Left, and Proud.
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Liberal, Loud, Left, and Proud. |
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The Academy Awards were tonight. People received Oscars for their participation in what were deemed the best theatrical films of 2005. I wanted to use this an opportunity to present my choice for Best Web Video of 2005: "Us and Them." It's a music video which ties the Iraq War and the the flooding in New Orleans. The title comes from the Pink Floyd song which provides the audio. The concept is from a blog post by Driftglass. The video is by Joe Max.
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'Scarborough Country' Spews Right-Wing Garbage
Coretta Scott King Reverend Joseph Lowery said at the funeral of Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King, on Tuesday:
This was greeted with blather from right-wing pundits about how terrible the funeral speakers were. After all, they talked about her political work and its continuing relevance. Joe Scarborough on his MSNBC show on Tuesday kept asking if Coretta Scott King ever criticized George W. Bush while sharing a stage with him, implying that it was wrong for Rev. Joseph Lowery to point out Bush's policy of spending for war what could be spent on the poor. Joe Scarborough also asked guest (and fellow MSNBC host) Tucker Carlson, "Doesn‘t that turn off millions and millions of Americans when you exploit a funeral to make partisan attacks." Tucker Carson replied, "Well, it‘s completely graceless. It‘s also rude as hell, by the way, since the president is sitting right there.. You can also eat with your hands, but you don‘t." Great analogy, Mr. Carlson! Speaking about the fight against racism, war, and poverty at the funeral of someone who fought for those things equals eating with your hands.
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Bush Official: Bush Can Order the Killings of People in the US
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To the Bush Administration, a president who acts in the name of national security has extreme powers.
From an article by Mark Hosenball in the Feb. 13, 2006 issue of Newsweek:
The Bush Administration has taken the authorization-for-war-in-Afghanistan and the Commander-in-Chief clause of the Constitution to nullify practically any limit n presidential power. The problem is that it wasn't the intent of Congress to give Bush the powers of a dictator when it authorized war, nor was it the intent of the Framers to give the president dictatorial powers. The Constitution gives Congress the power "To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water." Amanda Marcotte writes of the Bush Administration position, "I do believe the phrase is 'judge, jury and executioner.' Nothing more American than that." If officials suspect a man in the US is a member of Al Qaeda and about to attack, officials should proceed with an arrest and a trial. Not by murdering the suspect Action Alert What are the certain circumstances under which Bush official Steven Bradbury thinks Bush can order people in the US killed? He should have to answer that question to Congress. Please contact your Rep. and Senators and request that Jutice Department official Steven Bradbury be ordered to testify. You can contact the offices of your representatives and leave a message by entering his or her last name on the top-left of www.vote-smart.org.
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I want more low-cost housing. A federal budget surplus. An end to indecency fines for radio broadcasts. Accountability in Iraq. For the rich to pay more into Social Security. Limits on outsourcing. Less compensation for Fortune 500 CEOs. And many other things the Bush Administration isn't striving for.
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Samuel Alito's Corruption; He Does Not Belong on the Supreme Court
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George W. Bush has nominated Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court; Senate hearing start tomorrow. The media-watch organization "Media Matters for America" covers media myths about Samuel Alito. One involves Samuel Alito's corrupt actions in judging a case with a company he owned more than $390,00 in mutual funds through, Vanguard. Alito ruled in favor of Vanguard. Alito had promised not to judge Vanguard cases, but did anyway.
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Protesters Demand That Wal-Mart Exploit Christmas
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In the 1960s, Tom Lehrer wrote a song which criticized the use of Christmas by stores:
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The motto of SpeakSpeak is "Fighting indecency fines. Promoting free speech. Watching the media."
I've been writing for "SpeakSpeak," which is owned by Amanda Toering, more frequently than I've been writing for my website here "Move Left." Here is a list of recent articles at SpeakSpeak, some written by me and some written by others:
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George W. Bush has nominated Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.
Bush said about Samuel Alito , "I know he's thinking about his late father. Samuel Alito Sr. came to this country as a immigrant from Italy in 1914. And his fine family has realized the great promise of our country." The Christian Science Monitor uncritically quoted a family friend on this matter:
Note how the year 1914 got turned into age 14 by someone trying to sell Alito to the public. But according to his military records, Samuel Alito's father (also named Samuel) was born in 1914 in New Jersey. Samuel Alito, the nominee, didn't set the record straight. He should have spoken up after Bush's statement or after the Christian Science Monitor article. Instead, it took a blogger to report the truth.
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The US military is already gathering data on civilians in America.
The Bush Administration wants more of this, including investigations of federal crimes conducted by the military instead of the FBI. From a Washington Post article by Walter Pincus:
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A Simple Question for Michelle Malkin
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Has your husband ever posted under your name?
At your blog, were any articles presented as "by Michelle Malkin" written entirely by your husband? Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin avoided the question when asked about it by Brad Krantz of WZTK-FM, calling the authorship accusation "vile," but not false. She also avoids the question in a long post at her blog. She writes about marriage ("I have my hubby's help for a few hours a week.") She writes about Al Franken (he has "research assistants," she irrelevantly notes.) She writes that the question is "racist."
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Bush Power Grab: A Temporary Retreat
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Does George W. Bush have the power to label any one of us an "enemy combatant" and lock us up for the rest of our lives without trial?
For three years, the Bush Adminstration has been claiming such severe power for Bush, in the Jose Padilla case. But on Tuesday, they instead went forward with the case in a normal manner and indicted Padilla in a federal grand jury, instead of pretending that George W. Bush accusing someone of a crime makes it so.
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Lack of Stadium Seating Can Cause Concert Chaos
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Concerts should be designed for safety.
As a general rule, concerts should only be given in places where the audience sits on an incline, whether it’s indoor stadium seating or an outdoor slope. The risk otherwise is that the audience will surge towards the stage as they try to see the performers. There have been successful outdoor concerts on flat ground, like assorted concerts in Central Park in New York. It’s not impossible for that to succeed, but it’s risky.
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Vote Up This Video at Current TV
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Vote here for video of police breaking up a peaceful march in New York City.
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Action Alert: Ask for Balance on Armed Forces Radio
 Ed Schultz, Talk Radio Host Republican talk radio host Rush Limbaugh is on the military's radio network, Armed Forces Radio, for an hour a day. Democratic talk radio host Ed Schultz should be as well. Please use the form at the website of Wesley Clark's WesPAC to ask your Congressperson and Senators for balance on this radio network.
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Will Patrick Fitzgerald issue indictments tomorrow?
This poem is for the night before the day the indictments of Bush Administration officials are announced. The people who lied the country into a disastrous war, and smeared Ambassador Josph Wilson for speaking out.
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The Meaning of 'Freedom of Speech;' The Meaning of 'Liberty'
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Stephen Crampton hosts a daily radio show, "We Hold These Truths," which "can be heard on almost 200 radio stations nationwide."
In his article today for the American Family Association's "Agape Press," he writes that the Senate should confirm Judge John G. Roberts.
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George W. Bush used his failure to prevent the attacks of 9/11/2001 to seize power with the Patriot Act.
Similarly, Bush is using his failure in responding to Hurricane Katrina to try to seize power. Bush wants the power to order the military to arrest people in the US. Currently, the military is barred by the Posse Comitatus Act from arresting people in the US. Changing this would negatively affect the nature of our society and the right to protest.
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John G. Roberts Wouldn't Answer the Questions
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Bush's nominee for Chief Justice John G. Roberts recently completed being asked questions by the US Senate Judiciary Committee.
However, Roberts refused to answer many of the questions, and the White House has only released a fraction of the documents about his work for previous administrations. A letter in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune:
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A Music Video About George W. Bush..
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…has been updated. Thanks to Film Strip International. Contains a word you can't say on broadcast radio.
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The FDA is delayng the over-the-counter availability of the morning after pill.
The agency is also raising the age of who will ulitmately be able to get it without a prescription from age 16 to 17. The result will be more surgical abortions, and more girls who induce abortions in unsafe ways.
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Red Cross Not Allowed Into New Orleans
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Lousiana Governor Says National Guard May 'Shoot to Kill'
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People in New Orleans need humanitarian assistantance. Drinking water. Food. A ride out.
I hope they don't get violence instead. From the AP:
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Charities are listed here.
Tom Tomorrow discusses the hurricane damage in relation to a possible terrorist attack. He advocates choosing freedom even after tragedy. Bob Harris discusses Bush Administration cuts to hurricane-and flood-control preparation to pay for the Iraq War.
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Arrests of Protestors During the 2004 RNC: New Report
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From an email I received yesterday from the New York Civil Liberties Union:
The report, which includes photos: http://www.nyclu.org/pdfs/rnc_report_083005.pdf
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An editorial of Aug. 23 in the Minneapolis Star Tribune says that prison rape has been increasing recently, and continues:
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Depeleted Uranium Hurts US Veterans
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From "Radioactive Wounds of War: Tests on returning troops suggest serious health consequences of depleted uranium use in Iraq" by Dave Lindorff, In These Times, August 25, 2005:
The In These Times article describes New York State National Guardsmen who discovered when they returned to New York that their bodies were carrying depleted uranium contamination from their exposure Iraq. Depleted uranium in weapons should be banned. It can be replaced with a less-toxic heavy metal.
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Conservative Con: Bernie Goldberg Makes Bogus Statements in an Online Chat
 Bernie Goldberg Bernie Goldberg, author of "100 People Who are Screwing Up America (And Al Franken is #37)," wrote in an online chat Thursday:
I could reply: Once conservatives looked up to Dwight Eisenhower. Now they look up to Rush Limbaugh.
Of course, neither statement makes sense. Presidents are one thing, commentators are another thing. There were conservative commentators and liberal commentators in the 1950s/1960s, too. John Forbes Kerry was as JFK-like a presidential candidate as the Democrats could have nominated in the past election.
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Iraq War May Cost $1.3 Trillion
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You can view photos of the human cost of the Iraq War at Crisis Pictures.
For information on the financial cost, see this New York Times op-ed by Linda Bilmes, a former assistant secretary at the Department of Commerce:
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Utah Police Terrorize People at an Outdoor Party
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Tear gas, tasers, sending dogs to attack, and kicking people while they're down.
Police brutality has been around for a long time. I wish society would advance in a way that brutal cops are usually held accountable and lose their badges, but it hasn't happened yet. I would support raising the age at which people join the police force to 40. That way, a man or woman would have 22 adult years before joining the force to be judged on before being given police powers. We could keep out more unfit people that way. Raising the age at which a person can become a police officer might reduce the size of some police forces, but quality is more important than quanitity when it comes to the police. Note: "soldiers" in the descriptions of events may actually be SWAT team members dressed in green camouflage.
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Reverend Pat Robertson and Venezuela: Reaction from David Brock, Jon Stewart and More
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David Brock, president of the media watchdog "Media Matters for America" has asked Pat Robertson to retract his statement that the US should murder the president of Venezuela.
Media Matters also takes the position that advocacy of murder doesn't belong on The ABC Family Channel.
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Music Video of Candle Light Vigils Against the Iraq War
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Paula S. created this video about candle-light vigils to honor those killed in the Iraq War and show support for Cindy Sheehan:
If you would like to buy the music which accompanies these photos, look for an album containing the song "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" by Melanie. More on the vigils which took place August 17, 2005.
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Conservative Rush Limbaugh's Idea of a Joke
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Cindy Sheehan's son Casey was a soldier. He was killed in Iraq.
She is camping in Crawford, TX, in an attempt to speak to George W. Bush about what the mission is in Iraq. (She has temporarily returned to California because her mother is ill.)
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In today's column in the New York Times, Paul Krugman discusses Florida 2000, New Hamprshie 2002, and Ohio 2004.
Below is about Ohio 2004:
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John Gibson Smears Cindy Sheehan and the University of California
John Gibson Fox News' John Gibson was the guest-host of "The O'Reilly Factor" on August 11. Gibson discussed Cindy Sheehan, a woman in California whose son was a Marine killed in Iraq. She is trying to arrange a meeting with George W. Bush. John Gibson argued against her geographically:
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CIA Told Dutch Not to Arrest Rogue Scientist Who Spread Nuclear Secrets
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Perhaps no man has done more to spread nuclear weapons technology than Pakistani Abdul Qadeer Khan.
This could have been prevented a long time ago.
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Cindy Sheehan's son Casey was killed in Iraq.
She is camping (video) near George W. Bush's house in Crawford, TX, waiting to ask Bush what the mission is in Iraq. Fox News host Bill O'Reilly claims that in discussing her, he's been "respectful." This is Bill O'Reilly's concept of respect:
Falsely claiming that people can control which websites write about them. Citing nameless people who think someone's behavior is almost "treasonous." That is how Bill O'Reilly shows respect.
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Media ownership is concentrated.
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I've read some negative reviews of "Current TV" and and some helpful suggestions.
But people who own a video camera (or have a friend who owns a video camera) can now do more than criticize or offer advice. Make a news video and upload it:
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Nuclear Terrorism Made More Likely by the Energy Bill
Richard Burr
The Republican leadership is willing to endanger us all, to benefit one company. Uranium is an ingredient which can be used in nuclear bombs. If terrorists steal weapons-grade uranium, the US is at risk of a nuclear attack. The Energy Bill which Bush will sign into law on Monday...
The above passage is from the Washington Post, "Uranium Provision to Alter U.S. Policy: Easing of Export Curbs Concerns Nonproliferation Advocates" by Michael Grunwald, July 29, 2005. If Congress gets to vote to reverse this provision of the Energy Bill, it will. That is why the Republican leadership added it in the conference committee. Please contact your Congressperson and Senators and ask them to reverse the Burr Amendment and reinstate the export restrictions on weapons-grade uranium. You can find contact information by entering the last name of your representative on the upper-left of vote-smart.org.
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CNN used to be owned by Ted Turner.
Now it's owned by Time Warner. Writing in the New York Times, Richard Posner claims CNN has gotten more liberal.
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People should be able to watch more TV channels online for free.
Showing the same advertisements as on TV could theoretically pay for it.
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Al Gore TV Starts Tonight: Independently Owned
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Sunday night at midnight Eastern, there will be a new cable channel, "Current."
"Current" will let the public to interact with news stories by voting on which news-videos to replay. Also, ordinary people who make their own news videos can send them to Current and have a chance they will be shown. Al Gore is the biggest name behind the project. He's said that Current isn't a liberal news channel. Whether more videos some-consider-liberal or videos some-consider-conservative get replayed will depend on the votes of the viewers for the videos they like. "We have no intention of creating a Democratic channel, a liberal channel, a TV version of Air America," Gore said. "That's not what we're about. We're about empowering this generation of young people in their 20s to engage in a dialogue of democracy and to tell the stories about what's going on in their lives using the dominant medium of our time.'' "Current" is different from other news-channels in that it's independently owned. By contrast, ABC News is owned by Disney, CBS News is owned by Viacom, NBC News/MSNBC/CNBC are owned by General Electric. Last and least (in terms of quality), Fox News is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. "Current" will be available in 20 million homes. It may be listed in your lineup as "Newsworld International," the channel "Current" is replacing.
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In a Right-Wing Comic Book, Conservatives Are Oppressed
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The right-wing controls the voting machines, the judiciary, the White House, the Congress, and much of the media.
What does that leave for them to fantasize about? The excitement of being the underdog. At least in the case of comic book writer Mike Mackey, whose mini-series "Liberality For All" will debut in October 2005, published by ACC.
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The evening news in the US rarely shows footage of the dead and injured in Iraq, whether soldiers or civilians.
But a new dramatic series titled "Over There" on basic cable channel FX does contain fictional graphic images. One can see actual graphic images at the blog, "Crisis Pictures."
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Independent World Television: Monthly Milestone
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Imagine a cable news channel with no ads; no corporate sponsorship; no government sponsorship. Funded directly by the masses.
That is the concept of Independent World Television, whose programs should air on "Link TV" in 2007. Their website has been online for about a month, and they are asking people to sign-up to receive email from them. I signed up. My only objection to their model is that in addition to banning corporate donations, they should also limit the size of individual donations: How is a million dollars from a corporation any more-or-less corrupting than a million dollar personal donation from the CEO of that corporation? IWT News should set a maximum donation per-person per-year.
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Jean Charles de Menezes The best article I've read about the innocent man shot to death on a London train, Jean Charles de Menezes, is this one from the UK's Times Online.
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CNN Labor Report Today: So Good It Surprised Me
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CNN Headline News doesn't often report on unions.
However, at 1:25 PM Minnesota time today, CNN Headline News aired a piece on DHL truck drivers who want to unionize. The reporter was Candy Crowley. The piece discussed the needs of the delivery workers for higher pay and better health benefits. It included clips of Andrew Stern of the SEIU and James Hoffa of the Teamsters. The DHL drivers would like to join the Teamsters. In the past, I've criticized the television news for a rightwing bias, including CNN. I've suggested that the failings of CNN and other stations indicate a need for impartial reporting such as Independent World Television (starts in 2007), and outspoken reporting such as Liberty News TV (available online now). But I want to give credit to CNN when they deserve it, as they do today. Here is hoping for more well-done reports about labor on CNN.
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York vs. Freedom
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New Yorkers are losing freedom under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
First Bloomberg said that people can't protest in Central Park because they might damage the grass. Now he says that people can't go about their lives without being searched by the cops, because they might be terrorists.
People waitng for a bus have Constitutional rights. The act of waiting for a bus doesn't mean a cop should be able to search your bags. Similarly, the New York City subway system is a vast public place. The US Constitution ("The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures") applies there, too. The New York Times article continues:
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Bill in Congress to Address Media Concentration
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Radio and television used to be governed by the Fairness Doctrine: Broadcasts on controversial public issues needed to present opposing views.
In the 1980s, the federal courts ruled that that the FCC wasn't authorized to enforce the Fairness Doctrine. Congress passed a law giving the FCC that authority, but President Ronald Reagan vetoed it. In 1996, Congress passed a telecommunications bill which had the effect of letting the Clear Channel corporation buy over 1200 radio stations. After September 11, 2001, Clear Channel sent a memo to its stations tellin them not to play songs which are too optimistic, such as "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong and "Imagine" by John Lennon. In 2003, during the buildup to the Iraq War, singer Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks said that she is ashamed that George W. Bush is from Texas. Clear Channel stations encouraged people to attend rallies in which Dixie Chicks CDs were destroyed. Has the abuse of media power concentrated in a few hands reached the point where enough is enough? From the Hollywood Reporter via mediachannel.org:
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Bernie Goldberg Says to Be Civil
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Bernie Goldberg Bernie Goldberg is promoting his book,"100 People Who Are Screwing Up America.” He tells National Review that "cultural elitists" need to "wake up and become more civil." A visitor to Pandagon replies:
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'Once Upon a Time,' A Man Named Bernie Goldberg Was Interviewed
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Author Bernie Goldberg believes our culture has become "more vulgar."
He was interviewed by Jon Stewart last week on "The Daily Show," as discussed in a previous article. Bernie Goldberg's use of the phrase "once upon a time" during the intervew deserves further examination. This is the context:
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Debate About Culture, Between Comedian Jon Stewart and Author Bernie Goldberg
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Bernie Goldberg is promoting his book titled "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America."
The book includes entertainers on that list. Goldberg appeared on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" Wednesday night. Goldberg argued that our culture is getting worse: Goldberg claimed that back in the good old days, even a man who was drunk in a bar wouldn't say the f-word. However, Goldberg said, comedian Chevy Chase called George W. Bush a dumb f_ck at a black-tie event. Jon Stewart was skeptical that our culture is getting worse; Stewart said that while Chevy Chase said f_ck, Thomas Jefferson f_cked slaves. Stewart said we've made advances over the years by abolishing slavery and segregation, lowering the murder rate, etc. Jon Stewart implied that a book about who-is-screwing-up-America shouldn't focus on entertainers. Stewart said that while people in Hollywood may think they have power, people in Washington really have power. He suggested that Goldberg focus his energy on exposing political players like Richard Pearle. Video of Jon Stewart interviewing Bernie Goldberg is at Crooks and Liars.
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Congressman Dennis Kucinich Is Getting Married; Supports Free Speech
Dennis Kucinich In March 2004, the House voted to let the FCC levy huge fines for "iindecency" on television and radio. The vote was 391 to 22 on the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2004 which increased fines from $27,000 to $500,000 per station per incident. A similar version of this awful bill was passed by the Senate, but fortunately the bill didn't make it out of conference committee. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) was one of the only 22 Reps. who cared enough about Free Speech to vote against the bill.
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Is calling a judge an "activist" meaningless?
Not necessarily. A professor at Yale Law School, Paul Gerwirtz, and a recent graduate of that law school, Chad Golder, found a way to measure judicial activism, and wrote about It for the New York Times (July 6):
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Letting the Government Promote Religion Will Cause Bitter Religious Strife
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From a New York Times op-ed by Adam Cohen, on the impact of the recent US Supreme Court decision to allow a Ten Commandments monument in front of the Texas state capitol:
I wonder if any groups will try to get monuments to their own religious beliefts near the Ten Commandments monument in Texas. If so, good luck to them. And good luck to any group which tries to get a monument critical of organized religion nearby.
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There is a good reason for having libel laws:
An ordinary person who is smeared in the press needs recourse, since he can't get the truth out himself. Big corporations like Taser International don't need libel laws to get out their message. But Taser is suing USA Today's parent company, Gannett, for libel over a June 3 article containing a mistake about the voltage of a taser. Even though USA Today published a correction on June 6.
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'Be very careful about what you say..'
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Free speech and fear don't go together well.
Rose Aguilar, a San Francisco-based journalist, is travelling to red states. Here she reports on people she met in Highland Park, Texas:
From the Austin Chronicle via Pandagon. Video of the Governor Rick Perry church event is at Crooks and Liars.
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New Government in Iraq Is Torturing Prisoners, Killing Prisoners
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From the UK's Guardian newspaper:
Under Saddam, there was torture in Iraq. Under the US occupation, more torture. It's not surprising that the latest government in Iraq is engaging in torture as well, when the US didn't teach a model of treating prisoners with dignity.
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The 'Freedom Tower' Is a Bad Idea
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There have been two terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center site.
One in 1993 which killed six people and one in 2001 which killed 3,000 people. Another tall building on that site is likely to also be attacked by Muslim terrorists. If Usama bin Laden isn't captured or killed by the time it's completed, he may arrange such an attack. If not, another Muslim terrorist may attack such a building to prove he's as bad as UBL. It would make more sense to leave the site as it is, or to put a small museum there. Not another tall building. Especially not one of the tallest buildings in the world. Yesterday, the New York Times published this letter:
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Iraqi TV Producer Killed by US for Driving Near Convoy
Wife of Ahmed Wael Bakri at his funeral
This is asking drivers to do something impossible. When you turn your car onto another street, or a convoy turns onto your street, the flow of traffic doesn't let you position your car any distance from other vehicles you choose. Is the sign saying to keep 100 meters (328 feet) away even visible from 328 feet away, in day and night?
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The Electronic Frontier Foundation believes in "defending freedom in the digital world."
Their website has six action alerts. Choose one or more. Support freedom. Urge Congress to Reform not Expand PATRIOT Best E-voting Bill Reintroduced --- Lend Your Support! Stop Congress from Raising the Broadcast Flag
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…Bush sure likes to wrap himself in the military.
The stage has phrase "Fort Bragg" three times and "United States Army" twice.
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Following the Ten Commandments for Real
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Letter on the Ten Commandment in Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 29, 2005:
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Reverend Billy Graham Supports Hillary Clinton
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Billy Graham and Bill and Hillary Clinton were before a congregation in Queens, NY on Saturday night:
From the AP:
Did Rev. Graham mean Hillary Clinton should run the country as one of a hundred Senators, or as president? Anyway, here is more on Rev. Billy Graham, from another AP story:
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Brent Bozell's Position on PBS: Hypocritical or Deceitful
Brent Bozell Brent Bozell is the president of the Parents Television Council. Amanda Toering is the director of SpeakSpeak a pro Free Speech group. In a recent article at SpeakSpeak News, Amanda Toering described Brent Bozell's advocacy of family programming, which falls short of endorsing the govt. funding of PBS:
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Suppose the Pfizer Corporation wants an office building where your house is.
Shoud your city government be able to force you to sell? I would say No. However, today the US Supreme Court ruled Yes.
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PBS Deserves Support, Says Letter
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A letter to the Minneapois Star Tribune praises PBS television (June 22 letter in internet edition only):
Don't touch that dial If you would like to contact Congress in support of PBS, there is a form here.
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More Press Coverage of Howard Dean and Senator Durbin Needed, According to Brent Bozell
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Brent Bozell is the founder of the conservative group Media Research Center, which monitors press coverage.
Brent Bozell's June 7 column for MRC claims there was too little coverage of controversial statements by Howard Dean. For example, Bozell cites Howard Dean's statement that Tom DeLay "may end up in jail."
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Kos runs The Daily Kos, a popular blog. He is a Tuesday night regular guest on the radio show "The Majority Report."
On tonight's broadcast, Kos said that the rightwing attacks on Democratic Senator Dick Durbin (for criticizing torture at Gitmo) are a taste of things to come. According to Kos, the pubic doesn't agree with Republican policy positions, and doesn't find Republican politicians in Washington likeable. Therefore, the rightwing will do all it can to make Democrats look worse. If the smearing of Durbin seemed ugly, expect uglier.
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Union Protests Are Knocked in a NY Times Op-Ed
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Jill Stewart, op-ed contributor to the New York Times, discussed California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposals yesterday.
The governor wants to change the way districts are drawn for elections; privatize union-pensions; block an increase in the nurses-to-patient ratio. These are wonderful ideas, Jill Stewart implies, but those darn unions are opposing them, and...
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Bill Frist, MD, Trying to Protect Vaccine Companies Who May Have Caused Autism from Civil Justice
Senator Bill Frist (R-TN)
Do some vaccines cause autism? If so, is the ingedient thimerosal, which contains mercury, a factor? There is a lot of debate on these questions. If a group of parents of autistic children concludes there is a link, I want them to have the right to sue, and for a jury to decide. However, Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) is trying to protect vaccine makers from lawsuits.
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'Freedom of Speech Award' or 'Shut the F___ Up Award'
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Radio host Al Franken received the "First Amendment Award" from Talkers Magazine on June 10, 2005, in New York City.
Talkers magazine is about talk radio. Near the end of Franken's acceptance speech, Talkers publisher Michael Harrison interrupted Franken telling him he was going on too long and should wrap up.
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The Good: News Channel Planned for 2007, Independent World Televison
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A new television news channel is planned for 2007. They are seeking donations from the public now.
"Independent World Television" has advisors including Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now" and Janeane Garofalo of "Air America Radio." The goal: "No corporate ownership. No corporate underwriting. No government funding. No commercial advertising" says planner Paul Jay. The IWT website debuted today, with this statement on their front page:
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Less Free Speech in the House of Representatives
 James Sensenbrenner
He is preventing certain topics, such as The Downing Street Memo, from being investigated in official hearings. Sensenbrenner recently chose to sink even lower, by denying Democrats on the committee the use of unused committee rooms for unofficial forums.
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Grover Norquist vs. Brent Bozell on Indecency
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Conservatives Grover Norquist and Brent Bozell are in conflict over FCC indecency regulations. Norquist says enough already, while Bozell wants more indency fines.
Norquist told Newsweek:
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Decency and Rep. James Sensenbrenner
Throw people in jail for saying things which are indecent. That is the desire of Rep. James Sensebrenner (R-WI), as Greg Beato of Wonkette described in April:
While James Sensenbrenner is eager to lock up other people for offensiveness, yesterday he was offensive in his own way. During a House Judiciary Meeting on Friday, chairman Sensenbrenner gavelled the meeting to a close, in violation of House rules.
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The 'Ultimate Example of Corporate Irresponsibility'
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What is the most irresponsible thing a corporation has done?
I consider Union Carbide's leak in Bhopal, India as one of the worst:
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Wal-Mart is a chain of thousands of big stores.
But is it big enough for the contrary advice the Religious Right is getting from Donald Wildmon's American Family Association and Brent Bozell's Parents Television Council? AFA says Wal-Mart "openly promotes the homosexual lifestyle" by allowing employees to have a “Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Associates” affinity group. AFA "is advising pro-family shoppers to think twice before patronizing" Wal-Mart stores. But the "Parents Television Council has given Wal-Mart its "Seal of Approval" for advertising during family-friendly tv shows. Consumers will have to weigh how much they trust Donald Wildmon and Brent Bozell, as they choose between shopping at Wal-Mart and other stores.
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Brent Bozell is Offended by Irreverence
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Brent Bozell is the founder of the Parents Television Council.
In his weekly column on the media a couple of weeks ago, he expressed outrage at irreverence in sitcoms:
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Many important news articles are based on people telling reporters about unethical behavior.
The term for this is "whistleblowing." Ben Stein, speechwriter for President Richard Nixon, doesn't appreciate the whistleblowing of Mark Felt ("Deep Throat") claiming that Felt "broke the law, broke his code of ethics, broke his oath." Ben Stein ignores that everything Felt told reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein was true. Also, that Felt's oath was to the Constitution, not to Nixon. There is a satire at "Opinions You Should Have:"
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Bush Admin. Taking Us to Another 'Robber Baron Era,' Suggests Paul Krugman
George W. Bush
Paul Krugman in the New York Times today, discusses income inequality and then relates it to Bush's policies:
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Janice Rogers Brown and Her Crooked Take on Free Speech
Janice Rogers Brown California state judge Janice Rogers Brown has been promoted to the federal bench. She was confirmed Wednesday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. This is unfortunate, as she is a rotten judge who puts businesses above people. Free Speech Janice Rogers Brown rules against the free speech of ordinary people, but in favor of the free speech of businesses. Janice Rogers Brown ruled that people who live in apartments don't have the free speech rights to slip flyers about tenant meetings under each others doors; landlords can ban that in California, thanks to her (Golden Gateway Center v. Golden Gateway Tenants Ass’n, 29 P.3d 797 (Cal. 2001). In another case, she wrote in dissent that a former employee of Intel who emailed employees was trespassing by doing so. Brown wanted to stomp on his free speech (Intel Corporation v. Hamidi, 71 P.3d 296 (Cal. 2003). But when it comes to the free speech rights of businesses, then Janice Rogers Brown goes to dubious extremes in the other direction. She wrote-in-dissent that the Nike Corporation has the free speech right to lie about its labor practices in its literature. The US Supreme Court, fortunately, ruled that false advertising isn't protected by the Constitution (Kasky v. Nike, 45 P.3d 243 (Cal. 2002), cert. dismissed as improvidently granted, 123 S.Ct.) In another case, "Brown authored a dissenting opinion that would have struck down, on First Amendment grounds, an injunction that instructed a supervisor not to use racial epithets against Latino employees. The injunction was issued by a trial court judge after the employer was found liable by a jury for maintaining a discriminatory hostile work environment for Latino employees" quote from AFL-CIO website, re Aguilar v. Avis Rent-a-Car, 980 P.2d 846 (1999).
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If You Liked the Enron Mess, Then You'll Be Delighted to Have Chris Cox as the New SEC Chairman
Congressman Chris Cox (R-CA) Only once did President Bill Clinton veto a bill and then have his veto overridden. The bill was the "Private Securites Litigation Reform Act." The PSLRA was designed to make it harder for investors to get information on the companies they invest in. It says that plaintiffs need to prove wrongdoing before they can get the documents from a corporation which may show wrongdoing. The result of this pro-secrecy law was that Enron and their accounting company Arthur Andersen figured they could get away with shady accounting. Congressman Chris Cox (R-CA) helped get the House to pass the PSLRA.
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Reporter Bill Schneider: At Least He's Against Theocracy
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I'm not a fan of CNN's Bill Schneider.
I especially disliked a report he did during the Democratic primaries, in which he portrayed Democratic candidates trying to catch up to John Kerry as "vampires." However, I have to give Bill Schneider credit for this report (link to video) on Governor Rick Perry (R-TX), who signed a bill in a church.
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Conservative Con: Ben Stein is the Biggest Liar of 2005
 Ben Stein The media includes many liars. But to claim that the US would have won the war in Vietnam, and also would have won a full-scale war in Cambodia, if only Mark Felt (Deep Throat) hadn't helped Woodward and Bernstein: that is the biggest lie told this year. Ben Stein's essay can be summarized as: War is Peace. Ignorance is Strength (per the novel 1984.) This is how Ben Stein writes about Richard Nixon, during whose time in office thousands of American soldiers and millions of Vietnamese lost their lives:
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The Fuzzy Standards of the FCC
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Amanda Toering of SpeakSpeak.org wrote:
My response There is nothing wrong with a broadcast station airing “Saving Private Ryan” after 10 PM instead of earlier. It's an R-rated movie. It would be better if the FCC issued clear rules, saying that any material with expletives-or-nudity can’t be aired before 10 PM, but any material with no expletives-or-nudity can be aired before 10 PM. The biggest problem with the FCC indecency rules is their vagueness. For the FCC to tell broadcasters that a war movie with expletives can be aired at any time, but that a discussion of sex with NO EXPLETIVES (example: Howard Stern’s radio show) may result in million dollar fines, is like telling them to be mind-readers.
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Is Watergate-Style Reporting a Thing of The Past?
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The Daily Show is a self-described "fake news" show on Comedy Central.
At the end of a bit last night on the show, one of their reporters said we don't have government exposés like Watergate today, and offered this reason:
Video at Crooks and Liars. Quote via This Modern World.
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Chris Matthews, Rorschach Test
 Chris Matthews Does the media have a left-wing bias? A right-wing bias? People's opinions on media bias often coincide with how they perceive Chris Matthews, a host on cable news channel MSNBC. Brent Bozell, founder of the Media Research Center whose mission is to expose "a strident liberal bias" in the media, started an April 27 article on Matthews this way:
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Condoleeza Rice Praises Free Speech. However…
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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave a speech about Iraq on Friday, May 27, 2005 in San Franscisco, CA, at Davies Symphony Hall.
Protestors at the speech were arrested.
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Voting Rights: A Bill Against Gerrymandering
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An editorial in yesterday's New York Times discusses a bill by Rep. John Tanner (D-TN) against gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering refers here to dividing states up into Congressional districts which allow one party's candidate to easily win. The editorial describes the current problem, largely caused by the sleaziness of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX):
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Conservative Con: Rightwinger David Brooks Speaks for Karl Marx
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What would happen if a rightwing columnist tried to channel Karl Marx?
David Brooks shows us in his latest essay for the New York Times ("Karl's New Manifesto," May 29, 2005). Brooks conflates the concepts of getting a good education, getting a degree from a prestigious university, and having wealth and power, as if these all go together. And as if the most-educated are controlling America. David Brooks tries to imagine what Karl Marx would write about contemporary America:
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Greed Gone Wild: The Rich Get Richer, But Other Americans Have Less Chance of Moving Up
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The New York Times describes class in America in the article "Shadowy Lines That Still Divide," by Janny Scott and David Leonhard, published May 15, 2005:
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Cable television in the coming months will include:
the launch of former vice-president Al Gore's tv network, and comic actor Stephen Colbert of "The Daily Show" getting his own show.
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Voting Rights: The Cost of Optical Scanners vs Electronic Voting Machines
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To read about a study comparing the costs, click here.
Introduction We use optical scan voting machines throughout Minnesota. Fortunately, our Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer doesn't plan to change this. Optical scan (fill-in-the-oval) ballots are better than electronic voting machines in every way, including ease of use, ease of recounts, and price. Choosing optical scan ballots is good for citizens, but bad for voting machines companies out for profit. The state of New York is still deciding which voting machines to buy, and seems likely to let each county choose. As I described earlier this month, lobbyists for voting machine companies in New York state and elsewhere are pushing the more expensive electronic voting machines, not optical scanners. The electronic voting machine companies and their lobbyists claim YOU'LL ACTUALLY SAVE MONEY LATER BY SPENDING MORE NOW. In reality, electronic voting machines have greater initial cost and greater long-term maintenance costs.
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Conservative Con: A Bogus Study of Media Bias
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Good science is repeatable; someone who reads the study can produce the same results.
Good science is also transparent: the data and methodology are public. A recent study by the Media Research Center fails these tests. From Media Matters for America (MRC studies that "prove" media's "liberal bias" collapse under scrutiny," May 11, 2005):
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Discussion of Op-Eds and Journalism in Response to Daniel Okrent's Farewell Article
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Daniel Okrent is the outgoing Public Editor of the New York Times.
As Public Editor, it's his job to review the newspaper. There are fair reviews and unfair reviews, however. In Okrent's final column as Public Editor, he took cheap swipes at economist and op-ed writer Paul Krugman.
Acolytes Apparently, people who like Paul Krugman's articles aren't "fans." They're "acolytes." The word "acolyte" is defined at Merriam Webster's m-w.com as "1 : one who assists the clergyman in a liturgical service by performing minor duties 2 : one who attends or assists : FOLLOWER." Okrent is giving unwanted religious connotations to social science articles and people who like reading them. No Examples Also note that Okrent doesn't give any EXAMPLES of articles by Krugman which are supposedly misleading. No Response Asked of Krugman Regarding Okrent not getting a response from Krugman for use in the article: That is ok per se. Writers don't need to seek responses from everyone they write about. But Daniel Okrent makes an obnoxious spectacle of himself by writing, "I didn't give Krugman...the chance to respond... I decided to impersonate an opinion columnist."
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Fun: 'Keep Your Eyes on the Prize' Performed by Pete Seeger
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Folk singer Pete Singer gave a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, NY in 1963.
Seeger supported the Civil Rights movement. This concert was before the Civil Rights of 1964 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But his message was to keep your eyes on the prize.
To listen to some of his performance of a song on June 8, 1963, click below: To own the complete recording, buy the 2-cd set of Pete Seeger, "We Shall Overcome: The Complete CARNEGIE HALL CONCERT, Historic Live Recording, June 8, 1963."
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Greed Gone Wild: Bob Ney Accepted a Bribe
 
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff (left) and Rep. Bob Ney (right) Lobbyist Jack Abramoff is being investigated by a federal grand jury for cheating American Indian tribes out of millions. Abramoff's emails are being read as part of that investigation. These emails show that Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) accepted $32,000 from the Tigua tribe in return for supporting an amendment to reopen a casino. Bob Ney also got the Tigua to pay in part for a golf trip to Scotland which Mr. Ney took in 2002. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has the details (press release, May 16, 2005):
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The Good: Scotsman George Galloway Speaks Out Against US Senator Norm Coleman
 
United States Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) is the smiling stooge of George W. Bush. Coleman is shameless in reciting Republican talking points. Coleman portrayed John Kerry as a flip-flopper in 2004. This was in spite of the fact that Coleman went from endorsing liberal Paul Wellstone as a Democrat in 1996 to running against Wellstone as a Republican in 2002. More recently, Coleman has tried to make the UN oil-for-food scandal his signature issue; to show his allegiance to Bush by trying to shift the focus away from the corruption of the Coalition Provisional Authority and private US companies like Halliburton and onto the UN. Since Coleman's dubious election* to the Senate in 2002, I've been waiting for someone to stand up to him. Yesterday, someone did. When British member of parliament George Galloway appeared before the US Senate subcommittee on the Oil-for-Food scandal headed by Norm Coleman, Coleman read a list of documents which supposedly show Galloway funneling money to Saddam Hussein. Galloway's response was probably more than Coleman expected. After saying the accusations against him were bogus and based on fake documents, George Galloway said:
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Voting Rights: Optical Scan Ballots Used Successfully in Missouri
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I support optical-scan ballots over electronic voting machines for:
easy recounts price shorter lines The article discusses their successful use in Jefferson County, Missiouri, with their accuracy confirmed by a hand recount.
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The Newsweek-Koran Controversy: Keith Olbermann Talks About It on 'Countdown"
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I was planning to only post one article each weekday in the near future, but I wanted to share Keith Olbermann's coverage of the Newsweek controversy on tonight's "Countdown."
Olbermann points out that General Richard Meyers said on Thursday that the Newsweek article didn't cause the riots in Afghanistan. Olbermann also interviews Craig Crawford, who points out the irony of the White House bashing Newsweek for information provided and reviewed by government officials. A government official gave Newsweek the information, an official at the Pentagon and an official at Southcom reviewed the Newsweek article before publication and didn't object to the passage-about-a-guard-flushing-pages-of-the-Koran, and yet now the White House through Scott McLellan is bashing Newsweek.
To watch the video, click below:
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Conservative Con: Tom DeLay Denies His Corruption Regarding Mariana Islands Forced Prostitution
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The Marianas Islands near Japan became a US commonwealth after World War II.
Saipan is the largest island and the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands. As a commonwealth, clothing made in the Marianas can be labelled "Made in the USA." But US labor laws don’t apply. In the late 1990s, the Clinton adminstration wanted to apply US labor laws to the Marianas Islands, to prevent sweatshop labor and forced prostitution. The businessmen on the islands wanted Tom DeLay to make sure no changes passed Congress. DeLay did. Then Tom DeLay was House Majority Whip. Today DeLay is the House Majority Leader. From a blogger named dengre writing at "The Daily Kos" yesterday:
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Conservatives Dennis Prager and Robert Novak Trivialize the Holocaust
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The word "Nazi" is serious.
It shouldn't be tossed around lightly. However, two conservative columnists lack the decency to understand that. Dennis Prager, Columnist and Radio Host To Dennis Prager, there is little difference between being rude and being a Nazi. Recently, Justice Antonin Scalia and columnist Ann Coulter gave separate university lectures. Each was followed by a question-and-answer section in which a student asked a rude question. Conservative columnist Dennis Prager wrote about this, "Nazi Germany and the gas chambers play a great role in my thinking…the students…(are) our version of the Hitler Youth." Gee, Mr. Prager, maybe you should try thinking some more! Hitler Youth supported the government, they didn't question the government or its supporters. To this day, innocent people are killed and tortured. References to the Nazis may add or detract to understanding these contemporary incidents. However, Dennis Prager comparing these students who asked rude questions to Nazis trivializes the suffering of the Nazi years. Robert Novak, Columnist and TV Pundit Conservative Robert Novak also recently used a Nazi reference which trivializes the Holocaust. Robert Novak compared Senate Democrats to Nazis. This occurred during a discussion of the filibuster. On the CNN "Capital Gang" aired on May 14, 2005, Robert Novak said that compromising on the filibuster and letting Senate Democrats allow some of the filibustered judges to get confirmed (but not others) was like letting Nazis decide whom to send to a "death chamber."
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JFK's 'Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You:' Where is the Phrase From?
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Today's New York Times has some interesting letters about the origin of the oft-quoted phrase in President John F. Kennedy's 1961 Inaugural Address, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."
One says that Harvard published a collection of student writings in 1916 which included an essay advising students not to ask "What can Harvard College do for me?," but "What can I do for Harvard College?"
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Fun: Animation On the Filibuster
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There is an animation on the importance of the filibuster at:
www.savephil.com. It stars the character Phil A. Buster, explaining his importance to checks-and-balances: keeping any one group from getting too much power. The style is similar to the "Schoolhouse Rock" educational cartoons of the 1970s, except that the Phil. A Buster cartoon doesn't have singing. A previous Friday Fun article here at Move Left also has a link to an animation in the "Schoolhouse Rock" style. "Conspiracy Theory Rock" is about media ownership by corporations with other interests (military contracting, power plants.) Why We Should Save the Filibuster Returning to the filibuster, the Phil A. Buster cartoon shows the fundamental principle of keeping any one group from getting too much power. Other reasons to save the filibuster include how bad Bush's judicial nominee Janice Rogers Brown is. She wants to take us back to the early days when the Supreme Court struck down federal laws which required decent-treatment-of-workers as unconstitutional. Janice Rogers Brown denounces the New Deal as "the triumph of our socialist revolution." Another aspect of the filibuster issue is Republican hypocrisy. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, one of the biggest proponent of ending judicial filibusters, voted for the filibuster of President Clinton's judicial nominee Richard Paez on March 9, 2000.
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Greed Gone Wild: Georgia Prevents Cities from Raising Wages
When a city in Georgia decides which company to hire for work, it can consider many things. However, whether the company pays its workers a decent wage isn't one of them. From David Sirota: It would be one thing for the state to try to help workers by setting a floor for workers' rights in city contracting. It's another thing for the state to set a ceiling on workers' rights, which is the purpose of this legislation. The law says, "no local government entity may through its purchasing or contracting procedures seek to control or affect the wages or employment benefits provided by its vendors." Gee, wouldn't want a city to try to improve wages and benefits. Better that cities just seek the lowest bid, and depress wages and benefits. This awful bill was passed by a Democratic House and Republican Senate, and signed by a Republican governor. Bipartisan greed-gone-wild.
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The Good: Air America Radio Has Returned to Chicago
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Air America returned to Chicago last Thursday.
This is sweet because of the history of the liberal talk radio network. Air America Radio debuted on March 31, 2004. It was originally broadcast in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, a few smaller makets, and over the internet. Two weeks later, it was off the air in Los Angeles and Chicago.
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Voting Rights: Support 'Voters Unite!'
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Voters Unite! has been a valuable resource for this blog.
The voting rights organization provides news and other information. They're having a fundraiser. I donated $100. If you can only afford to donate $10, then please donate $10. Even if you aren't a regular visitor to "Move Left" or "Voters Unite!," there is still a reason to donate: You will be helping voting rights activists thoughout America to stay informed. There is a donation link on the right of www.votersunite.org.
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The Democrats in the Minnesota Senate proposed last week creating a fourth tax bracket of 11% on income of single filers over $166,000 ("State's wealthiest are target of tax proposal" by Patricia Lopez, Minneapolis Star Tribune , May 5, 2005.)
The proposal would affect the state's richest 42,000 people and would raise nearly a billion to pay for extra spending on schools and health care (ibid.) Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty responded by calling the proposal "profoundly stupid" ("Pawlenty calls DFL tax plan a job killer" by Patricia Lopez, Star Tribune May 6, 2005.) Pawlenty is using disrespectful language to con us. He is being tacky to create a distraction from the state's needs. Pawlenty wants to obscure the issue of funding health care and education. Regarding health care, Pawlenty wants to "kick 27,000 working adults out of the MinnesotaCare subsidized insurance program" ("Bad medicine/Decision time at the Legislature," editorial, Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 8, 2005). Regarding education, the state may close the General College of the University of Minnesota ("U of M and diversity linked in debate over General College" by Marisa Helms, Minnesota Public Radio, April 20, 2005 ) Jobs Regarding Tim Pawlenty's other remark about the proposal that raising taxes on the rich is a "job killer:" That is also a con. Under President Bill Clinton, the nation had higher federal taxes on the rich, which led to budget surpluses and more jobs
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A New York Times editorial remarks on changes in the management of PBS, the Public Broadcasting System ("Politicizing Public Broadcasting", May 4, 2005):
Journalists should question those in power. Stephen Colbert of "The Daily Show" discussed this with Al Franken, during an appearance on Franken's radio show I describe here. They weren't discussing PBS, but Colbert 's message was that journalism is a "liberal event:" questioning of power. And that is why the rightwing wants to de-legitimize journalism.
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Tom DeLay is Going Down, Part 2
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Two Congressmen expected to support Tom DeLay on the House Ethics committee are instead recusing themselves from his case.
From the AP ("2 Republicans excluded from DeLay probe," May 4, 2005):
My Speculation This isn't about creating an impartial committee to judge Tom DeLay. Lamar Smith and Tom Cole are replacements for Republicans who were kicked off the Ethics Committee at the start of this session for admonishing Tom DeLay for his earlier violations. If Lamar Smith and Tom Cole cared about impartial judgement, they wouldn't have been part of that payback. Those two Congressmen didn't decide on their own last week to recuse themselves from the future hearings on Tom DeLay. Someone in the White House told them to step down, because the White House wants Tom DeLay gone. That ride on Air Force One which Bush gave DeLay on April 26 was just to fake him out. Corporations don't like Tom DeLay undermining the judiciary with his statements that those involved in letting Terri Schiavo die will pay ("The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today," and "We will look at an arrogant, out-of-control, unaccountable judiciary that thumbed their nose at Congress and the president." ) Corporations like using the courts against consumers. Corporations want to limit consumers from using the courts to hold them accountable ("tort reform"). However, corporations want a powerful court system to use against consumers who videotape films in movie theaters, don't pay their bills, etc. Corporations control the White House, and Tom DeLay is going down.
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Fun: Musical Performance on 'Tonight Show' Asks Questions about 'When the President Talks to God'
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To watch the musical performance discussed in this article, click below:
Bright Eyes performs "When the President Talks to God" on "The Tonight Show" May 2, 2005. Folk-singer Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) performed a song Monday on "The Tonight Show" which asks questions such as,
I'm not sure whether George W. Bush believes he talks to God. Does Bush just act cynically on behalf of oil companies and credit card companies and insurance companies, or does Bush also ask for God's blessing and-in his own mind-receive it? I'm leaning towards the cynical explanation these days. A year ago, I was leaning towards the explanation that Bush does believe God blesses his decisions, though. Four examples of Bush saying God talks to him or acts through him are here (July 25, 2004), including one from Bob Woodward's book Plan of Attack, on Bush's decision to invade Iraq:
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Simple Explanation of Bush's Social Security Plan
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From the Daily Howler yesterday:
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Greed Gone Wild: Beggers and Billionaires in Minnesota
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Carl Pohlad is the owner of the baseball team, the Minnesota Twins.
In 2003, Forbes magazine described Carl Pohlad's net worth as $2 billion, and published this brief profile:
There is a new proposal being debated in Minnesota for the taxpayers to fund much of the cost of that baseball stadium. Carl Pohlad would contribute $125 million and the public $353 million through a sales tax. Why a billionaire can't get a loan from the private sector is beyond me.
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The Filibuster, as Described in a BALANCED Article from the AP
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From Questions and Answers about the filibuster, in an Associated Press article today ("Senate Dispute Over Filibuster Heats Up" by Jesse J. Holland):
If gravity were the issue discussed by the AP: (The above is a variation on comments which Sam Seder of "Air America Radio" has made about previous news articles which take the notion of balance too far.) Slippery Phrase Saying there were no Republican filibusters "successfully used to block judicial nominees from confirmation who had majority support" is full of irrelevant distinctions. If doesn't count filibusters by Republicans which failed to stop a judge's confirmation. It doesn't count Republicans blocking Clinton nominees from getting a vote through a mechanism other than the filibuster. It doesn't count successful Republican filibusters of judges, by assuming that the filibusters were done by Senators who believed the judge would be voted down without a filibuster.
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The Good: Sweatshop Protest in Colorado Succeeds
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This is a new weekly feature, "The Good," in which I'll highlight good news, people, websites, organizations, etc.
It's a follow-up to a previous weekly feature at Move Left, "Progressive Person-of-the-Week," which ran from Dec. 23, 2004 ("Russ Feingold, US Senator from Wisconsin") to March 3, 2005 ("Amnesty International Founder Peter Benenson.") One of my favorites of that series is "Progressive-Person-of-the-Week: Martin Luther King, Jr., Who Supported a Guaranteed Income." I paused the feature in March after deciding I didn't want to praise an individual every week on this blog. I'm now re-starting the feature with a more expansive theme which includes not only individuals but also groups, and the new title, "The Good." Colorado Protest Against Sweatshops The good news I'm highlighting this week is that a group of student protestors at Colorado University got the university to show more caution about buying products made in sweatshops ("Protest prompts change at CU: School joins consortium that bans sweatshop products" by Jenn Ooton, The Daily Times-Call, April 29, 2005.) After their hunger strike last Thursday, "Vice Chancellor Paul Tabolt announced to the protesters that CU will join the Worker Rights Consortium, a national group that monitors working conditions in apparel factories in developing nations." The university already belonged to the Fair Labor Association monitoring group, but the protestors were concerned about corporate conflicts-of-interest at that organization.
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Jeb Bush Can't Force a 13 Year Old Girl to Give Birth; 'Liberty Counsel' Disappointed
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From Reuters this afternoon ("Florida ends fight against abortion for 13-yr-old" by Jim Loney):
This decision not to appeal disappoints the "Liberty Counsel."
That guy wouldn't know "liberty" if he tripped over it.
See also the Move Left article:
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Voting Rights: In New York, The Greed of Voting Machine Companies
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Optical scan (fill-in-the-oval) ballots are a better system than electronic voting machines.
They're straightforward. The voters actually check the ballot. And they're less expensive than electronic voting machines. But as New York state consider what type of voting machine to replace the lever-machines with, lobbyists are pushing the big profit electronic voting machines with great success. Crooked state legislators are repeating lobbyist lies that using optical-scan ballots means huge paper costs. This argument falls apart when one considers that legislation being considered in New York state for electronic voting machines would require that they print paper ballots. But this about crooked corporations and crooked officials, not sound arguments. From The Post-Standard ("How Albany picks a new voting machine" by Erik Kriss, May 2, 2005):
The corrupt officials who support electronic voting machines are full of baloney. Supposedly, New York State can't have optical scan ballots because paper is too expensive. Never mind that electronic voting machines would need to print paper ballots themselves to have any credibility. Never mind the cost of maintaining and upgrading computers. Never mind that optical scan ballots are more reliable. Paper is too expensive! This is the ugly side of local government. If you're in New York state, please visit New Yorkers for Verifiable Voting and follow their advice about contacting your representatives.
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Reverend Pat Robertson, God, and the Weather
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Reverend Pat Robertson appeared on "This Week" on ABC on Sunday.
The Republican organizer spoke to George Stephanopoulos about politics and God. Robertson implied that God intervenes in human affairs, but not with the weather. It wasn't consistent with previous statements by Robertson. From Media Matters for America:
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Conservative Con: Bush's Two-Part Plan to Destroy Social Security
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Step1: Bush makes Social Security unpopular by making it seem like welfare.
Step 2: A future Republican president destroys Social Security altogether. From Bush's speech Thursday night:
Hey, he wants benefits of the poor to grow faster. As a liberal, I should support that, right? No, because it's a con. What Bush means is that the Social Security benefits of everyone who makes over $20,000 would be massively cut from what they've been promised. The benefits of those making less-than-$20,000 would stay the same as promised, and so they would grow faster relative to the middle class and rich. The middle class and rich get ripped off under Bush's plan. If it's enacted, then Social Security becomes less popular and easier for a future Republican president to eliminate. From Media Matters for America:
But isn't the Bush plan still better than doing nothing? No, the Bush plan is worse in every way than doing nothing. As the blogger Mock Turtle writes at Julie Saltman's blog:
American Politics Journal ("First Hundred Dazed" by JJ Balzer, Jane Grice, and Jodi Schmidt) yesterday described Bush's proposal as "turning an insurance plan that remains the greatest social program in the planet's history into a proto-welfare program." The Center for American Progress writes that, "A worker making $58,000 a year...will see his or her benefits cut by 42 percent under the president's plan."
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Cable News Channel MSNBC Without Microsoft?
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Microsoft is pulling out of the news channel with NBC, MSNBC.
Raw Story reports today that Microsoft wants to leave the cable channel, which is a distant third to Fox and CNN. Maybe if MSNBC had given liberal Phil Donahue's show more of a chance, NBC wouldn't be losing Microsoft's investment. Instead, MSNBC executives interfered in the production of "Donahue" and cancelled it after less than a year. In the documentary "Outfoxed," "Donahue" producer Jeff Cohen reported that MSNBC executives kept insisting on more rightwing guests. "Donahue" debuted in July 2002, and MSNBC cancelled it in February 2003. MSNBC replaced "Donahue" by expanding a one-hour show to hype an upcoming war, "Countdown: Iraq," to 2 hours.
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Republicans control the House, Senate and White House. They put drilling in ANWR in the budget. Also, cuts to health care for the poor. Also, even more tax cuts for the rich, with a plan to lower the capital gains tax and dividends tax. The latter move values wealth over work. John Edwards, former vice-presidential candidate, has said that under such tax cuts "millionaires sitting by their swimming pool getting their investment statements...pay a lower tax rate than their secretaries." (Nov. 15, 2003.) Republican vice-president Dick Cheney sat in the Senate during the Thursday night vote to make sure these tax breaks for the rich, cuts to health care, and drilling in the Alaskan refuge go through, in case of a tie. The actual Senate vote was 52-47. Kevin Drum wrote yesterday about this budget resolution: Tom DeLay explains what it means:
If any people who voted for Republicans in federal races in 2004 thought they were voting to ban gay marriage or criminalize abortion or show disapproval with John Kerry's terrible-yet-award-winning military service: Tom DeLay, Republican majority leader, disagrees. DeLay suggests the election was for tax cuts the rich, health care cuts and oil drilling in the Alaskan wilderness.
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Two Headlines on Social Security
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George W. Bush's press conference last night produced these headlines today:
Euphemistic:
Blunt:
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Fun: Mark Fiore Animation 'Pyramids'
The US Dept. of Agriculture has a new food pyramid of dietary recommendations for 2005.
The number of recommended calories displayed varies according to the age, gender, and activity level the user types in. The ratios between the food groups change slightly as well. Oddly, height isn't asked. Someone 5 ft. tall usually needs fewer calories than someone 6 ft. tall, but the USDA MyPyramid website recommends the same number of calories regardless of height. Another odd feature is that milk (dairy) products are treated as if they're needed in quantities as great as vegetables and more than fruit. For seniors, even more milk than vegetables is recommended by the USDA. I'm not a supporter of the old USDA Food Pyramid or the 2005 one. If it were up to me there would be no milk-group recommended by the government. Adults of every mammal except humans don't drink milk at all, let alone cow's milk (house cats being an exception.) A bull can get enough calcium without drinking milk, a gorilla can, and we can. Considering ties between the dairy-industry and the USDA, the milk-promotion isn't surprising. People don't need cows' milk or meat. Fortunately, the pyramid doesn't say meat is necessary. It does encourage people to eat meat with a "Meat and Beans" group though. For vegetarian information, you can click around Move Left Media's Veg On TV and ask questions at the message boards of the external website, VegSource. Mark Fiore Animation Working for Change is hosting a new animated cartoon by Mark Fiore which applies the pyramid concept to the US economy and more.
To watch the cartoon, click below:
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Greed Gone Wild: Wall St. Journal Says Rich Americans Pay Too Much in Taxes
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Fun with numbers:
Prove that rich Americans pay too much in taxes! Can it be done? Sure, the Wall St. Journal shows us the way ("Who Pays What," editorial, April 26, 2005.) Ignore income tax-rates. Ignore American history pre-1979. Ignore comparisons to Canada and Europe. And ignore the budget deficit. Instead of addressing these issues, focus on what percent of federal tax revenue comes from the richest 20% and the richest 0.1%. Let me explain that last point: Since the rich are getting richer, they are paying more taxes in absolute dollars as their tax rates go down. For example, suppose a CEO's income goes from a million-per-year to three-million-per-year And suppose that during that period while his income goes up, his top tax-bracket drops from 40% to 35%. The tax dollars he pays have increased with the tripling of his income, but his tax-rate has gone down, and the system has become less progressive. For lots more, including "Even 'Class Warriors' Agree, Says the Wall St. Journal," click "More" below.
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Question: Does Sean Hannity Respect Alan Colmes?
 
Sean Hannity (left) and Alan Colmes (right)
To listen to the audio discussed in this article, click below:
The Terri Schiavo case was covered last month on the Fox News cable show, "Hannity & Colmes." The show is co-hosted by rightwinger Sean Hannity and leftwinger Alan Colmes. On March 31, Sean Hannity coached two nurses about to be interviewed by Hannity's co-host Alan Colmes. The nurses are Trudy Capone and Carla Sauer Iyer and they claimed that Terri Schiavo's condition wasn't so bad, after all. Before the interview, Hannity instructed them to answer questions from Alan Colmes by saying: Does Hannity assume whatever his co-host Alan Colmes says will be "silliness?" If so, Hannity lacks respect for Colmes. Or does Hannity expect Colmes to ask valid questions, but want those valid questions dismissed as "silliness?" If so, Hannity lacks respect for the Fox News audience.
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RSS / XML for "Move Left" is now available.
These feeds provide a way to browse a bunch of blogs from one page.
For instructions, click below:
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Short Story, Happy Ending for Free Speech
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This is the whole story told by Ft. Lauderdale, Florida's Local 10 TV News in their article today, "Bush-Bashing T-Shirt Leads To Broward School Changes:"
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Voting Rights: AutoMARK Chosen by Bowie County, TX Committee
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Optical-scan (fill-in-the-oval) ballots are the best voting system which uses machines.
As a New York Times editorial last month noted (Mar. 9, 2005), "Optical-scan machines produce a better paper record than touch-screen machines because it is one the voter has actually filled out, not a receipt that the voter must check for accuracy." For states to receive federal funding for 2006 under the "Help America Vote Act," they need to provide a way for blind voters and limited-mobility voters to cast a secret ballot at polling places on Election Day. The AutoMARK machine lets voters with disabilites fill out the same optical-scan ballots as other voters. In January, I wrote approvingly about a demonstration of the AutoMARK I attended in St. Paul, Minnesota. This Friday, Bowie County, Texas decided to keep their optical-scan ballot system, and to supplement it with the AutoMARK ("Bowie County committee picks e-voting vendor" by Greg Bischof, Texarkana Gazette, Apr 23, 2005:)
The Bowie County Commissioners Court is the next step in the voting machine purchasing process for that Texas county.
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Conservative Con: Wall St. Journal Runs Op-Ed Which Promotes Belief in the Supernatural
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Peggy Noonan has a long rightwing history. She was a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan.
The Wall St. Journal now gives her a free hand to write whatever bunk she wants in a regular column on their opinion pages ("Why they ran: The new pope speaks to the inner adult in all of us," April 21, 2005):
None of this supernatural garbage belongs on the pages of a mainstream newspaper. It wasn't a miracle that the Pope John Paul II died on the day of "the vigil of Feast of the Divine Mercy." There are only 365 days in a year. Many of those days have religious or historical significance. If John Paul II died on Christmas or Easter, one could make an equally thin claim that it represents a miracle. Pope John Paul II was an important man. That doesn't mean that editors of mainstream newspapers should give free rein to people like Peggy Noonan to make supernatural claims. As far as "sightings of Mary" go: Peggy Noonan apparently believes 'sightings of Mary" are a miracle, but editors should require proof of what goes into their newspapers. Even editors of opinion pages. The editors have a responsibility to keep out of their newspapers supernatural explanations of natural phenomena. The natural explanation is that the timing of anyone's death can have significance added to it by mourners, and sighting Mary may be a dream, not a miracle. The essay gets worse, as Peggy Noonan proceeds. Conservative Con After expressing religious beliefs I assume are sincere, Peggy Noonan proceeds to try to con her readers about opponents of the new pope: I've read and listened to a lot of critics of Pope Benedict XVI over the past week. None of those critics described him as "thoughtful, eager for dialogue, sensitive, honest."
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What the US did to German citizen Khaled el-Masri.
From the New York Times ("Rice Ordered Release of German Sent to Afghan Prison in Error" by David Johnston, April 23, 2005:)
There are international laws about the treatment of prisoners: The Geneva Conventions. But under George W. Bush, the theory is that "military necessity" allows the US government to do anything to to a prisoner. If they suspect you , then you're an "enemy combatant." Not a POW, not a civilian, but a new category invented by the Bush Administration to go-around-the-Geneva-Conventions/violate-the-Geneva-Conventions and engage in cruelty. The main point here isn't that some people imprisoned by US officials are innocent. It's that every prisoner should be treated humanely; not forcibly drugged and beaten. Link to New York Times article via "This Modern World."
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Fox News' John Gibson Presents a Pack of Lies
John Gibson A recent column by Fox News' John Gibson blames Iraq for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1995 Oklohoma City bombing:
The whole thing stinks of John Gibson's lies. But spreading lies is ok if you're a Republican. In reality, those terrorist attacks had nothing do with Iraq. Ramzi Yousef wasn't an Iraqi agent. He was working for Egyption sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman. Timothy McVeigh was inspired by the rightwing anti-semitic novel, "The Turner Diaries." Compare what columnist John Gibson can get away with, versus what Dan Rather went through. Dan Rather had to resign as anchor of CBS News because he couldn't vouch with complete confidence for the authenticity of documents included in a report on Bush's National Guard service. Never mind that Dan Rather believed the documents to be authentic after giving them to document experts and talking to witnesses. Never mind that no one has proven the documents to be fake or anything in them to be false. Meanwhile, John Gibson of Fox News can spout TOTAL GARBAGE about terrorist attacks, claiming that Iraq was behind the 1993 WTC bombing and the 1995 Oklohoma City bombing, and no one demands that he resign. Again, it's ok if you're a Republican.
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Fun: 'Saturday Night Live' Skit with Condoleezza Rice and Barbara Boxer, Revisited
  Condoleezza Rice (left) and Barbara Boxer (right) To watch the video discussed in this article, click below: Condoleezza Rice was in the news over the past week for two separate cover-ups. Rice cancelled an important report, "Patterns of Global Terrorism," which has been used for 19 years. She didn't like that the statistics showed an increase in terrorism from 2003 to 2004. That weighs against the notion that the Bush Administration is making progress against terrorism. Condoleezza Rice is also trying to suppress information about John Bolton, a dubious Bush nominee for UN Ambassador.
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The American presidency has gone from the greatness of FDR's goals in a "Second Bill of Rights" to the mediocrity of George W. Bush's Social Darwinism.
FDR gave a speech on Jan. 11, 1944 about a "Second Bill of Rights." Bob Herbert wrote about this speech in an op-ed published in the New York Times Monday, "A Radical in the White House." The op-ed quotes FDR as calling for:
Bob Herbert contrasts FDR with "Bush, Cheney and DeLay, small men committed to the concentration of big bucks in the hands of the fortunate few."
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Question: Who Is Worse, Bill Frist or Tom DeLay?
 
Bill Frist (left) and Tom DeLay (right) Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Republican-TN):
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Republican-TX):
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Voting Rights: The Bizarro World's Panel to Improve Elections, Part 2
 In old Superman comic books, the hero would sometimes enter a place called The Bizarro World in which everything was opposite. The caption of the above picture is a Photoshop for satire. DC Comics and its characters have no position on Voting Rights, as far as I know.
James Baker, who stopped Florida from carrying out its recount law in 2000.The panel is called the "Carter-Baker" panel, after Jimmy Carter and James Baker. Jimmy Carter is a good man, but outnumbered by slimy men. The first meeting of this panel was yesterday. Representative John Conyers (Democrat-Michigan), another good man, described that meeting in an article he posted at the blog "Daily Kos" yesterday, titled, "Baker-Carter Election Reform Hearing: Outrageous." John Conyers is critical of the rightwing objectives of the panel: 1) Requiring photo-id of all voters (Editor's Note: Democrats are more likely to rely on public transportation and are therefore less likely to have driver's licenses.) 2) Disqualifying more provisional ballots (Editor's Note: poor people move more often on average than people in the middle, and are more likely to need provisional ballots.) 3) Promoting electronic voting machines with no voter-verifiable paper ballots (Editor's Note: The latter machines can be rigged by the Republican management of the companies which make them.)
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Admission to Yale: The Unfair Legacy Continues
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George W. Bush was admitted to Yale because his grandfather was a Yale trustee.
Now Bush is perpetuating unfair admissions, on behalf of the boyfriend of his daughter Barbara. From Greg Beato in wonkette.com today:
The Yale Rumpus says after getting the letter from Bush, Yale made Jay Blount a Silver Scholar, meaning his first year at Yale Business School will be tuition-free. This stinks. Check out the contrast between Bush's recent actions and Bush's words in August ("Bush Hits 'Legacy' College Admissions President Addresses Minority Journalists" by Amy Goldstein, Washington Post, August 7, 2004.)
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The Secretary of State's role is supposed to be the chief diplomat.
Under the leadership of George W. Bush, however, the role is chief con artist. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell used to be one of the most respected men in America. But Powell traded his credibility for the invasion of Iraq which Bush and Cheney wanted. On Feb. 5, 2003, Powell made an infamous presentation to the UN claiming Iraq had weapons-of-mass-destruction. At the time Powell's intelligence analyst on wmd, Greg Thielmann, knew the evidence was bogus ("The Man Who Knew" 60 Minutes, Feb. 4, 2004.)
The current Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice doesn't want Americans to have facts, either.
She has ordered an important report on terrorism cancelled because it shows an increase in the number of incidents from 2003 to 2004. This annual report has been used for 19 years.
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The blog The Poor Man compares singer Michael Bolton with Bush's nominee to be UN Ambassador, John R. Bolton.
One of the comparisons is:
By the way, singer Michael Bolton seemed like a decent guy to me when I heard him interviewed on the radio a decade ago. I'm posting this link because I'm against the Bush nominee, not the singer.
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A letter in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune refers to the loose regulation of mercury by Bush's EPA:
More on this subject in a previous MOVELEFT.COM article:
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Kos and Wonkette Should Co-Host a TV Show
Wonkette (left) and Kos (right) Kos (Markos Moulitsas) and Wonkette (Ana Marie Cox) are popular bloggers. Kos blogs at The Daily Kos and Wonkette at wonkette.com. Both of them have recently demonstrated their abilities to talk politics before a video camera (in separate settings). On Friday, Wonkette was a panelist at a National Press Club event about James ("Jeff Gannon") Guckert which including James Guckert himself. Wonkette showed she can think on her feet. She responded quickly and well to counter the absurd statements by James Guckert. For example, Guckert said that the Bush Administration was right to pay Armstrong Williams $240,000 because that was the only way it could get a fair hearing on its educational program "No Child Left Behind." Wonkette responded that paying someone is the opposite of getting a fair hearing. You can watch highlights of the panel including Wonkette by clicking here (via the blog "Crooks & Liars.") Kos was interviewed by Brian Lamb in Berkeley, California for the April 10 broadcast of C-Span's "Q and A." You can watch Kos being interviewed or read the transcript here.
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Nuclear Power Discussed in Letter to the New York Times
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New York Times columinst Nicholas Kristof wrote Saturday:
Kristof is wrong. Building nuclear power plants produces greenhouse gases, maintaining nuclear power plants by shipping material to and from produces greenhouse gases, dismantling old nuclear power plants produces greenhouse gases. A letter in the April 12 New York Times raises other issues with Kristof's statements.
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Howard Dean Asks for Donations for the Democrats
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I received this letter by Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic Party, yesterday.
I donated.
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Does This Girl Need a Tax Break?
Paris Hilton, model and hotel heiress Huge budget deficit. Huge national debt. What is the irresponsible thing to do? Give tax breaks to people who inherit fortunes. So that is what House Republican leaders are planning. They scheduled a vote for this week to eliminate the Estate Tax. I wish heiress Paris Hilton good luck with her shopping, modeling, and reality tv show-starring, but our government should require her to pay her share when she inherits her fortune. The Estate Tax is the fairest tax we have. Writer E. J. Dionne, Jr. discusses this issue in yesterday's Washington Post, in a column titled, "The Paris Hilton Tax Cut." Update evening of April 13, 2005 Repeal of the Estate Tax passed the House today by 272-162. George W. Bush called the repeal is "a matter of basic fairness." It's Orwellian. Tax unfairness = tax fairness to Republicans who put the super-rich above everyone else.
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Mass Arrests This Summer in New York City During the Republican Convention, Revisited
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From Democracy Now:
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The Judiciary: Republican Senator John Cornyn vs. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton
 
John Cornyn (left) and Alexander Hamilton (right) Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) made a speech against judges from the Senate floor last week. He accused judges of being too "political." I partially agree. By a margin of 5-4, justices on the Supreme Court were too political in the Bush v. Gore case in 2000 which put George W. Bush into office. That isn't the case Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) was talking about, though. He was upset by the Supreme Court case which said the death penalty is unconstitutional for convicts who committed the crime when under 18. His speech took a bizarre turn when he suggested that the public shares his objections to cases such as that one, and implied that recent courtroom violence may be inspired by this philosophical difference of opinion. My article on the two recent cases of violence involving judges, NEITHER of which had to do with judges being too political, is here. Senator Cornyn was trying to bolster his argument in a distasteful, illogical way which exploited the murders of four people in Atlanta and the murders of two people in Chicago. On Fox News Sunday, Senator Cornyn tried to explain...
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Electronic voting machines are bad in the first place.
Most don't print a voter-verifiable paper ballot, and therefore these machines allow elections to easily be rigged. Some electonic machines do print a voter-verifiable paper ballot, but even then most voters don’t check the printout anyway, and so there is still room for rigging. Optical-scan (fill-in-the-oval) ballots and plain paper ballots are superior for this reason: voters inherently check an optical-scan ballot or a paper ballot. Electronic voting machines are also bad because they're the most expensive of these options. Some counties which are buying electronic voting machines are trying to address their cost by combining precincts. Unfortunately, this will cause long lines.
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Workers Get a Paycut; Inflation Outpaces Salaries
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Hooray for economic growth!
After all, a rising tide lifts all boats, right? Wrong. CEOs are getting richer as workers are getting poorer. From the Los Angeles Times ("Wages Lagging Behind Prices: Inflation has outpaced the rise in salaries for the first time in 14 years. And workers are paying a bigger share of the cost of their healthcare" by Nicholas Riccardi, April 11, 2005:)
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Tom DeLay's Reactions to Terri Schiavo and the Tsunami
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Tom DeLay issued a statement after Terri Schiavo died (March 31):
Think Progress, an organization related to "The Center for American Progress" interpreted DeLay's statement as "threatening judges, doctors and Terri Schiavo’s husband." DeLay was creepy in another way on January 6 after 150,000 people in Asia died in a tsunami. He read a passage from the bible about people who don’t follow Jesus' teachings being like those who suffer in a flood without comment at a prayer breakfast. As the tsunami was the main news story at the time, DeLay seemed to be implying that the tsunami was God's punishment for not following the right religion.
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Consumer Ripoff Over 'Wild' Salmon
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Some people try to avoid buying farmed salmon for environmental reasons:
Another environmental issue is that farming salmon lowers the price, which in turn causes fishermen who pay a fixed mortgage on their vessels to catch more wild salmon (Note.) The solution isn't to buy fish labeled "wild salmon," though. People who buy fish labeled "wild salmon" are often buying falsely labeled farmed salmon.
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Celebrate Spring: Buy a T-Shirt from 'Air America Radio'
If you sometimes wear t-shirts with writing on them, then how about buying a t-shirt from Air America? You'll be supporting the liberal radio network. And if you wear it visibly in public, spreading the word. There are lots of people who would enjoy Air America, but aren't familiar with it. Buying a t-shirt is one of the easy ways to help Air America. Air America Radio is available in one form or another almost anywhere in the US. They have 53 stations at the time of this writing. Even if you don't live a city with an Air America station, it's still available by satellite radio and over the internet.
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"Do I think Tom DeLay will be the Majority Leader by the end of this term? No," Rep. Chris Shays (Republican-Connecticut) said Saturday.
All hail whatever new creep the Republicans choose as House Majority Leader. Rep. Chris Shays has probably felt some animosity towards DeLay at least since Congresss interfered in the Terri Schiavo case. Shays said afterwards in March, "This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy." Rep. Chris Shays is the co-sponsor of a House bill to fight the corruption of politicians through big campaign contritbutions, Shays-Meehan. It was known in the Senate as McCain Feingold, and became law under the official title, "Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002." Tom DeLay's corruption is discussed here.
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US Military Jails a CBS Cameraman in Iraq
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From the AP ("Man With CBS Credentials Detained In Iraq -US," April 8, 2005):
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Fun: Online Video Spoofs Campaign Commercials
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Updated April 16, 2005
Al Gore is launching a tv network in August. It will be called "Current," and include news and documentaries. The network has already conducted a contest in which viewers submitted videos. The winning video is about campaign commercials. Specifically, how the candidate-they're-for is often shown in color with pleasant music and nice fonts, with the camera angled-up. The opposing candidate is often shown in the opposite manner. The video is by Ben Dobyns who runs a film company near Seattle, Washington. You can watch the video by clicking below, if you have fast connection. If you have a slow connection, right-click the link below, save the video to your machine, and then navigate to the save-location and start the video from there. Winning video, titled "Campaign Ad," QuickTime format Al Gore's tv network, "Current," was originally called "IndTV," Independent Television. The emphasis was that the network will be independent in the sense that it won't be owned by a corporation. By contrast, MSNBC is owned by General Electirc, CNN is owned by Time Warner, and Fox News is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Perhaps they nixed the name "IndTV," however, after planning a highly visible partnership with Google. Partnerships are about synergy, not independence (my speculation on the name change.) For more on Al Gore's tv network, including the Google partnership, click below: "Al Gore's TV Network To Launch In August: Channel's goal is to have much of its content produced and created by viewers" by Brandee J. Tecson, MTV.com, April 5, 2005.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger is Charming, Unless You've Got Prostate Cancer
 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
It must be exciting to have a movie star as governor.
But for some Californians it's a bad kind of excitement, the I-can't-get-medical-treatment-and-I'm-going-to-die kind of excitement. David Sirota writes (April 6) :
Democratic Governor Gray Davis made cuts to the program, but Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to end it altogether. The Sacramento Bee article discusses the importance of the program ("Prostate cancer aid in peril - again For a second year, the treatment is halted and a waiting list is set up amid a budget debate" by Clea Benson, April 6, 2005).
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Some Republicans Still Want to Deprive Americans of Death-with-Dignity
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Most people don't want to be kept alive if they're ever in a vegetative state.
When the Terri Schiavo case was big news last month, an ABC News poll showed that 78% of the public would want to be allowed to die if they were in a situation like hers. But some in Congress haven't gotten the message to STAY OUT of our most personal decisions. From Doug Ireland, Apr. 6, 2005:
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Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) Exploits the Murders of Four People
 
Court reporter Julie Ann Brandau (left) and Judge Roy Barnes (right)
The people pictured above have this in common: All were murdered by Brian Nichols on March 11. Brian Nichols was in a courthouse about to stand trial for rape in Atlanta, Georgia.
Nichols beat the sheriff's deputy guarding him, Cynthia Hall, and took her gun. He fatally shot Judge Roy Barnes and court stenographer Julie Ann Brandau. Outside the courthouse, he fatally shot police Sergeant Hoyt K. Teasley. Later that evening Brian Nichols fatally shot Customs Agent David G. Willhelm, who was working on his house at the time. This horrible incident isn't too horrible to be exploited by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX).
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Voting Rights: The Sequoia Voting Machine Company Was Purchased
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On January 1st, I wrote of the Sequoia voting-machine company:
It's now too late to buy Sequoia. Last month, a press release ( Mar. 9, 2005) announced that Sequoia had been purchased by "Smartmatic, a Boca Raton, Florida-based leader in highly-secure electronic voting solutions." My point remains: Wealthy Democrats should buy another voting machine company. It hampers voting rights for concerns about inaccuracy-and-foul-play by voting machine companies to come mostly from members of one political party. Both Democrats and Republicans should advocate verified-voting.
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Phone a Republican Senator: Don't End Filibusters
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The Senate will soon decide whether to end judicial filibusters.
George W. Bush would be able to give lifetime appointments as federal judges to whomever he wants. If you have a Republican Senator, please phone that Senator to vote "No" on ending judicial filibusters. You can find a Senator's office phone-number at vote-smart.org by entering the last-name on the top-left. After phoning the office, ask to speak to someone about "judicial filibusters" and leave a message asking the Senator to vote No on ending them. If you have two Republican Senators, please call them both. There is no point in calling Democratic Senators, as they wouldn't vote to take away their own power. But if you have one or two Republican Senators, call their offices as soon as possible, during business hours. Call. Do it for Jimmy Stewart!  Jimmy Stewart filibusters as Senator Jefferson Smith in the 1939 film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," a classic directed by Frank Capra.
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Fun: Keith Olbermann Does a Takeoff On the Movie 'Network'
Keith Olbermann as Howard Beale of 1976 movie "Network" Keith Olbermann is the host of "Countdown," an hour-long news show broadcast each weeknight on MSNBC. He did a takeoff on the 1976 movie "Network," on March 24. It was at the end of a segment on predictions of the future from the 1970s. Olbermann interprets the movie "Network" as a prediction of the future of tv news, some of which has come true, such as news divisions being owned by huge corporations more interested in profits than quality. To watch, click below if you have a fast-connection. If you have slow connection, then right-click, download to your machine, and start from where you saved the file to your machine: Olbermann takeoff on movie 'Network' near-end of 6 1/2 minute segment on predictions, March 24, 2005 For ratings news, click "more" below.
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Terri Schiavo died today.
The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would want done unto you. The most important aspect of her case for me was The Golden Rule: I wanted her to be treated like I would want to be treated in that situation. I would want my family to pull the plug in days if I were in a hospital bed unable to communicate with words, and most doctors concluded I was unlikely to regain the ability to communicate with words. I similarly thought that her family should have pulled the plug long ago. Terri Schiavo suffered severe brain damage after a heart attack 15 years ago, and I respect the assessment of her husband that essentially "Terri died 15 years ago." The Bill Congress Passed and Bush Signed Which Only Applies to Terri Schiavo On March 21, Bush signed a bill strictly for the "relief" of Terri Schiavo's parents, to let them appeal the state courts decisions to federal court On the Constitutional issue, I agree with conservative Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In a decision Wednesday "to deny a rehearing to Schiavo's parents…(he) went out of his way to castigate Bush and congressional Republicans for acting 'in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for governance of a free people - our Constitution" (Conservative judge blasts Bush, Congress for role in Schiavo case" by Stephen Henderson, Knight Ridder via Kansas City Star, Mar. 30, 2005.) Congress should NOT pass laws which apply to just one person, or only the parents of one person. It is the role of the judiciary to decide individual cases. It is the proper role of Congress to pass laws which apply to everyone, and the proper role of the president to only sign laws which apply to everyone.
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Ann Coulter Is Now Ugly Inside and Out
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Ann Coulter is a rightwing columnist and tv pundit.
She used to have a distinction that while she said ugly things, it contrasted with her relatively good looks. Ann Coulter said in the late 1990s that President Bill Clinton "could be a lunatic…I think it is a rational question for Americans to ask whether their president is insane." In 1998, she looked like this:
Ann Coulter still says ugly things, like her recent remark that "Press passes can't be that hard to come by if the White House allows that old Arab Helen Thomas to sit within yards of the president."
But when it comes to those ugly remarks contrasting with good looks,
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Will Congress Choose Free Speech or Censorship for TV-and-Radio?
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I opposed "The Decency Enforcement Act of 2004."
The bill would have greatly increased FCC fines for so-called indecency on broadcast tv and radio (more in Notes section). The bill passed each house of Congress, but the House and Senate didn't reach a compromise on their different versions, and so the bill didn't become law. I'd like to say that is the end of the matter, but alas, no. Last month, the House passed "The Broadcast Indecency Act of 2005," by 389 to 38 ("House Raises Penalties for Airing Indecency" by Frank Ahrens, Washington Post, February 17, 2005):
Rep. Fred Upton's ideal world is a sanitized world. The Washington Post article proceeds to name a conservative Democrat.
Because $3 million per day is affordable to a small independent radio station?
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Voting Rights: The Bizarro World's Panel to Improve Elections
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James Baker, however, stopped Florida's recount law for close elections from being carried out. Would you want James Baker on a Voting Rights panel? Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) refused to cosponsor the "Voter Confidence Act" to require paper ballots. Would you want Tom Daschle on a Voting Rights panel? The company VoteHere opposes elections in which votes are verified with paper ballots stored at the polling place. It says, we'll give you a code-number receipt to walk away with instead, just TRUST US (more in Notes section).
Would you want the Chairman of the Board of VoteHere on a Voting Rights panel? Apparently, someone does. James Baker, Tom Daschle, and VoteHere chairman Ralph Munro are all being paid to participate in a Voting Rights commission "announced Thursday by American University's Center for Democracy and Election Management" ("Daschle to sit on voting reform board" AP via Rapid City Journal of South Dakota, Mar. 28, 2005.) The panel will develop ways to "restore full confidence of the American people in the inclusiveness and integrity of the U.S. electoral system" in the words of Ralph Munro. The only person I admire on this Voting Rights panel is Jimmy Carter. Other members of the panel are "Reps. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., and Susan Molinari, R-N.Y., and Robert Mosbacher, the first President Bush's secretary of commerce." The AP article says the members of the commission will be paid through "privately funded" channels. Who is providing the funding?
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David Shaw (left) of the Los Angeles Times wrote an op-ed published Sunday which implies journalists are accurate and bloggers are inaccurate. He doesn't mention Steve Doocy (middle) of Fox News or Judith Miller (right) of the New York Times. David Shaw writes that "many bloggers ...don't seem to worry much about being accurate" ("Do bloggers deserve basic journalistic protections?," Los Angeles Times, Mar. 27, 2005). Then David Shaw fails to name EVEN ONE BLOG which is inaccurate. The only website he names is "The Drudge Report," which isn't a blog. It's a news-portal. Shaw even admits the weakness of his example, writing, "Drudge may be more a tipster and a gossip than a true blogger." While David Shaw correctly identifies one website by a non-journalist which is inaccurate/misleading (Drudge), I can name two journalists who are inaccurate/misleading: Steve Doocy of Fox News and Judith Miller of the New York Times. On Friday, I wrote a blog-article about Fox News' Steve Doocy talking to a psychic about Terri Schiavo on a recent "Fox & Friends." This is bogus as all psychics are frauds. If I'm ever asked to name a source, I should have as much protection as Steve Doocy does. I care about accuracy. Steve Doocy may be indifferent to accuracy. Or Steve Doocy may be a believer in psychics and the supernatural, who consequently has a warped sense of what constitutes accuracy. Either way, I deserve whatever protection Steve Doocy gets.
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Mercury Pollution in Minnesota
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Mercury is dangerous to the human brain, especially for fetuses, babies, and children.
The EPA of the Bush Administration will allow coal-burning power plants to use...
The above is from a Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial of March 24, "Mercury pollution: EPA suppresses dissenting study." A letter in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune specifically discusses the mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants in Minnesota.
The DFL, Democratic Farmer Labor party, is Minnesota's Democratic party.
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Fun: Social Security Privatization Explained in Flash Animation
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To watch the animation discussed in this article, click below:
Flash about Social Security by Andy Menconi of California. The progressive organization MoveOn PAC is having a contest about Social Security in which people submit animations or games in the Macromedia Flash format. Today is the last day to submit entries to the contest, "Bush in 30 Years." The animation linked-at-the-top-of-this-article is a good entry which shows how diverting money from the Social Security fund to Wall St. would add trillions to the national debt.
In addition to showing the fiscal danger of Bush's Social Security proposal, the Flash also has banjo music. Meanwhile, the Bush Administration may be shifting their emphasis from privatization to cutting promised Social Security benefits. Robert Pozen uses the euphemism "progressive indexation" ("Republicans Consider Slowing Benefits Growth for Most" by Edmund L. Andrews, New York Times, Mar. 25, 2005.)
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Fox News: The Psychic News Network
 
Steve Doocy (left) and John Edward (right) Fox News claims to be "Real journalism: fair and balanced." Psychic John Edward appeared in person as a guest on the March 24 broadcast of "Fox & Friends" on the cable channel. The psychic announced about Terri Schiavo, "She's definitely clear on what's happening now around her." The problem: All psychics are frauds. Fox News isn't "real journalism" or "fair and balanced." Let's call Fox the "Psychic News Network" as a takeoff on Dionne Warwick's "Psychic Friends Network." To watch Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" present cable tv video clips including of the psychic go to the blog "Crooks & Liars."
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James Dobson, Ph.D, psychologist and founder of the conservative group Focus on the Family, says that he wants Terri Schiavo "treated with the dignity she deserves."
So do I. Prolonging someone's death for 15 years-and-counting isn't providing dignity, though. Disregarding someone's wishes of what they would want in sad circumstances in which he or she is in a hospital bed and can't communicate isn't providing dignity.
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'Video News Releases' by the Government Should Be Banned
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From the Washington Post ("Administration Rejects Ruling On PR Videos; GAO Called Tapes Illegal Propaganda" by Christopher Lee, March 15, 2005):
To "clarify" in a new bill is enough. Congress needs to create criminal and civil penalties against federal-government production of video-news-releases, with a 30 year statute-of-limitations. Make it a crime to spend govt. money on video news releases or to accept govt. money to produce video news releases. An administration which tries to evade current law by saying it's not propaganda if it's factual won't respond to a mere clarification. Most propaganda includes facts. Federal agencies can communicate with the public through email, postal mail, speeches, their official websites, text press releases, conversations with people who call or visit their offices, and interviews with real journalists. There is nothing desirable about the federal government producing video news releases or hiring public relations companies to produce video new releases.
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Her husband:
I hope his faith in God helps ease Michael Schiavo's pain in this sad situation. ……...
I don't think God decided to give Terri Schiavo a heart attack so that 15 years later Tom DeLay could use her to boost the conservative movement. ……... James Dobson, Ph.D, psychologist, founder of Focus on the Famiily , during a discussion of Terri Schiavo in which he says that no one should be able to decline extraodinary measures even if he or she writes a living will (Terri Schiavo didn't write one):
James Dobson's comment raises many theological questions. Why did God let Terri Schiavo have a heart attack in the first place? When people express how they would want to be treated in the future if they were in a hospital bed and couldn't communicate, why isn't that expression part of the destiny God intends?
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Al Franken Says Allowing Pollution is a 'Subsidy'
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To listen to the audio discussed in this article, click below:
Al Franken and David Sirota talk about mercury pollution during March 22, 2005 'The Al Franken Show' radio broadcast
Allowing pollution is a "subsidy for industry." It's not "free market enterprise" to let companies pollute, it's "giving them money." The implication is that when a company saves money by polluting instead of upgrading to a cleaner way of manufacturing/transporting, the public pays the price a price in: decreased health for adults Al Franken was talking to regular guest David Sirota by phone about Bush's lax regulation of mercury. Sirota said that top officials at Bush's EPA removed from an EPA report a study-about-mercury-from-the-Harvard School of Public Health. The Harvard study said the benefits of tighter mercury regulations were 100 times greater than the EPA report did. An AP article discusses how Bush's EPA suppressed information on the dangers of mercury pollution, and notes ("EPA Chided for Disregarding Mercury Study," AP via New York Times, Mar. 22, 2005):
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"The founders believed in a nation in which, as Justice Robert Jackson once wrote, we would 'submit ourselves to rulers only if under rules,'" says an editorial in today's New York Times ("A Blow to the Rule of Law.")
The editorial criticizes Congress for passing a law which names a person, Terri Schiavo, giving her parents the right to a federal appeal no one in similar circumstances has.
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 Thomas W. Swidarski, president of Diebold
The president of Diebold, a company which makes touchscreen voting machines, responded in a letter to the New York Times ("For Voting Machines We Can Trust," Mar. 14, 2005):
The president of Diebold, a manufacturer of touchscreens, is intentionally trying to mislead the public. With an optical-scan ballot system, only one optical scanner per precinct is typically needed. Many people can vote simultaneously by filling in their optical-scan ballots with one scanner in the room. With an optical-scan voting system, each voter just needs a table to lean against. If there are 16 tables, then 16 people can vote at once, for the cost of one scanner. With electronic voting machines, multiple machines are needed. Buying 16 electronic voting machines is much more expensive than buying one optical-scanner. The president of Diebold knows all this. However, he's a con man. He wrote that letter for the purpose of deceving the public, to swindle taxpayers out of millions of dollars. Do we want his company counting our votes? A company shameless enough to try to mislead the public in an open forum, cannot be trusted to count votes in secret.
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Conservative Con: Joe Lieberman Repeats Bush Lie About Social Security
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Joe Lieberman Claims a Social
Security Bill Which Hasn't Even
Been Written Can Save Us $600 Billion Per Year
Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut is a conservative Democrat. George W. Bush is trying to rush us into Social Security privatization. Part of Bush's strategy is to say that every year we wait to change Social Security costs $600 billion. That is false. Social Security is running a surplus. Bush's plan would immediately cause it to run a deficit. This Bush nonsense was exposed by New York Times columninst Paul Krugman in a March 15 column, which noted that Joe Lieberman is spouting this nonsense as well as Bush ("The $600 Billion Man.") Lieberman wrote a letter to the New York Times in response.
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The Worst Part of Congress Interfering in the Terri Schiavo Case?
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Terri Schiavo is practically dead due to a stroke 15 years ago. She's in a vegetative state and can't talk or think or feel. The state courts in Florida ruled that her feeding tube can be removed so that she can die. But Congress is passing a law for her alone, to move her case into federal court.
What is the worst part of Congress passing a law which applies only to Terri Schiavo? The ghoulish exploitation of a woman's living-corpse. On the matter of Congress trying to take over the function of the courts: The 14th amendment requires the states to give people "equal protection of the laws." Congress is interfering with Florida's ability to provide equal protection by applying a law to one person. Also the Constitution says, "No Bill of Attainder." Literally, that means Congress can't pass a law saying someone was found guilty of a crime. But the principle is against Congress singling people out in legislation. Especially for punishment. While Congress is calling this "relief" for Terri Schiavo's parents ("Trial by Legislation" by Andrew Cohen, CBS News website, Mar. 19, 2005) the state courts have already determined that Terri Schiavo would want to die in this situation, as would I and most people. Therefore, the legislation is giving Terri Schiavo punishment by prolonging her death. While George W. Bush is eager to interfere in this judicial matter, Bush doesn't have the guts to face Terri Schiavo in person. Otherwise, Bush would accept an invitation from Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband ("The Terri Schiavo Case: Schiavo: 'Come down, President Bush'" by William R. Levesqe, Mar. 20, 2005.) Michael Schiavo said, "Come down, President Bush. Come talk to me. Meet my wife. Talk to my wife and see if you get an answer. Ask her to lift her arm to shake your hand. She won't do it...Terri died 15 years ago."
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George W. Bush is touring America to try to sell the public on the privatization of Social Security.
A parody of Bush's sales pitch was written by Frank A., who posted it earlier this month in the Comments section of the blog "Crooks and Liars:"
Bush is claiming that Social Security will be "bankrupt...exhausted" unless we follow his plan. The Bush claim is dubious, since the CBO projects that if we do nothing, Social Security can pay all promised benefits until 2052, and then 81%. Furthermore, Bush hasn't given the details of his plan to the public.
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Recent Victories and Losses in the US Senate
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Good News
Bush's "Clear Skies Initiative" to dirty-the-air failed in committee ("Cloudy Future For 'Clear Skies,'" CBS/AP, CBS News wesbsite, Mar. 9, 2005.) Medicaid: budget amendment to protect healthcare-for-the-poor passed ("Senate blow to Bush Medicaid plan" by Holly Yeager, Financial Times, Mar. 18, 2005, UK Time, Mar. 17, 2005 US Time.)
Class Action Bill to make it harder for injured people to get justice passed (so-called tort reform) Bankruptcy bill to hurt people whose finances were destroyed by medical bills and other hardships passed. Drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge passed ("Dirty Footprints: We must write letters of outrage to the senators who voted to drill in ANWR, says our columnist. But maybe all there is left to do is weep" by Patti Davis, Newsweek Web Exclusive, Mar. 17, 2005.)
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Fox News' John Gibson Ridicules Adopted Children
