Kinder Got This Flop

Joe Gandelman reports this little gem:

On Tuesday, a day after officials in Arnold Schwarzenegger's Austrian birthplace of Graz removed his name from a soccer stadium to comply with the California governor's wishes, they deleted references to him on the city's Web sites.

Schwarzenegger earlier this month wrote to Graz officials asking for his name to be removed from the stadium and ordering the city to stop using it for promotional purposes.

He was reacting to fierce criticism from opponents in his hometown who denounced him for refusing to block the Dec. 13 execution in California of Stanley Tookie Williams.

Late Sunday or early Monday, Graz officials took down the large metal letters spelling out Schwarzenegger's name on the 15,300-seat arena. On Tuesday, the mayor's office said references to the actor-turned-politician were scrubbed from Graz's main Web site and from a sister site devoted to the region's sports scene.

"It's all settled," Thomas Rajakovics, a spokesman for Graz Mayor Siegfried Nagl, told Austrian media.

I'm guessing his strudel is getting stale in his home country.

I didn't weigh in much on the Tookie Williams case, mostly because it was an unlikely case to draw much sympathy or to make a point about the death penalty.

I oppose the death penalty in all cases. Nevermind the state sanctioned aspect of it; simply put, our jails are not just about revenge, but about second chances and we as a people ought to honor that commitment to our fellow man. Sure, there are a relative handful of cases where you simply can't get thru, no matter what. That's why you keep them locked away forever.

Right now, it costs less to imprison someone for life than to sentence him to death, because of the myriad appeals avenues open to him, and generally speaking, death row inmates will use public defenders offices for these appeals. Those bills add up rapidly over the course of decades (yea, I know, why not install express lanes, but hell, we've already executed a few innocent people we can be pretty sure, so why make it even more dicey?).

We ought to be taking a much closer look at rehabilitation. Executions, like abortions, ought to be rarer than they are.

tags technorati : Top 50

Could We Be Reaching The Avian Flu Nexus?

While reading this article at Newsday.com, I came across this tidbit:

To be sure, the H5N1 strain hasn't found its way to the U.S., and local health officials say they're closely watching the flocks and say the New York markets are safe. One expert said the state has stringent standards in place for monitoring and testing the birds. And for now, the disease is just one subtype of flu virus that typically infects fowl, so the risk to humans remains low.

But the disease has spread from Asia to birds in other countries, including Russia and Croatia, and outbreaks are expected in Africa as birds migrate south. If the virus were to begin to transmit easily among humans, health officials fear it could launch a pandemic, threatening millions of people worldwide.

Health experts blame the human cases in Asia on close contact between humans and birds at the small farms that sell poultry to live markets. That leaves some health officials here wondering whether workers at New York State's approximately 100 live poultry markets -- the most of any state in the U.S. -- need to take more precautions.

(emphasis added)

It seems to me that the cradle of mankind holds the key to just about any really nasty virus that affects mankind, likely because of the enormous headstart viruses have had there in learning to cope with human immunodefenses (on the order of millions of years), as well as the unique way that viruses can mutate on an RNA-based transfer of genetic material. While avian flus in general originate in Asia, (not sure why, but the last outbreak in 1968 was given the moniker "Hong Kong Flu," and while the 1918 outbreak was called the "Spanish Flu," the world was somewhat distracted by its first global war, and probably missed the originating outbreak) contact with Africa in the past has been nominal, with the flu viruses spreading to Europe and the Americas long before Africa was affected.

The reason? Slower global transportation meant that the flu was transferred out of Asia far slower and ended up in Europe and the Americas long after birds had migrated south. This year, we've already seen outbreaks in Russia, Croatia, France, Germany and the UK, meaning that birds not yet in transit will have come in contact with the virus carried by international passengers and freighted livestock.

Going to be an interesting spring.

A Story You Probably Missed During 2005

Still, a Wounded Military
In last year’s list, we pointed out that the health of the U.S. military was in serious decline. At 7 to 1, the ratio of wounded to dead in Iraq was the highest of any conflict in recent memory, including Vietnam, where the ratio was 3 to 1. A year later, the story is worse—and still largely ignored.

In 2005, the most common number cited regarding the war in Iraq was the more than 2,100 U.S. soldiers that have died. When the number of wounded was mentioned, the Pentagon figure of more than 15,500 U.S. troops, or the Army Medical Department’s total of 20,748 medical evacuations, was usually rolled out.

Today, the wounded-to-dead ratio remains near 7 to 1 by this official count. But a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) report released in October tells a bigger story. Its data shows that 119,247 veterans of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have sought VA healthcare. Of those, 46,450 were diagnosed primarily with musculoskeletal problems, such as joint ailments and back disorders. More than 36,800 veterans, or 31 percent of those the VA cared for, were treated primarily for mental disorders.

Not even the VA had anticipated the number of soldiers they would be asked to help. In June, the agency told lawmakers that it had underestimated the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and required $1 billion in emergency funding.

But careful readers of this blog wouldn't be surprised by this last bit.

While the US armed forces and the mental health community are acutely aware of PTSD, and Vietnam veterans had a much harder time of it because not only were they in combat but the support system at home was non-existent for many veterans, the Iraqi vets aren't going to have it a whole lot easier.

In addition, the study on posttraumatic stress disorder found that the percentage of troops suffering from PTSD increased by between 7-10% after deployment to Iraq, which would represent 25,000 to 35,000 initial periodcases of PTSD among the roughly 350,000 U.S. troops who have served in Iraq.

That's as of July of 2005. That's nearly half the number of fatalities we had in Vietnam.

Why will this war be a challenge to the mental health of so many soldiers?

Simple. It's an unpopular war in which Americans are killing Iraqis by the thousands, much like in Vietnam. We were led into the war under false pretenses, so the responsibility for those deaths has shifted from a just cause (fighting terrorism, stopping a WMD from being launched at America) to one that is much ore nuanced (removing a dictator from power).

When a soldier questions his rationale for being in a combat zone, that soldier will call into question his own motives for serving. Even in a forced recycling such as we've seen in the Guard and Reserve troops sent to Iraq, the slender justifications for fighting are peeling away as each day's bad news....more American dead, undercover psyops involving shooting people supposedly on our side by British troops dressed as civilians...piles on.

God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Us?

No quotes, no headlines from articles. This post is from the heart.

Today we celebrate the birth of arguably the greatest Teacher in the history of this measly little rock in space (which brings up most of this article). Be he God, or God-like, or merely an unusually gifted man is irrelevant to that point: He has been more influential than any other inhabitant of this planet, ever.

And yet, we learned so little from Him.

If you believe, as I do, that Jesus was sent here by His Father to save us from our sins, then you have a lot of questions:

1) First and foremost, why? There are an awful lot of subqueries to ask here. A couple that spring to mind:

a) Why aren't we perfect in the first place? God made us in His image. Is He not perfect, then?

b) Why didn't God just wipe us all out like He did during Noah's time? After all, murder didn't go away when He flooded the planet, neither did theft, or lying or adultery, all of which are mortal sins according to Moses. Did God admit He failed the first time He created us? Then for heaven's sake, couldn't He have chosen a less sinful family than Noah's to repopulate the planet? I mean, you know, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent...why a sinner like Noah? Did God run out of the clay He made us from in Genesis? And so quickly?

2) When is God going to get tired of these numbnuts who hijack His name for earthly purposes? The "War On Christmas," indeed! Can we expect another massive flood to level the planet?

3) If Revelation is accurate (a book written 300 years after Christ, by a stoned monk), then heaven only holds 144,000 souls. There are 6 billion people on the planet now, and since "souls" could mean anyone who's ever lived, we're talking about something on the order of ten billion souls. Heaven sounds harder to get into than a WASP country club for a minority.

4) Doesn't this behavior sound odd to you? A God who destroys (Noah) and humiliates His subjects (Adam and Eve, Abraham, David, Job...I could go on) in one book turns around and gives them a beautiful gift in the next? Was not an omniscient God in charge? Could He not see the failures of man ahead of time and prevent them? Didn't He get bored of running around behind us like a kindergarten teacher?

5) In fact, does not Jesus sound more like a Father than His Father does? I'm reminded often of the Star Trek (first gen) episode, The Squire Of Gothos, and that the Father is Trelane, and Jesus one of the beings that scolds him in the end. One can begin to imagine the conversation they must have had ahead of time.

6) And yet, even Jesus' teachings have failed where they count the most: the human heart. Who amongst us can claim to never have had a sinful thought?

7) Which leads me to the place Jesus' teachings should have succeeded wildly: the human mind. After all, the logic is impeccable. If you don't want to be screwed around with, don't screw around with someone else. You get what you put in. Every major religion and belief system has this at its core, this magic bank account where you deposit good will and you withdraw good will, but if you deposit ill will, you withdraw ill will (and in some systems, you even earn usurious interest rates on the order of three-fold!). Why have His teachings failed to impress the one place humans CAN control, their own minds?

Now, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, and His Son, Jesus Christ, who was born unto men, died for our sins, arose to Heaven where he will sit in judgement of the quick and the dead, and the Holy Spirits, the last leg of the Triune God.

I just don't believe in religion. I don't believe that man, any man, can tell me how to follow my God. Either God is so involved in the day to day affairs of each man, as He was in the Old Testament, that a priest or minister becomes superficial, that we each have a direct line to Him in our hearts, or God is so uninvolved in our lives that, through Jesus, he gave us blanket immunity from prosecution by just believing that Jesus died for our sins, in which case, priests and ministers become irrelevant (again) as we each must find our own path to salvation, that the most a priest can do for us is to point out what needs forgiving in God's eye.

A tale is told of the man who dies. He enters a large chamber, a vestibule of a sort, high vaulted ceilings bathed in white marble and white plaster ornamentation.

Across the marble floor from him are two doors.

The first door, grand white oak, with brass handles and two sentries posted in the finest guard uniforms, braided gold epaulets , which has a lonnnnnnnnnnnng line of people snaking forth from it, has an huge gilded sign over it: "Lecture On How To Get To Heaven."

The second door, perpetually open with many cobwebs across the entrance, musty, old pine, with a simple knob, is marked with a simple hand carved (by a Carpenter?) wooden sign: "To Heaven".

That doorway is empty.

And to conclude today's services, a hymn...

Fairy Tale of New York (Hi Bandwidth Real Player)k

Fairy Tale of New York (Lo Bandwidth Real Player)

Fairy Tale of New York (WMV Hi Bandwidth)

Fairy Tale of New York (WMV Lo Bandwidth)

Merry Christmas, all. Happy Hannukah, all.

Aw, hell, Merry Happy Christmahannukwanzaakah, everyone! Especially Jesus' General.

tags technorati : Top 50

Yea. "Radiation."

Mosques monitored for radiation: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials have secretly monitored radiation levels at Muslim sites, including mosques and private homes, since September 11, 2001 as part of a top secret program searching for nuclear bombs, U.S. News and World Report said on Friday.

The news magazine said in its online edition that the far-reaching program covered more than a hundred sites in the Washington, D.C., area and at least five other cities.

"In numerous cases, the monitoring required investigators to go on to the property under surveillance, although no search warrants or court orders were ever obtained, according to those with knowledge of the program," the magazine said.

The report comes a week after revelations that the Bush administration had authorized eavesdropping on people in the United States. U.S. President George W. Bush has defended that covert program and vowed to continue the practice, saying it was vital to protect the country.

Honestly, how much do they think the country will swallow?

On the other hand, the United States has been up to Rod-Stewart-rumours proportions, so perhaps they think they've pulled a fast one...

Fall Out From The Transit Strike

New York Buses, Subways Back in Service After Strike

[....]

The union agreed to end the walkout and resume contract talks after two days of meetings between labor representatives and MTA officials with a three-person mediation panel headed by Richard Curreri, director of the state Public Employment Relations Board.

The largest mass transit system in the U.S. came to a standstill Dec. 20 when the union rejected a three-year MTA contract offer that called for new employees to contribute more of their wages to a pension plan and walked off the job.

[....]

A state law prohibiting walkouts by public employees penalizes strikers two days' pay for every day of work missed. State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones fined the union $1 million for each day of the walkout and threatened to jail labor leaders, and city officials were pressing a separate suit for millions in damages before the agreement was announced.

A court hearing scheduled for yesterday was postponed after the strike was called off until Jan. 20.

During the walkout, Mayor Michael Bloomberg had called strikers ``selfish,'' ``greedy'' and ``thuggish.'' TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint said he was defending his workers' rights.

The union and MTA returned to a midtown hotel after midnight yesterday for their first face-to-face meeting since talks broke off earlier in the week, and at 11 a.m., state mediators came to a ballroom where reporters were waiting to announce they had reached an agreement to end the strike.

Bottom line:

The MTA has NOT taken pensions off the table, in violation of the state's Taylor Law (the law referred to four paragraphs up), but is under no sanction for proposing it. They have, however, agreed that they'd consider additional changes in the health insurance components in exchange for dropping that bit of unethical nonsense.

Which, I suspect, is what they were after in the first place.

So who loses?

The TWU, for one. Those million dollar a day fines are not negotiable and unwaivable, altho on appeal, the courts might reduce them significantly.

The riders, for another, even tho the MTA will move heaven and earth to placate us with a few measly scraps from the table.

Other unions, also. Their pensions and health care coverage are in jeopardy now. The TWU was the only union to strike over a contract, yet the police, fire fighters, teachers, and health care workers all have worked significant periods of time without contracts. The Taylor Law HAS to be amended to make it a fairer deal for workers, who de facto lose money each day they work without a raise that at least covers inflation.

Bloomberg loses as well. Calling working people "thugs" is not going to endear you to any future union work disputes.

Pataki probably loses, but only a little. His presidential bid is such a long shot it's not even funny.

The MTA, of course, wins big, since this is all one giant zero sum game. But things have a way of evening themselves out in the end. I pity Peter Kalikow and George Pataki for the karma they've riled up.

tags technorati : Top 50

The Battle Is Nearly Over, The War Has Just Begun

Strike Report 12/22/05
It's Over (Almost), But Pension Battle for All U.S. Workers is Just Starting

[....]

The sickening anti-worker propaganda in New York's newspapers - in a confounding twist, these courageous workers were even called "rats" by the New York Post - shows that Americans have a lot to learn about how their own government is screwing them over.

In this increasingly interconnected world, the NYC transit strike has to be linked to the sorry-ass news on Capitol Hill: Vise President Dick Cheney further put the squeeze on Americans by casting the tie-breaking vote yesterday in the Senate that guaranteed a grimmer economic future for all Americans who make less than $250,000 a year. The guy is simply a vulture, and you're only fooling yourself if you store the horrendous budget news coming out of D.C. in a separate part of your brain from the economic issues behind the New York City transit strike.

The Washington Post only partially got it right this time, reporting this morning:

Senate Republicans, by the narrowest margin yesterday, pushed through a major budget measure that would trim federal spending by nearly $40 billion over five years, but they were stymied by Democrats in their effort to open Alaska's wilderness to oil drilling.

Vice President Cheney took his seat as president of the Senate just past 10:30 a.m. to cast the tie-breaking vote on a hard-fought budget bill that would allow states to impose new fees on Medicaid recipients, cut federal child-support enforcement funds, impose new work requirements on state welfare programs and squeeze student lenders - all for the purpose of slowing the growth of federal entitlement programs.

The tax cuts for the wealthy? Not even mentioned in the Washington Post story, even though those tax cuts and our outrageous war spending are breaking the federal piggy bank.

As I pointed out the other day, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg had the gall to label the New York City transit strike as "morally reprehensible" while Wall Street execs are taking home huge bonuses this holiday season.

The transit workers, trying to look out for their futures, are labeled "selfish"?

But pensions...those are up for grabs.

How do you think many of those huge bonuses were paid for by companies rewarding their CEOs and other executives for performance? By not funding pensions.

Elaine Chao, our erstwhile Secretary of Labor (such as she is) estimates that the unfunded pension liability nationwide is $450 billion. And that's a conservative making a conservative estimate! My guess, you can double, perhaps triple, that figure and be closer to the truth.

And guess who pays for that? You. Me. Every tax payer in America will have the opportunity to do right for a fellow working American as the Reagan/Bush legacy comes home to roost squarely on the backs of the people who worked 20, 25, 30, 40, 50 years for a company only to find out the rules changed and their pensions that they thought would be waiting for them, are in default.

Or....

Like other commuters, I'm happy that the transit strike appears to be ending. We won't have to pound as much shoe leather. But the fight for reasonable pensions and health-care benefits is just now starting, if we're smart. And it was the transit workers who did the walking for us.

I hear the argument from tired newsroom hacks that pensions aren't a "sexy" topic and that young people don't even think about such things.

Well, for decades, many Americans didn't have to think about such things because they had unions fighting for them and because insurance companies weren't running the health-care business.

Those days are over. People had better start thinking about how to revive the American dream before it expires.

tags technorati : Top 50

Getting A Leg Up On The Competition

TV host Cooke's body plundered by ghouls

By WILLIAM SHERMAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The ghoulish body parts for sale ring stole the bones of "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke just before he was cremated, the Daily News has learned.
The celebrated broadcaster and actor died March 30, 2004, of lung cancer that spread to his bones.

The next day, without permission of any family members, body snatchers surgically carved out the 95-year-old's diseased bones.

The bones were sold for more than $7,000 to two tissue processing companies for eventual transplant procedures, sources told The News.

"I hope those guys burn in hell for what they did," said longtime Cooke family attorney David Grossberg.

The alleged leader of the body-snatching ring is Michael Mastromarino, whose operations are under investigation by the Brooklyn district attorney's office.

Mastromarino ran Biomedical Tissue Services Ltd., a tremendously profitable tissue recovery business that sold body parts, including bone, skin and cardiac valves.

After processing, Cooke's bones could have been used for dental implants or numerous orthopedic procedures including dowels for damaged spines.

Cooke's remains were sold by Mastromarino to processing companies Regeneration Technologies Inc., of Alachua, Fla., and Tutogen Medical Inc., of Paterson, N.J.

A spokesman for Tutogen did not return a telephone call. A spokesman for Regeneration Technologies had no comment.

But Cooke's daughter, Susan Kittredge, who learned what happened to her father only last week, told The News she was "shocked and saddened that following his death, parts of his body were illegally sold for transplant."

"That people in need of healing should have received his body parts, considering his age and the fact that he was ill when he died, is as appalling to the family as is that his remains were violated," she said.

The use of cancerous bone for transplant is a violation of Food and Drug Administration regulations and the use of body parts from the aged also is against transplant protocol.

But in paperwork given the two processing companies, Mastromarino allegedly changed Cooke's "cause of death" to heart attack and changed his age from 95 to 85, according to sources.

Mastromarino, along with his former partner Joseph Nicelli, an embalmer, are being probed for allegedly forging hundreds of such records in their business, which ran from 2000 until October 2005, when The News first disclosed the details of the Brooklyn probe.

Mastromarino routinely paid funeral directors for each corpse provided to his company.

Cooke's corpse was picked up at his Fifth Ave. home by the New York Mortuary Services Inc., a private funeral home at 2242 First Ave. Kittredge said she got what she believed to be her father's ashes two days later.

Timothy O'Brien, head of New York Mortuary Services did not return calls. His attorney had no comment.

How many "Masterpiece Theatre" jokes can we make here? "RUMPole of the Bailey"? "EYE, Claudius"? "Elizabeth ARM"?

Des-Pirro-t Moves

Pirro drops Senate bid to run for Attorney General

BY ERROL A. COCKFIELD JR
ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF

December 22, 2005


Finally bowing to the wishes of powerful figures in the Republican party, Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro brought an end to her beleaguered U.S. Senate campaign yesterday, saying she would instead run for attorney general.

Pirro, whose 12-year tenure as Westchester District Attorney draws to a close at the end of the year, said she hopes to build on her career as a prosecutor, echoing the calls of fellow Republicans who had said she was more suited to run for that office.

"I have concluded that my head and my heart remain in law enforcement," she said in a statement, adding she would make a formal announcement next month.

A Pirro bid for attorney general potentially sets her up for a run against former gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo, the former Housing and Urban Development Secretary. Former New York City mayoral candidate Mark Green is also in the Democratic field.

If Pirro is chosen by Republicans to run for attorney general she would again be forced to defend the illegal activities of her husband, Al Pirro, who was convicted in 2000 of tax fraud.

Pirro's decision immediately opened the door for Manhattan lawyer Ed Cox, a son-in-law of former President Richard Nixon, to re-enter the Senate race. He withdrew in October after Gov. George Pataki endorsed Pirro. But yesterday, a Cox spokesman would not comment on that prospect.

Not just on Pirro's part, since she's clearly going to be in a dogfight against either Cuomo (who has his own marital issues to defend) or Green, but on the GOP part.

Again, I'm not sure you want the son-in-law of the second-most corrupt President in the nation's history running against the wife of the perhaps least corrupt President of the past fifty years (OK, Carter, but I think it's pretty close, absent the sexual improprieties). I can imagine the campaign now: "You had a choice and married into the Nixon family????" followed by loud raucous laughter.

By the way, for you out-of-state'rs, here's a good primer on the New York GOP:

State GOP Smackdown!
With the end of Pataki’s reign nigh, the New York State Republican party seems to be at war with itself. A handy guide to who’s stabbing whom in the back, and why.

Pataki’s Inner Circle
Governor George Pataki
Current Play: Trying to convince national GOP leaders he’s presidential material; plotting to avoid being associated with high-profile 2006 losses.
Boosting: Himself, Pirro (tepidly), Weld (to punish longtime rival Tom Golisano).


State GOP Chair Stephen Minarik
Current Play: Hanging on as party supremo.
Boosting: Socially liberal candidates Pirro and Weld.
Undermining: Conservative Party honcho Mike Long and his power over the GOP.
Strategy: Strong-arming county chairmen into supporting his duo.


Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld
Current Play: Hoping his blue-blood charm will out-affable Spitzer to win governorship.
Boosting: Minarik, his prime sponsor.
Strategy: Pushing for Minarik-engineered “straw poll” of county chairs to shore up his candidacy.


Westchester D.A. Jeanine Pirro
Current Play: After her Senate bid was betrayed by Bruno and others who want to take control of the party from Minarik, she’s fighting for her political life.
Boosting: Minarik.
Strategy: Staged “summit meeting” with Pataki to create impression he’d rallied for her.


Former Senator (and current lobbyist) Al D’Amato
Current Play: Plotting to maintain influence in post-Pataki Albany.
Boosting: Pirro (in hopes of selling access to her later).
Backup Plan: He’s crossed party lines to talk up Spitzer, hoping likely future gov will give him the access to keep his lobbying biz alive.


The Insurrectionists
State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno
Current Play: Hanging on to slim State Senate majority.
Boosting: Golisano, hoping he’ll bankroll Senate candidates and goose turnout.
Undermining: Minarik, Pirro, Weld.
Strategy: By slaying Pirro and Weld, he destroys archrival Minarik.

Rochester Billionaire Tom Golisano
Current Play: Gubernatorial candidacy as hostile takeover of state GOP after losing repeatedly to Pataki.
Boosting: Bruno.
Undermining: Minarik, because he hand-picked Weld.


Conservative Party Boss Mike Long
Current Play: Figuring out how to maintain influence over state GOP.
Boosting: Himself.
Undermining: Pirro, Weld, Minarik.
Strategy: By withholding support from Pirro and Weld, he hopes to turn worried GOP activists against Minarik.


The Free Agents
Former Congressman Rick Lazio
Current Play: Floating his name for attorney general while sitting at his desk at JPMorgan Chase.
Strategy: Waiting to see if GOP primary field is clear before running (and apparently wondering if it’s worth sacrificing his Wall Street bonus).


Former Secretary of State Randy Daniels
Current Play: Hoping to become governor by siphoning minority votes from Spitzer while also running as the conservative candidate.
Boosting: Long.
Undermining: Minarik.
Strategy: Hoping to turn GOP rank and file against liberal Weld.


Lobbyist John Faso
Current Play: Selling himself as a Long Island version of tax-cutting Pataki.
Boosting: Himself.
Undermining: Weld, Daniels, Golisano.
Hidden Agenda: High-profile statewide loss would still boost profile (and lobbying business).


Mayor Mike Bloomberg
Current Play: Trying to leverage his landslide into Albany influence.
Boosting: Minarik’s state party for helping him win, punishing Democratic Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver for sinking his stadium (but not enough to alienate probable Dem governor Spitzer).

Who's The Bigger Thug?

[T]he strike's emotional tenor went up a notch, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg continued to call the union "selfish" and several black leaders decried his criticism Tuesday that union leaders were acting "thuggishly."

[....]

After updating reporters on the city's Day Two response to the strike, Bloomberg castigated the TWU and its rhetoric.

"What frauds they are, claiming to be a champion of working families when their illegal actions are costing New Yorkers their livelihoods," he said.

A few hours later, Toussaint invoked the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the August 2003 blackout in demanding respect for workers. He also compared the strike to the work of Rosa Parks. "We ask you to keep that in mind when you consider the type of offensive language and insulting speech being used to describe your neighbors," he said.

Some public officials and New Yorkers bridled at Bloomberg's use of the word "thuggish" to describe the union Tuesday.

Standing in front of a sign that read, "The Taylor Law is a slave code," and wearing a red arm band, Councilman Charles Barron likened the MTA to a plantation.

Georgina Howard, 45, a nurse from Cambria Heights, was incensed with some of the mayor's rhetoric. "He called Toussaint a thug," she said. "If the head of the union had been white, I doubt he would have used that word."

The mayor's spokesman, Ed Skyler, said, "It's despicable to inject race into this situation."

Here you have a billionaire mayor, Bloomberg, a billionaire MTA head, Peter Kalikow, and a millionaire governor, George Pataki, wielding the massive club of the state's Taylor Law, calling a bunch of folks the city relies on to move its people "thugs"?

Tell you what, Mikey, Petey, Georgie: put down your club, and walk with me. Let me show you what people are going thru to persevere in this strike. Get out of your limousines and your town houses and your mansions, and take a walk with me to an apartment in, say, Long Island City...no police protection, Mr. Mayor. No cameras for your little photo op across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Be the populist you claim to be, Governor. Walk from City Hall to the Queensboro Bridge, and into Ravenswood projects, or the Queensbridge Houses. See the people, feet aching, legs throbbing.

I'd mention Petey, but I'm guessing the half mile up the incline of the Queensboro Bridge would cripple his calves, which only get exercised stretching for rationales.

We who walk support the TWU. Why?

Because we get it. We see the naked greed of the MTA. The fact that they whine about deficits and bankruptcy until mirabile dictu, they get a fare hike or union concessions or an increase in state or city funding. Then suddenly, they're so far in the black it's not funny.

This isn't private industry, gentlemen. You can't outsource the "D" train to India. You can't hire a busload of Central Americans to operate the trains, sweatshop fashion.

Deal with the folks who run the system. Deal with them fairly, deal with them honestly. Take the pensions off the table, guys. We have enough insecurities in our citizenry about private companies and their pensions without you guys jacking up the fear for folks who, for less pay than they'd make in the private sector, worrying if they made a mistake in serving the public.

tags technorati : Top 50

Could It Be That Republicans Are Finally Standing Up To Fascism?

Judge Reportedly Resigns Over U.S. Spy Program

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 21, 2005
Filed at 11:20 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge has resigned from a special court set up to oversee government surveillance, apparently in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program on people with suspected terrorist ties.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson would not comment Wednesday on his resignation, but The Washington Post reported that it stemmed from deep concern that the surveillance program Bush authorized was legally questionable and may have tainted the work of the court.

An aide to Robertson said the resignation letter submitted to Chief Justice John Roberts was not being released. Robertson did not step down from his district judgeship in Washington.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan would not discuss Robertson's resignation or the reasons cited for his departure. ''Judge Robertson did not comment on the matter and I don't see any reason why we need to,'' McClellan said.

Robertson was one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which oversees government applications for secret surveillance or searches of foreigners and U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism or espionage. Robertson's term was to end in May.

And then there's this:

Judge bars ID from schools, says it's religion, not science

BY BRYN NELSON
STAFF WRITER

December 21, 2005

The concept of "intelligent design" is inherently religious in nature and may not be introduced into high school biology classrooms in a Pennsylvania public school district, a district court judge ruled yesterday in a sharply worded and potentially far-reaching decision.

"The overwhelming evidence at trial established that ID [intelligent design] is a religious view, a mere re-labeling of creationism, and not a scientific theory," wrote U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III in a 139-page decision that prompted a flurry of responses on both sides of the bitter intelligent design-evolution divide.

But then again, maybe not:

Pirro Expected to Drop Out of N.Y. Senate Race

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 21, 2005
Filed at 12:27 p.m. ET

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Jeanine Pirro has decided to halt her struggling campaign for the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2006, two Republicans close to the situation said Wednesday.

She will run instead for state attorney general, the sources said.

The Republicans, who spoke to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, said an announcement from the high-profile Westchester County district attorney could come as early as Thursday.

There was no immediate comment from Pirro.

But then again:

Cheney Breaks Tie on Budget-Cutting Bill

By CARL HULSE
Published: December 21, 2005
WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 - With Vice President Dick Cheney breaking a 50-50 tie, the Senate approved a $40 billion budget-cutting measure today that Republicans hailed as evidence of their determination to control federal spending.

"Victory No. 1," Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, declared after the budget measure was passed in the first of a series of major policy and parliamentary showdowns in the closing hours of the session.

"Victory #1", after nearly a year of this Congress. Sad commentary on the "effectiveness" of the GOP agenda, since for this bill to have been a tie, several Republicans had to defect in the first place from the President's agenda....

Today's Bush Joke

Campbell's has announced it soon will stock America's grocery store shelves with "Bush Soup," in honor of our president. A company spokesman said the soup will consist primarily of a weiner in hot water.

A Measly $20 Million Dollars.....

From today's New York Times:

In Final Hours, M.T.A. Took a Big Risk on Pensions

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: December 21, 2005

On the final day of intense negotiations, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, it turns out, greatly altered what it had called its final offer, to address many of the objections of the transit workers' union. The authority improved its earlier wage proposals, dropped its demand for concessions on health benefits and stopped calling for an increase in the retirement age, to 62 from 55.

But then, just hours before the strike deadline, the authority's chairman, Peter S. Kalikow, put forward a surprise demand that stunned the union. Seeking to rein in the authority's soaring pension costs, he asked that all new transit workers contribute 6 percent of their wages toward their pensions, up from the 2 percent that current workers pay. The union balked, and then shut down the nation's largest transit system for the first time in a quarter-century.

Yet for all the rage and bluster that followed, this war was declared over a pension proposal that would have saved the transit authority less than $20 million over the next three years.

It seemed a small figure, considering that the city says that every day of the strike will cost its businesses hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenues. But the authority contends that it must act now to prevent a "tidal wave" of pension outlays if costs are not brought under control.

OK, time value of money calculated in, let's allow for 30 years of service before a worker draws on his pension at age 55. At even 6% a year earnings, that $20 million would grow to the grand total of $100 million.

The MTA (George Pataki and Michael Bloomberg) has an unfunded pension liability (meaning money they've borrowed from their workers' future to fund current operations) of $450 million. This, with a $1 Billion dollar operating surplus.

Why not just fund that extra $20 million now out of the surplus, instead of giving commuters an almost useless nine extra days of discounted fares on the rails and buses?

In Support of the TWU

Well, I did my first walk of the 2005 transit strike.

As I walked, listening to my iPod, I pondered how I felt about this strike.

Under the state's Taylor Law, the TWU is clearly in violation of the law, and is in danger of serious and severe sanctions. Which means they must be serious about the issues on the table. Maximum penalties under this law are two days salary for each day's strike, plus potential arrest and imprisonment.

And that's just the rank and file.

So what precisely are the issues involved?

First of course, is a salary increase. Even the MTA, including Peter Kalikow and his handler, Governor George Pataki, acknowledge the union deserves a serious wage hike. Three years ago, the MTA was pleading near-bankruptcy, the September 11 attacks had crippled major subway and bus lines and wiped out an awful lot of the ridership (just after some major improvements had been implemented to improve service and keep costs down). The TWU had threatened a strike in 2002, but the strike never came close to materializing, as Roger Toussaint sympathized with the MTA's woes.

Miracle of miracles, six months later, the MTA was running a big surplus! This, after effectively cutting fares, improving service frequency and reliability.

Think the TWU was a little, um, miffed? After all, they, like the rest of us, believed the MTA's sob story. So this time around, with the MTA claiming a billion dollar surplus (is it really only a billion dollars?), the TWU asked for a three year contract with a raise of 6% a year.

The latest MTA offer is a three year contract of 3, 4, and 4 percent increases. So they're not far apart on this issue.

Next, the pension.

The MTA wants new employees to kick in 6% of the annual pension funding for their benefit for the first ten years of employment, and a raise in the retirement age from 55 to 62.

It sounds reasonable, right? I mean, most 20 year olds don't contribute to 401(k)s in the corporate world, feel they're going to live forever, and so why not force them to put a little away for their old age?

well, that little obstacle, the Taylor Law addresses this issue as well, sort of. Imposed by the Taylor Law is a good-faith arrangement that prohibits the state from materially changing the collective bargaining agreement. In other words, the pension benefit that was in force at the time the Taylor Law was passed has to remain unchanged (but not unaltered).

So this request of the MTA to alter the pension plan may be in violation of the Taylor Law. If so, state law is very clear on this point: if the union can show that the MTA was attempting to force a change in the basic agreement (in this case, the pension benefit), the union can show that the MTA was in effect coercing the union in negotiations by dangling the Taylor Law sanctions in front of them, which would make the strike legal, and the penalties imposed would have to be rescinded.

Almost every other public employees union in the state has raised an alarm about this particular aspect of the negotiations, because if one union is forced to submit to these rules, then all pensions are in danger, not only of being altered, but dismantled.

Next issue, the MTA wants the union members to contribute 1% of the health care premium. Right now, they pay nothing. Again, this sounds reasonable, and perhaps the union will cave on this provision, but it would violate the Taylor Law spirit.

Next, holidays. The TWU wants the MTA to add Martin Luther King's birthday as a paid holiday (which would also impose overtime rules for employees that worked that day). MLK's Birthday is a federal holiday, and the MTA has warmed up to this request.

Finally, and this to me is an overlooked issue: The TWU wants disaster-preparedness training, following transit system bombings in Madrid and London.

See, say what you will about the police, both undercover and uniformed personnel in train stations and on trains, the bus and subway operators are the city's first line of defense against a terror attack in the transit system.

The police can't be everywhere. The TWU has to be. And that alone should justify support of the TWU.

BREAKING UPDATE

The International TWU has disavowed any authorization of this strike, saying they pleaded with Toussaint to hold off on a job action.

Bunch of pussies. No wonder unions are dying in America.

tags technorati : Top 50

Announcing the SLB Personal Ad Department

Looking for Love In The West?

Bird Flu Creeping Closer

(Hat Tip to my good buddy, Ed at Tao of Politics)

Mutations taking world closer to bird flu pandemic: official

Fri Dec 16,12:29 PM ET

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Bird flu has yet to achieve human-to-human transmission, but subtle mutations in the virus are bringing the world closer to a pandemic, the UN's coordinator on avian influenza said.

"There are some subtle changes in the genetic makeup of H5N1 which suggest that it is making some of the mutations that would enable it to have a higher likelihood of being able to become a human-to-human transmitted virus," said David Nabarro.

"Virologists who study these things say do not get complacent. It is quite feasible that H5N1 could mutate. The fact that it has taken some years should not lead you to believe that we are through the worst."

Nabarro was speaking in Phnom Penh during a one-day visit to Cambodia, which has seen at least four human bird flu deaths.

He warned that there are difficulties stockpiling enough anti-viral medicines to combat the illness.

"We all would like there to be much more stockage of anti-viral medicines. We are in a bit of difficulty because the production capacity, particularly of (Tamiflu), is quite restricted," he said, adding that the UN was in regular talks with drug manufacturers to build up stocks.

Place your bets on when bird flu hitting America here

Steeeeeeeeeeeeeerike TWO!

TWU stands strong on strike deadline

BY RAY SÁNCHEZ and NYNewsday.com
STAFF WRITER

December 19, 2005, 1:25 PM EST


Thousands of Queens commuters began the Monday morning rush hour with no bus service after workers for two private bus lines went on strike, offering a preview of what could become a citywide shutdown if transit negotiators fail to reach an agreement before the end of the day.

"We believe there is time to resolve this contract before a complete shutdown across the city. But it is our position that unless there is substantial movement by the authority, trains and buses will come to a halt as of midnight tonight," Roger Toussaint said at a news conference Monday morning.

After making little progress over the weekend, negotiators for the Transport Workers Union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority planned to return to the bargaining table Monday -- but the head of the union warned that plans were firm for a large-scale strike beginning at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

Toussaint said that the MTA's plan to raise the age at which new employees become eligible for a full pension from 55 to 62 presents a major sticking point.

We should also point out that the MTA has asked that the union remove its representation from the pension plan board in exchange for funding the pension liability of $450 million that they've been "borrowing" to fund perks.

But we know this "major sticking point" cited is a sham, since:

The main obstacle to a settlement appears to be the MTA's demand that new employees not qualify for full pensions until age 62, compared with age 55 for most current workers. A union lawyer said yesterday that the Taylor Law prohibits either side from insisting on pension changes in its final contract offer.

"A change in pensions requires an act of the state legislature," he said. "Therefore, it is outside the realm of what you can require somebody to bargain with you about."

The same Taylor Law that prohibits civil service and other municipal and government unions from striking.

Or, to put it another way:

They fear any concessions by Transport Workers Union Local 100 will be forced on municipal workers in coming years - slashing benefits for hundreds of thousands of middle-income New Yorkers, labor leaders and experts say.

"Any effort to change this [the benefits] is going to face fierce opposition from the other municipal unions," said Daniel Walkowitz, a labor historian at New York University. "This will become the new model, and it will be very hard to reverse it."

That's one reason the New York City Central Labor Council, which represents 375 local unions, is organizing a rally outside Gov. Pataki's midtown office today - and is urging every unionized worker in the city to contribute a dollar to a $1.5 million strike fund for the TWU. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's contract proposal "is a precedent that could be devastating to the other unions," said Doug Muzzio, a political science professor at Baruch College. "They're worried. They're frightened."

Methinks this is the chip that Toussaint is going to drop in court when the state sues him after they strike tonight.

Much walking for me tomorrow, I suspect.

Winning?

Bush on Iraq: 'We're winning'

President admits mistakes were made, but insists course in Iraq is right; asks Americans to fight off 'defeatism'

BY CRAIG GORDON
WASHINGTON BUREAU

December 19, 2005


WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush last night appealed to Americans not to give in to "defeatism" in Iraq, warning of more sacrifice in the months ahead but insisting, "We are winning the war in Iraq."

"Do not give in to despair, and do not give up on this fight for freedom," Bush said in unusually personal terms at one point, speaking directly to those who oppose his decision to invade Iraq.

Bush hinted that Iraq after last week's legislative elections "should require fewer American troops" in the new year. But he stopped well short of announcing any specific steps to reduce the 153,000 U.S. troops in Iraq today.

Instead, Bush used the inherent drama of a rare Oval Office address to convey the importance he places on keeping U.S. troops in Iraq, posing the choice before the American people as stark - "victory or defeat."

Bush said, "To retreat before victory would be an act of recklessness and dishonor, and I will not allow it."

A few observations here:

1) The last time a President said "Mistakes were made" --

As Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein tied the scandal to top officials in the Nixon administration, Ziegler routinely dismissed their reports as inaccurate. But the press secretary publicly apologized to them and their newspaper the day after the April 30, 1973, resignations of White House counsel John Dean and Nixon aides John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman.

"I would apologize to the Post, and I would apologize to Mr. Woodward and Mr. Bernstein. ... We would all have to say that mistakes were made in terms of comments. I was overenthusiastic in my comments about the Post, particularly if you look at them in the context of developments that have taken place," he said at the time. "When we are wrong, we are wrong, as we were in that case."

Again, are these guys sure they want the ghost of Nixon hovering over this corrupt administration?

2) Someone will have to define for me "winning". We're about to spend another $100 billion dollars between Afghanistan and Iraq, combined. What are we winning for that money, first off, and secondly, is it worth that much money in a nation that's seeing an entire major metropolitan area demolished, it's future in doubt? Is it worth around $10,000,000 per vote in Iraq to see homeless people in our streets, hunger creep back across America, unemployed skilled laborers working the doors at Walmart? IS IT???

3) On the "winning" note...who said this?"I don’t think you can win [the war on terror]"? Was it the same person who said “[B]y helping democracy succeed in Iraq, we bring greater security to our citizens here at home. The terrorists know that democracy is their enemy. And they will continue fighting freedom's progress with all the hateful determination they can muster.”

Today's Words of Wisdom

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

"Not very long," answered the Mexican.

"But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs . I have a full life."

The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

And after that?" asked the Mexican.

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers.
Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years," replied the American.

"And ! after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my Friend, That's when it gets really interesting," answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" said the Mexican.

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

And the moral is: Know where you're going in life... you may already be there.

tags technorati : Top 50

I'm Not Sure They Want To Be Reminding Us Of Nixon In 2006...

GOP leader: Cox would reconsider Senate race if Pirro quits

By MARC HUMBERT
AP Political Writer

December 16, 2005, 12:14 PM EST

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Edward Cox, a son-in-law of the late President Richard Nixon, will consider resuming his campaign for the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton if Jeanine Pirro quits the race, a top party leader said Friday.

Cox, considered Pirro's main competition for the Senate nomination, halted his campaign in October on the day that Republican Gov. George Pataki endorsed Pirro's candidacy. But, in recent days, a host of party leaders have called on the Westchester County district attorney to end her struggling campaign and run instead for state attorney general. Pirro has refused to heed that advice.

I'm fairly certain that, as the corrupt practices of the Bush administration are revealed in a mounting heap of crap, that the New York GOP wants people to remember there was yet another corrupt Republican president who spied on his own people and ran an illegal war in a country we had no business being in.

It's seems there's no end to the people in this clown car...

Will Fitzmas Come Early This Year?

Reddhedd at firedoglake is reporting that Patrick Fitzgerald IS in DC, and IS in front of a grand jury....

The Fog Of War (Reporting)

Wayyyyyyyyyyy back in September, at the behest of my researcher and good friend, Katrina, I posted a story about the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and how you'll never read about it in the American press.

I was wrong.

And right. Comes Sydney Schanberg, talking about torture:

So what makes this a story about the press? It's because for a host of reasons, reporters and their proprietors, who surely know that torture is a constant in war, all too rarely address such subjects in detail as moral issues or issues of psychological damage to returning soldiers. Returnees, including reporters, come back with lots of mental scars. Some have to do with the ugly things they've witnessed. Others relate to heavy guilt over not being able to save a pal or leaving behind needy foreign friends when you leave the war zone.

One of the reasons the press is reluctant to report graphically and in depth about the torture and brutishness of war is the fear of backlash from readers or viewers who don't want to see or hear about war's true-life destruction. In television dramas or at the movies, audiences are not threatened by depictions of slaughter and gore, because they can dismiss it as the magic of special effects.

But whatever the press's reasons or rationalizations for not discussing subjects like torture with greater candor and pictorial force, they don't pass the test of being honest with the public. I've written often about how we in the press don't live up to the mantra we keep intoning as our raison d'être: "the public's right to know."

Why shouldn't we tell people more about terrible things that happen regularly in our world? What's the point in not doing so, now that there's an Internet peering into every hamlet on the planet, looking at matters bright as well as dark?

Readers or viewers can always turn the page or switch to another channel if a story upsets them. And I'm not talking about gratuitous depictions of violence, just about real happenings.

Soldiers don't kill soldiers. People kill other people. People live with the consequences of those actions for the rest of their lives, while the generals and politicians who send them off to war can sit around their fireplaces sipping sherry (or near beer, in the case of certain redneck Presidents), and fulminate about their successes, distract themselves from their failures, and ignore the very real damage they inflicted on people, enemies, allies, but also and more important, fellow citizens.

Go read the article here. The press ought to be reporting on this instead of whether Jessica Simpson's shirt was too low cut for a family Holid...Christmas concert.

New York Dems Must Contend With Their Own "Pirro"ette

Dems urge Suozzi to let ‘fat cat’ go
Suozzi asked to cut ties with billionaire who vowed ‘holy war’ on gubernatorial candidate Spitzer

BY MICHAEL ROTHFELD AND RICK BRAND
STAFF WRITERS

December 15, 2005, 9:42 PM EST


Democratic leaders from across the state are urging Thomas Suozzi to renounce the billionaire "Republican activist" who has pledged to raise money for the Nassau county executive's possible 2006 gubernatorial primary against Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Suffolk Democratic Chairman Richard Schaffer and his Schenectady County counterpart, Robert Brehm, circulated an e-mail to Democrats throughout the state Wednesday. They criticized Suozzi's relationship with Kenneth Langone, the Home Depot co-founder, and called him a "corporate fat cat."

"Ken Langone is a man who has showered radical Republicans across the country with campaign donations," Schaffer and Brehm wrote, asking the Democrats to sign on to a letter they plan to send Suozzi asking him to disassociate himself from Langone. They expect at least 25 to do so.

"As we all know, politics is a tough game and sometimes makes for strange bedfellows. But do we really think that Tom Suozzi -- a lifelong Democrat -- should be working with this man to bring down the AG?"

Suozzi's campaign manager, Kim Devlin, said the letters were "typical insider clubhouse politics."

"No one can question Tom Suozzi's Democratic credentials," she said.

While the Democratic leaders did not ask Suozzi to back off challenging Spitzer, the party favorite for governor, their message indicates that Langone, 70, of Sands Point, is likely to become a major campaign issue.

Spitzer is suing Langone, a former board member of the New York Stock Exchange, for fraud in connection with a $187.5-million pay package given to the NYSE's former chief executive, Richard Grasso. In New York magazine this week, Langone was quoted as saying he wanted to start a "holy war" against Spitzer by funding a Suozzi candidacy.

I'm going to add my voice to the chorus: Tom, you gotta get this guy out of your camp, now. The stench of your candidacy, whether you win or not, will destroy the political machine you have so carefully built over the past decade. You have a great shot at the gubenatorial nod in 2010, should Spitzer fail, and undoubtedly stand a better chance for a Senate nomination in 2008 to replace Chuck Schumer (who may have his own windmills to tilt at by then).

You have an amazingly bright future ahead. Don't fuck it up.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, Jeannine Pirro is looking at even worse news, according to workingfamiliespartyman:

A new Quinnipiac poll finds that Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro would be trailing Mark Green (D) and Andrew Cuomo (D) if she were to join the race for New York Attorney General. Green would lead Pirro, 43% to 35%, while Cuomo would beat Pirro, 49% to 32%.

In the Senate race, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) leads Pirro, 62% to 30%.

I'd say "LOL!", but it's almost too pathetic...

Probable Scenario For Tonight's Transit Talks and Strike

Updated for reality check

After running thru my head all the past civil service work actions and the recent contretemps between Roger Toussaint and Peter Kalikow, I'm ready to map out what I believe will happen tonight and for the rest of the weekend:

1) There won't be a strike tomorrow morning. Bargaining will go down to the wire, at which point Toussaint will ask for the clock to be stopped. There has been movement, significant movement, the last two days from both sides.

OK, nailed this one full stop.

2) Talks will adjourn around 6AM (just in time for the morning news programs to cover it live), a quick press conference announcing some progress, and the representatives will get some sleep.

Ditto here.

3) Now, here's the tricky part: transit service will be fine for the morning commute. What I haven't worked out in my head yet is how angry the TWU is right now. It's possible commuters in NYC will get sandbagged by a late morning or even afternoon strike. I doubt it, but I don't think Kalikow's comments today, a clear message from Governor George Pataki (who's campaigning in New Hampshire when he should be at the bargaining table already) will soothe the TWU any. Dumb move, Pete.

However, I believe there will be no walk out tomorrow. The TWU wouldn't want to risk the wrath of the population of the city, who generally support them right now.

I'm going to give myself 3/4 credit here. There is no strike per se, unless you ride one of the (formerly) private bus lines, which have operated without a contract for three years. I should point out that the union leader three years ago was Roger Toussaint, and he held a sixteen day walkout with this local.

4) Any strike that does happen will start either Friday night, or on Saturday. This will hammer the city's economy: the busiest shopping day of the Christmas season, the last Saturday before Christmas AND a bunch of tourists hitting town. From a PR standpoint, this seems to be the perfect opportunity to strike.

Bang on, as the strike is being rolled out over the weekend.

5) How long any strike lasts is anybody's guess, but the Taylor Law sanctions are pretty clear, and while I wouldn't put it past the TWU to challenge them all the way to the Supreme Court, my thinking is that they'll settle no later than Tuesday, probably Sunday night.

Still up for grabs.

So I've got my walking shoes ready, despite the snow and sleet.

Bush Is Running Out Of Time

Bush's Path Forward Has Many Ifs

By DAVID E. SANGER
Published: December 15, 2005
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 - It took a thousand days after he ordered the invasion of Iraq for President Bush to describe in considerable detail his strategy for transforming the country and the region, and to lay out the benchmarks that he said Wednesday would lead to "complete victory."

Yet in four recent speeches and an accompanying strategy document he has made his case, some of his aides concede, just as his ability to control events in Iraq may be about to erode.

American officials fully expect that for months after the Iraqi election on Thursday the American ambassador in Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, will remain the critical behind-the-scenes power in the creation of a factious coalition to run the country.

But it is the longer term - the next year - that worries many of Mr. Bush's advisers and the United States military. Amid insurgent attacks and warnings of civil war, the government may take months to form, and many officials wonder whether that lag will distract the Iraqis from leaping the hurdles that Mr. Bush wants them to clear before he will begin withdrawing American forces next year.

Taken together, Mr. Bush's speeches and document lay out just how high those hurdles are: building a new government strong enough that "terrorists and Saddamists can no longer threaten Iraq's democracy," Mr. Bush said; strong enough to make sure terrorists cannot use Iraq as a place to plot attacks against the United States; and with an Iraqi security force strong enough to protect its own people.

In the speeches, Mr. Bush has been cautiously optimistic. He has acknowledged, however, that almost nothing in Iraq has gone according to plan in these past 33 months.

Participants in some of the briefings he has received in the Situation Room in recent weeks say that acknowledgment is in keeping with the far more somber tone of the briefings. Military commanders have described possible situations that range from the best case - drawing American troops down to about 100,000 before the American elections in November - to keeping them at far higher numbers if the new Parliament turns to chaos, civil war threatens, or political leaders are assassinated.

So basically, there is no strategy or plan.

Mr. Bush, this isn't jazz: a riff is inappropriate, praying that the problems go away.

Write Your Own Caption!

What I Find Funny About This Story....

Is the Pentagon spying on Americans?

Secret database obtained by NBC News tracks ‘suspicious’ domestic groups

By Lisa Myers, Douglas Pasternak, Rich Gardella and the NBC Investigative Unit
Updated: 6:18 p.m. ET Dec. 14, 2005

[....]

Still, the DOD database includes at least 20 references to U.S. citizens or U.S. persons. Other documents obtained by NBC News show that the Defense Department is clearly increasing its domestic monitoring activities. One DOD briefing document stamped “secret” concludes: “[W]e have noted increased communication and encouragement between protest groups using the [I]nternet,” but no “significant connection” between incidents, such as “reoccurring instigators at protests” or “vehicle descriptions.”

OK, about a week ago, I posted this story about Patricia Arndt:

While most of her friends and neighbors are amusing themselves with Christmas decorations and holiday gifts, Patricia Arndt is fretting over far more serious matters.

The single mother from Medford, NY has been unexpectedly pulled from the inactive Army reserve and ordered to report for active duty by Feb. 5.

As Christmas nears, Arndt, 43, is trying to sell the Medford home she says she will not be able to keep on an Army salary of approximately $60,000 a year, and is searching for someone to care for her 13-year-old son, Shane. She expects to train for an 18-month tour of duty that could take her to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Now, I basically pulled that story from Newsday, and added some information to it that I had knowledge of.

I can't prove it, because my site meter doesn't log that far back (hey, I'm cheap, a'ight?), but I logged a visit directly from the Pentagon.

Here's the weird thing about it: according to the information created by that visit, it originated from a Google search of "Arndt Individual Ready Reserve".

At the time I posted that article, my blog appeared nowhere in the results list! So I'm trying to figure out how the Pentagon was informed I had posted that piece (it appears on a Google search now, by the way, and you check it by using the box down below), a day or two after it was up?

Does the Pentagon have some bizarre form of Google, a sort of "sooper sekrit Gugle" that allows a more thorough search engine?

If so, can I have a few go-rounds on it? :-)

tags technorati : Top 50

Why Is This A Surprise?

Large Turnout Reported as Iraqis Vote Under Tight Security

By DEXTER FILKINS
Published: December 15, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 15 - In a day remarkable for the absence of large-scale violence, millions of Iraqi voters, many of them dressed in their best and traveling with other family members, streamed to the polls today to cast ballots in a nationwide election as Iraqi leaders predicted that the vote would split almost evenly between secular and Islamist parties.

In spite of some explosions in Baghdad and Ramadi, voting appeared to be strong in many parts of the country, including in Sunni neighborhoods where many people boycotted the last election.

"The numbers are larger than the previous election," Zalmay Khalilzad, the United States ambassador here, told CNN this morning.

Iraqi and American officials said it would take about a week to compile the preliminary results of the elections. Voters in the 18 Iraqi provinces are choosing among 231 parties, coalitions and candidates in selecting members for a 275-seat Parliament. The legislators will serve a four-year term, and they will approve a president and a prime minister.

As the polls opened at 7 a.m., a mortar struck the middle of the Green Zone compound in central Baghdad, the site of the American Embassy and the offices of top Iraqi officials. About the same time, a roadside bomb exploded in Ramadi. There were no immediate reports of casualties in either blast.

"Remarkable for the absence of large-scale violence"?

Maybe this is why?

It's through midlevel al-Qaeda operatives like Abu Abdullah, who retains ties to some of his former Baathist comrades, that nationalist groups have newfound influence with al-Zarqawi. "What he's now having to do is balance the hard-line ideology with the softer line of the Iraqis within his group," says Abu Marwan. Sunni insurgent leaders say it was their insistence on voting in the October referendum that discouraged al-Zarqawi from disrupting the poll. For now, the nationalists say they will be voting again on Dec. 15, and they expect al-Qaeda to once more hold its fire. But so far no announcements have been made, and nationalist commanders are worried that al-Zarqawi may decide to go for broke this time. "The debate is being had," says Abu Baqr, the Baghdad insurgent commander. "But soon the orders have to be given."

So it's clear why there's been no violence: it's not the popularity of the election, it's the fact that al Zarqawi has held his fire in deference to his Iraqi co-horts.

There's a reported division in the insurgents' ranks. Apparently, the Iraqi resisters of American occupation (there really is no pretty way to put what we're doing over there...I mean, 3/4 of a trillion dollars to let people vote? Cmon!) and the foreign terrorists who have been attracted by the Disneyland-like promise of killing Americans and dying for Allah have been having some friction over the direction they want the insurgency to go.

Obviously, the nationalists would prefer Al Qaeda and other terror organizations allow them to organize a nation around the Iraq flag, where the external terror groups would like nothing better than a talibanate, a puppet government that would put up an external face to the world, in particular France and Germany, that would be acceptable while the terrorists use the country as a base of operations.

This would be an even bigger coup than running Afghanistan, which on its own merits had few assets other than rugged and remote hills to hide in.

Iraq has oil. And it has production facilities. And it can make money. Osama could put his checkbook away.

Iran knows this, which is why they've been working hard trying to infiltrate the election, to the point where this week, a truck filled with ballots that have already been marked was caught at the border, an obvious attempt to stuff ballots in. Iran doesn't want Al Qaeda next door anymore than anyone else does.

So, the fact that there was relative quiet and a large voter turnout shouldn't surprise anyone. It's merely the calm before the storm:

The vote is expected to reveal a fissure of another sort, between a Shiite coalition of religious parties on one side and a mostly secular array of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties on the other.

Between them are profound differences over the direction of the country and the nature of the Iraqi state, not just over how heavily it should influenced by Islam but also over the powers of the central government and the autonomy granted to local regions. Implicit in those questions, for many Iraqis, is whether the country can survive at all.

The results of the elections are likely to determine whether and to what extent the Bush administration can begin significant withdrawals of American troops next year. American officials, including Ambassador Khalilzad, are expected to take an assertive role helping the Iraqis put together what is likely to be a coalition government.

Ask yourself this question: since democracy cannot be imposed from the outside, how likely is any coalition going to hold? The Kurds can't stand the Arabic Shi'a and Sunnis, the Sunnis can't stand the Shi'a, and the Shi'a can't even stand themselves?

We really knocked down a hornet's nest, and the hornets are only just waking up.

tags technorati : Top 50

Merry Fucking Christmas

The 12 Diseases of Christmas

Shroud of Tourin'

Buffalo Pundit reports that "[Tom] Golisano has invited him (ed note: Bill Clinton) to a Sabre’s game, and there’s lots of discussion whether this is smart or dumb for Golisano to do."

Smart. Very smart. Golisano is a dark horse candidate for the GOP nod for governor, as I've talked about elsewhere on this blog. In addition, he's uberwealthy, and has enough in his tank to make a serious run (as either an independent or the GOP nominee) for any office in the state.

I've predicted earlier on here that Golisano would abandon his gubenatorial bid (love typing that word!) in a genuflect to the Minarik, Bruno and the rest of the GOP leadership, and take up the mantle of Senate candidate, an office that probably suits him better anyway (in the unlikely event he'd actually win a race in New York).

By inviting Clinton to his box at the HSBC Arena, he's sending a couple of messages:

1) To the GOP: "I can take my money and use it as I damned well please if you aren't going to give me a seat at the table."

2) To the Democrats: "I'd be open for a shot on your ticket."

3) To Hillary: "Tell your wife I'm in the game."

Mortgage The Future, Hock The Present

Trade gap widens to record $68.9 billion
Wed Dec 14, 2005 8:45 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit widened unexpectedly in October to a record $68.9 billion despite a drop in the cost of imported oil, as the deficits with China, Canada, the European Union, Mexico and OPEC all hit records, government data showed on Wednesday.

Economists had expected the trade gap to shrink in October to $63.0 billion, and the surprising growth in the imbalance suggests fourth-quarter economic growth will likely be even weaker than first thought.

The Commerce Department said the deficit widened 4.4 percent from September after growing 11.9 percent the previous month.

[....]

The politically sensitive trade deficit with China widened 2.1 percent to a record $20.5 billion as imports from that country rose 4.8 percent to $24.4 billion.

I wonder when they'll start calling in their chits? I haven't seen any indication that they are preparing to, like a military buildup, but China is such a closed-end proposition, it's likely they are preparing and we can't even see it for Iraq.

New York's Big Bully "Daddy Party"

Bruno: Pirro should decide or it may be too late

December 13, 2005, 4:52 PM EST


ALBANY, N.Y. -- The state Legislature's most powerful Republican kept up the pressure Tuesday on Jeanine Pirro to give up her quest for the GOP nomination to challenge Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and instead run for state attorney general.

State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said if Pirro didn't make the switch soon, it might be too late for her to do so.

It was Bruno's public advice two weeks ago that kicked off the current drive by some key party leaders to get Pirro to end her stumbling Senate campaign that has had difficulty raising money and trails badly in the polls.

On Monday, the state's county GOP chairmen, meeting in Albany, said the Westchester County district attorney should take Bruno's advice and switch races.

"I remain a candidate for U.S. Senate, but I greatly respect the opinion of the county chairs and their confidence in my abilities as a statewide candidate," Pirro responded.

On Tuesday, during an interview with Albany's WROW-AM radio, Bruno said Pirro should make up her mind "sooner rather than later, because later may be too late."

Bruno said there was already "frustration" among some party leaders that Pirro hadn't already acted.

"These people are not going to sit there just watching and waiting," Bruno said.

Is beating up women who run for office a trope for the NY GOP? Remember Rick Lazio practically manhandling Hillary Clinton during the Buffalo debate in 2000?

We note that Rick Lazio and Joe Bruno orchestrated that campaign as well. Maybe Ol' Joe should shut up and let Jeannine run the race as she sees fit, cuz Joe? Your track record is abysmal.

tags technorati : Top 50

Three Reasons I Think There Will Be A Transit Strike

1) Transport Workers Union President Roger Toussaint tore up what he said was the lawstui filed by the Corporation Counsel (and Eliot Sptizer, as state Attorney General) under the state's "Taylor Law", which specifically forbids strikes by municipal and state employees.

This law has never been tested seriously before. In fact, back in 2003 when the contract was last negotiated, the Corporation Counsel won an injuction from a judge imposing a million dollar fine for the first day of the strike, two million for the second, three for the third and so on, plus a $25,000 for each striking member. The contract was quickly settled.

I think this time we're about to see just how constitutional this law is, which gives the city and state a very heavy advantage in any labor negotiation.

2) From the New York Times: "Ms. Weingarten stepped up her call for Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein not to keep the schools open in the event of a transit shutdown.

"Since transit negotiations generally go down to the wire, most students, parents and educators would not know if there is a strike until they wake up Friday morning," she wrote to Mr. Klein. "To say there will be chaos on the first day of a transit strike is an understatement."

The chancellors' office said it still planned to keep schools open, with the starting hour delayed two hours, should there be a strike."

Randy Weingarten was at the rally held outside of the Hyatt Regency last night in support of the TWU (and Roger Toussaint). While she cannot overtly call her members out on strike (and thus invoke Taylor Law sanctions on her union), a sick-out seems to be the message here.

3) From the Taxi & Limousine Commission:"All For-Hire Vehicles and Commuter Vans licensed by the TLC will be authorized, for the duration of the emergency, to pick up passengers without pre-arrangement for the purpose of providing Group Ride service. This shall include the pick-up of passengers by street hail at any location within the City of New York."

OK, sounds reasonable, except you need cab drivers to enforce this. Trouble is, some of the larger cab driver associations (they can't call them unions, since driver's are contractors) have said they will sit out any strike. Why?

What the TLC proposes is basically zone pricing. If I pick you up in Zone A, and stop for a few other passengers, and you're going to Zone B, and them to Zone C and D, I've lost money on my fares, not to mention that with gasoline so expensive, I've now got a lower profit (you'd think a group would be a better profit, but not in this case), plus the added traffic to deal with.

Not a happy circumstance, by any means. Add to this that most cabs operate in Manhattan south of 96th Street, which will have mandatory car-pooling (four passengers or more per vehicle), and you can start to see that cab drivers are going to get a bit shafted where in a true capitalist society, they should be making a windfall profit.

So the combination of the apparent defiance of Toussaint, and the support of at least two key groups, leads me to suspect I'll be hoofing it a lot this next week or so.

tags technorati : Top 50

What The GOP Did

Weld wins GOP straw poll for governor, Faso gains support

By MICHAEL GORMLEY
Associated Press Writer

December 12, 2005, 5:04 PM EST

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld on Monday won a nonbinding straw poll of GOP candidates for New York's governor that was weighted toward counties with strong Republican turnouts. But John Faso's bid, framed as a more socially conservative alternative, attracted an equal number of county party bosses.

Each campaign claimed victory in the vote that revealed a tangible split in the Republican ranks over who will run for governor in 2006. One goal of Monday's meeting of Republican leaders was to find a consensus candidate to raise money and take on Eliot Spitzer, the current attorney general and only announced Democratic candidate, who has strong leads in the polls and in fundraising.

Pirro Urged to Drop N.Y. Senate Bid

By MARC HUMBERT
Associated Press Writer

December 12, 2005, 5:44 PM EST


ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York's Republican Party county leaders recommended Monday that Jeanine Pirro abandon her struggling campaign to challenge Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and instead run for state attorney general.

State GOP Chairman Stephen Minarik said no vote was taken but that was the consensus of the county leaders. Rockland County Chairman Vincent Reda said the support for a Pirro switch was "overwhelming."

Pirro issued a terse response.

"I remain a candidate for U.S. Senate, but I greatly respect the opinion of the county chairs and their confidence in my abilities as a statewide candidate," said Pirro, a high-profile Westchester County district attorney.

Again, an interesting battle appears to be shaping up in the New York GOP, one that could cleave the party into the ultraconservative wing under Faso and Bruno, and the more moderate suburban party under Pirro and Weld. It also kicks Golisano to the curb, at least for governor.

County Leaders Wonder About Right Turn

By DANNY HAKIM
Published: December 13, 2005
ALBANY, Dec. 12 - As Republican county leaders gathered on Monday to create a plan to retain their hold on the New York governorship in 2006, the choice facing them was not unlike the choice facing national Democrats: to appeal to their base, or cleave to the middle.

There is tension between the more conservative leaders from upstate and the more liberal leaders representing suburban voters outside New York City. And there is concern that in trying to reach out to Democratic voters, as Gov. George E. Pataki did in his successful campaigns, the party has steered from its base and clouded its message.

Fifty-six county chairmen and chairwomen met at the urging of the party chairman, Stephen J. Minarik III, who had hoped to have a consensus candidate for governor by now and a clear picture of the party's statewide ticket.

But in a closed-door meeting, 23 of the county leaders backed William F. Weld, a former Massachusetts governor running for the same job in New York.

Another 23 backed John J. Faso, a former Assemblyman. Mr. Faso is seen by some as more conservative but has a fiscally focused style similar to that of Mr. Weld.

Two voted for Randy A. Daniels, the former secretary of state. Eight voters abstained and six chose not to attend, including two powerful leaders from Long Island.

Michael St. Leger, chairman of rural Madison County, said he believed that in the race for governor, the party needed "a candidate who can keep the traditional upstate Republican base, yet appeal to a more moderate position downstate or in the larger metropolitan areas."

In other words, sort of a George Pataki 2.0.

"We need a candidate with that kind of appeal across the state," Mr. St. Leger said of the current governor. "I think it's a difficult thing to accomplish, but the right candidate can do that."

John LiGreci, chairman of Sullivan County and a Weld supporter, said: "I believe that right now every party is a little different than it was 10 or 15 years ago. Right now, if you were to be a liberal Democrat, you probably would not fare very well in New York. If you were to be an ultraconservative Republican, you would not fare very well. You have to either be a moderate Republican or a moderate Democrat."

Others, like Assemblyman Patrick Manning, who is running for governor but got no votes on Monday, saw it differently. Mr. Manning said that his party is at a crossroads, torn between Rockefeller Republicans and Reagan Republicans. And he said he wants to take a hard right.

"The days of Democrat-Lite are going to be over at the end of this election, and hopefully it's at the hands of rank-and-file Republicans who are demanding it," said Mr. Manning, who at 6 feet 11 inches bills himself as the nation's tallest elected official.

John Spencer, a former Yonkers mayor who is a long-shot candidate for the Senate, said that a more ideologically committed candidate could win statewide.

Mr. Spencer, another conservative Republican, said: "It's like a false sense of blue. Because over 10, 15 years, there hasn't been a conservative Republican choice to redden it up, so to speak."

(I quoted extensively to avoid the dreaded "Times archive syndrome")

See, Faso would be an acceptable candidate to the rural, upstate voters, whose thought processes mimic red state philosophies (or orangutans, but that's probably an insult to orangutans). But Weld would have a Rolodex that includes his having been a Pioneer in the 2000 Bush campaign (contributing or raising at least $100,000 for that race). Tough to beat that kind of money. A primary for either party would mean shunting valuable resources from the general election against Eliot Spitzer (or vice versa, if the Dems have one), and would leave a depleted state party war chest for the race against Hillary.

I'm thinking the Senate race will shape up more as an early Democratic primary for President: if the GOP can make the Senate race close, suddenly the Democratic presidential race becomes more than a one horse entry. If Hillary can dominate her opponent, then it settles any unease that Dems might have about Hillary being unable to maintain the liberal base while trying to appeal to even more moderates.

That's not to say the liberal base is any slam dunk, but it wouldn't take much to shore that up.

So the outcome? I predicted yesterday that Tom Golisano will be asked to run against Hillary for Senate. I estimate he'll need to spend about $100 million to have any significant impact in her standings, but he has that kind of money, plus he'd attract an awful lot of carpetbagged money from conservative groups outside New York interested in watching Hill squirm.

I think Pirro will be made an offer. Lieutenant Governor?

The Wheels Are Finally Falling Off The Busheviks

Diebold CEO resigns after reports of fraud litigation, internal woes

John Byrne

The chief executive officer of electronic voting company Diebold who once famously declared that he would "deliver" Ohio for President Bush has resigned effective immediately, RAW STORY has learned.

"The board of directors and Wally mutually agreed that his decision to resign at this time for personal reasons was in the best interest of all parties," the company's new chairman said in a statement.

O'Dell's resignation comes just days after reports from BradBlog.com that the company was facing imminent securities fraud litigation surrounding charges of insider trading. It also comes on the heels of a RAW STORY interview with a Diebold insider, who raised new allegations of technical woes inside the company, as well as concerns that Diebold may have mishandled elections in Georgia and Ohio.

[....]

In a story last week, RAW STORY recounted allegations made by a Diebold insider who said he/she had become disillusioned after witnessing repeated efforts by the firm to evade meeting legal requirements or implementing appropriate security measures, and who alleged that Diebold had put corporate interests ahead of the interests of voters.

“I’ve absolutely had it with the dishonesty,” the insider said. Blasting Wally O’Dell, the current president of Diebold, the whistleblower went on to explain behind-the-scenes tactics of the company and its officers.

“There’s a lot of pressure in the corporation to make the numbers: `We don’t tell you how to do it, but do it.’ [O’Dell is] probably the number one culprit putting pressure on people,” the source said.

The whistleblower also questioned whether the company or its subsidiaries had mishandled a 2002 Georgia gubernatorial election and voting in Ohio this year.

Is Patrick Fitzgerald eventually going to open this case up for a cursory look?

It seems to me that a company capable of manipulating its stock price is capable of ensuring (for a price, of course) the results of at least one election that could alter the course of American history for generations to come.

That price? The "Help America Vote Act", of course.

So...If you REALLY Feel Like Doing Something About The War In Iraq...

National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee

Very simply, it is refusal to pay some or all of federal taxes that pay for war. In the U.S. war tax resisters choose to refuse some or all of their federal income tax and/or the federal excise tax on local and long distance telephone service. Income taxes and excise taxes are deposited by the government into the general fund and at least half of those monies help to pay for the military budget, including all types of weapons of war and weapons of mass destruction.

Individuals take many roads to war tax resistance: some are protesting a particular war; some find it against their religious convictions to knowingly support war; some are horrified by massive U.S. military spending while human needs go unmet; some are or would be conscientious objectors if called to military service and, therefore, feel they cannot in good conscience pay for something they would refuse to do themselves. Most war tax resisters are motivated by a combination of reasons such as these and actively work for peace in many other ways too.

War tax resistance is an act of civil disobedience with a long history in the U.S. The most well-known war tax resister was Henry David Thoreau. While those of us who refuse to pay war taxes believe — and some cite in international law — this refusal is just and imperative, the federal government, through the Internal Revenue Service, considers refusal to pay these taxes illegal, and there are potential consequences through the IRS collection system. For most of us who resist, the dire consequences of voluntarily paying for war are far worse that what the IRS and government can do to us individually.

Hm. Interesting.

I'd heard what I believed to be urban myths about this during Vietnam, but it's nice to see that it actually exists. For me, I'd want to balance this idea with the thought that my taxes buy things other than war. I'm going to give this some thought.

For those of you who think that it would be a bad idea to bring down the wrath of the IRS on your head for not paying taxes, there's a "war resistance lite" scheme.