Re: Social Security -- A Resolution for the Resolute

Love that :) well written and to the point :)

Meanwhile, back in Iraq --

Total coalition fatalities in Iraq have now reached 1700:

U.S. 1524
U.K. 86
Other 90

Latest Fatality: Mar 21, 2005

http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx

The wagon's are circling........

3/23/2005
Exclusive: GOP scrubs lists of fundraising events as heat grows on leader Tom DeLay
Filed under: General— site admin @ 12:22 pm

Exclusive: GOP wipes fundraiser list as heat rises on DeLay

By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor

As attention grows on campaign fundraising and the relationship between top Republicans and a lobbyist under multiple federal investigations, the Republican National Congressional Committee has erased all online records of fundraising events for the last three years, RAW STORY has learned.
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=207

nancyjane---

i don't see how they can exorcise their snake-pit by deleting a web site, but if they think that deleting the truth makes it go away, then let them try it. people have started to pay attention, because when something only smells mildly bad, a bit of air freshener might cover it up. now the carcass is beginning to go into full rot, and that decomposing smell is getting much too hard to ignore. if people really care about the fate of their republican party, they are going to have to get rid of that stench and fumigate. i'll be glad to help them.

Julian Zelizer, a Boston University history professor who specializes in congressional trends, said a conservative Republican movement that "built itself in the 1970s around attacking government has become the party of big government since 2000."

"Starting with the war against terrorism and climaxing with Congress intervening in this case, we see a GOP that is quite comfortable flexing the muscle of Washington, and a Democratic Party which is increasingly finding itself in favor of limiting government," Zelizer said

Interesting. Republicans are now the party of big(intrusive) govt.

The Repugs are going to try one last time to push their SS plan. I am worried that by not having an alternative plan we will end up loosing the debate.
To me, the issue is an easy fix and the Dem plan needs to get out there.

We should counter with the train wreck that is unfunded Medicaid costs to the states.

It seems like the Dem leadership has decided to let BushCo punch himself out on SS.

Got this as a forwarded email, but it's so good that I thought I'd share it.

***********

Members of Congress obviously value Terri Schiavo's life. After all, they called a special vote to make sure that her right to food would be protected. But what about all the other Americans who don't have food or health care—where's the congressional intervention for them? Heather Boushey of the Center For Economic and Policy Research questions if the debate over "dying with dignity" has overshadowed the larger question of why so many Americans don't have the basics to live with dignity.

Heather Boushey is an economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.

*********

On Friday, a woman in Florida went hungry. Hundreds protested and sent letters to Congress. Congressional leaders became so enraged that they have called a special vote to ensure that this woman is provided with food. Congressional intervention is necessary, they argue, because access to food is her “constitutional right.”

On Friday, a woman in Florida went hungry. No one protested. The Senate was so indifferent to her and her family’s hunger that they voted down a measure that would have prevented $2.8 billion in cuts to the Food Stamp program over the next five years.

While Congress has spent the past few days making heroic efforts to restore the feeding tubes to Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who has been in a vegetative state for 15 years, they have also been debating the federal budget. While Terri Schiavo’s case has sparked passion about her right to live ­and her right to health care and food­, there is no passion for the millions of Americans who go hungry every day or the millions more who lack access to basic health care.

President Bush cut his vacation short to return to Washington so he could sign into law legislation that would restore Terri Schiavo’s feeding tubes. Last month, President Bush proposed a budget to Congress that would cut the Food Stamp program by $500 million over the next five years, leaving more than 300,000 low-income people without food assistance every month.

The proposed budget includes large cuts in federal programs providing food, housing, education and medical assistance to low-income families. It includes cuts in funding to those with HIV/AIDS by $550 million over the next five years. It ends Housing and Urban Development’s 30-year pledge to produce accessible supportive housing for people with disabilities. It will leave 670,000 fewer individuals on the Women, Infants and Children food program by 2010.

The proposed budget would reduce Medicaid's budget by $45 billion dollars over the next 10 years, leaving an estimated 1.2 million fewer children with health care each year between 2006 and 2010. This will mean that in Terri Schiavo’s home state of Florida, 67,400 fewer children will have access to Medicaid each year. The Senate has acted on its conscience and rejected the president's proposed Medicaid cuts; however, the House has yet to do so.

These proposed budget cuts will have devastating effects on the ability of millions of families to meet their basic needs.

The Food Stamp program allows hungry families to purchase food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that 11.2 percent of all U.S. households are “food insecure;” of these, 3.9 million households suffer from food insecurity so severe that they go hungry.

Last year, nearly 70 million Americans went without health insurance for some time during the year. Children were more likely to go without it than adults. Medicaid provides health insurance coverage for one in seven children. Since only half of all children (53.0 percent in 2003) receive health insurance from an employer-based health insurance plan, Medicaid plays an important role in ensuring that millions of children have access to the health care system.

Having access to health insurance can mean the difference between life and death. It's been estimated that more than 18,000 people die each year in the United States because they lack access to preventative health care services or appropriate care. Over the long term, those without health insurance have a 25 percent greater probability of dying.

The Schiavo case has sparked debate over what it means to die with dignity and raised moral questions about who decides when a person lives or dies. But the case should also spark debate over what it means to live with dignity.

Why is it that a woman who cannot speak and cannot move should not be denied her constitutional right to food and water, when every day, men, women and children go hungry—without a right to food? Why is Terri Schiavo’s case more important than theirs?

Congress wants you to know that they value Terri Schiavo’s life. This does not seem to mean, however, that they value the lives of millions of other Americans denied their constitutional rights to food and health care.

battlebob:

I see the SS debate much as Bill Clinton's failed healthcare plan. You don't remember anyone including Bob Dole sticking his neck out there to help Bill Clinton with a Republican plan, or is my memory incorrect here.

For once Dems are handling a political issue,SS correctly. Once Bush announces he failed, Dems can then announce that since FDR and the Dem Paty were totally responsible for creating SS they are the only ones that Americans should trust to fix it and then propose a very modest plan to extend it. Hey since the evangelical rightpredicts Armagageden by 2055 why should we worry about making it solvent for 75 more years anyways.

"Re-electing Sanoturm is the GOP's top priority in 2006, according to Ken Mehlman."
His defeat should be our's.

For once, Dems are handling a political issue,SS correctly. Once Bush announces he has failed, Dems can then announce that since FDR and the Dem Party were totally responsible for creating SS,they are the only ones that Americans should trust to fix it. They should then propose a very modest plan to extend it. Hey since the evangelical right predicts Armageden by 2055, why should we worry about making it solvent for 75 more years anyways.

That is very good Cyrano. Thank you for sharing that. And now there is this we learn:

Add this to the list of "Things We Have Always Known And Can Now Prove"

Senator Doctor Doctor Cat Killer Doctor Bill Frist is an opportunistic lying heartless creep who would clamber over fifteen years of grief of a family tragedy to forward his greedy little agenda and Presidential aspirations.

Now the proof of this is out there:

Frist wrote a book in 1989 called Transplant where he advocated changing the definition of "brain dead" to include anencephalic babies. Anencephalic babies are in the same state as Terri Schiavo except that she suffered a physical trauma that put her into a vegetative state while the anencephalic babies are born that way.

This remarkable discovery buttresses the argument that Frist's advocacy for Schiavo is wholly political. How does he explain this remarkable inconsistency? Here is the relevant passage on Frist as quoted by the New Republic in 2003:

"And, although Frist writes frequently about the ethical issues surrounding transplants--for example, the question of when death begins--he approaches these issues in starkly scientific terms, with little patience for religious objections.

"Near the end of the book, for example, Frist suggests changing the legal definition of 'brain death' to include anencephalic babies, who are born with a fatal neurological disorder but show just the slightest hint of brain-stem activity. Such a change would make it possible to harvest their organs for transplant--something the Catholic Church and pro-life groups oppose. 'Three thousand anencephalic babies were born a year, enough to solve our demand many times over--but we never used them.'"

Via Atrios, credit DC Inside Scoop

What is there left to say. Scumbag and bastard just don't seem strong enough.

"Re-electing Sanoturm is the GOP's top priority in 2006, according to Ken Mehlman."

His defeat should be our's.

Posted by: Ira at March 23, 2005 02:38 PM

Bullseye.

Spinnaker,

Of course, you know that Frist will claim that he had "a change of heart" and no longer supports that position.

That would likely prove an inaccurate statement, inasmuch as you have to have a heart to have a change of heart. Frist is a hollow man. I wouldn't be surprised if a vampire had gotten to him somewhere in childhood...

In a news conference just concluded in Florida, Gov. Jeb has announced a NEW diagnosis by Dr. William Cheshire. The doctor has announced that Terri is not PVS, but in a minimally conscious state. ALL the other docs were wrong!!! Imagine that.

And, they are also calling for a new investigation of the allegations of abuse, with the idea that Terri may need the protection of the welfare department.

The disinformation campaign is on.

Please people, isn't it time that we recognize the 'vultures of life' trying to use this young woman as a shield and a stepping stone for their own protection and aspirations?

Have they no shame at all? (That is a hypothetical question, as I do know what the answer is.)

let's see, polls are showing support for Bu$h's Social Security "plan" waning badly, time to raise the fear level... (notice who the 6 Trustee's are in bottom 2 paragraphs)

Social Security fund may run out sooner
New trustees report: Latest estimates move up by one year date for trust fund exhaustion.

March 23, 2005: 1:05 PM EST
By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN/Money senior writer

http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/23/retirement/2005_trusteesreport/index.htm?cnn=yes

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – The Social Security trustees, in their 2005 report released Wednesday, offered an earlier date for trust fund exhaustion and revised upward estimates of the shortfalls facing the system over the next 75 years.

They also revised upward the shortfall facing the system over what's known as the infinite time horizon, a measure often used by the Bush administration to emphasize the system's troubles but which the American Academy of Actuaries deems "less reliable."

Based on revised assumptions, the trustees now estimate that by 2041 the system's trust fund will be exhausted, meaning the system will only be able to pay out a percentage of the benefits currently promised.

That date is one year earlier than the 2042 date the trustees estimated in their 2004 report.

They also now estimate that by 2017 the system will not be taking in enough in payroll taxes to pay all benefits promised and will need to tap the special-issue bonds that make up its trust fund. That date was moved up from 2018.

The amount of the shortfall facing the system over the next 75 years was revised upward to $4 trillion from $3.7 trillion.

One way to measure that shortfall is to calculate how much you would need to raise payroll taxes to keep the system solvent for the next 75 years. Based on the latest numbers, the payroll tax would have to be raised 1.92 percentage points to 14.32 percent of wages. Currently, the payroll tax rate is 12.4 percent, half of which is paid by employers and half by employees.

Another way to measure it is in terms of benefits, which would need to be cut by 13 percent to achieve solvency over 75 years.

Over the infinite time horizon, the trustees now estimate the system will have an unfunded obligation of $11.1 trillion, up from the $10.4 trillion estimated in 2004.

A shortfall measured over an infinite time horizon has limited value to policymakers, according to the nonpartisan American Academy of Actuaries. "Many observers question the reliability or usefulness of calculating Social Security's unfunded obligation over 75 years. Calculations over an infinite period are even less reliable," an Academy report noted.

Are the changes a big deal?
That the date for trust fund exhaustion has changed by a year is not surprising, given that the trustees annually reassess their assumptions on the basis of new economic numbers.

Due to the effects of compounding over a long time horizon, "making tiny changes (in assumptions) can result in a two-year difference 40 years out," said actuary Bruce Schobel. "But that's not a fundamental change in the picture."

From 1979 to 1988, Schobel served as an actuary and senior advisor for policy at the Social Security Administration. Currently, he is chairman of the Social Security committee for the American Council of Life Insurers.

The Social Security Administration, in a release about the trustees' findings, characterized the new numbers as evidence of "little change in the Social Security solvency."

Four of the six Social Security trustees are members of the president's administration, who are appointed because of their position in the federal government: They are: John Snow, treasury secretary; Elaine Chao, labor secretary; Mike Leavitt, secretary of health and human services; and Jo Anne B. Barnhart, commissioner of Social Security.

In addition, there are two outside trustees appointed by the president: economists John Palmer, and Thomas R. Saving, who also served on the president's Commission to Strengthen Social Security.

We can debate whether this would be the best way to deal with long term funding issues for Social Security -- as long as Republicans are running around calling the trust fund a "myth" it quite clearly isn't. And, in any case, I'd prefer at least a modest increase in the income cap if we're going that way. However, here's the economy-destroying measure which would make the program able to pay fully promised benefits for the next 75 years:

Assuming the Trustees' intermediate assumptions are realized, the deficit of 1.92 percent of payroll indicates that financial adequacy of the program for the next 75 years could be restored if the Social Security payroll tax were immediately and permanently increased from its current level of 12.4 percent (combined employee-employer shares) to 14.32 percent.

As I said, I don't support doing that because a) "pre-funding" is a sucker's game as long as Zombie Greenspan and his Republican Acolytes roam the Earth and b) it makes the tax code more regressive. But, nonetheless it's pretty damn painless.

via Atrios, who actually IS an economist. As opposesd to the Congressional morons who just think they are, when they are not practicing video medicine.

Spinnaker,

There's another court battle ongoing over federal restrictions on abortions for women when the fetus is anencephalic. An article today notes that this will be big news when it goes back to court:

Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Wife of sailor battles U.S. over abortion
Navy won't pay for procedure for woman who carried severely brain-damaged fetus
By MIKE BARBER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

When she learned that she was carrying a baby with almost no brain and no chance of survival, a devastated young Navy wife from Everett pleaded with a federal court in Seattle to force her military medical program to pay for an abortion.

"I could not imagine going through five more months of pregnancy, knowing that the baby will never survive or have any kind of life whatsoever," the woman, then 19, told a federal judge in August 2002. "I understand that even if the baby is born alive, it will probably die after it takes a few breaths. I am really terrified of the prospect of giving birth, then watching the baby die."

She won her case and had the abortion. But more than two years later, the federal government continues to fight her, trying to get the woman and her sailor husband to pay back the $3,000 the procedure cost and trying to cast in stone a ban on government-funded abortions.

More:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/217156_janedoe23.html

The one time I heard Elizabeth Edwards speak during the campaign, her response to a questioner who wanted all federal funding of abortions banned was, "I'm afraid I can't help you." She went on to say that freedom of choice is meaningless "if you have to have a dollar in your pocket."

Spinnaker----

do you mean to say those congressional morons are not economists, they just play one in DC?

Jeez--i wonder when they'll all do their AMEX commercials? A fitting payback for that lovely bankruptcy bill, wouldn't you say?

tutterfly:

Jeb ought to put the Florida CPS on this case. You know with their wonderful track record.
The Washington Post reported today that there is a backlash starting. Let Jeb/Santorum and Frist twirl in the wind.

How can someone here explain to me that while having some of the higher fees (SS, retirement pensions... for the benefit of a large majority) French can still save 20% of their income? Since 1945 the figure never moved.
What is wrong with you or us?

Ira--

Thank you for reminding me. Florida CPS is the one that routinely misplaces their clients isn't it?

Does anyone doubt that the Schiavo matter was always all about abortion i.e. culture of life.
"Navy won't pay for procedure for woman who carried severely brain-damaged fetus".
Look who is leading their cause, Randall Terry.

By the way, has anyone had the opportunity to hear any of the snippets of DeLay talking to fellow conservatives?

It was taped by someone from Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. (secretly)

The piece i heard explained how God sent Terri to them in order to stregthen the conservative movement..............

'It's the pandering, stupid.'

Europe 'won't block Wolfowitz'
Wednesday, March 23, 2005

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/03/23/eu.summit.wolfowitz/index.html

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European leaders say they will not oppose the nomination of Paul Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank, despite initial misgivings about his role in the Iraq war.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, speaking at a news conference Wednesday in Brussels, said Wolfowitz's bid to lead the global development-funding group "will not fail because of Germany."

"And I have the impression that it will not fail due to the other countries in Europe," he said at the conclusion of a two-day European Union summit.

The surprise nomination of Wolfowitz by U.S. President George W. Bush has drawn criticism some in Europe because of his advocacy of using U.S. military power to invade Iraq.

Schroeder told reporters he recently spoke to Bush about he choice of Wolfowitz, the U.S. deputy defense secretary, to succeed James Wolfensohn as World Bank president.

"I told him that I believed Europe's enthusiasm would be limited but that the appointment would not fail because of Germany," said Schroeder, who was a vocal opponent of the Iraq war.

Other EU leaders at the summit indicated there would be no objections to Wolfowitz's nomination

"The realpolitik of the situation is that in all likelihood Mr. Wolfowitz will be appointed as chairman of the bank," Irish Finance Minister Brian Cowen told reporters.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said his government, America's main ally in the war in Iraq, would be happy to work with Wolfowitz.

"My own belief is that if Paul Wolfowitz is confirmed by the board of governors of the World Bank that people will be pleasantly surprised by this man," he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio Wednesday.

Italian Economy Domenico Sinicalco said in Brussels that Wolfowitz was a "good candidate" for the World Bank job, while Polish Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld described him as a "very positive and clear-cut person." Italy and Poland also supported the Iraq war.

Concern over Wolfowitz's nomination prompted more than 1,300 European aid organizations to put their names to a statement voicing "strong concern" about Wolfowitz's nomination, Reuters reported Tuesday. (Full story)

"We fear his appointment risks the bank becoming seen as a tool of the current controversial U.S. foreign policy," the statement said.

tutterfly,

I feel quite ill over the politicization of this issue. As a mother who had to go through a somewhat similar situation (decide whether or not to demand extraordinary measures to keep a dying child alive), I immediately recognized this for what it is: terrorism.

It was a horror to have to sit through doctors describing the statistics and percentages for my daughter's recovery, and to realize that, much as I wanted help, there was no help for such a horrible decision.

If POLITICIANS: legislators, the judiciary, or the executuve branch of government had tried FOR ONE SECOND to "intervene" in my decisions, I cannot speak for how I would have responded.

It would not have been nice, and I would have had my own day in court; I can tell you that.

But in the end, as with all these situations--the abortion issue, euthanasia, removal of extreme medical procedures, it is not even about US--the parents, spouses, or other loved ones. It is about the person one loves--what is best for them.

I was so fortunate to have loving hospice support, to have family and friends who did not feel the need to throw in their opinions or beliefs, to be allowed to come to my own understanding of what needed to happen for my daughter's sake.

My heart goes out to Michael Schiavo--no matter what the marriage was like; no matter what challenges they would have faced in the future--he came to the best decision he could have come to, with the best understanding possible.

To intrude upon that difficult horror of a process is, in my opinion, a terrorist act.

Posted by: Andrée - France at March 23, 2005 04:05 PM

I think part of that is due to the fact that French Law limits the amount of credit reimbursement a person can get to a percentage of his revenue. Here, you can easily overextend your credit.

Add to that the fact that credit is everywhere. I get sollicitation for credit cards at least twice a week by mail and my mother in law (85) just got one in the mail that she never asked for. With all that, it is easy to fall in debt.

In addition, many people are uninsured and when they are sick, they have to pay for themselves and they tend to lose their savings paying for that). Unemployment benefits are generally minimal.

I think it is more easy here to get rich quickly than it is in France, but, when you are in difficulty, there is no safety net and it is very easy to lose everything.

Others here might want to join me being the first one on your block with a Kerry '08 sticker and blue bracelet at support kerry'08 site. Moderators I am not pushing these sales only thought it interesting to be the first one in Texas with a Kerry '08 bumper sticker for $1.

Mark,

We have other problems for the time being : the BOLKENSTEIN BILL.

It was aimed at having at having any company from Europe to work anywhere according to its local legislation... Except there are 2 Europes, the old one with strong social laws and the new one with none...
That would have taken us 50 years backwards, at the level of Poland or Slovakia.

And again the French noticed the bill, among thousands of others, got mad if the bill was not removed, 60000 workers protested in Brussels last week against ultra liberalism and outsourcing...in Eastern Europe.

Today Chirac, with the help of Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and even Spain was able to call the bill down.
We don't want any social dumping, we want the new comers tio improve their social laws upwards.

This has been a terrible fight, so Wolkowitz in the middle was mere trifle. We were fighting for our future.

This has been much bigger than the Schiavo case. Sorry.

Mass,

Thank you for your answer. You are right, I never had any credit, because if I can't afford something..I don't buy it.
I don't care if it's the last trendy thing, as long as it works... My Sony TV is 18 years old, but it works. Good old stuff.
We though had problems with credit organisms, that generally lend money to the poorest, but since the last credit law was passed it became extremely hard for them to allow any sum of money without learning more about the "customer". They lost a lot when people were declared bankrupted... at thair own expanses.

I think that saving comes from the fact that we underwent so many crises and wars, that we learned how "to be prepared" for it. Hard to get rid of one's past

3/23/2005
Exclusive: GOP scrubs lists of fundraising events as heat grows on leader Tom DeLay

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=207

Sen. Lautenberg demands investigation:

Into who circulated talking points

On how Republicans could capitalize

On Terri Schiavo tragedy in Congress
http://www.rawstory.com/

Administration seeks dismissal of U.S. vets' suit
Government says claims over Gulf War torture threaten Iraq rebuilding

Los Angeles Times
Originally published March 23, 2005

WASHINGTON - Bush administration lawyers urged the Supreme Court yesterday to dismiss a lawsuit against Iraq brought by U.S. pilots and soldiers who were captured and tortured by Saddam Hussein's regime during the Persian Gulf War of 1991, saying the president believes it could hurt the rebuilding effort in Iraq.

Courts must defer to the president's determination that a nearly $1 billion damage award won by the former prisoners of war "would seriously undermine funding for the essential tasks of the new Iraqi government," Paul Clement, acting U.S. solicitor general, told the justices.

The case of the former POWs, due to be acted on by the court next month, has rankled some military and veterans groups. They say the administration is turning its back on those who fought in the Gulf War.

The 17 former POWs and their families sued Iraq under a 1996 law that opened the courthouse door to claims against terrorist states that practice torture, bombings and hijackings. They said they had been beaten, starved and subjected to electric shocks when they were held as prisoners by the Iraqis. Some emerged with broken bones as well as psychological injuries that have not healed.

The lead plaintiff, Lt. Col. Clifford Acree, was shot down by a missile Jan. 17, 1991. He ejected from his plane and suffered a neck injury. He was taken prisoner, was blindfolded and handcuffed, then beaten until he lost consciousness. His nose was broken, his skull was fractured and he lost 30 pounds during 47 days of captivity.

Two years ago, a judge awarded the POWs nearly $1 billion in damages and said the award could be paid with the frozen assets of Hussein's regime.

Shortly after, the Bush administration moved to have the verdict thrown out, saying it interfered with U.S. plans to rebuild Iraq.

The U.S. appeals court in Washington, siding with the administration, voided the judge's verdict last year. But the POWs appealed to the Supreme Court, saying Congress gave torture victims a right to sue "state sponsors of terror."

"Colonel Acree and our brave American servicemen were brutally tortured during the Gulf War, including having their bones broken and being starved. Yet the Justice Department continues to fight against them in court to deny their right to compensation as the law provides," said Paul Kamenar, senior counsel for the Washington Legal Foundation.

The Los Angeles Times is a Tribune Publishing newspaper.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/iraq/bal-te.quark23mar23,1,2403257.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines
THIS IS HOW YOUR ******* PRESIDENT AND ADMINISTRATION CARE FOR THEIR OWN, AND IT WILL HAPPEN IN THIS WAR YOU CAN BE GAURANTIED, BUT NOTICE WHERE WAS YOUR SO CALLED PRESIDENTS PATRIOTISM IN THE VIETNAM WAR WHEN HE WAS AWOL. WAKE UP AMERICA YOUR PRESIDENT WILL NEVER BE THERE TO PROTECT YOU, ONLY THE CORPORATIONS AND BIG MONEY Sorry this is how I feel

[*** Keep it clean please]

Guest Commentary, by Peter Schiff

The U.S. Dollar's Days as the World's Reserve Currency are Numbered
March 22, 2005
Peter Schiff is C.E.O. and Chief Global Strategist at Euro Pacific Capital, Inc.

In the 20th Century, the U.S. dollar became the world's reserve currency because it was the coin of the world's leading economy. In the “Bizzaro” 21st Century economy, this causality has reversed. Today, the primary reason the U.S. remains the world's leading economy is because the dollar still serves as the reserve currency. However, if market fundamentals can ever manage to re-assert themselves, this is a reality that can, and indeed must, change.

In the past, foreign citizens accumulated U.S. dollars so they could purchase American-made goods. Today, foreign central banks accumulate dollars so that Americans can purchase foreign-made goods. In the past, profits from her exports allowed America to become the world's greatest lender. Today, in order to fund her gargantuan trade deficit, America has become the world's greatest borrower. The dollar's reserve currency status allows “rich” Americans to continuously borrow what “poor” foreigners save, and consume what foreigners produce. Without such status, America's consumption would be limited by its own production, and its borrowing confined by its domestic savings. In such a world, Americans would have a standard of living far lower than the one currently enjoyed.

The U.S. dollar index, which has fallen over 30% in three years, rose for the first week in five, after ending last week within 2% of its all time record low set back in 1992. With the dollar's technical and fundamental outlook deteriorating, a test of those lows is imminent. A significant break below this long term support could send the dollar tumbling. Without considerable, coordinated, global central bank intervention, the dollar's value could be halved. Even if massive, unprecedented intervention is successful, its effects will be temporary at best. This looming dollar crisis cannot be prevented, only delayed, and only at the expense of exacerbating the collapse.

http://www.prudentbear.com/archive_comm_article.asp?category=Guest+Commentary&content_idx=41560

Geov Parrish
WorkingForChange.com
03.21.05

The road home
To end the war, voices of military personnel and their families will be essential

Attending an anti-war rally Saturday, I had profoundly mixed feelings.
The rally, from an organizer's standpoint, was a success: 5,000 people came out, in the rain, to hear speeches and music and march around town. The turnout was the largest for an anti-war rally in Seattle in the two years since the war began. Moreover, it was part of an international day of protests, in which over 700 protests took place in the United States alone.

I couldn't shake the feeling that this was not the way to get our troops home. But the germ of an idea, of a way to be more effective, was present.

Rallies and demonstrations are not going to stop a war. As a barometer of the depth of public opinion, as a pep rally for activists, and as an incubator of oppositional culture, they still have their place. But if the ultimate goal of a movement is to change the public policy, we must conclude that even the millions of people on the street before the invasion of Iraq in 2002 were not, in the end, effective.

Why weren't they effective? There are a lot of reasons, not the least of which being that the White House decision-makers had long previously made up their minds, making the entire run-up to the war an elaborate charade in which maximizing public support was a goal, but in the end not especially necessary. We have to wait until an election to speak our minds, by which point circumstances change. What George Bush called his "accountability moment" came only once in his presidential career; as it happens, he survived it, barely.

He survived in part because the broad anti-war sentiment before the invasion dwindled significantly once the war began. Many of the more conservative and centrist opponents of an invasion felt that once war was underway, it was important to support the mission no matter how fraudulent or ill-conceived its roots. Another large segment felt disempowered -- felt that nothing, not even millions of people in the streets, made any difference. And that nothing could make any difference in the future.

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=18757

Very good article

Might be about the counter suits, and allegations of our brutality. Having started a preventative, we aren't seen as liberators, especially with the Abu Ghraib and Guatanamo investigations never going away.

Last night, while avoiding network news, I watched a movie that has been around a while, but which I had never seen. "Spinning Boris". The movie is about how a group of Republican political Spinmeisters went to Russia to remake Boris Yeltsin's image into one that the Russian people could vote for in 1996.

Watching the movie, I learned more about the election of George W Bush in 2000 and 2004 than I will ever see on any MSM or other media. The similarities in the political spin are crazy. The use of campaign negatives against Gore and Kerry are anticipated. Watch the movie.

OPPPPPPPPSSS SORRY GUYS BUT I AM EXTREMELY ANGRY WITH THE LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD

thought it interesting to be the first one in Texas with a Kerry '08 bumper sticker for $1.

Posted by: Ira at March 23, 2005 04:33 PM

=)

...speaking of bumper stickers, I saw a great one today, on a car with Florida license plates:

"The media is only as liberal as the conservative businesses that control it."

pasted this from a Kerry-Celeveland yahoo group. Does anyone know if the FCC is truly getting ready to start censoring blogs? Is there reason to be paranoid about this?

"Federal Election Commission to Quash Blogs“Save Our Blogs
> A federal judge has ordered the Federal Election Commission to draft
> regulations governing politics on the Internet.
posted by Rady Anada???"

FEC

Hack's Target

Another Shameful Navy Cover-Up

03-14-2005

By David H. Hackworth

Six Americans dead and 34 wounded. What a terrible waste. I have a hard time understanding why a group of naval warriors gathered closely together out in the open, creating a super-juicy target for an Iraqi insurgent mortar team that’s been hammering Base Junction City ever since our troops first set up there.

“Always spread out, or one round will get you all,” was the First Commandment of Survival when I was a kid serving in Italy. The terrible tragedy that occurred in Iraq last May underscores the importance of this often-neglected rule.

Junction City sits right in the middle of Injun country – in Anbar province about 60 miles west of Baghdad, where the insurgents are serious fanatics and the fighting is fierce. A very bad place.

The word from many surviving Seabees of the gallant Reserve Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 14 that took these catastrophic casualties is that they were ordered to assemble in an open yard at their base for a pep talk from Rear Adm. Charles Kubic, who, according to a salty Navy commander, was making one of his monthly self-serving visits to Iraq from Norfolk, Va. “Kubic came to Iraq for the last two days of every month and the first two of the next to get tax breaks.”

The same source says: “Several officers argued with Kubic, saying it wasn’t smart to assemble the men. But they were rudely overrode.”

Family members of the dead reservists are furious that heads have not rolled. Their specific target is Kubic, whom they hold responsible for the loss of their loved ones even though he now denies giving the fatal order. Phone calls have been placed and letters written to lawmakers, and the bereaved keep getting promised swift action.

The surviving Seabees, a most patriotic group, love the U.S. Navy and almost to a man want to return to Iraq to finish the job. So they will only speak off-record. But they don’t have kind words for Kubic, since he ordered them to make his bed, bring ice-cold water to his quarters and generally act as his personal houseboys during his trips to Iraq. The admiral’s attitude didn’t go down well with these rugged reservist warrior-builders, the proud inheritors of a legendary tradition: “We're the Seabees of the Navy, we can build and we can fight; We’ll pave our way to victory and guard it day and night.”

The irony is that Kubic apparently fancies himself as a heroic warrior. In the first days of the invasion of Iraq, he was hunkered down in a bunker with his staff when a Scud missile whistled several thousand feet overhead – for which daring feat he was later awarded a Bronze Star for heroism under fire. He claims he’s run 3,100 combat patrols in Iraq and knows what insurgency warfare is all about.

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Hacks%20Target.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=117&rnd=805.9750752146542

A federal judge has ordered the Federal Election Commission to draft regulations governing politics on the Internet.

Posted by: Ira at March 23, 2005 06:30 PM

More on that heare and a petition you can sign:

http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=19

Posted by: Ray S at March 23, 2005 05:40 PM

Hi Ray,

Welcome and thanks for the heads up.

dw

Just FYI:

Fla. Senate Rejects Latest Schiavo Efforts

By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 23, 2005; 6:13 PM

PINELLAS PARK, Fla., March 23 -- In the third setback in a day for efforts to resume tube feeding of a brain-damaged woman, the Florida State Senate this afternoon rejected a measure backed by Gov. Jeb Bush (R) to force doctors to reinsert the tube.

The 21-18 vote came after the parents of the woman, Terry Schiavo, lost two efforts earlier in the day to get a federal appeals court to order the tube reinserted.

~snip~

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58819-2005Mar23.html

Re: Fla Senate Vote to not intervene, note this interesting phrase ...

"Let it not be said that Terri was starved with a Republican majority in the [state] House, the Senate and the Governor's Mansion," he said.

"Senator Lee ... you need to act now. If Terri Schiavo dies, it is on your watch."

- The Rev. Patrick Mahoney, speaking today on the Schindlers' behalf, in a challenge to Florida Senate President Tom Lee.

This has been much bigger than the Schiavo case. Sorry.

Posted by: Andree - France at March 23, 2005 04:33 PM

Amen to that, Andree.
Thank goodness for France. What a contrast to America; what a needed voice of postmodern ethical globalism France is.

In Canada, most progressives thank god every day for Quebec. Over the decades since television, Quebecers have watched a lot of programming from France, and politicians and diplomats, especially from Quebec, have been influenced by the admirable social conscience as illustrated by French institutions. These Quebecers in turn have influenced the development of Canadian institutions. THANK YOU FRANCE!!!

http://www.cafepress.com/thewhitehouse/447104

Andree, this one's for you!

The Dems should not come up with an SS plan.

The Repugs did this to us during the election. They have no coherent plan of their own, they simply throw a few zingers out there and get the Dems to do all the thinking. Time to stop. This is their issue, not ours. SS is fine for now. A little tweeking in future will ensure its health. We want peace, health care, jobs and a balanced budget. We want an unbiased, uncensored media and transparent elections. Those are the plans we need to come up with.

A guy high up in SS came to speak to Dems in my county. He said that there is no one document in existence outlining a specific SS plan that contains all the proposals which Bush has been throwing out to distract the media and Democrats. (This was a few weeks ago.) He believes the creation of this issue was timed to distract from the quagmire Bush created with his invasion of Iraq.

His main topic was the unAmerican way that the Repubs, as soon as they took the white house, began to use mailings from federal institutions such as social security for propaganda purposes. This is illegal and specific laws cover it, for good reason. He showed us several examples of how the SS mailouts that go to almost every home are being used by the Repubs. It was shocking. This guy was very media savvy. Nice change for a Dem; on the other hand, he claimed that he is not a Dem at all. Used to vote Republican. Now finds himself siding with the Dems on many issues.

SS employees have attempted to sue the Feds and put an end to the practice, so far without success. It is happening in other departments as well. This is something we should look into.

Please Dems, don't do their thinking for them. Let the scums come up with it themselves, in writing.

Posted by: Marc Trager at March 23, 2005 07:34 PM

It's not over yet...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050323/ap_on_re_us/brain_damaged_woman_72
Gov. Bush Seeks to Take Custody of Schiavo

1 hour, 51 minutes ago

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Terri Schiavo's parents saw their options vanish one by one Wednesday as a federal appeals court refused to reinsert her feeding tube and the Florida Legislature decided not to intervene in the epic struggle. Refusing to give up, Gov. Jeb Bush sought court permission to take custody of Schiavo.

I stepped back for a few hours today. Stepped back and waited for the anger to subside. It hasn't happened. Instead the anger has gotten more focused. There's plenty to be angry about, and you should all free free to share mine, or add your own.

I'm angry that the religious right and their tools in Congress have tried to paint Michael Schiavo as a pariah, and refuse to admit that they are using her parents as their own personal pawns.

I am angry that any family who has suffered through a personal and private pain such as this may find themselves judged and found lacking by their now wildly out of control extremist friends, neighbors and family.

I'm angry that religious extremists in this county have decided that an unfertilized egg frozen in nitrogen is life and yet once that egg if fertilized, grows and pops out of a uterus, its not deserving of health benefits that would sustain it in this so called culture of life.

I'm angry that a person with a potentially financially crippilng illness may have to surrender their home in a bankruptcy action, that had they had their health they would never have filed. And make that doubly angry that an Iraqi war veteran may be the person doing the filing when their VA benefits are reduced.

I'm angry that the slithering snake oil Social Security tour is being played out in front of a bunch of pre-screened party oath signing loyalists that is required by the President who says he is will to work with the other side, but who won't even let the OTHER SIDE in to tell him we aren't buying the quack medicine he's selling.

I'm angry that we still haven't had those flowers thrown at our troops in Iraq after two full years of being in the country, and having over 1500 of them killed while the reasons for being there have changed over and over as the the fabrications and falsifactions about being there have been exposed.

I'm angry that people like James Dobson, Ralph Reed, Jerry Falwell, Randall Terry and Pat Robertson have deluded people into thinking their brand of religion is going to save them or improve this country. And make that angrily disgusted that people continue to part with their hard earned money that has nothing to do with religion and has everything to do with power and bigotry.

I'm angry that Tom DeLay is crouching behind Terri Schiavo, while preening about being her champion. I'm angry that he had the gall to say she was sent to the conservative movement by God to further their cause. I have no doubt God works in mysterious ways, but I've never read anywhere that devious ways are among them.

I'm angry that Terri Schaivo got what was termed as the attempt at protection by our Congress, when in fact it appears she (and we) need protection FROM them instead.

I'm angry that the true victims of the this adminstration cannot even rely on the impartiality of a twisted media who would rather play ratings than reporting.

That pretty much sums up my day. How about everybody else?

Hey DCPers, please note my new email address as started on this post and pass it to whoever is in charge of that stuff. Thanks. I should have notified sooner but was busy with a medical issue that is now happily resolved.

If this doesn't work, how do I fix it?

Oh, rats, I see that it's fair game for trolls now. Can't we get rid of that? Things are going to start to heat up soon. I'll have to use a bogus address.

Refusing to give up, Gov. Jeb Bush sought court permission to take custody of Schiavo.

Posted by: madame defarge at March 23, 2005 08:48 PM

LOL! What a delightful can of worms that little bit of politicking will open. I can't wait!!

Amy,

I'll fix. You could send an email to info@democracycellproject.net or stop in the irc and tell one of us to pass it on.

dw

Talk at work this afternoon was all about Shrub's ridiculous "misdiagnosis" comment. Have these people no shame? The parents, Jeb and DeLay and Co. have been knowingly and willingly telling lies about Terri's status and abilities and about her husband's motives without conscious. Any sympathy I had for the parents expired with the lateest round of antics that have gone national. When this was just a Florida issue I felt for them and Michael Schiavo, but now I think Terri's parents and siblings wouldn't know the truth if it bit them on the arse. Jeb is a lame duck governor but I hope his approval ratings sink like a rock with this latest 'misdiagnosis' stunt. Then hopefully we can end talk of him running for president in '08 (and Frist too - blech!). DeLay's antics may not be enough to tank him in his wingnut district but hopefully his "ethics" problems will.

FREE TERRI! UNPLUG DELAY!!!!

Oops.... I meant...
Talk at work this afternoon was all about Jeb's ridiculous "misdiagnosis" comment.

Posted by: tutterfly at March 23, 2005 09:08 PM

~~tut...once again, you have put into words what I have been thinking. Here's another similar opinion, an editorial at Buzzflash:

Republicans Gone Wild

by P.M. Carpenter
http://www.buzzflash.com/carpenter/05/03/pmc05002.html

Looks like ShrubCo's numbers are taking a dive over this Schiavo deal. It was a gamble on their part and it isn't paying off. I originally thought that they knew all of this would fail, they just wanted to throw the anti-choice crowd a bone and hoped they would help them push thru their judicial appointees. But I think, I hope, they are surprised that their precious approval ratings are taking serious hits. Anyway, here's a link and some info on the CBS poll:
THE POLITICAL IMPACT OF THE SCHIAVO CASE
As mentioned earlier, Congressional approval ratings have fallen since last month and are at their lowest point since 1997, and President Bush’s job approval ratings have also declined. 43 percent now approve of President Bush’s handling of his job as President; 48 percent disapprove.

36 percent approve of President Bush’s handling of the economy, and 53 percent disapprove. Bush’s approval rating on Iraq has also dropped; 39 percent approve, down from 45 percent in late February; 53 percent now disapprove.

BUSH JOB APPROVALS

Overall
Now
43%
2/2005
49%

Economy
Now
36%
2/2005
38%

Iraq
Now
39%
2/2005
45%

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/23/opinion/polls/main682674.shtml

Uh-oh. Shrub's approvals are tanking.... You know what that means. We're heading for a summer of terror. Terror alert! Terror alert!

Posted by: tutterfly at March 23, 2005 09:08 PM

Sounds like a normal day in bushWorld where the bars for ability and intellegence are lowered daily.

I hope it is becoming apparent to more Americans the different ways this country is being bankrupted by the Bush administration, lying theives that they are.

I do not support, however, the State-sanctioned murder of Terri Shiavo, however hypoocritical the proponents are.