Volume 2 Issue 86
June 4, 2003
Do as I say, not as I do
More GOP hatred of the poor, is MI5 out to get Tony Blair, and Sosa shatters his reputation
Why does Bush and the GOP hate the poor? Another study on the tax cuts, this one saying that the middle class will get screwed too -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10323-2003Jun3.html
Tim Noah on how the new criticism of the poor, and the EITC, proves that the Republicans have some sort of deep grown hatred for the poor. The EITC (which was a conservative idea, as Noah explains) is a great way to ensure a safety net while giving families incentives to work. Personally, I think we should scrap TANF and just put the money into expanding the EITC. Of course, the Bush administration would like to get rid of the EITC and tax the poor heavily -
http://slate.msn.com/id/2083932/
Joe Klein has an excellent piece on how Bush treats the poor, and how Klein sees his behavior as strange for a man who says Jesus is his favorite political theorist -
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101030609-455794,00.html
Overturning the FCC? It looks like an effort to overturn the FCC's media consolidation decision is gaining steam in the Senate, and it may force George W to make a tough decision -
http://www.thehill.com/news/060403/fcc.aspx
Not a good thing: Martha has been indicted! By the way, Conan O'Brien did a great bit on her last night, if you haven't seen it, I'd recommend the playback on Comedy Central (I think it's at 7 eastern) -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12725-2003Jun4.html?nav=hptop_tb
Deleting History: Fred Kaplan writes about a very underreported problem, that of public officials leaving few papers to be archived because of e-mail, which few public officials save -
http://slate.msn.com/id/2083920/
Hillary's Story: The former first lady claims that she did not know that the Lewinsky allegations against her husband were true until just before he testified to the grand jury, the first of the tidbits sure to come out of her new book -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10831-2003Jun4.html
And now a Bush: Speaking of former first ladies, Barbara Bush (George 41's wife) is working on a book too...and apparently she's so nasty to some of the Bush's opponents that the libel lawyers at the publisher have told her to tone it down. Should be a good summer for beach reading!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10153-2003Jun3.html
Closing off freedom: Months after local officials thought it was resolved, the Park Service is again talking about closing off Independence Hall in Philadelphia. I will refrain from once again pointing out the irony of closing off streets and access to a building that supposedly symbolizes freedom -
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/6007121.htm
Look Who's Running for President: Will the Al Gore people PLEASE stop?
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/politics/article/0,1406,KNS_356_ 2009717,00.html
Look Who's Running for President 2: The Times confronts Bob Graham's journals. While I've just thought them amusing...I am a bit disturb that he records how long his rounds on the golf course take...TO THE MILLISECOND!
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/04/politics/campaigns/04GRAH. html?pagewanted=all&position
An excerpt from a journal (with the aforementioned millisecond citation) -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/04/politics/campaigns/04GRAH. html?pagewanted=all&position
Look Who's Running for President 3: Another attack on the elite's in the DLC attacking progressives in the Democratic Party -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9423-2003Jun3.html
Here come the Greens: The Green Party has won control of its first municipality. I've always thought that if you really wanted to build a 3rd party, you had to start at the local level first, instead of just trying to run a Presidential candidate, because then once the candidate isn't there anymore, you lose your purpose (See: Reform Party and Perot, H. Ross). Now the challenge is for the Greens to govern well, and not be drawn into party building activities at a higher level -
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/06/04/greens.victory.ap /index.html
Bad John Edwards Photo of the Day:
Look, the kid listened to you speak for 5 minutes and he's already comatose!
Crazy Helmsman on 42nd Street? How long can Howell Raines hang on at the New York Times?
http://slate.msn.com/id/2083931/
What's Tony been drinking? The latest Labour Party defense of the Prime Minister, under fire in Britain because of the failure of allied armies to find WMD in Iraq? Rogue intelligence operatives are trying to bring down the government. No, they're serious -
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-702597,00.html
Say it ain't so, Sammy! Sammy Sosa was ejected from last nights Cubs-Tampa game after his bat was found to be corked -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/04/sports/baseball/04sosa.htm l
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=230603116
What effect could this have on his career? Has he used a loaded bat before?
http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/stark_jayson/1562825.html
Is there someone out there? Scientists are turning their attention to trying to determine if any earth-like planets are orbiting other stars, and then looking to see if life may be present on one of them -
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-06-03-planets-cover-usat_x.htm
Government Lemons: A California Grandfather is suing the federal government, saying that they sold him a car at a seizure auction with 119 pounds of marijuana hidden in it. Which the gentleman didn't find out about until he was arrested when he tried to go to Mexico one day -
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/06/04/MN87441.DTL
