In Memoriam

It's the third Memorial Day since the United States invaded Iraq. The first fallen soldiers are a distant memory as the reported death count is now more than 1650 with more than 12,000 maimed and wounded. Our government doesn't acknowledge, must less memorialize the 100,000 Iraqis who have died as a direct result of George Bush's ambition.

Like the rest of you, I feel a since of loss and grief when we hear of the deaths of these young people, most of them in their very early twenties.

Today I am filled with sorrow and anger. The obscene war in Iraq hasn't made me feel one bit safer and the pall of sorrow the tragic deaths of our youth has created, gets harder and harder to bear.

Maybe on this Memorial Day, the president and his enablers will pause to reflect on the personal tragedies their deceitful behavior has wrought and maybe, just maybe, the pangs of remorse will alter their course.

I'm not holding my breath.

- - - - - - - - -

The visit to the cemetery was memorable. Hundreds of small flags flew beside graves and nearly all the burial places were marked by flowers put there by loved ones who still remember. Most heartening were the crowds of young and old everwhere in the cemetery. As we left, my wife, drying her tears with a Kleenex, aptly reflected, "All hearts are same color."

We are all Americans and on this day of rememberance, I'm especially proud to be one.

The PP is back at the keyboard after a wonderful week at Orange Beach, Alabama. I'd forgotten that area was devastated by Hurricane Ivan last September. The signs are all around and restoration on condos and hotels is about sixty-five percent complete. The beach is a fine white sand that feels like you're walking on sugar.

I read David Brock's, "Blinded By The Right" last week. The guy admitted lying through out the nineties smearing Anita Hill and the Clintons and I wondered as I read, was he still lying now? Regardless, I feel the book is a must read for progressives as it shines a bright light on the obsessive hatred many high placed conservatives have for Democrats.

To cap off the week with a fit of hilarity, I read about Tom DeLay's rebuke of NBC using his name in an episode of their TV show, "Law and Order", involving the murder of a judge.

And finally this:

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."

- President Bush in Greece, New York, last Wednesday.

More Bugman News

From PoliticalMoneyLine:

"Rep. Tom DeLay’s Americans for A Republican Majority PAC continues to file amended reports going back to 2001. On 5/18 they filed twenty-three amended reports. Earlier they filed one in April, seven in March, one in February and four in January. Some of the amendments relate to changes in the total of unitemized receipts, new debts reported, and transactions with their earlier non-federal account.

Prior to completion of an FEC audit, committees are usually required to make the necessary amendments to their reports. The FEC audits federal committees based upon complaints or due to questions about the federal committee’s finances. The FEC does not audit IRS Section 527 non-federal accounts."

And this connected to his crony, 'Casino' Jack Abramoff;

" While candidates, PACs, and party committees are held accountable for their federal political funds, Indian tribes file nothing with the Federal Election Commission. Disclosure comes only from those who file reports indicating they received donations from a tribe. Since tribes do not report what they give there is no way to double check the accuracy of the reports.

The Federal Election Commission has made no attempt to summarize tribal giving nor improve disclosure by providing searches by tribe names. If they did, they would find that recipients of tribal donations used over 1,511 variations of the 199 tribe names, including 67 for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, and 54 for the Barona Group of Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians.

PoliticalMoneyLine’s analysis of Indian Tribes recognized by the U.S. government indicates that more than $23.6 million has been received by federal candidates, PACs and parties from 1999 to the present.

Over the last several cycles the money has continued to grow. In 1999-2000 they received $3 million. In 2001-2002 they received $9.3 million. In 2003-2004 they received $10.5 million. So far in 2005 they have received $.9 million.

On a side note, the Practical Progressive is taking a seaside holiday and will be posting sporadically for the next ten days.

Neutering PBS and NPR

If you have any doubt, still, of the regressives in the White House intent to stifle and control public broadcasting, please read the following links.

• This is an article from the New York Times on March 15, 2005.
• I urge you to read, hear, or view the speech by Bill Moyers at the recent National Conference for Media Reform. Please!

This is serious stuff, folks. I have never seen Bill Moyers this passionate in the 30 years he's been on the public scene. However, if you heard Corporation for Public Braodcasting Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson on Diane Rehm's program this morning, you can certainly understand Moyer's outrage.

Tomlinson is to public broadcasting as Fred Phelps is to public education.

'Lame Stream Media' Smokescreen

A survey in October 2004 by the Program on International Policy Attitudes(PIPA) found;

• Seventy-two pecent of Bush supporters believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction(or a major program for developing them). A seven month search by 1,500 investigators led by the CIA found no such weapons.

• Seventy-five percent of Bush supporters believed that Iraq was providing substantial support to al-Qaeda. The 9/11 Commission Report concluded there was no terrorist alliance between Iraq and al -Qaeda.

• Eight-two percent of Bush supporters believed either the rest of the world felt better about the US thanks to its invasion of Iraq or that their views were evenly divided, when public opinion surveys showed the majority of the world felt worse about our country.

• Most Bush supporters believed the Iraq war had broad support in the Islamic world even when the citizens of Turkey, the most westernized Islamic country, were 87 percent against the invasion. Turkey refused to let US troops invade Iraq from their adjoining territory.

• Most telling, the majority of Bush voters, according to PIPA, agreed that if Iraq did not have WMD and was not helping al-Qaeda the US should not have gone to war.

I'll leave it to you to fathom where and why these people had such huge misconceptions about the invasion of Iraq.

Now comes this blockbuster in which the LSM (Lame Stream Media) seem not to have the slightest interest and are apparently turning a blind eye to this story to please the White House. A secret Downing Street memo leaked to the London Times and published Thursday, shows the deliberate deception Bush & Co foisted on our country . Here are the damning sentences from the post,

"C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

The memo is dated July 23, 2002!

Here's the 'smoking gun' showing that Bush and his war council had already decided, in early 2002, to launch a military invasion of Iraq and never gave much thought to the aftermath. The LSM went right along and enabled the smokescreen as shown by the survey results above!

Irony Revisited

Last Thursday, US District Judge Joseph Bataillon struck down the Nebraska constitutional amendment banning same sex marriages, approved by voters in 2000 by a 70% majority. The suit was filed by Barbara DiBernard who wanted her neighbors to know the ban spread beyond restrictions dictating who can marry whom. From the Lincoln Journal Star;

DiBernard said it took away her right to lobby the Legislature for fundamental protections given to heterosexual couples — being able to visit a partner in the hospital, make funeral arrangements for partners, and make other decisions that a family member would make. "It's forbidding all these other rights as well," said DiBernard, who has been with her partner, Judith M. Gibson, for nearly 17 years.

Saying that Nebraska's ban on gay marriages amounts to punishment, Judge Joseph Bataillon declared the ban unconstitutional. The Journal Star continues; In his Thursday ruling, Bataillon wrote that while the government can regulate conduct such as criminal activity, it cannot create classes among its citizens based on who they are, rather than what they do.

Judge Bataillon also ruled that the ban:

• went further than defining marriage as between a man a woman, and that the state won't recognize two people in a same-sex relationship that is similar to marriage.

• that the state admitted the ban limits the plaintiffs' access to the legislative process.
  

"These statements make it clear that the intent of Section 29 (the constitutional amendment's legal description) is to silence the plaintiffs' views and dilute their political strength," wrote Judge Bataillon.

Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) critized the ruling and said he hoped the opinion would be overturned on appeal. Several other Republican and radical religionists have decried this ruling as another activist judge inserting his will over the wishes the people of Nebraska.

Joseph F. Bataillon of Nebraska was confirmed as US District Court Judge for Nebraska, September 11, 1997. The vote was 100 yeas and 0 nays. At that time, the Senate was controlled by the Republicans, who would not even hold hearings on more than 60 potential appointees to the federal bench. They all voted for Judge Bataillon, including, Senators Hagel, Frist, McConnell, Brownback, even Jesse Helms.

Yesterday, in a display of irony, Senator George Allen (R-VA) said a federal court decision Thursday overturning Nebraska's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage underscored a need for Republicans to confirm the president's judicial nominees.

"It is decisions like this that are why we have a stronger Republican majority in the United States Senate," Mr. Allen said.

Excuse me?

What, Me Worry?

On the Dianne Rehm Show on NPR this morning, she or one of her guests echoed this reported dialogue between Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) and Condelessa Rice, Secretary of State.

Sen Voinovich: "John Bolton is the 'poster boy' for what a diplomat should not be."

Sec Rice: " Don't worry Senator, we're going to keep him under close supervision."

Whaaaaat! Is this the BEST the Secretary of State can say about the President's nominee to become our top ranking diplomat to the UN?

Oh well, at least Comedy Central's 'Daily Show' will have even more hilarious material for the next few months and the 'Old Europe' diplomats will have a new whipping boy. The French will definitely ridicule his 'do'.

On Religion

I don't remember where I copied this quote from or who wrote it. If you know, let me know. It's insightful, to say the least.

"On religion. Let me be very clear, politically, Democrats don't hate religion. Actually, here, let me come out and explain my nuanced position.

I hate religion. I do. I wasn't always like this, this is more of a learned experience. Religion is selective, choosing which teachings to promote, and which to cast aside. It is not inherently corrupt, but tends to slide in that direction from time to time. We have seen countless historical examples of how religion uses people's faith against themselves, and their neighbors, from the Crusades, to the Salem Witch Trials, to the 9/11 attacks.

This is not to say that I hate faith. And here is where nuance comes in. I think faith is a wonderful thing. I consider myself a non-practicing buddhist. Before I became a political junky I have studied extensively martial arts, music, visual arts, and literary arts. I have always believed that as well as the body and the mind, the soul should be nurtured. Only by caring for all three can one experience a truly blessed life. But my opinion is that religion does not always care for the soul and yet there seems to be this widespread belief that anything professed by the church is unquestionably right.

A better explanation on my belief requires a story or two.

My grandmother is a Mormon. As a teenager I was completely agnostic, bordering on atheistic as many teenage empiricists are likely to be. Knowing this, my mother would still force me to go to church with my grandmother from time to time.

I didn't like it. Everyone wore their Sunday best, children looked like porcelain dolls, women looked as though all they needed to do to host a cocktail party was to lose the sleeves, and all the men looked like high level executives. The hall in which we sat for the sermon was huge and impersonal, and the sermon itself was obscure and uninsiring. When it came time to sing hymns, only those with pleasant voices stood and sang, and anyone that sang off key received no end of dirty looks. On the whole it seemed fake, like a well practiced scene in which the actors are only going through the motions.

By contrast, I once attended church with my stepfather's mother. That church was small and sweaty. Dust bunnies sometimes skittered across the bare wood floor. Some showed up in suits and well cared for dresses, but most of the men wore jeans and suspenders, the women in worn dresses or faded slacks. The sermon was both innovative and inspiring. The preacher used the pitch used in the construction of Noah's ark as a metaphor for the strong binds of love and community, and how those things when strong enough can allow us to weather any storm together. What struck me most, however, was the first hymn.

The kindly old lady at the organ played, and at first was the only one who sang. Slowly, and one by one, people rose and joined in. By the end of the song, everyone, including myself, was singing full heartedly. Hardly anyone was on key, and a few people weren't even on rhythm, but at the same time it was more beautiful than any hymn I had heard in my grandmother's church. The reason was because the song came from faith, it came from each and every person's soul.

So I'm not a big fan of religion, but I love faith. Politically, however, I'm am completely and fully against religion in government. It makes no sense to have religion in government when a good portion of the populace doesn't practice the same religion.

It's kind of like the language thing. If you want to rag on people for living in America but not speaking English, than make English our official language (it currently isn't). Until then deal with it. Likewise, if you want Christianity in the government, than make Christianity the official religion.

Still, I don't think that is a good idea. I don't hate God. I don't hate God's people. But if history has taught us anything, God corrupts the government, and the government corrupts God."

Navel Gazing

For sometime, I've felt we in the US are so absorbed with our own take on things that we have become ignorant of what is really going on around us in the world. The government and the LSM (Lame Stream Media) feed us pablum style information mixed to insure placid, feel good consumption, regardless of what's going on in the world around us. Some countries are worse.

For instance, our President talks up freedom and democracy at every stop on his European tour this weekend. However, the images of the ceremonies in Moscow's Red Square, which he attended, were 'managed' by Russia's state run TV network. No US media was allowed to televise the event and no US newspapers were allowed to photograph or interview the participants. As a matter of fact, the event was closed to the Russian people. I wouldn't known about it except for the un-scripted comments of NBC's Norah O'Donnell on the Imus show early this morning on CNBC. Why don't we watch and see if her editors will let her repeat this on the NBC Nightly News?

Major media jumped on the bandwagon last week to exalt the capture of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, quoting US officials saying Abu Faraj al-Libbi is the third most senior member of the al-Qaeda network and that President Bush hailed the arrest of Libyan al-Qaeda suspect, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, in Pakistan as a critical victory in the war on terror.

Now comes news from the Sunday Times-World that just maybe al-Libbi isn't who everyone thought him to be. As a matter of fact this article claims,

". . . al-Libbi was not the terrorists’ third in command, as claimed, but a middle-ranker derided by one source as “among the flotsam and jetsam” of the organisation."

Meanwhile, the talking heads on TV are raving about what a catch this guy is and the recently retired Deputy Chief of the CIA said al-Libbi was his No. 1 target. No one, I repeat, no one asked if the identity of this guy had actually been comfirmed!

Maybe we need to look at his navel.

Happy Feet

Last night, I went to the Oklahoma Blues Festival in Tulsa. The weather was just right, breezy and a little cool with just a T-shirt on, but not uncomfortable. The early crowd (including me), was larger than last year's main attraction audience, which I'm sure pleased the promoters and sponsors. It was evident everyone was there to enjoy music and have fun.

The reason I went early was to see 'Bugs' Henderson and the Shuffle Kings, who this year, featured 'Slideman' Kirby Kelly. I have followed Kelly, who plays the slide guitar, for several years and this was my first chance to see him perform live. Both he and 'Bugs' Henderson were terrific. Kirby played a lap double guitar, similar to the steel guitar country bands use, plus a regular guitar with a bott;e neck slide. They kicked off their set with "Rocket in My Pocket", an old favorite of mine. The synchronization between 'Bugs' and Kirby, in the riffs they did together, was truly amazing. Just seeing and listening to them was worth the price of admission.

As a novice blues affectionado, I was really surprised and amazed by Kenny Wayne Shepard. This guy, several decades younger than 'Bugs' Henderson is truly a virtuoso on the guitar. I can't tell you the names of the songs he and his band played because he mesmerized the standing crowd with his pyrotecnic mastery of his guitar. In trying to compare his performance and energy with another guitar wizard, Pete Townshend of the Who came to mind. Shepard is not only a whiz with a guitar, he is an accomplished showman, who worked the audience like a seasoned Vegas crooner.

Take time this summer to see both 'Bugs' Henderson and Kenny Wayne Shepard, if you can. They'll give you happy feet to stomp out the blues.

Some Facts, Please

One of the things we all have missed in the Social Security (SSI) debate is the relative importance of reforming SSI now as opposed to other financial problems our country faces. The President claims SSI is in crisis now and demands action this year. His justification is the projected shortfall in contributions during the next 75 years. His solution is to eviscerate the popular 70 year old program by carving out private accounts, reducing benefits, and borrowing $4 trillion to finance the transition. Some facts, please.

The Social Security and Medicare Trustees, a majority of whom are members of the President’s cabinet, project that the Social Security shortfall will amount to 0.65 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (the basic measure of the size of the U.S. economy) over the next 75 years. In dollar terms, the Trustees project the shortfall over the 75 year period at $3.7 trillion.

During his first term, President Bush signed into law legislation that cut individual income tax rates, repealed the estate tax, and reduced taxes on capital gains and dividends. These tax breaks and others, enacted in 2001 and 2003, will expire between the end of this year and 2010. The Administration has called for making these tax breaks permanent, but has not proposed any reduction in spending to offset the cost of extending these tax breaks. Without corresponding spending offsets, the President's proposal would be extremely costly and contribute significantly to the growth of deficits over the long term.

• Making permanent the tax breaks enacted in 2001 and 2003 would have a direct cost of $1.8 trillion through fiscal year 2015, based on Congressional Budget Office estimates. This includes the cost of extending the Alternative Minimum Tax.
  
• Without offsets, the cost of these tax breaks would increase the annual deficit and thus would add to the federal debt. The interest payments associated with this higher level of debt will be nearly $300 billion through 2015. Consequently, the total cost of the tax breaks, including the related interest costs would be $2.1 trillion over the period.
• Nearly 90 percent of these costs would occur in the second half of the next decade, since most of the tax breaks do not expire until the end of 2010. In 2015, the extended tax breaks alone would cost $376 billion, an amount equal to 1.9 percent of the nation’s economy or Gross Domestic Product in that year.
• The combined cost of the tax breaks enacted since 2001 and the cost of extending the tax breaks would be $5.1 trillion through 2015, when interest costs are included. Of that total, $4.2 trillion would occur in the period between 2006 and 2015
  

The nation debt is now $7.7 trillion or 1.3 percent of GDP, more than twice the projected 75 year SSI shortfall. Adding the effects of tax breaks already enacted, from now through 2015 would add $4.2 trillion to our national debt making the total $12 trillion, or more than 2 percent of GDP. This does not factor in our government's current fiscal policy that keeps piling on debt throughout the next decade, an perhaps several more. The Congrssional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the budget deficit for 2005 at $539 billion and $487 billion in 2006. That's $1.026 trillion in just two years!

The CBO also projects that, under current law, Medicare spending will increase from 2.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2004 to 8.3 percent or more in 2050.

So, let's summarize these facts:

1. Social Security's projected shortfall over the next 75 years is $3.7 trillion or 0.65 percent of GDP.
2. The tax breaks enacted in 2001 and 2003, if made permanent without offsets, would add $4.2 trillion or almost 1 percent of GDP to the national debt in the next 10 years.
   
3. Our national debt right now is already $7.7 trillion or 1.3 percent of GDP and could reach $12 trillion or 2.3 percent of GDP by 2015.
   
4. Medicare, currently costing 2.3 percent of GDP will rise to 8.3 percent of GDP in 45 years.

You're no dummy. . .which one of these four issues is least urgent and just why is President Bush so adamant about fixing Social Security and ignoring the others? It's no wonder the President is failing miserably to sell his SSI reform.

What Goes Around . . .

An interesting sideline to the Senate tussle going on about filibusters is this overlooked fact.

First, some background. The Democrats cite the failure of President Johnson to get the appointment of Abe Fortus to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was a filibuster led by Senator Robert Griffin (R-Mich) as proof the Republicans are two-faced about the filibuster rule Sen. Frist is threatening to change. The Republicans have disputed the circumstances surrounding that event, but one independent scholar describes their argument as like an accused confessing, "Yes, I shot him, but I can’t be charged with murder because he would have died of cancer anyhow."

There are more facts and quotes at The Next Hurrah showing the Republicans indeed did use the filibuster to thwart Democratic presidents appointments to the federal bench.

Irony comes into play during the current fracus because one of the appointments is Richard Griffin, son of former Senator Robert Griffin, mentioned above, who was defeated by the now senior Senator from Michigan, Carl Levin.

What goes around, comes around.

Political Coinage

I saw something the other day about the state of Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation investing $50 million in a coin investment fund. The article tied the questionable investment to the Republican Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell. Mr. Blackwell, who is running for Governor, was the target of allegations of using his position to thwart and deny minorites voting rights in the 2004 presidential election.

Well it seems now that there's more to the story, according to the Toledo Blade. In an article published a month ago, the coin investment seems to be a political payback to Tom Noe. "Noe, 50, is a coin dealer and former chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party". "He manages two rare-coin funds that have received $50 million from the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation." Mr. Noe also is chairman of the Ohio Turnpike Commission and a member of the Ohio Board of Regents.

The paper reports his political contributions to Republicans increased more than tenfold in 1998, a statewide election year. That same year his coin fund received its first $25 million from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation to invest in coins. In 2002, another statewide election year, his contributions doubled again and Noe received another $25 million from the Workers compensation bureau.

Last week the feds swept throuh his condo searching for evidence of violations of federal campaign contribution laws.

Mr. Blackwell is a staunch supporter of Mr. Noe. Friday, Democratic state Sen. Marc Dann asked federal, state, and county authorities to investigate whether there were any violations involving state and local campaign contributions. Sen. Dann claimed, "It’s becoming clear that Tom Noe has given large contributions to Republicans, while also obtaining state contracts in which he made millions of dollars investing in risky rare coins".

Remind me again, what was Bush's margin in Ohio and did it give him the electoral votes needed to win?

Payoffs and Consequences

The new Bankruptcy Law,widely reported written by the credit card industry, was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush last week. Generally, the law imposes new restrictions on who can get debt relief through the act and the extent of the relief. Those who opposed the more stringent restraints of the law cite the fact that more than 50 percent of bankruptcies are filed because of astronomical medical expenses. It's sponsors want to punish credit card abusers.

Many card holders have seen interest rates rise to nearly 20 percent since the first of the year and fees have risen also. The credit card companies have figured the public will tolerate the incremental increases and will continue borrowing more money each quarter to support their spending habits, regardless of the direction of interest rates, and that enough consumers will be happy simply to pay off just enough debt to allow them to borrow more.

MBNA, the largest independent issuer of credit cards, reported yesterday a poor first quarter and ratcheted down earnings expectations for the year. Its stock sank to a two-year low. MBNA, to its apparent shock, found that "results were further impacted by unexpectedly high payment volumes from U.S. credit card customers," and that "the payment volumes were particularly higher on accounts with higher interest rates." Capital One's U.S. card-loans receivable fell to $46.6 billion from $48.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2004, a $2 billion and 4 percent decline. Although it's first quarter financials were better, it's stock has also plummeted. There are signs at both companies that consumers may be responding to higher rates by doing something almost completely unexpected and practically un-American: paying down credit card debt.

So, instead of borrowing more on their credit cards as the issurers have hoped, thousands of card holders are paying off their debts to these companies.

The Bankruptcy law is seen by many observers as a strong impetus for a continuing surge in card holder debt pay off yet to be reported in company financial reports required by law.

Some political payoffs have unintended consequences.

Speechless

FAMILY VALUES....If you could vaccinate young women against a sexually transmitted virus, would you do it? Of course you would. Who'd be against something like that?

Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is a major risk factor for preinvasive and invasive cervical cancer. In clinical trials, researchers evaluated a vaccine against HPV type 16, which is present in half of all cases of invasive cervical cancer and high-grade intraepithelial lesions. Because of its potential to reduce preinvasive and invasive genital cancers, the development of what appears to be a safe, effective vaccine against HPV-16 represents a major step forward in women's (and men's) health. The most appropriate target population for an HPV vaccine might be teenagers who have not yet initiated sexual activity.

Here's what Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council has to say:

"Abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV. Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a licence to engage in premarital sex."

So to follow their logic, we shouldn't vaccinate children against smallpox because it would encourage them to drink out of sewers.

It just leaves you speechless, doesn't it?