"Still Dreaming of Tehran." Who's up for another invasion? The neocons who brought you the make-believe premises of the Iraq war haven't forgotten about Iran. They still don't like it, and they want to use Tehran's ties to Iraqi Shiite groups (among other excuses) to take a fresh stab at regime change. Robert Dreyfuss and Laura Rozen have details in The Nation (April 12). www.thenation.com
"Shell Game." If you think you're getting any tax breaks thanks to Bush, you're wrong (unless you're pulling more than a few hundred thou a year). Writing on TOMPAINE.com (April 9), Chuck Collins of United for a Fair Economy shows how long-term taxation trends maintained or accelerated by our White House have regular people paying more (to state coffers drained of federal funds, for example) while the rich pay less (as top tax rates on investment income and large inheritances keep dropping). So we're still getting soaked -- especially if you count the shift of $13,000 in new debt Bush's fiscal policies will bequeath to each American between 2002 and 2007. www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/10222
"GOP operatives lead Iraq press office." "Beautification Plan for Baghdad Ready to Begin," the Office of Strategic Communications announces. And why shouldn't we get some good news from Iraq? Especially if it's from such reliable sources as OSC chief Dan Senor, a former press secretary to Republican Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, and Rich Galen, the top Republican strategist and conservative commentator who's in charge of daily OSC news releases shipped directly to U.S. media outlets. Jim Krane of the Associated Press (April 4) contrasts the U.S. press office -- larded with former Bush campaign workers, political appointees and ex-Capitol Hill staffers -- with the British team working alongside it, composed mostly of civil service or foreign service employees. www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0404-05.htm
"Misoverestimated." Those who hoped Secretary of State Colin Powell might exert a better-angels influence on the White House won't be surprised to learn that one reason he hasn't -- on North Korea, Iraq and much else -- is because Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice have worked hard to outflank him, and Bush himself doesn't get along very well with his man at State. But in The American Prospect (April), Michael Steinberger argues there's an even more sobering reason: When you get down to it, Powell simply lacks vision as well as any real convictions. www.prospect.org/print/V15/4/steinberger-m.html
