Vietnam Vets Don’t Take Kindly To Shrub’s Tough Remarks – 1 of 2

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“Bring ‘Em On?”
A Former Special Forces Soldier Responds to Bush’s Invitation for Iraqis to Attack US Troops
By By Stan Goff for Counterpunch.

Yesterday, when I read that US Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush, in a moment of blustering arm-chair machismo, sent a message to the ‘non-existent’ Iraqi guerrillas to “bring ’em on,” the first image in my mind was a 20-year-old soldier in an ever-more-fragile marriage, who’d been away from home for 8 months. He participated in the initial invasion, and was told he’d be home for the 4th of July. He has a newfound familiarity with corpses, and everything he thought he knew last year is now under revision. He is sent out into the streets of Fallujah (or some other city), where he has already been shot at once or twice with automatic weapons or an RPG, and his nerves are raw. He is wearing Kevlar and ceramic body armor, a Kevlar helmet, a load carrying harness with ammunition, grenades, flex-cuffs, first-aid gear, water, and assorted other paraphernalia. His weapon weighs seven pounds, ten with a double magazine. His boots are bloused, and his long-sleeve shirt is buttoned at the wrist. It is between 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit at midday. He’s been eating MRE’s three times a day, when he has an appetite in this heat, and even his urine is beginning to smell like preservatives. Mosquitoes and sand flies plague him in the evenings, and he probably pulls a guard shift every night, never sleeping straight through. He and his comrades are beginning to get on each others’ nerves. The rumors of ‘going-home, not-going-home’ are keeping him on an emotional roller coaster. Directives from on high are contradictory, confusing, and often stupid. The whole population seems hostile to him and he is developing a deep animosity for Iraq and all its people–as well as for official narratives.

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Shrub Under Fire For “Bring them on” Remark

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Did the Shrub actually dare the Iraqi Militants “To Come And Get Our Troops?”
No, not quite. He only said “Bring them on.”
But it’s still pretty tasteless and inappropriate if you ask me. (Not that anyone did.)
It’s bad enough that we rushed over there without properly training our troops in how do deal with post-battle civil matters in urban areas.
It’s even worse that, two months after we tell them the hard part’s over and promise to send them home to their families, it turns out that we’re actually going to send even more of our boys and girls over there (and without telling us why it’s necessary exactly – or who we’re even fighting).
But that’s not all folks! On top of everything else, our “President” and Commander in Chief has pridefully encouraged this latest nameless, faceless enemy to give us the best they got.
Is this the new Rambo movie? Nope. This is reality, folks. This is the United States of American in the year 2003.
Let’s make this next year the last for the Shrub Regime. For GW, Jeb, or any other relatives of theirs we haven’t heard about yet that they might be saving for future elections.
Bush Taking Heat for ‘Bring Them On’ Remark
By Steve Holland for Reuters.

President Bush has used colorful language before to great effect, but he is taking some heat for his “Bring them on” challenge to Iraqi militants attacking U.S. forces, who he said were tough enough to take it.
Even some aides winced at Bush’s words, which Democrats pounced on as an invitation to Iraqi militants to fire on U.S. troops already the subject of hit-and-run attacks by Saddam Hussein loyalists and others.
“These men and women are risking their lives every day, and the president who sent them on this mission showed tremendous insensitivity to the dangers they face,” said Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean.
Another Democratic presidential candidate, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, said condemned the comment, saying, “The deteriorating situation in Iraq requires less swagger and more thoughtfulness and statesmanship.”

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Japanese Lawyers Indict Shrub For War Crimes In Afghanistan

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Bush ‘indicted’ over war crimes
In the Japan Times.

A group of Japanese lawyers unveiled documents Monday “indicting” U.S. President George W. Bush for
war crimes allegedly committed against the Afghan people since the United States-led coalition
began its antiterrorism campaign in Afghanistan in October 2001.
“This is an act that breaks international rules, such as the idea of (honoring) human rights, that
have been formed over so many years,” said Koken Tsuchiya, former president of the Japan Federation
of Bar Associations and head of the 11-member prosecutors’ team in the tribunal. “We decided this
case has sufficient reason to be brought to court.”
A civic tribunal will be held in Tokyo, with the first hearing scheduled for July 21.
The charges against Bush, according to the indictment, include aggression, attacks against
civilians and nonmilitary facilities and the torturing and execution of prisoners.
They said the indictment will be handed to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo next week.
The tribunal is being organized by Tokyo Zokei University professor Akira Maeda and others.

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Bob Herbert In The NY Times: How The Shrub’s Latest Labor Policies Will Steal From American Workers

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Picking Workers’ Pockets
By Bob Herbert for the NY Times.

The Bush administration, which has the very bad habit of smiling at working people while siphoning money from their pockets, is trying to change the federal Fair Labor Standards Act in a way that could cause millions of workers to lose their right to overtime pay.
The act, one of the last major domestic reform measures of the New Deal, gave Americans the 40-hour workweek and a minimum wage (which began at 25 cents an hour in the late 1930’s). It wiped out grueling 12-hour days for many workers and prohibited the use of child labor in interstate commerce.
The act’s overtime regulations have not been updated since 1975, and part of what the administration is proposing makes sense. Under existing rules only workers earning less than $8,060 a year automatically qualify for overtime. That would be raised to $22,100 a year.
But then comes the bad news. Nearly 80 percent of all workers are in jobs that qualify them for overtime pay, which is time-and-a-half for each hour that is worked beyond the normal 40-hour week. The administration wants to make it easier for employers to exempt many of those workers from overtime protection by classifying them as administrative, professional or executive personnel.
The quickest way to determine who is getting the better of this deal is to note that business groups are applauding the proposed changes while the A.F.L.-C.I.O. held a protest rally outside the Labor Department on Monday.

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This Just In From The World Meteorological Organisation: Global Warming Is Real

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In case you’re ever in a conversation with some bozo that tries to tell you that the fact of whether or not global warming is a reality is still in dispute, you can show them this.
Now. Will someone please give a heads up to the Shrub Administration?
Reaping the Whirlwind
Extreme weather prompts unprecedented global warming alert
In The Independent.

In an astonishing announcement on global warming and extreme weather, the World Meteorological Organisation signalled last night that the world’s weather is going haywire.
In a startling report, the WMO, which normally produces detailed scientific reports and staid statistics at the year’s end, highlighted record extremes in weather and climate occurring all over the world in recent weeks, from Switzerland’s hottest-ever June to a record month for tornadoes in the United States – and linked them to climate change.
The unprecedented warning takes its force and significance from the fact that it is not coming from Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth, but from an impeccably respected UN organisation that is not given to hyperbole (though environmentalists will seize on it to claim that the direst warnings of climate change are being borne out).
The Geneva-based body, to which the weather services of 185 countries contribute, takes the view that events this year in Europe, America and Asia are so remarkable that the world needs to be made aware of it immediately.
The extreme weather it documents, such as record high and low temperatures, record rainfall and record storms in different parts of the world, is consistent with predictions of global warming. Supercomputer models show that, as the atmosphere warms, the climate not only becomes hotter but much more unstable. “Recent scientific assessments indicate that, as the global temperatures continue to warm due to climate change, the number and intensity of extreme events might increase,” the WMO said, giving a striking series of examples…
“New analyses of proxy data for the northern hemisphere indicate that the increase in temperature in the 20th century is likely to have been the largest in any century during the past 1,000 years.”
While the trend towards warmer temperatures has been uneven over the past century, the trend since 1976 is roughly three times that for the whole period…
It is possible that 2003 will be the hottest year ever recorded. The 10 hottest years in the 143-year-old global temperature record have now all been since 1990, with the three hottest being 1998, 2002 and 2001.
The unstable world of climate change has long been a prediction. Now, the WMO says, it is a reality.

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Too Pooped To Post Anything Poetic

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I’ve got some ideas about what might make some nice reading for the July 4th weekend, but I’ll have to expand upon such ideas after the final morning ILAW sessions…
I did want to say, however, that I am feeling a little better about the future of my country this Fourth Of July. People are really starting to realize that taking care of each other and looking out for each other, not just ourselves, is really the way to go.
Hopefully, by this time next year, we’ll be well on our way to taking our country back and becoming world citizens again.
Have a great weekend, everyone!

Shrub Manages To Pull Off A Modern Day Vietnam

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That’s right! Not only is nobody going home, but were actually going to send more troops over there.
At least they’re admitting now that these guys might be a formidable enemy after all, calling them “well-trained militants that have been killing and injuring US forces.”
Unfortunately, that just means that more of our soldiers will die.
Bush foresees long, ‘massive’ role in Iraq
By Dana Milbank for The Boston Globe.

President Bush acknowledged yesterday that the United States faces a ”massive and long-term undertaking” in Iraq but said US troops would prevail over what his administration described as well-trained militants that have been killing and injuring US forces.
Bush delivered his statement of resolve, some of his most extensive remarks about Iraq in the two months since he declared heavy fighting was over, as Americans are expressing concern about the unrest in US-occupied Iraq and as some legislators are accusing the administration of understating the task ahead…
Bush cast the struggle in Iraq as part of the ongoing war against terrorism in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere. He said that some of those attacking US forces in Iraq were from the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam and that the US government suspects fighters tied to Abu Musab Zarqawi, whom Bush called an Al Qaeda ”associate,” are preparing to attack. ”Less than two years ago, determined enemies of America entered our country, committed acts of murder against our people, and made clear their intentions to strike again” he said. ”As long as terrorists and their allies plot to harm America, America is at war.”
As part of the justification for the war in Iraq, Bush and his lieutenants described ongoing ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda. But a still-classified national intelligence report from that time raised doubts about those ties, intelligence officials have said.
According to a poll released yesterday by the University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes, 71 percent said they believed the Bush administration implied that Hussein was involved in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, while 25 percent believed Iraq was directly involved in the attacks…
Of the 195 US military personnel killed in combat and accidents since the Iraq war started on March 20 (42 British soldiers have been killed), nearly a third have died after May 1, when Bush, aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, declared major combat operations were over.
The messiness of postwar Iraq had provoked criticism that the administration did not adequately prepare for the difficult task of rebuilding. Before the war, Bush spoke optimistically about a clean transformation of Iraq, saying US troops would not remain in the region ”for one day longer than is necessary.”
Senator Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said last week that the US presence in Iraq would be necessary for ”at least five years” and criticized Bush’s rhetoric. ”This idea that we will be in just as long as we need to and not a day more – we’ve got to get over that rhetoric,” he said. ”It is rubbish. We’re going to be there a long time. We must reorganize our military to be there a long time.”
The administration, which declines to forecast the duration of the US presence in Iraq, is due to decide later this month whether it needs more troops there. Bush’s press secretary, Ari Fleischer, yesterday played down the attacks on US soldiers as ”pockets of violence,” adding the media are ”ignoring the tremendous number of success stories” in Iraq.

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This Just In From The Copyright Office: Adjustment of Rates and Terms for the Digital Performance of Sound Recordings by Preexisting Subscription Services for Period of January 1, 2002, through December 31, 2007

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I’ll try to post more explanations about these in the future. But for now, I’m just going to try to republish them in a timely manner.
The deadline for filing cable and satellite royalty claims coming up July 31st.
The Sound Exchange regulations kick in on July 18th.

U.S. Copyright Office NewsNet July 3, 2003 Issue 204
********************************************************** For additional information, visit the Copyright Office homepage at Copyright Website
********************************************************** CONTENTS
* News *
Federal Register
Copyright Office Announces Adjustment of Rates and Terms for the Digital Performance of Sound Recordings by Preexisting Subscription Services for Period of January 1, 2002, through December 31, 2007 (68 FR 39837)
* Calendar *
* To Subscribe/Unsubscribe to NewsNet *
********************************************************** * NEWS *
———–Federal Register——————
COPYRIGHT OFFICE ANNOUNCES ADJUSTMENT OF RATES AND TERMS FOR THE DIGITAL PERFORMANCE OF SOUND RECORDINGS BY PREEXISTING SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES FOR PERIOD OF JANUARY 1, 2002, THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2007 (68 FR 39837)
The Copyright Office is announcing final regulations under the section 112(e) and section 114 licenses of the Copyright Act. The regulations adjust the royalty rates and terms under the Copyright Act for the statutory license for the use of sound recordings by preexisting subscription services for the period of January 1, 2002, through December 31, 2007. The rates and terms are being adopted in accordance with section 251.63(b) of the CARP regulations based upon a settlement agreement between copyright owners and performers on the one hand and the preexisting subscription services on the other.
Federal Register Notice
Federal Register Notice
********************************************************** * CALENDAR *
July 18: Effective date of regulations governing SoundExchange (68 FR 36469)
July 31: Deadline for receipt in the Copyright Office of claims for 2002 cable and satellite royalties filed by mail (68 FR 32381)
July 31 at 5:00 p.m. eastern time: Deadline for receipt in the Copyright Office of hand-delivered claims for 2002 cable and satellite royalties (68 FR 32381)
July 31 at 11:59 p.m. eastern time: Deadline for receipt on the Copyright Office server of electronically filed claims for 2002 cable and satellite royalties (68 FR 32381)
August 4: Effective date of regulations announcing rates and terms for the digital performance of sound recordings by preexisting subscription services for period of January 1, 2002, through December 31, 2007 (68 FR 39837)
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Double Whammy Against American Workers

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These are pretty self-explanatory.

Bush Administration Repeals Requirement That Employers Report Strain Injuries
By Leigh Strope for the Associated Press.
Democrats Protest Changes to Overtime Rules
By Steven Greenhouse for the NY Times.

Forty-two Democratic senators and more than 100 Democratic House members urged the Bush administration yesterday to withdraw proposed regulations that they said would eliminate overtime pay for millions of workers.
The lawmakers made their plea on the final day of a 90-day comment period in which the administration received tens of thousands of criticisms of its proposals, which are the first effort to update overtime regulations since 1975.
“Our citizens are working longer hours than ever before