Fresno California Liberal: 08/01/2004

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

YES, LET'S REMEMBER SEPTEMBER 11

The Republicans are shamelessly trying to exploit the murders and destruction that took place on September 11 by holding their national convention in New York City. But we should remind Americans of the Republican record, the Bush record, preceding and occurring on that day.

We know that Bush had ample warning that a major terrorist attack was coming, even getting a Presidential Daily Briefing that flatly stated, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." There was ample intelligence that terrorists might use aircraft as weapons. But the Bush administration failed abysmally to step up airline security. Even after the first attack on the World Trade Center, Bush and his administration were unconscionably slow in reacting to protect the country against more attacks. Read this story at www.smirkingchimp.com:

So, here is an update of things we've learned during the three years since 9/11 -- documented mostly from government papers and respected journalistic accounts -- about the Administration that rules in our names. If you find this compendium useful, you might want to make this list available to your friends and colleagues, especially to those still uncertain which presidential candidate they will vote for ten weeks from now.

FRESNO MAYOR A BIGOT

Fresno has another Republican actor-turned-politician. His name is Alan Autry, once a star of television's "In the Heat of the Night." Autry has made a big point of publicly parading his religion. He has now used the setting of Fresno's City Hall to attack the concept of same sex marriage. Never mind the separation of church and state issues, this is just blatant sectarianism, unnecessary, and divisive. This story is at www.fresnobee.com:

In front of Fresno City Hall on Sunday, Mayor Alan Autry helped hundreds of couples who believe marriage should be between a man and woman renew their wedding vows.

Just outside the event's gates, a smaller group expressed a similar commitment to family.

But that's where the similarities ended.

BUSH FLIP-FLOPS ON WAR

Just yesterday George W. Bush said in an interview that the "war on terrorism" was unwinnable. Today he says, well, yes it can be won. This is a resolute and decisive leader? The story is linked at www.sfgate.com:

The war on terror is "one that we will win," President Bush declared flatly Tuesday as he sought to quiet a flap complicating GOP efforts to portray him as a resolute leader. Republicans at their national convention were turning to conditions at home after opening their gathering by saluting Bush as a wartime leader.

As the convention entered its second day at Madison Square Garden under extremely heavy security, Bush and his supporters scrambled to explain the president's comments that the war against terror could not be won.

THE ROAD TO SERFDOM

There's a famous conservative economist named Hayek who wrote about the road to serfdom. In his world view it was government programs that led to a state of peonage. But corporatism is a far more insidious threat. We see a Republican party that is beholden to and happy to do the bidding of the big corporations, whether it be trade policies that ship jobs abroad, abolishing health and safety regulations, taking away overtime, demolishing environmental laws, or so-called "tort reform" that makes it difficult for average people to sue big companies. This article at www.smirkingchimp.com talks about the new road to serfdom:

There are four distinct ideological spheres that are dominant in one or more aspects of national life right now, and their ideologies, just "coincidentally," all involve establishing a ruling elite that will rule over a docile and acquiescent populace of serfs. All have a view of the general population that's highly negative - they're either "born evil," they're weak and pleasure loving and easily led, or they're motivated solely by greed and self-interest. Most of these ideologies advocate ruling the population by a combination of deceit and religious beliefs.

Monday, August 30, 2004

BUSH AND THE SWIFT BOAT SMEAR ARTISTS

Reading the letters page of The Fresno Bee is a trip into the funhouse. The funhouse mirrors distort reality and that's what you get with the far right correspondents to The Bee. Today (Sunday) there was a wingnut who claimed that he's a Vietnam vet, who suggested that John Kerry created the Swift Boat controversy to distract from his "liberal" voting record. Personally, I think a liberal voting record is a good thing. In the past two days the foaming mouth conservatives have claimed that Kerry had "self-inflicted" wounds, that he's a war criminal, and now that he's trying to distract from his voting record in the Senate.

The real issue is George W. Bush and the road he's taken this country down in the past four years. We've gone from prudent fiscal policy to reckless spending that benefits war profiteers and the very wealthy. We've seen the poverty rate increase dramatically, as well as the ranks of the uninsured. We've seen jobs shipped abroad. In the new jobs being "created" we've seen lower salaries and fewer benefits. We see an educational system in decline, an environment that is getting deadlier and dirtier, hatred of us around the world, killing without end in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the use of torture and murder in our name. We've seen the grossest incompetence in protecting the country with the failure to prevent the terrorist attacks on 9/11, and now the consistent leaking of classified information at top levels of the government.

Joe Conason, one of the best political writers in the country, talks about the Swift Boat veterans in this piece at www.salon.com:

Revelations during the past week about the forces behind Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the allegedly independent outfit sponsoring unfounded attacks on John Kerry's military record, strongly suggest that the group is guided by Republicans at the commanding heights of the conservative movement.

Those partisan operatives and lawyers, in turn, have longstanding connections with the Bush family, although the White House and the president continue to insist they bear no responsibility for the assault on the Democratic nominee's Vietnam service.

BUSH ADMITS "WAR ON TERROR" UNWINNABLE

In a rare bit of honesty George W. Bush has admitted that his "war on terror" can't be won. So, will he finally concede that the attack on Iraq was morally, legally, and even strategically indefensible? We have slaughtered thousands of innocent civilians, sent our own people into a meat grinder, enraged the world, created a recruiting tool for terrorists for decades, and depleted our treasury on a fool's errand. This story is linked at www.americanpolitics.com:

President George Bush has acknowledged that he does not think the war on terror can be won, but said it would make it less acceptable for groups to use terrorism as a tool.

In a US TV interview, Bush, who has said he expects the war on terror to be a long, drawn-out battle, was asked: "Can we win it?"

The president replied: "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the - those who use terror as a tool are - less acceptable in parts of the world."

Sunday, August 29, 2004

BUSH FLIP-FLOPS ON GLOBAL WARMING

George W. Bush, that stalwart, decisive, "leader" who never changes his mind. You've heard about him. It seems his administration has done a complete turnaround on the issue of global warming. While I applaud the connection to reality, this just shows what a phony image this guy has. The story is at www.nytimes.com:

In a striking shift in the way the Bush administration has portrayed the science of climate change, a new report to Congress focuses on federal research indicating that emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases are the only likely explanation for global warming over the last three decades.

THE BIGOTS AT CLEAR CHANNEL

Clear Channel Radio, those wonderful people who give us right-wing talk show hosts, is now promoting a "Heterosexual Pride" parade. I thought being heterosexual was just something you were, not some accomplishment. This item is at americablog.blogspot.com:

Yes, ClearChannel radio is promoting a Straight Pride parade in the wonderfully tolerant south. Isn't that cute? Wonder how they feel about White Pride? Perhaps it's time to file an FCC complaint against this station. Or at the very least, start calling their advertisers. I'd start with Kroger, Pantene, and Time Warner Cable who have ads on the station's Web site. Anyone want to volunteer to find contact info for those companies (I often check press releases on their Web sites, the media staff often puts their phone and email on the releases).

BUSH IS INCOMPETENT

It's amusing on occasion to talk about the really stupid things George W. Bush says, or the fact he couldn't chew a pretzel, that he falls off his mountain bike, or whatever. But when you think about the fact this guy has the enormous power of the presidency in his hands it's not so funny anymore. Richard Reeves talk about Bush's incompetence in this column at news.yahoo.com:

Whether you agree or disagree with the words pouring from the podium over Americans who see reflections of themselves in George W. Bush, the real issue of this election will not be mentioned. The core issue is this: Our president is incompetent. He is not a good president.

BUSH THE DRAFT DODGER

While the Swift Boat Veterans for Lies, a front group for the Bush campaign, tries to smear John Kerry's record in Vietnam the truth is coming out about George W. Bush's failure to serve in Vietnam. A former Speaker of the Texas House has admitted that he helped Bush and other rich creeps get of serving in Vietnam. This story is linked at www.democrats.com:

"Former Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes said he is "more ashamed at myself than I've ever been" because he helped President Bush and the sons of other wealthy families get into the Texas National Guard so they could avoid serving in Vietnam. "I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard ... and I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I did it," Barnes, a Democrat, said in a video clip recorded May 27 before a group of John Kerry supporters in Austin. Barnes, who was House speaker when Bush entered the Guard, later became lieutenant governor Barnes said he became ashamed after walking through the Vietnam Memorial and looking at the names of the dead. "I became more ashamed of myself than I've ever been because it was the worst thing I did - help a lot of wealthy supporters and a lot of people who had family names of importance get in the National Guard," he said.

MAYBE WORTH A LISTEN

A rock band called Audio Fiction has a song called "Tick Tock" that talks about Bush's invasion of Iraq. It might be worth checking out. The story is at www.prweb.com:

Some Republicans have been seething about New York rock band Audio Fiction’s just released single "Tick Tock", a subtle attack on George W. Bush and his reasons for invading Iraq. As lyrics in the song say, "life is good if you're on the right side" perfectly epitomizes the attitude of the Bush administration according to some critics. "Tick Tock" is their first single from their debut record Songs in the Key of Orange Alert. The band denies that the timing of the GOP convention is related to the release schedule.

SPY SCANDAL GETTING BIGGER

A story broke on www.cbsnews.com on Friday that a suspected "mole" for the Israeli government was working at a high level in the Pentagon and had leaked classified information to the Israelis. The suspected spy is allegedly a close associate of high advisors of the Bush administration. The investigation into the spy is even bigger than initially reported, according to this story at www.realcities.com:

An FBI probe into the handling of highly classified material by Pentagon civilians is broader than previously reported, and goes well beyond allegations that a single mid-level analyst gave a top-secret Iran policy document to Israel, three sources familiar with the investigation said Saturday.

The probe, which has been going on for more than two years, also has focused on other civilians in the Secretary of Defense's office, said the sources, who spoke on condition they not be identified, but who have first-hand knowledge of the subject.

Saturday, August 28, 2004

Friday, August 27, 2004

REPUBLICAN ECONOMICS:
MORE POOR AND UNINSURED

New Census Bureau statistics show that the ranks of the poor and of the uninsured increased for the third consecutive year. Let's see. Who has been in charge for the past three years? Coincidence? The story is at news.yahoo.com:

The number of Americans living in poverty increased by 1.3 million last year, while the ranks of the uninsured swelled by 1.4 million, the Census Bureau reported Thursday.

It was the third straight annual increase for both categories. While not unexpected, it was a double dose of bad economic news during a tight re-election campaign for President Bush.
Approximately 35.8 million people lived below the poverty line in 2003, or about 12.5 percent of the population, according to the bureau. That was up from 34.5 million, or 12.1 percent in 2002.

BUSH EVEN TAINTS THE OLYMPICS

The Bush campaign has co-opted the Olympic Games for some of its campaign commercials and the International Olympic Committee is rightly angry. No one should be surprised, of course. There is no depth to which Bush won't sink. This story is at www.news24.com:

"The arrogance of the US administration is quite amazing. To hijack the Olympics name ... it is difficult to put it into words," said one senior IOC member.

There was further anger here when there were suggestions that President Bush would come to the Olympics if Iraq had won their semi-final soccer match against Paraguay on Tuesday.

ECONOMIC HURRICANE

Jobless figures were "revised" once again, showing that the glowing reports about the Bush economy are greatly exaggerated. In this article some of the blame is attached to Hurricane Charley, but there are always excuses with this gang. There was the supposed recession Bush "inherited," there was 9/11, and now there's a hurricane. How about putting the blame squarely where it belongs, in the laps of the incompetents and thieves in the Bush administration? This story is at quote.bloomberg.com:

The number of Americans filing initial jobless claims probably increased for the first time in four weeks, boosted in part by joblessness caused by Hurricane Charley, economists forecast in advance of government report today.

First-time applications for state unemployment benefits rose by 4,000 last week to 335,000, according to the median estimate of 41 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The Labor Department releases the report at 8:30 a.m. in Washington.

THE CLOCK IS TICKING

Protest groups have put up a clock in New York's Times Square showing the cost of the Iraq war. No doubt the Republicans who attend the big party that is their convention will ignore the statistics. Ignoring reality has been a penchant of Republicans since the Reagan administration. But the rest of us should keep our eyes on that clock. This story is at www.commondreams.org:

A giant clock ticking the cost of the war in Iraq lit up in Times Square on Wednesday, making its debut by flashing $134.5 billion.

The amount on the clock will grow at a rate of $177 million a day, $7.4 million an hour and $122,820 per minute, said the advocacy group Project Billboard which put it up.

BUSH'S GUTTER POLITICS

For anyone who really follows events, or cares about them, it's no secret that George W. Bush and top members of his administration didn't serve in Vietnam. In fact, they went out of their way to avoid service in Vietnam, although they are hawks down to the last man of them. As long as they and their children are not in harm's way they are very gung-ho for war. To make matters worse, they resort to gutter politics to trash the lives and reputations of men who did serve, such as Senator John Kerry. That's the subject of Bob Herbert's column at www.nytimes.com:

In what is surely the most important election of the last half-century, we seem trapped in the politics of the madhouse. What is incredible is that these attacks on men who served not just honorably, but heroically, are coming from a hawkish party that is controlled by an astonishing number of men who sprinted as far from the front lines as they could when they were of fighting age and their country was at war.

A CRYING NEED FOR A NATIONAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

The jingoists on the right like to wrap themselves in the flag and proclaim their love of country, saying we're the greatest country on earth. But in many instances we're not the greatest country on earth. One of those cases is health care. Unlike other industrialized societies, we don't have a national health care system. In his column at www.nytimes.com Paul Krugman makes the interesting point that the rising cost of health care to private employers is contributing to the high unemployment rate:

In other words, rising health care costs aren't just causing a rapid rise in the ranks of the uninsured (confirmed by yesterday's Census Bureau report); they're also, because of their link to employment, a major reason why this economic recovery has generated fewer jobs than any previous economic expansion.

DUMB, DUMB LETTER OF THE DAY

Conservatism is one big lie piled on top of another big lie. One of the most convenient lies and boogeymen conservatives have used for years now is the myth of the liberal media. Today's DUMB LETTER OF THE DAY is by a prominent former politician and conservative blowhard, claiming once again that the media are all liberal except for those righteous folks at FOX.

Let us begin:

Mr. Phelps maintains NBC News is not liberal because it is now owned by General Electric, which, he claims, gave Ronald Reagan his "start." First, let's unmangle the historical perspective. Ronald Reagan was started long before working with GE and his ties with them were severed in 1962 when he fully projected himself into partisan politics. Second, GE did not purchase RCA and, by extension, NBC until 1986, when President Reagan was in his second term.

This is typical conservative blather. Notice, first, the smart-aleck reference to "unmangle" the historical perspective. Ronald Reagan got his big start in politics by working for GE, first as host of a television show, and then giving speeches out on the rubber chicken circuit. Even if Reagan severed ties with GE in 1962, as our commentator says, GE's politics didn't change. And they do own NBC. I guess we're supposed to believe that NBC advances an agenda totally contrary to what GE wants.

To continue:

Mr. Phelps then argued CNN is not liberal because Pat Buchanan and Robert Novak are slipped into a nest of liberal commentators as token conservatives. That does no more to create a sense of balance within CNN than does running George Will's column on the op-ed page of this paper make The Bee a bastion of conservatism.

"Nest of liberal commentators"? Who, pray tell, who would they be? Our expert doesn't bother to inform us. What is more important than "commentators" is the selection and presentation of stories. I would defy this conservative buffoon to show a liberal bias in the stories CNN presents. Unless, of course, waving the flag for Bush's Iraq war was advancing liberalism.

Now, the crowning argument:

Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Fox News have evolved and enjoy success because the market recognized the liberal bias amongst old line media/print journalism and sought alternatives. Is Fox conservative? No doubt. Are CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, the Times of New York and Los Angeles and McClatchy liberal? Please, to be taken seriously one ought not even ask the question.

Using the word "evolved" in reference to Limbaugh, Hannity, and Fox News doesn't fit somehow. Devolved maybe. The "market" supposedly recognized the "liberal bias" and allowed these bastions of conservatism their success. If the media are liberal, then isn't the "market" recognizing that liberalism sells? Or could it be that corporations such as GE have done everything possible to make the Limbaughs of the world omnipresent because he sells the corporate line?

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

PRISONER ABUSE SCANDAL GOES UP THE
CHAIN OF COMMAND

The evidence, again, is piling higher and higher that officials high in the Bush administration knew about, if did not outright authorize, torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. I have to wonder if the freaks on the right have any conscience at all if they can condone, and even applaud, this moral depravity that is being done in our name. This story is at www.nytimes.com:

The prisoner abuses photographed at the Abu Ghraib facility in Iraq were unauthorized "acts of brutality and purposeless sadism" that served no intelligence-gathering purpose, but indirect responsibility for these and other, more widespread abuses goes all the way up the chain of command, an independent panel reported today.

BUSH CAMPAIGN LAWYER TIED TO SWIFT BOAT VETERANS

The so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who have been lying about and attacking John Kerry's military record, have ties to a top outside lawyer for the Bush campaign. What a surprise! Who would have thought the Bush campaign would indulge in gutter politics? This story is at www.nytimes.com:

The Bush campaign's top outside lawyer said he had given legal advice to the group of veterans attacking Senator John Kerry's Vietnam War record and antiwar activism in a book, television commercials and countless appearances on cable news programs.

The lawyer, Benjamin L. Ginsberg, said that the group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, called him in July to ask for his help and that he agreed. He said he had yet to work out payment details with the group and that he might consider doing the work pro bono.

LET'S HEAR IT AGAIN FOR "COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM"

Proposed cuts in Section 8 housing funds could push hundreds of Montanans (and thousands elsewhere) into homelessness. But Bush's rich friends really need their tax cuts, don't they? This story is at www.sidneyherald.com:

Because the proposed $1 million cuts in federal funding from Section 8 could push hundreds of needy Montanans to homelessness, Gov. Judy Martz and others have journeyed to Washington, D.C., to meet with Montana's two U.S. senators and its representative in efforts to rally support to pressure the Department of Housing and Urban Development to not make the cuts.

Richland County Housing Authority Executive Director Paul Groshart is planning a trip to Washington in September to help urge officials not to further cut funding.
The Section 8 program is expected to lose $920,000 in funding by October.
With the proposed cuts, 250-400 Montana families will lose their rental assistance in October, and another 250-400 will lose assistance in January 2005. Of the voucher-receiving families, 90 percent of the families include a child, elderly or disabled member, according to the Montana Department of Commerce, Housing Division.

PORTER GOSS SUPPORTED DEEP INTELLIGENCE CUTS

Porter Goss, Bush's nominee to head the CIA, supported deep intelligence cuts during the 1990s, primarily cuts that would affect intelligence gathering about terrorists. In the meantime, Bush has criticized John Kerry for supporting far more modest cuts. This story is at www.commondreams.org:

President Bush has nominated to be CIA Director a man who has led the effort to cut the very intelligence priorities that are most critical to the fight against terrorism. According to a report in today’s Washington Post, Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL) actually "sponsored legislation that would have cut intelligence personnel by 20 percent in the late 1990s."

President Bush has repeatedly criticized John Kerry for joining with Republicans to slightly reduce funding for intelligence after the end of the Cold War. But the President’s nominee tried to make far deeper cuts in intelligence as terrorist attacks against the United States increased in the mid-90s, following the 1993 World Trade Center attack.

THE MAN IN BLACK WOULD BE OUTRAGED

I really miss Johnny Cash. He's one of my favorite singers and songwriters and he spoke for working men and women everywhere. Now the disgusting GOP is trying to appropriate the legacy of Johnny Cash for their own cynical purposes. This story is also at www.commondreams.org:

But it was his songs which really marked him as a man of the people. He took sides in his songs, and he preferred the side of those imprisoned by the law--and by poverty and hard luck.

Yet, this Tuesday the GOP and the American Gas Association, a network of 154 utility multinationals, are shamelessly trying to appropriate the singer-songwriter's legacy by hosting an exclusive "celebration" of Cash for the Republican delegation from Tennessee inside the elite corridors of Sotheby's auction house.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

BUSH: NO POSITIVE ACHIEVEMENTS

The Bush campaign's strategy is one of distract and destroy because Bush has absolutely nothing positive in his record. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote almost a year ago that Bush and his cronies will desperately try to hang on to power because there are so many scandals awaiting to emerge if John Kerry gets elected president. The column is at www.nytimes.com:

Almost a year ago, on the second anniversary of 9/11, I predicted "an ugly, bitter campaign - probably the nastiest of modern American history." The reasons I gave then still apply. President Bush has no positive achievements to run on. Yet his inner circle cannot afford to see him lose: if he does, the shroud of secrecy will be lifted, and the public will learn the truth about cooked intelligence, profiteering, politicization of homeland security and more.

BUSH TIED TO LYING SWIFT BOAT VETERANS

It's surreal that a man who served honorably in Vietnam has been attacked, while the guy who avoided service (while fully supporting the war) gets to skate. The Bush White House has denied any connection to the so-called Swift Boat Veterans, but the evidence is mounting that once again Bush is lying. How can this guy even be close in the presidential race? This story is at news.yahoo.com:

The White House has claimed no involvement with SBVT or the group's anti-Kerry campaign ads, a claim undermined by recent revelations that Cordier, who appears in one of SBVT's advertisements was on the Bush campaign's veterans steering committee at the time he made the ad, and by the fact that a Kerry campaign volunteer picked up a flier for SBVT at the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign offices in Gainesville, Florida.

WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' PRIVACY!

The Army's inspector general says it fine and dandy for airlines to release private and personal data about you to the government in the search for those big, bad, evil terrorists. How many of our personal liberties are we willing to surrender to be "protected" by a government run by George W. Bush? This story is at www.wired.com:

An Army data-mining project that searched through JetBlue's passenger records and sensitive personal information from a data broker to pinpoint possible terrorists did not violate federal privacy law, according to an investigation by the Army's inspector general.

The inspector general's findings (PDF) were accepted by some, but critics say the report simply highlights the inability of the country's privacy laws to cope with 21st-century anti-terrorism efforts.

THE REAL REASON FOR THE OVERTIME CHANGES

Spin, spin away. The Bush administration claims the new overtime rules, which some estimates say will take overtime from six million people, "simplify" the system and give overtime protection to people who didn't have it before. It seems to me that people who didn't have overtime protection before could have gotten it, and that other people shouldn't have been shafted. But this story shows the real reason for the overtime changes. It's those awful lawsuits, you know. Businessmen want to have the freedom to do whatever they want. Heaven forfend they have to face a lawsuit. This story is at www.kcrg.com:

The Bush Administration says the changes simplify overtime rules and will make more lower-paid workers eligible for overtime than before. It also believes it will cut down the number of lawsuits plaguing our system concerning who is eligible for overtime.

Monday, August 23, 2004

FOLLOW THE BOUNCING LIARS

In the old show "Sing Along With Mitch" a little ball would pass over the lyrics of the song. The slogan was "follow the bouncing ball." In the Swift Boat Veterans for Lies case you just follow the bouncing liars. A handy chart is at The New York Times. Just go to http://nytimes.com/imagepages/2004/08/19/politics/campaign/20040820_SWIFT_GRAPH.html

FLAGRANT DISREGARD OF CHURCH-STATE SEPARATION

In the Age of Bush we're seeing a flagrant disregard for the idea of church-state separation. Right-wingers typically like to parrot that there is nothing in the Constitution about a "wall of separation." That phrase was in fact used by Thomas Jefferson and the wall of separation concept was one accepted by most of the early presidents. Public officials like to wear their religions on their sleeves these days, uttering prayers before official functions, going into a tizzy about removing the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, and even trying to put religious monuments into public buildings, as happened in Alabama. This op-ed piece in The New York Times talks about the many and vast contradictions involved in this issue. The piece at www.nytimes.com:

The twin religious protections enshrined in the First Amendment - that one can freely exercise one's religion, and that the government cannot establish a state religion - are forced onto a collision course when public officials insist their personal religious freedom allows them to promote sectarian views in office. Yet with ever-increasing shrillness, we hear from elected or appointed officials that it's religious persecution to ask them to suspend sectarian prayer or practices on the bench, in the legislature or at the schoolhouse gate.

TELL US ABOUT THIS SIDE OF THE BIBLE

Conservatives who like to screech that we're a "Christian nation" and founded on "Judeo-Christian" principles should have to tell everyone about everything in the Bible. A lot of it ain't pretty. This article appears at www.alternet.org:

Once, when I was eight, I knelt down at my bed alongside my mother, admitted I was a sinner, and asked Jesus Christ into my heart. Once, when I was eleven, I stood up at a Bible campfire and promised my peers and elders that I would earnestly strive to bring my unsaved friend to church. And once when I was 22, among ten high school boys whose souls had been entrusted to me for a week, I sat down on the carpet and read them, for their edification, Bible porn.

"Judges 19:29-30: When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. Everyone who saw it said, ‘Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Think about it! Consider it! Tell us what to do!’ "

"NUCLEAR ARMAGEDDON" LIKELY IN NEXT DECADE

The Bush administration has run a public relations campaign about its "war on terror." In fact, our country and the world are more vulnerable to terrorist attacks now thanks to the ineptitude, stupidity, and greed of this administration. The threats we face include nuclear attacks, according to this story linked at www.commondreams.org:

The Bush administration insists that its top priority is keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists. But in a withering new book, one of America's foremost nuclear weapons experts argues that the White House has been so heedless of the threat that nuclear armageddon in one or more US cities is now "more likely than not" over the next decade.

GEORGE WALKER HOOVER--UH--BUSH

In some ways it's unfair to compare Herbert Hoover to George W. Bush. Hoover was an intelligent man, at least, and I think a decent man, if a lousy president. Bush isn't smart, he's not a decent man, but he's an even lousier president. The most obvious comparison of the two is the lousy economies they both presided over. This piece at www.guardian.co.uk shows how the Bush tax cuts have bulldozed our economy:

Mr Bush's tax cuts have been staggering in their scope and audacity. A report this month showed that Bush's $270bn tax cut last year, which the Republicans said would boost growth and jobs, had overwhelmingly gone to the rich, as sceptics such as Harvard economist Paul Krugman have long argued.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said one-third of the tax cuts had gone to the richest 1% of Americans, who earn an average of $1.2m a year.

The average tax cut for them totalled $78,500.

By contrast, those in the middle income bracket got a tax cut of $1,000 and the poorest fifth were doled out the majestic sum of $250 for the whole year. Some tax cut.

Saturday, August 21, 2004

HECKLE BUSH, GET FIRED

George W. Bush has the nerve to get up before the American people and talk about freedom and democracy, while his campaign systematically tries to quash the free speech that is an essential part of democracy. We keep hearing about people being required to sign loyalty oaths to Bush before being admitted to events, that two people were arrested for wearing anti-Bush tee-shirts, and now a man was fired because he dared to heckle Fearless Leader. This story is at www.boston.com:

A man who heckled President Bush at a political rally was fired from his job at an advertising and design company for offending a client who provided tickets to the event.
The fired graphic designer said Saturday he won't try to get his job back.

WHERE IS THE MONEY?

Right-wingers try to pooh-pooh charges that the war against Iraq has mostly been about money for the Bush family and its friends. Despite all the rhetoric about freeing the Iraqi people and fighting terrorism, the evidence is mounting that big bucks have been involved. Whether it's Halliburton or other cronies of the Bushies, huge amounts of money keep disappearing to God knows where. This story is at www.commondreams.org:

Three U.S. senators have called on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to account for 8.8 billion dollars entrusted to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq earlier this year but now gone missing.

In a letter Thursday, Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon, Byron L Dorgan of North Dakota and Tom Harkin of Iowa, all opposition Democrats, demanded a "full, written account" of the money that was channeled to Iraqi ministries and authorities by the CPA, which was the governing body in the occupied country until Jun. 30.

The loss was uncovered in an audit by the CPA's inspector general. It has not yet been released publicly and was initially reported on the website of journalist and retired U.S. Army Col David Hackworth.

BUSH HOBBLING HOUSING FOR THE POOR

This is the face of "compassionate conservatism." The Bush administration is leaving poor communities behind in the name of deregulating small banks. This editorial is at www.nytimes.com:

The Bush administration, which has already hobbled programs that provide housing subsidies for the poor, is undermining the Community Reinvestment Act, the most successful community revitalization program in the nation's history. The act requires banks to lend, invest and provide banking services to poor communities. So far, it has made more than $1.5 trillion available, much of it to developers and nonprofit groups that build affordable housing for the elderly and disabled people, as well as to medical clinics and other projects that would never get built if they were left to the private sector.

Thoughtful critics in the banking community have a point when they argue that the program needs updating and simplification, so that investments are targeted more effectively and banks have less difficulty complying with the act. But two of the federal agencies that oversee the banking industry have proposed a drastic change that could allow more than a thousand banks to back away from their community development obligations, leaving consumers in many states with worse banking services, and the communities themselves devoid of badly needed development projects.

Friday, August 20, 2004

TIME WITH STEVE EARLE

It's ironic that I was thinking about Steve Earle earlier today, and how much I admire his music. David Corn has a terrific article about Steve at motherjones.com. Steve is an artist who has the courage of his convictions, as trite as that may sound. This article is about the slap-dash race to put together a new album:

STEVE EARLE IS HAVING a tough time. He's in his recording studio outside Nashville crafting the 16th album of a three-decade-long music career -- what he envisions as a "political" album -- and he doesn't have enough songs. For seven weeks, the time he had set aside for songwriting, Earle was sidelined by two kidney stones. ("I've been through withdrawal for heroin and crack," he says, "and this was worse.")

BUSH TAKES ANOTHER VACATION

Bush is back in Crawford, the way he was when he got the Presidential Daily Briefing entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S." just weeks before September 11. Michael Moore documented the excessive vacation time Bush took in his first few months in office, and that hasn't changed. This story is at news.yahoo.com:

While Bush's rival, Democrat John Kerry, continues to campaign, the president is scheduled to be at his ranch for about a week, taking a break from re-election appearances. It's his 38th presidential trip to his ranch where he spends time outdoors fishing, clearing brush and exploring its rocky terrain, waterfalls and canyons. On Wednesday, he took a bike ride, and has been watching some of the Summer Olympics, McClellan said.

MAYBE WE SHOULD BOYCOTT UA

If you're one of those brave souls who still flies, or has to fly, maybe you should consider an alternative to United Airlines. It appears United is getting ready to cheat its employees out of their pensions. My feeling is we're all in this thing together. If United gets away with this, the rest of corporate America will be licking its chops and trying to do the same thing. This story is at www.cbsnews.com:

United Airlines would be within its rights to terminate its employee pension plans but hasn't yet decided to do so, an attorney for the carrier said Friday, as two unions urged a judge to block a financing plan they say is predicated on the airline halting fund contributions.

The hearing came a day after the release of court papers in which United warned it "likely" will have to end those pension funds in order to secure the loans it needs to get out of bankruptcy.

ANATOMY OF A SMEAR CAMPAIGN

The Bush family has been very adept at smearing military veterans in several campaigns. They smeared John McCain during the 2000 presidential primaries. They, or their subordinates, smeared Senator Max Cleland of Georgia. Lately they've been trying to smear John Kerry. The so-called Swift Boat Veterans have claimed that Senator Kerry didn't deserve the medals he was awarded for service in Vietnam. Bush has stayed above the fray, apparently, while he lets others do the dirty work. Now it seems the Swift Boat Veterans are less than truthful and that they do have connections to the Bush campaign. This story is at www.nytimes.com:

After weeks of taking fire over veterans' accusations that he had lied about his Vietnam service record to win medals and build a political career, Senator John Kerry shot back yesterday, calling those statements categorically false and branding the people behind them tools of the Bush campaign.

His decision to take on the group directly was a measure of how the group that calls itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has catapulted itself to the forefront of the presidential campaign. It has advanced its cause in a book, in a television advertisement and on cable news and talk radio shows, all in an attempt to discredit Mr. Kerry's war record, a pillar of his campaign.

Thursday, August 19, 2004

HANDMAID'S TALE A CAUTIONARY WARNING

Novelist Margaret Atwood wrote a novel called A Handmaid's Tale that should stand alongside other warnings such as 1984, Brave New World, The Iron Heel, and It Can't Happen Here. Atwood's novel deals with the takeover of the United States by fundamentalist Christians. This story linked at www.smirkingchimp.com should make us take notice:

Twenty years ago, Margaret Atwood spun a haunting dystopian fantasy called The Handmaid's Tale, about the transformation of the America of our era into a repressive theocratic nation called Gilead.

HERE COME THE PROMISE KEEPERS

In the same vein as the story above, the Promise Keepers, a fundamentalist Christian group, is leaping into the fray for Bush. This story is also linked at www.smirkingchimp.com:

With the presidential election less than three months away, the Promise Keepers, the men's movement that took the nation by storm in the 1990s, appears to be shedding its carefully crafted apolitical veneer and jumping into the political fray. While you won't find it endorsing a particular candidate and jeopardizing its non-profit status, it has already weighed in on an issue that the Republican Party hopes will help galvanize its base, the Federal Marriage Amendment -- a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

MAUREEN DOWD ON THE OLYMPICS AND OTHER THINGS

In this column Maureen Dowd seems to be meandering hither and yon, but she points out how the hubris of the Bush administration has had a strangely ironic effect on the U.S. Olympic athletes. The column is at www.nytimes.com:

The vice president and the defense chief have changed our identity and image in the world - but not in the way they envisioned.

Our athletes are swaggering less and trying to be more sensitive to other athletes.

Iraq is making us wring our hands over whether to blast our way into Najaf and Falluja, quavering with uncharacteristic sensitivity even as the White House fires verbal mortars at the domestic enemy, John Kerry, for suggesting that we be more sensitive.

DAVID KAY BLASTS PRE-WAR INTELLIGENCE

Former chief weapons inspector David Kay has blasted the National Security Council and, by implication, Condoleezza Rice, for providing bad intelligence to George W. Bush in the runup to the war against Iraq. I think Kay is being too kind to Bush, however. There is all kinds of evidence that Bush and Cheney wanted the war against Iraq and would use any excuse to achieve it. I don't know if it was as much a case of "bad" intelligence as it was fabricated intelligence. The story is www.nytimes.com:

A former Bush administration official who led the fruitless postwar effort to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq told Congress on Wednesday that the National Security Council led by Condoleezza Rice had botched intelligence information before the war and was "the dog that did not bark" over Iraq's weapons program.

In uncharacteristically caustic remarks about his former colleagues, the weapons inspector, David Kay, said the National Security Council had failed to protect President Bush from faulty prewar intelligence and had left Secretary of State Colin L. Powell "hanging out in the wind" when he tried to gather intelligence before the war about Iraq's weapons programs.

"NAKEDLY POLITICAL USE" OF INTELLIGENCE

Remember the last big orange alert that came from Tom Ridge's Department of Homeland Security? Remember how it was based on intelligence that was years old? Joe Conason writes about it at www.nyobservor.com and quotes the British reaction to the "terror alert.":

According to press reports, the Bush administration’s closest allies in the Blair government were "dismayed by the nakedly political use made of recent intelligence breakthroughs both in the U.S. and in Pakistan." The Brits simply didn’t believe there was any imminent threat justifying a public alert.

THE QUESTIONS BUSH SUPPORTERS SHOULD ANSWER

People who support Bush are too busy throwing out platitudes and smears to really justify their guy as president. But we shouldn't let them get away with it. They should have to answer the hard questions about why this guy shouldn't be booted from office. This article appears at www.commondreams.org:

Those who believe Bush and Cheney are leading the country in the wrong direction have a responsibility to say so clearly and often. We must continue to ask these questions the administration doesn't want to answer. We must encourage people to speak out. We must make it acceptable to be independent, moderate, liberal, progressive or conservative in the best sense of the words.

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

NEW YORK MAYOR BLOOMBERG
SAYS FREE SPEECH ONLY A "PRIVILEGE"

Republicans just got more surreal all the time. New York's Mayor Bloomberg claims that freedom of speech and assembly is a "privilege," not a right. It's in the Bill of RIGHTS, Mr. Mayor. Maybe you should take a cram course in the Constitution. The story is at www.newsday.com:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, already under fire for his tough stance against anti-GOP protest groups, Monday suggested that First Amendment rights of free speech and free assembly are "privileges" that could be lost if abused.

Bloomberg, speaking to Republican National Convention volunteers in Manhattan, was trying to downplay concerns that protesters will disrupt this month's convention -- when he began articulating a broader constitutional vision.

BUSH HAS TANKED THE ECONOMY

No matter how they try to blame our economic woes on a phantom "Clinton recession" or the attacks on September 11, Republicans can't get away from the ugly truth that George W. Bush is responsible for the terrible economy. Columnist Walter Williams in The Seattle Times talks about the Bush mismanagement of the economy. The column is at seattletimes.nwsource.com:

The results are crystal clear. Bush's performance is the worst for job creation in the first two years of an economic recovery and second from last in gross domestic product (GDP) growth, as compared with the eight earlier postwar recoveries from recession.

No president in the past 60 years, save George Herbert Walker Bush, has failed so miserably in his economic performance. But to see how bad President Bush's economic policies have been, we must work through the numbers. It's worth the effort.

MORE ON BUSH'S LOUSY ECONOMY

Former Treasury Secretary Robert Reich talks about the distribution of the Bush tax cuts and the effect those cuts have had on the economy in this article at www.tompaine.com:

The first is about who’s paying taxes. There used to be a graduated system in which the rich paid a much larger proportion than the poor. But that’s changed. None other than the Congressional Budget Office—which, incidentally, works for a Republican Congress and is headed by a former Bush economist—reports that two-thirds of the Bush tax cuts have gone to the wealthiest 20 percent of American families. And the lion’s share, to the top 1 percent.
Now the second fact, equally important: The Treasury Department tells us that the nation’s total debt has soared from 5.7 trillion dollars four years ago, to 7.3 trillion dollars today.

ASTROTURF NOT JUST A SPORTS TERM

Back when the Houston Astrodome was constructed the stadium managers discovered real grass wouldn't grow under the dome. So a new "grass" was invented called "astroturf," essentially plastic over concrete. Now the term "astroturf" has evolved to mean a mass mailing of form letters. Newspapers across our great land have been a victim of "astroturf" a few times recently, usually at the hands of Republicans. The Daily Kos found the astroturfers have been at work trying to puff up Bush's crummy economy. The item is at www.dailykos.com:

The GW04 site has handy templates for letters to the editor. See the top one on the list:

New job figures and other recent economic data show that America's economy is strong and getting stronger - and that the President's jobs and growth plan is working. The Labor Department announced that employers added 288,000 new jobs in April. In total, over 1.1 million jobs have been added since August, with 8 consecutive months of gains.

Now google that entire phrase, and see the results. About 60 newspapers have run that letter, sent by GOP automatons too stupid to vary the wording even a tiny bit.

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

FLORIDA AS BANANA REPUBLIC

You have to be a true blue Bush believer, or totally naive, to believe that the votes in Florida during the 2000 presidential election were counted fairly. There is evidence piled on top of evidence that the vote was manipulated, of not stolen outright, for George W. Bush. Things apparently haven't changed much. The state is evidently engaged in an effort to intimidate elderly black voters. Paul Krugman talks about it at www.nytimes.com:

Yesterday, my colleague Bob Herbert reported on another highly suspicious Florida initiative: state police officers have gone into the homes of elderly African-American voters - including participants in get-out-the-vote operations - and interrogated them as part of what the state says is a fraud investigation. But the state has provided little information about the investigation, and, as Mr. Herbert says, this looks remarkably like an attempt to intimidate voters.

STUFF OF 'TOTALITARIAN REGIMES"

I wonder if there are regrets at The New York Times for their past support of the Bush administration. Things just get worse as this administration goes along. This is the perspective of The Times on the government questioning potential protesters at the Republican National Convention:

For several weeks, starting before the Democratic convention, F.B.I. officers have been questioning potential political demonstrators, and their friends and families, about their plans to protest at the two national conventions. These heavy-handed inquiries are intimidating, and they threaten to chill freedom of expression. They also appear to be a spectacularly poor use of limited law-enforcement resources. The F.B.I. should redirect its efforts to focus more directly on real threats.

THE IRONY OF IT ALL

Don't you think it's ironic that we have a man as president who calls himself a Christian and embodies the very antithesis of Christianity? Jesus Christ said the whole basis of his philosophy was the Golden Rule, treating your neighbor as you would treat yourself. But in Bush's America it's a credo of survival of the fittest, what's in it for me. This article linked at www.commondreams.org talks about the anti-tax movements across the U.S.:

There is a narcissistic plague making its way across our nation. The American spirit of the golden rule and concern for our neighbor has been replaced by a mentality driven by "what’s in it for me".

One of the most evident places this new way of thinking shows its selfish face is in the anti-tax rhetoric and movements that disavow civic responsibility and a sense of community togetherness.

In my own state of Maine, a group called the Maine Tax Action Network has foisted a referendum on the voters that, if enacted, could devastate our communities and municipalities and kill the civic connectedness that Mainers pride themselves on.

Monday, August 16, 2004

CHENEY A COWARD

Senator Tom Harkin called Big Time Dick Cheney a coward. It's about time there was a little more frankness, a little more truth. This story is at www.wfcourier.com:

Sen. Tom Harkin called Vice President Dick Cheney a "coward" for avoiding service in Vietnam and called on President Bush to end the "backdoor draft."

The Iowa Democrat was responding Friday to the call-up of a Des Moines police officer who has already completed his eight-year military commitment.

POST SAYS BUSH TAX CUTS WON'T WORK

The Washington Post has done an analysis of the Bush administration's claims that its tax cuts will stimulate the economy and productivity to the point the deficit can be reduced by half. Not so, says The Post. The editorial is at www.washingtonpost.com:

This exercise, in which we have strained to make assumptions that might support Mr. Bush's claims that the tax cuts are affordable, has reinforced our view that these cuts are a mistake. Put simply, every plausible vision of the future suggests that government is going to grow as a share of the economy, partly because of the need to support baby boomers but also because societies demand more things of their government as they grow more prosperous. The share of government in GDP has more than quadrupled in the United States over the past century, and a World Bank cross-country study has shown that the richer a country, the larger the share of its resources that flows through the government. As people grow richer, their appetites for newer and jazzier consumer durables taper off, and the things they want more of include health, education, clean air and safety from threats both foreign and domestic. These things are often provided by the government. To starve the government with tax cuts is to misread this trend.

IF HOLDEN CAULFIELD WERE HERE

One of my favorite books is The Catcher In the Rye. The main character, Holden Caulfield, was very astute at detecting phonies. He would have a field day with the Bush campaign. Bush has been staging "Ask President Bush" events that are nothing but love fests for Bush with never a tough question or a political opponent in sight. The Washington Post says even the press, which has been guilty of bending over for Bush, is getting tired of the staged events. The story is at www.washingtonpost.com:

"The art of TV-friendly political stragecraft reaches new levels in this campaign," Plante says. "This tight control means that hecklers . . . are almost never seen at Bush events. . . .

"At events like these, it's all about getting the message without any distraction, and making sure that there's no public argument to spoil the party."

THIS IS GRATITUDE FOR YOU

Many National Guard reservists are finding they are without jobs and benefits when they get home. Companies that are only too happy to wave the flag and proclaim their support for "our troops" don't seem to have much loyalty to the troops when it counts. This story is at news.yahoo.com:

Benefits reduced. Promotions forgotten. Jobs gone. It's tough to find these conditions when returning home from the mean streets of Iraq , ready to resume your civilian career. Increasing numbers of National Guard and Reserve troops returning home are experiencing just such disappointment.

GROWING WEALTH GAP IN THE U.S.

Over the last two decades the income gap between the richest Americans and the middle class and the poor has widened substantially. Have the wealthy gotten more adept, more efficient, at making wealth, or is this a direct result of government policy? It's no coincidence that Republicans have been in control of the executive branch of the federal government all but eight years since 1981. This story is linked at www.sfgate.com:

Over two decades, the income gap has steadily increased between the richest Americans, who own homes and stocks and got big tax breaks, and those at the middle and bottom of the pay scale, whose paychecks buy less.

The growing disparity is even more pronounced in this recovering economy. Wages are stagnant and the middle class is shouldering a larger tax burden. Prices for health care, housing, tuition, gas and food have soared.

Sunday, August 15, 2004

IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE

In the mid-Thirties Nobel Prize-winning author Sinclair Lewis wrote a novel called It Can't Happen Here about a fascist takeover of the United States. I'm just starting the book, but I came across a statement that sounds so very right-wing, so very now. A Mrs. Gimmitch gives you the condensed version of right-wing philosophy back then, now, and forever:

I tell you, my friends, the trouble with this whole country is that so many are so selfish! Here's a hundred and twenty million people, with ninety-five percent of 'em only thinking of self, instead of turning to and helping the responsible business men to bring back prosperity! All these corrupt and self-seeking labor unions! Money grubbers! Thinking only of how much wages they can extort out of their unfortunate employer, with all the responsibilities he has to bear!

THE BIBLE NO MODEL FOR MODERN SOCIETY

I used to be a devout believer in the Bible. Then I started reading about the contradictions contained in an "infallible" source. I learned about some of the truly horrible things such as God killing all the first born of Egypt during the time of Moses, the first born who were innocent and happened to have Egyptian parents. I learned about God allowing the first born in Nazareth to be killed when Herod was trying to kill Jesus, and on and on. This editorial piece at www.latimes.com shows the true implications if we wanted to use the Bible as our basis for a modern society:

What should we conclude from all this? That whatever their import to people of faith, ancient religious texts shouldn't form the basis of social policy in the 21st century. The Bible was written at a time when people thought the Earth was flat, when the wheelbarrow was high tech. Are its teachings applicable to the challenges we now face as a global civilization?

THE CONTRADICTIONS IN RELIGIOUS BELIEF

To believe in religion and to accept the benefits of science you have to be almost schizophrenic. You can believe in the marvels that science has discovered, such as new medicines, but still believe in the miracles enumerated in the Bible. You can believe in life after death, but fight like heck to stay alive in this earthly existence. One of my favorite thinkers is William Edelen. He writes about these and other interesting subjects at www.williamedelen.com. This quotation comes from his column for August 22:

They do not want to die under a medieval, archaic King James doctor. But they would ask us to live by medieval King James religious beliefs. If science provides them with healing drugs they say that is "God's will" working through science and the doctors.. But when that same wicked scholarship indicates that their bible is archaic and not true, then all of a sudden that same science and scholarship becomes the work of the devil...humanists...and liberals.

Saturday, August 14, 2004

BUSH PUTS BIG BUSINESS OVER PEOPLE

Republican administrations at the local, state, or federal level have always been notoriously "pro business." What that often means is that consumers like you and me get the shaft, while business gets the gold mine. That's especially true of big businesses like corporations that have the deep pockets to unleash campaign contributions and lobbyists on their friends the Republicans. This story at www.nytimes.com talks about the "pro business" Bush administration:

April 21 was an unusually violent day in Iraq; 68 people died in a car bombing in Basra, among them 23 children. As the news went from bad to worse, President Bush took a tough line, vowing to a group of journalists, "We're not going to cut and run while I'm in the Oval Office."

On the same day, deep within the turgid pages of the Federal Register, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published a regulation that would forbid the public release of some data relating to unsafe motor vehicles, saying that publicizing the information would cause "substantial competitive harm" to manufacturers.

As soon as the rule was published, consumer groups yelped in complaint, while the government responded that it was trying to balance the interests of consumers with the competitive needs of business. But hardly anyone else noticed, and that was hardly an isolated case.

PORTER GOSS AS BIG BROTHER

George W. Bush's new choice to lead the CIA, Porter Goss, wants the CIA to have the authority to spy on and arrest American citizens. This is another strong reminder of the Nixon administration, those days of "enemies lists" and COINTELPRO and harassment of administration opponents. There is no way the CIA or FBI or any other federal agency should have unlimited latitude to spy on us. This story is at www.msnbc.com:

Rep. Porter Goss, President Bush’s nominee to head the CIA, recently introduced legislation that would give the president new authority to direct CIA agents to conduct law-enforcement operations inside the United States—including arresting American citizens.

ANOTHER DUBIOUS RECORD FOR BUSH

The U.S. trade deficit has reached another new high. I know a lot of us have our eyes glaze over when the talk turns to things like trade deficits, but trade deficits are a stark reminder that we're importing more than we're exporting. Jobs are moving abroad, our manufacturing jobs are disappearing, and we're increasingly at the mercy of other countries because of our own financial irresponsibility. This story is at www.reuters.com:

The U.S. trade deficit widened much more than expected in June, hitting a record $55.8 billion dollars as the biggest drop in exports in nearly three years combined with record imports, the government said on Friday.

Wall Street economists had expected the deficit to widen, but looked for a gap of just $47 billion. In its report, the Commerce Department also revised May's trade shortfall to $46.9 billion from the previously reported $46.0 billion.

Friday, August 13, 2004

THE LYNNE CHENEY BODICE RIPPER

I'm not an aficionado of romance novels, so I didn't realize the wife of Big Time Dick Cheney had written a romance novel until I read about it on the Internet a few months ago. From all accounts, this is quite a tale. I bet Ms. Cheney wouldn't dream of writing anything like it these days. The story is at www.democrats.com:

Just re-released is the book "Sisters" by Lynne Cheney - a lurid tale if ever there was one, writes Pat Morrison: "Throughout its pages are fornication (the heroine with her late sister's husband), incest (half brother knocks up half sister), adultery (the heroine, with her first husband's friend), contraception (by the wed and the unwed) and lesbian couplings (the heroine's sister and an older woman). And incidentally, lynchings, dogicide, cattle theft and robber-baronism." The book, written 23 years ago, though certainly racy, is also said to be quite a feminist epic - penned back when its author was still a free and independent woman who still possessed an artistic soul. Now she spends her days in Dicky's shadow, trailing dutifully a few steps behind.

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
BUSH TAX CUTS FAVOR THE RICH

According to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office, the Bush cuts have transferred the tax burden from the very wealthy to the middle class. The story at news.yahoo.com says:

President Bush's tax cuts have transferred the federal tax burden from the richest Americans to middle-class families, with one-third of them benefiting people with the top 1 percent of income, according to a government report cited in newspapers on Friday.

Then the story goes on to say:

The report said the top 1 percent, with incomes averaging $1.2 million per year, will receive an average $78,460 tax cut this year, and have seen their share of the total tax burden fall roughly 2 percentage points to 20.1 percent, according to The New York Times.

In contrast, households in the middle 20 percent, with incomes averaging $57,000 per year, will receive an average cut of only $1,090, the newspaper said, citing the CBO report.

BUSH LOVES UNEARNED INCOME, HATES WAGES

George W. Bush, like Republicans in general, favors people who derive their income from "investments." They're the people who sit back and make money while you and I do the heavy lifting. Paul Krugman talks about it in his column at www.nytimes.com:

The Bush tax cuts have, of course, heavily favored the very, very well off. But they have also, more specifically, favored unearned income over earned income - or, if you prefer, investment returns over wages. Last year Daniel Altman pointed out in The New York Times that Mr. Bush's proposals, if fully adopted, "could eliminate almost all taxes on investment income and wealth for almost all Americans." Mr. Bush hasn't yet gotten all he wants, but he has taken a large step toward a system in which only labor income is taxed.

CLINTON NOT OFFERED BIN LADEN

The right wing echo chamber has repeated the lie that President Bill Clinton had the opportunity to get Osama bin Laden turned over to the United States, and then rejected the offer. Mediamatters.org talks about it here:

As Media Matters for America has noted, the false claim originated in an August 11, 2002, article on the right-wing news website NewsMax.com that blared the headline "Clinton Admits: I Nixed Bin Laden Extradition Offer," distorting a speech Clinton made in 2002. While he did acknowledge in a July 8 interview with CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour that he mistakenly implied that the United States was offered bin Laden in that 2002 speech, at no point did Clinton say that Sudan offered bin Laden to the United States in the speech.

BIG TROUBLE IN NAJAF

The U.S. is treading on dangerous ground in attacking the Muslim holy city of Najaf and the sacred shrines there. We stand to unify millions of Muslims around the world against us. This story is at www.commondreams.org:

"Illegal under the Geneva Conventions, any fighting or destruction to the mosque would result in incalculable damage to the image and interests of the United States and would be widely condemned across the world," the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council said.

BUSH, RUMSFELD DIDN'T LEAD ON 9/11

When you see the scene of George W. Bush sitting in a Florida classroom on the morning of 9/11, sitting there after the second attack on the World Trade Center, with a look like a deer in the headlights, you don't use the word "leader." The same can be said of Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, according to this article by Gail Sheehy at www.latimes.com:

Donald Rumsfeld, one of the chief opponents of investing real power over purse and personnel in a new national intelligence chief, told the 9/11 commission that an intelligence czar would do the nation "a great disservice." It is fair to ask what kind of service Rumsfeld provided on the day the nation was under catastrophic attack.

Thursday, August 12, 2004

HOOPLA OVER KERRY IRAQ STATEMENT

John Kerry is getting a roasting in some quarters for saying, knowing what we know now, he still would have voted for the Iraq war resolution. On the face of it, I would agree with the roasting. We know now that the whole war was based on lies and more lies. But, to Kerry's credit, he was giving a statement that makes sense to political scientists. He was voting for the authority of the president to act when the country is in danger. Unfortunately, we are not a populace attuned to nuanced statements. We need black and white statements. Democrats.com has a story about the whole issue:

Bush laid an ambush for Kerry this week, one in which the AP obviously colluded. Bush asked: ''My opponent hasn't answered the question of whether, knowing what we know now, he would have supported going into Iraq." Kerry answered he would have still voted to authorize the presidential power to declare war (reason: in a case of impending attack, there may not be time to convene Congress). A.P. and subsequently every other US news outlet reported falsely that Kerry said he would have voted to go to war even knowing there were no WMDs and that the intelligence was wrong. Kudos to the Boston Globe!

AFGHANISTAN--DRUG SUPPLIER TO THE WORLD

Many on the left supported the war in Afghanistan because it was where al-Qaeda was based. I didn't support the war because I knew it would result in the maiming and deaths of thousands upon thousands of innocent civilians. There were more covert, less destructive, ways we could have dealt with al-Qaeda. If you read any history at all about Afghanistan, when you see the photos of little kids maimed during the war against the Soviet Union, when you realize that Afghanistan is already one of the poorest countries on the planet, how can you support inflicting even more misery on the innocent?

A byproduct of our war against the poor country of Afghanistan has been a resurgence in the drug trade there. Farmers in Afghanistan have found that growing opium poppies is one of the few ways they can make a living. The opium trade was controlled by the Taliban. As detestable as the Taliban was, at least the massive flood of drugs into the world market was curtailed somewhat. Now, the Taliban is gone, al-Qaeda still flourishes, and the world is getting flooded by drugs again. This story is also at democrats.com:

In the furor over Iraq, everyone seems to forget that there is a place called Afghanistan and that Bush War #1 was a miserable failure. While failing to stop or even contain Al Qaeda or capture Osama, Bush managed to trash the Afghan infrastructure. Instead of rebuilding and putting money into the country, Bush abandoned it and poured all our resources into another failed war in Iraq. Now Afghanistan, poorer than ever and even worse off than pre-2001 everywhere but a few "westernized" pockets of Kabul, has become a hotbed of drug trading that makes Colombia look like a two-bit dealer. So now, to clean up after Bush, Rumsfeld announced that US troops will be used, in essence, as an anti-drug force.

WASHINGTON POST ADMITS NOT SKEPTICAL ENOUGH ABOUT IRAQ

It seems unlikely that Howard Kurtz, major Bush defender, would author a story in The Washington Post about the Post not being skeptical enough about the Iraq war claims, but here it is. The story is at www.washingtonpost.com:

Days before the Iraq war began, veteran Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus put together a story questioning whether the Bush administration had proof that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction.

But he ran into resistance from the paper's editors, and his piece ran only after assistant managing editor Bob Woodward, who was researching a book about the drive toward war, "helped sell the story," Pincus recalled. "Without him, it would have had a tough time getting into the paper." Even so, the article was relegated to Page A17.

DOOMED TO REPEAT HISTORY

There's a well-known quotation about those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. George W. Bush and his administration are willfully ignorant of history in continuing to advocate tax cuts as a cure for the economy. It doesn't work, it hasn't worked, and it will never work when tax cuts go mostly to the very wealthy. It's no coincidence that lousy economies are always a part of Republican administrations. This editorial is at www.nytimes.com:

President Bush reacted decisively to this month's shockingly bad employment report - by quickly changing the topic to terror. The Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, also focused elsewhere, namely on rising oil prices. Mr. Greenspan used inflationary energy costs as the rationale for raising interest rates a quarter point, despite the drastic slump in hiring and a recent slowdown in productivity growth.

What neither man seems ready to acknowledge outright is that policy makers have run out of tools for stewarding an economy that - nearly three years into a recovery - has yet to flourish and may even be downshifting to neutral. The president's fiscal policies, mainly high-end tax cuts, have resulted in a record federal budget deficit without spurring hiring or income growth. If Mr. Bush continues on the tax-cut path, continuing high deficits will further threaten job creation and living standards.

GIVE ME A PRESIDENT WHO READS

George W. Bush has almost worn as a badge of honor the fact that he is not intellectual. You probably don't have to be an intellectual to be president, but you should at least be well-informed, and Bush fails miserably on that count. While we get constant terror warnings, Mr. Bush claims that we and the world are safer than before the invasion of Iraq. This editorial linked at www.commondreams.org from the Madison Capital Times says that is simply not true:

The man, who more than a year ago declared that the heavy lifting in Iraq was done, only to discover that the fight had barely started, is now back with another over-the-top pronouncement. "Today," Bush said last week, "because America has acted and because America has led, the forces of terror and tyranny have suffered defeat after defeat, and America and the world are safer."

By any measure, the president is wrong.

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

CLASS WARFARE REPUBLICAN STYLE

George W. Bush made one of his characteristically idiotic statements when he said that taxing the very rich doesn't work because they just figure out a way to dodge taxes anyway. This article at americanprogressaction.org talks about the not-too-subtle message Bush is giving us:

In President Bush's world, the "really rich" accuse others of class warfare while forcing middle income earners to bear the burden of taxation and collective obligations. The conservative agenda for America is clear: protect the wealth and income of those at the top; shift tax burdens on to the larger middle class; and accuse anyone who exposes this ruse as engaging in class warfare and "soak the rich" policies. But as the last 4 years have proven, the only class warfare in America comes from the top down.

PRESIDENT CARTER TELLS THE TRUTH ABOUT BUSH

Former President Carter, a man who was actually elected, told the searing and honest truth about George W. Bush at the Democratic National Convention. The story is at miami.com:

Said Carter: ``Today our dominant international challenge is to restore the greatness of America based on telling the truth, a commitment to peace and a respect for civil liberties at home and basic human rights abroad. . . . Without truth, without trust, America cannot flourish. Trust is at the very heart of our democracy, the sacred covenant between a president and the people. When that trust is violated, the bonds that hold our republic together begin to weaken.''

AN AMERICAN GOES TO THE OLYMPICS

Since George W. Bush has made most of the world hate us, it's hard to be an American abroad. The author of this story at www.sfgate.com describes the new reality:

Whatever sympathy and goodwill the United States had in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 2001 has been swept away by the continuing conflict in Iraq and the daily dose of bad news it produces.

In the first Summer Olympics since the terrorist attacks, it seems just about everyone hates America, if not Americans.

FELINE TERROR ALERT

Maybe terrorists are enlisting cats to their cause. This story is about a feline that escaped its cage on a Belgian airline, made its way to the cockpit, and attacked the co-pilot. The story is linked at sfgate.com:

A Belgian airliner made an emergency landing after an agitated passenger -- a cat -- got into the cockpit and attacked the co-pilot, the airline said Tuesday.

The SN Brussels flight from the Belgian capital to Vienna, Austria, had been in the air about 20 minutes Monday when "it was noticed" that a passenger's pet had escaped from its cage, "although it is not yet clear how," according to an airline statement.

EVEN THE WASHINGTON POST SEES MIDDLE CLASS SQUEEZE

I don't believe The Washington Post is a liberal newspaper, despite all the shrieking about the "liberal media" you get from right-wingers. The Post has been fully on board with most of what George W. Bush has done, but even The Post is acknowledging that the economy hasn't been kind to the middle class. Read on at www.washingtonpost.com:

But the commentators, and the numbers, are missing the deeper story -- a story reflected in the continuing anxiety about the economy that survey after survey shows. Over the past two decades, two great transformations have been on a collision course -- the rise of the two-earner family and all but stagnant real wages for most workers. The sluggish economy of the past few years has made the resulting strains unmistakable. By many measures, American families in the middle of the income ladder are stretched thinner today than at any point since the early 1980s. Perhaps more important, their economic situation has, in ways both big and small, become notably more precarious.

MARK MORFORD

Mark Morford, columnist for www.sfgate.com, is one of the most innovative and expressive political writers I've found. In a searing condemnation of the Bush administration he proves insightful once again:

You know it's time for a serious change when the president of the United States actually mutters the infantile, instantly infamous line, "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we," just after finishing phonetically spelling out his name, in his favoritest red crayon, on yet another budget-reaming $417 billion defense-spending bill.

WATCH YOUR WALLET; HERE COMES BUSH

Republicans periodically float ideas about overhauling the federal income tax system. It's always something like a flat tax, a value added tax, or now a national sales tax. They promote these ideas under the idea of "fairness." But what really happens is that the people with the least income get hit the hardest. They're nothing fair about the tax rate being the same for someone making, say, $50,000 a year as someone making millions of dollars a year. This story is at news.yahoo.com:

President Bush said on Tuesday that abolishing the U.S. income tax system and replacing it with a national sales tax was an idea worth considering.

It's an interesting idea," Bush told an "Ask President Bush" campaign forum here. "You know, I'm not exactly sure how big the national sales tax is going to have to be, but it's the kind of interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously."

Fresno California Liberal