Collective Sigh

Shares in Wal-Mart fell more than three per cent in New York on Monday, after the giant discount retailer cut its forecast for November sales growth to just 0.7 per cent, citing poor performance over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

The world's largest retailer had estimated November growth of 2 to 4 per cent just 10 days ago. But Wal-Mart revised its estimates down on Saturday evening after disappointing sales on “Black Friday”, the day after Thanksgiving - so called because it is traditionally the time retailers move into profit for the year. It is an indicator of spending for the holiday season, when a quarter of annual retail sales are rung up.

When I first heard about the bedsheet cutbacks a couple of months ago, I thought it was some weird practical joke: To save money, a local Navy base planned to end a longstanding practice where staff housekeepers washed and replaced the sheets and pillowcases in the Bachelor Officers Quarters. Henceforth, a bunch of single ensigns and lieutenants were being banished to the local laundromat.

Now I know better. This was no joke – instead, it was a precursor of the oncoming train wreck.

The defense train wreck.

Ukrainian police have sided in droves with opposition protests against the conduct of last weekend's presidential election and a feared crackdown on the demonstrators has not been carried out.

The two-star Army general who ran the U.S. military prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and later took over the U.S. military prison system in Iraq has been reassigned to a senior staff job in the Pentagon.

Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller will be the Army's assistant chief of staff for installation management, with responsibility for housing, environmental and other support operations at Army bases. Miller ran the prison at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay from the fall of 2002 to last spring.

In August 2003, Miller was sent to Iraq to advise on the screening of detainees, their interrogations and the collection of intelligence. Among his recommendations was that military police be actively involved in "setting the conditions" for successful interrogations.

The inmate abuse at Abu Ghraib prison took place mainly in October and November 2003, shortly after Miller's visit. He has not been blamed for the abuse. In March, he was sent back to Iraq as a deputy commander in charge of prison operations.

Replacing Miller in Iraq will be Maj. Gen. William H. Brandenburg.

"I listen to feminists and all these radical gals ... These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it, and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men; that's their problem."

The federal government will be able to require millions of college students to shoulder more of the cost of their education under the new spending bill approved yesterday by the House and Senate.

The government moved to change its formula for college aid last year, but was blocked by Congress. Now, however, no such language appears in the appropriations bill lawmakers are considering, clearing the way for the government to scale back college grants for hundreds of thousands of low-income students.

Nearly 100,000 more students may lose their federal grants entirely, as Congress considers legislation that could place more of the financial burden for college on students and their families.

Senior U.S. military commanders in Iraq say it is increasingly likely they will need a further increase in combat forces to put down remaining areas of resistance in the country.

(...)

The officers said the exact number of extra troops needed is still being reviewed but estimated it at the equivalent of several battalions, or about 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers. The number of U.S. troops in Iraq fell to nearly 100,000 last spring before rising to 138,000, where it has stayed since the summer.

To boost the current level, military commanders have considered extending the stay of more troops due to rotate out shortly, or accelerating the deployment of the 3rd Infantry Division, which is scheduled to start in January. But a third option -- drawing all or part of a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division on emergency standby in the United States -- has emerged as increasingly likely.

Soaring Interest Compounds Credit Card Pain for Millions

The practice, called universal default, started after a rash of bankruptcy filings in the mid-to-late 1990's and has increasingly become standard in the industry. While MBNA declined to comment on any specific customer's account, its general counsel, Louis J. Freeh, the former F.B.I. director, said in a statement that it was being prudent by raising rates when it had reason to think the risk of not being repaid had increased.

Consumer complaints prompted the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which oversees the nationally chartered banks that constitute most of the major card issuers, to warn banks about giving fair notice of term changes and about sending out tempting offers to people who are unlikely to qualify for them.

Julie Williams, the acting comptroller, said in an interview that as long as the lenders were not intentionally deceiving their customers, they were free to set whatever rates and fees their home states allow. If customers do not want to pay a particular rate, "they have choice," she said. "They can find another card."

(...)

Ms. Williams described her agency as a "tough regulator," but critics contend that the comptroller's office has taken strong action against only one major issuer of credit cards in the last five years.

The comptroller's office has since angered state attorneys general by trying to limit their ability to regulate how national banks behave in their states.

Eliot Spitzer, the attorney general of New York, said his office gets "thousands of complaints every year about credit card issues relating to the major banks, the major card issuers." But more often, he said, the banks' response has been that " 'we don't need to deal with you because the O.C.C. has told us - indeed, directed us - not to deal with state enforcement entities.' "

Elizabeth Warren, a professor at Harvard Law School who has been a vocal critic of consumer lenders, said the comptroller's office should do more than express discomfort with the practices of credit card companies, as it did in September.

The regulators did not say that "those are unfair practices, they are unsafe and unsound and don't do them," Ms. Warren said. "Instead, they said it's a problem. Look, if they think it's a problem, then tell the credit card companies to stop doing it."

Republicans whisked a $388 billion spending bill through the House on Saturday, a mammoth measure that underscores the dominance of deficit politics by curbing dollars for everything from education to environmental cleanups.

(...)

A potential boon for Bush himself, $2 million for the government to try buying back the presidential yacht Sequoia. The boat was sold three decades ago, though its current owners say the yacht is not for sale.

(link)

"I'm very proud of the fact that we held the line and made Congress make choices and set priorities, because it follows our philosophy," Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said in House debate.

Note: The Republicans could do it too, creating health care organizations that work the way they think health care should work. Then people could comparison shop the ideas in practice!

America's "face to the world"



Dubya has nominated Condi to be our "face to the world", something certain to scare away anyone wishing to do business here or cooperate with us in any way.

Are there more scary faces coming?

According to the LA Times -

Another sign of Bush's views is expected to come soon when he chooses a replacement for Burns as head of the State Department's Bureau of Near East Affairs.

One possible replacement is Danielle Pletka, vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington public policy center. She has been an outspoken advocate of the Iraq war and Israel's interests.

Helena Cobban gives us some instructive low-down on this scary character and what kind of havoc she could wreak in the Middle East -

Pletka is an unbelievable, Ann Coulter-like ideologue of a figure. Or, as the LAT folks put it, more diplomaticlly: "She has been an outspoken advocate of the Iraq war and Israel's interests."

She used to be Jesse Helms's chief foreign-policy aide. At a time in his career, of course, when he was virulently pro-Likud, as opposed to the earlier ophase when he was virulently anti-Semitic.

Here in the Middle East, jaws have dropped on hearing of the possibility of her appointment. In Lebanon she's known as "Mrs. Legs", because of her habit of wearing extremely short mini-skirts to official meetings.

Not at all an appropriate thing to do in Arab or Muslim countries.

Lebanon is one thing. But one person here recalled seeing her wear similarly revealing clothing while walking around Gaza, a place marked by much more social conservatism in matters of dress. Then, when some Gaza men started staring at her, apparently unable to believe their eyes, she harangued them loudly.

This is not trivial, but it's just one sign of the determinedly "in yer face" attitude she takes to Muslims and Arabs on the whole range of issues. Especially, of course, Israeli-Palestinian issues and questions about war and peace in Iraq. Let's hope someone comes up with a better alternative for this job than Pletka.

I can think of about a thousand people without trying hard.

What it all boils down to is that the Bush administration already has shown their face to the world. Dubya needs to look no further than his own household.

Jim Vance interceded. "Get outen the way, old woman," he ordered.

"I'm a-going to Cap," she said through tight lips. "He has killed my girl." Sally's ashen face wore a look of determination that few had ever seen in the gentle old woman who had always been against fighting.

Jim Vance was in no mood to be fooled with. He did not intend to argue or to be balked by a woman. Swinging his gun barrel, he crashed it down on her hip, and she fell to the ground, breaking her arm.

From her position on the ground, Sally McCoy looked up into the face of her attacker and between moans asked, "What in this world have I ever done to cause ye to treat me this a-way?...In times past, you have stayed all night at my house...and I have cooked your meals. Is this the way ye pay me?"

But this was no time to be reminded of past favors. Seeing the fallen woman so enraged Vance that he cursed roundly and raised blow after blow upon her defenseless body. Then, with a final blow, he crashed her skull with the barrel of his rifle."

"I decided to swim ... but I changed my mind after seeing U.S. helicopters firing on and killing people who tried to cross the river."

He watched horrified as a family of five was shot dead as they tried to cross. Then, he "helped bury a man by the river bank, with my own hands."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has submitted his resignation to President Bush, the White House said today. In addition to Powell, sources said the White House today also will announce the resignations of Education Secretary Rod Paige, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.

"I think it is fair to say that I believe we've got a great chance to establish a Palestinian state, and I intend to use the next four years to spend the capital of the United States on such a state."

Now that the election’s over, President Bush needs to deep-six his candidate hat and get serious as commander-in-chief. His first priority should be to hold accountable those defense and intelligence chiefs and their high-level underlings responsible for the many grievous, even criminal, mistakes that have occurred in Iraq on their watch.

Without a constructive critique of what’s gone down in that beleaguered country – a no-holds-barred appraisal that actually changes America’s ill-conceived counterinsurgency direction – we'll be stuck in a protracted struggle that will only get uglier as the terrible weeks, months and years bleed by.

1) Do not wear your best pair of blue jeans to plant daffodils.

2) You bought too many.

3) Wear a very long shirt that covers your behind when you squat down.

4) It's a good idea to mark the burial sites of long-ago pets.

These things better bloom next spring.

Bush administration wants Oregon statute struck down

The Bush administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to block the nation’s only law allowing doctors to help terminally ill patients die more quickly.

The appeal from Attorney General John Ashcroft had been expected since May, when a lower court ruled the federal government could not punish Oregon doctors who prescribed lethal doses of federally controlled drugs.

Oregon voters approved the law, and since 1998 more than 170 people have used it to end their lives. Most had cancer.

The Bush administration has argued that assisted suicide is not a “legitimate medical purpose” and that doctors take an oath to heal patients, not help them die.

Its population was estimated to be 250,000 to 300,000 before warfare escalated in the city earlier this year. Now, it is thought that 50,000 civilians remain.

Military officials say 3,000 to 5,000 insurgents may be inside the city, but they acknowledge many may have slipped away amid widespread reports that an offensive was coming.

Everyone here knows Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi isn’t in Falloojeh. He isn’t anywhere, as far as anyone can tell. He’s like the WMD: surrender your weapons or else we’ll attack. Now that the damage is done, it is discovered that there were no weapons. It will be the same with Zarqawi. We laugh here when we hear one of our new politicians discuss him. He’s even better than the WMD- he has legs. As soon as the debacle in Falloojeh is over, Zarqawi will just move conveniently to Iran, Syria or even North Korea.

President Bush signaled yesterday that he would add personal investment accounts to the Social Security system, simplify the tax code without raising taxes and cut the budget deficit in half, all before he leaves office in 2009.

Ambitious as those promises are, they may be mathematically impossible, budget and policy analysts say.

(snip)

But in an independent analysis of that budget, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded it would not fulfill that promise. The deficit in fiscal 2004, which ended Sept. 30, was $413 billion. Under Bush's plan for spending and taxes, the deficit would be $258 billion in 2009. If anything, that may understate the size of the deficit in coming years because it does not include any additional costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon is expected to seek an additional $70 billion early next year.

Moreover, the president's budget does not include the cost of a Social Security reform plan that includes the personal investment accounts Bush is demanding. Under such a plan, workers would be allowed to divert one-third or more of their share of Social Security taxes into stocks, bonds or other investments.

Earlier this week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Vioxx may have contributed to 27,785 heart attacks and deaths from 1999 through 2003. The study was based on an analysis of 1.4 million patient records.

Amman/New York, November 4, 2004 - Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is closing its programs in Iraq. The international humanitarian organization took the decision in view of the extreme risks currently run by aid workers in the country. Given the still considerable humanitarian and medical needs of the Iraqi people, the decision was reached with a great degree of regret and sadness.

Due to the escalating violence in the country, MSF considers it no longer acceptable to expose its staff to the serious risks that apparently come with being associated with an international humanitarian organization.

“It has become impossible for MSF as an organization to guarantee an acceptable level of security for our staff, be they foreign or Iraqi,” says Gorik Ooms, General Director of MSF in Belgium. “We deeply regret the fact that we will no longer be able to provide much needed medical help to the Iraqi people.”

"We talked about the division in our country and the need, desperate need, for unity. ...Today, I hope we can begin the healing."

The Army has extended by two months the Iraq tours of about 6,500 soldiers, citing a need for experienced troops through the Iraqi elections scheduled for late January.

No official statement was released, but the Pentagon’s public affairs office posted an article on its Web site Saturday that said 3,500 soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, and 3,000 from the 1st Infantry Division headquarters will remain in Iraq at least two months longer than planned.

We need to deny the Right the chance to delegitimize a Kerry presidency because of the popular vote. Let's make this a clean victory all around.

That means voting for Kerry if you're either in the Bluest of states, or the Reddest of states. Every vote will count. None of this "swapping with Nader voters" stuff. So while my vote in California won't help elect Kerry, it can help legitimize his presidency.