Why is a proven liar and wanted man in charge of the 9/11 investigation?

By: Christopher Hitchens  

The Bush administration has been saying in public for several months that it does not desire an independent inquiry into the gross "failures of intelligence" that left U.S. society defenseless 14 months ago. By announcing that Henry Kissinger will be chairing the inquiry that it did not want, the President has now made the same point in a different way. But the cynicism of the decision and the gross insult to democracy and to the families of the victims that it represents has to be analyzed to be believed.

There is a tendency, some of it paranoid and disreputable, for the citizens of other countries and cultures to regard President Bush's "war on terror" as opportunist and even as contrived. I myself don't take any stock in such propaganda. But can Congress and the media be expected to swallow the appointment of a proven coverup artist, a discredited historian, a busted liar, and a man who is wanted in many jurisdictions for the vilest of offenses? The shame of this, and the open contempt for the families of our victims, ought to be the cause of a storm of protest.

By: Bob Herbert  

Toys for tots.

Not.

Forward Command Post is one of the weirder toys being marketed for kids this holiday season. It's essentially a bombed-out doll house, complete with smashed furniture, broken railings, and bullet holes in the walls. This twisted variation on a traditional childhood theme is manufactured by a company called Ever Sparkle Industrial Toys and is sold by mainstream retailers, including Toys 'R' Us and J.C. Penney. It's being recommended for children 5 years old and up.

The Bush administration and its Justice Department are taking unprecedented actions that should be cause for widespread unease.

Editorial from:  

The 24-year-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, in its first and so far only ruling, basically erased the distinction between surveillance wiretaps, e-mail intercepts, etc... for intelligence gathering and surveillance for criminal prosecutions. Basically, this makes secret wiretap warrants easier to obtain, and Attorney General John Ashcroft immediately announced that he would take full advantage of his expanded powers.

Taken by itself, this ruling may not be a terribly big deal. But taken as part of a pattern, it shows a disturbingly dismissive attitude by the Bush administration toward questions of personal privacy, freedom of information, and civil liberties.

Given its potential to invade the privacy of everyone, the Total Information Awareness program should be shut down before it starts.

Editorial from:  

Vice Adm. John Poindexter has been put in charge of directing the "Total Information Awareness" program. Those who remember Poindexter may be wondering what in the world he is doing in a job of such responsibility. The former national security adviser in the Reagan administration was found guilty in 1990 of five felonies as a result of his role in the secret scheme to trade arms for hostages in the scandal known as Iran-Contra. But his verdict was overturned on appeal, and he now heads the Information Awareness Office within the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The system is envisioned to be a "large-scale counterterrorism database" that would include information from commercial and government computer files.

Although he pays lip service to privacy concerns, Poindexter is trying to build a system that would have free rein over every person's Internet activity, banking transactions, travel arrangements, credit card purchases, medical conditions, employment history, real estate transactions, car purchases, telephone records, and any other information contained in a computer database these days.

That's everybody - not just those suspected of criminal or terrorist activity...

By: David Podvin  

If George W. Bush were to strangle his lovely wife Laura - God forbid - how would the incident be reported by the mainstream media? This would be the same mainstream media that is now earning record profits as a result of the Bush decision to deregulate the industry and transfer broadcasting licenses from public to private ownership free of charge. What would the highly trained professionals of America's major electronic and print outlets tell the people of this country if such an unfortunate event were to occur?

With industry henchmen in complete control of Washington, the Clean Air Act, wilderness preserves, and environmental enforcement are all endangered species.

By: Anthony York  

When Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christie Whitman loosened clean-air rules for power plants and factories last week, it seemed like the first bold move of a White House newly empowered by its midterm election victory to reward its industry friends. In fact, Whitman had the power to make the change unilaterally, and she'd been moving to do so before the GOP took back the Senate - and there was little the Democrat-controlled Senate could have done to stop her.

But the GOP takeover means there will be no Senate hearings to review the new policy, and Democrats who had planned to subpoena EPA documents related to Whitman's decision - documents they believe would reveal the shoddy science as well as the influence of industry folks lobbying for the move - are now powerless to do so. Thus Whitman's move is the symbolic opening of a new phase in the battle over the environment: Between an administration that no longer has to worry about Senate oversight when making the regulatory changes its business constituency demands, and an advocacy community that will now have only lawsuits as weapons to battle such changes.

By: Daniel Patrick Welch  

Take a deep breath-or better yet, a stiff drink. Don't watch any news if it makes you too sick, and try to get plenty of fluids (hopefully of the aforementioned variety). But before succumbing to the war fever that is supposedly gripping the nation, take time to think a bit. I just read a piece on vote suppression by Joe Conason, and even though I feel sick I must admit it struck a chord. I've been mulling over some thoughts about this particular election, its ancestors, and its progeny, and the GOP's penchant for vote suppression is as good a place to start as any.

'Challenging voters' under the guise of 'preventing fraud' is an old White Supremacy trick - and until Florida 2000, it was widely acknowledged as such. What the Democrats' cynical reaction to 2000 did was far worse than their short-term mindset could have imagined. It allowed the right wing to dress up this old racist scam just like David Duke tried to do with the Klan in Louisiana. The measured, lawyerly response allowed the slick, 'modern' argument about accuracy to become the new republican mantra - which hampers progressive efforts for years to come. What we rightly tried to do - and were discouraged from - is to make Jim Baker look like Bull Connor. God knows he fit the bill enough, with his puffy red face screaming into the cameras. Without exaggeration, he was basically 'keepin the niggers down' as Randy Newman might say.

"It would probably be far easier for America to reduce its dependence on Saudi oil than for the House of Saud and the House of Bush to untangle their decades-long symbiosis."

- Maureen Dowd

By: Brian Balta  

The Republican Party of George W. Bush is, first and foremost, the party without consequences.

No, I'm not saying that everything the Republicans do turns out perfect. Of course I don't believe that; if I did I wouldn't have been shivering out in the rain on Election Day trying to elect Democrats. What I mean is that, under George W. Bush, the Republican Party has virtually never admitted that their may be consequences to anything they do. Every single initiative that they undertake, as they present it, has only a positive side. In fact, everything they suggest shows a blatant disregard for consequences not only in the way it's presented, but also in the way that it was conceived.

It's honestly not a huge surprise that the Republican Party would attempt to focus on the positive things that they claim to do for the country. The problem here is that the Republicans aren't just focusing on the positive aspects; they're completely discounting any chance of a negative. In every single proposal they bring, the consideration of any consequences is disturbingly absent.

"I did not look on the press as an asset. Frankly, I looked on it as a problem to be managed."

- then Secretary of Defence Cheney, in an interview after Desert Storm

By: Paul Krugman  

Last week the Bush administration announced new rules that would effectively scrap "new source review", a crucial component of our current system of air pollution control. This action, which not incidentally will be worth billions to some major campaign contributors, comes as no surprise to anyone who pays attention to which way the wind is blowing (from west to east, mainly - that is, states that vote Democratic are conveniently downwind).

But this isn't just a policy change, it's an omen. I hope I'm wrong, but it's likely that last week's announcement marks the beginning of a new era of environmental degradation.

By: Robert Scheer  

What a lousy Christmas present.

On Dec. 28, three days after the celebration of a man famous for helping the downtrodden, Republican scrooges and Democratic stooges in Congress will hand 800,000 Americans something far worse than a lump of coal: an end to unemployment benefits the Senate had earlier voted to extend.

Affected parents are now likely to spend the holidays putting on a brave face for the kids, wondering how they're going to pay the rent come New Year's Day.

By: Charles Sullivan  

Just when you thought that things couldn't get any worse, Congress passed the Homeland Security Act this week. Once again, a brazenly cruel hoax has been perpetrated upon the American people, by the run amok, unelected Bush regime. Coincidentally, the passage of this sinister legislation constitutes the actual incarnation of George Orwell's nightmarish world portrayed in his classic novel 1984.

We shouldn't be too surprised at this revolting development, however. When corporations pervade and influence every aspect of our lives - including the subversion of democracy to corporate rule - it follows that corporations would finally orchestrate the government's every move. That day has arrived. Welcome to Orwell's century.

As a result of the Pentagon's newly created Total Information Awareness program, an immense database for spying on and tracking the daily activities of every American's every move; our civil liberties have been subverted. Henceforth, nothing any of us says or does will be private. The Corporate States of America will know everything we do. Big brother is watching; and he is taking notes.

By: Arianna Huffington  

While Team Bush hailed the proposed boost as a major victory in the battle for energy independence, Sen. John Kerry, who along with Sen. John McCain last spring proposed raising the SUV standard by 50%, called the 7% increase "window dressing". Others labeled it "political theater" and "almost an insult in its modesty". A thousand dittos.

It does seem woefully inadequate - especially when you consider how many loopholes have already been driven through by light trucks and SUV's, which are currently allowed to average 7 miles per gallon less than regular cars. And the ultimate absurdity is that if an SUV is massive enough, it is entirely exempt from federal fuel economy standards. That's right, build one with a gross vehicle weight of over 8,500 pounds - like the Ford Excursion or the new Hummer - and the leviathan's lousy gas mileage doesn't even have to be reported to the government.

Chew on that one and see if it doesn't rev your engine: automakers are rewarded for being particularly inefficient. There's the Bush Free Market for you.

By: Judith Foster  

To paraphrase Christie Whitman, the EPA Administrator, the Bush Mob's idea is to make it easier for industry to modernize to cleaner standards. Sounds good, even hopeful right? Except that the argument that industry will do more about cleaning up their manufactured pollutants if they're asked to do so sweetly and if they're left to decide on a voluntary basis just doesn't sell. It just doesn't! You'd have to be a moron - a certified idiot to believe that. Which may be why Bush is such a true believer.

It's a documented fact that Texas has one of the worst air qualities in the nation as a result of George W. Bush's doctrine of leniency towards industry's dirty little habit of polluting. Texas's air quality is the direct result of Bush's permission to let industry clean up its polluting practices voluntarily. But the documented facts aren't important to the Bush Mob. They've already made up their minds and to hell with facts.

Action Alert

By: E.J. Dionne Jr.  

Prepare yourself for the latest cause of the political right: You are about to hear a great deal about how working Americans at the bottom of the economy are not paying enough in taxes.

I am not making this up. The Wall Street Journal's editorial page always provides important clues about the Next New Thing among conservatives, and there it was last week assailing "The Non-Taxpaying Class".

And the truth is, low- and middle-income people do pay a lot in taxes. They just don't happen to pay the taxes that supply-side conservatives want to cut.

The Journal's editors make only a passing comment on payroll taxes. But the basic FICA tax takes a much bigger share from middle and low incomes than from large ones...

"The upper class keeps all the money, pays none of the taxes. The middle class pays all of the taxes, does all of the work. The poor are there just to scare the shit out of the middle class. Keep 'em showing up at those jobs."

- George Carlin

By: Caroline E. Mayer  

Strapped by debt, Americans filed for bankruptcy protection in record numbers in the three months that ended Sept. 30.

Bankruptcies totaled 401,306 for the quarter, up 12% from the same period of last year, according to data released yesterday from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

By: Tom Ross  

In November of 2000 a dark cloud fell over the State of Florida. An election was stolen and the government of these United States was high-jacked by Right-Wing Republican extremists. Since then the American people have been attacked by terrorists and forfeited their Constitutional rights one by one.

The dark cloud has come to rest over the U.S. Capital and is spreading over the land in an unstoppable wave of mass hysteria. 'We the People' have been replaced by corporate rule, and 'Government of the People' has been replaced by government of the ruling class.

Our grand experiment in democracy is coming to an end soon...

"Today we are plagued in America with the curse of leadership by double standard, which is a fundamental component of tyranny. For democracy demands as a part of its essence the absence of double standards, which have served to sustain the rule of the despots of this world."

- Reverend Robert L. Jeffrey Sr., Pastor, New Hope Baptist Church, Seattle, from a speech at the Peace, Justice and Civil Liberties Conference at the University of Oregon, 11-17-02

By: John Chuckman  

Françoise Ducros, director of communications for Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien, said in a private conversation that Mr. Bush was a moron for the way he pushed his obsession over Iraq at a NATO meeting in Prague that had other, important issues to treat. Most informed people on the planet would classify her observation in about the same category as "sugary cereal makes a terrible breakfast", but it is so rare to hear even the slightest truth expressed regarding America's pathetic chief executive that a bit of a flap has arisen.

I don't know what it is about the "neocon" crowd, perhaps it is their affinity with the flaky religious right, perhaps it is stunted emotional development, but they have this urge to crawl about sniffing into the private affairs of others. They sniff around bathroom stalls, under beds, or into the soiled contents of laundry hampers on their quest for suitable political material - the absurd impeachment of President Clinton being the century's greatest product of their strange urge.

From:  

Welcome once again to the the Top Ten Conservative Idiots! The Leonid meteor shower must have shorted out some conservatives' neural pathways, because there's no shortage of tomfoolery this week. Top of the list is Roger Ailes leading the charge to kiss up to Dubya. But Roger's got some stiff competition: top GOP officials Scott Fawell and Roger Stanley (2) have some prostitutes to explain away, Rush Limbaugh (4) is just plain evil, and Bob Ehrlich wants to kill people (5). And let's not forget our friends who are bringing up the rear: old pal Justice Roy Moore (7), Oliver North (9) and last and of course least, George W. Bush (10). Enjoy.

By: Bernard Weiner  

It's tempting to get totally disheartened by the recent midterm elections. I certainly did. But don't despair: Things are going to get much worse before they get worse. Then they'll get even worse, and then things will start to get better.

I'm not just making a joke. We really are in store for a hellacious next several years. Those of us in the overt Opposition - Resistance or Movement or call-it-what-you-will - are going to take it in the neck, and face dangers rarely experienced in traditional American politics. Better buckle up, friends, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Bush&Co. are claiming a mandate, behaving - as they did after the 2000 election - as if they engendered a huge groundswell of public clamor for their policies; they are not about to back off and behave moderately, in accord with their razor-thin victory at the polls...

"The day that the Director of the CIA, George Bush, empowered Saddam Hussein to subjugate his enemies in Iran was the day the World Trade Center started to crumble. We Americans have allowed the CIA and our military leaders to commit unspeakable acts against humankind while hiding behind the cloak of National Security. In my opinion, Muslims intend to validate that old adage: what goes around comes around."

- Bob Miller

"There is no doubt that if we lived in a police state, it would be easier to catch terrorists. If we lived in a country where police were allowed to search your home at any time for any reason; if we lived in a country where the government is entitled to open your mail, eavesdrop on your phone conversations, or intercept your e-mail communications; if we lived in a country where people could be held in jail indefinitely based on what they write or think, or based on mere suspicion that they are up to no good, the government would probably discover more terrorists or would-be terrorists, just as it would find more lawbreakers generally. But that wouldn't be a country in which we would want to live."

- Senator Russ Feingold, from the Senate floor on 10-11-01, when he was the only Senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act

By: Derrick Z. Jackson  

In 1990 Poindexter was convicted for the felonies of conspiracy and lying to Congress and obstructing congressional inquiries. The conviction was overturned in 1991 because an appellate court ruled that too much of the testimony Poindexter had given before Congress under the protection of immunity had been used, directly or indirectly, against him.

The facts of Poindexter's lying and gutting of the Constitution were never in dispute, not when he defiantly told the world: "The buck stops here with me."

Now the Bush administration, as if to punctuate its assault on civil liberties under the cover of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has appointed Poindexter to figure out how to assemble and use all the data one could possibly gather on Americans. The stated reason is to spot and stop terrorist activity. By appointing Poindexter, the administration justifies fears that it will treat our privacy in the cavalier way that Poindexter once treated the law.

"The President emerged wearing a New York Fire Department windbreaker. He raised his arm and gave a thumbs-up to the crowd on the third base side of the field. Probably 15,000 fans threw their arms in the air imitating the motion. He then threw a strike from the rubber, and the stadium erupted. Watching from owner George Steinbrenner's box, Karl Rove thought: 'It's like being at a Nazi rally.'"

- Bob Woodward, Bush at War, p.277 (Simon & Schuster)

By: Paul Krugman  

It has always been good to have a rich or powerful father. Last week my Princeton colleague Alan Krueger wrote a column for the Times surveying statistical studies that debunk the mythology of American social mobility. "If the United States stands out in comparison with other countries", he wrote, "it is in having a more static distribution of income across generations with fewer opportunities for advancement". And Kevin Phillips, in his book Wealth and Democracy, shows that robber-baron fortunes have been far more persistent than legend would have it.

But the past is only prologue. According to one study cited by Mr. Krueger, the heritability of status has been increasing in recent decades. And that's just the beginning. Underlying economic, social, and political trends will give the children of today's wealthy a huge advantage over those who chose the wrong parents.

For years, opinion leaders have told us that it's all about family values. And it is - but it will take a while before most people realize that they meant the value of coming from the right family.

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