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Thursday, November 25, 2004 Happy Tofurkey Day And peace to us all. posted by chris at 10:33 AM   ------------------ Wednesday, November 24, 2004 Buy Nothing Day reminder Don't forget, Friday, November 26 is Buy Nothing Day. Enjoy the day off. posted by chris at 4:57 PM   THIS is what democracy looks like Tens of thousands of protesters draped in the orange colors of the opposition marched on parliament Tuesday and demanded the results of Ukraine's hotly contested presidential election be annulled, as their leader accused the government of fraud and called for civil disobedience. Story. UPDATE: Oh sure, now the US wants to weign in on an illegitimate election. Irony is offically dead. posted by chris at 4:45 PM   Looking into the election A group of high-ranking congressional Democrats who had called for a federal probe of the November election announced Tuesday that the Government Accountability Office would investigate irregularities with voting machines and provisional ballots nationwide. That announcement came on the same day that the Democratic Party in Ohio said it would join the recount effort in that state that was initiated by Green and Libertarian party candidates. Both of these developments reflect growing concern with election results and procedures that were first raised by poll watchers and individual voters and then circulated on the Internet. This isn't about sour grapes, this is about ensuring that our election system works as it's supposed to work. posted by chris at 4:42 PM   True to US history The U.S. government knew of an imminent plot to oust Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chávez, in the weeks prior to a 2002 military coup that briefly unseated him, newly released CIA documents show, despite White House claims to the contrary a week after the putsch. Yet the United States, which depends on Venezuela for nearly one-sixth of its oil, never warned the Chávez government, Venezuelan officials said. The Bush administration has denied it was involved in the coup or knew one was being planned. At a White House briefing on April 17, 2002, just days after the 47-hour coup, a senior administration official who did not want to be named said, "The United States did not know that there was going to be an attempt of this kind to overthrow - or to get Chávez out of power." Yet based on the newly released CIA briefs, an analyst said yesterday that did not appear to be the case. More. posted by chris at 4:34 PM   ------------------ Tuesday, November 23, 2004 Playing with numbers Today, [soldier Chris] Schneider walks with a limp, on his artificial leg. But even though he was injured while on a mission in a war zone – and even though he’ll receive the same benefits as a soldier who’d been shot - he is not included in the Pentagon’s casualty count. Their official tally shows only deaths and wounded in action. It doesn't include "non-combat" injured, those whose injuries were not the result of enemy fire. "It's a slap in the face. Although it was through no direct hostile action, I was on a mission that they’d given me in hostile territory. Hostile enough that we had to have a perimeter set up at the time of my accident to prevent from an ambush or an attack," says Schneider. "For those of us that were unfortunate enough to get injured. Whether it was hostile action or not, we're all paying the same price." How many injured and ill soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines - like Chris Schneider - are left off the Pentagon’s casualty count? Would you believe 15,000? 60 Minutes asked the Department of Defense to grant us an interview. They declined. Instead, they sent a letter, which contains a figure not included in published casualty reports: "More than 15,000 troops with so-called 'non-battle' injuries and diseases have been evacuated from Iraq." -clip- "You have to say that the total number of casualties due to wounds, injury, disease would have to be somewhere in the ballpark of over 20, maybe 30,000," says [John] Pike, [director of a research group called GlobalSecurity.org]. His calculation, striking as it is, is based on the military's own definition of casualty – anyone "lost to the organization," in this case, for medical reasons. And Pike believes it’s no accident that the military reports a number far lower than his estimate. "The Pentagon, I think, is afraid that they're going to lose public support for this war, the way they lost public support for Vietnam back in the 1960s," says Pike. "And minimizing the apparent cost of the war, I think, is one way that they're hoping to sustain public support here at home." Story. posted by chris at 6:02 PM   Fantasy based accounting Republican budget writers say they may have found a way to cut the federal deficit even if they borrow hundreds of billions more to overhaul the Social Security system: Don't count all that new borrowing. As they lay the groundwork for what will probably be a controversial fight over Social Security, Republican lawmakers and the Bush administration are examining a number of accounting strategies that would allow the expensive transition to a partially privatized Social Security system without -- at least on paper -- expanding the country's record annual budget deficits. The strategies include, for example, moving the costs of Social Security reform "off-budget" so they are not counted against the government's yearly shortfall. Don't count it. Interesting strategy. Kinda how we just decided that the Geneva Convention didn't apply to us. These guys are incredible. posted by chris at 2:00 PM   ------------------ Monday, November 22, 2004 Buy Nothing Day The press and the retailers always claim that the day after Thanksgiving, November 26, is the busiest shopping day of the year. My guess is that it once was the busiest day since many workers had the day off and spent it buying gifts for Christmas. It quite possibly could still be the busiest day of the year, but I think the impression that it is, that's what's important. By encouraging that impression, it encourages the same behavior. Cause if everyone else is out shopping, you should be too. (After all, it's your patriotic duty.) And since the hype of that day still exists, then the fight for that day should too. November 26 is Buy Nothing Day, which means you take a day off from our consumer culture and refuse to participate in the endless cycle of consumerism that affects the environment, that affects ourselves, that affects the world. It's a day to reflect on, well, whatever you want, but the intended purpose is to focus on what all this mass consumption in a marketed-to-death society means. So take the day off and enjoy it. Jump out of the cycle for just a day and see how it feels. Think about life, talk to a friend, go for a walk, listen to the world. Just leave your credit cards at home. UPDATE: Here's a handy test to determine your impact on the planet, in terms of consumption of resources. posted by chris at 2:20 PM   ------------------

    

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