Good and Bad Vision

Today's CS Monitor offers bad vision on the resulting "non" to France's European Constitional Treaty Referendum. In their editorial When 'Non' Means So Much More:

"If just the Constitution itself had been discussed, it's hard to see how it could have been trounced so thoroughly by French voters in a Sunday referendum. In isolation, it's nothing more than a useful simplification of the European Union's existing treaties - a way to smooth the workings of the cumbersome 25-member EU, and to give Europe as a whole more foreign-policy oomph."

What a poor rendition of the debate around the Constitution and its contents! Sure, that was the "Oui" camp's mantra: "It doesn't change anything", a mantra often coupled with the contradictory "But it's very important!" So which is it: benign or important?

Good vision is to be found elsewhere. The wikinews has the best, most faithful analysis of the referendum that I have come across:

Arguments of the "No" vote

Proponents of the "No" vote, both on the left and right, argued that the proposed constitution enshrined what they claim is an undemocratic Europe, with much of the responsibilities granted to a body of unelected political appointees, the European Commission and not enough checks and balances. They also point out that it vests much legislative power in the European Council, representing the executives of the various countries; this is seen as a bad arrangement with respect to Separation of powers. While the treaty adds supplemental powers for the directly elected European Parliament, many opponents, particularly on the left, consider that they are still insufficient in order to provide checks and balances.

Much criticism was directed at the length of the proposed Constitution. The real treaty submitted to French voters is about 80 pages long, which many argue is too long and complex for a constitution. It is followed by 100 pages of appendices, declarations and protocols, some of them dealing with matters such as oil refining in the Dutch West Indies or specific nuclear power plants in Eastern Europe.

Opponents of the treaty argue that the proposed constitution will largely hamstring the French government and prevent it from leading its own policies in matters as diverse as social services or foreign policy.

Much of the opposition was targeted at Part III of the proposed constitution, which sets the policies of the European Union. Opponents point out that the constitutions of most countries, including France, do not specify policies explicitly, except for a limited number of fundamental rights, but rather are limited to specifying the core principles and procedures of how governmental institutions work. Part III, they argued, sets in stone a number of economic and social choices, while these should be a matter of political choice depending on democratic votes.

That's very much the motivation for my "Non" vote: this treaty doesn't propose a Constitution but the end of public service and social standards, not to mention the end of democracy itself in Europe, installing an oligarchical political system led by the twin evils of the European Commission and the Europe Council, neither required to uphold decisions made in the European Parliament.

BBC News: Giscard d'Estaing's Extreme Modesty

"'There can be no other constitution for Europe,' he said. 'People know that we have the best treaty possible.' Despite his buoyant predictions in the run up to the referendum, M. Giscard d'Estaing's fears for the eventual outcome became apparent with his interventions in the French 'yes' campaign.
Earlier this year he expressed doubts about the decision of President Jacques Chirac - his political enemy - to ratify the treaty by referendum. 'The French don't know how to vote on texts ... they only answer the question that they want to be asked.'"

That's the usual bureaucratic answer: "we had the best deal, but the people didn't understand it."

Phooey and horse hooey! Not only was the Constitutional Treaty a bad deal but it was far too complicated, far too "interventist". Explicitly forbidding "harmonization", this project was a race to bottom for Europe.

Now, to make sure that the "Non" is not just a parachute that slows Europes tumble into the void, we need a real Constitution!

BBC NEWS | Europe | France 'rejects EU constitution'

"There were cheers from supporters of the 'No' campaign when the exit polls results were announced just after voting ended at 2100 GMT.

Those who rejected the treaty included Communists, various left-wing groups, dissident socialists and far-right parties."

All right, it's true that the "Non" camp included the contestation camps. But the Non camp also included about 40% of the UMP, the current right-leaning government party. And about 50% of the Socialists were voting "Non". It's a travesty for the BBC to try to paint the "Non" camp as extremists or even "anti-Europe". I think that the majority of the "Non" camp is like me: we voted "Non" because the proposed European Constitution stinks and we want a good one: one that people can read, one that doesn't put market in front of ideals. We want "Liberty, Egality and Fraternity" and not "Commodity, Complicity and Regressivity".

So there, BBC, today you are the "Bubba-C".

Coins Go Missing, and G.O.P. Insider Becomes Outcast - New York Times

"But this week, Mr. Noe's lawyers said that as much as $13 million of the state's $50 million investment in his two [rare coin] funds could not be accounted for. Mr. Noe, meanwhile, has become the focus of at least six investigations or audits involving either his handling of the coin investments or his campaign fund-raising. Federal investigators are also looking into his contributions to President Bush's 2004 campaign as a 'Pioneer,' raising more than $100,000.

And suddenly, Republicans who once stood staunchly at Mr. Noe's side, and at his fund-raising parties, cannot seem to run from him fast enough."

I blogged this style about a month back when I picked it off of cursor. At the time, the story had made no national attention and the Republican blowhards were saying "We all thank Mr. Noe for the wonderful returns we've had on his investments." As you could have expected, these statements proved false.

Now the scary part:

Even the state's highest court has been touched by the case. When a series of lawsuits seeking an inventory of Mr. Noe's coin investments was brought before the Ohio Supreme Court recently, five of seven justices recused themselves. All had received campaign contributions from Mr. Noe.

As a result, the lone Democrat on the court will preside over the cases and has selected five other judges to stand in for her Republican colleagues.

Is there any possibility of Justice in America when the courts are stacked with Rebubbalicans?

BBC NEWS | French media in referendum 'bias' row

"'Publicly-owned media in France are broadcasting sheer propaganda to the public, and this absence of any pluralism or any attempt to represent and discuss the point of view of those who want to vote No to the Treaty is profoundly undemocratic'"

Interesting to see that the debate regarding "public television" in France is largely the opposite critique of that in the US.

Whereas the new Nixonian CPB chairman claims that PBS is demonstrating a "liberal" (sic) bias, the French public media are claiming a "pro-yes" bias, largely interpreted as a "pro-business" bias.

This is perhaps one of the most flagrant and fundamental differences between French and US culture: the knee-jerk reaction in the US is always towards an ultra-neocon-capitalism and it's usually hard to get voters to think realistically about this attitude. In France, on the other hand, the usual reaction is toward socialism. We see this all the more during the transport strikes which usually are viewed quite favorably by the majority of the population.

New York Times | Bush Speaks to the Calvin College commencement

"Mr. Bush added: 'Someday you will appreciate the grammar and verbal skills you learned here. And if any of you wonder how far a mastery of the English language can take you, just look what it did for me.'"

Just what is Bubba Shrub making fun of: academia, his own poor level of self-expression, the common belief that he is technically illiterate (i.e. he doesn't read any reports, everything is verbal)? Curious way of getting a laugh.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Barroso warns France over No vote

"A No vote in the French referendum on the EU constitution would be 'bad news' for the French and European economies, the EU Commission president has warned.

Jose Manuel Barroso urged French voters to vote Yes in the 29 May vote.

Speaking on French radio, he said he agreed with the French prime minister that a No vote would affect the economy by creating uncertainty for investors."

I'm very sure that, if there is any justice at all in any eventual afterlife, that this is a very warm place in Hell waiting for Barroso!

Briton puts senators on defensive on Iraq: printer friendly version

"'The biggest sanctions busters were not me or Russian politicians or French politicians,' Galloway said. 'The real sanctions busters were your own companies with the connivance of your own government.'"

Give 'em hell, Galloway!

AFP : Democrats point to US role in oil-for-food scandal

"The Democratic opposition in the US Congress pointed to a US role in diverting funds managed by the regime of Saddam Hussein, arguing that American authorities had facilitated the smuggling of Iraqi oil in early 2003.
'We need to look into the mirror at ourselves, as well as point fingers at others,' said Democratic Senator Carl Levin."

Carl, Carl, Carl! That's not nearly garrulous enough!

Baghdad Burning

"The last two weeks have been violent. The number of explosions in Baghdad alone is frightening. There have also been several assassinations- bodies being found here and there. It's somewhat disturbing to know that corpses are turning up in the most unexpected places. Many people will tell you it's not wise to eat river fish anymore because they have been nourished on the human remains being dumped into the river. That thought alone has given me more than one sleepless night. It is almost as if Baghdad has turned into a giant graveyard. "

Things are not looking up in the democratic republic of Iraq.

Why has 'Downing Street memo' story been a 'dud' in US? | csmonitor.com

"There may have been a point at which the US news media would have been all over a story about a British official's report that the Bush administration appeared intent on invading Iraq long before it sought Congress' approval -- and that it 'fixed' intelligence to fit its intention.
But May 2005 is apparently way past that point. "

The CS Monitor notes the demise of the contentious US press, or even the spectacle press. Leaves the Ministry of Information.

Bill Moyers

Some snippets:

"Moyers said he has come to understand that 'news is what people want to keep hidden and everything else is publicity.'
He said that kind of reporting has never been tougher to do:
'Without a trace of irony, the powers that be have appropriated the news speak vernacular of George Orwell's `1984,' giving us a program, no child will be left behind, while cutting funds for educating disadvantaged children.

'They give us legislation calling for clear skies and healthy forests' while 'turning over public lands to the energy industry.'

Orwell coined "newspeak" and this fits in well with "news speak".

On the recent allegations of "liberal bias" on his PBS show, Moyers said:

Moyers said those in power - government officials and their allies in the media - mean to stay there by punishing journalists "who tell the stories that make princes and priests uncomfortable."
Moyers described those officials as "obsessed with control" of the media. He said they are using the government "to threaten and intimidate."
...
Moyers answered for the first time recent charges that public television in general and he in particular have become too liberal.
Those charges are from Kenneth Tomlinson, chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and, in effect, Moyers' boss at the network.
...
Moyers said he knew his broadcasts have created a backlash in Washington.
...
"The more compelling our journalism, the angrier became the radical right of the Republican Party," he said.
"That's because the one thing they loathe more than liberals is the truth. And the quickest way to be damned by them as liberal is to tell the truth."
...
Moyers compared Tomlinson and other conservatives to Richard Nixon, who he said was another president who tried to take control of public television.
'I always knew Nixon would be back,' Moyers said. 'I just didn't know that this time he would ask to be chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.'"

Thanks to cursor.

The Left Behind Prophecy Club

"America will still be a powerful nation in the last days, but the Lord simply chose not to mention her specifically.

One of the hardest things for American prophecy students to accept is that the United States is not clearly mentioned in Bible prophecy, yet..."

Talk about nationalism! Even Hitler didn't lament that Germany was not written up in the Bible!

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Nasa firm on shuttle retirement

"'The shuttle is inherently flawed. It does not have an escape system for its crew,' Nasa chief Michael Griffin told a Senate oversight committee.

'We all know that since human perfection is unattainable, sooner or later there will be another shuttle accident,' he said. 'I want to retire it before that flight can occur.'"

Hail Russia, the true master of space!

New York Times | United Air Wins Right to Default on Its Employee Pension Plans

"The ruling by Judge Eugene R. Wedoff of Federal Bankruptcy Court came after a lengthy hearing in a crowded Chicago courtroom, near where United is based.

Despite pleas by union lawyers, Judge Wedoff sided with United, which had insisted that it could not emerge from bankruptcy protection with its pension plans in place.

The ruling releases United, a unit of the UAL Corporation, from $3.2 billion in pension obligations over the next five years. The federal agency that guarantees pensions, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, will assume responsibility for the plans, which cover about 134,000 people.

Some retirees could see sharply lower pension payments as a result; others will see little change in benefits, depending on a variety of factors. Some retirees at US Airways, which has terminated its plans, have seen benefits drop by as much as 50 percent."

This looks a lot like the kind of performance that we can expect under Bubba Shrub's private accounts fiasco.

New York Times | Rich -- Laura Bush's Mission Accomplished - Gannon Skewered

"But there's a bigger issue here than Mr. Gannon. The Washington press corps' eagerness to facilitate and serve as dress extras in what amounts to an administration promotional video can now be seen as a metaphor for just how much the legitimate press has been co-opted by all manner of fakery in the Bush years.
...
[T]he mere sight of [Laura Bush] "interrupting" her husband in an obviously scripted routine prompted a ballroom full of reporters to leap to their feet and erupt in a roar of sycophancy like partisan hacks at a political convention.
...
"We create our own reality" is how a Bush official put it to Ron Suskind in an article in The Times Magazine during the presidential campaign. That they can get away with it shows the keenness of their cultural antennas. Infotainment has reached a new level of ubiquity in an era in which "reality" television and reality have become so blurred that it's hard to know if ABC News's special investigating "American Idol" last week was real journalism about a fake show or fake journalism about a real show or whether anyone knows the difference - or cares."
...
You know we're in trouble when Jeff Gannon, asked about his murky past on Bill Maher's show on April 29, moralistically joked that "usually the way it works is people become reporters before they prostitute themselves."

No shame in Bubba land!

Toledo Blade: More on Rebubbalican Quick Change Artists

Sen. Teresa Fedor and Rep. Peter Ujvagi cited a story in Sunday’s Blade that the number of missing rare coins purchased with state money controlled by Mr. Noe had increased by 119 coins to a total of 121.
...
An accounting firm hired to check the state’s rare-coin inventory found last year that not only were the coins missing, but they may have been stolen by a Colorado coin dealer.

The 119 coins are in addition to two coins worth roughly $300,000 owned by the state that were lost in the mail in 2003.
...
[T]wo Democratic state senators yesterday asked Attorney General Jim Petro, a Republican, to file a lawsuit on behalf of the bureau and seek a receivership to “protect the state’s investment.”

The letter from Sens. Marc Dann of suburban Youngstown and Eric Fingerhut of Cleveland said: “Each day seems to bring new and alarming reports about Ohio’s $50 million investment in rare coins.

With each new allegation it appears increasingly likely the state’s investment may not be worth as much as previously believed.”


Amazing, yet only appears in the local news.

Criminal Investigations into Republican Campaign Contributions

Federal authorities said yesterday they are investigating local businessman and prominent Republican fund-raiser Tom Noe for possible violations of campaign contribution laws.

Gregory A. White, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, confirmed that his office, in conjunction with the FBI, is looking into Mr. Noe, who was chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign in northwest Ohio.
...
Mr. Noe, 50, is a coin dealer and former chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party.

His contract with the state to manage $50 million in two rare coin funds is currently under investigation by the Ohio inspector general.
...
As a regional chairman of the campaign, Mr. Noe had frequent contact with Karl Rove, the architect of the President’s re-election. And Ohio, it turned out, was the pivotal state in the election, narrowly pushing President Bush to victory.

Something rotten in Toledo?

Thanks to cursor.

News Corp: More Gannon fodder

Alleged gay escort Jeff Gannon (né James Dale Guckert) has been taken a lot of heat passing himself off as a White House reporter.
...

Gannon also hints at doing secret work for which he needed White House security clearance, although he refuses to elaborate: "My history isn't exactly linear."

Hmmm, could this be anything to do with the treasonous act of outing an undercover CIA agent?