The "Story"
Lots going on today so let's get right to it.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry has been getting a lot of heat lately from the Bush administration and right wingers in general for his supposed "soft" stance on terrorism and his presumed inability to protect the lives of Americans at home and abroad. Rubbish.

Certainly Kerry will and would do everything in his power to curb terrorist activities and safeguard American lives. Who wouldn't? What we need to be asking is what the Bush administration has done to protect Americans and squelch terrorism. Remember, the biggest failure in U.S. security and intelligence, the tragedy of 9/11, happened on Bush's watch. And the current quagmire that is Iraq has everything to do with him, his lies regarding WMDs and his lack of any sort of exit strategy in that country. Let's see what Bush can do about our current situation before we go putting Kerry in any bad light. As the saying goes, before you cast the first stone . . .

Also today is a great piece from The Smoking Gun which details Donald Trump's plans to copyright the phrase "you're fired." Does this man's ego have no bounds? Does his stupidity? Look to the article for a brief story and photos of the actual patent application filed by The Donald himself.

The News
By far the best story out there today comes from Newsday which reports that the Bush campaign is selling branded fleece pullovers, to the tune of $49.95, made in Burma and imported to the U.S.

Now we all know that Bush is an idiot, but to have official campaign merchandise manufactured overseas, by an impoverished, Third-World country and at a time when Americans are hurting for jobs and the manufacturing sector has been all but eliminated--well, it's beyond stupid. It's unfathomable. And it gets worse.

Bush himself last July signed into law the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act which makes it a crime to import goods from that country (now called Myanmar), citing its government's atrocious human-rights record and abysmal pay for its workers--about 7 cents an hour in the textile mills. So what gives?

The merchandise comes from a Kentucky-based outfit called the Spalding Group which has supplied campaign merchandise for some 20 years. Spalding President Ted Jackson has called the pullover an anomaly, saying that of the 60 pullovers in stock he could find only one other that was of Burmese origin. All others, Jackson claims, are proudly made in the U.S. Jackson failed to explain the t-shirt also for sale, manufactured and imported from Mexico.

Bush officials have thus far, and predictably, declined to comment.

3N could go on its soapbox preaching about jobs lost and going abroad, the current sad state of the economy and unemployment figures, etc. But we all know this already. Today, we'll let the story stand on its own, sans preaching, and let you all get a big laugh out of it. Here at 3N, we don't whether to laugh or cry.

The "Story"
Some days 3N overflows with non news. Today, there's just not much to poke fun at.

In all seriousness, some really nasty things happened today. From the hotel blast in Baghdad that has so far killed 27 to the arrest of the Ohio highway sniper in Las Vegas, there's really a lot going on today that's legit.

It's easy to be cynical and caustic all the time, but some days it's just not warranted.

If there was one thing 3N would pick out today it would be results of a poll published in today's Baltimore Sun that shows, surprise surprise, world opinion of the U.S. is sinking fast. We need a poll to tell us this?

The poll surveyed residents in nine nations, five in Europe and four Muslim states. Of course the Muslims had dim views on U.S. foreign policy, but pollsters were surprised to find that even Britons are becoming increasingly weary of U.S. bullying tactics. Read the entire article at the above link, it's worth your time.

Add those country's feelings to ones expressed by Mexicans in a similar study some weeks ago which showed a clear majority of Mexicans are strongly opposed to U.S. foreign policy. Worse still were the chants of "Osama, Osama" going around the stadium during the U.S. soccer team's Olympic qualifying match against Mexico some weeks ago. You know you're in trouble when a mass of civilians rallies behind a man responsible for the death of thousands of similar, innocent civilians. Chilling, really.

The News
If there was one bright spot today it would be the paintball attack on World Bank President James Wolfensohn in Slovenia. In a brave show of civil disobedience, an unnamed attacker covered Wolfensohn and his Slovenian host in green paint as they toured the streets. The Reuters picture and brief story can be found at this Yahoo News link.

The "Story"
After a relatively quiet weekend, the non-news machine is up again and in full swing.

Today we're greeted with news that Spain evidently doesn't like us anymore. Well does anyone? Evidently they're pulling their troops out of Iraq and are trying to persuade the Dutch to do the same. This begs the question, the Dutch have troops? Somehow 3N just can't picture nations trembling in fear on news that the mighty Dutch army is coming . . .

Also today, the slanted but generally acceptable Christian Science Monitor brings word of a study showing women are more ethical than men in the business world though they do embezzle more often. This is fascinating stuff to be sure, but shouldn't we instead be talking about the still huge disparity between the number of women CEOs vs the number of men? And how about that glass ceiling women are still staring up at in terms of compensation? What good are ethics if you a) can't rise to a position of power and b) aren't fairly compensated to begin with?

Oh yeah, there also may be a new planet and Whitney Houston is back in rehab.

No, today's "story" has to be the triumphant return of Attorney General John Ashcroft who, after being diagnosed with severe gallstone pancreatitis, had his gallbladder removed and is now free to oppress and tyrannize the American people once again. This is non-news because a) Ashcroft no doubt received the finest of medical care, b) he did it at very little personal expense and mostly with taxpayer dollars, c) we 3N can't stand his evil ass and d) no one is asking what would have happened to the man if he, like 41 million other Americans, had no health insurance?

The News
Dan Frosch of The AlterNet is asking that question. Were Ashcroft not a highly placed public official, he would have found himself in quite a pickle. Ashcroft is too young for Medicare and makes too much money to be considered a charity case and qualify for free or subsidized care.

Were he to head to D.C. General Hospital, one of the few public hospitals in the area that serve minority, poor and uninsured patients, he would have found it closed. The city shut it down in 2001 because it was "overburdened with uninsured patients who couldn't pay." In fact, Washington is hemorrhaging money right now as it tries to meet the needs of an exploding population of uninsured or underinsured patients who need affordable or free medical care. As Frosch points out, four of the city's seven hospitals are currently operating in the red.

Rather than regurgitate Frosch's fine piece here, readers should go to the source and read for themselves what may have become of John Ashcroft sans insurance. In all seriousness, the likely outcome is terrifying.

It's easy to point fingers at multi-million dollar Mars rovers, $200 billion dollar recovery plans for oil-rich Middle Eastern countries, etc. The fact is, the money is out there to put in place a comprehensive health plan for everyone in this country. There's no reason why the richest nation in the world can't keep its own citizens in good health. We have one of the highest infant mortality rates of all industrialized nations. The elderly and the infant starve to death, freeze to death and cook in their apartments during heat waves because they can't afford air conditioning. This is our America, where we welcome the world's sick and poor only to let them continue those ways on our shores.