o Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan made it perfectly clear – he thinks the Bush tax cuts – heavily weighted toward the wealthy and corporate America – should be made permanent. He also called for reducing Social Security benefits "as soon as possible."
On the Social Security issue, this put President Bush to Greenspan’s left!
Greenspan and Clinton, you remember, reached a deal. Greenspan would beam on Clinton's leadership and help him cut the deficit so long as Clinton gave up initiating any significant spending program.
Question – should a Democrat win in November, will he have the guts to fire Greenspan?
o Neo-conservative Richard Perle has resigned from the Defense Policy Board, where he was a prime advocate of the invasion of Iraq. Earlier, Perle quit as head of DPB after it was revealed he had lucrative contracts with defense industries.
Just the other day, we noted he is co-author of a new book, "An End to Evil," that calls for, according to reviewer Pat Buchanan, "permanent war for their [the neocons] permanent empowerment."
• President Bush decided to get to the bottom of this issue regarding the safety of prescription drugs re-imported from Canada. His chief investigator? Dr. Mark McClellan, head of the FDA and a passionate opponent of letting those drugs cross the border.
There is no truth to the rumor - I've checked it out - that Bush will next pick
Attorney General John Ashcroft to probe charges that the Patriot Act violates the Constitution.
o Clear Channel, the nation’s biggest radio conglomerate (about 1200 stations nationwide, 19 in New Mexico), suspended the Howard Stern Show for "indecent content."
Earlier, it fired a Florida DJ whose sexual "antics" prompted the FCC to threaten a fine.
Clear Channel did not say it was "shocked, shocked" to discover the objectionable content, but I hear that its top executives recently screened "Casablanca".