If You're Against the War, You're Against the Troops and You Support Throwing Shoes

What is it about the simple minded? Conflating anti-war with backing our troops is crazy, nonsensical and a problem for conservatives. Why?

Neil Cavuto recently primed the nationalism pump with Gold Star Mom Debbie Lee, who's son Marc was killed in Iraq. She was outraged that anyone would throw a shoe at her leader and father figure George W. Bush. It just isn't right to insult a president who brought about such carnage and strife to those who are comfortably out of view of those who want to fight them over there.

According to Lee: "...to see them making a hero out of this man that insulted out president and insulted what our troops are doing over there...we have situations where we'll see it on the "main stream media" that promotes the anti-war protestors. It makes it sound like that's how all American feel, and it's not."

Actually, they do feel that way. The majority of American don't want us in Iraq anymore and are against war, not for war. Against, against and against war. Who the hell is for war? Lee is, because war and supporting our troops just go together.

The majority of Americans do support our troops.

That's true, unless of course they're liberal, and against war. Lee unflinchingly brings the two thoughts together. How does she and other conservatives do that?

Florida Voucher Money Scam is Another Republican Train Wreck Waiting to Happen

What looks, sounds and feels good to the public now about vouchers savings, is really a taxpayer scam, and nothing more. Why people don’t see the obvious manipulation of public opinion regarding voucher funding is still a mystery to me. It doesn’t take a genius to dissect the Republican scheme: Shift education to the private sector; advance a less educated and more easily manipulated electorate; all the while fulfilling their quest to cut taxes. Power, not public good, is the driving force in Florida. Sarasota’s Harold Tribune featured this simple explanation of the flawed thinking of voucher advocates.

A report … says a recently created school voucher program is saving the state millions. Logically, that means it could save more if the program is expanded.

I long ago called the corporate tax-credit voucher program a money-laundering scheme. Since it would be illegal to use tax money to fund private schools that don't have to meet anything even close to the state standards imposed on public school systems, this program dodges the law by using money that, technically, isn't tax money … The corporations get a dollar-for-dollar reduction in their state tax bill. That's the scammy part.

But those doing the study for the Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability understand all that. Their report concludes that the voucher program still saved the state almost $40 million last year. Private schools got $3,750 per student as tuition and agree not to charge the students more. The public school's annual cost per student is about $7,000.

The state could save more if it told public schools they could act like private schools and not be required to hire teachers the state considers qualified, or hit any marks whatsoever in standardized test scores for reading, writing, math and science. Their students don't even take the FCATs, the tests that we are told are the measure of a school's success. The state's obsession with measuring performance disappears entirely for private schools, even when they take voucher money. Meanwhile, the public schools have to provide bus service to make sure all kids have a way to get to school. Private schools don't.

With the voucher foot now well in the door, supporters will no doubt try to increase them, year by year.

Yes, that would wipe out the savings, but those who love vouchers were never in it to save us money. They are in it to make taxpayers pay for private and church schools.

It’s the redistribution of education upward, with no questions asked by the gullible public. But this isn’t the only area of attack. Feel good results often obscure actual academic performance while demonstrating the real reasons students don’t perform well. According to the University of Arkansas:

Researchers with the School Choice Demonstration Project based at the University of Arkansas report that having a choice of where to send their children to school boosts their satisfaction with and involvement in schools in Washington, D.C..

That’s right, parents are more satisfied. Are kids more educated? Three quarters of the voucher parents don’t care. Is it a double standard for public schools over private? You bet.

“The greatest source of satisfaction reported by parents was simply in being able to choose their child’s school,” added Patrick Wolf, director of the School Choice Demonstration Project and holder of the Twenty-First Century Chair in School Choice in the department of education reform at the University of Arkansas. “Even D.C. parents whose children ended up returning to public schools tended to say that they were happy that they at least had a choice.” Some of the other findings: The factors these parents considered most important in making a choice included smaller class sizes, school safety, religious or values-based environment and rigorous academic curriculum; By the third year of focus groups, class size remained a crucial characteristic while school safety was less of an issue; Many parents placed greater emphasis on attitudes and behavior of their children, rather than test scores, as a basis for evaluating their progress. None of the parents polled considered standardized test scores to be the predominant measure when
assessing their children’s progress

I wonder where voucher parents got the idea that public schools were more unresponsive then their favored private couterparts?

Foreign Countries Bailing Out Their Auto Makers, Universal Health Care Advantage. Hey GOP, Still Want to Be Like Japan?

Republicans seemed to be oblivious to the differences between foreign auto makers and U.S. car companies. The different obligations foreign companies have to their employees when compared with the American firms. Think about it: A half a century of benefit obligations are being compared to a relatively new foreign car industry in the U.S., and years of health care promises for American retirees.

Governor Jennifer Granholm has to remind Mitt Romney of the health care disparity and the less than level playing field for foreign car makers receiving huge taxpayer subsidies for setting up shop in the U.S.. Sen. Carl Levin brings up the fact that the other countries are bailing out their own companies for their own economic interest. Gee, you think we might value our own manufacturing capabilities and want to preserve that?

Gaffney on Troops Deaths in Iraq: "I Believe They Did Have To Die."

Hardball's Chris Matthews slices and dices one of the most vocal war mongers in American history, Frank Gaffney of the the Center for Security Policy, along with a little help from David Corn. Gaffney's line to remember: "It is regrettable that any American died. It is regrettable they had to die. But I BELIEVE THEY DID HAVE TO DIE."

O Tannenbaum tree of Humans, Christmas on Acid

This surreal Christmas picture from Bizarro World still sends a chill down my spine. More specifically, this is the Singing Christmas Tree Choir in Racine, Wisconsin and their rendition of "O Tannenbaum." Sure it's a unique idea, but what twisted mind came up with it?

Unjust Deserts and the Redistribution of Wealth

You've got to hear this clash between a "redistributor" and greedy right wing...I mean conservatives.

At opednews.com, Joel S. Hirschhorn takes a look at Unjust Deserts, written by Gar Alperovitz and Lew Daly. The book examines how history can show us how the "redistribution of wealth can benefit everyone. It also helps explode the myths created by free market think tanks and politicians. They start with the premise:

...that there is no reason any one person should be entitled to that inheritance.

According to this understanding, it is not so much about redistribution of wealth from the richest people to everyone else, it is more about the morally correct and necessary action to rectify the unjust and immoral ownership of wealth that a relatively small fraction of the population has improperly (though legally) attained.

Here's clip of Gar Alperovitz on a local public radio program, WHA in Madison, Wisconsin, taking calls from a few angry conservatives:



What Americans need to be told by politicians is that “ever-increasing knowledge, accumulating across the generations, is central to the creation of all wealth,” according to the authors. Therefore the proper role of government is to ensure that many more people get some of this wealth. And the practical way to do this is through higher taxation of the unjust deserts now enjoyed by the Upper Class.

Here's another audio clip of Alperovitz trying his best to answer the outraged Republican callers who don't seem to understand even the basic premise.



Looking at this another way: the economic decline of the middle class and the expansion of the working poor result from all these unjust deserts. All the unshared wealth that has resulted from inherited knowledge that a few people have managed to unfairly benefit from. This has produced rising economic inequality and increased economic suffering by so many Americans.

Wall Street Greed Continues, Jordan & Moyers List New Abuses of "Free Market" Socialism

Has Wall Street, banks and government overseers played us for suckers?

Of course they have. You want proof? Watch Georgetown Univ. Legal & Finance scholar Emma Coleman Jordan and Bill Moyers run through a list of new abuses and greed getting little or no press. A partial transcript is provided below. Keep in mind this detail from miccheckradio.org:

After taxpayer outrage, Congress wanted to guarantee that the $700 billion financial bailout would limit the compensation of Wall Street execs. They even wrote in a provision intended to stop golden bailouts. Well, that was all good and well—until the Bush administration insisted on a one-sentence change to the provision that has ended up leaving a giant loophole for corporate executives.

EMMA COLEMAN JORDAN: Well, I think these large institutions think they're beyond accountability. It appears there were no management structures in place in the Treasury Department to keep track of exactly what these banks were doing with the money. The money was given. The top banks were given $25 billion each, including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, banks that protested they didn't need the money. They were asked to take this money anyway It was expected that they would convert these capital infusions into lending.

BILL MOYERS: But they didn't. They got-

EMMA COLEMAN JORDAN: They didn't.

BILL MOYERS: -the money but they didn't lend it. Bank of America was not lending the money-
EMMA COLEMAN JORDAN: They weren't lending the money. They were busily making tactical acquisitions.

BILL MOYERS: The ideology is that trickle-down economics will work and that the market will eventually correct the excesses? Is that what you think that ideology is? That's the bubble they live in on Wall Street, right?

EMMA COLEMAN JORDAN: It's that confluence of belief, the Federal Reserve, the Department of the Treasury, and the White House, all believing that the markets would correct. So that in the year between August of 2007 and September of 2008, we had a natural experiment. And the natural experiment was the markets did not correct. They crashed and burned. And as a result, the government had to come in to rescue with the taxpayers' dollars.

Drill, Baby, Drill…But Only in a Crisis. Big Oil Now Waiting for Next Shortage, Not Trying to Prevent Shortage.

A little over a month ago, Republicans were shouting drill, baby drill, and pleading with Democrats to come back to Congress to pass legislation giving big oil everything they wanted to make America more energy independent.

Never mind.

As unbelievable as it may seem, the lower gas prices have stopped new exploration and drilling, with big oil basically saying the hell with energy independence until we can take advantage of another moment of “disaster capitalism.” We’ve got the leases now, see ya later.

I’m not making this up. Here are the details as reported in the N.Y. Times:

From the plains of North Dakota to the deep waters of Brazil, dozens of major oil and gas projects have been suspended or canceled in recent weeks as companies scramble to adjust to the collapse in energy markets. The project delays are likely to reduce future energy supplies — and analysts believe they may set the stage for another surge in oil prices once the global economy recovers.

Exploration spending, which had risen to a record this year, is being slashed.
Wells are being shut down across the United States … Investment in alternative energy sources like biofuels could dry up … analysts said … Banks have become reluctant lenders, especially to renewable energy projects that may prove unprofitable.

In North Dakota, oil drillers are scaling back exploration of the Bakken Shale, a geological formation recently seen as promising, where production is more expensive than in conventional fields. Another domestic producer, Callon Petroleum, suspended a major deepwater project in the Gulf of Mexico, called Entrada, weeks before completion because of what it described as a “serious decline in project economics.”

According to research analysts at the brokerage firm Raymond James, domestic drilling could drop by 41 percent next year as companies scale back.

Analysts at Bernstein Research have calculated that oil production in North America could decline by 1.3 million barrels a day through 2010, or 17 percent, to 6.14 million barrels a day. This decline, “will be the catalyst needed for oil prices to rebound.”

According to the International Energy Agency, “If we cut back dramatically on investments, we could end up in a situation where supply growth goes flat when the economy starts to recover. The steeper the decline, the steeper the response.”

Let me get this right: We’ll start drilling when we’re hit with another energy crisis, and not before, to prevent a reoccurrence.

Now that’s capitalism.

Al Qaeda Kills Thousands in Iraq Due to U.S. Invasion. Bush Says, "So What."

ABC News' Martha Raddatz gets to the heart of shoe throwing and the Al Qaeda threat to Iraq. President Bush's "So What," in regards to the terrorist threat in Iraq caused by the U.S. invasion. This is a new high for Republican authoritarian arrogance.

Cheney Admits he Authorized Torture, and Lies About Iraq Again.

Are these guys psycho or what? As the Bush administration comes to a disastrous end, and as they close up shop, their now freely admitting everything they did wrong. Here Cheney admits to breaking the law concerning torture by saying he wasn't breaking the law, and proves how insane the Bush Doctrine is in the hands of neo conservative psychopaths. ABC News:

Vice President Dick Cheney issued an unapologetic defense of the Bush administration's anti-terror policies, including the use of waterboarding. Cheney told ABC News, "I think those who allege that we've been involved in torture, or that somehow we violated the Constitution or laws with the terrorist surveillance program, simply don't know what they're talking about."

Cheney was also asked whether he authorized the tactics used against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. "I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared, as the agency in effect came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn't do," Cheney said. " And I supported it."

It appears both Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are lying, telling two different stories about the run up to invading Iraq:

The outgoing vice president also disputed former Bush adviser Karl Rove's recent comments about the decision to go to war in Iraq. While discussing Bush's legacy earlier this month, Rove said he did not believe the administration would have gone to war had intelligence revealed Saddam Hussein did not possess weapons of mass destruction. "I disagree with that," Cheney said Monday. "As I look at the intelligence with respect to Iraq, what they got wrong was that there weren't any stockpiles."

"What they found was that Saddam Hussein still had the capability to produce weapons of mass destruction. He had the technology, he had the people, he had the basic feed stock." Cheney added that, given Saddam Hussein's capabilities, reputation and track record of brutality, "this was a bad actor and the country's better off, the world's better off with Saddam gone, and I think we made the right decision in spite of the fact that the original NIE was off in some of its major judgments."

Quick Notes: GOP Image Down, Alienation Index UP, 60% Say Health Care Gov. Responsiblity

Polling in late November 2008, less than a month ago:

In a November 21, 2008 Gallup Poll: "The Republican Party's image has gone from bad to worse over the past month, as only 34 percent of Americans . . . say they have a favorable view of the party, down from 40 percent in mid-October. The 61 percent now holding an unfavorable view of the GOP is the highest Gallup has recorded for that party since the measure was established in 1992."

Harris Poll: More Americans are alienated now than at any time since 1999. "The level of alienation is one measure of how well a society is functioning. . . . The Harris Alienation Index is clearly measuring broader societal trends, not just attitudes about what happens in Washington."

QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY POLL HEALTH CARE
Q: Do you think that President Obama will or will not be able to provide health care coverage to most Americans who don’t have it now?

Will be able to provide health care: 50%, Won’t be able to provide health care:
40%, Not sure: 10

Q: Do you think that it’s the government’s responsibility to make sure that everyone in the United States has adequate health care?

It’s the government’s responsibility: 60%, Not the government’s responsibility:
36%, Not sure: 4%

Fox News Pranks Viewers as Kristol and Williams Swap Talking Points?

Was Fox News Sunday trying to "trick" us? Was it a practical joke carried out to the extreme, unacknowledged, attempting to short circuit liberal perceptions of what is real and surreal? Should I have been tipped off when I found myself agreeing with William Kristol on the wrong headed Republican response to the auto loan legislation. What I didn't expect was the right wing response from Juan Williams as he, straight faced, repeated the Corker/Shelby talking points like they actually made sense.

My head is hurting...



Do each of them have twin opposites sitting in from time to time as a way of confusing the public?

A Quick Opinion on Vouchers, School Uniforms and Charter Schools

There are many who believe the solution to our public education deficiencies are those ideas offered up by conservative think tanks and politicians who have little interest in studying their effectiveness.

There are even more Americans who are beginning to believe, with justification, they’ve been the victims of snake oil salesmen promising a cure all without costs. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution article by Maureen Downey is an example of the media finally catching on:

All dressed up with no urge to learnIn one of the largest studies on the effects of school uniforms, sociologists David Brunsma and Kerry Rockquemore concluded that uniforms have no direct effect on substance use, behavioral problems or attendance and may actually hurt academic achievement.

In effect, the study found, uniforms are akin to throwing a new coat of paint on a crumbling building. The building may well look better, but it’s still falling apart.

In 2006, the Legislature fell victim to the 65 percent solution, enacting a law mandating that schools spend 65 percent of their revenue in the classroom. Trouble is, there’s no proof that such a rule makes a bit of difference.

“Student performance does not noticeably or consistently increase at 65 percent, or any other percentage spent on instruction,” concluded a Standard & Poor’s review of student achievement in nine states. “Interestingly, some of the highest-performing districts spend less than 65 percent, and some of the lowest-performing districts spend more than 65 percent.”

Last session (in Georgia), the magic bullet du jour was charter schools, which are public schools that operate independently of the central office under performance contracts.

A recent study out of Minnesota has discredited that now failed experiment.

This session, the snake oil salesmen of education will be peddling vouchers. Step right up to a private school, they’ll say, and see your child reach never-before-seen heights of excellence.
Again, experience tells a different story. Even viewed from the most positive angle, the results of voucher programs are mixed. Research shows that vouchers improve neither the academic performance of the students who use them nor the public schools they leave behind.

Just a note: I am not against new idea’s and experimental attempts to improve educating our children. I am against for profit and “nonprofit” businesses trying desperately to reach into taxpayer pockets, which we have seen over time, becomes a never ending source of unlimited amounts of money i.e. the defense department.

Keeping it Cool, with Barack Obama

It's so Rat Pack, so 50's retro and so Obama. Saturday Night Live gets the new administrations mood just right...

Jon Stewart Takes on Gay Marriage with Mike Huckabee

I know Jon Stewart would role his eyes, but in my opinion, this is the best debate on gay marriage I've seen in a long time. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee clearly and calmly states his case for opposing it, but never addresses many of Stewart's historical references.

Kevin Philips: "Well I think it's over...supply side and trickle down is gone for awhile.."

Bad Money author Kevin Philips declares trickle down economics dead, for now anyway, in a sit down with Bill Moyers. Philips makes sense, even for a conservative, and bluntly points out the wayward ways of the current Republican Party. If the party included people like Kevin Philips and John Dean, it would make for tough debates and a better country.

Right now, the party of (corporate) tax cuts is preaching to their 20 to 30 percent base of fringers. Sadly, news organizations still treat these people as credible sources of information and policy. Let's hope the contrast between Obama's common sense approach to government and the right wings extremist agenda is noticed by even the most casual observer.

Philips starts with his opinion on the dire warnings of Wall Street regarding the bailout money they so desperately said they needed.

Republicans Try to Destroy Unions. Disaster Capitalism Agenda

At last, someone from the major news networks gets it right: David Shuster actually came out said the obvious, "The end of an era, as we learn Senate Republicans are now willing to kill GM regardless of whether it's good for our country, in order to kill the union of GM's workers."

Shuster also waves a Senate Republican memo "action alert" with their message: This is the Democrats first opportunity to payoff organized labor after the election...Republicans should stand firm and take their first shot against organized labor..."

Reacting to that and Dick Cheney's warnings to Senate Republicans are Jonathan Alter and Air America's Thom Hartmann. This video clip (edited for time) is all you'll ever need to calm your nerves, knowing the message got out there at least just once. A job well done by MSNBC.

The Republican Party Got us to This Point, Why Should They Be Allowed to Make Things Worse?

I found this amazing admission from Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, how his credibility and judgment, that should be the anecdotal story on the lips of every Democrat. The following examples are provided by AP:

Festering animosity between the United Auto Workers and Southern senators who torpedoed the auto industry bailout bill erupted into full-fledged name calling Friday as union officials accused the lawmakers of trying to break the union on behalf of foreign automakers. But lawmakers and their spokesmen said the criticism is off base. Jonathan Graffeo, Shelby's spokesman on the Senate Banking Committee, said the senator has consistently opposed taxpayer-funded bailouts.

Here’s the admission of incompetence I mentioned earlier:

"He opposed the Chrysler bailout in 1979 when there were no foreign auto manufacturers in Alabama, and he opposed the recent $700 billion bailout of the banking industry," Graffeo said.

That’s something to brag about? Shelby opposed the highly successful Chrysler bailout that employed thousands of workers, dealerships, part makers, the banking industry that provided loans, area businesses and taxes paid into the federal government over the last 30 years. What a disaster. Now we’re expected to think he’s making another informed decision? Shelby continues to show his ideology over intellect approach to lawmaking:

"Bailouts generally don't work, and this is a huge proposed bailout, and I fear it's just the down payment on more to come next year," Shelby said on the Senate floor.

If bailouts “generally” don’t work, give us a few examples. But when specifically applying it to the car companies, there are no examples. And according to economic projections, that $15 billion LOAN will cost the government that amount anyway, with or without the “bailout.” Would it hurt so much to err on the side of jobs and U.S. manufacturing? They say so. But Shelby isn’t alone when it comes to screwing things up, take Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee.

(He) said the alternative he tried to develop would have provided federal money in exchange for … making the UAW more competitive in wages with workers at U.S. plants of Japanese competitors.

Corker apparently failed to connect the pay of the American union workers to the wages of the in-sourced car manufacturers work force. Minus benefits, the wages are nearly the same, and competitive.

Oh, and one more thing. For these free market Republicans, Shelby and Corker, the idea of big government telling companies how much their workers can make and forcing an artificial ceiling, is the height of hypocrisy.

To paraphrase these big government capitalist, "what does congress know about running a car company? Government can only make things worse."

A California Proposition to Ban Divorce and Protect Marriage? They Asked for It!

Tired of the religious right forcing their sectarian beliefs on us through government and legal intervention? It's not exactly what the Constitutional fathers had in mind, which brings me to the video featured here. We're learning that religious zealotry, which is now morphing to include Mormons and Catholics, can be used against itself. Or at least the language can come back to haunt them. Without revealing too much, watch this from thepetitionsite.com .

Gov. Rod Blagojevich Hair Raising "Head"lines

I'm not a big fan of "sensationalized" news stories, like the one endlessly speculated on about Gov. Rod Blagojevich, because they distract the public so easily. But having said that, CNN's Jeanne Moos put together another fun report centered on Blagojevich's hair, the kind of coverage I can stomach.