Volume 2 Issue 80
May 27, 2003
Weighing the Contenders
The Bushes get to bed early, Oregon gets ready to leave children behind, and eating your phone book may be good for you
Hope everyone had a good holiday. Here's today's insanity, and some from the long weekend as well...
The Bush Tax Cut...is it part of a plan? Is the Bush Administration actually implementing a plan in which the United States will go bankrupt, forcing the dismantling of most centrally funded programs? That's what Paul Krugman thinks -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/27/opinion/27KRUG.html
But it's not just a outlandish opinion either. USA Today mentions it today as well, also noting that the new Bush tax cut would have been unconstitutional under the Balanced Budget Amendment proposed in 1995 -
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20030527/5189964s.htm
Not the life of the Party: One common complaint from Washingtonians about the Bush Administration is that they don't like to party. Indeed, the President is said to be in bed by 9:30pm each evening. While this may not matter to most folks, the lack of non-political social events in the capital may be contributing to the excess partisanship we've seen recently -
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/05/27/MN47206.DTL
Here Comes Europe: The EU unveiled a draft constitution over the weekend. The draft would create an EU President, but individual members would still be sovereign states -
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030526-104519-1738r
A British analysis of the document says it will not create a federal state, but will create a slightly stronger EU than present, and could be a stepping-stone to a more federal Europe in the future -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2940800.stm
In Britain, where the opposition Conservatives are against the loss of British sovereignty to the EU, momentum is growing for a referendum on any final constitution -
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-693723,00.html
It's Back... SARS has reemerged in Toronto -
http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/05/26/sars.wrap/index.html
Flying the unfriendly skies? A report in USA Today says that Airbus industries withheld information about a problem with the tailfin on an Airbus 300 that almost crashed in 1997, which could have prevented the crash of another Airbus in November of 2001 -
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-05-26-a-cover_x.htm
Look Who's Running for President: Joe Lieberman has a good lead in the first set of polls from Michigan -
http://www.detnews.com/2003/politics/0305/25/b01-173630.htm
Lieberman has come under criticism for his tax policy. As noted last week, while Lieberman voted against the tax cuts in 2001 and last week, he has in many cases called for cuts more targeted to the poor and middle class. But apparently he's now saying that the cuts recently enacted should stay. Political pragmatism or reckless conservatism? His hometown paper looks at the issue -
http://www.ctnow.com/news/custom/newsat3/hc-lieberman0525.artmay26,0,6339969.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Dnewsat3
Look Who's Running for President 2: John Kerry has a slight lead over Howard Dean in New Hampshire. Of course, throw Al Gore's name in there and he trounces the whole ballclub -
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,87668,00.html
Kerry is also now being attacked by the GOP, which the Kerry campaign spins as a good thing. But, if the perception of Kerry becomes that he's "aloof and arrogant" it could stick with him, as it did Gore in 2000 -
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/national/kerr05272003.htm
Look Who's Running for President 3: Ron Fournier discusses the different strategies each Democrat has adopted to win the nomination -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38808-2003May25.html
And the AP has a quick primer on the early primaries, and what each candidate has to do there. At the end, it hints at the unlikely but present scenario, that could be either a boon or disaster for the Dems, but would make politicos around the country salvate...a deadlocked convention -
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/145/wash/With_BC_Tortoise_an d_Hares_:.shtml
Look Who's Running for President 4: The Green Party, who in 2000 said there was little or no difference between Al Gore and George W. Bush, is now considering backing the Dem's candidate in 2004 to get Bush out -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41545-2003May26.html
Look Who's Running for President 5: Delaware Senator Joe Biden says he will make a decision on running by September. Biden appears to be gambling that the current Democratic Ballclub will beat each other silly, and that he may have an opening in the fall, despite being well behind on fundraising and organization. But Biden did take a few cracks at his Senate colleagues for missing votes -
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2003/05/26bi densittingtig.html
Look Who's Running for President 6: Bob Graham's fledgling campaign has led to folks whispering that he's really running for Vice-President, something Graham denies -
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/5949363.htm
Look Who's Voting for President: Is Arkansas the key to the Democrats winning at least part of the South, and the election?
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/story_National.php?storyid=30924
Bad John Edwards Photo of the Day:
You put your right foot in...
Measurement Problem: Take a couple of trillion vibrations of a Cesium atom and read up on what's happening to the kilogram, and why we all may weigh less than we thought -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/27/science/27KILO.html?8hpib= &pagewanted=all&position
Schools out early: Schools in Oregon are closing up to a month early, due to the budget crisis in the state. Leaving no child behind, huh?
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/24/national/24OREG.html?pagew anted=all&position
Wow: Sentenced to death by Saddam Hussein, an Iraqi man hid in a small crawl space for the next 20 years -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2938998.stm
The New Bush Environmental Plan: If a turtle has two heads, is it one or two turtles?
http://www.local6.com/orlpn/news/stories/news-221918820030521-110559.html
Going Home: The Oakland Athletics's will visit their former home Philadelphia for the first time since moving from there in 1954 -
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/05/27/SP242563.DTL
Mmmm...tasty: Verizon's new phonebooks are thinner, lighter, and edible! Yay fiber!
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/5949198.htm
