U.S. Economy: Employment benefits running out

Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) benefits are ending because Congress failed to extend them. Already 781,000 people have exhausted their benefits since December 20, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The program provided up to 13 weeks of federally funded unemployment benefits to jobless workers who have run out of regular, state-funded unemployment benefits but have not found a job. Individuals who have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits since December 20 have not been eligible for TEUC aid.

Related articles:

• More Than One Million of the Unemployed have now been denied aid due to end of Federal Program (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, March 25, 2004)
• Jobless Coffer Shrinks as Payouts Grow (Los Angelos Times, March 22, 2004)
• Democrats push to extend jobless benefits In Bay Area, 53,500 to lose checks by June (San Francisco Chronicle, March 17, 2004)
• Long-term Unemployment rose again in 2003 (National Employment Law Council, March 4, 2004)

Related websites:

• Unemployedworkers.org
• Unemployment Insurance FAQ (Economic Policy Institute)

Former adviser charges Bush manufactured case for Iraq war

Former Bush counter-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke has denounced Bush for ignoring terrorism before and after September 11, 2001 and using the attacks to justify the invasion of Iraq. Here are some of the statements he made on the CBS program 60 Minutes:

Frankly I find it outrageous that the president is running for re-election on the grounds that he's done such great things about terrorism. He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11. Maybe. We'll never know.

I think he's [Bush has] done a terrible job on the war against terrorism.

I think they wanted to believe that there was a connection [between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda and the September 11 terrorist attacks], but the CIA was sitting there, the FBI was sitting there, I was sitting there saying we've looked at this issue for years. For years we've looked and there's just no connection.

Update: Wednesday, March 24, Richard Clarke was questioned at the pubic hearings conducted by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States where he reiterated his concern about the invasion of Iraq when he stated, "The reason that I am strident in my criticism of the president of the United States is that by invading Iraq — something I was not asked by the commission — but by invading Iraq, the president of the United States has greatly undermined the war on terrorism."

Related articles:

• The Bush administration and September 11: the implications of Richard Clarke’s revelations (World Socialist Web Site, March 29, 2004)


• 9/11 hearings ignore political, historical issues behind terrorist attacks (World Socialist Web Site, March 25, 2004)


• Former US terror chief slams Bush (BBC News, March 25, 2004)


• Ex-Bush Aide Says Threat of Qaeda Was Not Priority (The New York Times, March 25, 2004)


• Former terrorism aide charges Bush manufactured case for Iraq war (World Socialist Web Site, March 23, 2004)


• Lifting the Shroud (The New York Times, March 23, 2004)


• Clarke's Take On Terror (CBS News, March 21, 2004)


• Sept. 11: Before And After (CBS News, March 20, 2004)

Book:

Against All Enemies : Inside the White House's War on Terror--What Really Happened
By Richard Clarke
Free Press, 304 pp., $27.00

Buy this book from Powell's Books or Amazon.com

Save the Date: On August 29 the world says no to Bush

Last year Republicans announced that they will hold the 2004 Republican National Convention in NYC at Madison Square Garden. The setting of the convention -- which starts August 29th, less than two weeks before the second anniversary of September 11 -- is part of the Bush re-election campaign's effort to use the terrorists attack for political gain. In response to this, United for Peace and Justice, Counter Convention, and RNC Not Welcome have been planning and organizing to protest the convention.

Related articles:

• Protest Groups Planning for Republican Convention (The New York Times, August 10th, 2003)


• See You in New York: Over Our Dead Bodies (CounberPunch, May 3, 2003)

Iraq: One year later

The Center for American Progress has an excellent summary of problems with the invasion of Iraq in their Progress Report The World Socialist Web Site and Socialist Equality Party also has a statement on the anniversary.

Announcement: Socialists Scholars Conference 2004

The 2004 Socialist Scholars Conference, which is billed as "the largest annual event of the U.S. Left," will be held March 12-14 in New York City. For information call 212-817-7868 or visit their website (www.socialistscholars.org).