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31 Dec 2004
THIS WEEK: Pick up Chattanooga's The Pulse
See first of a regular political column
called THE BAILOUT
Happy New Year?!
(Or What's Coming Around the Corner?)
30 Dec 2004
STARTING THIS WEEK: Pick up The Pulse
and see John's first of a regular political column
called THE BAILOUT
America, a Theocracy: The Religious Right's
REVISION of American History & Government
29 Dec 2004
Tsunami:
Nature Shrugs and Tens of Thousands Die
27 Dec 2004
FIVE big ones FROM THE SOUTH in 2004:
One Step Backward, One Step Sideways, Half-Step Forward Square-Dancing to Progress
1.
FEAR VS. PROGRESS: In a sudden and insane backward step, Rhea County officials voted to lock up all gays, but then they stepped forward just as suddenly to rescind their vote and permit a Gay Pride May event in Dayton, TN - Truly paradoxical, embarrassing, and stupid! If there's any proof left, however, that the idea of PROGRESS is still cherished by Americans, it is this story.
2.
MADNESS VS. PROGRESS: Alabama Judge Roy Moore's wild ride from defying the federal courts to appealing to the Supreme Court - Plucked from his perch by a jury of his peers, Moore waged a campaign in 2004, towing his 2.5-ton Ten Commandments monument around the country and appealing to the highest court in the land to reclaim his job. He was met by silence. Madness has no place in law.
3.
ARROGANCE VS. PROGRESS: Rumsfeld caught in the cross-hairs of Southern bluntness about HILLBILLY ARMOR - It had to be the most delightful irony that the right-leaning Chattanooga Times Free Press would break the story concerning failed security for National Guardsmen and U.S. Reservists, and that a country boy from North Georgia would call Rumsfeld on the carpet. Pride cometh after the lies, and the fall after the pride. In this vein, see a trailer of the film GUNNER PALACE, which will be released in theaters in March 2005.
4.
RED STATES VS. PROGRESS: Four hurricanes in one political season, all in RED STATES, should have spelled disaster for George Bush - If four wham-bam storms in a row had hit BLUE states, the Rev. Jerry Falwell would have been calling it God's wrath on a sinful nation - "That Massachusetts court brought on God's punishment," etc. But then, that's not what happened; in fact, Hurricane IVAN stomped across the Alabama Bible Belt then back down it! And Bush was given multiple photo opportunities to get on the ground with Floridians. PROGRESSIVE institutions (such as FEMA) and PROGRESSIVE measures (such as federal funds in the millions of dollars) came to his brother's hanging state. There were no hanging chads in the election. So how could it have been stolen? And I'm selling swamp land right in the middle of hurricane alley.
5.
MONEY VS. PROGRESS: TennCare crisis draws calls for saving it by Clinton and other Democrats who favor a more efficient and cost-saving system under federal management to profiteering under private management - "Whether TennCare is either modified or dropped, ultimately, I believe the nation will have a medical coverage plan that will look like TennCare," Clinton said. "Ned Ray blazed a trail there." With crisis comes talk of money. Decision time: Who will finally benefit the most from healthcare reform? The money-makers or the patients?
26 Dec 2004
Harold Ford & Social Security
[Thanks to Alice O'Dea for providing an update
leading to today's links!]
1.
March 25, 2004, Centrist.Org panel: Ford willing to privatize Social Security - He isn't even blue enough to be a Blue Dog Democrat. Why? Because Ford acts as if he's doing the poor a favor by promoting Bush's "ownership society" and proposal for Social Security privatization. In this March forum, Ford acts and talks Red Republicanism - promising what many economists say would put Social Security in the RED. Yes, Ford is from a Red state but did not get to office on Red principles. Southern Democrats may be conservative, but they have also been faithful to supporting Social Security. Let's be at least a little suspect when privatizing social security comes when all branches of government are controlled by Republicans! Do we really believe that this White House and this Congress - both of which brought you record deficits, a new all-time high debt limit, a tax cut benefitting the richest, a worsening Iraqi quagmire, Patriot Act I & II, and failed leaders (such as Donald Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, and Condi Rice, just to name a few) - deserve to be given any right to privatize Social Security?
2.
Talking Points Memo author Josh Marshall criticizes Ford on privatizing Social Security - Marshall is an accomplished pol writer and observer. Marshall includes Harold Ford in his Fainthearted Faction. These are "Democrats who look most likely to go wobbly when President Bush comes a'courting, asking for votes to phase out Social Security." Now some are calling Ford the DEAN OF THE FAINTHEARTED FACTION. Is this the Democrat we want in the U.S. Senate? To be fair, let's assume Ford is playing a high-risk game with the Republicans so that he can win in 2006. What proof do we have that he will win by losing trust with loyal senior-citizen Democrats?
3.
Bob Novak, Right-Wing Columnist, Applauds Ford's Break with Democrats - Shaping the Social Security argument in terms of inevitable collapse, Novak praises then Rep. Jim DeMint (now U.S. Senator) from South Carolina for his Social Security Reform bill and for getting Rep. Harold Ford to work with him. When you have Novak praising you, you know you are making Republicans happy. DeMint calls Ford "visionary" and one "who understands the need to address the wealth gap in America." Privatizing Social Security is going to narrow the gap between rich and poor? You have to be kidding! BTW, there's one little dirty detail in all this backslapping: DeMint's plan will cost $8.2 trillion over 75 years. But then who's counting? The bankers will be if they make the loan. But the rest of us will pay. The only thing the Republicans are counting is the potential for more investments on Wall Street.
4.
To be fair to Ford, he would not sign on to DeMint's bill until he was assured about where funding would come - Ford in his own words at SocialSecurityChoice.org in September of 2003.
5.
Democrat in California, Rep. Adam Schiff's statement on why privatizing Social Security should be off the table - Even my son understands this one: You can't buy that Xbox game until you have the money! And you can't borrow to privatize Social Security when Bush has not only spent the $5 trillion+ surplus left by Clinton, but also driven our government into record-setting debt and deficit territory. Schiff says NO to such insane ideas. Why does Ford want to go along with Republicans? You know, if you walk and talk and swim like a duck, you're probably a duck.
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