Can I Get Some Real News Analysis?
Hopefully it isn't anthrax. If it is, I wonder if it will spur some news agency besides Salon to do a story about the fact that the only politicians getting anthrax are prominent democrats.

On another note, Joe Conason links to a story that should have been below the fold today, or at least abutting the internal pages describing Cheney's speech about Iraq. Envoy-extraordinaire Anthony Zinni thinks invading Iraq is a bad idea. Why haven't the democrats seized the political opportunity to stand with the military and dispute the need to invade a country? They couldn't still be spooked by Dukakis, could they? Given that both houses are up for grabs and the administration is desperately trying to keep Iraq on the front page, why not take the story away from them? Can a Washington correspondent please address this?


- posted by levinson @ 8/27/2002 01:36:00 PM

 
The jolly, candy-like button
Good to see the military has learned one thing from video game players out there. When things don't go your way just, "hit the olllllllld RESET button."


- posted by levinson @ 8/22/2002 09:25:00 AM

 
Who Snatched Paul O'Neill?
I've read a few accounts of W's risible "forum" on Reaganomics, and I find William�Saletan's to be the best of the bunch. Two highlights from it:

1. "Two of the participants who spoke onstage at the plenary session declared that they were "real people" and "regular folks." Both were heads of companies."
2. "Like plantation owners, the employers on hand spoke for their employees. "They are so happy to have jobs," one CEO told Bush."

Another good account comes from the Wash. Post in which Jonathan Weisman
notes that when Clinton held his forum in 1992, Paul O'Neill had some different comments.

• O'Neill 1992: "I think if these kinds of things are done again, it would be good to structure some sharp elbows, so that there's more heat of battle and conflict."
• O'Neill 2002: "We heard a lot of really challenging ideas today[.] We had several people in my session tell us that not only should we make the tax cuts permanent, but we ought to accelerate the ones that are delayed."

You'd think O'Neill was being paid by companies to say this. I mean, being paid more than he used to be. Yet, as CEO (holding far more money and prestige than he does now) of Alcoa, he "stood up at a presidential economic forum to challenge his leaders to raise gas taxes, be bold, even risk reelection on a new economic vision." (Quoting from Post article.) My suspicion is that someone in the administration told O'Neill to be a nice boy this time or Rumsfeld was going to send in the special ops to rough him up a bit.


- posted by levinson @ 8/14/2002 10:22:00 AM

 
What The?
Is it funny or troubling that MSFT is asking another company (one that makes printers) to assist its employees with its own software. Wh---WHAT? My first inkling is that this would shake the confidence of people. I mean, if MSFT can't help its own people, how is it supposed to figure out what should be improved with its software? Perhaps they just don't care about their users (even if they're employees) at all. Remind me again how this company stays on top.
- posted by levinson @ 8/13/2002 09:08:00 AM