Op-Ed
AUSTIN, Texas -- The famous Texas two-step is getting a heavy workout in Washington. You glance away for just a moment to watch the World Series and -- oops -- we're no longer for regime change in Iraq.
We've spent the last two months having it pounded into our brains daily that we must have regime change in Iraq, nothing else will do. But now -- not so. Well, you say, people are allowed to change their minds, even presidents. But that's where we come to the awkward part, because the administration is insisting it hasn't changed its mind at all, it never demanded regime change and it's all our fault for being so stupid as to have misunderstood them. This is the White Queen stage, she who could believe six impossible things before breakfast.
We've spent the last two months having it pounded into our brains daily that we must have regime change in Iraq, nothing else will do. But now -- not so. Well, you say, people are allowed to change their minds, even presidents. But that's where we come to the awkward part, because the administration is insisting it hasn't changed its mind at all, it never demanded regime change and it's all our fault for being so stupid as to have misunderstood them. This is the White Queen stage, she who could believe six impossible things before breakfast.
AUSTIN, Texas -- As all the Miss Witherspoons of our lives used to call in those clear, fluty tones, "Attention, girls!" Heads up, women, we've got problems.
The latest in a long line of anti-woman decisions by the Bush administration is, for once, getting some attention, in part because of the sheer cheapness of the move.
President Bush has decided not to send the $34 million approved by both houses of Congress for the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA). The fund provides contraception, family planning and safe births, and works against the spread of HIV and against female genital mutilation in the poorest countries of the world. Thirty-four million dollars goes a long way in the parts of the world where over 600,000 women die every year from pregnancy and childbirth, many of them children themselves.
Of course, our poor government is so broke it can't afford to waste $34 million on women in poor countries. It has more important things to do, like spending $100 million on "promoting marriage." (I'm in favor of recycling old Nike ads for this one: "Marriage. Just do it.")
The latest in a long line of anti-woman decisions by the Bush administration is, for once, getting some attention, in part because of the sheer cheapness of the move.
President Bush has decided not to send the $34 million approved by both houses of Congress for the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA). The fund provides contraception, family planning and safe births, and works against the spread of HIV and against female genital mutilation in the poorest countries of the world. Thirty-four million dollars goes a long way in the parts of the world where over 600,000 women die every year from pregnancy and childbirth, many of them children themselves.
Of course, our poor government is so broke it can't afford to waste $34 million on women in poor countries. It has more important things to do, like spending $100 million on "promoting marriage." (I'm in favor of recycling old Nike ads for this one: "Marriage. Just do it.")
Before decisions get made in Washington -- and even before most
politicians open their mouths about key issues -- there are polls. Lots of
them. Whether splashed across front pages or commissioned by candidates
for private analysis, the statistical sampling of public opinion is a
constant in political life.
We may believe that polls tell us what Americans are thinking. But polls also gauge the effectiveness of media spin -- and contribute to it. Opinion polls don't just measure; they also manipulate, helping to shape thoughts and tilting our perceptions of how most people think.
Polls routinely invite the respondents to choose from choices that have already been prepared for them. Results hinge on the exact phrasing of questions and the array of multiple-choice answers, as candid players in the polling biz readily acknowledge.
We may believe that polls tell us what Americans are thinking. But polls also gauge the effectiveness of media spin -- and contribute to it. Opinion polls don't just measure; they also manipulate, helping to shape thoughts and tilting our perceptions of how most people think.
Polls routinely invite the respondents to choose from choices that have already been prepared for them. Results hinge on the exact phrasing of questions and the array of multiple-choice answers, as candid players in the polling biz readily acknowledge.
AUSTIN, Texas -- Have you had a terrible stomach illness lately? It's quite likely you should blame the Bush administration. I know, that sounds like some demented spoof of left-wing paranoia, but it's actually an especially visceral example of one of life's iron rules -- you can't ignore politics, no matter how much you'd like to.
Unless you have reason to suspect that your nearest and dearest are putting arsenic in your food, your bad stomach was likely caused by tainted meat. It is not hard to connect the dots on this one -- the massive meat recalls of recent months have now culminated in the largest in the nation's history, 27.4 million pounds worth, due to suspected contamination by the killer bacteria Listeria.
According to Reuters News Service, the Listeria outbreak in the Northeast has so far caused 23 deaths, and that is not particularly unusual. According to government data, contaminated food causes more than 76 million illnesses and 5,000 deaths annually. How's that for Homeland Security?
Unless you have reason to suspect that your nearest and dearest are putting arsenic in your food, your bad stomach was likely caused by tainted meat. It is not hard to connect the dots on this one -- the massive meat recalls of recent months have now culminated in the largest in the nation's history, 27.4 million pounds worth, due to suspected contamination by the killer bacteria Listeria.
According to Reuters News Service, the Listeria outbreak in the Northeast has so far caused 23 deaths, and that is not particularly unusual. According to government data, contaminated food causes more than 76 million illnesses and 5,000 deaths annually. How's that for Homeland Security?
AUSTIN, Texas -- For those interested in high points in the history of Bad Manners, there was rather a breathtaking moment last week when columnist and television pundit Bob Novak chose to use the occasion of Jimmy Carter's winning the Nobel Peace Prize to trash the man.
"It's one of those inevocable (that's what the transcript says) signs of autumn," said Novak on "Crossfire." "Year in and year out, we get the inevitable boomlet to give Jimmy Carter the Nobel Peace Prize. The admittedly incompetent president, who is supposed to be a terrific ex-president. Well, this year they slipped up and actually gave him the Peace Prize. So we are giving the peanut man from Georgia something else: our 'Quote of the Day.'"
(They then run a clip of Carter being modest and amusing about getting the call from Norway that morning. "I thought it was some joker who was calling," he says.)
Novak continues: "You know, James, the Nobel Peace Committee's been making mistakes on that prize, giving it to people like Yasser Arafat and Le Duc Tho. But Jimmy Carter's one of the biggest mistakes. He's the guy that was for the communists in Nicaragua and Fidel Castro in Cuba."
"It's one of those inevocable (that's what the transcript says) signs of autumn," said Novak on "Crossfire." "Year in and year out, we get the inevitable boomlet to give Jimmy Carter the Nobel Peace Prize. The admittedly incompetent president, who is supposed to be a terrific ex-president. Well, this year they slipped up and actually gave him the Peace Prize. So we are giving the peanut man from Georgia something else: our 'Quote of the Day.'"
(They then run a clip of Carter being modest and amusing about getting the call from Norway that morning. "I thought it was some joker who was calling," he says.)
Novak continues: "You know, James, the Nobel Peace Committee's been making mistakes on that prize, giving it to people like Yasser Arafat and Le Duc Tho. But Jimmy Carter's one of the biggest mistakes. He's the guy that was for the communists in Nicaragua and Fidel Castro in Cuba."
AUSTIN, Texas -- Have you lost your homeowner's insurance lately? Seven hundred thousand of us here in Texas have, after Farmers Insurance decided to pull out of the Texas market -- despite the fact that we pay the highest insurance rates in the nation, an annual average of $680 more than homeowners in other states.
So here's 700,000 of us scrambling to find new insurance and fainting when we hear the rates quoted. If we don't carry insurance, under law, the mortgage companies can seize our homes. Great, a whole new class -- the affluent homeless.
How, you may ask, did we get into this mess? If you listen to the insurance companies, they'll tell you it's all because of those terrible trial lawyers bringing those ridiculous lawsuits, and the stupid juries that award millions and then the appeals courts never, ever throw those verdicts out.
Actually, that's not the problem. It is however, part of the problem. It is a small part of the problem.
So here's 700,000 of us scrambling to find new insurance and fainting when we hear the rates quoted. If we don't carry insurance, under law, the mortgage companies can seize our homes. Great, a whole new class -- the affluent homeless.
How, you may ask, did we get into this mess? If you listen to the insurance companies, they'll tell you it's all because of those terrible trial lawyers bringing those ridiculous lawsuits, and the stupid juries that award millions and then the appeals courts never, ever throw those verdicts out.
Actually, that's not the problem. It is however, part of the problem. It is a small part of the problem.
AUSTIN, Texas -- We just lost the whole ballgame on corporate reform without the news even making it to the front page. The sick, sad tidings were tucked away discreetly on the business pages: "SEC Chief Hedges on Accounting Regulator." Now there's a sexy headline.
All of you who were shafted by Enron, shucked by Worldcom, jived by Global Crossing, everyone whose 401(k) is now a 201(k) (I think that's Paul Begala's line), you just got screwed again. They're not going to fix it.
They've already called off the reform effort; it's over. Corporate muscle showed up and shut it down. Forget expensing options, independent directors, going after offshore shams, derivatives regulation. For that matter, forget even basic reforms like separating the auditing and consulting functions of accounting firms and rotating accounting firms every few years. Bottom line: It's all going to happen again. We learned zip from the entire financial collapse. Our political system is too bought-off to respond intelligently.
All of you who were shafted by Enron, shucked by Worldcom, jived by Global Crossing, everyone whose 401(k) is now a 201(k) (I think that's Paul Begala's line), you just got screwed again. They're not going to fix it.
They've already called off the reform effort; it's over. Corporate muscle showed up and shut it down. Forget expensing options, independent directors, going after offshore shams, derivatives regulation. For that matter, forget even basic reforms like separating the auditing and consulting functions of accounting firms and rotating accounting firms every few years. Bottom line: It's all going to happen again. We learned zip from the entire financial collapse. Our political system is too bought-off to respond intelligently.
News coverage of the United Nations gets confusing sometimes. Is
the U.N. a vital institution or a dysfunctional relic? Are its Security
Council resolutions profoundly important for international relations --
or beside the point because global leadership must now come from the
world's only superpower?
These days, we keep hearing that the United States will need to launch a full-scale attack on Iraq because Saddam Hussein has violated U.N. Security Council resolutions -- at the same time that we're told the U.S. government must reserve the right to take military action unilaterally if the Security Council fails to make appropriate decisions about Iraq.
To clarify the situation, here are three basic guidelines for understanding how to think in sync with America's leading politicians and pundits:
These days, we keep hearing that the United States will need to launch a full-scale attack on Iraq because Saddam Hussein has violated U.N. Security Council resolutions -- at the same time that we're told the U.S. government must reserve the right to take military action unilaterally if the Security Council fails to make appropriate decisions about Iraq.
To clarify the situation, here are three basic guidelines for understanding how to think in sync with America's leading politicians and pundits:
SAN FRANCISCO -- The conventional wisdom in Washington is that it's
pointless or reckless for Americans to speak with Iraqi officials. But
some on Capitol Hill are beginning to think otherwise.
Last month, for the first time since George W. Bush became president, members of Congress -- four Democrats -- visited Baghdad. Hopefully, more will be making the journey later this fall.
Rep. Nick Rahall, a 13-term congressman from West Virginia, started the trend in mid-September when he joined former Sen. James Abourezk of South Dakota to lead a small delegation of Americans to Baghdad. As a member of that group, I was impressed with the candor of the discussions during several hours of meetings with high-level Iraqi government ministers.
Last month, for the first time since George W. Bush became president, members of Congress -- four Democrats -- visited Baghdad. Hopefully, more will be making the journey later this fall.
Rep. Nick Rahall, a 13-term congressman from West Virginia, started the trend in mid-September when he joined former Sen. James Abourezk of South Dakota to lead a small delegation of Americans to Baghdad. As a member of that group, I was impressed with the candor of the discussions during several hours of meetings with high-level Iraqi government ministers.
AUSTIN, Texas -- One thing I have always admired about the U.S. military services is their ability to learn from their mistakes. They have institutionalized this ability in the form of remarkable After Action Reviews, which include rigorous dissection of every aspect of whatever operation they were last required to take.
These AARs are both unsparing and illuminating -- I recall the particularly trenchant review of the (SET ITAL) opera bouffe (END ITAL) episode in which they were required to invade Grenada, an exercise so stunningly silly that it is beneath comment. They should have sent a Texas Ranger.
Of course, the military spent years poring over Vietnam, the one it lost. Even now, the feelings of many are still so tender on that one that I feel obliged to point out they didn't actually lose it -- they were sent into an unwinnable situation.
These AARs are both unsparing and illuminating -- I recall the particularly trenchant review of the (SET ITAL) opera bouffe (END ITAL) episode in which they were required to invade Grenada, an exercise so stunningly silly that it is beneath comment. They should have sent a Texas Ranger.
Of course, the military spent years poring over Vietnam, the one it lost. Even now, the feelings of many are still so tender on that one that I feel obliged to point out they didn't actually lose it -- they were sent into an unwinnable situation.