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LOUISVILLE /JEFFERSON COUNTY

DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEWSLETTER

Week of July 13, 2008

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CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT LIST OF EVENTS

Updated on a regular basis

Bulletin Board:

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

AFL-CIO Head Says White Workers Need to Look Beyond Race

The labor movement needs to educate its members that if they care about keeping their jobs, health care, pensions, and creating good jobs, they should support Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill), the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka said July 1.

"There is only one candidate... who is on their side... and who has earned their votes and his name is Barack Obama," Trumka said in a passionate address to the international convention of the United Steelworkers.

Trumka said that "a lot of white folks...a lot of them good union people, just can't get past this idea that there is something wrong with voting for a black man." Trumka received a standing ovation from the 3,000 delegates when he said, "those of us who know better can't afford to look the other way." The labor movement has a responsibility to challenge "racism" because "we know, better than anyone else, how racism is used to divide working people," he said.

Trumka made his remarks less than a week after the AFL- CIO June 26 endorsed Obama and said it would launch its biggest ever grassroots mobilization effort to educate working families about Obama and the "anti-worker" polices of his opponent Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)

Obama Can Win Blue-Collar Vote on the Issues

Speaking about commentators, columnists, and consultants in Washington, D.C., who ponder whether Obama will win the votes of blue-collar workers in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Michigan, Trumka said, all Obama has to do is "speak out about the issues that matter to working people."

What people are going to need to hear is that when it comes to protecting jobs, pensions, and when it comes to health care, child care, Social Security, and Medicare, and "restoring the right of collective bargaining," Obama has always been on labor's side and has voted with labor 98 percent of the time, Trumka said.

Noting that the same pundits had criticized Obama for saying that "a lot of working people in this country are angry," Trumka said it was "one of the most honest things I've heard someone running for President say in a long time. Hell yes, we're angry, and we have every right."

He said that workers are losing their jobs, pensions, and health care, and many are three or four paychecks from being homeless. "None of this had to happen," he said, but it did because there have been both Republican and Democratic leaders whose economic agenda was based on the assumption that policies that generate profits for companies "somehow translate into shared prosperity." He added that while those policies have been good for Wall Street, "they've been a nightmare for those of us who live on Main Street."

Comments:

GEORGE CARLIN ...wrote this after Brenda -his beloved wife of 36 years- died...

'The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stock room.. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

If you don't send this to at least 8 people....Who cares?'

DAILY GRILL

"I don't think the federal government of the United States needs to get involved." -- White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, 6/25/08, on Iraqi oil contract negotiations

VERSUS

"State and Commerce department officials knew about Hunt Oil's negotiations [in Iraq] and had told company officials that there were no objections. In one note, a Commerce Department official...invited them to contact him 'in case you need any support.'" -- Washington Post, 7/3/08

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I thought actually some of it was...some of the more irresponsible reporting that I've ever seen." -- White House spokesperson Tony Fratto, 6/17/07, on a Washington Times study showing that mentally distressed veterans were recruited by the VA to test suicide-linked drugs

VERSUS

"Department of Veterans Affairs watchdogs have concluded that the department failed to alert veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder in a timely manner to the dangers posed by a drug it was prescribing." -- Washington Times, 7/10/08

Quotes of the Day

Allison Haley, press secretary for Lunsford's campaign, said in a statement, "It must be easy to rake in special interest cash when you've been doing their bidding for 24 years in the Senate.

"The big oil companies alone have given McConnell over $650,000 in campaign contributions over the years. Kentucky cannot afford another six years of McConnell's misplaced loyalties. He is not on our side. It's time for change."

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Recent Senate Votes

None this week

Recent House Votes

None this week

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HUMOR

One sunny day in 2009 an old man approached the White House from across
Pennsylvania Avenue, where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."

The Marine looked at the man and said, "Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here."

The old man said, "Okay" and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."

The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here."

The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the
very same U. S. Marine, saying

"I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said,
"Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak
to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no
longer resides here. Don't you understand?"

The old man looked at the Marine and said, "Oh, I understand it.

I just love hearing it."

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "See you tomorrow sir."

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ETHICS -- TEXAS REALTORS TO PROTEST ROVE AT UPCOMING CONVENTION SPEECH: The Daily News of Galveston County, TX reported yesterday that former top Bush aide Karl Rove is scheduled as the keynote speaker at the Texas Realtors Association's convention in San Antonio this September. But when local realtors Karen Derr and Alice Melott heard the news, "they were appalled." In fact, Derr, Melott, and other area realtors have "launched an e-mail campaign to persuade the association's leaders to strike Rove from the speaker lineup." "What kind of message are we sending to the public we seek to serve by our very invitation to such an infamous politico?" Melott said in a letter to association leaders. Bill Hammond, an associate of Kerr's, agreed, saying he if the campaign proves unsuccessful, he plans to protest Rove at the convention. "Rove definitely does not embody the ethics we want the public to associate with Realtors," Hammond said. While the realtors are concerned that Rove would disrupt the convention, the realtors association chairman Randy Jeffers said that he has no plans to withdraw the offer to Rove to speak at the convention, saying he is proud that the organization will feature "one of the most influential and controversial people in public policy today."

MEDIA -- NEW YORK TIMES CALLS OUT FOX NEWS'S 'PROPAGANDA' OF DOCTORING PHOTOS: On June 28, New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg wrote that Fox News "has seen its once formidable advantage over CNN erode...as both CNN and MSNBC have added viewers at far more dramatic rates," even though Fox remains number one in the ratings. In response, Fox News anchors Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade aired a report calling Steinberg and his editor, Steven Redicliffe, "attack dogs" and called the article was a "hit piece." Fox accompanied the report with digitally altered photos of Steinberg and Redicliffe, in which "the journalists' teeth had been yellowed, their facial features exaggerated, and portions of Reddicliffe's hair moved further back on his head," Media Matters noted. Times Culture Editor Sam Sifton called the photos "disgusting." He added that the paper did not plan to respond to Fox because "it is fighting with a pig. Everyone gets dirty and the pig likes it." But in the Times today, media critic David Carr takes Fox to task for its "scorched earth" reaction to criticism. In particular, Carr writes that the anti-Semitic overtones to the distortion of Steinberg's photo recall "a technique familiar to students of vintage German propaganda" as "his ears were pulled out, his teeth splayed apart, his forehead lowered and his nose was widened." Fox News has yet to apologize for the altered photos, though a spokesperson told Carr that "altering photos for humorous effect is a common practice on cable news stations."

ADMINISTRATION -- McCLELLAN: IRAQ'S OIL 'CERTAINLY PLAYED HEAVILY' IN CHENEY'S DESIRE TO LAUNCH WAR: Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan appeared on CBC Radio One's "The Current" yesterday morning to discuss his recent memoir, in which he asserts that the Bush administration waged a "propaganda" campaign in order to "sell the war" in Iraq to the public. Inquiring about Vice President Cheney's motivations to go to war, host Jim Brown noted that Cheney "doesn't strike me as someone who would be particularly motivated by idealistic visions." McClelland said, given that Cheney was "a former chief executive officer for Halliburton...that certainly played heavily into his thinking, more so I think than the idea of transforming the Middle East into a beacon of democracy." McClellan added that he believes that President Bush never "would have made the decision to go in and invade Iraq" if "he could see what had happened." But when asked if Cheney "would do it differently a second time around," McClellan said flatly, "No." During a speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco last month, McClellan suggested some book titles for Cheney should he choose to write a memoir of his own after leaving office: "The Lies I Told," or "I Upped Halliburton's Income -- So Up Yours."

VETERANS -- WHITE HOUSE ISSUES VETO THREAT ON BIPARTISAN HOUSING BILL FOR LOW-INCOME VETS: The White House Office of Management and Budget issued a veto threat yesterday against the Homes for Heroes Act, which would provide housing assistance for low-income veterans. The bill, introduced by Rep. Al Green (D-TX), passed 412-9 in the House Wednesday; a Senate companion bill introduced by Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has 10 sponsors. The act authorizes $200 million for veterans' housing and support services, requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide at least 10,000 rental vouchers a year available for homeless veterans as well as a comprehensive report on homeless veterans to be made each year. The Statement of Administration Policy released yesterday stated that the White House opposes provisions requiring that builders of veterans' housing pay prevailing wage and that Bush's "Senior Advisors would recommend that he veto" the bill. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night and that veterans make up 23 percent of all homeless people in America.

ETHICS -- MILITARY OFFICIALS INCREASE MEDIA RESTRICTIONS AT SOLDIERS' FUNERALS: Today, Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank reports that Gina Gray, the newly appointed public affairs director at the Arlington National Cemetery, appears to have been fired for her efforts to restore media access to military interments. In April, Milbank wrote an article about how Pentagon officials had obstructed reporters from viewing the burial ceremony of Lt. Col. Billy Hall, who had been killed while serving in Iraq, even though Hall's family had granted permission to the media to cover the funeral. After Milbank's initial column, which noted that Gray was shot down by her superiors for attempting to allow reporters to access the ceremony, Gray says she was demoted, that her BlackBerry had been disconnected, and that she received various forms of pressure before eventually being fired. Milbank notes the strict rules at Arlington Cemetery are a continuation of policies started under Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who rigorously censored images of American dead and even flag-draped caskets returning home from the war. CBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan also recently raised the issue of the Pentagon concealing the death of American soldiers, asking on the Daily Show, "Tell me the last time you saw the body of a dead American soldier?"

Think Fast

"High levels of formaldehyde found in trailers provided to Hurricane Katrina evacuees on the Gulf Coast probably resulted from cheap wood and poor ventilation in designs used by manufacturers." The revelations confirm "the role that manufacturers' practices and weak federal regulation played in the public health disaster after" the hurricane.

Ohio election officials are concerned that the state's high foreclosure rates will create problems for voters in November, potentially forcing voters with outdated addresses to face pre-election challenges, take trips to multiple polling places, or cast provisional ballots that might not be counted. Ohio ranks ninth among the 50 states for foreclosures, with one in 410 homes filing for foreclosure.

Upon returning to work this week, Senate conservatives will be "under pressure after a barrage of radio and television advertisements blamed them for a 10.6 percent cut in payments to doctors who care for millions of older Americans." The ads, by the American Medical Association, urge the senators to reverse themselves and help pass the Medicare legislation needed to fend off the cut.

Thursday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) plans to introduce a single article of impeachment against President Bush "for taking our nation and our troops to war based on lies." Last month, Kucinich presented 35 impeachment articles against Bush, which have been sent to the Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) yesterday "accused an Army general of misleading Congress about problems with a major defense contractor in Iraq." Dorgan said Maj. Gen. Jerome Johnson told the Senate Armed Services Committee "in April 2007 that there were no widespread problems with water supplied by KBR, after the Pentagon's inspector general had already found that there were."

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INTERESTING

In Controversy Over Medicare Pay Cuts, Conservatives Side With Insurance Industry

Last week, the White House and its allies in the Senate, voted down a proposal that would have made “cuts to the private Medicare Advantage program” in order to finance the deferment of a 10.6% physician fee cut for doctors who treat Medicare patients.

Writing an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, Scott Gottlieb, a former policy adviser at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, laid out the conservative argument and baselessly suggested that the private insurance plans that participate in Medicare Advantage provide better care than traditional Medicare and should not be cut:

Private insurers employ thousands of doctors, nurses and pharmacists, many experts in new technologies….private plans spend roughly four times more than Medicare on “consumer services, provider support, and marketing,” which includes money spent answering the telephone to adjudicate individual issues. Smaller health plans use one clinician for every 10,000 beneficiaries. Medicare would need 4,500 clinicians to keep pace.”

But as Robert Laszewski of Health Care and Marketplace Review points out, while Medicare Advantage plans “are paid 13% more than traditional Medicare pays for similar seniors,” there is no evidence to suggest that they deliver “a better cost/quality result” than traditional Medicare programs.

As AARP CEO William D. Novelli explained, “overpayments to Medicare Advantage raise costs for beneficiaries in the traditional program.” This is because Medicare premiums increase with Medicare costs, and overpayments by Medicare “drive premiums higher than they otherwise would be.” As a result, the millions of seniors enrolled in traditional Medicare “are charged higher premiums each month to help subsidize the cost of these overpayments.”

Insurance companies pocket the extra dollars. In fact, according to a Government Accountability Report (GAO) released just last week, private plans participating in Medicare Advantage earned greater profits and spent less on benefits:

Because organizations spent less revenue on medical expenses than projected, they earned higher average profits than projected. On average, MA organizations’ self-reported actual profit margin was 5.1 percent of total revenue, which is approximately $1.14 billion more in profits in 2005 than MA organizations projected…Nearly two-thirds of beneficiaries were enrolled in health benefit plans offered by MA organizations for which the percentage of revenue dedicated to profits was greater than projected and the percentage of revenue dedicated to expenditures (medical and non-medical combined) was lower than projected.

Thus, rather than bringing Medicare Advantage payments back to parity with fee for service, and using the savings to prevent the scheduled physician fee cuts, conservatives sided with the insurance lobby.

Buy American Mention of the Week

None this Week

GOOD NEWS

Not Much good news for working families this week!

VIDEOS

McCain Revealed: The Briefing Book

John McCain on Social Security: "It's An Absolute Disgrace"

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LOUISVILLE /JEFFERSON COUNTY

DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEWSLETTER

Week of July 13, 2008

Judge Rules Wal-Mart Violated State Laws

Quotes of the Day

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