For some unknown reason, politicians of both sides of the aisle labor under the misconception that the only things their elders care about is Social Security and Medicare. Throw a sop or two in those directions, the politicians say, and we will be happy. One blogger who is trying to disabuse the politicians (and the press) of that misconception is Ronni Bennet of Time Goes By, a blog by, for, and about those of us of a certain age.
Ms. Bennet's target is the loss of liberty under the current administration and the stunning silence from and imposed by the media. Here is a snippet from her post.
Another reason for the deafening silence, I believe, is political correctness. It is unseemly and impolite, we believe, to invoke Nazi Germany in discussing the usurpation of power by the executive branch, and using the word “fascist” brands one a fanatic.
We must get over that. There are, now, disturbing similarities between the early stages of Nazism and what is happening here. Dissenters to the war in Iraq are accused of treason and aiding the enemy. Groups who gather to protest the president and his policies when he gives public speeches are fenced in, away from his and the media’s view. Bill Maher lost his television show in 2001 for saying the 9/11 hijackers were not cowards. And the Dixie Chicks were made pariahs when they said, during a London concert on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, that they were ashamed the president is from Texas. True believers burned piles of their CDs.
This is not the America our and all previous generations lived in and I wonder how many young people, without the benefit of hindsight elders have, believe this is the way democracy is supposed to work.
[snip]
Do reporters and anchors and debate moderators not feel the fear so many friends, fellow bloggers and I feel at the accumulated loss of our liberties? Is this not the biggest story of the Bush administration? And of future administrations if these laws are left in place?
Why is this not a headline every day, pounded home to every listener, reader and viewer with the same relentlessness as Paris Hilton’s sordid life? Or does the press, who are paid to know better, think it sounds too crazy to believe. My emphasis]
As my friend Fielding would say, "Sing it, Sister!"
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Extraordinary
I've been in the United States for over thirty years, but I still check in with British news sources regularly. It's a way of staying connected, I guess. Well, I came across this article at the Beeb. While the United States government has refused to officially apologize to Maher Arar, the Canadian citizen "renditioned" to Syria, at least two members of Congress have.
Syrian-born Maher Arar told a congressional hearing his 10 months in a Syrian jail had been "hell".
Mr Arar appeared by video link from Canada because he remains on a US government watch list.
[snip]
Mr Arar described being detained by US homeland security agents at New York's JFK airport and of later being sent by private jet to Syria, where he spent 10 months in a prison cell he described as a grave.
"I was beaten with an electrical cable and threatened with a metal chair, the tyre and electric shocks. I was forced to falsely confess that I had been to Afghanistan," he said.
"When I was not being beaten I was put in a waiting room so that I could hear the screams of other prisoners. The cries of the women still haunt me the most."
What horror that man endured simply because he had a Muslim last name. The Canadians have admitted that they had categorized him incorrectly and have offered him remuneration for his pain and suffering, yet the U.S. government keeps him on its silly watch list!
Now to the apologies offered by the House Members. I think you will find the differences quite illuminating.
"On behalf of my fellow citizens I want to apologise to you, Mr Arar, for the reprehensible conduct of our government for kidnapping you, for turning you over to Syria - a nation that our own state department recognises as routinely practising torture. This conduct does not reflect the values of the American people," he said.
Rep Dana Rohrabacher also apologised, saying the US should be ashamed of what happened to Mr Arar.
But, he said, "that is no excuse to end a programme which has protected the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans... We are at war. Mistakes happen. People die".
Mistakes happen.
People die.
What a flawed vision Mr. Rohrabacher has.
Syrian-born Maher Arar told a congressional hearing his 10 months in a Syrian jail had been "hell".
Mr Arar appeared by video link from Canada because he remains on a US government watch list.
[snip]
Mr Arar described being detained by US homeland security agents at New York's JFK airport and of later being sent by private jet to Syria, where he spent 10 months in a prison cell he described as a grave.
"I was beaten with an electrical cable and threatened with a metal chair, the tyre and electric shocks. I was forced to falsely confess that I had been to Afghanistan," he said.
"When I was not being beaten I was put in a waiting room so that I could hear the screams of other prisoners. The cries of the women still haunt me the most."
What horror that man endured simply because he had a Muslim last name. The Canadians have admitted that they had categorized him incorrectly and have offered him remuneration for his pain and suffering, yet the U.S. government keeps him on its silly watch list!
Now to the apologies offered by the House Members. I think you will find the differences quite illuminating.
"On behalf of my fellow citizens I want to apologise to you, Mr Arar, for the reprehensible conduct of our government for kidnapping you, for turning you over to Syria - a nation that our own state department recognises as routinely practising torture. This conduct does not reflect the values of the American people," he said.
Rep Dana Rohrabacher also apologised, saying the US should be ashamed of what happened to Mr Arar.
But, he said, "that is no excuse to end a programme which has protected the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans... We are at war. Mistakes happen. People die".
Mistakes happen.
People die.
What a flawed vision Mr. Rohrabacher has.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Oh, Dear!
I really am a rookie at this blogging business. As some of you may know, my friend Cabearie had to help out by actually setting up this blog for me last weekend, and continues to answer my silly new-blogger questions with great patience. Throughout the process, I have always taken refuge in the fact of my age, which is ancient.
Today, however, I had that handy excuse taken away. I learned from Time Goes By that there is an Australian blogger who will celebrate her 108th birthday this Sunday: Olive Riley.
Do go visit her blog and leave good wishes in the comments section.
Happy Birthday, dear Ms. Riley! And keep those blog posts coming!
Best wishes, your new admirer,
Ellery Bumber.
Today, however, I had that handy excuse taken away. I learned from Time Goes By that there is an Australian blogger who will celebrate her 108th birthday this Sunday: Olive Riley.
Do go visit her blog and leave good wishes in the comments section.
Happy Birthday, dear Ms. Riley! And keep those blog posts coming!
Best wishes, your new admirer,
Ellery Bumber.
The Power Of The Free Market
I see where the Americans are getting a lesson in free marketry from the Iraqis. Yesterday the New York Times announced that contracts were awarded to China and Iran for the building of power plants in Iraq. Apparently large American contractors were either uninterested or too busy with their current projects to bid.
Iraq has agreed to award $1.1 billion in contracts to Iranian and Chinese companies to build a pair of enormous power plants, the Iraqi electricity minister said Tuesday. Word of the project prompted serious concerns among American military officials, who fear that Iranian commercial investments can mask military activities at a time of heightened tension with Iran.
The Iraqi electricity minister, Karim Wahid, said that the Iranian project would be built in Sadr City, a Shiite enclave in Baghdad that is controlled by followers of the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr. He added that Iran had also agreed to provide cheap electricity from its own grid to southern Iraq, and to build a large power plant essentially free of charge in an area between the two southern Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.
[snip]
“We are of course carefully watching Iran’s overall presence here in Iraq,” the military official said. “As you know, it’s not always as it appears. Their Quds Force routinely uses the cover of a business to mask their real purpose as an intelligence operative.”
“This is a free marketplace, so there’s not much we can do about it,” the official said. [My emphasis]
Dependable electricity is something in very short supply in most parts of Iraq, even after the United States taxpayers have spent billions to provide it. Part of the problem has been the sabotage of American efforts by the various insurgent groups, but an even larger part has been what can only be called shoddy workmanship by the American companies involved in the re-building of the country the United States broke. The current state of the Vatican-sized U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is a good example of that.
So Iraq, as a sovereign nation, wisely looked elsewhere, much to the chagrin of American business interests and the American military.
A free market works like that.
Iraq has agreed to award $1.1 billion in contracts to Iranian and Chinese companies to build a pair of enormous power plants, the Iraqi electricity minister said Tuesday. Word of the project prompted serious concerns among American military officials, who fear that Iranian commercial investments can mask military activities at a time of heightened tension with Iran.
The Iraqi electricity minister, Karim Wahid, said that the Iranian project would be built in Sadr City, a Shiite enclave in Baghdad that is controlled by followers of the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr. He added that Iran had also agreed to provide cheap electricity from its own grid to southern Iraq, and to build a large power plant essentially free of charge in an area between the two southern Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.
[snip]
“We are of course carefully watching Iran’s overall presence here in Iraq,” the military official said. “As you know, it’s not always as it appears. Their Quds Force routinely uses the cover of a business to mask their real purpose as an intelligence operative.”
“This is a free marketplace, so there’s not much we can do about it,” the official said. [My emphasis]
Dependable electricity is something in very short supply in most parts of Iraq, even after the United States taxpayers have spent billions to provide it. Part of the problem has been the sabotage of American efforts by the various insurgent groups, but an even larger part has been what can only be called shoddy workmanship by the American companies involved in the re-building of the country the United States broke. The current state of the Vatican-sized U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is a good example of that.
So Iraq, as a sovereign nation, wisely looked elsewhere, much to the chagrin of American business interests and the American military.
A free market works like that.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Getting Old Is Not For Sissies
Ronni Bennett at Times Goes By reminds those of us of "a certain age" that it's time to make some decisions with respect to Medicare Part D. The re-enrollment period starts November 15, and I'll shortly have decide whether to stick with my current plan, which at least presently covers the medications I take, although it could drop any one of them at any time in the next twelve months, and which is rather expensive, or gamble on a new plan which would cost less in terms of premium, but which might not cover all three pills I take each day. Trying to sort out the plans is daunting, but Ms. Bennett has really done a remarkable job in simplifying the process, at least for those of us fortunate enough to have a computer and internet access.
This internet access, however, also means I sometimes get greeted by bad news early in the day. This morning, for example, I learned that the "cost of living" raise in Social Security benefits is not going to offset the real cost of living rise.
Come January, the nation's nearly 50 million Social Security recipients will see the smallest cost-of-living increases in their monthly checks in four years, even though they are paying significantly more for such items as food, energy and medical care.
Many private economists are looking for an increase of around 2 percent when the government announces the number Wednesday following release of the Consumer Price Index for September.
(snip)
The adjustment each year is based on the change in consumer prices from the July-September quarter of this year compared with the same period in the previous year. Benefit payments have been tied to inflation since 1975.
The big jump for 2006 occurred because energy prices had soared in September of 2005, reflecting the impact of Hurricane Katrina. This year, however, energy prices have been coming down in recent months after spiking in the spring.
With oil prices surging this week to highs above $88 per barrel, analysts believe consumers will get socked with higher gasoline prices in the months ahead, but those gains will come too late to influence the new cost-of-living adjustment. The Energy Department already is predicting that most Americans will pay a lot more to heat their homes this winter.
Also, the cost of food products has been rising much more sharply this year than last, reflecting increased use of corn in ethanol fuel; and as usual, medical costs, which fall heavily on the elderly, have been outpacing gains in other CPI categories.
Now, while I no longer drive a car, I do heat my apartment and I do like to eat. Fortunately, I have a relatively uncomplicated health picture, at least for someone of my age and life-long bad habits, but I still need regular medical attention, and so the rest of the article depressed me further.
Part of the Social Security increase will be eaten up by a rise in the cost of Medicare, the giant health care program that covers the elderly and disabled. The government announced earlier this month that Medicare premiums will rise 3.1 percent next year, or $2.50, to $96.40 per month.
It looks to be another lean year for those of us on fixed incomes.
This internet access, however, also means I sometimes get greeted by bad news early in the day. This morning, for example, I learned that the "cost of living" raise in Social Security benefits is not going to offset the real cost of living rise.
Come January, the nation's nearly 50 million Social Security recipients will see the smallest cost-of-living increases in their monthly checks in four years, even though they are paying significantly more for such items as food, energy and medical care.
Many private economists are looking for an increase of around 2 percent when the government announces the number Wednesday following release of the Consumer Price Index for September.
(snip)
The adjustment each year is based on the change in consumer prices from the July-September quarter of this year compared with the same period in the previous year. Benefit payments have been tied to inflation since 1975.
The big jump for 2006 occurred because energy prices had soared in September of 2005, reflecting the impact of Hurricane Katrina. This year, however, energy prices have been coming down in recent months after spiking in the spring.
With oil prices surging this week to highs above $88 per barrel, analysts believe consumers will get socked with higher gasoline prices in the months ahead, but those gains will come too late to influence the new cost-of-living adjustment. The Energy Department already is predicting that most Americans will pay a lot more to heat their homes this winter.
Also, the cost of food products has been rising much more sharply this year than last, reflecting increased use of corn in ethanol fuel; and as usual, medical costs, which fall heavily on the elderly, have been outpacing gains in other CPI categories.
Now, while I no longer drive a car, I do heat my apartment and I do like to eat. Fortunately, I have a relatively uncomplicated health picture, at least for someone of my age and life-long bad habits, but I still need regular medical attention, and so the rest of the article depressed me further.
Part of the Social Security increase will be eaten up by a rise in the cost of Medicare, the giant health care program that covers the elderly and disabled. The government announced earlier this month that Medicare premiums will rise 3.1 percent next year, or $2.50, to $96.40 per month.
It looks to be another lean year for those of us on fixed incomes.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
The Good American
Who could resist a news article with the title "Seymour Hersh: 'The Good American'." Certainly not moi. I quite like Mr. Hersh, even if he does tend to shrillness. Apparently some in the German press do as well, if the author of the aforementioned article (published in Die Zeit) is any indication.
The article reports on Saturday last's festival for the New Yorker, the magazine in which most of Mr. Hersh's work is published. He was one of the featured speakers, and clearly did quite well. Here is a summation of some of his remarks.
Iran? Yes, an attack against Iran is imminent (Hersh reported this just recently in The New Yorker ), but against small targets like training camps and the Revolutionary Guard. "The U.S. has specialists at the borders who, with the assistance of Kurdish and Israeli experts, install "eavesdropping boxes" capable of listening into buildings in Teheran. "We know what's going on in Iran" Hersh says. The nuclear bomb will take another five years. The bomb is a threat – first and foremost to Israel because it means the end of Zionism. "Once Iran has the bomb, the middle class will give up and say, 'We'd rather go to Argentina or London, where we can live in peace.'"
The war on terror? "If it comes out, what really happens in Guantanamo Bay, we will all be very ashamed." This is equally true of Abu Ghraib. "Iraqi girls who are imprisoned there, have begged their fathers to kill them because they were dishonored. I saw photos of GI's grabbing at naked Iraqi women and girls while showering." And there are twelve countries in which the CIA or their local henchmen can torture. "Afterwards, they burn the bodies, so that no trace can be found."
Then Seymour Hersh comes to the subject of Vietnam. The first big story he broke as a journalist was the massacre of My Lai , and he talks about how the people there were tortured with electric shocks. "But the U.S. never experienced a Learning Curve, a learning process."
George Bush? "Bush is no good for the security of the USA or the world," says Hersh.
Why, yes. I do believe Mr. Hersh has captured the current history of the U.S. quite nicely. It's quite a shame that he doesn't get to exercise his craft among more pleasant subjects.
The article reports on Saturday last's festival for the New Yorker, the magazine in which most of Mr. Hersh's work is published. He was one of the featured speakers, and clearly did quite well. Here is a summation of some of his remarks.
Iran? Yes, an attack against Iran is imminent (Hersh reported this just recently in The New Yorker ), but against small targets like training camps and the Revolutionary Guard. "The U.S. has specialists at the borders who, with the assistance of Kurdish and Israeli experts, install "eavesdropping boxes" capable of listening into buildings in Teheran. "We know what's going on in Iran" Hersh says. The nuclear bomb will take another five years. The bomb is a threat – first and foremost to Israel because it means the end of Zionism. "Once Iran has the bomb, the middle class will give up and say, 'We'd rather go to Argentina or London, where we can live in peace.'"
The war on terror? "If it comes out, what really happens in Guantanamo Bay, we will all be very ashamed." This is equally true of Abu Ghraib. "Iraqi girls who are imprisoned there, have begged their fathers to kill them because they were dishonored. I saw photos of GI's grabbing at naked Iraqi women and girls while showering." And there are twelve countries in which the CIA or their local henchmen can torture. "Afterwards, they burn the bodies, so that no trace can be found."
Then Seymour Hersh comes to the subject of Vietnam. The first big story he broke as a journalist was the massacre of My Lai , and he talks about how the people there were tortured with electric shocks. "But the U.S. never experienced a Learning Curve, a learning process."
George Bush? "Bush is no good for the security of the USA or the world," says Hersh.
Why, yes. I do believe Mr. Hersh has captured the current history of the U.S. quite nicely. It's quite a shame that he doesn't get to exercise his craft among more pleasant subjects.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Hullo
Well, here we are. I have finally begun my own blog, albeit with the superior assistance of my old friend and colleague Cabearie.
My intention is to simply record my impressions of this vast country, the one that so kindly took me in thirty years ago and which, at least so far, has given no indication of booting me back across the Atlantic.
So, cozy up and pull a draught.
My intention is to simply record my impressions of this vast country, the one that so kindly took me in thirty years ago and which, at least so far, has given no indication of booting me back across the Atlantic.
So, cozy up and pull a draught.
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