Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Bush On The Economy
In this speech, Bush touches on the recession and the effects of his tax cuts. Bush claims that he provided tax incentives to small business owners and brags about how sizzling hot the economy has become.
One of the real claims I have a huge difficulty with is "We're the largest exporter in the world. Last year we exported a record $1.4 trillion worth of goods and services. Now, in order to export something, somebody has to make it." Bush fails to mention that the export surge is nowhere close to balancing America’s trade. The US imported more than $2 trillion worth of goods and services, or about 50 percent more than they exported, resulting in a trade deficit of about $700 billion. The trade deficit means that the US as a whole is more in debt and has more interest to pay.
Further in the speech, Bush asserts "In other words, when I talk about numbers, behind the numbers is people who are providing the service and/or making the product. So the more one exports, the more likely it is people are going to be working."
Quite the opposite is true. Companies have improved profits for American companies, but have actually cut the number of workers. Before the last recession there were 17.2 million U.S. manufacturing jobs and today there are only 14.2 million, according to the Labor Department. This constitutes a loss of 5 million manufacturing jobs. American firms have managed to squeeze more goods out of their plants with the same number of workers. This means more productivity, more profits for the companies, but less pay for the remaining workers. Due to rising energy costs, remaining workers have had less money to buy stocks and thus have not had the opportunity to share in the dividends the companies have paid out. Americans have less money left to invest into the next economic cycle because they are more in debt than they were previously.
I don't think things are as rosy as Mr. Bush paints them. The 7.2 Million jobs created since the recession ended in 2003 are not high-paying manufacturing jobs, but low-paying service industry jobs - more Starbucks baristas, McDonald's burger flippers and more people to answer phones. Even those jobs are being outsourced these days. The sad part is that the 7.2 Million jobs created does not even account for the normal growth of the workforce over the last three years.
HiTek
US arms sales are brisk! I think those export figures include a lot of financialization products, or deal making where nothing "real" is produced, only speculative profit.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
The Urban Legend
Of Tony Snow
On Jan 12, 2007, White House spokesman Tony Snow dispelled President Bush's apparent preparations for war on Iran and Syria as a mere urban legend. Snow, speaking to reporters at the daily White House briefing, emphatically said there are no plans for war with Iran and Syria. However, most people that I've talked to from various sides of the political spectrum fully believe that Bush is very much interested in starting wars with both Iran and Syria. Why?
How does such an idea float amongst people? How does it persist although it may be false? Can the same principles that make urban legends work be used to sell political ideas to the public? We've all heard that word-of-mouth is the best means of selling. Perhaps urban legends can be used to sell political ideas. What is it about these stories that makes people want to spread the word?
All successful urban legends have three essential components: a hook, a threat and a request. The components get the reader or listener personally involved, frightened or intrigued, and instructions to pass the story on.
One such cautionary tale immediately comes to mind. Here is the outline:
At one time vast oceans protected our country from foreign ennemies. Then a hundred years ago, we invented planes so that we could cross these oceans. We trusted other people to fly all over the world on planes. Then 911 happened. Be afraid, very afraid. Things are different now. 911 is the fault of our freedoms (and liberals that adhere to them). The smoking gun is a mushroom cloud. Now we're fighting them abroad so that we can defeat them there and we won't have to fight them here at home. Iraq has turned into a civil war. And the terrorists have now moved on to Iran and Syria. Support our troops. Pass it on because the liberal media is not going to tell you this.
I have heard this urban legend in part and in whole dozens of times during lunch at work, from friends and family. President Bush's speeches are embellished versions this urban legend. And, in fact, Tony Snow's job is to snow people into spreading it.
By the way, Bush has been planning a regime change in Iran
BEFORE becoming President.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Bush Defends Torture
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has re-defined torture so that only interrogation techniques which caused death or pain equal to that associated with organ failure constitute torture.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Our Humanity
- What Happened To It?
I found this earlier today. It left me such a disgusting after-taste, which I'm sure you'll all feel after finishing the read. Except for the initial shock, horror and total disgust, it brought to mind one (rhetoric) question: do we have the right to call ourselves human?
We accept such happenings everyday, nay, we encourage them via our open markets daylight robbery, wars, mayhem, you name it. We deplore and cry the Muslim women veiling, yet encourage their Iraqi daughters to sell their bodies for 50 Syrian pounds. Yes, this is the price of an Iraqi 15 years old in the local Gulf States infested brothels. That's 1 US Dollar, by the way. Cheap, yes, compared to a 6 years Cambodgian put to serve some mid-aged European or Arab freak.
But then again, money is way better invested into war. A Cambodgian child is sold into prostitution for 10$ to 100$. How many can be saved with 1.2 Trillion dollars?
It's very sad to see that people in a democracy we are supposedly are building are being exploited down to their last posession - their own personal self-worth.
I'm not saying that war is a good investment at all. I'm only pointing out that the so-called war in terror is big money for a select few to the tune of 1.2 Trillion dollars.
The problem is really that the military-industrial complex seems to depend on the perma-war (the war on terror) in order to continue to operate. Perhaps rather than creating war, the ilitary-industrial complex needs to be re-vectored onto other projects that can actually help people rather than leading people into poverty. Perhaps companies that are used to building high-tech composite wings for airplanes could be making windmill blades. Instead of building massive secret prisons and airforce bases, they could be pouring foundations for the windmills. Instead of building missile bodies, a missile contractor could be building the towers for windmills. Instead of building factories that produce bombs, companies could be producing factories that make alcohol from agriculural waste. etc.
HiTek
I know what you mean and I agree totally to what you say regarding war, and this is what I mean: just like you pointed out earlier, until now war in Iraq alone costed some unbelievable amount of money. This money would have freed at least half of Africa from hunger and tyrany. Instead, Ethiopia was encouraged to invade Somalia.
And Justice For All?
I often wonder how we can hope to be the shining beacon of democracy when our very own democratic principles have been undermined to help further a so-called war on terror. Innocent until found guilty in a court of law has turned into kidnapping with out a criminal charge, extraordinary rendering to secret prisons, guilty until proven innocent, held indefinitely without charge or trial, no rights to an attorney, no writ of habeas corpus, torture and unusual punishment to get confessions, even executions of totally innocent people.
Under the current law, the President is authorized to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once kidnapped into this perverted system, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights. Essentially anyone can simply be declared an enemy combatant and be whisked away to be tortured without probable cause.
According to Pentagon figures, approximately 380 detainees have been released countries since 2002. Guantanamo still holds about 395 detainees, almost none of whom have been charged with a crime. Why? Are we patiently waiting until they incriminate themselves with a false confession? Are we afraid they may reveal that Gitmo sole purpose is a torture camp? Who knows how many have disappeared to a ghost network of detention facilities and secret prisons like the "Salt Pit" and naval ships.
On one hand, the President tells us that we don't torture, but on the other hand, John Yoo publicly argued there is no law that could prevent the President from ordering the torture of a child of a suspect in custody – including by crushing that child’s testicles. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has re-defined torture so that only interrogation techniques which caused death or pain equal to that associated with organ failure constitute torture. He approved a legal memo defining torture so narrowly so as to authorize practices such as “waterboarding,” denial of pain killer medication, simulated drowning, and threatening to transfer detainees to other countries’ interrogators. It has been well publicized that the US now outsources "stress and duress" interrogation (torture) to governments that routinely torture prisoners.
On such example is the case of Syrian-born Canadian Citizen Maher Arar who was kidnapped at JFK International airport and rendered to Syria where he was beaten with a metal cable, tortured and forced to make a false confession. The American government still firmly denies any wrongdoing although Arar was cleared of all charges.
With its conduct in the war on terror, the Bush administration has made the world less secure, weakened America's influence, and betrayed the very principles America believes in. If I had know this is how the US actually practices democracy, I would have never become a naturalized Citizen.
It's time to start the next hundreds of hours to restore what were once the foundations of our democracy.
1) If we don't want our own servicemen to be tortured, then we must put an end to torturing or outsourcing torture.
2) If we are a just nation, then we do not have a need for secret prisons. We need to close torture facilities such as Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, the Salt Pit, etc.
3) If we are a civilized nation, we need to re-affirm adherence to Geneva Conventions.
4) Our foundation of democracy is our Constitution. However, it has been largely dismantled. We need to restore basic rights such as habeas corpus and due process of law.
5) If there are truly terrorists, then why can't we use normal police procedures, present evidence, try and convict these alleged terrorists? Let's do real police work instead of hunting-down, torturing and executing people on mere rumors.
6) We need to investigate the wrong-doings of this administration concerning the treatment of detainees and/or prisoners. Officials that have openly endorsed torture need to be held accountable. We need an investigation into these allegations. I.e. It's time to impeach Alberto Gonzales.
7) We owe an apology to the falsely incarcerated detainees.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
PGCC Goes Nuclear
Persian Gulf Cooperation Council members, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are expected to hold talks with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to discuss plans to launch a regional nuclear program.and according to this INA article, The Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) on supports Iran's legal and inalienable right to access peaceful nuclear technology under rules and regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
PGCC Secretary-General Abdul-Rahman al-Attiya made the remarks while speaking to reporters in Cairo, Egypt.So if Iran develops their own nuclear power program under IAEA safeguards, it's criminal. Critics say "Why on earth should Iran develop nuclear power peacefully? Afterall, they have all an endless supply of oil." They don't mention that Iran hit Peak Oil in 1974.
He said the council also backs settlement of Iran's nuclear case through diplomatic channels or negotiation.
He said the PGCC also backs the international call for establishment of a Middle East region free from weapons of mass destruction, and stressed the importance of Israel being held to account.
Israel is reported to possess more than 200 nuclear warheads, he said, and added it is now clearly the threat to the region because of the absence of supervision over its military and nuclear activities.
If PGCC states (who have loads of oil right across the gulf) propose to do exactly the same thing it's not even mentioned in the controlled news.
If Israel and the UK contemplate a Nuclear Pre-Emptive Strike to put a stop to Iran's nuclear power project, it fits into Bush's plan of the War on Terror and it's wonderful.
What's wrong with this picture?? Maybe Iran refused to buy its nuclear power and reprocessing plants from US companies.
everything from the lies to the major war proffiting crimes pooy i say wheres a hero when you need them .O wait Bush fired them
the only country to bomb another not once but twice was the US on Japan towards the logo "ending the war faster" which resulted in Hiroshema and Nagasaki of immediate death tolls of 66,000 and 69,000
MFL
Poll #11 Results
violence is one ball of wax.
"When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?" -Eleanor Roosevelt, diplomat and writer (1884-1962)
Me i wont judge but i dont like murder of any kind here or other places i thought we as a world where striving to be mor human and in balance not what ever it is we still are.I think we are striving for true respect health and humanity but sometimes im not so sure.Be safe walk in peace allways
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Extreme Duplicity
They are also building wind farms. But the DIRTY energy lobby won't tell you that. See the story at this link.
The Shah was certainly a murderous tyrant, but the British and US administrations of the day were behind him all the way.
Here his 'good guy' image (note all the medals) was being used to argue against the nasty hippies who were protesting against the use of nuclear energy.
My...how things have changed :]
Isn't interesting how when the US chooses a dictator for a country, they end up being murderous little bastards with a Napoleon complex (like our President).
All things said, what is the difference between the Shah and the current Irani nutt-case? Isn't it just the perspective (or bottle) you look at things through?
Actually I am doing research on that matter (part of my course) so if anything, I will write you a nice post about it :)
The new "nutcase" is a twelver Shiia and extreme anti-semite but the fact remains no sane Iranian leader will be happy with a nuclear armed Israel next door or a hegemon (US) that demands the right to global dominance and an exclusive franchise on nuclear weapons. Remember we supported Iraq in the war against Iran, they don't trust us, why would they?
Keep in mind that this current nut is a pawn in the hands of Ali Khamen'i, the supreme leader and Wali el-Faqih in Iran
MFL
You know I heard of something similar to what you mentioned about Ahmedinejad. I also heard that his, let's call it cult, believes in the Hidden Imam, or the new Messiah (Mahdi, in Islam) which is soon to come as the 12th Imam born from Mohammed's lineage. The mainstreem Islam usually confounds Mahdi with Jesus.
(P.S. just having real trouble singing in)
It is not only him, it is in the Iranian constitution, and the theory is called the Wali el Faqih (actually Hezbollah in Lebanon abide by it and they regard that the Wali el Faqih as the head of the Shora Council within them).
The theory was founded by Ayatollah Imam Rouhollah Khomeini, which focuses on the 12 Imams theory (technically followed by the Shiites. The 12th Imam, AL-Mahdi, disappeared about a Millenium ago and in the Shiite doctrine he shall appear on Judgement Day. During his disappearance, an emulator is required to issue jurisprudence laws and is the protector of the Islamic Nation. That man is the Wali el Faqih. He is the ultimate reference when it comes to "Taqlid" and "al-qarar". The current Wali is Ali Khamenei, and he controls the sensitive spots in Iran which crippled Khatami to do some of his reforms (actually a lot of his buddies got imprisoned or assassinated).
MFL
PS: I will do a post about it when I finish my paper within two weeks...
Friday, January 19, 2007
Left-Wing Aggregator
I have been, for the past month or so, been getting to know the Lebanese Community on the blogosphere. There are over 400 blogs in Lebanon, and couple of on-line bloggers decided to do an aggregator that covers all the blogs from Lebanon. During the day, I usually click on their links and read those aggregator pages as if reading a daily newspaper (despite the right-wing presence) which becomes an alternate source for the newspaper.
The reason I am writing this is why we don't establish a left-wing aggregator (I know it sounds a mission impossible) for all the left-wing blogs and everyone would get to know everyone. Moreover, our aggregator would be similar to the Alternate Media, while comrades from over the world would know each other.
The two samples I will put are Liliane's Aggregator and Rampurple's aggregator.
Probably we can do it per country & Alphabet (or per continent and Alphabet) but what do you think?
Waiting to hear your ideas
Those are great sites but it looks to invlove a lot of time and effort. I think most of us have our hands full just checking links on favorite blogs! It's a great concept.
I know both authors, I think it would take 15 minutes per day, one of the two is in Lebanon so I will ask her to teach me how to do such an event, and probably integrate it with (if my other colleagues allow it) with the Further-Left Forum.
MFL
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Good $ After Bad?
In economic and in business decision-making, "sunk costs" are costs that have already been incurred and which cannot be recovered to any significant degree. Applying microeconomic theory, only variable costs (costs that are will change due to the proposed course of action) are relevant to a decision. Economics proposes that a rational actor does not let sunk costs influence one's decisions, because doing so would not be assessing a decision exclusively on its own.
For example, when one pre-orders a non-refundable movie ticket, the price of the ticket becomes a sunk cost. Even if one decides that one would rather not go to the movie, there is no way to get back the money originally paid. But to go to the movie (and not liking it) simply because we've already paid for the ticket is an irrational decision. And making a party of it and inviting more of your friends to the bad movie is simply insane. (or maybe just a Rocky Horror Picture Show)
It's Time ton Say No on Iraq
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Marxist Archive
Under Attack By China
(MFL notes: this came from the www.marxists.org, for those who do not know what the Marxist Internet Archive, it is the greatest Marxist archive assembled with time that even includes audio-visuals, minutes of the internationals, and almost everything related to Marxism.)
In early November we came under sustained denial of service attack from Internet hosts in China attempting to exploit a misconfiguration in our server's operating system. The nature and origin of the attack, our previous history with the PRC, and the experience of others suggest that this maybe politically motivated and directed by the Chinese government. Protecting ourselves necessitated rebuilding part of the kernel and rebooting the system remotely. The failure of the system to properly boot into the new kernel caused a prolonged outage as we scrambled to find someone with the necessary access to get the system back into the previous configuration.
While the attacks continued and greatly degraded MIA performance, we were understandably cautious about rebuilding the kernel and trying again. On January 15, the server became unresponsive and we asked for it to be remotely rebooted, taking the opportunity to bring it up with the new kernel.
While this alleviated the previous issue, it seems to have uncovered another, more serious, problem with our CPU that causes random errors (machine check exceptions) and cause the system to reboot.
Each time the system reboots, it causes our RAID storage system to reinitialize and rebuild, a lengthy process that severely degrades performance. To make matters worse, the redundant disk in the array seems to be failing.
As if that weren't bad enough, while attempting to make arrangements to buy a new server, we learned that our colocation facility will be closing on February 1, leaving MIA literally homeless.
At the moment, our redundant disk is back online and we are rebuilding the array to protect against data loss on the server. We also have offsite backups of all MIA content should the worst come to pass. We are furiously searching for new hosting space, but our data transfer needs (approximately 1.3TB a month) make this a very difficult choice compared with our previous non-profit host.
The bottom line: there is a significant probability that we will not be able to find and deploy an acceptable solution in time to meet the February 1 lights-out date.
This means that the MIA will be off the air. We will make every attempt to bridge the gap with the help of our dedicated mirror operators though we may need to stop serving some of our more "expensive" content such as MP3s and PDFs.
There is also a chance that our ultimate solution may require us to make a long-term evaluation of the type of content we serve and make things like PDFs available via alternate distribution channels (e.g. BitTorrent). However, despite our recent litany of seemingly fatal problems, the MIA remains a strong organization with a wealth of content, committed to providing the premiere electronic library of Marxist writings. Despite the political, technical, or economic pressures, rest assured that we will find a way to keep these works available to the world.
We've been censored too. Blame it on Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Further Left was kicked off a service last March because of its political focus. That service was owned by a Canadian operating in Mexico who claimed Further Left's content was causing him to receive hacker denial of service attacks emanating from the US. This was reported on the Forum at the time in a post titled "Kicked Off". It might be worth re reading its details as instruction of how assumptions can be and are made and were dealt with.
I was horrified by the idea no more MIA, I mean 70% of my research on Marxism in from that site
What a horror if all these years' accumulation suddenly disappeared, and by the Chinese government!!
Energo-Fascism
The Pentagon's Energy-Protection Racket
The Bush administration and its neo-con supporters offer a vision of a vast imperial enemy-in-the-making that they call "Islamo-fascism". That is the publicly acceptable code expression trumpeted to US dummies. Decoded, it reveals the real more chilling course, "energo-fascism", or the militarization of the global struggle over ever-diminishing supplies of energy. US armed forces are being turned into a multibillion-dollar "global oil protection service" in this ruthless scramble. The full article by Michael Tare expanding this appeared today in Asia Times.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Broken Laws Of War
By Both Hizbullah And Israel
Claims Human Rights Watch
MFL: I do not agree with several contents of the Human Rights Watch report, but it is worth to discuss it. This article by Iman Azzi is taken from the Lebanese Daily Star
BEIRUT: Israel and Hizbullah violated the laws of war this summer, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its annual report Thursday, blaming both sides for indiscriminately targeting civilians during the 34-day war. Other Middle Eastern states did not fare better, as the human rights watchdog pointed at oppressive regimes for stifling human rights across the region.
The Israeli Army "repeatedly violated the laws of war by failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians," the report said. A total of 1,189 Lebanese, mostly civilians, were killed during the fighting, according to the Lebanese government.
Israel justified striking civilian areas by saying that Hizbullah hid in them, but HRW reported that the "attacks responsible for a majority of the civilian deaths took place at times when there was no evidence that Hizbullah fighters or weapons were even in the vicinity."
HRW also condemned the use of cluster munitions during the summer war. Israel fired an estimated four million sub-munitions into Lebanon, leaving behind as many as one million hazardous duds, which have killed or wounded over 120 people since the end of the war.
The United Nations has said that Israel fired 90 percent of the cluster bombs during the last 72 hours of fighting when a cease-fire was imminent.
Oxfam estimates that up to 85 percent of Lebanon's farmers lost some of all of their harvest as a result of the war.
Hizbullah also fired Chinese-made cluster rockets. HRW reported that Hizbullah packed "more than 4,000 anti-personnel steel spheres ('ball bearings') that shoot out upon impact, causing many of the civilian deaths and injuries." A total of 39 Israeli civilians and 100 Israeli soldiers were killed by Hizbullah rockets.
"While Hizbullah appeared to target some of its rockets at military objectives, in some cases hitting them, many of its rockets hit civilian areas, far from any apparent military target. Such attacks - at best indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas and, at worst, deliberate attacks against civilians - violated the laws of war," the report said.
The annual report highlighted other human rights concerns in Lebanon, pointing to the continued efforts to form an international tribunal to try the assassins of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and the lack of progress toward uncovering the fate of over 17,000 Lebanese, Palestinians and other nationals still missing since the 15-year Civil War.
Across the Middle East, monarchs and authoritarian leaders received poor marks on the progress of human rights.
"Overall human rights conditions remain poor in Saudi Arabia ... The government undertook no major human rights reforms in 2006, and there were signs of backsliding on issues of human rights defenders, freedom of association, and freedom of expression," the report said. The respect of both Syria and Iran for basic human rights "deteriorated," it said.
Egypt "displayed a heavy hand against political dissent in 2006," it said, adding that the government renewed the Emergency Law in April 2006, despite pledges by President Hosni Mubarak to allow the controversial legislation to expire.
The HRW announced unsurprisingly that in Iraq, "the human rights situation worsened significantly in 2006." The country saw an increase in sectarian attacks and an independent group estimated that over 650,000 Iraqis have been killed since 2003, it added.
Iraqi refugees faced trouble in neighboring countries - an average of 2,000 flee every day. Syria and Jordan have taken in the majority, but after an Iraqi gunman killed 57 Jordanians in November 2005, sympathy for the half million Iraqis seeking shelter in the kingdom has waned, the report said.
In Libya, human rights conditions "improved somewhat in 2006 as the country continued its slow international reintegration, but serious violations remain," it said, adding that the Benghazi AIDS cases plagued the government's hopes of improving relations with Europe.
Lack of freedom of expression, assembly and the press featured prominently as concerns for the region. Other issues were gender inequality and the torture of prisoners.
The release of the HRW report coincided with the five-year anniversary of the creation of the Guantanomy Bay prison by the United States.
In September, President George W. Bush defended torture - referring to it euphemistically as "an alternative set of [interrogation] procedures" - and secret CIA prisons.
In October, the US Congress, acting at the behest of the Bush administration, denied Guantanamo detainees the right to challenge their detention in court. Human Rights Watch called on the US to close the prison, adding that it is long past time to either bring detainees to trial or set them free.
"Naughty, naughty, naughty" say the good about the bad, and go right on doing what they find so sad. The fitting to categories depends however on who is looking where from where. Here is the full text of the human rights record of the US in 2005 released by the Information Office of China's State Council as it appeared in People's Daily.
So what is the alternative? Should the good stop saying naughty things about the bad just because they are not perfect themselves? What kind of logic is that? The people in the US at least have a chance at rectifying these crime statistics by voting in more law and order representatives. The Chinese People's Daily picks up a few well-publicized crimes that occurred in the US during 2005 and insist that because of them, the US has no moral right to complain about any other nation's human rights violations. China represses its citizens by state sponsored censorship, imprisonment of political opposition and allows no freedom of assembly whatsoever. How is this different from any other tyrannical or despotic regime? They should call themselves the DISinformation Office publishing this kind of smokescreen.
Cheers!
The left column of this site has a link list of world news outlets. There are no direct links to US sources but Google News there leans to it heavily. One can peruse the others to see what is really happening and then check Google's to compare with spin placed on what is allowed to sneak through to mold (oxymoron coming...) US thought.
May be because the US over-supports Israel who currently got the highest rates of massacres on civilians in the area
Bush Speech Reaction
I have to conclude that most of this is magical fairy dust to get you to watch the left hand while the right hand does something else. The key here is not the 20K increase in troops, but the Billions of dollars that needs to be spent on re-constructing Iraq that is tied to this effort. The Billions of dollars is another non-competitive bonanza for contractors like KBR, and companies like GE. Check out this US Government web page. Take a careful look at the last picture on the bottom - a whole trade event centered around on spending lots of money. And we, the citizens of the US will pay for all of it.
ordo ab chao
Looking up the webpage for next year's trade show I found the following table:
Iraq reconstruction needs until 2007
o Local administration & civil society $300 million
o Health, education & employment $7 billion
o Infrastructure $11 billion
o Electricity $13 billion
o Agriculture and water resources $3 billion
o Security and police $5 billion
o Oil $8 billion
o Culture $1.5 billion
I wonder if this is in addition to the $100 billion dollar emergency spending bill that Bush will require in February.
The war in Iraq has cost us already 1,200,000 million dollars (1.2 trillion dollars), quite a bit more than the 50,000 million dollars they predicted at the beginning of the war. It's big business for a few companies. No wonder it's worth a trade show!!!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Perverse Logic
Of Bush's War
The iron law governing the politics of imperial debacles seems to be that the leaders who commit a country to failed war realize at some point that they have seriously miscalculated and that the war cannot be won, but by then they figure it is already too late; they must act as though they are aiming at victory, because of the fear of admitting the truth. Read more in an Asia Times article by Gareth Porter.
Maybe there's no reason to want to "win" this perma-war. How convenient that they don't even know who the enemy is? What most people have not figured out yet is that it's a huge highway robbery.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Why Not Renewables?
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Surge Back
I would call on all the readers of this post to organize an action in their town or city, something which could be implemented immediately upon a call for escalation of the horrible conflict in Iraq. Enough is enough. The game is over. It is obscene to even consider sacrificing more life to salvage a "legacy". More soldiers would have no more of a defined mission as the current 140,000. A surge would only mean a tidal surge of more blood. Get out and organize quickly.
There is a piece in the Further Left Library that tells how to do that. It is in the section called "Radical Activism, an organizing how to". In particular, down that page are paragraphs under "ORGANIZING FOR RADICAL ACTIVISM IS EASY. YOU CAN DO IT. HERE'S HOW". They detail simple experience tested steps that have not and will not fail. They cost nothing, are enjoyable, and entail little risk. Give them a try and surge back!
The same neocon goons that brought us this war of agression in the first place, have now strategized this upcoming massive surge in Iraq. Since the generals would not cooperate, Bush fired a couple of them. The apparent delay in order to gain consensus around this issue is just a delay tactic to organize another massive shock and awe attack in Irack. If neighboring countries see our presence in the middle east, they may just join in the fight to repel the United States. Perhaps other countries that see this as a deliberate attempt to take the Middle East oil for ourselves may just join in and oppose us.
While there is still time, we need to escalate the demand for peace. Demand the funding for the war to be cut. Demand this whole insanity to end.rcq
