Saturday, February 12, 2005
Fifty-two warnings....
The worst NSA ever set to now best Henry Kissinger as the worst ever Secretary of State
From here on out, I might not have as much time to really digest, comment and post regularly on news and current events in a timely fashion as I have in the past. For those who check this site for the news links (and I urge you do so because man cannot live on Common mp3's alone), in the case of a lack of posts on my part, I recommend you keep up by reading some of the fine sites I have bookmarked here and here. Short of that, these sites here, here and here are always recommended for a quick but insightful take on the most relevant stories in play.
In any case, here's a rundown of the most important stuff I missed from the past week or so:
52 warnings before 9/11. Fifty-two - let that sink in for a minute....
and then consider also that... a January 2001 Memo to Rice Warned of US Al Qaeda Threat and Offered Plan to Eliminate Them. [emphasis added]
Worse than Rathergate - where's the outrage on the Right now? Or is it OK for the reporters to be admitted to the White House press corps. under assumed names because of insufficent, or wilful lack of, vetting? (related: Democrats Want Investigation of Reporter Using Fake Name)
You knew Gonzales was gonna get confirmed regardless but f-ck Joe Lieberman for rolling over for the GOP anyway.
After lying about it to begin with, the Bush administration now admits the new estimate of the cost of the Medicare drug benefit over the next 10 years would be nearly double intial figures jumping to $720 million. (update: make that $1.2 trillion?)
FBI urged to scrap or overhaul their $170 million terrorism computer system. Even their "secure" email system was hacked. God help us when Al-Qaeda gets their cyberterror game tight.
"Freedom and democracy" at work right here in the US - some barred from Bush's North Dakota speech.
Meanwhile....
Officials Back Away from Early Estimates of High Iraqi Voter Turnout.
Election Time: Americans 'liberated' Iraq, but it's hard to find anyone who is grateful. (full story "Free To Be Angry" from Newsweek)
A senior US Marine general on commanding forces in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars - "It's fun to shoot some people."
The Return of the Draft - with the army desperate for recruits, should college students be packing their bags for Canada? (Rolling Stone)
Many Iraqi Troops Not Fully Trained, U.S. Officials Say.
Senator Kennedy says vehicle armoring program in Iraq still lagging.
Rumsfeld Says He Offered to Quit Twice - after everything that's happened, i'd say it's a telling indictment of Bush's "leadership" skills that he didn't take him up on the offers.
And while the US tries to clean up their mess in Iraq, the real WMD crises in Iran and North Korea only gets worse.
But Halliburton's Been Doing Business With the 'Axis of Evil' (again).
Newly discovered tapes have revealed how the energy corporation Enron shut down at least one power plant on false pretences, deliberately aggravating California's crippling 2001 blackouts with the aim of raising prices. (full story from The Guardian)
Wal-Mart set to close the only store in North America where workers were able to unionize. (related: Wal-Mart Chief Defends Closing Unionized Store)
I'll save all the social security drama for a separate post some time soon but in advance of that, does anyone have an mp3 link to the bumbling response Bush gave to a question in one of his Social Security "Town Hall" meetings on Thursday 'cos I need that?
