Ethel the Blog
Observations (and occasional brash opining) on science, computers, books, music and other shiny things that catch my mind's eye. There's a home page with ostensibly more permanent stuff. This is intended to be more functional than decorative. I neither intend nor want to surf on the bleeding edge, keep it real, redefine journalism or attract nyphomaniacal groupies (well, maybe a wee bit of the latter). The occasional cheap laugh, raised eyebrow or provocation of interest are all I'll plead guilty to in the matter of intent. Bene qui latuit bene vixit.

The usual copyright stuff applies, but I probably won't get enraged until I find a clone site with absolutely no attribution (which, by the way, has happened twice with some of my other stuff). Finally, if anyone's offended by anything on this site then please do notify me immediately. I like to keep track of those times when I get something right.

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"When they say, 'Gee it's an information explosion!', no, it's not an explosion, it's a disgorgement of the bowels is what it is. Every idiotic thing that anybody could possibly write or say or think can get into the body politic now, where before things would have to have some merit to go through the publishing routine, now, ANYTHING." - Harlan Ellison JOLLY OLD PALS Other stuff of mild interest to some: unusual literature scientific software blog physical oceanography glossary computer-related tutorials and texts Friday, May 03, 2002 THE RUMSTER DOES GOOD (MAYBE) Rumsy must be a regular reader, seeing how he may actually be doing something right. Supporters and opponents of the Army's new Crusader mobile artillery system drew battle lines yesterday, with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signaling his intent to cancel the program within 30 days and Congress acting swiftly to block the move. The decision to cancel the $11 billion Crusader program was disclosed Tuesday night by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in a meeting that stunned Army officials. The decision has quickly become the most important test to date of Rumsfeld's ability to clear the defense budget of what some believe are antiquated Cold War weapons and to "transform" the nation's fighting capabilities. Rumsfeld's talk of the program's likely cancellation sent the stock of United Defense Industries Inc., the Crusader's manufacturer, tumbling 15 percent in value in heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld said his senior aides had decided to cancel the artillery system, but would not make a final decision for 30 days so that Army officials can study the feasibility of more advanced precision-guided artillery technology. ... Anyone wanna check to see who's been selling short on United Defense in the last week or so? Also, notice that the final decision won't be made for 30 days, during which who knows what sort of Emergency of the Century of the Week will pop up that demands twice as many Crusaders as before. Stay tuned. Update: The Deal reports on just how solid Rumsy's decision is. ... Shortly before Thursday's House committee vote, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters that a Pentagon decision to study alternative ways to spend the $475.2 million earmarked for the Crusader in President Bush's 2003 budget "clearly suggests that the intention is to cancel" the program, a Reuters story said. "On the other hand, you wouldn't be asking for a study if you had made a final decision with respect to cancellation," Rumsfeld added. ... posted by Steven Baum 5/3/2002 02:08:17 PM | link LIES, DAMNED LIES AND THE CABAL Jonathan Chait dissects yet more lies from those who are returning the White House to its pristine state of, say, 1973. Get ready to hear a lot more of "but I'm fighting terrism [sic]" and "it's Clinton's fault" in upcoming months from the spokesblowmonkey for the Cabal. The latest in what has become a steady stream of bad budgetary news arrived last Friday, when newspapers reported that this year's deficit is estimated to be about $100 billion--twice as large as previous forecasts had suggested. President George W. Bush immediately offered a multilayered defense packed with jaw-dropping mendacity. First came denial. "Of course, it's all speculative to begin with," he told reporters. "I don't know the models that they guessed [sic], but it's guesswork thus far." (Actually, this year's revenue forecast, which is based on tax returns that have already come in, is fairly reliable. What's unreliable are the ten-year budget forecasts, which Bush was only too happy to treat as money in the bank while selling his tax cut last year.) Next Bush offered up what has in recent months become his all-purpose escape clause: "I want to remind you what I told the American people, that if I'm the president--when I was campaigning, if I were to become the president, we would have deficits only in the case of war, a recession, or a national emergency." Bush, somewhat morbidly, plays this line for laughs in his speeches, chuckling, "Never did I realize we'd get the trifecta." But this escape clause is not only a falsehood; it's actually a revision of a previous falsehood, which itself was consciously designed to cover up the fact that the budget is in far worse shape than Bush lets on. A little history is in order. Bush's original promise on the budget was extremely clear: He would devote the entire Social Security surplus to debt reduction. This meant more than merely balancing the budget. Because Social Security takes in around $200 billion more than it spends every year, Bush had effectively pledged not only that he wouldn't run overall deficits, but that he would substantially pay down the national debt every single year. Not only did Bush make no exception for emergencies, but he specifically promised that even if emergencies arose, they would not force him to break his pledge. On February 27, 2001, in his first address before Congress, Bush assured that his budget would "prepare for the unexpected, for the uncertainties of the future" by setting aside "a contingency fund for emergencies or additional spending needs" totaling "almost a trillion dollars." (In case you're wondering what happened to that contingency fund--we sure could use it right about now--the answer, as you might have guessed, is that it never existed.) It was only last summer--as it became obvious that the administration would have to dip into the Social Security surplus to pay its bills--that Bush invented his escape clause. As tnr's Ryan Lizza reported at the time (See "Raising Keynes," September 10, 2001), in an August 20 speech Bush hinted that he could tap the Social Security surplus in case of recession or war. His economic adviser, Larry Lindsay, said so explicitly the same week, and then Bush again reiterated the "war or recession" exceptions days later. Soon enough, Bush's aides were claiming he had "always" made these exceptions--though there is no evidence he had ever made them before, and the White House has been unable to cite an instance when he did. Over subsequent weeks the imaginary escape clause continued to mutate, with Bush throwing in the specific (false) detail that he had made the exception during the campaign and adding "national emergency" to the list of exceptions he'd supposedly made. (Apparently, the "trifecta" plays better comedically.) In recent weeks Bush has rewritten his budgetary history yet again. Now the president tells audiences he has always said that in a time of recession, war, or national emergency, he could not only borrow from Social Security's surplus but could run overall budget deficits. In other words, the administration now justifies not only dipping into the Social Security surplus, but actually borrowing the whole thing and still running red ink. Bush promises that deficits will be "temporary"; budget forecasters project them to disappear by 2005. But the official numbers leave out all sorts of costs, mainly new spending and tax cuts favored by both parties. Richard Kogan, a budget analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, figures that a politically realistic accounting would show the budget running modest deficits (in the $25 billion to $50 billion range) for years on end. If the economy performs better than expected, of course, that might not happen. Then again, if it performs worse, as it has recently, deficits could grow even larger. Meanwhile, Bush's own projections show him tapping the Social Security trust fund by at least $100 billion every year for the foreseeable future. His original promise to reserve the Social Security surplus has fallen down the memory hole. ... posted by Steven Baum 5/3/2002 01:46:33 PM | link Thursday, May 02, 2002 GOP DOPERS GET GOOD TALKING TO CNN tells of some fine, upstanding Republican lads who made a wee mistake, and paid a fearful price, i.e. they were "handled administratively". That means they weren't busted, thrown in puke-filled jail cells overnight, given lengthy prison sentences, and given permanent felony records to fuck up the rest of their lives...you know, like what happens to kids who get busted whose daddies aren't wealthy contributors to the GOP, the "git tuff on the poor when they use drugs" party. Eleven high school-age pages in the House of Representatives were dismissed this week after they were caught with marijuana in their Capitol Hill dormitory, two congressional leadership aides said. The pages were dismissed under a "zero tolerance" policy by the House Page Board, which oversees the page program. The situation was "handled administratively" and "not handled as a criminal matter," according to a U.S. Capitol Police spokesman. The 11 pages were all nominated to their positions by Republican members, one aide said. ... posted by Steven Baum 5/2/2002 05:28:13 PM | link MORE CREATIVE ACCOUNTING Floyd Norris of the NYTimes (via today's Progressive Review) reports on more creative corporate accounting, i.e. fraud. Last year, Verizon Communications reported net income of $389 million after taking losses for a variety of things, among them investments in Metromedia Fiber Network, a company whose shares have plunged from a peak of more than $50 to less than 5 cents. Top officers' bonuses were reduced but not eliminated. Things could have been even worse for Verizon and its bosses. The net would have been negative, save for $1.8 billion in income the company was able to report from its pension plans. The only trouble is that Verizon's pension plan was really swimming in red ink. Dig through the company's annual report, and you will find that the pension funds had a negative return on investment last year, dropping $3.1 billion. And that is before considering the costs of pension benefits. So how did billions in losses turn into nearly $2 billion in profits? Verizon assumed that its pension plans would earn profits of 9.25 percent last year, and it reported income as if that assumption were true, something it was able to do under the current ridiculous accounting rules. Its earnings would have been even better had it assumed a 9.5 percent return, as General Electric did, or a 10 percent return, as I.B.M. did. In fact, both those companies lost money in their pension plans last year, as did most big companies. A study by Milliman USA, a benefits consulting firm, found that in 2001 the reported results of 50 large companies included $54.4 billion of profits from pension fund investments. In fact, the pension funds lost $35.8 billion from investments last year. ... posted by Steven Baum 5/2/2002 05:06:58 PM | link START STUFFING THE MATTRESSES Dean Baker responds to a Washington Post article entitled "A simple strategy: Stay in the market." This article discusses investment strategies. It argues that investors would be wise to keep their money in the stock market, because on average it has provided higher returns than alternative investments. Currently the ratio of stock prices to pre-recession earnings is approximately 60 percent above its historic average. Since the Congressional Budget Office and other forecasters project that profit growth in the coming decades will be far below its historic average, this implies that the stock market is significantly over-valued. Even if it the current ratio of stock prices to earnings holds up, investors would receive a return that is only minimally higher than what is available from holding government bonds. It is worth noting that the logic in this article implies that investors in Japan would have been wise to keep their money in the stock market in 1989, when the Nikkei index reached 39,000. Currently the index is hovering near 12,000. It is also worth noting that stockbrokers will rake in their percentage whether the market goes up, down, sideways or into the 12th dimension. posted by Steven Baum 5/2/2002 04:55:20 PM | link ARTHUR ANDERSON: RECIDIVIST Deborah Cupples explains why "three strikes and you're out" should apply to Arthur Anderson rather than the requested "bad accounts, no glazed beets for a month." Enron filed false financial reports, making it look stronger than it was, and thousands of people made bad investments. Florida's retirement system alone lost $300 million on Enron. As auditor, Andersen signed the flawed reports that helped Enron deceive the public. Later, Andersen destroyed documents necessary to government investigations. Now, Andersen lobbies the government and media, seeking to avoid criminal conviction. The media often fails to focus on Andersen's history; on the thousands of investors and workers who have suffered on account of Andersen's practices. In 2001, after flawed financial reporting, multi-national insurance firm H.I.H. filed the largest bankruptcy in Australia's history: Andersen had blessed H.I.H.'s books (USA Today, 01/27/02). Investigations are still underway. In 1999, Baptist Foundation of Arizona (BFA) folded after bilking 13,000 investors. As auditor, Andersen reportedly gnored warnings about BFA's fraudulent conduct. Andersen settled a suit for $217 million (Smart Pros Accounting, 03/04/02). In 1998, Andersen signed Sunbeam's faulty reports, and documents reportedly were destroyed (USA Today, 01/31/02). Sunbeam is now bankrupt, so jobs will evaporate. Andersen settled shareholder litigation for $110 million. (USA Today 01/14/02). From 1992-97, Waste Management overstated its earnings by $1.4 billion, and Andersen had signed off (Houston Chronicle, 06/20/01). Andersen agreed to pay a $7 million SEC penalty and part of a $220 million settlement. In 1990, Colonial Realty collapsed, and jobs were lost. Andersen auditors reportedly took "cash, trips and other gifts" from Colonial executives while approving "overly rosy forecasts" (AP/Seattle Post Intelligencer, 01/18/02). Investors lost $300 million, and Andersen settled a suit for $90 million. In 1989, Lincoln Savings & Loan collapsed. Andersen was the auditor and settled a suit for $24 million (AP/Seattle Post Intelligencer, 01/18/02). Settlement of Lincoln, Colonial, Sunbeam, and BFA-alone-cost Andersen over $400 million. Investors' and employees' actual losses were likely greater. posted by Steven Baum 5/2/2002 04:00:58 PM | link RUMMY AND FRANK: THE YA-YA BROTHERHOOD The Village Voice tells of another decision by the shadow government to give themselves a trainload of money. Fank Carlucci never trained much as a salesman. The former CIA spook turned Reagan defense secretary has been working as chairman for the Carlyle Group, the nation's 11th largest military contractor, and for the last five years, he's been championing the the production of 482 Crusader armored vehicles, over $11.2 billion dollars' worth of self-propelled Howitzer firepower. He might as well have been going door-to-door with vacuum cleaners. Nobody seemed to want the damn things. They were bulky, outdated, expensive. "It looks like it's too heavy; it's not lethal enough," Bush said during a 2000 campaign debate. "There's going to be a lot of programs that aren't going to fit into the strategic plan for a long-term change of our military." What a difference a war can make. Late this March, as part of the post-9-11 military buildup, Donald Rumsfeld gave United Defense, Carlyle's subsidiary, the full monty: over $470 million to continue development on the problem-riddled Crusaders, puzzling some military analysts. "The Crusader has been the GAO's poster child for bad weapons development," says Eric Miller, an analyst who watches defense for the Project on Government Oversight. "Influence is tough to measure, but it's certainly had a friend somewhere." Make that a very close friend. Two internal Defense Department documents-letters between Carlyle and Rumsfeld-recently made available to the Voice show the intimate relationship between the Bush administration and the Carlyle Group. "Dear Don," reads the first note, dated February 15, 2001, and signed by Carlucci on Carlyle stationery. "Thanks for the lunch last Friday. It was great seeing you in such good spirits even if you are 'all alone.' " Rummy, all alone? The Defense Department declined to comment on that one. A spokesman for the Carlyle Group, Chris Ullman, explains that 'all alone' simply means Rumsfeld, fresh in office, felt overwhelmed by the duties of his new job. He invited Carlucci over to the Pentagon for advice-not as a Carlyle chairman, but as a former public servant-along with William Perry, former Clinton defense secretary. The letter, Ullman says, should not have been printed on Carlyle stationary. "It was an oversight." ... But what people misunderstand about Carlyle, co-founder David Rubenstein told Fortune magazine last month, is that his celebrity staff does less than people think, and whatever the public may be speculating-e.g., global-domination conspiracy stuff-is just not true. "We don't lobby government," he said-and by law, even if the company did, it wouldn't be illegal. Carlucci, who has been out of office long enough to work as a lobbyist if he wanted to, told Fortune he had been "particularly cautious" not to discuss Carlyle business with Rumsfeld. True, the two have become close friends since their Ivy League days together on the Princeton wrestling team, and the defense secretary and his wife, Joyce, often dine at the Carluccis' house, and Rummy occasionally lends Frank and Marsha the keys to their $280,000 ski condo in Taos, New Mexico. Talk of weapons development could easily come up between the two Tigers alums. In the magazine interview, Carlucci insisted it does not. "I have never mentioned the word Crusader in his presence," he said. ... POGO summarizes what makes the Crusader a $11.17 billion boondoggle. The Crusader and the Army?s Future Combat Systems (FCS) both have the same artillery missions and scheduled deployment date - 2008. If FCS's revolutionary technologies meet expectations, the system could end up being put into service at the same time as the Crusader, potentially making the Crusader outdated the day it is deployed. Not only will FCS - designed to replace the Crusader - be lighter, but they will feature more sophisticated armaments and other technologies than the Crusader. The Crusader's contractor recently reduced the weight of the vehicle from about 60 tons to about 40 tons so it wouldn't be too heavy to be transported by the Air Force's largest cargo jet aircraft, the C-5A and C-17. The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) says in its February 2002 report that this weight reduction is relatively insignificant: The number of C-17 aircraft required to transport two full Crusader systems will only be reduced from five to four. Moreover, the Crusader still won't be light enough to be transported by the C-130, the Army's medium-lift workhorse cargo aircraft. Design trade-offs made to reduce the weight of the Crusader may have reduced its mission effectiveness. For example, to reduce the weight, the contractor cut back on the amount of ammunition the vehicle carries and the list weight does not include armor protection 'kits' (about 4 tons) that can be attached to the Crusader before a battle engagement. The GAO is skeptical that some of the weight may be added back on if system requirements are upgraded and is concerned that costs also could escalate during the process. The GAO says that most of the Crusader's critical technologies will not be mature in time for the next major program milestone decision expected in 2003, a decision that would require a major commitment of resources by the Pentagon. That means the Crusader will be at high risk for costly schedule delays and redesigns. The Crusader's autoloader has no backup. If the autoloader fails, the Crusader howitzer will be unable to fire because the cannon cannot be hand loaded. The Crusader's systems engineering was, to a large extent, not completed until after the acquisition program was launched. In a 2001 report, the GAO quoted Crusader officials saying that United Defense did not develop a good preliminary design of the system until 1998, about eight years after the Department of Defense launched the program. The Crusader originally was to have relied on a revolutionary technology, a liquid propellant for firing weapon projectiles. Two years into product development, the Crusader's contractor determined that the liquid propellant was too risky and would cost an additional $500 million to develop. The Crusader program is expected to take over 14 years and cost over $4 billion to develop. In all, the cost to obtain 480 Crusaders is expected to total $11.2 billion, or $23.3 million each. Weight remains a major problem for the Crusader. The Crusader is nearly twice the weight of the system that it replaces, the Paladin. The Crusader and its fully loaded resupply vehicle have a combined weight of 110 tons, too much to lift even on the military?s largest transport plane, the C-5B, without waiving flight rules. And what was the military saying about the Crusader back before the Forever War put no wet dream, however pricey, out of reach? "The Crusader effectively got the ax from the panel because it didn't fit the agenda," one official involved in the panel's deliberations said. "It's a wonderful system - for a legacy world." ... "It's a poster child for what's wrong with the Army," the officer said. "It's heavy. It's tracked. All that's well and good. If you assume we're not going to go to war for the next 20 years, or if you're willing to take the risk, then that's a fair argument." posted by Steven Baum 5/2/2002 01:54:33 PM | link VOTE EARLY AND OFTEN Pakistani newspaper editor Najam Sethi describes the recent presidential referendum in which 150% of the eligible voters expressed a 3000% level of support for military dictaror Musharraf. My secretary cast four votes in the presidential referendum yesterday: two in favour of General Pervez Musharraf, and two against, in four different polling stations within a kilometre radius. One of my reporters outwitted her by stamping six votes in the general's favour. The story is much the same across the country. So much for the credibility of the exercise. One did not expect anything less. If ever a case was meticulously and consciously built up for institutionalised rigging, this was it. No formal identification was required for voting. There were no constituency lists. The opposition was not allowed to canvass votes against the referendum. Millions of government employees were ordered to shape up or ship out. Billions of rupees were doled out to hire crowds for pro-Musharraf rallies before the referendum and for lugging pro-Musharraf voters to the polling stations. The number of polling booths was increased tenfold. And the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18 years, so that another 20 million voters without any memory of the military's disastrous interventions in 1958 and 1977 could be added to the kitty. ... No. Whatever the government may claim, the opposition will certainly be emboldened by the referendum's lack of credibility at home and abroad. Indeed, an element of defiance could creep into the main opposition parties, forcing Gen Musharraf to adopt repressive policies, which in turn would hurt his benign image and undermine his credibility further. The fear is that in the ensuing tussle for the hearts and minds of Pakistanis in the run-up to the October election, Gen Musharraf may be tempted to postpone the elections on some pretext or other, or rig them massively to thwart his opponents. In either case, the real loser will be Pakistan. Have no fear, Najam. I can assure you that even before you wrote those brave words the National Endowment for Democracy was furiously working overtime to plow hundreds of dollars into assuring the continued blooming of the fragile rose of democracy in Pakistan. Tens if not twenties of impartial observers will be manning their typewriters here in the U.S. on election day in 2015, ready to ensure all doubters of the overwhelming fairness of the unanimous vote for Musharraf. posted by Steven Baum 5/2/2002 01:45:11 PM | link ENRON'S OFFSHORE ACCOUNTS THe refreshingly witty Mark Thomas of the New Statesman (via Cursor) tells of a tale of rejection. Eight years and $60 million to investigate a pissant failed land deal in Arkansas, and not a bleeding pence to investigate a key part of the biggest confidence game in American history. And not only are these witnesses not hostile, they're downright begging to provide testimony and evidence. ... On 8 February 2002, a month into the Congressional hearings, and two months after Enron's stock had become less popular than a contemporary jazz solo, the Cayman Islands government issued a press release. It stated that the Cayman Islands government would be happy to co-operate with the US in the inquiry, should the US request it. This might seem insignificant, but at the time, Enron had nearly 700 subsidiaries registered in the Cayman Islands and not one person from the entire US government had had the wisdom, time or power to request the disclosure of these companies' details. If I were a US citizen seeking to be reassured of my government's probity and diligence, I would at this stage be heading for the hills with a hundredweight of beef jerky, a hunting rifle, a do-it-yourself nuclear bunker and a lot of Van Halen CDs. It is entirely possible that there is little of importance in those 692 offshore subsidiaries. However, that is no excuse for inaction. The investigators should have looked at them long before the Cayman Islands went out of their way to be so helpful. The press release even informed the US how the Caymans would go about investigating the companies. "Any request in the Enron matter would be treated in accordance with Sections 30 and 43 of the Monetary Authority Law (2001 Revision), which provides for full co-operation with overseas regulators." You can't get much more polite than that: I bet they even cleaned the best china in readiness and got some posh biscuits in, just in case someone from Washington popped by. David Marchant of Offshore Alert revealed the importance of the Enron subsidiaries when he said: "These entities, some of which allegedly were used for Enron's off-balance sheet activities, are at the heart of the investigation into the firm's collapse." In the middle of this remains the White House's refusal to disclose documents that relate to meetings between Enron and Vice-President Dick Cheney's energy task force, as well as eight other government regulatory agencies. So now we have a situation where an offshore tax haven is being more transparent and accountable to the American people than the very man whom the American people approximately elected president. ... posted by Steven Baum 5/2/2002 01:23:32 PM | link SATAN'S MINION STUMBLES CNN (via Slashdot) reports how one of Bill Gate's whores is performing in a decidedly subpar manner. Stuart Madnick, a supposed computer and software expert and professor at MIT, took a break from fetching Satan's pipe and slippers to answer questions from government attorney Kevin Hodges. ... Madnick was sometimes anything but precise, however. When government attorney Kevin Hodges asked him to name an operating system besides those made by Microsoft in which the Web browsing software could not be removed, Madnick immediately offered up KDE as an example. But KDE is a computer program designed to run on top of the Linux operating system, as Hodges pointed out. Madnick conceded that was true, and instead suggested GNOME as an example. But GNOME performs the same function as KDE on a computer equipped with the Linux operating system. Hodges was never able to get an answer to his question. ... posted by Steven Baum 5/2/2002 11:33:47 AM | link QUOTE OF THE DAY From 2600 News (via Slashdot), we discover why personal video recorders (PVRs) are downright criminal. "Because of the ad skips.... It's theft. Your contract with the network when you get the show is you're going to watch the spots. Otherwise you couldn't get the show on an ad-supported basis. Any time you skip a commercial or watch the button you're actually stealing the programming." Jamie Kellner, Chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting Kellner magnanimously granted partial clemency to the contract breaking thieves who head for the head during commercials. "I guess there's a certain amount of tolerance for going to the bathroom. But if you formalize it and you create a device that skips certain second increments, you've got that only for one reason, unless you go to the bathroom for 30 seconds. They've done that just to make it easy for someone to skip a commercial." posted by Steven Baum 5/2/2002 11:21:35 AM | link SURE, IT STARTS WITH ICE CREAM... The Progressive Review supplies the entertainment story of the day. It points to a Hartford Courant article about the latest dire threat to the commonweal: ice cream trucks. The latest villain in the capital city's neighborhoods is the old-time ice cream truck that serves up the soft serve and cranks out the canned kiddie music. "I can't stand it anymore," said Hyacinth Yennie, a South End community activist who has helped lead the charge against Mister Softee. "Every night, it's the same songs, over and over. It drives you crazy." The repetitive strains of familiar ditties like "Turkey in the Straw" and "The Entertainer" have annoyed enough residents that, in recent weeks, Hartford police have been called to action. ... According to several parties involved in the dispute, [Judge] Norko plans to walk outside the courthouse to a waiting Mister Softee truck and ask the truck owner to turn on the jingles at top volume. If the judge finds that the music is indeed too loud, he will likely uphold the citations and order any of a variety of penalties, including a possible fine. But if he thinks the music is played at a reasonable level, he will likely throw the citations out, sources said. ... "I like having the ice cream man around," said Carlos Rivera, who lives a block away from the school. "Those people who don't like him, they must be pretty grumpy." ... Or, as Castagna put it, "We're not talking about drug dealers or prostitutes. I mean, this is Mister Softee. There's got to be room for a compromise here." Indeed, compromise is the key word here. Since the annoying yuppie shitweasels obviously don't like the classics, just replace them with the soothing Sunday morning "jazz" sounds of Kenny G et al. Such soothing aural enemas should dampen the ire of the grumpiest of those upwardly mobile cranks. If that doesn't work, line 'em up against the wall. That'll save the ice cream man and stop them from further breeding. posted by Steven Baum 5/2/2002 11:04:55 AM | link MORE MANEUVERING Now here's an interesting tale of behind the scenes maneuvering as the Cabal attempts to gain whatever propaganda edge it can for its upcoming invasion of Iraq. The Iraqi National Congress (INC), created in 1992 and almost completely funded by the U.S. since then, claims that sugar daddy is stiffing it on funding for its anti-Saddam TV station. But sugar daddy denies this, basically saying that the group it wants to take over Iraq after the invasion is playing fast and loose with its funding, as it has indeed been doing since day one. But what the heck, the enemy of my enemy...blah blah blah. Given that the Cabal seems to have no trouble at all diverting funds for anything else it wants to do (e.g. foment coups in countries with democratically elected governments) to those who are at least as shady as the INC, why the sudden pinching off of funds for the TV station? One can almost hear Ari Fleischer, while listing the venal and mortal sins of Saddam Hussein, intone gravely how that evil bastard's also just recently shut down the only free TV station in his country. An Iraqi opposition group said a satellite television channel tailored for Iraqi viewers went off the air Wednesday because of lack of funding by the State Department. "Although the U.S. Congress has appropriated funds for broadcasting to the Iraqi people, the State Department has not released any funds to Liberty TV since February," said Sharif Ali, a member of the Iraqi National Congress Leadership Council. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher denied that the administration had withdrawn support He said $5 million was provided to the station earlier this year and additional money will be forthcoming as soon as grant negotiations are concluded. That process, Boucher said, has been complicated by problems in the INC's financial management practices. "We're happy to fund it (the station), but it has to be done under conditions that ensure the appropriate use of the money," he said. Ali said the cutoff occurred despite Bush administration assurances that it has full confidence in the Iraqi National Congress and Liberty TV in particular. He said the Iraqi audience has been growing and the impact of the programming increasing. ... posted by Steven Baum 5/2/2002 10:21:35 AM | link MORE BRILLIANT THINKING John Diedrich writes of further brilliant thinking by the geniuses at NORAD. And you have to hand it to those rocket scientists. While the average schlub on the street would never think of using blimps to protect the U.S. against the use of hijacked planes as weapons, the Einsteins at NORAD zeroed in on it like a laser beam. NORAD wants to build unpiloted blimps that will watch for enemy attack by circling 70,000 feet above North America. Similar to blimps that fly over football games, the high-altitude airships could use radar and other equipment to detect enemy planes, ships and missiles as they near North America. ... I feel safer already, especially given the number of nations that have the industrial base and technology to send waves of planes across thousands of miles of ocean to attack the U.S. And then we have Castro and Chavez, who are just biding their time, waiting for the proper moment to attack with their tremendous fleets of missiles, planes, attack subs, and *gulp" fiery rhetoric. Given that fine old dictum "follow the money", I predict that the American Blimp Corporation, currently a privately owned company that manufactures blimps for military and police applications, will be acquired in the near future by a large private investment group with intimate ties to the Bush Cabal. posted by Steven Baum 5/2/2002 09:51:24 AM | link THE MOTHER OF ALL FINAL BATTLES The Times tells of the latest "final battle" planned by the Carlyle Group's Ammunition Disposal Division. ... The US Operation Mountain Lion, which so far has consisted of intensive reconnaissance patrols to try to locate al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters, is expected to lead to what some American military officials are describing as the last major battle in Afghanistan. Operation Anaconda, the American offensive launched in early March in the region of Shah-i Kot, west of Khost in eastern Afghanistan, was also intended to be the final battle to eliminate the remnants of al-Qaeda, but many escaped, including possibly Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, although his presence there was never confirmed. ... Maybe if the Hitler of the Century of the Week were to wear a colorful ski cap Rumsfeld would have an easier time at playing "Where's Osama". While the official statements are full of lines like "Osama's not the main objective of the Forever War", it doesn't take much imagination to see Rumsfeld throwing tantrums with each new report detailing how Dr. Evil not only hasn't been eliminated, but they don't even know where he is. posted by Steven Baum 5/2/2002 09:30:07 AM | link SO MUCH MONEY, SO FEW RESULTS The BBC writes of the evidence thus far gathered by U.S. "intelligence" agencies about 9/11. US intelligence officials have admitted they failed to unearth any sort of paper trail leading to the 11 September attacks. In the most detailed account so far of the investigation, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said that after seven months of relentless work America had found no hard evidence mentioning any aspect to the attacks on New York and Washington. FBI Director Robert Mueller said his agents had chased literally hundreds of thousands of leads and checked every record they could lay their hands on, from flight reservations to car rentals to bank accounts. They have hunted through caves in Afghanistan and credit card bills in America but so far the very best of US intelligence has been thwarted by 19 al-Qaeda hijackers, revealing just how little America knows about the 11 September attacks. ... And if $50 billion wasn't enough to do the job, you can bet $100 billion won't be, either. But they'll sure as hell get it. Remember, the FBI and the CIA are organizations that only find moles after they've been wearing "I'M A MOLE, YOU FUCKWITS!" t-shirts for a decade. posted by Steven Baum 5/2/2002 09:20:21 AM | link Wednesday, May 01, 2002 RISSNET AT WORK The Progressive tells how domestic dissent is being repressed in the name of fighting terrorism. Hey punk, if you don't like it, move to Russia! Alia Kate, 16, a high school student in Milwaukee, wanted to go to Washington, D.C., for the protests Saturday, April 20. She was looking forward to demonstrating against the School of the Americas and learning how to lobby against U.S. aid for Colombia. She had an airplane ticket for a 6:55 p.m. flight out of Milwaukee on Friday the 19th, and she got to the airport two hours ahead of time. But she didn't make it onto the Midwest Express flight. Neither did many other Wisconsin activists who were supposed to be on board. Twenty of the 37 members of the Peace Action Milwaukee group--including a priest and a nun--were pulled aside and questioned by Milwaukee County sheriff's deputies. They were not cleared in time for takeoff and had to leave the next morning, missing many of the events. What tripped them up was a computerized "No Fly Watch List" that the federal government now supplies to all the airlines. The airlines are required to check their passenger lists against that computerized "No Fly" list. "The name or names of people in that group came up in a watch list that is provided through the federal government and is provided for everyone who flies," says Sergeant Chuck Coughlin of the Milwaukee sheriff's department. "The computer checks for exact matches, similar spellings, and aliases. In this particular case, there were similar spellings. About five or six individuals came up on the watch list. Although it was time-consuming, and although they were flight-delayed, the system actually worked." ... Notice how much smoother "the system actually worked" sounds than, say, "vere are your papers!!!". posted by Steven Baum 5/1/2002 11:16:33 PM | link CRIKEY! I've been deemed a bleeding socialist! Ah, what the hell. At least the deemer ain't braindead, although it would be interesting to hear his definition of the "S"-word. posted by Steven Baum 5/1/2002 10:42:59 PM | link ...AND A KNEE TO THE GROIN NewsForge tells us that: The OpenOffice.org community today announced the availability of OpenOffice.org 1.0, the open source, multi-platform, multi-lingual office productivity suite available as a free download at the OpenOffice.org community website. OpenOffice.org 1.0 is the culmination of more than 18 months of collaborative effort by members of the OpenOffice.org community, which is comprised of Sun employees, volunteer developers, marketers, and end users working to create an international office suite that will run on all major platforms. ... The OpenOffice.org 1.0 office suite features key desktop applications -- including word processor, spreadsheet, presentation and drawing programs -- in more than 25 languages. In addition, OpenOffice.org 1.0 works transparently with a variety of file formats, enabling users familiar with other office suites, such as Microsoft Office and StarOffice, to work seamlessly in the application. The OpenOffice.org 1.0 software runs stably and natively on multiple platforms, including Linux, PPC Linux, Solaris, Windows and many other flavours of Unix. posted by Steven Baum 5/1/2002 01:38:01 PM | link ANOTHER DEFT JAB And what is TheOpenCD Project? It seems clear there are many hurdles when persuading people to switch to Free Software. Most people will not change their entire operating system just for fun; it's too unfamiliar, and they will lose the use of all their favorite programs at the same time. (Yes, there are free alternatives to most of these, and WINE should be working, well, any day now, but all this involves a steep learning curve for the average user.) The key, as I see it, is to encourage people to use the high-quality Free Software now becoming available in the OS they are already using. In my own experience, it is pointless to recommend Linux to my friends with basic computer skills (although I'm hoping that Lycoris or Xandros can change that), but it's quite easy to get them to try a free program like AbiWord in their native OS. I have been giving them CDs with a few such programs and encouraging them to try it out. So far, this has been on an individual basis. Then thought I would set up a standard collection, so I could make one version of a CD with a broad collection of free Windows software and give it to everyone (less work). This idea soon evolved to setting up a standard CD that we can all give to our friends. ... posted by Steven Baum 5/1/2002 01:28:50 PM | link A BLOW AGAINST THE EMPIRE NewsForge experiments with "nekkid" hardware from Wal-Mart. A few months ago, super-sized discount store Wal-Mart made the headlines in the Linux world by becoming the first major U.S. retailer to offer PCs without Windows preloaded. At this writing, the Walmart.com Web site lists no less than 14 PCs available without an operating system. While this was widely hailed in the Open Source community as a victory over the "Microsoft tax," which usually afflicts buyers of Linux PCs, one major question remained unanswered: How well do these machines support Linux? Some PCs produced today are crammed with "value-added" (otherwise known as "brain dead") hardware that only works with specific drivers -- drivers that are frequently available under Windows alone. So, in order to get the straight scoop, we went off to the Wal-Mart Web site to purchase a system and load Linux on it. ... posted by Steven Baum 5/1/2002 01:24:31 PM | link RISSNET Wayne Madsen writes of RISSNET, a system to keep track of domestic "terrorists". ... Law enforcement agencies like the FBI already have at their disposal a massive information sharing network through which federal, state, local, and foreign police forces can exchange information on groups felt to pose a threat. The system, RISSNET, or Regional Information Sharing System Network, which existed before the September 11th attacks, recently got a boost when Congress authorized additional money for it in the USA PATRIOT Act. RISSNET is a secure intranet that connects 5,700 law enforcement agencies in all 50 states, as well as agencies in Ontario and Quebec, the District of Columbia, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Australia. According to sources close to the Washington Metropolitan Police, data on targeted local groups such as the Alliance for Global Justice, the anti-World Bank/International Monetary Fund activist organization, has been shared with other jurisdictions through RISSNET. RISSNET has also been used to coordinate the monitoring of the activities of anti-globalization protestors in Seattle, Quebec City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Genoa. For example, when the FBI seized network server logs from Independent Media Center (IMC) in Seattle during the April 2001 anti-free trade protests in Quebec City, RISSNET was used to coordinate activities across jurisdictional boundaries. The IMC, founded during the 1999 WTO protests, allows activists and independent journalists to post directly to its site. State and metropolitan police intelligence units also monitor the web sites of activist organizations in their jurisdictions. All RISS intelligence is archived by an Orwellian-sounding entity called MAGLOCLEN or "Middle Atlantic-Great Lakes Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network." There are other regional RISS intelligence centers around the country with equally mysterious acronyms. MAGLOCLEN, a nerve center headquartered in Newtown, Pennsylvania, distributes political intelligence to all police departments hooked up to RISSNET. MAGLOCLEN allows police investigators to link various activist groups and members through the Link Association Analysis sub-system, a relational data base that identifies the "friends and families" of groups and individuals. The Telephone Record Analysis sub-system can call up records of phone calls of targeted groups and individuals. A suspect group's banking and other commercial data can be monitored by the Financial Analysis sub-system. And through a system that would have been the envy of J. Edgar Hoover, police and federal agents can also call up profiles that provide specific information on the composition of organizations, including their membership lists. The Justice Department has instituted a project called RISSNET II, which directly links the individual databases contained within the various RISS centers. ... posted by Steven Baum 5/1/2002 11:43:30 AM | link THE SAUDIS AND OIL Alan Simpson of ComLinks writes of regional grudges involving Saudi Arabia, and of the long-term plans of the Bush Oil Cabal. Doubting Thomases are invited to email Simpson and accuse him of being a "liberal," but only if the reponses are shared so all can be entertained. ... Commenting on the Saudi statements and the effect of the US being asked to leave Saudi Arabia, Washington Intelligence Expert, Wayne Madsen, stated " Without the protection of the United States military, the House of Saudi will be effectively defenceless. The United States has provided the country with practically all of its major defence, law enforcement, and intelligence systems, including its air defence systems, the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Interior System (SAMIS II) that keeps track of its citizens and visitors, its naval forces (Saudi Naval Expansion Project), National Guard (through Vinnell Corp., a US private military contractor tied to the CIA), etc. When we pull out, there are a lot of countries that would like to even old scores with the House of Saud. These include Iran, Iraq, Jordan, the Gulf States, and Yemen. " Wayne Madsen, with many sources in the area, pointed to numerous reports in the local Arab media. "Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah recently verbally assaulted the Emir of Qatar at a Gulf Co-operation Council summit. Abdullah complained about Qatar's support for Al Jazeera for broadcasting anti-Saudi programs. A Qatar government official once told me that all the small Gulf States would like to see Saudi Arabia a thing of the past -- he said the Saudis are considered arrogant and hypocrites, citing the number of Mercedes Benz carrying Saudi Princes that wipe out on the ocean causeway from Bahrain to the Saudi mainland after nights of heavy drinking by the drivers." Turning to sources in Turkey, their hostility towards the current Saudi regime came to a head, with the demolition recently, of a revered Ottoman 18th Century Castle, a historically invaluable relic. What has upset the Turks is that the US blasted the Taliban for destroying Buddhist statues, but remained silent when the Saudis bulldozed the pristine Ottoman castle, to build commercial property. The resentment of dual standards from Washington, throughout the entire region, is beginning to reach boiling point. The US is beginning to be perceived as a bully, intent on bombing cities, and infrastructure into ruins, yet unable to capture a solitary frail figure, in an Army Surplus Combat Jacket. The Bush Administration has elevated Bin-Laden to the status of a folk hero, a rallying call for Islamic Militants. These militants can be found and arrested in most counties, but around the Gulf region they have the potential of becoming the legitimate government in those countries supplying the bulk of the US oil supply. The US desperately needs to occupy Somalia, to cover its interests, and oil supply in the Middle East. The fast foot work to secure Afghanistan, to route the oil from the old Soviet Oilfields, to a secure warm water port in Pakistan, will take time. The Bush/Baker plan to grab the oil in Southern Sahara, along with Morocco, will also take time. Where there is no longer time to spare is in the Gulf region. In that region the important Iran is proving far from a compliant partner. There are many unconfirmed reports that Iran, and Iraq may seek a better understanding, even an alliance. The shipment of arms to Palestine, where Israel blasted Yasser Arafat, yet remained silent about the supplier, Iran, speaks for itself. Unconfirmed sources indicate that whilst this shipment was discovered by, or leaked to Israel, it amounted to the last of five shipments. Four having already been delivered. It is clear that Iran sees itself as playing a far more dominant role in the region, a desire not shared with the United States. The advances in Iranian missile technology make the presence of US Carrier battle groups in the tight waters of the Persian Gulf, more risky than ever. The next war fought in the Gulf, according to several leading military experts, will not have the luxury of months of preparation, with no harassment, as did the earlier Gulf War. Wayne Madsen summed up the situation, with "The United States had better start planning for life without the Saudis. The Bush's and their oily friends have linked to the Saudis for years -- their wealth is largely a result of Saudi oil and the wealth it has generated. Alternative, environmentally sound energy sources are a must. It is also likely that what will replace the Saudis will be a regime that leans heavily in the direction of extreme Wahhabism and Deobandi Sunni thought -- read that as the creed of the Taliban and Osama Bin-Laden." posted by Steven Baum 5/1/2002 11:15:19 AM | link IT COULD HAPPEN HERE! Juan Cabral supplies a splendid tale of what might be. Imagine the owners of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and NBC, ABC, CBS, and CNN meeting at the home of Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. with the head of the Joints Chiefs of Staff and assorted military top brass to plot to bring down U.S. President John Doe, a blowhard populist who has been elected by a landslide. The plan is wickedly simple. Organize a massive march to the Washington, D.C. headquarters of Omnicom, the behemoth conglomerate that generates most of the country's riches, ostensibly to show support for their valiant struggle against the meddlesome, regulation-crazy Doe. Then, suddenly, turn the march around and head to the White House, which, your military co-conspirators tell you, will be left unguarded, to demand that Doe resign, or else ... Marchers will be recruited among the wealthiest 20 percent of the population, including members of Jimmy Hoffa's new AFL-CIO, which only unionizes top wage earners. Hoffa, however, will be dumped the moment Doe is removed from the White House. He knows about the coup to dump Doe, but not about the coup within the coup now being hatched in Sulzberger's parlor to disband Congress, suspend the Constitution, fire all Supreme Court judges, kick out all state governors, and dismantle not just the entire Doe administration, but any and all aspects of the federal and state government structure the conspirators dislike. The day before the march, the networks and hundreds of radio stations the conspiring media barons control, broadcast free ads for the march every 10 minutes. The march itself gets lavish live media coverage. So does the coup, er ... the democratic action by civil society. And the coup within the coup (which, officially, doesn't even exist). One highlight is the live coverage of the arrest and near-lynching of a Doe cabinet member by angry 20 percenters. The whole country also sees and hears a Sulzberger minion, who also happens to be the Fortune 400 association's boss of bosses, proclaim himself interim President and destroy the U.S. constitutional structure with the stroke of a pen, to the thundering applause of a bunch of billionaires and four-star generals jockeying to get in the picture with him. All this, naturally, creates a bad impression among the remaining 80 percent of Americans, who are abjectly poor and who voted overwhelmingly for President Doe. They take to the streets as well. When the coup begins to unravel, the networks enact a total, self-imposed news blackout. As poor Americans march in turn to the White House demanding, and finally getting, the imprisoned Doe's return, the networks broadcast reruns of "Pretty Woman" and cartoons, or show over and over footage of Doe's ouster and advise people to stay home. ... posted by Steven Baum 5/1/2002 10:50:56 AM | link IT'S CLINTON'S FAULT! One almost has to admire Michael Kramer's attempt to blame the Catholic church pedophile scandal on Clinton. Almost. posted by Steven Baum 5/1/2002 10:44:38 AM | link RUMSY BLOWS A KISS TO CARLYLE GROUP In an article about a forthcoming IPO (via Buzzflash), we find an almost psychic connection between a Carlyle Group headed by Frank Carlucci, Secretary of Defense under Bush I, and Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense under Bush II and host to frequent visits by Carlucci. ... U.S. Marine Repair, owned by privately held Washington investment firm The Carlyle Group, indicated in its filing that it chose to offer its stock to the public now because of expectations that federal defense spending will grow in the next several years. The Navy is likely to invest more to maintain its aging fleet after eight years of relatively low repair budgets and a limited amount spent on new shipbuilding, the company reasoned. That outlook coincides with announcements by the U.S. Defense Department, said David Gremmels, a Boston-based defense industry analyst for Thomas Weisel Partners who handles ship-repair giants General Dynamics Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp., parent of Newport News Shipbuilding. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has discussed a desire to funnel more Navy repair jobs to private shipyards, Gremmels said. ... posted by Steven Baum 5/1/2002 10:39:58 AM | link IRAQI NEGOTIATORS DENIED VISAS So what do you do if a country you really, really want to invade starts getting annoyingly conciliatory and agrees to negotiations ... I mean, you've got such a huge woody for this place you're going to explode if you don't get to invade? You make it impossible for them to do so. Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, due to fly from Moscow to New York on Tuesday for talks with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, said Monday he may have to return to Baghdad because of US visa problems for his delegation. Sabri, who was in the Russian capital to hold discussions with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Monday, told the ITAR-TASS news agency that a group of Iraqi experts in his delegation was in Jordan waiting for US entry visas. "If they don't give the experts visas, then there is no point in flying to New York," the Iraqi foreign minister said, adding that in such a case the entire delegation would return to Baghdad. Sabri was to hold talks Annan in New York on Wednesday on moves to secure the lifting of UN sanctions against Baghdad, imposed after its invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Russia has sought to persuade Baghdad to let international arms inspections resume in return for an eventual lifting of UN sanctions. Sooner or later you're going to hear pathological liar Ari Fleischer say that the U.S. was willing to negotiate but Iraq just didn't show up. posted by Steven Baum 5/1/2002 09:22:25 AM | link ANTI-TALIBAN "WARLORDS" NEW ENEMY Having flogged the Taliban bogeyman into its constituent quarks as an excuse for occupying Afghanistan via puppet Hamid Karzai, the U.S. oil mercenaries have a found a new reason to stay: the "warlords" who opposed the Taliban back in the dusty tombs of ancient history. The U.S. general comanding ground forces in Afghanistan signalled on Tuesday that warlords who helped drive the Taliban from power could become targets themselves if they threatened the new government. IN a blunt warning to a warlord who killed 30 civilians in a rocket barrage in the eastern city of Garden on the weekend, but also aimed at other warlords challenging the authority of Afghan leader Hamid Karzai, General Franklin "Buster" Hagenbeck said no alliances were permanent. ... Except of course those alliances with the oil companies. posted by Steven Baum 5/1/2002 08:02:06 AM | link Tuesday, April 30, 2002 VOLTRON RULES, MOFO posted by Steven Baum 4/30/2002 04:00:42 PM | link THE ARMS TRADE REVEALED The Arms Trade Revealed: A Guide for Investigators and Activists is a FAS publication written by Lora Lumpe and Jeff Donarski. Chapters include: Ways and Means - This chapter decodes the alphabet soup of US weapons sales and military aid programs, providing background on them and on other arms industry buzz words. Point/Counterpoint - This section lays out the most common arguments heard in defense of the United States' role in the arms trade and provides rebuttal. The K Street Crowd - Dozens of K Street offices work to influence US arms export guidelines and legislation. Having been published in 1988, it's a touch dated, but still a good place to start. posted by Steven Baum 4/30/2002 11:14:39 AM | link VICTOR WEISSKOPF Victor Weisskopf died last week at the age of 93. Those who don't know who he was should. Here's the NYTimes obituary. Vctor F. Weisskopf, a nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb in World War II and later became an ardent advocate of arms control, died on Monday at his home in Newton, Mass. He was 93. Dr. Weisskopf was one of the first physicists to warn of the possible dangers of atomic research. In 1939, he and Leo Szilard, another atomic physicist, recommended that physicists keep secret their findings on nuclear fission instead of publishing them in academic journals, out of fear that the information could help Nazi scientists build atomic weapons. In 1943, Dr. Weisskopf joined the Manhattan Project as associate head of the theory division. In a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1991, he recounted the rationale for dropping the bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945, that the destruction needed to have a strong psychological effect on Japan. The second bomb, dropped on Nagasaki three days later, was more troubling to him. "The second bomb I don't hesitate to call a crime," Dr. Weisskopf told the audience at M.I.T. He also called the cold war "a collective mental disease of mankind." Early in his career, Dr. Weisskopf laid the groundwork for fixing a fundamental flaw in applying quantum mechanics to electromagnetism. After World War II, he furthered understanding of how the nuclei of atoms behave. ... You can find more in a 1988 interview, as well as in Weisskopf's memoir Passions of a Physicist. posted by Steven Baum 4/30/2002 11:02:42 AM | link REAL DEMOCRACY Gary Younge details the steps Pakistani dictator General Pervez Musharraf is taking to ensure the survival of authentic democratic institutions. These are the sort of steps that Venezuela's Chavez should be taking to ensure that he gets happy smiles and massive military aid from the Bush Cabal rather than another coup. ... Elections were scheduled for this October, after which a newly elected national parliament and provincial assemblies would elect a president. Not any more. Voting will still take place but the presidency will not be up for grabs. Instead, tomorrow there will be a referendum on whether Musharraf should remain president for another five years. To ensure victory, political parties have been banned from holding rallies, he has refused the right of former, elected and currently exiled premiers to return and oppose the referendum, and beaten up journalists and opponents. Musharraf's will be the only name on the ballot. ... Ring, ring the chimes of freedom! posted by Steven Baum 4/30/2002 10:18:18 AM | link GRASPING AT STRAWS The Cabal is desperately grasping at straws in an attempt to "link" Iraq to 9/11 since, in Rumspeak, any such link, however ephemeral or tenuous, would justify any action up to and including turning Iraq into a sheet of glass. Czechoslovakian government officials have quietly acknowledged that they may have been mistaken about a supposed meeting at the Iraqi Embassy last April in Prague between suspected Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta and an Iraqi agent, Newsweek reports in the current issue. U.S. intelligence officials now believe that Atta, the hijackers' ringleader, wasn't even in Prague at the time the Czechs claimed. "We looked at this real hard because, obviously, if it were true, it would be huge," one senior U.S. law-enforcement official tells Newsweek. "But nothing has matched up." Still, Pentagon analysts are still aggressively hunting for evidence that might tie Atta or any of the other hijackers to Saddam Hussein's agents, reports Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff in the May 6 issue of Newsweek. posted by Steven Baum 4/30/2002 09:46:17 AM | link A STUDY IN CONTRASTS The folks at What Really Happened found a couple of articles that basically show the Israeli press is being more honest than the rest of the world. First, a Ha'aretz item entitled "Two hurt in drunken J'lem shooting". IDF soldiers shot and wounded an Arab resident of East Jerusalem Saturday, who they suspected of being a terrorist. The Arab was in West Jerusalem at a discotheque close to the center of the city. During the evening, a drunken IDF soldier, of Vietnamese descent, spotted two Palestinians loitering at the entrance to the discotheque, in the company of a Vietnamese woman. An argument broke about between the Palestinians and the soldier. The three left the discoteque, and, during angry exchanges, the soldier reportedly struck one of the Palestinians, Kais Iman, with the butt of his rifle. The Palestinian ran off in the direction of Bikur Holim hospital when the soldier opened fire. Two other soldiers, hearing shots, ran to the area, where the drunken soldier told them that the Palestinian was a suspected terrorist. The two began to chase after the Arab, shot and wounded him. A short time later, the Palestinian was found unconscious on Hanevi'im Street, with four bullet-wounds. He was taken to Hadassah University Hospital at Ein Karem, where doctors described his condition as serious. ... So what do we have? A drunken Israeli soldier of Vietnamese descent gets pissed off at a couple of Arabs chatting up a Vietnamese woman, confronts them, and when they fight back rather than slink away like proper third-class citizens he tells of couple of his soldier buddies that they're terrorists. The proper button having been pushed, he gets his revenge on the Arabs. So what does Reuters have to say in "Police say 2 shot in Jerusalem, no link to conflict"? A gunman opened fire in the center of west Jerusalem early on Sunday, wounding two people in an attack that police said had no apparent connection to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A police spokesman said an armed man was taken into custody after the shooting near the Bikur Holim hospital in the mostly Jewish section of the city. "It's apparently not nationalistic," the spokesman said, using the term Israeli officials apply to incidents stemming from the 19-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. ... The "gunman" is not identified as either drunk or as an Israeli soldier, nor is it mentioned that the soldier played the "terrorist" card to get his buddies to shoot Arabs whose choice of women annoyed him. The coup de grace is the "no link to conflict" part of the headline which, given that shootings of Arab civilians by members of the IDF just might be germane to what the IDF has been doing elsewhere, can only be seen as an attempt to deliberately mislead. Of course even the Ha'aretz article leads with the "suspected terrorist" riff, although absolutely nothing in the article substantiates this. posted by Steven Baum 4/30/2002 09:25:46 AM | link Monday, April 29, 2002 PERPETUAL CAMPAIGNING Remember what a whore Clinton was for campaigning and fundraising on a seemingly permanent basis? Let's see what the current resident of the White House is squeezing in despite all that time it supposedly takes to fight the Forever War. ... Bush has headlined 23 fundraisers since taking office and collected $66.8 million for the GOP. At the same point in his presidency, Clinton had appeared at half as many. ... posted by Steven Baum 4/29/2002 03:43:43 PM | link ARGENTINE ECONOMICS Joseph Halevi's The Argentine crisis contains a paragraph that pithily and accurately sums up why Argentina's economy is where it is. Read the rest of the article for further details. ... Since the 1991 law, private debt expanded about eleven times, while the public debt grew by less than 60 percent, totalling together $142 billion by the end of 2001. In essence, during the last twenty years, the Argentine population has been subjected, in sequence, to the following mechanism. The state takes upon itself the burden of the private external debt. The private sector keeps running up additional debt, while the state sells out its public activities through privatization policies, thereby generating financial profits (rents) for the private corporations whether national or international. The state then unloads the burden of debt onto the whole economy, especially the working population, by compelling the population to deliver a financial surplus at the expense of wages, social services, and public investment. ... posted by Steven Baum 4/29/2002 03:31:04 PM | link THE RIAA SIMPLIFIED posted by Steven Baum 4/29/2002 01:53:08 PM | link SHOCKING! An AP article tells that the oil industry manipulates oil supplies to raise prices. Shocked we are. Shocked and appalled. While the industry often blames gasoline price spikes on market-driven shortages, a congressional investigation has found that some oil companies reduce supplies when markets are tight to force up prices and profits. The investigation by a Senate subcommittee found that industry manipulation of gasoline supplies exacerbated tight fuel markets and helped produce some of the sharp price spikes over the last three years, especially in the Midwest. "In a number of instances, refiners have sought to increase prices by reducing supplies," says the 396-page report released Monday by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Permanent Investigations Subcommittee. Levin, in a statement, said that the subcommittee investigation "confirms what a lot of us have been saying for some time - that when it comes to gasoline, there is too little competition and too much concentration in many markets." The investigation, he continued, "documents the actions by major oil companies to keep supplies tight and inventories low in order to increase prices and maximize profits." Levin plans a hearing on the report Tuesday, including testimony from oil industry representatives. ... This will of course become "disputed" when an industry spokes merely says "no, we don't". posted by Steven Baum 4/29/2002 01:18:04 PM | link "SINISTER" TROOP MOVEMENTS Intel Briefing discusses the various Arab troop movements being viewed with "alarm" by the Israeli high command, i.e. that will sooner or later be used as an excuse for further incursions into Arab territories. There are now a large number of reports emanating from Middle East sources which if true would suggest that major military re-deployments are under way and perhaps even preparations for a wider conflict. On closer examination some reports only appear to provide evidence of a prudent attempt to prepare for the unexpected, while others remain only the product of the Middle East's famous rumour mill. Strangely only Israel would seem to benefit from this surfeit of alarmist reporting as any suggestion of a build-up of Arab military power would only serve as an excuse for Israel maintaining an ultra-tough line on any negotiations with the Palestinians and further encourage support from the United States. What is fairly certain is that a number of Israel's neighbours are getting distinctly jittery and have repositioned certain units to pre-empt either internal rebellion, violent anti-US civil disturbances or to limit the damage done by an unexpected attack from, say perhaps Israel or the United States. Jordan was already known to have repositioned two of its main mechanized units, the 4th and 12th Divisions along the routes towards the Syrian and Iraqi borders while the 3rd Division has fallen back towards the Saudi border. ... There is little in the military movements so far seen or suspected to raise the spectre of an Arab attack on either Israel or United States interests in the region, more a case of bad nerves and a wish to survive the chaotic uncertainty that now faces the Middle East. They also get to Egypt's offer to declare "it's go time" against Israel for $100 billion. The Lebanon has moved an additional Infantry Brigade to the south of Beirut, while in an event that has raised more mirth than serious military concern, the Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Ebeid said his country is ready for a full military and diplomatic confrontation with Israel, but only if other Arab countries are willing to pay Egypt for its trouble. "Let the Arab world give $100 billion from Arab funds deposited around the world. Let it say to Egypt: "This is a budget for confrontation. This budget is at your disposal. Undertake confrontation " he added. Of more interest were reports that the Egyptian High Command has dusted off plans to move elements of both the 2nd and 3rd Armies deep into the Sinai with upwards of a Division being placed on the border with the Gaza Strip. Recall that even if somebody were to pony up the $100 billion, the Israeli military could easily wipe out the Egyptian forces without breaking a sweat. posted by Steven Baum 4/29/2002 12:49:27 PM | link DUELING ANALYSTS While Stratfor thinks a Washington Times article (which, for all intents and purposes, can be considered a Pentagon plant) is a smokescreen to draw attention away from other foreign policy difficulties, Intel Briefing tells us that it's the real thing, and that the invasion of Iraq is a done deal, with the "final trigger" to be weapons inspection negotiations at the end of May that are going to "fail" even if Saddam Hussein offers to personally escort Donald Rumsfeld to each and every site he desires to investigate. In the last month, the usual sabre-rattlers have publicly and explicitly stated that it's "too late" for weapons negotiations, anyway, so look for the negotiations to be a riotously funny farce. posted by Steven Baum 4/29/2002 11:28:39 AM | link STERN STUFF While eating lunch the other day, I overheard someone saying, "Even if Arafat renounced terrorism, he *was* a terrorist. That is, he *was* a murderer. And once a murderer, always a murderer, so why doesn't Israel just nuke him?" In the spirit of that logic, I offer the following excerpt from a Jason Vest article that includes details on the pasts of such gallant "freedom fighters" as Begin, Shamir and Sharon. ... "It's peculiar, it's paradoxical, that Sharon and Likud should be the ones who are trying to equate any authentic resistance in Palestine with some of the terrorist activities, as terrorism in Israel really started with Begin and Shamir and later Sharon," says Clovis Maksoud, the former Arab League ambassador to the United Nations. "It's a very valid question as to why they see no similarities between themselves under the British and the Palestinians under their occupation." Especially, he adds, as the Israeli government supports museums that honor assassins and terrorists-including one located on a street named for a terrorist. The thoroughfare in question runs between Florentine and Emeq-Yisrael, and bears the name Stern Street-in honor of Avraham Stern, a 1920s Zionist and charter member of the Haganah, then a loose-knit Jewish militia organized as a self-defense mechanism against Arab violence. Finding the Haganah insufficiently proactive in realizing the goal of a Jewish state that would encompass "both sides of the River Jordan," erstwhile Mussolini follower and early-day ultra-nationalist Ze'ev Jabotinsky broke with the militia and formed the Irgun, which devoted itself to terrorist operations against the British. Once an enthusiastic Irgunist, Stern was appalled when the Irgun decided to make common cause with the British against the Nazis, and created the even more underground and more violent Lehi (Lohamei Herut Yisrael, or Fighters for the Freedom of Israel), also known as the Stern Gang, which held there was no greater threat to the Jews of Palestine than the mandate's British administrators. To this end, Stern actually made overtures to the Axis powers; September 1940 found him in dialogue with an emissary from Il Duce in Jerusalem, and in January 1941 he dispatched an agent to Vichy-controlled Beirut with instructions to convey a letter to representatives of the Reich. In it, Stern held that the "establishment of the historical Jewish state on a national and totalitarian basis, and bound by a treaty with the German Reich, would be in the interest of a maintained and strengthened future German position of power in the Near East. Proceeding from these considerations, [the Lehi] in Palestine, under the condition [that] the above-mentioned national aspirations of the Israeli freedom movement are recognized on the side of the German Reich, offers to actively take part in the war on Germany's side." The Germans declined to take Stern up on the offer, but Stern held out hope as his organization continued to engage in terrorism against the British. After Stern died in a shoot-out with British police in 1942, his mantle was picked up by future Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir. Still, the Israeli underground focused on the British as the greatest of all evils, and on November 6, 1944, Lord Moyne, the British minister for Middle East affairs, was assassinated in Cairo by Eliyahu Beit-Tzuri and Eliyahu Hakim-both members of the Lehi, who were later arrested, convicted, and hanged. After the state of Israel was established, the Lehi, displeased with what it considered the too pro-Arab views of the Swedish UN-appointed mediator for Palestine, assassinated him; on September 17, 1948, Count Folke Bernadotte-who, as a neutral diplomat in World War II, had saved thousands of Jews from Nazi death camps-was shot and killed by Lehi assassins, along with French colonel Andre Serot, the senior UN military observer, whose wife's life had been saved by Bernadotte. The Bernadotte assassination was so outrageous that the nascent government of David Ben-Gurion had little problem disbanding the Lehi (though none of the assassins were ever brought to justice). Yet, despite this history of terror, the Israeli Ministry of Defense underwrites museums commemorating the Stern Gang and the Irgun-which, under Menachem Begin, bombed the British headquarters at the King David Hotel in 1946, leaving 90 dead and 45 wounded (with 15 Jews among the casualties). Like Lehi, it wasn't until 1948 that the Irgun was forced out of existence, after its arms-transport ship, the Altalena, was blown up by the provisional Israeli government-a point analysts like Ibish say bears remembering. "There are streets named after the assassins of Moyne and Bernadotte. They are historical figures not disavowed by the rhetoric of the state of Israel, nor is there any reflection on the fact that two terrorist leaders later became distinguished leaders of the republic," Ibish says. "And now people are saying that Arafat must have his Altalena." Ibish adds that Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, "never moved against the Irgun and the Stern Gang until after the state was established and secured, which is definitely not true in the case of the Palestinian Authority. Essentially, the Israelis are asking the Palestinians to do something they themselves refused to do." posted by Steven Baum 4/29/2002 10:57:57 AM | link GUNS FOR GEORGIA The Washington Post reports on another shining beacon of freedom getting more guns from the Bush Cabal. Georgia's getting $64 million to train and equip 1,500 soldiers, and 150 military advisors to train them. And what have they done to deserve this? Hey, they got an A+ on their State Department Human Rights Report, unlike some other countries that'd better straighten up and fly Right or there'll be some big changes in this here hemisphere. The Government's human rights record remained poor and worsened in several areas. Numerous serious irregularities in the October 1999 parliamentary elections and the April 2000 presidential election limited citizens' right to change their government. Several deaths in custody were blamed on physical abuse, torture, or inhuman and life-threatening prison conditions. Reports of police brutality continued. Security forces continued to torture, beat, and otherwise abuse detainees. Corruption in law enforcement agencies was pervasive. Prison conditions remained harsh and life-threatening; however, some steps were taken during the year to address problems in the prison system. Arbitrary arrest and detention increased during the year. Neither the President nor other senior officials took concrete steps to address these problems, and impunity remained a problem. The judiciary was subject to pressure and corruption and did not ensure due process; reforms to create a more independent judiciary were undermined by failure to pay judges in a timely manner. There were lengthy delays in trials and prolonged pretrial detention remained a problem. Law enforcement agencies and other government bodies occasionally interfered with citizens' right to privacy. The press generally was free; however, security forces and other authorities intimidated and used violence against journalists. Journalists practiced self-censorship. The police restricted freedom of assembly and law enforcement authorities dispersed numerous peaceful gatherings. Government officials infringed upon freedom of religion. The Government continued to tolerate discrimination and harassment of some religious minorities. Violence and discrimination against women were problems. Trafficking for the purpose of forced labor and prostitution was a problem. posted by Steven Baum 4/29/2002 10:09:03 AM | link HAPPY FUN KYRGYZSTAN Pentagon cover-boy Donald Rumsfeld is visiting Kyrgyzstan, both to model the new summer line of military wear and to oversee the establishment of U.S. bases in this bastion of freedom and democracy. That the leaders of this nation deserve massive U.S. aid and weapons rather than a coup is well illustrated by the State Department's Human Rights Report on Kyrgyzstan. The Government's human rights record remained poor; although there were a few improvements, numerous problems remained. The Government continued to limit citizens' ability to change their Government. NGO's and parliamentary deputies on occasion succeeded in blocking presidential initiatives through parliamentary action and grassroots campaigns. Members of the security forces at times tortured, beat, and otherwise mistreated persons. Prison conditions remained very poor, and there were many cases of arbitrary arrest and detention. Executive domination of the judiciary limited citizens' right to due process. Executive branch interference affected verdicts involving prominent opposition figures. The Government restricted some privacy rights. The Government restricted freedom of speech and of the press. The Government used bureaucratic means to harass and pressure the independent media, some nongovernmental organizations (NGO's), and the opposition. The Government at times restricted freedom of assembly and freedom of association. The Government generally respected freedom of religion; however, at times it infringed on this right, in particular for radical Islamic groups it considered to be a threat to the country. There were some limits on freedom of movement. The Government harassed and pressured some human rights groups. Violence and discrimination against women were problems. Child abuse was a problem, and there were growing numbers of street children. Discrimination against ethnic minorities was a problem, as was child labor. Trafficking in persons was a persistent problem. Hey, but at least President Askar Akayev didn't raise the taxes on oil. posted by Steven Baum 4/29/2002 09:59:01 AM | link LOOKING INTO THE CANNON BALL Israeli historian Martin van Crevald prognosticates. Van Crevald spells out in detail how easily the Israeli defense forces can crush the entirety of their local enemies. As if Sharon even needed a pretext these days, all it would take to set things in motion is Bush's approval ratings dropping below 60%, i.e. an invasion of Iraq, or for a convenient suicide bomber to, say, make an entire building jump off the ground with a belt of explosives around his waist. ... Few people, least of all me, want the following events to happen. But such a scenario could easily come about. Mr Sharon would have to wait for a suitable opportunity - such as an American offensive against Iraq, which some Israelis think is going to take place in early summer. Mr Sharon himself told Colin Powell, the secretary of state, that America should not allow the situation in Israel to delay the operation. An uprising in Jordan, followed by the collapse of King Abdullah's regime, would also present such an opportunity - as would a spectacular act of terrorism inside Israel that killed hundreds. Should such circumstances arise, then Israel would mobilise with lightning speed - even now, much of its male population is on standby. First, the country's three ultra-modern submarines would take up firing positions out at sea. Borders would be closed, a news blackout imposed, and all foreign journalists rounded up and confined to a hotel as guests of the Government. A force of 12 divisions, 11 of them armoured, plus various territorial units suitable for occupation duties, would be deployed: five against Egypt, three against Syria, and one opposite Lebanon. This would leave three to face east as well as enough forces to put a tank inside every Arab-Israeli village just in case their populations get any funny ideas. The expulsion of the Palestinians would require only a few brigades. They would not drag people out of their houses but use heavy artillery to drive them out; the damage caused to Jenin would look like a pinprick in comparison. Any outside intervention would be held off by the Israeli air force. In 1982, the last time it engaged in large-scale operations, it destroyed 19 Syrian anti-aircraft batteries and shot down 100 Syrian aircraft against the loss of one. Its advantage is much greater now than it was then and would present an awesome threat to any Syrian armoured attack on the Golan Heights. As for the Egyptians, they are separated from Israel by 150 miles or so of open desert. Judging by what happened in 1967, should they try to cross it they would be destroyed. The Jordanian and Lebanese armed forces are too small to count and Iraq is in no position to intervene, given that it has not recovered its pre-1991 strength and is being held down by the Americans. Saddam Hussein may launch some of the 30 to 40 missiles he probably has. The damage they can do, however, is limited. Should Saddam be mad enough to resort to weapons of mass destruction, then Israel's response would be so "awesome and terrible" (as Yitzhak Shamir, the former prime minister, once said) as to defy the imagination. Some believe that the international community will not permit such an ethnic cleansing. I would not count on it. If Mr Sharon decides to go ahead, the only country that can stop him is the United States. ... posted by Steven Baum 4/29/2002 09:34:45 AM | link PLIF posted by Steven Baum 4/29/2002 09:19:22 AM | link MAAKIES posted by Steven Baum 4/29/2002 09:05:33 AM | link DREAM WEAVERS posted by Steven Baum 4/29/2002 08:53:45 AM | link

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