Virginia Metze: Reading List for Tuesday through Thursday, June 7 through June

[Guest guest]

" Virginia Metze " <vmetze

Mon, 13 Jun 2005 14:30:34 -0500

Reading List for Tuesday through Thursday, June 7 through

June 9, 2005

 

 

When Marine recruiters go way beyond the call

By SUSAN PAYNTER

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

Wednesday, June 8, 2005

 

For mom Marcia Cobb and her teenage son Axel, the white letters USMC

on their caller ID soon spelled, " Don't answer the phone! "

 

Marine recruiters began a relentless barrage of calls to Axel as soon

as the mellow, compliant Sedro-Woolley High School grad had cut his

17th birthday cake. And soon it was nearly impossible to get the

seekers of a few good men off the line.

 

With early and late calls ringing in their ears, Marcia tried using

call blocking. And that's when she learned her first hard lesson. You

can't block calls from the government, her server said. So, after

pleas to " Please stop calling " went unanswered, the family's " do not

answer " order ensued. [...] Read the lengths the Marine recruiters

went to in order to get this kid into uniform at Seattle

Post-Intelligencer web site: http://tinyurl.com/74z7x

 

 

Another scary article about how police treat our kids in high school,

and the laws they want to pass which will force even family members to

report drug offenses they observe to the police. This is not going to

improve our security.

 

Here are a few paragraphs from this horror story by Edgar J. Steele:

 

[...] Recently, high school students in Goose Creek, South Carolina

received a surprise visit from the local drug task force. Police had

been monitoring students via cameras mounted throughout the school and

thought they saw suspicious conduct. CBS News quoted Goose Creek

police Lieutenant David Aarons as saying, " They know where the cameras

are. If they stand directly under them, the cameras don't look

directly down. " Well, duh. Lack of visible proof of innocent conduct

via Big Brother Cam apparently now provides probable cause to believe

a crime is being committed.

 

Did Lieutenant Aarons visit the school to peek beneath the cameras for

himself? No. Did the police take it up with parents or the School

Board? No. Did they search

lockers? Well, yes, but only after mounting a full-on tactical-squad

raid, during which students were forced to lie flat while police waved

their guns

threateningly and forcibly searched all kids present and all lockers.

Fourteen children who didn't move quickly enough to suit the police

were handcuffed and made to kneel down. No drugs ever were found,

despite a phalanx of trained dogs set loose in the school's hallways.

Can't you just see Colonel Klink...er, Lieutenant Aarons...glued to

the monitors down at the squad room right now, growling and vowing to

catch those criminals (our kids) in the act sooner or later? [...]

You can read this article at the conspiracy penpal web site.

http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/columns/pogo.htm There is also a link

to a video of the article, if you prefer to listen rather than read...

 

 

Losing data the old-fashioned way; Let's hear it for computer security!

Customer Data Lost, Citigroup Unit Says

3.9 Million Affected As Firms' Security Lapses Add Up

By Jonathan KrimWashington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, June 7, 2005; Page A01

 

A unit of financial services giant Citigroup Inc. said yesterday that

a box of computer tapes with account information for 3.9 million

customers had been lost in shipment, exposing a vast new swath of

Americans to the increased possibility of identity theft.

 

The announcement from CitiFinancial, a subsidiary that provides

personal and home equity loans, pushes to more than 6 million the

number of U.S. consumers whose personal data have been lost or stolen

in just the past six months. The spate of breaches has included

federal agencies, universities, banks and other financial

institutions, data brokers and data-storage companies.

CitiFinancial officials said the company does not know whether the box

was stolen and is treating it as lost. The data contained names,

addresses, Social Security numbers and loan-account data, but a

spokesman said there is no evidence the data have been misused. [...]

Read it and sigh ... See the Washington Post for details:

http://tinyurl.com/7swej

 

 

2006: 1994 All Over Again

Richard Bradley

06.06.2005

 

So House Republicans are worried about the impact of ethics

controversies on their reelection chances in 2006? They should be.

This midterm election shows every sign of becoming the most lethal to

incumbents since the Republicans seized control of the House in 1994.

Only this time, most of the incumbents are Republican.

 

Remember what was happening in the House twelve years ago? A flurry of

ethics controversies had convinced the public that the reigning

Democrats had grown decadent and corrupt. There was the House bank

scandal, in which 325 members bounced 8, 331 checks at the House bank,

without penalty. After that came stories about free medical care, free

parking at National Airport, discounted gym membership, free flowers.

(Seems almost quaint now, doesn't it?) Tom Foley, the speaker of the

House, reacted to these problems in a way that made it seem he was

trying to protect his Capitol Hill constituents, rather than reform

Congress. [...] Read the rest at The Huffington Post:

http://tinyurl.com/dznrj Pressing Issues by Greg Mitchell

 

 

Turning Point On the War?

This past week, widely scattered newspaper editorialists roused

themselves from seeming acceptance of the continuing slaughter in Iraq

to voice, for the first time in many cases, outright condemnation of

the war.

By Greg Mitchell

 

NEW YORK (June 06, 2005) -- Suddenly there seems to be something in

the air -- the smell of death? Or something in the water -- blood? In

any case, this past week, widely scattered newspaper editorialists

roused themselves from seeming acceptance of the continuing slaughter

in Iraq to voice, for the first time in many cases, outright

condemnation of the war.

 

While still refusing to use the " W " word in offering advice to Dubya

-- that is, " withdrawal " -- some at least are finally using the " L "

word, for lies.

 

Memorial Day seemed to bring out the anger in some editorial writers,

who at that time are normally afraid to say anything about a current

conflict that might seem to slight the brave sacrifices of men and

women, past and present. Maybe it was the steadily growing Iraqi and

American death count, or the increasing examples of White House

" disassembling " (to quote the president this week), or the horror

stories emerging from Gitmo. [...] Read the rest at Editor &

Publisher: http://tinyurl.com/7mvnh

 

 

A New Vision for Business Leaders

A prominent executive argues for more statesmanship from our CEOs.

By Peter G. Peterson

Newsweek

 

June 13 issue - In recent years, a number of journalists have asked me

the same daunting question: Where have all the corporate statesmen

gone? Tom Friedman, The New York Times columnist, recently referred to

us as MIAs (Missing in Action). They wonder why, for example, so few

in the business community speak out about our soaring budget deficits,

our unprecedented trade and current account deficits, our plunging

savings rates, and our dysfunctional dependence on foreign capital.

Other public-policy leaders certainly have made clear their sense of

urgency. Former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker recently wrote,

" Altogether, the circumstances seem to be as dangerous and intractable

as any I can remember, and I can remember a long time. " Bob Rubin,

former Treasury secretary, speaks of " a day of serious reckoning. "

 

In discussions of national policy, this threat to our economy is like

an elephant in the boudoir. You need to shut your eyes not to notice

it. So the question naturally arises: Shouldn't we business leaders

try to help our nation do something about it? And if we don't do so

out of genuine civic concern, shouldn't we at least do so out of

collective self-interest? That started me thinking: Was it romantic to

imagine there ever were many corporate statesmen? How many such

leaders have I known about?

[...] Read the rest at Newsweek on MSNBC. http://tinyurl.com/7eotq

 

 

 

Yet another Bolton misdeed. Talk about " loose cannons. " One has

barely reflected on the meaning of that term until one thinks about

Bolton. Read it at the Washingtonnote.com: http://tinyurl.com/dfoco

 

 

 

A really great " sig file " I saw today:

 

Democrats' mistake was in thinking that a disastrous war, national

bankruptcy, erosion of liberties, corporate takeover of government,

environmental destruction, squandering our economic and moral

leadership in the world and systematic lying would be of concern to

the electorate. The Republicans correctly saw that the chief concern

of the electorate was to keep gay couples from having an abortion.

Our hero, Rep. John Conyers, has an column in The Huffington Post.

Read it at http://tinyurl.com/dmlln You are going to LOVE this one:

 

 

Longevity Crisis? Kill Grandma

 

By Barbara Ehrenreich

Barbara Ehrenreich is the author, most recently, of " Nickel and Dimed:

On (Not) Getting By in America " (Owl Books, 2002).

June 6, 2005

Los Angeles Times, latimes.com

 

A specter is stalking the Western world, and it looks a lot like

Grandma. As President Bush has repeatedly put it, the problem with

Social Security is that " baby boomers will be living longer. " Not

" too " long, he's careful to say, but long enough to create a fiscal

catastrophe. And it's not just Social Security. Medicare, as well as

any company rash enough to have offered pensions, may eventually sink

under the weight of its obligations to the elderly. A welfare state

designed in the era of bacon, eggs and Lucky Strikes cannot expect to

survive in an age of " active seniors " who wash down their Viagra with

soy milk and think a six-pack is something you get at the gym.

 

So far, the policymakers' response has been to gut the welfare state

before the greedy geezers can plunder it. For example, the Bush

administration has achieved deep cuts in Medicaid, which supports many

of the middle class in their post-golden nursing home years, and it

continues to fight for the evisceration of Social Security.

[...] Read the rest at the LATimes.com: http://tinyurl.com/8xm8u

Also in the Common Dreams News Center:

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0606-26.htm or

http://tinyurl.com/7newc

 

 

Remember the murder of John Lennon? Some say Nixon, Reagan and

Stephen King are linked to his murder. See the web site

http://lennonmurdertruth.com/index.asp There are links across the top

of the screen that take you to the articles. And if it is too hard to

read (white on black is not my favorite), you can buy the small book

about it, advertised on the home page.

 

 

Great cartoon on the American Progress web site: http://tinyurl.com/8ycsf

 

 

MSNBC writes a story dumping on Howard Dean and saying Democrats don't

like the way he talks. http://tinyurl.com/857np Later the Democratic

National Committee said that the Democrats want a fighter and selected

him because they didn't want a wimp. So he is getting all kind of

news coverage for us, in any event. My vote is to " give them hell,

Howard! "

 

 

Personal Data for 3.9 Million Lost in Transit

The loss of Citigroup data occurred during U.P.S. shipment from

Weehawken, N.J., to an Experian credit-reporting center in Allen, Tex.

By TOM ZELLER Jr.

Published: June 7, 2005

New York Times

 

In one of the largest breaches of data security to date,

CitiFinancial, the consumer finance subsidiary of Citigroup, announced

yesterday that a box of computer tapes containing information on 3.9

million customers was lost by United Parcel Service last month, while

in transit to a credit reporting agency.

 

Executives at Citigroup said the tapes were picked up by U.P.S. early

in May and had not been seen since.

 

The tapes contained names, addresses, Social Security numbers, account

numbers, payment histories and other details on small personal loans

made to millions of customers through CitiFinancial's network of more

than 1,800 lending branches, or through retailers whose product

financing was handled by CitiFinancial's retail services division.

[...] Read about this disturbing mess at the New York Times web site:

http://tinyurl.com/7n67p

 

Well, the Texas Observer has been observing, all right:

The Pimping of the President

Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist Billing Clients for Face Time with

G.W. Bush

by Lou Dubose

 

Four months after he took the oath of office in 2001, President George

W. Bush was the attraction, and the White House the venue, for a

fundraiser organized by the alleged perpetrator of the largest billing

fraud in the history of corporate lobbying. In May 2001, Jack

Abramoff's lobbying client book was worth $4.1 million in annual

billing for the Greenberg Traurig law firm. He was a friend of Bush

advisor Karl Rove. He was a Bush " Pioneer, " delivering at least

$100,000 in bundled contributions to the 2000 campaign. He had just

concluded his work on the Bush Transition Team as an advisor to the

Department of the Interior. He had sent his personal assistant Susan

Ralston to the White House to work as Rove's personal assistant. He

was a close friend, advisor, and high-dollar fundraiser for the most

powerful man in Congress, Tom DeLay. Abramoff was so closely tied to

the Bush Administration that he could, and did, charge two of his

clients $25,000 for a White House lunch date and a meeting with the

President. From the same two clients he took to the White House in May

2001, Abramoff also obtained $2.5 million in contributions for a

non-profit foundation he and his wife operated. [...] Read it all at

the Texas Observer:

http://tinyurl.com/73yve

 

 

Richest Are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind

By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON

Published: June 5, 2005

New York Times

 

When F. Scott Fitzgerald pronounced that the very rich " are different

from you and me, " Ernest Hemingway's famously dismissive response was:

" Yes, they have more money. " Today he might well add: much, much, much

more money.

 

The people at the top of America's money pyramid have so prospered in

recent years that they have pulled far ahead of the rest of the

population, an analysis of tax records and other government data by

The New York Times shows. They have even left behind people making

hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

 

Call them the hyper-rich.

 

They are not just a few Croesus-like rarities. Draw a line under the

top 0.1 percent of income earners - the top one-thousandth. Above that

line are about 145,000 taxpayers, each with at least $1.6 million in

income and often much more. [...] Read the rest at the New York

Times web site: http://tinyurl.com/dahhv

 

 

Kerry allows Navy release of military, medical records

Show numerous commendations

By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff | June 7, 2005

Boston Globe

 

 

WASHINGTON -- Senator John F. Kerry, ending at least two years of

refusal, has waived privacy restrictions and authorized the release of

his full military and medical records.

 

The records, which the Navy Personnel Command provided to the Globe,

are mostly a duplication of what Kerry released during his 2004

campaign for president, including numerous commendations from

commanding officers who later criticized Kerry's Vietnam service.

 

The lack of any substantive new material about Kerry's military career

in the documents raises the question of why Kerry refused for so long

to waive privacy restrictions. An earlier release of the full record

might have helped his campaign because it contains a number of reports

lauding his service. Indeed, one of the first actions of the group

that came to be known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was to call on

Kerry to sign a privacy waiver and release all of his military and

medical records. [...] Maybe he was modest?? Read the article in

the Boston Globe at http://tinyurl.com/darc6

 

 

 

BUSH REVEALED

 

If you want to know if Bush has ever done anything good, go and read

the " Bush Revealed " web site. These guys are to the right of Bush and

his " Christian " supporters as far as I can tell. Look here when you

think Bush has never done anything right! http://www.bushrevealed.com/

 

 

If you have never looked at http://www.tolerance.org/index.jsp you

might find it interesting enough to put on your " occasional browse "

list. There are things to worry about I never even KNEW about.

 

 

Better than a boycott! People are asking that Walmart, they of the

BIG Republican support, lobby the administration for things that we

the people want, like $10 an hour minimum wage. Sounds good to me.

They hope to flood them with phone calls at 1-800-WAL-MART. I don't

think they have enough support to make a difference, but let's watch

to see if this approach works.

 

 

Poll Finds Dimmer View of Iraq War

52% Say U.S. Has Not Become Safer

 

By Dana Milbank and Claudia Deane

Washington Post Staff Writers

Wednesday, June 8, 2005; Page A01

 

For the first time since the war in Iraq began, more than half of the

American public believes the fight there has not made the United

States safer, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

 

While the focus in Washington has shifted from the Iraq conflict to

Social Security and other domestic matters, the survey found that

Americans continue to rank Iraq second only to the economy in

importance -- and that many are losing patience with the enterprise.

Nearly three-quarters of Americans say the number of casualties in

Iraq is unacceptable, while two-thirds say the U.S. military there is

bogged down and nearly six in 10 say the war was not worth fighting --

in all three cases matching or exceeding the highest levels of

pessimism yet recorded. More than four in 10 believe the U.S. presence

in Iraq is becoming analogous to the experience in Vietnam. [...]

Maybe there is hope for sanity, after all. It is very worriesome when

sanity is regarded as " conspiracy theory. " Read more at the

Washington Post: http://tinyurl.com/ckhvk

 

 

 

Hillary should sue! I know it is difficult for a public figure and

the stakes are high, but how long should this lunacy continue?

Book On Hillary Sparks Criticism

NEW YORK, June 7, 2005

CBC News

 

(CBS/AP) A spokesman for Sen. Hillary Clinton is branding a new book

about the New York Democrat as being " full of blatant fabrications. "

 

Edward Klein, in his book " The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew,

When She Knew It, and How Far She'll Go to Become President, " says

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan - who publicly championed her 2000 race

for the Senate - was privately less enthused about the former First Lady.

 

According to an excerpt in July's Vanity Fair magazine, both Moynihan

and his wife, Liz, felt disdain for the aspiring senator and didn't

trust them when she initially approached them for support.

 

Ultimately, they did back her and Clinton kicked off her Senate

campaign with a news conference at the Moynihans' upstate farm. On

Monday she called Senator Moynihan, who died in 2003, her " wonderful

predecessor " and said, " I so wish he were with us now. I can just hear

him saying what needs to be said about the president and the

Republican leadership. " [...] Read more at CBS News:

http://tinyurl.com/aqdf4

 

 

Common Cause is asking our help in their

" Support Our Campaign for Paper Trail. " See http://tinyurl.com/e2u5h

 

 

Sen. Kennedy speaks out on Downing Street Memo:

'Twisted intelligence; Distorted facts'

Raw Story

 

The following was released by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) on the

Downing Street Minutes this morning. Kennedy becomes the first senator

to raise the issue in the Senate, after earlier reports that

Massachusetts' junior senator, John Kerry, would speak about the

minutes in Washington.

 

" The contents of the Downing Street Minutes confirm that the Bush

Administration was determined to go to war in Iraq, regardless of

whether there was any credible justification for doing so. The

Administration distorted and misrepresented the intelligence in its

attempt to link Saddam Hussein with the terrorists of 9/11 and Osama

bin Laden, and with weapons of mass destruction that Iraq did not have.

 

" In addition, the Downing Street Minutes also confirm what has long

been obvious – that the timing of the war was linked to the 2002

Congressional elections, and that the Administration's planning for

post-war Iraq was incompetent in all its aspects. The current

continuing crisis is a direct result of that incompetence.

 

" Many of you have worked hard for the American people, the media and

those in government to speak out about the Downing Street Minutes and

the Iraq war. You can join me in speaking out as well. [...] Note

that the article continues after a blocked off ad. Read the whole

thing at RawStory: http://tinyurl.com/7a6yc

 

I've " known " these guys

since primitive AOL days. They are the " real thing. " I am talking

about those great people at www.democrats.com. Now, " urge Congress to

investigate Bush's Iraq Lies " by going to their site and signing an

email to send to Congress.

http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/39

 

Five Words of Wisdom Each From the Web's Winning Sites

By DAVID CARR

Published: June 7, 2005

The New York Times

 

One of the more charming idiosyncrasies of the Webby Awards, the

annual awards for achievement in Web creation, is that recipients get

five words, and five words only, to make their acceptance speeches.

 

So after a night full of award innuendos and one-line haiku at Gotham

Hall in Manhattan, the 550 people in attendance were wondering how Al

Gore, the former vice president, would respond to his lifetime

achievement award.

 

He did not disappoint.

 

" Please don't recount this vote, " he said. The place went nuts.

 

[...] Read the rest of the story at http://tinyurl.com/9yttw

 

 

 

Democrats New Bill Draws the Economic Contrast

David Sirota

 

[emphasis is that of the author]

 

Last month, a post of mine prompted the New York Times to break the

story that the Bush administration was attempting to cut food stamps

for recipients of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. Now,

Democrats are moving to fix the problem with a new bill in Congress.

 

New Jersey Rep. Rush Holt (D) is pushing a bill that would

specifically address the problem - and force the Bush administration

to cease and desist from cutting off food aid to the poor. Every

Democrat should sign on as a co-sponsor of this bill to make a

statement that the administration's economic war on ordinary Americans

is unacceptable. This is a bill that starts drawing a bright line

between Democratic and Republican priorities. That's exactly the kind

of thing the party needs to be doing as the 2006 election season

approaches.

 

http://www.davidsirota.com/2005/06/dems-move-to-draw-economic-contrast.html

or http://tinyurl.com/9359a

There is lots of other good stuff by David Sirota on his site. He is

TOPS.

 

 

One of the many good editorials Buzzflash comes out with:

Bushevik Mafia and the Cowering Media

June 7, 2005

 

Many liberals -- and certainly the Democratic Party (excluding Howard

Dean) -- have repeatedly made the mistake of viewing the Busheviks and

right wingers as a political party that plays by the process of a

Constitutional democracy. It has been a lethal error.

 

As we have noted (and carried a book of the same title): " Take Them at

Their Words. " They believe that any tactic, even if illegal, is

justified in wresting the control of government from the " evil "

secularists. David Horowitz, the academic Himmler for the Bush Brown

Shirts, wrote, " " [y]ou cannot cripple an opponent by outwitting him

in a political debate. You can only do it by following Lenin's

injunction: `In political conflicts, the goal is not to refute your

opponent's argument, but to wipe him from the face of the earth.' " As

noted in a recent article, the top right wing direct mail guru,

Richard Viguerie told Bill Moyers, " I just wish he [bush] could have

done a little bit more [against Kerry]. I thought it was just great.

And we're not gonna play, Bill, by the liberal establishment's rules.

They say, `This is acceptable and this is not acceptable.' Those days

are gone and gone forever. " [...] Read this at buzzflash, where

there is lots of good stuff: http://tinyurl.com/998nj

 

 

Official Played Down Emissions' Links to Global Warming

By ANDREW C. REVKIN

June 7, 2005

The New York Times

 

A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against

limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate

reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global

warming, according to internal documents.

 

In handwritten notes on drafts of several reports issued in 2002 and

2003, the official, Philip A. Cooney, removed or adjusted descriptions

of climate research that government scientists and their supervisors,

including some senior Bush administration officials, had already approved.

 

Mr. Cooney is chief of staff for the White House Council on

Environmental Quality, the office that helps devise and promote

administration policies on environmental issues. Before coming to the

White House in 2001, he was the " climate team leader " and a lobbyist

at the American Petroleum Institute, the largest trade group

representing the interests of the oil industry. A lawyer with a

bachelor's degree in economics, he has no scientific training. [...]

Science, who needs science? Don't need no science to take world to

hell in a hand basket... Read it at New York Times:

http://tinyurl.com/8vrbn

 

 

Did the internet provide victory for Bush? See

http://tinyurl.com/7rgku which links to this Media Post story:

 

Pew Consultant: Bush Owes Victory To Internet

by Wendy Davis, Tuesday, Jun 7, 2005 6:00 AM EST

 

SAN FRANCISCO--MICHAEL CORNFELD KNOWS WHY George W. Bush won last

year's presidential election. Bush's camp, said Cornfeld, used the

Internet to find volunteers and then gave them information to

spread--via any medium at hand--to friends and neighbors. " The Bush

campaign married software to Tupperware, " Cornfeld, a senior

consultant with the Pew Internet & American Life Project, said Monday

at OMMA West. That Tupperware-software model, also known as

word-of-mouth, isn't just used by politicians, said OMMA panelists.

Established marketers Procter & Gamble also have been turning to

word-of-mouth campaigns where consumers, in effect, become the

salespeople. [...] This article ought to make the Republicans think

twice before shutting down the internet ... Read it all at

http://tinyurl.com/bl92p

 

 

There will never be a charge for this reading list and I won't ask for

contributions.

 

It may be freely distributed as long as it is sent out in its entirety

with this statement attached and no charge is made. Of course you are

free to use the URLs in your own posts, etc.

 

© Virginia Metze

 

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