Bear Left!

Fact of the Week

**Fact of the Week**
On 10 January, the President signed into law the "Department of Defense and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Recovery from and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States Act, 2002." Included in that Act was a provision for the Air Force to lease, rather than buy, 100 tanker versions of the Boeing 767 aircraft. Under the terms of the lease, the federal government will pay $20 million per year per plane. But it will also pay $30 to $60 million per plane during construction to convert the plane to military use, then $30 million per plane at the end of the lease to convert it back. The Office of Management and Budget pegs the overall cost at $26 billion. By comparison, purchasing the planes would cost between $15 billion and $22.5 billion, and the government would own them even after 10 years were up. So much for fiscal prudence. Sources: GlobalSecurity.Org; House Conference Report (look for Section 8159); Enrolled version of bill.

Huey Freeman, American Hero: In many American newspaper, the protagonist of The Boondocks is the only consistent voice of dissent (John Nichols, The Nation).
Indian General Talks Bluntly of War and a Nuclear Threat: For now, it mostly a war of words in India and Pakistan (Celia Dugger, New York Times).
America's Most Unwanted Turn to the Law: Prisoners in "supermax" jails are seeking legal relief from inhuman conditions (Julian Borger, The Guardian).
The Clock Ticks as Democrats Stumble in the Fog: The Democrats can afford to be incoherent, but they cannot be timid (Matthew Miller, Los Angeles Times).
Compassionate Conservative vs. Enron Conservatives: Enron Conservatives use money and connections to make themselves unaccountable (Arianna Huffington, AriannaOnline.com).
Land of Plenty Turned into a Dust Bowl at the Hands of al-Qa'ida: Self-sufficient communities are now destitute and lacking any intrastructure whatsoever (Kim Sengupta, The Independent).

"Bear left!"/"Right, Frog!" (Kermit and Fozzie, The Muppet Movie)

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