like national health insurance have become unsustainable. But Canada's universal health insurance system is handling international competition just fine. It's our own system, which penalizes companies that treat their workers well, that's in trouble." [NYT]

What Bush Doesn't Know

Herbert: "So where are we, now that the real world has intervened? The military is spinning its wheels in the tragic and expensive quagmire of Iraq and there is no end to the conflict in sight. A front-page story in The Times on Sunday said the insurgents "just keep getting stronger and stronger."

"There is still no indication that the Bush administration recognizes the utter folly of its war in Iraq, which has been like a constant spray of gasoline on the fire of global terrorism. What was required in the aftermath of Sept. 11 was an intense, laserlike focus by America and its allies on Al Qaeda-type terrorism."

"Instead, the Bush crowd saw its long dreamed of opportunity to impose its will on Iraq, which had nothing to do with the great tragedy of Sept. 11. Many thousands have paid a fearful price for that bit of ideological madness." [NYT]

The Anti-Wal-Mart

I've been meaning to post this gem for a week. This challenges the notion that discount retailers have to pay their workers poorly, as Wal-Mart most certainly does. Costco has succeeded because they pay their workers, and give them better benefits. Definitely not an industry norm, but it should be.

"Costco's average pay, for example, is $17 an hour, 42 percent higher than its fiercest rival, Sam's Club. And Costco's health plan makes those at many other retailers look Scroogish. One analyst, Bill Dreher of Deutsche Bank, complained last year that at Costco "it's better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder."

"Mr. Sinegal begs to differ. He rejects Wall Street's assumption that to succeed in discount retailing, companies must pay poorly and skimp on benefits, or must ratchet up prices to meet Wall Street's profit demands."

"Good wages and benefits are why Costco has extremely low rates of turnover and theft by employees, he said. And Costco's customers, who are more affluent than other warehouse store shoppers, stay loyal because they like that low prices do not come at the workers' expense. "This is not altruistic," he said. "This is good business." [NYT]

My Story

If you want to learn more about me, and why I believe the way I do, you can read up on me HERE.

This is why I support such organizations as StemPAC. Read the stories of what real people have to say about stem cells and how they have and could affect their lives.

Support StemPAC!

Scotty - Beamed Up

"James Doohan, the beloved actor who portrayed engineer "Montgomery Scott" in the original Star Trek and six movies, passed away at his home in Redmond, Washington this morning. He was 85. Doohan died in his sleep at 5:30 a.m. local time with his wife of 28 years, Wende, at his side. According to Doohan's Los Angeles agent and longtime friend Steve Stevens, the cause of death was pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease." [StarTrek] [NYT]

Scotty, one to beam up. You will be missed.

The Hatfields vs. The McCoys

Herbert: "He made his remarks during an appearance in Milwaukee at the annual convention of the N.A.A.C.P., which has a relationship with President Bush reminiscent of the Hatfields' relationship with the McCoys. In a chilling act of political intimidation, the Internal Revenue Service responded to criticism of Mr. Bush by the N.A.A.C.P.'s chairman by launching an investigation of the group's tax-exempt status."

"Mr. Bush's son, the current president, has been as devoted as an acolyte to the Southern strategy, despite anything Ken Mehlman might think. Like so many other Republican politicians and presidential wannabes, George W. Bush was happy to appear at Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., at a time when the school was blatantly racially discriminatory."

"And in both of Mr. Bush's presidential campaigns, his supporters, especially his brother Jeb, the governor of Florida, have gone out of their way to prevent or discourage blacks from voting. In a particularly vile episode last year, Florida state troopers conducted a criminal investigation that zeroed in on black voter turnout efforts in Orlando. A number of people were indicted, including the mayor, Buddy Dyer, a Democrat who was then suspended from office." [NYT]

Krugman: "Those with a downbeat view of the jobs picture argue that the low reported unemployment rate is a statistical illusion, that there are millions of Americans who would be looking for jobs if more jobs were available. Those with an upbeat view argue that labor force participation has fallen for reasons that have nothing to do with job availability - for example, young adults, recognizing the importance of education, may have chosen to stay in school longer."

"That's where Dr. Bradbury's study comes in. She shows that the upbeat view doesn't hold up in the face of a careful examination of the numbers. In fact, because older Americans, especially older women, are more likely to work than in the past, labor force participation should have risen, not fallen, over the past four years. As a result, she suggests that there may be "considerable slack in the U.S. labor market": there are at least 1.6 million and possibly as many as 5.1 million people who aren't counted as unemployed but would take jobs if they were available." [NYT]

Follow The Uranium

Rich: "Apparently this is finally beginning to dawn on Mr. Bush's fiercest defenders and on Mr. Bush himself. Hence, last week's erection of the stonewall manned by the almost poignantly clownish Mr. McClellan, who abruptly rendered inoperative his previous statements that any suspicions about Mr. Rove are "totally ridiculous." The morning after Mr. McClellan went mano a mano with his tormentors in the White House press room - "We've secretly replaced the White House press corps with actual reporters," observed Jon Stewart - the ardently pro-Bush New York Post ran only five paragraphs of a wire-service story on Page 12. That conspicuous burial of what was front-page news beyond Murdochland speaks loudly about the rising anxiety on the right. Since then, White House surrogates have been desperately babbling talking points attacking Joseph Wilson as a partisan and a liar."

"Next to White House courtiers of their rank, Mr. Wilson is at most a Rosencrantz or Guildenstern. The brief against the administration's drumbeat for war would be just as damning if he'd never gone to Africa. But by overreacting in panic to his single Op-Ed piece of two years ago, the White House has opened a Pandora's box it can't slam shut. Seasoned audiences of presidential scandal know that there's only one certainty ahead: the timing of a Karl Rove resignation. As always in this genre, the knight takes the fall at exactly that moment when it's essential to protect the king." [NYT]

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

Happy Release Day for the new Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince! I can hardly contain my excitement as my book wings it's way towards me. I pre-ordered the book from Amazon, and I'm waiting for the owl to deliver it today.
Here are some early reviews: [NYT] [Tribune]

Karl Rove's America

Krugman: "John Gibson of Fox News says that Karl Rove should be given a medal. I agree: Mr. Rove should receive a medal from the American Political Science Association for his pioneering discoveries about modern American politics. The medal can, if necessary, be delivered to his prison cell."

"I first realized that we were living in Karl Rove's America during the 2000 presidential campaign, when George W. Bush began saying things about Social Security privatization and tax cuts that were simply false. At first, I thought the Bush campaign was making a big mistake - that these blatant falsehoods would be condemned by prominent Republican politicians and Republican economists, especially those who had spent years building reputations as advocates of fiscal responsibility. In fact, with hardly any exceptions they lined up to praise Mr. Bush's proposals."

"Ultimately, this isn't just about Mr. Rove. It's also about Mr. Bush, who has always known that his trusted political adviser - a disciple of the late Lee Atwater, whose smear tactics helped President Bush's father win the 1988 election - is a thug, and obviously made no attempt to find out if he was the leaker." [NYT]

Karl Rove is a disgusting, treasonous, liar, that outed a covert CIA operative because of a vendetta. But why isn't Bob Novak in hot water??
More on Rove: [GOPHypocrites] [StarTribune] [CrooksandLiars] [Post] [MediaMatters]
And what happened to the Downing Street Memo?

Bernard Goldberg Is A Big Fat Idiot

If you're not watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, what the hell is wrong with you? :)

This week, Mr. Stewart had Bernard Goldberg on, who wrote this book: 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America: (and Al Franken is #37). All I have to say, is watch the video (link below), and you'll see who the real bitch is. What a loser. [Video]

And here's his Top 10:

1. Michael Moore, filmmaker
2. Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times
3. Ted Kennedy, Democratic U.S. senator, Massachusetts
4. Jesse Jackson, Democratic African-American activist
5. Anthony Romero, American Civil Liberties Union's executive director
6. Jimmy Carter, former Democratic president
7. Margaret Marshall, chief justice, Massachusetts state Supreme Court
8. Paul Krugman, columnist at The New York Times
9. Jonathan Kozol, education scholar and author
10. Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way

"Yes, these folks are definetly screwing up America. Screwing it up for the Bush crime family, the neocons, and their unholy fundamentalist allies at least." [DailyKos]

StemPAC

I came across this site off of the DailyKos website. Here is what they have to say:
"For too long the promise of stem cell research has been held back by the ideology and ignorance of a small group of extremists. The will of the majority has been ignored, hope for millions with debilitating illnesses has been needlessly delayed, and this promising industry of the future is being gradually outsourced to other nations with each passing day."

BenPAC urges you to support StemPAC. Fight back for stem cells, because no one should have to suffer.

UPDATE (5:40 PM): Please read through some of the heart-wrenching stories of loss and hope told by people that need our help. Let's pass HR810 in the Senate WITHOUT amendments!

What He Should Have Said

Vowell: "Still, Kerry stunned me, not because his ideas were sane, but because he was actually able to fantasize that President Bush would give a speech offering just and concrete solutions for that black hole. Because I don't even remember being able to dream that big."

"Those frank words, coming out of a presidential mouth, are shocking. It will be difficult, but think back and try to remember an America dependent on foreign oil, an America with high gasoline prices, an America consumed with crises in the Middle East. And imagine you feel there is nothing you, the average American, can do. Then your president goes on TV and instead of saying you can do something vague like "stay the course," he tells you that there is something small and practical you can do. You can carpool!"

"These days, there's just something refreshing about reading through Carter's clear-eyed political suicide. Daydreamer though I am, I have never expected a president to solve our chaos. It's just nice to know that once, one of them acknowledged it." [NYT]

We're Not in Watergate Anymore

Rich, nails it again: "Again following the Watergate template, the Bush administration at first tried to bury the whole Wilson affair by investigating itself. Even when The Washington Post reported two months after Mr. Wilson's Op-Ed that "two top White House officials" had called at least six reporters, not just Mr. Novak, to destroy Mr. Wilson and his wife, the inquiry was kept safely within the John Ashcroft Justice Department, with the attorney general, according to a Times report, being briefed regularly on details of the investigation. If that rings a Watergate bell now, that's because on Thursday you may have read the obituary of L. Patrick Gray, Mark Felt's F.B.I. boss, who, in a similarly cozy conflict of interest, kept the Nixon White House abreast of the supposedly independent Watergate inquiry in its early going."

"In his original Op-Ed piece in The Times, published two years to the day before Judy Miller went to jail, Mr. Wilson noted that "more than 200 American soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq already," before concluding that "we have a duty to ensure that their sacrifice came for the right reasons." As that death toll surges past 1,700, that sacred duty cannot be abandoned by a free press now." [NYT]

Joseph Wilson's July 6, 2003, account on the Times Op-Ed page

Un-Spin The Budget

Krugman: "To understand where the budget deficit came from, you can't do better than the Jan. 18, 2001, issue of the satirical newspaper The Onion, which predicted the future with eerie precision. "We must squander our nation's hard-won budget surplus on tax breaks for the wealthiest 15 percent," the magazine's spoof had the president-elect declare. "And, on the foreign front, we must find an enemy and defeat it."

"And so it has turned out. President Bush has presided over the transformation of a budget surplus into a large deficit, which threatens the government's long-run solvency. The principal cause of that reversal was Mr. Bush's unprecedented decision to cut taxes, especially on the wealthiest Americans, while taking the nation into an expensive war."

"In other words, we're still deep in the fiscal quagmire, with federal revenues far below what's needed to pay for federal programs. And we won't get out of that quagmire until a future president admits that the Bush tax cuts were a mistake, and must be reversed." [NYT]

Kristof: ""I'm just grateful I live in the state of Oregon, where we have this option," Mr. Newbold said. "I'm just sorry the John Ashcrofts of the world want to dictate not only how you live, but also how you die. There's nothing more personal, other than childbirth, than passing on." [NYT]

It Just Gets Worse

Herbert: "Has the president given any thought to leveling with the American people about how bad the situation has become? And is he even considering what for him would be the radical notion of soliciting the counsel of wise men and women who might give him a different perspective on war and terror than the Kool-Aid-drinking true believers who have brought us to this dreadful state of affairs? The true believers continue to argue that the proper strategy is to stay the current catastrophic course."

"Americans are paying a fearful price for Mr. Bush's adventure in Iraq. In addition to the toll of dead and wounded, the war is costing about $5 billion a month. It has drained resources from critical needs here at home, including important antiterror initiatives that would improve the security of ports, transit systems and chemical plants."

"The war has diminished the stature and weakened the credibility of the United Sates around the world. And it has delivered a body blow to the readiness of America's armed forces. Much of the military is now overdeployed, undertrained and overworked. Many of the troops are serving multiple tours in Iraq. No wonder potential recruits are staying away in droves."

"Whatever one's views on the war, thoughtful Americans need to consider the damage it is doing to the United States, and the bitter anger that it has provoked among Muslims around the world. That anger is spreading like an unchecked fire in an incredibly vast field." [NYT]

Homeland Insecurity

Sirota: "Ever since the media began admitting what we all knew was true – that the Bush administration lied about why we were going to war in Iraq – the White House has tried to repackage our Iraq operations as a way to prevent terrorism here at home. As President Bush said in October, "We are fighting these terrorists with our military in Afghanistan and Iraq and beyond so we do not have to face them in the streets of our own cities." Tragically, the terrible bombing in London shows we are now paying a horrible price for this silly, dangerous, short-sighted, and truly dishonest line of reasoning."

"And that's why today's tragic bombing frighteningly highlights just how off track our entire national security strategy really is. First our government lied to us about why we were going to war in the first place. Then, when that dishonesty was exposed, we got fed another steaming pile of crap about how the war in Iraq was protecting us from terrorists because it was diverting terrorists' attention."

"It is now painfully clear that those rationales were not designed to level with the American people – they were designed with one thing in mind: scaring us into supporting what should have been an unsupportable war, at the very time when we should have been focused on and scared about a far more serious challenge: securing the homeland after the worst terrorist attack in American history." [Sirota]

Ms. Miller Goes to Jail

Editorial: "Journalists talk about these issues a great deal, and they can seem abstract. The test comes when a colleague is being marched off to jail for doing nothing more than the job our readers expected of her, and of the rest of us. The Times has been in these fights before, beginning in 1857, when a journalist named J. W. Simonton wrote an editorial about bribery in Congress and was held in contempt by the House of Representatives for 19 days when he refused to reveal his sources. In the end, Mr. Simonton kept faith, and the corrupt congressmen resigned. All of our battles have not had equally happy endings. But each time, whether we win or we lose, we remain convinced that the public wins in the long run and that what is at stake is nothing less than our society's perpetual bottom line: the citizens control the government in a democracy."

"She is surrendering her liberty in defense of a greater liberty, granted to a free press by the founding fathers so journalists can work on behalf of the public without fear of regulation or retaliation from any branch of government." [NYT]

So now Judith Miller goes to jail...for an article that she didn't write. Matt Cooper, I think, isn't far behind. What the hell is wrong with the "judicial system." They are trying to force them to reveal their sources, which would completely undermine the Press as a whole. Nice one conservatives!

Store Wars

I thought this was hilarious...

Watch out for Darth Tater. [StoreWars]

The Two Wars of the Worlds

Rich: "Planned or not, the sepulchral silence of Mr. Bush's military audience was the perfect dazed response to what was literally a summer rerun. The president gave almost the identical televised address, albeit with four fewer 9/11 references, at the Army War College in Pennsylvania in May 2004. It's so tired that this time around even the normally sympathetic Drudge site gave higher billing to reviews of "War of the Worlds." Fewer TV viewers tuned in than for any prime-time speech in Mr. Bush's presidency. A good thing too, since so much of what he said was, as usual, at odds with reality. The president pledged to "prevent Al Qaeda and other foreign terrorists from turning Iraq into what Afghanistan was under the Taliban" a full week after Newsweek and The New York Times reported on a new C.I.A. assessment that the war may be turning Iraq into an even more effective magnet and training ground for Islamic militants than Afghanistan was for Al Qaeda in the 1980's and 90's."

"The president has no one to blame but himself. The color-coded terror alerts, the repeated John Ashcroft press conferences announcing imminent Armageddon during election season, the endless exploitation of 9/11 have all taken their numbing toll. Fear itself is the emotional card Mr. Bush chose to overplay, and when he plays it now, he is the boy who cried wolf. That's why a film director engaging in utter fantasy can arouse more anxiety about a possible attack on America than our actual commander in chief hitting us with the supposed truth."

"If anything, we're back where we were in the lazy summer of 2001, when the president was busy in Crawford ignoring an intelligence report titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States" and the news media were more preoccupied with a rash of "Jaws"-like shark attacks than with Al Qaeda. The sharks are back, and the "missing girl" drama of Natalee Holloway has echoed the Chandra Levy ur-text. Even the World Trade Center is making a comeback, if we are to believe that the new Freedom Bunker unveiled for ground zero might ever be built." [NYT]

America Held Hostage

Krugman (7/1): "Never mind that Iraq posed no threat before we invaded. Now it's a "central front in the war on terror," Mr. Bush says, quoting Osama bin Laden as an authority. And since a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would, Mr. Bush claims, be a victory for Al Qaeda, Americans have to support this war - and that means supporting him. After all, you wage war with the president you have, not the president you want."

"But America doesn't have to let itself be taken hostage. The country missed the chance to say no before this war started, but it can still say no to Mr. Bush's open-ended commitment, and demand a timetable for getting out." [NYT]

Krugman (7/4): "So there is, understandably, a movement to do something about rising obesity, especially among the young. Bills that would require schools to serve healthier lunches, remove vending machines selling sweets and soda, and so on have been introduced in a number of state legislatures. By the way, Britain - with the second-highest obesity among advanced countries - has introduced stringent new guidelines on school meals."

"But even these mild steps have run into fierce opposition from conservatives. Why?" [NYT]

Senate "Pro-Lifers" Support Pesticide Testing on Fetuses

From Sirota:

"The Senate today voted to ban the Environmental Protection Agency from using studies that expose people to pesticides when considering permits for new pest killers. It's good that the measure passed, but look at the 37 Senators who voted against this - it reads like a list of the Senate's most ardent anti-choice (aka. "pro-life") Senators. Why is that relevant? Because, according to the Associated Press, Mr. "Culture of Life" himself, President Bush, is pushing the EPA "to accept data from human tests on children, pregnant women, newborns, infants and fetuses...Even newborns of 'uncertain viability' could be tested." In other words, Bush and these 37 mostly "pro-life" Republicans, who claim they care about the unborn, support allowing corporations to test hazardous chemicals on fetuses and pregnant women. Capitol Buzz has more on how absolutely disgusting it is for someone like Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) to have voted the way he did." [Senate Vote] [Bush presses EPA to allow testing on fetuses] [Capitol Buzz on Santorum]

Dangerous Incompetence

Herbert: "The president who displayed his contempt for Iraqi militants two years ago with the taunt "bring 'em on" had to go on television Tuesday night to urge Americans not to abandon support for the war that he foolishly started but can't figure out how to win."

"The incompetence at the highest levels of government in Washington has undermined the U.S. troops who have fought honorably and bravely in Iraq, which is why the troops are now stuck in a murderous quagmire. If a Democratic administration had conducted a war this incompetently, the Republicans in Congress would be dusting off their impeachment manuals."

"Whether one agreed with the launch of this war or not - and I did not - the troops doing the fighting deserve to be guided by leaders in Washington who are at least minimally competent at waging war. That has not been the case, which is why we can expect to remain stuck in this tragic quagmire for the foreseeable future." [NYT]

Wow...and for anyone who actually watched the speech on Tuesday night, did you get anything out of it? Any sense of the truth, or what is REALLY happening in Iraq? There have been successes...but there is also great failure. Are we really going to be stuck in this quagmire for years, sacrificing the lives of our honorable servicemen and women? No one expected him to apologize for LYING this country into war (it would have been a start), but at least he could have resisted the temptation of raising the specter of 9/11. I think we've proved there was no correlation!

Bush's speech on Iraq. [NYT]
The True Cost of War. [NYT]

America Giveth, America Taketh Away

Herbert: "Although it has been lowering standards, raising bonuses and all but begging on its knees, the Army hasn't reached its recruitment quota in months. There are always plenty of hawks in America. But the hawks want their wars fought with other people's children." The war in Iraq was sold to the American public the way a cheap car salesman sells a lemon. Dick Cheney assured the nation that Americans in Iraq would be "greeted as liberators." Kenneth Adelman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board said the war would be a "cakewalk." And Donald Rumsfeld said on National Public Radio: "I can't say if the use of force would last five days or five weeks or five months, but it certainly isn't going to last any longer than that."

"The problem now is that most Americans have had plenty of time to digest the images of people being blown up in Baghdad and mutilated in Fallujah, and they know that thousands of our troops are coming home in coffins, or without their arms, or without their legs, or paralyzed, or horribly burned." [NYT]

Krugman on China: "The more important difference from Japan's investment is that China, unlike Japan, really does seem to be emerging as America's strategic rival and a competitor for scarce resources - which makes last week's other big Chinese offer more than just a business proposition." [NYT]

Let's let everyone that has or will get AIDS die...that's the message that Bush is sending. "American law already forbids United States money from financing needle exchange programs. For Washington to decide that it wants to stop everyone else from doing that as well is a breathtakingly dangerous step." [AIDS]

Global warming is just "junk science", right? "And it terrifies the White House because it is further proof that the administration's efforts to minimize the warming threat have failed and that President Bush's voluntary approach to the problem is no longer taken seriously." [Global Warming]

A Glide Path to Ruin

Rich: "Mr. Tomlinson has maintained that his goal at CPB is to strengthen public broadcasting by restoring "balance" and stamping out "liberal bias." But Mr. Moyers left "Now" six months ago. Mr. Tomlinson's real, not-so-hidden agenda is to enforce a conservative bias or, more specifically, a Bush bias. To this end, he has not only turned CPB into a full-service employment program for apparatchiks but also helped initiate "The Journal Editorial Report," the only public broadcasting show ever devoted to a single newspaper's editorial page, that of the zealously pro-Bush Wall Street Journal. Unlike Mr. Moyers's "Now" - which routinely balanced its host's liberalism with conservative guests like Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist, Paul Gigot and Cal Thomas - The Journal's program does not include liberals of comparable stature." [NYT]

Kristof: "On fiscal matters both parties have much to be ashamed of, but Republicans should be particularly embarrassed at their tumble. Traditionally, Republicans were prudent, while Democrats held great parties. But these days, the Bush administration is managing America's finances like a team of drunken sailors, and most Republicans keep quiet in a way that betrays their conservative principles."

"More than two centuries of American government produced a cumulative national debt of $5.7 trillion when Mr. Bush was elected in 2000. And now that is expected to almost double by 2010, to $10.8 trillion." [NYT]

The War President

Krugman: "Leading the nation wrongfully into war strikes at the heart of democracy. It would have been an unprecedented abuse of power even if the war hadn't turned into a military and moral quagmire. And we won't be able to get out of that quagmire until we face up to the reality of how we got in."

"On one side, the people who sold this war, unable to face up to the fact that their fantasies of a splendid little war have led to disaster, are still peddling illusions: the insurgency is in its "last throes," says Dick Cheney. On the other, they still have moderates and even liberals intimidated: anyone who suggests that the United States will have to settle for something that falls far short of victory is accused of being unpatriotic."
"We need to deprive these people of their ability to mislead and intimidate. And the best way to do that is to make it clear that the people who led us to war on false pretenses have no credibility, and no right to lecture the rest of us about patriotism." [NYT]

Not On Faith Alone

Herbert: "The president and these home-front warriors got us into this war and now they don't know how to get us out. Nor do they have a satisfactory answer to the important ethical question: how do you justify sending other people's children off to fight while keeping a cloak of protection around your own kids?"

"If the United States had a draft (for which there is no political sentiment), its warriors would be drawn from a much wider swath of the population, and political leaders would think much longer and harder before committing the country to war." [NYT]

Cuomo: "Mr. Bush does not deny the greater potential of embryonic stem cells: he says his decision was compelled by his belief that retrieving stem cells from the embryo destroys it, thereby resulting in the killing of a human being that cannot be justified no matter how vast the potential benefits."

"The president did not claim his conclusion was based on biomedical science. He said only that it was an expression of his religious faith." [NYT]

I have no doubt that Bush believes what he espouses, that human life begins at conception. I have no doubt that a lot of people believe that, whether is true or not. But can't we get past this religious morass and work on finding cures? Support embryonic stem cell research. [Petition]

Conservatives Battle PBS/NPR

Tribune: "Late Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee approved a bill that would reduce next year's federal allocation to public broadcasting by 46%. The measure would cut $100 million from next year's budget of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the private nonprofit that distributes federal funds to local stations. The CPB funds make up about 15% of public broadcasting revenue.
Money earmarked to help local stations undergo digital conversion and to upgrade PBS' satellite system would also be cut. And funds for public television's "Ready to Learn" programs — shows like "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow" and "Postcards From Buster" — are on the chopping block." [Tribune] [NYT]

Originally it was reported that the Repugnicans on the House Appropriations Committee wanted to cut ALL federal funding, but now it is 46%. This makes me sick. This is PUBLIC BROADCASTING!!! The Repugnicans, namely Kenneth Tomlinson (Republican chairman of CPB's board of directors) want more "conservative programming" on PBS and NPR to balance what they call "political lopsidedness." Is it politically lopsided to watch Sesame Street, or Reading Rainbow??? Is it politically lopsided to listen to NPR??? Let's just cut children's programming because we don't want to see kids learn something! Keep the masses ignorant and uneducated!

What's the Matter with Ohio?

Krugman: "Since their 1994 takeover of Congress, and even more so since the 2000 election, Republican leaders have sought to make their political dominance permanent. They redistricted Texas to lock in their control of the House. Through the "K Street Project" they have put lobbying firms under partisan control, starving the Democrats of campaign funds. And they are, of course, trying to pack the courts with partisan loyalists." [NYT]

No one party should hold complete control over government. You see here how one-party rule has cost the State of Ohio dearly. And don't be fooled, this happens in every state. Power breeds corruption, and the notion of immunity for those on the leading side. Now, this is starting to happen (or has been happening) nationally.

Uncle Sam REALLY Wants You

Herbert: "One of the many problems here is that adolescents should not be hounded by military recruiters under any circumstances, and they shouldn't be pursued at all without the full knowledge and consent of parents or guardians."

"Let the Army be honest and upfront in its recruitment. War is not child's play, and warriors shouldn't be assembled through the use of seductive sales pitches to youngsters too immature to make an informed decision on matters that might well result in their having to kill others, or being killed themselves." [NYT]

Recruitment numbers are so far down right now that they are trying anything and everything to get these kids to sign away their lives. How far away are we from a draft? You know, the one that Bush and his cronies promised wouldn't happen.

Don't Follow the Money

Rich: "Had the scandal been vividly resuscitated as the long national nightmare it actually was, it would dampen all the Felt fun by casting harsh light on our own present nightmare. "The fundamental right of Americans, through our free press, to penetrate and criticize the workings of our government is under attack as never before" was how the former Nixon speech writer William Safire put it on this page almost nine months ago. The current administration, a second-term imperial presidency that outstrips Nixon's in hubris by the day, leads the attack, trying to intimidate and snuff out any Woodwards or Bernsteins that might challenge it, any media proprietor like Katharine Graham or editor like Ben Bradlee who might support them and any anonymous source like Deep Throat who might enable them to find what Carl Bernstein calls "the best obtainable version of the truth."" [NYT]

Krugman: "The great advantage of universal, government-provided health insurance is lower costs. Canada's government-run insurance system has much less bureaucracy and much lower administrative costs than our largely private system. Medicare has much lower administrative costs than private insurance. The reason is that single-payer systems don't devote large resources to screening out high-risk clients or charging them higher fees. The savings from a single-payer system would probably exceed $200 billion a year, far more than the cost of covering all of those now uninsured. [NYT]

Herbert: "With the war in Iraq going badly and allegations of abuse by military personnel widespread, young men and women are increasingly deciding that there's no upside to a career choice in which the most important skills might be ducking bullets and dodging roadside bombs. [NYT]

Republicans Behaving Badly

Drama in the Judiciary Committee:

"Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the panel, abruptly gaveled the meeting to an end and walked out, followed by other Republicans. Sensenbrenner declared that much of the testimony, which veered into debate over the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, was irrelevant."

"James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, speaking immediately after Sensenbrenner left, voiced dismay over the proceedings. "I'm troubled about what kind of lesson this gives" to the rest of the world, he told the Democrats remaining in the room.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, in a statement, said the hearing was an example of Republican abuse of power and she would ask House Speaker Dennis Hastert to order an apology from Sensenbrenner." [Yahoo] [Buzzflash] [Video]

I'm sure glad this jag represents the area right around me here in Milwaukee. The Democrats tried to have a civil hearing on one of the worst laws in the land, and all they get for their efforts, is to have their voices shouted down, microphones turned off, and to be ignored. Hooray for Democracy!

Losing Our Country

Krugman: "But the real reasons to worry about the explosion of inequality since the 1970's have nothing to do with envy. The fact is that working families aren't sharing in the economy's growth, and face growing economic insecurity. And there's good reason to believe that a society in which most people can reasonably be considered middle class is a better society - and more likely to be a functioning democracy - than one in which there are great extremes of wealth and poverty." [NYT]

Here's to the death of the middle class, and to the American Dream. No longer can we expect to do better than our parents and grandparents before us. No longer are these jobs and opportunities available to us. But, the rich get richer, and that's what matters apparently.

This Old Cub

Wild Bill Holdman: "It's beyond comprehension. Walk outside, watch the ground pass under your feet and imagine heading for the next town, the next state. Imagine walking over mountains, across rivers, around lakes. Imagine doing it in snowstorms, thunderstorms and sweaty 95-degree heat. Then imagine doing it by yourself, your only human contact coming with strangers who don't believe where you've been and can't grasp where you're going.

This has been the life of Bill Holden since Jan. 11, when, motivated by the story of Ron Santo, he hopped on a highway in Prescott Valley, Ariz., and headed for Wrigley Field with two goals: to raise $250,000 for juvenile diabetes and to arrive in time for the Cubs' July 1 game against the Nationals. (Today, Monday, June 6, he's in Springfield, IL, on his way to Lincoln, IL. About 240 miles still to go.)" [ESPN] [ThisOldCub] [JDRF] [WildBill'sWalk]

Here is a guy with no cartilage in his knees, walking from Arizona to Wrigley Field. He relies on the kindness of strangers and the depths of his heart and soul to get him there. All because he fell in love with a team, whose star of yester-year, Ron Santo, has juvenile-diabetes (Type I). As a sufferer of juvenile-diabetes (Type I), Santo's story holds special meaning to me. For this man, Bill Holden, to walk 2,100 miles to raise money for JDRF is amazing. [Donate]

Downward Mobility

Editorial: "With all of the debate about taxes, the economy and domestic spending, it is hard to imagine anyone supporting the notion of taking money from programs like Medicaid and college-tuition assistance, increasing the tax burden of the vast majority of working Americans, sending the country into crushing debt - and giving the proceeds to people who are so fantastically rich that they don't know what to do with the money they already have. Yet that is just what is happening under the Bush administration. Forget the middle class and the upper-middle class. Even the merely wealthy are being left behind in the dust by the small slice of super-rich Americans." [NYT]

Editorial: "Greg Winter of The Times reported yesterday that the federal government has rejiggered the formula that determines how much families have to pay out of pocket before they become eligible for the student aid package, which consists of grants and low-interest loans. The new formula, which will save the government about $300 million in federal aid under the Pell program, will cause some lower-income students to lose federal grants entirely. The families of others will have to put up more money before they can qualify for financial aid. Perversely, single-parent households will have to pay more than two-parent households before they become eligible." [NYT]

Just Livin' The Dream

Herbert: "As far as the Bush administration is concerned, the gap between the rich and the rest of us is not growing fast enough. An analysis by The Times showed the following:

"Under the Bush tax cuts, the 400 taxpayers with the highest incomes - a minimum of $87 million in 2000, the last year for which the government will release such data - now pay income, Medicare and Social Security taxes amounting to virtually the same percentage of their incomes as people making $50,000 to $75,000. Those earning more than $10 million a year now pay a lesser share of their income in these taxes than those making $100,000 to $200,000." [NYT]

Is this the "American Dream" that you signed up for when you voted for Bush??? I didn't think so! Enjoy your low-paying job that will soon be shipped off to China or India. Aren't you glad that you voted for Bush because of his "morals?" Well, you reap what you sow...

Worse than Watergate

Herbert: "Now, with George W. Bush in charge, the nation is mired in yet another tragic period marked by incompetence, duplicity, bad faith and outright lies coming once again from the very top of the government. Just last month we had the disclosure of a previously secret British government memorandum that offered further confirmation that the American public and the world were spoon-fed bogus information by the Bush administration in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq." [NYT]

Stem Cell Debate: "That alliance was on prominent display last week when, to protest a bill supporting the use of embryos for stem cell research, President Bush appeared with the McClures and 20 other Snowflakes families, kissing the babies, some of whom wore T-shirts that said "former embryo," or "this embryo was not discarded." Federal and state lawmakers have held similar appearances." [NYT]

I respect your beliefs, but you are flat out ignorant. How old are your parents? Do they have Alzheimers? Diabetes? Know anyone with these ailments? You are too short-sighted to look beyond these tiny clumps of cells and see what is on the horizon: cures to some of the nastiest diseases of our time. They need to step into my shoes for one week. One week. As a sufferer of Type I Diabetes, they can take all of my shots for me, which are considerable. They can prick their fingers for me to test their blood to see if they need to take yet another shot, or eat something. I don't wish ill upon anyone, but I just would like these people to open up their eyes and see the suffering that goes on. What is "Christian" about withholding treatment for those that suffer??? These are left over clumps of cells from fertility clinics...why throw them away when we can use them to solve medical problems!?!

America, A Symbol Of...

Krugman: "One of the more bizarre aspects of the Iraq war has been President Bush's repeated insistence that his generals tell him they have enough troops. Even more bizarrely, it may be true - I mean, that his generals tell him that they have enough troops, not that they actually have enough."

"Let me put that in plainer English: our all-volunteer military is based on an implicit promise that those who serve their country in times of danger will also be able to get on with their lives. Full-time soldiers expect to spend enough time at home base to keep their marriages alive and see their children growing up. Reservists expect to be called up infrequently enough, and for short enough tours of duty, that they can hold on to their civilian jobs." [NYT]

Herbert: "In much of the world, the image of the U.S. under Mr. Bush has morphed from an idealized champion of liberty to a heavily armed thug in camouflage fatigues. America is increasingly being seen as a dangerously arrogant military power that is due for a comeuppance. It will take a lot more than Karen Hughes to turn that around." [NYT]

Deep Throated

Deep Throat has been revealed: W. Mark Felt, number two at the FBI during the Nixon Administration, stepped out of the shadows and was made known to the public today.

"Mr. Woodward and Mr. Bernstein said in a statement posted this afternoon on The Post's Web site: “W. Mark Felt was 'Deep Throat' and helped us immeasurably in our Watergate coverage. However, as the record shows, many other sources and officials assisted us and other reporters for the hundreds of stories that were written in The Washington Post about Watergate.” [NYT]

"The confirmation came from Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two Washington Post reporters who broke the Watergate story, and their former top editor, Benjamin C. Bradlee. The three spoke after Felt's family and Vanity Fair magazine identified the 91-year-old Felt, now a retiree in California, as the long-anonymous source who provided crucial guidance for some of the newspaper's groundbreaking Watergate stories." [WP]

Division III Champs

The UW-Whitewater Men's Baseball team won the 2005 NCAA Division III National Championship today by beating SUNY-Cortland, 11-4. Kevin Tomasiewicz was named the championship series MVP after pitching a complete game in the championship's final game. [UWW] [Box] [Game Pics] [Postgame Pics]

Congrats to my alma mater! Go Warhawks!!!!!!

Bubbles

Krugman: "So what happens if the housing bubble bursts? It will be the same thing all over again, unless the Fed can find something to take its place. And it's hard to imagine what that might be. After all, the Fed's ability to manage the economy mainly comes from its ability to create booms and busts in the housing market. If housing enters a post-bubble slump, what's left? [NYT]

Friedman: "Shut it down. Just shut it down.

I am talking about the war-on-terrorism P.O.W. camp at Guantánamo Bay. Just shut it down and then plow it under. It has become worse than an embarrassment. I am convinced that more Americans are dying and will die if we keep the Gitmo prison open than if we shut it down. So, please, Mr. President, just shut it down." [NYT]

The Greatest Thing

Yesterday was my third wedding anniversary. Awesome. We had a wonderful dinner, and we got to spend some time with each other.

But, the best thing that happened to me yesterday, and maybe in my life, was I heard my baby's heartbeat for the first time. I haven't written about this yet because we wanted to tell our families first, but yes, my wife Becky is pregnant with our first child. She is currently 13 weeks along, and doing wonderfully.

Hearing that heartbeat for the first time yesterday...wow...simply amazing. I can't tell you how excited I am.

Media Road Show

Krugman: "Since the election, high-profile right-wing initiatives, at both the federal and state level, have run into a stone wall of public disapproval. President Bush's privatization road show seems increasingly pathetic. In California, the conservative agenda of Arnold Schwarzenegger, including an attempt to partially privatize state pensions, has led to demonstrations by nurses, teachers, police officers and firefighters - and to a crash in his approval ratings." [NYT]

Herbert: "Much of what has happened to the military on his watch has been catastrophic. In Iraq, more than 1,600 American troops have died and many thousands have been maimed in a war that Mr. Rumsfeld mishandled from the beginning and still has no idea how to win. The generals are telling us now that the U.S. is likely to be bogged down in Iraq for years, and there are whispers circulating about the possibility of "defeat." [NYT]

Rich: "That's how absurdly over-the-top the assault on Newsweek has been. The administration has been so successful at bullying the news media in order to cover up its own fictions and failings in Iraq that it now believes it can get away with pinning some 17 deaths on an errant single sentence in a 10-sentence Periscope item that few noticed until days after its publication. Coming just as the latest CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll finds that only 41 percent of Americans think the war in Iraq is "worth fighting" and only 42 percent think it's going well, this smells like desperation. In its war on the press, this hubristic administration may finally have crossed a bridge too far." [NYT]

A Decent Minimum

Krugman: "And there's no sign that anyone in the administration has faced up to an unpleasant reality: the U.S. economy has become dependent on low-interest loans from China and other foreign governments, and it's likely to have major problems when those loans are no longer forthcoming." [NYT]

Friedman: "In part this is because we are so dependent on their oil - and addicts never tell the truth to their pushers. In part this is because the administration got so carried away by the vote in the Iraqi elections that it lost focus. (We don't even have an ambassador in Iraq at this critical juncture, when it is so important that an ethnically balanced Iraqi government be formed. But don't worry - John Bolton is going to reform the U.N.)" [NYT]

Miller: "So the conservative view of the decent minimum comes to this: "You're lucky to be in America; you're lucky to have a job; you're lucky to have the emergency room." A better idea would be "basic health coverage and $9 to $10 an hour, without putting the full burden of this on employers." Turns out we can have such a society for a penny on the national dollar (1% of G.D.P.), and still leave government smaller (21% of G.D.P.) than it was under President Ronald Reagan." [NYT]

We're Falling Behind

Bush threatens to veto a new bi-partisan stem-cell bill that is being pushed through the House.

"Mr. Castle's bill does not permit federal financing for the kind of "therapeutic cloning" studies being done in South Korea, but a Senate measure, introduced by Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, would. The stem cell debate is not only splitting Republicans in Washington. With states like California - where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, backs the research - developing ambitious stem cell programs, and other nations moving ahead, some lawmakers warn that Americans are at an economic and scientific disadvantage." [NYT]

A Repugnican speaks: "Those leftover eggs will have no potential ever of becoming a human being unless they are implanted in a woman's body, so I don't believe that experimenting on those fertilized eggs is the equivalent of an abortion at all," he said. "I think that is wrong thinking."

The Castle-DeGette bill is not perfect, but what Congressional bill is? This research would be done on leftover embryos from fertility clinics, not implanted embryos from a woman's body. South Korea is now ahead of us. How much longer until we put aside the crap and try to help some people cure some nasty diseases? I for one, suffer from Type I diabetes, and this could greatly help chances of finding a cure.

Oh but wait! We can't upset the religious right! Heaven forbid! We don't want to upset General Dobson and his band of "merry men."

Keep Your Nose OUT!

Just a good article for anyone that thinks that the National ID Card is a good thing. It's NOT.

"Among other things, this stealth ID law requires states to change their driver’s licenses to include information that wasn’t there before and to make those driver’s licenses compatible with scanning devices. The law also authorizes the Homeland Security Department to require anything else on the license that their heart desires — fingerprints, for instance, or retinal scans."

“So, what’s the matter with it, anyway?” is the usual reaction. “You got something to hide?”

"Actually, I suppose I do. So do you." [O'Malley]

Rivalry Intensifies

"After combining for six McDonald's All-Americans from the high school class of 2005, North Carolina and Duke will probably exceed that total in 2006. This week Duke picked up three commitments in three days, all from likely 2006 McDonald's All-Americans -- and North Carolina's recruiting class could be better. Could be lots better."

"Two teams, two years, perhaps 13 McDonald's All-Americans? Coached by Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams, who have four NCAA titles among their 15 Final Four appearances? Only three letters could mess this up: NBA." [Doyel]

This is my favorite rivalry in all of sports. Of course, I bleed on the Carolina Blue side of the issue, but everyone wants to see a good rivalry.

Staying What Course?

Krugman: "Why did the administration want to invade Iraq, when, as the memo noted, "the case was thin" and Saddam's "W.M.D. capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea, or Iran"? Iraq was perceived as a soft target; a quick victory there, its domestic political advantages aside, could serve as a demonstration of American military might, one that would shock and awe the world.
But the Iraq war has, instead, demonstrated the limits of American power, and emboldened our potential enemies. Why should Kim Jong Il fear us, when we can't even secure the road from Baghdad to the airport?" [NYT] [DowningStreetMemo]

Rich: "But surely the most arresting recent case is James E. West, the powerful Republican mayor of Spokane, Wash., whose double life has just been exposed by the local paper, The Spokesman-Review. Mr. West's long, successful political career has been distinguished by his attempts to ban gay men and lesbians from schools and day care centers, to fire gay state employees, to deny City Hall benefits to domestic partners and to stifle AIDS-prevention education. The Spokesman-Review caught him trolling gay Web sites for young men and trying to lure them with gifts and favors. (He has denied accusations of abusing boys when he was a Boy Scout leader some 25 years ago.) Not unlike the Roy Cohn of "Angels in America" - who describes himself as "a heterosexual man" who has sex "with guys" - Mr. West has said he had "relations with adult men" but doesn't "characterize" himself as gay. This is more than hypocrisy - it's pathology." [NYT]

Friday Night Lights

The Cubs won their third straight, and fourth out of five tonight in Washington, 6-3. Aramis Ramirez had a HR to lead off a 4-run 8th inning for the victory. Will Ohman picked up his 1st win, and Todd Wellemeyer got his first save after Mike Remlinger loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th with two outs. [CBS] [Box] [Cubs]

Looks like it's back to "closer by situation" again. The Cubs also recalled IF Mike Fontenot from AAA-Iowa, and sent back RHP Sergio Mitre. [Notes]

Saturday: 6:05 PM. Zambrano vs. Hernandez.

The Brewers squeaked out a tight one in Pittsburgh tonight, winning 4-3. Geoff Jenkins doubled in the winning run in the top of the 9th, off of Pirates closer Jose Mesa. Great start for Capuano: 8 IP, 3 ER, 6 K. [CBS] [Box] [Brewers]

Saturday: 6:05 PM. Santos vs. Redman.

Always Low Wages. Always.

Krugman: "Today, Wal-Mart is America's largest corporation. Like G.M. in its prime, it has become a widely emulated business icon. But there the resemblance ends.
The average full-time Wal-Mart employee is paid only about $17,000 a year. The company's health care plan covers fewer than half of its workers.
True, not everyone is badly paid. In 1968, the head of General Motors received about $4 million in today's dollars - and that was considered extravagant. But last year Scott Lee Jr., Wal-Mart's chief executive, was paid $17.5 million. That is, every two weeks Mr. Lee was paid about as much as his average employee will earn in a lifetime.
Not that many of them will actually spend a lifetime at Wal-Mart: more than 40 percent of the company's workers leave every year." [NYT]

Friedman: "In recent years, though, with the flattening of the global playing field, it should be apparent that we are not just competing against ourselves. The opening of China, India and Russia means that young people in these countries can increasingly plug and play - connect, collaborate and compete - more easily and cheaply than ever before. And they are. We, alas, are still coasting along as if we have all the time in the world." [NYT]

Herbert: "The employment bar has been set so low for the Bush administration that even a modest gain is cause for celebration. But we shouldn't be blinded by the flash of last Saturday's headlines. American workers, especially younger workers, remain stuck in a gloomy employment landscape.
Workers have been so cowed by an environment in which they are so obviously dispensable that they have been afraid to ask for the raises they deserve, or for their share of the money derived from the remarkable increases in worker productivity over the past few years. And from one coast to the other, workers have swallowed draconian cuts in benefits with scarcely a whimper." [NYT]

Troglodyte Troika

What do Anchorage, Albany, OR and Asheville, NC have in common?

Air America. Milwaukee, however, is not part of that group that’s in all parts of the country – including the South.

Political talk as you know in Milwaukee is dominated by the Troglodyte Troika – Charlie, Mark and Jeff.
Do you want our city defined by these guys?
Here’s your chance to do something about it. Go to www.grassrootsnorthshore.org and sign the petition to bring Air America to Milwaukee.
As you know, this network is rolling across the country bringing new ideas and progressives together in over 50 cities, beating Rush and Hannity in many of these places.
It can happen here.
We are looking to collect 5,000 signatures by the end of May. Your signature and those of your friends to will prove to the media companies we approach that there is an audience for Air America along with a segment of local progressive talk. Check them out at www.airamericaradio.com .
If you’ve signed already – GREAT.
But we need more. You’ve got ten friends at least in the Milwaukee metro area. Send them the link and urge them to sign up, and then urge them to sign up ten of their friends.

Tired of Milwaukee talk radio? Time to bring in some fresh air!

Marquette To Start Over On Nickname

Someone finally woke up.

After a week plus of protests, anger, and discontent, Marquette Board President, Fr. Robert Wild re-opened the nickname search. Marquette, who selected "Gold" for a nickname one week ago, will choose a new nickname soon. They will however not entertain the "Warriors" nickname of old. [JS Online]

"The turn of events was a stunning about-face from last week when 30 of the 38 members of the board voted against going back to Warriors, junk Golden Eagles and adopt Gold, a nickname they felt embraced the traditions of the school's sports team.

The decision to go back to the drawing board also was a big victory for the legions of alumni, students and faculty who vigorously protested through e-mails, letters and angry phone calls - and on Internet blogs, online forums and chat rooms.

We were not winning hearts and minds," Father Robert A. Wild, Marquette's president, said of Gold nickname choice."

Good call. "Gold" was HORRIBLE. As I am not an alumni, I don't have a very strong opinion, but "Gold???" WTF!?! Terrible. Here are some readers opinions.

Suspended Over a Dress???

How many MEN can say that they were suspended for 3 days over wearing a dress to their Senior Prom? Well...one can anyways. [JS Online]

"Lofy said he thought it would be funny to show up at his senior prom Saturday wearing a dress. Lofy went to the prom with Victor Anderson, a friend. Lofy says the school did not have any problem letting two males attend prom together, but school officials who had heard of Lofy's plan to wear a black dress warned him that he would not be allowed in the dance if he showed up dressed as a woman."

C'mon people! Have a sense of humor!!!!!! A poll online (with 2,773 votes, currently) gives 85.1% saying that the punishment was too harsh. Agreed.

Late-Inning Heroics

Derrek Lee hit a walkoff HR in the bottom of the 10th inning to cap a 4-3 win, and a series victory for the Cubs today against the Mets. Ryan Dempster blew his first save chance in the 9th inning, but got the victory in the 10th. Mark Prior went 7 strong IP, gave up only 2 hits, 1 ER, and had 7 K. The Cubs won last night, 7-0. Cubs are now 15-18.
[CBS] [Box] [Cubs]

Chicago recalled RHP Sergio Mitre from AAA-Iowa in exchange for RHP Jon Leicester, who made his first MLB start on Monday. [Cubs]
Jason Dubois got his 2nd start in a row; Aramis Ramirez missed Wednesday's game with back-spasms [Notes]

Friday @ Washington DC: Rusch vs. Loiaza, 6:05 PM.

The Brewers win again today over Philly, 5-2, on the strength of a base-clearing double by Junior Spivey in the bottom of the 8th off of Corey Lidle. Doug Davis went 8 IP, had 2 ER, and 4 K. The Brewers won last night, 8-5. Brewers are now 17-16.
[CBS] [Box] [Brewers]

Notes: Sheets working his way back [Notes]

Friday @ Pittsburgh: Capuano vs. Wells, 6:05 PM.

Stranger Than Fiction

Krugman: "The point is that the privatizers consider four years of policies that relentlessly favored the wealthy a fait accompli, not subject to reconsideration. Now that tax cuts have busted the budget, they want us to accept large cuts in Social Security benefits as inevitable. But they demand that we praise Mr. Bush's sense of social justice, because he proposes bigger benefit cuts for the middle class than for the poor.
Sorry, but no. Mr. Bush likes to play dress-up, but his Robin Hood costume just doesn't fit." [NYT]

Herbert: "It might have been better if Mr. Bush had stayed in closer touch with his earthly father. From the very beginning the war in Iraq has been an exercise in extreme madness, an absurd venture that would have been rich in comic possibilities except for the fact that many thousands of men, women and children have died, and tens of thousands have been crippled, burned or otherwise maimed." [NYT]

Rich: "Much as we all delight in the latest horse-milking joke, the happiest news in comedy last week was the announcement that "The Daily Show" will be spinning off a new half-hour on Comedy Central starring its "senior White House correspondent," Stephen Colbert. Make no mistake about it: the ratings rise of Jon Stewart's fake news has been in direct relation to the show's prowess at blowing the whistle on propaganda when the legitimate press fails to do so. The correspondents' dinner, itself a "Daily Show" target last week, could not have been a more graphic illustration of why, at a time when trust in real news is plummeting, there's a bull market for fake news that can really be trusted to know what is fake." [NYT]

Nature at Bay: "President Bush's policies suggest that he not only has failed to learn from past mistakes, but is determined to repeat them on a more destructive scale. The obvious example is his fixation on opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. This bespeaks an intellectually bankrupt energy policy and would certainly cause trouble for wildlife. Yet the Arctic is hardly the only illustration of the administration's insensitivity to wilderness values." [NYT]

A Serious Drug Problem

Krugman: "If all this sounds like a story of a corrupt deal created by a corrupt system, it is. And it was a very expensive deal indeed. According to the Medicare trustees, the fiscal gap over the next 75 years created by the 2003 law - not the financing gap for Medicare as a whole, just the additional gap created by legislation passed 18 months ago - will be $8.7 trillion."

"That's about three times the amount President Bush proposes to save by cutting middle-class Social Security benefits."

"In fact, I have a suggestion for Mr. Bush. One way to prove that he's really sincere about addressing long-run fiscal problems, that his calls for benefit cuts aren't just part of an ideological agenda, would be to put Social Security aside for a while and fix his own Medicare program. Oh, never mind." [NYT]

Friedman: "But what was new for me on this tour was the number of people who also mentioned getting their news from Jon Stewart's truly funny news satire, "The Daily Show." And I am not just talking about college kids. I am talking about grandmas. Just how many people are now getting their only TV news from Comedy Central is not clear to me - but it is a lot, lot more than you think.
Second, and this may be related to the first, there's a huge undertow of worry out in the country about how our kids are being educated and whether they'll be able to find jobs in an increasingly flat world, where more Chinese, Indians and Russians than ever can connect, collaborate and compete with us. In three different cities I had parents ask me some version of: "My daughter [or son] is studying Chinese in high school. That's the right thing to do, isn't it?" [NYT]

Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

A day after getting swept out of Milwaukee, the Cubs blew it again, this time against Philadelphia in Wrigley. The Cubs led 2-1 going into the ninth on the strength of a Derrek Lee 2-run HR in the 8th. Mark Prior went 8 strong IP, giving up only 1 ER, and striking out 10. Chicago has dropped six straight, to fall to 12-16 on the season.
[CBS] [Box] [Cubs]

Flat out, can we just demote LaTroy Hawkins to AAA-Iowa? Or maybe A-Daytona would be more appropriate. He currently has a 1-3 record, and has blown 3 saves this season. I've just about run out of patience with this guy. Here's what happened in the top of the 9th with the bases loaded: "Pinch-hitter Placido Polanco then hit a comebacker to Hawkins, who fielded the ball and turned to throw to Lee. The throw hit Offerman in the helmet and ricocheted into the stands. Two runs scored on the error, and the Phillies took a 3-2 lead." And they won...blown save. I don't care if Hawkins thinks that the "baseball gods" are testing the Cubs right now, they just need to play better. They got a great effort from Prior, Lee was clutch again, and they still couldn't win the damn game. What more is it going to take???

Tomorrow: 1:20 PM. Lieber vs. Rusch.

Milwaukee is behind 3-6 to the Mets at home, with a SEVEN game WIN streak on the line. Currently: 7th inning. Brew Crew Brew!

Brewers 4, Cubs 1

Game 1 in Milwaukee ended in the Brewers favor, 4-1. Bill Hall went 3-4 and Chris Capuano went 7 IP with 6 K's to lead the Brewers. Carlos Zambrano went 7 IP with 10 K's .
[CBS] [Box] [Cubs] [Tribune] [Brewers]

Kerry Wood will be out for 5-6 weeks following shoulder problems this past Saturday in Houston. The MRI on Monday diagnosed the problem as a supraspinatus muscle strain in the right shoulder. Todd Wellemeyer was recalled from AAA-Iowa to take his place on the roster. [Cubs] [Tribune] [Morrisey] [CBS]

Tonight, Game 2 of the series: 7:05 PM. Dempster vs. Santos.

Gut Punch to the Middle Class

Krugman: "You can see this happening right now to Medicaid, the nation's most important means-tested program. Last week Congress agreed on a budget that cuts funds for Medicaid (and food stamps), even while extending tax cuts on dividends and capital gains. States are cutting back, denying health insurance to hundreds of thousands of people with low incomes. Missouri is poised to eliminate Medicaid completely by 2008."

"If the Bush scheme goes through, the same thing will eventually happen to Social Security. As Mr. Furman points out, the Bush plan wouldn't just cut benefits. Workers would be encouraged to divert a large fraction of their payroll taxes into private accounts - but this would in effect amount to borrowing against their future benefits, which would be reduced accordingly."

"No, this is about ideology: Mr. Bush comes to bury Social Security, not to save it. His goal is to turn F.D.R.'s most durable achievement into an unpopular welfare program, so some future president will be able to attack it with tall tales about Social Security queens driving Cadillacs." [NYT]

Herbert: "Mr. Delgado said he had witnessed incidents in which an Army sergeant lashed a group of children with a steel Humvee antenna, and a Marine corporal planted a vicious kick in the chest of a kid about 6 years old. There were many occasions, he said, when soldiers or marines would yell and curse and point their guns at Iraqis who had done nothing wrong. He said he believes that the absence of any real understanding of Arab or Muslim culture by most G.I.'s, combined with a lack of proper training and the unrelieved tension of life in a war zone, contributes to levels of fear and rage that lead to frequent instances of unnecessary violence." [NYT]

Rich: "Oops. But what's given the Schiavo case resonance beyond the Schiavo story itself is that it crystallized the bigger picture of Olympian arrogance and illiberalism on the right. The impulse that led conservatives to intervene in a family's bitter debate over a feeding tube is the same one that makes them turn a debate over a Senate rule on filibusters into a litmus test of spiritual correctness. Surely no holier-than-thou Hollywood pontificator could be harder to take than the sanctimonious Bill Frist, who, unlike Barbra Streisand, can't even sing." [NYT]

Some Good, Some Bad

The Cubs won on Friday night, 3-2, in a matchup between 300-game winners Greg Maddux and Roger Clemens. Maddux got the win. Saturday spelled more shoulder trouble for Kerry Wood. He went just 3 IP, 54 pitches, before his shoulder tightened up on him again. An MRI is Monday, and a DL stint probable. The Cubs lost 5-7. Today, Mark Prior was cruising along until the 5th inning, when Mike Lamb hit a grand slam. The Cubs lost, 3-9. The Cubs finished April with a winning record, 12-11, but evened it up today at 12-12.

The Brewers have now won 4 straight to improve to 11-13 overall. Brewers ace Ben Sheets was placed on the 15-day DL, retroactive to April 21st. He is expected to be back next Saturday in Cincinnati. The Brewers beat Cincinnati 4-3 on Friday, 6-5 on Saturday, and 13-3 on Sunday.

Tuesday: Cubs @ Brewers, 7:05 P.M. Zambrano vs. Capuano.