Category: Uncategorized

Budget Battle

Like us, you're probably preoccupied with the War and the ominous news of Turkish and Iranian involvement. While all this is happening, though, our Congress is hard at work. The House passed the President's tax cuts. The Senate debated the measure today. It looks as though ANWR drilling is out, to the relief of Democrats. A coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats seeking to scale the tax cuts back from $726 billion to $350 billion was led by Senator John Breaux (D-LA), of all people. They failed, and it looks as though the Bush Administration will get most of what they wanted, except for $100 billion which Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) rescued for a special war reserve.

What is Red Alert?

Orange alert hasn't really changed how you live. There are more police, maybe. You have to show your ID to get into a government building, maybe. Red alert, which appears likely when the attack on Iraq begins, is another thing altogether.

The Homeland Security Department describes it this way:

  • Increasing or redirecting personnel to address critical emergency needs;
  • Assigning emergency response personnel and pre-positioning and mobilizing specially trained teams or resources;
  • Monitoring, redirecting, or constraining transportation systems; and
  • Closing public and government facilities.

Individual state and county agencies are given a great deal of leeway in how they interpret these alerts. Sid Caspersen, the Director of the New Jersey Office of Counter-Terrorism, is pretty specific:

"Red means all noncritical functions cease... Noncritical would be almost all businesses, except health-related.
"The state police and the emergency management people would take control over the highways...
"You literally are staying home, is what happens, unless you are required to be out. No different than if you had a state of emergency with a snowstorm."
...well, a little different.

Update: Sun Mar 23 15:08:01 EST 2003
The ACLU is making themselves pretty clear on the NJ policy.

A Message to the Opposition

We're deluged with email from MoveOn and other activist groups encouraging us to rally when the war starts. It's hard to imagine a bigger waste of time. Any war protest right now is a waste of good human captial. A much more pressing issue, one worth protesting, is how Iraq will be treated after the United States takes stewardship of the country. It will be a long process, and we have never been very good at projects like these. The media gets bored, and our attention will inevitably turn back to domestic issues. Remember Afghanistan? They just finished a round of fundraising for their government, which is just over a year old. They shouldn't have to beg after the pledges and support they received from the West. Not the case, of course. They're desperate for US$234 million, about half the budget for the entire country. Without it, they're bankrupt. On top of that, they need US$1.7 billion in aid for reconstruction. Unless they receive immediate aid, they say, Afghanistan will return to being the largest exporter of heroin in the world -- how else will farmers pay the bills? The U.S. has pledged $820 million. This seems like a good thing, but you can't build roads with a pledge and the Bush Administration forgot to include Afghan reconstruction in the last budget, sneaking $300 million into the appropriations at the last minute. Needless to say, this can't happen in Iraq. The stakes are far too high.

"As our coalition takes away their power, we will deliver the food and medicine you need. We will tear down the apparatus of terror and we will help you to build a new Iraq that is prosperous and free."
The anti-war camp could continue tilting at windmills, but their time is much better spent ensuring that President Bush honor his promise.

Bush To Demand Saddam Leaves

CNN is reporting that Bush will give an address at 8pm tonight, demanding that Saddam Hussein abdicate to avoid a war. Put that alongside this Kuwaiti press report, via talkingpointsmemo.com, that Saddam has named his son Qusay to succeed him, and arrested those who wouldn't swear allegiance. So President Hussein steps down, and his son succeeds him. Is that progress? Isn't that exactly the kind of sneaky thing Hussein would do to prolong this un-war? Why would the Administration give him this opportunity? Update Mon Mar 17 20:32:30 EST 2003 Less of an issue now that he's included Hussein's two sons in the ultimatum. Surely this is a concern: all three leave town, and install some puppet. If I were an incorrigible despot, I'd be giving that some thought.

Feds Seize AP Correspondence

Two reporters are working on a terrorism story. One sends the other an envelope. The Customs Service seizes the FedEx package, and gives the package to the FBI. What's worse? The content of the correspondence was a document unclassified eight years ago, they had no warrant, and did not notify either reporter or the AP. The Customs Service says that the inspection was part of their random inspections. The FBI says the material, which covered the items seized from Ramsey Yousef's apartment in the Phillipines, was sensitive. You'll remember Yousef as the fellow behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and a planner in the Pacific airline plot. These same documents were entered into evidence into two seperate trials, so the FBI claim fails spectacularly. Let's recap:

  • Customs Service seizes mail (well afield of its jurisdiction)
  • FBI decides unclassified material (in the public record!) is classified again.
  • The government took personal correspondence without warrant or notification.
  • FedEx violated its own policies by not referring AP to the Customs Service, and instead paid $100 to compensate for the missing parcel.
  • The AP only discovered the seizure after a receiving an anonymous tip
Let's be totally clear about this: the Customs Service is opening your mail and will surrender it to any governement agency functionary without notice or warrant, and did so with the tacit cooperation of FedEx. Balls. PS - The intended recipient of the package, AP Washington Bureau reporter John Solomon, is on the FBI's shit list. There was an unpleasant episode in May of 2001 involving Senator Robert Torricelli and an anonymous FBI informant that resulted in a secret wiretap on Solomon's phone. How many times does the FBI have to go rogue before Congress starts taking it apart? Add this to the even-longer list of reasons for a formal domestic intelligence agency with proper oversight and controls. Having these federal cops running around taking my mail without a warrant is absolutely chilling. This should be a front-page scandal, not buried on the AP wire.

World War I, Again

Today is Irrational Alarmist Day at OnePeople: the leader of Serbia was assassinated. The nations of the world are integrated through treaties and trade like never before. A major world power is starting to act more and more beligerent. It's smelling like WWI. What's missing? A worldwide flu epidemic... until now.

How Democrats Lost In 2002

I just received a note from the Democratic party. It reads:

Democrats have consistently asked Bush the hard questions on Iraq. Democratic lawmakers, led by Tom Daschle and Nancy Pelosi, are speaking up for Americans concerned about the rush to war without the support of our allies and the world. Democrats continue to try and work toward a resolution of the conflict in Iraq and believe the administration must do more to address the national security issues raised by North Korea.
You gutless cowards. You sniveling, shifty, cynical opportunists. I am willing to tolerate plenty of bluster and crypto-fascism from the Republican Party -- as long as there's a strong opposition to keep them in check. Let me refer you to the Senate and House roll calls on Public Law 107-243. You don't get to vote one way and then walk it back when you find that opinion has changed. The Democratic Party has no leaders, it has polling numbers. Shame.