Sanora Babb died on Dec. 31, aged 98. Harry Magdoff died on New Year's Day, at 92. Frank Wilkinson died a day later, at 91.

My line has always been that to get really old it pays to have been a Commie or at least a fellow traveler. In younger years they tended to walk a lot, selling the party paper. They talked a lot and, above all, they never stopped thinking. The quickest way to kill someone is to send them off to quasi-solitary, torn from their comfortable nest and thrown into a nursing home or into managed care, where people talk about them at the tops of their voices, referring to them in the third person. You can see them dying before your eyes, their brains turned to mush. It takes about a year to kill them off, unless a "surprise birthday party" wipes them out even earlier.

Trotskyists tend to be more feverish and stressed out, hence less likely to turn the bend into their 90s. As for Maoists (over here), I don't know. As Chou En Lai answered, when asked what he thought of the French Revolution, Too soon to tell. The ex-Maoists I know are mostly still in their mid-60s.

There is significant controversy about whether the 2004 presidential election was conducted fairly and its votes counted correctly. According to results of the major national election exit poll conducted for the National Election Pool by Edison/Mitofsky (E/M), Kerry won Ohio's pivotal vote, though the official tally gave the state, and thus the presidency, to Bush. The conduct of Ohio's election was formally debated by Congress in January 2005.

The National Election Data Archive (NEDA) is the first mathematical team to release a valid scientific analysis of the precinct-level 2004 Ohio presidential exit poll data "The Gun is Smoking: Ohio 2004 Exit Poll Discrepancies Are Consistent with Outcome-Altering Vote Miscount" available at http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/OH/Ohio-Exit-Polls-2004.pdf. NEDA's analysis provides significant evidence of an outcome-altering vote miscount.

We've all heard the line.  "That would make us look weak on national security."  That line is supposed to be based on public opinion, not just the opinions of media corporations and pundits working for Pentagon-funded think tanks.  That line is supposed to have something to do with the general American public.  But it does not.

Take a look at this survey from last spring by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (University of Maryland): http://tinyurl.com/8jzp5

According to this data, the largest cut by far that most Americans would make in federal discretionary spending is in the military budget, which they would cut by nearly a third.  In particular, majorities favor reducing spending on the capacity for conducting large-scale nuclear and conventional wars.  Next on the list of cuts after the "defense" budget?  The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Most Americans believe that spending on economic and humanitarian aid is much higher than it is, and yet they want it increased significantly.  Most Americans favor multilateral approaches to security.

No doubt many people are glad that Ted Koppel will become a regular voice on National Public Radio. He recently ended 25 years with ABC’s “Nightline” show amid profuse media accolades. But what kind of journalist goes out of his way to voice fervent admiration for Henry Kissinger?

NPR has announced that Koppel will do several commentaries per month on “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” The Associated Press reported that “he also will serve as an analyst during breaking news and special events.”

There’s some grim irony in the statement issued by NPR’s senior vice president for programming: “Ted and NPR are a natural fit, with curiosity about the world and commitment to getting to the heart of the story. The role of news analyst has been a tradition on NPR newsmagazines and there is no one better qualified to uphold and grow that tradition than Ted.”

But “the heart of the story” about U.S. foreign policy has often involved deceptions from Washington. And since Koppel became a prominent journalist, he has been a fervent booster of one of the most prodigious and murderous deceivers in U.S. history.

mattbors.com