U.S. Feared a Nuclear Argentina
Policy: Hoping to win the
regime's support for a ban in the 1970s, America curbed its opposition to the
'dirty war,' documents show.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-dirty23aug23.story?coll=la%2Dhome%2Dtodays%2Dtimes
Excerpt: "Most of those
qualifying for the benefits, part of the Social Security system, never got past
high school and held jobs like factory worker, waitress, store clerk, laborer
or health care aide. Their numbers have grown to 5.42 million today from 3
million in 1990, swelling the program's costs to $60 billion last year. That
far surpasses unemployment insurance or food stamps or any other similar
program.
Show
me a high school dropout, particularly a male, who is over the age of 40 and is
not working and there is a 40 to 45 percent chance that he is on Social
Security disability insurance," said David H. Autor, an economist at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
It is not that
disabling injuries are occurring more frequently or that more people are
cheating a system that requires considerable evidence to prove disability. Research by a number of economists
indicates that the growing numbers signal instead a reliance on disability
benefits by low-end workers who had ignored their ailments as long as their
limited skills brought them steady employment. Some who would have gone on welfare now apply for disability
pay instead.
Oil price spike could dent economy: As Iraq worries lift crude, analysts
fret over gas pump impact
http://www.msnbc.com/news/797193.asp#TOP
Note price quotes at end of this article and next OPEC
meeting in Osaka this month.
Oliphant:
Economy stuck in gridlock
@ http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/230/oped/Economy_stuck_in_gridlock+.shtml
There are some
real scary numbers in here.
Fred Hiatt:
And the deeds to back the words @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34025-2002Aug18.html
Excerpt: (last 3 paragraphs): “To an extent that would have been
unthinkable a year ago, the administration is engaged in Pakistan and
Uzbekistan and other distant lands, but whether more as military partner to
reigning dictators or liberalizing ally of embattled dissidents is unclear. Is
the louder message to Cairo the withholding of additional aid or the sanctity
of the existing $2 billion-a-year subsidy?
That the answers to such
questions still are emerging should not come as a surprise. The United States
cannot fight, let alone win, a Cold War-style campaign for freedom in the
Islamic world unless, as in the Cold War, it is fully engaged throughout the
world, committed to democracy in China as well as in Iraq, to peace in Chechnya
as well as in the Middle East. Yet such an internationalist role clashes with
the more constricted, less-generous vision that featured in the foreign policy
of one year ago, when the administration wondered why U.S. troops should stay
in Kosovo and envisioned Mexico as the most important arena of international
affairs. The makeover in one year is profound but not complete: Foreign aid now
is extensively promised, but still little budgeted; treaties and alliances
still too often are viewed as traps.
The extent to which
the administration shoulders the burdens of its new rhetoric will help
determine how the world perceives its commitment to topple Saddam Hussein --
whether as an act of vengeance and oil politics or as part of a larger campaign
to promote prosperity and freedom in the Islamic world, backed by resources and
the patience needed for such a task.”
AND LAST BUT NOT
LEAST: Army
hits recruiting goal ahead of schedule
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON – The
sluggish economy, snazzy new ads and a surge in patriotism after Sept. 11
helped the Army reach its recruiting goals early this year, officers said
Thursday.
…Hawkins was the last
active-duty soldier sworn in to meet the Army’s goal of 79,500 new troops for the year ending Sept. 30. The Army has recruited 19,000 people toward next year’s goal. The Navy and Air Force have commitments
for enough recruits to meet their goal, though not all the recruits have
entered basic training. The Navy’s goal is 46,500, and the Air Force’s target is
37,283. The Marine
Corps’ goal is 38,642, and the
service had signed up 31,523 by July 31.
The Army is keeping
high standards for recruits, said Lt. Gen. Dennis Cavin, who oversees Army
recruiting. More than 22 percent of this year’s recruits have at
least one semester of college, and more than 4,000 have an associate’s or
bachelor’s degree, he said.
