US Politics

James Fallows praises Obama here. At the same conference Obama referred to the language of Austria as “Austrian”. Ouch. It didn’t look like a “casualism” either.

I was watching Hannity earlier and he managed to equate Obama’s reference to Greece with present-day Greece.

But Obama clearly didn’t choose Greece in its present-day form, but rather a time when Greece was exceptional – a very long time ago. And also a time when Britain was exceptional too – not so long ago.

But then, it is Hannity.

If you’re curious you can watch the full press conference.

Cowen is a naked buffoon. Ahem.

The White House is using Google Moderator.

Say it aint so!

Wonkette says a good analogy would be Judge Judy for Supreme Court. Hehe.

Dr. Gupta, who performs double duty as a medical correspondent for CNN and a neurosurgeon, is a leading contender to fill the high-profile position in the Obama administration. The job could be accepted in the coming days, according to people familiar with the situation at the television network and in the Obama transition.

Leon Panetta is to head the Central Intelligence Agency.

Coverage from:
Politico
Steve Clemons gives his take
Talking Points Memo
Red State
Andrew Sullivan
Danger Room has a good round up

Yes, for my sins, I am going to Washington to see Barack Obama become POTUS. I will be spending a week there, and I expect it to be damn cold. Irish Examiner colleague Conor Ryan (who will soon dip his toe into the world of blogging himself) will be coming with, as will one of my fellow subs.

We have booked tickets for at least one ball (the Lincoln 2.0 one), and are keeping an eye out for others (The Purple one looks interesting, if expensive).

Hopefully lots of photos and some video. And yes more writing, following complaints from Joe that my writing has become lazy of late.

Anyone else going?

Barack Obama has picked his energy team. Says Bloomberg:

Obama named Nobel laureate Steven Chu as his choice as secretary of the Energy Department and Lisa Jackson as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. He also named former EPA chief Carol Browner to fill a new position as head of the National Energy Council and Nancy Sutley to serve as head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

While lawmakers and presidents in the past have repeatedly promised to find alternative sources of energy, “our dependence on foreign oil has only grown,” the president-elect said today at a Chicago press conference where he announced his picks. “This time has to be different.”

The newly named members of his administration will help push Obama’s goal of having mandatory limits on U.S. greenhouse gases, as well as a proposal to create a $150 billion clean- energy fund to boost renewable technologies.

Jim Fallows reckons Chu is a superb pick, and points to a very interesting interview with him from a few years back. It’s worth a look. As Jim says, scientists who can explain complex concepts easily and without being condescending are always good to have. Chu strikes me as an incredibly smart guy, but not alone that, a very with it guy too.

Interesting stuff as ever from Politico:

Here’s how you can tell the campaign is over and the transition has begun: Barack Obama’s aides now wear suits and ties, their desks are in the Federal Building on 6th Street in Washington — and Clintonites are everywhere.

Obama’s victory in the general election produced what his primary campaign couldn’t: A swift merger of the Clinton Wing of the Democratic Party with the Illinois Senator’s self-styled insurgency. The merger began, during the campaign, in the policy apparatus — which is now rapidly becoming the governing apparatus.

And Obama wants to use the power of YouTube for his weekly ‘radio’ address.

So we were hanging around the food area in the press section, and Oprah walks by with her minder. Into the port-a-loo (I guess even the richest woman in America has to go). She comes back out and I take a quick photo:

She actually hung around for a while, which meant a media scrum. I have a video about this also. More once I recover. Here was the view from the main press area:

I’m using some free wifi at the corner of Lake and Michigan here in Chicago. If you know any free wireless near Grant Park gimme a shout.

It’s turrning into a gorgeous evening…

It’s on to Chicago for the final day of the campaign. I expect the atmosphere there to be… interesting.

I am in the Heroes Bar and Grill here in Cleveland, the Obama event is due to start in a couple of hours. It’s been a fantastic drive from Washington, the weather has been warm all the way, and traffic was non-existent. It’s also a beautiful day here on the shores of Lake Eerie, and it looks as if the crowds gatherng to see Obama and The Boss will be far larger than the rally in Virgina Beach last week.

I will update on Twitter, and upload some photos almost as soon as the event is over… hopefully.

Update: You can look at my photos and videos of the event over here.

Tomorrow we hit the road again, on an ambitious schedule. We leave DC for Cleveland, Ohio, where Barack Obama is rallying the troops with his wife Michelle, and where Bruce Springsteen makes a guest appearance.

If we time it right we might make it to Indianapolis for a McCain rally, before making directly for Chicago. Chicago is where the Obama camp is hosting an “historic watching party” for the results. It should be an interesting night.

I have uploaded some initial photos into a Flickr set you can see here. I had access to the press gallery so was able to take some reasonably good shots. I took some of the press corps themselves, including some of BBC journalist Jon Sopel, who was doing a live broadcast for the BBC 9 o’clock news.

Here he is just before the broadcast;

And the man himself:

And here was a fighter jet passing in the distance, with what looks like a press helicopter hovering.

I have some videos too, will upload them once I get some sleep.

This morning myself and Conor Ryan, from the Irish Examiner, head over to an Obama rally in Virginia Beach. It starts at about 5pm and I will be updating my Twitter status while there. You can follow me on Twitter here. I will try and take some pics and maybe do a video or two and take lots of photos. Will update the blog when I get back.

Well following a weekend off from blogging, I had a look around Arlington Cemetery today, where I watched the changing of the guard at the memoral of the unknown soldier. I took a good few photos, I hope they turn out ok.

Tomorrow I plan to attend an Obama rally in Virginia Beach, outdoor and by all accounts it should be huge. Saturday, McCain has a rally just south of DC, so I might try and get to that too.

General Lee’s house:

View from the upstairs bedroom in Lee’s house:

Robert Kennedy grave:

John F Kennedy’s grave:

Tomb of the unknown soldier:

Changing the guard at the tomb:

Tomorrow I head off to the US for a couple of weeks, and it is certainly an interesting time to be going (and an interesting contrast to Georgia two weeks ago). I will be in Washington DC for the majority of the trip, but will be calling to New York and do a quick jaunt to Canada while I’m there. I will be shacking up with the Examiner’s US correspondent and intrepid traveller Conor Ryan (he’s not blogging, yet).

Hopefully I will be able to catch up with old friends of the blog, Steve Clemons and Jonathan Smith (former blogger and a reader). And who knows who I else I might meet…

I have been to Washington before, and managed to get in many of the sights. On this trip I will finally get out to Arlington Cemetery and visit the enormous Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for my time in Washington during the election? Any people I should meet?

FP ask some questions of Colin Powell’s chief of staff on Powell’s endorsement of Obama.

I like these two:

FP: What’s your take on the tone of the campaign?

LW: I was fully expecting the grand wizard of the Klu Klux Klan to arrive from Maryland and endorse McCain. I was becoming frightened that we were returning to 1968, when they assassinated Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. Those were bad times.

One of the most dramatic moments for me was when I was watching McCain on television, and I thought I saw in McCain’s eyes himself, when someone yelled something out, a recognition of, ‘Oh, God, what have I done?’ This is not McCain; he doesn’t cater to this. But for the first time in his political life, I think he realized that there are some strange people in the Republican tent. My father used to say, ‘Larry beware of the left because they will bankrupt you; beware of the right because they will kill you.’

And (my emphasis)

FP: How much progress can the next president make in restoring America’s reputation in the world, and how should he do so?

LW: That’s an easy question to answer, but hard to do. On Inauguration Day in my inauguration speech, I would do two things: I would ban torture and I would direct the closure of Guantánamo. And then I would do other things in the first 100 days: I would take a look at negotiations with Iran and at the six-party talks with [North] Korea. I would take a look at U.S.-Cuba relations. Those are actions that would indicate that America is back.

I’ve always been interested in the personality and politics of Colin Powell. As far back as the first Gulf War (I was only 10 at the time), I remember being impressed by his own oratorial skills. And I was equally shocked by his 2003 address to the United Nations – I didn’t believe anything he said.

I was not surprised by his endorsement of Obama. Powell has always said that he is retired, but I can’t help but feel that Obama may offer him a cabinet position should Obama get elected. It would depolarise some of the worst parts of the election campaign, and not just look bi-partisan, but be bi-partisan. I wonder would Powell accept an offer.

Update: Interestingly, Obama said today

On Monday, Obama said Powell would advise him if he becomes president.

“He’s already served in that function, even before he endorsed me,” Obama told NBC. “Whether he wants to take a formal role, whether there’s something that’s a good fit for him, I think is something that he and I would have to discuss.”

My fellow prisoners…

And thank you to Mr Damon for saying the most sensible stuff about Palin thus far.

It’s looking like an Obama/Biden ticket. Steve has called it.

I was impressed with Joe Biden’s speech back in 2005 at a conference I attended in Washington. I blogged a little about the conference here. You can watch videos from the conference here. You can also watch Biden’s speech here.

I guess we can expect the Irish media to start talking up Biden’s Irish-American credentials. His Irish roots come from both sides, though most directly from his mother Catherine Eugenia “Jean” Finnegan.

He quotes William Butler Yeats at the start of the speech. Towards the end of the speech he says:

Let me end – I’m always quoting Irish poets – my friends kid me and say I do it because I am Irish. That’s not the reason. I do it because they are the best poets in the world. Seamus Heaney, in his poem The Cure at Troy, for which he won the Nobel prize for literature in the mid 90s said in one stanza – which I think should become our anthem because I believe it with every fibre of my being… You talk about all the dangers but what about the opportunities?

We, if we are smart, if we are bright, if we are persistent, if we are a little lucky and if we follow our values, in a tough minded way… I really think we have a chance to change history on the margins, at least in the margins, for the 21st century. And I think a stanza from ths poem should become our anthem. He said in one stanza, he said:

“History says. Don’t hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up.
And hope and history rhyme.”

I honest to god believe after 33 years of doing this job, we still have a shot, we still have a shot – to make hope and history rhyme. If we trust our people, follow our instincts, and are willing to make the sacrifices necessary. Thank you all very much.

Cian points to a video of Obama dug up from 1995. In 2004 this wouldn’t have happened in the same way, YouTube has changed the dynamic.

Part I

Part II

Part III

So claimed Powerline last month. Hm. I’m just catching up with some feeds!

2002
October: Diplomat Laurence Foley murdered in Jordan, in an operation planned, directed and financed by Zarqawi in Iraq, perhaps with the complicity of Saddam’s government.

2003
May: Suicide bombers killed 10 Americans, and killed and wounded many others, at housing compounds for westerners in Saudi Arabia.

October: More bombings of United States housing compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killed 26 and injured 160.

2004
There were no successful attacks inside the United States or against American interests abroad.

2005
There were no successful attacks inside the United States or against American interests abroad.

2006
There were no successful attacks inside the United States or against American interests abroad.

2007
There were no successful attacks inside the United States or against American interests abroad.

As Sadly No says…

2003
May: Suicide bombers killed 10 Americans, and killed and wounded many others, at housing compounds for westerners in Saudi Arabia.

October: More bombings of United States housing compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killed 26 and injured 160.

2004
There were no successful attacks inside the United States or against American interests abroad.
May, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: terrorists attack the offices of a Saudi oil company in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, take foreign oil workers hostage in a nearby residential compound, leaving 22 people dead including one American.

June, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: terrorists kidnap and execute Paul Johnson Jr., an American, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 2 other Americans and BBC cameraman killed by gun attacks.

December, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: terrorists storm the U.S. consulate, killing 5 consulate employees. 4 terrorists were killed by Saudi security.

2005
There were no successful attacks inside the United States or against American interests abroad.
November, Amman, Jordan: Suicide bombers hit 3 American hotels, Radisson, Grand Hyatt, and Days Inn, in Amman, Jordan, killing 57. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.

2006
There were no successful attacks inside the United States or against American interests abroad.

March, Karachi, Pakistan: Four people, including a U.S. diplomat, were killed and 52 others were injured when a suicide bomber rammed the diplomat’s car outside the Karachi Marriott – yards away from the U.S. consulate.

2007
There were no successful attacks inside the United States or against American interests abroad.

January, Islamabad, Pakistan: A suicide bomber attacks Marriott Hotel.

January, Athens, Greece: A terrorist group fires anti-tank missile at U.S. Embassy.

2008
So far, there have been no successful attacks inside the United States or against American interests abroad.

January, Beirut, Lebanon: An explosion apparently targeting a U.S. Embassy vehicle convoy killed three civilians and injured at least 22 others, including several employees of the American Embassy in Lebanon.

A very well made video:

The Jed Report helpfully links to a video of John McCain using some interesting logic.

“I will have an energy policy which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East… that will then prevent us from having to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.”

But the war wasn’t about oil, was it John?

Israel and Syria start to talk peace again.

Surely not?

My two cents: Obama will win the primary. He will then go on to win in November. I am considering going to Washington for the result. Though it will be an eventful night no matter who wins.

Regardless of the politics, I do enjoy watching him speak.

Things look that way at the moment. Not long to go.

Yup, it’s them.

Obama, I think, will be in the White House in 2009.

Obama speech:

A couple of things to note.

No autocue. Memorised. Prepared. He also chose to stand on the podium on his own, leaving his family aside. This was a contrast to all the other candidates – Hilary had husband and supporters behind her, Huckabee the same, including Chuck Norris.

It was a good call. Standing on his own makes him look more like a leader, he is presidential. He speaks like John Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

My biggest worry? They were both assassinated.

The excellent FP blog sums up some of the stories that made the headlines in 2007. However, some stories the public found more interesting, but did not interest the media. They use a Pew poll for the findings.

Gas prices were very important to readers in 2007. I think this is an indication of where things are heading for the 2008 election. Iraq may not feature as prominently as some thought. It’s the economy, stupid, may yet again become the mantra.

Come November, the US may have slipped into recession and oil prices look set to remain high, if not go higher. These issues will be top of the agenda for most Americans – and I predict – lead to a Democrat in the White House.

I’m not going to make any, yet anyway.

Dan Drezner does. The biggest surprise? Obama for president.

I have a funny feeling he may be right.

Mr Moore goes for Blitzer’s jugular.

This higher definition video makes it appear that Bush’s watch was stolen in Albania. The White House is saying he put it in his pocket. Hm.

Interesting interview over on C & L where Ron Suskind alleges that the US deliberately bombed al-Jazeera in Kabul in order to teach them a lesson. He also gives an insight into the Cheney’s thinking in the months after 9/11.

Paxo wasn’t as good as I thought he would be against the American firebrand.

You can watch it here (latest programme), and fast forward to 13.25.

Steve Clemons has a very interesting take on these two guys, having a attended a dinner with both in New York last week. Most notably McCain, who will be running in the primaries. And an equally interesting insight into Soros, with this remark:

But then George Soros discussed a bit of his background and tutelage under the famed Karl Popper — and his thinking about where Popper’s views on “open society” were limited and no longer useful. Soros suggested that simply undermining totalitarianism did not automatically lead to open societies and that such implosion of power and control could lead to ongoing collapses within the respective country.

Is Popper still relevant?

He seems to have fallen over board too:

Rescue crews searched the Chesapeake Bay for a prominent publisher and diplomat Sunday, hours after his sailboat was discovered empty in the water with the engine still running.

The Coast Guard dispatched a C-130 aircraft, a helicopter and a boat to assist in the search for 72-year-old Philip Merrill, who had been sailing alone Saturday.

Senior Chief Steve Carleton said the Coast Guard was operating under the assumption that Merrill fell overboard.

“When we found the boat, the engine was running and his wallet was found on board the vessel,” he said.

Ken Turner, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources police, said Saturday night that two boaters found Merrill’s unoccupied 41-foot sailboat.

I have been closely following the furore created by Coulter’s latest book, Godless. In the book she makes a rather controversial remark in relation to some 9/11 widows she dislikes, amongst many others. Click here for the video.

“These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by griefparrazies. I have never seen people enjoying their husband’s death so much.”

Some on the right have expressed shock at her comments, while others have sought to defend her.

Now we have the rather obligatory satirical and definately not work-safe blog about Coulter. (413 comments and counting) It’s not exactly quotable, but I did like this bit in relation to the tax-cuts. I edited it for, eh, work safety.

A stock’s value is even now only partially tied to the actual value of any publicly traded company. But who’s going to profit from inflated valuations when stock prices swell irrationally from the forced, artificial injection of capital?

…

‘You might as well shoehorn billions of dollars into the Baseball Card market. The price of a Derek Jeter rookie will be driven up to hundreds of thousands of dollars—before the bubble bursts and the whole market crashes massively.’ It was getting hard to stay on point as she tongue-fucked my shitter vigorously.

…

‘The top 1% will sell stocks at the inflated valuations to the novice investors-by-necessity, the market will swell and crash, and the same 1% will come back and re-purchase their holdings at pennies on the dollar. Meanwhile, Social Security will go bankrupt and all the novice investors will be eating catfood for the duration of their “golden years,’’ barring a massive Federal bailout several hundred times in excess of what the Savings & Loan scandal cost us.’

In relation to Coulter’s original quote about the 9/11 widows she dislikes so much, it looks to me more like jealousy. Here is her quote again:

These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by griefparrazies. I have never seen people enjoying their husband’s death so much.

Or you could say:

Coulter is a millionaire, lionized on TV and in Time magazine, reveling in her status as a celebrity right-wing pundit, stalked by left-wingers. She spent years working to get into that position and is jealous of women who got the spotlight by simply being widows of victims of terrorism.

Olbermann’s criticism of Coulter is well worth watching:

Hehe. Very good.

Via C&L.

Yes it’s Colbert again, this time at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner. 3 parts.

Full video.

Colbert wins hands down.

Click here.

A very interesting picture.

I meant to link to this last week, I found it via Steve who provides his own comments here.

Elizabeth Holtzman argues that George Bush has done enough in office to be impeached, and she doesn’t pull any punches:

As a matter of constitutional law, these and other misdeeds constitute grounds for the impeachment of President Bush. A President, any President, who maintains that he is above the law–and repeatedly violates the law–thereby commits high crimes and misdemeanors, the constitutional standard for impeachment and removal from office. A high crime or misdemeanor is an archaic term that means a serious abuse of power, whether or not it is also a crime, that endangers our constitutional system of government.

Hot on the heels of his ‘lets kill Chavez’ remark, Robertson has another stonker:

And now Ariel Sharon, who was again a very likeable person, a delightful person to be with. I prayed with him personally. But here he is at the point of death. He was dividing God’s land, and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the EU, the United Nations or United States of America.

God said, “This land belongs to me, you better leave it alone.”

Save me Jebus.

It just gets worse and worse for poor old Tom DeLay:

Texas grand jury has brought a new charge of money laundering against Rep. Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader indicted last week on conspiracy charges stemming from a campaign finance probe, the congressman’s office said Monday.

In a written statement, DeLay called the indictment another example of “prosecutorial abuse” by District Attorney Ronnie Earle.

“He is trying to pull the legal equivalent of a ‘do-over,’ since he knows very well that the charges he brought against me last week are totally manufactured and illegitimate,” said the Texas Republican. “This is an abomination of justice.”

Steve Clemons has more.

I have so much posting to catch up it’s not funny. I have bookmarked lots of interesting links. And so many things to read. And this DeLay story looks like it could be pretty darn funny. See Steve’s take. Looks like Roy Blunt will be the new majority leader.

While I am holidaying in the US, I hope to attend this conference in Washington. A great list of speakers and no doubt there will be bloggers there too.

Among the people I would be most interested in seeing:

Steve Clemons
Jim Fallows
George Soros
Michael Lind
Robert Kuttner
Tom Clancy
Ann-Marie Slaughter
Francis Fukuyama
Charles Kupchan
Juan Cole
Nicolas Gvosdev

A follow up post on the CIA book I talked about yesterday and John commented on. Apparently Porter Goss has started something interesting, reported by Time Magazine. Dan Drezner gets it right again too, why so late?

In what experts say is a welcome nod to common sense, the CIA, having spent billions over the years on undercover agents, phone taps and the like, plans to create a large wing in the spookhouse dedicated to sorting through various forms of data that are not secret–such as research articles, religious tracts, websites, even phone books–but yet could be vital to national security. Senior intelligence officials tell TIME that CIA Director Porter Goss plans to launch by Oct. 1 an “open source” unit that will greatly expand on the work of the respected but cash-strapped office that currently translates foreign-language broadcasts and documents like declarations by extremist clerics. The budget, which could be in the ballpark of $100 million, is to be carefully monitored by John Negroponte, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), who discussed the new division with Goss in a meeting late last month. “We will want this to be a separate, identifiable line in the CIA program so we know precisely what this center has in terms of investment, and we don’t want money moved from it without [Negroponte's] approval,” said a senior official in the DNI’s office.

Dan has a very interesting post on the latest deal between India and the US. This is a very curious development indeed.

President Bush agreed yesterday to share civilian nuclear technology with India, reversing decades of U.S. policies designed to discourage countries from developing nuclear weapons.

The agreement between Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which must win the approval of Congress, would create a major exception to the U.S. prohibition of nuclear assistance to any country that doesn’t accept international monitoring of all of its nuclear facilities. India has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which requires such oversight, and conducted its first nuclear detonation in 1974….

In the latest issue of the Atlantic is an article by Scott Stossel on how the US would fight a war with North Korea. He details the history of the regime in North Korea back to 1993 when they supposedly first started making efforts to build nuclear weapons:

The seeds of the current crisis were planted late in the winter of 1993, when North Korea declared that proposed International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of two of its nuclear sites represented an unwarranted violation of sovereignty. The Kim regime subsequently threatened to begin converting 8,000 spent fuel rods from its Yongbyon plant into weaponizable nuclear material. As tensions rose, Pyongyang became more belligerent, at one point reminding the South Koreans that it wouldn’t be hard to turn Seoul into “a sea of fire.” The United States, for its part, contemplated pre-emptive strikes on Yongbyon.

By the spring of 1994 the United States was probably closer to nuclear war than it had been since the Cuban Missile Crisis. On June 15 President Clinton and others sat in the White House Cabinet Room listening to Secretary of Defense William Perry present an array of military options against North Korea. Clinton was preparing to evacuate American civilians from the country when word came that Jimmy Carter—who was in Pyongyang as an independent citizen, not as an official emissary of the Clinton administration—had reached a preliminary deal with the North Koreans and was about to go on CNN to announce the terms. The parties returned to the negotiating table, and in October of 1994 they signed the so-called Agreed Framework. In exchange for North Korea’s freezing nuclear-weapons development, the United States, South Korea, and Japan would supply Pyongyang with light-water nuclear reactors and with 500,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil annually.

And let to the current impasse:

In the summer of 2002 U.S. intelligence discovered that the North Koreans had secretly restarted their weapons development using highly enriched uranium. When Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly went to Pyongyang in October of 2002 to confront the North Koreans, he expected them to deny the existence of the uranium program. They didn’t; in fact, evidently they soon restarted their plutonium program, by continuing to reprocess the 8,000 spent fuel rods from Yongbyon (which had been in storage since the signing of the Agreed Framework). In October of 2003 the North Koreans said they had finished the reprocessing—meaning, if true, that they had enough fissile material for up to six new nuclear weapons. The Bush administration, not wanting to appear to reward bad behavior, has since adamantly refused to negotiate directly with the North Koreans. Six-party talks involving China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea—regional powers that the Bush administration hoped could help hold the Kim regime to account—began in August of 2003, but after the third round of talks, last June, the North Koreans pulled out, demanding direct bilateral negotiations with the United States.

So the Atlantic got a bunch of people together to brainstorm a conflict with North Korea.

Colonel Sam Gardiner led the proceedings

Playing the part of the CIA director was David Kay—a man well equipped for this job.

The secretary of state in this exercise was Robert Gallucci. The dean of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, at Georgetown University, Gallucci has extensive real-world experience in dealing with North Korea.

Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney, who spent thirty-five years in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot, a commander, and a strategic planner, played the role of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Filling the newly created position of director of national intelligence was Jessica Mathews, the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Rounding out the Principals Committee was Kenneth Adelman, who would be serving as secretary of defense.

It is a hugely interesting discussion. The conclusion was more or less summed up by Gardiner:

Sam Gardiner came away with one overriding message. “I left the game with a firm conviction that the United States is focusing on the wrong problem,” he told me. “Iran is down the road. Korea is now, and growing. We can’t wait to deal with Korea.” The president needs to engage the North Korean question for a very simple reason: “The military situation on the peninsula,” he said, “is not under control.”

“I’m The Guy They Called Deep Throat”, or so says the headline in Vanity Fair. It seems to be the answer to the question many have posed over the last 30 or so years, the Washington Post have apparently confirmed it:

The Washington Post today confirmed that W. Mark Felt, a former number-two official at the FBI, was “Deep Throat,” the secretive source who provided information that helped unravel the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s and contributed to the resignation of president Richard M. Nixon.

I am inclined to agree with the comments Matthew Yglesias made on Bush’s position with regard to embryonic stem cell research.

If Bush truly believes that it is immoral why does he only plan to veto federal funding for research? For him it seems that murder is fine as long as its not federal money paying for it.

On the issue itself, and moral issues aside, I believe that the US making a mistake that could result in them falling years behind the rest of the world in research. But who is to say whether the next president does not back track on Bush’s policy?

Dan Drezner deconstructs Andrew Sullivan’s recent article in the New Republic. Glenn Reynolds has also weighed in. The debate, especially Drezner’s thoughts, is an interesting one.

Steve Clemons has put the call out. He wants bloggers to mobilise against John Bolton becoming US ambassador to the United Nations. He notes:

We need language to reward and inspire Senators willing to oppose Bolton — and language that shames those willing to stand with Bolton and who essentially want the United Nations to be a non-entity. It is worth remembering that Bolton once stated, “The Secretariat building in New York has 38 stories. If it lost ten stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”

According to Clemons, people in the know are saying:

FYI, I’m hearing that they are trying to move this nomination very quickly because the longer it hangs out there, the more time opponents have to mobilize. The State Department’s material for the confirmation hearing (Q&A, etc) is due by COB today; they hope to schedule his hearing for next week.

He also cites Sidney Blumenthals piece in the Guardian, and afterwards puts his views in no uncertain terms:

Appointing Bolton to this position is the same as smiling at and talking about fresh start with the international community, like Bush did in Europe, while at the same time sliding a sharp knife into the world’s back.

I am sure there are some US bloggers out there with some opinions on this, for my own part I am still in the information-gathering stage.

Kimberly Marten and Alexander Cooley, professors of political science at Barnard College, Columbia University, argue that military bases won’t work.

In Iraq, it seems unlikely that the U.S. military will shake its current negative reputation, in spite of the good intentions of most American soldiers. As a result of mounting civilian deaths, the failure to establish security, and the enduring images of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, America will always be regarded as an unwelcome occupier by most Iraqis. Politicians in a democratic Iraq will have a ready-made election issue to exploit if bases remain.

Considering all these factors, a continuing U.S. base presence in Iraq is unlikely to be politically tenable. When the United States finally decides to leave Iraq, it should remove troops under an interim agreement that allows it to retain its most important facilities only for the few months necessary to complete withdrawal. Any long-term presence, no matter how small, would make American troops the focus of political unhappiness and the targets of violent attacks.

Late last year I wrote a post about rumours circulating concerning Condi Rices’ sexuality. Some more people recently added comments including:

Condoleeza has a wife in the D.C. area and used to roll with Anita Hill in lesbian haunts.

Comment by Anonymous

Everyone knows that Condoleeza Rice is into girls she is a devout lesbian. Isn�t it hypocritaical that Cheney�s allegience is to Bush and not his family (lesbian daughter Mary) and Condi�s allegiance is to Bush (literally) when Condi is out of town she�s into pussy. Also Barbara Bush (jr) gw�s daughter is into girls as well�oh my!!!

Comment by whitehouse aid

Barbara Boxer and Howard Dean are the guts of the democratic party now, none of the rest to include Kennedy or Kerry make too many waves anymore I�m so dissappointed! well at least Kerry disapproved of Rice�.but seems most of the democrats now are all milktoast

Comment by observer

Not that there is anything wrong with being a lesbian.

This document linked to by Roger is a curious one, the Selective Service System is seeking information from the Department of Education. Is this routine, or is it the start of a call up?

Dick Cheney may have heart problems – will this affect his role as VP after January?

So even Kevin Drum is suspicious about the now infamous bulge in President Bush’s back. I have to say I am pretty convinced after looking at these photos. The question is, what they hell is it? And will we be seeing more of it in the future?

The Register meanwhile suspects foul play with a wireless network. Is it a prompting device, that I really could have used for my Leaving Cert exam? Is it a medical device? Back brace? Bullet-proof vest?

The Whitehouse flatly denying it really doesn’t wash with me.

I stayed up extra late (5am) to watch the Bush vs Kerry debate. I think Kerry did pretty well, Bush just kept repeating himself. I think Kerry proved himself to be articulate, and for the first time I actually thought he looked presidential.

Dan Drezner has a good summary of the debate, which he live-blogged. Lots of links in there too.

Salon do an interview with author Kitty Kelley, among the highlights of her now book, they choose this curious insight into George Bush’s university time from one of his old friends:

But, as one of W’s Yalie frat brothers tells Kelley, it’s not the substance abuse in Bush’s past that’s disturbing, it’s the “lack of substance … Georgie, as we called him, had absolutely no intellectual curiosity about anything. He wasn’t interested in ideas or in books or causes. He didn’t travel; he didn’t read the newspapers; he didn’t watch the news; he didn’t even go to the movies. How anyone got out of Yale without developing some interest in the world besides booze and sports stuns me.” New Yorker writer Brendan Gill recalls roaming the Kennebunkport compound one night while staying there looking for a book to read – the only title he could find was The Fart Book.

It would not surprise me in the least if that were true. And maybe it is.

Dick over at BSD has been covering this story at length, I have been reading all about it, but just don’t feel motivated enough to blog about it. Safire believes the memos to be frauds, though CBS is sticking to their guns. I note the use of the word “bloggers” without the usual paragraph explaining what bloggers are. Mainstream now I guess.

Since the 60 Minutes broadcast, news organizations, conservative critics and bloggers have questioned the authenticity of the documents, pointing to type styles that seem the product of a modern computer rather than a 1970s-era typewriter. Relatives and fellow officers of Killian have also said they doubt the documents are real.

CBS says it stands by its story. The network has not revealed how it obtained the documents.

Crooked Timber points out that Jeff Jarvies is pointing out that NJ media may have known about the sexuality of the Governer McGreevy, and the apparent appointment of his lover to a State job should have prompted them to report. It is illegal is it not?

It�s great that McGreevey came right out and told the world that he was gay without apologizing for it. But if the charges about cronyism for his lover are true, they�re much more serious than Jack Ryan�s trips to sex clubs.

Another good exerpt from the interview.

P. J. O’ROURKE: Ok, well, this is the key one. Which is your favorite Beatle? I actually asked Bill Clinton that. When he was running for President, I interviewed him and I said, “Which one’s your favorite Beatle?” And he looked quite surprised because he thought only policy questions would be asked. And it was Paul, wouldn’t you know?

SECRETARY POWELL: That’s what I would say. Because I know Paul. Paul’s a bud of mine.

P. J. O’ROURKE: I’m sure he’s a great guy and all, but I would have thought anybody in their right mind would pick Ringo. He wanted the act to last just long enough so he would have enough money to open a chain of hairdressing shops. And, by God, he did.

SECRETARY POWELL: And Paul ended up with the most money.

P. J. O’ROURKE: He did. And he is alive.

SECRETARY POWELL: You know what I like about him, he is so normal.

P. J. O’ROURKE: Yes, so I understand.

Clinton also liked the skinny Elvis stamp, which I thought showed a lack of self-confidence.

SECRETARY POWELL: I knew Elvis.

P. J. O’ROURKE: Really?

SECRETARY POWELL: I met him when he was in the Army. I was a lieutenant; he was a sergeant. He was in the neighboring regiment�or combat command, as we called it�in the Third Armored Division in Germany.

We were in the training area one day and I was driving my jeep around and suddenly came upon this unit from the other outfit and there he was. And so I went over and shook hands.

He was a good soldier. You never would have thought he was anything but a soldier. He had a pimple on his face and everything else. He was not a big star. He was just another soldier.

P. J. O’ROURKE: I’ll be darned. Well, good for him.

PJ O’Rourke interviews Colin Powell.

Here’s a good sample:

P. J. O’ROURKE: The powers that are on our side, why aren’t they pulling on their oars? I mean, the EU has as big an economy and as big a population as we do.

SECRETARY POWELL: First of all, I do think they’re on our side. I think we had a big hiccup on Iraq, and we lost some of them. But that’ll swing back. The pendulum will come back our way because we do have more common interests than disagreements: terrorism, the world trading system, so many other things. Now, the reason we have to spend so much more is that there is no German navy preserving peace in the Pacific, there are no British troops standing guard in Korea, there is no need for any of our European Union friends to have the ability to project an army in a week or two from wherever they are to a place like Afghanistan.

P. J. O’ROURKE: But, why not?

SECRETARY POWELL: Because they have never felt that that was their destiny or their obligation. The United States entered into partnerships and believes it has these worldwide obligations. Nobody can move things like we can. They have never invested in it. Now, with the EU up to twenty-five nations, they’re looking at whether or not this is where they should be putting their investment. And I think they should. But their domestic constituencies will not permit the kind of spending on defense that our domestic constituency permits. The Germans are dropping their defense spending and reducing the size of their armed forces. Whereas we’ve held steady for some years, and now Congress is passing laws to increase the size of our army.

The American people have always been more willing to shoulder this burden than our European friends, particularly now when the Cold War is over. There is no Iron Curtain, there is no Soviet Union, and the average European citizen looking around sees some of these out-of-the-way places like Afghanistan and the Balkans and Iraq. They’re willing to do a little there, but they’re not willing to put up to three or four percent of their GDP into defense spending the way we are.

P. J. O’ROURKE: I was shocked when I was in the Balkans in the early ’90s that this was going on so close to the EU, essentially the same distance as from here to Jersey City, and they were letting it. They had the power to stop it.

SECRETARY POWELL: They had the power, but they are a union that does not have a predominant leader. NATO had a predominant leader in the United States. The European Union has a lot of pretenders and contenders for that position, but they don’t have it yet, as evidenced by the debates they had over the constitution last week.

But our great strength is the image we still convey to the rest of the world. Notwithstanding all you read about anti-Americanism, people are still standing in line to come here, to get visas and come across our borders.

In this months Atlantic monthly some interesting exerpts from the latest tranche of Nixon tapes released this year. This is what Nixon had to say about the Irish, after Bloody Sunday, and just after the British Embassy in Dublin was burned down on February 2, 1972.

Speaking to William Rogers (Secretary of State)

‘Cause you know, and let’s face it, the Irish are�these people, the Irish, are pretty goddam bad here. They’re the Kennedy type, out raising hell, blowing up the place, burning down the embassy and all that.

I managed to miss this earlier, but here is the transcript. You can watch it on video too if you click the video link.

The former head of counterterrorism at the National Security Council Richard A. Clarke, believe that the September 11 report is somewhat lacking. He proposes how the war on terrorism should really be fought:

We need to expose the Islamic world to values that are more attractive than those of the jihadists. This means aiding economic development and political openness in Muslim countries, and efforts to stabilize places like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Restarting the Israel-Palestinian peace process is also vital.

Also, we can’t do this alone. In addition to “hearts and minds’ television and radio programming by the U.S. government, we would be greatly helped by a pan-Islamic council of respected spiritual and secular leaders to coordinate (without U.S. involvement) the Islamic world’s own ideological effort against the new Qaeda.

Unfortunately, because of America’s low standing in the Islamic world, we are now at a great disadvantage in the battle of ideas. This is primarily because of the unnecessary and counterproductive invasion of Iraq. In pulling its bipartisan punches, the commission failed to admit the obvious: we are less capable of defeating the jihadists because of the Iraq war.

Unanimity has its value, but so do debate and dissent in a democracy facing a crisis. To fully realize the potential of the commission’s report, we must see it not as the end of the discussion but as a partial blueprint for victory. The jihadist enemy has learned how to spread hate and how to kill – and it is still doing both very effectively almost three years after 9/11.

No doubt Steyn would call such tactics the tactis of a girlie-man.

Gerald Posner of the NYT asks the question, also posed by Unger and Moore.

The report makes no mention that one of the Saudis on the flight that left Kentucky for Saudi Arabia was Prince Ahmed bin Salman. The nephew to King Fahd, Prince Ahmed was later mentioned to American interrogators in March 2002 by none other than Abu Zubaydah, a top Qaeda official captured that same month. The connection, if any, between a top operative of Al Qaeda and a leading member of the royal family has remained unresolved despite Saudi denials. Prince Ahmed cannot be asked: He died in 2002, at the age of 43, from complications from stomach surgery in a Riyadh hospital.

Not only does the 9/11 report fail to resolve the matter of whether Zubaydah – who featured prominently in the now infamous Presidential Daily Briefing of Aug. 6, 2001 – was telling the truth when he named Prince Ahmed and several other princes as his contacts, but they do not even mention the prince in the entire report. The report does have seven references to Zubaydah’s interrogations, yet not a single one is from March, the month of his capture, and the time he made his startling and still unproven accusations about high-ranking Saudi royals.

Of course, none of these matters undermine the report’s central conclusions about what went wrong inside the United States leading up to 9/11. And satisfying answers to questions about the relationship between the Saudis and Al Qaeda might not be available yet. But the commission could have at least asked them. By failing to address adequately how Saudi leaders helped Al Qaeda flourish, the commission has risked damaging its otherwise good work.

Is it just me or is the September 11th Commission looking increasingly like the Warren Commission?

Amid all the criticism of Dublin’s new LUAS system, it turns out that a US city built a light rail system of about the same size, for about the same price. But was it worth it? The economist seems to think it might be.

In Minneapolis a light rail was opened on June 26th, it runs for 12 miles, and cost $715m. St.Louis introduced light rail in 1993, the number of passengers was three times the projections, the same was true of Denver, Portland, Dallas, San Diego and Salt Lake City.

Minneapolis council predicts that the light rail will spur the development of 7000 housing units and 19 million square feet of office space.

Kevin Drum is hearing some buzz in Republican circles in Washington, but pretty much discounts Rice, saying that Bush-Cheney is much more likely.

On another note, is Condi Rice a lesbian?

A quick browse around reveals this popular story. I had an interesting chat about the idea with an editor from a big magazine and some people from Westminster last year – it stuck in my mind.

It appears that Best Buy might think that customers are no longer always right. I feel the same, in fact so would anyone that has worked in a service industry. Anyway, Slashdot links to the story that Best Buy is not happy with some of its customers – they rightly note that this may be the darker side of data mining.

Drum also mentions this interesting article from the editor of the Washington Monthly, written last year.

This kind of insight into Washington politics is fascinating. Lobbying is a curious industry.

Update October 2005: This interview was done last year, but has recently come to light again. More details here.

Carole Coleman, RTE Washington correspondent, has caused a mini-controversy after her interview with George Bush. You can watch the full interview with Real Player.

John feels she was not up to the job. I am going to reserve judgement for now.

Watch it though.

Update: Kevin Drum lambasts the President for requiring scripted questions in the first place, while praising Coleman:

We have a president who apparently feels uncomfortable doing an interview with a foreign journalist unless he knows beforehand what she’s going to ask, and then behaves childishly when she actually follows up and insists on genuine answers to the prescripted questions instead of the usual talking point pabulum that the American press laps up. How dare she interrupt the president of the United States and demand real answers!

Kevin Drum points to a funny story concerning Dick Cheney.

According to congressional aides, [Sen. Patrick] Leahy said hello to Cheney following the taking of the Senate group photo on the floor of the chamber.

Cheney, who is president of the Senate, then ripped into Leahy for the Democratic senator’s criticism this week of alleged war profiteering in Iraq by Halliburton, the oil services company that Cheney once ran.

….During their exchange, Leahy noted that Republicans had accused Democrats of being anti-Catholic because they are opposed to some of President Bush’s anti-abortion judges, the aides said.

That’s when Cheney unloaded with the “F-bomb,” aides said.

Poor old Cheney, he must be worried about something or other.

The Boston Globe had a good editorial piece on the Star Wars project, worth a look.

Instead of directing finite resources toward protecting America against likely threats, he is lavishing billions of dollars on a system that has not been tested under the realistic conditions that would obtain in the unlikely event America came under attack from ballistic missiles launched by North Korea. Instead of funding research that might one day make possible an effective defense against ballistic missiles, Bush is spending $10.2 billion this year – the single biggest item in the defense budget – on a system whose flaws independent scientists regard as insurmountable.

From Slashdot, looks like the US Navy has been busy, they plan to implement rail gun technology by 2011.

DD(X) is in development by the Navy, Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and other firms. When the new ship arrives in service it will be armed with very advanced, but conventional weaponry, including two United Defense 155mm Advanced Gun System cannons and an 80-cell vertical launch system for various guided missiles. But these systems are stepping stones to greater capabilities, according to Michael Collins, Navy IPS/electric drive program manager. �This technology opens the door� to advanced weapons, he said.

A report on Rail Gun technology can be read here. (PDF)

PJ O’Rourke has an entertaining article on right wing politics in the US. He poses the question I have often asked myself…When was the last time a conservative talk show changed a mind?

He likes Rush Limbaugh? Apparently so, but he still is not all that right:

Me. I am a little to the right of … Why is the Attila comparison used? Fifth-century Hunnish depredations on the Roman Empire were the work of an overpowerful executive pursuing a policy of economic redistribution in an atmosphere of permissive social mores. I am a little to the right of Rush Limbaugh. I’m so conservative that I approve of San Francisco City Hall marriages, adoption by same-sex couples, and New Hampshire’s recently ordained Episcopal bishop. Gays want to get married, have children, and go to church. Next they’ll be advocating school vouchers, boycotting HBO, and voting Republican.

He is critical of the right, for usually being just too extreme. And of the left he asks :

Do some liberals feel as if they’re guarding the net while their teammates make a furious rush at their own goal? NPR seems more whiny than hectoring, except at fundraising time.

A funny piece.

Third on the list are some truly staggering figures:

Every year Americans lose as much money on legal gambling as they spend on movies, amusement parks, spectator sports, and video games combined�which is one reason that opponents of legalized casinos claim that gambling leads to financial ruin for many Americans.

Now that is alot of money. The full report is available here.

The Atlantic finally popped through the door so I can point to all the interesting pieces in this months issue. Some of the material is available online, but I prefer reading the hardcopy issue, and then linking to the stories.

First up is Primary Sources, always one of the most interesting parts of the Atlantic.

The first story details how much Congress spends on projects tacked onto appropriations bills. It seems fiscal year 2004 was a record, with 10, 656 such projects. The Pig Book can be found here.

Among others:

Choice slices of pork listed in the Pig Book include $50 million to build the world’s largest indoor rain forest in Coralville, Iowa; hundreds of thousands of dollars for “poultry litter composting” and “berry research”; and $5 million for the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), which was originally designed to “capture energy from the aurora borealis” and now aims to “heat the ionosphere to improve military communications.” It’s no coincidence that HAARP, which has absorbed nearly a hundred million federal dollars since 1995, is an Alaska-based project: the state’s senior senator, the Republican Ted Stevens, chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee�and Alaska procured more pork per capita than any other state in 2004, with $524 million in appropriations.

Capture energy from the aurora borealis? Not heard that one before.

Defying the Bush administration, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to add 20,000 troops to an Army stretched thin by the war in Iraq and other commitments around the world.

The 93-4 vote in the Republican-led Senate — following a similar action by the House — reflected the anxieties lawmakers have been hearing from families of service personnel whose tours in Iraq keep getting extended and whose return to civilian life is repeatedly postponed.

Thanks to An Oasis for this one…the anti-Chomsky blog (linked to by Andy Sullivan too) I too watched Chomsky take on Paxman a few weeks back, it was curious to say the least. My interest has been heightened having seen Des Bishop’s blogroll including me and Chomsky. Des has been critical of the US administration lately, it makes for entertaining reading.

As for Chomsky, I have read many of his books, but have also read too many eloquent criticisms of him – and I am falling of the side of disagreeing with Chomsky more often than not.

Craig Unger, author of “House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World’s Two Most Powerful Dynasties.”, with a brief piece in the IHT today. He poses a question asked by Michael Moore in his latest film.

It has also emerged that:

In addition, new evidence shows that the evacuation involved more than the departure of 142 Saudis on six charter flights that the commission is investigating. According to newly released documents, 160 Saudis left the United States on 55 flights immediately after Sept. 11 – making a total of about 300 people who left with the apparent approval of the Bush administration, far more than has been reported before.

The records were released by the Department of Homeland Security in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative, nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington.

The vast majority of the newly disclosed flights were commercial airline flights, not charters, often carrying just two or three Saudi passengers. They originated from more than 20 cities, including Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit and Houston. One Saudi Arabian Airlines flight left Kennedy Airport on Sept. 13 with 46 Saudis. The next day, another Saudi Arabian Airlines flight left with 13 Saudis.

Why did this happen?

Must Americans wait until intrusive general searches mushroom into scandal, weakening America’s ability to collect information that saves lives? Congress should debate this Pentagon report, exercising foresight, rather than years from now, in the high dudgeon of hindsight.

So says William Safire of this recently released Pentagon report. I’ll have a look round the net for it. As for Safire, he seems to favour more wiretaps and surveillance, I just wonder whether it will do any good. Is not al-Qaeda well versed in encrypting documents, and using various simple, but highly effective techniques to avoid surveillance?

Naomi Klein this week with some curious remarks – and interesting insight.

The echo was probably intentional. Bush is so desperate for the Hispanic vote that he has taken to shouting ” Vamos a ganar! We’re going to win!” during stump speeches in Ohio.

Of course he is desperate for the hispanic vote – what candidate wouldn’t be?

But the main purpose of the “Yes, American can” bus tour, of course, was to shift the attention of US voters away from the Iraq prison scandal towards the recovering job market.

I would imagine that the tour was planned well in advance of the Abu Ghraib pictures coming out. It should read ‘effect’ instead of ‘purpose’.

Here is an interesting figure though:

With more than 2 million Americans behind bars, the number of prison guards has exploded – from 270,317 in 2000 to 476,000 in 2002.

That’s quite a number of state-created jobs is it not? Hmm.

But here is where Klein gets serious:

There’s Sergeant Ivan Frederick, another prison guard, this time from rural Virginia. Before he joined what Van Jones, a prisoners’ rights lawyer, calls “America’s gulag economy”, Frederick had a decent job at the Bausch and Lomb factory in Mountain Lake, Maryland. But according to the New York Times, that factory shut down and moved to Mexico – one of the nearly 900,000 jobs that the Economic Policy Institute estimates have been lost since the North American Free Trade Agreement came into force in 1994, the vast majority in manufacturing.

Free trade has turned the US labour market into an hourglass: plenty of jobs at the bottom, a fair bit at the top, but very little in the middle. At the same time, getting from the bottom to the top has become increasingly difficult, with tuition fees at state colleges up by more than 50% since 1990.

And that’s where the US military comes in: the army has positioned itself as the bridge across America’s growing class chasm: money for tuition in exchange for military service. Call it the Nafta draft.

I have lots of anecodotal experiences of this, many Americans I have known have told me of this choice – to do your time in the military to get cheaper education. It sounds like a curious position, in what is supposed to be a market economy. The State is essentially bargaining with its citizens – and I think the phrase ‘Nafta draft’ is apt.

Dan Drezner is calling for a boycott of the new film – I for one love this kind of stuff. As much as alot of is plain nonsense – I’m a sucker for big epic special effects pop-corn movies. I had the same buzz with Independence Day, and no doubt it will be the same for this film.

As for the environmental aspect, I think MoveOn.org are taking this one just a bit too far. But as already discussed on this blog, I am of the opinion that global warming is taking place, and that Carthage must be destroyed.

In case you missed it, Kevin Drum has the transcript from the rather funny episode of Meet the Press, where one of Colin Powell’s aides goes a bit crazy and ends an interview in the middle of a question. Powell seemed a bit surprised – and wanted to answer the question. She wanted to end it.

Russert: Finally, Mr. Secretary, in February of 2003, you placed your enormous personal credibility before the United Nations and laid out a case against Saddam Hussein citing…

Emily: You’re off.

Powell: Bring the camera back, please. I think we’re back on, Tim. Go ahead with your last question.

I think she just lost her job.

They are still spending money on this? What is the point? Have they not heard of 737s laden with fuel? Have they not heard of new technology that can avoid missile defence?

Sounds like a big scam to me.

Kevin Drum quoting Eric Alterman in the Nation…

That’s too bad, because unfortunately Cheney is nuts. As Powell puts it, Cheney was in the grip of a “fever,” no longer the “steady, unemotional rock that he had witnessed a dozen years earlier during the run-up to the Gulf War. The vice president was beyond hell-bent for action against Saddam. It was as if nothing else existed.” Woodward gives us the backstory: Cheney, confirmed by his equally fevered aide “Scooter” Libby, repeatedly pitched–as he does today–the apparently imaginary meeting between Mohamed Atta and Iraqi intelligence in Prague. Powell/Woodward aptly term this contention “worse than ridiculous.” It goes on. “Cheney would take an intercept and say it shows something was happening. No, no, no, Powell or another would say, it shows that somebody talked to somebody else who said something might be happening. A conversation would suggest something might be happening, and Cheney would convert that into a ‘We know.’”

Dan Gillmor:

The other lesson here is the way independent news operations like the Memory Hole are helping to reshape journalism. The little guy, in using the Freedom of Information Act, did something that most of the established media didn’t bother to try.

Kevin Drum has some insight into the military records of both George W Bush and John Kerry. I think his analysis is correct – the Republican game here is pretty low, and I don’t think they can win the argument.

Zachary Selden explains the phenomenon of Neocons in the US.

The very attractive editor of the Nation, Katrina, with a slew of criticisms of Bush’s 9/11 commercial, full of good links and good ideas. A short but enlightening read.

Hugo Chavez has gone off on one, he is starting to sound a bit paranoid. But the idea of a 100 year war sounds interesting, he certainly has enough oil to sell to all the other South American nations.

But I just can’t help being suspicious of US intentions, especially where oil is concerned. Hey, call me cliched.

So Bush had a few friends over to stay. Kevin Drum nails down Bush on comments about Clinton during the 2000 election debates. Hmmm. Pot, kettle, black.

US style guru Martha Stewart has been found guilty of lying to investigators a over a suspicious sale of shares in drug company ImClone.
Ms Stewart was found guilty of one count of conspiracy, two counts of making false statements and one count of obstruction of agency proceedings.

The most serious charges of securities fraud, carrying a maximum 10-year jail term, had been dismissed last week.

Robert Kennedy is laying some serious charges at the door of the Bush administration over in the Nation. Read it all, some of the issues he raises have been discusses on this weblog over the last week. Among the charges:

The Bush Administration’s first instinct when it comes to science has been to suppress, discredit or alter facts it doesn’t like. Probably the best-known case is global warming. Over the past two years the Administration has done this to a dozen major government studies on global warming, as well as to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its own efforts to stall action to control industrial emissions. The list also includes major long-term studies by the federal government’s National Research Council and National Academy of Sciences, and by scientific teams at the EPA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA, and a 2002 collaborative report by scientists at all three of those agencies.

As a favor to utility and coal industries, America’s largest mercury dischargers, the EPA sat for nine months on a report exposing the catastrophic impact on children’s health of mercury, finally releasing it in February 2003. Among the findings of the report: The bloodstream of one in twelve US women is saturated with enough mercury to cause neurological damage, permanent IQ loss and a grim inventory of other diseases in their unborn children.

Dan points to this article by the infamous Ann Coulter, talking about that horrible liberal Max Cleland. I think Dan gets it right as usual. Imagine. This is only February.

Interestingly, the paper that published that, Human Events, has edited out some parts of Coulter’s article. The original apparently is here in Townhall. Having a quick look it appears this was edited out:

Indeed, if Cleland had dropped a grenade on himself at Fort Dix rather than in Vietnam, he would never have been a U.S. senator in the first place. Maybe he’d be the best pharmacist in Atlanta, but not a U.S. senator. He got into office on the basis of serving in Vietnam and was thrown out for his performance as a senator.

Cleland wore the uniform, he was in Vietnam, and he has shown courage by going on to lead a productive life. But he didn’t “give his limbs for his country,” or leave them “on the battlefield.” There was no bravery involved in dropping a grenade on himself with no enemy troops in sight. That could have happened in the Texas National Guard � which Cleland denigrates while demanding his own sanctification.

Hmm. I wonder why.

The story of Dudley Hiibel is an interesting one, and says alot about the rights of citizens in a democracy to protect their privacy. The local sheriff in the Nevada town demanded ID, Dudley refused – and what ensued has been released on video onto the internet – it is notably however, the police camera that caught the incident.

The case comes up in the US Supreme Court in March. I shall be following this one. [via Dan]

Here is a transcript of what happened:
Read the rest of this entry »

Green Violet blogged this before I got the chance to – it is a funny read. I hope all of my Republican readers don’t mind.

GEORGE W. BUSH

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC 20520

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

Law Enforcement:

I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver’s license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been “lost” and is not available.

Military:

I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.

College:

I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:

I ran for U.S. Congress and lost. I began my career in the oil business in Midland, Texas, in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn’t find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock. I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS

I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America. I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money. I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history. With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father’s appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after losing by over 500,000 votes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:

I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.

I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week. I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury. I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history. I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period. I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period. I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market. In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues every month. I’m proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My “poorest millionaire,” Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President. I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations. My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. History, Enron.

My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision. I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip- offs in history. I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed. I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history. I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts. I appointed more convicted criminals to administration than any President in U.S. history. I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States government. I’ve broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history! I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission. I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law. I refused to allow inspector’s access to U.S. “prisoners of war” detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention. I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election). I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television. I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.

I garnered the most sympathy for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history. I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind. I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. citizens, and the world community. I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families — in wartime. In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends. I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security. I am supporting development of a nuclear “Tactical Bunker Buster,” a WMD. I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden [sic] to justice.

RECORDS AND REFERENCES:

All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father’s library, sealed and unavailable for public view. All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view. All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.

PLEASE CONSIDER MY EXPERIENCE WHEN VOTING IN 2004.

For those who missed it, here’s the full transcript of George Bush’s interview with Meet the Press. Some scary stuff in there.
Read the rest of this entry »

I am still amazed by stories such as this, its been over 2 years since that day, and yet my interest, it seems, will never go away.

Perhaps its having lots of relatives working in airlines, and having quite a bit of knowledge about aircraft and airlines that fascinates me. Or maybe its just Ms. Ong, with her Purser (most senior cabin crew after the Captain and FO) stabbed and apparently dead, along with an FG1 (first class cabin crew), Ong got on the phone and told people calmly what was going on.

I never knew that a gas, perhaps mace, was used to subdue people on the aircraft.

Stirring stuff.

Anyone who is interested in news and current affairs should subscribe to the Newsnight newsletter, it always has a good joke, including today’s:

In advance of the Hutton Report, a colleague sent this:

George W Bush goes to a primary school to talk about the war. After his
talk he invites questions. One little boy puts up his hand, and the
President asks him his name.
“Billy!”
“And what is your question, Billy?”
“I have three questions,” says the boy. “First – why did the USA invade
Iraq without the support of the UN?; Second – why are you President when
Al Gore got more votes?; and Third – whatever happened to Osama bin
Laden?”

Just then the bell rings for recess. George W Bush informs the children
that they will continue after recess. When they resume, the President
says: “Okay where were we? Oh that’s right, question time. Who has a
question?”
A different little boy puts his hand, George points him out and asks his
name.
“Steve!”
“And what is your question, Steve?”
“I have five questions: First – why did the USA invade Iraq without the
support of the UN?; Second – why are you President when Al Gore got more
votes?; Third – whatever happened to Osama bin Laden?; Fourth – why did
the recess bell go 20 minutes early?; and Fifth – what happened to
Billy?”

According to Ronan Mullin, George W Bush is a clean-living, born again Christian who opposes abortion. Opponents of Mr. Bush like Howard Dean and General Wesley Clarke are loons and weirdoes. Al Gore is a pathetic whining figure who slobbers over his wife and wears too much make-up.

All this invective comes from a journalist who constantly lectures the media for its unbalanced and intolerant analysis, especially when reporting on the Catholic Church. Could it be that this attack on Mr. Bush�s opponents is related to the fact that Mr. Mullin and George Jnr. occupy the same position on the political/religious spectrum � the Christian Right?

To add some balance to the debate, here is a very brief analysis of George W Bush. Before he was born again, Mr. Bush was a cocaine-snorting, drunk driving lout who took advantage of his daddy�s influence to avoid serving in Vietnam. Instead he safely �served� his country in the Texas Air National Guard. Not exactly an all-American hero.

Since coming to power, in very dodgy circumstances, George Jnr. has rejected the Kyoto Protocol that is so vital to the future of the global environment. He has broken long standing ballistic missile treaties with Russia and adopted a first strike military foreign policy. Vast tracts of previously protected regions in Alaska have been handed over to his oil- drilling buddies. On the basis of a lie concerning Weapons of Mass Destruction Mr. Bush is responsible for many thousands of deaths in Iraq.

However, the most bizarre aspect of the born again Mr. Bush is his crusading zeal in defending the rights of the unborn while at the same time enthusiastically signing death warrants for dozens of his fellow citizens. With 152 executions to his name Mr. Bush holds the gruesome record as the most killing governor in the history of the US. Incredibly, Mr. Mullin defends this grisly record by claiming that Mr. Bush is “not always consistent with Christianity proper”.

The overall point seems to be, that so long as Mr.Bush supports extreme right wing Christian ideals all his other bizarre ideas and actions are fine, even if a little �improper�. I�ll leave it to you to decide who the weirdo�s are.

William Safire makes a list of the reasons why America is winning the war on terror. There are, I think, some erroneous logical errors in there, as well as some irrelevent stuff.

If he is right, why have the number of terrorist incidences in the world risen rather than fallen since the war on terror started on Sep.11 2001?

So it appears that Condi Rice may be apprehensive about appearing before the 9/11 investigation Commission.

Two government sources tell TIME that National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is arguing over ground rules for her appearance in part because she does not want to testify under oath or, according to one source, in public. While national security advisers are presidential staff and generally don�t have to appear before Congress, the commission argues that its jurisdiction is broader�and it’s been requiring fact witnesses in its massive investigation to testify under oath. The exception: it may not seek to swear in President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Bill Clinton or Al Gore in the increasingly likely event they will be asked to speak to the commission. “I think that it is in their interest to meet with us,” says GOP commission member John Lehman, saying that they should be invited, not subpoenaed, and be allowed to appear behind closed doors.

What is Condi so worried about? This is a curious turn of events.

Yahoo has this story about an Australian hack getting into an awful lot of trouble for not getting the right Visa.

This is pretty bad behavious by the officials, I wonder how it will be investigated.

The CBP agent who read Smethursts travelers questionnaire took her to a secondary inspection area 30 feet away and told her to wait, then left for half an hour. He returned with additional uniformed staff who, professionally and pleasantly enough, asked more questions.

Criminal.

Eric Heginbotham, a senior fellow of Asian studies at the Council on Foreign Relations writes a thoughtful piece in todays Tribune. The Tribune is full of good stuff these days.

He expresses satisfaction with Japanese military affairs but points out:

Japan’s civil-military relations problem has more to do with the strength of the political system than with popular sentiment. Specifically, it derives from the weak position of political officials vis-�-$ vis the bureaucracy.

The time for taking stock of this question is now. While it may be too early for definitive answers, slow incremental change in Japanese military policy is arguably healthy for Japan and beneficial to the United States, but a rapid breakout may be in the interests of neither state.

This is especially interesting given Japan’s decision to pursue missile defence…

So the truth is out, Strom fathered a black daughter.

The point was underscored dramatically last week when the family of Strom Thurmond, the former United States senator who died last June at the age of 100, dropped decades of denials and acknowledged that Thurmond had fathered a daughter with a black maid in the family household in 1925. The daughter, a retired teacher named Essie Mae Washington-Williams, 78, had periodically denied Thurmond’s paternity for the public record but had passed on the truth to her children, who pressured her to come forward after Thurmond’s death.

How could Thurmond, who sought the presidency on a segregationist platform in 1948, have lived publicly as a racist while secretly helping to support a black daughter?

Naomi Klein has quite an interesting account of protests in Miami recently. Some shocking stuff, they are embedding reporters with cops just to cover protests? What is the world coming to?

Meanwhile, independent journalists who dared to do their jobs and film the police violence up close were actively targeted. “She’s not with us,” one officer told another as they grabbed Ana Nogueira, a correspondent with Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now! who was covering a peaceful protest outside the Miami-Dade county jail. When the police established that Nogueira was “not with us” (ie neither an embedded reporter nor undercover cop) she was hauled away and charged.

Gregg Easterbrook has a post about the Atlantic’s cover story this month. He seems to make it sound all unreleased and exclusive – but it’s not. I got the Atlantic last week, as did every other subscriber, and perhaps wasn’t aware of the full implications of the Kerry piece. I preferred O’Rourke’s piece on Iraq.

But hey, Gregg is excited about it so it must be important- link will appear when the Atlantic update their site.

Why does the White House robots.txt file look like this? It appears to mean that searches related to Iraq are being disallowed. Hmm.

This is oh so strange. Perhaps someone with a better idea of search technology can explain it to me? Quite a debate going on over on Dan’s blog.

The Democrats have something to say about it too.

Slashdotters are giving it a good going over too!

# robots.txt for http://www.whitehouse.gov/

User-agent: *
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Disallow: /infocus/bioterrorism/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/bioterrorism/text
Disallow: /infocus/children/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/children/text
Disallow: /infocus/citizencorps/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/citizencorps/text
Disallow: /infocus/communityservice/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/communityservice/text
Disallow: /infocus/compassionate/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/compassionate/text
Disallow: /infocus/corporateresponsibility/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/corporateresponsibility/text
Disallow: /infocus/cuba/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/cuba/text
Disallow: /infocus/defense/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/defense/text
Disallow: /infocus/developingnations/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/developingnations/print/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/developingnations/print/text
Disallow: /infocus/developingnations/text
Disallow: /infocus/dontcall/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/dontcall/text
Disallow: /infocus/earlychildhood/hspolicybook/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/earlychildhood/hspolicybook/text
Disallow: /infocus/earlychildhood/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/earlychildhood/text
Disallow: /infocus/earthday/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/earthday/text
Disallow: /infocus/economicforum/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/economicforum/text
Disallow: /infocus/economy/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/economy/text
Disallow: /infocus/education/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/education/states/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/education/states/text
Disallow: /infocus/education/teacherpopup/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/education/teacherpopup/text
Disallow: /infocus/education/teachers/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/education/teachers/text
Disallow: /infocus/education/text
Disallow: /infocus/educationreform/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/educationreform/text
Disallow: /infocus/elsalvadortrip/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/elsalvadortrip/text
Disallow: /infocus/energy/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/energy/text
Disallow: /infocus/environment/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/environment/text
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/europetrip/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/europetrip/text
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/firstladyeuropetrip/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/firstladyeuropetrip/text
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/images/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/images/text
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/prague/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/prague/text
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/scenicprague/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/scenicprague/text
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/scenicstpetersburg/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/scenicstpetersburg/text
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/text
Disallow: /infocus/eusummit/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/eusummit/text
Disallow: /infocus/everglades/images/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/everglades/images/text
Disallow: /infocus/everglades/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/everglades/text
Disallow: /infocus/faith-based/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/faith-based/text
Disallow: /infocus/farminfo/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/farminfo/text
Disallow: /infocus/firstresponders/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/firstresponders/text
Disallow: /infocus/fitness/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/fitness/photoessay/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/fitness/photoessay/text
Disallow: /infocus/fitness/text
Disallow: /infocus/freedomcorps/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/freedomcorps/photoessay/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/freedomcorps/photoessay/text
Disallow: /infocus/freedomcorps/text
Disallow: /infocus/g8/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/g8/text
Disallow: /infocus/healthcare/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/healthcare/text
Disallow: /infocus/healthyforests/bitterroot/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/healthyforests/bitterroot/text
Disallow: /infocus/healthyforests/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/healthyforests/photoessay/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/healthyforests/photoessay/text
Disallow: /infocus/healthyforests/text
Disallow: /infocus/hivaids/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/hivaids/text
Disallow: /infocus/homeownership/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/homeownership/text
Disallow: /infocus/httpwwwwhitehousegovinfocusg/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/httpwwwwhitehousegovinfocusg/text
Disallow: /infocus/illegal-logging/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/illegal-logging/text
Disallow: /infocus/internationaltrade/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/internationaltrade/text
Disallow: /infocus/judicialnominees/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/judicialnominees/text
Disallow: /infocus/justice/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/justice/text
Disallow: /infocus/keyhealthposts/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/keyhealthposts/text
Disallow: /infocus/medicalliability/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/medicalliability/text
Disallow: /infocus/medicare/health-care/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/medicare/health-care/text
Disallow: /infocus/medicare/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/medicare/text
Disallow: /infocus/mideast/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/mideast/text
Disallow: /infocus/money/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/money/text
Disallow: /infocus/mothernchild/text
Disallow: /infocus/mutualaidagreements/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/mutualaidagreements/text
Disallow: /infocus/newfreedom/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/newfreedom/text
Disallow: /infocus/overseas/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/overseas/text
Disallow: /infocus/perutrip/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/perutrip/text
Disallow: /infocus/ramadan/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/ramadan/text
Disallow: /infocus/retirementsecurity/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/retirementsecurity/text
Disallow: /infocus/ruralamerica/text
Disallow: /infocus/rx-medicare/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/rx-medicare/text
Disallow: /infocus/smallbusiness/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/smallbusiness/text
Disallow: /infocus/social-security/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/social-security/text
Disallow: /infocus/steel/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/steel/text
Disallow: /infocus/tax-relief/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/tax-relief/text
Disallow: /infocus/taxreform/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/taxreform/text
Disallow: /infocus/teacherquality/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/teacherquality/text
Disallow: /infocus/technology/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/technology/text
Disallow: /infocus/terrorisminsurance/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/terrorisminsurance/text
Disallow: /infocus/text
Disallow: /infocus/united_nations/text
Disallow: /infocus/usmxborder/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/usmxborder/text
Disallow: /infocus/victimsrights/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/victimsrights/text
Disallow: /infocus/welfarereform/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/welfarereform/text
Disallow: /judicial/iraq
Disallow: /judicial/text
Disallow: /kids/abc/iraq
Disallow: /kids/abc/popups/iraq
Disallow: /kids/abc/popups/text
Disallow: /kids/abc/text
Disallow: /kids/afac/iraq
Disallow: /kids/afac/states/iraq
Disallow: /kids/afac/states/text
Disallow: /kids/afac/text
Disallow: /kids/album/iraq
Disallow: /kids/album/text
Disallow: /kids/asia/iraq
Disallow: /kids/asia/text
Disallow: /kids/backtoschool/iraq
Disallow: /kids/backtoschool/text
Disallow: /kids/barney/iraq
Disallow: /kids/barney/text
Disallow: /kids/baseball/iraq
Disallow: /kids/baseball/photoessay/iraq
Disallow: /kids/baseball/photoessay/text
Disallow: /kids/baseball/print/iraq
Disallow: /kids/baseball/print/text
Disallow: /kids/baseball/quiz/iraq
Disallow: /kids/baseball/quiz/text
Disallow: /kids/baseball/tbphotoessay/iraq
Disallow: /kids/baseball/tbphotoessay/text
Disallow: /kids/baseball/teeball-20020923/iraq
Disallow: /kids/baseball/teeball-20020923/text
Disallow: /kids/baseball/text
Disallow: /kids/connection/iraq
Disallow: /kids/connection/print/iraq
Disallow: /kids/connection/print/text
Disallow: /kids/connection/text
Disallow: /kids/constitution/iraq
Disallow: /kids/constitution/photoessay/iraq
Disallow: /kids/constitution/photoessay/text
Disallow: /kids/constitution/photoessay2003/iraq
Disallow: /kids/constitution/photoessay2003/text
Disallow: /kids/constitution/quiz/iraq
Disallow: /kids/constitution/quiz/text
Disallow: /kids/constitution/text
Disallow: /kids/contact/iraq
Disallow: /kids/contact/text
Disallow: /kids/dreamteam/baseballcards/iraq
Disallow: /kids/dreamteam/baseballcards/text
Disallow: /kids/dreamteam/iraq
Disallow: /kids/dreamteam/quiz/iraq
Disallow: /kids/dreamteam/quiz/text
Disallow: /kids/dreamteam/text
Disallow: /kids/eggroll/iraq
Disallow: /kids/eggroll/photoessay/iraq
Disallow: /kids/eggroll/photoessay/text
Disallow: /kids/eggroll/quiz/iraq
Disallow: /kids/eggroll/quiz/text
Disallow: /kids/eggroll/text
Disallow: /kids/firstlady/iraq
Disallow: /kids/firstlady/quiz/iraq
Disallow: /kids/firstlady/quiz/text
Disallow: /kids/firstlady/text
Disallow: /kids/fitness/iraq
Disallow: /kids/fitness/print/iraq
Disallow: /kids/fitness/print/text
Disallow: /kids/fitness/text
Disallow: /kids/flatstanley/iraq
Disallow: /kids/flatstanley/text
Disallow: /kids/games/concentration/holiday/iraq
Disallow: /kids/games/concentration/holiday/text
Disallow: /kids/games/concentration/iraq
Disallow: /kids/games/concentration/text
Disallow: /kids/games/iraq
Disallow: /kids/games/text
Disallow: /kids/giftsofchildren/iraq
Disallow: /kids/giftsofchildren/text
Disallow: /kids/guide/iraq
Disallow: /kids/guide/print/iraq
Disallow: /kids/guide/print/text
Disallow: /kids/guide/text
Disallow: /kids/holiday/2001/iraq
Disallow: /kids/holiday/2001/text
Disallow: /kids/holiday/2002/iraq
Disallow: /kids/holiday/2002/text
Disallow: /kids/holiday/iraq
Disallow: /kids/holiday/text
Disallow: /kids/india/iraq
Disallow: /kids/india/text
Disallow: /kids/iraq
Disallow: /kids/media/iraq
Disallow: /kids/media/text
Disallow: /kids/mrscheney/iraq
Disallow: /kids/mrscheney/text
Disallow: /kids/news/iraq
Disallow: /kids/news/text
Disallow: /kids/ofelia/iraq
Disallow: /kids/ofelia/text
Disallow: /kids/pasteggroll/iraq
Disallow: /kids/pasteggroll/text
Disallow: /kids/pets/iraq
Disallow: /kids/pets/text
Disallow: /kids/photoessays/barney/iraq
Disallow: /kids/photoessays/barney/text
Disallow: /kids/photoessays/pets/iraq
Disallow: /kids/photoessays/pets/text
Disallow: /kids/photos/iraq
Disallow: /kids/photos/text
Disallow: /kids/president/iraq
Disallow: /kids/president/text
Disallow: /kids/presidents/iraq
Disallow: /kids/presidents/text
Disallow: /kids/presidentsday/color/iraq
Disallow: /kids/presidentsday/color/text
Disallow: /kids/presidentsday/iraq
Disallow: /kids/presidentsday/text
Disallow: /kids/presidentsday/videos/iraq
Disallow: /kids/presidentsday/videos/text
Disallow: /kids/quiz/text
Disallow: /kids/spotty/iraq
Disallow: /kids/spotty/text
Disallow: /kids/stateoftheunion/iraq
Disallow: /kids/stateoftheunion/text
Disallow: /kids/teeball/iraq
Disallow: /kids/teeball/text
Disallow: /kids/teeball2/iraq
Disallow: /kids/teeball2/text
Disallow: /kids/teeball2003/images/iraq
Disallow: /kids/teeball2003/images/text
Disallow: /kids/teeball2003/iraq
Disallow: /kids/teeball2003/text
Disallow: /kids/teeball3/iraq
Disallow: /kids/teeball3/text
Disallow: /kids/text
Disallow: /kids/timeline/iraq
Disallow: /kids/timeline/text
Disallow: /kids/tour/iraq
Disallow: /kids/tour/text
Disallow: /kids/valentines/quiz/iraq
Disallow: /kids/valentines/quiz/text
Disallow: /kids/vicepresident/iraq
Disallow: /kids/vicepresident/pets/iraq
Disallow: /kids/vicepresident/pets/text
Disallow: /kids/vicepresident/text
Disallow: /kids/westwing/quiz/iraq
Disallow: /kids/westwing/quiz/text
Disallow: /kids/whlife/iraq
Disallow: /kids/whlife/quiz/iraq
Disallow: /kids/whlife/quiz/text
Disallow: /kids/whlife/quiz2/iraq
Disallow: /kids/whlife/quiz2/text
Disallow: /kids/whlife/text
Disallow: /liberation/iraq
Disallow: /liberation/text
Disallow: /library/omb/text
Disallow: /live/iraq
Disallow: /live/tech/iraq
Disallow: /live/tech/text
Disallow: /live/text
Disallow: /march11/coalition/iraq
Disallow: /march11/coalition/text
Disallow: /march11/iraq
Disallow: /march11/text
Disallow: /march11/timeline/iraq
Disallow: /march11/timeline/text
Disallow: /media/iraq
Disallow: /media/text
Disallow: /mrscheney/iraq
Disallow: /mrscheney/news/iraq
Disallow: /mrscheney/news/text
Disallow: /mrscheney/text
Disallow: /national-anthem/iraq
Disallow: /national-anthem/text
Disallow: /navy/iraq
Disallow: /navy/text
Disallow: /nec/iraq
Disallow: /nec/text
Disallow: /news/briefings/iraq
Disallow: /news/briefings/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/briefings/print/text
Disallow: /news/briefings/text
Disallow: /news/freedominitiative/iraq
Disallow: /news/freedominitiative/text
Disallow: /news/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/images/text
Disallow: /news/iraq
Disallow: /news/nominations/iraq
Disallow: /news/nominations/text
Disallow: /news/orders/iraq
Disallow: /news/orders/text
Disallow: /news/press/radio/text
Disallow: /news/press/text
Disallow: /news/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/print/releases/text
Disallow: /news/print/text
Disallow: /news/proclamations/iraq
Disallow: /news/proclamations/text
Disallow: /news/radio/iraq
Disallow: /news/radio/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/radio/print/text
Disallow: /news/radio/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/01/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/01/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/01/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/01/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/01/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/01/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/02/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/02/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/02/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/02/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/02/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/02/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/03/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/03/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/03/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/03/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/03/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/03/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/04/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/04/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/04/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/04/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/04/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/04/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/05/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/05/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/05/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/05/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/05/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/05/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/06/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/06/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/06/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/06/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/06/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/06/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/07/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/07/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/07/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/07/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/07/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/07/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/08/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/08/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/08/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/08/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/08/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/08/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/09/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/09/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/09/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/09/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/09/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/09/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/10/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/10/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/10/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/10/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/10/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/10/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/11/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/11/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/11/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/11/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/11/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/11/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/12/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/12/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/12/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/12/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/12/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/12/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/01/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/01/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/01/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/01/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/01/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/01/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/02/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/02/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/02/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/02/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/02/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/02/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/03/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/03/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/03/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/03/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/03/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/03/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/04/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/04/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/04/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/04/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/04/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/04/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/05/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/05/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/05/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/05/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/05/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/05/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/06/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/06/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/06/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/06/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/06/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/06/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/07/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/07/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/07/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/07/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/07/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/07/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/08/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/08/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/08/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/08/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/08/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/08/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/09/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/09/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/09/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/09/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/09/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/09/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/10/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/10/images/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/10/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/10/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/10/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/10/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/10/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/11/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/11/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/11/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/11/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/11/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/11/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/12/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/12/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/12/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/12/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/12/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2002/12/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/01/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/01/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/01/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/01/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/01/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/01/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/02/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/02/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/02/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/02/powell-slides/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/02/powell-slides/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/02/powell-slides/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/02/powell-slides/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/02/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/02/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/02/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/03/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/03/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/03/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/03/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/03/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/03/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/04/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/04/images/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/04/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/04/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2003/04/print/iraq
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Interesting debate on last night’s Newsnight on BBC2. You can watch it here, until the link changes at 23.30pm today

Here Kirsty Wark presents a discussion between New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and Rupert Murdochs associate, and member of the Hudson Institute, Dr. Irwin Stelzer.

I typed out a transcript it was that interesting…

Kirsty Wark: Well I�m joined now by the aforementioned Paul Krugman who has just a written a book, the Great Unravelling, a selection of his columns on the Bush administration, and by Irwin Stelzer from the Hudson Institute who writes columns for the Sunday Times.

First of all, Paul Krugman, let�s just pick up on one of the last speakers there, that you have delivered a concerted onslaught, em, against Bush�s economics and essentially that he is dishonest and lying to the American people and you�ve been accused of a deep psychological problem in returning to this time and again.

Paul Krugman: Yeah except the trouble is he does lie a lot. Now some of it is actually, y�know, he said repeatedly, that �most of my tax-cuts is going to middle class and working class Americans�, that�s simply untrue. But some of it is things that are literally true but are designed to mislead. So when he said in the State of the Union and repeatedly afterwards, that from his latest tax-cuts 92 million Americans will receive an average tax cut of $1000 a year. That was intended to convey and did convey the impression that typical family was going to get $1000. The fact is, it was going to base that on people not understanding what average means – if Bill Gates walks into a bar the average wealth of the patrons is several billion dollars. But in fact, em, the majority of families got no more than a couple of hundred dollars a year. So it was deeply designed to mislead and they do that all the time.

Kirsty Wark: Bush designed to mislead – Stephanie Flander�s figures show that the richest people get the biggest tax cuts, the rich people are best off by the tax-cuts.

Dr Irwin Stelzer: Well the richest people pay most of the taxes so they would get most of the tax-cuts. I think, I think what you have to keep in mind is that, em, the, ah, someone in American earning $40,000 a year with two children now, under Bush, given the child tax credits, pays no taxes, now that figure was about $25,000 under the previous administration.

Paul Krugman: This is what I talk about, pays no taxes. You mean pays no income taxes.

Dr. Irwin Stelzer: Income tax, that�s what I said.

Paul Krugman: No you didn�t, you said taxes, and this is what I�m talking about. That�s a wonderful line, but in fact 80% of American families pay more payroll taxes than income taxes. So then what you just said was, �pays no taxes�. This is the kind of thing, this campaign to mislead, I�m sorry I�m being very (inaudible). But this is how it works.

Dr. Irwin Stelzer: Well you see, you have to, I mean I read Paul�s book and it�s, it�s, I agree with a lot of things he says about fiscal policy and so on, the problem is that if you read the introduction, it�s a background, the background is that these are liars, you can�t believe anything they say. There are legitimate policy disputes, there are legitimate policy disputes about how you distribute�

Kirsty Wark: revolutionaries �they are not legitimate�

Dr. Irwin Stelzer: Well there�s a sense in which they are radicalists, they do not like the system they have inherited, either in international relations or in economic affairs. There�s nothing wrong with being radical. The problem I think Paul has is that they are radical right.

Paul Krugman: Well no the problem I have is that the radicalism is not sold honestly. Now I have a problem with the radical stuff, but. I�m sorry, I�m being just eh�

Kirsty Wark: No, no. Let�s just eh, let�s go with, so. (Inaudible)�.goes for a big campaign in tax cuts. It grows the economy but it doesn�t actually grow many jobs.

Dr Irwin Stelzer: Well but, well we know two things about jobs. One is that they are a lagging response to a growing economy, I think everybody concedes that. The second, the second issue is we know that a lot the data are very difficult to handle, is that there has been a net loss in jobs under the Bush administration. Look I don�t speak for the Bush administration, the only thing I speak for is to have policy disputes based on policy issues, not based on assumptions that we�re dealing with liars.

Kirsty Wark: What would you do about, eh, the jobless recovery?

Paul Krugman: Look, we�ve spent, this, the, the three elements of this administration have been tax-cuts for the wealthy, tax-cuts for the wealthy and tax-cuts for the wealthy. There are certain things that you always do during a sustained job slump, that they haven�t done. Ah, one of them is aid to State and local governments. Now it turns out that we have�State and local governments are required to have annual balanced budgets, they�ve been laying off school teachers, firemen, policemen. Ordinarily you would expect the Federal government to be providing some aid, they haven�t done that. That�s a major downdraft on jobs. Another thing is, there�s a certain amount of public works spending on tap. A lot of Homeland Security�

Kirsty Wark: A New Deal?

Paul Krugman: Yes except in this case it�s a relatively easy New Deal. That they are not doing inexplicably like rebuilding New York, like defending ports against terrorists attacks. And the last part is temporary tax-cuts directed towards those people who are most likely to spend the money, who are cash-constrained middle and lower-income families.

Kirsty Wark: �rethink?

Dr. Irwin Stelzer: Right, some of it makes sense. I mean I�m not here to defend the Bush administration. But what I am saying is�

Kirsty Wark: But why, tell me, you are not defending it, tell me, why aren�t they doing it?

Dr. Irwin Stelzer: Well first of all, it is true that the history of public works does not show that those are very good jobs, very productive jobs, they add much to national wealth. Second as far as spending the tax cuts, the best data we have, the data aren�t very good, show that about 75% of the tax-cuts were spent. I don�t think anyone denies that this recession would have been much worse and in fact short term tax-cuts would have been helpful in this part of the business cycle. Whether or not they have a plan to eliminate these as the economy recovers, that�s an interesting issue. There I think they do have a problem, they haven�t, they haven�t solved that. They certainly made the recession, as Larry Lindsay said, a lot less severe than it would have been had they not cut taxes.

Kirsty Wark: What about the mismatch between, eh, the deficit and the fact that people don�t care?

Dr. Irwin Stelzer: Well I don�t know people don�t care, its very hard to say. The latest polls show that about 50% of the people feel that things are fine, very good or good. And about 42% feel that they are not so good and so on. I don�t know if people don�t care, I think people have some�what they care about is whether the President cares. That was senior Bush�s big mistake, he didn�t seem to care about the economy. I think at least that this President has shown that he does care, and he cares about jobs. Whether or not people are going to buy into his program, and that will also be affected by Iraq, we�ll see in the elections that, again, that I think Paul has gone a little too far saying that Bush sort of doesn�t really want to have elections any more.

Paul Krugman: I didn�t say that.

Dr. Irwin Stelzer: Yes you said, and possibly eliminate elections.

Kirsty Wark: Lets take it up on the deficit, if people don�t care, that people are unconcerned at the moment about the deficit, then that�s not going to play very well in terms of a democratic, economic platform.

Paul Krugman: I don�t, I don�t want to really, who knows in politics. It�s all packaging. In California the voters were outraged at a deficit that turns out to have been about 10% of State spending and in national politics we are told that they are indifferent to a deficit that�s equal to about 25% of Federal spending. So it�s all how it�s portrayed. Now if it�s treated as a non-issue by the media then maybe it will be a non-issue in the election, but y�know the election doesn�t end history. We�re on a course towards a very serious fiscal crisis, eventually, but not probably next year.

Dr. Irwin Stelzer: I think there is two things wrong with that, with respect. One is the notion that the media are not properly portraying this, from someone who writes for the New York Times which you said lands on a million doorsteps, your column twice a week, is a little far-fetched. I mean the fact is that the media are talking about this. The second thing is the question of whether the long run, in the long run we will solve this deficit as a long run matter, having properly built one up in the short-run, I think just remains to be seen. I mean there�s no, these predictions of what the deficit is going to be ten years from now are unworkable, and neither were the predictions of the surplus.

Paul Krugman: I think it was Margaret Thatcher who said �why do people always expect surprises to be positive�. I think the situation may well turn out to be much worse than we imagine.

Kirsty Wark: Thank you both very much indeed.

This is curious stuff, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States might have to supoena the White House in order to gain access to documents that it believes are being withheld.

According to the cover story on today’s New York Times, Thomas Kean, the head of the Commission is not satisfied with the behaviour of the White House.

Could this have anything to do with an election next year, and information that might come to light involving warnings about planes flying into buildings before 9/11?

I wonder.