Tuesday, May 4, 2004

I read page A17 today, oh boy... In normal times, an article with the following lead paragraph would be on page one, above the fold: The Congressional Research Service says the Bush administration apparently violated federal law by ordering the chief Medicare actuary to withhold information from Congress indicating that the new Medicare law could cost far more than White House officials had said. But clearly we do not live in normal times. That's why this NY Times story appeared on page A17 of today's newspaper. It didn't even receive a mention in the summary box on the bottom of page one. Postscript: The article fails to mention that withholding information from Congress isn't the only thing for which Thomas Scully is infamous. On May 12, 2003 Thomas Scully, chief administrator for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) obtained an ethics waiver from Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson allowing him to ignore ethics laws barring him from negotiating employment with anyone financially affected by his official duties or authority. Scully subsequently acted as the White House's head negotiator on the Medicare prescription drug bill, a bill that significantly affected the financial interests of five firms he was in employment talks with. On December 18, 2003 Scully announced that he was joining two of the firms affected by the bill. Public Citizen provides the details in their fact sheet (pdf) on Scully: Thomas A. Scully, Administrator for the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), announced on December 18, 2003 that he will be joining Alston & Bird, a law firm that lobbies for several health care industry companies. These companies are significantly affected by the Medicare law that Scully, on behalf of the Bush administration, negotiated with Congress. Scully also announced that he will be working part-time for Welsh, Carson Anderson & Stowe, and investment firm with interests in several more companies affected by the new law. After the Medicare legislation had passed Congress, but while Scully was still at CMS, he disclosed the names of three law firms and two investment firms with which he had employment talks during 2003. In all, Scully's potential employers had business connections with at least 41 companies or associations that had financial interests in the Meidicare legislation. Among them, the three law firms lobbied for at least 30 companies or associations that are affected by the new Medicare law. And, combined, the two investment firms own substantial stakes in at least 11 companies that are affected by the Medicare law. 7:29:42 PM    comment [] Remembrance, Schemembrance The White House's "Iraq Fact of the Day" for April 30, 2004: National Commission for Remembrance A new commission will soon develop ways to commemorate those who suffered from the atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein's regime. The Iraqi National Commission for Remembrance will raise private funds to establish memorials and a national museum in Baghdad. The museum will pay homage to the of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis who were victimized by Saddam's dictatorship. Mindful of this tragic history, Iraqis are committed to building a government that respects the human rights of all its people. Source: Coalition Provisional Authority, Baghdad You know, Saddam's notorious Abu Ghraib prison would be an excellent place for a memorial. Too bad it's being used right now. 7:11:10 PM    comment [] "A real skeptic" According to Bob Woodward, Bush showed himself to be "a real skeptic" about Iraq WMD's in his December 21, 2002 meeting with CIA director George Tenet. How so? Well, when Tenet made his case, President Bush responded, "Nice try, but that isn't going to sell Joe Public. This is the best we got?" However, as Bob Somerby, John Stewart, and others have pointed out, Woodward's claim makes little sense, when one considers that Bush and Cheney had been making the case to the public about Iraqi WMD's for several months prior to that meeting. Some skepticism there. But wait, it gets better: the quote to which Woodward appeals to claim that Bush was a genuine skeptic about Iraqi WMD's shows nothing of the sort. Nice try, but that isn't going to sell Joe Public. This is the best we got? The only skepticism to be inferred from this quote is whether the public would be convinced by the evidence presented. It implies nothing about whether Bush himself was or was not convinced that there were WMD's in Iraq. (Clearly his speeches in the previous months showed that he was already convinced or didn't care about the truth of the matter.) As far as the quote goes, Bush's skepticism concerned the potential effectiveness of their PR campaign, not the truth about WMD's in Iraq. And as for whether Joe Public would be convinced, he was wrong about that too. 1:01:39 AM    comment [] When to vote Republican ... In his Salon interview with Joe Conason, Ambassador Joseph Wilson explains the conditions under which you should vote Republican: If you're fiscally responsible, this is not your party. If you believe in a moderate foreign policy characterized by alliances, free trade and the ability to operate in an international environment, this is not your party. If you believe in limited federal government, this is not your party. If you believe that the government should stay out of your bedroom, this is very definitely not your party. In fact, I would argue that unless you believe in the American imperium, imposed on the world by force, or unless you believe in the literal interpretation of the Book of Revelations, this is not your party. Postscript: Commenter and sister CH, whom we all have to thank for pointing us to the quote, reminds us of some important context: You forgot to mention that Wilson is a Republican, that he was raised in a staunch Republican family in which several relatives were elected officials, that he was a Bush Sr. appointee, and that Bush Sr. lauded Wilson as a hero when he was Ambassador to Iraq (during the time that Iraq invaded Kuwait). Nowadays that makes him a partisan liberal. 12:06:43 AM    comment []

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