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[However, Kennedy adjusted the numbers to account for undecided black voters, who overwhelmingly vote for Democrats, and said the runoff election currently stands in Blanco's favor. With that adjustment, Blanco would get 53 percent of the vote, compared to Jindal's 47 percent]
Republican Primary Trial Heat (among Republican voters): Cecil Underwood 30% Robin Capehart 8% Sarah Minear 8% Dan Moore 3% Monty Warner 3% Doug McKinney 2% Other 3% Undecided 43%
Democratic Primary Trial Heat (among Democratic voters): Joe Manchin 46% Darrell McGraw 11% John Perdue 5% Jim Humphreys 4% Lloyd Jackson 3% Jim Lees 3% Spike Maynard 2% Robin Davis 2% Other 1% Undecided 25%
"Generally speaking, would you say things in this country are heading in the right direction, or are they off on the wrong track?"
Right Track: 38% (42%) Wrong Track: 50% (44%)
* * * * *
Ipsos-Reid 9/16 - 18
"Generally speaking, would you say things in this country are heading in the right direction, or are they off on the wrong track?"
Right Track: 37% (39%) Wrong Track: 57% (56%)
* * * * *
Fox News 9/23 - 24
Who should control congress?
Democrats 41% Republicans 36% Neither/Unsure 23%
* * * * *
Democracy Corps 9/14
Who should control congress?
Democrats 47% Republicans 42% Neither 1% (unch) Not sure 11%
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Missile Shield for Every Nation
It should be well known by now that the recent provocations toward North Korea along with the Administration's portrayal of the dangers represented by them were deliberate and planned for the singular purpose of creating a perpetual environment of fear. In particular, the fear of nuclear strikes via intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Such fear, the Administration hopes, will breed support for the proposed missile defense shield, an egregiously expensive piece of technology that is currently unworkable.
Even now, it is being reported that the global support for such a system is growing rapidly. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen. Nevertheless, it might be time to reevaluate a theoretically working system and the implications that it would have on our daily lives, this nation, and the world.
Now, it is my opinion that the right-wing members of this nation have done everything they could to create an environment conducive to a positive reception of a missile defense system. They've provoked, threatened and invaded other nations, set a "first strike" precedent, campaigned relentlessly with fear-inducing propaganda and they've painted our allies as enemies.
As a result, they've succeeded in seizing middle-eastern oil fields, silencing dissenting voices, creating false popularity for themselves, enriching their contributors, friends and family members and distracting from important domestic issues.
With that said, I will now say that I support the creation and implementation of a missile defense shield.
What?!!!
It's true. I'm an advocate, a position met with some skepticism by the left… and to boot, I was an advocate long before the jackass-in-chief seized the White House. So why do I support it, you ask?
I suppose it's because we have no other choice. Nuclear non-proliferation will never happen. Those who want nuclear weapons will get them…eventually, regardless of what this or any other administration does.
In essence, we were doomed to face such an existence the moment the very first nuclear bomb was successfully tested. People like to point to the global paradigm shift after 911. Ha! That was nothing compared to the shift initiated by the invention of the atomic bomb.
Agree or not, after the debate is through, two issues remain:
1) The means exist (via "the bomb") to destroy the planet many times over. 2) Time is infinite.
Thus, any abomination of logic will lead you to the same conclusion…anyone who wants nuclear weapons will eventually get them. Moreover, in the infiniteness of time, someone will use them, setting off a cataclysmic chain reaction.
So how do we stop this from happening?
Get rid of all nukes on the planet? Make them illegal? Police the entire planet continually? Yeah right! Not one chance in Hell are any of those things going to happen. Human's mutual distrust for each other ensures us of that.
The only way we can prevent nuclear Armageddon is by making these weapons ineffective. The only way I can see that happening with today's technology is by creating an effective missile defense mechanism…but now the catch…
Every nation on Earth must have a missile defense. Not just the US or NATO or Japan. Everybody.
The advantage here is that instead of using fear of ultimate destruction as a deterrent, we are deterred by the knowledge that our weapons (ICBMs) are inert.
And now the admitted numerous disadvantages:
~ Such a strategy inevitably leads to a new type of arms race where the Bush's of the world try desperately to find a way to outmaneuver other countries' defense systems.
~ A missile defense system won't do anything to stop "suitcase", "Anola Gay" or any other portable nukes.
~ The Missile Defense Shield does not work at the moment and the current price tag for it is near $200 billion, an enormous expenditure above and beyond the usual outrageous military budget that would be well spent on education, job creation and health care.
~ Such a system will break treaties (Actually Bush has already broken most treaties), threaten nations (Well, Bush has already done this too), stimulate a new arms race (Bush has already done this as well), and stimulate outrage across the globe (Bush already….).
~ Most poor countries could not afford such a system for themselves.
Pretty grim. Nevertheless, one mitigating factor might include the fact that an enemy's ability to position and detonate nuclear weapons without missile capabilities will be infinitely more difficult in the age of radiation detectors and the like.
In the end, I wish the world was not in such a position that I felt warranted to support such expensive and provocative measures.
Yet, despite all these things, I still think that, in the long run, a global net of missile shields is our best hope.
Don't get me wrong. I'm no doomsayer. To the contrary, I know that there is a way to avoid the potential self-destruction that warmongers like Bush have created for the world. Unfortunately, even that proposed solution would enrich the same people who created the dire situation in the first place.
Just two days after Ari Fleischer announces that he is resigning from the Administration, EPA Chief Christine Todd Whitman announces that she is stepping down!
Whitman, in a letter to Bush, said she was stepping down to spend more time with her family.
"As rewarding as the past two-and-a-half years have been for me professionally, it is time to return to my home and husband in New Jersey, which I love just as you do your home state of Texas."
Isn't that nice. She makes no reference to the numerous times that she was cowed into accepting the Administration's demands, which were almost always counter to her initially stated positions.
For example, some time ago, Whitman appeared on a series of morning talk shows and announced that a White House task force would NOT recommend drilling in ANWR. Soon after her appearances the White House began to distance itself from the comments. Karl Rove, in particular, said that he was "mystified" as to where her statements might have come from.
In any event, the question is who will replace her? ...Another Gale Norton replicon no doubt. So long forests, air, water, animals and whatever else is left of this Earth.
Nevertheless, Whitman is the 12th high profile Bush-minion to leave the Administration in the last year and a half.
Allies to Begin Seizing Weapons From Most Iraqis (NY Times) Iraqi citizens will be required to turn over automatic weapons and heavy weapons under a proclamation that allied authorities plan to issue this week, allied officials said today. The aim of the proclamation is to help stabilize Iraq by confiscating the huge supply of AK-47's, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons that are used by criminal gangs, paramilitary groups and remnants of the Saddam Hussein government. "We are in the final stages of formulating a weapons policy to put rules on who can and cannot possess a weapon," Lt. Gen. David D. McKiernan, the chief allied land commander said in an interview. "We want to get explosives and AK's out of the wrong hands."
Senate Dividend Tax Cut Costs Billions More Than Was Expected (FOX News) Senators who approved a suspension of taxes on investor dividends last week underestimated the cost of the measure by $70 billion because of an error by congressional tax experts. The mistake was discovered as House and Senate negotiators sat down to combine their tax bills. The chairmen of the House and Senate tax-writing committees met for nearly four hours late Tuesday. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif. (search), said the chairmen were "near agreement" but wanted to see a detailed analysis of the cost of the framework. Discovery of the error boosts the cost of the proposed tax cuts to $420 -- well beyond the $350 billion limit that senators had imposed on themselves while writing a $2.2 trillion budget governing tax and spending bills. Senators had been told by congressional tax experts that the dividends policy, which halved taxes on dividends this year and suspended the taxes in 2004, 2005 and 2006, would cost $124 billion over the coming decade.
U.N. Experts to Inspect Nuclear Site in Iraq (LA Times) The Bush administration has agreed to allow United Nations experts to return to Iraq to inspect its leading nuclear research center, Pentagon and State Department officials said Tuesday. The decision follows several sharp warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency that theft and destruction at nuclear sites could spread contamination or allow radioactive material to fall into the hands of extremist groups outside the country. The immediate concern is the Tuwaitha nuclear research center outside Baghdad, the only center where U.N. inspectors will be allowed for now, U.S. officials said. A senior administration official emphasized the step was not part of the resolution to lift U.N. sanctions against Iraq being pushed for a vote this week in the Security Council, but would "help us get the resolution."
South Korea Turning Tough on North Korea (Associated Press) South Korea, an advocate of restraint since the North Korean nuclear crisis erupted in October, is running out of patience with its communist neighbor. One week after meeting President Bush, South Korean leader Roh Moo-hyun still backs engagement with the North and says war must be avoided at all costs. But South Korean officials are now talking tougher, if not with the same vigor as their American allies. The South Koreans acknowledge, albeit vaguely, that means other than engagement might be needed to deal with the North and its suspected development of nuclear weapons.
Soros Selling Dollars, Hits U.S. Policy (Reuters) Billionaire investor George Soros said in a television interview on Tuesday he was selling dollars in currency markets. His comments on CNBC pushed the euro briefly above $1.17. In the interview in which he assailed Bush administration policies, Soros said he was buying the euro and the currencies of Australia, Canada and New Zealand against the dollar, as well as gold. "I have to disclose that I now have a short position against the dollar because I listen to what the Secretary of the Treasury is telling me," Soros said in the interview. Soros was sharply critical of Snow's policy shift, branding it a "mistake" and labeling it a wrongheaded attempt to stimulate the U.S. economy at the expense of other economies. "It's a beggar-thy-neighbor policy," he said. "I think (Snow) was somewhat irresponsible by talking down the dollar."
U.S. Ends Talks With Iran Over Al Qaeda Links (LA Times) In the wake of the Saudi bombings, the United States has broken off talks indefinitely with Iran because of intelligence indicating that Al Qaeda operatives have taken refuge in the Islamic Republic. The Bush administration has notified Iran, through Swiss, British and U.N. envoys, that it expects to see action against Al Qaeda before resuming the talks on security and regional issues, held under U.N. auspices. The latest talks were scheduled to be held in Geneva today but were canceled by the White House, according to administration officials. "We decided not to continue talks because of what happened in Saudi Arabia and the potential links to people who are now in Iran. We're finding other ways to tell the Iranians that we want to know whatever they know about Al Qaeda in Iran," said a senior administration official.
U.S. Closes Riyadh EmbassyDue to 'Imminent' Threat (Associated Press) U.S. diplomats said Tuesday more attacks in Saudi Arabia were "imminent" and closed their embassy and consulates for a few days in response, while a Saudi official said investigators believed about 50 hard-core Muslim militants were ready to volunteer for suicide strikes like the ones that targeted Westerners in the capital last week."The embassy continues to receive credible information that further terrorist attacks are being planned against unspecified targets in Saudi Arabia," Americans were warned in a statement posted on U.S. Embassy and consulate Web sites. "In response to information that some strikes may be imminent, the embassy in Riyadh and the consulates in Jidda and Dhahran will be closed" Wednesday.The offices will reopen no earlier than Sunday, the statement said, in observance of the Saudi weekend on Thursday and Friday and for early observance of the U.S. Memorial Day on Saturday.
Terror Alert Level Raised to Orange (Associated Press) The Bush administration raised the national terror alert level to orange on Tuesday amid fears that a wave of attacks overseas would spread to the United States. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security said the threats were not specific to location, time or method of attack. The warning sets in motion new security measures for the federal government and advises cities, states and businesses to take extra steps as well. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge encouraged governors and mayors to deploy additional police "and particularly discussed with them the venues in which there will be large public gatherings," said Asa Hutchinson, Ridge's undersecretary for border and transportation security.
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