In this issue:

Democrats Upbeat About Retaking U.S. Senate

Will U.S. Elections Be Cancelled by Terrorism?

Cheney Still Hyping Terrorist/WMD Threat

Army Medics in Iraq Apply for Objector Status

How About an Israel Accountability Act?

Medicaid, SCHIP Threatened With Cuts in Mississippi

Bush Administration Blew the Raimondi Appointment

LaRouche Named on House Floor in Defense of First Amendment

From Volume 3, Issue Number 12 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Mar. 23, 2004

United States News Digest

Democrats Upbeat About Retaking U.S. Senate

The Democratic Party now sees a more serious chance of taking back control of the U.S. Senate in the November elections, the Washington Post reported March 14. One minor factor in this shift in attitude was the recent announcement by Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Col) that he will not be seeking re-election in November. Other Republicans retiring are: Sen. Don Nickles (Okla); Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (Ill); in Alaska, Sen. Lisa Murkowski is running against a popular former Democratic Governor, Tony Knowles.

The Democrats need to gain only one or two Senate seats to take the majority, depending on whether or not the Democrats win the White House, in which case, a Democratic Vice President would have a tie-breaking vote. There are, however, five Southern Democrats also retiring in November—John Edwards (NC), Ernest Hollings (SC), Zell Miller (Ga), Bob Graham (Fla) and John Breaux (La)—and former GOP Rep. John Thune is challenging Tom Daschle, the Senate minority leader, in South Dakota.

While the South has been drifting into the GOP "Southern Strategy" camp over recent decades, it is widely acknowledged that the severe job losses in the South could badly damage the GOP, in both Senate and Presidential voting.

What is significant, beyond the particulars of these situations, is the fact that the Democratic Party is professing to be serious about the chance to take back the majority in the Senate.

In related coverage of the "battleground states," the New York Post noted that Bush has several must-win states, including Florida and Ohio, both of which he won in 2000 against Gore. But Ohio has lost a large number of jobs since Bush's election, and this could pose a big problem for the GOP. Eight other states where the margin of victory was extremely close in 2000, round out the Big Ten battleground states: Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Missouri, West Virginia, Arizona, New Hampshire, and Arizona.

Will U.S. Elections Be Cancelled by Terrorism?

In his March 16 column in the Washington Post, Establishment mouthpiece Jim Hoagland raises the question that the U.S. elections could be cancelled by terrorism, albeit in the form: We should take steps to prevent that from happening.

Terrorists tampered with the election in Spain and brought down the government, Hoagland wrote, and this same threat cannot be ignored in the U.S. The Bush and Kerry campaigns, other candidates, and the voters "must adapt to the likelihood that terrorists will use violence to disrupt or influence national elections here this autumn."

Hoagland proposes measures that should be taken, to prevent this from happening here. Among these: "A national consensus on the importance of holding elections as scheduled—even in the face of an event such as Sept. 11, 2001—should be formed now.... The two major parties need to come together to establish a bipartisan framework for minimizing the force of terrorist incidents aimed and influencing elections."

Cheney Still Hyping Terrorist/WMD Threat

Singing the same ol' tune, Vice President Dick Cheney once against warned in a speech on March 15 in Phoenix, about terrorists obtaining weapons of mass destruction. "The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, signaled the arrival of an entirely different era. We suffered massive casualties on our own soil. We awakened to dangers even more lethal—the possibility that terrorists had gained chemical, biological, or even nuclear weapons from outlaw regimes and turned those weapons against the United States or our friends.... We must do everything in our power to protect our people from terrorist attacks, and to keep terrorists from ever acquiring weapons of mass destruction."

Even though the event was a fundraiser for a local Congressman, Rep. Rick Renzi, Cheney also went out of his way to praise John McCain (R-Ariz)—who is no great friend of the Bush-Cheney Administration. After lauding McCain, Cheney declared that "I look forward to swearing in Senator McCain for his fourth term next January." One wonders if this has something to do with the fact that McCain has been mooted by some as a possible running mate for John Kerry.

Army Medics in Iraq Apply for Objector Status

Two Army medics serving in Tikrit, Iraq have applied for conscientious objector status and want to be honorably discharged from the military because the idea of killing is "revolting" to them, their company commanders said March 16. The two medics, both privates first class, notified the Army of their request on Feb. 9, the day before their Germany-based 1st battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment deployed to Iraq. The officer did not name the two, and only mentioned that they came from California and Illinois. Their requests follow the application of Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia of Miami Beach, who surrendered after failing to return to his unit after five months home duty.

How About an Israel Accountability Act?

The Council for the National Interest threw down the gauntlet to Congress and the Israeli lobby, on March 17, calling for an Israel Accountability Act for the purpose of bringing more balance to American policy in the Middle East. Eugene Bird, a retired foreign service officer, and president of the CNI, reported that the suggestion is so hot, that no Member of Congress would sponsor a meeting room on Capitol Hill for the event, so they wound up at the National Press Club, instead. Bird actually opened his remarks by challenging the pro-Israel lobby, naming AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, the Zionist Organization of America, and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, to a series of debates, between now and the election on any subject germane to a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and an Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories.

Dr. Imad Moustapha, the Syrian Ambassador to the U.S., followed Bird to the podium to describe the real impact of the Syria Accountability Act, which he described as "the embodiment of how a special interest group has made U.S. foreign policy hostage to their interest, that group being the war party in Israel. He noted that, in spite of the claims in the Syria Accountability Act, that it is not Syria that is occupying someone else's land, nor is it Syria that is controlling the destiny of another nation by sheer military force. He urged the U.S. to look at the violence in the Middle East and be honest and fair and admit who is responsible for this situation.

Medicaid, SCHIP Threatened With Cuts in Mississippi

Hundreds rallied at the Mississippi State Capitol on March 11, to fight for continued financial support for Medicaid and SCHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program), for working families who cannot afford to pay for health insurance), according to the Jackson Advocate March 17. Several bills are now before the legislature for massive cuts both programs, to balance the state's budget, under new the Republican Governor, former RNC Chair Haley Barbour.

Because of the extremely low wage levels in the state, over 400,000 Mississippi children depend on Medicaid and the insurance provided through SCHIP. Nearly every pediatrician in the state works under the provisions of both Medicaid and SCHIP. 26% of the children live in poverty. Without Medicaid and SCHIP, these children have no health care in Mississippi. In 2003, two-thirds of Medicaid recipients in Mississippi were children. Recommendations for changes in the program will cause 20,000 children to lose eligibility. One bill proposes to recertify all Medicaid recipients in the state; if passed, the bill will cut eligibility from 200% of poverty to 133%, which would cut 20,00 children from the program.

Meanwhile, Barbour is proposing to remove even the limited protections enjoyed by state employees, who have the largest union in the state. While workers do not have collective bargaining, they now have civil service protection under the State Personnel Board, which does provide a grievance procedure, and certain guarantees. Senate Bill 2638 removes 10 state agencies from the protection of the Board. Employees of those agencies will then serve "at the will" of the governor or the department head—i.e., their pay can be reduced or workers be fired "at will"—with no warning and no recourse, and without due process or just cause. The bill purports to save $26 million. Sixty-one percent of state employees make less than the state average salary of $29,000 a year.

Bush Administration Blew the Raimondi Appointment

The fumbling of the appointment of Tony Raimondi as assistant Secretary of Commerce was entirely the Bush Administration's fault, wrote GOP columnist Robert Novak, on March 18 in the Washington Post. The new position, to be responsible for manufacturing within the Commerce Department, was reported to have been aborted last week when John Kerry revealed that Raimondi had owned a factory in China. But Novak reports that the Administration had failed to vet the appointment through the normal channels within the party—including especially Sen. Chuck Hagel, from Raimondi's state of Nebraska. Had he asked, Bush would have learned that Raimondi had supported Hagel's Democratic opponent Ben Nelson in the 1996 election, and has Nelson on his board of directors.

One Republican source told Novak that Hagel was not consulted, because he "simply can not be trusted" by the White House controllers. Hagel is known to have voted with the Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, demanding that they investigate the OSP and Cheney network's lies before the Iraq war, which opened the flood gates.

LaRouche Named on House Floor in Defense of First Amendment

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) identified Lyndon LaRouche as an example of what happens when the First Amendment is violated. Counterpunch published, on March 18, the March 10 floor statement by Paul before the U.S. House of Representatives, defending the First Amendment, against the "Broadcast Indecency Act of 2004," which he calls, "An Indecent Attack on the First Amendment."

Paul argued: "This atrocious piece of legislation should be defeated. It cannot improve the moral behavior of U.S. citizens, but it can do irreparable harm to our cherished right to freedom of speech."

He continued, "We should all know that the First Amendment was not written to protect non-controversial mainstream speech, but rather the ideas and beliefs of what the majority see as controversial or fringe.

"It could easily be argued that this must be done, since political ideas and fanatical religious beliefs are far the most dangerous ideas known to man. Sadly, we're moving in that direction, and no matter how well intended the promoters of these limits on the First Amendment are, both on the left and the right, they nevertheless endorse the principle of suppressing any expressions of dissent if one chooses to criticize the government."

Paul then mentions LaRouche: "When the direct attack on political and religious views comes, initially it will be on targets that most will ignore, since they will be seen as outside the mainstream and therefore unworthy of defending—like the Branch Davidians or Lyndon LaRouche."

Paul concludes, "Congress has been a poor steward of the First Amendment. This newest attack should alert us all to the dangers of government regulating freedom of speech—of any kind."

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