Monthly Archives: August 2004

Fate of Iowa Values Hinges on Workers’ Comp Laws

Posted on August 18, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Fate of Iowa Values Hinges on Workers’ Comp Laws Quad-City Times DES MOINES (AP) — A former IBP meatpacking plant worker is at the center of a high-stakes debate over how Iowa treats injured workers. The question that Jose Venegas’ … Continue reading →

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Log Cabin, Moderate Republicans Gird For GOP Convention Battle

Posted on August 17, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Log Cabin, Moderate Republicans Gird For GOP Convention Battle 365Gay.com (Washington ) A coalition of moderate GOP groups including Log Cabin Republicans are preparing for a battle on the floor of the convention to halt a complete takeover of the … Continue reading →

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Report to Show State Loopholes for Supposedly “Accidental” Air Pollution Pushing Carcinogens Well Over U.S. Legal Limits

Posted on August 17, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Report to Show State Loopholes for Supposedly “Accidental” Air Pollution Pushing Carcinogens Well Over U.S. Legal Limits Over Half of States Permit Illegal “Upsets,” Only Handful Track Pollution WASHINGTON, D.C. – Millions of Americans are exposed today to supposedly “accidental” … Continue reading →

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Paul Johnson: Latham Using Taxpayer Funds to Disseminate Propaganda

Posted on August 17, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Paul Johnson: Latham Using Taxpayer Funds to Disseminate Propaganda In these shocking reports, the Paul Johnson for U.S. Congress campaign and the Iowa Democratic Party detail the alleged spending privilege abuses of U.S. Rep. Tom Latham. “Franking”, the privilege allowing … Continue reading →

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Bush to Screen Every American for Mental Illness

Posted on August 16, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Bush to Screen Every American for Mental Illness A frightening article made the rounds of Rapid Response – Iowa this weekend and set off warning bells all around.  After checking and double checking sources and doing further research, the good … Continue reading →

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Iowa in the News: The Election

Posted on August 16, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Nader Officially On Iowa Ballot KWWL.com Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader will officially appear on the November ballot, according to Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver's office. Nader supporters turned in 3,198 signatures to the Secretary of State's office yesterday. … Continue reading →

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Connie Wilson: The Fog of War, Part 1

Posted on August 16, 2004 by bfialindathieman

The Fog of War, Part 1

by Connie Corcoran Wilson

Throughout “The Fog of War,” the 2003 Oscar-winning documentary produced and directed by Errol Morris, interview subject Robert McNamara, former Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson during the Viet Nam war, offers these eleven lessons which could serve us equally well as a nation today:

1)    Empathize with your enemy.
2)    Rationality will not save us.
3)    There’s something beyond one’s self.
4)    Maximize efficiency.
5)    Proportionality should be a lesson in war.
6)    Get the data.
7)    Belief and seeing are both often wrong.
8)    Be prepared to re-examine your reasoning.
9)    In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil.
10)    Never say never.
11)    You can’t change human nature.

While sharing these lessons, learned during his 85 years on the planet and his many years of public service, (including the first non-Ford family member President of Ford Motor Company and President of the World Bank), McNamara also shares some quotes that seem very, very relevant right now. For one, “Learn from your mistakes. Try to learn. Try to understand what happened.  If people do not display wisdom, they will clash like blind moles, and then mutual annihilation will commence.” While talking about how close the United States came to war during the famous “Missiles of October” crisis with Cuba and the Soviet Union during JFK’s presidency, McNamara relates a conversation that occurred, many years after the crisis, when he learned, in January of 1992, that there had been 162 nuclear warheads and 90 tactical warheads on the island during the famous October, 1962, blockade of Cuba.

McNamara asked Castro, “Did you know (the extent of the weapons on the island)?” — to which Castro answered “Yes.” He then asked Fidel, “Would you have recommended to (Nikita) Khrushchev, (then the Russian Premier), that he use them?” Castro responded forcefully, that he HAD told Khrushchev to use them! McNamara’s final question to Castro was, “What would have happened to Cuba?” (if Khrushchev had listened to Castro’s advice and used the weapons stockpiled on the tiny island 90 miles off the coast of Florida).  Castro admitted that the island would have been totally destroyed. McNamara shakes his head in incredulity, seemingly stunned to learn that this was Castro’s position. “Pull the temple down on our heads? My God!” says McNamara.

It was John Fitzgerald Kennedy who told the United Nations, in an address to them on September 25, 1961, “Unconditional war can no longer lead to unconditional victory.  It can no longer serve to settle disputes.  It can no longer be of concern to great powers alone.  For a nuclear disaster, spread by winds and waters and fear, could well engulf the great and the small, the rich and the poor, the committed and the uncommitted alike. Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.” Certainly Castro’s comments to McNamara illustrate this very danger, and the new threats of biological and chemical weapons certainly belong in the same “to be avoided at all costs” category as nuclear weapons, for the very reasons so eloquently expressed by JFK at the United Nations over 43 years ago.
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Tax Burden Shifts to the Middle

Posted on August 15, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Tax Burden Shifts to the Middle WashingtonPost.com Since 2001, Bush's tax cuts have shifted federal tax payments from the richest Americans to a wide swath of middle-class families, the Congressional Budget Office has found, a conclusion likely to roil the … Continue reading →

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Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards Speaks to Iowa Union Meeting

Posted on August 15, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards Speaks to Iowa Union Meeting Star-Telegram.com WATERLOO, Iowa – Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards told about 250 delegates at the Iowa Federation of Labor convention on Thursday that Bush's dismal job record means his time … Continue reading →

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Harkin calls Cheney a ‘Coward’ and Criticizes ‘Backdoor Draft’

Posted on August 15, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Harkin calls Cheney a 'Coward' and Criticizes 'Backdoor Draft' Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier DES MOINES — Sen. Tom Harkin called Dick Cheney a “coward” for avoiding service in Vietnam and called on George W. Bush to end the “backdoor draft.” The … Continue reading →

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