GLOBALIZE THIS!

Friday, November 07, 2003

WHY ARE WE PAYING YOU?

Man, $4 Billion doesn't buy what it used to. Sure, Turkey got a nice payoff for standing w/ the Bush administration in the "Coalition of the Bribed and Arm-Twisted" against Iraq early last spring, but now that there is real work to be done (more than just being a ceremonial ally), Turkey's nowhere to be found. The nerve.

Here's what Turkey had to say: '"We said from the beginning that we were not too eager anyway," said Mr Gul.'...aka, sorry we had our fingers crossed, thanks anywat for the windfall.

Turkey's refusal to send troops into Iraq is certainly a blow to Bush, but does little to change most of the world's view of him as an illegitimate emperor of Iraq. Will be interesting to see how this story filters thru the US press. My guess is it won't make it too far, and that instead the press will be lulled into submission by Bush's softer overtures to plant a forest of democracy in the middle east.

I remember someone else who wanted to let 'a thousand flowers bloom.' And that man's name was....

¶ 11/07/2003 05:31:38 PM

BBC: Games at work may be good for you

...next, Dutch scientists hope to study the effects of smoking pot at the office on productivity and job satisfaction. Fascinating.

¶ 11/07/2003 05:10:36 PM

THE MARINES: A Few Good PR Men.

So, as it turns out, that ABC after school special was not the first to misrepresent Pvt. Jessica Lynch's story. The Pentagon beat them to it:

"There was no [sign of] shooting, no bullet inside her body, no stab wound - only road traffic accident. They want to distort the picture. I don't know why they think there is some benefit in saying she has a bullet injury."

Witnesses told us that the special forces knew that the Iraqi military had fled a day before they swooped on the hospital.

"We were surprised. Why do this? There was no military, there were no soldiers in the hospital," said Dr Anmar Uday, who worked at the hospital.

"It was like a Hollywood film. They cried 'go, go, go', with guns and blanks without bullets, blanks and the sound of explosions. They made a show for the American attack on the hospital - action movies like Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan."

....

Sorry, I'm a little slow on this kind of news. Not having a TV, I have to admit I've lost touch with Diane Sawyer.

¶ 11/07/2003 05:07:51 PM

Thursday, November 06, 2003

I'm no psychologist, but I'm guessing that this guy is compensating for being real ugly, perhaps even fugly:

"Johnston, a biopsychologist at New Mexico State University, takes evident pleasure in pointing out that if you were a dung beetle, dung would taste like sugar on your tongue. “Sugar is a molecule, and we have evolved a brain to generate a positive response for its taste.” The same, he says, goes for our perception of beauty—a perfect smile, an ample bosom, a muscular bicep. All, basically, dung."

¶ 11/06/2003 09:01:36 PM

PRESIDENT BUSH TO US ENVIRONMENTAL TROOPS: Lay Down Your Arms

"The lawyers said the change grew out of a recommendation by Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, which urged the government two years ago to study industry complaints about its enforcement actions."

Could this be the same task force that has stonewalled Congressional investigations into potential conflicts of interest between the VP crafting policy with energy industry donors to the Bush campaign? I'll let the all too transparent facts speak for themselves.

¶ 11/06/2003 11:56:49 AM

Wednesday, November 05, 2003

FOX GUARDING THE HEN HOUSE:

John Reed--who as former co-Chairman and senior management at Citigroup (the world's largest financial institution) did such great things as finance the apartheid regime in South Africa, launder money for the Russian Mafia and Mexican drug lords (incidentally with close ties to the Bush family), lend $billions to Latin American dictators and then spark the LDC debt crisis, and pioneer predatory mortgage and credit card lending--is now in charge of defending the hub of the international financial system from the avarice of Wall Street and corporate insiders who want to feast on regular people's retirement investments. I'm not making any value judgements here...it seems values play no role in this discussion.

¶ 11/05/2003 10:45:35 AM

Tuesday, November 04, 2003

National Media White Washes $87 Billion Corporate Giveaway:

NYT and NPR are the only media outlets to have reported that the Senate vote to provide $87 billion in sweetheart corporate contracts to Iraq went down in a 5 to 1 voice vote. The voice vote means that the vote of individual Senators are not recorded in the Congressional register, which means none of them need take a public stand and thus none are accountable for the decisions being made to deepen our involvement in Iraq.

While 94 or so Senators didn't bother to show up, the Senate did previously vote on Oct. 17 on a different $87 billion Iraq spending bill when some 12 Senators--all Dems save for the Independent Jim Jeffords of VT--voted against the bill. This previous bill allocated some of the $87 billion in the form of loans repayable by Iraq, and thus didn't fit President Bush's criteria for a no-strings-attached giveaway, and he threatened veto.

Many Dems on murky ground with the Iraq venture felt safe voting for this measure, because it provided a veneer of real accountability and standing up to the president. For many Reps, too, who are beginning to fear the wrath of their constituents, this first bill made for a good vote.

Monday's bill, though, was one that no one wanted to attach their name to: capitulating to the president, sinking more money into the Iraq quagmire, and taking money away from where it is needed at home: investing in homeland security, education, jobs, healthcare, and so on.

What is ultimately disturbing about this incident is that the Reps and the president can get away with such weaseling and not be called to charge by the Dems in the Senate or the national media, who are mythologized as providing the final check and balance on our democratic system. That NYT and NPR even mentioned a voice vote is somewhat remarkable. The rest of the establsihment, profiteering media simply decided not to report how politicians used this opportunity to shirk the democratic process.

¶ 11/04/2003 11:17:57 PM

Monday, November 03, 2003

Where's the Beef? I just don't get the Howard Dean appeal. I wouldn't buy a used car from this guy. It makes me sick when I hear him wrapping himself up in Paul Wellstone progressive liberalism. This is the same man who wooed a roomful of rabid market fundamentalists at the Cato Institute just a few years back (The Appeal of Howard Dean ). Kind of makes you wonder when the masters of polemic at the WSJ are shilling for the guy ( Confederacy of Dunces) and the rest of the mass media, the same people who brought us Iraq II, give this man a free pass to wear the liberal crown? Not only aint Dean a liberal, he's in bed with the gun nuts.

¶ 11/03/2003 09:30:41 AM