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LOUISVILLE /JEFFERSON COUNTY

DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEWSLETTER

Week of December 19, 2008

 

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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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To the Editor of the Courier-Journal:  (Not Published)

 

Treason

 



On behalf of my deceased father and the millions of brave American men & women who fought and died in the South Pacific during World War II, I am appalled that US Senator Mitch McConnell would say that American workers should cut their wages to the level paid by the Japanese.  I think that this utterance approaches a treasonous suggestion.

 

My father, not like the Chicken-Hawk Senator, fought so that Americans had the right to form and join unions.  Millions of these returning veterans did join and created the great middle-class of America.  Through their sacrifices all workers can enjoy overtime, 8 hour day, vacations, holidays, funeral leave, health care, pensions, etc even if they do not belong to a union.  This tide did raise all the boats.

 

Senator McConnell and his southern Right-to-Work Republican cronies would have us cut the American standard of living to that of a foreign regime.

 

McConnell has shown his total disregard for all workers, not just the UAW workers.  You will realize this when his actions affect you or your loved ones.

 

Editor of LJCDP Newsletter 

 

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Senate's Power Rests With Centrists

Democrats can't overcome filibusters without help from the middle. by Charlie Cook

 

With Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss's 57.5 percent to 42.5 percent victory in Georgia's runoff, Minnesota's contest is the only 2008 Senate race that remains undecided. Both Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken claim to hold the lead.

 

The Minneapolis Star Tribune's count shows Coleman up by 192 votes. The Office of the Secretary of State has the Republican up by 687 votes, although the department acknowledges that this number does not include an entire precinct in Minneapolis where 133 ballots have gone missing. The Franken campaign maintains that its candidate is ahead by four votes.

 

The state canvassing board is unlikely to declare a winner before the end of next week. And this thing could drag on much longer.

In the meantime, a hot topic among political junkies is that Democrats have fallen short of the nine-seat gain needed to secure a 60-seat, theoretically filibuster-proof majority. Often missing from such conversations is an acknowledgment that preventing filibusters is not exclusively about whether a senator wears a red or blue jersey. Rather, the ability to halt a filibuster comes down to specific issues, specific bills, and specific language and circumstances. Whether Connecticut's independent Democrat, Sen. Joe Lieberman, sides with Democrats or Republicans will depend on the issue being debated, not where he eats lunch on Tuesdays (when each party holds its weekly caucus). Several other senators on both sides of the aisle could easily fall into the same category.

 

In counting votes against a Republican filibuster, a key question is, "Can Democrats hold their centrists?" Using the 2007 National Journal vote ratings as a yardstick, the Democrats in the middle, from right to left, are Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska; Mary Landrieu of Louisiana; Mark Pryor of Arkansas; Max Baucus of Montana; Kent Conrad of North Dakota; Claire McCaskill of Missouri; Byron Dorgan of North Dakota; Ken Salazar of Colorado; Thomas Carper of Delaware; Jim Webb of Virginia; Jon Tester of Montana; Evan Bayh of Indiana; Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas; and Robert Byrd of West Virginia. Among the seven incoming freshmen, Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, and Mark Warner of Virginia are the ones most likely to line up in the center. Nobody is quite certain where Oregon's Jeff Merkley will stand.

 

The 111th Congress will have 23 to 26 relatively centrist senators.

 

Although the ranks of centrist Republican senators have been depleted in recent years, a few still remain, notably, from left to right, Olympia Snowe of Maine; Susan Collins of Maine; Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania; Norm Coleman (if he's re-elected); George Voinovich of Ohio; Richard Lugar of Indiana; and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Plus, it is not exactly unheard-of for Arizona's John McCain to stray off the GOP reservation.

 

This means that the 111th Congress will have 23 to 26 relatively centrist senators. That's not an inconsequential number. It is also important to note that the Senate has only about 41 true-blue liberals.

 

Therefore, even if fairly liberal legislation passes the House, where the number of moderate Democrats is not insignificant either, the odds are good that it won't get through the Senate even with a filibuster-proof majority -- and even if President Obama supports the bill. And that doesn't get into the fact that, at least so far, key positions in the Obama administration are going to pragmatic centrists.

 

So, all this talk of Democrats needing 60 Senate seats fails to capture the party's true situation. What votes the Democrats will need in the Senate will depend on the exact issue, bill, language, and circumstances. There may well be times when Democrats can hold their moderates and pick off enough Republican defectors to break a conservative filibuster. And there may be times when they can't.

 

What is unlikely to vary is that Democrats will have to temper their proposals if they want to have a realistic chance of getting them enacted. Although it is legitimate for liberals to be disappointed that the Left won't be able to dominate the Senate, centrists should rejoice that they will matter, regardless of their jersey's color. With approximately a quarter of the Senate potentially making up the swing vote, the middle-of-the-roaders will have a lot of sway.

 

If anyone should be concerned right now, it shouldn't be centrists. It should be liberals. The change they are going to get may not be the kind that they wanted.

 

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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."

 

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Most Outrageous Comments of 2008

 

With attacks on autistic children, the poor, and HIV-positive basketball star Magic Johnson, talking heads showed that nobody was safe in 2008, no matter how unfounded and unseemly the smear.

 

Progressive politicians, particularly Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton and President-elect Barack Obama, were also targets. Obama was called everything from a "pussy" (Don Imus), to a "steamy crap sandwich" (Chris Krok). One commentator said Obama "fits the stereotype blacks once labeled as an Oreo -- a black on the outside, a white on the inside" (John McLaughlin), while others associated him with the Antichrist (Bill Cunningham, Chris Baker, Brian Sussman, others).

 

Michelle Obama was also targeted, being described, among other things, as "Kim Jong-Il dressed up with a bit of Oprah Winfrey dressing" (Mark Steyn). MSNBC's Chris Matthews said Clinton's success is attributable not to her merit, but to the fact that "her husband messed around."

 

The list of offenses to women, minorities, gays and lesbians, immigrants, and others in 2008 is a long one, but here are some of the standouts: Continued Here

 

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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!

 

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Why We Need to Revitalize the Union Movement, By Michael Honey

 

Mr. Honey is Fred and Dorothy Haley Professor of Humanities at the University of Washington, Tacoma, and President of LAWCHA. He can be reached at mhoney@u.washington.edu.

 

Sixty years ago, in the wake of Nazi genocide and World War Two’s unspeakable atrocities, Eleanor Roosevelt crafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This historic document, adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948, declared that rights adhered to all persons, no matter their place of birth, race, gender, or religion. 

 

The declaration codified rights Americans considered the birthright of all persons: freedom of speech, assembly, association, belief and worship; freedom from torture or cruel and degrading punishment; rights to be brought before a court of law, protected by due process. The Universal Declaration also declared economic and social rights: meaningful work at decent pay and conditions, no indentured servitude or slavery, and economic security. Article 24 explicitly supports “the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.” 

 

One could not help but notice that our own government has violated or ignored most of these articles during the last eight years.

At home and around the world, people are expressing fervent hopes that the Obama Administration will renew American support for human rights and put the Universal Declaration’s principles into practice. Article 24 will come into play immediately in the next Congress in the form of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The Obama Administration may or may not push for this, because it will stir a hornet’s nest of business and Republican opposition.

 

The legislation is desperately needed, however. Re-establishing labor’s rights to organize relates directly to the fix we are currently in. Lack of transparency, flouting the rule of law, attacking unions, extreme free market ideology – all contributed to our current economic train wreck. We need to re-establish a robust culture of human rights and labor rights to undo the wreckage of the Bush years.

 

Human rights advocates have long decried the collapse of labor protections in the U.S. The National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act of 1935 supposedly guaranteed workers the right to organize without interference, but over the last thirty years employer practices and lack of government enforcement have made the law toothless. Workers who try to organize are often fired or otherwise intimidated. Employers mostly get away with it.

 

Prior to the Wagner act, many Americans lived in fear because they lacked basic citizenship rights at work. Polls show that millions of Americans would join a union today except they are afraid to do so. Whereas thirty-five percent of American workers once belonged to unions, now only twelve percent do. This will not change until the law once again protects worker rights.

 

So, what would EFCA do? It would allow workers to organize a union when fifty percent or more sign a union authorization card, as the Wagner Act originally provided (court decisions whittled this right away). EFCA also empowers the National Labor Relations Board to require employers to bargain in good faith and would ratchet up the penalties for employers that interfere with freedom on the job. But this is not a free ride for unions. If thirty percent or more sign a petition to decertify the union, the NLRB holds an election, and if fifty percent go against the union, it is gone.

 

Congress should pass EFCA because workers rights are a fundamental building block for democracy. The lack of an organized, informed movement to counter the greed and power of big money has impoverished our politics and our democracy. As unions have declined, a vacuum has been created and filled by the organized right and evangelical Christianity, and the range of ideas allowed has shrunk in many quarters. Workers need unions, but American democracy needs them too.

 

The second reason to pass EFCA is economic. Business economists often claim unions impede economic growth, but historians concur that reality is quite the opposite: union wages make workers into consumers and homeowners. Detroit’s autoworkers compared themselves to slaves before they organized the United Auto Workers, which in turn helped to create equal rights laws, health care, pensions and family-waged jobs.

 

It is not the fault of auto unionists that the US never adopted national health care or pension systems comparable to other countries, or that America’s financial titans ruined the New Deal’s regulatory controls. Legacy costs are killing U.S. auto companies, but they could reduce labor costs by almost half if we had a national health care system.

 

Absent unions, soaring worker productivity in the last twenty years has not been matched by increased wages, while CEO profits have shot through the stratosphere. Unionization would increase wages and be a far cheaper way to increase consumption than economic bail-outs.

 

Sixty years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, citizenship rights on the job remain one key to expanding other democratic rights. In the past, union organizing provided a key mechanism for American workers to right the ship of American capitalism. Strengthening labor rights can help do it again.

 

Historians are petitioning Congress with this simple sentence: “We, the undersigned historians, support the Employee Free Choice Act.” If you would like to join us, email your name and institution, for identification purposes only, to Joseph Eugene Hower (jeh67@georgetown.edu). For more information, see the Labor and Working-Class History website (LAWCHA.com).

 

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Comments:  

 

Subject: Letter To MSD Board Chairwoman Beverly Wheatley

 

Dear Councilmen Kramer and Peden:

 

I received a copy of your letter to my board chairperson, Beverly Wheatley yesterday, dated December 5th. Your letter was in response to my November 11 letter, addressed to the Citizens Wet Weather Task Force and copied to the Metro Councilmembers and the MSD Board. I also talked at length with you, Councilman Kramer, about the subject of the letter yesterday evening, December 8.

 

As a result of our conversation, Councilman Kramer, and the content of your letter to my board, I feel it is necessary to clarify, again, what was printed by Councilman Hawkins and Mr. Thienemann prior to the MSD Public Meeting at the Southwest Government Center on November 10.

 

As we all know, the meeting was to provide a detailed presentation of the Integrated Overflow Abatement Plan that will be submitted to US EPA as part of the federal consent decree in Louisville Metro. The Southwest meeting was one of over 200 that MSD conducted over the past three years in regards to the consent decree.

 

In your letter to my board chair, you and the Minority Caucus accuse me of name calling regarding Councilman Hawkins. No where in my November 11 letter to the councilmembers or at the November 10 public meeting did I call anyone, including Councilman Hawkins and Mr. Thienemann a name. Yet your letter to my board says " Mr. Schardein stoops to name calling and, without evidence, groups Councilman Hawkins with other who have concerns related to this project."   Again, I did not call anyone a disrespectful name at the meeting; in the presence of media; or, in my letter to the council.

 

As for evidence of  misinformation that was circulated and promoted by Councilman Hawkins and Mr. Thienemann, I will quote from Councilman Hawkins' District 25 eNews Letter dated November 8, two days prior  to the November 10 public meeting.

 

Here is the headline:

"MSD Public Meeting:  East End Raw Sewage Coming To Valley Station"

 

First sentence, first paragraph:

"MSD plans to direct east end raw sewage to Southwest Louisville by expanding the Derek Guthrie Wastewater Treatment Center. More than 40 miles of new sewer pipes will stretch from East End to Southwest"

 

In fact the county is not 40 miles wide. The 40 miles of sewer is the total amount of pipe that would be constructed, throughout the community, under the consent decree.

 

Second paragraph; first sentence:

Expanding the Guthrie plant will eliminate five sewer treatment plants in the Prospect area and potentially eliminate the J-town Wastewater Treatment Plant.

 

In our conversation last evening, Councilman Kramer, you said you couldn't recall Councilman Hawkins using the phrase "raw sewage" in his enewsletter.  He uses the term in his headline and the first paragraph.

 

I will, again, raise points of misinformation taken from the text of the newsletter. NOWHERE in the Overflow Abatement Plan does it call for sending dry weather flow(raw sewage) from the J-town plant or othe East End locations to the Vallet Station area. The only additional flow that would be routed to the Guthrie plant would be wet weather flow during severe storm events, whether the J-town plant is eliminated or not. That has been part of the county's masterplan for sewer and stormsewer service since 1974. I don't know how that could possibly be atributed to Mayor Abramson as was charged by Councilman Hawkins' newsletter and Mr.

Thienemann's printed information.

 

Another point that needs clarification, again, that was printed in Councilman Hawkins' newsletter, NO flow from Prospect plants will be sent to Valley Station. Flow from Prospect plants will go into the Morris Porman system.

 

Councilman Hawkins' refers to more "raw sewage" coming to Valley Station twice more in his newsletter.

 

I still contend that the information circulated by Councilman Hawkins and Mr. Thieneman was inaccurate and inflammatory. And , the Hawkins newsletter and Mr. Thienemann's 'fact sheet' lay the blame at Mayor Abramson's feet.

 

In summary, I have a great deal of respect you, Councilman Kramer and Councilman Peden. I believe you both work very hard for the wellbeing of your constituents. I believe you would say that MSD and our staff have done everything we can to assist you in that effort. A great deal of capital sewer and drainage dollars have gone into neighborhoods that once suffered tremendous storm drainage problems. The federal consent decree we have signed will make vast improvements in our Metro sewer system and raise the level of water quality for all our citizens.

 

I don't believe something that important should be turned into a political football or a partisan issue by one councilmember.

 

Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson has absolutely nothing to do with proposed projects under this consent decree. I keep him apprised, as I do each elected official, of MSD's negotiations with state and federal regulators. The solutions and projects must be examined and approved by the Kentucky Natural Resources Cabinet and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Thieneman, at the public meeting, stated for the audience, that because my appointment is approved by the mayor, that the mayor has control over the consent decree. The same is inferred in Councilman Hawkins' newsletter of November 8. Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

I will state for all. I am proud of MSD's consistently high level of service for ALL our customers and their elected representatives. We do not play favorites here. As a matter of fact, Councilman Hawkins' district has received over $7million in MSD dollars since January 2003.

 

I am proud to serve under Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson. I have worked with him, since 1986 in one capacity or another at MSD. Not once has he ever asked me to treat anyone differently, no matter political or other related differences. I'm proud to work for the man.

 

I will continue to do my best to promote the highest level of sewer, drainage and flood protection services for all our citizens in Louisville Metro. Between us, i would hope to put this particular issue behind us.

 

Wishing you the Best of the Holiday Season.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bud Schardein, Jr

MSD executive/Operations Director     

 

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

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DAILY GRILL

 

"[I]f you think we're going to spend a billion dollars of our money [rebuilding Iraq], you are sadly mistaken." -- Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, 2003

VERSUS

"An unpublished 513-page federal history of the American-led reconstruction of Iraq depicts...a $100 billion failure." -- New York Times, 12/13/08

 

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"[Democrats] turn on a dime on their former heroes and they will in this case." -- Right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin, 12/11/08, on Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald

VERSUS

"“I don't think there is any thought whatsoever of changing the U.S. Attorney in Chicago with these very, very troubling and important times." -- Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), 12/10/08

 

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"What they found was that Saddam Hussein still had the capability to produce weapons of mass destruction." -- Vice President Cheney, 12/15/08

VERSUS

"US officials cited by the Washington Post today said that the 1,000-page document concludes that Saddam Hussein had the desire but not the capability to create weapons that could attack the west."  -- Guardian, 10/6/04

 

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"[T]hey are well treated." -- Vice President Cheney, 12/15/08, on Guantanamo detainees

VERSUS

"Captives at Guantanamo 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."  -- Guardian, 1/3/07

 

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Quotes of the Day

 

After stating that United Auto Workers hold “to concessions already made” conservatives demand that the union:

 

Concedes the elimination of Supplemental Unemployment Benefits; Concedes elimination of the Jobs Bank Program; Agrees to either reduce company retiree health care obligations or otherwise convert a portion of such obligations into equity; and Agrees to reduce wages and benefits to the levels paid by non-Big Three manufacturers.

 

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) said yesterday on NPR that, in regards to an auto loan, “we’re not going to do it with the barnacles of unionism wrapped around their necks.”  Read More

 

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Recent Senate Votes 

 

Cloture Motion; Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008 - Vote Rejected (52-35, 12 Not Voting)

The Senate failed to get the necessary sixty votes to move forward on this bill, which leaders intended to attach auto financing and restructuring legislation.

Sen. Mitch McConnell voted NO
Sen. Jim Bunning voted NO

 

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Recent House Votes 

 

Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act - Vote Passed (237-170, 1 Present, 26 Not Voting)

On Wednesday, the House passed a $15 billion bill to provide the “Big Three” American auto companies with short-term loans.

Rep. Ron Lewis voted YES

Rep. John Yarmuth voted YES 

 

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TOP

HUMOR    

 

"As you know, the Bush administration has a new slogan: 'Duck!'" --Jay Leno

"As you know, President Bush took a surprise trip to Baghdad over the weekend and had a press conference with the Iraqi premier. A reporter threw his shoes at him, almost hit him. And the guy who threw the shoes, this guy was so angry, he was so anti-Bush, at first people just assumed he was an American journalist, but no." --Jay Leno

"In fact, to give you an idea how bad the economy is in Iraq, the shoes that were thrown at Bush came from Payless." --Jay Leno

"And it's not just President Bush, today somebody threw a pair of shoes at Sarah Palin. And she was very upset. She said, 'Do you have these in black?' and threw them back." --Jay Leno

"And this is the big news in New York. Well, all over the world, really. It's just an amazing story. A Wall Street tycoon named Bernard Madoff has been arrested for running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. $50 billion. You know what a Ponzi scheme is? That's where they use the money of new investors to pay off the older investors. Or as we call it, Social Security." --Jay Leno

"But you know something? Shouldn't the first clue have been the guy's name? Madoff, you know, as in 'made off with the money,' you know? I mean, who were his partners, Pilfered and Swindled?" --Jay Leno

"And you can tell, President Bush, you know, he's not a financial guy. God bless him, but he doesn't understand anything. Like, when they tried to explain the Ponzi scheme, he said, 'Wait a minute, Ponzi, you're confusing two people. It's either Potsy or Fonzie.'" --Jay Leno

"The economy is in bad shape. I went shopping over the weekend. I got an Illinois Senate seat for $149. Amazing, marked down from half a million." --Jay Leno

"And it's not just here in America. Queen Elizabeth has announced that the economy is so bad in England, she is asking all members of the royal family to reduce their spending, otherwise, they would face the ultimate disaster, you know, having to get a real job." --Jay Leno

"God forbid, they don't want to do that. And in New Jersey, the state Senate is working on a bill to legalize medical marijuana. They say it's the one thing that could actually ease the pain of having to live in New Jersey, so that's good." --Jay Leno

"And a big surprise on the Sunday morning news shows. Senator John McCain said he may not support Sarah Palin if she's around in 2012. Of course, the bigger question, will McCain be around in 2012? That's probably the bigger question, but hey." --Jay Leno

 

"How about that guy that heaved his shoes at the president? Of course, everybody is saying well, what happened to the Secret Service? Good question. Where is the Secret Service? From now on, alright, take off your shoes. It's going to be that way. You want to see the president? Alright, slip out of those shoes."  --David Letterman

"It turns out this guy was described as a hot head. He's a guy who is an Iraqi journalist. They say he's a hot head with poor journalistic skills. Well, no surprise, today he was offered his own show on Fox News."  --David Letterman

"But I've got to give President Bush credit for this, because he's taking it all pretty well. He says that he's actually happy about the shoe-throwing episode, because he says it proves finally that Iraq does, in fact, possess foot wear of mass destruction."  --David Letterman

"I don't know. Listen to this, ladies and gentlemen. Here's something that happened. The Electoral College has officially elected Barack Obama as president of the United States. I don't know anything about politics or elections, but boy, it's really starting to look bad for John McCain." --David Letterman

 

"Today, President Bush told reporters that the shoe-throwing incident was one of the weirdest moments of his presidency. Yeah, Bush said the only thing weirder was the time he got re-elected." --Conan O'Brien

"Have you watched this tape? Some people are criticizing the Secret Service, because the shoe thrower caught them off guard. The man was able to throw a second shoe. A spokesman for the Secret Service said, 'Sorry, but we were laughing our asses off.'" --Conan O'Brien

"The current administration, of course, is winding down, not just President Bush, but everybody is sort of talking about the eight years. Yesterday, Dick Cheney was interviewed by ABC News, and he reflected on his eight years in office. Yeah. And he turned into a bat and disappeared in a puff of smoke." --Conan O'Brien

 

"I was impressed by how nimbly President Bush was able to dodge those shoes. I know he's got a lot of dodging experience from his years during the Vietnam War, but this was pretty slick." --Jimmy Kimmel

"So the guy who threw the shoes is now a hero in Iraq. They say he's shown the world that Iraqis have no masters, but I think what he really showed the world is that Iraqis have no aim, because he was like four feet away and couldn't hit him." --Jimmy Kimmel

"By the way, this is the country we thought had nuclear weapons. It turns out they have a pair of size 9 Hush Puppies instead." --Jimmy Kimmel

 
 

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TOP

 

       
IRAQ -- BUSH ON THE FACT THAT AL QAEDA WAS NOT IN IRAQ BEFORE WAR: 'SO WHAT?': In an interview in Iraq yesterday, President Bush defended the war in Iraq, saying it was "where al Qaeda said they were going to take their stand." Raddatz interrupted to point out that al Qaeda was not present in Iraq until after the United States invaded, to which Bush replied dismissively, "Yeah, that's right. So what?" He continued, "The point is that al Qaeda said they're going to take a stand." In the lead-up to the Iraq war, Bush repeatedly and insistently cited a link between Iraq and al Qaeda. When it turned out those links never existed -- and that the Bush administration may have willingly distorted information to suggest that they did exist -- Bush continued to tie Iraq to al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 attacks, even as late as 2007. Rather than take responsibility for the intelligence failures before the war, earlier this month Bush said cynically, "I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess." He has also repeatedly insisted that Iraq is "the central front in the war on terror," using the claim as justification for the war. Yet, as Raddatz points out, al Qaeda did not exist in Iraq until the U.S. invasion. The Bush administration has finally admitted "privately" that "Afghanistan is now the single most pressing security threat in the war on terror."
 

 ETHICS -- NASA ADMINISTRATOR MUZZLES EMPLOYEES FROM SPEAKING OPENLY WITH OBAMA AGENCY REVIEW TEAM: According to a report in the Orlando Sentinel, "NASA administrator Mike Griffin is not cooperating with President-elect Obama's transition team, [and] is obstructing its efforts to get information." He has gone after agency review leader Lori Garver, who once served as an associate administrator at NASA, calling her "not qualified" to judge his rocket programs. After a "heated 40-minute conversation" between the two last week, a "red-faced" Griffin allegedly demanded to speak directly to Obama. The Sentinel also reported that Griffin has been muzzling NASA employees from speaking openly with Obama's review staffers, "scripting" them "on what they can tell the transition team." He has also reportedly "warned" aerospace executives not to criticize his pet project -- NASA's "delayed and over-budget" moon rocket program. In an e-mail to NASA employees, Griffin denounced the article, writing, "This report, largely supported by anonymous sources and hearsay, is simply wrong. ... We are fully cooperating with transition team members."

 

ECONOMY -- BUSH'S IRS QUIETLY SLASHING CORPORATE TAXES: In its final days in office, the Bush administration is looking to push through about "about 20 highly contentious rules," that weaken health care and workers' rights and degrade the environment. The administration is also making sure to wreck the tax system on its way out the door. Time Magazine's Stephen Gandel reported that in the past year, the Internal Revenue Service has been "unusually aggressive in doing what it can to lower corporate taxes, going above and beyond what has been allowed in the past." In 2008, the IRS has issued 113 notices, "many of which will lower the taxes companies will pay this year and in the future." Gandel noted that this number breaks the record of 111 notices, set in 2006, "and is nearly double the 65 issued in the last year of Bill Clinton's presidency." These changes "drain billions of dollars of badly needed tax revenue at a time when the federal deficit is mushrooming," and many of the changes "may lower corporate tax revenue for years to come." One proposed change would enable companies to significantly reduce their taxes for as long as 20 years.
 

ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH LIBRARY FOUNDATION PRESIDENT ALREADY SPINNING BUSH'S LEGACY: In an article yesterday on the George W. Bush presidential library, McClatchy noted that "[t]he present hasn't worked out so well" for President Bush, "so now he's banking on a kinder and gentler future." To that end, Bush library foundation president Mark Langdale has already begun to spin the President's legacy, calling the debacle surrounding Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina simply evidence of "the limitations of government assistance." "There's an interesting lesson about Katrina and the limitations of government assistance to respond to big natural disasters," Langdale said. "They are acts of God, and they are tough. It's definitely a story line I would not shy away from addressing somehow in the museum." This is not Langdale's first act of Bush celebration. Pictured behind him in an image accompanying a Dallas Morning News article on the library last week was a photo of Bush superimposed over Martin Luther King, Jr. "I'm confident that people will come to change their mind about the president and some of the decisions he made," said Langdale. "You need time to get past the current news cycle and the prejudices and emotions of the moment."

 

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Think Fast  

 

"Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday to demand the release of a reporter who threw his shoes" at President Bush during a press conference yesterday, praising the journalist as a "hero." The television station that employs the journalist has also demanded his immediate release, saying it "fear[ed] for his safety."
 

A loophole in the bailout legislation may allow executives at Wall Street companies to continue to earn large compensation packages. Due to a last-minute change in legislative language sought by the Bush administration, Congress" efforts to limit pay may prove toothless. "The flimsy executive-compensation restrictions in the original bill are now all but gone," Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said.
 

"Widows of war veterans have been wrongfully denied up to millions of dollars in government benefits over the past 12 years due to computer glitches that often resulted in money being seized from the elderly survivors' bank accounts."
 

The Swedish government is preparing a $3.5 billion bailout for Saab and Volvo. The plan consists of credit guarantees and rescue loans. "The government plan will now be presented to parliament for approval." More »

 

The Bush administration issued new rules yesterday for the H-2A guest worker program that "it said would lessen the bureaucratic burden on employers seeking to hire foreign farm workers." Critics of the rule change argued that that changes would "depress wages and working conditions."

 

Despite Secret Service screenings, employees of a Maryland cleaning company used by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff for the last four years have "turned out to be illegal immigrants." The owner said five of the company's undocumented employees "were part of crews sent to Chertoff’s home and whom ICE told him to fire because they were undocumented."

 

The Obama transition site is open for your questions. Change.gov launched a new feature yesterday that allows users to submit questions and then vote on the ones they most want answered. Check it out here.

 

The House Progressive caucus -- the largest "organized faction in the Democratic Caucus" -- is pushing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA) to embrace a "$1 trillion, two-year stimulus package aimed at low- and middle-income Americans." Pelosi's spokesperson said the idea would be "considered."

 

The Supreme Court yesterday ordered an appeals court to reconsider a lawsuit against Donald Rumsfeld and other Bush administration officials, brought by three former Guantanamo detainees (all British citizens) who say they were tortured there. The appeals court should reconsider its dismissal of the case in light of last summer's Boumediene v. Bush decision, allowing Guantanamo prisoners to challenge their detentions, the order said.

 

Former defense contractor Mitchell Wade, who gave more than $1 million in gifts to former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison yesterday. District Judge Ricardo Urbina gave Wade "a break," as the D.C. resident “had faced nine to 11 years under federal sentencing guidelines."

 

 

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INTERESTING   

 

Blagojevich for GOP MVP in 2008, By BERRY CRAIG

 

            MAYFIELD, Ky. -- In the old days, a disgraced soldier got kicked out of the army to the beat of a drum. The sound drew attention to his bad behavior. It was also a warning to would-be military miscreants.

 

            This Kentucky Democrat hopes Illinois Democrats drum Gov. Rod Blagojevich out of the party. Watching him frog marched away to the Big House in handcuffs and leg irons would be better, but that’s up to the feds.

 

            Meanwhile, Blagojevich looks like Santa-come-early for the Republicans. Given the shellacking the GOP took Nov. 4, the McCain-Palin faithful were expecting a less than holly-jolly Christmas, you betcha.

 

            Naturally, the Republicans are working overtime to make political hay off Blagojevich’s arrest for attempting to hustle President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant senate seat for cash or a cushy job for his wife (Some wag dubbed her “Lady Macbeth.”). Never mind that the feds say Obama is uninvolved and blameless. The Republicans are playing the guilt-by-association card anyway – how effectively remains to be seen.

 

            But the Blagojevich scandal could cost the Democrats Obama’s senate seat.

 

            Blagojevich can appoint anybody he wants to succeed Obama – even himself. Top Democrats in Illinois and Washington are dissing that idea. They want a special election.

 

            Such a vote would be risky business. It would at least crack open the door for an unexpected Republican pickup. No matter who the Democratic candidate might be, the Republicans would make Blagojevich the issue, even if he resigns.

 

            The voters might punish the Democrat for the governor’s misdeeds.

 

            Political scandals are like a concrete block dropped in a swimming pool. First, there’s the big splash. The shock waves follow, one after another.

 

            Kentucky Democrats know. A steamy sex scandal involving a Democratic governor cost us the governorship, a U.S. Senate seat and, in my part of the commonwealth, a state senate seat.

 

            Gov. Paul Patton’s tryst became public in 2002 after his mistress sued him. She claimed he abused his office by helping her business while they were lovers, then tried to ruin her because she broke off the affair.

            The suit went nowhere. But the political fallout lasted a long time.

 

            “Before the scandal, Patton was one of our most popular governors,” said Gerald Watkins, a political science professor at the West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah.

 

            The scandal made Patton political poison. The first casualty was a Democratic state senate candidate from Paducah in 2002.

 

            “He was very popular and everybody had expected him to beat the Republican incumbent,” Watkins said. “Even though the Democrat had nothing to do with the Patton scandal, there is no doubt in my mind that when people went to vote that November, they had the scandal on their minds and reelected the Republican.”

 

            In 2003, Patton’s attorney general, Democrat Ben Chandler, ran for governor. Chandler (now a congressman) was not connected to the scandal in any way. He and Patton were publicly feuding, according to Watkins.  “They wouldn’t even speak to each other for a while,” he added.

 

            Even so, Republican Ernie Fletcher campaigned on a promise to “clean up the mess in Frankfort” and became the first Republican elected governor of Kentucky since 1967. (Fletcher made his own mess, got indicted over a state employee hiring scandal and lost his bid for a second term.)

 

            Before Conner outed Patton as her paramour, he was planning to challenge U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning in 2004, the year after the governor finished his second term. More than a few pundits had picked Patton to win.

 

            But instead of going to Washington in triumph, Patton headed home to Pikeville in disgrace. Dan Mongiardo, a state senator, took on Bunning, who narrowly won reelection. “If not for the scandal, Patton would have run and likely won,” Watkins said.

 

            Of course, Kentucky isn’t Illinois. The Bluegrass State is one of the reddest of the Red States. McCain won Kentucky big; Obama cruised in the Land of Lincoln.

 

            “But with the Blagojevich scandal, holding Obama’s seat won’t be as easy as it would have been,” Watkins said. “Only time will tell how much damage he has done to the Democratic Party in Illinois and even nationwide.”

 

            If nothing else, Blagojevich has provided the Republicans some unexpected holiday cheer. They were bracing themselves for the winter of their discontent with the Obamas packing their bags for the White House and the Democrats savoring enhanced majorities in the House and Senate.

 

            Thanks to Rod Blagojevich, the Democrats’ Senate majority could shrink by one. If that happens, maybe the Republicans can give Blagojevich their Most Valuable Player award for 2008.

 

            He could put the trophy on a shelf in the prison cell he so richly merits. 

 

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America's Choice: Destruction or Construction

 

From sea to shining sea, America is suffering.

 

She is, however, afflicted with an avoidable condition she brought on herself, like a hangover. Only this one's interminable and internationally contagious.

 

She did it by choosing over the past 30 years to establish an economy that worshipped avarice. That decision has destroyed her financial system and taken down with it much of the world's.

 

Now America must decide whether to be swayed by the greedy urging her to continue basing her economy on the destructive policies of deregulation, de-unionization, globalization and privatization or to construct a new financial system focused on industry and profit shared by the workers who produce it.

Over much of the 20th century, the nation created real wealth by manufacturing -- taking raw materials from the ground, using machines, energy and labor to convert them into products and selling those here and overseas. That process, to make steel or tires or washing machines, was the engine of the economy. In 1947, 32 percent of the workforce engaged in it belonged to unions, which meant workers received good wages and benefits. This enabled them to churn real money throughout the economy by buying homes and cars and television sets and to sending their children to college. And it enabled them to save 7.5 percent of their earnings.

 

Then, in the 1980s, a new narrative for the economy emerged. In this story, greed was good. Self-interest was supposed to lead to the best outcomes for business. To accommodate this concept, Government de-regulated and, in fact, passed laws favoring big corporations and the nation's wealthiest citizens. The idea was that some of the prosperity they created as a result of the abolished protections for workers and the environment would trickle down.

This was the new economy.

 

This was a scam to move wealth from the middle class to the affluent. And it worked. In 1976, the richest 10 percent in this country possessed 49 percent of the wealth. In 2007, it was 73 percent.

 

During this time of bowing to corporate demands, the government actually gave multinational corporations tax benefits to offshore their U.S. manufacturing facilities. Sometimes they shut down, throwing hundreds of Americans out of work, then packed the factory pieces into crates, numbered piece by numbered piece, and shipped them to China or Indonesia or whatever country would allow blatant violation of its own labor and environmental regulations. Sometimes they closed American factories and built brand new ones overseas with breaks from foreign governments. As U.S. companies closed, union membership dropped to below 12 percent. And America found herself importing toxic lead-coated toys, paper made from trees illegally harvested in Indonesian national forests and untested pharmaceuticals.

 

Companies that remained here threatened to leave if workers didn't accept wage and benefit concessions. American workers were vilified for seeking a living wage while CEOs pulled millions out of corporations in annual bonuses.

 

The American economy began to depend less on manufacturing and more on the "financial sector," where profit was made moving money around, betting on stock trades, and participating in asset bubbles. Remember the tech bubble? That was manufactured value -- not manufactured goods -- and that's why it disappeared when the bubble burst.

 

The same has now happened with the housing bubble. Those smart guys on Wall Street, among the brilliant ones who sold America on the idea that greed was good, bet on housing prices never falling. A decline in home values never entered their calculations.

 

Then they fell. And they took down with them a couple of Wall Street banks and the largest insurance company in the world and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, credit markets and then the economy of the nation and the world.

Now workers are really in trouble.

 

They were struggling before the crash as manufacturing jobs disappeared and wages stagnated. Personal savings declined so that the average family now owes $8,000 to credit card companies. Without sufficient wage increases to sustain their lifestyle, families borrowed against their major asset, their homes. Now, because the housing bubble burst, a quarter of mortgage holders owe more than their homes are worth and 2.5 million have lost theirs to foreclosure.

 

All of this is because America failed to give greed the wide berth warranted by one of the seven deadly sins.

 

Alan Greenspan, who served as steward over the rise of the culture of avarice for nearly two decades as chairman of the Federal Reserve, admitted to Congress in October that his opposition to federal regulation was a blunder:

 

"I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms."

 

In the song "America the Beautiful," from which the lines "from sea to shining sea, come, lyricist Katharine Lee Bates counseled in the second verse, "America! America! God mend thine every flaw."

 

Clearly, this greed-based economy is a flaw. It was created by covetous humans. It must be mended by Americans of better grace, people Katharine Lee Bates described as those, "Who more than self their country loved."

 

America's workers must seize back control of their country and wrest back determination of its priorities. They must re-regulate the financial markets and remove the onerous restrictions placed on unions to prevent organization of new workplaces and bargaining of new contracts to raise worker salaries and benefits.

 

But, most immediately, America's workers must insist Congress immediately pass an economic renewal package that will reinvigorate Main Streets across the nation. This is essential to prevent a prolonged and excessively painful deep recession resulting from the housing bubble collapsing.

This public investment has two purposes. It will stimulate the economy by providing jobs. In addition, it will strengthen America's manufacturing competitiveness in the international marketplace.

 

The Institute for America's Future and our union have developed a plan called A Main Street Recovery Program calling for investment of $900 billion over two years.

 

The money would be targeted to areas that would create sustained, long-term, shared economic growth. This includes investing in green technologies to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil and the threat of global warming. Another focus is repair and modernization of the country's physical infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, and intellectual infrastructure -- its education system. And finally, the third targeted area is assistance to workers most in need, which would include moves toward universal affordable health insurance, a middle class tax cut and expanded unemployment insurance.

More than 250 organizations and economists have endorsed this program. President-elect Barack Obama's recovery plan outlined last weekend includes many of its aspects. Its passage would signal the beginning of conversion to an economy that values production and workers, something the self-interested greed-mongers will oppose.

 

But let's work for realization of Katharine Lee Bates' final verses:

"America! America" God shed his grace on thee Till selfish gain no longer stain The banner of the free!"

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-w-gerard/americas-choice-destructi_b_150322.html

 

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Buy American Mention of the Week, By Roger Simmermaker      

 

NONE THIS WEEK 

 

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GOOD NEWS

 

"In an effort to slow the rate of foreclosures, the IRS announced Tuesday that it will make it easier for financially distressed homeowners who are behind on their taxes to refinance or sell their homes."

 

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VIDEOS  

 

None this week.

 

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Notice to our Readers &  2010 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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