On many levels, the year 2003 was a disappointing and often
frightening year politically. But a common theme of greed and disparity
resonated through all the headlines.
On the local and state level the story was similar. Massive budget deficits
prompted by huge tax cuts to the wealthy over the past four years and
reductions in revenue sharing from the federal government created a
situation where Governor Granholm and municipalities throughout the state
spent much of the year trying to balance their budgets.
Meanwhile, the average savings members of President Bush's cabinet will
receive this year thanks to cuts in their capital gains and dividends taxes
amounts to $42,000.
Of course, the federal government opted to center their own spending
priorities not around health care, the environment, or the job market but
upon the 'War' - which dominated all political news in 2003.
Indeed, by the end of 2003 the War in Iraq will have cost U.S. citizens
$100 billion. 2003 is also the year our nation's deficit became the biggest
in U.S. history. The year Bush became president in 2001 the U.S. had a $127
billion fiscal surplus, and now we have a $374 billion deficit. This broke
the $290 billion former record deficit set in 1992 (the last full year of
the first Bush administration). The current total national debt is $6.84
quadrillion. And yes, you guessed it, 2003 was also record year for most
bankruptcies filed during the second quarter of 2003 (more than any quarter
in history).
The WAR
The year began with America entrenched in a war Congress authorized solely
on the provision that 'weapons of mass construction' be discovered.
In one of the more shocking disclosures of 2003, it was revealed that
fraudulent information by the CIA was presented to Congress on the topic of
uranium shipments coming into Iraq from Africa - a piece of information
that largely contributed to the Congressional decision to commit troops to
the conflict.
Of course, the year ended with the capture of Saddam Hussein - a one time
ally in our fight against the Ayatollah that companies like AT&T, Bechtel,
Caterpillar, Dow Chemical, Dupont, Kodak, Hewlett-Packard and IBM used to
help prop up by doing billions of dollar of business with back in the 1970s
& '80s.
As I sit here writing this, reports are coming in that the largest U.S.
Army hospital in Iraq is treating up to 45 patients a day, and that 70% of
the hospital's patients are wounded American soldiers. We lost 3,000
people in the World Trade Center 9/11 attacks that Saddam had no
involvement in, and at this rate the human cost is only open to
speculation. Why? Because the number of soldiers treated for serious combat
injuries is not publicly disclosed.
Some interesting statistics that have been released regarding our 'fiscally
conservative warrior' include the following: $28 billion in proposed cuts
to veterans' benefits in the congressional Republican budget resolution for
fiscal year 2004; $6,000 - the amount of a proposed increased in benefits
to families of soldiers who die in combat, which Bush opposed and did not
pass Congress; and 2-years, which is the amount of time that veterans in
some parts of the country have to wait for a doctors' appointment, along
with a new proposed $250 enrollment fee in their health plan.
Especially at this time of year during the Christmas holidays, true
Christians cannot help but ponder both the horrors & hypocrisies of war. We
vilify Saddam for gassing the Kurds, yet when Congress tried to impose
economic sanctions on Saddam after the incident, the Reagan White House
rejected the idea.
True, Saddam was a vile dictator; but in waging a war of principle one must
be consistent. This is why much of the world views our actions with
suspicion and what each of us - as Americans - must work to rectify in 2004.
The END OF MP3
In 2003 Mp3.com, the worlds largest online music distributor that
revolutionized both the Internet and the music business closed for good.
At the start of Mp3.com in the late 90s, the service was free and
manufacturing was done on a per order basis. Mp3.com gave independent
artists a platform, which was very successful and allowed them to compete
with major label artists. The site became so big that major labels began to
allow their artists to be placed on the Mp3.com website. Music downloads
paid royalty checks to the artists, some quite successfully.
Michael Robinson, the young CEO of MP3.com decided he would let consumers
store their music collections online on his company's servers. This
resulted in the major labels and artists signed to them suing Mp3.com for
huge settlements. Vivendi/Universal got the largest: $475 million. Then
Vivendi bought Mp3.com, along with many other corporate takeovers, and
began to get sick from swallowing up so many other companies too fast.
Vivendi sold Mp3.com to CNET.COM, who then purged it's servers, erasing
thousands of music files to make way for an as yet undisclosed reason.
DIOXIN Lawsuit
After years of government and independent study and testing of
dioxin contamination in the Saginaw Valley floodplain, property owners
along the Tittabawassee River finally got around to filing a lawsuit for
cleanup of the area and compensation for their lost property values.
In the summer of 2003 the State of Michigan listed the entire Tittabawassee
River Floodplain as a Hazardous Waste Facility of the Dow Chemical Company,
noting that long-term remedy of the situation is incumbent on Dow
initiating cleanup of identified hot spots like areas at Immerman Park,
where soil concentrations far exceeded the 90 ppt set by the State of
Michigan.
Dow responded by filing a 'Scope of Work' plan to narrow the areas of clean
up and continued to call for even more sampling and testing.
Over Dow's objections, Circuit Judge Leopold Borrello allowed continued
medical testing of affected residents of the floodplain and Dow has
appealed the decision to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Stopping MEDIA MONOPOLIZATION
On a more positive front, perhaps the biggest story of the year was
the record-breaking number of letters sent to Congressmen & Senators that
stopped the proposed relaxation by the Federal Communications Commission
that would have allowed large media conglomerates to purchase multiple
television, radio, and newspaper concerns in the same market area. Over
18,000 U.S. citizens responded 10 to 1 against allowing relaxation of the
FCC standard and remarkably the 'voice of the people' proved to be stronger
than the two voices of Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch.
MENTAL HEALTH System Crisis
In the late spring of 2003 The National Mental Health Association
- the largest and oldest group that represents the mentally ill - gave
Michigan failing grades in a national evaluation. The only state to receive
failing grades in all categories.
Michigan has closed 26 mental health institutions since 1981, two-thirds of
them since 1990.
Special Bond Issue Defeated
The Saginaw School District proposed a $240 million bond issue that
voters rejected in a special September election. When it was revealed
that $13,2000,000 a year would have to be paid just in interest each year
on the bond, voters overwhelmingly defeated the move.
Undeterred by the voice of the people, Board administrators are still
considering whether or not to bring the question before the public again in
2004.
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