Letter Of The Day

I have never owned a credit card. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., introduced a bill that would require credit card companies to let you know how long it would take to pay off your credit card debt if you made the minimum payment each month. If the debt is large, probably the rest of your life. The Republican-controlled Congress responded by voting it down and then passing a bill making it much harder to file for bankruptcy. Bush then signed it into law.

I’m sure these congressmen will look you in the eyes and tell you that by making it harder to declare bankruptcy, the banks will in turn lower interest rates on credit cards. This, of course, is after they have been given money by the bank lobbyists. A question you might ask yourself is how many lobbyists do you think work for the poor and the middle class?

Even a good lawyer has a hard time understanding the fine print on a credit card agreement. Credit card interest is legalized loan-sharking. Miss a car loan payment or have a water bill past due and your interest rate on your credit card may soar. Credit card companies love to add on late fees. They hate people who pay the cards on time, calling them freeloaders. If a person is deep in credit card debt, the best thing to do is to see if you can get a bank loan to pay it off. Then take a scissors to the credit card. Eight percent interest is far better than 16 or 30.

Now, if only we could get rid of the best Congress money can buy. Chuck Grassley works, but for whom? Dittos for Jim Nussle and Tom Latham. And what about our state government? Do you think corporate farm lobbyists have any influence over local control of hog lots? Then there is George Bush. Darn, I’m running out of space. In a way, we deserve who we vote for.

--MARK VANHEEL, Mason City

attribution

from the good news dept, and i do mean good news

By a margin of 52% to 43%, Americans want Congress to consider impeaching President Bush if he wiretapped American citizens without a judge's approval, according to a new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org, a grassroots coalition that supports a Congressional investigation of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

The poll was conducted by Zogby International, the highly-regarded non-partisan polling company. The poll interviewed 1,216 U.S. adults from January 9-12.

--source

wanna bet that we don't see telecom-friendly legislation soon?

USAT reports that AT&T, MCI, and Sprint are cooperating with the NSA's warantless wiretapping program. Anonymous telecom execs confirmed their cooperation, but the telecom giants officially had no comment. Until this program, phone companies required court orders before cooperating with a wiretap. USAT acknowledges that the NYT originally broke the news of the telecoms' cooperation in December but takes credit for digging up the company names. Absent warrants, the telecoms are granting access to their systems on the basis of "oral requests from senior government officials."

Letter Of The Day

I find it very interesting that a majority of voters in Palestine chose Hamas to lead them. Isn't this democracy at work? Yes, just not the way the Bush administration would want. Well, democracy doesn't guarantee that the best idea, or man, wins. Just that one side gets more votes than the other. Is democracy right for all people?

-J. E. Yungbluth, Rossie.

attribution

how many daves do you know?

http://davidjohns.blogspot.com/2005/06/my-camera-6-20-05.html

listen to the podcast.

and the process begins....

NEW YORK, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- As President Bush tours the country to promote the agenda he laid out in last week's State of the Union Address, key members of his campaign team are being poached by wanna-be candidates of 2008, reports Senior White House Correspondent Richard Wolffe in this week's Newsweek. "This is the first time in a long time where a lot of those people who have been out there for the president are free agents," says one important member of Bush's team. "This is the courtship period, and some are courting aggressively."

--source

aggressively? why does it take an aggressive offer for bushites? the way they defend the man, you'd think they'd put their money where their mouths are.

5000 tarists are in our midst

Intelligence officers who eavesdropped on thousands of Americans in overseas calls under authority from President Bush have dismissed nearly all of them as potential suspects after hearing nothing pertinent to a terrorist threat, according to accounts from current and former government officials and private-sector sources
with knowledge of the technologies in use.
...
Fewer than 10 U.S. citizens or residents a year, according to an authoritative account, have aroused enough suspicion during warrantless eavesdropping to justify interception of their domestic calls, as well. That step still requires a warrant from a federal judge, for which the government must supply evidence of probable cause.

The Bush administration refuses to say -- in public or in closed session of Congress -- how many Americans in the past four years have had their conversations recorded or their e-mails read by intelligence analysts without court authority. Two knowledgeable sources placed that number in the thousands; one of them, more specific, said about 5,000.

--WaPo
i think Americans are starting to notice that they've been conned once too many times, and they're not going to put up with it any more. the only ones who don't give a damn about democracy and our freedoms, are those who side with this nazi.

Paragraph of the Day

The WP fronts the administration's wiretapping program yielding few potential terrorism suspects. (Didn't the NYT lead with this story three weeks ago?) The Post's convoluted piece focuses on the technical aspects of the program, specifically the role automated filters play in selecting leads. Turns out these filters ain't so good at picking out possible terrorists from innocent bystanders.

--from today's papers

encronomics is alive an well at the whitehouse

But kudos to the Post for pointing out that Bush "continues a pattern of leaving substantial military expenditures out of the budget." Last week the Pentagon said it would ask for an additional $120 billion outside of the budget for its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's over a quarter of the president's proposed defense spending.

imagine if 25% of your budget didn't have to be part of the budget. my how rich we'd all be. until the time came for those payments to be made.

Letter of the WeeQ

Did I miss something? How can you run a lead editorial on the latest lobbying/money/corruption scandal in Congress and then print no letters to the editor in response ("At Least Try To Reform Congressional Ethics," Jan. 23)? Am I to believe that my letter to the editor on this subject was the only one you received on the ethics mess in Congress?

If true, that's another story waiting to be told. As you are not bound by past editorial board opinions, perhaps the current editorial board could do a re-examination of the whole campaign-spending mess in Congress and at the state level. This should include a rejection of the Register's past view that money in politics cannot be regulated.

Examine what a number of other leading newspapers and commentators have been saying about the latest scandal in Congress. In short, the consensus is that until Congress does something about public campaign financing to remove the need to raise large amounts of campaign funds, any other so-called "reform" will do little to remove the link between private money and public policy.

If the Register does not accept the fundamentally corrupting nature of money in politics, then you should at least tell readers why and explain how "ethics reform" will accomplish anything new.

—Jon Euchner, Indianola.

attributioni

Letter Of The Day

I have a suggestion to offer Gov. Tom Vilsack's task force studying the issue of TouchPlay machines in Iowa. Create a 2,000-foot buffer zone between TouchPlay machines and any school or day-care center. This out-of-sight, out-of-mind law-making would effectively have the same impact on the gambling problem in Iowa as it has had in dealing with the sex-offender problem: none.

We can stuff all the sex offenders and TouchPlay machines together and just pretend that they are not there. I predict that our lawmakers will draft more feel-good legislation, like roping off the machines and using surveillance cameras, which all looks good, while never dealing with the real issue of gambling in Iowa.

—Mike Arndt, Norwalk.

attribution

watching MTP

and boehmer is as aloof as it gets. he has no concept of reality. none.

the republicans did us a favor by electing him. thanks boys.

one thing you'll never hear democrats do

is silence dissent. from san jose mercury news:

The ejection of two women from the U.S. Capitol for wearing message T-shirts during President Bush's State of the Union speech this week was the latest incident in a growing trend of stifling dissent.

Capitol Police later apologized for ejecting the women -- after one of them, the wife of a congressman, complained bitterly, as did her husband. The police acknowledged they'd acted overzealously.

But their actions weren't atypical in today's overheated political climate. Protesters outside political conventions are herded behind razor wire far from the action, citizens wearing a rival candidate's stickers are forcefully ejected from presidential campaign rallies on public property, and those who heckle the president or broadcast issue ads within 60 days of an election can be prosecuted.

Silencing dissent isn't unique to the national government. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani once ordered city buses to remove an ad for the New Yorker magazine that made fun of him.

Rest In Peace Grandpa!

NEW YORK Feb 4, 2006 (AP)— Al Lewis, the cigar-chomping patriarch of "The Munsters" whose work as a basketball scout, restaurateur and political candidate never eclipsed his role as Grandpa from the television sitcom, died after years of failing health. He was 95.

--source

Joke of the Day

bolton threw a party, and nobody showed up. from CNN:

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- John Bolton, Washington's U.N. ambassador, tried to open his first meeting as head of the Security Council at 10 a.m. sharp on Thursday -- and was irked to find no other diplomats showed up.

"I brought the gavel down at 10. I was the only one in the room," Bolton said. The United States has just assumed the rotating presidency of the 15-nation council for the month of February.

"I believe in discipline. I think daily briefings constitute a form of intellectual discipline. Starting on time is a form of discipline," Bolton told reporters. "I failed today."

U.N. to john: FUCK YOU.

more good news

headline over at FT:

Republican hopes of regaining initiative fall flat

“The Republicans know that they have issues and the status quo isn’t good enough come November,” said Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster. “There is a desire to change now, before voters make the change for them.”

But with Democrats consistently outscoring Republicans in opinion polls and growing evidence that voters are fed up with everyone in Washington, Republicans fear they may need to do far more if they are to hold on to their majority.

notice that last line:. what more is there other than another terrorist attack.

GOOD NEWS!

bush ratings from rasmussen:

Today: 45% Approve 54% Disapprove
Feb 3: 46% Approve 53% Disapprove
Feb 2: 47% Approve 52% Disapprove
Feb 1: 48% Approve 51% Disapprove

one can only hope they continue the trend.

what bush has done away from the public eye

most people aren't watching the EPA or NASA as the bush (mid)administration obliterates rules that fit their warped sense of design and purpose.

The NYT reports below the fold that NASA's chief called for "scientific openness" throughout the organization. The story updates the paper's earlier front-page scoop that some NASA scientists say they were being urged to tone down or edit reports to match Bush administration thinking on climate change and the big bang. The LAT reports inside that the EPA's internal advisory committee is furious that the agency's new rules on smog aren't tougher.

Letter(s) Of The Day

today we're treated to two, both on the same topic: democrat leadership? what leadership?

Molly Ivins, in her Jan. 21 column, perfectly describes my feelings about the Democrats in Congress ("Grow Some Spines, Democrats, and Maybe You'll Win"). I have been a lifelong Democrat and have never been so frustrated with politics and politicians.

Ivins is correct. The Bush administration has bullied its way through these past several years in office and shows no sign of stopping. The Democrats only seem able to stand around and wring their hands. The first person who stands up espousing the beliefs of the majority of Americans will get my support.

—Anne Webber, West Des Moines.

and

Yes, Molly Ivins, your call to Democrats to stand up and be heard is desperately needed. The "political center" is an illusion. It is where you go when you win an election based on your values. Then, you move toward center because you now represent your base and those who did not vote for you.

The current administration has not done that. It has divided the country by moving toward the right and not recognizing the needs of those who voted against it.

Democrats, silence is not golden. Shout out the outrage you must feel at what is happening to our America. Being careful lost two elections. We must not lose another one. "Liberal" is a good word.

Republicans, you were once a respected party. You must be aware of what is happening: lies about Iraq, allowing the the use of torture, destruction of the environment, spying on innocent Americans, the hate that other countries now feel about us, threats of further invasions. Where is your outrage?

—I. G. Shadduck, West Des Moines.

attribution

Joke of the Day

HEADLINE: Bush says he understands Americans' worries

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breaking/story.asp?j=73308084&p=733x8386&n=73308464

FARPOINT.FACTOID

Currently, the Defense Department says it is spending about $4.5 billion a month on the conflict in Iraq, or about $100,000 per minute.

Current spending in Afghanistan is about $800 million a month, or about $18,000 per minute.

--SOURCE

cop sues cop

from the nytimes:

Now the officers, through their union, are suing the city, charging that the police procedures at their demonstrations — many of them routinely used at war protests, antipoverty marches and mass bike rides — were so heavy-handed and intimidating that their First Amendment rights were violated.

remember, whatever the whitehouse says, think opposite

the White House's new commitment to alternative energies:

The Energy Department will begin laying off researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the next week or two because of cuts to its budget. ... The budget for the laboratory, which is just west of Denver, was cut by nearly 15 percent.

i guess the times today goes on with explaining that most of the responsibility lies with congress.

what happened to supporting the troops?

Nobody fronts Iraq, where the U.S. reported the deaths of four GIs and a Marine. And about a dozen Iraqis were killed by two closely coordinated car bombings in Baghdad. The NYT calls it the "worst attack in the capital in weeks."

--today's papers

i guess 'the worst attack in the capital in weeks' doesn't merit front page news any more .... how sad.

Letter Of The Day

fter reading Philip Schneider's fearful screed about Iran's (non-existent, minimum-10-years-off) nuclear threat (Jan. 17 letter), I was left to sadly concede one fact: America has ceased to be the "home of the brave." We are now the "home of those who send others' children to die and kill anything that scares us a little." At least during the Cold War, we feared a nation that posed some semblance of a threat to us. Today we fear anyone who says "Boo" too loudly. I hope Schneider is going to send a good deal of his kin to Iran for the invasion so my son can stay home this time.

-Larry Wohlgemuth, Vietnam-era veteran, Ankeny.

attribution

IT'S CALLED COVER-UP

The prosecutor in the criminal case against U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff said in a Jan. 23 letter not all e-mail was archived in 2003, the year President George W. Bush's administration exposed the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame.

Lawyers for defendant Lewis (Scooter) Libby this week accused prosecutors of withholding evidence the Libby camp said it needs to mount a defence.

"We are aware of no evidence pertinent to the charges against defendant Libby which has been destroyed," Fitzgerald wrote in a letter to the defence team.

But the prosecutor added: "In an abundance of caution, we advise you that we have learned that not all e-mail of the Office of Vice-President and the Executive Office of the President for certain time periods in 2003 was preserved through the normal archiving process on the White House computer system."

--SOURCE

from knight-ridder

One day after President Bush vowed to reduce America's dependence on Middle East oil by cutting imports from there 75 percent by 2025, his energy secretary and national economic adviser said Wednesday that the president didn't mean it literally.

--source

HE LIED!

new fact check makes some interesting reading

from factcheck.org, the one cheney used in his debate with edwards in 2004.

The President left out a few things when surveying the State of the Union:
He proudly spoke of "writing a new chapter in the story of self-government" in Iraq and Afghanistan and said the number of democracies in the world is growing. He failed to mention that neither Iraq nor Afghanistan yet qualify as democracies according to the very group whose statistics he cited.
Bush called for Congress to pass a line-item veto, failing to mention that the Supreme Court struck down a line-item veto as unconstitutional in 1998. Bills now in Congress would propose a Constitutional amendment, but none have shown signs of life.
The President said the economy gained 4.6 million jobs in the past two-and-a-half years, failing to note that it had lost 2.6 million jobs in his first two-and-a-half years in office. The net gain since Bush took office is just a little more than 2 million.
He talked of cutting spending, but only "non-security discretionary spending." Actually, total federal spending has increased 42 percent since Bush took office.
He spoke of being "on track" to cut the federal deficit in half by 2009. But the deficit is increasing this year, and according to the Congressional Budget Office it will decline by considerably less than half even if Bush's tax cuts are allowed to lapse.
Bush spoke of a "goal" of cutting dependence on Middle Eastern oil, failing to mention that US dependence on imported oil and petroleum products increased substantially during his first five years in office, reaching 60 per cent of consumption last year.

something i didn't know was going on

that there are lawmakers with lobbyist spouses running amok in washington. whining because they're about to lose gym privileges.

gosh, and there are people going hungry with the cuts they're proposing.

bush has fought tooth and nail

everytime congress wants to investigate something. 9/11 commission, the katrina commission, and now the spying on Americans scandal.

The NYT off-leads the White House refusing to give the Senate its internal legal opinions on the warrantless spying program. The Judiciary Committee is going to have hearings next week on the spying, and Democrats along with, apparently, the Republican chairman Specter want the docs. "I don't think they're coming out," said a DOJ official.

--from slate's today's papers

so, the republicons are out conning everybody

into thinking that bush is serious about cutting the deficit. in fact, with the $40 billion in cuts to student loans and medicaid, republicons are out making a big spectical of themselves, like this:

"American taxpayers, and anyone concerned with the nation's long-term fiscal stability, have won a great victory today."

but when you add in the tax cuts, there's actually $16 billion ADDED to the deficit. republicons. conning their way thru life.

Cartoon of the Day

http://content.todayscartoons.uclick.com/?feature=50783c5ea63744a09fc36b8d291f1e7f

Letter Of The Day

In his speech President Bush said, "I urge Congress to act responsibly and make the tax cuts permanent." The interest on the debt right now is equivalent to 40 percent of all the personal income taxes paid each year.

("But the responsible thing is to make the cuts for the wealthy permanent and borrow even more billions to do it. Because I'm the president and I can tell you up is down or down is up or we don't torture and what are you going to do about it? Heh, heh, heh.")

Bush also said, "Hindsight alone is not wisdom, and second-guessing is not a strategy." ("So please don't criticize me for cutting short my vacation and flying back to Washington to save Terri Schiavo, but not when I was given a report titled 'Osama bin Laden Determined To Strike Inside the United States.' " With Schiavo, I was relying on Majority Leader Bill Frist's tele-diagnosis that she was not brain-dead. With bin Laden, all I had to go on was the CIA.")

-Alan L. Light, Iowa City.

attribution

haha

Bush saying we need to break our addiction to oil is like the neighborhood drug dealer complaining that the kids on his block are a bunch of junkies.
--InsultComicDog

attribution

is American finally waking up?

Democrat Mark R. Herring overwhelmed Republican David. M. Mick Staton Jr. today to win a special election in a GOP-leaning Loudoun County and western Fairfax County Senate district. With 50 of 52 precincts reporting, the unofficial results in the 33rd District were: Herring, 12,379 votes, or 62 percent. Staton, 7,688, or 38 percent.

--source

so, i'm lazy, retreating and negative?

i'm only negative when i talk about bush.

something else i wanna remember

bush's call to reduce dependence on middle eastern oil by 75% comes with this lil' caveat:

Since Bush took office, net foreign imports have risen from 53 percent to 60 percent. By focusing on his goal of reducing use of Middle Eastern oil by 75 percent, he singled out the share that is not rising. Oil from the Persian Gulf region now represents 11 percent of U.S. oil consumption, less than when Bush was inaugurated.

a thief operates in the night

from slate:

Many of us had never heard of a presidential signing statement until last month, when Bush used one to eviscerate the McCain Anti-Torture bill he claimed to endorse. We all saw the big Oval Office reconciliation with McCain; we heard Bush say he was dropping his opposition to the bill, which passed with broad bipartisan support (90-9 in the Senate, 308-122 in the House) and made it illegal for Americans to engage in the "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment of detainees held here or abroad. What we missed was the actual signing ceremony, which took place two weeks later, at 8 p.m. on Dec. 30.

Unless you spent New Year's weekend trolling the White House Web site or catching up on your latest U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News as you waited for the ball to drop, you probably missed the little "P.S." the president tacked onto the McCain anti-torture bill. The postscript was a statement clearly announcing that the president will only follow the new law "in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the president to supervise the unitary executive branch ... and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power." In other words, it is for the president—not Congress or the courts—to determine when the provisions of this bill interfere with his war-making powers, and when they do, he will freely ignore the law.

why dont people just do something easy

every time bush speaks, think of him as saying something that is just the opposite of what he plans to do.

what iowans are sayin about last night's speech

http://blogs.dmregister.com/?p=797

Letter Of The Day

Administration officials recently fanned out across the media landscape to tell us that we should be thankful the president believes that he alone should determine which Americans need to be spied upon by their government.

While the academic legal community is virtually united in its belief that the Bush spying program is illegal and unconstitutional, political operatives for the White House hope to convince "average" Americans they should be glad.

But the president's extraordinary claim to power begs three questions we should demand answered before agreeing to this radical transfer of power:

First, since the National Security Agency can spy on Americans for 72 hours before telling a judge about it, how is the involvement of federal judges a problem?

Secondly, if a president can ignore federal laws he alone determines to be unconstitutional, how can he ever break the law? And why give this or any future president this unchecked power when it doesn't appear necessary?

-R. Ben Stone, executive director, American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, Des Moines.

and

We don't help companies meet their social responsibility when we give them tax breaks as revealed in the Jan. 20 article regarding Rockwell Collins ("Rockwell Gets $11 Million in State Aid"). The wealth of the corporation is supposed to strengthen the community by contributing to the health, education and welfare of the community, not weaken it. Free markets work morally when those who gain from it share their revenues with all.

-The Rev. Denny Coon, Des Moines.

attribution

the trouble with medicare part D

is that nobody's on the same page.

i'm on the phone with cms now and he had to wait at last :20 now

:30 now

what amazes me is how unprepared they all are. from the pharmacist down to the clerk at the other end of the phone. these lawmakers made a mess of things with this thing, and it's going to blow up in their faces at election time.

what has happened is the little guy's prescription bill has doubled from $1 co-pay for generic to $2 co-pay for generic (from $3 co-pay for brandname to $5 co-pay), while the more fortunate see their costs go down.

unbelieveable, but then again, we have a republican administration in charge.

Quote of the WeeQ

"It now appears that the Attorney General was not being straight with the Judiciary Committee and he has some explaining to do,"
--Senator /Russell Feingold (D-Wis)

attribution

in their own words

"Iraqis are demanding a timetable for U.S. withdrawal, and most believe that the U.S. has no plans to leave even if the new government asks them to," said Steven Kull, the director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, which conducted the poll. "This appears to be leading some to even support attacks on U.S.-led troops, even though many feel they also continue to need the presence of U.S. troops awhile longer."

"If you put it all together, it's clear there is a center of gravity, not towards immediate withdrawal, but for the U.S. to be there in a way that affirms their intent to withdraw eventually," he said. "There is real consensus on that point."

NO SHIT SHERLOCK

they do not want us there longer than necessary, and i'm sure the majority of the iraqis also believe that America never did have any exit strategy. they don't plan on abandoning their investment. gimme a break. these are republicons. they bought and paid for iraq how many times over?

what do the anti-abortion folx really want?

more women going underground to have abortions? because, just because the right thinks abortion is wrong, doesn't make it so.

and that's the problem we're heading into .... getting to where just because they say so, it's supposed to make it so. that's arrogance to the upteenth level.

but it just dawned on me that abortions are going to happen, legal or not. what about the women who's pregnancy isn't wanted. should she have to suffer just because someone's morals were tweaked? that's arrogance to the uptennth level.

that's the reich-wing junta. that's the RNC.

today's papers, what a hoot it was today

i'm quoting from today's papers a lot today because, frankly, they deserve every recognition they can get. they're usually not as great as they were today... maybe it's just all the right headlines that came to pass. but today's papers is a must read. every day.

for once, PROOF that bush did it

The WP notes inside that the few safety improvements federal mine regulators are now considering might sound familiar. That's because they were among the "18 proposed safety rules" already in the pipeline in 2001 that the "Bush administration abandoned or delayed implementation of."

when we don't know who we kill

isn't it about time we either change guns, or put them down?

As the WP fronts, al-Qaida big dog Ayman Zawahiri shows up in a video taunting President Bush and, more important, proving he wasn't killed in the U.S. airstrike earlier this month that targeted him. CBS News has this intriguing rollback: "Now U.S. officials say they just aren't sure who they killed that day."
(also from today's papers)

Quote of the Day

"It would be a mistake to view the collective will of the Palestinian people in electing Hamas in fair and free elections under occupation as a threat. For meaningful dialogue to occur there should be no prejudgments or preconditions. And we do desire dialogue."
-- Mousa Abu Marzook

it only seems fair to be sure to pass along the short bio the post used:

The writer is deputy political bureau chief of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). He has a U.S. doctorate in engineering and was indicted in the United States in 2004 as a co-conspirator on racketeering and money-laundering charges in connection with activities on behalf of Hamas dating to the early 1990s, before the organization was placed on the list of terrorist groups. He was deported to Jordan in 1997.

attribution

i'm sorry, but those words didn't seem to come from a terrorist.

does this mean bush is now playing nice

and negotiating with other countries, like... um, a professional? one with some sense of give-and-take? with emphasis on the give? also from today's papers

The deal on Iran was made at a diplomats confab in London, where the U.S., EU, U.N., and Russia also agreed that they won't hand money over to a new Hamas-led government unless Hamas recognizes Israel and renounces violence. Which, again, was fudgier than it seems: The diplomats all agreed that aid can continue so long as a caretaker government is in place. And the BBC sees even more of a fudge factor, saying the diplomats didn't demand immediate action from Hamas but rather "a commitment to these things in the future."

then, i saw the next paragraph:

The Post, which off-leads the Hamas bargaining, calls the deal a "compromise position between U.S. officials and their European counterparts."

ahhh, so it wasn't really bush's doing at all in the first place. europe pushed him.

then there's the following paragraph:

The Palestinian government is almost totally dependent on foreign aid, largely from Europe. (The Post mentions in passing that "little U.S. aid" goes directly to the Palestinian government.)

since they get very little money from us, why would we think they would bend to our every whim?