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13936 [lbo-talk] Orwell on catastrophism -- rank: 1000

[someone sent this offlist] Power worship blurs political judgement because it leads, almost unavoidably, to the belief that present trends will continue. Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible. If the Japanese have conquered south Asia, then they will keep south Asia for ever, if the Germans have captured Tobruk, they will infallibly capture Cairo; if the Russians are in Berlin, it will not be long before they are in London: and so on. This habit of mind leads also t ...

Document Size:	6391
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue May 16 15:09:24 PDT 2006

13937 [lbo-talk] Focus on Iran and Palestine, Not Iraq -- rank: 1000

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: >On 5/16/06, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote: >>Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: >>> >>> But Washington hasn't resolved to do so yet. So we >>> got a window of opportunity to shift our focus onto Iran, which has >>> yet to be destroyed. >> >>Our strength to make a difference here is almost totally centered in >>whatever current anti-war organization exists > >I disagree. Not in the USA, nor proba ...

Document Size:	5707
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue May 16 14:53:05 PDT 2006

13938 [lbo-talk] another dreadful Bush poll -- rank: 1000

ABC NEWS/WASHINGTON POST POLL: BUSH, WAR and POLITICS - 5/15/06 EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE AFTER 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 16, 2006 Bush Slumps to a New Low; It's About Iraq George W. Bush's job approval rating has slumped to 33 percent, tying the all-time low for presidential approval in 25 years of ABC News/Washington Post polls. Sixty-five percent disapprove, a new high. The reason - try as he might to change the subject - is the war in Iraq. Americans who disapprove of Bush's performance overwhelmingl ...

Document Size:	16510
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue May 16 14:27:56 PDT 2006

13939 [lbo-talk] Doomed: Letters from Third-World Leaders -- rank: 1000

Dennis Redmond wrote: >(1) Boost internal demand and park the remainder in high-growth Chinese, >Vietnamese, Korean, Russian and Eastern European markets. They're either not big enough or already saturated with cash. >(2) If the US dollar depreciates, other currencies appreciate. The euro is >already here, and an Asian currency unit is on the way. A dollar crisis would threaten global financial stability - it wouldn't be a zero-sum game. Doug

Document Size:	5156
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue May 16 13:55:49 PDT 2006

13940 [lbo-talk] Churchill "guilty" -- rank: 1000

[full report at <http://www.colorado.edu/news/reports/churchill/download/WardChurchillReport.pdf>] <http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/05/16/churchill> The Ward Churchill Verdict Ward Churchill committed multiple, "deliberate" acts of academic misconduct, according to a review by a faculty panel, released today by the University of Colorado at Boulder. While the panel was unanimous in its findings about Churchill's conduct, it was divided about whether he should lose his t ...

Document Size:	9173
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue May 16 12:46:26 PDT 2006

13941 [lbo-talk] Fidel - millionaire? -- rank: 1000

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4985510.stm> Castro denies huge fortune claim Cuban President Fidel Castro has dismissed as "absurd" and "malicious" a US magazine report saying he had amassed a personal fortune of $900m. Mr Castro said the estimate, published in Forbes magazine, was part of a US campaign to discredit him. He said if anyone found evidence that he had even "a single dollar" in a foreign bank account, he would resign. The survey assumes Mr C ...

Document Size:	7398
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue May 16 10:38:20 PDT 2006

13942 [lbo-talk] public opinion on Iraq vs Vietnam -- rank: 1000

Andy F wrote: >So W's approval ratings have been slipping, and approval correlates >highly with party affiliation. Is there any direct measurement that >self-reported party affiliation has been shifting? Dems are doing somewhat better. After the 2004 election, party ID was pretty close to evenly divided (if you include "leaners"). Latest Gallup has 48% D, 39% R. Excluding "leaners" (i.e. including those with only firm ID), it was 38% R 27% R just after the election; ...

Document Size:	5256
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue May 16 10:31:46 PDT 2006

13943 [lbo-talk] Rove takes some heat -- rank: 1000

Washington Post - May 16, 2006 Karl Rove, Bullish on the Budget and the Border By Dana Milbank It's a heck of a curse. Presidential adviser Karl Rove had almost finished his appearance yesterday at the American Enterprise Institute when it happened. Discussing the Bush administration's record on illegal immigration, he blurted out, "We're doing a heck of a job." D'oh! President Bush made the phrase a national shorthand for incompetence when he bestowed it on FEMA Director Mike "Br ...

Document Size:	10045
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue May 16 10:22:17 PDT 2006

13944 [lbo-talk] Defusing the nuclear Middle East -- rank: 1000

[bounced bec HTML coding put it over the length limit] From: Joel Schalit <managingeditor at tikkun.org> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Defusing the nuclear Middle East Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 09:51:31 -0700 To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Dig completely - this is about as likely to happen as Ehud Olmert converting to Islam. The single best piece of strategic forecasting about likely scenarios, wherein there is a military attempt to take out Iran's nuclear facilities was penned by Stephen Zunes in Fo ...

Document Size:	15918
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue May 16 10:06:14 PDT 2006

13945 [lbo-talk] kicked out of Netherlands, finding refuge at AEI -- rank: 1000

Colin Brace wrote: >Doug, don't feel too sorry for her; she already has at least one friend in DC: > >http://www.slate.com/id/2141276/fr/rss/ Two - don't forget the American Enterprise Institute, which is giving her a job. Doug

Document Size:	5041
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue May 16 09:55:20 PDT 2006

13946 [lbo-talk] kicked out of Netherlands, finding refuge at AEI -- rank: 1000

Somali-born Dutch MP to resign, leave The Netherlands 44 minutes ago THE HAGUE (AFP) - Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a right-wing Dutch lawmaker and critic of Islam, said she was resigning as a member of parliament and would leave The Netherlands following a furore over lies on her asylum application. "Today I resign as a member of parliament. I will leave the Netherlands, saddened but also relieved. I will back my bags. I will go on," Hirsi Ali told a news conference in The Hague on Tuesday. The m ...

Document Size:	6381
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue May 16 06:29:17 PDT 2006

13947 [lbo-talk] public opinion on Iraq vs Vietnam -- rank: 1000

[plenty of good graphics in the original] <http://pewresearch.org/obdeck/?ObDeckID=25> The Iraq-Vietnam Difference This time, the opposition runs strongly along party lines. by Michael Dimock Pew Research Center for the People & the Press May 16, 2006 Public opinion toward the U.S. war in Iraq bears striking parallels - and clear contrasts - with the war in Vietnam more than three decades ago. In both cases, presidents tied their political fortunes to the war. And in both cases, they p ...

Document Size:	11853
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue May 16 06:24:50 PDT 2006

13948 [lbo-talk] Doomed: Letters from Third-World Leaders -- rank: 1000

Dennis Redmond wrote: >the EU and East Asia would >pull the current account trigger on the US Really? 1) What else will they do with their cash? and 2) Why would they do anything that would hammer the value of their existing holdings? Doug

Document Size:	4902
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue May 16 06:17:15 PDT 2006

13949 [lbo-talk] Feds to ABC: we know who you're calling -- rank: 1000

Colin Brace wrote: >On 5/15/06, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote: > >><http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/05/federal_source_.html> > >Did you read any of the hundreds of comments? The wingnut brigade was >out in full force. I rarely read comments for just that reason. Sometimes the Internets are just a little too democratic. Doug

Document Size:	5252
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon May 15 15:46:01 PDT 2006

13950 [lbo-talk] Energy crisis? Venezuela gas is cheaper than water -- rank: 1000

Andy F wrote: >Didn't Doug just have an interview where somebody said that Venezuela >was importing gas from Russia because the local oil people have been >dragging their feet? It was in the FT the other day and I mentioned it on the radio. Doug

Document Size:	5022
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon May 15 14:40:39 PDT 2006