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07/25/2003 Archived Entry: ""

For a chortle, I recommend The Bush Administration Random Allegation Gizmo. Among the Bush allegations that the site scrambles together..."It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that Queen Beatrix of Holland has been hoarding vast quantities of transcripts of Al Gore speeches which can be used to attack the United States in a matter of minutes. This really bad person must be stopped now." I also recommend the "Bush Dictionary" that allows you to understand GW's speeches: for example, what does "nucular" mean? Now you don't have to wonder. Nor is the source of the uranium rumor a mystery any longer -- the Italians are to blame! Seriously! And a woman is behind it all.

Tom Tomorrow strikes again! with the cartoon "Back to the Ugly Future."

My favorite email of the day comes from Pat T. who writes in response to yesterday's blog, in which I discussed a rarely mentioned implication of using reservists as tho' they were regular military: namely, "the dislocation costs imposed on businesses who must, by law, keep jobs open for those employees who were called up. The dislocation includes the many small businesses that are owned by reservists and, so, must be closed...sometimes permanently." Pat, who is a nurse, comments, "The reservists have already been touched at my hospital. One supervisor was called up immediately, she went somewhere to replace soldiers who went to Iraq. Another reservist is still working, but waiting for ‘the other shoe to drop’ when she takes the place of one of those who will be called home. We had already discussed that probability. Staff is short enough, and gets shorter as a result of the war for the very reasons mentioned in the article. Companies aren’t hiring any more than they have to anyway, and as long as the work gets done (at whatever speed and/or stress level - and yes, I know that’s unsafe for the patient!), they WON’T hire. As a result of the supervisor leaving, supervisors on all shifts were switched from 8-hour to 12-hour shifts. Most of the staff already work 12-hour shifts, so when change comes on the floors, it will be by stretching the patient load from x-number of patients per nurse to x+-number per nurse."

The Pentagon is planning a medical draft by which experienced medical personnel, including medics, nurses and physicians, would be forced to "serve" in the event of a national emergency. The Pentagon is also considering other "special skill" drafts, to include military linguists, computer experts or engineers. The draftees would be used -- ostensibly -- in the event of biological warfare within the US or a similar catastrophic event. But, remember, reservists were never meant to be used as they are now..as routine substitutes for regular army with one-year stints, patrolling the streets of foreign cities like policemen. Given the mission drift for reservists that happened so quickly and without protest, how long do you think it would be before the Pentagon drafted such "essential" personnel if they were needed in Iraq, Iran, North Korea...or whichever other hell-hole into which the US plunges?

I offer a tip of my hat to Karen de Coster who has posted an excellent analysis of the internal problems now crippling the national LP on her webpage. For a more inspiring view of libertarianism, try the online version of Karl Hess' classic The Death of Politics, first published in Playboy Magazine.

My best to all,
mac