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LOUISVILLE /JEFFERSON COUNTY

DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEWSLETTER

Week of April 6, 2008

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CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT LIST OF EVENTS

Updated on a regular basis

The Louisville/Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee meets the 4th Wednesday of every month at 5:00 pm at Democratic Headquarters,           

640 Barret Avenue .

 

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REMEMBER, CHECK TO DONATE TO THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY  

ON YOUR STATE & FEDERAL TAX RETURNS

 

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2008 Kentucky Democratic Party

Reorganization Handbook

 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

 

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Elaine Chao *Refuses* 25,000 Letters

 

 

 

 

 

McCain Skips Out on Worker Roundtable by Seth Michaels

 

Yesterday, workers in Annapolis, Md., were hoping to get a chance to talk to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) about jobs, the housing crisis and the economy.

They got to have their conversation—but McCain stayed away.

What he missed was an opportunity to hear firsthand how the economic crisis is affecting real people. Beverly Norton, an AFSCME member and 20-year state employee, described her situation, one that’s all too common today. She’s at risk of losing her home because her economic situation has left her without a safety net.

I had wanted a piece of the American Dream and purchased a home. My mother became disabled two years ago and was not able to work. In two year’s time, I have gone through my 401(k), borrowed money and had to file for bankruptcy when my home was put up for foreclosure. I am not eligible for any assistance programs, and I may end up losing my home. Where can I find a decent place that I can afford? There needs to be real help for people. McCain says it will work itself out. This is not about houses, this is about people. 

Maryland State and D.C. AFL-CIO President Fred Mason, discussion moderator, said he was disappointed McCain didn’t come hear the perspectives of Beverly and others.

 

His support of the failed Bush economic agenda leads us to believe that he may not be fully aware of just how difficult it is out there for working people. Unfortunately, Senator McCain has decided not to join us today for a frank discussion about the housing and jobs crisis with those who are feeling the squeeze firsthand.

 

Today’s no-show is just another example of why Senator McCain isn’t giving working people reason to rely on him to turn our country around.

 

Union members are greeting McCain wherever he travels around the country, looking for answers about what he’ll do to help working families struggling to keep their jobs and homes. So far, they’ve been disappointed—in a much-touted address on the housing market, he blamed home owners for “causing trouble” and offered no solutions beyond coordinating meetings of mortgage lenders.

Indeed, McCain’s campaign is funded and run by lobbyists, including some who lobby for the corporations most responsible for the crisis. It’s disappointing that he won’t take the time to listen to the other side of the story.

Does he not get it, or does he not care? Either way, he’s not offering the answers people need. Even one of his fellow Republican senators gave McCain an “incomplete” for his housing speech, and he’s been missing in action on many crucial votes, including a much-needed stimulus package that failed by one vote.

McCain says he “never really understood” economics. And he’s apparently not interested in learning about pocket-book economic issues from the people most affected by the nation’s financial crisis.

More worker roundtables are set this week in Arizona and Florida—and McCain has an opportunity in each state to hear how the economic crisis is impacting the real lives of America’s workers.

For more information on McCain’s record on the issues that matter to working families, check out McCain Revealed.

 

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Comments:  

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DAILY GRILL  

 

"Illegal migrants really degrade the environment." -- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, 10/1/07

VERSUS

"In an aggressive move to finish 670 miles of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border by the end of the year, the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday announced plans to waive federal and state environmental laws." -- LA Times, 4/2/08

 

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"But the fact is we're going to need, as we have after every conflict we've been in,World War II, Korea, etc., we're going want to leave troops there to secure the peace that our soldiers have won." -- Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), 4/1/08

VERSUS

""Tonight, the day we have all worked and prayed for has finally come. For the first time in 12 years, no American military forces are in Vietnam. All of our American POW's are on their way home." -- President Nixon, 3/29/73

 

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Quotes of the Day   

 

David Gregory says Bush showed good judgment for not invading Iraq immediately after 9/11

 

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Recent Senate Votes 

 

None this week

 

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Recent House Votes 

 

None this week

 

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HUMOR       

"Hillary Clinton was in Philadelphia, where she told the crowd she is like the movie character Rocky. Now, if I remember the movie correctly, doesn't Rocky get the crap beat out of him and then he loses to the black guy?" --Jay Leno

"That's what she says, she's just like Rocky. Except for when she's in Bosnia. Then she's like Rambo." --Jay Leno

"Are you familiar with the Hillary Clinton 3 a.m. phone call commercial that she's been running? … Well, she's got another one of those, and the phone rings at 3 a.m., Hillary answers the phone, she picks it up, and she says "Stop bothering me, President Obama!" –David Letterman

"And John McCain has one of those 3 a.m. campaign commercials. In this one it's 3 a.m. and he just gets up to go to the bathroom." –David Letterman

"We're leaning more and more about John and Cindy McCain. He's on this big biography tour. I guess his wife Cindy is worth over $100 million because the family made money selling Budweiser beer. So he has a wife 20 years younger than him, free beer, and unlimited money. I think I speak for all guys when I go, 'Why is he running for president?'" --Jay Leno

"Barack Obama went bowling, and this is true, his score was 37. Out of a possible 300, he bowled 37. Of course, being a Democrat, he automatically demanded a recount, so they had to go back." --Jay Leno

"Barack Obama, of course, in the news. This weekend, Senator Barack Obama tried bowling. And his bowling score was a very low 37 -- terrible score, 37, yeah. Afterwards, Obama told reporters, 'That's it, no more white guy sports for me. That's it.' He canceled his weekend at Hockey Camp." --Conan O'Brien

"President Bush threw out the first ball the other night at the Washington Nationals home opener. Boy, wasn't is nice to see Bush throwing out something other than the Constitution?" --Jay Leno

"This weekend, Bill Clinton said Hillary should not drop out of the presidential race. Yeah, when asked why, Bill said, 'Because then she'd come home.'" --Conan O'Brien

"Hillary was caught in a bit of a lie. When she was first lady, she went to Bosnia when it was war-torn. She said that she faced sniper fire -- never happened. And had to run to the car for cover -- never happened. If only she had channeled that active fantasy world into her marriage." --Bill Maher

"Why did she lie about this? She needs the street cred for being shot at? What is she, 50 Cent? Hillary: Get Elected, Or Lie Trying." --Bill Maher

"But Hillary was trying to get back to the real issues this week, like where Barack Obama went to church. ... Have you been following the story about Reverend Wright, Barack Obama's pastor? She said if her pastor had made the comments that Reverend Wright had made, she would have left that church. Interesting distinction she makes. She also says if her pastor had been blown by Monica Lewinsky, she would have stayed." --Bill Maher

"You know who I like is that John McCain. He looks like the guy at the hardware store who makes the keys. He looks like the guy who can't stop talking about how well his tomatoes are doing. He looks like the guy who goes into town for turpentine. He looks like the guy who always has wiry hair growing out of new places. He looks like the guy who points out the spots they missed at the car wash." --David Letterman

John McCain on David Letterman: "Well, you look like a guy whose laptop would be seized by the authorities … You look like a guy caught smuggling reptiles in his pants … You look like the guy who the neighbors later say, 'He mostly kept to himself.' … You look like the night manager of a creepy motel. … And you look like the guy who enjoys getting into a hot tub and watching his swim trunks inflate." (Watch the video)

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RIGHT WING RUSHES TO McCAIN'S DEFENSE: Yesterday, MSNBC's Chuck Todd wrote that "not a day has gone by recently" without an aggressive pushback from conservatives on McCain's 100 years comment: "[T]hey are trying very hard to put the toothpaste back into the tube. They are petrified that it becomes the one thing everyone thinks they know about McCain and Iraq." Those on the far right are embracing McCain's vision for a permanent occupation. Recently, former White House adviser Karl Rove explained with approval that McCain was talking about "the projection of American power to maintain stability in a dangerous and difficult part of the world." New York Times columinist Bill Kristol praised the senator for choosing "to tell Americans the hard and unpopular truths that we'll be there [in Iraq] for a while." Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer echoed that sentiment, saying that McCain's permanent occupation creates an Iraq from which the United States "projects power and provides stability for the entire Gulf." But the Wonk Room's Matt Duss pointed out, "It's Charles Krauthammer who doesn't get that Kuwait is not Iraq, and that if we'd spent years bombing their country and kicking down their doors in the middle of the night, the Kuwaitis would want us to leave, just as the Iraqis do. ... [A]ny Iraqi government that agrees to a hundred-year U.S. presence in Iraq will never be seen as legitimate by the Iraqi people, and thus will require the presence of U.S. forces to ensure its government."
 

MILITARY -- REPORT FINDS ARMY UNCERTAIN OF BODY ARMOR SAFETY: A Defense Department Inspector General report released yesterday found that the "Army can't be sure some of its body armor met safety standards" because it "repeatedly failed to follow federal contracting rules in procuring billions of dollars worth" of the protective vests for American soldiers. According to the report, "in nearly half of the body-armor contracts given out between January 2004 and December 2006...the Army failed to require or perform so-called 'first article testing' designed to catch and correct any defects in the body-armor manufacturing process." The Army also "failed to maintain appropriate records to justify why a number of contracts were awarded in the first place." Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), who initially requested the report, said that "during a time of war, it's shameful that the Army would not scrupulously ensure that every piece of equipment is properly tested, especially a fundamentally life-and-death product such as body armor." She added, "Whoever is responsible for this needs to be fired

 

ENVIRONMENT -- INTERIOR SECRETARY FAILS TO APPEAR AT HEARING ON POLAR BEARS: Environmental groups have long noted that "global warming has already severely and adversely affected the polar bear" by causing sea ice to melt throughout the Arctic. Subsequently, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) required the Department of the Interior to rule by Jan. 9, 2008, on whether the polar bear should be listed as an endangered species, but the Department has failed to do so. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee requested that Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne appear before the committee yesterday to discuss why the department had still, three years later, failed to meet the deadline set by the ESA. But Kempthorne refused to attend the hearing, instead sending a letter which stated that he would not appear because he is the defendant in a pending case on the same matter. In response, Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) lashed out at Kempthorne. "Time has run out for this decision to be made," Boxer said. "Mr. Kempthorne not being here, I believe, is a slap at this committee and a slap at the American people who care about this."

 

DON'T FORGET ABOUT HOMEOWNERS: Billed as boosting the slumping housing market, the Foreclosure Prevention Act actually "showers money-losing businesses with $25 billion in tax relief in the next few years but offers just $3 billion to homeowners." "Benefits to businesses also dwarf $4 billion in the bill that would be given to cities and towns to buy and refurbish foreclosed and abandoned homes in an effort to stabilize communities and preserve neighboring home values." Political leaders must recognize that while this crisis must be dealt with quickly, the legislation must target the communities most greatly affected by high levels of foreclosures and rising foreclosure rates. The NYT/CBS poll reveals that Americans favor "help for individuals but not for financial institutions. A clear majority said they did not want the government to lend a hand to banks, even if the measures would help limit the depth of a recession."

 

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Think Fast     

 

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson -- who has come under widespread criticism for cronyism and corruption within his department -- "is expected to announce his resignation Monday." "The exact reasons for Mr. Jackson's decision couldn't be learned."

 

Campaign reform advocates are questioning why Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has "retreated from his longtime commitment to public financing of campaigns." After supporting full public financing, he now opposes the idea at the federal level. David Donnelly of the Public Campaign Action Fund said, "It's a legitimate question to ask the reformer, John McCain, why hasn't he made public financing the policy he will pursue if he becomes president?"

 

Prior to testimony by Gen. David Petraeus, House Republicans are launching a "full-fledged assault" on Democratic leaders, whom they accuse of trying to "legislate defeat" in Iraq. The campaign will include a "steady stream" of "op-eds and editorial board memos," an "aggressive" TV and radio operation, and an effort to "engage conservative bloggers."

 

Today, the nation's top oil executives "return to the hot seat" as the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming "examines rising gasoline prices and the industry’s opposition to efforts to repeal $18 billion in tax breaks." The money would be reinvested in renewable energy.

 

Last month, President Bush said he would attend the Olympics in Beijing this summer because he views it as "a sporting event." But given China's poor human rights record, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Bush should consider “boycotting the opening ceremony."

 

President Bush is getting sensitive about making sure he gets credit. While at the Washington Nationals home opener on Sunday, "play-by-play man Jon Miller" said to Bush, “Every year since you've been president, George [Will] has put on a special baseball dinner held at the White House." Bush quickly took umbrage at giving the conservative pundit all the credit, responding, "That's one way to put it. Another way is that George W. Bush hosts the dinner and George attends. He puts together the list."

 

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday, Army vice chief of staff Gen. Richard A. Cody said the 30,000-plus troop increase in Iraq and Afghanistan is "inflicting 'incredible stress' on soldiers and families and posing" a significant risk to the nation's all-volunteer military."

 

"For a man who came into office as the nation's first M.B.A. president, Mr. Bush has sometimes seemed invisible during the housing and credit crunch," writes The New York Times. Even Bush's conservative allies say that the President "is being eclipsed and is in danger of looking out of touch." As Congress scrambled to "produce a bill to help struggling homeowners," Bush left for Eastern Europe.

 

More than 1,000 people attended a rally Wednesday in support of a Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern (R), who was "widely criticized" for a saying homosexuality is "the biggest threat our nation has." Kern said the rally affirms the rights of those "who want to stand up for the truth of God's word."

 

Just before the March recess, "House Democrats thought they were close to getting a deal on an immigration package." But according to Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) "a senior Republican came to him" to derail the bill, saying that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) "didn't want to deal with immigration this year."

 

80,000: Number of jobs the U.S. economy shed in March, "the biggest monthly job decline in five years. ... The March unemployment rate jumped to 5.1% from 4.8%, highest since a matching rate in September 2005." These numbers were "more bleak than expected"; economists had predicted a decline "of 60,000 in non-farm payrolls and a rise in the unemployment rate to 5%."

 

"Members of Congress have as much as $196 million collectively invested in companies doing business with the Defense Department, earning millions since the onset of the Iraq war," according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

 

 

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INTERESTING  

 

Exposing McCain’s ‘Free Ride’, by Seth Michaels

 

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is running for president, and he’s running on a Bush-style platform that won’t turn America around for working families. In a time of economic crisis, this could stop his candidacy cold—because the last thing we need is more of McSame.

 

There’s one problem, though: The national press, whose job it is to talk about the policies and priorities of candidates, hasn’t given McCain any scrutiny on the real issues. The media elite decided long ago that they like him too much to look too closely.

 

As a corrective to this media bias, Media Matters for America has released Free Ride: John McCain and the Media in which authors David Brock and Paul Waldman detail exactly how the senator has been able to manipulate the press over his decades-long career in Washington.

 

Brock and Waldman note that the press holds McCain to a different standard—ignoring his flip-flops, underplaying his gaffes and keeping his hard-right voting record and lack of expertise out of their coverage. They write:

 

To grasp just how different his media image is, imagine for a moment if every politician were portrayed the way John McCain is. The focus would stay on their perceived greatest strengths, not their most glaring weaknesses. Reporters would re-tell the stories of candidates when they seemed at their best, not the moments when they were at their worst. Their “character” would be defined in the media by the noblest thing they had ever done, and the less flattering incidents would be pushed aside, to be dismissed if mentioned at all.

 

Despite his image as a campaign finance crusader, McCain is deeply tied to Washington’s lobbyist culture. Despite his image as a “maverick,” rather than a typical Republican, McCain has been a loyal vote for Bush’s priorities—voting with Bush 89 percent of the time, and 95 percent in 2007.

Cutting through the myths and the spin by getting to the truth about McCain’s record and policies, and applying public pressure on him to pledge a different course, are at the heart of the AFL-CIO’s McCain Revealed effort. Union members across the country, from New Hampshire to California, are working hard to mobilize and get the word out about, and to, John McCain.

 

 

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Don’t Believe Wall Street Hype About Social Security, by Mike Hall

 

Earlier this week, the Social Security Board of Trustees released the 65th annual report on the program’s financial status.

 

And on cue, the Bush administration and the Wall Street-knows-best crowd—now joined by Sen. John McCain (who acknowledges ” economics is something I’ve never really understood as well as I should”)—used the occasion to push for privatizing Social Security. You know, turning over seniors’ retirement security to the stock market’s financial wizards who supposedly will show a bit more fiduciary acumen than the folks who presided over Bear Stearns’ crash and burn.

 

(Click here for more on McCain and Social Security privatization. On the Democratic side, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) oppose privatizing Social Security. Go to Working Families Vote 2008 to find out more about the candidates and the issues.)

 

Bush and his cohorts in 2005 failed miserably to convince the American public that Social Security privatization was the holy grail of retirement security. But still, they persist in trying to sell this snake oil.

 

Lets take a step back from the mainstream media headlines about “Bleak Outlooks” and “Grim Reports” and look a little more closely at where Social Security actually is and where it will be down the road.

 

Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), and CBPP chief economist Chad Stone analyzed the Social Security trustees’ report and say that while there will be some challenges down the road, we are far from crisis mode. Instead, it’s more likely the real 800-pound gorilla in the nation’s financial future is the Bush administration’s tax cuts, aimed mostly at the rich. Greenstein and Stone write:

 

The trustees’ report reaffirms that Social Security does not face a near-term crisis and can continue to pay full benefits for more than three decades but will eventually face a significant imbalance.

The program will be able to pay 78 percent of full benefits when the trust fund is exhausted in 2041 (compared with 75 percent under last year’s projections). At the end of the 75-year projection window in 2082, Social Security will still be able to pay 75 percent of full benefits.

 

Anyone concerned about Social Security’s long-term shortfall ought to be equally (if not more) concerned about the long-term fiscal impact of extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.  Making the tax cuts permanent will cost more than three times as much, over the next 75 years, as the 75-year shortfall in Social Security.

 

The CBPP analysts say the policymakers concerned about future fiscal challenges should focus on a much broader picture than just Social Security, including the soaring costs of the U.S. health care system and overall government revenues—revenues Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy eliminated.

 

Greenstein and Stone point out that just by ending the Bush tax giveaway to the top 1 percent of Americans—those making more than $450,000 a year—the government could make up nearly the entire cost of the projected Social Security 75-year-shortfall. The say the additional revenue coupled with other modest changes cold restore Social Security solvency.

Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, D.C., has a bit more blunt take on the Bush administration’s Social Security report.

 

There was nothing in these reports suggesting any qualitative deterioration in the financial state of these programs compared to their situation last year. The trustees claim…”that financial pressures will begin much sooner when the programs begin paying out more in benefits each year than they collect in payroll taxes” is simply a lie.

 

Click here to read Baker’s entire analysis.

 

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Buy American Mention of the Week                      

 

None this week

 

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 Not much good news for America's Working Families this week.

 

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VIDEOS    

 

McCain Revealed: The Briefing Book

 

Bush Gives Out Wrong Phone Number For Homeowner Help Hotline

 

McCain: ‘No one has supported President Bush on Iraq more than I have.’

 

 

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CLICK HERE FOR LATEST ISSUE OF THE "FRIDAY ALERT"

 

 

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NEED COMPUTER ASSISTANCE?? 

Democrat Activist Mike Bailey is now providing “Professional Computer Support.”  He can be contacted at 502-558-4026, or mikebailey2000@usa.net. 

 

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Notice to our Readers &  2008 Primary Election Candidates:

This newsletter will carry, in this space, any Democratic candidates' notice of events or communications (250 words or less) to our readers that the candidate provides to the editor at rcrider@insightbb.com

 

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Publication of Louisville/Jefferson County Democratic Party Tim Longmeyer, Chairman Ray Crider, Editor 640 Barret Ave Louisville, Ky  40202 502-582-1999   Paid for by the Louisville/Jefferson Co Democratic Party Charlie Horton, Treasurer Produced & Printed In-House

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