You hear it every day in Washington: "Democrats have no ideas, no programs, no deeply held beliefs, no lines in the sand they will not cross." The only discernible passion Democrats display is a passion to be in power again. But in power to do what? You tell me. I have no friggin idea, and I deeply suspect neither do they.
That's why we need to force them to sign a contract with us this time. To put it bluntly, we don't trust them any longer. They've double-crossed at every major moment -- on war, on taxes, on the environment, on health care. They took or votes and our hopes and bargained them away to the enemy for the political equivalent of nylons, smokes and chocolate bars.
So I took the points Bob listed in his article, "embellished" them and put them into the form of 10 contractual pledges Democrat candidates can and should embrace.
A Progressive Contract With America
If elected to office I promise to fully, enthusiastically and aggressively work to pass legislation that achieves the following goals:
We Will Bring the Troops Home. Our military has been stretched to the breaking point through a series of unwise deployments, particularly the war in Iraq. We will begin rebuilding America's all-volunteer military by first setting a date-certain for withdrawal from Iraq, beginning with National Guard and reservists. We will pass legislation requiring US troops begin leaving Iraq at the rate of 15,000 a month. We will work as closely as possible with Iraqi government officials to make this withdraw orderly while continuing to provide them the resources needed to train and equip their own soldiers and police forces.
We Will Crack Down on Corruption. The revolving door between corporate lobbies and high public office must be closed. We will pass legislation prohibiting legislators, their senior aides and executive branch political appointees from lobbying for two years after leaving office. We will let the sun shine into the deepest corners by requiring detailed public reporting of all contacts between lobbyists and legislators and the timely posting of such contacts on the Web. We pledge to apply these rules to all, regardless of party, as one way to take big money out of politics.
We Will Make Public Officials Accountable. When public officials fail to do their job, as in the pre-9/11 and WMD intellegence faliures, we will require an independent investigation be launched so that no official's actions, regardless of rank or position, escapes review. We will detail action on the urgent needs that this Administration has ignored: Improve port security, bolster first responders and public health capacity, and require adequate defense planning by high-risk chemical plants. And we will attack fraud, waste and abuse, beginning with the pork-barrel squandering of national security funds.
We Will Unleash New Energy for America. We understand that the "age of oil," is nearing an end. Therefore we pledge to launch and fund a concerted drive towards real energy independence for America. We must approach this task with the same sense of urgency, funding and attention that the nation gave to the Manhattan Project. We will focus these efforts solely on mainstreaming renewable, non-polluting sources of energy such as hydrogen, wind and solar, with the goal of achieving total energy independence no later than 2020.
We Will Rebuild America First. We will pass legislation rescinding Bush's tax cuts for the already wealthy and corporations in order to create more jobs here than overseas. We will accomplish that, in part, by using the additional tax revenue to create good-paying jobs rebuilding America's decaying infrastructure.
We Will Make Work Pay Once Again. There are only three nations on earth with such a vast disparity between rich and poor, Russia, Mexico and the United States. It is a disgraceful effect of GOP economic policies that favor corporations and the wealthy while ignoring hard working Americans. While CEO pay has moved steadily upward, the pay of working Americans has fallen, in many cases below the official poverty level. We promise to reverse that trend, beginning by passing legislation raising the minimum wage to a level that reflects current economic reality. We will encourage workers, including white collar workers, to take a hand in their own destinies by joining unions, as well as becoming shareholders in the companies that employ them and fully participating in both union and shareholder activities. We will insist that any companies that receive government contracts pay the prevailing wage.
We Will Make Healthcare Affordable. We pledge to fix America's broken healthcare system, a to do so quickly. We will study and then propose a single-payer, universal, healthcare system to be in place no later than 2015. We will also immediately reverse the Republican shameful sellout to the pharmaceutical industry by empowering Medicare to bargain down drug prices andallowing people to purchase drugs from safe outlets abroad.
We Will Protect Retirement Security. We pledge to strengthen Social Security. We will not risk Social Security by privatizing it. Instead we will modernize Social Security by, in part, recognizing that people live and work longer than they did 75 years ago.We will also modernize the ways the Social Security Trust Fund is invested to assure it always grows at least as fast as core inflation. We will also require companies to treat the shop floor like the top floor when it comes to managing their pensions and healthcare benefits.
We Will Keep the American Dream Alive. We will immediately stop and reverse current GOP efforts to cut eligibility for college grants and to limit loans. Instead we will offer a contract to American students: If they graduate from high school, they will be able to afford college or the higher technical training needed to be successful in today's economy. We will pay for this by preserving the estate tax on the wealthiest multimillion-dollar estates in America.
We Will Provide Real Security for America. We will foster and lead an aggressive international alliance to track down stateless terrorists, capture or kill them and confiscate their assets. Captured terrorists will be always be treated in accordance with international law. We will increase efforts and funding to track down and secure "loose nukes." We will detail action on the urgent needs that this Administration has ignored: Improve port security, bolster first responders and public health capacity, and require adequate defense planning by high-risk chemical plants. We will also affirm the reality that no nation can ever be secure as long as its borders are not. We will bring order and security to our borders by increasing border patrols and controls and by instituting a fair, manageable and humane guest worker program. We will also aggressively prosecute employers who employ or exploit illegal immigrant workers.
Date:______________________
Candidate:______________________________________
So, maybe you should email or mail this to your elected representative and let him/her know that, if they intend to run for re-election the price of your vote is their signature on this document.
Katrina Relief Plan for Senate Action This Week
Although the Congress last week appropriated $10.5 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Defense Department, it is clear much more will be needed given the enormity of this disaster. While government authorities and others assess the scope of the problem and decide how much additional funding will be needed to address specific problems, there are a number of legislative items the Senate can and should promptly approve that can help Katrina’s victims. After the Senate has completed action on this emergency legislation, we hope the Senate will quickly provide significant new funding, and consider other substantive proposals that could help address short- and medium-term needs. These proposals must be followed by a much broader, long-term effort to rebuild and rehabilitate the Gulf Coast region and substantially improve efforts to prevent, mitigate and respond to future disasters.
The following are just some examples of proposals that Senate Democrats believe deserve immediate Senate action this week:
Ensuring health care for all displaced victims
* Immediate access to Medicaid for displaced victims.
* No need to prove residency or assets
* No copayments
* No penalties for failing to sign up for Medicare Part B in time.
To ensure access to medical care, we should ensure immediate access to Medicaid for displaced victims. Paperwork requirements should be streamlined and asset requirements waived to ensure that victims, many of whom have no legal documents in their possession, can enroll in the program with little red tape. Residency requirements for participation should not apply to these victims to allow them to obtain health care services around the country. In addition, copayments should be waived for these people as they struggle to meet other needs as well. The Federal government should bear the full cost of these changes, and ensure that no affected state suffers a reduction in Federal Medicaid funding (their “match rate”) for other populations. This proposal is based on a similar successful initiative after the September 11 disaster.
We also should provide compensation to health care providers who provide a disproportionate share of the care for these victims.
Displaced victims should not be penalized for late enrollment in Medicare Part B because they have become newly-eligible or have lost coverage from another plan during this time. Similarly, everyone from the affected states should have an additional year to enroll in the new Medicare drug benefit and its low income subsidies. The automatic transition of dual eligible beneficiaries from Medicaid to Medicare drug coverage should be delayed in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, with the Federal government bearing the full cost of those people continuing Medicaid drug coverage.
Getting victims housing
* Emergency housing vouchers for displaced victims
* Expedited application procedures with no red tape.
* No tenant contributions until they find work.
* Tax incentives for private families to take in victims.
* Identify federal facilities that can house victims.
* Relief for homeowners facing threat of foreclosure
FEMA has said that up to 1 million people may need housing assistance. The Senate therefore should immediately authorize the Department of Housing and Urban Development to create and distribute temporary emergency housing vouchers to victims, without many of the restrictions that apply under the existing Section 8 low-income voucher program. For example, victims should not have to document their income levels, and tenant contributions should be waived until they find work. HUD also should be authorized to increase existing limits on allowable rents given the likelihood that rents in Gulf Coast areas will increase substantially for the foreseeable future. HUD needs to take over primary responsibility for distributing vouchers since many of the region’s local housing authorities are not functioning at full capacity, if at all.
Given the scarcity of rental housing, we will need to rely on private individuals and families to provide free room and board to victims. To encourage this, we should immediately approve a tax subsidy for those who provide such assistance to Katrina’s victims.
To help identify locations to house victims, the Administration should be required, within 10 days, to release an inventory of federal civilian and defense facilities that can be used to provide emergency housing, or as locations for the construction or deployment of temporary housing units.
We should increase aid to owners of damaged homes by waiving current law caps on home repair assistance (now $5200) and home replacement assistance (now $10,200). In addition, we should waive a requirement that individuals leave their home to qualify for home repair assistance, a rule that threatens to exacerbate an already massive demand for shelter in the region.
We should reestablish the Temporary Mortgage and Rental Program, which has been used in the past, including after the September 11 disaster, to provide assistance to homeowners and renters facing financial hardship. This could be important for many victims who otherwise could lose their homes through foreclosure.
Getting victims to family members and friends
Many of Katrina’s victims have little or no access to transportation. Although FEMA has legal authority to address this, the agency seems overwhelmed and has proven unable on its own to meet the compelling needs of countless numbers of stranded victims. We therefore need to make this a White House priority and direct the President to lead a broad effort to quickly ensure that displaced victims can get to family, friends and others who can provide them with room and board.
Getting students into school
Many of Katrina’s victims are children who need to enroll in a new school. To encourage schools to accept these victims, and alleviate some of the resulting burdens, we should provide funding to school districts that accept displaced children. This funding could be used to hire additional teachers, teachers’ aides, or counselors, or to provide temporary expansions of classrooms. A similar program should be provided for institutions of higher education that admit displaced students.
Bringing victims’ families together and placing them with other families
The government should establish a toll free “800” number and web site through which victims could access a national victim database and information about available assistance. Displaced individuals could register and provide contact information, so that separated family members and friends could find each other. The database also would allow volunteers to sign up if they are willing to provide free shelter to victims.
Getting victims cash to meet other basic needs
To ensure that victims can get cash for their basic needs, we should strengthen and expand the Disaster Unemployment Insurance Program and automatically extend any expiring UI benefits that victims are receiving. We also should give the President authority to increase the $26,200 statutory cap on cash assistance through the Individuals and Households Program, and should waive the 25 percent matching requirement for States in the Gulf region. In addition, victims should be allowed to withdraw funds from individual retirement accounts (IRA’s) penalty-free, with extra contributions permitted later.
Providing financial relief to victims and National Guard
Katrina’s victims, and National Guard involved in disaster operations, should not be obligated to make payments to the Federal government in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. There should be a short term moratorium on obligations such as:
Student loans
Individual and corporate income taxes
Small business loans
In addition, disaster victims filing for bankruptcy should be treated differently under the bankruptcy code in recognition of their particular hardship.
Ensuring victims have access to food
We should ensure that the many victims of Katrina who are struggling to obtain food have access to food stamps through a streamlined application process. States should be provided relief from the additional costs associated with administering the food stamp program for victims.
Restoring order
We should provide law enforcement funding where needed to help protect innocent citizens from crime and to ensure that there are places in which to imprison dangerous criminals. In addition, we should authorize federal courts to convene outside of their ordinary location in the event of an emergency, such as the massive flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Helping victims get jobs
Private employers should be given an incentive to hire displaced victims by temporarily qualifying them for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which can reduce an employer’s tax liability by up to $2400 per qualified new worker. In addition, the Federal government should establish a temporary preference for hiring displaced victims who are qualified for jobs.
Moreover, many displaced workers now lack the documents they need to secure employment under Federal law, such as passports and birth certificates. This law should be relaxed temporarily so that victims can legally obtain work without such documents, so long as they can provide a valid Social Security number.
Supporting the National Guard
We should ensure that Guard units serving in the Gulf Coast effort be considered to have been mobilized under Title 32 (they are currently mobilized through the states). This would qualify them for federal benefits and ensure that their service counts as active duty for the purposes of retirement, health care, and other benefits. It also would make them eligible for the Family Separation Allowance if separated from their families for more than 30 days, and could provide relief from creditors and foreclosures.
Requiring accountability
We should require the President to submit regular reports to the Congress on the status of recovery efforts, the number of victims who remain without decent housing, jobs, etc., and any additional resources or action needed to address the crisis.
[. . .]
Of course, calling Bush the Potemkin president is actually a gross insult to the genuine article -- Prince Grigory Potemkin, the man who allegedly had fake villages constructed on the shores of the Dnieper River in order to impress the Czarina Catherine during an official inspection tour.
[. . .]
But history also tells us the real Prince Potemkin was a hard-working, conscientious public servant who carried out his duties with considerable skill. At this point, it's looking less and less likely that history will ever say the same about Shrub.
[. . .]
[. . .]
For many Germans -- fanatical Nazis as well as the naive and the weak-minded -- believing Hitler's absurd promises of ultimate victory was the only alterrnative to accepting a world in which evil (Bolshevism, world Jewry) had triumphed and good (National Socialism, the Aryan superman) had failed. Such a world was either unimaginable, or unendurable.
Likewise, for the conservative ultras to accept Bush's failures now would be to admit the patriotic demi-God constructed after 9/11 by the White House propaganda machine (and, ironically, by the mainstream media ) doesn't exist. All that would be left would be the real Bush: the incompetent, arrogant rich kid who's failed at every significant job he's ever held -- from CEO of Arbusto Energy to commander in chief of the planet's most powerful military machine. For many Bushistas, this is equally unbearable.
[. . .]
[. . .]
Sedona, Arizona
Dinner had been spectacular, both Mariana and Soledad combining their talents to produce a Mexican feast. Most of NoahCorp's senior staff was on hand, as well as the President's people. They'd all retired to the library, breaking into small knots of those from both groups who shared common interests. Clarke spotted Kim near the door and sidled up to her.
"I like the shirt," Clarke said, modeling the polo shirt that had been placed in his quarters. It was blue, with the ubiquitous Ark and Animals embroidered on the left breast and the words 'The Man' on the right.
She smiled at him. "I figured you would, Mr. President. Are you enjoying yourself?"
"Indeed," he agreed. "Jen and I got a chance to go riding before dinner. We haven't done that since the boys were young."
"The view of the valley is awesome from Dead Man's Rock; isn't it?"
"Yes, it is. You've done so much here, yet preserved the natural beauty."
"You can thank Kate Beu for that. In five years, all of our facilities worldwide will be environmentally friendly."
"I can thank Kate Beu for that dull ache at the base of my skull," Clarke said. "How do you put up with her on a daily basis?"
"Kate and I have known each other half our lives," she said. "She's been that way since she was young. I guess I'm used to her."
"The flautas were wonderful,"Amy Stokes said as she made her way over to them.
"Yes, I'm debating declaring eminent domain over Mariana and Soledad and bring them to cook at the White House," Clarke announced with a smile.
"They're not going anywhere," Kim countered. "Neither Kate nor I can cook worth a damn." She took three snifters from the sideboard and poured them each cognac. "Why don't we take a walk?" They followed her down the front hall, out the front door, and across the drive onto the sand. It was a warm eighty degrees for this time of year and this time of night and Stokes stepped out of her shoes, walking barefoot by the shore.
"We have things to discuss, Mr. Clarke," Kim said, taking a deep sniff at the top of the glass.
"Yes, we do," he agreed. "I believe we must work out our differences in order for both of us to fulfill our responsibilities." He was being magnanimous, giving her an opening, but she wasn't ready to take it just yet.
"I am able to fulfill my responsibilities with or without your help. You are the one having the problem separating business from personal."
"Then why did you have us here? Why didn't you just tell me to go to Hell when I asked to meet with you?"
"Because I want to work with you," she said, turning to face him. "I believe we both know the choices that will have to be made over the next few years, and I believe that you and I share the same vision."
"So Steve and Amy keep telling me," he said, taking a sip of cognac. Clarke looked to Stokes, who'd moved farther down the shore, aimlessly strolling through the shallows. "Yet I have no idea of what you envision for this country. I can't help thinking you got me into the White House so I can be your rubber stamp."
"Have I asked you for anything since you've been elected?"
"Aside from Kate Beu ranting at me weekly, no," Clarke admitted.
"But you're still sitting there, ineffective for a year, waiting for the other shoe to drop; am I right?" She stopped, sipping her drink.
He looked at her for a moment, wondering about the depth of this young woman. "Partly; but I'd also like to know what you envision for the future, where you see the country going over the next five years. You have the resources to do so much and I believe we can cooperate in certain areas," he tried the offer again.
"That is a given," she nodded, "look at what we're doing in space. Within the year, the work on MarsPort will begin. It would have taken the government fifty years to get this far if NASA was still in sole control of space."
"Exactly," Clarke agreed. "And the power plant replacement is another area where we agree." Another example of the revolutionary nature of the Force Engine was the ability to produce them to fit many applications, from powering lawnmowers to providing electricity for whole cities. NoahCorp and the federal government had begun a program to replace all of the oil, coal and natural gas fired power-generating plants with the pollution-free Force units.
"I'm glad you brought that up, Mr. President," Kim said as they resumed the walk, the house now only small glowing points of light. "We've been planning, for some time now, to begin the same type of program in more depressed parts of the world."
"Such as?"
"We have an initiative package prepared for the African continent and we'd like your support with it."
"What kind of incentives?"
"A socio-economic package, sir; consisting of a plan to improve the infrastructure and the standard of living. We plan to start with an electrification project in Kenya."
"Africa is a quagmire, Kim," Clarke warned. "The political situation is unstable, even in countries we consider democratic. Until they become organized, I doubt you'll have much company over there. I'm sure you know that you stand to lose a lot if the political situation goes to Hell."
"We intend to help them with that, as well as set an example to American business that it is safe to invest in Africa."
"What kind of help?" Clarke could just imagine, and Kim didn't answer. "I will not be part of a coup," he said.
"Who said anything about a coup?" Kim shook her head. "General Okwu is the best thing for Kenya. He just needs to get his priorities straight. We intend to show him the path to salvation," she let a giggle sneak out.
"So what do you want of me?"
"We'd like you to support him, and his position."
"The United States already does, as we do with all the African democracies."
"But you'll drop him like a bad habit if things become unstable over there. I'd like you to solidify your support for him, maybe work out an agreement for the U.S. to train their army the right way. It would do much for world opinion if you helped change them from uniformed thugs into real soldiers."
"Okwu's grip on the military is tenuous. The military power is in the hands of local governors, not the man in Nairobi," Clarke suggested.
"That will change," she told him. "We would like you to support him when those changes take place. He will need a strong ally."
"He's a crook, Kim. Why do you think we only send humanitarian aid to them? We have to step lightly with regard to getting involved with him militarily."
"We'd like you to get involved environmentally as well," Kim said, ignoring his response. "We'd like the U.S. military to help them with the poaching problem, as well as the administration of Kenya's national parks."
"I can't just call up and say we're sending the Army in to round up their criminals for them."
"No, that would be pretty obnoxious;" Kim agreed, nodding her head. "I'd wait until they asked you for help."
"What makes you think Okwu will ask?"
"We're sending a delegation to Nairobi on Monday to point out the error of Okwu's ways. Kate Beu and Billie Jean Westover will be overseeing things."
"Kate isn't really the diplomat, my dear," Clarke said with a laugh.
"Billie Jean will make sure she doesn't start a war. Would the First Lady be willing to join the delegation?" Kim asked before taking another sip of the cognac.
Clarke stopped again. "That would imply the tacit support of the U.S. government, at least from the administration. I don't know if I want to put us in that position, and it also links the administration too closely with your interests. The Republicans are still grumbling about your involvement with the Democratic Party."
"Let them grumble. There will be delegates from Ford, GM, Bright Star Internet, and DataLink International, to name a few, it wouldn't be just NoahCorp."
"NoahCorp owns ten percent of Ford and fifteen percent of General Motors and Bright Star and DataLink are NoahCorp spin-offs. It's thin cover, Kim." Clarke had to smile.
"But I can get away with it and so can Jen. Public opinion is on my side and the country loves her. They will not care about the relationship between NoahCorp and the others."
"George Felder won't like this. We only have a consulate in Nairobi since the bombings there in the nineties, and the lack of an ambassador would require him to make the overtures to General Okwu. He'd have to leave for Africa tomorrow morning."
"From what I hear, there isn't much past routine and mundane going on over at Foggy Bottom," Kim replied. "I'm sure George would welcome the opportunity."
"What will this get me?" Clarke asked finally.
"A greater influence in Africa. If we are successful in Kenya, others will want to partake in that success. If we're successful, Nairobi and Mombassa will be compared to Johannesburg and Pretoria in a few years. For us to move into the future, the standard of living in Africa has to be brought up to that of the rest of the world. This is the first step."
"So you envision a prosperous, democratic Africa?"
"Yes, eventually. They have to be brought from the Dark Ages into the Twenty First Century and it has to happen relatively quickly. The wider the educational, economic and technological gaps become, the more difficult, read costly, it will be to help them. And we will have to help them, whether it is now, or years down the road. I'd rather it be now."
"What kind of political structure do you envision for them?"
"Well, eventually leaders like Okwu will have to go, but we need influence with the major tribes. Okwu, regardless of his shortcomings, has managed to unite the different tribes that comprise the population of Kenya. If we consolidate his power and strengthen him, he will bring others into line. By the time the next Presidential election in Kenya rolls around, we will have organized a large part of the government and the chances of a moderate being elected are good. If the government remains stable during the transfer of power, it will be an incentive for more business to invest there."
"What are your plans to keep them stable?" It was another question Kim chose to ignore. "You can't keep me in the dark, not if you want my help."
"Our plans are fluid, Mr. President, but suffice it to say that we intend to take an active part in their political process."
"I'd like assurances that you will not do anything to embarrass this administration. I will not stand for what your mother did to President DeVore during the congressional hearings," he wagged a finger at her.
"You have my word. We would not want our part in that publicized either."
"What is your ultimate goal for Africa, Kim," Clarke asked. "Why are you risking all this?"
"I'd like to see Africa take after the model of Europe, with one economy, ruled by one government and a legislature. It would be easier for them to modernize that way. We'd also like to see their economy change from an agrarian one to an industrialized one. Environmentally, it would be better if their population were concentrated in urban areas."
"And what about Europe, and Japan for that matter? They will not appreciate the U.S. building a trading relationship with the Africans. They have been undergoing a recession since the Osan Accords were signed," Clarke observed.
"They need to realize their place in the food chain, Mr. President," Kim declared. "They are still under the illusion they are imperial powers and they will suffer as long as they cling to that. We, meaning NoahCorp and other concerns, will not let the European economy founder, but they will have to come down off their pedestal to share in the prosperity. That goes for the Japanese too."
"What do you want from them?" Clarke pressed her.
"I want them to accept a deal resembling the one the Chinese and Russians did, Mr. President. I want them to lower trade barriers and abandon the Euro, accepting the dollar as a standard currency. When they are prepared to do that, I will make my best effort to expand operations and encourage others to do the same."
"Some of the individual countries are sending representatives next month," Clarke advised her. "They have expressed the desire to work out agreements independent of the EC. How do you feel about that?"
"I'd only ask you take my opinions into consideration when you negotiate."
"In your perfect world, then, the U.S. dollar would be a global currency," he asked.
"It would simplify things; don't you think?"
"It follows that someday, you envision a global government." Kim smiled at him, not answering again. "That is your goal, isn't it?"
"Let's just say, Mr. Clarke, that I envision you being the last President of the United States."
[. . .]
"That hints of treason and conspiracy," Clarke said when he caught his breath. Even Amy Stokes turned her attention to the two people fifteen feet away.
"Not at all, sir," Kim said. "It goes back to our choices and our ultimate goals. We both know the world is too small to be governed by close to two hundred different political entities. There will come a time when the redundancy of government will be too cumbersome. Hell, it already has."
"Are you suggesting the United States begin a campaign of imperialism?"
"Of course not," Kim looked at him as if he were oblivious. "Forcing others to one's will only breeds resentment."
"Voluntary unification under one government won't work, it can't work. Too many are only concerned with personal power."
"It will work, Mr. Clarke; it has to. The planet Earth does not have the resources to support the population and allow for all to share in the prosperity we enjoy here. The 'have-nots' will eventually be desperate enough to try to take what they need from the 'haves'. All must be allowed to share the wealth and that means we have to begin to exploit the worlds that are close to us. The Moon and the Asteroid Belt are the first steps, and a city on Mars will be a reality in my lifetime. We have to slow the growth of population on Earth and begin to sow the seeds of colonization soon. A world government is the only way to achieve real change on a reasonably fast timeline."
"While I am still President?" Clarke chuckled.
"You are the best hope. Chances are a conservative administration will follow yours and the climate for world government will chill. We must act now, before the end of your second term, in order for the movement to have enough inertia to continue through a slowing of the economy, and a conservative move toward isolationism. Your opponent preached that during the last election and it would have been close if not for his troubles. I'd rather not have to wait for two decades in order to make this a reality."
"And you expect this to be accomplished in under seven years?"
"Yes, you can do it," Kim said confidently. "With our help, of course."
"How?"
"You and I will work on that together, but we have to begin to bring Africa up to speed."
"I do not think you are dealing with reality, Kim."
"Forget about what I said about globalization if that helps you," she said, a bit irritated, but she had to let him do this his way. "Help me with this initiative in Africa and see what happens. That's all I ask of you."
"And if I say no?"
"Then you say no and I do it by myself. Contrary to what you believe, Bob, I do not want to manipulate you. I want you to act out of your own free will. If I wanted a yes man in office, I wouldn't have supported you. You're too much trouble." She gave him a warm smile.
"What about the next election? Will you support me then if I don't go along with this now?"
"Yes, I pledge my support to you for as long as you want it, Mr. President. You are the best thing for this country whether you work with me or not. I want you to be successful and I am prepared to give you as much, or as little, help as you want."
"As long as I leave you free to do what you want to," Clarke said smugly.
"NoahCorp obeys all the laws of the land, sir. We pay more than our fair share of taxes and we are extremely philanthropic."
"Except when someone gets in your way," the President countered.
"We protect ourselves, Mr. President. We do not conduct offensive operations without provocation."
"As you did in Germany?"
"I should let them kill me?"
"You could have canceled your appearance; taken yourself out of the equation and no one would have gotten killed."
"And they would have been free to make the attempt on my life again. I don't think so, sir. I took them out of the equation and those four will not be able to reenter it."
"Who were they?"
"I don't know."
"Who sent them?"
"I'm not sure."
"You're lying to me, Kim."
"If I am it's for your own good. As President, there are some things you don't need to know."
"You sound like the CIA Director."
"You know the reasons you have to be kept out of the loop on certain things. There are things about NoahCorp that I don't know, and that is for my, and the company's, own good."
"Is that why you warned me to stay out of Europe?"
"I didn't make that call, Mr. President," Kim insisted. "And I don't know who did. That is the truth."
"Who else could? Technologically, it should be impossible. That is what the Signal Corps tells me anyway."
"I have some ideas, nothing certain. I don't play games like that," Kim shook her head. "If I wanted you to leave Europe alone, I would have told you personally. It would be foolish of me because I know you wouldn't listen. Make your best deal with the ministers and let the chips fall where they may. The Europeans will come into the fold soon enough."
"Does Mike Markham know?"
"My Intel Chief and the CIA Director are in contact daily. I'm certain Mr. Markham is aware of NoahCorp's position in Europe."
"Can you answer one question for me?"
"I'll try."
"Will I regret giving you my support?"
"Indirectly; that is, if the First Lady is going along with Kate," Kim joked. "I'm sure she will get under Jen's skin right off."
"If that's the worst that can happen, I can live with it," Clarke said with a smile.
Kim raised her glass. "To Africa," she said.
"To Africa," he agreed and touched his glass to hers.
[. . .]
-From Technocracy © 2005 RH Wood and Blue Dog Ltd.
[. . .]
The ultimate Potemkin Village, in other words, may be the archaic structure[s] of the American republic. And while it will certainly take a much stronger hurricane than Katrina to blow it down, history suggest that such storms do come along, eventually.
[. . .]
A good music post. Pick your high school graduation year, grab the top 100 songs of that year, bold the songs you still like, strikethrough the songs you hate, and underscore your favorite from the list.
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Washington has been pushing hard to stick to a timeline on government-building that would allow for a significant troop withdrawal as soon as early next spring.
Key provisions of the draft would formalize an already autonomous Kurdish state in the north, under a federal system. The rest of the country also would be allowed to form federal systems -- opening the way for the demand by the dominant Shiite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq [sounds awful Iranian, don't it? - F-man] to create a southern Shiite sub-state out of up to half of Iraq's 18 regions.
Sunnis and others say such a state would be under heavy influence from neighboring, Shiite-ruled Iran. [my emphases}
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But the whole point of the constitutional exercise, from the U.S. point of view, was to give enough Sunnis enough of a stake in the New Iraq® to undermine popular support for the insurgency, or at least split the resistance into pro-political participation and anti-participation camps. A deal perceived by Sunni elites has leading to the destruction of the Iraq state, rammed through an assembly in which Sunnis are almost entirely absent, will have the opposite effect. It could be read, in fact, as a declaration of civil war -- and probably will be so read by Sunni moderates and rejectionists alike.
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At best, it means the Sunni insurgency will last for years, maybe decades, spawning the creation of more fundamentalist "mini-caliphates" in the wilds of Anbar province [can you say 'Soviet' Afghanistan, kiddies? I thought you could. - F-man] and driving a weak, Shi'a-dominated central government deeper into the arms of its Iranian ally. At worst, the country could collapse into complete chaos, or a full-scale, Lebanon-style civil war. Either way, an awful lot of people may have to die so that the president and his supporters can spend the next few days talking about the political "progress" being made in Iraq. [my emphasis]
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It's not that the whole Iraq War isn't an epic disaster the likes of which makes Custer's "Last Stand" seem like a well-planned, well-ordered, by the book military operation. It's not that anyone not suckling at the teat of Bush administration "leaks" and "anonymous sources" didn't know that there was going to be a prolonged conflict, with lots of casualties, and, you know, no fuckin' WMDs. No, no, we know all that shit, along with the inevitable civil war and/or Islamist state as the end result. It's just that it's about to get really, truly, oh-fuck-how-can-he-even-show-his-face-in-public embarrassing for George W. Bush.
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"She's going to kill us," one of the men said.
"She'll be pissed; that's for sure," another agreed.
"She'll understand," her husband said.
The three men were bent over the engine compartment of an old car. A nineteen eighty-eight GT Mustang to be exact, the highly modified five liter engine and T-5 standard transmission sat on a dolly in the corner of the room. Their tenure under the hood of the muscle car was finished. It would probably find a home in another hot rod Ford, maybe someone might even have the testicles to drop it in a Camaro, but its time in this car was over.
The new powerplant that was being installed by the three men was as far removed from the old Five-Oh as the plankton was from the whale. The only resemblance between the two drive trains was that the new one had something that looked like an exhaust pipe. There was no transmission bolted to it either; there would be no need for that. The finned, vented disc brake rotors and four-piston calipers were also sitting in boxes near the old engine. Where the rotors and calipers had lived now resided four small, extremely powerful electric motors and stator assemblies. Zero-gauge wires came from each motor to distribution relays that were operated by an onboard computer that also monitored the powerplant and driver inputs.
"What's the old man going to say," one of the men asked. "After all, he did build the thing. We could have used one of the company's vehicles."
"He told me to do whatever it took to get this operational," the other replied. "Besides, unveiling this in a Suburban or a Crown Victoria doesn't have the same effect as doing it with a jet black GT Mustang."
"I hope you know what you're doing, Ethan," one of the men warned. "Your father-in-law built the car for your wife. I don't relish the thought of having both of them angry at me."
"Leave Kim and the Colonel to me," Dr. Ethan McHenry soothed.
"Do you think we can have this ready for a test tomorrow?"
"Shouldn't be a problem," Hermann Wood, Chief Engineer for NoahCorp replied. Gerald Rienzi, Director of Research and Develop-ment nodded in assent.
"Good." McHenry gave them a smile. "I'll get everything squared away. Can you close up here?"
"Yeah, take off, Ethan," Wood gave him a wave. "We'll finish up."
"Ok, catch you in the morning."
Ethan McHenry left the R&D facility, nodding to the two guards on duty at the entrance of the bay. The existence of the new engine was known to very few. Not even the guards knew what went on behind the big door. He, Wood, Rienzi, a handful of technicians and engineers and, of course, Ethan's father-in-law, were privy to the secrets contained in R&D.
McHenry thought about the Mustang as he boarded the tram that would take him to the administration building, over a mile away. His father-in-law did build the car, but he would understand, Ethan was right about that. His wife would get over it too, although he really should have asked her if he could have the thing. Had it been any other car, Kim wouldn't have batted an eye when he told her what he'd done, but it was her Mustang.
And she wouldn't have cared if it were any other Mustang, but her father had built it and that was the rub. Kim Song Johnson McHenry, supermodel, TV personality, CEO of NoahCorp, his wife, had a love for her father that bordered on the spiritual. They had a bond that was unbreakable; to her, he walked on water, and Ethan thought that was a good thing, most of the time. Yes, Kim would give him hell, but he would deal with it and she would get over it, just like her father, for she loved Ethan also and she knew that he was doing what was best, for her, for NoahCorp, and for Humanity.
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Cooder's remarkable new album is titled Chavez Ravine, and this little neighborhood is Solano Canyon, the last intact section of the 400-acre district that gave the project its name. One of the most celebrated guitarists alive, best known for his work on Buena Vista Social Club, Cooder has spent the last three years constructing an evocation of Chicano East L.A. in the '40s and '50s - and he has become so fluent in the history of these side streets that he can go door to door telling stories.
As late as the 1940s, Chavez Ravine was an Old World enclave with 300 families of Mexican immigrants - a place where goats wandered freely and kids played in the dirt roads. But in 1950, following a city planning commission study of L.A.'s "blighted areas," it was decided that Chavez Ravine would be cleared out to make way for a low-income public-housing project. Most families took the meager payout and didn't challenge the authorities; when necessary, though, the city invoked the right of eminent domain, seized the land, and bulldozed the residences.
But the real estate lobby (which Cooder calls "hideous villains") saw an opportunity, and cast the idea of public housing as "creeping socialism." They accused the Los Angeles Housing Authority's Frank Wilkinson of being a communist agent, and the FBI stepped in to squash the project. Eventually, the housing authority sold 170 acres of Chavez Ravine back to the city, which offered the site to Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley. After a voter referendum and a California Supreme Court decision, construction on Dodger Stadium began in 1961. It's a classic Los Angeles story, full of shadowy deals and backroom corruption, reminiscent of Chinatown or a James Ellroy novel, and Cooder captures it with impressive complexity and nuance.
He drives through the adjacent fields of sprawling Elysian Park and further up into the hills before pulling to the side of the road to look down on the massive spread of the baseball stadium, perched above the city streets on a hill of its own. "That's just the parking lot," says Cooder, 58, from behind oversize yellow sunglasses. "You can see it was an enormous expanse. There's a whole town under there. I love the fact that it's high, it's up. I wanted to say that in the music - that it was set apart, and when you were here, you were somewhere else for real."
RY COODER HIMSELF seems vaguely out of time; in his checked shirt and slip-on Vans, speaking steadily but in no hurry, he exudes something like a beatnik cool (he even says "I dig it" with some frequency). His career defies easy explanation. He has recorded with the likes of the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, the Monkees, and Little Feat. His solo albums, explorations of "world music" long before such a term existed, have featured Hawaiian slack-key guitars, Tex-Mex accordions, and Indian flutes. He's written scores for numerous films such as Paris, Texas and The Long Riders. His reputation as a guitarist is such that, as he hilariously recounts, Bob Dylan showed up at his door one night, unannounced and shabbily dressed, looking for help learning a Sleepy John Estes blues song (and giving the neighbors a good scare in the process). And all that came before Cooder produced Buena Vista Social Club, which won him a Grammy and introduced traditional Cuban music to the masses.
Yet in almost 40 years of dizzying musical globe-trotting, Cooder had never plumbed the idioms of his native Los Angeles. "I always thought East L.A. music was so dreamy and languid and kinda greasy," he says. "I would think, something's out there - I wonder what? I used to sneak my little East L.A. instrumental ideas into movie scores. If I saw an opening, we'd dream up some little low-rider song."
"I needed a story to go with this East L.A. thing," he says. "You can't just do the old songs; they've done those to perfection. Then I found this book, The Provisional City, that's a history of public housing in L.A., and it told the whole story about the Ravine and the FBI and Frank Wilkinson. It was so vivid to me, so I thought, I'll pretend to score the book. I found the mood I want, I found myself as a speaker - which is what you have to do, you can't just be an observer, you have to get yourself located."
Armed with his research, Cooder continued sketching out the mood, texture, and narrative of the album. Musicians including bassist Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre's musical right hand), jazz pianists Jacky Terrasson and Chucho Valdes, and East L.A. boogie king Don Tosti got involved. Cooder visited with Wilkinson, now 93 years old, who showed the musician the 132,000-page file the FBI kept on him, including details of an assassination plot that J. Edgar Hoover did nothing to prevent. ("He's very proud of that," notes Cooder.) Wilkinson even provided a cameo narrative to the album. More songs, in both English and Spanish, were written or found: the story of the Zoot Suit Riots, an account of a bulldozer driver, and even a tune sung in the voice of the scarred earth. Cooder also came up with the slightly loony character who helps tie the story together - a lonely "space vato" dropping in on the residents of Chavez Ravine in his UFO.
"WHAT A MACHINE!" Cooder beams as he stands in a small garage called CJ's, located at the entrance to the Santa Monica airport, a few blocks from where he grew up and not far from his current home. He runs a hand over the half-constructed '50s-vintage ice cream truck that he's having rebuilt. "It sits just so, I tell you. The slope is the thing - Good Humor figured that out."
He's seeing the new hubcaps (actually replicas from Taiwan) for the first time. In a few days, a low-rider specialist will put in the motor and the brakes. Then Cooder will ship the whole thing to San Antonio, where a young Chicano artist will paint a Chavez Ravine mural on the truck's side; concurrently, a local artist is building a diorama of the old neighborhood that will fit in the back. What will he do with this rolling masterwork? Who knows - it won't be completed until long after the album is out and its promotion is done. "This is for me," he says, shuffling back through the parking lot. "I've been wanting an ice cream truck forever. You can't just work and work and work - and this is worth it! This thing is something else."
One other result of his work, though, was Cooder's realization that the legacy of Chavez Ravine is not entirely negative; the neighborhood's destruction also led to a transformative moment in Mexican American activism. "Chavez Ravine is the dawn of Chicano consciousness," he says. "It was the first time they acted together in defense of themselves as a group. They went down to City Hall to these City Council meetings, to these condemnation proceedings, and they damn sure demonstrated and protested. It didn't get them anywhere, but it was the first time it happened."Please go read the whole article. Be sure to see the links at the bottom. Oh, yeah, buy the album.
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"There is a lack of operational guidance that tells commanders and senior supervisors exactly what is appropriate in regard to free exercise of religion," the general said. "There were some faculty and staff, in efforts that were probably well-intentioned, who expressed their faith in ways that were inappropriate for somebody in a position of authority."
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"It is not that minority cadets cannot get accommodation," he said, "but that the academy was not addressing the issue up front, such as including holy days on the calendar. So in some cases, it made cadets feel like the academy was not as sensitive to those needs, and was putting the burden on the cadet to ask for the accommodation."
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"We found there was a certain amount of behavior on the part of some 18-to-22-year-olds that is less than it should be," he said. That behavior included religious slurs, jokes and disparaging remarks made by some cadets.
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General Brady said cadets indicated religious slurs and jokes have decreased at the academy over the past few years. To further bolster that trend, and in light of recent attention on religious issues, the academy has created a new program specifically designed to help young cadets of any background become more aware of the diversity around them.
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The group was obviously fraudulent. There are specific military rules banning partisan political activities during enlistment. Plus, a Google search shows that no such group really existed. Liberals have no sense of humor, which frankly is why they cannot win elections. (But then again, I wouldn't be entirely opposed to the military rounding up certain Democrats in our society and taking them to labor camps...if nothing else, this would aid the military in doing their job).
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Well, this morning, I received numerous emails from various liberal pot-smoking hippies around the country who were amused at the exchange of emails. (Why were they not at work? Well we all know that answer). Here are a few selections:
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Leftist hippies are the real threat to America - these "domestic terrorists" wish to destroy our country. They hope to remove everything we stand for. They strive the adoption of French as our national language and the forced conversion of the country to Islam.
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Obviously these hippies would rather support a draft dodger (both Bill Clinton and Howard Dean) than members of the current Bush administration who have extensive military careers.They are calling us "hypocrites" for the supposed support of a war...but refusing to join the military. Does this even make sense? Since when do I have to support my political stances with physical action. I believe in tougher testing standards for children in schools, but you don't seem me going to become a test writer for the Education Testing Service. Following this round of logic....if these people thing abortion is so great, how come they don't all sign up to be abortion doctors? Because it doesn't make sense!
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I do support the troops and I support their efforts to defend America. I support military action wherever it takes us when the cause is good and just. I am a proud American. If I was asked by my country to join the military in order to preserve these great traditions we share, I would do so in a heartbeat. I salute those men and women who do make the choice to serve in the armed forces and will always continue to be a strong supporter of their efforts.
The Bin Laden family disowned black sheep Osama in 1994. But have they really broken with the mega-terrorist? Recently revealed classified documents seem to suggest otherwise. Osama's violent career has been made possible in part by the generosity of his family - and by his contacts with the Saudi royals.
In early spring 2002, American intelligence agents tipped off authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina that something wasn't quite right with the "Benevolence International Foundation." Their reaction was swift; special forces stormed eight offices of the Islamic foundation in Sarajevo and in Zenica. They found weapons and explosives, videos and flyers calling for holy war. More importantly, however, they discovered a computer with a mysterious file entitled "Tarich Osama" -- Arabic for "Osama's Story."
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But could this really be possible? Are the bin Ladens (or "Binladins," as they more commonly spell it), with their 25 brothers, 29 sisters, in-laws, aunts and, by now, at least 15 children of Osama, nothing but a clan of terrorists? Or are relatives being taken to task for the crimes of one family member, all on the strength of legends and conspiracy theories?
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The bin Laden story, with its dramatic twists and turns, almost comes across as an Arab version of Thomas Mann's novel "Buddenbrooks." In both cases, it's the story of an imposing patriarch, who has managed to hold the clan together, and of his sons, who cannot or do not wish to stop the family's moral decline.
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In late 1979, Osama, with the royal family's blessing, set off for Afghanistan to participate in the jihad against the Soviet Union, which had invaded its neighbor to the south. Both the CIA and Saudi Arabia helped fund the Mujahedeen's armed struggle against the communist "infidels." Prince Turki, head of the Saudi secret service, visited Osama several times in Afghanistan and heavy equipment provided by the SBG family business was used to excavate secret tunnels. For Osama, the support of the Saud family and the bin Ladens became a reliable source of funding.
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On Jan. 9, 2001, OBL attended his son Mohammed's wedding in Kandahar, accompanied, according to CIA sources, by his mother and two of his brothers. The CIA also claims that "two of Osama's sisters traveled to Abu Dhabi" a month later, where they met with an al-Qaida agent at the Gulf emirate's airport to deliver large sums of cash.
In mid-January 2005, New York federal judge Richard Casey wrote, in his grounds for allowing the civil suit against SBG filed by the families of 9/11 victims, that "the Saudi Binladin Group maintained close relationships with Osama bin Laden at certain times," and that it remains "unclear" whether these ties continued when OBL became involved in terrorism.
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{former CIA Agent and author of Imperial Hubris anonymously Mike] Scheuer's axis of evil differs markedly from the president's. He believes that Pakistan and, even more so, Saudi Arabia are the epicenters of global violence. "Many Saudis support the terrorists in Iraq to this day - but we're the ones who are putting up the money -- by paying $50 for a barrel of oil and making ourselves dependent on oil imports."
Scheuer, an experienced intelligence expert, doubts that the entire bin Laden family has severed ties with Osama: "I haven't seen anything in the last 10 years that's convinced me that would be the case." In his view, SBG still derives some of its profits from business dealings in the Islamic world that can be linked to the family's supposed "black sheep." "He's treated as a hero almost everywhere over there," says Scheuer.
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Of course, former CIA agent Scheuer is well aware that the bin Ladens, as investors in and customers of the Carlyle Group, an investment company, had common business interests with the Bushs. In fact, until October 2003 George W.'s father and predecessor in the White House still worked as an "advisor" for Carlyle, which is also involved in the defense sector. Although Scheuer is no wild-eyed conspiracy theorist, he also believes that the US government was "unusually" accommodating to the bin Ladens. Does he regret leaving the CIA, and does he dream of returning? Scheuer, a father of four, says: "I liked my job. I wanted to protect the country against its enemies -- but not the president against his critics."
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