I finished moving The American Street to a new server. Went really smooth...so that's NOT why I've been so quiet. It's been a thinking and planning day.

See, come Monday everyone will be writing these paeons of praise for our noble soldiers and I'm not trying to be contrarian but I HATE Memorial Day. When I was 14, my four year old brother was struck and killed by a car on Memorial Day. When I was 15, my mother and sister were stabbed...both almost died...on Memorial Day. When I was 16 my goddamn dog died on Memorial Day. And though things seem to have settled down I'm sure you understand why Memorial Day isn't grouped with all the other holidays in my mind.

Just letting you know...

Photograph of 6th grade class.

I was mistaken, though, because blacks were not the majority of the students in class. If, however, you add Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders the majority of the class was composed of racial minorities.

Viagra-Blindness Link Probed
The FDA is examining the safety of erectile dysfunction drugs after receiving over 40 reports of a serious eye condition.
May 27, 2005

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Friday that it had received 38 reports of a rare but serious eye condition that can lead to blindness among men taking erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, sending Pfizer s stock down 2.3 percent in recent trading.

The agency has also received four reports of blindness associated with the use of Cialis, Eli Lilly s ED drug, and one associated with GlaxoSmithKline s Levitra.

I ain't posted much of nothing and my smooth, urbane veneer is crumbling around the edges.

I've had a decent week (if you don't count getting rained on), but it came at the end of a really shit four week period, and only got decent recently. So after this little request I'm going to sit in the sun for a little while.

I've written an addition to Drupal that will let users add their own RSS feed to the site's RSS aggregator. It's going to be used on the Niggerati Network, and I want blogs by Blacks and those by folks who speak to our issues: as an example of that last, I need Hungry Blues (which I just noticed fell off the blogroll somehow) and Minority Report.

The Frist Problem

The best thing a Senate majority leader with presidential aspirations can do is quit. That was Bob Dole's strategy in 1996, when he resigned to run against President Clinton. And it may be part of Bill Frist's decision not to seek reelection in 2006. If so, Frist could hardly make a smarter move.

Of course, abandoning the Senate didn't exactly help Dole in the presidential election, but his campaign was beyond rescue anyway. Dole quit in part because his evident mastery of its rules left the impression that he cared more about recondite parliamentary tactics than he did about the presidency. Frist, who many speculate plans a bid in 2008, has the opposite problem. The longer he tries to run the Senate, the more he looks like a bungler whose only principle is personal advancement.

Quote of note:

In that compromise  — which pulled the Senate back from what could have become a paralyzing partisan confrontation —  seven Democrats promised to filibuster judicial nominees only in "extraordinary circumstances" in return for Republicans promising not to vote to change the filibuster rules that allow the minority party to hold up nominations.

"Well, John Bolton is in extraordinary-circumstance purgatory right now," said an angry Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), when asked whether the Democrats' actions Thursday undermined the spirit of the agreement.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) issued a statement excoriating the Democrats: "Some 72 hours after hailing an agreement that sought to end partisan filibusters, the Democrats have launched yet another partisan filibuster . Given the chance to advance the cause of comity in the Senate, the Democrats have chosen partisan confrontation over cooperation."

Bullshit. That's all. Bullshit.

Quote of note:

Mothers with the highest levels of chemicals in their urine late in their pregnancies had babies with a cluster of effects. The span between anus and penis, called anogenital distance, was comparatively short, and the infants had smaller penises and scrotums and more instances of incomplete descent of testicles.

Medical experts do not know whether babies with those physical characteristics will later develop reproductive problems. But in newborn animals, laboratory studies show that that combination of effects can lead to lower sperm counts, infertility, reduced testosterone and testicular abnormalities when they mature.

Study Finds Genital Abnormalities in Boys
Widely used industrial compounds, called phthalates, are linked by researchers to changes in the reproductive organs of male infants.
By Marla Cone
Times Staff Writer
May 27, 2005

Greg Palast:

And just for the record: Newsweek, unlike Rumsfeld, did not kill anyone -- nor did its report cause killings. Afghans protested when they heard the Koran desecration story (as Christians have protested crucifix desecrations). The Muslim demonstrators were gunned down by the Afghan military police -- who operate under Rumsfeld's command.

The American Civil War has been over...how long? And the Confederates are still fighting it.

Keep this in mind when people ask what impact the wounding or death of al-Zarqawi will have on the insurgency in Iraq.

And you better hope he got hurt falling off a ladder or something; otherwise you have another martyr.

I would like one of my gay associates to point out the material in this post to The Washington Blade.

CDC studies to examine black men on the 'down low'
Federal agency funding HIV research on controversial topic
By RYAN LEE | May 24, 4:16 PM

ATLANTA   The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention is funding a series of studies that researchers hope will add scientific observations to the simmering public conversation about men who have sex with men "on the down low."

Crystallized by the media as black men who maintain heterosexual relationships while also secretly sleeping with men, men on the down low have been accused of contributing to rising HIV infections among black women.

...Craig Washington, volunteer coordinator at Positive Impact, expressed concern that the CDC studies may legitimize stereotypes that cause the down low to be a divisive topic, especially among blacks.

"To use the term down low, a term that originated in black culture, is to look through a lens within the black community that seems to corroborate this myth that out of all the behaviors and ways in which people sexually identify themselves, it is black men who are closeted that we need to be focusing on," Washington said.

An image for the ages
Thursday, May 26, 2005

IT REMAINS one of the most lasting images in the history of the Olympic Games -- two triumphant American athletes raising their gloved fists on the medal stand in Mexico City in a salute to black power. The gesture, which took place at the 1968 Olympics, was so controversial then that record- setting sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos were banished from the games, and their symbolic protest resulted in death threats and attacks on their homes.

But time is a great equalizer. Thirty-seven years later, the two Olympic medal winners are going to be honored for their silent stance. On Saturday, Smith and Carlos will receive honorary doctorates at San Jose State University, their alma mater, and there will be a groundbreaking ceremony there Friday for a sculpture commemorating their legacy of promoting human rights.

I am seriously not with it today. I'm feeling a hypocrisy overload (for the record, I think the Senate "compromise" has put what should be unacceptable folks on the Court of Appeals), and a serious concern that I'm shouting in the wind. Add that to my father's issues (it's like a month he's hospitalized and there are other issues anyway), the real impulse to write a book, genuine annoyance at people who want me to calm down over substantive issues because they can think of something that might explain it away is I assume a bunch of shit NObody assumes...

And I missed the race and medicine thing I wanted to attend about two weeks ago, but because the handouts weren't ready then and they just showed up, I'm heading out to get them.

And if I stumble across something fun you may not "see" me for the rest of the day.

Medical Schools Found to Vary in Their Drug-Testing Standards
By CORNELIA DEAN

A survey of more than 100 medical schools has found that they vary widely in their standards for testing new medicines for drug companies, with some saying they would accept far more control from the companies than others would.

In the survey, being reported today in The New England Journal of Medicine, almost none of the medical schools said they would allow private sponsors to quash publication of research findings. But they differed greatly on other standards, like whether researchers should be allowed to discuss trials publicly while they are under way or share raw research data with other scientists, and whether drug companies sponsoring the tests should be allowed to insert their own analyses into research reports, suggest revisions before they are published or even draft reports in the first place.

An Illogical Standard

DURING THE DEBATE in the House on Tuesday over the stem cell research bill that passed on a bipartisan vote, Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) leveled a remarkable accusation: Supporters of liberalizing President Bush's restrictive approach to funding stem cell research, he said, were voting "to fund with taxpayer dollars the dismemberment of living, distinct human beings for the purposes of medical experimentation." Mr. DeLay called embryonic stem cell research, which may promise lifesaving treatments for various devastating conditions, a "scientific exploration into the potential benefits of killing human beings." Reasonable people can disagree regarding the morality of embryonic stem cell research, which we support. But if Mr. DeLay believes his irresponsible rhetoric, he should not stop at opposing more permissive rules for federal funding of such science. Instead he should introduce legislation to ban the in-vitro fertilization treatments that create these embryos in the first place.

Quote of note:

The move will force anyone with a federal civil rights complaint in those districts to seek help in the commission's Chicago office. The Denver office covers Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado, while the Kansas City office oversees complaints in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri.

Civil Rights Agency Closings, Cuts Decried
By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 26, 2005; Page A03

...After saying her last goodbyes to a dying relative at the local hospital, Carlette Jones drove home to Aurora, Colo., and encountered an eviction notice at her front door.

Quote of note:

"Unfortunately, one thing we've learned over the last couple of years is that detainee statements about their treatment at Guantanamo and other detention centers sometimes have turned out to be more credible than U.S. government statements," said ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer.

FBI memo reports Guantanamo guards flushing Koran

An FBI agent wrote in a 2002 document made public on Wednesday that a detainee held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had accused American jailers there of flushing the Koran down a toilet.

The Pentagon said the allegation was not credible.

The declassified document's release came the week after the Bush administration denounced as wrong a May 9 Newsweek article that stated U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo had flushed a Koran down a toilet to try to make detainees talk. The magazine retracted the article, which had triggered protests in Afghanistan in which 16 people died.

In the comments he gave up a link to Babelfish with the URL of a German web page I wanted to see. And I looked around the joint (Babelfish) and found a little box that bounces you from here to there, slotting in the URL of the page from which you have bounced.

It ought to take you straight to the translated page, but hey...it's the closest I can get to not being a typical provincial uni-language American.

But the graphic color clashes with the site.

Big companies fill BadgerCare rolls
More than 40% who get aid are employed by Wal-Mart
By STACY FORSTER
Posted: May 23, 2005

Madison - Wisconsin's tax-supported health care program for the working poor spends millions of dollars each year covering the health costs of employees of some of the state's largest companies, such as Wal-Mart and Aurora Health Care.

Employees of Aurora Health care don't have health benefits.

Cincinnati Black Blog

Warrington Murder Tests White Community

The apparent murder of 16 year-old John Warrington will test the white community and their resolve to be tough on crime. Will Joe Deters move to have the murderer tried as an adult, call the murderer all sorts of nasty names, and push to have him thrown in prison for life? Or will the white community essentially make excuses for the crime, rally around the murderer, and lecture us about mercy (and the kid's troubles)? I suspect the white community won't take a throw-the-book-at-him attitude like they have with the murderer of Maurice Kennedy .

Standards for Mortgage Lending Debated
By Kirstin Downey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 25, 2005; Page E01

Lending industry officials and consumer advocates clashed Tuesday at a congressional hearing over the best ways to rein in abuses in the $600-billion-a year market for high-cost home mortgages. Both sides agree that bad practices are resulting in people losing their homes to foreclosure because of steep payments and extra fees.

Lenders have endorsed a proposed measure that would establish uniform national lending standards, preempting more-restrictive lending laws that have been passed in more than a dozen states. The measure also would improve consumer literacy outreach aimed at protecting people buying or refinancing their homes from fraud by unscrupulous lenders.

The one sure way to get a reaction out of the Bushistas is to have a law on your books that makes some corporation responsible. See, the mantra is personal responsibility, not corporate responsibility.

On the Merits

...The other two nominees are a different matter. Judge Pryor, until Mr. Bush put him on the court, was the elected attorney general of Alabama -- and one of the most aggressively partisan state attorneys general in the country. He energetically pursued a hard-line states' rights agenda and a lowering of the church-state wall (though he did stand up for the rule of law when then-state chief justice Roy S. Moore flouted a federal court order to remove his monument to the 10 Commandments from the Supreme Court building). Perhaps more disturbingly, his stated view of the courts is overtly political. He has spoken in favor of impeaching judges who "repeatedly and recklessly...overturn popular will and...rewrite constitutional law." He ended one speech by praying, "Please, God, no more Souters" -- a slap at Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, in whose performance many conservatives feel acute disappointment. In the wake of the 2000 election crisis, he declared himself pleased that the Supreme Court had split 5 to 4 in resolving the matter -- a division nearly everyone else regarded as deeply unfortunate. The split, he said, would give the new president "a full appreciation of the judiciary and judicial selection." Republicans as much as Democrats should object to such unstinting partisanship in a judge.

I found the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy while looking for a good link to define Identity Politics for when I yelled at Fineman downpage. I chose not to link the encyclopedia page on the topic because I found a better link specific to identity politics for white guys, but Stanford's description is too good not to share.

Identity politics

The laden phrase "identity politics" has come to signify a wide range of political activity and theorizing founded in the shared experiences of injustice of members of certain social groups. Rather than organizing solely around ideology or party affiliation, identity politics typically concerns the liberation of a specific constituency marginalized within its larger context. Members of that constituency assert or reclaim ways of understanding their distinctiveness that challenge dominant oppressive characterizations, with the goal of greater self-determination.

The major sections in the article are:

Malcolm X: Make it Plain

AMY GOODMAN: We turn to portions of a documentary called Malcolm X: Make it Plain, produced and directed by Orlando Bagwell, which aired on the PBS series, "American Experience."

MALCOLM X: Who taught you to hate the color of your skin? Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair? Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose and the shape of your lips? Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet? Who taught you to hate your own kind? Who taught you to hate the race that you belong to so much so that you don't want to be around each other? You know. Before you come asking Mr. Muhammad does he teach hate, you should ask yourself who taught you to hate being what God made you.

A Life of Reinvention: Manning Marable Chronicles the Life of Malcolm X

Malcolm X was born 80 years ago today. To commemorate the occasion we hear a speech by Columbia University professor Manning Marable chronicling his life. Marable is currently working on a major new biography of Malcolm X which is tentatively titled "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention."

Today we are going to spend the hour looking at one of the most dynamic leaders of the 20th century. He was born 80 years ago today but lived only 39 years. I'm talking about Malcolm X. To mark the occasion here in New York, the Shabazz family has temporarily opened the "Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center," which is located in what was once the Audubon Ballroom, where Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965.

UPDATE: I appreciate the traffic from Jesus' General, but the three comments I got so far today are making excuses for these assholes.

If that's what you want to do, just move on. 

There's something just fucking wrong with Germany. Something truly fucked up that I don't even want explained.

Quote of note:

A letter of reply by Ms. Barbara Jantschke, PhD, from the Augsburg Zoo, directed to an African Swiss citizen underlines the intention, to put Africans on display in the zoo within "an atmosphere of exotism"

This via email.

From: Norbert Finzsch [mailto:[email protected]]

Folks may think I'm focusing on Mr. Fineman. It's not intentional, I just added Newsweek's RSS feed to my list of sources and he keeps giving up these juicy targets for whacking.

Food Fight in the Big Tent
Are voters starting to turn against conservative Republicanism?
By Howard Fineman

May 24 - I'm wondering if we haven't just witnessed a turning point in politics. Years from now, when we look back on the "Gang of 14" deal, will we see it as the moment when the tide of conservative Republicanism crested?

This article isn't really all that bad. I have beef with one short phrase in particular:

A generation ago, voters turned against the Democrats for the excesses of their welfare-state, big-government thinking. Washington WASN'T the answer to everything.

Three words: Angry White Men. Their issue was (and is) 'political correctness,' 'affirmative action,' 'welfare mothers' and such...in other words, white guy identity politics. It is obvious at this point that "the welfare state" simply isn't an issue to most people (until you talk about someone else getting some benefit). So let's not pretend, shall we?

...this just ain't the country where such a law will pass.

Quote of note:

Mr. Shapiro said the proposed New York City law seemed "pretty onerous," and he said he was surprised that it did not force retailers to share responsibility with manufacturers for taking back outdated electronic devices, which would be similar to the current system for recycling beverage bottles.

But unlike the bottle law, which imposes a five-cent deposit per container, the new electronics bill specifically prohibits manufacturers from imposing any fees on consumers to cover the cost of recycling. [P6: Ha!]

Mark A. Izeman, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council who helped draft the electronics recycling bill, said forcing manufacturers to take responsibility for their products, as they do in Europe, would encourage them to use fewer toxins and to design devices that could be more easily reused.

Afterlife for Old Computers Is Envisioned in Council Bill
By ANTHONY DePALMA

...because

Over all, home prices have never fallen by a significant amount, and Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said on Friday that a national drop in price remained unlikely.

Steep Rise in Prices for Homes Adds to Worry About a Bubble
By DAVID LEONHARDT

Home prices rose more quickly over the last year than at any point since 1980, a national group of Realtors reported yesterday, raising new questions about whether some local housing markets may be turning into bubbles destined to burst.

With mortgage rates still low and job growth accelerating, the real estate market is defying yet another round of predictions that it was on the verge of cooling. The number of homes sold also jumped in April, after having been flat for almost a year.

Quote of note:

The court didn't say that police had unearthed any encrypted files or how it would view the use of standard software like OS X's FileVault.

Minnesota court takes dim view of encryption
By Declan McCullagh

A Minnesota appeals court has ruled that the presence of encryption software on a computer may be viewed as evidence of criminal intent.

Ari David Levie, who was convicted of photographing a nude 9-year-old girl, argued on appeal that the PGP encryption utility on his computer was irrelevant and should not have been admitted as evidence during his trial. PGP stands for Pretty Good Privacy and is sold by PGP Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif.

Because I believe if you buy something you ought to be able to do with it as you wish.

IPod Plug-In Sets Music Free 
By Katie Dean

IPod users are raving about a plug-in that makes the Winamp digital jukebox a better way to manage the iPod than Apple's iTunes.

The plug-in, called ml_iPod, allows iPod users to bypass iTunes and manage music collections in Winamp instead. The iPod is supposed to work with iTunes only. A new version of the software was released Monday.

For songs purchased at the iTunes Music Store, which are copy protected by Apple's FairPlay DRM scheme, ml_iPod users must download an application from the Hymn project, which unlocks the copy protection. Then the ml_iPod plug-in must be configured to run the hymn.exe file when it encounters protected files, Fisher explained.

Quote of note:

Administration aides, speaking on condition of anonymity while discussing White House strategy, rejected the suggestions that Bush needed to consult more with the Senate or pick less controversial judicialnominees. "You're not going to see the president change his ideology," one said.

If that means Bush's future nominees divide the parties as sharply as those in the current group, this deal may promise the Senate not a lasting peace but just a break in the battle.

Senate Truce Faces Test of Bush's Next Nominations
A polarizing choice, especially for Supreme Court, could unravel the deal, both sides say.
By Ronald Brownstein and Janet Hook
Times Staff Writers
May 25, 2005

Quote of note:

When I spoke to Mabel Williams a year ago, she talked about her political awakening through her relationship with Robert F. Williams, her husband - talk about the power of love as a tool of transformation. The young woman who up to that point had taken for granted the unequal society she'd come to regard as normal probably couldn't have even imagined herself armed, her gun trained on the uniformed officer who had his gun trained on her husband. At that point it was, "If he shoots Robert, I'm shooting him."

Such is the stuff of fables, yet in this case the story is true.

Growing up Revolutionary: An interview with John Williams, son of Mabel and Robert F. Williams
by Wanda Sabir

Quote of note:

In the letter, Mr. Voinovich said that while he had been "hesitant to push my views on my colleagues" during his years in the Senate, he felt "compelled to share my deep concerns" about Mr. Bolton's nomination.

"In these dangerous times, we cannot afford to put at risk our nation's ability to successfully wage and win the war on terror with a controversial and ineffective ambassador to the United Nations," Mr. Voinovich wrote. He urged colleagues to "put aside our partisan agenda and let our consciences and our shared commitment to our nation's best interests guide us."

But -

Among the 10 Republicans on the Senate committee, 3 joined Mr. Voinovich in expressing reservations about Mr. Bolton's nomination. In the face of strong Democratic opposition, the Republicans on the panel agreed only to send the nomination to the full Senate without an endorsement, an unusual move.

Today, however, spokesmen for two of those Republicans, Senators Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, said their bosses expected to vote in favor of Mr. Bolton when his name came before the full Senate. A spokeswoman for the third, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the senator had told reporters from her home state that she was "likely to support Bolton's nomination on the floor."

...so I'm assuming it's image manipulation for the benefit of his reelection campaign.

G.O.P. Senator Sends Letter to Colleagues Opposing Bolton
By DOUGLAS JEHL

This weekend I wrote about NARAL's endorsement of Republican Lincoln Chafee and Oliver Willis and Dave Sirota's reaction/interaction to it.

Dave Sirota said it was hardball politics, and he was right...but it wasn't NARAL playing hardball. It was Chafee.

I took a look to see when our 14 heroes come up for reelection. Three Republicans come due next year...Chafee, Snowe and DeWine. I don't know what DeWine's condition is, but Snowe's constituency isn't going to hurt her over this "compromise" (and I'll explain the sneer quotes too). Chafee, though, is likely to need some support beyond the typical short attention span of Americans.

I think NARAL's endorsement was Chafee's payment.

I leaned toward thinking Democrats got burned again this morning. Believe it or not, David Brooks convinced me they did when he explained on PBS's The Newshour why he felt this was a win for the Republicans:

I ran across this word today. And I ran across...okay, I looked it up because the article in New Scientist in which I ran across the term lives behind a financial firewall...some stuff to see what it was all about. Found a lovely article, The runaway weight gain train: too many accelerators, not enough brakes, hosted in England.

The chronic positive energy balance that leads to obesity is apparently relatively small. It is therefore paradoxical that obesity is so persistent and difficult to treat, because, in Western countries at least, the basic causes of obesity are readily apparent to everyone (eating too much and exercising too little). Obesity is associated with a substantial loss of quality of life and with social stigmatisation; awareness of the health consequences of obesity has never been greater. Even the body's physiological systems try to prevent weight gain by minimising the impact of energy imbalance on weight change.

To help explain this apparent paradox, we propose that numerous vicious cycles are acting as "accelerators" that maintain and even increase overweight. We liken the situation to a "runaway weight gain train" (figure), which already has high momentum from the downhill slope of obesogenic (obesity promoting) environments but is getting faster as the vicious cycles start acting as accelerators. The brakes, which, on the face of it, should be strong enough to slow down the train, turn out to be weak by comparison.

The factors that add up to obesogenicity are known

The Colorblind Society

The War on Drugs?

I am angry as hell right now.

There is a radio program on right now about the methanphetamine epidemic and how to solve it. Lot's of talk about education and treatment, but strangely nothing about law enforcement.

...Back to the program, a DEA agent came on and blamed Mexican criminals for the meth epidemic, glossing over the 17,000 meth labs in the US. A local policeman came on and blamed immigration. This local cop also said that meth users only stay in jail for an hour. He never mentioned picking up users for drug possession, only other crimes, like robbery. Finally, he said that the DA has no money to prosecute these crimes. Outrageous.

Scared, but you don't know why
21 May 2005
From New Scientist Print Edition.

"THE lovely flowers MURDERER are in bloom again." In print, the threatening word is obvious. But if you saw that sentence on television and the word "murderer" appeared for a seemingly imperceptible time, you would still feel a twinge of fear, according to a study looking at how we register threatening words subconsciously.

Lionel Naccache of Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris and colleagues showed three people threatening words, such as "rape", "knife", "kill", and "blood", interspersed with neutral words. The participants were already fitted with brain electrodes in preparation for surgery for epilepsy, so their brains' reactions could be recorded directly.

Business Groups Tire of GOP Focus On Social Issues
By Jonathan Weisman and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; E01

John M. Engler, the former Republican governor of Michigan who now heads the National Association of Manufacturers, vowed before the November elections to use his trade association's might to back President Bush's judicial nominees. But as the Senate showdown approaches, the business group is delivering a different message: Judges are not its fight.

NAM's decision to sit out the brawl may be indicative of a broader trend. From Wall Street to Main Street, the small-government, pro-business mainstay of the Republican Party appears to be growing disaffected with a party it sees as focused on social issues at its expense.

Pension Law Bars Disclosure to Those Who Need It Most
By Allan Sloan
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; Page E03

If the company you work for has a pension plan that's underfunded, it's important for you to know how deep the hole will be if the federal government has to terminate the plan and take it over. If you're a shareholder or creditor, you want to know this, too, because it helps determine what (if anything) might be left for you should the company and the pension fund both fail.

The good news is that companies with underfunded plans file this impossible-for-an-outsider-to-calculate information with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal agency that insures pensions. The bad news is that the PBGC isn't allowed to share this information with you.

Exile to Reveal Plan For Post-Castro Cuba
Goal Is Indictment of Leader's Successor
By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; A03

MIAMI, May 23 -- Political intrigues don't come any more epically scaled than this one: the future of Cuba after the inevitable death of Fidel Castro, the world's longest-reigning head of state and an American government nemesis like few others.

The singular obsession that consumes the exile community here only grows more passionate as Castro, 78, ages. It tends to crescendo at the tiniest hint of vulnerability, such as the fall last year that broke his kneecap and arm, erupting in banner headlines and talk-radio vitriol in Miami. Castro has named his brother Raul, who is five years younger, to succeed him. But a Cuban exile daredevil who once flew missions over the island to drop human rights leaflets wants to get in the way.

Bullshit of note:

In interviews in recent days, a top Guidant executive, Dr. Joseph M. Smith, said that the company had not seen a compelling reason to issue an alert to physicians about the defibrillators because the failure rate was very low and replacing the devices might pose greater patient risks.

Replacing a broken device might pose a greater risk to patients than using a broken device on them?

Or is the "patient risk" the risk of lawsuits?

Anyway...

Guidant Didn't Disclose a Flaw in Defibrillator for 3 Years
By BARRY MEIER

Quote of note:

One retired biologist for the southwestern office, Sally Stefferud, suggested in a telephone interview that the issue went beyond the question of whether to consider modern genetics.

"That's a major issue, of course," Ms. Stefferud said. "But I think there's more behind it. It's a move to make it easier" to take away a species's endangered status, she said. That would make it easier for officials to approve actions - like construction, logging or commercial fishing - that could reduce a species's number.

New Rule on Endangered Species in the Southwest
By FELICITY BARRINGER

Syria Stops Cooperating With U.S. Forces and C.I.A.
By DOUGLAS JEHL and THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON, May 23 - Syria has halted military and intelligence cooperation with the United States, its ambassador to Washington said in an interview, in a sign of growing strains between the two nations over the insurgency in Iraq.

The ambassador, Imad Moustapha, said in the interview on Friday at the Syrian Embassy here that his country had, in the last 10 days, "severed all links" with the United States military and Central Intelligence Agency because of what he called unjust American allegations. The Bush administration has complained bitterly that Syria is not doing enough to halt the flow of men and money to the insurgency in Iraq.

I.B.M. Software Aims to Provide Security Without Sacrificing Privacy
By STEVE LOHR

International Business Machines is introducing software today that is intended to let companies share and compare information with other companies or government agencies without identifying the people connected to it.

Security specialists familiar with the technology say that, if truly effective, it could help tackle many security and privacy problems in handling personal information in fields like health care, financial services and national security.

"There is real promise here," said Fred H. Cate, director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research at Indiana University. "But we'll have to see how well it works in all kinds of settings."

Perhaps O'Reilly Is Wrong
May 24, 2005

In a May 17 radio broadcast, telephilosopher Bill O'Reilly fantasized unpleasantly that terrorists might "grab" the Los Angeles Times editorial and opinion editor "out of his little house and   cut his head off." O'Reilly went on, "And maybe when the blade sinks in, he'll go, 'Perhaps O'Reilly was right.' "

What popped O'Reilly's cork was an editorial one week ago on the Newsweek controversy. The magazine reported, apparently without good evidence, that American guards at the Guantanamo prison for terrorism "detainees" had flushed a copy of the Koran down a toilet. This reportedly led to riots in Pakistan and Afghanistan in which 14 people were killed.

Banks Notify Customers of Data Theft
- By PAUL NOWELL, AP Business Writer
Monday, May 23, 2005

(05-23) 20:06 PDT Charlotte, N.C. (AP) --

More than 100,000 customers of Wachovia Corp. and Bank of America Corp. have been notified that their financial records may have been stolen by bank employees and sold to collection agencies.

In all, nearly 700,000 customers of four banks may be affected, according to police in Hackensack, N.J., where the investigation was centered.

So far, Bank of America has alerted about 60,000 customers whose names were included on computer disks discovered by police, bank spokeswoman Alex Liftman said Monday.

...or, in the words of Senator Reid:

"The 'nuclear option' is off the table," Reid said in a hastily called news conference after the compromise was announced.

and Senator Frist:

"There is no need at present for the constitutional option," he said, using the Republican term for proposed rule change. "But with this agreement, all options remain on the table, including the constitutional option."

After Ron Brownstein did so well yesterday, it's a little disappointing to see the L.A. Times run with "the Republican term for the proposed rule change." ALL the terms, including "nuclear option" are Republican terms. One word:

Quote of note:

Records-search plan alarms civil-liberties groups
Mon May 23, 2005 04:48 PM ET
By Alan Elsner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. civil-liberties groups said on Monday they were alarmed at new provisions to be considered in Congress this week to strengthen the government's ability to seize private records without judicial review.

Officials from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Open Society Institute and the Center for Democracy and Technology said in a telephone conference call the new provisions to the USA Patriot Act would allow the FBI to secretly demand medical, tax, gun-purchase, travel and other records without approval from a judge.

U.S. Senate heads into all-night debate on judges
Mon May 23, 2005 06:40 PM ET
By Thomas Ferraro and Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With beds brought in for an all-night session, U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said on Monday chances were "very, very remote" to avert a historic showdown vote over President Bush's stalled judicial nominees.

Unless a compromise is found, the Republican-led Senate was expected to decide on Tuesday whether to strip Democrats of their ability to block Bush's candidates for federal courts. Such a move would be critical in future Supreme Court nominations, with at least one retirement expected soon.

We're about to lose all credibility.

I saw this on American Street. Not sure if I appreciate it or not...

This is just wonderful.

Special Report

Galloway tongue-lashes Coleman; committee documents show Bush political friends and family paid Oil-for-Food kickbacks to Saddam Hussein
By Wayne Madsen

And from about half way through down to the bottom is all manner of juicy information about, well, hypocrisy.

Galloway was correct in criticizing the Coleman committee for not concentrating on U.S. violations of Iraqi sanctions and pay-offs to Saddam in the Oil-for-Food program. The U.S. oil companies involved in the sanctions busting have long-standing connections to the Bush family and their largest corporate benefactors.

The Democratic minority report stated, "From 2000 to 2002, Bayoil (USA), Inc., and its affiliates, operating out of Houston, Texas, became one of the largest importers of Iraqi oil into the United States." The report also states, "Samir Vincent, an Iraq-born American, obtained Iraqi oil allocations through his company Phoenix International LLC (McLean, Virginia), and sold them to Chevron Products Company, a division of Chevron USA, Inc."

Federal authorities later indicted Vincent for his role in the oil-for-food scheme. Vincent pleaded guilty. Vincent was a close confidante of 1996 Republican Vice Presidential candidate Jack Kemp, who had opposed the Iraqi sanctions. Newsweek magazine reported that in October 2004, the FBI interviewed Kemp about his relationship with Vincent.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sat on the board of Chevron before she joined the Bush White House as National Security Adviser. The company named one of its oil supertankers the SS Condoleezza Rice.

Bayoil is incorporated in the Bahamas with affiliates in Switzerland and Luxembourg. A Chilean-Italian named Augusto Giangrandi, a resident of Florida, served as chairman of Bayoil. Although Bayoil principals David Chalmers, Jr., Briton John Irving, and Ludmil Dionissiev, a Bulgarian citizen and permanent resident of Houston, were indicted, Giangrandi was not touched.

Giangrandi has a history that goes back to the Iran-Iraq war when Donald Rumsfeld was helping to arm Saddam and when the Reagan-Bush administration was violating UN arms sanctions imposed against both warring parties. During the war, Iraq bought hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cluster bombs and other weapons from Carlos Cardoen, a Chilean arms manufacturer who was close to Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet. In 1983, Cardoen hired Giangrandi, then a resident of Florida, to ship zirconium from the United States to Iraq. Zirconium is used in the manufacture of cluster bombs. Giangrandi falsely stated in his expert license application that the zirconium would be used for mining explosives in Chile. Giangrandi also owned Cosmos of Livorno, Italy, the manufacturer of mini-submarines and served as president of Swisstech, Cardoen's marketing unit.

No, that's not all of it.

Watching the talk shows this weekend, I thought Democrats would have some problems with the Republican's "Byrd Amendment" tack (Democrats voted to limit debate some time in the dawn of the Internet Age). But they figured it out.

A number of commentaries have mentioned that each party would be arguing the opposite case if the conditions were reversed, and this inveighs against the more principled argument (honor the rules) by appearing to undercut arguments from principle. But if you bring up the old Democratic votes all you have to do to counter that is bring up the Republican votes from the same time frame.

THE COLLAPSING CONSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENT: Frist argues that the nuclear option is justified because the judicial filibuster is unconstitutional. (Under normal circumstances, Frist would need 67 votes to change the Senate rules, which he doesn't have.) If judicial filibusters are unconstitutional today, they have always been unconstitutional. Yet, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)   who supports the nuclear option   acknowledged on the Senate floor last week that "those in 2003 had the right to filibuster judges. I had the right during the Clinton administration to filibuster his appointments." If judicial filibusters are unconstitutional today, they are unconstitutional every time they happen. Yet, Frist argued on the Senate floor last week that "the issue is that we have leadership-led partisan filibusters that have obstructed not one nominee but two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten in a routine way." If judicial filibusters are unconstitutional, there would have to be a provision of the U.S. Constitution that guarantees up-or-down votes on judicial nominations. Yet, last week, when Sen. Robert Byrd asked Frist to point him to the language in the Constitution that guarantees such a vote, Frist replied, "the language is not there."

THE CONTINUING CONSTITUTIONAL HYPOCRISY: In a statement released Friday, Frist vowed to detonate the nuclear option "in the event the Senate fails to invoke cloture" on the nomination of Priscilla Owen. Just five years ago, Frist himself voted against invoking cloture regarding the nomination of Judge Richard Paez, the same act Frist now argues is unconstitutional. After the effort to invoke cloture failed, Frist, along with Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-KY), voted to indefinitely postpone Paez's nomination   a move Sen. Arlen Specter calls the equivalent of a filibuster. McConnell defended his conduct on CBS's Face the Nation, noting that Paez was now "on the court." But Paez's confirmation occurred in spite of the best efforts of Frist and McConnell to block it.

LUGAR PUTS POLITICS OVER PRINCIPLE: Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) made his opposition to the nuclear option plain. Lugar explained, "I'm opposed to trying to eliminate filibusters simply because I think they protect minority rights, whether they're Republicans, Democrats or other people." But for Lugar, his loyalty to Bill Frist seems to trump his loyalty to Constitutional principles. Last week Lugar told the Indianapolis Star, "I'm not going to undercut Bill Frist."

ACLU seeks files from FBI on possible surveillance

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff  |  May 18, 2005

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts is seeking FBI files on behalf of four advocacy groups and 10 activists in the state, saying it believes they have been targets of surveillance because of their politics.

The ACLU, in Freedom of Information Act requests it plans to send out today, is requesting all records kept by the FBI and antiterrorism agencies on the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group in Cambridge; the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which has a state chapter in Boston; the International Action Committee Boston, an antiwar group, and the ACLU itself. The letter also seeks government files on 10 activists and political dissidents, including such liberal heavyweights as Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky.

Quote of note:

The document states that the association is addressing same-sex civil marriage, not religious marriages. It takes no position on any religion's views on marriage.

Top Psychiatric Group Urges Making Gay Marriage Legal
Associated Press
Monday, May 23, 2005; A02

ATLANTA, May 22 -- Representatives of the nation's top psychiatric group approved a statement Sunday urging legal recognition of same-sex marriage.

If approved by the association's directors in July, the measure would make the American Psychiatric Association the first major medical group to take such a stance.

An Up-or-Down Vote?
Monday, May 23, 2005; Page A18

IN A WEEK IN which Senate Republicans were expounding the value of "up-or-down votes," it seems odd that some House Republicans decided on Thursday to prevent one, even though it concerned an issue many Republicans have supported in the past. Thanks to Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.), who objected on procedural grounds, members did not vote on an amendment to the Interior Department spending bill that would have limited taxpayer subsidies for logging operations in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. Last year, virtually the same amendment passed the House with a bipartisan majority and no procedural objections.

Wages Lag Inflation, Again

The Labor Department's recent inflation report was good news if you don't eat, drive, or belong to the 80 percent of the work force whose pay has failed to keep up with price increases over the past year.

CBS Chief Throws Heat at a Relief Pitcher
By JACQUES STEINBERG

In presenting his fall lineup to advertisers last Wednesday at Carnegie Hall, Leslie Moonves, chairman of CBS, aimed verbal fastballs at the heads of his principal competitors: the leaders of NBC, Fox and ABC.

But in explaining why CBS would narrowly lose an important ratings title to Fox this season - viewership among those between the ages of 18 and 49 - Mr. Moonves fixed at least partial blame on a seemingly unlikely villain: Mariano Rivera, the relief pitcher for the New York Yankees.

Mr. Moonves's logic went something like this: The race between Fox and CBS was so close that if the ratings for a major sporting event carried by Fox - such as one of the seven epic playoff games between the Yankees and the Red Sox in October - were subtracted, CBS would have beaten Fox for the year. That series went to a seventh game, at least in part, because the ordinarily infallible Mr. Riviera squandered several Yankee leads.

Quote of note:

Then again, where hip-hop feuds can look a little like publicity stunts, a hip-hop feud in a fitness magazine looks a lot like a publicity stunt.

Mr. Boulton, who said an earlier issue with 50 Cent on the cover sold better than any issue in five years, does not deny that newsstand sales influenced the cover line. "I'm on the planet to sell magazines," he said.

Men's Fitness Magazine Takes a Little Dig at Hip-Hop Celebrity
By NAT IVES

Hip-hop radio stations and record labels have been facing plenty of criticism lately for promulgating feuds among stars like 50 Cent, Eminem, The Game and Ja Rule. But a less obvious outlet is taking a turn at fanning the flames: Men's Fitness magazine.

CBS Seeks Opinions in Search for an Evening News Anchor
By JACQUES STEINBERG

The development of a permanent successor to Dan Rather on the "CBS Evening News" has been shrouded in secrecy, but a meeting last Tuesday at the headquarters of the network's parent company, Viacom, suggests that CBS is canvassing opinions from people well outside the news division.

One of the six attendees was Terry Wood, who developed the "Dr. Phil" talk show and "The Insider," a celebrity news program, and who now supervises those programs as an executive at Paramount Television and King World Productions, both Viacom divisions. Ms. Wood, in a high-profile flourish of corporate synergy, was responsible for the recent CBS prime-time special in which Dr. Phil (Phillip McGraw) interviewed Pat O'Brien, the host of "The Insider," about his treatment for substance abuse. She is a close associate of Leslie Moonves, the chairman of CBS.

Link to Lobbyist Brings Scrutiny to G.O.P. Figure
By KATE ZERNIKE and ANNE E. KORNBLUT

WASHINGTON, May 18 - In Republican Washington, Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist worked all the angles.

One was a $750-an-hour lobbyist, the other an antitax activist, and they helped drive the Republican takeover of the capital and cement the party's power. Both had a close ally in the House majority leader, Tom DeLay. And they shared a conservative ideology and a friendship going back to their days in college.

Now, with widening Congressional and criminal inquiries in the capital into Mr. Abramoff's dealings, they are sharing trouble, too.

Quote of note:

"In the psychology of big-city policing," former LAPD Assistant Chief David Dotson told me, "the cardinal sin is failure to act in concert with your fellow officers. If one officer starts shooting, the others have to follow suit —  no one wants to be accused of not helping him dispose of a threat."

Why Cops Shouldn't Go With the Flow
By Joe Domanick
Joe Domanick is a senior fellow at USC Annenberg's Institute for Justice and Journalism.
May 23, 2005

Two weeks ago, 10 Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies wildly fired 120 rounds at an unarmed, fleeing black motorist who was driving an SUV similar to one involved in a crime. Five nearby houses in a black and brown Compton neighborhood were hit —  with bullets barely missing innocent occupants. The fleeing suspect, Winston Hayes (who turned out not to be the man the officers were seeking), was shot four times; a deputy caught in the crossfire was wounded.

Ron Brownstein did an okay job describing the current state of affairs in the Senate today.

Nothing may be more remarkable about this Senate showdown than who is trying to defuse it. Frist, ostensibly the man with the gavel, has thrown up his hands and insisted he cannot reach an agreement with Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) over the Democrats' use of the filibuster, a procedural maneuver that allows 41 senators to prevent a floor vote, against some of President Bush's judicial nominees.

That's left an assortment of mavericks, malcontents, back-benchers, gray eminences and ideological heretics from the two parties to try to settle an unnecessary crisis that could fundamentally alter the Senate's character.

Mr. Brownstein sees this as a sign of a serious problems: the Representification of the Senate.

The Cram-Down Decade
You met your obligations; your employer didn't. Result: You're screwed.
By Daniel Gross
Posted Friday, May 20, 2005, at 1:11 PM PT

...In corporate finance, a "cram-down deal" is defined as a transaction "in which stockholders are forced to accept undesirable terms, such as junk bonds instead of cash or equity, due to the absence of any better alternatives." More broadly, it's what happens when stakeholders who have met their obligations are nonetheless forced to accept returns or compensation that are far less than they were promised. Frequently, cram downs occur because the entity charged with managing the investment has screwed up it frittered away cash or went bankrupt. And this is the theme that is defining personal, corporate, and government finances this decade.

The Right's Counteroffensive Against DeLay Critics
By Mike Allen
Post
Sunday, May 22, 2005; A04

"The sharks are circling," says the ad, showing an underwater view of an approaching fish with jaws at the ready. "The media, the liberals, they're in a frenzy. Last year, they went after President Bush. . . . Now, they're after Tom DeLay and the free-market values he defends."

The spot, which began last week in Houston and on national cable television, is the conservative answer to liberal ads that have run in the districts of potentially vulnerable House Republicans, calling on them to distance themselves from Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).

They're not real Christians...

The Religious Left's Lies
By James Watt
Saturday, May 21, 2005; Page A19

The religious left's political operatives have mounted a shrill attack on a significant portion of the Christian community. Four out of five evangelical Christians supported President Bush in 2004 -- a third of all ballots cast for him, according to the Pew Research Center. Factor in Catholics and members of other conservative religious communities and it's clear that the religious right is the largest voting bloc in today's Republican Party.

The religious left took note. Political opportunists in its ranks sought a wedge issue to weaken the GOP's coalition of Jews, Catholics and evangelicals and shatter its electoral majority. They passed over obvious headliners and landed on a curious but cunning choice: the environment. Those leading the charge are effective advocates: LBJ alumnus Bill Moyers of PBS fame, members of the National Council of Churches USA and liberal theologians who claim a moral superiority to other people of faith.

On Meet the Press, Howard Dean said "Osama bin Ladin" when he obviously meant "Saddam Hussein."

Twice.

They're just going to cause a lot grief and pain in the meantime.

Decoding Health Insurance
By ROBIN COOK

...As a doctor I have always been against health insurance except for catastrophic care and for the very poor. It has been my experience that the doctor-patient relationship is the most personal and rewarding for both the patient and the doctor when a clear, direct fiduciary relationship exists. In such a circumstance, both individuals value the encounter more, which invariably leads to more time, more attention to potentially important details, and a higher level of patient compliance and satisfaction - all of which invariably result in a better outcome.

Kinder, Gentler? Only to a Point
By MARK A. STEIN

Was it just last month that Wal-Mart's chief executive, H. Lee Scott Jr., said his company would be a kinder, gentler corporate citizen and never again bulldoze a local government to let it open more stores?

That's hard to tell from events in Flagstaff, Ariz. Wal-Mart spent almost $300,000 to underwrite a campaign there to overturn a local ordinance limiting the size of new stores.

The campaign outspent its opponents nearly 10-1, according to local newspapers, and at one point ran an ad comparing the zoning law with Nazi book-burning and censorship (a rich argument from a store that censors the books and magazines it sells).

Believe It: The Media's Credibility Headache Gets Worse

By PATRICK D. HEALY

SO many Americans apparently now see journalists as self-interested, careerist and unprofessional that perhaps it would make sense for media executives to call up another group of bosses who once faced fundamental questions about their product: the makers of Tylenol in the 1980's.

...Compared with the news media outlets, Tylenol may have had it easy. It would be hard for the media to pitch itself as a innocent victim of its own shortcomings. And though journalists like to think of themselves as guardians of the public trust, too, opinion polls for at least two decades have shown declining faith in print and television news. Reassuring the public that these products are dependable, in turn, has proved frustratingly elusive.

Lieberman is on ThisWeek

He is presenting the weakest argument against the Republican attempts to change the rules possible. In fact, he gave the Republicans quite a gift by saying judicial appointments require a 60 vote supermajority.

Senator George Allen, Lieberman's opposite number on the show, said Miguel Estrada, Thurgood Marshall, and Clarence Thomas (note the race card, people) as well as dozens of others passed on the Senate floor with less than 60 votes. That's a point Lieberman should have raised.

Joseph Stiglitz wears Bush's ass out in the L.A. Times today.

He opens with a one sentences paragraph:

President Bush's plan to reform Social Security requires that we trust the private sector, which isn't all that easy to do given its inability to honor its obligations in pensions or to provide adequate health plans.

He works over "activist" judges:

What the court's decision has done is change the rules of the game. The only way for other airlines to compete now isn't just to operate more efficiently but to have the government pick up more of their costs. It is expected that Delta Airlines will be the next to try.

He states on obvious truth, one that everyone impacted by the Social Security system should keep in mind:

Quote of note:

The extent of the White House involvement in the controversy is difficult to assess since such activities take place out of the limelight. But, as Moore put it: "There's no question that the resources of the White House strategy team and legislative team are being fully engaged in this fight. It's being driven from the very top."

One example came late last week during compromise negotiations among a dozen senators from both parties. When Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) proposed greater consultation between the White House and the Senate before judicial nominations are made, the White House quashed that notion, a Republican congressional staffer with knowledge of the discussions said.

Bush Keeps Role in Senate Fray Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind
Publicly, the president remains an onlooker in the battle over his judicial nominees. But his strategy behind the scenes is another story.
By Edwin Chen and Warren Vieth
Times Staff Writers
May 22, 2005

Dozens Have Alleged Koran's Mishandling
Complaints by inmates in Afghanistan, Iraq and Cuba emerged early. In 2003, the Pentagon set a sensitivity policy after trouble at Guantanamo.
By Richard A. Serrano and John Daniszewski
Times Staff Writers
May 22, 2005

An examination of hearing transcripts, court records and government documents, as well as interviews with former detainees, their lawyers, civil liberties groups and U.S. military personnel, reveals dozens of accusations involving the Koran, not only at Guantanamo, but also at American-run detention facilities in Afghanistan and Iraq.

... The allegations, both at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere, contain detailed descriptions of what Muslim prisoners said was mishandling of the Koran   sometimes in a deliberately provocative manner.

Quote of note:

The Pentagon hopes that by next year, a significant troop reduction in Iraq will allow the Army to slow the pace of troop deployments, giving soldiers two years at home for every year in battle.

Yet Pentagon officials admit it is uncertain that this can happen by 2006.

"I still don't know if we can make it," said a senior Army officer at the Pentagon. "You tell me what Iraq is going to look like next year."

Officers Plot Exit Strategy
Many young lieutenants and captains, key leaders in combat, are deciding against Army careers in light of the open-ended war on terrorism.
By Mark Mazzetti
Times Staff Writer
May 22, 2005