For The Trees

Who is our economy FOR, anyway?

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About the Authors:
Dave Johnson
John Emerson
Richard Reich
Thomas Leavitt

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Pensions, Again

I've been writing about the corporate pension fund problem. Today: Alcoa pension liability to jump $700 mln-$1 bln. Wow! And check this, "Pittsburgh-based Alcoa is also lowering its expected rate of return on its pension assets from 9.5 percent, but did not provide a new figure. Uncertainty over future stock market returns is leading many companies to reduce their fund expectations from recent high levels." That means that they've been reporting an expectation of a 9.5% return. Yeah, right.

"Alcoa's comments are the latest in a string of corporate warnings over the health of their pension plans, as company after company discloses huge funding shortfalls. To make up for this funding gap, executives are being forced to divert billions of dollars to pension plans in moves that will lower earnings, limit spending and choke expansion plans. Pension fund troubles also raise the specter of debt downgrades, which will put additional pressure on profits by raising borrowing costs. 3M Co. (NYSE:MMM - News), the diversified manufacturer whose products range from Post-It notes and Scotch tape to industrial adhesives, said on Monday it would take a $1 billion charge in the fourth quarter against shareholder equity -- essentially a measure of its net worth -- because of a funding shortfall in its pension plan. Also on Monday, United States Steel Corp. (NYSE:X - News), the largest domestic steelmaker, said it may have to take a $750 million charge against equity later this year to account for possible shortfalls in its union employee pension plan. A recent study by Credit Suisse First Boston estimates that of the 360 companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index that have pension plans, 325 will have shortfalls by year end. Only 33 will be overfunded. The airline and automobile industries are the hardest hit. "

This is a big one, folks. Pay attention.

--- Posted at 10/21/2002 04:45:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Estate Tax

Just want to get this out there. The Republicans came up with the cute name, "Death Tax," for the Estate Tax. This probably took a few focus groups and polls to come up with. The Estate Tax is paid on the transfer of assets when a zillionaire dies. It is AN INCOME TAX on the income received by heirs of someone who is really, really rich. The Republicans cast it as a tax that causes farms and small businesses to be sold to pay the tax, but this is yet another lie. From NYTimes, Focus on Farms Masks Estate Tax Confusion,

While 17 percent of Americans in a recent Gallup survey think they will owe estate taxes, in fact only the richest 2 percent of Americans do. That amounted to 49,870 Americans in 1999. And nearly half the estate tax is paid by the 3,000 or so people who each year leave taxable estates of more than $5 million.

Let's be clear on this. You and I pay income taxes on OUR income, but Bush and the Republicans repealed the Estate Tax and now rich kids won't have to pay taxes on THEIR (inherited) incomes. People are not as upset about this as they should be, probably because of the cute name the Republicans were able to apply to the debate.

--- Posted at 10/21/2002 03:17:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Correction

Earlier I wrote that Enron was paying for the anti-Davis ads. Articles I found point to Reliant Energy more than Enron. The problem is that the group placing the ads, American Taxpayer Alliance, has been allowed to conceal their donors. From Organized Labor: (scroll down to "Hard Hat Rally")

The American Taxpayer Alliance is paying for the ads with money from energy companies like Reliant, and money raised by Enron lobbyists. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Reliant Energy of Houston, the largest independent generator of electricity, reported earnings in the first quarter of 2001 that were double those for the first quarter of the previous year, (4/17/01). Two of the directors of Reliant Energy, James Baker and Steve Letbetter have strong ties to the Bush White House. Looking at the Enron Corporation of Houston, we find that revenue increased by 500% over the three-year period from 1997 to 2000, from $20.3 billion to $100.8 billion. Even more interesting, Enron CEO, Kenneth Lay, energy advisor to the Bush administration, made $27.2 million through insider trading of Enron stock in the 12-month period ending April 2001. Not bad for a years work, and this is only his bonus money.

From the Davis Campaign:

DAVIS WINS INJUNCTION AGAINST AMERICAN TAXPAYERS ALLIANCE California Superior Court Judge David Garcia granted an injunction requested by the Governor Gray Davis Committee requiring the American Taxpayers Alliance, which had been airing anti-Davis television commercials, to abide by the State’s Political Reform Act by registering as a political committee with the Secretary of State and filing a list of its contributors. “California law – and basic fairness – demand that organizations making campaign attacks identify themselves so the voters can evaluate the message against those who are funding it,” said Joseph Remcho, the attorney representing the Governor’s political committee. “It is gratifying that Judge Garcia agreed such groups must tell California voters who their donors are. They can say whatever they want, but they have to play by California’s rules.” Based in Washington, D.C., the American Taxpayers Alliance is a tax-exempt entity headed by former Republican National Committee executive director Scott Reed. The group adamantly has refused to reveal who paid for the media campaign, although Time magazine reported in June that Reliant Energy Inc., one of the Houston-based energy suppliers Davis has accused of gouging consumers, is one of its major contributors. A July analysis by the D.C.-based Center for Responsive Politics also said the group’s prime donors were from the oil and gas industry.

Democratic Underground:

American Taxpayers Alliance - NEW! Weeks on chart: 1 - The American Taxpayers Alliance started running a TV ad in California last week attacking Governor Gray Davis for failing to protect the public from rising energy costs. The campaign-style ad doesn't promote a rival candidate, but features fuzzy, unflattering close-ups of Davis while assailing his record. So who are the American Taxpayers Alliance? Surely they're a group of concerned citizens who are worried about spiraling energy prices in California, right? Um, wrong. The "American Taxpayers Alliance" is actually a front group for hundreds of corporations, including Texas-based Reliant Energy. Reliant Energy are proud to list James "rent-a-hatchet" Baker and Bush fundraiser Steve Ledbetter on their board of directors. So, Californians - energy companies are selling electricity to you at vastly over-inflated prices, then spending the profits on TV ads attacking your governor for failing to stop them. How do you feel?

And the whole story at CorpWatch.

--- Posted at 10/21/2002 02:10:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Best I've Ever Seen

Last year the "energy crisis" hit California. Big coincidence, the country had just "elected" two corrupt oil-industry men to "lead" the country and suddenly energy prices shot through the roof. (Remember the gas crisis in the Chicago area that ended immediately as soon as the Senate announced they would investigate?) In California we had "rolling blackouts" and a huge surge in electricity, natural gas and gasoline prices. The Bush FERC, of course, refused to intervene. The Governor had to start purchasing energy on the spot market to try to stop the blackouts. Then nasty TV ads started appearing, blaming Governor Davis. Davis had been a sort-of invisible Governor until then. No one really knew what to think of him. He was "undefined." Those ads stuck, like nothing I've ever seen before. They completely defined Davis, his poll numbers fell through the floor, even good Democrats I knew were blaming Davis for "bungling the energy crisis." He has not recovered from those ads. Those ads were the best I've ever seen. They took that guy and defined him and the public STILL blames him for the energy crisis. When you ask people why they don't like Davis, they'll tell you it is because he bungled the energy crisis, they're not sure about the details. It was later that other ads tagged him with accepting too many campaign contributions. (Imagine, a Democrat being tagged with that, in the Bush era! Shows the power of propaganda, doesn't it?) Turns out that Enron was paying for those ads, while Enron and a few other energy companies were manipulating the energy supply and raking in a huge bundle. (How much of that cash was funneled to The Party?) And now that is part of the public record. Doesn't matter, though. The public blames Davis.

--- Posted at 10/21/2002 06:57:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Read Everything

I've been meaning to say that everything over at The Sideshow lately has been a great read.

--- Posted at 10/21/2002 06:45:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Dick and George Take Over the World

Over at Counterspin Central they've posted a GREAT cartoon.

--- Posted at 10/21/2002 06:42:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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What He Wrote

I was asked to post the message I received from a reader that led to this entry. Here it is:

Recently I've discovered the world of Blogs and yours is one of my daily reads. I've been running around the idea of a journal on our website (I used to always keep a journal when I traveled after high school) but obviously the blog is the way to go. Anyway, I got an email link from a friend in NY (worked across the street from the WTC, all his buddies worked at Cantor-Fitzgerald) that was obviously written by what you call a chickenwarblogger. I whipped out a response (I had a tee time approaching) and sent it without much thought. I think it really got to him. He wants me to be running for office now [laughable]. When I reread today what I had written yesterday morning I couldn't believe I had written it. Reading blogs like yours has definitly sharpened my knife. I'm still a ways off from starting my own blog (gotta blow a lot of glass for the coming holiday season) but I wanted to pass on what you helped inspire. (Feel free to use any of it) [my friend] > I liked what this guy had to say [link any typical chickenwarblogger rant], just wanted your take on it. [my response] I feel like a mosquito at a nudist camp, I don't even know where to begin. I'll try and avoid going into it point by excruciating point and instead give my general reaction. First, the fact that the writer continues to frame this as a "Lefty" issue ignores the reality that a lot of conservatives have serious misgivings about staging this war and instead it comes across as little more than a heavy handed diatribe against the left. I refer you to a recent speech by General Zinni http://www.mideasti.org/html/zinnispeech.htm . I don't think anyone, including the writer, could mistake this person for a Lefty. For my own part, though I come across as left-center to most, if not all, of my right-center friends, I have in reality voted for more GOP candidates than DFL in my lifetime and still morn the loss McCain suffered in SC. If you could remove all the republicans with a gun in one hand and a bible in the other I would be comfortable back in the 'Big Tent". If it helps, I was just making the case for going to war with Iraq to someone yesterday (I really can play both sides of the isle). My rational was that because the US in essence created Saddam in the first place we owed it to the world to go in and clean up after ourselves, followed by a big apology and a promise to stop installing brutal regimes just because they suit some short term geopolitical purpose. They always seem to end up embarrassing us or somehow coming back to bit us on the butt. I believe in democracy but too often it seems that our government is more concerned with spreading capitalism than democracy, confusing the two and pissing off a lot of people who get left out. I've never heard a lefty advocate assassinating Saddam, but I did hear Ari go there (is Ari a closet lefty?). For more reasons than I care to delve into, comparing Saddam to Hitler is a gross disservice to history. For one thing, Hitler never asked our position on attacking Poland whereas Saddam checked with our envoy as to the position of the US regarding Kuwait. The day after we responded that we had no official position on middle east boarders Saddam attacked. I have a whole group of in-laws that survived Nazi Germany (concentration camps and all) and I see firsthand how that effects the next two, three generations. Nobody who has any idea what really happened during WWII would seriously put forth such an insulting comparison. That the world joined forces and repelled Saddam out of Kuwait shortly after his invasion shows that we have indeed learned the lesson that ignoring the takeover of Poland taught us. Likewise, the example of postwar Japan to Iraq is another put forward by people ignorant of history. Again, for more reasons than I care to delve into, Tommy Franks is no MacArthur, and the Iraqis of today are nothing like the Japanese of the 1930s - 1950s. We're talking about a battle between Judeo/Christian-fascism (Jerry Falwell, Ann Coulter anyone?) and Islamo-fascism that's been going on for over 1500 years. To think that by simply going in and installing a pro-western government we can make everything better (as in Panama, Grenada? Please) displays ignorance of recent history. We tried that in Iran in the 50's when their newly elected - democratically elected I might add - government wanted to nationalize their oil industry. The US helped stage an overthrow and installed the Shaw of Iran. This radicalized their religious leaders which lead directly to their takeover in the 70's, which in turn lead to our creation of Saddam (and now we've gone full circle). Now anti-Americanism is again fueling insurgencies in simi-stable regimes otherwise friendly to the US (see Pakistan, see Brazil). If dropping bombs doesn't create terrorists, why is it that the US (and immediate allies) are the only countries to suffer terrorists? There are a lot of flourishing democracies around the world who don't worry about terrorists. Near the beginning of this I said that I was making a case for war with Iraq yesterday. My other reason for going to war was that too many people have obviously forgotten what war is really like. In some religions it's said that you have to be 'reborn' to be saved. Well, if we're really going to ever have true world peace we'll have to have that final big battle. Hawks are quick to point out that if the pacifists are wrong the worst case outcome is a nuke in NY or Washington. I’d like to point out that if we go to war and the Hawks are wrong, the worst case outcome is Armageddon. How many US lives are you willing to forfeit? How many foreign lives? How many is too many? If this really was a viable route to peace we wouldn’t still be trying this same approach for the last 2-3,000 years. But what the hell, let’s give it another try. It’s not like it’s you or me or our children that will have to give their lives in this battle.

Oh yeah, and the Subject line of his message was, "If I had a blog."

--- Posted at 10/20/2002 11:04:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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What the Republicans Think They Can Get Away With

Zizka posted a comment to my Iraq Again posting earlier, "God, those people in Georgia must be dumshits if the Republicans think they can get away with this." Well, I had JUST finished looking at Eschaton when I saw his comment. Eschaton has posted two different entries about Republicans lying, and just lying, and no one calling them on it. One was pointing to today's Daily Howler. It's about the long history of the Republican National Committee sending lies around, and no one calling them on it. Flat out lies, that everyone knows are lies at this point. The second referenced a Crossfire transcript about Republicans lying - JUST LYING - about where the term "privatization" originated. So to respond to Zizka, the Republicans don't THINK they can get away with this stuff, they KNOW they can get away with this stuff! They just lie, they send out "talking points" full of lies, they post lies on their website, they publicly change their story sometimes in the middle of sentences, and THEY JUST GET AWAY WITH IT. It's all there for anyone to see. Anyone with half a brain knows they just lie. Listen to Rush Limbaugh for ten minutes and you will hear a ten-minute-long series of lies. AND IT WORKS! That's why they do it! They lie ENOUGH and some of it sticks, and people start to believe it. People still believe that Clinton got a $200 haircut while his plane held up traffic on the LAX runway. How many of you remember when Clinton was acused of selling an Arlington National Cemetery plot to a campaign contributor? It was just a lie and within a few days the press stopped reporting it, so the Republicans just moved on with the next lie. Go to Google and see if that lie is still in circulation. (And read some of the slime-pages this search brings up.) When one lie fades from the headlines, they start up another lie. It works. Oh, man, this is getting to me. I'm using ALL CAPS in the middle of what I'm saying. The last post I used BOLD ALL CAPS. I think I'll go take a pill.

--- Posted at 10/19/2002 05:07:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Bush the Uniter

Republican House Speaker Hastert, reflecting the improved "tone" in Washington after two years of Bush the Uniter, who promised to change the tone in Washington, "When partisanship becomes so rigid it makes deal making impossible, the result is a breakdown in the system, and that breakdown is widely seen as simple incompetence" said the statement by Hastert's office. More changed tone from the Uniting Republicans, same article, "House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, asked as the House adjourned this week why al-Qaida can organize itself after a U.S.-led assault "and the Senate cannot organize itself." His answer: "Al-Qaida doesn't have a Senator Daschle who has another focus." Ads with bin Laden's face morphing into Democratic candidates. Timing the Iraq campaign for the election. Ready-to-go with ads with Democratic walking with Saddam Hussein. Gotta hand it to those Republicans, they know how to win elections, saying they'll "change the tone" and saying they are "uniters not dividers." WATCH WHAT THEY DO, NOT WHAT THEY SAY.

--- Posted at 10/19/2002 02:53:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Iraq Again

I wrote this in a reply to an e-mail from a reader today: Man, if you get me started about Iraq... point-by-point it just doesn't add up, and then we get this Korea nuke situation, where so many of the Bush people's points DO apply, and you find out that they sat on the news for 12 days because it would interfere with their Iraq-war-vote strategy... So for Korea we will have diplomacy but for Iraq we will have war. I think that the plan from the beginning was to frame this as "liberals" and Democrats against patriotic Republicans. I think this was the plan even before they came up with specifics of which country would get the war beat! It was about the election, not about Iraq. I'll bet that they took polls and found out that x% more people would hate Iraq than would hate Korea, so they decided to use Iraq for the election. It's a "wedge issue" they can use to divide people into camps, with the plan being that their camp gets the most people. Republicans have one issue right now - military - so they needed to create an election around the only issue that works for them. Here's my case - Max Cleland. You can't get much more of war hero material than Max Cleland. (Maybe John McCain.) So here we are with Cleland voting with the President on every single vote. But the Republicans are running ads against him with a picture of bin Laden morphing onto Cleland anyway. (And they're running a draft dodger against him.) So it wasn't about Iraq or supporting the President at all. It was about getting the public stirred up so they could run ads like that against Democrats. Here's a war hero supporter of the President and he gets ads comparing him to bin Laden.

--- Posted at 10/19/2002 02:42:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Suckers

Washington Post: N. Korea Issue Irks Congress - Key Democrats Kept in Dark On Admission Before Iraq Vote

The White House withheld North Korea's admission about a nuclear weapons program from key Democrats until after Congress had passed its resolution authorizing war with Iraq, prompting complaints on Capitol Hill that the administration has let politics influence its conduct of foreign affairs.

Suckered again. Never gonna learn.

--- Posted at 10/19/2002 02:39:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Send West Wing to BartCop

Someone needs to send this week's West Wing to BartCop. Scroll down below where Dorothy's shoes are clicking heels (until I can figure out how to link to a particular item.)

--- Posted at 10/18/2002 02:29:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Blah, Blah, Blah, Yada, Yada

A good piece over at Blah3, scroll to "The MBA who wasn't" (until I can figure out how to link to a particular item.) Remember when the wingnuts were telling us that the corporate scandals were all Clinton's fault because of the moral tone he set during the 90's? (Never mind the tone set by Bush regarding corporate responsibility, when he took office.) I know, I know, I'm always saying don't pay attention to the specific nonsense the wingnuts spew, those are trees, see the forest, etc., yada, yada. BUT ANYWAY go see this one.

--- Posted at 10/18/2002 02:05:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Talkleft does Altercation

Take a look.

--- Posted at 10/18/2002 01:54:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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It's the Radio, Stupid!

Reading this story in USA Today, about how the economy isn't getting traction as an issue, and listening to the radio in the car while I ate a sandwich today, I'm thinking about how the public's political information process has changed. The Republicans have greatly increased their control over the information that the public receives. I drove across the country in 2001, and once you get away from the coasts, news is ENTIRELY a Republican media operation. Every town is right-wing radio, right-wing newspapers, FOX in the motel rooms, etc. There are very few other sources of information. Coming back from my lunch I'm thinking about how AM radio has been completely taken over by the Republican Party and is being used used as a 24/7 running Republican Party political advertisement. Today's Hannity show, while I was listening, was a blatant full-scale Republican Party ad, asking people to donate, to volunteer to work on Republican campaigns, etc. AS WELL as spewing out the right-wing lies, like that Democrats are blocking the Fatherland Security Bill so you have to vote for Republicans if you want the country protected. (Facts - The Democrats PROPOSED the agency, and the Republicans are filibustering it.) This use of the AM band is illegal, and it shows where The Party wants to take the country. The Democrats should grow spines and demand that the these stations be fined for making in-kind donations to The Party, and that they put some opposing voices on the airwave.

--- Posted at 10/18/2002 01:24:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Career Change

I have recently changed careers. I have taken a position at a public policy institute, and will be writing more about this soon. Until June I was VP Marketing at a tech company competing with Microsoft in an age when big companies can purchase their way out of legal verdicts. I wrote one of my personal favorites, The Retirement Plan of the Unemployed Man in the period of unemployment following the demise of my employer. 2.5 years ago Microsoft was convicted of violating antitrust laws but bought a deal with the Bush administration that effectively set aside the verdict. Yesterday Microsoft reported profits more than doubling, based on a new licensing scheme forcing business users to pay even more for their software.

"Results for the first quarter were exceptionally strong, exceeding our expectations," John Connors, Microsoft's chief financial officer, said in a statement. "During the quarter, we saw broader customer adoption of our licensing programs than we anticipated, as customers recognized the value of entering into long-term licensing agreements for our products."

The "value" is that there isn't any alternative. After fighting Microsoft, battling right wingers won't be so bad. At least there are alternatives.

--- Posted at 10/18/2002 09:38:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Talk, Talk, Talk

Bush says, "Now, listen, the foundation for growth is strong, interest rates are low, inflation is low ... productivity is high in America," he said. "But so long as somebody's looking for work can't find work, I think we have a problem." How come no one is asking him what is he DOING about it??!! Look at what they DO, not what they SAY! And, by the way, interest rates are low BECAUSE the economy sucks. It is NOT a sign that the economy is doing well. DUH! And someone should tell him that economists are worried about deflation. Inflation being this low is an ominous sign, not something to brag about right now.

--- Posted at 10/18/2002 09:24:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Agrees With Me, Must Be Brilliant!

Mary McGory in today's Washington Post, on the subject I wrote about earlier today.

Are Democrats making a major effort to reduce voter turnout in the coming election? Or are they just trying to fight free of the trap they diligently fashioned for themselves on the subject of war with Iraq? By their conduct on the issue in the recent congressional debate, they seemed eager to show there was no difference between them and the Republicans -- a strategy that guarantees voters will ask themselves, when it comes to digging out on a cold November morning, "Why bother?"

--- Posted at 10/17/2002 11:40:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Reward the Heroes, Still Not in the News

MoveOn.org is up to $1,250,000 in three days. This is just phenomenal! It's worth putting their whole letter up:

Dear MoveOn member, Amazing. You blew away all our goals with an incredible $1,250,000 raised in three days, from more than 30,000 individual donations. You've really made a difference for these candidates, and you've sent an important message to politicians and pundits. We raised more than $560,000 for Senator Wellstone, and the campaign's ecstatic. But believe it or not, it's not all about money. The Wellstone campaign believes that in the end the decisive factor will be people on the ground. Today's recommended action is to get out and help. Here's a note from the Wellstone campaign: "When you ask people to help at the end of the campaign, you should mention that our goal is to have 10,000 volunteers who spend all day on Election Day in a get out the vote effort. These people will be making phone calls, knocking on doors, driving people to the polls, and dropping iterature, all over the state. This race has been a dead heat in the polls from the very beginning, and will remain so until the end. Our grass roots army will be the decisive factor in Paul's victory." (if you can help in Minnesota, see the campaign contact info below) Volunteer for a campaign. Now. Why? Reason #19 -- We can't let money in politics win. We need each of you to be part of the political process and wrest it back from big money and professional politicians. Many folks have given up, and that's exactly why big money has taken over. Believe me, there's a real vacuum of power in the political parties, because they now turn around and find that the meeting halls are empty, that real people have deserted them. With campaign finance reform, they'll have to find another way. Now is the time to take the parties back for real people. Ideally you will help with a local swing race, where the impact of your efforts will be magnified a thousand times. We've included a list of tight congressional races and other volunteering resources below. But even if you can't find a local swing race, get out and work. Work for a great candidate running for dog catcher, if that's the best race in town. Call or email their campaign today. Take back your party. Let us know how you intend to volunteer this election. We'd really like to know how people are making a difference. Go to: (Oops, had my personal info in it...) Try here: http://www.moveonpac.org/moveonpac/index.phtml Thanks for everything. The countdown continues, -Wes, Eli, Joan, Peter, Doug and Carrie for MoveOn.org PAC October 16, 2002

--- Posted at 10/17/2002 10:49:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Punishing Who?

I'm starting to hear people saying that they are so mad at the Democrats for voting for war with Iraq that they'll sit out this election. This is sort of a Naderist view, and I can almost sympathize with it. There really wasn't a difference between the Republicans and many Democrats when it came down to the vote on whether to go to war. And what could be more important than that? The problem is that sitting out the election might punish the Democrats, but it is cutting off your nose to spite your face. If the Democrats lose the Senate it's US who are really punished. Look at the terrible things Bush has done so far and imagine what will happen if there is nothing in place to hold him back. But why do the Democrats have to make it so difficult to support them?

--- Posted at 10/17/2002 10:29:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Reward the Heroes, Day 2

Yesterday I wrote about MoveOn.org's 'Reward the Heroes' campaign. This update just came in and it speaks for itself:

Our fundraising effort for heroes in Congress has been wildly successful, with almost $900,000 raised in under 48 hours from more than 25,000 individual donations. You folks are amazing. Let's make it a cool million. Just go to http://www.moveonpac.org/moveonpac/viewcandidates.phtml

I did. I hope you will, too.

--- Posted at 10/16/2002 12:00:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Make Your Own Bush Speech

Make your own Bush speech here.

--- Posted at 10/16/2002 10:43:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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William Burton

William Burton is writing great stuff lately. Go take a look.

--- Posted at 10/15/2002 09:03:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Reward the Heroes

If you don't know about MoveOn.org, I recommend you go take a look and sign up for their action updates. They sent a message out yesterday, "Reward the Heroes," asking us to donate some campaign cash to the candidates in tight races who went ahead and voted against Bush because it was the right thing to do. Here's a bit of yesterday's letter:

"As strategists look back at this election over the years to come, either they'll say, "President Bush manufactured a war and won at the polls" or they'll say, "President Bush manufactured a war and lost at the polls." Your gift today can make the difference."

Well, today they sent another message out. Here's a piece of it:

Good news: in just 24 hours, ten thousand of us have given more than $400,000 for our four heroes in Congress. That's $180,000 to Senator Wellstone's campaign alone. The campaigns are ecstatic. One campaign manager said, "You have no idea what this means to us."

These candidates did the right thing, MoveOn.org did the right thing, now you do the right thing. Get your credit card out and click here.

--- Posted at 10/15/2002 07:50:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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What the Right is Saying about Carter

I subscribe to the far-right Heritage Foundation's TownHall, and they send me a list of right-wing articles every day. Today brings, The Nobel Prize Should Go To Those Who Really Support Peace. Here's some quotes: Jimmy Carter has "continuously betrayed the principles on which peace depend." He espouses "collectivist ideals", "supported the dictator Castro", "understands nothing of rights and peace." "In choosing Carter the Nobel Committee has shown yet again that it does not understand the cause of war and so of peace." "Shamefully, the Nobel Committee has repeatedly awarded its Peace Prize to the bringers of war." Such pleasant people, those right-wingers. Always ready to speak well of others.

--- Posted at 10/15/2002 10:04:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Using War

Here's a story about the Republicans using "the war" against them in this election?

In television ads and campaign speeches, Republican candidates have become increasingly bold about using war with Iraq and the threat of terrorism as issues against their Democratic opponents -- even when there is little or no difference between the candidates on issues such as the recent congressional vote to give President Bush the authority to invade Iraq.

Were these Democrats thinking that voting with the President would make a difference in the Republicans using "the war" for politics? "The war" IS politics. (I put quotes around "the war" because I'm not sure that jet planes chasing a bunch of guys on horseback around the desert - and not catching them - merits calling Bush the great "wartime President" they make him out to be.) Maybe I'm old, maybe I'm not ready for the new millennium where it's OK to politicize these things, and to send kids off to die so you can win an election and vote to get rid of programs for regular people to open the way for ever lower taxes for the rich. And maybe it isn't OK. The Democrats aren't doing this sort of thing. They aren't running ads that say, "While Bush was on another vacation, and Republicans were busy helping CEOs steal your 401K, the Democrats were trying to warn them to pay attention to the terrorist threat."

--- Posted at 10/15/2002 09:13:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Really Good News

From Yahoo News,

An MSNBC-Zogby poll last week, after Wellstone announced he would vote against the resolution, suggests the decision not only didn't hurt his re-election chances but also might have helped them. In a major reversal, the poll showed voters choosing him over Coleman 46% to 37%. A similar poll in September had the Republican leading 47% to 41%. Other polls show Wellstone, who won his last two races with 50% of the vote, a smidgen ahead of Coleman.

Voting against the President, Wellstone moves from behind 41%-41% to AHEAD 46%-37%!

--- Posted at 10/14/2002 05:56:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Skippy, This is How They Do It

Skippy is fuming about a NY Post column. So I go look the column's author up on Google, which, 5th entry down, leads me to this page at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Now, look up FPI at Media Transparency then click on Foreign Policy Institute, and you find ... millions and millions of dollars form ... guess who ... Scaife, Olin, Bradley and Smith Richardson Foundations. The "four sisters." Why waste your time fuming, once you know that it comes from Scaife? Start here, for more details on How It's Done, and see the bottom of this piece for a bunch of links to articles about these foundations, where it says, "here, here, here" etc...

--- Posted at 10/14/2002 04:26:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Why No Draft?

Immediately undoing my "light blogging" pledge, I want to ask why there is no talk of reimposing the draft? We're about to enter into a major ground war against a country BECAUSE they have weapons of mass destruction. Isn't there any concern that they'll USE them? If we're not concerned that they'll use them then why are we entering into the war? And if there IS concern that they'll use them, why aren't we starting up the draft? If Iraq USES weapons of mass destruction we will need to replace the troops killed. That's why they're called weapons of MASS DESTRUCTION. So why no draft? What kind of contingency planning is that? What is going on?

--- Posted at 10/14/2002 03:56:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Light Blogging

I've been very busy so I won't be putting much up. It seems to be the convention among "bloggers" to post a message that they're doing "light blogging," even though it seems this would be obvious -- you go to the blog, there's very little there that's new, hence there is "light blogging" going on. Maybe people don't want to upset the readers, worried that they'll think the blogger died unless the blogger posts a message saying "light blogging." Anyway, light blogging today. I'm not dead. P.S. why doesn't Blogger Pro's spelling checker know the words "blog," "blogger," blogging," or "bloggers?" I used to own a spelling checker company and got so many letters like that... It feels good to complain about someone else's.

--- Posted at 10/14/2002 03:50:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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How to Catch the Sniper

Philidelphia Daily News - WASHINGTON SNIPER HAS A FRIEND IN NRA

Ballistics have long allowed police to link a bullet to a particular gun. So if they ever find this killer and his weapon, they can clearly connect rifle and crime. But what if you could reverse the process and link a gun to a particular bullet? The technology now exists for every gun's ballistic "fingerprint" to be kept on file. In this way, police could instantly know which specific gun was used in the commission of a crime and track down the owner. But who has opposed this sensible idea? The NRA. The organization has bullied Congress into refusing to set up a national registry of guns.

If I lived in the conservative suburbs around Washington, D.C. I'd be re-thinking my position on supporting these clowns. Thanks to MWO for pointing to this.

--- Posted at 10/11/2002 04:24:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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VFW Endorses Chickenhawk Over War Hero!

Counterspin Central pointed me to this article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The national VFW has endorsed a Republican chickenhawk over war-hero Max Cleland for the Georgie Senate.

One side touts Cleland's immense sacrifice in war: he lost three limbs in a grenade explosion, and was decorated for helping wounded comrades during a 1968 rocket attack. Other veterans point to Chambliss' conservative politics and unwavering support of the military as outweighing Cleland's service. That side won. ... "This is about whether the liberal Democrats or the Republicans will be in control of the Senate," said retired Vice Adm. John Scott Redd of Marietta, who is backing Chambliss as vice chairman of the Veterans for Saxby organization.

That's right, it isn't about veterans or war heroes or who fought for the country and who didn't. The VFW has joined the Republican Crony Club and that's all that matters. When the Republican Machine wants you out of the way, it won't matter who you are or what you've done. War hero? Record of brilliant public service? Record of honesty in your business dealings? Forget it. And it doesn't even matter how long you've on their side - when you're in the way, you're in the way and you're in the way. For some reason this takes me back to what happened to well-respected, honest, conservative, war-hero John McCain in the South Carolina primary against Bush. He wasn't willing to play the crony game so the Republican Machine needed him out of the way. The crony candidate - Bush - a chickenhawk, foul-mouthed, alcoholic, drug-using, not-too-bright, spoiled rich boy with a history of failure in business and accepting bribes for his dad, and otherwise no particular resume. Military patriotism is a big deal in South Carolina, so the challenge was great. Remember what the Bush people did? Remember the rumors about McCain as being mentally deranged, being a "Manchurian Candidate", being too angry to be the leader of a country, "the fag candidate", and all that? When you're in the way, you're in the way. War hero vs. chickenhawk? VFW chooses chickenhawk. South Carolina chooses chickenhawk.

--- Posted at 10/11/2002 03:35:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Easiest Way to Steal the Election

The other day I wrote about the nightmare of Republicans controlling the companies that make the vote-counting machines. Today BuzzFlash links to Who makes the vote-counting machines?, another story on this topic. I used to worry that the Republicans would eventually just cancel elections. After reading these stories I worry that they won't need to. By the way, about 1/4 way down this article mentions Koch Industries. As you read this article, remember this is the same Koch that I wrote about recently - Bush just handed them the contract to supply all the oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (billions of dollars). This is the same Koch who funds a chunk of the Republican Machine.

--- Posted at 10/11/2002 02:45:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Stimulation

Republicans are holding fast to the idea that getting money into the hands of businesses and the rich "creates jobs." I ran a company for 13 years. I know a little bit about how it works. I employed exactly as many people as we needed. I did not employ extra people because I perhaps had more money in the bank account than usual. If times were slow and someone handed me a sackful of money I'd say, "THANKS!" and pocket the money. The only thing that would get me hiring more people was customers with money coming in the door. Period. And if I didn't have extra money around I would find it. Let me repeat that. Customers with money coming in the door. That is what gets companies to hire. They hire just enough employees to handle the extra customers. Period. And when there are customers with money coming in the door companies will find the money to hire them, don't you worry about that. Raise the minimum wage. Extend unemployment benefits. Launch some jobs programs. Cut the payroll tax. How to pay for that? Raise the sh*t out of taxes on the rich. Raise them till they squeal and then raise them some more.

--- Posted at 10/10/2002 11:50:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Scaring People

As I often say, if you want to learn what Republicans are doing, take a look at whatever they are currently accusing Democrats of doing. Their tactic is accuse the other side of doing whatever THEY'RE doing in order to "inoculate" themselves. It heads off being exposed themselves. It's a little bit complicated, but it works. According to today's NY Times, In campaigns across the country the Republicans are accusing Democrats of scaring people. Imagine, scaring people as an election strategy. "According to President George W. Bush, as well as Senators John Warner, Joseph Lieberman and many others who have spoken lately in the Capitol, there is no limit to the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. According to them, it is 1939, and we are again facing the twilight of Western civilization."

--- Posted at 10/10/2002 09:18:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Why Isn't This a Major Story?

White House Sides With Automakers Against California's Zero Emissions Requirement for Cars That's right, the STATES RIGHTS White House has joined in a lawsuit against California setting tough pollution and fuel economy standards.

--- Posted at 10/10/2002 07:57:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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New Unemployment Claims

New claims for jobless benefits fell by 40,000 last week. BUT WAIT, from the story,

"While the decline offers a promising sign, Labor Department analyst Thomas Stengle cautioned against reading too much into the drop, saying it may partly reflect difficulties adjusting for seasonal factors. The unadjusted claims figures, for instance, showed an equally sharp rise."

Got that? UNadjusted claims figures INCREASED by the same amount. (And the economy LAST 43,000 jobs last month.) So don't get your hopes up too high yet.

--- Posted at 10/10/2002 07:52:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Betty

Check out America's Best Christian's page, "President Bush To Use What's Left of Social Security for Multi-Billion Dollar National Demon Defense Shield" And PLEASE surf around the rest of the site!

--- Posted at 10/09/2002 04:01:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Election Issue

At this point there is no question that the Republicans planned this Iraq war campaign to coincide with the election. I hope that the Democrats are just waiting until the right time to make a really big noise about this. They shouldn't be subtle and let the public come to their own conclusions - they should be making it clear that without an IMMINENT threat the Republicans had no business bringing this up during the election campaign. With some help the public will come to understand this.

--- Posted at 10/09/2002 10:34:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Appearance of Impropriety

Imagine a world where Republicans control all the vote counting. I have worked in elections. If you use paper ballots, you have the actual ballots that can be watched and counted by enough witnesses to control chances of fraud. If we switch to paperless voting, it's all over - you're at the mercy of what the machine tells you, and machines can be rigged.

--- Posted at 10/09/2002 09:48:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Join a Union

A line in this morning's The Note, about the dock workers situation here on the West Coast, got me thinking,

The lockout explodes this morning as a political issue, leading the Wall Street Journal : "The move toward intervention cast President Bush solidly with his Republican base: business groups that are often at odds with the country's big unions. And in this case, the president is taking on a union that is widely regarded as one of the best organized and best paid in the country. West Coast longshoremen can earn more than $100,000, with overtime, plus generous retirement and health plans to go along with it.

Some people would read this and think, "Those guys get paid too much - way more than me - I think unions are too powerful." I think about it a different way. I would say to the complainer, "LEARN from it, bonehead! Stop complaining about unions and JOIN a union, bonehead. You'd get PAID MORE and you'd have better BENEFITS and JOB SECURITY, bonehead." I mean, you'd think people would figure it out. It's right in front of their faces. I remember hearing talk at HP of forming a union before the Compaq purchase. But noooo, not THAT. So what happened? The purchase went through and so far at least 16,800 have been laid off. Better that then, God forbid, form a union.

--- Posted at 10/08/2002 09:03:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Well, Maybe One

Well, maybe ONE post now... :-) I'd like to see it pointed out more often and much louder that most of the people pushing for this war are people who found something better to do when VietNam was going on (click here and here), while so many of the people against it were in combat or very close to it, or at least in the military. I've been thinking about comments I have heard about those Representatives who went to Iraq to try to prevent a war - Rep. Jim McDermott, Rep. Mike Thompson and Rep. David Bonior. The right-wing drumbeat I've heard repeated all over the place was that these three were "still stuck on protesting against the VietNam war." I heard this repeated from several sources, so I figure it must have been the official focus-group-tested Republican talking points handed out by the Heritage Foundation (or someone similar). But those guys WENT TO VietNam! And the people mocking them as "protesters" DIDN'T! How do they get away with it, without being called on it, dragged into the street and tarred & feathered by the veterans? And how do military veterans justify their continued support for these Republican clowns? At what point do they say, "Wait a minute, I went to VietNam, these guys didn't, these guys are all rich and acting like they are war heros, why am I voting for them"? It's an interesting problem of persuasion. How do you neutralize the politics of you being a chickenhawk, and your opponents being war heros - Bush vs McCain - or at least being VietNam veterans - Bush vs Gore? One way appears to be with enough loud bluster. Another way appears to be to make sure that no one involved in the debate has a child who would have to actually fight the war you're starting.

--- Posted at 10/08/2002 04:55:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Sorry

Sorry - very busy otherwise today, no posts. Maybe later.

--- Posted at 10/08/2002 04:27:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Active Duty Marine

Drudge is pointing to a story, "Views of an Active Duty Marine" This Marine asks, "Where was Sun Tzu's press corps? My best guest was in the grave. I'm sure he considered them to be enemy spies." Some of us might think this shows that the press should be restricted. Others of us would think this shows why the military needs to be kept firmly under civilian control.

--- Posted at 10/07/2002 06:48:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Go Protest

I won't be posting until later because I'm heading up to San Francisco to join in anti-war protests. I feel that I should add myself to the numbers. Info is here.

--- Posted at 10/06/2002 12:51:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Ecoterrorists

Zizka's Vanitysite.net has a story about the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arresting some environmental activists for sabotaging logging trucks. You gotta go read this one. Zizka writes, "Anyone who believed that the FBI and the Bush Administration would not abuse the blank check they were given by the Patriot Act and the War on Terrorism should now realize that these new powers will be used entirely freely, whether or not the case in question has anything to do with real terrorism. Nobody should really be surprised."

--- Posted at 10/05/2002 05:43:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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TBOGG Again

OK, TBOGG earned a place in the Essential Links. They pointed me at what they said was the coolest website they have ever seen.

--- Posted at 10/05/2002 05:32:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Funny at TBOGG

Funny poem over at TBOGG. A sample,

A is for Ashcroft, the Crisco-anointed B is for Bush, not elected. Appointed C is for Condi, she missed all the clues D is for daughters who sure like their booze

Go take a read.

--- Posted at 10/05/2002 05:11:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Go See

Go on over to Maru's WTF and scroll down to Thursday's picture (the links aren't working right.) Then scroll down to the "With All Due Respect, Mr. President" poster.

--- Posted at 10/05/2002 01:39:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Planet Swank

Have I mentioned Planet Swank? I've been meaning to. Read his discussion of Christopher Hitchens and Iraq here.

--- Posted at 10/05/2002 12:53:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Overwhelm as a Tactic

A while back I wrote a piece called Overwhelm, in which I wrote, Some days the bad news flys at you so fast ... it seems like the Bush strategy is to overwhelm people by doing so many bad things that you lose track and give up... I've been trying to pin down what it is about this, it seems like an effective tactic. Today I saw a piece by Ted Rall, titled Permanent Revolution, that explains it.

... Bush's biggest cribbing from the Hitler playbook is "permanent revolution." Developed by socialist theorist Leon Trotsky in 1915 and applied by such totalitarian masters of control as Hitler, Stalin and Mao Tse-Tung, permanent revolution is the pinnacle of the art of mass distraction--one continually changes the subject of debate by striving for new goals that are always just beyond reach. The idea is diabolically simple: by the time people start grumbling about the problems created by your Great Leap Forward, you're causing new difficulties with your Cultural Revolution. Opposition takes time to materialize; taking the nation from one crisis to the next neutralizes your enemies by focusing them against initiatives you've already abandoned. On the domestic front, Bush has launched so many political offensives that it's impossible for what's left of the left to launch a coordinated resistance. Fast-track signing authority for free trade, expanded tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations while running up the deficit, drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, rounding up detainees and depriving them of due process, unraveling environmental regulations, union-busting, curtailing privacy rights--any one of these full-scale assaults would require a full-court press by liberals to block or overturn. In a blizzard of legislative and regulatory activity, virtually everything on the right-wing wish list is now being proposed. Previous presidents spaced out their initiatives in order to build popular support; Bush prefers to leave elected representatives out of the equation. The more legislation he throws at the wall, the more he'll get passed--and the more people will forget that his is an illegal regime.

Please go read this piece.

--- Posted at 10/05/2002 12:23:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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My Faith in Economists...

PART of the confusion in yesterday's employment numbers is explained at the end of this NYTimes story.

Still, economists agreed that September's household survey, which showed a gain of 711,000 jobs, was far too optimistic. About half of the increase came from the survey's overestimation of the number of teenagers who would quit their jobs at the end of summer. When fewer teenagers than usual left the labor force in September — perhaps because the economy made summer jobs hard to find — the Labor Department's seasonal adjustment counted a large increase in jobs.

OK, it's complicated. They measured about 350,000 fewer teenagers leaving jobs at the end of summer than usually leave jobs at the end of summer, so they chalked it up as teenagers taking 350,000 NEW jobs that opened up. What REALLY happened was that at the BEGINNING of summer 350,000 fewer teenagers than usual were able to find jobs, so they couldn't be leaving them at the end of summer. I mean, DUH! What were these people thinking? They said the numbers looked this way because 350,000 teenagers took jobs at the end of summer. What do teenagers do at the end of summer? They go back to school. But the economists didn't think of that. Not a good day for the reputation of economists. Perhaps they are more than a little out of touch with "regular people."

--- Posted at 10/05/2002 11:25:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Irresponsible

Here's a good one to test out the new COMMENTS capability! Today's San Jose Mercury News contains the following letter,

[A previous letter writer] could not be more disingenuous. His analogy is flawed. A more accurate and truthful analogy would be: I have a dispute with a man in another city. Over the years, we have not only traded threats, but we physically fought over his having broken in and plundered my neighbor's home. Over the years, the police have been called out but there was nothing they could do. This man is known to have killed members of his own family and has experimented with weapons on his neighbors. This man has a reputation throughout the city of being insane, unpredictable and dangerous. He surrounds himself with armed gangsters. He supports the local gangs and pays them to commit murder and mayhem. This man is known to be experimenting with dangerous chemicals and at the same time, continues to threaten me and my neighbors. I am convinced this man at some point in the future will kill me and my family. Am I justified in buying a weapon and traveling to this man's house to shoot him dead before he comes after me? You bet. In fact, the law would probably find me justified in killing him. That is what the Bush Doctrine is about.

Never mind that this wild analogy falls apart in several ways. I think it is irresponsible for this newspaper to publish such a letter. You get a letter from a guy fantasizing that a guy across town means him harm, claiming this justifies his buying a weapon and shooting the man dead. You don't PUBLISH a letter like that, you take it to the POLICE! Publishing it puts the paper's credibility behind the notion that such action is justified. Nuts reading this might believe the information is correct and act on it. I think this shows what could happen to the world if Bush gets his way. A "pre-emptive strike" against Iraq tells India to go ahead and invade Pakistan, China to invade India or Taiwan, etc.

--- Posted at 10/05/2002 10:28:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Comments

I'm trying out comments here for the first time, so please help me test them.

--- Posted at 10/05/2002 10:23:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Over at Eschaton

Over at Eschaton they've got a good discussion going in the comments attached to the posting, talking about how the Republicans are going after Democrats as unpatriotic, and "hating America" and the rest of the stuff they're spewing. (Should I start having comments here?) Here's my contribution, posted both there and here (but spellchecked here ;-) : It's worth noting that the very core of the Republican Party now encourages & even pays good money to get this stuff out to the public. TownHall.com is part of the Heritage Foundation - go see their links to Coulter, etc. Listen to Limbaugh's vicious hate attacks on people - yet the Vice President was on his show recently. Bush put several of the nastiest anti-Clinton people into policymaking positions, and he has rewarded the people who physically attacked the vote counting in Florida. This is clearly part of their strategy. There's no way around that at this point. It must serve their purposes so they do it. It is not a lot different from the brownshirts attacking rallies of your opponents, and serves much the same purpose. But this kind of stuff encourages a violent, hateful segment of society, and encourages others in that direction. This stuff is what got McVeigh fired up - and now their star Anne Coulter says she only wishes McVeigh had bombed the New York Times building instead! The times have become rather scary. When you see your opponents using these tactics - this is way beyond Nixon - you start thinking about what might be coming if they aren't stopped. If you REALLY mean it when you say they are fascists, you need to start thinking about how to protect your family.

--- Posted at 10/04/2002 02:38:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Today's Google Experiment

Back in the Reagan days I used to spend time arguing online with right-wingers (on CompuServe! - I even had a back-and-forth with Limbaugh once.) I used to research budget numbers and other statistics to refute the right-wing arguments, like "tax cuts cause revenue to increase," "welfare causes women to have more babies," and of course the old Republican standard, "blacks are less intelligent than whites." (I was working on a never completed book.) Eventually I came across a website of a guy doing very similar work - Steve Kangas and his Liberalism Resurgent pages. He was even in the same town as me, although I never met him. So for today's Google experiment, let's look up Steve Kangas, author of the Liberalism Resurgent website. Scroll down and look at some of the references. Don't miss this great page. And ESPECIALLY don't miss this one and this one.

--- Posted at 10/04/2002 11:08:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Huh?

I need an economist to write to me and explain today's jobs report. The press is reporting good news - unemployment went DOWN to 5.6% from 5.7%, while the economy LOST JOBS.

The U.S. economy shed jobs in September for the first time in five months, the government said on Friday in a report that highlighted the uneven pace of the U.S. economic recovery. Payrolls outside the farm sector fell by 43,000, in contrast to the 5,000 gain private economists had predicted, the Labor Department said. But in another unexpected development, the unemployment rate fell to 5.6 percent in September from 5.7 percent in August.

I had understood that if the economy lost jobs in this report, this was the worst possible news, that we're heading for a dubya-dip recession or worse. September marked the first payroll decline since a 21,000 job loss in April. But then there's this. Offsetting some of the gloomy news in the September figure, however, was a sharp upward revision in August payrolls to a 107,000 gain from a previously reported 39,000 increase. Did YOU see any of those jobs where YOU are? Certainly not here. And one more thing. He said that recently, the household survey has been boosted by the number of teenage workers who have held on to their summer jobs, rather than leaving the workforce as many do in the fall. What ever happened to SCHOOL?

--- Posted at 10/04/2002 06:38:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Oppo Costs Money

Why is someone doing extensive opposition research on Barbara Streisand? It isn't cheap. The work required to do this kind of full-time digging into your past, your finances, etc. costs money. The message is that WHOEVER YOU ARE, if you come out publicly against Bush, the Republican Machine will commence with their world-famous character assassination.

--- Posted at 10/03/2002 07:44:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Gotta Go Read

You're dismissed from Seeing the Forest class early today so you can go read "Oil Be Seeing You" over at MaxSpeak.

The print media have published maps showing the build-up of U.S. military bases in the 'oil patch' running from Saudi Arabia through Iraq and the "stans." What's in prospect here is a geo-strategic interest in dominating a region, not simply grabbing a concession in Iraq. No specific oil asset (or means of conveyance, like a pipeline or port) is the lynchpin for the policy. It's the whole shootin match. The world economy depends on the output of this region for the foreseeable future. There could hardly be a larger prize.

We'll be checking so don't use the time to skip out and smoke a joint in the parking lot.

--- Posted at 10/03/2002 03:52:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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And the Check Goes To...

Not waiting for Congress to actually PASS the bill (who needs Congress, anyway), and not worried at all that the press might point out that the program is nothing more than a funding channel for the Republican Party (forget about government funding for religion - that was only the cover story), Bush has started handing out "faith-based" checks. And the first check goes to ... THE CHRISTIAN COALITION! A while back I wrote about the Cato Institute getting the HUGE government contract to provide oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve... I wonder if the Democrats in the Senate are going to hold hearings. NAH!

--- Posted at 10/03/2002 01:13:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Hope You're Sitting Down

A new book published by the Republican Machine accuses "Democratic operatives and journalistic naysayers" of "questioning the administration’s every move." OK, calm down. Yes, I know this exactly describes happened to Clinton, and I know that this is the thanks that the Democrat leadership gets for supporting the President after 9/11 and continuing to support him now. Never mind truth. Never mind reality. This is a tree. Don't let it get to you. See the forest - this is what the Republican Machine DOES. The trees will drive you absolutely crazy. Remember, watch what they DO, not what they SAY. And remember, when the Republican Machine accuses the Democrats of something you can bet that it's because it's something the Republicans are doing. Like when Bush said, "The Gore campaign will say anything and try to win at any cost."

--- Posted at 10/03/2002 08:59:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Skippy Said It

Skippy wrote what I was going to write. So go read it here. (Also here, an earlier story that is in the same vein.) And he even left out that auto sales dropped last month and home foreclosures are at a 30 year high. I can't bear it either. After reading Skippy, go here.

--- Posted at 10/01/2002 09:31:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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More Ranting

I wrote earlier about a "BILLIONS of dollars spent by small cadre of ideologues." Here's what I'm saying. You open your newspaper and see an op-ed piece, and it's by a "scholar" from some "institute" somewhere, maybe the Hoover Institute. Then you read a column on the same page by maybe George Will or Mona Charen that says something similar about the same subject. Then you open a magazine and there's an article that uses the Heritage Foundation as a source. Later you watch Fox TV and see a couple of guys, one from Americans for Tax Reform and another from the Center for Security Policy. Then you change the channel and a speaker from Capital Research Center is talking. You turn on the radio and it's Sean Hannity or Rush and they're quoting from a report from Southwest Legal Foundation or Free Enterprise Partnership. You see that Congressman Delay is speaking. You buy a book published by Regenry Publishing, by a scholar from the Manhattan Institute. You get on the web and check the Drudge Report and there's a story on the UPI wire service saying the same things. All of them saying something similar on the same subject. So maybe you think you've just heard opinions from 10 or 13 different sources. Sounds like there are a lot of experts who are in agreement that something is a certain way. And after enough of this it is very hard to think that things are a different way, since so many experts from so many different directions have this opinion. Maybe they're saying, "Social Security is going broke," or "public schools are failing." These are things that have become "conventional wisdom" because everyone has heard these things over and over from so many sources over so many years that everyone KNOWS they're true. Guess what. You have just heard from Richard Mellon Scaife, maybe the Bradley Foundation and maybe one or two others. That's all. (Look them up here.) You DIDN'T hear a number of different "voices" - you heard a lot of voices all paid to say the same thing in creatively different ways, and with tons of cash put into making them seem like credible experts.

--- Posted at 10/01/2002 09:24:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Non-war Scenario

Picture a non-war scenario. The election proceeds with war issues masking economic problems and Republicans pick up the Senate, gaining them a majority in both houses, plus the Presidency. They continue reshaping the entire government in the libertarian vision, making the tax cuts permanent (shooting to hell any change of ever getting the government out of debt or paying the Social Security of the boomers when it comes due), get rid of any remaining environmental regulations & any other regulations that corporations don't like, get rid of Social Security, Medicare, Food Stamps, etc., pass the faith-based funding initiative giving tax funds to Republican backers. Lucrative government contracts of course continue to be awarded to key Republican funders. Etc. Meanwhile suppose U.N. inspections in Iraq find very little, or nothing & it turns out that the war thing really WAS a sham to boggle the election, with Bin Laden now forgotten and Israel-Palestine a complete mess. So there we would be with two elections now behind us where the Democrats would have won but for Republican lies and manipulations, the prior Democratic Presidency destroyed by a carefully planned and well-funded plot. There we would be with the country evenly divided but the Republicans only involving their party and their wishes, taking nothing the Democrats or the public say into account. There we would be with these "movement conservative" Republicans continuing to transform the government into a libertarian image of a country ruled by the rich, while masking their agenda from the public. As I've been documenting and will continue to research and post here, this is the result of BILLIONS of dollars spent by a small cadre of ideologues with a long-term hidden agenda. If this sounds paranoid and conspiratorial, go do your homework ("Best Of" links on the top left of this page). They really HAVE spent billions getting here, and billions buys lots. They really DO have weekly meetings to cordinate their activities. If this doesn't make you mad ...

After Bill Clinton won the presidency, conservative Republicans feared that they would be reduced again to an embattled minority. To prevent this, a group of political operatives, journalists, lobbyists, and politicians began meeting in several, interconnected groups to plot a comeback. Key players included Norquist, Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition, talk show host Rush Limbaugh (who maintained a Washington office), the editors of The American Spectator and The Washington Times, Paul Beckner of Citizens for a Sound Economy, Georgia Senator Paul Coverdell, Georgia Congressman Newt Gingrich, and Texas congressmen Dick Armey and Tom DeLay. Norquist convened representatives from many of these groups--including the National Right to Life Committee--at a regular Wednesday meeting. Another group that included business lobbyists met under the auspices of Beckner and Coverdell. During Clinton's first two years, their principal aim was to block the president's proposal for national health insurance by any means necessary, including the spread of scandalous rumors.

They really do meet weekly to coordinate their activities and message. The Republican Party coordinates with the NRA, Christian Coalition, Limbaugh, Washington Times and all those right-wing front groups...

--- Posted at 10/01/2002 01:12:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Spelling Checkers

Hey, how come Blogger Pro's spelling checker doesn't know "Blogger," "bloggers" and "blogs"?

--- Posted at 10/01/2002 06:52:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Reverberating

Noted in this morning's New York Times,

As criticism of the weekend bombing raids around Basra, in southern Iraq, reverberated through foreign capitals, the White House today pressed ahead on multiple fronts to win United Nations support for a toughly worded draft resolution calling on President Saddam Hussein to disarm immediately or face a full-scale military attack.

Reverberating through foreign capitals -- and not even barely reported in the press at all here in the U.S. Bloggers knew. But do YOU know anyone who knows that we have been conducting bombing raids on Iraq? Tell everyone you know that they should read blogs. (Especially this one.)

--- Posted at 10/01/2002 06:49:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Vouchers

I just came across "Voucher Tricksters, The Hard Right Enters through the Schoolhouse Door," a good article on vouchers, in The Black Commentator.

--- Posted at 9/30/2002 10:52:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Pension Problem News

The corporate pension problem that I've been writing about is starting to reach the mainstream press. Today's San Jose Mercury News has a story about the problem. What's going on is that companies are underfunding their pension plans, and as the article says, this is an "accounting time bomb". When stocks were rising the holdings of pension funds were sufficient to pay upcoming pensions without the companies contributing from revenue, so the companies were able to report higher profits. Now stocks are down so the will companies have to make up the difference. But they are allowed to estimate a return on their investments as part of calculating whether they have enough saved to pay for future retirees - and they are using unrealistic return estimates like 10%. Can YOU get 10% on your money these days? The companies are saying they can. And even with those estimates they are going to have to come up with a ton of cash after this year ends, which will mean they will report lower profits, which will further depress the market, which will reduce the holdings of the funds, etc. From today's story:

Countless investors could be surprised when Fortune 500 companies finally acknowledge problems. ``Keep an eye out as we break past the end of the year,'' warned Adrien LaBombarde, who helped write Milliman's pension study. Pension problems ``will be 10 times bigger at the end of the year, when the financial statements start showing this.''

--- Posted at 9/29/2002 12:59:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Uh Oh

I just read a scary article about abrupt climate change.

The very recent freshening signal in the North Atlantic is arguably the biggest and most dramatic change in ocean property that has ever been measured in the global ocean. Already, surface waters in the Greenland Sea are sinking at a rate 20 percent slower than in the 1970s.

You should read it, too.

--- Posted at 9/29/2002 11:46:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Divisiveness

Atrios pointed me to P.L.A., where there is an excellent piece on Bush's ("divider-not-uniter") divisiveness, plus some follow-up at Green[e]house Effect. Don't forget that the Republican Machine launched a campaign to blame clinton for 9/11.

--- Posted at 9/29/2002 10:52:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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What If We're Wrong?

Lately I've been hearing the Republican machine cranking out a rebuttal to the "there is no evidence" argument - as in, "there is no evidence of any imminent threat from Iraq, nothing has changed in years, why now?" They answer, "What if you're wrong?" Republican Sen. Inhofe said this today on CNN, responding to Sen. Feinstein. This is similar to the old anti-Clinton argument, "The lack of any evidence of any wrongdoing is proof of a massive cover-up." Do we start attacking countries BECAUSE there is no evidence that there is an imminent threat, because we might be wrong about that? Should even Canada be worried about us?

--- Posted at 9/29/2002 10:27:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Jeeze

6 posts already today. Ya know, I think I forgot to specify DECAF at Peet's this morning. Can ya tell? D'ya think? Yee-haa!

--- Posted at 9/28/2002 01:31:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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What They're Hearing

Check out what the right-wingers are saying. As I said a few days ago, "Sometimes it is hard for me to figure out what Bush and his crowd are really trying to say. I've learned over the years that when the message isn't clear to you, it can help to find out what the listener - who the message is intended for - is hearing. I think these comments are a good indicator of what Bush's "base" is hearing."

--- Posted at 9/28/2002 01:26:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Are the Natives Restless?

This story about voters in mid-Michigan is backed up by a message I received from my Aunt here in California:

I attended a Foothill-sponsored current events discussion yesterday and was astonished at the comments - when asked what they were there for, every single participant said things like, "because I'm scared - angry - disillusioned - about what the administration is doing". A woman with a very heavy French accent said this is going to be an "a - pok -o leepse." A Japanese American woman who grew up in Japan in the 30's said she could see the similarities between the US now and Japan then - loss of civil liberties, imperialism. Even a Texan participant was angry. The moderator said he thought we were on the verge of a breakdown of civilization! This is vox populi - why isn't anyone in Congress or the administration listening?

--- Posted at 9/28/2002 01:21:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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A Real Must-Read Today!

Frank Rich in the NY Times just says it all today!

But this administration no longer cooks the books merely on fiscal matters. Disinformation has become ubiquitous, even in the government's allegedly empirical scientific data on public health. The annual federal report on air pollution trends published this month simply eliminated its usual (and no doubt troubling) section on global warming, much as accountants at Andersen might have cleaned up a balance sheet by hiding an unprofitable division. At the Department of Health and Human Services, The Washington Post reported last week, expert committees are being "retired" before they can present data that might contradict the president's views on medical matters — much as naysaying Wall Street analysts were sidelined in favor of boosters who could be counted on to flog dogs like WorldCom or Pets.com right until they imploded.

--- Posted at 9/28/2002 12:52:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Unemployment

The New York Times has an important article about unemployment.

Once these statistical nonpersons are counted, the labor market of today looks all too similar to those of supposedly bleaker past decades, according to a number of recent studies by economists. Even when the unemployment rate was near a 30-year low in 1999 and 2000, men from the ages of 18 to 54, as a group, spent 11 percent of the year not working, roughly the same as in the late 1970's and late 80's, according to one study.

Some of the figures in the article, "Since 1990, the number of people receiving disability pay has nearly doubled, to 5.4 million..." and, "The growth of the prison population — to about 2 million today, up from 1.1 million in 1990 and 500,000 in 1980.... These people don't show up in the official unemployment rate but they are not bringing in enough money to buy those important consumer goods - bagel toasters, Cheese-Wiz, etc. - that contribute to our economic growth. So while they keep saying prosperity is just around the corner things are actually much worse than the numbers show. For example, because the government doesn't think unemployment is as bad as it is they haven't extended unemployment benefits. AND benefit extensions require a certain level of official unemployment - 7% (I think) - before they kick in anyway. Yet this article shows that 5% unemployment today is equivalent to 7% during the last recession - so things have to be much much worse than last time before the government will help out. To make matters even worse, don't forget that welfare reform means that option is less available, and runs out after (I think) 2 years. We've got the elements in place for a really, really bad situation in this country.

--- Posted at 9/28/2002 12:31:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Bush, Water and Fish

Counterspin Central writes about Bush and the Klamath River water controversy. "It pitted a small klatch of farmers against, supposedly, "government regulators." I was working in Portland, Oregon last year so I was following this story closely. There wasn't enough water to go around, and the Dept. of Interior wanted to release water from reservoirs so fish can spawn and the fishery won't be decimated. The farmers said they should get the water instead. The Republican Machine cranked out propaganda about how this was environmentalists trying to hurt farmers. The usual... Water, logging and fishing illustrate my seeing trees vs. seeing forests metaphor. The Republicans cast it as environmentalists against businesses & farmers. In my metaphor those are just trees and are therefore a waste of your time and energy. You should try to see through it and see the bigger picture (the forest). You can go crazy arguing specifics (trees) with right-wingers - they are typically just lies and diversions. Here's what I mean. The Klamath story, as Counterspin Central shows, is really about farming vs. fishing - the water either goes to the farms or it goes to the rivers for fish to spawn and maintain the fisheries. Other times it's logging industry against fishing industry because clear-cutting forests ruins the streams so the fish can't spawn. (The history of the logging industry vs environmentalists story goes back to the S&L bailout. In the Klamath dispute it came down to a better propaganda angle casting it as liberal environmentalists hurting farmers (trees) - when it was really the fishing industry and farming industry both needing the water. And THAT's really about who is paying the The Republican Crony Club more that week. Jay Leno put it so well. In the 1996 election, Bob Dole said, "We know it (cigarette smoking) is not good for kids, but a lot of other things aren't good. Drinking is not good. Some would say milk is not good." That night Jay Leno said, "I guess the milk industry forgot to put their check in the mail."

--- Posted at 9/28/2002 11:37:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Great Poster

There's a great poster over at BartCop! Since I can't link directly to it, scroll down to the "Be A Good American!" poster.

--- Posted at 9/28/2002 11:15:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Another Recent Exchange

Read the previous exchange here. "Thursday, September 26, 2002 Getting Rolled" Sir, you said it all right there. Plain, simple language that any thoughtful person can read and understand. Thank you very much. I don't think there's the slightest bit of hope for "progressives" in the next 50-100 years other than to find another country to call home, but thanks for having the wisdom to write this and the courage to post it. I'll pass it on - XXXX Dear XXXX, I don't agree with you on that. There's a simple solution - do what they do. I'm talking about building up a network of "think tanks" etc, that work together, and reach the public with a coordinated "communications engine." This is why I'm always pushing people to understand how the right is making all of this happen for them - so that eventually people will suddenly say, "Duh!, Why aren't WE doing that, too?" It took time, but we have the advantage of using what they have built up as a model - they've been through 30 years of trial-and-error. Also we have the advantage of having the truth on our side. WE aren't trying to convince blue-collar workers to give up their health care and pensions so that rich white guys can have bigger private jets - THEY are. So our task is not monumental. It can be done. The money exists on our side; there are huge amounts of money for environmental groups, etc., not to mention the amounts that the Democratic and Green Parties have been able to raise every 2 years. Add to that moderate Republicans - even they are under attack from the right now and an appeal to them to join up could bring needed resources. (Check here, here, here and here.) And there are already a number of great organizations on our side. The research I've been doing is looking at the right, but I'll be researching and publishing what does exist on the moderate/progressive side. But what is missing is the coordination - the right actually has weekly coordination meetings - and the awareness that we need to work to build a "movement" just like the right has done since the early 70's. Regards, IssuesGuy

--- Posted at 9/27/2002 10:25:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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If They Really Have Weapons of Mass Destruction, We'll Need the Draft

If Carl Rove wants to use a war to manipulate an election, maybe the Democrats should wake up the country with a dose of reality. The Democrats should point out that if we're really going to start a war in the Middle East, we had best get the draft in place first. War is serious business and unpredictable things can happen. War is not a TV show. If things go wrong, like if Iraq really DOES have the "weapons of mass destruction" that are the justification for this war, we're going to need the draft to replace the tens of thousands of troops that could be lost. That's why they're called "weapons of mass destruction," and that's supposed to be why we're going in. If that's the reality of the reason we're going in we need to be ready for the reality of their use. Best to go in prepared, having the draft in place. (It's unspoken that this war isn't really going to be a big deal, which means it's unspoken and accepted that Iraq doesn't REALLY have or wont really use these weapons! It seems to be accepted that this is just a pretext - we certainly aren't ready for the reality.) I think that a dose of reality, and the whisper of the need for a draft, might just change the "Bush advantage" on war issues. There's a reason war used to be considered a bad thing.

--- Posted at 9/27/2002 07:39:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Getting Rolled

How often have Congressional Democrats been rolled by the Republican machine, voted for something they shouldn't have, and then been blamed by the Republicans for the drastic consequences? The events typically follow a pattern. The extremely powerful Republican media machine sets up an environment that convinces the Washington politicians that it will be very difficult politically to vote against them, and makes sure that the vote happens quickly - before opposing forces have time to realize what's going on and rally enough real people on the other side to demonstrate that there really is support for non-Republican positions. How many times have we seen this process at work? It is the careful creation of a local environment calculated to maximize pressure on the legislators at the best possible moment. The phony Republican news events, the "independent" media playing along & following their script, the AM radio 24-hour-a-day Republican drumbeat pounding out the lies, the slurry of misleading or blatantly deceitful op-ed pieces filling the editorial pages, the dittohead letters to the editor (or "astroturf" - phony grassroots letters generated by a marketing firm), the pack of columnists writing according to instructions FAXed over from the Heritage Foundation (follow the NEA smear for an example) (second NEA smear link here), pretty soon all the news stories reflect the Republican line and repeat the Republican falsehoods. It becomes a drumbeat of constant repetition of the same lines over and over and over until they become "conventional wisdom." "Everybody knows that" so-and-so is true so there's no point wasting your energy trying to say it ain't so. Polls then show that the public (deprived of any contrasting information) solidly favors the Republican position. Calls and letters flood in to Congressional offices (from Christian Coalition phone banks). Democrats start to worry about their chances of holding office if they oppose the Republicans on this one vote. Then the vote comes up in the Congress, and enough Democrats - afraid that Rush Limbaugh will say something bad about them, and mired in a Washington "bubble" environment cut off from their constituents - vote with the Republicans to get the issue through and out of the way. Tax cuts, budget cuts, right-wing judges, "compromises" on health care or welfare or energy... and Bush slides it past the voters as a "bipartisan" win for the Republicans. I call this process "The Forest." We have now seen it happen enough times that we can recognize what's happening and even predict the next move. What's unfortunate is how the Democrats in Washington fall into the same trap every time. Now it's happening on the ultimate issue - war and peace, life and death. Democrats need to remember that the judges who voted Bush into office were there because they were put onto the bench with Democratic votes. Democrats need to remember that the Judges who sent Starr after Clinton were put there with Democratic votes. Democrats need to remember that the tax cuts and policies now ruining the economy were passed with Democratic votes. The corporate domination of the media happened with Democratic votes. The erosion of constitutional liberties happened with Democratic votes. So many of the tools now in the hands of the right were handed to them with Democratic votes. Trying to get along. Trying to be bipartisan. Trying to keep them from saying too many bad things about them. I've got news for these Democrats. They might think they are being "bipartisan" and "compromising" and participating in good government but that is not what is happening here. Rush Limbaugh is going to say bad things about them anyway. In fact he's going to say worse things about the Democrats who come part way over to the other side. These guys are not about "good government" - they hate the government and they are engaged in a process of altering the power structure until the government is irrelevant and they are running the show. These guys don't even tolerate moderate Republicans. They don't even tolerate conservative Republicans like John McCain if they dare to speak out against the Party Line even once. They will make WORSE fun of you when they know you're scared of them. The Republicans today are not the same as the Republicans of the past. These are "movement conservatives." They are the Libertarians and far-far-right-wing Christians who have taken over the Republican Party of the past. The closest thing historically would be the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which they have modeled themselves after. They do not compromise. They do not tolerate differences. They rule through intimidation and bullying. They have only one place for opposition - OUT. They will say and do anything to gain and hold power - including accusing the opposition of saying and doing anything, as they did during the 2000 campaign. Anyone who speaks out even once is banished. (Please read David Brock's book, Blinded By the Right. The guy was inside of this and writes about it.) Bush comes straight out of this movement. His staff and appointees have all come from the Newt-wing of The Party. The behind-the-scenes people who specialized in smearing Clinton are now government officials making policy. There is only one way to save the country from this crowd, and that is to stand up to them and expose what they are doing. The public needs to know how this web of wealthy right-wing foundations and their think-tanks and organizations are accomplishing so much, and what their long-term agenda really is! These guys are not fooling around! Today the fight is literally over war-and-peace and it's for keeps, and tomorrow we could be at end-of-democracy. It looks like they are capable of that and it won't be the first time this has happened to a civilized country. And why wouldn't they? Running the world is the oldest prize in humanity's playbook. Here are some articles to read that trace how they have formed this "conservative movement" and how it is funded: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here (click on the links on the left of this last linked page for more). I'll keep researching and posting. As you can see there has been quite a bit written about how they have been accomplishing so much - yet the public knows almost nothing about this. I've written a few things about this. Here is a good start. Here. Here. Here.

--- Posted at 9/26/2002 10:04:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Thin Line Between Company and Party (Part 3)

(Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here.) Take a look at this story, "Major GOP Donor Receives Federal Oil Contract." This company isn't JUST a "major GOP Donor." David H Koch is one of the prime funders of the whole right-wing movement. (See my How They Do It series.) Koch played a role in founding the Cato Institute, which pumps out anti-government Libertarian propaganda. The Koch family had given Cato $21 million as of 1999. He was also involved in founding Citizens for a Sound Economy, another anti-government propaganda outlet. Contributions, again as of 1999, totaled $10 million. Koch also is a major funder of the Reason Foundation, yet another outlet for right-wing anti-government propaganda. So now the U.S. Department of Energy's has selected Koch Supply & Trading, LP, to supply oil to the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). This is a HUGE contract! This isn't just a quid pro quo. This government money will be pumped straight back into the Republican machine. Some source info here, here, here, here, here.

--- Posted at 9/25/2002 12:08:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Bullies

Interesting story in yesterday's San Jose Mercury News about how to deal with bullies.

"Bullies can't stand to be confronted," Namie said. "They usually back down." Confrontation is particularly effective when done as a group, he said. "A group can challenge her power and refuse to accept the intimidation, and plus you have all these witnesses," he said. "The more people don't stand for it, pretty soon the bully won't have anyone to pick on."

On the same subject, Senator Daschle spoke out today, demanding an apology from President Bush for Bush's remark that Democrats in the Senate are, "not interested in the security of the American people."

--- Posted at 9/25/2002 11:40:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Working to Maintain the Peace - Or Not

I'm reading an excellently well-written piece by John Balzar in today's LA Times, "Is Bush a Brawler or a Bluffer?" I came across this paragraph,

I'm no foreign-policy scholar, but I've spent enough time overseas in trouble spots to have lost my hope in reason and goodwill. Hoping to sit down and working things out when the other fellow is drunk, whether on whiskey or fanaticism, amounts to wishful thinking. Tensions in much of the world today resemble those in a sweaty, back-alley saloon more than those in an air-conditioned conference room.

Tensions in much of the world today... I've been thinking lately about tensions in the world and how they have increased. Do I remember right that at the end of 2000 tensions in the world were MUCH lower? It seems so long ago. To illustrate the difference between then and now, Clinton was even trying for a last-minute completion of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. What a difference between then and now! Then Bush came in and changed the game. He said that the U.S. would no longer act as a peacekeeper in the world, no more "nation building," would no longer mediate between Israel and the Palestinians. Then he changed the U.S. position of neutrality and sided entirely with Israel, blaming the Palestinians. It didn't take long for the who world to fall apart, did it? I thought that Israel voted for Sharon knowing full well it meant war, and they got war out of it, and they shouldn't be so surprised. I often think that maybe they'll realize that OBVIOUSLY Sharon's policies have not reduced the dangers that Israel faces. But it seems that there is a strong appeal to "it didn't work so we should do more of it." (Look at the Bush tax cuts.) Maybe we should step back and see the difference in the world and think about whether the Bush foreign policy approach is actually working, making us safer, making the world more peaceful. Maybe we should think about looking at what actually HAPPENS in the world instead of how the world would be if only people followed this or that ideology or religion.

--- Posted at 9/25/2002 10:04:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Agrees With Me, Must Be Brilliant

Daily Howler follows the same theme I followed in my entry yesterday on coverage of Gore's speech. He calls it "motive journalism" - speculating on the motives of the newsmaker rather than doing their job and reporting on what the person did or said.

“Motive journalism” is easy and dumb. That seems to be why your pundits love it. After all, you can’t be proven wrong when you mind-read a pol’s naughty motives. But there’s an obvious downside to motive journalism. As long as you stick to mind-reading motives, you can’t help the public decide the life-and-death issues with which we are currently faced.

Going after motives instead of issues happens to play right into the Republicans' favorite campaign tactic - character assassination. Attack the credibility of the opponent instead of the issues. (Motive is a tree. Credibility is a tree. See the forest.)

--- Posted at 9/25/2002 09:00:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Bush's Message

Atrios at Eschaton has posted some comments on yesterday's Gore speech from various right-wingers. Take a look at what they're saying. Sometimes it is hard for me to figure out what Bush and his crowd are really trying to say. I've learned over the years that when the message isn't clear to you, it can help to find out what the listener - who the message is intended for - is hearing. I think these comments are a good indicator of what Bush's "base" is hearing.

--- Posted at 9/24/2002 02:04:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Gore Speech

Most news stories that I have seen covering Gore's speech yesterday focus on the politics. As The Note put it, "The questions that arise are: 1) did he serve himself well? And 2) did he serve the Democratic party well?" (I'm aware that The Note covers politics, I'm using this quote because it sums up what I've seen of the news coverage as well. In fact, the Note is one place that does get into the content and merits.) What about the country? What about war? What about the people who are going to die, and the region that might be destabilized? What about the effect an Iraq adventure might have on our efforts to prevent terrorism at home? I think that Gore is trying to stop the country from making a serious mistake. I think that is more important than the politics of it. I think that Gore has done the country a great service. I think that any news outlet that doesn't spend time discussing the MERITS of the CONTENT of what Gore said shouldn't call itself a news outlet. I think that the people working in the news business don't even know what the word "news" means. I fear they also don't care.

--- Posted at 9/24/2002 01:49:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Social Security

I came across this great article responding to some Social Security misconceptions from July, 1998 in The Atlantic. Just thought I would pass this along.

--- Posted at 9/24/2002 09:31:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Important - Read or Listen to Gore's Speech

I've just read Al Gore's speech today to the Commonwealth Club, on the subject of Iraq. (Thanks to Eschaton.) It is an important speech and I highly recommend reading it. It will be broadcast tonite at 9pm (PDT) on KQED. Outside of the Bay area you can pick this up on the internet. Click on "Listen Live."

--- Posted at 9/23/2002 02:59:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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What Else Are They Capable Of?

As the election approaches I'm sure we all feel steamrolled by events. It's clear that the Democrats are having great difficulty coming up with a way to counter this Iraq situation arriving just exactly in time for the election. Iraq is dominating the news, the Congressional agenda and the election campaign. On top of that, the Republican "machine" of TV pundits, newspaper columnists, op-ed writers, radio talk show hosts and wholly-owned subsidiaries like the Fox Network and the Washington Times are marching at full speed in a coordinated and well-planned attack painting Democrats as obstructing the "President's war effort", less-than-patriotic and even somehow treasonous. It's also clear that the Republicans have been planning exactly this situation for some time. There is no reason for the immediacy of war with Iraq - it isn't an imminent national security emergency, there's no new news, there's nothing but the election to explain what's going on. Labor Day is the traditional start of election campaigns and Labor Day is the very day that they rolled out this "marketing campaign" as they themselves referred to it. Imagine - a war planned just in time for the election campaign - it appears that the Democrats just did not anticipate what the Republicans are capable of. The Democrats did not imagine the current scenario and consequently did not plan for it. So let's imagine another scenario. It's late October and the polls show that the Democrats are pulling out of this and appear to be ready to gain a number of seats in the House and Senate. I think we should ask the question now - What are the Republicans capable of between now and the election if it looks like they're losing? It's called an "October Surprise" and we all ought to be thinking ahead.

--- Posted at 9/23/2002 01:00:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Who's On the News

Found on Bushwatch-- FAIR has a study out, looking at network news sources.

A study of ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News in the year 2001 shows that 92 percent of all U.S. sources interviewed were white, 85 percent were male and, where party affiliation was identifiable, 75 percent were Republican.

Big surprise. The whole study is here.

--- Posted at 9/22/2002 08:56:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Dear Economists,

From now on when you do studies concluding that government regulations cost the economy please remember to factor in the costs of not having regulations, like the cost of the depression in the 30's, and the depression of the next 10 years, the S&L crisis, all the disability paid to people with carpal tunnel syndrome, the cost of (or the costs not of) cleaning the CO2 out of the air, jobs lost when all the large trees in an area get cut down in a few years, and all the other costs of this nature. Regards, Seeing the Forest

--- Posted at 9/22/2002 07:22:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Everyone Should Read This

Over at Counterspin Central, beginning with the words, "LET ME EXPLAIN SOMETHING."

I am enough of a student of history, particularly the Roman Republic, to see this as the first step toward a troubling future for our country. The slippery slope metaphor tends to be overused, but in this case, I think it is not a cliche. Think long and hard about this one. It may be the beginning of the end of our Republic. It may take decades, and the transition may go slowly enough that we hardly perceive it until it is too late. But...I think this is a dangerous path.

And I'm proud to add Counterspin Central to my list of Essential Links.

--- Posted at 9/22/2002 06:51:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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