This Was the Week That Was
January 20 - 26, #38

The dominating news this week was the transmogrification of “Weapons of Mass Destruction” to
“Weapons of Mass Destruction-Related Program Activities” in the State of the Union address.
(Can you visualize Shrub’s speech writers chortling over that?) When asked about this bit of
doublethink, Shrub replied, “What’s the difference?”


The State of the Union address evoked a national snicker. The Associated Press called it “off the
mark” in its lack of accuracy, while the Washington Post reported expert opinions calling the
president’s rhetoric ungrounded in reality. The New York Times and the Boston Globe were
among the many who panned the talk. Further, the polls indicated a negative rating from the
general public.(www.americanprogress.org)


Meanwhile, David Kay, the former chief US weapons inspector, retired and told a Reuters
interviewer that he had concluded that Iraq had no chemical-biological weapons stockpile. Just
the same, Shrub, Cheyney, and Powell persisted in their claims that there were huge stores of
weapons.

In a press release, the Kucinich Presidential campaign documented the pro war stance of Senators
Kerry, Lieberman, and Edwards, General Clark, and Dr./Governor Dean. All claimed that Iraq
has weapons of mass destruction, and, therefore, contributed to the political climate which falsely
justified a war.” (Info-AT-Kucinich.us)

War! What is it good for....General Peter Schoomaker, US Army head, noted in an interview
with the Associated Press that Iraq and Afghanistan wars had a silver lining. They had allowed
the Army to instill soldiers with a “warrior ethos.” (newsvote.bbc.co.uk)

Military spending is killing us...While Shrub has already announced his intent to increase military
spending by 7 percent in 2005, analysts are beginning to look at the hidden and true costs of the
defense budget. A report from The Independent Institute ferreted out the defense-related parts of
the budgets of almost all cabinet appropriations, various agencies,and the interest payments on
debt-funded defense activities. The total–the true defense budget–turns out to be 596.1 billion
dollars which is considerably greater than the official line of 401 billion dollars.
(www.independent.org/til/news/031222Higgs.html)

What a friend we have in Congress....This week Congress forwarded its spending bill to the White
House. Among other things embedded in the bill: denial of overtime pay to about 8 million
workers, allow media companies to become more concentrated, delay country-of-origin labeling
of food, and allow the feds to destroy records of background checks for gun purchases in 24
hours.

The Supreme Court this week upheld Miranda, blocking the police from extracting information
from suspects facing charges before telling them they have a right to se a lawyer. The Court also
strengthened the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to fight air pollution. The Court said
that the Clean Air Act can be used to overrule states and block new plants that would likely emit
dirty air.

Here come the Judge.....In the first court ruling invalidating a section of the Patriot Act, Federal
District Judge Audrey Collins ruled that the section that bars giving “expert advice or assistance”
to groups designated as “foreign terrorists organizations” was unconstitutional because it was
impermisibly vague

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study this week on the national costs
of obesity-related illness–$75 billion. Almost six percent of all medical expenses are related to
obesity, while seven percent of all illnesses are related to tobacco. The Center estimated that 61
percent of American adults are overweight or obese.

On the local scene.....The Baltimore City School Board will be subject to a state inquiry team.
Somewhere the school administration lost count of $58 million.

We opened with the state of the union. We close with the state of public opinion.
(www.tcf.org)
51%: The percentage of Americans who believe that the Iraqi war was not worth the loss
of lives and other costs of attacking Iraq.
85%: The percentage of persons over 65 who are worried that the new prescrption drug
benefit will not go far enough in paying for their medications.
62%: The percentage of persons who want increased federal funding for the schools.
77%: The percentage opposed to withholding federal funds from schools where students
perform poorly.
52%: The percentage who want to leave social security more or less in its current form.
62%: The percentage opposed to a program to establish a base on the moon.
57%: The percentage opposed to Shrub’s proposed immigration policy..
57%: The percentage who say that they are uneasy about Shrub’s ability to make the right
decisions about the nation’s economy.
54%: The percentage who feel that the country is worse off financially than when Shrub
took office.

And, from a Gallup Poll this week–
64%: The percentage who say they are dissatisfied with the moral and ethical climate of
America.

This week in history....Sojourner Truth addresses first Black Women's Rights convention (1851); 750,000 U.S. steelworkers strike (1946); First nuclear test at Nevada test Site,1951; Vietnam Peace Treaty signed, 1973; Supreme Court legalizes abortion in Roe vs. Wade decision, 1973; Russian spy satellite falls out of orbit and crashes spewing nuclear material in Canada, 1977.