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Open thread 7/29
- By Phillip Brownlee
- Posted July 29, 2007 at 1:05 a.m.
- Filed under Open thread
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91 Comments
Thornburgh to run for Governor in 2010?
It’s quite early, but one can find the seven declared political candidates for the 2008 primary election on this Secretary of State page http://www.kssos.org/elections/elections_upcoming_candidate.asp .
2010 is even further out in political time, but the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission has a 2010 link for State Wide Office on this page:http://www.kansas.gov/ethics/FiledRptsFrmsHm.htm
The direct link to the 2010 State Wide candidate list is here:http://www.kansas.gov/ethics/CFAScanned/SWLinks2010EC.htm
There are a number of “candidates” here because they have not terminated their campaign committees from 2006, like Jim Barnett and others for Governor. But what is the listing for Ron Thornburgh under the Governor group? Clicking on the “AT” (Appointment of Treasurer) link for Thornburgh shows this:http://ethics.ks.gov/CFAScanned/StWide/2010ElecCycle/Treasurers/SW01RT_AT.pdf
Apparently on June 7, 2007 Thornburgh appointed Michael H Callison as the Treasurer for his gubernatorial committee for the 2010 election. Why is Thornburgh filing for Governor so soon?
This was found quite by accident yesterday.
Why is Thornburgh filing for Governor so soon?Posted by: Kansas Meadowlark | July 29, 2007 at 01:16 AM
This is no surprise, none at all. It’s an open “secret” in Topeka that Thornburgh has ambition beyond Secretary of State.
If he’s going to run, he wants to win. He may as well start now rather than three years from now.
Everything is an abortionists’ conspiracy to ksmed.
Hmmm, I think Thornburgh may be a relative, have to ask my father about that.
Cartoon– This one left me speechless.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/28/saturday-cartoons-9/
Great cartoon there ????????
How come there were no donkeys? Did I miss another power shift in Congress?
Something interesting in today’s Opinion Line:
“Dogfighting is barbaric, but so are wrestling and boxing matches.”
Hmmmmm…..
I have been thinking that the conventional wisdom out here may be wrong about Iraq. While I agree that Iraq is killing the Republicans (which is a good thing), the Democrats seem to be fumbling even more with it than the GOP. They cannot decide what to do about it. On one hand, they all constantly denounce the war and the Republicans for getting us into it but then they turn around every 6 months and give Bush every cent he demands to stay in the war. And it seems the Democratic electorate is catching on and starting to raise hell about the funding. So the question is what will happen in September. Will the Democrats:1. Vote to fund the war unconditionally again which will really piss their base off?
2. Demand that conditions be attached to funding and stick with it even if Bush vetos it which may be the best route to not piss off too many people?
3. Not vote to fund the war which would piss the military off and probably a large segment of the American people but would certainly appease the Democratic base?
It sounds to me like the three choices outlined by Kev are all likely to fail, so I guess Kev’s recommendations are all distinguished by varying degrees of whether voters will be pissed AT THE DEMOCRATS. Interesting. No where among these choices are options for what is most likely to succeed becoming law, or what is most likely to help our soldiers.
The situation, unfortunately, is such that Kev’s listed choices are probably accurate, because the Democrats ARE NOT IN CONTROL of making new law. They can’t override a presidential veto, and they can’t pass a bill out of the Senate except in unusual circumstances.
What Kev suppresses in his discussion is that it is not the fault of the Democrats that they don’t have enough votes to make laws regulating the war become law. In addition, most legislators really want to have an opportunity to support bills that have a chance of becoming law. It is very frustrating to put lots of time and sweat - and your vote - into bills that don’t have a chance. Yet, Kev sounds like he wants to lay blame at the feet of the Democrats in Congress for the fact that they don’t have the numbers to override the President?
I don’t question your loyalty to the forces of truth and reason, but I do think too many of us are incorrectly contributing to this impression that is growing in the general electorate that - somehow or why - the Democrats in Congress are misguided or incompetent to represent the people who finally gave them numerical superiority but not law-making authority.
ProudMan,
Because Republicans, not Democrats, refuse to allow any votes on withdrawal legislation.
It’s called a “filibuster.” Except when Republicans do it. Then they call it something else or pretend they aren’t doing it at all.
kelly,
Indeed. McConnell and the Republicans have a weak hand. Their only strategy option has been to dynamite all legislation in the Senate–including withdrawal legislation, and then to loudly trumpet Democrats’ inability to get the legislation passed.
Why are Republicans scared of allowing an up-or-down vote on withdrawal? What are they trying to hide from the voters?
The fact is that, come September, when Bush will come back to Congress and demand another $100 billion, the Democrats only have those 3 options on the table. And no matter where they go, they are gonna upset some people. As I said, I think the best strategy for them would be to pass the funds and attach conditions including a drawdown and requirements that Iraq meet the 18 political conditions set out by the Iraq Study Group. Yes, Bush will certainly veto it but then the lack of funding would fall on the shoulders of the Republicans. If the Democrats show some spine (which would be a nice change) and stand up to Bush eventually Bush will cave and sign the funding or enough Republicans will feel the heat and vote to override. One would hope that someday the Democrats would like to experience life without their tail tucked between their back legs getting the Michael Vick treatment. I think that large amounts of Americans would actually applaud them and even the left, while not happy with any further funding, would not go off the deep end about it after a victory over Bush.
Cutting-off the funding stops the so-called “war” when nothing else will. So you are either “for” the so-called “war” or against it.
80% of Americans want to leave….so leave.
I don’t blame you, Kev, for being upset with the status quo. I am too, and the substantial majority of voters are upset with the Bush Administration and the War. But claiming that the Democrats are spineless or that they like to live with their tails between their legs is just, well - either naive or brash propaganda. I echo your desire for a victory over Bush, but whether that happens in September depends on whether the Republicans will break in enough numbers from their support of the President and the war - NOT whether Democrats generate a spine. The Democrats will be there in September with their block of votes, but we need more votes and those can only come from the Republicans.
That resolute Democratic spine has been admirably displayed a number of times since January - but the media and the Republicans don’t want to talk about our successes. What about the newest achievement with college education funding? What about minimum wage? And didn’t the farm bill that passed include closing that offshore tax loophole? Come on, Kev, don’t just echo what the Republicans want you to talk about.
Kelly,
Where is our famously “liberal” media on these issues? Why are we only hearing Republican talking points???
(Sarcasm not directed at you, my friend)
Yea, Tom, I’d like to know where those liberal media talking heads are too. Talk about spineless.
Ed - that dog won’t hunt.
Kelly, I can understand why you support the so-called “war” every Zionist does.
Several members of your Knesset have said that “the fingernail of a Jew is worth more than 1000 Palestinians.”
Do you share that view?
Google “Fingernail of a Jew” and get their names.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=fingernail+of+a+jew
I love it when ya pull some in defensible extremist bs off the web and pretend it means something……
Makes ya feel like ya know something important, doesn’t it?
Thousands and thousands of Israeli peace supporters demand better treatment of their Palestinian neighbors. See this Link, please: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Now
Cat got your tongue?
Saying is not doing.
PBS did a piece about “The fingernail of a Jew”
Is PBS an “extremeist station?”
Ed,
If saying is not doing, why aren’t you going directly to the Palestinian Territory and taking up arms against Israel? Don’t you think Hamas or Hezbollah would welcome you to their cause?
Nice job, Ed, of trying to paint me into a box. My “that dog won’t hunt” comment - since it apparently missed you - was that there are several ways to go about bringing our soldiers home without cutting our nose off to spite our face by just closing the checkbook. We need a phased withdrawal or reployment, since it is logistically impossible to bring everyone home at the same time, and which means that we can’t cut off the money overnight.
We elected a congress to remove the troops.
The troops are still there.
And that’s the way you want it.
TOM
Do you reailize how foolish you sound?
Ed,
If you don’t get mockery, who’s the fool?
Tom
You offer ” mockery” while good people are being slaughtered?
The life of one American soldier is worth more than all the Zionist-Jew greed you can conjure-up { fingernail and all }.
We elected Congress to wrest control of all branches of goverment from the Bushies, and to reverse directions in our foreign policy and most especially to reverse direction in Iraq. We just didn’t elect enough Ds to force such laws down the throat of the Bush Admin. Rest assured that the RNC loves to hear you blame Congress instead of Bush/Cheney for the fact that soldiers are still dying and being maimed everyday. You are either a knowing or an ignorant trumpet for their lies, secrets, failures, and lack of accountability.
No, you are doing just that.
I was taught in the military to cut-off the enemies’ supply lines and we need to cut-off the funding.
The result will stop the war { and bring the troop home }.
The Zionist on this blog are offering smoke and mirrors by trying to make it a political “Party” issue.
It isn’t political. It just requires direct action.
Iraq Soccer Team Wins Asian Cup With Win Over Saudi Arabia
Associated Press
“JAKARTA, Indonesia — Iraq delivered an inspirational victory Sunday by winning the Asian Cup with a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia, a beacon of hope for a nation divided by war.
It was an extraordinary triumph for a team drawn together from all parts of the Gulf and with its players straddling bitter and violent ethnic divides.
Iraq scored on a 71st-minute header by captain Younis Mahmoud and dominated the final against heavily favored Saudi Arabia, a three-time Asian Cup champion. This was Iraq’s first Asian Cup title.
Mahmoud met Hawar Mulla Mohammed’s corner kick at the far post. Saudi goalkeeper Al Mosailem came for the ball and flapped at it without making contact, presenting an easy chance for an unmarked Mahmoud with a goal that will long live in Iraqi folklore.
At the final whistle, Mahmoud sprinted across the field with his elated teammates in pursuit before they collapsed into a pile, overwhelmed with their achievement.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office announced that each player on the Iraqi team would receive $10,000.
The jubilation over the team known as the “Lions of the Two Rivers” gave Iraqis a rare respite from the daily violence. The victorious run sent men of all ages cheering and dancing in Baghdad.
Celebratory gunfire resounded across the city and revelers poured into the streets in defiance of orders from authorities while mosques broadcast calls for the shooting to stop. Security forces, meanwhile, enforced a vehicle ban in an effort to prevent a repeat of car bombings that killed dozens celebrating Iraq’s progress to the final.
After Wednesday’s semifinal win over South Korea, two car bombs tore through crowds of revelers in two Baghdad neighborhoods, killing 50 people. Iraqis welcomed the victory in the final as a chance to show they can come together.
“The players have made us proud, not the greedy politicians,” said Sabah Shaiyal, a 43-year-old police officer in Baghdad. “Once again, our national team has shown that there is only one, united Iraq.”
Mahmoud came close to opening the scoring in the eighth minute when his overhead kick of a cross from went narrowly wide.
Midway through the half, Karrar Jassim Mohammed came even closer for Iraq when he beat two opponents. Saudi Arabia finally had a decent chance in the 44th minute when star striker Yasser Al Qahtani charged the goal only to shoot over the bar.
Iraq began the second half still showing more initiative than a Saudi squad that appeared confused by its failure to impose its attacking game.
With the crowd of about 60,000 roaring, the Iraqis had another chance when Mahmoud headed narrowly wide. As Saudi Arabia whisked up to the other end, Malek Maaz came close. Then in the 71st minute, Iraq produced the big drama.
Al Mosailem redeemed himself in the 77th minute to preserve a one-goal deficit. Mahmoud went one-on-one with the Saudi goalie, who came off his line to smother the shot.
An inspired Iraq continued to push forward. Only in the last five minutes did it put men behind the ball, clinging on desperately as Saudi Arabia tried to score to no avail.”
Bush/Cheney/Zionists are doing it, but congress is not stopping it.
Cut-off the head of the snake and the body dies.
Soldiers are dying and he wants to talk about Soccer.
I’m sure that the family of the slodiers who died will be interested in your soccer account.
Cut-off the funding today.
And it’s not just deaths,
‘Amputations bring health crisis to Iraq’http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2137035,00.html“Iraq is facing a hidden healthcare and social crisis over the soaring number of amputations, largely of lower limbs, necessitated by the daily explosions and violence gripping the country.”
A Picture of the con-man whose picking our pockets.
“Olmert welcomes ’significant’ boost in U.S. military aid”
“By Aluf Benn and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents “”Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday welcomed an “important and significant improvement” in the amount of American military aid to Israel, which aims to calm fears over an impending major U.S. weapons sale to Saudi Arabia.”
“Sources in Jerusalem told Haaretz over the weekend that Washington is prepared to increase military aid to Israel in order to ease the defense establishment’s concern over the proposed American weapons sale to Riyadh.”
“Olmert added that Israel appreciates Washington wishes to boost moderate Arab states through weapons sales.” { which will NEVER be paid for }
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/887256.html
{ which will NEVER be paid for by Israel }
I didn’t pick-out a particular site about “The Fingernail of a Jew remark” as I was accused, I did say Google “fingernail of a Jew” and pick your own including PBS.
{ another typical Zionist-Jew lie }
Cut-off the funding today.
I dunno “Ed”, there is a lot to be discussed productively about American support of Israel and the Palestinians, but you tend to come across as a good, old-fashioned anti-Semite, judging by your choice of words and characterizations.
I hope I am wrong, but so far….. well… you know what you are and you seem to be telling us as well.
To assign accountability to the dem. congress without giving them the power to push through the American mandate, is an asinine Republican deception. You’re the fool if you swallow it. If Americans want real change we need a more decisive swithc to the dems.
Tiahrt sounded pretty non-commital, or even indifferent on the questions posed to him in today’s editorial. Guess he can afford to take that attitude since the election is over, and he’d already gotten the Eagle’s endorsement.
That is such a chicken shit attitude of the neo-cons, better to have al-quida attacking in Iraq, than here. However, al-quida receives support from part of the citizenry in Iraq that would not be available to them here, and we have a legal infrastructure and resources here that is not available in Iraq.
Heehee, the Republicans are running away from the Iraq Adventure as fast as they are loud in yellin’ “I support it!”
When you start pulling-out the anti-Jew slogans, you are getting desperate as the complaint is the way your shit-for=brains acts, not your religionAnd before you go off on that, you make it dirty by the awful things you do everyday.
There is no ” get-out-of-jail” card for you bastards and your inhumane psycopathic barbarism.
There is no place to hide anymore as the world now knows you all too well. You are what you are.
{Zionists }
Cut-off the funding today.
Ed, you are a tough nut to crack… If I follow you here, I am a zionist, and I am not even sure I know what that means… I think it is a radical party in Israel… And that would make calling Americans Zionists, into something like Al-Quaida, only on the Israeli side of the line…
Maybe if you would set out a number of posts, CLEARLY defining what you mean by Zionists, MAYbe we could figure out what it is you are REALLY trying to say?? How about it??
If you cant clearly define what it is you are talking about, your posts sound very, very close to some kind of hate speech directed toward Israel, and the Jewish people…
I dont mean that as a threat… just trying to show you where you are posting some real fallacies, by NOT telling us exactly what you mean…
Cut-off the funding today.
Why don’t we do it this way: You explain why you commit war-crimes everyday and somehow believe you have some “right” to do that?
Along with violations of International Law?
Along with violations of the Geneva Conventions?
It’s not just me, the world has you on trial whether you know it or not.
Even Sweden said they wouldn’t fly with you on a NATO exercise.
England is boycotting your products.
The Russians are helping to arm Iran and Lebanon.
They commit the crimes, then try to throw me on the defensive.
Satire
Can’t you just see these things on trial blaming the Prosecutor for “hate-speech” while prosecuting them?
Of course you mean that as a threat. But I’m not buying your hooch.
Cut-off the funding today.
{ hate-speech against the funding :}
ROFL… and also pathetic, considering the importance of the U.S. Attorney General.
A YouTube of Newt Gingrich re AG, and also host Chris Wallace’s comment,
‘Conservatives Refuse To Appear On Fox News To Publicly Defend Gonzales’http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/29/no-takes-gonzo/““By the way, we invited White House officials and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to defend Attorney General Gonzales,” said Wallace. “We had no takers.” “
Here’s a quiz I threw together for you:1. What country provided the majority of those that attacked us on 9/11?2. People from what country funded the 9/11 terrorist?3. The citizens of which country in the mid-east would support an Al-quida Wahabist government.4. Which country is bush going to sell 20 bil. in arms?
Hell, if Gonzo is a ‘good guy’ give him a pass!
About the only one willing to parse words enough to defend Gonzo. is the bush mouth piece Snow.
Here’s a quiz I threw together for you:1. What mid east country has bulldozed 418 villages in Palestine?2. What country has bulldozed 17,000 Palestinians homes?3. What country made-up the word “terrorist” to describe Palestinian resistance?4. Which country is Bush going to sell 20 billion in military aid and give twice that much to what country in balance?
5. Who are the assholes who make all of the trouble in the Mid East?
6. What Mideast country has received 1,6 trillion since 1973?
7. What trouble-making country is threatening so much trouble as to make us pay 3 dollars for gasoline?
This list goes on, but I’m tired.
Cut-off the funding today.
OK Ed… I asked you very nicely if you would spell out CLEARLY what you are talking about — But you keep on spitting out that you know I am one of them, and I dont even know what you are talking about… If you cant spell out carefully and clearly what you are rambling on about, day after day, then I for one, will ignore you…. Thanks… I tried!!
I answered your question the other day. And you thanked me for it.
Short memory or just another trick?
Must be short memory, cause I dont remember that, Ed…
I remember part of it was: “The secular Zionists are pragmatic and that’s where the trouble starts”…..
Your answer Chas was: “Thank you, Ed”
I’ve looked, but cannot find it.
I was against the casino until the COC was against it. They have convinced me that it must be good for the city because they really don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground.
Ed.. to simply say that the Zionists are pragmatic, doesnt fully or clearly tell me or anybody else what that is supposed to mean… To read your posts, it seems that everybody everywhere fits your definition of a Zionist…You have basically called ME one…
In fact, Ed, you sound a lot like much of the time you are on the side of the Palestinians…
Well, how do you think the Israelis behave?
most of the time, they behave like they are trying to defend their country…
Great, Ed Goebbels is back in town.
Is that why they destroyed Lebanon?
“Israel to Get $30bn US Defense Aid”
“This is an increase of 25 percent for the military aid to Israel from the United States. I think this is a significant and important increase in defense aid to Israel,” Olmert said at the opening of the weekly Israeli Cabinet meeting.”
“Olmert added that the aid package was offered during his meeting with US President George W. Bush in Washington on June 20.”
Back from three days in Lawerence, Kansas . . . saw bumperstickesrs like “Protect America: Fire Republicans,” “Chimpeach,” and “Buck Fush.”
Rather refreshing.
Well, I see that somebody let Ed have access to the keyboard again, in between “arts and crafts time” and “water aerobics” there in the home . . .
You never know which Ed is going to show up — the decent, caring Ed who discusses the plight of Palestine or the hateful, spittle flecked Holocaust-denying Ed who can’t say JEW! enough.
Short of driving Israel into the sea, the ZIONIST JEW! is going to be in Palestine for quite a long time.
Try figuring out a way to improve the situation instead of demanding more hate.
AMen CapN
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml
Bush Family Evil Empire: Scandal Du Jour (shorter weekend edition)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml
More money for the Pentagon, CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports, while its own auditors admit the military cannot account for 25 percent of what it spends.
“According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions,” Rumsfeld admitted.
$2.3 trillion — that’s $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America. To understand how the Pentagon can lose track of trillions, consider the case of one military accountant who tried to find out what happened to a mere $300 million.
“We know it’s gone. But we don’t know what they spent it on,” said Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service.
Minnery, a former Marine turned whistle-blower, is risking his job by speaking out for the first time about the millions he noticed were missing from one defense agency’s balance sheets. Minnery tried to follow the money trail, even crisscrossing the country looking for records.
“The director looked at me and said ‘Why do you care about this stuff?’ It took me aback, you know? My supervisor asking me why I care about doing a good job,” said Minnery.
He was reassigned and says officials then covered up the problem by just writing it off.
“They have to cover it up,” he said. “That’s where the corruption comes in. They have to cover up the fact that they can’t do the job.”
The Pentagon’s Inspector General “partially substantiated” several of Minnery’s allegations but could not prove officials tried “to manipulate the financial statements.”
Twenty years ago, Department of Defense Analyst Franklin C. Spinney made headlines exposing what he calls the “accounting games.” He’s still there, and although he does not speak for the Pentagon, he believes the problem has gotten worse.
“Those numbers are pie in the sky. The books are cooked routinely year after year,” he said.
Another critic of Pentagon waste, Retired Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, commanded the Navy’s 2nd Fleet the first time Donald Rumsfeld served as Defense Secretary, in 1976.
In his opinion, “With good financial oversight we could find $48 billion in loose change in that building, without having to hit the taxpayers.”
*****
All I have to say is, thank God, it’s going to good hard-working Americans instead of parasitical children of poor parents.
Trillions of dollars WASTED to kill people and nothing for sick kids . . . George W. loves his base–the haves and the have mores.
This has been you Bush Family Evil Empire: Scandal Du Jour (shorter weekend edition).
Here’s a longer scandal:NEWS: Bush appointee blocked health reportEx-surgeon general was told paper not deferential or political enoughBy Christopher Lee and Marc KaufmanThe Washington PostUpdated: 8:24 p.m. MT July 28, 2007URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20016388/
A surgeon general’s report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems has been kept from the public by a Bush political appointee without any background or expertise in medicine or public health, chiefly because the report did not promote the administration’s policy accomplishments, according to current and former public health officials.
The report described the link between poverty and poor health, urged the U.S. government to help combat widespread diseases as a key aim of its foreign policy, and called on corporations to help improve health conditions in the countries where they operate. A copy of the report was obtained by The Washington Post.
Three people directly involved in its preparation said its publication was blocked by William R. Steiger, a specialist in education and a scholar of Latin American history whose family has long ties to President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Since 2001, Steiger has run the Office of Global Health Affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services.
Richard H. Carmona, who commissioned the “Call to Action on Global Health” while serving as surgeon general from 2002 to 2006, recently cited its suppression as an example of the Bush administration’s frequent efforts during his tenure to give scientific documents a political twist. At a July 10 House committee hearing, Carmona did not cite Steiger by name or detail the report’s contents and its implications for American public health.
Carmona told lawmakers that, as he fought to release the document, he was “called in and again admonished . . . via a senior official who said, ‘You don’t get it.’ ” He said a senior official told him that “this will be a political document, or it will not be released.”
After a long struggle that pitted top scientific and medical experts inside and outside the government against Steiger and his political bosses, Carmona refused to make the requested changes, according to the officials. Carmona engaged in similar fights over other public health reports, including an unpublished report on prison health. A few days before the end of his term as the nation’s senior medical officer, he was abruptly told he would not be reappointed.
Steiger did not return a phone call seeking his comment. But he said in a written statement released by an HHS spokesman Friday that the report contained information that was “often inaccurate or out-of-date and it lacked analysis and focus.”
Steiger confirmed that he sharply disagreed with Carmona on the issue of how much the report should promote Bush administration policies. “A document meant to educate the American public about health as a global challenge and urge them to action should at least let Americans know what their generosity is already doing in helping to solve those challenges,” Steiger said in the statement.
Steiger said that “political considerations” did not delay the report; “sloppy work, poor analysis, and lack of scientific rigor did.” Asked about the report’s handling, an HHS spokeswoman said Friday that it is still “under development.”
The draft report itself, in language linking public health problems with violence and other social ills, says “we cannot overstate . . . that problems in remote parts of the globe can no longer be ignored. Diseases that Americans once read about as affecting people in regions . . . most of us would never visit are now capable of reaching us directly. The hunger, disease, and death resulting from poor food and nutrition create social and political instability . . . and that instability may spread to other nations as people migrate to survive.”
Report touched on sensitive topicsIn 65 pages, the report charts trends in infectious and chronic disease; reviews efforts to curb AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria; calls for the careful monitoring of public health to safeguard against bioterrorism; and explains the importance of proper nutrition, childhood immunizations and clean air and water, among other topics. Its underlying message is that disease and suffering do not respect political boundaries in an era of globalization and mass population movements.
The report was compiled by government and private public-health experts from various organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, the Catholic Medical Mission Board and several universities. Steiger’s global health office provided the funding and staff to lead the effort because the surgeon general’s office has no budget and few staff members of its own.
“It covered all of the contemporary issues of public health, from environmental health through infectious disease transmission,” said Jerrold M. Michael, a former assistant surgeon general and a former longtime dean of the University of Hawaii School of Public Health, who worked on the report.
A few of the issues it focuses on, such as AIDS treatment and research, have been public health priorities for the Bush administration. But others — including ratifying the international tobacco treaty and making global health an element of U.S. foreign policy — are more politically sensitive. The report calls on the administration to consider spending more money on global health improvement, for instance. And it warns that “the environmental conditions that poison our water and contaminate our air are not contained within national boundaries. . . . The use of pesticides is also of concern to health officials, scientists and government leaders around the world.”
Three people involved in the preparation of an initial draft in 2005 said it received largely positive reviews from global health experts both inside and outside the government, prompting wide optimism that the report would be publicly released that year. The Commissioned Officers Association, a nonprofit group representing more than 7,000 current and retired officers of the U.S. Public Health Service, organized a global health summit in June 2005 in Philadelphia where Carmona was expected to unveil the report in a keynote address — but he was not cleared to release it there.
‘Always had his political hat on’Richard Walling, a former career official in the HHS global health office who oversaw the draft, said Steiger was the official who blocked its release. “Steiger always had his political hat on,” he said. “I don’t think public health was what his vision was. As far as the international office was concerned, it was a political office of the secretary. . . . What he was looking for, and in general what he was always looking for, was, ‘How do we promote the policies and the programs of the administration?’ This report didn’t focus on that.”
On June 30, 2006, a Steiger aide sent an e-mail saying that the report should not be cleared for public distribution: “While we believe the subject matter of the draft is important, we disagree with the style, tone and messaging,” wrote the aide, Mark A. Abdoo, according to a copy of the e-mail. “We believe this document should be focused tightly on the Administration’s major priorities in global health so the American public can understand better why these issues should be important to them. As such, the draft should be a policy statement, albeit one that is evidence based and draws on the best available science.”
Steiger, 37, is a godson of former president George H.W. Bush and the son of a moderate Republican who represented Wisconsin in the House and hired a young Dick Cheney as an intern. The elder Bush appointed Steiger’s mother to the Federal Trade Commission in 1989. A biographical sketch of her on the American Bar Association’s Web site states that Steiger’s parents, now deceased, were “lifelong friends” of many members of the same congressional class, including the Rumsfelds and the Bushes.
No background in public health
According to a résumé Steiger supplied to Congress, he obtained a doctorate in Latin American history from the University of California at Los Angeles before teaching at a university in the Philippines and consulting in Angola for the International Republican Institute — a nonprofit group that is associated with the party and promotes democracy around the world. He was an education adviser to then-Gov. Tommy G. Thompson (R) of Wisconsin and came to Washington when Thompson became HHS secretary. He is now awaiting a Senate vote on his nomination as Bush’s ambassador to Mozambique.
Bill Hall, an HHS spokesman, said Steiger promoted interest in global health at the department while more than doubling the number of expert staff members overseas and participating in international negotiations on issues such as avian influenza. “You have to look at his skills as an executive leader in spite of the fact that he doesn’t have a medical degree or a public health degree,” Hall said.
Public health advocates have accused Steiger of political meddling before. He briefly attained notoriety in 2004 by demanding changes in the language of an international report on obesity. The report was opposed by some U.S. food manufacturers and the sugar industry.
Carmona refused to change documentAccording to Walling and three other public health officials familiar with the current dispute, Carmona at one point suggested that Steiger release the global health report in tandem with a separate report of the sort Steiger wanted, but Steiger rejected the idea. An appeal by Carmona to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and his staff produced no relief, a former HHS official said.
“I fought for my last year to try to get it out and couldn’t get it past the initial vetting,” Carmona testified earlier this month. “I refused to release it [with the requested changes] . . . because it would tarnish the office of the surgeon general when our colleagues saw us taking a political stand.”
Thomas Novotny, a former assistant surgeon general who ran the global health office before Steiger, said, “It’s embarrassing, just ridiculous that the report hasn’t come out.” Novotny, who served at HHS in the Clinton and in both Bush administrations, said that many nations have made health issues central to their foreign relations and trade policies, but that the United States has been reluctant to embrace that idea.
“It made perfect sense for the surgeon general to take up the issue because the U.S. used to be a leader in this field,” Novotny said. “For the nation’s top doctor to be unable to release the report shows that leadership is gone.”
Prison health report also suppressedThe global health document was one of several reports initiated by Carmona that top HHS officials suppressed because they disliked the reports’ conclusions, according to a former administration official. Another was a “Call to Action on Corrections and Community Health.” It says — according to draft language obtained by The Post — that the public has a large stake in the health of the 2 million men and women who are behind bars, and in the health care available to them in their communities after their release.
The report recommends enhanced health screenings for those arrested and their victims; better disease surveillance in prisons; and ready access to medical, mental health and substance abuse prevention services for those released.
But the report has been bottled up at HHS, said three public health experts who worked on it. John Miles, a consultant and former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official who helped draft it, said he suspects that the proposed health screenings and other recommendations are seen as a potentially burdensome cost. “Maybe they just don’t feel it’s a priority,” Miles said.
Hall, the HHS spokesman, responded in a statement Friday that the Bush administration has always believed that public health policy should be rooted in science. “While we appreciate and respect Dr. Carmona’s service as surgeon general, we disagree with his statements,” Hall said.
Staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.
The number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq has dropped sharply so far in July after reaching record levels in recent months, a possible sign that militants areweakening, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq said Thursday. “This is what we thought would happen once we took control of the safe havens” used by insurgents and militias, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno said Thursday.”We’ve now taken control of those areas.”The projected number of U.S. troop deaths for July is 70-80, mostly from non-combat incidents, while the number killed in April, May and June averaged 110.With each indication of winning strategy or wearing down of the enemy in Iraq, you will see more intense lobbying and propaganda from leftists for abandoning the war on Islamic terrorism, as the political opportunists become more and more terrified that the war might become successful in the Iraq arena.The peaceniks had better find out first if Muslim terrorists will stop their attacks on Americans, if U.S. troops abandon Iraq. [Hint: they won't.]
So how was your trip to Iraq, Troy? Did you enjoy being shown only what the military brass wanted you to see?
Study blames climate change for hurricanes By Jim LoneySun Jul 29, 8:37 PM ET
MIAMI (Reuters) - The number of Atlantic hurricanes in an average season has doubled in the last century due in part to warmer seas and changing wind patterns caused by global warming, according to a study released on Sunday.
ADVERTISEMENTHurricane researchers have debated for years whether climate change caused by greenhouse gases from cars, factories and other human activity is resulting in more, and more intense, tropical storms and hurricanes.
The new study, published online in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, said the increased numbers of tropical storms and hurricanes in the last 100 years is closely related to a 1.3-degree Fahrenheit rise in sea surface temperatures.
The influential U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in a report this year warning that humans contribute to global warming, said it was “more likely than not” that people also contribute to a trend of increasingly intense hurricanes.
In the new study, conducted by Greg Holland of the National Center for Atmospheric Research and Peter Webster of Georgia Institute of Technology, researchers found three periods since 1900 when the average number of Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes increased sharply, and then leveled off and remained steady.
From 1900 to 1930, Atlantic hurricane seasons saw six storms on average, with four hurricanes and two tropical storms. From 1930 to 1940, the annual average rose to ten, including five hurricanes.
From 1995 to 2005, the average rose to 15, with eight hurricanes and seven tropical storms, the researchers said.
Changes in sea surface temperatures occurred before the periods of increased cyclones, with a rise of 0.7 degrees Fahrenheit before the 1930 period and a similar increase before the 1995 period, they said.
“These numbers are a strong indication that climate change is a major factor in the increasing number of Atlantic hurricanes,” Holland said in a statement.
Skeptics say hurricane data from the early decades of the 20th century are not reliable because cyclones likely formed and died in mid-ocean, where no one knew they existed.
More reliable data became available in 1944 when researchers had airplane observations, and from 1970 when satellites came into use.
But Holland and Webster said the improved data from the last half of the century cannot be solely responsible for the increase.
“We are led to the confident conclusion that the recent upsurge in the tropical cyclone frequency is due in part to greenhouse warming, and this is most likely the dominant effect,” the authors wrote.
In 2004, four powerful hurricanes, Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, hit Florida. All four placed in the top ten costliest storms in U.S. history.
The record-shattering 2005 season produced 28 storms, 15 of which became hurricanes including Katrina, which caused $80 billion damage and killed 1,500 people. The 2006 season was relatively mild, with ten storms
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/7/21/worldupdates/2007-07-21T141746Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDN...World UpdatesJuly 21, 2007
EXCLUSIVE - Daily attacks in Iraq hit new high in JuneBy David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attacks in Iraq last month reached their highest daily average since May 2003, showing a surge in violence as President George W. Bush completed a buildup of U.S. troops, Pentagon statistics show.
The data, obtained by Reuters from the Defense Department, showed an upward trend in daily attacks over the past four months, when U.S. and Iraqi forces were ramping up operations against insurgents and militants, including al Qaeda, in Iraq.
U.S. soldiers rest in between monitoring a mosque in Yarmuk neighbourhood in Baghdad July 20, 2007. Attacks in Iraq last month reached their highest daily average since May 2003, showing a surge in violence as President George W. Bush completed a buildup of U.S. troops, Pentagon statistics show. (REUTERS/Nikola Solic)Pentagon officials were not immediately available to comment on the statistics.
The June numbers showed 5,335 attacks against coalition troops, Iraqi security forces, civilians and infrastructure.
June’s total was 2.5 percent below an October 2006 peak of 5,472 attacks and slightly lower than the 5,365 attacks in May.
But because June has only 30 days, the average daily number of attacks was 177.8, higher than the 176.5 last October and 173.1 in May.
The Pentagon statistics, which come as pressure mounts in the U.S. Congress for a troop withdrawal from Iraq, depicted the most intensive month for daily attacks since Bush declared major combat operations at an end in May 2003.
Daily attacks rose as the Bush administration moved the last combat battalions into place for a security clampdown in Baghdad, part of a controversial U.S. strategy to stabilize Iraq with an additional 28,000 troops.
Bush and other senior officials have predicted that a rise in violence from insurgents and al Qaeda in Iraq would occur this summer as the so-called “surge” strategy takes hold.
A crucial report expected in September from U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, could force a change in U.S. policy if it suggests the strategy is not working.
U.S. military commanders have sought to paint a more upbeat picture of events on the ground while pleading for additional time to determine whether the Bush strategy can succeed.
The statistics showed the 177.8 attacks per day in June were above the 157.5 in March, the lowest daily average for any month in 2007. Total monthly attack figures have also climbed to well over 5,000 from a low in February of 4,561.
Attacks last month were up 46 percent from a year earlier, with the statistics showing 3,642 attacks or 121.4 per day on average in June 2006.
The June 2007 statistics confirmed a significant decline in the targeting of Iraqi civilians, with such attacks falling 18 percent to 763 from a 2007 high of 932 in May.
Attacks on Iraqi security forces fell to 889 in June from 987 in May, while attacks on coalition forces rose about 7 percent to 3,671 from 3,423.
Here’s some interesting numbers on Iraq, from March 07- a little stale, would probably have to figure some of them have increased by now.http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/03/iraq_by_the_numbers.html
When you poke a pig, oh my, how they do squeal….
You know, Ed, they would just love you on the Neo-Nazi Blog!! LOL
Little Butterstick writes:
“With each indication of winning strategy or wearing down of the enemy in Iraq, you will see more intense lobbying and propaganda from leftists for abandoning the war on Islamic terrorism, as the political opportunists become more and more terrified that the war might become successful in the Iraq arena.”
WRONG!
Just because we opposed the war vehemently, didn’t mean — and doesn’t mean — we want it to fail.
We opposed it because we thought it would fail . . . not because we WANTED it to fail.
The simple fact is that when you read the USA Today story that Parkay excerpted, it turns out that the death rate has only fallen back to “pre-surge” levels.
In other words, the surge itself lead to the sharp increase in soldiers’ deaths which has since dropped back to “normal” death rates.
Wow. More “progress” in Iraq.
I always wanted America to “win” in Iraq, if for no other reason than we could get our guys the hell outta there.
But I’m too good a student of history not to see a foregone conclusion when it hits me between the eyes.
A country, no matter how small and weak, can be forcibly held under occupation forever unless their leaders have been co-opted.
England ruled India by getting its leaders to rule it for them.
We tried to do the same thing in Saudi Arabia (support a feudal monarchy and Iran (overthrew the PM and installed the Shah) and Iraq (supported Saddam Hussain up to the point he invaded Kuwait) and Lebanon (rejected popular rule by the Muslim majority and installed Christian puppets).
Trouble is, the peasants just aren’t as stupid and docile as they used to be.
Blame it on television and the civil rights movements . . .
Should be “No country, no matter how small or weak . . . ”
Actually, it may be possible to occupy a foreign country permanently, now that I think about it, IF 1. genocidal tactics are used to suppress rebellion (the Romans in Judah for instance with their cruxifictions and mass slaughter) or the Nazis or the Chinese in Tibet or the extermination of Native Americans by white settlers or the Japanese in Korea
OR
2. the invading and occupying country brings in a large population of its people to dominate the oppressed as Israel in Pakistan, the English in Northern Ireland, the English and Dutch in South Africa, the Chinese in Tibet, white Europeans in America etc.
You know, that might work. Send about 5 million homeless people to Iraq to forcible occupy the terrority . . .