"The greatest generation was used to storming beachheads. Baby boomers such as myself was used to getting caught in a quagmire of Vietnam where politics made decisions more than the military sometimes."

- the pResident in Thief, lying thru his teeth again

Editorial from:  

The brief era of cooperation on the economy, fraying around the edges for days, all but fell apart in Washington yesterday. Almost as soon as President Bush finished hugging the high ground Thursday night in his news conference, House Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee spent all day Friday ramming through a $100 billion tax-cut package filled with bonuses for corporations, wealthy Americans and others least in need of help. Republicans waited until 10:30 p.m. the night before to spring the bill on Democrats, reverting to the poisonous old practices of steamrolling legislation through, and this time, exploiting a tragic national emergency in the process.

"And there is no doubt in my mind, not one doubt in my mind, that we will fail"

- President Weak & Stupid, tripping over his tongue again

There is a good medium between swift revenge and slow justice.

By: Molly Ivans  

Sissy Farenthold, the Mother Teresa of Texas liberalism, says her reaction to the attacks was, "If not now, when? When are we going to try the law?". International law is not in a high state of development. Just bringing Slobodan Milosevic, a remarkably hideous specimen, to trial took several years. Nevertheless, when you stand back and look at it, the development of international law is one of the few things that will give you hope for Earth.

By: Molly Ivans  

So far, so good. Way to go, military.

It has turned out, in previous campaigns of oxymoronic "surgical bombing", that initial reports exaggerated both the effectiveness and the accuracy of our efforts. But as of the bombing of Yugoslavia (with the exception of the unfortunate "ooops" over the Chinese Embassy), we seem to be getting better at the ghastly art.

As a side note... referring back to Issue #4 - 'Whatzzup MickeySloth', if you type "MALL" (sans quotes) and change the font to 'Wingdings' you get:

Hmmm...

By: Barney Frank  

One of the impressive feats of intellectual tenacity in recent times is the Republicans' ability to sustain their faith in large tax cuts for the wealthy despite repeated battering from reality.

When George W. Bush first proposed this early in 2000, his justification was that our economy was so strong that it was producing far more revenue than we needed. A year later, as Congress was considering his proposal, the president's rationale did a 180-degree turn: Now it was the very weakness of the economy that demanded a tax cut, so that the wealthy would be encouraged to engage in more of the economic activity that was to be our means of avoiding recession. During all of that time, Bush was as fervent as anyone else in subscribing to the view that revenues derived from the payroll tax should go only to Social Security and not be used for other purposes - until it became clear that he could not have both his tax cut and this commitment, whereupon the commitment began to crumble. The constant throughout these flip-flops, however, was the president's ardent conviction that we had too much government. In fact, the real reason he sought a significant reduction in government revenues was his belief that this was the most effective way to reduce the level of government activity.

"A people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power that knowledge gives. A popular government without popular knowledge or the means of acquiring it is but a prelude to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both."

- James Madison

By: Magnus Linklater  

A clipped report from the BBC's man in Oman. A fuzzy picture of bombs exploding in some distant Afghan city. Excited coverage from the perimeter, where the Northern Alliance hogs the limelight but seems to be getting nowhere. And endless shots of Cruise missiles heading off into the night, or F-16 fighters dipping gracefully off the flight deck of a US carrier.

That, in sum, is war reporting today - less first-hand coverage than we have had from any conflict since the Second World War. For the men in the Pentagon and the Ministry of Defence, that is war reporting as it should be: controlled, predictable, and as far from the truth as you can get those pesky guys with the notepads and the long-lens cameras.

By: Eric Alterman  

Patriotism requires no apologies. Like anti-Communism and anti-Fascism, it is an admirable and thoroughly sensible a priori assumption from which to begin making more nuanced judgments. Nor does patriotism need to be exclusionary. I am an American patriot, a Jewish patriot and a New York chauvinist pig. My patriotism is not about governments and armies; it's about unions, civil rights marches and the '69 Mets. It's not Kate Smith singing "God Bless America"; it's Bruce Springsteen singing "This Land Is Your Land".

By: David Borden  

What is it about opium? To listen to drug warriors these days, it is the lifeblood of terrorist organizations around the globe. Ohio Rep. Rob Portman lamented that Americans who spend money on heroin (made from Afghani opium) are financing the Taliban, who in turn protect terrorists like Osama bin Laden. Therefore, say Portman and his ilk, reducing drug demand and disrupting drug trafficking organizations is part of the war against terrorism.

By: Ted Rall  

The shortest route for a pipeline from oil-rich Kazakhstan out to sea would be through Afghanistan, which is why the U.S. is set on toppling the Taliban regime.

"We are fully committed to working with both sides to bring the level of terror down to an acceptable level for both."

- President Weak & Stupid

By: Joe Conason  

Now that everyone is allowed to laugh again, however anxiously, it seems appropriate to mention the farce currently playing on Capitol Hill, where members of Congress sworn to defend the United States are instead acting out their madcap obsessions. At a time when sane and sober people agree that airline security must be bolstered with new federal authority, Republican leaders are insisting that the current McDonald's-level setup can still work just fine.

If You Think Bush is Calling The Shots, I've Got Some Swamp Land in Florida to Sell You

By: Michael Gabriel  

George W. Bush is no more calling the shots than Bugs Bunny is. Bush's team of advisors is trying to make it appear that their man has gravitas and stature. But the fact is, George W. Bush is nothing more than a fradulently elected spokesman for the federal government. Why do we need the humorless Air E. Fly-Sure to brief the media anyway? George W. Bush fills the same role.

By: Kristen Philipkoski  

The vaccine against anthrax is in the hands of a single company that is running out of money, hasn't gained FDA approval for the vaccine or its manufacturing facilities and hasn't produced a single dose of the vaccine since it took over production in 1998. The entire United States is relying on BioPort, of Lansing, Michigan, to produce the anthrax vaccine, for which demand has spiked since Sept. 11. The company has supplied the military with only half a million doses out of 14 million promised, leaving even front-line military personnel unprotected in the event of a bio-terrorism attack.

A former CIA operative explains why the terrorist Osama bin Laden has little to fear from American intelligence.

By: Reuel Marc Gerecht  

The United States has spent billions of dollars on counterterrorism since the U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, in August of 1998. Tens of millions have been spent on covert operations specifically targeting Usama bin Ladin and his terrorist organization, al-Qa'ida. Senior U.S. officials boldly claim - even after the suicide attack last October on the USS Cole, in the port of Aden - that the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are clandestinely "picking apart" bin Ladin's organization "limb by limb". But having worked for the CIA for nearly nine years on Middle Eastern matters (I left the Directorate of Operations because of frustration with the Agency's many problems), I would argue that America's counterterrorism program in the Middle East and its environs is a myth.

Flight attendants demand that flying be made safer - through measures like screening all bags - but the airlines are resisting.

By: Jake Tapper  

Because of airport security loopholes, a terrorist today could still check a suitcase bomb at the ticket counter, representatives from the major flight attendants' union have been telling members of Congress in recent days. Plus, they charge, the recommendations by the Department of Transportation's rapid-response task force on airport security released late Friday, as well as the airport security measures advocated in the Senate by Sens. Ernest Hollings (D-SD), and John McCain (R-AZ), leave these and other gaping loopholes wide open.

"America was hit by God in one of its softest spots. America is full of fear from its north to its south, from its west to its east. Thank God for that."

- Osama bin Laden

From:  

The vast electronic eavesdropping operation of western intelligence has revealed, albeit belatedly, that Atef was the likely "mastermind" behind the meticulous planning of the operation, and conveyed the order for its execution. This is believed to form a key part of the evidence that has convinced leaders, both within Britain and overseas, that Bin Laden was responsible for the atrocities, but which has been withheld from public release for security reasons.

For more than a decade Atef has been a loyal follower of Bin Laden, rising to sit on the military committee of Al-Qaeda, the terrorist network. He takes "primary responsibility", according to the CIA, for the training of new members at camps in Afghanistan.

"They are going to have to pay living wages for those people and make it a real job that people stay at and become skilled at...We have professional pilots and professional mechanics and professional flight attendants, and we have rent-a-cop security."

- Dotty Malinsky, a flight attendant since 1966

By: James Dao  

In the late 1980's, an American-based agent for Al Qaeda, the terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden, shipped to Afghanistan 25 military-style rifles capable of shooting down helicopters, piercing armor or destroying fuel tanks from long distances, according to a report by a gun control organization.

A gun control organization says that in 1988, Barrett Firearms sold twenty-five 50-caliber rifles (similar to the one pictured above), to Osama bin Laden-trained Afghan militias.

The American-made weapons, Barrett .50-caliber rifles, were apparently used by Muslim militias trained by Mr. bin Laden to fight Soviet troops in Afghanistan, the report by the Violence Policy Center says.

But the report asserts that the rifles - which are used by military snipers but are also sold commercially - are probably still available to Al Queda members for attacks inside the United States or against American troops in Afghanistan.

Editorial from:  

Responding to the demands of Republicans in Congress, President Bush has laid out a stimulus package that relies in large part on ineffective, irresponsible and regressive tax cuts. He gave short shrift to Democratic demands that the stimulus contain government spending designed to boost the economy as well.

For the first time, the president asked for permanent abolition of the corporate alternative minimum tax, which forces companies that can mask their profits with lots of deductions to pay at least some taxes. There is no reason these businesses should be helped more than companies that are actually losing money. The latter pay no taxes and would not be helped at all. It is also far from clear that any change in corporate income tax rates would actually stimulate the economy. Most important, there is absolutely no reason to use permanent tax changes to battle a temporary economic slowdown.

By: Stephen Labaton with Joseph B. Treaster  

The Bush administration and Congress are preparing legislation to have taxpayers pay major insurance claims arising out of terrorist attacks.

The plan would make the insurers the second major industry, after the airlines, to receive emergency government aid after the Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

Government officials and corporate executives say such a measure, to be announced as early as this week, is essential to avert an economic meltdown at the end of the year, when many insurance contracts covering businesses, office buildings and factories expire. Without such coverage, lenders will not finance real estate purchases, construction or investments by business in plants and equipment.

By: Molly Ivans  

Back from a month in Europe, I meant to begin by suggesting it's time to start thinking outside the box. Then I got back to Texas. The sign outside our neighborhood strip joint says, "Hot Babes, Cold Beer, Nuke 'Em, GW". Actually, let's start by thinking.

By: Sid Tafler  

I'm going to take you on a trip. A drug trip. The drug is marijuana. But don't worry - you, the reader, don't have to smoke it, eat it, buy it or sell it. You just have to think about it.

And meet the people who do just that, all their waking hours. We'll take this trip together. I'll be your guide. And when it's over, you'll realize that marijuana is not what you think it is.

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