meta-roj

a mediocre law student went to a bush rally and a kerry rally to see what he could see. he saw about half.

this is why bush doesn’t see it.

[via barry]

it’s taken me too long to get to this one, but i need to wrap up the blogging for the day and i want to leave on a political (as opposed to spam) note.

last week, the new york times ran an op chart prepared by michael pan, amanda terkel, robert boorstin, pj crowley, and nigel holmes. it’s a graphic presentation of an alternative “safety plan” for america based on the expense of the “make america safer” invasion of iraq to date.

now, if you’ve been exposed to any media at all, i’m sure you realize that america is safer. don’t believe the whitehouse press office? check out the video [quicktime from the daily show, via lisa rein].

in fact, we’re so safe, the administration has started focusing on the other important issues of our time.

back to the op-chart. this is just a proposal for redistributing the $144.4 billion (that’s $500 out of each american’s pocket, by the way) spent on iraq on things that might, in a star trek alternative universe kinda way, make america…. safer.

it’s a graphic, and i’m not sure how long the times will leave it available, so i’ll summarize here:

plan a:
$144.4 billion to invade, occupy and rebuild the nation of iraq.

plan b:
$7.5 billion for port security
$4 billion to expedite upgrades for the coast guard
$2 billion for improved cargo security
$10 billion for anti-missile countermeasures on american airlines
$5 billion for baggage screening machines
$240 million for walk-through explosives detection machines
$7 billion for 100,000 police officers
$2.5 billion for fire departments
$350 million for integrating emergency communications systems
$3 billion to secure major roads and railways
$30.5 billion to secure weapons-grade nuclear material around the world
$2.25 billion to expedite the nunn-luger cooperative threat reduction program
$24 billion to add two divisions to the army
$15.5 billion to double active-duty special operations forces
$8.6 billion to rebuild afghanistan
$11 billion to finance crop conversion in afghanistan
$10 billion for development assistance in the neediest countries.
$775 million for public diplomacy

now, i can’t say i completely agree with these spending priorities, but it’s interesting to see what “plan b” might look like… and then to think about the potential results (or consequences).

the problem is that congress would never approve $144.4 billion in debt-funded spending without a war – so we’d never be able to implement a $144.4 billion “make america safer” effort that looked anything like this at all. and this is why america isn’t, i think, safer.

this is sort of a follow-up to the rumsfeld comment on the subject. neither got much play in the media, both are shocking and… dare i say it… unamerican.

Family of Iraq Abuse Whistleblower Threatened [reuters, august 16, 2004]

Relatives of the U.S. soldier who sounded the alarm about abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison said on Monday the family was living in protective custody because of death threats against them.

the country that would never let this happen. almost never anyway. unless it were the actions of individuals. unauthorized. dare i say it… illegal. and we will certainly get to the bottom of these heinous acts. i’m sure we will.

i just feel compelled to point out that so far, i haven’t heard about any mid-level ior upper-level government official even getting fired, much less prosecuted, for the intelligence, strategic and human rights failures of the past several years.

and now the family of the person that called america to live up to her own standards has to live under protective custody?

not in my america.

the funny thing about translations is that there’s always a layer of interpretation involved…

Key Evidence in Doubt in U.S. Mosque Case -Paper [reuters, august 18, 2004]

Prosecutors said the Defense Department gave them information that a notebook with Aref’s name and address was found in what they called a terrorist training camp in the western Iraq desert, near Syria.

They said a word on one page, written in Arabic, referred to Aref as “commander.” In fact, the word was Kurdish, and could be translated as “brother,” according to prosecutors.

there could be a little difference between “commander” and “brother” – particularly in cultures where everyone’s a brother.

Income Gap Up Over Two Decades, Data Show [ap via abc news, august 17, 2004]

The wealthiest 20 percent of households in 1973 accounted for 44 percent of total U.S. income, according to the Census Bureau. Their share jumped to 50 percent in 2002, while everyone else’s fell. For the bottom fifth, the share dropped from 4.2 percent to 3.5 percent.

just a little data point to add to the thread.

kenyan

the leopard woman

just fixed the big that tripped up asheesh with his comments. everyone should be better now. sorry for the obscure bug and lack of decent error message.

thanks to asheesh for bringing this up… i’d never have found it without a report.

george and laura bush were recently interviewed by larry king. larry is a great interviewer, and early in the interview, the question of the presidents opponents came up…

larry king live, with george and laura bush [august 15, 2004 airdate]

KING: You don’t have your opponent[s], though?

G. BUSH: Not at all. Listen…

L. BUSH: No, of course not.

G. BUSH: There’s a chattering class of kind of, you know, professional politicians who get on the airwaves and they kind of feel like it’s their duty to stir things up. But the American people are — they’re focused on their families, and they’re focused on their work. And they’re interested in, you know, how government can help secure this country during these dangerous times. But I just don’t see it. When I travel the country, and I’ve been traveling a lot, there are thousands of people who come out and wave, and they are — you know, they respect the presidency. Sometimes they like the president, but I have this — I don’t have a sense that there’s a lot of anger.

i’m just feeling a bit compelled to emphasize this bit… opponents? bush just doesn’t see it.

the easy angle on this is that bush travels in a criticism free zone – a truth -free zone, sheltered from uncomfortable facts on the ground with his opponents (the ones he doesn’t see) kept at a safe distance in designated free speech zones, even when he’s visiting our allies. he simply doesn’t realize he has opposition, because even the t-shirts are screened to protect his view of reality.

we could blame the security and political apparatus that support this president for protecting him from any realization that some americans don’t support his policies. that could be enough to do it. i’m reminded of a story about an emperor and a pair of tailors.

“Besides being invisible, your Highness, this cloth will be woven in colors and patterns created especially for you.” The emperor gave the two men a bag of gold coins in exchange for their promise to begin working on the fabric immediately.

why do i feel like i have a few coins in that bag? oh yeah. this empire is a democratic republic. that’d do it.

on the other hand, the righteous know no opposition.

poet