Fri, Sep 10 2004
CBS News - Dan Rather's Reply to Critics of Bush Guard memos
See the video Here
written by: Owlet at 08:19:16 PM | link comments
Flap of the Day
Were the memos from Bush's Commanding Officer forgeries? Dunno. One of the 'typewriter experts' who challenged their authenticity is apparently employed by a group whose mission is supporting (Republican) Women candidates for office.
CBS which broke the memo story last night is sticking by it.
"http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&S...
NEW YORK, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Later today, CBS News will address on the air and in detail the issues surrounding the documents broadcast in the 60 MINUTES report on President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. At this time, however, CBS News states with absolute certainty that the ability to produce the "th" superscript mentioned in reports about the documents did exist on typewriters as early as 1968, and in fact is in President Bush's official military records released by the White House. This and other issues surrounding the authenticity of the documents and more on this developing story will be reported on tonight on THE CBS EVENING NEWS WITH DAN RATHER."
Stay tuned.
written by: Owlet at 04:16:47 PM | link comments
Thu, Sep 09 2004
Brits Give Iran Two Months
..to come clean about their nuclear program.
I'm not sure what this means. Does it sort of freeze the situation so that Israel and/or the U.S. would risk negative feedback if either decided to attack the nuclear plant during the two-month period?
And what the hell does this imply?
U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton will come to Jerusalem Sunday on his way to the IAEA meeting in Vienna. Bolton is scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and senior Israeli officials, as part of efforts to transfer the "Iran case" to the United Nations Security Council.
Here's the Link
written by: Owlet at 04:06:23 PM | link comments
Wed, Sep 08 2004
Bush the Great Educator Test of the Test Template
Here's Bush in a campaign appearance in Missouri the other day:
There's more to do. There's more to do. We need early intervention -- or intervention programs in high schools. We need to make sure that children have got the basics. We need to emphasize math and cience in our high schools. Do you realize that most new jobs now require two years of college, yet one in four students in America gets there? That's why we need to expand access to our community college systems.We need to increase Pell grants, Pell grants to help low- and middle-income families. (Applause.) We want more and more of our children starting their careers with a college diploma.
The man's chutzpah is incredible. This is the guy who says one thing, does the opposite.
Bush Freezes Federal College Scholarship, or Pell Grant. Just as college tuition is rising and the buying power of grants continues to erode, President Bush has frozen the maximum Pell Grant at $4,050 in his FY 2005 education budget. This is the 3rd year in a row that Bush has frozen or cut the maximum Pell Grant.
As for going to college, most of the jobs recently created are of the low-paying
service category.
Is there any evidence
that the lack of skill is responsible for our current employment problems? Can the
unusually weak jobs recovery be explained by the lack of skill or education of the
American workforce?
Is
more education the most effective policy solution for Congress to offer to the recent
challenge posed by the so-called of service sector, white-collar jobs?
Is there evidence
of a longer-term skills mismatch? Should our primary strategy for ensuring that
our economy follows a strong and equitable path be that of enhancing educational
opportunities?
The
answer to the first question is an unequivocal "no": the weak performance
of the last few years is wholly a demand-side phenomenon. The problem is not the
lack of skilled workers; it's the lack of jobs.
written by: Owlet at 03:20:45 PM | link comments
Tue, Sep 07 2004
Old Secretaries Never Die...
...they just show up on PBS Newshour.
Madeline Albright and Henry Kissinger 'debated' the differences in Iraq policy between Kerry and Bush. At least that's what Jim Lehrer continually tried to get them to do. I waited not too patiently for the differences to be revealed. Alas, it appears that, like those pesky Weapons of Mass Destruction, there were none to be found!
Oh, sure, Ms. Albright pointed out that Kerry would never have created the mess in Iraq in the first place, but that wasn't really the issue under discussion. Folks have already decided whether or not invading Iraq was a good idea and will factor that into their voting preference in a few weeks. The question is - and remains - what happens next?
The answer? We're still waiting for that. Oh, there was a lot of the usual blather about getting more countries involved, training an Iraqi army to take over the security for the country, supporting the Iraqi Interim Government, yada, yada, yada.
Today saw the death of the 1000th US serviceman in Iraq. I wonder if things will be any different when the toll reaches 2000 - or 5000.
Not from what I heard tonight from the Old Secretaries.
written by: Owlet at 07:34:45 PM | link comments
Putin News Conference
President Putin held a three and a half hour news conference last night, answering reporters' questions on the recent bloody school hostage tragedy.
It's impossible to imagine George Bush sticking around for that length of time, let alone taking questions from news agencies. Don't get me wrong: the Russian government lied its ass off during the hostage itself, and still continues to do so about various aspects of the incident.
My point is that at least the national leader took the time to talk at length and in detail about the event instead of blowing it off with a lot of pseudo-macho rhetoric, as our own President is wont to do.
written by: Owlet at 04:00:59 PM | link comments