 |
February, 2002 |
|
Feb. 28, 2002 - I'm no conspiracy theorist. I don't think there was a gunman on the infamous grassy knoll. I don't think FDR planned Pearl Harbor. I don't claim that Dubya and the boys knew that the planes were coming on September 11 though I reserve judgment on the question of whether they should have. But there is a story simmering that gives me a great deal of pause. Was there a gun aboard American Airlines Flight 11?.....click here for entire article Feb. 27, 2002 - I have been trying to understand
the Bush education program. Let's see, each student in each school will
be given a federally mandated achievement test to measure whether or
not the child is working up to his or her grade level. Schools will
then be ranked as to what the children achieve. The Administrations
calls this "Accountability.....
click here for entire article
Feb. 24, 2002 - You asked if I were a traitor when I said that this
was no war. Feb. 19, 2002 - Marc Racicot, Chairman of the RNC and Haley Barbour, former RNC Chairman are pulling and prodding at Secretary Abraham over at the Bush Department of Energy. They are wearing their hats as the Capitol's most prominent lobbyists for the oil, gas and electricity industries. The focus of their campaign is a new set of proposed rules they want DOE to send to EPA to be issued under the Clean Air Act loosening the requirements on Energy companies to modernize air pollution controls when they modernize old power plants and refineries. The proposed rules are running into a roadblock and a real tug of war is brewing in Washington..... click here for entire article Feb. 18, 2002 - I have forgotten the title. It was one
of the B movies that came out in the 40's extolling the exploits of
Wild Bill Donavan's OSS agents operating behind Nazi lines. It starred
Alan Ladd. In one of the scenes an agent eating in a restaurant is detected
when he switched his knife and fork between hands as Americans habitually
do. The hero is uncovered when a suspicious and officious neighbor informs
on him to the Gestapo. It was one of the undistinguished but effective
propaganda films that underscored the difference between a free America
and the dark side of fascist totalitarianism. They weren't great films
but they helped to shape the thinking of my generation..... click
here for entire article
Feb. 17, 2002 - The torch was passed to a new generation of Americans. The President died, shot by an assassin in the Vice-President's home state. The winds of war were blowing in Asia. At home the economy was in a straight jacket, at the mercy of innovative financiers bound in a net of interlocking directorships, new corporate entities and purchased political power. The new President was of a different generation than his predecessor. No longer did a veteran of the last Great War occupy the Whitehouse. Time, it was a changing. So were the slogans. The new President summed up America's foreign policy simply; "Speak softly and carry a big stick." then sent the Great White Fleet around the world to carry his message. At home he set out to put reins on the "malefactors of great wealth"....click here for entire article HIGHER? FASTER? HOW MUCH CAN I GET? Feb. 16, 2002 - I'm really tired of reading about graft and corruption in high places. People casting their votes based upon something other than the merits is something that really gets my goat. Whether it is someone trading votes - you vote for mine and I'll vote for yours; or voting against to get even for something that happened last year or taking bribes in return for a vote - those are all strikes at the heart of things as we were taught they were supposed to be. Nope, I'm not talking about Congress and Enron. I'm talking about big time "amateur" sports..... click here for entire article Feb. 15, 2002 - Accounting is supposed to hold a mirror up to reflect reality. Financial statements are supposed to show what a company has; what the company owes; what the company sold and what it cost to get that revenue. The people who might want to invest in a company and its future are supposed to be able to look at the financials and be able to rely on the image reflected in them. It ain't that way any more. "Aggressive accounting" is lighting a smudge pot so that the image can be seen only vaguely..... click here for entire article Feb. 14, 2002 - Hurry on down to aisle 4. Don't miss this last chance to buy your own Congressman or Senator. It's a "going out of business" clearance sale. There won't be another sale like this after November 2002 so stock up now. Don't miss out on this important corporate opportunity. Get your own Congressman before it is too late..... click here for the entire article Feb. 13, 2002 - During the campaign the press delighted in pointing out George's multitudinous malapropos and scuttled syntax. I have to believe that it was part of a planned image coming as it did at the end of the Presidency in which a flawed scholar and policy wonk was repeatedly successful in getting the electorate to overlook his repeated straying from the mores to which we all give lip service. The Bush campaign judged, and accurately too, that the public was weary with a too smart President and wanted one more like themselves. The game plan worked, at least in enough States to make the thinner than a hair margin in Florida - or the Supreme Court - decisive. Even his nickname "Dubya" enhanced the image of an amiable dunce just smart enough to surround himself with advisors with some measure of talent. We were programmed to say, "Poor George" when he stumbled over a phrase or word of more than two syllables..... click her for the entire article Feb. 12, 2002 - George W. Bush is a uniter and not a divider. You remember. He told us that over and over during the campaign. He told us that he had been able to work with the Texas legislature and bring bitter enemies together for their common good and he promised to do the same thing when he got to Washington. Who knew it was going to be so easy for him. It was simple. Who could imagine that he would be able to do all that uniting with one simple phrase. With just a few words he wiped out decades of strife and brought the bitterest of enemies under one tent and united them for a common purpose. I did not think that he was capable of it..... click her for the entire article HOUSE OF CARD$Feb. 11, 2002 - While we are diverted by news of CIA robotic flying machines launching Hellfire missiles at tall men in flowing white robes, prisoners locked up in Cuban kennels and mistaken raids on our allies' camps there is a much more serious threat to our national security looming below this Administration's horizon. While we are diverted by controversy over the politicization of the Mormon Olympics the Argentine economy is in the tank while the Japanese banking system is tottering and the Bush Administration doesn't seem to notice..... click here for the entire article Feb. 10, 2002 - At the end of the first week in February the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ordered NextBank to cease operations. NextBank was the first insured Internet bank to go belly up and the 4th insured bank to go under this year. NextBank operated solely on the Internet and had no checking or passbook savings accounts. It solicited only CDs in $100,000 amounts, so-called jumbo accounts. The deposits were used to finance the bank's credit card business solicited solely on the Internet. NextBank had $554 million in deposits when it was closed. 2,075 depositors had exceeded the FDIC $100,000 limit and will lose $29.4 Million in NextBank's failure.... click here for the entire article THE AXIS OFAVARICE - Tales of Enron Feb. 9, 2002 - McLane Layton, Administrative Assistant
to Senator Don Nickles R-OK; Drue Pearce, former GOP Alaska State
Senator; Joe Garcia, a former Florida energy regulator all have something
in common. They all made George Bush’s short list for nomination
to the Federal Energy Commission. Something else. According to Kevin
McCoy writing in the February 7 edition of USA Today each of them
were interviewed by Enron Executives as part of the Whitehouse vetting
process. None of them were appointed to the $130,000 a year position..... click here for the entire article The Ming Report Debut
Feb 8, 2002 - This is the first issue of The Ming Report, a new Web based magazine of political comment from a Shih Tzu point of view. We will take you on a tour of the foibles of human political folly, snipe at the politico’s ankles and generally raise hell about the issues of the day. We hope you get a laugh or two, find some news you haven’t seen elsewhere or old news looked at in a new way. We will be irreverent and try to melt down the sacred cows, deflate the stuffed shirts and provide you with an antidote to Limbaugh poisoning, The Ming Report won’t follow a schedule so check back often for new articles. |
Agree? Disagree? Just want to add your .02 worth? Click here to send your comments to Ming Return to Home Page © Copyright Keith Hays All Rights Reserved |