Opinions
Unnecessary use of public money
Shortly after his election, Drew Bedwell brought a proposal to the board of supervisors to limit the employment of former elected officials and county employees. This proposal was Bedwell’s response to his former opponent, Bruce Conklin’s employment with the Nevada County Land Trust.
The proposal has been discussed at no less than 4 BOS meetings and several town hall meetings. After each BOS meeting it is returned to the county council for revision. To date, this unnecessary new law has cost the taxpayers several thousand dollars.
Jun 28, 2003, 08:02
No War For Oil?
Walking down the street of my traditional small town the other day I saw a bumper sticker that said it all: "War is not the answer." I emphasize, a bumper sticker. On a car.
But you see, war is the answer if you insist on a car-dependent, oil-addicted mode of living. Nobody in my crowd of middle-aged, ex-hippie, environmentally enlightened, putative political progressives has opted out of the American drive-in utopia. In fact, all spring they were driving down to the peace marches outside the post office. Now the Law of Perverse Outcomes is biting them on the butt.
Jun 28, 2003, 07:13
Senator R. Byrd: The Road to Coverup is the Road to Ruin
Mr. President, last fall, the White House released a national security strategy that called for an end to the doctrines of deterrence and containment that have been a hallmark of American foreign policy for more than half a century.
This new national security strategy is based upon pre-emptive war against those who might threaten our security.
Such a strategy of striking first against possible dangers is heavily reliant upon interpretation of accurate and timely intelligence. If we are going to hit first, based on perceived dangers, the perceptions had better be accurate.
Jun 26, 2003, 21:41
Rob Levine: The PBS Home Team
Think tank. The words evoke notions of, well, thought, consideration, and wisdom. Some time ago places called Think tanks were just that - institutions that conducted honest research that could reliably be used for conducting debates about public policy. But that was a long time ago.
Full story: Mediatransparency.org
Jun 25, 2003, 06:57
Cover Your Hair
Still no luck in my quest to help the administration find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. But meanwhile, I'm getting the impression that America fought Saddam, and the Islamic fundamentalists won.
For a glimpse of the Islamic state that Iraq may be evolving into, consider the street execution of an infidel named Sabah Ghazali.
Under Saddam Hussein, Christians like Mr. Ghazali, 41, were allowed to sell alcohol and were protected from Muslim extremists. But lately extremists have been threatening to kill anyone selling alcohol. One day last month, two men walked over to Mr. Ghazali as he was unlocking his shop door and shot him in the head — the second liquor store owner they had killed that morning.
An iron curtain of fundamentalism risks falling over Iraq, with particularly grievous implications for girls and women. President Bush hopes that Iraq will turn into a shining model of democracy, and that could still happen. But for now it's the Shiite fundamentalists who are gaining ground.
Full story: New York Times
Jun 25, 2003, 06:54
GM Food Debate Rears its Head Again
Genetically-modified food – good or bad? The familiar debate is once again the source of intense transatlantic friction this week as U.S. President Bush stepped up pressure on the EU to drop its GM ban.
The transatlantic dispute over genetically-modified food flared up this week with U.S. President George W. Bush accusing the European Union of being indirectly responsible for Africa’s hunger plight with its obstructionist stance.
Jun 25, 2003, 06:32
High Court Rules Educational Diversity is a Compelling State Interest
Attorney General Bill Lockyer today commented on the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings in two Michigan affirmative action cases, Gratz et al. v. Bollinger and Grutter V. Bollinger et al:
"The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled there is a 'real world' need to have diversity in our colleges and universities. I am pleased that the court agreed with a brief filed by California, 20 other states and the U.S. Virgin Islands, contending that the states have a compelling interest in ensuring a broad range of students are prepared for the workforce and to meet the country's needs.
Jun 24, 2003, 06:37
U.S. Again Uses Enemy Combatant Label to Deny Basic Rights
The Bush Administration’s designation of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a Qatari national living in the United States, as an "enemy combatant" threatens basic rights safeguards, Human Rights Watch said today. The U.S. Justice Department announced today that it was dropping criminal charges against al-Marri and that he would instead be held without charge by the U.S. military.
Jun 24, 2003, 06:23
A Nation of Victims
George W Bush is generally regarded as a mangler of the English language. What is overlooked is his mastery of emotional language – especially negatively charged emotional language – as a political tool. Take a closer look at his speeches and public utterances, and his political success turns out to be no surprise. It is the predictable result of the intentional use of language to dominate others.
President Bush, like many dominant personality types, uses dependency-creating language. He employs language of contempt and intimidation to shame others into submission and desperate admiration. While we tend to think of the dominator as using physical force, in fact most dominators use verbal abuse to control others. Abusive language has been a major theme of psychological researchers on marital problems, such as John Gottman, and of philosophers and theologians, such as Josef Pieper. But little has been said about the key role it has come to play in political discourse, and in such "hot media" as talk radio and television.
Bush uses several dominating linguistic techniques to induce surrender to his will. The first is empty language. This term refers to broad statements that are so abstract and mean so little that they are virtually impossible to oppose. Empty language is the emotional equivalent of empty calories. Just as we seldom question the content of potato chips while enjoying their pleasurable taste, recipients of empty language are usually distracted from examining the content of what they are hearing. Domina-tors use empty language to conceal faulty generalizations; to ridicule viable alternatives; to attribute negative motivations to others, thus making them appear contemptible; and to rename and "reframe" opposing viewpoints. Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech contained thirty-nine examples of empty language. He used it to reduce complex problems to images that left the listener relieved that George W Bush was in charge. Rather than explaining the relationship between malpractice insurance and skyrocketing healthcare costs, Bush summed up: "No one has ever been healed by a frivolous lawsuit." The multiple fiscal and monetary policy tools that can be used to stimulate an economy were downsized to: "The best and fairest way to make sure Americans have that money is not to tax it away in the first place." The controversial plan to wage another war on Iraq was simplified to: "We will answer every danger and every enemy that threatens the American people." In an earlier study, I found that in the 2000 presidential debates Bush used at least four times as many phrases containing empty language as Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush Senior or Gore had used in their debates.
Full story: AlterNet
Jun 24, 2003, 06:21
William Rivers Pitt: Slaughtergate
His name was Paul Nakamura, and he was from Santa Fe Springs, California. Nakamura was an American soldier, part of an ambulance crew in Iraq transporting an injured soldier for medical attention on June 19 when the ambulance was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. Nakamura was killed in this attack. He was 21 years old.
His name was Michael Deuel, and he was from Nemo, South Dakota. Deuel was an American soldier ordered to guard a propane distribution center in Iraq. He was shot on June 18 while performing this guard duty and died of his wounds. He was 21 years old.
Jun 23, 2003, 07:25
Media Silent on Clark's 9/11 Comments
Sunday morning talk shows like ABC's This Week or Fox News Sunday often make news for days afterward. Since prominent government officials dominate the guest lists of the programs, it is not unusual for the Monday editions of major newspapers to report on interviews done by the Sunday chat shows.
Jun 22, 2003, 07:30
June 40th anniversary of ban on school prayer
Forty years ago this month the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that struck down government-sponsored prayer and Bible reading in the public schools, but also sparked widespread misunderstanding among the American people about the role of religion and public education.
Jun 21, 2003, 10:08
I Just Pulled the Trigger
At first glance they appear to be the archetypal Band Of Brothers of Hollywood myth, brave and honest men united in common purpose.
But a closer look at these American GIs, sweltering in the heat of an unwelcoming Iraq, reveals the glazed eyes and limp expressions of those who have witnessed a war they do not understand and have begun to resent. By their own admission these American soldiers have killed civilians without hesitation, shot wounded fighters and left others to die in agony.
What they told me, in a series of extraordinary interviews, will make uncomfortable reading for US and British politicians and senior military staff desperate to prevent the liberation of Iraq turning into a quagmire of Vietnam proportions, where the behaviour of troops feeds the hatred of an occupied people.
Sergeant First Class John Meadows revealed the mindset that has led to hundreds of innocent Iraqi civilians being killed alongside fighters deliberately dressed in civilian clothes. "You can't distinguish between who's trying to kill you and who's not," he said. "Like, the only way to get through s*** like that was to concentrate on getting through it by killing as many people as you can, people you know are trying to kill you. Killing them first and getting home."
These GIs, from Bravo Company of the 3/15th US Infantry Division, are caught in an impossible situation. More than 40 of their number have been killed by hostile forces since 1 May - when President Bush declared major military operations were over - and the number of hit-and-run attacks is on the increase. They face a resentful civilian population and, hiding among it, a number of guerrilla fighters still loyal to the old regime. A lone Iraqi sniper nicknamed The Hunter is believed to have claimed his sixth American victim this week in a suburb of Baghdad.
Full story: The Evening Standard
Jun 21, 2003, 08:25
Democracy's Trust Fund
Within weeks of passing a fiscally reckless $350 billion tax break primarily benefiting millionaires, Congress is at it again. The next stop on the ongoing "tax break offensive": permanent elimination of the estate tax.
The estate tax is a wealth inheritance tax, which exempts more than 98 percent of Americans. Only estates over $1 million for individuals and $2 million for couples are taxed today. The threshold rises incrementally to $3.5 million for individuals and $7 million for couples in 2009 -- exempting all but the most massive one-half of one percent of estates.
On June 18 the House of Representatives voted 264 to 163 to sink the estate tax, with 41 Democrats joining all but four of the Republican majority to sink the estate tax. The vote was virtually the same as a year ago.
The fate of the estate tax hangs on the Senate, where pro-repeal forces have been unable to muster the 60 votes they need to pass permanent repeal. There is more receptiveness to a reform proposal there, as complete repeal efforts will remain stalled for the foreseeable future.
Full story: Tom Paine
Jun 21, 2003, 07:39
The Other Japanese Occupation
As we enter a dramatically altered world, both internationally and domestically, it is only natural that we look to history for bearings, points of comparison, glimmerings of the familiar. In these predictable uses of the past, "Japan" has emerged as a small trope for both horror and hope. Thus, September 11 became our generation's Pearl Harbor (headline writers across America turned, almost instinctively, to "Day of Infamy!"). Our new global enemies have been declared an "axis of evil" (with North Korea presumably replacing the Japan of the 1930s). And now we have the sanguine scenario of the democratization of "occupied Japan" after World War II as a model for post-hostilities Iraq.
Full story: Tom Dispatch
Jun 20, 2003, 07:08
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