Sunday, June 26, 2005
Trade-Offs
Thanks to the National Priorities Project for maintaining the Iraq Invasion cost clock.0 comments
As of 6/26/05 at 3:30 p.m., EDT, the cost to the American treasury for this rich-guy folly is $179,277,500,000.00. Of course, the numbers flew higher even as I was trying to type it in. It's gone up approximately $250,000 in the last two minutes.
Cost of War
The worst part of this web site is the listing of all the positive, life-affirming things all that money could have purchased for us.
Basically, which would you rather have?
Your son and daughter—along with 8,690,673 of their classmates—getting a full four-year scholarship to the public university of their choice, so that they have access to a better life in these changing economic times, or your neighbor having his boy come home in a body bag?
Would you choose to flood the American educational system with 3,106,801 qualifed new K-12 teachers for your son and daughter—and millions of their classmates—so that they have the smaller classes that help them attain the life you dream for them, or would you rather see your neighbor have a couple of military guys show up and hand her "The Letter"?
See?
It's all just a series of choices.
Your call...
I said, It's your call...
"Hmmmmmm..., I'm thinking, I'm thinking...!"
posted by Gotham 3:48 PM
Can Anyone Here Play This (War) Game?
To see clear points as to just how we are losing the occupation of Iraq and why it is that growing numbers of the American people have turned their backs on Bush's Folly, read this article from the L.A. Times:0 comments
U.S. Plans Expansion of Crowded Iraq Prisons
There are lots of little, telling nuggets of information scatterered throughout this piece. [Note: My emphasis throughout.]
Such as:
Faced with a ballooning prison population, U.S. commanders in Iraq are building new detention facilities at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison and Camp Bucca near the Kuwaiti border and are developing a third major prison, in northern Iraq.
Mission Incarcerated.
It's now a race to see if Halliburton can build more permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq, or more prisons.
After the scandal over abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers, President Bush had advocated demolishing Abu Ghraib "as a fitting symbol of Iraq's new beginning."
And since at all times, this misdirection administration does EXACTLY the opposite of what it tells you it's going to do, we all knew this quote was the go-ahead for putting that spiffy new wing on that sorry-ass structure.
Following are three separate, but intertwined graphs from this story which are particularly harsh to the administration's echo-chamber rhetoric.
First:
Aggressive operations against insurgents over the last six months have brought a flood of prisoners to U.S.-run facilities—including many believed to be hard-line rebels who have attacked American troops.
Then,
As of June 20, Bucca's population stood at 6,450 prisoners, just 50 below its limit. [Maj. Gen. William] Brandenburg[, who oversees U.S.-run prisons in Iraq] plans to add space for 1,400 more prisoners by November.
Followed up by this:
The crunch has led to a constant state of alert at Camp Bucca, where guards have struggled to contain repeated escape attempts and what Brown called "several large-scale uprisings." The camp is a grid of fenced-in indoor enclosures, each housing up to 800 prisoners. As the population rises, commanders plan to gradually shift to smaller, easier-to-control compounds. Captured foreign fighters are kept in a separate compound, but [Army spokesman Lt. Col. Guy] Rudisill said they numbered fewer than 400.
Ummmm... 6,450 "prisoners" PLUS 1,400 "more prisoners" EQUALS 7,850 prisoners MINUS 400 "foreign fighters" EQUALS 7,450 Iraqi citizens who are fighting to repel invading foreign armies from their country. That's just at ONE prison. We can most likely assume this holds at the others as well. And if that's still a small percentage, then you've got a situation where millions of Iraqis thank us for toppling their dictator, and now want us to get the hell out. Sounds like they already ARE fighting for freedom and liberty, Mr. President.
Now, you parlay all of these with this graph:
Efforts to relieve the prison crowding by speeding up releases have been frustrated, officials say, by an increase in detainees deemed a high risk to commit acts of violence if set free. A Combined Review and Release Board of three U.S. officials and six Iraqis—two each from the ministries of interior, justice and human rights—reviews each prisoner within 90 days of arrival.
The board decides which prisoners can be released and which pose an immediate threat and must be detained. Rudisill, the Army spokesman, said the criteria include: the quality of the evidence against the prisoner; capabilities such as military training or electrical skills that could be put toward making bombs; suspected connections to insurgent cells; and "expressed philosophy."
So, what we see from all this is that the numbers of foreign fighters is still fairly small albeit growing; basically, this is still Iraqis trying to throw the American and British armies out of their country, as the bulk of the armed resistance is Iraqi; and that the U.S. military and the puppet Shiite government in Baghdad are rounding up just about every Iraqi who looks at them cross-eyed. As well as just about every Sunni in the country.
This makes sense short-term for survival purposes. Arrest them all and let the Blackwater Company and Titan Company special ops guys sort them out.
However, when you've taken every taxi driver off the streets of the country, and hauled in every angry, drunken loudmouth from the cafes, you thereby take men who pose no immediate threat, have no quality evidence against them, have no military training or electrical skills that could be put toward making bombs, no connections to insurgent cells, and who have "expressed philosophy" by shouting "Death to the Infidels!" at a rally or drunkenly at a cafe, and toss them into disgusting, overcrowed conditions with Wahabiist radicals, where morality-free Blackwater private-army, mercenary interrogators perform inhumane, unspeakable acts on them and their countrymen, until you soon have men who do pose an immediate threat; who will soon be creating lots of quality evidence against themselves; who have gained clandestine military training and electrical skills that could be put toward making bombs; who now have clear connections to insurgent cells and who now swell with an "expressed philosophy" of killing every American (and every Iraqi who aids them) within a thousand miles of the Persian Gulf.
Give these hard-working guys in this administration a hand!
These are your tax dollars at work, folks.
GO TEAM!!
ePop Quiz:
When's the last time that your representative in Congress,
or your Senator represented YOUR interests?
Get Angry! Have your say.
Write your elected officials now!
Here's the Realtime Iraq Invasion Cost Clock!
posted by Gotham 3:18 PM
Friday, June 24, 2005
Cheney: Bush Administration is in its "last throes"
The collapsing Bush White House is quickly sliding down to the point of being the most unpopular administration in U.S. history.0 comments
Stunning.
And it's for crap like this:
Cheney sticks by remark that Iraq insurgency is in its "last throes" - Yahoo! News
posted by Gotham 3:16 AM
Monday, June 20, 2005
"Whatever Happened To...
...Porter Goss?"0 comments
Poor ol' Porter, got hisself drug into the Big Chair at the CIA just as everyone was saying the CIA was the most UNintelligent intelligence agency in the world.
He thought, What the Hey!? I'll bring my rabid lapdog conservative views to Langley, and remake spookifyin' to new levels.
Cool.
But poor Porter. No sooner had he settled into the Big Chair when "Death Squad John" Negroponte comes into town as Intelligence Czar, and tells everyone that Porter and his suddenly Shrinking Chair at CIA were no longer needed. That they were now second string.
"Death Squad John" would now and forever sit in the chair the CIA Director sat in during White House meetings.
He, "Death Squad John," would henceforth give the president his morning intelligence briefing.
But, hey, as you would expect from our good ol' boy Porter of Florida, he has SECRETS.
But, boy oh boy, what to do with them?
Should I go covert with them, and leak them, he thinks? Be sorta like, y'know, "Shallow Throat"?
Or should I be like Tom Cruise and shout it to the world from Oprah's couch?
Ya know, publicity is never a bad thing, as long as they spell your name right... Right?
I know! A Time magazine interview!!!!
OK, here goes!!!!!
Hey, everybody:
I Know Where Osama bin Laden Is!!!!!
Take THAT, "Death Squad John"!!
How does that Big Chair feel, NOW? HA!
Uhhm... Enjoy the farm you and the missus have there in Florida, Porter.
We just hope it's not the same farm people always used to send unwanted beagles to.
Ya know, Porter, they don't call him "Death Squad John" for nothing.
posted by Gotham 12:53 PM
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Priceless...
Biden Says He'll Weigh Presidential Run0 comments
Yeah, right.
In your dreams, Joe.
I think it's time to save the good folks at MasterCard, Inc. and all the banks of the world a whole lot of money.
Someone needs to tell Sen. Visa that he has NO support within the Democratic Party, lost what little he had as he shepharded the anti-American bankruptcy bill through the Senate and would only have credence as a candidate if he jumped over to the Republicans where he belongs.
Hell, Chuck Hagel (R-NE) has more anti-administration cred than Sen. Visa has.
Besides, if you look at his biography, you see that Biden was the person Howard Dean could have been talking about when he said Republican leadership never worked a day in their lives. Biden went right from law school (May, 1968), to approximately a year and a half with a high-powered law firm (which included his campaign for public office), to elective office. Two years as a county commissioner (Jan. 1970-1972), then POW!, right into the U.S. Senate (1973), where he has been happily collecting big checks from big banks ever since.
That fast track Joe was on as a mere political child just didn't seem to allow him time for that back-breaking or tedious, mind-numbing job that many of you would consider the path to feeding your families.
But he has had plenty of time to figure out how to send you to debtors' prison in order to help out his state's powerful banking interests.
America? He cut you loose a LOOOOOONG time ago.
posted by Gotham 9:26 PM
Monday, June 13, 2005
NYC to the U.S.:
Why does the rest of the country hate us who live in NYC so?0 comments
Do we not bleed like you?
Do we not laugh like you?
Do we not have spineless Democratic vermin like you?
When the topic of DNC Chair Howard Dean arose, spokespeople for a few NYC mayoralty candidates—who don't have the qualifications to be New Yorkers, let alone the city's mayor—stepped to the microphone:
A spokesman for Anthony Weiner, who's normally a major GOP basher, said, "I think [Dean] probably admits that he misspoke, but it would be a shame if we let a lack of discretion with his words divert us from the lack of progress Republicans have made" socially.
Aides to Gifford Miller, who knocked on doors for Dean in the presidential race, were equally wary, saying the GOP is trying "to condemn Howard Dean" but that the real issue is why "Washington continues to cheat New York by billions."
Aides to Virginia Fields said only that the GOP was trying to "change the subject" by criticizing Dean, and a Fernando Ferrer spokeswoman gave a similarly cryptic nonanswer, saying, "Last time I checked, Mike Bloomberg was a Jewish Republican and Freddy Ferrer a Christian Democrat."
Since Dean is the chairman of the DNC, no one wants to whack him too hard, said political insiders. But no one wants to turn off moderates outside Manhattan either.
This is simple.
Dean is right.
Anyone who bashes Dean is a Republican.
Any Democrat who bashes Dean is really a Republican.
Any Republican who bashes Dean is a scared Republican.
Period.
posted by Gotham 7:13 PM
The New Cable Dodge
The Gotham Notes candidate to replace the Michael Jackson Case as the cable news focus story that keeps all our minds off The News.0 comments
Katie Holmes embracing Scientology
To buttress my case—from CNN:
QUICKVOTE
Would you change religions to date Tom Cruise?
Yes
No
VIEW RESULTS
I'm too repulsed to even check to see what the numbers are.
Frankly, I wouldn't cross the street to see a Tom (I Passed for Straight) Cruise movie.
posted by Gotham 6:06 PM
Cheney Spills The Beans
Here's Dick Chaney's quote about Gitmo:0 comments
"The president says we review all of our options on a continuous basis," Cheney said. "The important thing here to understand is that the people that are at Guantanamo are bad people."
Of course, that's the U.S. interrogators he's referring to.
Confession is good for the soul.
posted by Gotham 5:53 PM
Friday, June 10, 2005
Same Old Jets...
With a Killer Attitude
First, we learn he's a trillion-dollar scammer.0 comments
Now, we find out New York Jets owner Woody Johnson is a baby killer.
Nice.
Same Old Jets.
Who knew that "Gang Green" had weapons of mass destruction?
300 dead and 16,000 injured from Propulsid. That would make Osama bin Laden giggle...On Any Given Sunday.
Now, Ultra-Rich Woody Johnson is a keen purveyor of political monies well placed. He thought a few hundred million on his part could get the city/state of New York to cough up a trillion or so for his new stadium toy.
Once again, this time thankfully, the Jets lost. I was never opposed to a stadium, just the public financing of it. Woody wants it, let him pay for it. Simple.
We learn today that our warm & fuzzy Baby Powder people were killing hundreds rather than lose hundreds -- of millions of dollars, that is.
Now, I've been a New York Titans/Jets fan since 1960.
Aside from Joe Willie Namath's glorious run, they've stunk since 1960.
At least in the front office, they still stink.
Same Old Jets.
J-E-T-S! JETS! JETS! JETS! KILL! KILL! KILL!
posted by Gotham 9:49 AM
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Bush's Chainsaw Massacre
Man With Chain Saw Allowed to Enter U.S.0 comments
This is the security that George W. Bush thinks is sufficient to keep you and your family safe.
Geeeeeeeeeeeesh!
posted by Gotham 3:30 AM
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Lord, Deliver Us from Domestic Terrorists...
This is a very scary must-read.0 comments
Satan walks amongst us, toting a Bible...
These, we can only assume, are the same folks who once set Cleveland's rivers on fire.
Ohio can now be considered the Portal to Hell.
This is what they're thinking:
Overview
Today, there is intense spiritual warfare for the heart, soul, and direction of America.
A generational harvest of changed lives weighs in the balances.
The Stewardship of our Citizenship is crucial to this hour. The Sacred Trust of Freedom has been purchased with a purpose. From America’s beginning, the Mayflower Compact openly declares that our forefathers were birthing this nation for “the advancement of the Christian faith.” All 50 of our state constitutions acknowledge and give honor to the Lord. The declaration of Independence declares that we are "endowed by our Creator, with certain inalienable rights." With only 5% of the world's population, God has blessed the United States with nearly 40% of the world's wealth. Now more than ever, we are convinced that God has blessed this nation with resources to share the light of God's Word with a world lost in darkness. America has had a mission to share a living Savior with a dying world.
During the past 50 years, that mission has come under heavy spiritual warfare. Recently, the birth pains have increased in frequency and intensity. The forces of hell understand Biblical prophecy better than most people sitting in the pews on Sunday morning. The intensity of the warfare for the heart and soul of America is escalating:
• Teaching creation in our public schools has become a federal lawsuit.
• Biblical definitions of marriage are being tragically altered by some judges who think they are smarter than God and begin to legislate secular dogma from the bench.
• American universities have become the arteries of spiritual toxic waste.
• “Homosexual marriages” are being paraded in 50 states
• In some cities, abortions nearly outnumber births
• HIV and sexually transmitted diseases will kill more Americans than every war this country has ever fought.
• Secularists have hijacked our culture--one year at a time.
• Denominational bigotry, division within the Body of Christ, and apostasy have weakened the voice of Biblical reason.
• Around the globe, ministers of the Gospel are being threatened with “hate crimes” legislation.
With so much of world history weighing in the balances, it's not enough to simply make moral observations and diagnose the culture. “Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness” has become our course of action. In the months to come, the Ohio Restoration Project seeks to ignite hundreds of thousands of “candles” of influence and light in the public arena. The Hinges of History are moving on our watch. Ohio stands at the critical crossroads to America’s future leaders.
By God's design, for such a time as this, Ohio is truly at the “heart of it all!”
Thank you for caring and making a difference.
America Has a Mission to Share a Living Savior With a Dying World
When the going get twisted, the twisted get going.
So, there you have it. If you think this will somehow simply pass over, you're sadly mistaken.
This is what they're currently planning to do:
Our Plan
Ohio Restoration Project will organize and execute:
1 - Host seven Pastor Policy Briefings in the cities mentioned below from March through September.
Six weeks prior to the gathering, this will require a site inspection team of Pastor Russell and key leaders from the area. Marketing packets will be distributed through these meetings to ensure as many leaders as possible being in attendance at these Pastor Policy Briefings. All seven of these Policy Briefings will include informational packets on the Ohio for Jesus pastor's gathering in late October to early November in 2005.
2 - Pastor Policy Briefings in the targeted cities:
• Cincinnati
• Columbus
• Cleveland
• Canton/Akron
• Dayton/Springfield
• Steubenville/Youngstown
• Toledo/Findlay
• Martin's Ferry
These briefings will feature prominent, dynamic Christian leaders. We will identify and equip 2,000 Pastors to become Patriot Pastors. Dates and speakers are being finalized now, and will be available by May 1st.
3 - Encourage ministers across the state of Ohio to become Patriot Pastors. Patriot Pastors will be challenged to:
• Preach and inform their congregations on issues relevant to the Christian Community. These ministers of the Gospel who are needed to encourage their church families to be engaged in the culture as a light set on a hill that refuses to be hid.
• Help build a network of addresses and e-mails that will equip concerned Christians to become informed “Minutemen” of our day. Patriot Pastors will work towards adding 200 names to our statewide mailing and 100 e-mails. We presently have 60,000 names on our AFA Ohio mailing and 55,000 on other lists that have been made available. This does not include the 55,215 e-mailing addresses that we currently have. We would like to build that to a total of 300,000 on the mailing list and 100,000 e-mail addresses. In a single day, we could educate and mobilize hundreds of thousands who are able to pray at a moment's notice. A website could be developed helping thousands of families to have access to information that equips these folks to make a stand.
• Host nonpartisan voter registration drives in their churches. Patriot Pastors will work toward registering 300 new voters by April 2006. These can be solicited in nonpartisan registration drives in a variety of ways. There are 88 counties with more than 7,000 churches. If we could see 00,000 new registered voters involved in the process, this would be a serious step towards the “Stewardship of our Citizenship.”
• Include Voter Guides and inserts provided from Christian Coalition, American Family Association, and Center For Moral Clarity. Informed voters appreciate these tools in discovering where candidates stand on the issues. These Voter Guides are great tools to help engage their communities with conviction and confidence. These guides help clarify the positions of various candidates who, at times, would like to remain vague and noncommittal.
• Mobilize voter participation through transportation for the elderly, childcare for young families, congregational prayer meetings for elections, praying for those candidates requesting prayer, being involved and engaged as “salt and light” within the culture.
• Encourage their church families to participate in Pastor Policy Briefings and regional “God and Country Rallies” where the issues of the day are underscored and highlighted and the Judeo-Christian ethic is affirmed. Nationally known speakers Franklin Graham, Zell Miller, Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, Bob McEwen, Pastor Lawrence White, Pastor Rod Parsley, Ambassador Alan Keyes, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Chuck Colson, Pat Robertson and Tony Perkins will be asked to participate.
4 - When the 2005-2006 cycle has been completed, our goal will be to have accomplished:
• 2,000+ Ohio Pastors participating in seven key city Pastor Briefings (March – September)
• Christian Minutemen mailing list enlarged to 300,000 and 100,000 e-mails.
• 2,000+ Ohio Ministers become Patriot Pastors and attend major gathering in fall of 2005
• 30,000+ Christians sharing in a OHIO for JESUS Rally in early 2006.
• 4 Million Voter Guides distributed in the fall of 2005 for first the May Primaries in 2006 and then for November 2006.
• Video production and distribution of Patriot Pastors Briefing for 7,497 Ohio Pastors.
America Has a Mission to Share a Living Savior With a Dying World
They have declared war on America.
They mean to do harm to our American way of life.
They do not care about you, your soul, your hobbies, your family.
They want Power. Total Power.
And they must be stopped.
posted by Gotham 8:45 PM
Win Some; Lose Most...
Friedman of the Times:0 comments
America was a country "that was always reinventing itself," he added, because it was a country that always welcomed "all kinds of oddballs" and had "this wonderful spirit of openness." American openness has always been an inspiration for the whole world, he concluded. "If you go dark, the world goes dark."
Yep, I guess this cinches it.
The terrorists won.
posted by Gotham 8:34 PM
Donaldson Resigns from SEC
Mr. DLJ, himself, as solid a business Republican as you could find on the planet finally had a belly full of the Bush White House crowd, said "screw it," and is leaving.0 comments
William H. Donaldson is resigning as the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and is one of the honest brokers who are saying, "Feh!" and walking away from this treasonous, power-mad mob.
This is a horrible day for folks who have always prided themselves on supporting good Republican fiscal policy and ethics.
His decision gives the White House a major opportunity to sharply alter the direction of the agency and cede controlling power to the deregulatory-minded two remaining Republicans on the five-person commission.
In so doing, the agency could become more responsive to some of the administration's most important supporters in the business community, including the Business Roundtable, an organization of chief executives from the nation's largest companies, and the United States Chamber of Commerce. They have complained that the agency, blowing with the political winds of the times, overreacted to the wave of corporate frauds by imposing rules that have been more burdensome than beneficial.
70% of the pie is not enough for Corporate Amercia today. They want 80%. Then, 80% isn't enough, they want 97%. Then, it's so hard to have real growth when you're at 97% of the pie, so the only way to keep growing is to take that guy's 3%. But that's OK, since it's obvious he doesn't really know its true value like we do.
Any time ANY corporation has to relinquish A DIME to keep from maiming, killing and defrauding the American citizenry, they scream to high heaven that "it's burdensome!" And if they're forced to pay out $28.34 to avoid maiming 157,000 American babies, they'll be forced to lay off 20,000 employees in Ohio.
It's truly a Jacob Marley world in which we live.
Such bullshit.
Can we simply drop that hoary old complaint from the discussions, please?
So, godspeed to Mr. Donaldson. And to the giddy folks in America's boardrooms, I say:
"Uh, boys, meet Mr. Spitzer..."
posted by Gotham 7:51 PM
The A-Rod Principle
This story by Dennis Cauchon in USAToday is horrifically confused. He tries to be fair to both sides of the Social Security issue by hopelessly muddling both arguments. He creates an opening for discussing abolishing or raising the SSI tax cap, but then turns around and uses all the Bush White House cooked-books financial data. So, the article's a mess.0 comments
However, he does bring up an important point, which is doggedly not covered in the corporate mainstream press:
The A-Rod Principle.
Alex Rodriguez of The New York Yankees is currently pulling down $25 million yearly for our ability to boo him for kicking ground balls around third base; Tiger Woods is estimated to be earning $80 million.
The Yankees are paying pitchers Buddy Groom and Chien-Ming Wang, and fielders Robinson Cano and Russ Johnson in the paltry area of under $500,000 a year to sit at the end of the bench or hold down the fort while higher-priced players nurse mostly faked injuries. The ancient, washed-up infielder Rey Sanchez is pulling down a cool $600,000 this year from George Steinbrenner to provide an out if the Yanks are scoring too many runs.
My beloved New York Mets are paying sore-armed pitcher Bartolome Fortunato $317,000 sit at the bottom of both their payroll and their plans for 2005.
The Yankees started the season with 18 players on their roster who were making $3,000,000/yr. or more. The Mets had 11 players in that category. Spread that over 30 teams. Multiply that by four major sports, plus tennis, golf, horse racing and NASCAR. Multiple all that times all the high salaries of professional sports administration, agents, announcers of all those events, their broadcast teams and their networks and cable companies, all those newspapers and writers and pundits, and pre- and post-game shows, and you have a picture of thousands of extremely well-paid people.
But not you.
And all those people with their above-six-figure salaries, plus bonuses and/or endorsements pay Social Security taxes on only the first $90,000 into their bulging bank accounts.
You and I pay those taxes on every last nickel.
posted by Gotham 3:03 PM
Coming Back Into the Water...
It's been way too long since I've had the time and wherewithall to throw my two cents into the various aspects of the passing scene.0 comments
Hopefully, things have resolved themselves, and I'll be able to keep up with the flood of events that swirl around us.
Remember, all comments come from a strictly New York City (read: Blue State) perspective.
posted by Gotham 2:57 PM
