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LOUISVILLE /JEFFERSON COUNTY
DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEWSLETTER
Week of February 19, 2010
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CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT LIST OF EVENTS
Updated on a regular basis
Bulletin Board:
WOW!! HARD TO BELIEVE.
A Tea Party gathering in Washington state "turned more than a bit ugly on Saturday when a featured speaker actually called for the hanging of Sen. Patty Murray." The Huffington Post's Sam Stein writes, "That a sanctioned speaker called for a hanging of an elected official…seriously pushes the boundaries of First Amendment freedom."
FIXING THE FILIBUSTER
A major part of the problem in the Senate is that it now takes a supermajority -- 60 votes -- to pass just about anything. Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic notes that "Republicans threatened to filibuster at least 100 pieces of legislation this session, far more than any other since the procedural tactic was invented."
The filibuster
gives a undue
amount of power to individual senators and
allows them to exploit the process
for their narrow
interests.
For instance, Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I-CT) threat
to filibuster health care reform forced
the removal of the public option and the Medicare
buy-in,
despite their tremendous
popularity. Moreover,
the filibuster removes
electoral accountability by
giving the losing party the ability to obstruct the winning party's agenda.
While the House passed health care reform bill with a robust public option, a clean energy and greenhouse gas pollution reduction bill to fight climate change, and a comprehensive financial regulatory reform bill, each bill languished in the Senate because of the filibuster threat.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) has proposed legislation that would gradually lower the number of votes the Senate majority would need to block filibusters, and Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) also has a petition to reduce the Senate's cloture threshold to 55 senators. Changing the filibuster would not be without precedent, as was done in 1975.
A recent poll also shows that more Americans are in favor of changing these Senate rules. In his remaining time, Bayh -- if he's truly frustrated by the inability to push progress in the Senate -- could join his fellow lawmakers and help reform the rules. "I don't understand how you make things better from the outside," said
Rep. Barney
Frank (D-MA). "I share the frustration, but I would have hoped he would have
stayed around and voted to change the filibuster rule."
THE COOK REPORT
Spinning Our Wheels
Next year the makeup of Congress may be entirely different, but dysfunction will continue to reign. by Charlie Cook
In a perfect world, Democrats are supposed to relentlessly push for higher taxes as Republicans zealously advocate for cutting government spending. The theory is that if both sides are equally passionate in pursuing their goals, there will be sufficient revenue to pay for government and enough vigilance to keep spending from spinning out of control.
But what if Democrats decided they were tired of being the piñata for
Republican attack ads on raising taxes? And what if Republicans grew weary
of being vilified for cutting spending, because every government program is
near and dear to someone's heart? What would happen then?
Congress
is no longer capable of dealing with the deficit, but it won't allow
creation of the only mechanism that could possibly solve it.
The answer is that federal spending would explode, revenues wouldn't keep up, deficits would soar, and eventually -- unless something major changed -- the crushing accumulation of debt would create a sovereign debt crisis, much like what we've seen happening the past few weeks among the so-called PIIGS, more commonly known as Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain. Moody's issued a warning recently that the U.S. government's AAA bond rating might become endangered someday. Experts say that such a day is probably five or more years down the road, but the nation's current economic path is definitely taking us in that direction.
Welcome to Washington! Having spent last weekend at an investment conference where top-notch tax and budget experts and economists warned about this country's impending fiscal crisis, I found it perfectly natural to hear Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh, one of the most moderate and pragmatic, not to mention decent, members of Congress, throw up his hands and virtually say, "This place sucks. I'm outta here!" The two-term senator from Indiana pointed to the defeat of a Senate bill a few weeks ago that would have created a federal budget deficit-reduction commission charged with developing a set of recommendations that Congress would have to adopt or reject as a whole; it would work much like the base-closure commissions that enabled Congress to deal with the dicey issue of mothballing military bases that were no longer needed.
Fifty-three senators voted in favor of the commission, seven short of the 60 needed. The 46 opponents were evenly divided between the parties, 23 from each side voting against doing what needed to be done. Clearly, Congress is no longer capable of dealing with our country's biggest problem, but it won't allow creation of the only mechanism that could possibly solve it. Democrats and Republicans are equally culpable. Well, that's just great.
What we have seen in recent years is total dysfunction. Leading up to the 2006 election, we had a Republican-controlled Congress and a Republican president, and Washington was dysfunctional. Then for two years we had a Democratic Congress and a Republican president. That, too, was dysfunctional. Now we have a Democratic Congress and Democratic president, and the federal government is still dysfunctional. After November's midterm elections, we may very well have a Republican House and a marginally Democratic Senate to go with a Democratic president. My bet is that dysfunction will continue to reign.
The source of the disarray is not simply that each side is capitulating, not living up to its end of the natural bargain, not keeping up with its natural tendencies. We also have a Congress in which any spending, no matter how specious, isn't regarded as wasteful by a given lawmaker if it goes to that member's home state or district. If every delegation puts its state's interest ahead of the national interest, then the national interest comes in about 51st. It is astonishing the spending that members seem comfortable advocating with a straight face, despite the country's mounting fiscal woes.
After Bayh's retirement announcement, I heard someone remark that the Indianan wasn't afraid of losing; he was afraid of winning and having to serve six more years in a dysfunctional institution. There seems to be little payoff for lawmakers to try to rise above their immediate political self-interest and do the right thing for the country. There appears to be widespread recognition that the last edition of Profiles in Courage has gone to the printer. No new names will be added. All too few members of Congress see any incentive to do the politically unpalatable and often politically dangerous things required to get a country out of a deep rut.
THINK FAST
Writing on the Tea Party movement, the New York Times observes, "It is a sprawling rebellion, but running through it is a narrative of impending tyranny." The Tea Party movement will play a central role at the Conservative Political Action Conference that kicks off in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
About 50 Tea Party leaders will "discuss campaign strategies and conservative principles" with RNC Chairman Michael Steele in Washington today, the first time that "a broad coalition" of the activists will meet with GOP leaders. One of the Tea Party organizers said they will also set up a meeting with the DNC, although she admitted that they "agree with more of the Republican platform."
In an interview with the Financial Times, Center for American Progress President and CEO John Podesta asserted that the current state of the U.S. political system "sucks." Podesta also strongly encouraged the Obama team to use their Cabinet officials in a way that the White House is now not doing.
Defending the stimulus on its first anniversary, President Obama "is dispatching his Cabinet across the country" to highlight programs that are putting people back to work under the $787 billion recovery bill. "In all, senior administration officials are scheduled to visit 35 communities before Friday to counter Republican claims the massive deficit-spending program has failed."
American and Pakistani intelligence forces captured the Taliban's top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan. U.S. officials said Baradar -- the second in command to Taliban leader Mullah Muhammed Omar -- is "the most significant Taliban figure to be detained" since the start of the war in 2001.
The country's largest banks have ramped up their spending on lobbying "to fight off some of the stiffest regulatory proposals pending in Congress." Lobbying expenditures "jumped 12% from 2008 to $29.8 million last year among the eight banks and private equity firms that spent the most to influence legislation."
"At least four major trade associations are looking to hire" new leaders, positions that will likely be filled by retiring lawmakers. With salaries in excess of $1 million a year, the "revolving door" is "troubling to some government watchdogs."
If you can't
make it to the White House for a photo-op with the President, you can now
instead visit the Madame Tussauds wax museum at The Venetian in Las Vegas.
In fact,
the Obama figure is "the most popular in Las
Vegas"
and has twice been "removed
for maintenance because of manhandling."
Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) suggested yesterday that "his fellow Republicans should question what the White House plans to do at its health care summit before deciding whether to attend." In order to work with Republicans, Bond said President Obama should "start from scratch and not go back to tweaking" the health care bills that passed both chambers of Congress last year.
After a four-hour long meeting with RNC Chairman Michael Steele last night, tea party leaders asked if they could use the Republican Party's facilities for a news conference. The Republican leaders, "probably wary of TV footage showing a tea party takeover" of RNC headquarters, "wouldn't allow it."
As the annual Conservative Political Action Conference kicks off in Washington, D.C. today, a new CNN poll finds that Tea Party activists "tend to be male, rural, upscale, and overwhelmingly conservative." Although this movement tries to portray itself as independent from either political party, the poll "indicates that Tea Party activists would vote overwhelmingly Republican in a two-party race for Congress."
Republican leaders in the Senate are reportedly "hoping to persuade waffling members of their Conference to block Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) $15 billion jobs bill." GOP leadership aides laid out their strategy to a gathering of more than 100 lobbyists yesterday.
YOUR COMMENTS
The American Worker – An Endangered Species
In light of the recent Supreme Court decision that discarded over a hundred years of US campaign law precedence and now completely enthrones corporations with unlimited influence and the freedom to purchase our representative government (to an even greater extent than already achieved) as “citizens” with uninhibited rights to free speech under Senate Minority Leader McConnell’s argument that money equals speech, I believe it is well within the realm of possibilities and reason – as well as urgently necessary - to extend Endangered Species Act protections to the American Worker and the broader species of American Middle Class made up primarily by these workers.
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is intended to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a “consequence of economic growth and development un-tempered by adequate concerns and conservation”.
You may argue that the American Worker is not a "species" as defined by the
Endangered Species Act, and I will argue that this is a unique, proud, and
vital species that fills a crucial function in our nation’s web of life. The
American Worker acts as an indicator species for a nation, as frogs and
other amphibians act as indicators of the health of an eco-system. As goes
the American worker – so goes the nation. This is apparent in the slow
jobless recovery before us now. This is a result of the decline of the
American Worker lost primarily due to the decline of our manufacturing
base. As per a recent American Prospect article entitled “The Plight of
American Manufacturing”: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_plight_of_american_manufacturing
“Without an industrial base, an increase in consumer spending, which pulled
the country out of past recessions, will not put Americans back to work.
Without an industrial base, the nation's trade deficit will continue to
grow. Without an industrial base, there will be no economic ladder for a
generation of immigrants, stranded in low-paying service-sector jobs.
Without an industrial base, the United States will be increasingly dependent
on foreign manufacturers even for its key military technology.”
You may also choose to argue that the Endangered Species Act is intended to address environmental issues that threaten to extinguish species, and not the changes in the global economy. My response is that American Workers find themselves in the midst of an environment – man made through policies and agreements – that undeniably threatens their existence. Policies and agreements have altered the environment in which this species, on which a nation’s survival depends, must live. Since China’s 2001 entry into the Word Trade organization, the United States has lost over 42,000 FACTORIES. With the decline of this habitat (as spotted owl needs old growth forest and salmon require great lengths of unobstructed fast flowing clear cool streams and rivers, the American Worker naturally requires factories to provide manufacturing jobs) the species either disappears or attempts to evolve to survive. The predominate evolutionary options available – i.e. the “do you want fries with that” and “Would you like a cart” of the service economy - only delay the inevitable decline of the American Worker species over a relatively short span of time and hastens the collapse of the nation over the long term. As Americans stop making the products they continued to buy - clothing, computers, consumer electronics, flat-screen TVs, household items, and millions of automobiles – our nation’s wealth is transferred elsewhere at an ever increasing rate. While revenue streams which support the government supplied safety net, essential government services, and infrastructure shrink; more Americans require support to survive in this new environment. Current public debt as well as unfunded entitlements continues to rise as revenue falls. Eventually this new deadly environment inflicts its toxic nature on all related species through its kudzu vine like pervasiveness as it strangles the financial system, our schools and Universities, our health care system, our infrastructure and all other symbiotic micro-cultures necessary to the health of the nation. The health of the whole relies inexorably upon the health of the endangered American Worker.
Whereas
the preservation of the American Bald Eagle and other species required
eliminating the use of DDT and related toxins, the preservation of the
endangered American Worker requires the banning of toxic imports – lead and
melamine poisoned toys, foods and other consumer goods, as well as toxic
drywall, as well as…. (the list seems endless), along with invasive imports
produced in environments that undercut US jobs by disregarding the
environment and basic human rights. It is not protectionism to insist that
goods imported to the United States meet the same minimal standards that
must be met if produced in the United States. And in the long run, those
nations that now appear to prosper from the export of these dangerous goods
are well served by the United States exercising the power of our market to
bring these nations to compliance. The current Chinese economic growth is
similar to an algae blooms from to nutrient runoff - the growth is
miraculous, only to be followed by a wide spread collapse as the growth
absorbs all available oxygen, thus making life unsustainable and resulting
in the system’s collapse and an indiscriminate kill off of all. China and
many other developing nations are on the path to catastrophic collapse as
the environmental conditions approach the breaking point and life (both
human and economic) are unsustainable.
Like the preservation of other species under the Endangered Species Act, the protection of the endangered American Worker/American Middle Class will require specific actions to restore the environment to a state in which this species and the nation can again thrive.
(1) Redefine Free Trade: true free – equitable – trade places the human dignity of both American workers and that of workers in developing countries ahead of Global-National Corporate interests.
We must set a new standard of Free trade on a level, humane and sustainable playing field. We can not continue asking US workers to compete with workers in nations that do not recognize worker's rights, employ child or prison labor, enforce no environmental or worker safety standards and are found to be dumping often hazardous products below production cost onto the world market and US ports. We can not in clear conscience continue to consume goods and services from producers who subject their workers and planet to such abuses. In such a trade environment, it is a race to the bottom.
(2) Corporate Accountability: If the issue is the competitiveness of US business in the global market, then we must take an honest look at all aspects of competiveness to include corporate executive compensation. Huge CEO bonuses continue to be paid by corporations; even those that have received federal bail-out money in the billions .Yet the American worker is asked to bear an ever greater portion of their health insurance costs, real adjusted wages continue to drop, while the American Worker is forced to compete with slave wages in a third world sweat shop as his or her job is under constant threat of "outsourcing".
In the U.S. Army, our service men and women are expected to exemplify values contained in the Acronym LDRSHIP. Loyalty-Dedication to Duty- Respect - Selfless Service-Honor-Integrity-Professionalism. These values are expected of our troops and demanded of our leaders. I believe our corporate leaders must adopt these values if we are to compete in a global market. The sheer greed of CEOs is disloyal and a disservice to their communities, their employees and the best interest of their Nation. The ever- widening disparity between CEOs and their workers is unethical, disrespectful to working men and women, dishonorable, and completely lacking in integrity. If American business is to compete in the global economy, CEOs must become leaders rather than looters. To do otherwise is immoral, inconsistent with our American values and truly puts the United States at a competitive disadvantage in the global market. If morality escapes these CEOs, then Government must not fail to protect the American Worker and the long term economic health of the nation through proper legislative limits to executive compensation.
(3) Reaffirm the principles of collective representation as a requisite protection to human rights:
"It is one of the characteristics of a free and democratic nation that it have free and independent labor unions."- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
We must encourage a vital new revitalized labor movement which represents the interests of the vast majority of Americans and is instrumental in the extension of the basic human rights. The rights we enjoy as the noble legacy of organized labor here in the United States are under attack. We must move to bolster these gains here at home while simultaneously extending these basic human rights to the farthest out posts of the global economy.
Globally, this effort would begin with the insistence that all free trade partners recognize and respect a worker’s right to organized representation. This effort would begin at home with the revision of the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act.
In a free-equitable trade environment, with ethical corporate governance that respects basic human dignity guaranteed by the right to organized representation; US ingenuity and the American work ethic will prevail and lift a global community. In the current environment, we are engaged in a race to the bottom. We must redefine and set new standards for the global economy.
Ron Leach
Hardinsburg KY
More Walmart Workers on Medicaid, Unemployed
But the real news in Wal-Mart's announcement is that more employees are uninsured and more employees are relying on state aid. The AP reports:
The number of Wal-Mart employees with health coverage — provided by either Wal-Mart or another source — dropped from 94 percent last year to 87 percent.
Wal-Mart said 43,000 of its workers receive health coverage through a state assistance program, up from 36,000 last year.
So not only does Walmart fail to insure 644,000 of its workers, a whopping 182,000 are left completely uninsured while another 43,000 (that Walmart admits to) must rely on Medicaid and other state run programs.
David Tovar, Walmart's spokesperson said, "We believe this is just one more indicator that our nation's current health care system is not sustainable." But the comment fails to understand that Walmart is a part of the problem with our nation's current health care system. Employers have to take some of the responsibility for providing health insurance and they fail to take any.
Recent Senate Votes
Cloture
Motion, Nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board
- Vote Rejected (52-33, 15 Not Voting)
The Senate rejected this motion to move forward on the nomination of Craig
Becker to the National Labor Relations Board.
Sen. Mitch McConnell voted
NO
Sen. Jim Bunning voted
NO
NONE THIS WEEK
ECONOMY -- REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS WHO OPPOSED THE STIMULUS SEEK FEDERAL FUNDS FOR THEIR DISTRICTS: At the House GOP retreat last month, President Obama called out the hypocrisy of Republican opponents of his stimulus plan who had "gone to appear at ribbon-cuttings for the same projects that [they] voted against." While all but three Republicans in both chambers of Congress voted against the economic recovery bill, many more of them have sought funds from the legislation for their home districts and taken credit for projects funded by the Recovery Act.
T
he Wall Street
Journal reported today that "more
than a dozen Republican lawmakers"
wrote letters supporting "stimulus-funding requests submitted to the
Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Forest
Service." The list includes some of the most outspoken stimulus critics.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) called the bill a "wasteful spending spree" but then
"wrote to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in October in support of a grant
application from a group in his district which, he said, 'intends to place
1,000 workers in green jobs.'" National Republican Senatorial Committee
Chairman Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) sent two letters to the Environmental
Protection Agency "asking for consideration of grants for clean diesel
projects in San Antonio and Houston."
The Wall Street Journal's report follows a similar piece published last week by the Washington Times, exposing another dozen Republicans who sent letters requesting "stimulus money for home-state pork" to the Department of Agriculture.
Melanie Sloan, director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, summed up the hypocrisy: "It's not illegal to talk out of both sides of your mouth, but it does seem to be a level of dishonesty troubling to the American public."
GOP HYPOCRISY: "One year later, one thing is clear: the stimulus bill has failed," said Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) added, "This was not the plan Americans asked for or the results they were promised." However, Republicans are not so down on the stimulus when it comes to trumpeting money in their home states and districts. A new report by The Progress Report released yesterday documents 110 Republicans -- more than half of the GOP caucus -- who are "guilty of stimulus hypocrisy," as they voted against the act but have since claimed credit for its benefits or asked for more funding. For instance,
McConnell has returned to Kentucky to brag about money for the Blue Grass Army Depot; Rep. Steve King (R-IA) "issued an upbeat statement" about stimulus dollars dedicated to widening U.S. Highway 20 in Iowa; and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) has hosted multiple job fairs populated by stimulus recipients looking to hire Plus, the Wall Street Journal reported that "more than a dozen Republican lawmakers supported stimulus-funding requests submitted to the Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Forest Service."
As MSNBC's Rachel Maddow put it, "[O]n policy terms, [Republicans] have been caught bragging on the stimulus as good policy." However, Republicans are steadfastly refusing to concede that their actions are hypocritical, with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) writing that there is nothing wrong with trying to claim stimulus money if Democrats are "hellbent to spend the money anyway."
HUMOR
"President
Obama has announced
that he’s approving construction of two new nuclear reactors. And
George W. Bush
immediately stood up and screamed, 'It's nucular!' –David Letterman
"And like every president, President Obama is now worried about the poll
numbers because they continue just to kind of whittle away and going down
and down and down. So he decided to turn things around. What he's going to
do is invite himself to the White House for a beer." –David Letterman
"There's a bit of a scandal in men's figure skating at the Olympics. Three
skaters have tested positive for 'fabulous.'" –David Letterman
"In curling, they get a 40 lb. granite stone and send it down the ice and
then they sweep the debris from in front of it. It's all the fun of
shuffleboard, plus household chores." –David Letterman
"Tiger
Woods called a press
conference for Friday morning. Only select journalists will be invited and
no questions will be taken. Essentially, we’re going to listen to him read.
Maybe he’ll announce a new batch of mistresses for 2010." –Jimmy Kimmel
INTERESTING
Stimulus Hypocrisy Can’t Even Pass The Fox News Laugh Test: Cavuto Hits GOP For ‘Being Selective’ In Its ‘Rage’
Today, the Wall Street Journal reported on more than a dozen Republican lawmakers who voted against the stimulus last year but subsequently “supported stimulus-funding requests” submitted by their constituents to federal agencies. One such lawmaker was Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH), who said she didn’t believe “that it would create the jobs that were promised.” In November, she even issued a call to “recall the stimulus funds that have not been spent.” Of course, Schmidt wasn’t so concerned about the federal deficit to turn down supporting “funding requests from local organizations training workers for energy-efficiency projects.”
Today, Fox News’ Neil Cavuto pushed her on her hypocrisy. Schmidt spun all sorts of circles trying to justify her move, saying that she would still “return that money to the Treasury” if she could, but the “genie is out of the bottle.” Cavuto repeatedly asked her how Republicans were any different from Democrats, pointed out how what they were doing was “offensive” to some folks, and hit her for sending a “mixed message.”
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) went on next and defended Schmidt: “She’s being very genuine in saying, ‘Look, I wouldn’t have voted for the stimulus.’ … But if she’s going to be held accountable, and the people in her district and the people in the entire country are going to have to pay for it, well then yes, certainly the Democrats aren’t suggesting that the stimulus dollars go to just the Democratic counties.” “You’re being very selective in your rage here,” concluded Cavuto.
Buy American Mention of the Week, By Roger Simmermaker
None this week
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Roger Simmermaker is the author of How Americans Can Buy American: The Power of Consumer Patriotism and writes "Buy American Mention of the Week" articles for WorldNetDaily.com and his website www.howtobuyamerican.com. Roger is a member of the Machinists Union and National Writers Union, has been a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, and has been quoted in the USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Business Week among many other publications.
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