Thinking Progressive

School: Learning Center or Babysitter?

2005-08-01T01:17:00.000-05:00

Are public schools turning into a cheaper version of daycare? Think about it -- are our kids learning how to think or just learning how to pass the "tests"?

Post a comment if you wish. I'll be doing some research on this subject soon.

Why the Religious Right Hates Homosexuality

2005-07-25T23:08:00.000-05:00

I caught Rick Santorum on The Daily Show tonight. As I screamed at the screen, "Tell me exactly HOW you think you are supporting the family unit!", I wished that Jon Stewart was a better interviewer.

Are we supporting the American Family with the outrageously expensive war in Iraq? With the repeal of the estate tax that affects only the richest 2% of American families? With the stagnation of wages as corporate profits skyrocket? (This not even taking into consideration that inflation has been understated for years -- more on that in a later post.) With the lack of quality health care coverage for a significant number of low-income working families with children, with courts blessing corporations as they back away from providing promised retirement benefits, with a failure to act to prevent impending environmental crises?

Anyway... I have finally figured out why the religious right hates homosexuality. There are seeds of this hatred in the Bible, sure. But then again -- divorce, eating shellfish and a myriad of other actions are banned in those books. So why is homosexuality an issue that can still reliably be used to divide our nation, particularly along religious lines?

The real problem is that homosexuality is considered to be "caused" by one of two equally unappealing options: 1) it's hereditary, therefore "I or my wife/husband have a mutated gene!", or 2) it's environmental, therefore "I or my wife/husband did something really wrong in raising our children!" Either way is a lose/lose situation for the intolerant, especially when one of their own family members turns out to be gay or lesbian.

The Plot Thickens

2005-07-22T02:23:00.000-05:00

From Bloomberg.com:

July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Two top White House aides have given accounts to a special prosecutor about how reporters first told them the identity of a CIA agent that are at odds with what the reporters have said, according to people familiar with the case.

Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, told special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that he first learned from NBC News reporter Tim Russert of the identity of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame, the wife of former ambassador and Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson, one person said. Russert has testified before a federal grand jury that he didn't tell Libby of Plame's identity, the person said.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove told Fitzgerald that he first learned the identity of the CIA agent from syndicated columnist Robert Novak, according a person familiar with the matter. Novak, who was first to report Plame's name and connection to Wilson, has given a somewhat different version to the special prosecutor, the person said.

These discrepancies may be important because Fitzgerald is investigating whether Libby, Rove or other administration officials made false statements during the course of the investigation. The Plame case has its genesis in whether any administration officials violated a 1982 law making it illegal to knowingly reveal the name of a covert intelligence agent.

I hope Fitzgerald is able to get to the bottom of this. Much of it, such as Karl Rove claiming "that he had not heard her (Valerie Plame's) name before he heard it from Novak" could so easily be the type of word play for which Republicans tried to crucify Bill Clinton.

Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts

2005-07-20T00:52:00.000-05:00

I like this post on TPM Cafe by Robert W. Gordon about Bush's nomination of John Roberts to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court: Some Initial Reactions to Roberts

Bush is obviously playing it safe and he is wise to do so, with the RovePlameGate matter adding to the burden of decreased support for the Iraqi occupation, increasing questions about the effectiveness of the War on Terrorism and a still-pessimistic outlook of America's own economic situation.

Before the nomination, I read and heard some pundits who believed that this would be a controversial appointment, intended to distract. It is, but in a different way -- Bush's opponents will now need to spend time researching and disputing this relatively unknown candidate. The extreme right sees one thing they can like in this candidate, and they can breathe for a few minutes and wait to take their "attack" cue from the left.

In my own opinion, Senator Harry Reid has it right at exactly this moment:

The President has chosen someone with suitable legal credentials, but that is not the end of our inquiry. The Senate must review Judge Roberts¹s record to determine if he has a demonstrated commitment to the core American values of freedom, equality and fairness. The nominee will have an opportunity to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and make his case to the American people.

I will not pre-judge this nomination. I look forward to learning more about Judge Roberts.

Let us seek information but avoid going directly into attack mode. I have the feeling lately that we progressives and liberals are being played into defensive positions far too often and that our attention is manipulated from one issue to the next without a satisfactory resolution to any of them. Am I the only one feeling this way?

--Jackie

A Poem About Plamegate and Karl Rove

2005-07-16T15:41:00.000-05:00

A Poem About PlameGate and Karl Rove

The January 2003 presidential address
Included an assertion that caused some distress.
Joseph Wilson knew it was misleading or fake
Since he had probed Iraq’s hunt for yellowcake.

Is this a case where the administration
Twisted intelligence to provide justification?
Or maybe someone just hadn’t sent
Joe’s findings to the Vice President.

Wilson’s effort to rebut the Niger claim
Led to the outing of Valerie Plame.

Did top officials meet in fury and frustration
To decide how to handle this new allegation?
“Hmm, this is that guy with a wife who’s a spy
We could hurt him by hurting her if we try.”

The next day, a memo with classified information
Boarded a flight to an African nation.
Perhaps it was mistakenly left in the loo
Who knows who else could have read it too?

What we do know is that after merely a week
Robert Novak published his infamous leak.

With the results of his search anxiously awaited
For months, special prosecutor Fitzgerald investigated.
Two other journalists found the inquiries intense
Until Time handed over Cooper’s notes in defense.

The noise machine instantly kicked into action
“Karl would not knowingly commit this infraction.
He chatted with Bob but didn’t name a name
So, you see, Mr. Rove is not really to blame.”

The White House remains mysteriously silent
Other than persistently declining to comment.

Abu Ghraib, DeLay, Downing Street memos and more
Each has been eclipsed by the next horror.
So I end this with a nervous feeling
As I wonder what worse news this story’s concealing.

===================

New and notable stories today:

State Dept. Memo Gets Scrutiny in Leak Inquiry on C.I.A. Officer

Talking Points Memo – A Point Overlooked

More Info: Karl Rove/Valerie Plame Affair

2005-07-16T02:31:00.000-05:00

dogsoldier in the TPM Cafe offers an explanation of the law as it applies to intelligence identities here: INTELLIGENCE IDENTITIES PROTECTION, A PRIMER

Nancy in the TPM Cafe posted an excellent timeline and evolution of the information that was leaked regarding Valerie Plame with some very relevant points at the bottom of the post here: HOW THE WHITE HOUSE KNEW PLAME WAS CIA

10 Things I've Learned About Karl Rove

2005-07-14T23:39:00.000-05:00

Karl Rove often lurks behind the scenes, but he pulls the strings much more than the average person may realize. Some things I've learned about him this year include:

While campaigning for Republican Bill Clements in the 1986 Texas gubanatorial race, he bugged his own office and accused Democrat Mark White's campaign of doing it. (http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_jason_mi_...)
At age 19, he was accused of stealing letterhead from Illinois Democrat Alan Dixon and printing invitations for free beer, free food and girls which he then distributed at rock concerts and homeless shelters. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Rove)
He then worked as an assistant to George H. W. Bush in the Republican National Committee during the dying throes of the Nixon presidency. (http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/usa/karl-rove/)
He was fired from George H.W. Bush's second presidential campaign for leaking information to Robert Novak. (http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_jason_mi_...)
He directed smear campaigns against incumbent Ann Richards during George W. Bush's 1994 campaign for governor of Texas, against John McCain during the 2000 presidential primaries, against Sen. Max Cleland during the 2002 elections and presidential candidate John Kerry during the 2004 elections. (various sources)
He dropped out of college to become executive director of the College Republicans (http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/usa/karl-rove/)
He organized the "Brooks Brothers riots" to stop the 2000 presidential vote recount in Florida. (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jul2003/rove-j19.shtml)
He attended secretive energy policy meetings with Dick Cheney while holding substantial investments in energy companies, including Enron. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Rove)
At age 19, he found out that the man he believed was his father really wasn't, and his mother committed suicide when he was 31. (http://bnfp.org/neighborhood/Lemann_Rove_NYM.htm)
And the latest news: An anonymous source claims that Karl Rove has already testified that the media leaked Valerie Plame's identity to him, not the other way around. What do you think?

We Need to Push the Issues

2004-11-06T23:44:00.000-05:00

For those liberals and progressives that are feeling down this week, keep up the good work! We need you now more than ever. Bush is counting on a window of opportunity, but we have one as well to put more pressure on the media and to make sure the important stories and issues aren't buried, forgotten or distorted.

Now is the time to revisit recent issues and push even harder. We are no longer locked into the defensive position of fending off campaign and media attacks on our candidates, so it's time to push on the real issues such as:

1) The still-unreleased CIA report evaluating the real shortfallings and liabilities of the administration before, during and after 9/11.

2) The missing, unsecured explosives at Al Qaqaa.

3) The plan to conduct elections in Iraq during January, an accounting for the monies spent and a projection of the funds still needed in Iraq, and a realistic exit strategy.

4) The serious issues still affecting Afghanistan, including the resurging power and control of the Taliban.

5) The president's plans for reforming Social Security (keeping in mind that Alan Greenspan advocated raising our taxes in the early '80s to ensure the solvency of the program and that a surplus of 1.8 trillion has been lost by this administration).

6) The president's plans for making health care more affordable and accessible and for reforming the tax code, neither of which were made clear during the campaign.

7) The president's plan for economic recovery (keeping in mind that it's taken his tax cut four long, painful years to result in a "growing economy" -- if that is what really caused the economy to grow -- and let's not forget that when an individual makes over $87K per year, he or she is already receiving a tax cut of more than 6% by not paying the Social Security tax).

8) The president's plan for uniting the country and earning the support of his opponent's supporters, which he is already backing away from by inviting "those who share our goals" to work with him.

9) The administration's apparent dichotomy of beliefs which strategically appeases supporters from corporate America and the radical right. This administration promises "less government" when deregulating big business, reversing environmental regulations and cutting funds for social services programs at the same time it adds regulation to the daily lives of American people by banning negotiation of prescription drug prices, increasing IRS audits on the working poor, and promoting an anti-abortion, anti-science and anti-homosexual agenda.

There are many moderate Republicans who are not happy with the Bush administration's agenda. Bush by no means has received a "mandate" from the American people. Now that we are no longer defending candidates against campaign tactics, let's start focusing on the issues and informing the rest of America about what is really happening here.

Thanks to all of you who continue to defend democracy, civil rights and free speech, and please stick around!

You May Not Be Registered to Vote in Ohio

2004-09-29T22:35:00.000-05:00

It's not too late to register to vote in Ohio, even if you used a low paper-weight form or may be in a situation where you need to cast a "provisional" ballot.

Here are three things that you must check NOW:

1) Did you receive a Voter Information Card via postal mail after you registered? If not, you must GO IMMEDIATELY to one of the following locations to register. The deadline is THIS weekend, Oct. 2-4. It is already too late to register online.

-- The office of the Secretary of State of Ohio, or the Secretary of State Client Services Center, 30 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio
-- The board of elections office in your county (It is always listed in the phone book under "Government Offices – County.")
-- Any Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles office or BMV registrar
-- Any public or vocational school
-- Public libraries
-- Your county treasurer’s office

2) Have you moved since you originally registered to vote in Ohio, or are you moving before Election Day? If you have already moved or are moving this weekend, you must GO IMMEDIATELY to one of the above locations and complete A Notice of Change of Address. If you are already registered and you are moving within 28 days of Election Day, the following apply:

-- Moving Within Precinct, within 28 days of Election Day: Report to your assigned polling place, complete A Notice of Change of Address, vote regular ballot.
-- Moving Within County, within 28 days of Election Day: Report to your County Board of Elections office during normal office hours, complete A Notice of Change of Address, vote provisional ballot.
-- Moving Between Counties, within 28 days of Election Day: Report to your NEW Count Board of Elections office during normal office hours, complete A Notice of Change of Address, vote provisional ballot.

3) Were you enticed by the convenience of "Absentee Voting"? I personally received a postal mail and a telephone call with a recording of George W. Bush's voice encouraging me to take the Absentee Voting option. Be aware that your Absentee Vote can legally be discarded unless one of the following circumstances apply:

-- you will be absent from your county,
-- you are 62 years old or older,
-- you or a family member will be in the hospital,
-- you have a physical disability preventing you from getting to the polling place,
-- you are an elections official or board of elections employee,
-- you have religious reasons for not being able to vote on Election Day,
-- you will be in jail, under sentence, or awaiting trial,
-- you are on active duty with an organized militia, or
-- you are confined to a hospital because of a medical emergency on Election Day.

Other Things to Know About Registering and Voting in Ohio:

-- When registering, you must provide your legal name, birthdate, citizenship status, age, current address and signature.
-- When registering, you do not need to declare a party affiliation. However, you may only vote in one party's primary elections, not both.
-- If you are voting for the first time, you must either have provided your driver's license number or the last four digits of your Social Security number on the registration form, or you will need to provide identification at the polling place consisting of a current and valid photoID, a utility bill, a bank statement, a paycheck or a government document showing name and address.
-- You may register at any approved registration site, but you must vote in the county and precinct in which you reside.
-- You do not need to register again if you have voted in a general election within the past four years and if you have not had a name or address change.
-- You may register to vote if you have been convicted of a felony as long as you are not currently incarcerated.
-- You may register to vote if you are homeless.
-- If you are disabled, you may call TTY (614) 466-0562 to get information on how to cast a ballot, or call your county board for information or assistance.

Know Your Voting Rights! In Ohio, YOU...

-- must be provided with a voting machine that is in working condition,
-- must be provided with another ballot if you made a mistake,
-- may request up to three ballots due to mistakes you made,
-- can ask for written or verbal instructions,
-- can receive help in voting if you ask for it,
-- can bring an aide or interpreter if you are disabled or have a language barrier,
-- cannot be prevented from voting for any reason if you are a registered voter,
-- can vote if you are in line at the correct polling location at the time the polls close,
-- must be given an explanation and offered a resolution if you are not allowed to vote.

More information can be found at: Voter Services -- Ohio.

(Note: I have republished a few entries from my previous blog, which I've given up to move to blogger.com)

Social Security Is Not Broke, But Our Country Is

2004-09-05T22:25:00.000-05:00

This week, Bush spoke about giving Americans more freedom and choices, so that the government could not take away benefits and security.

We already paid for our benefits and security.

Were you watching, or reading, the news 5 days ago when Alan Greenspan. chairman of the Federal Reserve, declared that haste is critical and that we must trim the benefits due to the Baby Boomer generation now, because "If we have promised more than our economy has the ability to deliver, as I fear we may have, we must recalibrate our public programs so that pending retirees have time to adjust through other channels. If we delay, the adjustments could be abrupt and painful."

With all this rhetoric flying around, let's remember that Greenspan co-chaired a commission in 1982 that increased payroll taxes on lower-to-middle-income Americans to protect the Social Security program when the Baby Boomers retired.

The increased payroll taxes created a surplus of about 1.8 trillion dollars -- yes, that's $1,800,000,000.00. Those payroll taxes apply only to people currently making less than $87,000 per year. How many of YOUR bosses or company owners make more than that? They get a big tax break already -- over 6% -- when they go over that magical number: 87K per year.

Where is our money?

What happened to that 1.8 trillion dollars -- all that money -- instead of being set aside for the Baby Boomer retirement, for the Social Security promise to people who have worked all their lives and want to live their remaining years in a modest degree of comfort rather than having to work as Wal-Mart greeters? Bush used that money to subsidize his tax cuts, which primarily benefit people who are already rich. A report from the Congressional Budget Office states:

In fact, the cost over the next 75 years of the tax cuts just for the one percent of households with the highest incomes — a group with average incomes of about $1 million per year — exceeds the entire 75-year Social Security shortfall that CBO projects.

Are we having fun yet?

(Note: I have republished a few entries from my previous blog, which I've given up to move to blogger.com)

Purple Band-Aids Are Unpatriotic

2004-09-05T22:15:00.000-05:00

The citizens of this country should be outraged at the way that people who have served in the military have been treated and at the way that our media has served us.

Dishonoring Our Veterans

Delegates to the Republican National Convention who chose to wear the purple Band-Aids demonstrated the ultimate dishonor and disrespect for all veterans and all current military personnel who have served our country. The ads and claims of the Swift Boat Veterans have been debunked repeatedly and in great detail at www.dailyhowler.com among others.

Penalized for Speaking Out Against Injustice

John Kerry broke with the administration during the Vietnam War to express his views that soldiers were being misused by the administration.

Who dares to express such opinions in the current political climate, with the "war on terrorism" leading to civil rights abuses in abu-Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and other US-led prisons as well as during the Republican National Convention in New York City, where nearly 500 protesters had been in jail at least 36 hours before a judge ordered them released?

You Can't Get Your News at 6PM and 11PM

Why don't we hear the truth? The media is afraid to ask the hard questions and is being fed a particular point of view. Don't believe me? Read an interview with David Brock. who used to be a Republican spin-doctor and now works to expose the spin at his web site, www.mediamatters.org.

(Note: I have republished a few entries from my previous blog, which I've given up to move to blogger.com)

Corrine Brown Was Right About Election 2000

2004-07-24T22:01:00.000-05:00

Did you know why Congresswoman Corrine Brown was censured and her comments stricken from the record by House Republicans last week? It was because she argued for international monitoring of the upcoming presidential election, saying:

"I come from Florida, where you and others participated in what I call the United States coup d'etat. We need to make sure that it doesn't happen again. Over and over again after the election when you stole the election, you came back here and said get over it. No we're not going to get over it and we want verification from the world."

In fact, Ms. Brown is not the only one to be censored on this issue. In the United States, a segment of the BBC television special "Bush Family Fortunes" which covered the non-count of 95,000 African-American votes in the 2000 election was blacked out.

What happened in Florida in 2000?

-- GOP leaders including Governor Jeb Bush urged voters to vote by absentee ballot, in violation of the Florida Absentee Ballot Law which required that voters have a valid reason for voting absentee. The GOP later pressured for counts of Republican absentee votes while trying to block counts of Democrat absentee votes.
-- 58,000 voters were purged from the state rolls after being identified as felons. At least 15% and as many as 95% of these voters had never committed a felony, but an overwhelming percent were black or Democrat.
-- The recount of over 10,000 votes in Miami was cancelled after a riot organized and funded by the Bush campaign. No legal charges were brought against the protestors, and at least three of the protestors were members of the White House staff in July 2002.
-- The Florida State Supreme Court ordered a statewide recount.
-- The U.S. Supreme Court, by a narrow margin, stopped the recount and declared Bush the winner, overriding states' rights regarding elections and Florida's legal requirement to determine the clear intent of the voter.
-- Headline stories released by large media outlets, including The New York Times and Washington Post, declaring that Bush would have won the recount anyway were based on an incorrect assumption of how the recount would have been conducted. Later unofficial recounts by news organizations such as Newsweek concluded that, if all legally cast votes had been counted, Gore would have won the vote in Florida.

Read more about what happened in Election 2000:

-- Floridagate
-- One Million Black Votes Didn't Count in the 2000 Presidential Election
-- The Boston Statement
-- Bush's Conspiracy to Riot
-- Scrub Helps Shrub
-- So Bush Did Steal the White House

(Note: I have republished a few entries from my previous blog, which I've given up to move to blogger.com)

Rumsfeld Gunning for Saddam for Years

2004-06-19T21:56:00.000-05:00

Did you know that The Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a neoconservative think tank which calls for American world leadership, has been urging the removal of Saddam Hussein since 1998, claiming that he posed a hazard to a significant portion of the world's oil supply?

Ten of the 18 PNAC members who called on Bill Clinton to take action later joined George W. Bush's administration, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Assistant Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and presidential advisor for the Middle East Elliot Abrams. Vice President Dick Cheney is also a member of PNAC.

On the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001, according to CBS News, Donald Rumsfeld was already making plans to attack Iraq:

With the intelligence all pointing toward bin Laden, Rumsfeld ordered the military to begin working on strike plans. And at 2:40 p.m., the notes quote Rumsfeld as saying he wanted "best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit S.H." – meaning Saddam Hussein – "at same time. Not only UBL" – the initials used to identify Osama bin Laden.

(Note: I have republished a few entries from my previous blog, which I've given up to move to blogger.com)

American Forces Receive Politically Biased Programming

2004-06-19T21:34:00.000-05:00

Did you know that the American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) broadcasts Rush Limbaugh's show daily while not offering opposing views on its talk radio service?

This is in violation of Department of Defense Regulation 5120.20R, which calls for political programming that is characterized by fairness and balance and news programming that requires reasonable opportunities for the presentation of conflicting views on important controversial public issues.

Sen. Tom Harkin has been successful in facilitating passage of an amendment to the 2004 Defense Authorization bill that will ensure AFRTS meet these mandates.

From Sen Harkin's statement in the Congressional Record:

I generally do not agree with Rush Limbaugh's commentaries. But I do not object to the fact that they are run on a daily basis on this service. Some people do object. However, what I do take issue with is the fact that there is no commentary on the service that would even begin to balance the extreme right-wing views that Rush Limbaugh routinely expresses on his program.

(Note: I have republished a few entries from my previous blog, which I've given up to move to blogger.com)