The Great White Hope

post from Daily Kos on 27 December 2006 10:23:36 PM. © Daily Kos

Getting the Bush administration to recognize reality on any front can be difficult. When it comes to acknowledging the human contribution to global warming -- a fact that puts an unfortunate spin on Bush's pals in the fossil fuel business -- reality is even harder to find. While Bush has often paid lip service to biofuels, even mentioning ideas like cellulosic ethanol, these quick mentions have served as smokescreens for billions of dollars in government support for industries that are already the most profitable in the world.

One of areas where Bush and the rest of the Republicans have been most adamant is in resisting regulation of CO2 production. Not only did they dismiss any idea of joining Kyoto, they've also buried ideas of instituting domestic limits, opting instead for "voluntary" limitations.

So who could bring Bush to the table and force him to confront the damage that global warming is doing to the world? How about the world's largest land predator?

The Bush Administration conceded yesterday that global warming is threatening the polar bear with extinction, the first time that it has singled out climate change as a grave threat to the Arctic and its most iconic inhabitant.

In a move that will have profound consequences not only for the polar bear but potentially for America’s polluting industries, the Administration declared last night that the polar bear should be added to its endangered species list because of the drastic melting of its habitat.

While protecting many endangered species can be done by limiting access to certain areas, or restricting hunting, there's a recognition that saving the polar bear requires saving its habit -- the mass of floating sea ice on which the bears live and hunt.

By placing the polar bear under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, the US Government must prevent any activity that could further jeopardise the animal or its habitat. Environmentalists hope that the move will therefore compel the Administration to force US industries into cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

This is only the first step in what is bound to be a long legal process, but it's also a significant step that includes an acknowledgment that global warming is a direct threat to wildlife habitat.

It also won't hurt to have the polar bear as an icon of the global warming threat. The animated polar bear, lost in an ice-free arctic, was one of the most memorable images from Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, and it will serve well in publicizing this issue.

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Ford disagreed with Bush, Cheney, Rummy on Iraq

post from AMERICAblog on 27 December 2006 09:41:00 PM. © AMERICAblog

The former President did an embargoed interview with Bob Woodward back in July of 2004. The Post also has the audio of the interviews on the website. Ford was none too happy with Bush and his former staffers, Cheney and Rummy, about Iraq. A lot of people disagreed with this crowd, but didn't speak out. A lot of people are dead because of that:

Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. "I don't think I would have gone to war," he said a little more than a year after President Bush had launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford's own administration.

In a four-hour conversation at his house in Beaver Creek, Colo., Ford "very strongly" disagreed with the current president's justifications for invading Iraq and said he would have pushed alternatives, such as sanctions, much more vigorously. In the tape-recorded interview, Ford was critical not only of Bush but also of Vice President Cheney -- Ford's White House chief of staff -- and then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who served as Ford's chief of staff and then his Pentagon chief.

"Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction," Ford said. "And now, I've never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do."

This morning, Bush said Ford was a "man of complete integrity." Cheney said Ford was the embodiment of "decency, integrity, and devotion to duty." Certainly a man with those characteristics couldn't be wrong when he said the Bush and Cheney were mistaken about the war with Iraq. The White House staff has probably already started the attack on Ford's character now that they know he spoke so candidly about Bush's biggest failure.

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Ford "disagreed" with Bush, Cheney, Rummy on Iraq

post from AMERICAblog on 27 December 2006 09:41:00 PM. © AMERICAblog

Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. "I don't think I would have gone to war," he said a little more than a year after President Bush had launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford's own administration.

In a four-hour conversation at his house in Beaver Creek, Colo., Ford "very strongly" disagreed with the current president's justifications for invading Iraq and said he would have pushed alternatives, such as sanctions, much more vigorously. In the tape-recorded interview, Ford was critical not only of Bush but also of Vice President Cheney -- Ford's White House chief of staff -- and then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who served as Ford's chief of staff and then his Pentagon chief.

"Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction," Ford said. "And now, I've never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do."

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Quote of the day: Alexander Cockburn offers the
definitive word on "our greatest president"

post from DownWithTyranny! on 27 December 2006 09:39:00 PM. © DownWithTyranny!

"Here at CounterPunch it has always been our position that Gerald Ford was America's greatest President. Transferring the Hippocratic injunction from the medical to the political realm, he did the least possible harm."

--Alexander Cockburn, in his "Farewell to Our Greatest President," on his CounterPunch website

http://counterpunch.org/

December 27, 2006

Adieu, Gerald Ford

Farewell to Our Greatest President

By ALEXANDER COCKBURN

We bid a sad adieu to Gerald Ford. Here at CounterPunch it has always been our position that Gerald Ford was America's greatest President. Transferring the Hippocratic injunction from the medical to the political realm, he did the least possible harm. Under Ford's tranquil hand the nation relaxed after the hectic fevers of the Nixon years. And, of course, it was Ford who finally pulled the US troops out of Vietnam.

As a visit to the Ford presidential library discloses, the largest military adventure available for display was the foolish U.S. response to the capture of the U.S. container ship Mayaguez by the Khmer Rouge on May 12, 1975. As imperial adventures go, and next to the vast graveyards across the planet left by Ford's predecessors and successors, it was small potatoes.

Ford was surrounded by bellicose advisors such as his secretary of state, Henry Kissinger; his vice president, Nelson Rockefeller; his chief of staff, and later secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld and his presidential assistant, Dick Cheney. The fact that this rabid crew were only able to persuade Ford to give the green light for Indonesia's invasion of East Timor--an appalling decision to be sure -- is tribute to Ford's pacific instincts and deft personnel management. Unlike George W. Bush, Ford was of humane temper and could mostly hold in check his bloodthirsty counselors.

Kissinger was part of the furniture when Ford took over, after Nixon's resignation on August 8, 1974. With latitude to chose, Ford made sensible selections, none more fruitful than his Attorney General, Edward Levy [sic--it's actually "Levi"], who in turn prompted Ford to nominate John Stevens to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he has long distinguished himself and dignified Ford's choice by being the most humane and progressive justice.

As a percentage of the federal budget, social spending crested in the Ford years. Never should it be forgotten that Jimmy Carter campaigned against Ford as the prophet of neo-liberalism, precursor of the Democratic Leadership Council, touting "zero-based budgeting".

If Ford had beaten back Carter's challenge in 1976, the neo-con crusades of the mid to late Seventies would have been blunted by the mere fact of a Republican occupying the White House. Reagan, most likely, would have returned to his slumbers in California after his abortive challenge to Ford for the nomination in Kansas in 1976.

Instead of an weak southern Democratic conservative in agreement to almost every predation by the military industrial complex, we would have had a Midwestern Republican, thus a politician far less vulnerable to the promoters of the New Cold War.

Would Ford have rushed to fund the Contras and order their training by Argentinian torturers? Would he have sent the CIA on its most costly covert mission, the $3.5 billion intervention in Afghanistan? The nation would have been spared the disastrous counsels of Zbigniev Brzezinski.

Those who may challenge this assessment of Ford's imperial instincts should listen to the commentators on CNN, belaboring the scarce cold commander-in-chief for timidity and lack of zeal in prosecuting the Cold War. By his enemies shall we know him.

During Ford's all-too-brief tenure a mood of geniality was the rule. Even the attempted assassinations of the president by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme and Sara Moore, in September, 1975, had a slapdash, light-hearted timbre. The arts flourished, as is attested by Vicki Carr's frequent appearance in the photographic record of White House galas.

At the side of America's greatest president was America's most sympathetic First Lady, Betty, whose enduring memorial is the Betty Ford Clinic, home port for beleagured boozers. We send our sympathies to the former First Lady.

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Jailed for Blogging

post from Crooks and Liars on 27 December 2006 09:33:10 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Int'l Herald Tribune:In a cramped jail cell in Alexandria, Egypt, sits a soft-spoken 22- year-old student. Kareem Amer was sent to prison for over a month for allegedly "defaming the president of Egypt" and "highlighting inappropriate aspects that harm the reputation of Egypt." Where did Amer commit these supposed felonies? On his weblog.If the Alexandria [...]

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Tell me again . . . Which Ones are the Enemy

post from Firedoglake on 27 December 2006 09:00:41 PM. © Firedoglake

While the President considers how best to sell the country on escalating the Iraq war, and Democrats like Joe Biden try to figure out how to counter that strategy, it would be nice if someone could identify the good guys from the bad guys. Who,[...]

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Homeland Security unable to secure handguns in
vault

post from AMERICAblog on 27 December 2006 08:31:00 PM. © AMERICAblog

If only we could say "unbelievable" but moments like this are just too common at DHS.

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The Best Movies of 2006

Yup, it's that time of the year again. Everyone's on holiday and getting in that last bit of holiday cheer in before they adopt (and then forget) New Year's resolutions and get back to the grind of work. The inevitable list-making has begun. We'll start with movies today.I've compiled a few different lists of the top [...]

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The Polar Bear Mystery

The Bush Administration has acknowledged that polar bears are endangered by the melting ice caps, even though global warming isn’t happening. Well, OK, maybe it’s happening, but carbon dioxide emissions aren’t causing it. The Bush Administration says so.While the geniuses in Washington work on this problem, do your bit and adopt a polar bear today.

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STILL NOT TOO LATE TO HIRE PARIS HILTON TO HOST
YOUR NEW YEARS EVE PARTY-- AND IF YOU'RE A CEO WITH A TRIAL COMIN' UP, DO WE HAVE A COOL IDEA FOR YOU!

You probably have noticed me using the DMI grades when I talk about congressmen. The policy institute uses a diverse basket of legislative bills to analyze how friendly or unfriendly our solons have been to middle class interests. Yesterday, for example, I was trying to demonstrate how reactionary Charlie Melancon (D-LA) has been. I'm also on a DMI bloggers advisory board. Today they published the 2006 Injustice Index and I thought I'd share some quick facts and figures from the report with you, you know-- the kinds of stuff you can throw out an a New Year's Eve Party.

Wages that an average CEO earns before lunchtime: more than a full-time minimum wage worker makes in a year. The ratio of the average U.S. CEO?s annual pay to a minimum wage worker?s is now 821:1. [Nobody beats the U.S. when it comes to the difference in pay between CEOs and the average worker. In 2000, on average, CEOs at 365 of the largest publicly traded U.S. companies earned $13.1 million, or 531 times what the typical hourly employee took home. The corresponding ratio in 1980 was only 42, and in 1990 it was 85. As one source has put it, "in 2000 a CEO earned more in one workday (there
are 260 in a year) than what the average worker earned in 52 weeks. In 1965, by contrast, it took a CEO two weeks to earn a worker's annual pay". US CEOs' pay rose 313 percent from 1990 to 2003, an advocacy group UFE said. By contrast, the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index rose 242 percent and corporate profits gained 128 percent.]

The total compensation in 2005 of Barry Diller of IAC/Interactive, the highest paid CEO in the US today: $469 million. Additional amount that Mr. Diller received in new stock options ?to motivate Mr. Diller for future performance?: $7.6 million. [The bright side of that coin is that at least there doesn't appear to me any anti-gay discrimination way at the top of the corporate food chain.]

Percentage of Americans who feel chronically overworked: 30

Years of unused vacation time that American workers collectively give back to their employers each year: 1.6 million. [Ken, are you paying attention?]

Percentage of women earning less than $40,000 per year who receive no paid vacation time at all: 37

Payment per episode that Donald Trump receives to host The Apprentice: $3,000,000

Average amount that companies spend to recruit a new CEO from outside the company: $2,000,000

Probability that the newly hired CEO will either quit or be fired within the first eighteen months: 1 in 2

Estimated number of people lined up outside the new M&M store set to open in Times Square responding to ads for ?on-the-spot? hiring for 200 jobs, 65 of which were fulltime: between 5,000 and 6,000

Starting salary that drew them there: $10.75 per hour

Fee Paris Hilton is seeking to host a New Year?s Eve party in NYC, Miami, or L.A.: $100,000 plus a private jet. [DWT one-time art director, Adam Fox, once begged me for tickets to see Paris host a promotional party in Miami. I warned him that she messes up worse than Bush but he was trying to seduce and impress someone and felt a Paris Hilton party was just what the doctor ordered. Of course he was furious after the fact, when she was rude, drunk and disorderly, arrived late and left early, cursing out the attendees and calling them losers. What did she expect? I mean, really, who but a terminal loser would actually voluntarily go to a Paris Hilton party? Even for free.]

Amount that Ms. Hilton is set to inherit from the Hilton Hotel fortune: $350 million.

Number of times that Congress has reduced the estate tax since it last raised the federal minimum wage: 9.

Longest period in which the federal minimum wage has not been increased: 1997?2006. [Do you know anyone who has ever voted for a Republican member of Congress?]

Number of workers who would directly benefit from an increase in the minimum wage: 5.6 million.

Number of very large estates that would directly benefit from a reduction in the estate tax: 8,200.

Highest price per custom-fitted, handmade power suit in Armani?s new line, which hopes to respond to what ex-Gucci head designer Tom Ford calls ?a lot of pent-up demand for true luxury [from men who] are getting rich first, and they want to deck themselves out before they deck out their wives?: $20,000.

Number of households using credit to cover basic living expenses: 7 in 10.

Amount in tax breaks and subsidies that last year?s energy bill paid out to the gas and oil industry during a period of record profits and higher prices at the pump: $6 billion.

Campaign donations that Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who voted for the energy bill, received from the oil and gas industry: $500,000, making her the top recipient of oil contributions in the 2006 election cycle.

Percentage of U.S. workers who are confident they will be able to live comfortably after retirement: 68.

Percentage who have saved less than $25,000 toward their retirement: 53. [Yes, you are meant to try to correlate this percentage with the percenatge preceding it. Let us know if you get anywhere.]

Percent of African-American and Latino families that have zero or negative net worth, respectively: 31 and 38.

Date on which USA Today reported that Dr. Anthony Griffin of the Beverly HillsCosmetic Surgery Institute, who appears on the ABC program Extreme Makeover, predicted that CEOs will lead a surge in male cosmetic surgery because, he says, "for instance,executives on trial for corporate scandals would improve their chances for acquittal with a makeover just before trial": November 4, 2006.

Date on which the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its all-time high: October 26, 2006.

Decrease in percentage of Americans who own stocks from 2004 to 2006, the first such decline on record: 51.9% to 48.6%.

Total Wal-Mart received in government subsidies, sometimes called ?corporate welfare? by activists, in 2005: $3.75 billion.

Percent of the decline in welfare caseloads that is due to TANF programs failing to serve families that are poor enough to qualify, rather than due to a reduction in the number of families poor enough to qualify for aid, in the ten years since "welfare reform": 57 [Bill Clinton, there was a lot worse about him than Monica whateverhernamewas.]

Projected total in Christmas bonuses that investment banks in New York City will pay out in 2006: $23.9 billion.

Estimated additional amount U.S. workers would receive annually if all employers obeyed workplace laws: $19 billion.

Ratio of compensation of CEOs of publicly traded defense companies to privates before September 11th, 2001: 190 to 1.

Ratio in 2006: 308 to 1. (So this is what Bush was talking about when he said the economy was growning!]

Percentage increase in out-of-pocket medical expenses for the average American in the past 5 years: 93

Estimated amount the U.S. would save each year on paperwork if it adopted single-payer health care: $161,000,000,000. [What what about Doctorbill Frists' family? Don'y you want them to be billionaires?]

Date on which incoming Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson announced ?Amid this country?s strong economic expansion, many Americans simply aren?t feeling the benefits. Many aren?t seeing significant increases in their take-home pay. Their increases in wages are being eaten up by high energy prices and rising health care costs, among others?: August 2, 2006.

According to exit polls in the midterm elections, percentage of Americans who think life for the next generation will be about the same or worse respectively: 28, 40.

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