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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New Report - Social Security Administration Politicized

The Stakeholder talks about a new report on the politicization of the Social Security Administration. From the post, Pelosi, Waxman: SSA Politicized:

"The report, based on a review of over 4,000 pages of Social Security documents from 1995 to 2005, reveals that the agency has systematically altered agency publications, press releases, PowerPoint presentations, website content, and even its annual statements to foster the impression that Social Security is 'unsustainable' and 'must change.' The agency's new pessimistic tone and emphasis echo President Bush's warnings about the future of Social Security."

This is a blatantly illegal use of a government agency to promote a political party, unprecedented in American history, but who will do anything about it? The Republicans in Congress will block any attempts at oversight. The Justice Department's job now is to enforce Party ideology instead of American laws. The Federalist Society judges are in place to block any non-Party law enforcement attempts. The media is intimidated and non-functional - you probably won't even see anything about this report in the mainstream press.

We are the frog in the water as it heats, and the water is starting to bubble now. It has been coming on slowly, and seems like just a very small step away from the tricks and schemes we were reading about a month ago. But think back. Before Bush came along the idea of a government agency telling the public to support one political party's ideology over another's - while Congress refused to do anything about it - was unimaginable in America. This is how things like the Soviet Union come about - when government agencies ignore the country's laws and promote The Party, and get away with it. Look where we are, with Party control over all agencies of government, government-sanctioned torture, a press that reflects the ideology of one and only one side -- and our country committing wars of aggression. When do they start on us?

Go read the report at The Stakeholder. And watch your backs.

--- Posted at 2/28/2005 08:51:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Where Do US Soldiers Killed In Iraq Live?

Where blue voters live.

--- Posted at 2/27/2005 04:20:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Priorities

Rolling Stone (via /.):

A review of fines levied by other federal agencies suggests that the government may be taking swear words a bit too seriously. If the bill passes the Senate, Bono saying "fucking brilliant" on the air would carry the exact same penalty as illegally testing pesticides on human subjects. And for the price of Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the Super Bowl, you could cause the wrongful death of an elderly patient in a nursing home and still have enough money left to create dangerous mishaps at two nuclear reactors. (Actually, you might be able to afford four "nuke malfunctions": The biggest fine levied by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last year was only $60,000.)

--- Posted at 2/26/2005 02:26:00 PM by richard

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Never Forget

"Incredibly Positive News''

(That post links to a NYTimes story now requiring a fee. Other sources can be found here.)

--- Posted at 2/26/2005 12:40:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Inches and Rope to Right-Wingers?

The Daou Report links to this piece: I believe Bush* will go down in history as being a Liberal Hero:

"I believe Nader was right. Things are going to have to get a lot worse before they get better and Bush* is the man to do that very thing. He will be responsible for the collapse of the Dollar and America's esteem world wide. There will be a backlash and Liberal values will become the Law of the land. We will decide it is in the interest of the USA to take care of it's citizens first and not let Corporate America rule over their lives. America will be on the point of total collapse before Bush*'s second term is done. Republicans will have proved beyond any doubt that they are anything but financial wizards. People are going to get fed up with having Christianity shoved down their throats and the two decade long 'temporary insanity' that has overtaken America will be cured. America has a very bright future and it is all because of this Bush* Cabal. All we have to do is survive him now. This pattern of though is what is keeping me going. Remember 'Every Cloud has a Silver Lining'"

I had a nice reply ready to post here, but the first comment, by "jpgray," said what I was going to say far better and in many fewer words:

Ernst Thalmann thought the same thing.

He died in Buchenwald.

Take these people seriously, and fight them at every opportunity. Don't give them an inch. Don't "give them enough rope." I really don't like to think about right-wingers with ropes -- because more likely than not they will hang YOU.

Watch your backs.

--- Posted at 2/26/2005 12:30:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Behind The Republican Anti-Social Security Operation

Over at There Is No Crisis they have just released some research into USA Next, the front group for Social Security privatization. Go take a look at Social Security - Is the privatization scheme just a junk mail operation? The first installment of the research is a 158.63 KB PDF file.

From the blog post introducing the research,

It appears that USA Next, the front group for Social Security privatization, was really just a junk mail and spam operation in disguise to benefit Richard Viguerie in the 1990s. It appears that it was, before becoming a corporate shell for pharmaceutical industry money.

So go have a read.

I did some digging and found a few things to add:

The report says that Texans for Lawsuit Reform, an industry front-group working for "tort reform," is a funder of USA Next. Well, here's a name you'll recognize: Enron's Ken Lay helped start and fund Texans for Lawsuit Reform! See the following, which is footnote 47 from my report The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Tort Law:

[47] Ken Lay helping start first tort reform organization in Texas:

Doroshow, Joanne. "'Tort Reform,' Bush and the Enron Connection." Center for Justice and Democracy. January 26, 2002. Viewed September 27, 2003 http://www.centerjd.org/press/release/020126.htm

"Bush, Lay Shielded Errant TX Businesses From Lawsuits." Texans for Public Justice. February 12, 2002. Viewed September 27, 2003 http://www.tpj.org/Lobby_Watch/enrontlr.html

Otto Scott, listed in the report as a former USA Next Boardmember is an interesting name. From Who Is Otto Scott:

The more complex answer is that Otto Scott is one of a great many Americans who are well-known to a special audience, but unknown to the nation at large.

Well, Scott is a member of the secretive Council for National Policy. CNP is an organization that keeps turning up... You can look for info on CNP (and please follow one or two of these links) here, here, here, here, here, here, here.

I also found this about W. H. Regnery, former Boardmember:

W.H. Regnery Sr., patriarch of the nation's premier conservative pubishing house, was one of the principal financiers of the America First movement which advocated an isolationist policy prior to WWII and part of a group that founded the National Review in 1944.

I encourage all of you, especially bloggers, to help out by digging into this yourselves. Post your research at your blog, or in a comment at the There Is No Crisis post, or send your research (or links to your blog posts) to Bob Brigham bob.brigham@gmail.com

--- Posted at 2/25/2005 10:43:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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$10,000 Reward for info on Jeff Gannon

At Washington Socialites, thanks to Blue Gal in a Red State.

--- Posted at 2/24/2005 06:50:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Peek

Have you seen Peek: The Blog Of Blogs?

--- Posted at 2/24/2005 06:49:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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When Will AARP Respond?

The new anti-AARP smear from the Republicans: (some might try to deflect responsibility and say this is from the drug industry-front USANext, but it is the Republicans, it is a typical Republican tactic, the Republicans are benefiting from it and the Republicans certainly are not denouncing it.):

"AARP? Not For Me!
From bogus surveys designed to promote a hidden liberal agenda to actively promoting liberal causes like gay marriage, the AARP has become one of America's most active liberal lobbies -- at the expense of seniors and their families. As a result, more and more Americans are standing up to the AARP and saying 'enough is enough!' Join the growing grassroots movement and voice your opinion on the AARP!"

By not responding with a fight the management of AARP is allowing their organization to be dragged through the mud by fascist thugs. But it's more than that. Managing an organization as large and important and public as AARP puts them in a position with a certain amount of responsibility for the national discourse. By not responding they are allowing this kind of thug tactic to continue and grow in effect and harm all of us. The Kerry campaign did not respond to the Swift Boat smear, and look where that got them. This is another chance to fight back, and maybe put a dent in the Republican smear machine. AARP has a responsibility to all of us to try to shut this stuff down!

Bloggers, we need a drumbeat on this! Let's see if we can get AARP to respond!

Update - And this.

--- Posted at 2/24/2005 12:53:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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"Dean Scream" tape a fraud

In a column written for the Miami Herald and reprised at www.tallahassee.com, Edward Wasserman, the Knight professor of journalism ethics at Washington and Lee University, revealed how the media used out-of-context video tape of Howard Dean to end his campaign, the same "Dean scream" tape now being repeated ad nausea on television to re-discredit Dean, the new Chair of the Democratic Party.

On the clip shown 700 times after the Iowa caucus, Dean is screaming for no apparent reason, red in the face, his voice breaking, seemingly out of control. His face filled the screen; no supporters were visible. Crowd noise was silenced by a directional microphone which deadened ambient sounds. However on a second clip brought to Wasserman by a young producer, was the same speech taped by a supporter on the floor of the hall. The place was packed. The noise was deafening. Dean was on the podium, but you couldn't hear him, drowned out by his supporters. He was no longer over the top; he was like the coach of a NCAA football team at a pre-championship game rally, trying to rally his team and be heard over the roar of enthusiastic fans.

The Scream tape used by the networks and cable channels was a fraud, but the media establishment has never acknowledged it because it incriminates the entire professional mission of television news, the use of pictures to tell a true story. TV producers don't claim to offer context, just visuals of what really happened. If great footage is profoundly misleading, if it doesn't tell you what really happened, too bad, even if it derails the political career of a great man and serves the interests of one or the other political party.

Progressive bloggers need to get the real tape out and pound on the media that use the misleading one. It is time we put a stop to assassination of Progressive leaders by lies, whether they be spoken or video.

--- Posted at 2/24/2005 09:04:00 AM by patrick@mansworld

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Did you know the US Military is using Jesus on the Cross to recruit? Onward Christian Soldiers.

(Thanks to Steve at Left Coaster)

--- Posted at 2/24/2005 08:49:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Average Americans and Average Europeans

Mary has a good post at The Left Coaster: How Healthy is the American Economy?

Depends on what the meaning of "average" is. (That's a statistics/Clinton joke.)

--- Posted at 2/24/2005 08:34:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Demonstrating the Problem

Earlier today I posted a piece at American Street. Right-wing trolls have shown up in the comments and demonstrated the problem I wrote about (belief that Iraq was responsible for 9/11 and that we found WMD after invading). Go get them.

--- Posted at 2/23/2005 03:18:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Not Even One Republican?

Ted Rall, in BUT WHO WATCHES THE WATCHDOGS?, points out:

"Death threats against liberal pundits are commonplace among, and essentially unique to, the right-wing blogs. And the GOP thinks that's OK. Nowhere can one find a responsible mainstream Republican to speak out against this hate speech."

Can any reader think of even ONE Republican politician who has spoken out against the stuff people like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh are spewing into America's public discourse?

After McVeigh's bombing in Oklahoma City (egged on by Limbaugh) the Republican Party responded by conducting investigations into Waco and Ruby Ridge -- essentially validating McVeigh's act -- instead of investigating the right-wing militias.

--- Posted at 2/23/2005 02:54:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Millions Listen To Three Hours Of Lies Every Day

I have a post at American Street titled Millions Listen To Three Hours Of Lies Every Day

--- Posted at 2/23/2005 09:57:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Bloggers, Start Your Drumbeat!

Jerome at MyDD wants to know,

" How many days does a coordinated rightwing onslaught have to continue before the establishment of the Democratic Party responds?"

He's referring to Steve Soto's strategy post, Democrats Should Not Let USA Next Get Away With Smearing The AARP.

Bloggers, start your drumbeat! Let's see if we can get AARP and the Democrats to respond!

--- Posted at 2/22/2005 05:31:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Another Smear Circulating

I saw this mentioned by trolls at a couple of blogs, so I looked it up. Rangel: Don't Call it 'Islamic Terrorism',

Top House Democrat Charlie Rangel said Tuesday that it was an act of discrimination to label groups like Hezbollah "Islamic terrorists."

But if you read the story it is NOT what Rangel said, of course. Another lie.

But it fits the narrative that Democrats support terrorists, which is why it is being circulated.

--- Posted at 2/22/2005 04:56:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/22/opinion/22krugman.html?th&oref=login

--- Posted at 2/22/2005 04:24:00 PM by John Emerson

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Was Bush Giving A Speech?

So I'm glancing at my My.Yahoo page (which is my home page, and which lets me see the headlines of blogs I track), and I look at one of the business wire service headlines. Was Bush just on TV or something? Look at the headlines:

Dollar Falls on Reserve Shift Worries
Oil Surges Over $50 on Winter Chill
Stocks Fall; Crude Jumps $2 a Barrel
Consumer Confidence Eases in February
Winn-Dixie Files for Bankruptcy
Sears' Lands' End to Cut Jobs

And I see that the stock market is down 100 points, too...

Update - Down 146 points now.

Closed down 174.

--- Posted at 2/22/2005 10:49:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Gonzales, forgotten, but not gone

I don’t know if this is a good sign or not, but the Washington Post reported that new Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has been out of the White House for less than a month and already the president has forgotten him. At Friday's White House bill signing Bush pointed to a Hispanic man in the front row and said: "I welcome our new attorney general." But the man in the front row was Hector V. Barreto of the Small Business Administration. Realizing something was amiss, Bush turned around and noticed the former White House counsel standing on the stage behind him. "Oh, right there," he said. "How quickly they forget in Washington. Al Gonzales. Proud you're up here, Al."

<>Maybe this memory lapse is related to the revelation in the “Bush tapes” last week that even then Bush was thinking of the former Attorney General (what was his name?) as a potential member of a future Bush team, possibly on the Supreme Court (whew, hopefully we have dodged that bullet). Or maybe it is related to the Republicans naked opportunistic ploy for Hispanic votes in pushing torture supporter Gonzales for AG.

--- Posted at 2/22/2005 10:17:00 AM by patrick@mansworld

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Dangerous

Another example of the dangerous direction the Right is taking us, from Heritage's TownHall (Heritage is the hub of the modern Republican Party), Dennis Prager: Liberal feeling vs. Judeo-Christian values: Part VI. First, he goes after the enlightenment,

"Instead of being guided by God, the Bible and religion, great numbers -- in Western Europe, the great majority -- have looked elsewhere for moral and social guidelines. ... With the ascendancy of leftist values that has followed the decline of Judeo-Christian religion, personal feelings have supplanted universal standards. In fact, feelings are the major unifying characteristic among contemporary liberal positions."

Then he advocates war as the preferred solution to problems,

"Aside from reliance on feelings, how else can one explain a person who believes, let alone proudly announces on a bumper sticker, that "War is not the answer"? I know of no comparable conservative bumper sticker that is so demonstrably false and morally ignorant. Almost every great evil has been solved by war..."

Then vegetarians,

"The animals-and-humans-are-equivalent movement is based entirely on feelings. People see chickens killed and lobsters boiled, feel for the animals, and shortly thereafter abandon thought completely, and equate chicken and lobster suffering to that of a person under the same circumstances."

Then gays,

"The unprecedented support of liberals for radically redefining the basic institution of society, marriage and the family is another a product of feelings -- sympathy for homosexuals. Thinking through the effects of such a radical redefinition on society and its children is not a liberal concern."

Then against self-esteem,

"The "self-esteem movement" -- now conceded to have been a great producer of mediocrity and narcissism -- was entirely a liberal invention based on feelings for kids."

Then against laws protecting women from sexual harassment,

"Sexual harassment laws have created a feelings-industrial complex. The entire concept of "hostile work environment" is feelings based. If one woman resents a swimsuit calendar on a co-worker's desk, laws have now been passed whose sole purpose is to protect her from having uncomfortable feelings."

Against non-Christians,

"Almost everything is affected by liberal feelings. For example, liberal opposition to calling a Christmas party by its rightful name is based on liberals' concern that non-Christians will feel bad. And for those liberals, nothing else matters -- not the legitimate desire of the vast majority of Americans to celebrate their holiday, let alone the narcissism of those non-Christians "offended" by a Christmas party."

And more of that kind of stuff. He concludes,

"And that, in a nutshell, is what our culture war is about -- Judeo-Christian values versus liberal/leftist feelings."

Remember, people like this are paid, and paid well to put out this kind of stuff. It is designed to reinforce a "narrative" - an overriding story in which specific things don't even have to be true, as long as they ride along with the larger script. Liberals hate God, aren't patriotic, etc.

Also at TownHall today, Cal Thomas says it is time to close the mosques in the U.S.

--- Posted at 2/22/2005 08:32:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Dangerous

Another example of the dangerous diretion the Right is taking us, from Heritage's TownHall (Heritage is the hub of the modern Repubican Party), Dennis Prager: Liberal feeling vs. Judeo-Christian values: Part VI. First, he goes after the enlightenment,

"Instead of being guided by God, the Bible and religion, great numbers -- in Western Europe, the great majority -- have looked elsewhere for moral and social guidelines.

For many millions in the twentieth century, those guidelines were provided by Marxism, Communism, Fascism or Nazism. For many millions today, those guidelines are … feelings. With the ascendancy of leftist values that has followed the decline of Judeo-Christian religion, personal feelings have supplanted universal standards. In fact, feelings are the major unifying characteristic among contemporary liberal positions."

Then he advocates war as the preferred solution to problems,

"Aside from reliance on feelings, how else can one explain a person who believes, let alone proudly announces on a bumper sticker, that "War is not the answer"? I know of no comparable conservative bumper sticker that is so demonstrably false and morally ignorant. Almost every great evil has been solved by war..."

Then vegetarians,

"The animals-and-humans-are-equivalent movement is based entirely on feelings. People see chickens killed and lobsters boiled, feel for the animals, and shortly thereafter abandon thought completely, and equate chicken and lobster suffering to that of a person under the same circumstances."

Then gays,

"The unprecedented support of liberals for radically redefining the basic institution of society, marriage and the family is another a product of feelings -- sympathy for homosexuals. Thinking through the effects of such a radical redefinition on society and its children is not a liberal concern."

Then against self-esteem,

"The "self-esteem movement" -- now conceded to have been a great producer of mediocrity and narcissism -- was entirely a liberal invention based on feelings for kids."

Then against laws protecting women from sexual harrassment,

"Sexual harassment laws have created a feelings-industrial complex. The entire concept of "hostile work environment" is feelings based. If one woman resents a swimsuit calendar on a co-worker's desk, laws have now been passed whose sole purpose is to protect her from having uncomfortable feelings."

Against non-Christians,

"Almost everything is affected by liberal feelings. For example, liberal opposition to calling a Christmas party by its rightful name is based on liberals' concern that non-Christians will feel bad. And for those liberals, nothing else matters -- not the legitimate desire of the vast majority of Americans to celebrate their holiday, let alone the narcissism of those non-Christians "offended" by a Christmas party."

And more of that kind of stuff. He concludes,

"And that, in a nutshell, is what our culture war is about -- Judeo-Christian values versus liberal/leftist feelings."

Remember, people like this are paid, and paid well to put out this kind of stuff. It is designed to reiforce a "narrative" - an overriding story in which specific things don't even have to be true, as long as they ride along with the larger script. Liberals hate God, aren't patriotic, etc.

--- Posted at 2/22/2005 08:31:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Checks and Balances and the "F-Word"

Is there enough going on to make you nervous yet? The Vice President of the United States was the keynote speaker at a conference where other speakers called for "a new McCarthyism" to bring "terror" to intellectuals, saying "let's oppress them [liberals]," and "the entire Harvard faculty" are "traitors." A Congressman said, "America's Operation Iraqi Freedom is still producing shock and awe, this time among the blame-America-first crowd," ? Then he said, "We continue to discover biological and chemical weapons and facilities to make them inside Iraq."

Meanwhile, right-wing commentators talk about killing American journalists, their premier blogs talk about former president Carter as being on the side of the enemy and leftists have "seamlessly taken up the cause of Islamic fascism". I have provided only a few examples.

When you hear threatening talk like this, in the company of the country's leadership, you know that whatever comes next isn't going to be pleasant. Things do not appear to be heading in a good direction at all. If you have been following this in the blogs, you know that more and more people are becomming concerned that the Right's rhetoric is growing ever more violent and totalitarian. Serious people have started referring to the "f-word." (See also here, here, here, here and many other places.)

Oliver Willis writes,

You cannot deal with that sort of ideology in any sort of accomodationist manner. Liberals need to understand this, from Democratic senators in Washington who still ? still ? refuse to vote their conscience out of some sense of loyalty to a long-dead notion of civility in Washington, to progressive pundits who actually believe that their right-wing counterparts in the nation's media are actually there for a give-and-take rather than a chance to paint everyone to the left of Joe Lieberman as a terrorist sympathizer.

[. . .] Wake up, folks. We're in an ideological war with these folks and the sooner you realize that the better. The goal of the modern conservative movement, as embodied by George W. Bush, is not just a simple majority of conservative thought – rather, it is the elimination of everything but conservative thought.

I think we are entering a new phase of American history. These are not normal times, the pendulum is not swinging back, and historical trends of American politics no longer apply. American democracy was built on a system of checks and balances, and mechanisms of oversight and accountability. But the checks and balances and oversight and accountability are being removed. There is no Congressional oversight of this administration, the Justice Department does not investigate its crimes, the Federalist Society judges block all attempts to enforce the laws and the new media is no longer functional. The military acts as an arm of The Party and The Party is firmly in control of the State. The system of controls and protections that was carefully built over the last two centuries was put in place for reasons, by people who learned the lessons of history. I can not think of a time in history when a society left itself so wide open to tyranny from its leadership without it occurring.

--- Posted at 2/22/2005 08:00:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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They're lowballing the casualty reports

Susan Madrak of Suburban Guerrilla has an interesting project in the works. Here's her description:

Today I'm going to do something a little bit like journalism, except I haven't done any real follow-up. Still, it's an important issue, and I'd like any Google maestros reading to help.

Go to your local newspaper site, or TV station site, and do a search for "local man woman killed wounded Iraq". Weed out the duplicates, total the numbers, and then check them against the casualty lists, because there's something funny going on here.

I started to notice something several months ago. The local papers would interview the mother of someone killed or wounded in Iraq, and more often than not, there'd be a bitter aside: "Of course, for some reason, he's not included in the official totals."

Somehow, that struck a chord. And the thought crystallized: They're lying about the numbers. Think about it - it's absurd to think they wouldn't, considering everything else they've done.

A lot of the stuff she found is up at her site right now. Just one example:

Today, Schneider walks with a limp, on his artificial leg. But even though he was injured during a military mission in a shooting war zone, he is not included in the Pentagon’s casualty count. Their official tally shows only deaths and wounded in action. It doesn't include "non-combat" injured, those whose injuries were not the result of enemy fire.

MORE:

232+ civilian contractors dead

Thousands of green card troops (some say that their deaths are not reported either; not in this report).

--- Posted at 2/21/2005 08:00:00 PM by John Emerson

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I Work With...

One of the google ads was for this site, and it's funny: iWorkWithFools.com - Anonymously Share Work Related Stories. Which led me to Customers Suck!, I Quit! and BossHoles.com ("Bosses behaving badly")

--- Posted at 2/21/2005 07:57:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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http://suburbanguerrilla.blogspot.com/2005/02/in-memoriamtoday-im-going-to-do.html

http://www.honestchief.com/ (Alterman)

http://www.bornagaindemocrats.com/blog/

--- Posted at 2/21/2005 11:36:00 AM by John Emerson

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A Hunter S. Thompson Random Reader

Rox Populi : The Good Doctor is Out

--- Posted at 2/21/2005 08:53:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Creating Movements

This is written in response to Chris Bowers MyDD post, Structural Flaws. Chris is writing about a New Republican piece by John Judis, titled Structural Flaw.

In a quick summary toward the points I want to make, Judis wrote,

"Liberalism's success ... was based primarily upon ... [including] popular pressure from below..."

and later,

"Business also joined the battle for ideas, funding new public policy groups and think tanks that issued reports ... arguing that government regulation and high taxes and spending were responsible for the country's economic slowdown. These ideas found a receptive audience among the country's opinion-makers. ... These attitudes permeated public opinion, particularly in the late '70s. The public ... became skeptical about taxes and regulations and any new program that appeared to be based on government expansion. "

So we know that Judis understands that "popular pressure from below" drives the success of political movements, and that the Right invested in changing public attitudes, which over time has paid off with votes. But, reading the piece, I get frustrated because I don't see what I think is an important component of what could be done to reverse things. By saying that a national upheaval similar to the 30s and 60s "doesn't appear imminent" he seems to pass over the idea of making it happen."

The way the Right made it happen was by building organizations designed to persuade the public. It worked. It was very expensve and took time, but it worked. This should be understood as investment in our future.

This is on my mind because I have been thinking about President Clinton's "triangulating" strategy. I think Clinton looked at the politics of the 90's and devised some brilliant tactics for dealing with the way things were and the reality of the moment. Yes, much of the pubic had been convinced by right-wing persuasion that government was bad, free-market bypassing of democracy was good, etc. So Clinton worked with that, even hijacked some of the Right's rhetoric (and corporate money) and turned it against them. It was a brilliant tactics to declare "the era of big government is over" and it gained political advantage for Democrats at the time, but things like that sacrificed the future to the Right.

So I think he missed the very important component of also working to change the way things were. He did little to put in place, fund, and grow vehicles for changing that reality, like think tanks and media to counter the Right's machine. His "third way" worked poitically for the day, but ate the seed corn. There was no component of investment in the future.

In Chris' post, he says he "would like to present the outline of a program to structurally alter the electorate and the institutions that shape opinion that I believe would allow for the desired increase in liberalism and decline in conservatism nationwide" and gives us four points toward this end: Countering The Republican Noise Machine by "altering the content of existing outlets of political information" and " the creation of new outlets"; Structural union reorganization to increase organizing to drive up union membership; Election reform to reduce mass disenfranchisement, influence of money and gerrymandering; and The fostering of new mass membership organizations bringing "new types of civic and grassroots organizations that will serve as outlets of information, action and coordination."

While I agree with all four points I would ask Chris to elevate and elaborate on what he means by the "institutions that shape opinion" component, and "the distribution and dissemination of political thought". The Right has been pounding the public with their ideological messaging, using advanced persuasion techniques, for decades. Ad

Marketing works. But for it to work, we have to reach the public instead of just talking to each other. For example, environmental groups have to reach out and talk to people who are not members of environmental groups, and they have to do it in a way that regular, working people who do not pay a lot of attention to issues like global warming and who think they want and need SUVs can relate to, and say it using words they will agree with, and nod their heads, and say "that makes sense." But doing that takes a special kind of comunication, that is put together by studing how those people "hear" information, and what factors are involved in making it "stick." So I think that existing Progressive organizations should consider whether they are effectively reaching new people, and reaching them with effective, modern marketing techniques.

But along with asking existing organizations to change the content and targets of their own communications, I think we also need to start building and funding organizations that do nothing but reach the general pubic - in places like Kansas and Alabama - with pro-Progressive messages. Thes eorganizations would specialize in studying the "target demographic" to learn Progressive values and ideas are better for the public-at-large, and we need to start explaining that again, almost from scratch.

--- Posted at 2/19/2005 02:35:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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The Creation

Whiskey Bar: The Creation of Gannon

--- Posted at 2/19/2005 01:46:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Another Corporate Poison

Somehow Blogger just ate more than an hour's work. The following is based on an early start:

Take a look at this from today's news, Lead in Environment Causing Violent Crime - Study:

"Lead left in paint, water, soil and elsewhere may not only be affecting children's intelligence but may cause a significant proportion of violent crime, a U.S. researcher argued Friday."

WHY is there so much lead in our environment? Take a look at this 2000 special report from The Nation, The Secret History of Lead,

How did lead get into gasoline in the first place? And why is leaded gas still being sold in the Third World, Eastern Europe and elsewhere? Recently uncovered documents from the archives of the aforementioned industrial behemoths and the US government, a new skein of academic research and a careful reading of that long-ago period's historical record, as well as dozens of interviews conducted by The Nation, tell the true story of leaded gasoline, a sad and sordid commercial venture that would tiptoe its way quietly into the black hole of history if the captains of industry were to have their way.

It's a long, comprehensive article, well worth reading. To encourage you to follow the link and read more I'll provide a summary here.

In 1826 the first prototype internal combustion engine burned alcohol and turpentine. Gasoline used in engines caused a "knock" problem which means it ignites too soon. By 1917 it was understood that use of grain alcohol as a fuel solved the problem of "knocking," and that mixing alcohol with gasoline also worked. "Henry Ford built his very first car to run on what he called farm alcohol."

Anyone could make alcohol from grain for use as a fuel. And it is a renewable resource -- you can grow more grain yourself. But GM had a patent on the use of lead in gasoline, which meant it could make money on every gallon sold. And gasoline is non-renewable -- a company can buy up the oil fields and control distribution. "... any idiot with a still could make it at home, and in those days, many did. And ethanol, unlike TEL [lead tetraethyl], couldn't be patented; it offered no profits for GM." According to the article, even though it was believed that lead burned in engines would pass into the environment and poison people, "With a legal monopoly based on patents that would provide a royalty on practically every gallon of gasoline sold for the life of its patent, Ethyl promised to make GM shareholders--among whom the du Ponts, Alfred Sloan and Charles Kettering were the largest--very rich." So they started manufacturing TEL for gasoline.

In August, Du Pont's TEL plant opened at Deepwater, New Jersey... Less than thirty days would pass before the first of several TEL poisoning deaths of workers there would occur. Not surprisingly, given Du Pont's stranglehold on all local media within its domain along the Delaware, the deaths went unreported.

More reports of poisoning came in.

GM hurriedly contracted the US Bureau of Mines in September 1923 to explore the dangers of TEL. Even by the lax standards of its day, the bureau was a docile corporate servant, with not an adversarial bone in its body. It saw itself as in the mining promotion business, with much of its scientific work undertaken in collaboration with industry. The bureau's presumptive harmlessness notwithstanding, to its written agreement with GM was nonetheless added a remarkable proviso, that the bureau "refrain from giving out the usual press and progress reports during the course of the work, as [GM] feels that the newspapers are apt to give scare headlines and false impressions before we definitely know what the influence of the material will be."

Later, after forming a joint venture with Standard Oil, the Bureau of Mines contract was modified:

In one of its first official acts, the newly formed Ethyl Gasoline Corporation evinced renewed sensitivity to spin (not to mention a justifiably elevated level of paranoia) by insisting that its contract with the Bureau of Mines be modified yet again, to reflect that "before publication of any papers or articles by your Bureau, they should be submitted to them [Ethyl] for comment, criticism, and approval." Thus, as the public health historians David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz have observed, the newly formed Ethyl Corporation was given "veto power over the research of the United States government."

Well, the story of government and corporate complicity in keeping information about the dangers of lead in gasoline continued for decades. Example, "No sooner had the EPA announced a scheduled phaseout, setting a reduced lead content standard for gasoline in 1974, than it was sued by Ethyl and Du Pont, who claimed they had been deprived of property rights. In that same year, a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit set aside the EPA's lead regulations as 'arbitrary and capricious.' "

Today we learn that the lead in the environment, brought to us by corporate crime, may be a primary cause of America's violent crime. Does this all sound a lot like the shady way the Bush administration makes sweetheart deals with its corporate cronies? Well, the Republicans would tell you that the business of America is business, and placing restrictions on corporations costs us jobs and hurts the economy. For decades the Republicans have articulated their ideology of "free markets" and deregulation of companies. And as result, we seem to have returned to the days when the government exists to protect corporate and wealthy interests from accountability to the public.

Blogger ate so much more that I had written and there is so much more in The Nation's report. So go read The Secret History of Lead and learn about one more way that the scourge of corporatism poisons our bodies and our country.

--- Posted at 2/18/2005 12:39:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Blinding As Torture Technique

At TalkLeft: Detainee Blinded at Guantanamo,

"They held both of his eyes open and sprayed it into his eyes and later took a towel soaked in pepper spray and rubbed it in his eyes."

Go read WHY he was at Guantanamo.

--- Posted at 2/18/2005 08:46:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Admitting Prostitutes To White House Part Of New Outreach Program, Officials Say

At The American Street

--- Posted at 2/18/2005 08:28:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Watch for Republican Sleeze

Just a quick note to point out something important I noticed on the news. The Repugs are starting a campaign to link Bush's plan to give "visitor" status to immigrants as a way to solve the illegal immigrant problem and allow them to work legally with what they are trying to sell as the Social Security "crisis". Yesterday they were arguing that since the "visitors" would pay taxes and the illegal immigrants don't, this would help pay for social security.

Don't let them get away with this. The "visiting" immigrants will have to go back where they came from. They would not be able to become citizens, live here, and eventually collect social security. If they won't be able to collect social security, they should not have to pay into the social security retirement system.

I fought this same battle in Iowa and then in Michigan years ago. My husband was a graduate student. In both states I worked for the state university and was required to pay into the state retirement fund. At the same time I was not allowed to register to vote because, since my husband was an out-of-state graduate student, I couldn't be considered a citizen of the state. I argued that they couldn't have it both ways. Either I was not a citizen of the state and shouldn't pay into the state retirement system because I'd never be able to collect, or I was a citizen and should be allowed to vote. In Iowa I didn't have to pay because I wasn't a citizen of the state, and I couldn't register to vote. In Michigan I did have to pay and could register to vote. The Repugs are setting up exactly the same problem if they pass their "visiting" immigrants bill. Don't let them have it both ways.

This morning I watched Greenspan being questioned by Congress. One of the topics brought up was the question of whether reforming the immigration laws to allow more immigrants to enter and hold low-paying jobs wouldn’t “help save Social Security.” It was not made clear whether the question was about immigration in general or Bush’s special visitor’s plan, but by the way it was presented I’m assuming it was the Bush plan. Sure, if immigrants are working, paying taxes, and will be able to become citizens who will eventually be able to receive Social Security benefits, they should make payments into Social Security. If not, that’s another matter entirely. You really have to pin these guys against the wall to be sure you know what they’re talking about.

--- Posted at 2/17/2005 01:08:00 PM by Meryl Johnson

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Watch Your Back (Volume 5)

The treason talk is not new. But since Bush won, it’s spreading into more respectable conservative circles. There’s blood in the water, and the people who call themselves conservatives want it all. Now.

Talk to me in a couple years, but I expect that the treason talk is going to become reality, with actual prosecutions (not necessarily specifically for treason) and physical attacks. It will start with strongly antiwar people who aren’t even Democrats, but the Democratic Party will always be in the sights.

I don’t actually think at all well of Ward Churchill, but I now regret attacking him a week or so ago. He’s just the first of a long list of names that they’re going to go after. They’re smart enough to attack the least appealing individuals first, in a classic salami-slice operation.

If I turn out to be wrong in this, I will be very happy and will let the whole world insult me with impunity.

--- Posted at 2/17/2005 12:00:00 PM by John Emerson

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More Lies

Go to THE BRAD BLOG and read the stories there, scrolling down, about how the US Government has used the SAME PHOTOS as "evidence" that Iraq, then North Korea, then Iran were building nukes. (The photos have, of course, started disappearing from government websites without explanation.)

--- Posted at 2/17/2005 11:05:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Gannon -- Who Else?

I don't usually read Maureen Dowd anymore, but this was recommended, and it's good:Bush's Barberini Faun:

"I know the F.B.I. computers don't work, but this is ridiculous. After getting gobsmacked by the louche sagas of Mr. Guckert and Bernard Kerik, the White House vetters should consider adding someone with some blogging experience."

In case any readers don't know what we're talking about, Gannon is the alias used by a fake "reporter" for "Talon News" whose day job was a "military prostitute." He was given access to the White House, the President and secret CIA documents that identified the person in charge of keeping terrorists from obtaining nukes. (Think how much some countries and terrorists would have paid for that information! And a PROSTITUTE has access to it!)

The Bush Administration refuses to look into this or explain how it happened. The Republicans in Congress, of course, refuse to look into this - and they have the power to block the Democrats from effectively looking into this. The Republican Justice Department, of course, won't look into this. And, except for some columnists, much of the mainstream press is avoiding this. Dowd writes,

With the Bushies, if you're their friend, anything goes. If you're their critic, nothing goes. They're waging a jihad against journalists - buying them off so they'll promote administration programs, trying to put them in jail for doing their jobs and replacing them with ringers.

Meanwhile the Right's noise machine is trying to deflect the story and make Gannon out of be a victim of "liberal bloggers" who are invading his "personal life." (I'm not sure someone's day job is their personal life...) This seems to be providing effective cover for those who don't want to look deeper into what is going on in this "Party over country" White House.

And it keeps growing. It now turns out that this guy Gannon was already working in the Press Room BEFORE "Talon News" even existed! Representative Louise M. Slaughter just released a press release titled, "Rep. Slaughter Demands Answer: Why was Jeff Gannon in the White House Before Talon News Even Existed?", asking

"It has been a week since I wrote President Bush seeking answers in this matter. I have not yet received a reply. With each new revelation it becomes more and more clear that the relationship between the White House and Jeff Gannon was anything but typical," said Slaughter. "It is time for this Administration to stop the stonewalling and come clean with the American people," she added.

Update - Frank Rich writes in the NY Times,

By my count, "Jeff Gannon" is now at least the sixth "journalist" (four of whom have been unmasked so far this year) to have been a propagandist on the payroll of either the Bush administration or a barely arms-length ally like Talon News while simultaneously appearing in print or broadcast forums that purport to be real news.

And, did I mention, it looks like Gannon was in the White House BEFORE Talon News even existed. Was Talon set up to give him a cover?

Imagine a scenario where a spy penetrates the highest levels of our government by pretending to be a right-wing ideologue. Wait -- looks like that has happened, too. More than once! But how many times has it happened? Who else? We asked "Who else?" about the first reporter being paid taxpayer dollars to spread right-wing propaganda, and that turned out to be only the tip of an iceberg. The Gannon story demonstrates that there are a number of things going on about which we should be asking, "Who else?"

And, finally, Digby hints at the emerging question.

--- Posted at 2/17/2005 10:08:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Gannon's sex, lies and video tape: whys and why nots

Why was Jeff Gannon, aka James Dale Guckert, so reluctant to give his real name? And why is the Right virtually beside itself to deflect criticism of Gannon? We now know the answers --the pictures that reveal more than his privates -- they show the glaring hypocrisy of Conservatives and Christian Righties who denounce gays and thunder away at out-of-wedlock sex and can’t even handle seeing the breast on a bronze statue of Justice.As bloggers now know from the 162,000 references to Guckert/Gannon on the web, he has bared it all on the internet (warning-this AMERICAblog site is not worksafe). Even the staid Washington Post is tut-tutting, warning readers that these are not the kind of photos you want to view in mixed company. The hypocrisy came to head with a post by Susan G on DailyKos of Guckert/Gannon’s self description:

I'm a man who is white, politically conservative, a gun-owner, an SUV driver and I've voted for Republicans. I'm pro-American, pro-military, pro-democracy, pro-capitalism, pro-free speech, anti-tax and anti-big government. Most importantly, I'm a Christian. Not only by birth, but by rebirth through the blood of Jesus Christ.

I don't think being a conservatiave Republican, much less a Christian, includes urinating and getting an erection front of a camera and posting the photos on the web to solicit sex. Thus the question: why is the Right – and especially the Christian Right -- defending him instead of drumming him out of the party (and presumably out of whatever church he belongs to). Could the problem be a few other inconvenient facts, like the report on World o' Crap that Gannon/Guckert accused Democrats of working off DNC talking points while he was cutting and pasting RNC talking points into "news" stories. Or on the same post that he was subpoenaed to explain how he obtained a copy of a secret State Department Report claiming that Ms. Plame arranged an assignment in Niger for her husband -- an accusation and a document the CIA denies ever existed (for a full interview with Ambassador Wilson on his interview with Guckert/Gannon, see the same DailyKos post by the incredibly enterprising Susan G).

And finally, why haven't the Democrats launched the kind of full frontal assault on the White House Press Office over Gannon/Guckert that the Republicans launched on Clinton over Monica -- and the Republicans didn't even have pictures! At the very least, putting the President in the room with an apparent gay prostitute using a false name is a violation of security protocols. Gannon/Guckert is sex lies and video tape that exposes Republican and Christian Right hypocricy in so many ways. Why not use it?

--- Posted at 2/17/2005 09:03:00 AM by patrick@mansworld

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Funds for Koufax

The people who put on the Koufax Awards for Progressive weblogs might have to shut down due to shortage of funds. There is a donation button at Sisyphus Shrugged - good works made easy.

--- Posted at 2/16/2005 09:19:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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New Repug Trick

Just a quick note to point out something I noticed on the news this morning. The Repugs are starting a campaign to link Bush's plan to give "visitor" status to immigrants as a way to solve the illegal immigrant problem and allow them to work legally with what they are trying to sell as the Social Security "crisis". This morning they were arguing that since the "visitors" would pay taxes and the illegal immigrants don't, this would help pay for social security.

Don't let them get away with this. The "visiting" immigrants will have to go back where they came from. They would not be able to become citizens, live here, and eventually collect social security. If they won't be able to collect social security, they should not have to pay into the social security retirement system.

I fought this same battle in Iowa and then in Michigan years ago. My husband was a graduate student. In both states I worked for the state university and was required to pay into the state retirement fund. At the same time I was not allowed to register to vote because, since my husband was an out-of-state graduate student, I couldn't be considered a citizen of the state. I argued that they couldn't have it both ways. Either I was not a citizen of the state and shouldn't pay into the state retirement system because I'd never be able to collect, or I was a citizen and should be allowed to vote. In Iowa I didn't have to pay because I wasn't a citizen of the state, and I couldn't register to vote. In Michigan I did have to pay and could register to vote. The Repugs are setting up exactly the same problem if they pass their "visiting" immigrants bill. Don't let them have it both ways.

--- Posted at 2/16/2005 07:16:00 AM by Meryl Johnson

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Nutty Wingnuttery

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) starts tomorrow. This is absolute wingnuttery at its nuttiest. And there are bloggers covering it! There is a blog aggregator here: CPACBloggers - Bloggers Cover CPAC 2005. (A blog aggregator puts up all of the posts from all of the bloggers who are there, all in one place.)

--- Posted at 2/15/2005 08:48:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Communicating With Journalists

John at AMERICAblog has a post, The Nation on Gannon/Guckert, where he writes,

Which brings me to another point. We ought to be nicer to some of the journalists. Nicer doesn't mean letting them get away with shit. It means not responding to them like Freepers every time we get ticked at something they write our don't write. I recently traded emails with one well-known journalist who has gotten a lot of emails from lefties criticizing him. Not that the criticism wasn't deserved - I think some of it was, in terms of how he handled the issue in question - but the criticism, and he sent me copies of the emails, were pure freeper. They were nasty, they were vulgar, they were uncalled for. Especially with this journalist. I'd rather not name names, but he wasn't exactly Ann Coulter.

All I'm saying is that, oddly enough, a lot of these journalists do actually read their email. They get your messages. I get your messages. Don't assume that just because you email someone "famous" or whatever that he or she isn't reading what you write. A lot of times they are. And at least in the case of journalists who tick us off, short of Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity, the soft touch can still win the day with these guys. Hell, even Bill O'Reilly likes me, and I like him too (don't get on my case), and as a result, there have been times when he was downright good on gay issues (he said he wouldn't object if gay marriage were legalized, he supports non-discrimination laws including gays, etc.)

My point is that you'd be surprised that journalists are people too, and a lot of time a lot of thoughtful emails might just get them thinking twice about something they've written or said or done. Telling them to fuck off may feel good, but it doesn't really achieve anything, other than convincing them that we're as bad as the freepers.

--- Posted at 2/15/2005 06:26:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Deflections

what skippy says.

If you are following the Gannon story - the right-wing fake "reporter" who was somehow able to infiltrate the White House using an alias, even gaining access to the President and classified CIA documents - then you know that the whole right-wing machine is now saying this is all an attack by "liberal BLOGGERs" on the guy's "private life." Wow. This is how the supposed National Security crowd - "keep us safe" and all that - react. Do they demand that this huge hole in our national security be closed? Do they demand that someone answer for this? OF COURSE NOT! They use it as an opportunity to attack "liberals" while just making things worse.

--- Posted at 2/15/2005 12:44:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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"I don't expect Religious Right voters to ever grasp how fully they are used by Republicans."

Kos says it well:

I don't expect Religious Right voters to ever grasp how fully they are used by Republicans. The GOP is more interested in Wall Street than in their religious supporters. Hence, their priorities will be things like privatizing social security and capping tort awards against crooked corporations.

Gay marriage? Abortion? Those won't be important until mid 2006, when Republicans talk the talk to gain those votes. But when it comes time to walk the walk? Their priorities are elsewhere.

--- Posted at 2/15/2005 12:27:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Standing Firm Against the Right

Krugman today, in The New York Times >The Fighting Moderates:

"By standing firm against Mr. Bush's attempt to stampede the country into dismantling its most important social insurance program, Democrats like Mr. Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Dick Durbin and Barbara Boxer have, at a minimum, broken the administration's momentum, and quite possibly doomed its plan. The more time the news media spend examining the details of privatization, the worse it looks. And those Democrats have also given their party a demonstration of what it means to be an effective opposition.

[. . .] For a while, Mr. Dean will be the public face of the Democrats, and the Republicans will try to portray him as the leftist he isn't. But Deanism isn't about turning to the left: it's about making a stand."

--- Posted at 2/15/2005 09:46:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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"Guckert Gets FOIA'd"

Over at The Stakeholder: Guckert Gets FOIA'd. To fill you in, Guckert is that fake reporter who had access to the White House and the President, and received classified CIA documents that identified the CIA's person in charge of stopping terrorists from obtaining nukes. Everyone in the Bush administration is denying they let him in. So Congressman John Conyers Jr., and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter have sent a letter asking for Homeland Security records on security procedures, through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In other words, "How did this guy get this kind of access?" I suspect they won't get them.

From the letter (but read the whole thing):

Recent news reports indicate that James D. Guckert, a Republican activist gained access to the White House press briefing room and Presidential press conferences in violation of standard security procedures and was allowed to work under the assumed name, "Jeff Gannon."

[. . .] We are concerned that such an individual was allowed within a few feet of the President when the public is routinely disallowed any possible contact with either the President or the White House. We understand that your security policies are developed in conjunction with the White House and want to ascertain your respective roles in this decision as it appears to deviate significantly from heightened security measures you have employed recently.

They can't get this info as members of Congress, so how are they going to get it as members of the public using existing laws? Over and over again we learn that it doesn't matter what the law is; The Party doesn't want Congressional oversight.

--- Posted at 2/15/2005 09:26:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Now It's Comedians

News employees have been targeted by the right for saying things the Right doesn't like. Radio hosts like Howard Stern. You can think of others. But now comedians?

(Also see the post below the linked post.)

--- Posted at 2/15/2005 07:04:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Is There Still Any Question?

Go read about how Bush Labor Department Puts Wal-Mart in "Privileged Position" and the follow-up at Labor Blog.

The Labor Department finds Wal-Mart guilty of several violations, including violations of child labor laws. As punishment the Labor Department imposed a fine so low that actually encourages future violations, and then pays Wal-Mart by agreeing that from now on they will tell them when a complaint is filed, who filed the complaint, and then give Wal-Mart 15 days notice if they are thinking about investigating. In other words, good-bye complainer.

Is there any QUESTION at this point that the nature of our government has changed fundamentally? This government sees its job as protecting the rich and large corporations from the public.

--- Posted at 2/14/2005 03:31:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Domestic Military Psy-Ops?

Heard about that false "reporter" working in the White House using an alias, spreading right-wing stories, obtaining classified CIA documents? At Crooks and Liars, a hint...

Could be nothing. Could be something.

Update - Or, did the White House give a special "every day" pass, access to the President, and secret CIA documents - naming the agent in charge of keeping terrorists from obtaining nukes - to a phony right-wing "reporter" who was a gay military prostitute?

(You know, this morning I try out an Ann Coulter/Drudge insinuation style ... and by afternoon reality just beats me down. You just CAN'T come up with stuff as wild as the things this crowd is actually doing.)

Let Digby say it:

I don't have a clue. But, I do know that if this were 1998, we'd be knee deep in congressional investigations into the gay hooker ring in the White House. Every news crew in the DC area would be camped out on JimJeff's front lawn. A wild-eyed Victoria Toensing and panting Kelly Ann Fitzpatrick would be crawling up on the Hardball desk rending their silk teddies and speaking in tongues while Matthews'exploding head spun around on his shoulders.

[. . .] Sadly, I think it's entirely likely that they didn't know about this until today. It is impossible to believe that the secret service and the FBI would allow a known prostitute to have access to the White House after 9/11. If they did, then our national security is in very deep shit. Come to think of it, it's also pretty scary that they didn't know. What's up with that?

Didn't know? How could they not know? You can't just get into the White House and ask the President questions, or get hold of secret CIA documents naming the agent in charge of keeping terrorists from obtaining nukes. Can you?

--- Posted at 2/14/2005 08:31:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Kevin Caves

Hey Kevin, I have a better idea. How about we lower the retirement age back to 65, pay for that by raising the "cap" that lets rich people out of the payroll tax - the largest tax most of us ever pay, then repeal Bush's tax cuts for the rich, and just leave the best government program in history alone. It works. It works fine. There is no crisis.

Why did you fall into the Right's "need to fix Social Security" and "privatization of Social Security is the answer" traps? WTF happened to you? All you did was reinforce the lies.

--- Posted at 2/14/2005 07:39:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Wow - From The Right

Wow. Is there a break forming on the Right? Take a look at We Have Nothing to Fear but Bush Himself. Excerpts,

You see, the facts that the US invaded Iraq on false pretenses, killed and maimed tens of thousands of Iraqis, shot down women and children in the streets, blew up Iraqis' homes, hospitals and mosques, cut Iraqis off from vital services such as water and electricity, destroyed the institutions of civil society, left half the population without means of livelihood, filled up prisons with people picked up off the streets and then tortured and humiliated them for fun and games are not facts that explain why there is an insurgency. These facts are just descriptions of collateral damage associated with America "bringing democracy to Iraq."

[. . .] The Bush administration, which already held the world record as the most deluded government in history, has now taken denial to unprecedented highs by blaming Syria and Iran for its "Iraqi problem." Why didn't Americans realize that it is dangerous to put a buffoon in charge of the US government who hasn't a clue about the world around him, what he is doing or the consequences of his actions?

[. . .] What is the point of the Bush administration's bellicosity when it has been conclusively demonstrated that the US has insufficient troops to successfully occupy Iraq, much less Syria and Iran? The American people should be scared to death that they have put in power such deluded people."

The author, Paul Craig Roberts, was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review.

--- Posted at 2/13/2005 05:21:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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The Genius of Rove

This image shows you what we're up against..


--- Posted at 2/13/2005 12:22:00 PM by John Emerson

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Moon Bush

The Farmer has a post about Iran/Contra felon and Bush Administration member Elliot Abrams and his association with Rev. Moon, titled, "managed democracy"... ...and Elliot Abrams dances in the Moon-light. Excerpt:

Sun Myung Moon, 1987:
"There are three guiding principles for the world to choose among: democracy, communism and Godism?It is clear that democracy as the United States knows and practices it cannot be the model for the world."

Well, that doesn't sound very "patriotic" or freedom loving or democracy spreading does it? Hey?, where did all the Jesus shouting treason police wingnuts go? Where are all the hoots and monkey noises from the Cult of the 'W' Stofstrupp about the death of western civilization and Christianity when this diseased theocratic fascist cult-toad lets one rip? Huh? Where's all the foot stamping outrage! at the fawning exploits of Elliot Abrams. Oh yeah, I forgot. When it comes to guzzling the Moon-shine the right-wing faithful are all lined up at the back porch door; tin cups in hand.

It's a good thing the "True Parent" hadn't suggested that he was a model for some character from Love Story, or some similar horrible deception like that. For surely, had that been the case, the ferocious media sniff-dogs would have been at his heels like hyenas onto the scent of a wounded wildebeest.

I love this post. And why is it that the associations between the Bushes and Moon, and the Right and Moon are not talked about more widely? Is it one of those things that is just so weird that people think it couldn't be true? (Like the idea that the leaders of a country would make up lies to convince their people to go to war against another country?)

Remember the STF rule: when Republicans accuse others it's a good bet THEY are doing what they are accusing others of. And now they accuse others of being "against God" and of undermining Christianity, and things like that... while in cahoots with Moon the whole time. From the Farmer's post:

Grover Norquist and the College Republicans circa 1980's Robert Parry writes:

In the 1980s, Norquist was a leader of the College Republicans when they were getting subsidies from the secretive fortune of Sun Myung Moon, a South Korean theocrat whose organization has a long track record of illicit money-laundering. Moon was pumping tens of millions of dollars into American conservative organizations and into the right-wing Washington Times.

Some Republicans raised red flags, citing Moon’s history of brainwashing his disciples and his contempt for American democracy and individuality. In 1983, the GOP’s moderate Ripon Society charged that the New Right had entered “an alliance of expediency” with Moon’s church.

Ripon’s chairman, Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa, released a study which alleged that the College Republican National Committee “solicited and received” money from Moon’s Unification Church in 1981. The study also accused Reed Irvine’s Accuracy in Media of benefiting from low-cost or volunteer workers supplied by Moon.

Leach said the Unification Church has “infiltrated the New Right and the party it wants to control, the Republican Party, and infiltrated the media as well.” Leach’s news conference was disrupted when then-college GOP leader Grover Norquist accused Leach of lying.

For its part, the Washington Times dismissed Leach’s charges as “flummeries” and mocked the Ripon Society as a “discredited and insignificant left-wing offshoot of the Republican Party.” [For details on Moon’s ties to the GOP and the Bush family, see Robert Parry’s Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq.]

Over the next two decades, with billions of dollars from the likes of Rev. Moon and media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, the conservative media infrastructure grew exponentially, becoming possibly the most potent force in U.S. politics. - [see following link for source]

I'm quoting from Farmer's work a lot here, so I guess it's time ot send you over there to read and to follow the links.

--- Posted at 2/13/2005 10:54:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Hullabaloo Link

Digby is linking to YOU Will Be Called A Terrorist, which has scrolled down.

And a comment. At Seeing the Forest we have a rule: If Republicans are accusing others of something, it is a damn good bet that they are the ones doing what they are accusing. The accusation is a tactic sometimes called "self-acquital" or "immunization." Also called "a good offence is the best defense" and a "smokescreen." It works because of the way people think: when you are being accused of something it looks pretty silly if you start accusing the accuser of the same thing. Another reason it works is by distraction and redirection -- the focus goes to the accused rather than on what is going on here.

There are so many examples of this ... Republicans accusing Democrats of excessive partisanship. Republicans accusing Democrats of negative campaigning. Republicans accusing Democrats of hating the military and avoiding service. Republicans accusing Democrats of wanting "big government" while growing the government faster than ever before. Just think back to all the cases where this tactic applies!

--- Posted at 2/12/2005 10:00:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Wingnut Professors Not Just Left-Wing

In the post Noxious academics, Orcinus points out that there are right-wingnut professors, too, and provides examples:

"...there are a number of right-wing professors who could face similar academic firing squads if the punditocracy chose to raise their cudgels against them."

He asks the "conservatives",

So why are they not every bit as eager to expel these radical academics from our midst? Their silence has been longstanding; if anything, you'll find so-called mainstream conservatives actually defending thinkers like this (see, e.g., the long-running right-wing apologia for Charles Murray's repulsive theories about race.)

Personally, I think the principles of academic freedom are paramount in all these cases. But then, I'm not a right-winger.

--- Posted at 2/12/2005 09:24:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Dean's In! Contribute To Show Support!

Howard Dean is officially Chairmand of the Democratic National Committee! Sond a contribution, even if it is only $1. Blogs have organized actblue.com for contributions to show our support. Enter an amount and click the following to contribute.

Contribution amount: $

Click here to see how much has been raised.

--- Posted at 2/12/2005 12:43:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Right-wing Traitors

The truth isn't important during a smear campaign, but nevertheless:

Before 9/11, it was mostly the ultra-conservatives who were sucking up to Saddam, the Taliban and the Islamic fundamentalists. These two groups of true believers hated (and still do hate) many of the same people: feminists, homosexuals, atheists, liberals, secularists, modernists, progressives, socialists, cynics, and the press. They both believe that there should be no sex outside of marriage, that the husband and father should be the Lord and Master, and that the Holy Book is infallible.

Awhile back I collected a bunch of examples of Republican Islamofascist-symps: Ronald Reagan, Sen. Simpson of Wyoming, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Grover Norquist, Dana Rohrenbacher, the whole Bush family, Justice Scalia, William Bennett, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Daniel Pipes, Jude Wanninski, and John Sununu. Examples are of all different kinds: endorsements, alliances, business relationships, lobbying, and agreements in principle. Some examples are stronger than the others, but there's a ton of dirt there.

There's a pretty hefty contingent of liberal Democrats who have never at any time played ball with the Islamofascists, but we should just forget that, just as we should forget past Republican hanky-panky. Because now, anyone who fails to completely support Bush's plans for war is a traitor and an Islamofascist. Don't you see?

The interesting and painful thing for me is going to be watching formerly-respected individuals disgrace themselves by falling in with the smear. Somebody should keep track.




--- Posted at 2/12/2005 11:27:00 AM by John Emerson

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Bush Waits Until Late Friday To Release Specific Cuts In Children's and Law Enforcement Programs

The story is over at The Left Coaster: Bush Waits Until Late Friday To Release Specific Cuts In Children's and Law Enforcement Programs.

Spread the word.

--- Posted at 2/12/2005 08:32:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Progressive Infrastructure

Commonweal Institute: Creating Progressive Infrastructure

And the document: Creating Progressive Infrastructure Now
An Action Plan for Reclaiming America’s Heart and Soul (PDF 75K)

Summary: The American conservative movement has succeeded in moving public attitudes steadily rightward over the last 30 years, with far-reaching consequences for the country’s political governance. This success has been achieved through a well-funded and well-coordinated organizational infrastructure that follows a long-term, disciplined communications strategy. In order for moderates and progressives to maximize the power of their own ideas and values, and to compete effectively with the right wing over the coming decades, they must develop, without delay, their own infrastructural capacity and practices. This paper suggests how to get started.

--- Posted at 2/11/2005 05:48:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Sistani outsmarts Bush

Writing in the Toronto Star, Haroon Siddiqui explains why the apparent victory of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in Iraq’s elections is bad for Bush regardless of how the White House spins it. If Sistani’s party wins, they will install an independent (of Iran as well as of the US) government that will force the Americans to leave. After that, who knows? Sistani wants what is best for Iraq, and he gets things done, his way, according to Dr. Juan Cole of U. Michigan. US control over oil and military bases in Iraq, two of the three objectives of the war (the third being reconstruction contracts for Halliburton et. al.) are not guranteed.

Sistani was able to force Bush to ignore Iyad Allawi’s warnings that the Shia would win direct elections which they did because Sistani organized local committees to get out the Shia vote. The result will be either a tough, clever, Islamic-rooted regime that thwarts the US’s goals, or an Algeria-like situation with the Americans canceling an election whose outcome they cannot accept. My money is on the former with Bush denying he got outsmarted and rewarding Rumsfeld and Rice et. al. for a job well-done while Sistani’s government systematically erases the US influence in Iraq so many Americans and Iraqis died for.

--- Posted at 2/11/2005 01:41:00 PM by patrick@mansworld

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CEO Prayer

Wealth Bondage: Don't Blame Me, I'm Born Again:

O I have been a bad bad girl. I raped the commons. I turned the airways into a river of filth. I seared Wealth Bondage into the brains of innocent children. I wrapped the wrists of pre-teens in Yellow Bracelets and led them by the nose. I freed polluters to poison the air and the water. I murdered thousand of species and wrecked God's Creation. I privatized folklore, song, dance, literature. I sold off the parks to my pals. I corrupted your legislators and stole your democacy. I have bankrupted the nation, and will now scuttle Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. No safety net for you. No taxes for me. Live in fear; live in Terror. Huddle for safety around my boots. I have grown so rich that none, but the massed fury of the multitude could tell me, No. But, hey, I feel bad about it. I'm born again so kiss my ass. Heaven is mine, saith the CEO.

What am I? I am the Goddess of the Market. God loves me. You should too. Don't blame me you are so completely fucked. It is the will of God. The Godless liberals did it. Blame them, Stupid. God and Market fuck you over in mysterious ways. Bretherin, let us pray.

From Wealth Bondage.

--- Posted at 2/11/2005 12:49:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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YOU Will Be Called A Terrorist

I think it is important to read Digby's post Death In Life. If I have ever asked my readers to read something before, this is more important. Please go read the post.

I'm going to reveal the ending here:

It is a law of human nature that if you build it, they will come. This infrastructure will be expanded and bureaucratized. It's already happening. And when they decide, as Professor Yoo has already decided, that an election is a sanctioning of anything the President chooses to do in the War on Terror, it is only a matter of time before internal political enemies become a threat.

And then it will be us.

And now I am going to quote from an e-mail I received today from the Heritage Foundation's TownHall. (The Heritage Foundation is the core of the Republican Party now. And The Party controls the state.)

Dear Conservative Friend,

[. . .] While most of our national discussion about Homeland Security has focused on threats from outside the United States, we’ve overlooked the dangerous threat of domestic terrorism. Since 1990, attacks by home-grown arsonists and bomb-throwers have caused over $150 million in damage. The FBI calls these animal-rights zealots and extreme environmentalists “the most dangerous and prolific domestic terrorists” in the United States today.

[. . .] If PETA were financially supporting Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, or Al Qaeda, it would be laughable to argue that it’s possible to bankroll terrorists without supporting terrorism.

[. . .] P.S. If you agree that PETA’s habit of funding domestic terrorists makes the group an unusual danger to American society, please help us spread the word. ...

I know you have heard right-wingers claiming that environmentalists are "terrorists." And now PETA are terrorists.

"And then it will be us."

Watch your backs.

--- Posted at 2/11/2005 10:37:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Who Else and What Else?

By now you have read about the far-right militia-type who infiltrated the White House, using the alias "Gannon," and got hold of classified CIA documents - with help from someone in the White House.

I received an e-mail from the office of Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (NY-28), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Rules that includes this quote:

"This matter is growing more serious by the day. We now know that 'Jeff Gannon' had access to classified CIA documents that contained the identity of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame. This is more than an issue of media manipulation by the White House... this is now an issue of national security," said Rep. Slaughter. "What is the White House hiding? This man, Mr. Gannon, should never have been admitted into the White House briefing room in the first place. Someone let him in day after day. Someone gave him access to classified CIA documents. Someone must answer for this. It is critical that we uncover the exact nature of the relationship between Gannon and this White House," added Slaughter."

Also,

In addition, Reps. Slaughter and Conyers wrote W. Ralph Basham, Director of the Secret Service, calling on his office to provide details on the security clearance of day pass holders in the White House briefing room as well as any and all information they can provide on Mr. Gannon.

This is REALLY serious stuff. The questions to ask are: who let this guy in and gave him classified CIA documents, what other kinds of documents was he given (tax records and addresses of prominent liberals and Bush opponents?), what other militia-types are getting into the White House and other parts of our government, and what kinds of classified information are they getting access to? (Maybe floor plans of government buildings - like the one in Oklahoma City?)

--- Posted at 2/11/2005 08:49:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Question Of The Day

Democrats Ask Their Question of the Day on Social Security: $754 Billion?

With the Republican Medicare prescription drug bill now expected to cost more than $700 billion, are we certain that the Republican Social Security privatization plan will cost its reported $754 billion?”

Republican Privatization Plan Would Cost $5 Trillion. A Senior Administration Official stated in a briefing that the president’s plan would cost $754 billion over ten years. “These figures are misleadingly low. They are generated by using a ten-year budget window (2006- 2015) that includes only five years of the fully phased-in plan. The plan would not be launched until 2009 and not be in full effect until 2011. Over the first ten years that the plan actually was in effect (2009-18), it would add about $1.4 trillion to the debt. Over the next ten years (2019- 28), it would add about $3.5 trillion more to the debt. All told, the plan would add $4.9 trillion (14 percent of GDP in 2028) to the debt over its first 20 years.” [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “An Overview of Issues Raised by the Administration’s Social Security Plan,” 2/7/05 http://www.cbpp.org/2-2-05socsec4.htm]

Yes, I know, the wording is ... sort of ... Senatorial.

--- Posted at 2/11/2005 07:19:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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A Student Think Tank

Know any students? Tell them about The Roosevelt Institution, "the nation's first student think tank".

By the way, let me give you a hint. The mysterious "University A" is Stanford located in Palo Alto, California.

--- Posted at 2/10/2005 07:05:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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We Have Work To Do

Senate OKs Bill Curbing Class Action Suits,

In the end, 18 Democrats and one independent, Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont, joined 53 Republicans in passing the bill.

[. . .] Senate opponents poured scorn on the class action bill.

"This bill is one of the most unfair, anti-consumer proposals to come before the Senate in years," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada. "It slams the courthouse doors on a wide range of injured plaintiffs."

"It turns federalism upside down by preventing state courts from hearing state law claims. And it limits corporate accountability at a time of rampant corporate scandals."

The American Association of Trial Lawyers derided the bill as "dreadful public policy" sought by insurers, tobacco, drug, and chemical industries that spent millions on lobbying.

So there are still 18 Democratic Senators we have to oppose in the primaries, when they come up for re-election. We have work to do.

I know who one of them is. From a different report,

One Democrat who voted yes, Dianne Feinstein of California, said afterward that the bill was "not perfect" but that it addressed problems in the legal system.

And here are the heros:

Besides Senators Reid and Kennedy, the Democrats who voted no were Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Barbara Boxer of California, Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Patty Murray of Washington, Max Baucus of Montana, Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, Mark Dayton of Minnesota, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Carl Levin of Michigan, Frank Lautenberg and Jon Corzine, both of New Jersey, Richard Durbin of Illinois, John Kerry of Massachusetts, Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka, both of Hawaii, Paul Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski, both of Maryland, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Bill Nelson of Florida.

Leave comments as you figure out who the rest of the 18 are. (I have to make dinner now.)

Update - THE LIST OF SHAME -- Democrats voting Yes:

Bayh (D-IN)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dodd (D-CT)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Reed (D-RI)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Schumer (D-NY)

--- Posted at 2/10/2005 05:52:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Demand a Special Prosecutor

At Democrats.com, a petition: We Demand a Special Prosecutor for "Jeff Gannon"

--- Posted at 2/10/2005 02:08:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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The Party In Control At Chamber of Commerce

Mary at Pacific Views discovers that The Party is in control now at the Chamber of Commerce.

--- Posted at 2/10/2005 01:09:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Massive Progressive Blog Index

Did you bookmark the massive Massive Blog Index at The American Street the other day? Here's another chance.

--- Posted at 2/10/2005 01:04:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Read It Again

In case you missed it, the other day Alternet posted one of the most important stories you'll read for some time. Go read The Right-Wing Express. Please.

--- Posted at 2/10/2005 10:33:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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The F-word

Chris at MyDD sums it up:

A new storm is rising. These are dangerous times for our country.

Go ready why. Watch your backs.

--- Posted at 2/10/2005 10:29:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Great Line

On the same subject as my previous post on Bush saying US Government Bonds are worthless, Matthew Yglesias has a great line:

"When I was living in Russia, the family I stayed with, like many Russian families, actually did save money by accumulating rolls of dollar bills and sticking them at the bottom of a dresser drawer."

--- Posted at 2/10/2005 10:09:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Born to Lose

Over the course of the past several years, we’ve been troubled by the liberal web’s failure to focus on sound-bites that matter—the sound-bites that actually drive our debates. Some of you are deeply offended that we would dare to say such a thing. Born to lose, we say in reply. The Democratic Party is too inept to form a winning set of messages, and the mainstream press corps is store-bought, asleep. The liberal web must take the lead if liberals and centrists will form useful messages. Next week, we’ll note a few of the basic ways we think we have all failed to do that.

(Daily Howler February 10, 2005)

Bob Somerby is the sharpest guy on the web. He has documented the careers of the most influential political media people for the last six or eight years, and when he gets on someone, he's able to cite chapter and verse. (And so can you, using his searchable archive).

Everybody should read Somerby daily anyway, but especially next week.

--- Posted at 2/10/2005 10:00:00 AM by John Emerson

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Bush Says US Bonds Are Worthless!

From the important and excellent There Is No Crisis, Bush Implies National Default: (I'm just going to snarf the whole thing, but go visit the site)

Mr. Bush says the Trust Fund doesn't exist:

Some in our country think that Social Security is a trust fund -- in other words, there's a pile of money being accumulated. That's just simply not true. The money -- payroll taxes going into the Social Security are spent. They're spent on benefits and they're spent on government programs. There is no trust. We're on the ultimate pay-as-you-go system -- what goes in comes out. And so, starting in 2018, what's going in -- what's coming out is greater than what's going in. It says we've got a problem. And we'd better start dealing with it now. The longer we wait, the harder it is to fix the problem.

As we've explained previously, saying there's no trust fund is the same thing as saying the government will default on its debt. There is a trust fund, filled with government bonds, the safest asset that has ever existed. Saying those bonds are worthless means that the full faith and credit of the US isn't worth anything. Now what political leader would say that?

So Bush says that US bonds are worthless! In fact, the basic argument for his whole scheme is that stocks are somehow a better investment than bonds. Now, keep in mind that Bush himself has most of HIS money in government bonds, AND that he plans to finance his whole privatization sceme by selling ... wait for it ... here it comes ... you're going to be surprised ... yes, it's ... GOVERNMENT BONDS!

And Josh Marshall weighs in:

Following up on our earlier posts about the president's apparent desire to default on the US Treasury notes held by the Social Security Administration, two points ...

First, most of President Bush's personal wealth appears to be tied up in bonds. Do his get honored? Or is he out of luck too?

Second, what the president said today almost certainly violates his oath of office in which he swears to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

That would be the Constitution which reads (Am.XIV, Section 4): "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."

Such statements are designed to reinforce a "narrative," or "bigger story." MOST people don't pay attention to details, and "hear" only a bigger picture kind of story. In this case that bigger story is that "Social Security is going broke and we have to 'fix' it." THAT is why Bush and the others feel they can get away with repeating such trash. But at what point do Bush's lies and contradictions reach public conciousness and outweigh the "narrative"? It just might be starting to happen.


--- Posted at 2/10/2005 09:26:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Shut This Company Down

Wal-Mart to close store aiming for 1st union contract:

"Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Wednesday it will close a Canadian store where about 200 workers are near winning the first union contract from the world's largest retailer."

Canada is a bit different from the United States. It is rumoured that the corporations do not yet completely control the Canadian government and the people still have a degree of input. So here is a test: Will Canada shut this outlaw corporation down?

And YOU aren't shopping at Wal-Mart are you? Ever? Please don't, this is serious.

--- Posted at 2/10/2005 08:50:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Warning After Warning

Tomorrow (Tuesday) morning you are going to learn that Bush knew EVEN MORE than you thought he knew. 9/11 Report Cites Many Warnings About Hijackings:

In the months before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal aviation officials reviewed dozens of intelligence reports that warned about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, some of which specifically discussed airline hijackings and suicide operations, according to a previously undisclosed report from the 9/11 commission.

This was withheld from us before the election:

The Bush administration has blocked the public release of the full, classified version of the report for more than five months, officials said [. . .] the declassified version provides the firmest evidence to date about the warnings that aviation officials received concerning the threat of an attack on airliners and the failure to take steps to deter it.

Among other things, the report says that leaders of the F.A.A. received 52 intelligence reports from their security branch that mentioned Mr. Bin Laden or Al Qaeda from April to Sept. 10, 2001. That represented half of all the intelligence summaries in that time.

And Rice was confirmed as Secretary of State without the public being told of this.

--- Posted at 2/09/2005 09:27:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Wanna Bet?

Court Rejects $15 Mln Award in Kansas Smoker Case.

OK, no more facts are available yet, but how much do you want to bet this is Federalist Society judges?

--- Posted at 2/09/2005 06:25:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Living In The Past

Bush: World Must Speak with One Voice on Iran Nukes:

"The Iranians just need to know that the free world is working together to send a very clear message: Don't develop a nuclear weapon,' Bush said."

The "free world?" And I suppose they're the Soviets?

--- Posted at 2/09/2005 06:11:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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This Is Serious

Over at Kos, this question:

" Why should we care about Jeff Gannon?

A potential male prostitute gets White House credentials using a fake name, provides McClellan a welcome ideological lifeline during press conferences, and somehow gets access to classified CIA documents that outs an undercover CIA operative. "

National Security means NOTHING to these people. It is all about Party control of the State at this point.

When I write "National Security" there, I am talking about the safety of you and me. Seriously. We've got Moonies in positions of influence (and the Federal Government handing them "faith-based" checks for millions). We've got militia types and serious crazed wingnuts getting important jobs in the government. We've got a CIA agent who was in charge of keeping WMDs from reaching terrorists, who is outed in a political retaliation -- which means her work ends and all of her contacts in other countries potentially tracked down and jailed or killed. And we've got the President participating in the cover-up of that because it would embarrass The Party. We've got an illegal invasion of a country based on lies about WMDs, and then when we invade WE DON'T EVEN GUARD THE SUPPOSED WMD SITES so they get looted of tons of very dangerous high explosives!!!

I mean, ALL KINDS of stuff like this is going on, and no mechanisms remain for doing something about it! All controls have been removed to protect The Party. No one in the government will investigate because it would harm the interests of The Party, and those controlling the Congress won't investigate for the same reason. (Has there been even ONE Congressional oversight hearing looking into ANY wrongdoing by this administration? Has even ONE Justice Department investigation of wrongdoing by ANY Republican reached a conclusion? And all those involved in the Congressional Ethics Committee that scolded DeLay have been removed and punished.) Meanwhile we have Federalist Society judges infiltrating the courts to protect The Party. And don't even ask about the mainstream press... There are no controls or checks or balances in place now to protect us.

I wrote about this in my depressing piece at American Street earlier today... This is serious.

Also, Kos added this:

Update: "Gannon" claims he quit because he was receiving death threats. Coward. For the record, I've been getting such threats for years amongst all the hate mail I get. It's an unfortunate part of being a partisan writer, but a reality nonetheless. Probably every partisan writer in this country gets scary emails. It comes with the territory.

This is just bullshit. The "death threats" lie is intended to make him a victim. This is standard RW propaganda. Just like when that Homeland Security nominee had to quit, and said it was because the liberals were going to be "politically correct" because he had an illegal immigrant working for him, and it turned out that was just another lie. There was no nanny. Propaganda to make people think he is a victim and promote hatred of liberals. And now we're told this guy Gannon quits because he's the victim of liberals, not because he's a RW operative caught infiltrating the White House. (I guess "infiltrating" is the wrong word when the RW operatives RUNNING the White House got him in...) THEY JUST LIE.

Watch your backs.


--- Posted at 2/09/2005 04:40:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Another Gallup Poll With More Republicans Than Democrats

Steve at Left Coaster is on this one, too: Yesterday's Gallup Poll Showing Bush Approval At 57% Had 9% More Republicans Than Democrats.

--- Posted at 2/09/2005 02:36:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Get Depressed

I have a depressing new piece at American Street, titled The Party In Control Now.

--- Posted at 2/09/2005 01:49:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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More White House Manipulation of News

If you are a regular blog reader you know the story of a supposed "reporter" with access to the White House who turns out to be an operative of the Right. Steve at Left Coaster puts it in perspective: The Left Coaster: The Blogosphere Exposes Another Fraudulent White House Media Operation:

Apparently Gannon would sit in on the press gaggles each day and when needed steer the direction of the press briefings away from troubling areas when reporters started to lock onto vulnerabilities in what [Press Secretary] Scott McClellan was saying.

[. . .] This sorry episode, so soon after the propaganda debacle with Armstrong Williams among others, leads me to question what else is the White House doing to manufacture news and news coverage?

--- Posted at 2/09/2005 01:44:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Wal-Mart Fact Checker

Spread The Facts On Wal-Mart.

(thanks to skippy)

--- Posted at 2/09/2005 09:07:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Elevator Speech

Frameshop: Elevator Speech. Worth reading.

--- Posted at 2/08/2005 03:08:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Responding to the Right's Machine

I wrote a diary entry at DailyKos titled, Responding to the Right's Machine. Excerpts,

This infrastructure of organizations does almost everything for the Republican Party. I'll go as far as to say that this "infrastructure" of organizations IS the Republican party now. It provides education and training, issue research, message development, constant outreach to the general public, materials and talking points for candidates and media pundits, and other services too numerous to put in this short post. One key feature I would like to point out is that they employ thousands of well-paid political operatives, which all by itself gives them an advantage.

[. . .] The Right talks to the general public, pushing their UNDERLYING ideology, and only then tying specific issues to it. Progressives need to learn to do this as well.

Go read. (And remember to "recommend" by clicking the button in the right column.)

Update - changed from MyDD to DailyKos after MyDD elevated the diary to the front page.

--- Posted at 2/08/2005 01:35:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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The Right-Wing Express

AlterNet: MediaCulture: The Right-Wing Express:

[. . .] Consider that the conservative political movement, which now has a hammerlock on every aspect of federal government, has a media message machine fed by more than 80 large non-profit organizations ? let's call them the Big 80 ? funded by a gaggle of right-wing family foundations and wealthy individuals to the tune of $400 million a year.

And the Big 80 groups are just the "non-partisan" 501(c)(3) groups. These do not include groups like the NRA, the anti-gay and anti-abortion groups, nor do they include the political action committees (PACs) or the "527" groups (so named for the section of the tax code they fall under), like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which so effectively slammed John Kerry's campaign in 2004.

[. . .] Stein describes how the message machine works. If Rush Limbaugh wants something on vouchers – it's immediately in his hands; if Fox News' Bill O'Reilly needs a guest to talk about the "death tax," he's got him from one of the think tanks. Stein estimates that 36,000 conservatives have been trained on values, issues, leadership, use of media and agenda development. These are not the elected officials, but rather the cadre of the conservative network. Stein figures that the core leaders of the Big 80 groups he studied are about 2,000 people who make between $75,000 and $200,000 and have all been trained in the Leadership Institute.

And, evaluating "our side" in light of this competition,

[. . .] "Our major obstacles are atomization, balkanization and minimalization of our grassroots and national groups, our donors and our political operations," Stein adds. "We have very few effective strategic alliances among existing organizations (more this time electorally than ever before); very few organizations with the scale necessary to make a major impact; too few passionately progressive, politically motivated individual donors who know one another and work together; lack of long-term strategic thinking; lack of appropriate and necessary coordination and discipline; to name a few."

Go read the rest.

If you find this subject interesting and important, I'd like to put in a good word for some of the people who have done a lot of the background research that helps bring this to light. Much of my own work and the work of people like Rob Stein (from the linked article) was made possible by the information collected and put online over at Cursor's Media Transparency. (I am on their Advisory Board.) Go over there and scroll down through the articles they have been putting up. Then click on the Movement button and read for a while. It's all there.

So what I'm getting at here is that it takes money to be able to continue work like this. Think about helping them out by contributing. Small amounts are OK, because there are a lot of us.

--- Posted at 2/08/2005 08:59:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Over at Hullabaloo

Since I'm not coming up with anything spectacular today, go read Witnessing History over at Hullabaloo.

--- Posted at 2/07/2005 05:47:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Roemer Drops Out of DNC Race

The Left Coaster: Dean Now Unopposed For DNC Chair As Roemer Drops Out.

Yes, I know that was hours ago, but I was in Santa Cruz at the dentist.

--- Posted at 2/07/2005 05:12:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Here we go again

Instapundit took an inflammatory three-year-old speech at a third-rank college which someone sent him and alleged that it was in some way an embarassment to the Democrats -- without giving any evidence that Churchill was a Democrat, which he probably is not. Then Bill O'Reilly relayed the story to millions of people. This is the same old lying game of taking crazies who are NOT DEMOCRATS and using them to smear Democrats.

I've heard that Prof. Reynolds is no longer teaching and is a full-time internet guy now. I'm sure that his income is all legitimate (well, not really), but he's on the gravy train now, and he knows who he has to please in order to get the speaking engagement. What he did was dishonorable and slimy, but he's not going to apologize. There's nothing to be surprised about -- that's his job now.

Alas, on DeLong and elsewhere a lot of people are defending Churchill. I just don't see how you can explain away the phrase "little Eichmanns". There's really no context that could make that OK, unless you think that every non-Native American in the U.S. should be killed.

I've had a lot of contact with ultra-leftists and used to be one myself. In that world you're always wondering who the provocateur is -- no one talks about provocateurs more than ultra-leftists do. Provocateursare paid by various police and intelligence agencies, and their job is to split and confuse left groups and make the left look bad to the public. Provocateurs have the loudest and most violent voices -- though sometimes sincere crazies do the provocateurs' work for them.

And many self-publicizing ultra-leftists, whether provocateurs or not, carve out little personal niches for themselves, doing pretty well without being politically effective. I can't be sure that Churchill is a provocateur, but it seems like a sure thing that he's running a game. Most of academic identity politics is merely futile, but Churchill's "little Eichmanns" zinger did actual harm. (Incidentally, Churchill makes ultra-leftists look bad, too. He's really in a class by himself.)

In this context, the doubts about Churchill's tribal membership are relevant. Recent decades have brought us a lot of fake Indians who go around pimping white guilt, and if Churchill is one of them, as far as I'm concerned that clinches it. (That doesn't mean, however, that if he really is a Native American everything's cool.)

The facts are this: his splitoff faction of AIM has been denounced by the original group. (This doesn't necessarily prove anything, since splits happen in lots of political groups). There are also accusations that he has changed his story about which Indian nation he belongs to. And the Keetoowah band of Cherokee in which he claims membership denies that he is a member. (Apparently he got listed as some kind of honorary member at one point, based on work he was doing for the tribe).

Churchill isn't the real issue at all. There's always going to be someone somwhere, sincere or not, shooting off their mouth saying dramatic and stupid stuff. The rightwing Wurlitzer has people who make their living scavenging up the worst of the worst, and others who make their living broadcasting it.

Except for the publicity machine, Churchill has little or nothing to do with the Democrats. Few Democrats had even heard of him before Instapundit did his dirty work,and that's the reason why he hadn't been denounced before. Denouncing him now, at Instapundit's command, doesn't do any real good, because that's how smears work. But there's certainly no reason to defend him.

"A lie travels around the world while the truth is putting its pants on" -- Mark Twain. "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time" -- Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln and Mark Twain were both Republicans, but today's Republicans twist the meaning of these words. They were not meant to be operating instructions.







--- Posted at 2/07/2005 05:44:00 AM by John Emerson

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watch whose money you pick up

Old advice:

Beware of whores who say they don't want money. The hell they don't. What they mean is that they want *more* money; much more, these are the most expensive whores what can be got.

If you're doing business with a religious son of a bitch, get it in writing; his word isn't worth shit, not with the good lord telling him how to fuck you on the deal.

[. . .] Avoid fuck-ups. Fools, I call them. You all know the type -- no matter how good it sounds, everything they have anything to do with turns into a disaster. Trouble for themselves and everyone connected with them. A fool is bad news, and it rubs off -- don't let it rub off on you.

Do not proffer sympathy to the mentally ill; it is a bottomless pit. Tell them firmly, "I am not paid to listen to this drivel -- you are a terminal fool!" Otherwise, they make you as crazy as they are.

Above all, avoid confirmed criminals. They are a special malignant strain of fool.

From someone who saw Bush coming a mile away.

--- Posted at 2/06/2005 10:01:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Huge Blog List

The Unveiling of States Writes: the Progressives' Peer Directory from the American Street


--- Posted at 2/05/2005 10:24:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Donnie Fowler Blogs at MyDD

MyDD :: Dean for Change! Thoughts on Exiting from Donnie Fowler

--- Posted at 2/05/2005 04:01:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Why They Win II

In Why Republicans Win, I wrote,

The way out of this is to understand that we need to EDUCATE AND PERSUADE THE GENERAL PUBLIC about the fact that core Progressive ideas and values are good for them. What we are instead doing now is spending a LOT of money on narrow-interest environmental and other kinds of interest organizations that largely talk to the converted. Environmentalists have to combine forces with civil justice advocates, consumer litigation advocates, peace activists, etc. and all together go after the Right AS ONE.

Today, in the Washington Post, there's an example of what I'm talking about. From the article, A Quiet Revolution In Business Lobbying:

"The chamber is at the forefront of a quiet revolution in business lobbying. Corporate groups now raise big money to advance broad issues, largely to help the Republican president enact his fiscal agenda. That's a long step away from what trade associations traditionally did: concentrate on narrow concerns while shunning partisan spats.

[. . .] For the 2004 elections, the chamber dispersed 215 political operatives to 31 states, mailed 3.7 million letters to targeted voters, made 5.6 million phone calls and sent 30 million e-mails to persuade pro-business voters to go to the polls."

Even the narrow interests of the Right understand now -- advance the larger cause, and you get what you want because it gets your side in and THEN you can ask for what you want.

We don't really have lots of wealthy businesses on our side, but we do have a number of well-funded organizations working on environmental, peace, women's and many other "causes." The problem is each of these addresses their narrow interest, and talks mostly to their own audience. What is needed now is a pooling of interests, with each kind of organization joining with others who would classify as "Progressives" to advance a united front, explaining to the broad, general public why Progressive values are superior and will benefit THEM, and why they should therefore elect Progressive candidates. We need to take the country back. THAT is how we will save the environment, and protect a woman's right to choose, and get guns under control in urban areas, and help animal rights, and bring back the right to unionize, and save public schools, and raise the minimum wage, and protect Social Security, and get national health insurance, and all the other things that are so important to all of us. If you are giving money to any of these kinds of organizations you need to understand that your money is largely wasted now, because these organizations are stil largely trying to advance their own narrow interests instead of working together to advance our comon UNDERLYING ideals to the GENERAL PUBLIC in every state. Think about giving money to organizations that work to explain to the general public why they should support Progressive values in general.

--- Posted at 2/05/2005 02:51:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Education, Fire BAD!

BoBo says the problem with Deocrats is that they are educated.

--- Posted at 2/05/2005 01:43:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Serious Takedown

Juan Cole does a serious takedown of Jonah Goldberg. The overused term bee-atch slap applies.

My favorite line:

If Jonah Goldberg had asserted that he could fly to Mars in his pyjamas and come back in a single day, it would not have been a more fantastic allegation than the one he made about Iraq being a danger to the United States because of the nuclear issue. He made that allegation over and over again to millions of viewers on national television programs, to viewers who trusted his judgment because CNN and others purveyed him to them.

And this raises a question. Why do networks like CNN feel that their own credibility is not damaged when they put liars on the air, and then, after the lies are exposed, put them on again?

--- Posted at 2/05/2005 01:30:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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I'll quit nagging when people quit being stupid

(I posted the below at Matt Yglesias. I've become sort of a one-note-Johnny on this issue, but Democrats seem to be having trouble figuring out what's going on. One of the house conservatives over there was using Ward Churchill and the Berkeley left to slam the Democrats. I begin with one of the characteristically weenie Democratic responses.):

"But there is in fact a small number of truly anti-Western, anti-democratic, leftists who tend to be rather loud and obnoxious and sometimes drag well-meaning liberals into the gutter with them. "

Instapundit was being deliberately misleading in trying to smear the Democratic Party with these people -- people who all hate the Democratic Party. That's the main point here -- some of us want to correct the record, and some of us want to echo the smear.

On a binary up-and-down single-issue vote, politics does make strange bedfellows. That's where the ANSWER problem came from.

Compare: the Republicans agree with the American Nazi Party on affirmative action. But they've also been very successful in keeping the racists within the party -- in 2000 the right-wing parties got .7% of the vote, and you know that there are more rightwing loonies than that. (Nader got 2.7%. Switch the numbers and Gore wins solidly).

The neo-Confederates, Armageddonists, WW-IV hawks, and anti-tax anarchists are members in good standing of the Republican Party, and they comprise a significant proportion of its support. I doubt seriously that Churchill is even a Democrat at all.

When Instapundit, and Robert Conquest, and Armed Liberal, and John Hinderaker, and Andrew Sullivan make these kinds of accusations, they are disgracing themselves by launching a classically deceptive smear campaign. The way to combat this is NOT to say "Well, you know, they do have a point"

They do not have a point. What they do have is an advantage (since Dubya's re-election), and while they have that advantage they are going to use lies to try to destroy their political opposition entirely (which Grover Norquist has stated as a goal).

The liberal tendency to discuss everything reasonably, and say "yes, but" and "the truth is somewhere in between", etc., etc., does not work when you're confronted with an ideological goon squad. I'm not sure that the Democrats of today will ever be able to learn that lesson. It's a different ball game than it used to be, and people aren't getting the word.

PS:

"Cookie" in the comments reports that Churchill has been blackballed by the AIM and is suspected of having been a undercover agent for years., and also that his tribal membership with the Keetoowah Cherokee has been questioned. I'm not able to judge the facts here, but it's pretty clear that Churchill represents only himself (plus whoever actually chooses to endorse his views.)

Another Wurlitzer scam. Instapundit is a liar.

--- Posted at 2/05/2005 09:09:00 AM by John Emerson

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Dog Question

Last Saturday night, about 3am, our 9-year-old 70 lbs dog Buddy woke us up pacing, shaking and panting. This kept up for 2-3 hours. He had no fever or other apparent problems. In the morning he was fine, happy, energetic and ate normally. Each day since he has seemed fine during the day, but at night he has been getting us up very late, and panting and shaking for a while.

I took him to the vet Monday and they couldn't find anything wrong. He had a blood test which was normal. Today he had an ultrasound check of his adrenal gland for any growth and it was normal.

Tonite about 8:45pm he got off his bed and came over, shaking. This lasted about 15 minutes.

Does anyone have any suggetions?

Update - Thanks for the responses. Please keep leaving suggestions! Buddy slept on the bed last night and didn't wake us up, and wasn't panting or shaking as far as we know.

An interesting Buddy fact -- Buddy was the first picture of a dog ever blogged from a national political convention.



One I've been saving for a "Sunday Buddy Blog" but we'll make it a Saturday Buddy Blog:

Just so the other dog doesn't feel left out, this is Espresso:


--- Posted at 2/04/2005 09:04:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Positive Suggestion #1

I have a reputation for negativism, and I've earned it. That's cool with me -- someone has to be the bad guy. But here's a positive suggestion, for a change.

Buy the biggest, tallest, most powerful ratio station in Oklahoma and use it to broadcast Air America (with Ed Schulz and Bartcop replacing some of the regulars.)

Out in the flats one station can cover an enormous area -- when I was a kid in Minnesota I listened to KOMA, an Oklahoma station, all the time. A station like that could cover fifteen or twenty states.

In that part of the country, the ambient political opinion is ultra-conservative. 20-30% of the electorate picks its political opinions out of the air (from free TV and radio), and where conservatives have a lock on the airwaves, that kind of voter ends up as default conservative. In some parts of the Southwest, you can go your whole life without hearing a liberal point of view.

By itself, the new radio station wouldn't win Kansas for the Democrats, but it would change the ball game -- maybe some of those states would even quit being Republican gimmes. The wingnut control of information flow around there approaches Stalinist levels, and this is something that we've got to change. (We wouldn't have to match the right wing station for station -- one single liberal Democratic station would break the monopoly.)

See? Positive thinking is easy.

We will now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Is there anyone in the Democratic Party, or in the Democrat blogosphere, or among the Democratic sugar daddies, who would be interested in something like that?

No.

Radio is too tacky for Democrats, and so is Oklahoma.

P.S. "Grannyinsanity" writes:

"I inquired about a radio license sometime in the last two years and was promptly denied on the grounds that they just weren't issuing any more then.

That's the thing, you can't do anything without one and Clear Channel tries to gobble them all up. Not for the resale market, just to keep a monopoly on our democracy."

In other words, at least in some parts of the country the government is enabling and enforcing a private, virtually-unregulated near-monopoly of the crucial political communication media. Sounds Stalinist to me.

The name of the radio station has been corrected from KAAY to KOMA. I listened to both, but KAAY is from Arkansas.


--- Posted at 2/04/2005 06:11:00 PM by John Emerson

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The Judges

Bloggered Again Again Again -- Blogger isn't letting me in to edit posts. I want to update the post below about the $280 billion gift to tobacco companies, adding some background on the two judges responsible. One is David Sentelle. You may recognize the name. He is one of the far-right judges who appointed Ken Starr to go after Clinton. The other is a Stephen Williams, a Federalist Society judge also known for attending "retreats" where they teach about how environmentalism is anti-capitalism, then ordering the EPA not to enforce the Clean Air Act.

--- Posted at 2/04/2005 05:27:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Judge Appointments: BIG Payoff!

The Right got a BIG payoff today from their judicial appointments. $280 BILLION!

Court Rejects U.S. Claim on Tobacco Lawsuits,

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Justice Department cannot seek $280 billion it alleges the tobacco industry earned through fraud, an enormous victory for American cigarette makers.

[. . .] The government has described the $280 billion as an estimate of money the companies earned illegally through fraudulent activities such as marketing to children and denying doing so.

THIS is what it is all about.

And what are the odds that the Bush administration will refuse to appeal?

--- Posted at 2/04/2005 01:00:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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The Attack on Liberals

"One who calls himself a liberal is nowadays diversely called by others a traitor, coward, parlor-pink, eclectic, jelly-fish, a selfish or muddy thinker who wants both to have his cake and eat it, rationalist, skeptic, conservative, radical…. But there is unanimity of opinion on one thing, namely, that liberalism is essentially negative, paralytic, and disintegrative. It’s boasted open-mindedness is nothing more than axiological anemia.”

Leslie Page, “Liberalism, Dogmatism and Negativism”, Journal of Social Philosophy, 5 (1940), p. 346; quoted in John Gunnell, The Descent of Political Theory, Chicago, 1993, p. 136

The illiberals have always been around. The above quotation is now 65 years old, and hatred of Roosevelt even before then had been virulent enough to motivate an abortive coup attempt. Most of the big Roosevelt haters are dead by now, but illiberalism is the political philosophy of the dominant wing of the Republican Party. I doubt that anyone would have guessed, even a decade ago, that Social Security would be on the chopping block, but it is. (We seem to be winning that fight, but it's hard to take any comfort in that; we're fighting in our last ditch.)

As part of this attack have come a flurry of accusations that liberals are allied with Islamic terrorism. I'm not going to link, but these accusations have come from Instapundit, Andrew Sullivan, John Hinderaker, Robert Conquest, and the fraudulently named Armed Liberal. None of these are marginal figures or populist talk-radio hosts; they represent the conservative mainstream.

The facts do not support the charge. Before 9/11, American sympathy for Islamic fundamentalism came mostly from the right wing, as I have documented here. Conservatives and Islamic fundamentalism share a bitter hatred of atheism, feminism, gay rights, sexual liberation, and secularism, and many or most Islamic fundamentalists are economically conservative..

Illiberalism has been charged up by Bush's re-election, and they're going to shoot for the moon. The gloves are off. Things that Oliver North and Michael Savage were saying five years ago are going to go mainstream. The hapless, bought media will whimper occasionally, but they aren't capable of fighting.

I really don't think that most Democrats have figured out what's going on yet. I've thought for a long time that the controlling majority of the Republican Party is acting entirely in bad faith, and that we have to treat this as a street fight rather than as a faculty-lounge debate. The so-called rational conservatives and moderate Republicans, if they aren't playing malicious games, are a hopeless, craven rabble which will never do anything. (Yes, John McCain, I mean you.)

Going around the left blogosphere I really feel that people haven't gotten the word yet. All the things people are saying in response to these attacks are nice and reasonable, but when you're accused of treason, a reasonable response is not appropriate. (The egregious Armed Liberal made a joke of this on the Crooked Timber comments, expressing surprise that the CT people were being all huffy, and not rational like him!)

This is looking like another Dukakis moment. When Dukakis was asked a hypothetical question about someone raping his wife, he made the mistake of thinking that he was in a rational forum and gave a detached, correct, policy answer about the death penalty. The problem wasn't that he said the wrong thing about the the death penalty. The problem was that he should have taken it personally. What he should have said was something like "You son of a bitch, don't you drag my wife into this!"

The sons of bitches are calling us traitors, and we need to take it personally. There are no good Republicans or conservatives except the ones who openly denounce this kind of smear. The rest of them are not fit to talk with. Rational discussion about this kind of thing will just make us look like weenies, and the Armed Liberals of the world will laugh at us.


(Written in part in lieu of a comment to this Crooked Timber post, since their comments are down.

I have fixed the bad link to the story of the coup attempt against FDR. It's worth following. This forgotten episode of American history deserves more attention than it gets.)

--- Posted at 2/04/2005 11:16:00 AM by John Emerson

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Simon Rosenberg Drops Out Of DNC Race

Statement from Simon Rosenberg on the Campaign for DNC Chair

"Effective today, I am ending my campaign for chair of the Democratic National Committee. I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to share my vision with Democrats around the country, and I remain encouraged by the depth and thoughtfulness DNC members have brought to this important process of picking our next chair.

Today, I am endorsing Governor Howard Dean to be the next Chairman of the DNC. While we have not always agreed on every issue, I believe his passion for our Party, his remarkable fighting spirit, his direct and powerful way of speaking, and his commitment to bringing regular people back into our Party will allow him to revitalize our Party and help us win again in the 21st century.

I call upon my supporters, and Democrats from all parts of the Party and all parts of the country, to join me in supporting Governor Howard Dean as the next DNC chair.

Though my campaign is ending, my work and my commitment to the Party that I love will continue at NDN. There I will continue to focus on the three priorities for our Party that I spelled out in the campaign - crafting a better agenda for our Party, investing in and building a better infrastructure for our politics, and leading a new national commitment to nurturing the grassroots. If we can do these three things and do them well in the years ahead, we can once again become a vibrant, dynamic and winning Party.

Finally, I want to thank my staff and my supporters across the country. Their faith in me inspired me each day to fight just a little harder in this important and tough race."

It's Dean.

--- Posted at 2/04/2005 10:42:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Dear Abby

An e-mail I received:

DEAR ABBY,

My husband has a long record of money problems. He runs up huge credit card bills and at the end of the month, if I try to pay them off, he shouts at me, saying I am stealing his money. He says pay the minimum and let our kids worry about the rest, but already we can hardly keep up with the interest. Also he has been so arrogant and abusive toward our neighbors that most of them no longer speak to us. The few that do are an odd bunch, to whom he has been giving a lot of expensive gifts, running up our bills even more. Also, he has gotten religious in a big way, although I don't quite understand it. One week he hangs out with Catholics and the next with people who say the Pope is the Anti-Christ. And now he has been going to the gym an awful lot and is into wearing uniforms and cowboy outfits, and I hate to think what that means. Finally, the last straw. He's demanding that before anyone can be in the same room with him, they must sign a loyalty oath. It's just so horribly creepy!

Can you help?

Signed, Lost in DC

Dear Lost: Stop whining, Laura. You can divorce the jerk any time you want. The rest of us are stuck with him for four more years!

--- Posted at 2/04/2005 10:18:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Was GHWBush "Deep Throat"?

Poynter Online - Forums:

"From ADRIAN HAVILL: In my 1993 biography of Woodward and Bernstein, 'Deep Truth,' I argued that Deep Throat had to be a composite portrayal. No more. Yesterday's unveiling of Woodstein's notes at the University of Texas is an appropriate time to let Poynter's reader know -- based on recent events and my own research at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland -- who I believe DT is and why.

[. . .] Certainly nearly everyone who reads Poynter was mystified when George W. Bush -- a President who arguably hates the press -- gave Bob Woodward seven hours of interviews which became the core of two best-selling and largely laudatory books. He also urged his cabinet to cooperate with Woodward and many did. The explanation: George Herbert Walker Bush, the president's father, is Deep Throat.

[. . .] Did Bush have motivation? You bet. It was Richard Nixon who urged Bush to leave a safe seat in Congress, hinting there would be a position as assistant Secretary of the Treasury waiting for him if he failed. When Bush lost, Nixon reneged and asked him to take the U.N. slot but teasing him by hinting he would be the replacement for Spiro Agnew in 1972. Instead, he was given the thankless task of heading the Republican National Committee. The elder Bush got his revenge in the end, standing up at a cabinet meeting in August of 1974 where he became the first person of note to ask the President to resign. [. . .]"

--- Posted at 2/04/2005 10:14:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Learn What Happens When You Order Your Next Pizza

Go watch ACLU - Pizza.

(From TalkLeft)

--- Posted at 2/03/2005 08:56:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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New Enron Tapes

There is a new batch of Enron tapes out. Transcripts are here. I haven't looked at them yet - more later.

--- Posted at 2/03/2005 03:34:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Bush loves Lieberman, torture lover

As Bush walked the Senate reception line, he greeted most senators with a smile or handshake. But when he got to Joe Lieberman, Bush puckered his lips and gave him a big KISS!

Why was Bush so grateful? We note that earlier in the day, Lieberman had (as he usually does) deserted his party and voted for the pro-torture Gonzales' confirmation.

Lieberman - DINO (Democrat In Name Only)




--- Posted at 2/03/2005 02:22:00 PM by Camilo Wilson

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Surprise (Not)

Go read The Left Coaster: Everyday Iraqi Actually A Right-Wing Supported Associate of Allawi and Chalabi.

If you remember the run-up to the first Iraq war, and the story about Iraqis dumping babies out of incubators, and the story behind that story, you won't be surprised. But if you watch Fox News you'll ... think an average Iraqi woman was introduced last night.

--- Posted at 2/03/2005 01:06:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Important To Understand This Lie

Among all the other lies in Bush's speech I see one that has not been widely explained. This is the lie that people would build up money in the private account that they can keep and pass on to heirs.

Bush said, "...you can build a nest egg for your own future," and "...you'll be able to pass along the money that accumulates in your personal account, if you wish, to your children or grandchildren."

So you have this account (if the stock market hasn't gone down), and you're supposed to live off of it until you die. Question for you: How much should you take out each month? Remember, if you take out too much you will run out of money and have nothing to live on.

The way a situation like this is usually handled is you use the money to buy an annuity -- a guaranteed monthly amount paid to you each month until you die. The amount is figured by calculating the average life expectancy of someone your age. It works because half of the people die early, leaving enough money to continue paying the other half of the people who die late. If you buy an annuity and die a month later, your money goes to cover the person who lives to be 112.

And, of course, the company you buy the annuity from keeps a healthy commission. (They gots to pay their CEO his $200 million each year.)

So this "pass along the money" idea is just another lie -- words that sound nice and are used to trick you into thinking this is a good deal. It is a lie because you have to give the money to an annuity company or risk having nothing left to live on. And it's worse than you think. The lifespan calculations that decide the annuity payments are calculated by professionals who do this and only this and know what they are doing. The Bush plan leaves everyone on their own to figure out for themselves how much to take out each month. This means that it is possible for every person to miscalculate and run out of money.

--- Posted at 2/03/2005 08:34:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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I Just Couldn't

Sorry. I just could not bring myself to watch the speech. And I just can't write about it. I read the speech in advance. Lies. I went to a DFA Meetup, and heard a minute of it on the way. UGH!

But I did read Senator Reid's speech, and it was masterful! Excellent!

--- Posted at 2/02/2005 08:58:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Reminder

There is a lot of great stuff in the left and right columns here. On the left is a blogroll that links to many, many great bloggers. It is always fun to explore the blogs on this list. I suggest trying to make your way down by looking at five new blogs each day.

On the right there are, of course, some ads. Today there are two from the United Nations that I think everyone here would want to click on to learn more. The United Nations is under attack from the right and needs your support! (I don't make money if you click on them but I do make some money every time someone clicks one of the items in the Google ads.)

Down the right side a ways are current headlines from BuzzFlash, Media Matters, Smirking Chimp and "Privatize This" from the DCCC. It's always a good idea to check these.

And, finally, clicking on the little picture of an envelope at the end of each post lets you send the post to a friend.

--- Posted at 2/02/2005 04:30:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Join A There Is No Crisis Conference Call

Even if you are not having or attending a house party tonite (click here to find one near you) you can join the conference call. See this post: Social Security: There Is No Crisis - Join Our Conference Call with Atrios:

"We're having a post-State of the Union conference call at 11pm for bloggers and house party leaders. On the call will be Duncan Black and representatives from the Campaign for America's Future and the Center for American Progress.

Email me at sotu.speech@gmail.com if you'd like to be on the Conference Call at 11pm Eastern. Also, leave questions and comments on this thread about the SOTU.

We will be liveblogging the SOTU and the call.

Also, to ward off too much Bush exposure, here's a nice drinking game: www.drinkinggame.us

And this is a reminder to all Presidents and non-Presidents alike that they shouldn't drink and drive."

--- Posted at 2/02/2005 04:25:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Dean Remix

If you want to get revved up about Howard Dean as head of the Democratic Party, go listen to this. It will bring it all back.

Update - Go listen to it anyway. It's great.

--- Posted at 2/02/2005 01:33:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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The Power of Words

I have a new post at American Street, The Power of Words.

--- Posted at 2/02/2005 01:09:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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Just Making Shit Up

The new Think Progress weblog has a post about the Washington Times just making shit up about liberals who are "silent" about the Iraqi election.

"For instance, Lakely suggests that Iraq’s election stunned “left-wing filmmaker” Michael Moore into silence. “The last posting from Mr. Moore on his Web site is dated Jan. 10,” Lakely notes, “and concerns ‘Fahrenheit 9/11? being named best dramatic movie in the People’s Choice Awards.” Somehow Lakely fails to mention that Moore’s site has posted twenty-six updates about Iraq and election fallout since Sunday."

My question is, why would anyone read a newspaper run by the Moonies and shown again and again to lie early and often? In fact, the same could be said about most of the Right's "noise machine." Limbaugh, Fox, etc. At what point does credibility start to matter?

--- Posted at 2/02/2005 10:32:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Social Security Myths v. Reality

eRiposte has been busy putting together info on Social Security Myths v. Reality. One of the most useful sections is the list of Social Security Front Groups.



--- Posted at 2/02/2005 10:19:00 AM by Dave Johnson

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Cupertino Parents Blast Fox for Disinformation

Daily Kos :: Cupertino Parents Blast Fox for Disinformation.

Go read.

--- Posted at 2/01/2005 09:19:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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I'm still being gloomy

(Below is a comment I made on Brad DeLong's site, considerably revised).

I guess I'll go back to pointing out, as I haven't for awhile, that we've been in let's-pretend never-never land for several years now. An effective majority of Americans have renounced analytic thought.

As a leftist I used to be the anti-economist in most groups, arguing against market-worship, but now conservative cornucopians (Lomborg's own self-description) are the ones rejecting economic analysis. Case in point, Luskin's most recent Krugman-bash).

Ultimately, when the contradictions become impossible to ignore, things have to get really ugly. I think that the Bush core constituency's uncritical "Will to Believe", and their absolute personal trust in one man, are totalitarian without any exaggeration. We're now in the grace period when totalitarian methods aren't yet necessary (probably toward the end of it), but there has to be a day of reckoning sometime. And a lot of the Armageddon neo-Confederate WW-IV free-market absolutists are looking forward to the day when they can bash heads.

Marxists tell me that this is all a masterful, rationally-planned scheme, but my feeling is that a minority within the monied class has been swept up by anger and ideological madness, and that most of the rich aren't thinking except in terms of short-term advantage. Scaife, Moon, the Koch brothers, and Murdoch aren't the richest Americans, but they're by far the most influential politically because they dish out the money. Two of the five of them, are probably mentally ill, and the other three are nasty pieces of work, but Americans are not bothered by that.

I have to wonder about the seemingly-rational people who are playing along for the money, and even more so about the relatively-intelligent unpaid conservatives and moderates, seem to be entirely oblivious to what's actually happening. They are the people responsible for reelecting Bush, and when they figure out what they did, there won't be much that they can do.

--- Posted at 2/01/2005 06:12:00 PM by John Emerson

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Networks Refuse Ads Opposing "Tort Reform" / Bush Gets Free Hour

4 Networks Reject Ad Opposing Bush on Lawsuits.

Tomorrow night the same networks will give President Bush a free hour and a half to push his right-wing agenda, including "tort reform," which is nothing more than a huge government bailout of insurance companies, drug companies, and other corporations that have harmed people for profit. Asbestos companies, for example. Selling Vioxx while knowing that it can cause heart attacks and strokes.

--- Posted at 2/01/2005 02:33:00 PM by Dave Johnson

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