Passing Glimpse
2003-06-04, 02:35 AM
http://www.wage-slave.org/scorecard.html
5-30-2003
Washington Post
Bush blocks human rights cases from reaching U.S. courts. A quirk in a 200-year-old law allows the United States to provide a legal refuge for the victims of human rights violations, rather an appropriate role for the world's only superpower. But sometimes, those human rights abuses can involve oil companies. (See 8-5-2002 below.) When Unocal is the subject of a suit in Burma, the Justice Department asks for the suit to be dismissed, saying it will interfere with foreign policy. Isn't that the State Department's job? Funny, State asked Justice to stay out of this case! But when it's Unocal's bottom line vs. the rights of Burmese laborers, well, we know who wins in the Bush administration, right?
5-29-2003
Financial Times
Bush buries a report warning of disastrously enormous deficits. One thing we learned from the war in Iraq and the search for weapons of mass destruction is that if there's evidence that doesn't support the Bush administration's agenda, it won't see the light of day. But this doesn't just apply to foreign policy. When then-Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill commissioned a report to gauge the long-term U.S. budget picture under Bush policies, he should have known President Bush wouldn't like the answer. So the post-O'Neill Treasury department kept the news -- which warned of a disastrous $44 trillion federal debt -- out of the annual budget report. After all, catastrophic deficits aren't a very good argument for new tax cuts for the super rich.
5-28-2003
CNN
Bush signs another huge tax cut. Here we go again. With the economy stagnant, states cutting vital services and raising taxes, and the federal debt growing by record-breaking leaps, President Bush signs another huge tax cut. (See 6-7-2001 below.) Two notes. First of all, although the nominal cost of the tax cut is $350 billion over ten years, in fact it will cost $800 billion to $1 trillion if the administration and Republicans in Congress have their way. Second, the increase in the child tax credit doesn't help the working poor -- those who need it most -- thanks to last-minute Republican maneuvering.
5-28-2003
Mother Jones
Bush ensures that hydrogen cars will still pollute. Hydrogen cars are the wave of the future. The engines won't pollute at all; the only emission will be water. Great, right? Wrong. If President Bush and his allies in the fossil fuel industries have their way, the hydrogen fuel will all come from the same fossil fuels we rely on now, and extracting the hydrogen will produce just as much pollution. So while the smog won't come out of your tailpipe, thanks to Bush, you know it will still be there.
5-26-2003
News.com.au
Bush plans executions at Guantanamo Bay. The suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay don't get access to the guarantees of our judicial system: jury trials, appeals, and the like. But they will see the worst of our system: executions. In the past few years we've seen dozens of cases of innocents on death row. Imagine how much more likely it is that innocents will be executed when the rights we enjoy are stripped away.
5-25-2003
Scotland on Sunday
Bush makes Columbia shuttle investigation more secretive. The explosion of the shuttle Columbia and the subsequent investigation are not matters of national security. Clearly this is an example where openness can only improve the investigation, and the only thing secrecy can accomplish is protecting people's hides. So why does NASA put the members of the investigation board on the federal payroll, thus allowing them to conduct the investigation in secret?
5-21-2003
Washington Post
Bush tries to revive military database of every American with public relations push. Back in November, the public learned about the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness system (see 11-12-2002 below) a Big Brother database of financial, medical, and other personal information about all Americans. Predictable public outrage put the kibosh on the system -- temporarily. The solution? In a classic move for this administration, the Pentagon just changed the name -- not even the acronym. TIA now stands for "Terrorist Information Awareness." See, by keeping a big database on all of us, they'll be able to pick out the baddies. That's OK, right? If you haven't done anything wrong you have nothing to fear...
5-30-2003
Washington Post
Bush blocks human rights cases from reaching U.S. courts. A quirk in a 200-year-old law allows the United States to provide a legal refuge for the victims of human rights violations, rather an appropriate role for the world's only superpower. But sometimes, those human rights abuses can involve oil companies. (See 8-5-2002 below.) When Unocal is the subject of a suit in Burma, the Justice Department asks for the suit to be dismissed, saying it will interfere with foreign policy. Isn't that the State Department's job? Funny, State asked Justice to stay out of this case! But when it's Unocal's bottom line vs. the rights of Burmese laborers, well, we know who wins in the Bush administration, right?
5-29-2003
Financial Times
Bush buries a report warning of disastrously enormous deficits. One thing we learned from the war in Iraq and the search for weapons of mass destruction is that if there's evidence that doesn't support the Bush administration's agenda, it won't see the light of day. But this doesn't just apply to foreign policy. When then-Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill commissioned a report to gauge the long-term U.S. budget picture under Bush policies, he should have known President Bush wouldn't like the answer. So the post-O'Neill Treasury department kept the news -- which warned of a disastrous $44 trillion federal debt -- out of the annual budget report. After all, catastrophic deficits aren't a very good argument for new tax cuts for the super rich.
5-28-2003
CNN
Bush signs another huge tax cut. Here we go again. With the economy stagnant, states cutting vital services and raising taxes, and the federal debt growing by record-breaking leaps, President Bush signs another huge tax cut. (See 6-7-2001 below.) Two notes. First of all, although the nominal cost of the tax cut is $350 billion over ten years, in fact it will cost $800 billion to $1 trillion if the administration and Republicans in Congress have their way. Second, the increase in the child tax credit doesn't help the working poor -- those who need it most -- thanks to last-minute Republican maneuvering.
5-28-2003
Mother Jones
Bush ensures that hydrogen cars will still pollute. Hydrogen cars are the wave of the future. The engines won't pollute at all; the only emission will be water. Great, right? Wrong. If President Bush and his allies in the fossil fuel industries have their way, the hydrogen fuel will all come from the same fossil fuels we rely on now, and extracting the hydrogen will produce just as much pollution. So while the smog won't come out of your tailpipe, thanks to Bush, you know it will still be there.
5-26-2003
News.com.au
Bush plans executions at Guantanamo Bay. The suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay don't get access to the guarantees of our judicial system: jury trials, appeals, and the like. But they will see the worst of our system: executions. In the past few years we've seen dozens of cases of innocents on death row. Imagine how much more likely it is that innocents will be executed when the rights we enjoy are stripped away.
5-25-2003
Scotland on Sunday
Bush makes Columbia shuttle investigation more secretive. The explosion of the shuttle Columbia and the subsequent investigation are not matters of national security. Clearly this is an example where openness can only improve the investigation, and the only thing secrecy can accomplish is protecting people's hides. So why does NASA put the members of the investigation board on the federal payroll, thus allowing them to conduct the investigation in secret?
5-21-2003
Washington Post
Bush tries to revive military database of every American with public relations push. Back in November, the public learned about the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness system (see 11-12-2002 below) a Big Brother database of financial, medical, and other personal information about all Americans. Predictable public outrage put the kibosh on the system -- temporarily. The solution? In a classic move for this administration, the Pentagon just changed the name -- not even the acronym. TIA now stands for "Terrorist Information Awareness." See, by keeping a big database on all of us, they'll be able to pick out the baddies. That's OK, right? If you haven't done anything wrong you have nothing to fear...