I saw this on the street the other day and just loved the colors.

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Robert Kuttner.

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Imagine that:

WASHINGTON, Jul 2, 2010 (IPS) – Olli Heinonen, the Finnish nuclear engineer who resigned Thursday after five years as deputy director for safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was the driving force in turning that agency into a mechanism to support U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran.

Heinonen was instrumental in making a collection of intelligence documents showing a purported Iranian nuclear weapons research programme the central focus of the IAEA’s work on Iran. The result was to shift opinion among Western publics to the view that Iran had been pursuing a covert nuclear weapons programme.

But his embrace of the intelligence documents provoked a fierce political struggle within the Secretariat of the IAEA, because other officials believed the documents were fraudulent.

Heinonen took over the Safeguards Department in July 2005 – the same month that the George W. Bush administration first briefed top IAEA officials on the intelligence collection.

The documents portrayed a purported nuclear weapons research programme, originally called the “Green Salt” project, that included efforts to redesign the nosecone of the Shahab-3 missile, high explosives apparently for the purpose of triggering a nuclear weapon and designs for a uranium conversion facility. Later the IAEA referred to the purported Iranian activities simply as the “alleged studies”.

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Nine in the morning, and it’s already 81 degrees.

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Probably not the best week to read this, although of course the author’s right.

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From Bartcop:

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Aimee Mann:

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Jerry and the boys:

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Parade Magazine: “Can These Men Fix The Deficit?”

BOWLES: If we don’t solve the debt problem, we will be paying $1 trillion in interest in 2020. That’s money we can’t spend on Social Security, Medicare, education, infrastructure, or innovation to make sure America is competitive in a global economy. This debt is like a cancer growing within the country. To fix it, we’ve got to make decisions that are politically tough.

SIMPSON: When I was appointed, I heard, “Simpson, you’ve lost your marbles. You’re carrying water for Obama.” That’s not true. We told the President that everything has to be on the table, including his health-care plan. He said, “I’m with you to the hilt.”

How do you reconcile Democratic and Republican commissioners?

BOWLES: It’s really hard. We could end up walking away with nothing. But we are working together to come up with a commonsense solution. In ‘97, there wasn’t a soul who believed we could balance the budget, but we did.

What specifically do you think the commission will accomplish?

BOWLES: We have two charges: to reduce the deficit by $240 billion a year by 2015 and to deal with entitlements for the long-term fiscal health of the country. We’re looking at how we can reduce discretionary spending—things like education, transportation, the military, homeland security—and mandatory spending, which includes Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. We also need to raise revenue.
SIMPSON: No one’s out to get the lesser in society, but there won’t be anything for them unless we get a handle on Medicare and Medicaid.

Are you willing to recommend cuts to Social Security?

SIMPSON: We’re not going to cut Social Security—we’re going to stabilize it. None of the ideas that have been presented will affect anyone over age 58. But we’re going to make the system work. As it is, it can’t sustain itself.

Does Congress have the political courage to act on your proposals?

BOWLES: If we get 14 out of 18 members of the commission to agree on any of the recommendations, Sen. (Harry) Reid has promised to bring them to the floor for an up-or-down vote. And if it passes in the Senate…

SIMPSON: …the Speaker (of the House, Nancy Pelosi) has said she’ll do the same.

BOWLES: We’re going to work our hearts out to succeed.

Yep, that’s what we’re afraid of.

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Yesterday I was downtown, driving through the historic area so many Philadelphians take for granted. As always, I was deeply moved by the sight of the visitors who come all over the world to spend Independence Day in my home town.

Think about that. They could have gone somewhere else, or stayed home for a backyard barbecue. Instead, they came to Philadelphia for July 4th because they’re drawn by the idea of liberty, and the ideals expressed in our Declaration of Independence.

It seems our elected officials forget about those ideals. But we haven’t! Sure, there are many reasons to be depressed, but don’t give up. Get mad, get organized! Remember, it’s our country. It doesn’t belong to the corporations.

It belongs to us.

Adams:
It’s a masterpiece, I say!
They will cheer every word, every letter

Jefferson:
I wish I felt that way

Franklin:
I believe I can put it better
Now then attend, as friend to friend
Our Declaration Committee
For us I see immortality

All:
In Philadelphia City

Franklin:
A farmer, a lawyer, and a sage
A bit gouty in the leg
You know it’s quite bizarre
To think that here we are
Playing midwives to an egg

All:
We’re waiting for the chirp, chirp, chirp
Of an eaglet being born
We’re waiting for the chirp, chirp, chirp
On this humid Monday morning in this
Congressional incubator

Franklin:
God knows the temperature’s hot enough
To hatch a stone, let alone an egg

All:
We’re waiting for the scratch, scratch, scratch
Of that tiny little fellow
Waiting for the egg to hatch
On this humid Monday morning in this
Congressional incubator

Adams:
God knows the temperature’s hot enough
To hatch a stone

Jefferson:
But will it hatch an egg?

Adams:
The eagle’s going to crack the shell
Of the egg that England laid

All:
Yes, so we can tell, tell, tell
On this humid Monday morning in this
Congressional incubator

Franklin:
And as just as Tom here has written
Though the egg may belong to Great Britain,
The eagle inside belongs to us!

All:
And as just as Tom here has written
We say to hell with Great Britain!
The eagle inside belongs to us!

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