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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (20602)	4/4/2003 12:48:55 AM
From: jttmab	Respond to of 93284

New claims for unemployment benefits shot up last week to their highest point in nearly a year as businesses made work forces leaner amid a muddled wartime economic climate. The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications jumped by a seasonally adjusted 38,000 to 445,000 for the week ending March 29. That represented the highest level of new claims since the week ending April 13, 2002............ With economists forecasting sub-par economic growth for both the first and second quarters of this year, the nation's labor market is likely to deteriorate further, they say. The nation's unemployment rate rose to 5.8 percent in February. Economists believe it could move to 5.9 percent or 6 percent for March, and higher in the months ahead. The government reports on the employment situation for March on Friday. ..... washingtonpost.com Look for increases in productivity coming soon .... fewer jobs = more productivity

To: jlallen who wrote (20602)	4/4/2003 12:48:55 AM
From: jttmab	Respond to of 93284

New claims for unemployment benefits shot up last week to their highest point in nearly a year as businesses made work forces leaner amid a muddled wartime economic climate. The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications jumped by a seasonally adjusted 38,000 to 445,000 for the week ending March 29. That represented the highest level of new claims since the week ending April 13, 2002............ With economists forecasting sub-par economic growth for both the first and second quarters of this year, the nation's labor market is likely to deteriorate further, they say. The nation's unemployment rate rose to 5.8 percent in February. Economists believe it could move to 5.9 percent or 6 percent for March, and higher in the months ahead. The government reports on the employment situation for March on Friday. ..... washingtonpost.com Look for increases in productivity coming soon .... fewer jobs = more productivity

To: jlallen who wrote (20602)	4/4/2003 12:59:06 AM
From: jttmab	Respond to of 93284

Here's something that will put a smile on your face... Congress Approves $80 Billion for War Costs Associated Press Thursday, April 3, 2003; 11:06 PM WASHINGTON –– Congress voted overwhelmingly Thursday to give President Bush about $80 billion for initial costs of the invasion of Iraq and other anti-terrorism efforts after thwarting conservatives trying to lash out at Turkey and other nations for hindering the U.S. war effort..... By a single voice vote, the Senate added more than 30 amendments, with everything from $10 million for a South Pole research station to a repeal of language enacted earlier this year weakening the requirements for labeling food as organic. washingtonpost.com

To: jlallen who wrote (20602)	4/4/2003 1:00:11 AM
From: jttmab	Respond to of 93284

Have you figured out yet whether the Iraqi military watches CNN or Fox? jttmab

To: jlallen who wrote (20602)	4/4/2003 1:13:02 AM
From: jttmab	Respond to of 93284

More good news on the Iraq front....we're pushing Pakistan into becoming a religious fundamentalist State...nothing better than having a bunch of radical Muslims with nukes. ----------------------------------------- KARACHI, Pakistan -- Shoaib Sheikh, 24, is no bearded zealot. He favors Western dress over the traditional shalwar kameez, counts himself a fan of Madonna and Bon Jovi and can't wait to get his hands on a copy of the Oscar-winning movie "Chicago," having recently seen the trailer on cable television. "It's sexy," he said with a sheepish grin. But for all his secular inclinations, Sheikh, who is completing a degree in dental surgery, finds himself increasingly attracted to the coalition of six hard-line Islamic parties that constitute the main opposition bloc in Pakistan's parliament. The reason can be expressed in a single word: Iraq. While mainstream political parties waver over how to respond to the U.S.-led assault on the Baghdad government, the religious coalition -- the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) -- has shown no such reluctance. It has organized large public protests, led the fight for a parliamentary resolution condemning the war and openly challenged the military-backed government of President Pervez Musharraf over its close ties to the United States. The approach is paying political dividends. Analysts say they detect growing sympathy among Pakistanis for the religious parties, whose clerical leadership has condemned the war as an attack on all Muslims. What is especially striking is that the support appears to be building even among secular-minded Pakistanis who do not share the coalition's vision of a conservative Islamic state. "The way things are going, people are going to vote for them," Sheikh said as he celebrated the last day of final exams with fellow students at an outdoor restaurant in Karachi's bustling Hasan Square. "I might." Javed Ansari, 23, nodded in agreement. "In the next elections, the MMA will win a clear landslide victory," he predicted. "I'm not conservative, but with the situation we are in, the religious parties are expressing the thoughts of the population." U.S. foreign policy, he added, is "making us more radical."......... washingtonpost.com

To: jlallen who wrote (20602)	4/4/2003 1:23:55 AM
From: jttmab	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 93284

From the London Times this a.m. 'Blair told Bush: hit Taliban first' Tony Blair had to persuade George Bush to tackle the Taliban before attacking Iraq in the weeks after September 11, the former British Ambassador to America has said. The United States President had come under pressure to topple Saddam Hussein in the first crisis meeting after September 11. But Sir Christopher Meyer said that when the Prime Minister met Mr Bush in the Oval Office a few days later he urged him to hit al Qaida and Afghanistan's Taliban regime first. From the very first weeks after 9/11, Bush didn't care who did 9/11, he just wanted to use it as an excuse to attack Iraq. jttmab

To: jlallen who wrote (20602)	4/4/2003 1:29:29 AM
From: jttmab	Respond to of 93284

That MBA Bush has sure comes in handy.... Postwar Iraq Would Need More Than Oil Funds, Experts Say By Warren Vieth, Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON -- To hear some Bush administration officials tell it, the reconstruction of Iraq will largely pay for itself, thanks to a postwar gusher of petroleum revenue. "The one thing that is certain is Iraq is a wealthy nation," White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said. A look at the national balance sheet tells a different story. Iraq will emerge from the war a financial shambles, many economists say, with a debt load bigger than that of Argentina, a cash flow crunch rivaling those of Third World countries, a mountain of unresolved compensation claims, a shaky currency, high unemployment, galloping inflation and a crumbling infrastructure expected to sustain more damage before the shooting stops. And the more oil Iraq produces to pump up its earnings, the more likely it becomes that prices will fall, leaving it no better off than before. "Clearly, it's a basket case," said Dean Baker, co-director of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. "Once you start talking about it, you see what an impossible situation it is. I don't think the Bush administration is anxious to have that conversation." Bathsheba Crocker, director of the Post-War Reconstruction Project at the centrist Center for Strategic & International Studies, said Iraq's oil money is not the panacea many Bush officials seem to think it is. "It's unreasonable to think that oil is going to finance all of the needs of the country," Crocker said. "All told, there's just not enough money to go around." Baker and Crocker are among a small but vocal contingent of nongovernment economists and foreign policy analysts who say it is time for the United States to stop pretending that life in Iraq after the war will resemble something out of "The Beverly Hillbillies." The reality, they say, will look more like Chapter 11. In their view, the only satisfactory solution is an international aid and debt relief program as ambitious as the Marshall Plan that helped Europe recover from the ravages of World War II......... So far, the administration seems not to have noticed. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told Congress last week that Iraq would be able to pick up much of the tab for postwar rebuilding. "We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction relatively soon," he said.......... latimes.com