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LOUISVILLE /JEFFERSON COUNTY

DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEWSLETTER

Week of December 5, 2008

 

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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 .

 


     
    SPREAD THE WEALTH, REBUILD AMERICA, Posted by Jim Hightower

     

    When Barack Obama said, "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody," John McCain and his right-wing chorus blew a gasket and threw a hissy fit. He's a socialist, a Marxist, a "redistributionist" they screeched!

     

    Obviously, they were more upset than the electorate was. Indeed, I think your average working stiffs perked up, high-fived one another, and said, "Oh, yeah – it's time to spread the wealth." After all, for the past three decades, Washington has been busily redistributing our wealth upward to the richest one percent of Americans.

     

    Using everything from tax giveaways to trade scams, they've shoved practically all of the economic gains that everyone helped produce up to those at the top. Now, the top-heavy "tinkle-down" economy they created is crashing, bringing down the housing market, Wall Street banks, and a host of industries.

     

    Of course, Washington reacted by rushing to bailout the bankers and the speculators who caused the crash. That hasn't seemed to benefit anyone but – surprise! – the elites. So, yeah, let's spread the wealth into the grassroots economy, so ordinary workaday folks can lift our country up.

     

    One way to do this is with a massive, nationwide "Rebuild America" program, similar to what Obama has proposed, only bigger and bolder. Let's enlist millions of Americans to repair our deteriorating roads, bridges, schools, parks, etc. – while also developing conservation programs, solar and wind power, plug-in hybrid cars, high-speed trains, and other essentials for a new green economy.

     

    Yes, this will be costly, but – unlike the gabillion dollar giveaway to Wall Street hucksters – this is a sensible investment that'll produce tangible results for every American and restore our nation's economic strength. Think about it: Money is like manure – it only works if you spread it around.

     

     

    Statement of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies:

     

    Tickets to the 56th Inaugural Ceremonies will be provided free of charge and distributed through Members of the 111th Congress. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies does not provide tickets to the public. Members of the public interested in attending the Inaugural Ceremonies should contact their Member of Congress or U.S. Senators to request tickets.

     

    Senator Mitch McConnell

    502-582-6304

     

    Senator Jim Bunning

    502-582.5341
     

    Congressman John Yarmuth

    502-582-5129

    Inauguration Ticket Request

     

    The public should also be aware that no website or other ticket outlet actually has inaugural swearing-in tickets to sell, regardless of what they may claim. Tickets will not be distributed to Congressional offices until the week before the inauguration and will require in-person pick-up.

     

    "Any website or ticket broker claiming that they have inaugural tickets is simply not telling the truth," said Howard Gantman, Staff Director for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. "Tickets for the swearing-in of President-elect are all provided through members of Congress, and the President-elect and Vice President-elect through the Presidential Inaugural Committee. We urge the public to view any offers of tickets for sale with great skepticism."

     


     

    Sarah Palin: The New and 'Explosive' Leader of the GOP

     

    A standup comic once joked about his inner monologue while rubbernecking through the scene of a car accident. First the serious reaction: "Oh! How horrifying! How awful!" Then the morbidly gleeful: "Cool! Is that an arm?"

     

    Watching the Republican Party implosion and subsequent bloody flailing has become my favorite spectator sport. "Wow, the Republican Party is really, really horribly mangled," then, "Cool! Palin's making an ass of herself on TV again!"

     

    Why the excitement? Well, it appears as if she's being christened as the de facto leader of the Republican Party. Wednesday, for example, instead of attributing his victory to the well-known Republican majority in Georgia, Saxby Chambliss credited his expected victory to Sarah Palin's stump speeches:

     

    "...when she walks in a room, folks just explode."

     

    Explode? Smart choice of words, Senator. Sarah Palin makes Republicans explode. Perfect.

     

    If Palin, in fact, becomes the leader of the Republican Party, exploding is precisely what will happen -- and not in the weirdly excited-slash-sexual way Chambliss seemed to imply. Specifically, Sarah Palin is a walking, talking psychobomb, and elevating her to anything beyond a near-term novelty will be disastrous -- in a word, "explosive" -- for the Republican Party.

     

    And it'll be almost too much fun to watch.

     

    As of right now, we have several contenders for this post. There's "Sister Sarah" (a nickname I don't quite understand). There's the twice divorced former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. There's Bobby Jindal, the far-right governor of Louisiana. And Tuesday, we learned that Jeb Bush might be running for Senate and thus throwing his gigantic hat into the fight for the future of the party.

     

    How screwed are the Republicans right now? Put it this way: the sanest contender in the above list is named "Bush." Yes, Bush: a name that proved to be even less popular this year than the name "Hussein." Yet there he is front and center.

     

    Now, it's important to clarify the schadenfreude and why the aforementioned Republican contenders are so much fun, and, more importantly, why many fellow liberals are rooting for them to keep talking.

     

    Simply put, Palin and the others, will serve to more or less confine the Republican Party to the deep South where there are enough white fundamentalist hoopleheads to provide the GOP with a respectable electoral showing, but not enough support to seriously compete nationally. In other words, the Republicans are inexplicably pushing names that will do much more harm than good. And that's just fine and dandy.

     

    For instance, apart from her unserious pageant walking and clueless turkey geeking, it's practically impossible for Sarah Palin, with her far-right ideology and divisive politics, to expand a Republican electorate that's already suffering from, well, shrinkage. Her appeal is so laser-focused on a rabidly fanboy-ish chunk of the GOP base that many more Americans who would otherwise vote Republican will surely continue to snap to other options. Meanwhile, the Palin base -- the fanboys who are "exploding" over Sarah Palin -- are a mélange of Bush dead-enders, disgruntled former Bush loyalists who haven't yet realized that the only difference between Palin and Bush is, well, lipstick, and, of course, way too many disturbingly pervy older men. Outside of this narrow demographic, everyone else thinks she's more or less an earnest yet embarrassing joke.

     

    Anecdotally speaking, while working the polls on Election Day, I overheard more than one relatively uninformed, uneducated Republican -- I mean, guys who probably think "peeance freeance" is an actual foreign policy term -- turn to their buddy and say (paraphrasing), "Palin's kind of an idiot. And she probably don't know what peeance freeance means neither."

     

    The only possibilities for the resuscitation of the Republican Party are either, 1) a failed Obama presidency or, 2) an as-of-yet unannounced transformative and inspirational Republican figure.

     

    There's nothing to really indicate the former, but there's always the freak possibility that a random cascade of uncontrollable events could swing the White House into turmoil. It happened to President Carter.

     

    As for the latter, I really can't think of a Republican answer to Barack Obama. Once again, however, the Republicans are betting on either Sarah Palin or Bobby Jindal to be the knock-off Bizarro Obama. Palin aside, the notion that Jindal is the "Republican Obama" amplifies how truly ridiculous and desperate the Republicans are.

     

    They're making a huge mistake in assuming that just because Jindal is young and of unusual ethnic origins that he's the equivalent of Barack Obama -- in the same way they mistakenly calculated that Sarah Palin would attract female voters just because she's a woman, even though she possessed none of the positive qualities of Senator Clinton. It's totally shallow and vaguely racist. A party which has so often dealt in identity politics and racial divisiveness to suddenly go, "Hey, look over here! We have an ethnic, too!" seems weird and awful to me.

     

    Additionally, Jindal's religious extremism won't manufacture any new Republican voters from the middle -- he's anti-choice without exceptions, he supports teaching creationism as a science in public schools and, yes, he once performed an exorcism on a friend who he believed was possessed by a demon. Yeah, if there's one thing the Republican Party needs more of, it's religious zealotry.

    So we have an exorcist, a Bush, a turkey geeker who makes people explode, and Newt, who, by the way, wrote a book imagining if the South had won the Civil War. If these cable reality show misfits represent the future of the Republican Party, it's going to be a seriously entertaining four years.

     

    BobCesca.com  source

     


     

    Fla. GOP refuses to seat white supremacist

     

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A 19-year-old white supremacist says he'll sue a Florida county's Republican Party for refusing to seat him on its executive committee.

     

    Derek Black, who won an election for the party post after campaigning around West Palm Beach, Fla., says Palm Beach County GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein is trying to block his rightful spot on the committee because he did not sign a party loyalty oath, the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post reported Monday.

     

    Black is the son of Don Black, a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and is supported by another former KKK grand wizard, former Louisiana legislator David Duke.

     

    "We're going to fight," Duke said. "I know Derek Black is going to fight for his constitutional liberties. That's why I'm here, because I want to assist Derek." When asked if he thought voters knew who they were voting for when they cast ballots for Black, Duke said, "Irrelevant question. He got the votes. He won election."

     

    "(Black) participates in white supremacist activities," Dinerstein told the Post. "We're the party of Lincoln. We're the party that says we don't judge anybody by the color of their skin."

     


     

    Activists, or those who want to get active, can contact Kathryn Hargraves if they want to participate in a letter-writing group for our new president. The address is KMHDem@insightbb.com.


    President-Elect Obama has asked for our support in bringing change to America. One way we can support him is by writing letters to the editor. We've already witnessed the pre-election whisper campaign, and the months to come may well bring an escalation in the misinformation war.

     

    If you would be interested in working together on supportive letters to the editor (the more of us writing letters, the more likely at least one of them will be published), please contact me at KMHDem@insightbb.com.

     

    In the meantime, be sure to sign up for news about the transition at http://www.change.gov. I look forward to hearing from you!

     


     

 

Labor Department Lies by Tula Connell

The Bush administration hasn’t even packed its bags, and already we hear the first of what undoubtedly will be an ongoing string of revelations about how U.S. workers and taxpayers have been deceived over the past eight years by the Bush Labor Department.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released yesterday finds the Labor Department gave Congress false numbers on cost savings it supposedly was incurring by hiring outside contractors.

As TobyWollin at Firedoglake writes:

President George W. Bush’s Labor Department misled Congress in an effort to prove outsourcing jobs to private companies was more efficient than assigning the jobs to government employees, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Monday.

This from today’s Washington Post:

“DOL’s savings reports are not reliable: A sample of three reports contained inaccuracies, and others used projections when actual numbers were available, which sometimes resulted in overstated savings,” the GAO report said. “Because of these and other weaknesses, DOL is hindered in its ability to determine if services are being provided more efficiently as a result of competitive sourcing.”

Kudos to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), chairmen of the Senate and House appropriations subcommittees with jurisdiction over the Labor Department, who asked for the report. According to the Post, Harkin and Obey urged Congress not to fund the competition program until the GAO provided the answers. Here’s what they had to say in a statement yesterday:

“Under the direction of this White House, the Department of Labor has increasingly attempted to move work performed by Federal employees to private contractors” and, in so doing, hurt workers’ morale and “grossly overstated savings,” they wrote. “We look forward to working with the Obama Administration to strengthen the Department of Labor as it undertakes the critical missions of making sure our workplaces are safe; protecting employee pensions, health benefits and rights; and providing workers with the skills they need to compete successfully in the 21st century economy.

So do we.

 


 

Conservatives Fear Progressives Will Shift Power ‘Back In Favor Of Unions’

 

For some time, The Wonk Room has been making the case that income inequality is a real problem that is caused by stagnating wages and declining union numbers. This week, the International Labor Office (ILO) released its Global Wage Report for 2008/9, which shows that wages in the United States and around the world are declining, as are rates of unionization and collective bargaining. This is leading to more widespread income inequality, and all of its associated adverse effects.

 

The ILO found that between 1995 and 2007, real wage growth in the United States was essentially 0 percent, and in 2009 wages will “decline by 0.5 percent in industrial countries and grow by no more than 1.1 per cent globally.” The Center for American Progress Action Fund has found that weekly wages were actually 0.3 percent lower in June 2008 than they were in March 2001.

 

This stagnation — which occurred at the same time that CEO pay steadily increased — has led to severe income inequality. The ILO found that the U.S. is one of the countries in which “the gap between top and bottom wages has increased most rapidly.” Indeed, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported recently that “in the United States, the richest 10 percent earn an average of US$93,000 — the highest level in the OECD. The poorest 10 percent earn an average of US$5,800 — about 20 percent lower than the OECD average.”

 

As the ILO pointed out, income inequity has serious economic consequences:

 

There are also many economic costs associated with higher inequality, such as higher crime rates, higher expenditures on private and public security, worse public health outcomes and lower average educational achievements. A growing body of studies also highlights the importance of reducing inequality to achieve poverty reduction.

 

Furthermore, as the Center for American Progress’ Sabina Dewan explained, “declining wages means a decrease in purchasing power and a slowing down of global consumption at a time when the wheels of the world’s economic engine are already grinding to a halt.”

 

To alter the downward trajectory of wages, the ILO makes two suggestions: better designed and managed minimum wage laws and stronger collective bargaining for workers. A step that could be taken here in the U.S. to make stronger bargaining possible is passing the Employee Free Choice Act, which would help to ease the path toward unionization — and thus higher wages and better benefits — for America’s workers.

 


 

Bush issues order denying bargaining rights to fed employees, by SusanG

 

Ah, the carnage of the the long goodbye:

 

President Bush issued an executive order on Monday that denies collective bargaining rights to about 8,600 federal employees who work in law enforcement, intelligence and other agencies responsible for national security.

 

Mr. Bush said it would be inconsistent with "national security requirements" to allow those employees to engage in collective bargaining with respect to the conditions of their employment.

 

Among those affected are 5,000 employees of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is now part of the Justice Department.

 

The text of the executive order can be found here.

 

Because nothing ensures our national security quite like people who aren't allowed to organize for decent pay and working conditions. Seems to me these are exactly the types of employees you would want to keep off the "disgruntled worker" list.

 

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ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH STRIPS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS FROM FEDERAL EMPLOYEES: President Bush issued an executive order "that denies collective bargaining rights to about 8,600 federal employees who work in law enforcement, intelligence and other agencies responsible for national security," the New York Times reports today. Nine hundred of the employees affected were already represented by collective bargaining units. Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said that employees "had their collective bargaining rights stripped away for no justifiable reason." The executive order is just one of Bush's many last-minute regulations, orders, and proposed rule changes, many of which reduce the power of organized labor. New rules make it harder for employees to take time off, require labor unions to file extensive financial reports, and make it harder to regulate toxic substances on the job. For more on Bush's 11th hour rules, check out The Progress Report's report: "Bush's Backward Sprint To The Finish."
 


 

Comments:  

 

Have your comments printed here.  Send them to LJCDP@louisvilledem.com

 


 

DAILY GRILL

 

"This may be much more of a financial problem, that is, one sector, while the rest of the economy is doing rather well." -- George Will, 11/30/08

VERSUS

"The nation's unemployment rate bolted to a 14-year high of 6.5 percent in October as another 240,000 jobs were cut, far worse than economists expected and stark proof the economy is deteriorating at an alarmingly rapid pace."  -- AP, 11/7/08

 

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"[T]here are accusations of mistreatment at Guantanamo, but there's certainly no proof that ever happened." -- Bill O'Reilly, 12/1/08

VERSUS

"Captives at Guantánamo Bay were chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor for 18 hours or more, urinating and defecating on themselves, an FBI report has revealed." -- The Guardian, 1/3/07

 

 


 

Quotes of the Day   

 

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) accepted an honorary degree from Harvard University. "I have often been called a liberal, and it usually was not meant to be a compliment," he said. "But I remember what my brother said about liberalism shortly before he was elected president. "He said if by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people...If that is what they mean by liberal, I am proud to be a liberal," Kennedy said.

 

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Says Limbaugh: "You know the old phrase, 'You keep your friends close and your enemies closer?' How can she run for president in 2012? She'd have to run against the incumbent and be critical of him _ the one who made her secretary of state."

 


TOP     

 

Recent Senate Votes 

 

The Senate is adjourned but will convene pro forma sessions Dec. 2 and Dec. 5.

 

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  •  

    Recent House Votes 

     

    The House is in recess, subject to the call of the chair.

     

     

    TOP

    HUMOR    

     

     "In a speech this morning, Barack Obama said, 'This isn't about big government or small government. It's about building a smarter government.' When he heard this, President Bush said, 'I get it. I get it. I'm leaving.'" --Conan O'Brien

    "Yesterday, President-elect Barack Obama announced his new economic team. You know what he should do? Hire those people who were in charge of his fundraising campaign. We can pay this thing off in like a week." --Jay Leno

    "Earlier today, John McCain was in the news. John McCain gave his first press conference since the election. And he said, 'For a lot of people, Sarah Palin was an energizing factor during the campaign.' Unfortunately for McCain, those people are called Democrats." --Conan O'Brien

    "Well, it doesn't look as if the U.S. automakers are going to get their bailout money. Congress said yesterday they were concerned about giving the Big Three automakers money just to keep making the same stupid mistakes. And, believe me, when it comes to making the same stupid mistakes, Congress knows what it's talking about." --Jay Leno

    "A lot of people have forgotten about President Bush, but this transitional period is a busy time for President Bush as well. He's busy granting pardons. Today, he pardoned Sarah Palin for her interview with Katie Couric." --David Letterman

    "I guess Sarah Palin is back in Alaska, where she pardoned some turkeys for Thanksgiving. So she pardons them and then right behind her, someone kills some turkeys, and it was gruesome. I honestly haven't seen a slaughter like that since November 4." --David Letterman

    "Alaska Governor Sarah Palin pardoned a turkey, though she said she was amazed to find out that, besides being a bird, Turkey is also a country. Did you see that all over the internet today? While Sarah Palin was pardoning a turkey, right behind her was a guy slaughtering turkeys. ... But, see, like most internet stories, a little half-true. Turns out that, after a couple of minutes listening to Sarah Palin's voice, the turkeys said 'Kill us now.'" --Jay Leno

    "Hillary Clinton is going to be secretary of State in the Obama administration. Well, political insiders are now saying that Barack and Hillary actually have a good working relationship, but they don't have a close personal relationship. No, wait a minute, that's Hill and Bill." --David Letterman

    "In political news, it looks like Hillary Clinton accepted Barack Obama's offer to be secretary of state. Very exciting. She accepted after Barack Obama's vetting process could not find any link between her and Bill Clinton." --Jay Leno

    "That Obama is a smart, hard-working guy. And he has promised now to stabilize the economy, going to rebuild the infrastructure, create millions of new jobs, catch bin Laden. President Bush said, 'Uh, you can do that?'" --David Letterman

    "Finally we got some good news about the economy. Barack Obama got $800 billion to rescue the economy. All I can say is, 'Thank you, Oprah.'" --David Letterman

    "A New York elementary school became the first school in the country to be named after Barack Obama. Yeah, that's very nice. Yeah, unfortunately, no one likes their team's new nickname, the Fighting Husseins." --Conan O'Brien

    "Well you know what's really strange? If she gets this job, she would be the first official to take the job overseeing homeland security working for a guy, if he wasn't president, whose name would probably be on the no-fly list. 'Barack Hussein Obama? Yeah, step off to the side, please. Thank you.'" --Jay Leno

    "You folks feeling the economic pinch? Are you a little fed up with the economic news? It's bad. The department stores, this holiday season, no Santa Claus. They're laying off department-store Santa Clauses. So more bad news for John McCain." --David Letterman

    "According to some statistics the government released yesterday, Mexican immigration to the United States has dropped 42 percent over the last two years. And you have to hand it to President Bush, he knew that the way to stop people from sneaking into the country, it's not to build a fence or a wall, it's to make this country very undesirable. Most illegal immigrants come here to make money, but now we don't have any money anymore. That's Number 43 for you, always thinking ahead." --Jimmy Kimmel
     


    TOP

     

           
    HEALTH CARE -- NEW MEDICAID RULE FORCES STRUGGLING AMERICANS TO PAY MORE FOR CARE: Last Tuesday, the Bush administration issued a new federal rule that would allow states to "deny care or coverage to Medicaid beneficiaries who do not pay their premiums or their share of the cost for a particular item or service." In what the New York Times describes as a "sea change" in Medicaid, states will now "charge premiums and higher co-payments for doctors' services, hospital care and prescription drugs provided to low-income people under Medicaid." According to the Congressional Budget Office, 13 million low-income people -- about a fifth of Medicaid recipients -- will face new or higher co-payments and "some individuals may choose to delay or forgo care rather than pay their cost-sharing obligations." The rule has elicited criticism from "the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association for Home Care and AARP, among other groups," who said that higher co-payments would make it more difficult for low-income children, homebound people, and older Americans to get care.
     

    ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH'S LAST-MINUTE RULE GUTTING WORKER PROTECTIONS MAY VIOLATE HIS OWN GUIDELINES: The Labor Department -- which has been "widely criticized for walking away from its regulatory function across a range of issues, including wage and hour law and workplace safety" -- is attempting to complete a rule making it more difficult to regulate toxic substances and chemicals that affect workers on the job. Public health officials and labor unions say the rule, which has strong support from business groups and is opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, "would delay needed protections for workers, resulting in additional deaths and illnesses." The New York Times noted that this proposal "appears to violate a memorandum issued in early May by Joshua B. Bolten, the White House chief of staff." "Except in extraordinary circumstances," Mr. Bolten wrote, "regulations to be finalized in this administration should be proposed no later than June 1, 2008, and final regulations should be issued no later than Nov. 1, 2008." The proposal is "one of about 20 highly contentious rules the Bush administration is planning to issue" in its final weeks.
     
    MEDIA -- FOX'S CHRIS WALLACE DEFENDS BUSH ON ABUSE OF POWER: Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace defended President Bush yesterday against criticism from filmmaker Ron Howard that Bush had abused the office of the presidency in way similar to President Richard Nixon. "Richard Nixon's crimes were committed purely in the interest of his own political gain," Wallace told Howard before an audience after viewing the filmmaker's new film "Frost/Nixon." "I think to compare what Nixon did, and the abuses of power for pure political self preservation, to George W. Bush trying to protect this country -- even if you disagree with rendition or waterboarding -- it seems to me is both a gross misreading of history both then and now," Wallace said. But Wallace ignores the fact that many of the Bush administration's abuses of power were, in fact, political in nature -- such as the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson and the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. Bush's abuses of power in the name of protecting the country have had disastrous consequences. Bush's torture policies has not only undermined American prestige around the world and violated domestic and international law, but a former Special Operations interrogator recently noted that it "is fair to say" that they have cost the same number of American lives as those lost in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

     

    ADMINISTRATION -- ROVE IS ORCHESTRATING THE 'BUSH LEGACY PROJECT': President Bush's interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson this week was the "first of several planned 'exit interviews.'" According to White House press secretary Dana Perino, Bush's next interview will be with ABC's Cynthia McFadden on the topic of the faith-based initiative, which will air on Nightline next week. If the first interview with Gibson provides any clue as to what we can expect from these interviews, Bush will paint a rosy picture of his legacy and "refuse to take responsibility for a single thing that went wrong on his watch," as the Washington Post's Dan Froomkin observed. On CNN yesterday, the Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes revealed that former Bush adviser Karl Rove is currently orchestrating the Bush legacy project. "There's an ongoing Bush legacy project that's been meeting in the White House, really, with senior advisers, Karl Rove, Karen Hughes has been involved, current senior Bush administration advisers," said Hayes. "They are looking at how to sort of roll out the President's legacy." Rove has previously been reported to be advising the George W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation and is said to be spearheading the conservative Institute for Democracy think tank that will accompany the future Bush library at Southern Methodist University.
     

    ADMINISTRATION -- WHITE HOUSE DECIDES AGAINST HANGING 'IMPEACH BUSH' ORNAMENT: When First Lady Laura Bush asked members of Congress to pick local artists to decorate the White House Christmas tree, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) turned to a local arts organization who assigned the task to Deborah Lawrence. The Seattle-based artist said, "I was at first nauseated, then realized it was an opportunity to highlight Jim McDermott because he's a hero of mine." So Lawrence, who frequently combines politics and satire in her work, covered a nine-inch ball "with swirly red and white stripes -- and, in tiny glued-on text, salutes the Democratic congressman's support for a resolution to impeach President Bush." But unfortunately for Lawrence, Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for Laura Bush, reported yesterday afternoon that the ornament would not be displayed. "It's inappropriate and it's not being hung. ... We reviewed the ornament along with all the [other] ornaments, and Mrs. Bush deemed it inappropriate for the holiday tree," McDonough said. Lawrence responded, "Oh, dear. This doesn't really surprise me. But it's disappointing that I won't get to see it on the tree." While Lawrence's ornament was deemed "inappropriate" for public display on the tree, Lawrence was still  allowed to attend "the White House reception for the artists yesterday ('They let us in') but didn't get a chance to chat with the hostess."

     


     

    Think Fast  

     

    The 110th Congress passed only about 3.3 percent of all the bills introduced, the lowest success rate since 1976. A full 32 percent "did nothing more than rename a federal building," up from the 25 percent of legislation representing ceremonial bills from the 109th Congress.
     

    Jonathan Lifschutz, a Long Island supporter of Barack Obama, says he has been forced to hide his OBAMA vanity license plates inside his car because people keep trying to steal them. He said "would-be thieves tried prying off the plates and he even caught one man red-handed. He jokes the Empire State plates one day will be a collector's item -- in someone else's house. So he's taken them off his car and put his old plates back on."

     

    An independent and bipartisan congressionally-mandated task force has concluded that the "odds that terrorists will soon strike a major city with weapons of mass destruction are now better than even." The report "singled out Pakistan as a grave concern because of its terrorist networks, history of instability and arsenal of several dozen nuclear warheads."

     

    Bush administration lawyers will appear in court at 10 am PST today "to convince a federal judge to let stand a law granting retroactive legal immunity to the nation's telecoms, which are accused of transmitting Americans' private communications to the National Security Agency without warrants."

     

    4,207: The number of U.S. troops who have died in Iraq as of yesterday. U.S. combat casualties in Iraq fell to their lowest level last month.

     

    In an interview with Vanity Fair, Tina Fey talks about the discomfort of playing Gov. Sarah Palin (R) in Palin's presence. "I just didn't want to have to do the impression at the same time with her," she said. "One, it would shine a light on the inaccuracies of the impression, and, two, it's just always...the only word I can think of is 'sweaty.' It just always feels sweaty." Commenting on her impressions of Palin, Fey said, "I feel clean about it. All these jokes were fair hits."

     

    Former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) told Politico, "I am considering" a run for Senate, after Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) announced yesterday he would retire in 2010. "A lot of people are calling him and contacting him and encouraging him to look seriously at this," a source close to Bush said. In an e-mail to ABC's The Note, Bush wrote, "I am going to think about it for the next month or so."

     

    Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson "was awarded a $4 million bonus in 2008" and was granted 225,000 shares of restricted stock. He will also receive a 10 percent increase in his annual salary in 2009, raising his base salary to $2.06 million.

     

    Yesterday, federal prosecutors expanded the corruption indictment against former NYC police commissioner Bernie Kerik. "The main charges -- that Kerik accepted free apartment renovations from a would-be city contractor, lied to the White House and filed false income tax returns -- remain," but the indictment adds new details regarding Kerik's lies about his finances.

     

    Yesterday, the White House approved "one of the most contentious" regulations officials are trying to push through in Bush's final weeks in office, making it "easier for coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys." Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson claimed that the new rule would "protect fish, wildlife and streams."

     

    Although District and federal officials expect approximately four million people to descend upon the nation’s capital for Barack Obama’s inauguration, many Republican staffers are planning to "surrender the town for warmer weather and, in some cases, a nice profit." GOP lobbyist Jason Roe said, "I am hoping to capitalize on the enthusiasm by renting my house for $2,000 a night and spending it in the Virgin Islands." Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) aide Gregory Keeley said he would unfortunately likely stay in town for work. "It's not going to be my favorite place to be, put it that way," Keeley said. "If there's a horse out of Dodge, I'd like to be on it."
     


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    INTERESTING   

     

    Obama's Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy
    Stunning Break with Last Eight Years

     

    In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.


    Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS' "Sixty Minutes" on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.


    But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.


    According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.


    "Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."


    The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off."


    The President-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.


    "Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.

     


     

    PRICING FANS OUT OF THE GAME, Posted by Jim Hightower

    Generations of Americans have enjoyed whiling away an afternoon or evening with friends and family at the ballpark, joining in the old sports tune, "Take me out to the ballgame." But if you’re an average Joe or Jill today, you’ve been taken out of the ballgame by corporate owners who now cater to upscale customers, pricing the experience beyond the reach of regular folks.

     

    Look at the new Yankee Stadium. It will only have half as many bleacher seats as the venerable old stadium next door. The old ballpark, now being bulldozed, was known as "The House That Ruth Built,” because The Babe drew thousands of working class fans to each game, filling those bleachers.

     

    But the new edifice is reaching for a much higher-end demographic than Joe Sixpack, boasting more than three times as many luxury skyboxes as its more egalitarian predecessor. The draw is no longer to the game itself, but to the scene – a chance for Wall Streeters, corporate chieftains, politicians, and other suits to see and be seen, to schmooze with each other in the splendid isolation of the pricey boxes.

     

    Team owners have also come up with a new financial gimmick that shuts out average fans. Even to get a chance to buy season tickets for the games in such new football stadiums as the one the New York Jets will soon use, a gamer must first purchase a PSL – personal seat license. These go for $5,000 or more. This doesn’t get you an actual seat at the games, just the “license” to buy tickets – which sell for roughly $120 per seat, per game. So a family of four wanting season tickets to root for their team must pay $20,000 for PSLs, then shell out $500 for four tickets to each game. And that doesn’t count gas, parking, hot dogs, a cold beer, and souvenirs.

     

    Forget “Take me out to the ballgame” – regular folks are just plain getting taken.

     

    “The changing face of the sports fan,” www.cnn.com, October 8, 2008.

     


     

     

    Buy American Mention of the Week, By Roger Simmermaker      

     

    American-made presents under an American-made tree

     

    With Christmas Day about a month away, many patriotic Americans are thinking about what kind of American-made gifts they can find to put under their Christmas trees. These same patriotic Americans may want to get an American-made, artificial Christmas tree to decorate and display as a gathering place for all those great and thoughtful gifts for friends and loved ones as well, but the problem is many consumers don't know where to go to get one.

     

    If you're planning on heading out to the stores to find an American-made artificial tree, you're probably going to end up wasting your time. By ordering from www.uschristmastree.com you can save time, avoid the headaches of dealing with all that traffic, and support American workers at the same time.

     

    It's no secret that many Americans are losing their jobs in today's unstable and uncertain economy, and you can help make both the economy and the lives of more Americans more stable and more certain by buying an American-made artificial tree instead of that cheap, Chinese-made tree you might have seen at the mall.

     

    The prices at www.uschristmastree.com start at $27.99 for a three-foot tree and start as low as $99.00 for a 6.5-foot tree. But if you type in the special code HTBA just before checkout, you'll save a full 10 percent off of your purchase price. Your tree will be made in New York where it will be shipped just a few days after your order. And in keeping with the Christmas spirit, you'll know you've given one of the best gifts you could ever give - the prospect that another American will be able to keep their job and be able to buy Christmas gifts of their loved ones.

     

    You can choose from some of the most popular types of artificial trees including Alberta Pine, Columbia Fir, White Pine, Aberdeen Pine and Douglas Fir.

     

    If you have any questions about any of the trees at www.uschristmastree.com, they'll be happy to answer them at their American-based customer service center by calling 1-877-437-1225. You can even ask them about their 110 percent money-back guaranteee. That's how sure they are you'll be satisfied with their 100 percent American-crafted U.S. Christmas trees!

     

    One of the hardest areas to buy American these days is in the apparel category, but that's not a problem if you visit www.theunionshop.org, where you'll find union-made, American-made clothing of all kinds for men, women, kids, and even pets. You'll also find American-made accessories like aprons, tote bags, fleece blankets and more. And for something surprisingly special this Christmas, check out their impressive collection of custom-carved glass. And now you can save 10 percent when you type in the special HTBA code before checkout.

     

    With all the talk about how best to stimulate the economy these days, the folks at www.theunionshop.org know that the best economic stimulus can be achieved by buying U.S.-made products, and that's exactly what they offer.

     

    Something I'm looking at right now to order from www.theunionshop.org is at least a couple of pairs of casual pants, which are available in navy or khaki color. I have plenty of American-made denim jeans, but it's more difficult to buy American-made, non-denim casual pants. I definitely want to support the companies that make these clothes in the USA so the demand will be there for them to keep making them in the USA.

     

    Have you found it difficult to buy American made for your kids, including toddlers and infants? The Union Shop probably has what you've been looking for but couldn't find.

    The selection of American-made apparel at www.theunionshop.org includes all the traditional shirts, sweaters, pants, shorts and jackets you would expect, but they also carry specific kinds of work clothing, firefighter apparel and tall sizes. For the women, you'll find intimates and sleepwear choices.

     

    You can also choose from hundreds of custom-designed logos including military and patriotic. Everything done by the union members at the Union Shop is done right here in America, whether it's embroidery, screen printing, graphic design, sales, or marketing.

     

    You won't find foreign labels or foreign products at www.uschristmastree.com or www.theunionshop.org, so browse American and buy American at either of these sites before the end of the year and use the special HTBA code to get an additional 10 percent off your American-made purchase. And remember, by buying American and saving American jobs, you can not only help make it a better Christmas for more Americans this year, but you can also make it a better economy for more Americans next year as well.

     

    *************************************************************************

     

    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.

     


     

    GOOD NEWS

     

    Nothing much good happening to Working Families this week.

     


     

    VIDEOS  

     

    Hannity: ‘If You Don’t Listen To Talk Radio, If You Don’t Watch Fox News,’ You’re Misinformed (CLICK TO VIEW)

     

    Fox’s Hannity & Colmes hosted John Ziegler, author of a push poll attempting to prove that voters who supported Barack Obama were misinformed. Hannity used Ziegler’s study to complain that Obama supporters didn’t know about “really significant issues” like Bill Ayers and Obama’s views on coal. He insisted that only those who watched Fox News understood the real issues:

     

    HANNITY: If you don’t listen to talk radio, if you don’t watch the FOX News Channel, you’re not anywhere nearly as informed as people that are just hearing the bumper stickers, the slogans, the snippets of the commercials of the media. So, journalism died in 2008, and it influenced a lot of people on the way out.

     

    ZIEGLER: That’s exactly right

     

    Studies have consistently shown Fox viewers to be among the most misinformed Americans. A 2008 Pew study ranked Fox News dead last in the number of “high knowledge” viewers, with only 19 percent of Fox viewers able to correctly identify the majority party in Congress (Democrats), the name of the U.S. Secretary of State (Condoleezza Rice), and name of British Prime Minister (Gordon Brown).

     

    Fox viewers are particularly misinformed about the Iraq war. A 2003 study found three common misperceptions about the war held by many Americans: first, that US troops found evidence of close pre-war links between Iraq and al-Qaeda; second, that troops found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; and third, that world public opinion favored Washington’s going to war with Iraq. Fox viewers were the most likely to believe these falsehoods:

     

    Eighty percent of Fox viewers were found to hold at least one misperception, compared to 23 percent of NPR/PBS consumers. All the other media fell in between. … As to the number of misconceptions held by their audiences, Fox far outscored all of its rivals. A whopping 45 percent of its viewers believed all three misperceptions, while the other commercial networks scored between 12 percent and 16 percent. Only nine percent of [print media] readers believed all three, while only four percent of the NPR/PBS audience did.

     

    Yet Hannity and Ziegler were convinced that media malfeasance was the only reason for Obama’s victory. Ziegler even claimed, “Bush would have won 65-35 with fair coverage in 2004.”

     

    Editor: John Ziegler is a former WHAS84 (9:00 - Noon) Talk Show Host

     


     

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    CLICK HERE FOR LATEST ISSUE OF THE "FRIDAY ALERT"

     


     

    Whitley man demands proof of Obama's U.S. birth

    By Bill Estep - bestep@herald-leader.com

    Kentucky is a red state with no shortage of conspiracy theorists and unusual politics, so it's no surprise that what might be the first post-election court challenge to Barack Obama's qualifications to be president comes from a Whitley County truck driver.

    Daniel John Essek, 47, filed a demand last week that Obama prove he is a natural-born U.S. citizen — one of the few requirements to run for president.

    Essek wants Obama to provide a copy of his birth certificate to a federal judge in London for verification.

    He knows some people might find his request odd, especially after the election, but says he would tell them it's never too late to do the right thing.

    "I may very well be chasing windmills thinking they're monsters," he acknowledged.

    Essek lost by more than 100,000 votes when he tried to unseat longtime Republican U.S. Sen Mitch McConnell in the primary election this year. He later said on a Web site "maybe I got a little carried away, like my wife said."

    The charge that Obama wasn't born in the United States came up often during the presidential campaign. Obama's campaign said that was ridiculous, posting a copy of his birth certificate on the Internet to prove he was born in Hawaii.

    A Pennsylvania judge threw out a pre-election court challenge to Obama's birth qualification, saying its arguments were frivolous.

    But Essek still has doubts.

    Essek said he'll be satisfied if U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove receives documents from Obama and rules Obama is qualified to serve as president.

    What Essek filed was actually a request for permission to file the court case without having to pay a fee.

    "I also affirm, owing to my poverty, having not the money, request all fees of this filing and service be waived," he wrote, citing his income in the last year as $15,000.

    Essek said in the motion that he is founder of the Society for Liberty and Prosperity. Last week he said the society had no members but had scheduled an organizational meeting Saturday night at his home just north of the Tennessee line, has set up a Web site and is seeking members and donors.

    Essek is president of the group. His wife, Donna, is treasurer.

    Essek wants to use the society to teach citizenship and correct what he considers Americans' woeful lack of civic education and awareness. Some people can't identify the president, vice president and secretary of state, he said.

    "I'm seeing a level of ignorance out there like you wouldn't believe," Essek said.

    There are other objectives, too, according to the society's Web site, including defending rights, opposing tax increases and (in the exact words) to "eschew barbarism, collectivism, Communism, conformitism, despitism,, fachism, favoritism, imperialism, institutionalism, liberalism, Nazism, nepitism, progressivism, racism, sexism and Socialism."

    Essek's Senate race Web site said he endorsed Ron Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas who leans strongly libertarian, for president this year. In November, he voted for John McCain because of Sarah Palin, he said.

    But Essek said politics isn't the reason he's questioning Obama's qualifications.

    "This is patriotism," he said.

     

     


     

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