Six Short Items. Item 1: Saddam the Rebuilder. In an editorial last Thursday, the New York Post complained about the failure of New York to fulfill its promise to rebuild at Ground Zero (the former World Trade Center):

Some 3 1/2 years after the attacks that leveled the World Trade Center, reconstruction work at Ground Zero is virtually at a standstill.* * *

Think about it: Within two years after the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam Hussein had rebuilt nearly all the 134 bridges hit in the war, hundreds of miles of roadway and railway track, numerous electrical grids, oil wells and military facilities.

Imagine that! The New York Post is so eager to criticize the mucky-mucks of New York politics that it implicitly praises Saddam by contrast!
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While we're talking about slow progress, let's address the Holland Tunnel (between New Jersey and Lower Manhattan), which has been 'under reconstruction' for at least 13 years! A photo of the Manhattan entrance at one website I checked for how long it took to build the tunnel in the first place aptly shows one lane closed! Initial construction took 7 years. 'Repairs' and reconstruction have taken 13, and completion is nowhere in sight. Almost every day at least one of the total of four lanes (two in each direction) is closed for several hours, and sometimes one lane in each direction is closed, creating horrible delays. Sometimes there is absolutely nothing going on, not one Port Authority vehicle, not one worker in the closed lane. But nobody says a word while thousands upon thousands of motorists lose time from their lives and are subjected to health-hazardous stress. We could have built TWO MORE Holland Tunnels in the time this "reconstruction" has taken.
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Maybe we should hire Saddam to replace the long-gone Robert Moses as the metropolitan area's public-works czar. I hear he's available, his last job having ended some time ago.
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The Post editorial, by the way, says at least two interesting things. First, Saddam was very effective and efficient, and was able to do all this rebuilding while under an international trade embargo. The U.S. occupation force, by contrast, has been unable to rebuild Iraq despite pouring over a hundred billion outside dollars into the country. To this day, almost two years after the war "ended", much of Iraq has no reliable electricity or sewage treatment.
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Second, the U.S. destroyed or damaged "134 bridges, ... hundreds of miles of roadway and railway track, numerous electrical grids, [and] oil wells [as well as] military facilities". Plainly, this was a war against a society, not against a dictator. It was not about "regime change" but about destroying Iraq. And not because it was a danger to the U.S., because a "regime change" would indeed have eliminated any such danger. Rather, any democratically elected government in Iraq will be an enemy of Israel, so it was important to the Wolfowitzes and the other Zionist neocons who control the U.S. Government that Iraq be rendered physically incapable of menacing Israel for the foreseeable future. Iraq had not only to be prevented from endangering the U.S. thru advanced weaponry and intercontinental ballistic missiles but, to protect their beloved Israel, must be permanently disabled even as a regional power.
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Item 2: Lying to Pollsters. The New York Post today reports that a survey of public opinion on the question of whether Americans are ready for a woman President reveals a very different result from what we have been told:

Maybe America isn't ready for a female president after all, according to a surprising poll that found only 49 percent of voters may really want to put a woman in the Oval Office.

Pollsters say that on sensitive issues, voters often give the politically correct answer when asked what they'd do, but are more candid when asked what their friends and neighbors believe.

So pollster Scott Rasmussen first asked Americans if they'd personally be willing to vote for a woman for president and 72 percent said yes — a result comparable to other polls.

But he found a big gap and a very different answer when he asked: "What about your family, friends and co-workers — would most of them be willing to vote for a woman president?" Only 49 percent said yes.

"Asking about your family and friends will give a better gauge. The number of people actually willing to vote for a woman may be closer to 49 percent than 72," Rasmussen said. ["Shock in Prez Survey", April 11]

Well, duh!
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Item 3: Guarding Your Modem. The New York State Legislature has addressed an issue other states have dodged: modem hijacking. AOL reports today:

As you're clicking away at your keyboard, you may be turning your telephone modem over to Internet thieves who make international calls and a profit at your expense.

That's modem hijacking.

New York lawmakers on Monday announced what apparently is a first of its kind measure in the nation to target the practice, which is estimated to run up millions of dollars in illicit phone calls for Americans whose service is stolen through dial-up connections from personal computers.

"They are very creative in doing what they do," said Sen. James Wright, of northern New York's Jefferson County. He said the hijackers can now probably avoid the law because they flash a pop-up window for the computer user to check, authorizing the downloading of modem software that then is remotely accessed to make international calls that are charged back to the unwitting computer user. * * * Advertisers and peddlers of pornography are often behind the activity.

Alas,

The law would allow telephone companies and the state attorney general to bring civil lawsuits against the hijackers and their accomplices.

Why is stealing via modem not a criminal offense? Why isn't government protecting us? If somebody broke into your house thru a glass window, s/he could be arrested and sent to prison. But if s/he breaks in via a Microsoft Window, that's okay?
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Item 4: India and China Get Cozy. AP reports today:

India and China, the world's two most populous countries, agreed Monday to form a strategic partnership to end a border dispute and boost trade in a deal marking a major shift in relations between the Asian giants. * * *

"India and China can together reshape the world order," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a ceremony for his Chinese counterpart, Premier Wen Jiabao, at India's presidential palace.

Why don't they focus on more realistic goals, like ending STARVATION in their two dirt-poor countries and bringing the bulk of their people into the 21st Century?
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One interesting sidelite of that article is this nugget:

India and China agreed to boost bilateral trade to $20 billion by 2008. Last year, trade totaled $13.6 billion, with India recording a $1.75 billion trade surplus, according to India's trade ministry.

Hmm. Last year, the U.S. had a $162 billion deficit with China! But India has a surplus. Well, they're both poor countries, and the amount of trade is tiny. But China also has a trade deficit with Japan, a rich country with a very high standard of living. That's part of the resentment that produced "student" demonstrations in Communist China over the past several days (no demonstration occurs in Communist China without government instigation or at least government sanction). Why does Japan run a surplus with China but the U.S. runs an enormous deficit?
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Item 5: Spring Snows. The Denver area and parts of several other states had a huge snowfall yesterday, totaling two feet in some places, well into spring. But that hasn't stopped the endless drumbeat of propaganda about the imminent "dangers" of "global warming". If New York City had six feet of snow in August, the media would still be ranting about "global warming" even as they were trapped within snowed-in offices and studios, because this is an item of almost religious faith, and no evidence to the contrary persuades the true believer.
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Item 6: Beware Cellphone Telemarketing. Finally, let me give you some news you can use. A friend forwarded this warning to me today. Take its advice and use the number given to protect yourself. You must either call from the phone you want to block or go online at http://www.ftc.gov/donotcall/ to add a number to the list.

In a few weeks, cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing
companies and you will start to receive sale calls. You will be charged [minutes] for these calls.

Call this number from your cell phone 888-382-1222.

It is the national DO NOT CALL list. It only takes a minute of your time. It blocks your number for 5 years. Please pass this on to everyone you know who
doesn't want to be hassled.

(The current U.S. military death toll in Iraq, according to the website "Iraq Coalition Casualties", is 1,547.)
- posted by L. Craig Schoonmaker @ 3:30 PM