Needless to say, everyone is hopeful that the situation, which tends to ebb and flow down there [Haiti], will stay below a certain threshold, and that there's-we have no plans to do anything. By that, I don't mean we have no plans. Obviously, we have plans to do everything in the world that we can think of. But we-there's no intention at the present time, or no reason to believe, that any of the thinking that goes into these things year in and year out would have to be utilized.

Donald Rumsfeld

Under combat conditions, the most exposed individuals are probably the ground troops that re-enter a battlefield following the exchange of armor-piercing munitions, either on foot or motorized transports.

Science Applications International Corporation, July 1990, Vol. 2, 3-4

Warning of uranium contamination risks to NGO staff, Coalition forces, foreign contract personnel and civilians in Iraq

 

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Martin Luther King Jr

INSTEAD OF ADMITTING ECONOMIC TRUTH, BUSH RESORTS TO STATISTICAL MANIPULATION

Just days after Bush reneged on his pledge to create 2.6 million jobs and said with a straight face that "5.6% unemployment is a good national number," the New York Times uncovered a White House report showing that the president is considering re-classifying low-paid fast food jobs as "manufacturing jobs" as a way to hide the massive manufacturing job losses that have occurred during his term.

As CBS News reports, "Since the month President Bush was inaugurated, the economy has lost about 2.7 million manufacturing jobs." But if the president enacts the statistical change he is considering, this number would be purposely obscured because lower-paying fast-food jobs would be added to make the real manufacturing losses look smaller. Of course, fast-food jobs typically pay much less and have fewer benefits than real manufacturing jobs, meaning the statistical change would also obscure the fact that, under Bush, "in 48 of the 50 states, jobs in higher-paying industries have given way to jobs in lower-paying industries." All told, jobs in growing industries like lower-paid service sector/fast food jobs are paying 21% less than contracting industries like real manufacturing.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said definitively that "payroll data" - not the household survey - "is the series which you have to follow" in order to be accurate. The payroll data shows "a loss of more than two million jobs since 2001."

 Chickenhawk  n.  A person enthusiastic about war, provided someone else fights it; particularly when that enthusiasm is undimmed by personal experience with war; most emphatically when that lack of experience came in spite of ample opportunity in that person’s youth

 

New Hampshire Gazette

History has called the United States into action, and we will not let history down.

George W. Bush
-- Apparently we owe history a war

You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.

Demosthenes

HISTORIC ADVANCE ON LAW OF THE SEA

On February 25, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the UN Law of the Sea Convention by an unanimous vote of 15-0.  The full Senate may debate the treaty in the coming weeks, and a floor vote on ratification of the treaty could be scheduled sometime in March or April.  A two-thirds vote is required for ratification.

The Senate committee's recent action marks an important step in a long history of FCNL and Quaker work for the peaceful prevention of deadly conflict.  Sam and Miriam Levering, two Friends from North Carolina, labored for more than decade to help develop and advance negotiations for the Law of the Sea.  During the 1970's, Sam and Miriam worked out of FCNL's office as they diligently and patiently advocated to keep the oceans part of "the common heritage of mankind" and labored with governments on the treaty's final language.  The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea was adopted in 1982 and entered into force in 1994.  FCNL lobbied steadily in support of the treaty, which has gained broad global support.  However, the U.S. has yet to ratify the treaty.

 The Law of the Sea is a critical instrument for preventing violent conflict and protecting the earth's resources.  As the UN explains of the treaty:

 "The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea provides, for the first time, a universal legal framework for the rational management of marine resources and their conservation for future generations.  Rarely has such radical change been achieved peacefully, by consensus of the world community.  It has thus been hailed as the most important international achievement since the approval of the United Nations Charter in 1945.

 While many institutions, some created by the Convention and others part of the United Nations system are responsible for governing areas on specific aspects of the ocean under their jurisdiction, the Convention itself remains the central instrument for promoting stability and peaceful uses of the seas and oceans.  It is not, however, a static instrument, but rather a dynamic and evolving body of law that must be vigorously safeguarded and its implementation aggressively advanced."
 

We never see the smoke and the fire, we never smell the blood, we never see the terror in the eyes of the children, whose nightmares will now feature screaming missiles from unseen terrorists, known only as Americans.

Martin Kelly

A chief of state who propels his country into war on the basis of false claims of an urgent threat is not fit to rule. 

Barry Grey

Multinational Monitor's 10 worst corporations of 2003.

Bayer: In May, the company agreed to plead guilty to a criminal count and pay more than $250 million to resolve allegations that it denied Medicaid discounts to which it was entitled. The company was beleaguered with litigation related to its anti-cholesterol drug Baycol. In June, the New York Times reported on internal company memos which appear to show that the company continued to promote the drug even as its own analysis had revealed the dangers of the product. Bayer denies the allegations.

Boeing: In one of the grandest schemes of corporate welfare in recent memory, Boeing engineered a deal whereby the Pentagon would lease tanker planes – 767s that refuel fighter planes in the air – from Boeing. The pricetag of $27.6 billion was billions more than the cost of simply buying the planes.

Brighthouse: A new-agey advertising/consulting/ strategic advice company, Brighthouse's claim to infamy is its Neurostrategies Institute, which undertakes research to see how the brain responds to advertising campaigns. In a cutting-edge effort to extend and sharpen the commercial reach in ways never previously before possible, the institute is using MRIs to monitor activity in people's brains triggered by advertisements.

Clear Channel: Has also compiled a record of "repeated law-breaking," according to our colleage Jim Donahue, violating the law – including prohibitions on deceptive advertising and on broadcasting conversations without obtaining permission of the second party to the conversation – on 36 separate occasions over the previous three years.

Diebold: One of the largest U.S. voting machine manufacturers, and an aggressive peddler of its electronic voting machines, Diebold has managed to demonstrate that it fails any reasonable test of qualifications for involvement with the voting process. Its CEO has worked as a major fundraiser for President George Bush. Computer experts revealed serious flaws in its voting technology, and activists showed how careless it was with confidential information. And it threatened lawsuits against activists who published on the Internet documents from the company showing its failures.

Halliburton: Now the owner of the company which initially drafted plans for privatization of U.S. military functions – plans drafted during the Bush I administration when current Vice President and former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney was Secretary of Defense – Halliburton is pulling in billions in revenues for contract work – providing logistical support ranging from oil to food – in Iraq. Tens of millions, at least, appear to be overcharges. Some analysts say the charges for oil provision amount to "highway robbery."

HealthSouth: Fifteen of its top executives have pled guilty in connection with a multi-billion dollar scheme to defraud investors, the public and the U.S. government about the company's financial condition. The founder and CEO of the company that runs a network of outpatient surgery, diagnostic imagery and rehabilitative healthcare centers, Richard Scrushy, is fighting the charges. But thanks to the slick maneuvering of attorney Bob Bennett, it appears the company itself will get off – no indictments, no pleas, no fines, no probation.

Inamed: The California-based company sought Food and Drug Administration approval for silicone breast implants, even though it was not able to present long-term safety data – the very thing that led the FDA to restrict sales of silicone implants a decade ago.

Merrill Lynch: Fresh off of a $100 million fine levied because analysts were recommending stocks that they trashed in private e-mails, the company saw three former execs indicted for shady dealings with Enron. The company itself managed to escape with something less than a slap on the wrist – no prosecution in exchange for "oversight."

Safeway: One of the largest U.S. grocery chains, Safeway is leading the charge to demand givebacks from striking and locked out grocery workers in Southern California. Along with Albertsons and Ralphs (Kroger's), Safeway's Vons and Pavilion stores are asking employees to start paying for a major chunk of their health insurance. Under the company's proposals, workers and their families will lose $4,000 to $6,000 a year in health insurance benefits.

 I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully

George W. Bush

 The problem is that the good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas reserves where there are democratic governments.

Dick Cheney, then CEO of Halliburton

It is dangerous for a national candidate to say things that people might remember.

Eugene McCarthy