Today’s broadsheet from the FM website pressroom. There are 4 sections, all with hot news.
- Links to interesting news and analysis
- Today’s graphic — prisons vs. schools
- Quote of the Day — paying for the war
- Plus, an Afterword
(1) Today’s links
- “The Alarmists Do “Science”: A Case Study“, John Hinderaker, Powerline, 21 November 2009 — Slowly people are weaving the hacked data from the UK Climate Research Unit into a coherent stories. Here is one example. It’s an ugly picture of substituting propaganda for science.
- “The CRUtape Letters, an Alternative Explanation“, Charles, Watts Up with That, 23 November 2009 — A better explanation for the release of data from the UK’s Climate Research Unit. It probably was an inside job, to some degree. The uber-evil hacker story might be a myth.
- “All The News That’s Fit To Bury“, Ed Driscol, Pajamas Media, 22 November 2009 — More evidence that the news media are not longer in the news business, committing suicide.
- “Iraq’s lessons, on the home front – Volunteer veterans help California city use counterinsurgency strategy to stem gang violence“, Washington Post, 15 November 2009 — More evidence that 4th generation war has come to the USA.
- “On War #323: Milestone“, William S. Lind, Defense and the National Interest, 23 November 2009 — Explanation of the above story, and why it’s so important.
- “Pricing an Afghanistan troop buildup is no simple calculation“, Los Angeles Times, 23 November 2009 — Slow the truth comes out about the cost of escalating the Af-Pak War. If only our leaders would consider the benefit vs. other ways to spend this borrowed money.
- “How 16 ships create as much pollution as all the cars in the world“, Daily Mail, 21 November 2009
(2) Today’s graphic — prisons vs. schools
From “California’s Choice“, Kevin Drum, blog at Mother Jones, 19 November 2009:
We used to have the world’s greatest system of higher education and we thrived. Now we have the world’s biggest system of penal institutions and we’re broke. That’s the decision Californians have made over the past 30 years: more prisons and better paid prison guards, but lower taxes and less education. (And not just higher education, either.) It’s hard to think of a stupider allocation of resources.
(3) Quote of the day: paying for the war
File under “another way to end the war in a week, if implemented now — instead of 2011.”
Excerpt from”Share the Sacrifice Act Ends Borrowing to Pay for Afghan War“, Representative Dave Obey, 19 November 2009 — Red emphasis added:
Seventh District Congressman Dave Obey (D-WI), the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Congressman John Murtha (D-PA), the Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Congressman John Larson (D-CT), the Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, and 8 other Democratic Members introduced legislation today that would end the practice of paying for the war in Afghanistan with borrowed money by imposing a war surtax beginning in 2011.
“For the last year, as we’ve struggled to pass healthcare reform, we’ve been told that we have to pay for the bill – and the cost over the next decade will be about a trillion dollars. Now the President is being asked to consider an enlarged counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan, which proponents tell us will take at least a decade and would also cost about a trillion dollars. But unlike the healthcare bill, that would not be paid for. We believe that’s wrong,” said Obey. “Regardless of whether one favors the war or not, if it is to be fought, it ought to be paid for.”
“The only people who’ve paid any price for our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan are our military families,” Obey added. “We believe that if this war is to be fought, it’s only fair that everyone share the burden. That’s why we are offering legislation to impose a graduated surtax so that the cost of the war is not borrowed.”
Comments from Matthew Yglesias’ post about this:
- rmwarnick Says: “Like all serious good-government proposals, the war tax will no doubt evoke laughter in congressional offices.”
- Rob Mac Says: “All serious good government programs are dismissed by DC insiders as unserious.”
Afterword
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