| the has-been
Could Bush be deliberately forcing us into the very type of national embarrassment in the Middle East that has prompted merger offers in the past? Like Ricky Bobby in Talledega Nights, who loses his NASCAR crown to a gay Formula One racecar driver from France, could Bush subconsciously be steering us into the wall on purpose as the only way to escape the haunting sense that "if you ain't first, you're last"? Like the cake and the Bible in Iran-Contra, the pieces start to fit together at last. Merger kingpin Henry Paulson's baffling decision to leave one of the largest deal-making firms on earth to come to Washington, where there are no deals in sight. The until-now-unexplained fit Bush threw when reporter David Gregory might have uncovered any merger talks had he been allowed to keep speaking French to Jacques Chirac.
Timber Industry 1991-2000
This is more than 24% of the world's forest reserves. In contrast to the rest of the world, the area under forest in Russia is slowly increasing rather than decreasing. Russia can produce up to 650 million cubic meters of timber per year without environmental damage. However, in reality, it produces and processes no more than 130 million cubic meters.
About 1.4 million people work in the industry. Its annual sales volumes exceed $4.5 billion, which is 2.9% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Russian Federation. Up to 85% of production is geared to export: round timber accounts for 33% of exports; lumber, for 19%; and the remainder is comprised of cardboard, pulp, and paper. The industry's foreign deliveries of more than $3.5 billion per year hold fifth place as a source of income after gas, oil, and ferrous and nonferrous metals.
Different Clinton, more painful bill
It was like turning the clocks back 16 years when Hillary Clinton put her campaign to become the first woman president of the United States back on track with victory in New Hampshire. It was, of course, the same small north-eastern state where Bill first won his spurs as the comeback kid. The similarity does not end there. Just as in 1992, the US economy is a mess. Unemployment is rising, the federal deficit is enormous, personal debt frighteningly high, the real estate market is in freefall. For the first time since George Bush Sr was booted out of the White House, the economy is going to be absolutely central to this year's struggle for the presidency. Whoever wins the race - be it a Republican or Democrat - will take comfort from the fact that if economic recovery could be achieved in the 1990s it can be achieved again.
If April 15 isn't on your mind, maybe it should be
Beware: Your children may now face the kiddie tax even when they're no longer kiddies. The tax is designed to block parents in a high tax bracket from shifting income-producing assets to a child in a low bracket. Before 2006, it targeted youngsters under age 14 by making them potentially liable for tax at their parent's higher rate -up to 35 percent compared with as little as 10 percent for the child. For 2007, kiddie tax can hit through age 17, and for 2008 it can hit through 18 or through 23 for full-time students. Exceptions may apply to older children who hold jobs and mostly support themselves, but the new sweep is broad. "Children who are not subject to the kiddie tax this year may be hit by it next year," cautions accountant James Erdekian, a partner at Feeley & Driscoll in Boston.
EU-AU conference betrays the people of Zimbabwe
"The Portuguese government should instruct its police to arrest President Mugabe on charges of torture when he arrives in Lisbon this weekend for the EU-African Union summit," urged human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. "To allow Mugabe to attend the summit unimpeded would be a tragic betrayal of the long suffering people of Zimbabwe. Torture is a crime under international law and President Mugabe should be prosecuted "Mugabe has massacred more black Africans than even the murderous apartheid regime in South Africa. His tyrannical government is guilty of detention without trial, torture, rape, extra-judicial killings, media censorship, financial corruption, election fraud, mass starvation and the violent suppression of strikes and protests. "Portugal has a duty to enforce the UN Convention Against Torture 1984, which it has ratified and pledged to uphold.
Lost scholarships upset governor
Last year, Bredesen proposed putting money into a fund that would be used to help schools get better interest rates on loans for building projects. The proposal did not make it through the General Assembly, nor did a plan backed by Senate Republicans to give school districts grants from the lottery surplus to use on construction projects. The Senate Education Committee will take up a passel of lottery bills Wednesday. The governor also said he would like to see more money put into non-lottery scholarship programs that are geared to help students with financial need. "I couldn't have gone to college without that kind of help," said Bredesen, who graduated from Harvard University in 1967 with a degree in physics.
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Spineless Democrats
Rob Kall: The DCC Just Hung Up On Me (55 comments) I won't tolerate being in an abusive relationship... and that's what it seems to be turning into between me and the Democratic congress. Shame on them. Allen L Roland: *GEORGE W BUSH / TORTURER IN CHIEF WITH NO EFFECTIVE OPPOSITION (2 comments) George W Bush will get his payback for his flagrant transgressions of justice as well as the preemptive death and destruction wrought by his administration. It will be devastating and humiliating and this enormous karmic debt will be called before the end of this decade. But it will not be called by the current Congress for there is no Opposition Party representing the vast majority of Americans who are fed up with Bush. Sunday, October 14: Randy LoBasso: To Change the Subject: Smear (3 comments) Right wing spin has no boundaries.
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