US Has Very Low Confidence In Bush's Social Security Scheme

A solid majority of Americans predict that their benefits will have to be cut or their taxes raised to ensure the long-term future of Social Security, a sign that most people are prepared to endure some pain to preserve the nation's retirement system.

A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday finds both parties viewed skeptically on the issue, though. Sixty-two percent worry that Republicans will "go too far" in changing Social Security; 61% worry that Democrats "will not go far enough."

President Bush, who has put Social Security at the top of his second-term agenda, gets his worst rating so far on the issue: 35% approval, 58% disapproval. The idea he endorsed last week of "progressive indexing" - maintaining future benefits for low-income workers but reducing initial benefits for the middle-class and affluent - was opposed by 54%-38%.
(USA Today)

Republican Congress OKs Another $82B for Iraq

An $82 billion bill primarily to rush combat supplies to Iraq and Afghanistan came closer to passage in Congress on Tuesday after negotiators reached a deal on details of the emergency spending package.

The House of Representatives is likely to pass the legislation this week and the Senate next week, providing the Pentagon with the $75.9 billion it says it needs immediately to resupply U.S. forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(Reuters)

Gen. Myers: US Military Vulnerable

The U.S. military may not be able to win any new wars as quickly as planned because the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistanhave strained its manpower and resources, the nation's top military officer told Congress in a classified report.

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the U.S. military as in a period of increased risk, according to a senior defense official, who described the report Tuesday on the condition of anonymity.
(AP)

Downing St. Minutes Prove Bush and Blair Planned Iraq War Before Having Justification

BREAKING NEWS...

A SECRET document from the heart of government reveals today that Tony Blair privately committed Britain to war with Iraq and then set out to lure Saddam Hussein into providing the legal justification.

The Downing Street minutes, headed “Secret and strictly personal — UK eyes only”, detail one of the most important meetings ahead of the invasion.

It was chaired by the prime minister and attended by his inner circle. The document reveals Blair backed “regime change” by force from the outset, despite warnings from Lord Goldsmith, the attorney-general, that such action could be illegal.

The minutes, published by The Sunday Times today, begins with the warning: “This record is extremely sensitive. No further copies should be made. The paper should be shown only to those with a genuine need to know.” It records a meeting in July 2002, attended by military and intelligence chiefs, at which Blair discussed military options having already committed himself to supporting President George Bush’s plans for ousting Saddam.
(TimesOnline.com)

If at Frist You Don't Succeed …

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is still at it. His number one priority is to invoke the nuclear option, but he hasn't been able to explain to the American people why it's a good idea to change 200 years of senate rules. The only reason seems to be that this is part of a partisan power grab.

Frist just wants to flex his own political power. He won't give up and insists on pushing this extreme, radical plan, even though members of his own Party disagree with him.

Frist claims "there are times in history where you have to change either the rules or the precedent…" yet he has not given any good reason to change the rules. [USA Today, 5-2-05]

Frist claims he is "running out of options," yet he has rejected a good faith compromise from Democrats.

"Changing the rules just to get what you want is not right, and it goes against our values as Americans," DNC Chairman Howard Dean said. "Democrats are going to fight against this abuse of power because we know our democracy works best when all the parties work together in the best interests of Americans."

DeLay in Serious Trouble, Experts in Ethics Cases Say

Now that it’s clear his controversial private-paid trips abroad will be put under a microscope in Congress, Tom DeLay is in serious danger of being declared in violation of House ethics rules, legal experts say.

Lawyers who specialize in ethics cases believe the Republican House majority leader from Texas might be in technical breach of at least a few congressional regulations.

According to published reports:
• A registered foreign agent paid for one of DeLay’s overseas trips.
• A registered lobbyist used his credit card to pay for another foreign airfare — actions the rules prohibit.

DeLay also might have:
• Accepted gifts that exceeded congressional limits
• Taken an expense-paid trip overseas for longer than the rules allow
• Not disclosed all the benefits he received.
(TheState.com)

Cuomo Warns of Tyranny of the Majority'

If Republicans rewrite Senate rules to more easily end filibusters, the country will experience "exactly the kind of `tyranny of the majority' that James Madison had in mind," former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo said Saturday.

Cuomo, in the Democratic Party's weekly radio address, said Senate Republicans "are threatening to claim ownership of the Supreme Court and other federal courts, hoping to achieve political results on subjects like abortion, stem cells, the environment and civil rights that they cannot get from the proper political bodies."

"How will they do this? By destroying the so-called filibuster, a vital part of the 200-year-old system of checks and balances in the Senate," Cuomo said.

"The Republicans say it would assure dominance by the majority in the Senate," he said. "That sounds democratic until you remember that the Bill of Rights was adopted, as James Madison pointed out, to protect all of Americans from what he called the `tyranny of the majority."'

"It sounds nearly absurd when you learn that the minority Democrats in the Senate actually represent more Americans than the majority Republicans do," Cuomo said.

More Limbaugh theology: "The religious left in this country hates and despises the God of Christianity and Catholicism"

Rush Limbaugh claimed that "the religious left ... hates and despises the God of Christianity." Limbaugh has previously asserted that "The left is scared to death of God,""Liberals consider themselves more powerful than God," and that liberals are "soulless" because "souls come from God."
(mediamatters.org)

Novak repeated conservative canard that Democrats "are opposing Judge Pryor of Alabama because of his religion"

CNN host and syndicated columnist Robert Novak repeated the baseless accusation that Democrats "are opposing Judge Pryor of Alabama because of his religion." In fact, senators who have opposed William H. Pryor's nomination to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals -- and even current Judiciary Committee Chair Arlen Specter (R-PA) -- have questioned Pryor over his willingness and ability to put aside his personal views and follow the law. Specter also echoed Democrats' concerns over inconsistent statements Pryor made to the committee regarding his involvement in the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA).
(mediamatters.org)

US First Quarter Growth Slowest in 2 yrs

The US economy grew at its softest pace in two years during the first quarter this year, slowing to a 3.1 per cent annual rate of expansion as consumers and businesses curbed spending in the face of rising prices, the Commerce Department said on Thursday.

The expansion in gross domestic product, which measures total output within US borders, was the weakest since a 1.9 per cent pace during the first quarter of 2003 and was a surprisingly sharp deceleration from the 3.8 per cent rate registered in the fourth quarter of 2004.
(Stuff-New Zealand)

BusinessWeek: Bush Is Blowing Smoke on Energy

Hitting all the points in a noted GOP pollster's playbook, the President's plan is driven by politics not policy. Worse, it won't cut oil dependency.
(BusinessWeekOnline)

A Rocky First 100 Days for New Bush Term

One hundred days into his second term, President Bush has lost much of the political muscle he boasted about after winning re-election. Gas prices are rising, his approval ratings are sagging and Americans are unhappy with his handling of the economy and Iraq.

Now he's trying to sell a Social Security plan that would cut future benefits for all but low-income retirees — giving opponents fresh ammunition. Even before Bush unveiled his new proposal — and despite a 60-day sales campaign — a majority of Americans thought he had mishandled Social Security, too.
(AP)

Italy, U.S. Disagree on Agent's Iraq Death

Italy and the United States said Friday they had failed to agree on whether U.S. soldiers were at fault in the death of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq.In a statement, the two countries said their joint investigation into the March 4 death of agent Nicola Calipari had concluded and that they couldn't arrive at any "shared final conclusions." The statement said the case had now be referred to respective national authorities; Italy has launched a criminal inquiry into Calipari's death.

Calipari was killed soon after he had secured the release of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena from Iraqi militants who had held her hostage for a month. U.S. soldiers fired on the Italians' vehicle as it approached a U.S. checkpoint near Baghdad's airport. Sgrena and another Italian agent were wounded.
(AP)

G.I. Denied Conscientious-Objector Status

The Army said Friday it has denied conscientious objector status for a soldier who refused to deploy to Iraq.

Sgt. Kevin Benderman, 40, filed his objector application Dec. 28, just 10 days before he skipped his unit's deployment flight. The Army mechanic faces a court-martial May 12 on charges of desertion and missing movement.

The conscientious-objector denial came Wednesday from the Army's Headquarters Department, Fort Stewart spokesman Lt. Col. Robert Whetstone said.
(AP)

Arnold Supports Anti-Immigrant Minutemen

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who outraged some Mexican-American groups last week by calling for a closed border, praised the civilian volunteer Minuteman Project for its patrols to spot illegal immigrants.

"Look, they've cut down the crossing of illegal immigrants by a huge percentage," Schwarzenegger told KFI-AM's "The John & Ken Show" on Thursday.
(AP)

Molly Ivins: An Amazingly Bad Choice

Good news! If there is a distinct possibility a Bush nominee is a vile-tempered, lying, ineffective bully, the U.S. Senate is willing to hold off on the vote for two weeks.

John Bolton was an amazingly bad choice for ambassador to the United Nations from the beginning. He has a long record of expressing contempt for and distrust of the United Nations. You may or may not consider that a reasonable position, but it is highly inadvisable in a diplomat. In addition, he was a notable failure as under secretary of state for arms control and international security. The problem of proliferation simply deteriorated under his guidance. Fewer weapons-grade nuclear materials were secured in the two years after 9-11 than in the two years before the attack. North Korea, which then had two nuclear weapons, now has as many as eight. After dealing with Bolton, the North Korean government called him "human scum" and "a bloodsucker," and declined to recognize him as an official of the United States. No one is claiming North Korea has a rational government, but any halfway-skilled diplomat could do better than that, and many have -- including Bill Richardson.

David Corn: A Mess in Iraq....A Mess in Phoenix

Today on NPR's Diane Rehm Show, Colonel Thomas Hammes, who is retiring from the USMC and the author of The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century, noted that the average modern-day insurgency lasts 10 to 15 years and that the longer insurgencies exist for about three decades. Now, when did anyone in the Bush administration mention that fact to the American public or note what that means for the United States in terms of the lives and money that are to be expended in Iraq? Answer: never. And it's not that the current predicament was unpredicted. Before the war, I asked a Navy admiral how long US troops would have to remain in Iraq. He said, "Two words: South Korea."

Joe Conason: Bush Hides the Truth About Terror, Torture

Responding to the most serious questions we confront as a nation, the Bush administration can routinely be expected to hide, obfuscate and deceive. If credible information indicates that high-ranking government and military officials permitted and even encouraged the horrific abuse of foreign detainees, the administration assures us that a few bad soldiers can be blamed. If honest statistics indicate that the "war on terror" is achieving less than advertised, the administration buries the report in which those numbers are traditionally published.

Twice within a single week, in a telling coincidence, the administration displayed its dogged commitment to concealment. On April 15, the State Department admitted that it plans to withhold the data on terrorist incidents compiled for the annual, Congressionally mandated report, Patterns of Global Terrorism, which the department must release at the end of the month. And on April 22, the Army celebrated the first anniversary of the exposure of the Abu Ghraib scandal by announcing that an internal investigation had "exonerated" four senior officers responsible for military prisons in Iraq, despite previous findings of culpability.

Gore Blasts GOP Bid to Block Filibusters

Former Vice President Al Gore on Wednesday blamed Republican "lust for one-party domination" for the GOP campaign to change Senate rules on filibustering judicial nominees, and he assailed religious zealots for driving the effort.

Wading into the political fight that has roiled the Senate, the 2000 Democratic presidential candidate and former Tennessee senator warned that altering rules that have served the nation for 230 years would result in a breakdown in the separation of powers.

"What makes it so dangerous for our country is their willingness to do serious damage to our American democracy in order to satisfy their lust for one-party domination of all three branches of government," Gore said of the GOP in a speech. "They seek nothing less than absolute power."
(AP)

Froma Harrop: On "Personal Accounts"

Are Americans smart enough to manage their own retirement savings? No, as a matter of fact, they're not. Americans are amazingly dumb about investing.

Take my friend John. An auto mechanic, John was an absolute genius under the hood of an Alfa Romeo. But he was vain. A crook called offering to get him into commodity options, and John thought he had entered the gates of high finance. He forked over 10,000 of his hard-earned dollars. Of course, they disappeared.

Now, if John had caught someone stealing the $30 radio in his car, he would have ripped him to pieces. But he accepted his $10,000 loss like a sweet little lamb.

"Aren't you angry?" I asked him. No, John replied. He understood that the investment was risky. Had it gone well, he could have become very rich. John had been rolled and didn't even know it.

That was an out-and-out con, and an extreme case. But every week, fresh evidence bubbles up that Americans don't get the basics of ordinary investing.