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LOUISVILLE /JEFFERSON COUNTY

DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEWSLETTER

Week of July 22, 2007

The link to this electronic newsletter is being e-mailed to 4,000+

Jefferson County Democrats 

We hope you will forward the link to your own e-mail list.

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CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT LIST OF EVENTS

Updated on a regular basis

The Louisville/Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee meets the 4th Wednesday of every month at 5:00 pm at 901 Barret Avenue .

 

Notice to our Readers &  2007 General 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@louisvilledem.com

 

EDITORIAL: 

Senator Bunning is frightened again.

Recently our Junior Senator, Jim Bunning, was “threatened” by a Democratic Senator.  Senator Bunning is one of the 100 most powerful persons in the world and must be protected.

Back here in Kentucky, Senator Bunning requested and received protection from the Kentucky State Police while he campaigned for re-election, even though he said, “after facing Ted Williams, do you think I’m afraid ….” 

As reported in the Courier-Journal by Bruce Schreiner, Bunning said Tuesday he might never again attend the annual political event at the St. Jerome Catholic parish picnic in Fancy Farm, "It's totally and completely out of control."

Bunning complained about a lack of security and heckling endured by politicians. "It is not conducive to at least advancing your own thoughts in a speech without being harassed," the senator said.  He complained about a lot of jostling while he tried to reach the stage to speak at the 2004 event.

As you can see by this picture, Senator Bunning is not a little puny fellow.  Most of those who will be testing the politicians’ character at Fancy Farm will be college students and a lot of senior citizens like this editor. I don’t think Bunning is afraid of us at all, but I do believe he is afraid of being in front of a crowd, alone, without his tele-prompters and his handlers. 

I don’t blame him for being afraid to appear at Fancy Farm.  Just like the other ballplayers of his era, he is a has-been.  I hope we can soon let him spend his golden years selling his autograph and enjoying his memories of when he wasn’t afraid to appear before a crowd or Ted Williams. 

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Andrew Horne Slams McConnell for Voting Against the Troops

The largest political group of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, VoteVets.org, today slammed Kentucky’s U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell for voting against a bipartisan measure offered by U.S. senators Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) that would have helped guarantee American troop readiness. The amendment to the annual defense authorization bill in the Senate, would have guaranteed that our troops received as much time at home as the length of their deployment, and that National Guard and Reserves received three years at home following one-year deployments.

The GOP Senate minority, led by McConnell, held the bipartisan amendment hostage via filibuster, and McConnell voted against breaking the filibuster, thereby disallowing consideration of the amendment on the floor.

“Senator McConnell is a disgrace to those of us in uniform,” said Iraq war veteran Andrew Horne, a Kentuckian and senior advisor to VoteVets.org. “The amendment he shot down was pro-troop, pro-military and pro-national security. It would’ve helped ensure that we ease the burden on our men and women in uniform, at a time when our military is breaking. It would’ve helped rebuild our forces, which have far too many units that are not combat ready. And it would’ve allowed us to retain more National Guard units here at home, to deal with the next Katrina or tornados in Kentucky, or a terror attack.

“Those troops with extended deployments who are turning right around to go back overseas know that today, Senator McConnell laughed in their faces,” Horne added.  

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O'REILLY'S INSIGHTFUL BRAIN SPASM, Posted by Jim Hightower

Thank you, Bill O'Reilly, for sharing your insights with us! Not insights into any of the great issues of the day – but into your thinking.

Well... “thinking” might be too strong of a verb for the recent brain spasm we got from this liberal-hating, right-wing cable-TV talk-show host. What set him off was a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. It found that O’Reilly’s network, Fox News, has been devoting twice as much time as other cable networks to the Anna Nicole Smith celebrity story, while spending much less time than other networks on Iraq, a story of real importance.

This caused O’Reilly to have a double-barreled brain jerk. First, he blasted the other networks for covering the violence in Iraq, saying that they’re only doing it to embarrass the Bushites. “All their reporting consists of is here’s another explosion,” O’Reilly declared. “Bang. Here’s more people dead. Bang.”

He then went loopy, asserting “CNN and MSNBC are actually helping the terrorists by reporting useless explosions. Do you care if another bomb went off in Tikrit? Does it mean anything? No. It doesn’t mean anything.”

Well, actually, Bill, I don’t think terrorists are setting off bombs just to get on CNN. I think they’re setting off bombs to kill people, including U.S. troops. That’s what we call “news.” It certainly does mean something to the families of the dead, to the soldiers who served with the dead, and to the progress (or lack thereof) of Bush’s war policy. It means something every freaking time it happens.

Still, Bill dismissed it as beneath him. “We bring you stuff that is new, that is relevant to your life, “ he sniffed. “I’m not going to cover every bomb that goes off in Tikrit.”

So, Anna Nicole Smith’s death is more “relevant” to our lives than the deaths of our troops in Bush’s misguided war. Now there’s a real insight – into O’Reilly’s head.

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Chao Can’t Soft Soap Her Attack on Workers, by Mike Hall

Flashback: High school gym, where listening to lectures on personal hygiene was part of the package. It’s one thing for a gym teacher to tell a bunch of sweaty teenagers to hit the showers. But it’s something quite different when the U.S. secretary of labor tells Parade magazine—a national weekly read by millions of Americans—the nation’s workers need a bath if they want to keep their jobs.

Today and Thursday, members of AFGE Local 12 in Washington, D.C., will be doing their part to clean up U.S. workers by passing out bars of soap at the U.S. Department of Labor headquarters. On one side, the soap is labeled, “Chao Thinks You Stink.” On the other side, “Clean Up with Local 12.”

Chao told Parade it’s not just the low-cost of foreign labor that is enticing many U.S. employers to ship jobs overseas—overseas workers dress and bathe better.

Beyond the cheaper cost of labor, U.S. employers say that many workers abroad simply have a better attitude toward work. “American employees must be punctual, dress appropriately and have good personal hygiene,” says Chao.

Alex Bastani, AFGE Local 12 president, says, while the soapy action may be fun, what isn’t funny is the secretary’s disdain not only for workers at the Department of Labor but for all American workers.

Bastani noted that in 2004, Chao’s Labor Department changed the rules on who qualifies for overtime pay and millions of workers were robbed of their rights to overtime pay. Just this year, she tried to outsource some 250 Department of Labor jobs but was unsuccessful. Don’t forget to wash behind your ears.   

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Meeting reminder

Greetings from the Louisville Young Democrats! It's hard to believe that the Fourth of July is behind us. Before you know it, Labor Day will be here and then... Election Day! November 6 is just 112 days from today, and a lot needs to happen now if Steve Beshear, Dan Mongiardo and the entire Democratic slate is to win. We need your help!

One way you can help is by becoming more involved in the Louisville Young Democrats. We recently redesigned our Web site to make it more user friendly, to better communicate with our members and to increase member participation. Please visit www.louisvilleyoungdems.com today and check out the latest news and events.

Seating available on bus trip to Fancy Farm

Climb aboard the bus as Young Democrats from across the Commonwealth journey to Fancy Farm, Ky. for the annual political picnic!

Bus transportation and a night's stay at the Executive Inn Paducah is included at no cost to Young Democrats. The bus leaves Louisville at 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 3 from Louisville Democratic Party HQ, 640 Barret Ave.

Seating is limited, and reservations are required. RSVPs are due by Monday, July 23.

The itinerary includes:

Friday

1. A visit to state Rep. Mike Cherry's Garden Party, a Kentucky Democratic Party fund raiser. A small donation would be appreciated

2. The Marshall County Democratic Party Bean Supper -- Cost $15

3. A visit to Eddie Jacobs' Party

Saturday

1. The Graves County Democratic Party Breakfast -- Cost $10

2. Attend the picnic -- lunch is on your own

3. Depart for Louisville after the picnic

Don't forget to dress in style. The Young Democrats will have special t-shirts on sale for $5 each.

For more information, please contact Lisa Tanner. To reserve your seat, click on the events page of the Louisville Young Democrats Web site.

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DAILY GRILL         

"We're not in a civil war. This is just not true. American troops are attacking al Qaeda. They're attacking some elements of the Shi'a militias. ... They are not in the middle of a civil war. It's not true."  -- Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol, 6/15/07

VERSUS

"It is true that we are at risk of a sectarian civil war there, and I'm extremely worried about that. I don't quarrel about that." -- Kristol, 8/14/06 

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I'm not going to answer endless questions about it all over again and again and again and again. That might sell newspapers, but it wouldn't serve my family or my constituents well." -- Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), 7/16/07, speaking out publicly for the first time about appearing on the D.C. Madam's list

VERSUS

"Some current polls may suggest that people are turned off by the whole Clinton mess and don't care. ... But that doesn't answer the question of whether President Clinton should be impeached and removed from office because he is morally unfit to govern." -- Vitter, 10/29/98

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"Good job."  -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, 7/16/07

VERSUS

"[A] former Gonzales aide had placed Fitzgerald's name on a list of prosecutors who had 'not distinguished themselves' in March 2005, just after Fitzgerald had indicted former GOP Illinois governor George Ryan and as he was investigating the leak of the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame."  -- Washington Post, 7/17/07

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Al Qaeda's resources are focused in Iraq because that's where we are capturing and killing them every single day, so it drains their resources there. ... [T]hey are very much tied down because we are keeping them tied down fighting them in Iraq."  -- White House Homeland Security Advisor Frances Fragos Townsend, 7/18/07

VERSUS

"A new threat assessment from U.S. counterterrorism analysts says that al-Qaida has used its safe haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border to restore its operating capabilities to a level unseen since the months before Sept. 11, 2001."   -- AP, 7/12/07

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Quotes of the Day      

Forbes Publisher Rich Karlgaard on Fox: Dead U.S. Soldiers Are Okay... Because They're Volunteers

This is the kind of content we have to look forward to as Fox prepares to launch the Fox Business Channel. From this past weekend's "Forbes on Fox", the panelists just got done answering the ludicrous question of whether the uptick in the stock market was a "major" victory over Al Qaeda (because clearly a bull market is the best way to avenge 9/11) and then the conversation went even further off the rails as Fox News contributor and Forbes Magazine publisher Rich Karlgaard (publisher@forbes.com) asserted that the deaths of U.S. troops in Iraq wasn't so bad because, hey, they volunteered to serve their country.

You'll also notice how Fox anchor/host David Asman does his best to cut off and talk over the one panelist who isn't toeing the right-wing line. That sort of thing is just not allowed on Fox News Channel.

Remember, the right claims that they're the only ones who "support the troops" (and the media backs them up on it like the lapdogs they are).  Click for Video

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Recent Senate Votes 

 

Dorgan Amendment-Bringing Osama bin Laden and Other Leaders of al Qaeda to Justice - Vote Agreed to (87-1, 12 Not Voting)

This amendment to the defense authorization bill calls for quarterly classified reports on the Bush administration’s work to capture al Qaeda leaders.

Sen. Mitch McConnell voted YES

Sen. Jim Bunning voted NO

 

Recent House Votes 

 

Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act - Vote Passed (223-201, 8 Not Voting)

The House voted to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq.

Rep. John Yarmuth voted YES

Rep. Ron Lewis voted NO

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HUMOR    

"Osama bin Laden has released another new video. See, that shows how dumb this guy is. He releases it the same week as 'Harry Potter.' ... On this latest tape, bin Laden says, 'a happy man is one who dies for his religion.' Do you ever notice the one who is giving the advice is never the one blowing himself up?" --Jay Leno

"Sports Illustrated says that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is like a 'golf nut' now. She plays golf all the time. She went golfing with Cheney. Condoleezza shot an 83 and Cheney shot two attorneys and an accountant." --Jay Leno

"In Des Moines, Iowa, former President Bill Clinton said he is backing his wife Hillary for president because she is the most qualified and not because of any spousal obligations. Believe me, if there's one guy who's not swayed by spousal obligations, it is Bill Clinton." --Jay Leno

"The L.A. Catholic archdiocese has agreed to pay a $660 million settlement in a sexual lawsuit against Catholic priests. ... $660 million? Yet, nobody goes to jail and they just get to write a check. Who do these priests think they are -- Scooter Libby?" --Jay Leno

"Congratulations to former Vice President Al Gore. His youngest daughter Sarah got married over the weekend. Very happy for them, although Al couldn't enjoy the reception. He was so obsessed with how fast the ice sculpture was melting" --Jay Leno

"Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore has dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Gilmore said he dropped out because, 'I don't have the star power of a Tom Tancredo or a Mike Huckabee'" --Conan O'Brien

"The U.S. government is now offering $50 million for the capture of Osama bin Laden. $50 million for the capture of Osama bin Laden. Are you like me, thinking, 'Wow, do we really have that much left?' ... "o sweeten the deal, the money will be presented by Howie Mandel." --David Letterman

"Imagine my surprise when I come back to work and find out that the president of the United States commuted Scooter Libby's sentence. How little does the president care what you think about that? [on screen: Bush saying it was a 'fair and balanced' decision]. He's literally just using Fox News' slogan now. ... Here's the thing about the phrase 'fair and balanced' -- the president means it just as much as Fox does." --Jon Stewart

"But obviously the top story while we were gone had to be the war in Iraq. As you know, we are now entering our fifth year of making very good progress in Iraq. Obviously, the president defining progress now as 'moving forward through time.' ... But this spring, Congress finally asked the president for some specifics about our progress and its level of goodness. They required him to submit regular reports, and our first report card is in [on screen: Bush saying the Iraqis have made progress on eight of 18 benchmarks]. Yes! There you have it -- eight of 18. Otherwise known as a 'Gentleman's F.'" --Jon Stewart

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HEALTH CARE -- BUSH TO VETO EXPANSION OF CHILDREN'S HEALTH PROGRAM: Over the weekend, President Bush announced that he would "veto a bipartisan plan to expand the Children's Health Insurance Program" (SCHIP), a joint federal-state funding program that provides vital health insurance coverage for children in families whose income levels render them ineligible for either Medicaid or private insurance. The proposal, which would be "financed by an increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco products," boosts "current levels of spending by $35 billion over the next five years" to "reduce the number of uninsured children by 4.1 million." In his veto threat, Bush rejected the tobacco tax and complained that the expansion would add  "nonpoor children to the program" and encourage "many to drop private coverage, to go on the government-subsidized program." Bush's own proposal, which expands the popular program by just "$5 billion over five years," undermines the success of SCHIP. While 6.8 million people have lost health coverage since 2000, SCHIP and Medicaid ensured that the proportion of low-income children without health insurance actually declined during this period, "from 20 percent in 2000 to 14 percent in 2005." The current program covers more than 6 million youths nationally and "seems to be the main explanation" for why "the number of uninsured children has dropped from about 10 million to about 7 million from 1997 to 2006."

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS -- ADMINISTRATION, RIGHT-WING LAWMAKERS IN FAVOR OF BOMBING IRAN: The Guardian (UK) reports today that the "balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favour of military action before President George Bush leaves office in 18 months." As Iran's uranium enrichment program has advanced, a split has emerged within the White House on how to curb the program. "The vice-president, Dick Cheney, has long favoured upping the threat of military action against Iran. He is being resisted by the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the defence secretary, Robert Gates," reports the Guardian. But "[t]he balance has tilted. There is cause for concern," reported an internal source, suggesting Bush has now officially sided with Cheney's emphasis on preemptive strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. Bush has already ramped up threats against Iran. Last week, the United States deployed a third aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf in order to "counter the assertive, disruptive and coercive behaviour of some countries," according to a Navy press release. In recent weeks, several members of Congress as well as the White House have sharpened their rhetoric in favor of military action. Last month, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said he favors striking Iran. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), who was an early critic of Bush's escalation policy in Iraq, echoed Lieberman's calls for aggression when asked if he would favor striking Iran. "Yes, I am, and I think we have to be. ... We're probably in this fight for a generation," he said

EDUCATION -- SHILLING FOR LOAN INDUSTRY, CONSERVATIVES BLOCK AID TO COLLEGE STUDENTS: Last week, the House passed the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007, which "would boost college financial aid by about $18 billion over the next five years and cut federal subsidies to lenders." Furthermore, the bill would "cut interest rates on need-based student loans to 3.4% from 6.8%." The Senate today will debate its own version of the bill. Unfortunately, Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Richard Burr (R-NC) are attempting to weaken the aid package by giving "at least $3 billion in corporate welfare to the banks, instead of giving it to students." This $3 billion "could fund 588,000 Pell Grants at the maximum level of $5100." The Nelson-Burr amendment would redirect the money toward private lenders, who in recent months have been documented spending federal subsidies on inappropriate perks and sky-high salaries, while others have gamed the student loan system to reap even bigger windfalls. Even worse, however, is President Bush's plan to kill the entire aid package with a presidential veto. Bush described the plan's "loan-forgiveness provisions as creating new entitlement programs." Such entitlement programs would benefit "police, firefighters, prosecutors and other public servants." Contact your senator and urge him or her to vote against the Nelson-Burr amendment and for the Higher Education Access Act of 2007 (S. 1762) HERE.

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NEED COMPUTER ASSISTANCE?? 

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

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Think Fast      

War supporters responded yesterday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) call for an up-or-down vote on Iraq withdrawal legislation by threatening a permanent Iraq filibuster. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed "an automatic 60-vote threshold for all key Iraq amendments."

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. "reached a tentative agreement for the purchase of Dow Jones & Co. at its original $5 billion offer price. The deal will be put to the full Dow Jones board this evening for its approval, said people familiar with the situation."

"Former Republican congressman J.D. Hayworth said Monday that he has sent documents to the Justice Department in response to its investigation of disgraced fundraiser Jack Abramoff."

20.5 million: Number of decisions to classify government secrets last year. But the Information Security Oversight Office said "more than 1 in 10 documents it reviewed lacked a basis for classification, 'calling into question the propriety' of the decisions to place them off limits to public disclosure."

"The Pentagon approves disputed costs on Iraq contracts at a much higher rate than on military contracts as a whole, Defense Department records show. Through last October, almost two-thirds of costs challenged by Pentagon auditors as inflated, erroneous or otherwise improper -- more than $1 billion -- were eventually approved by project managers." 

Children in Iraq "are much worse off than they were a year ago, and they certainly are worse off than they were three years ago," said a senior U.N. official yesterday. He added that "gains made shortly after the United States toppled Hussein's government in 2003...had been lost."

"The Senate health committee is scheduled on Wednesday to consider a bill that would for the first time allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate cigarettes." Health advocates are predicting that, "after more than a decade of debate, this may be the year tobacco regulation is made law."

"Sixteen detainees were transferred out of the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to authorities in Saudi Arabia, Pentagon officials announced yesterday, amid discussions within the Bush administration about how to close the facility."

Roll Call writes, "Just a year ago, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) was disregarded, even by some in his own party, as a bleeding-heart liberal defeatist for his stance on the Iraq War." When Feingold first floated the idea of setting a withdrawal date two years ago, few of his colleagues supported him. This week, the Senate will take up the Levin-Reed redeployment bill, which is "nearly identical in scope to the amendment Feingold" offered last June.

"Two suicide bombers struck the volatile northern city of Kirkuk this morning, killing 73 people and wounding 178 more. ... The death toll is expected to rise as rescuers frantically dig through concrete and rubble in hopes of finding survivors."

"Years before the war began," Pentagon officials knew that armored MRAP vehicles better shielded troops from roadside bombs than Humvees. "But military officials repeatedly balked at appeals -- from commanders on the battlefield and from the Pentagon’s own staff" -- dating back to Dec. 2003, to provide the MRAPs, a USA Today investigation found.

"Barring an unlikely confirmation of Leslie Southwick to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by the Judiciary Committee this week, Senate GOP leaders have privately mapped out a retaliatory plan that involves blocking passage of Democratic legislation from now until the August recess." 

"The Department of Homeland Security lost senior leaders at twice the rate of the rest of the federal government over the past two years, including 23 of 26 top officials who report to the secretary."

$12.5 million: Amount of taxpayer money spent to store 85 million pounds of unused ice ordered by FEMA after Hurricane Katrina. FEMA has stored the ice for two years, even though the agency's "own regulations required that they dispose of the ice after three months."

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INTERESTING    

The Netroots Responds

On Monday night, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly aired a segment full of misleading, inaccurate claims attacking the upcoming YearlyKos blogger convention, its namesake DailyKos, and one of the event's sponsors, JetBlue. In his "report," O'Reilly cherry-picked an extreme minority of reader comments and diaries from the hundreds of thousands on DailyKos, claiming them to be representative of the community website and the greater netroots movement that will be gathering in Chicago from Aug. 2-5, 2007 for the progressive convention. Calling the netroots "the radical left" and DailyKos "hatemongerers" like "the Ku Klux Klan" and "the Nazi Party," O'Reilly compared YearlyKos to "a David Duke convention," calling it "one of the worst examples of hatred America has to offer." O'Reilly's segment, which has been latched onto by his ideological allies in the conservative blogosphere, is an attempt to discredit a movement that "each day" is having "more impact" on America's political discourse while "helping to renew our democracy." O'Reilly's pre-emptive attack on the convention is a testament to the fact that the netroots are not a "nutroots" fringe movement as critics would like to characterize it, but rather a snapshot of energized progressive activists agitating for change in America. 

MYTH OF THE 'CRUDE,' 'ANGRY,' 'CRASS' FRINGE: The shoddy journalism of O'Reilly's YearlyKos hit piece is not the first time the progressive blogosphere has been the target of disingenuous attacks labeling it "the radical left." After several Democratic presidential candidates backed out of Fox News's debates due to the news channel's ideological bent, O'Reilly attacked the grassroots activists who agitated for the pullout, calling them a "radical movement" that uses "propaganda techniques perfected by Dr. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of information." Searching through two years of Washington Post articles, media writer Eric Boehlert could find just one profile of a progressive blogger. The article -- "The Left, Online and Outraged" -- portrays My Left Wing blogger Maryscott O'Conner as "a Bush-hating lunatic," using such key phrases as "angry," "rage," "fury," "angriest," "outrage," "crude," "loud," "crass," "inflammatory," "attack." As Boehlert notes, the Post's profile of prominent conservative blogger Michelle Malkin was "a Valentine's Day week mash note, presenting Malkin as a pugnacious, on-the-rise pundit who has her liberal critics up in arms." In reality though, the image of progressive bloggers as "unhinged," as Malkin describes them, is just a myth. The make up and politics of the netroots are actually quite mainstream.

ONLINE ACTIVISTS REFLECT GENERAL POPULATION: In a survey conducted by Pew Internet and American Life after the 2006 mid-term election, "online political activists" were said to "mirror the general population of those who are civically active." As a group, they are "evenly divided between men and women" with a "racial and ethnic composition" that "is not very different from the general population." Furthermore, many of the causes supported by the netroots have broad support across the country. In a recent analysis of public opinion polls, Center for American Progress fellow Ruy Teixeira found that 68 percent of Americans support withdrawal from Iraq within a year, a key issue for the netroots. Over three-quarters of Americans believe that "the effects of global warming are apparent now" with 60 percent favoring immediate action to address the problem. Like the progressive blogosphere, a solid majority of Americans believe President Bush should not have commuted the sentence of his former aide, Scooter Libby. Seven in 10 Americans believe that current "discrepancies between income levels are too large." A majority of Americans support either gay marriage (27 percent) or civil unions (24 percent) while 79 percent of Americans believe openly gay people should be able to serve in the military. "A majority of Americans say the federal government should guarantee health insurance to every American, especially children, and are willing to pay higher taxes to do it." These political priorities, which the netroots are working to make a reality, are the priorities of the majority of Americans.

'BLOGGERS AS REAL PEOPLE': Held for the first time last year in Las Vegas, NV, the YearlyKos convention was the premiere gathering for "people from all walks of life who belong to the Netroots community" to "see hundreds of bloggers as real people for perhaps the first time." The event was "a three-day blur of workshops, panels and speeches about politics, the power of the Internet and the shortcomings of the Washington media." Featured guests included then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D), and retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark. While last year's convention, which was heavily covered by the more traditional media, was considered a rousing success, this year's convention is shaping up to be even more impressive. Featuring a Presidential Leadership Forum and panels such as "The Military and Progressives: Are They That Different?" and "The Changing Dynamics of Diversity in Progressive Politics," convention attendees are preparing themselves for three days of intense politicking, networking, and social engagement. With public figures such as Arianna Huffington, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D), Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) expected to appear on panels, the convention is far from the "radical left" gathering that people such as O'Reilly would like to believe. 

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VIDEOS

None this week.

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THE BILLIONAIRES' WAR, Posted by Jim Hightower

Massive armies are being deployed, high-powered artillery is being arrayed, initial skirmishes are already being fought, and an all-out war is a dead certainty for later this year

This is not in Iraq... but Washington, D.C. The warriers being assembled are not brave young soldiers, but $600-an-hour lobbyists. The fight is not on some moral high ground, but on the low, low, ground of Wall Street billionaires trying to dodge paying taxes.

In recent years, a handful of speculators and deal makers have gotten unimaginably rich by amassing investor dollars in such arcane financial entities as hedge funds and private equity firms. Using loopholes in the tax laws, they pay less than half of the corporate tax rate and even escape paying their share into America's Medicare health system. Many renege almost entirely on their tax obligation to our society by funneling their loot into such tax-avoidance havens as the Cayman Islands.

Now, however, congress is moving to seal off some of these loopholes – and the billionaires are squawking like a bunch of startled roosters. With a battle cry of "Save the Rich," such notorious outfits as Carlyle Group and Blackstone are assembling an army of lobbyists including former Democratic Congressman Vic Fazio, Bush's former White House political director Ken Mehlman, and former Newt Gingrich aide Leonard Swinehart.

Billionaire tax dodgers are an embarrassment to themselves. And, at a time when America has real soldiers facing death in a war that is draining our public treasury, it is a moral disgrace for these Wall Street elites to be lobbying for nothing more noble than their own greed. Rep. Sandy Levin has introduced H.R. 2834 to make such shameless hustlers pay their fair share of America's tax needs To learn more, call his office at 888-810-3880.

"Private equity firms fight plans to raise their taxes," Austin American Statesman, June 26, 2007
"H.R. 2834 110th Congess 1st session," Thomas. loc.gov, June 22, 2007                              

 

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