Poverty in America

Poverty in America

It's plain to see that Poverty is in the forefront of American minds today, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the reality of which Katrina exposed as she literally blew the curtain away. There is a reawakening in this country, after 30-40 years of virtual political silence.

Sandra Price says the key to stopping the cycle of poverty is Education:

I watch every Governor’s convention on CSPAN and hear them pat each other on the back for some stupid bridge or street and they know damn well the children in their own states are failing academically in every district...We must pull these kids up to a higher standard and allow them to set goals and learn their own strengths and help fix their weaknesses.

Published originally at EtherZone.com

Others have ideas about the state of American education and the poverty problem:

1. Paul Nyhan - College divide threatens to keep the poor in poverty [Seattle Intelligencer]

2. David Brooks - The Education Gap [NYT Select]


Marc H. Morial lays out the National Urban League's ideas regarding post-Katrina protection for those who have lived for too long in poverty:

"...the National Urban League has proposed a Victims Bill of Rights which recommends guidelines Congress should take to protect the victims and ease their burdens—including a victims compensation fund (as was done for the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks) for the hundreds of thousands of citizens injured, killed and displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

Congress should also provide meaningful federal disaster unemployment assistance to every worker—estimated to be at least half a million—left jobless by this tragedy. And it must ensure that the hundreds of thousands of displaced Gulf citizens continue to have full voting rights in their home states and districts, so that they can have a proper voice in the rebuilding of their communities."

The poverty rate in Santa Clara county, California, has shocked many people. Of the nearly 400,000 families living in Santa Clara County, almost a quarter, or approximately 93,000 families, earn annual incomes less than the local family threshold of $45,000.


Jim Cresson of the Cape Gazette (Cape region, Delaware) staff reports that Derrick Span, national president of the Community Action Partnership, urged people of Sussex County to call on their elected representatives to support a renewed anti-poverty plan for America. Hurricane Katrina shed new light on old problems, said Span, speaking Sept. 17 to more than 125 members and guests at the Lower Sussex Branch of the NAACP's annual Freedom Fund Banquet at Grace United Methodist Church.

“Katrina was a sociological exclamation point, a political question mark, a moral indictment and a theological statement,” he said. “Why in a nation committed to family values, was so little done to protect those displaced families in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane? Why did it take so long to rescue them? Every human being has dignity, and all humans deserve to be rescued.”....Span said it became obvious that the hurricane revealed a need for a new national anti-poverty law. He said the Congressional Black Caucus recently laid out an eight-point plan to fight poverty and presented it to the Bush administration. But he also said more needs to be done.

“There are more than 37 million Americans living in poverty,” Span said. “That is 1 million more people than were living in poverty in 2004. There are 47 million people, many of them working poor, who do not have health insurance for themselves or their families.”

Span said that poverty is not just a black or white issue; it is a multicultural issue. He said it is not just an inner-city issue; it is also a rural issue. And he said it is not just a regional issue; it is an American issue, one that must be solved soon.

“There is no coherent policy for the poor, and that amounts to economic terrorism,” he said. “The weapons of mass destruction related to poverty are poor health, poor housing and no housing. People who work must be paid more. There is no such thing as a menial job, because every job has dignity. There is just menial pay, and that can be corrected.”

Full text available at Cape Gazette.com


In a Hartford Courant article about an upcoming Mahavir Ahimsa (non-violence) Seminar at the University of Connecticut's Storrs campus featuring Sri Lankan speaker Jeyanthy Siva, Susan Campbell says:

"Substitute "New Orleans" or "Gulf Coast" for "Sri Lanka" and you can ask the same questions. But Siva pushes the discussion just a little further: How can we continue to ignore U.S. poverty?"Whether a 20-meter wall of water works to clear the minds of a populace horrified by poverty and devastation, a discussion of inequity and fairness must be ongoing. And it must not fall into the us vs. them category...Katrina ripped off a psychic lid...If a wall of water did not cleanse the land, it can at least serve to clear perceptions.

Voice of America (Jim Malone) has a feature on the ways in which the "Hurricane aftermath" has sparked a debate over Poverty.
Malone report - Download 674k
- Listen to Malone report
- watch Hurricane Poverty report / Real broadband
- watch Hurricane Poverty report /Real broadband
- watch Hurricane Poverty report / Real dialup
- watch Hurricane Poverty report / Real dialup

____________

Jack Kemp, the 1996 Republican vice presidential nominee and former U.S. Housing secretary, wrote last week that conservatives could turn Katrina into an opportunity just as presidents Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt did during other periods of crisis.

In an essay in the online conservative journal Human Events, Kemp wrote: "In the wake of this national catastrophe we should all be imagining the unimaginable."

- From a report at BlackAmericaweb.com, which is site with Republican-based views. See Rep. Elijah Cummings'(D-MD) comments, also.


OTHER ARTICLES:

Poverty: The Crisis Katrina Revealed BusinessWeek

Politicians' ignorance of poverty helps foster climate of cynicism Decatur Daily Democrat

Katrina highlighted the problem of poverty Fort Worth Star Telegram

Bringing Up Mommy Portsmouth Herald, NH

Realities of Poverty Atmore Advance, AL

Poverty exposed: Winds of Katrina swept away cloak that hides America's poor Martha Mendoza | Associated Press

Empowering the poor by David T. Ellwood Boston Globe

New Orleans flooding flushes poverty back into fashion Tom Teepen/SaltLakeTribune

Poverty and Racism in America Kevin Agnese/Manhattan College Quadrangle

"....now, in the aftermath of one of the greatest natural disasters the country has ever faced, with his approval ratings slipping down the tubes because thousands of poor residents didn't have any means to escape certain death, the nation is expected to believe Bush cares about the poor. Sorry Mr. President, not a chance."
[State of the Legacy - The Daily Campus - UConn]

John Edwards on Jon Stewart's Daily Show Oct 5th

John Edwards on Jon Stewart's Daily Show Oct 5th

Sen John Edwards will appear on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on October 5th (next Wednesday).

Recent Speeches Available Online:

Center for American Progress Speech
Video & Transcript
• Intro: Video
• Speech: Video
• Q&A Session: Video
• Transcript: Full text (PDF)

Sen Tom Harkin's (D-Iowa) Steak Fry,
Warren County Fairgrounds, Indianola, Iowa (CSPAN)

Modern Real Estate Practice in North Carolina

North Carolina is one of the fastest growing states in the union, and one of the reasons is the astonishingly rich variety of homes available to the discerning shopper. One Carolina company, Smart Choice Realty, for example, offers unique opportunities such as cash back at closing and zero money down.
For more on real estate in North Carolina, a good place to start is by reading Modern Real Estate Practice in North Carolina, but perhaps a better way would be to have a look yourself. A combination of the two, plus copious surfing of the net, will always yield fruit.

In a few weeks, North Carolina will play host to bloggers from all over America, and I think it would be nice if some of them decided to relocate here. One can never have too many bloggers!

So after attending the ConvergeSouth conference, take a drive around and see if you find something that jumps out at you.

- Mr Beckwith (anonyMoses) has performed internet related services for a variety of companies, like Automated Directions, Inc. -- a full service system integrator and distributor for many of today's leading manufacturers of material handling equipment -- WebKorner -- Web and Internet solutions for homes and businesses in the Charlotte area -- Casual Furniture World where comfort CAN be beautiful...and affordable -- The Leonardo Store -- which was introduced from Germany, but whose accolades include the Oprah magazine's "O" list, and stints on the Today Show and Redbook. Some of these companies will be sending representatives to the conference and may soon be entering the exotic world of bizblogging.

Tar Heel Tavern 31

Tar Heel Tavern 31

Don't miss this week's Tar Heel Tavern at Pratie Place.

WaPo Rips Iraq Constitution

WaPo Rips Iraq Constitution

Faced with sinking domestic support, the Bush administration seems driven by an unwise zeal to produce visible results in Iraq -- such as a ratified constitution -- however problematic they may be. [WaPo editorial]

The Iraq war has been based upon deceiving the public with the most vile form of politics I have ever witnessed in my time. I search history for something that rivals the low level of planning and respect for the American citizens' collective sense of intelligence. Someone recently called this moment in time Bush's "Lincoln moment." This is not to say he is a uniter who leads a nation, even when it means war. Instead, it means war based on lies and fake benchmarks for political gain - and through it all, he has not fooled all the people all the time. As a matter of fact, he has fooled only a few - some so blindly partisan that they would fall off a cliff if Bush led them...and Bush is leading them.

If the protesters visiting Washington this weekend succeeded in forcing a quick U.S. troop withdrawal, the bloodshed in Iraq, and the damage to the United States, would grow far worse.

I see the logic in this statement. Emotions tell a different story. Only President Bush and his administration can rectify this problem of public perception. Only they can turn this around to make the war a global effort to bring Iraqis to the table and to convince them it's a sincere effort for the peace - and not a race for control of their energy resources or some kind of an imperial stampede or holy war. I have no confidence that they will ever change the course to make the Iraq war a success. If you think that doesn't concern (and perhaps frighten) millions of Americans, I'd have to say you aren't paying close attention. Who wants to wind up with an Iraq that no one will have an interest in defending?

Political Correctness Will Not Serve Progressives Well

Political Correctness Will Not Serve Progressives Well

Ruth Rosen fears that liberals are accepting a Conservative reframing of the problem of poverty - namely the National Review's Rich Lowry's naming of the root cause of the poverty exposed by Hurricane Katrina as "the breakdown of the family." She says:

With amazing gall, conservatives have shredded the safety net and then blamed unmarried mothers for their own neglect-the-poor policies.

Ms. Rosen includes NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof and former Sen John Edwards in this analysis, and I'll tell you where I think she's not being fair.

We progressives tend to cling to the belief that the Bush domestic policy (which has shredded the domestic safety net) is such an obvious perversion that it, on its own, it is a strength and a surefire strategy for the electability of Progressives in 2006 and 2008. We've been proven wrong on that belief before, and we could very well be proven wrong again. We cannot rely on mere disgust for the Bush agenda for political success. We need ideas - good ideas - ideas that work in the reality-based community.

Stating the fact that more teen pregnancies can be prevented by advocating for new economically healthy/federally-funded social programs is surely not a turn toward conservatism. It speaks of a reality that anyone can clearly understand and it supports social democracy by creating ideas for programs that work when properly funded and administered.

Ms. Rosen quotes New York Times reporter Jason DeParle, who concluded in his book "American Dream" that "it is poverty itself — not a lack of personal responsibility—that is the main reason for single-parent families."

If that is true, and it well may be, I would hope that Ms. Rosen and other progressives would embrace the hard truth that it's still wrong to bring into the world a child for whom the parents are not ready to take responsibility. We need to continue to pull young girls out of their abject poverty by strengthening them with education and opportunity. I don't believe it's a liberal sin to speak about the reality that is right before our eyes.

That is not to say that a single woman cannot be responsible for a child when she makes a conscious decision to bear one. Responsibility is the key word.

In a speech last week at CAP (The Center for American Progress), I heard Sen Edwards say that if given the opportunity, he'd lead many young men who've fathered children (and have abandoned them) to more responsibility by creating welfare-reform opportunity for them and mandating them to pay child-support in the participatory process. That is part of what could be a new democratic society by federal design, and it isn't a conservative idea. It's progressive - and it's realistic.

CSPAN - Road to the White House

CSPAN - Road to the White House

Be sure to tune in on Sunday at 6:30 pm as C-SPAN's "Road to the White House 2008" continues. This week's installment will feature former Sen. John Edwards' Sept. 18 speech to the 28th Annual Harkin Steak Fry at the Warren County Fairgrounds in Indianola, IA.

Aldon Hynes on Washington DC March

Aldon Hynes on Washington DC March

My Idea Consultants colleague Aldon Hynes has written a blog for Howard Dean's Blog for America website. It begins..

Today, hundreds of thousands of Americans gathered in Washington to express their displeasure with the current administration, it's policies in Iraq and the horrible effect those policies are having on people across America....

Aldon says that we'll hear soundbytes about the March, but they will not reflect what is really happening out there in D.C. and on other American street corners.

It wasn't just the national politics that united us. Several of us talked about the importance of races further down the ticket, such as Melissa Berger's campaign for House of Delegates in Maryland. We talked about the importance of reaching out to people in rural America such as Rob at turningblue has been doing in Georgia.

At the end of the day, I spoke with Kim who is up in Burlington and about the importance of campaigns around the country. I write this post sitting in Hypatia's kitchen as numerous bloggers eat, laugh and take pictures.

The way we are going to take this country back is through the friendships that we all share on this blog, when we get together for fun and when we work together on campaigns.

There were 100,000 people who protested the war in D.C. yesterday...and there were a couple hundred anti-peace types who were apparently unaware that there already was no peace in Iraq...

Broussard says: "Get Out of My Face"

Broussard says: "Get Out of My Face"

Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana sent out the message to all ideologues - including rightwing bloggers who Broussard believes have an agenda when accusing him of politicizing Katrina.

"Get out of my face."

On Meet the Press today, Broussard entertained direct challenges regarding the now-clarified details of an emotional story which he'd told Tim Russert about the abandonment of New Orleans by the federal government in the aftermath of Katrina.

Bill Frist's Very Bad Week

Bill Frist's Very Bad Week

Adam Zagorin of Time Magazine, reports that the U.S. Army has launched a criminal investigation into new allegations of serious prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan made by a decorated former Captain in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division.

Senate sources tell TIME that the Captain has also reported his charges to three senior Republican senators: Majority Leader Bill Frist, Armed Services Committee chairman John Warner and John McCain, a former torture victim in Vietnam. A Senate Republican staffer familiar with both the Captain and his allegations told TIME he appeared "extremely credible."..The new allegations [Human Rigts Watch] center around systematic abuse of Iraqi detainees by men of the 82nd Airborne at Camp Mercury, a forward operating base located near Fallujah, the scene of a major uprising against the U.S. occupation in April 2004.

At Think Progress:

On July 27, the same month the Captain came forward, Sen. Frist single-handedly derailed a bipartisan effort — led by Sen. McCain — to clarify rules for the treatment of enemy prisoners at U.S. prison camps. In what news reports at the time described as an “unusual move,” Frist “simply pulled the bill from consideration” before it could be debated.

A suggestion is made that Bill Frist should "come clean: Was his office told of the “systematic abuse” in the 82nd Airborne before he torpedoed the new detainee laws?"

Bill Frist is having a rough week. At the Progressive Zone, David has a thorough blogpost about the questions surrounding Frist's possible insider stock trading.

First Peak Oil Conference in NYC

First Peak Oil Conference in NYC
October 5 9 A.M. - 5 P.M

The first Peak Oil Conference will take place in in New York City On October 5th www.petrocollapse.org. Oil experts and scientists will speak on the local and global consequences of Peak Oil. Speakers include James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency; Dr. John Darnell, Science and Energy Advisor to Congressman Roscoe Bartlett; Jan Lundberg of Culturechange.org, former publisher of the Lundberg Survey; Mike Ruppert, author: Crossing the Rubicon, Fromthewilderness.com; David Pimental, Cornell University, and David Room, Post Carbon Institute. The Moderator is Jenna Orkin, co-founder of the World Trade Center Environmental Organization. The event is sponsored by Culturechange.org and by Continuing Education & Public Programs, The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY).

It takes place at the Community Church of New York Unitarian Universalist 40 E. 35th Street, New York, NY 10016

The Petrocollapse Conference the participants will ask:

1. What are we facing now as the economy prepares to hit the wall known as resource limits? Will growth suddenly implode?

2. What will be the effects of Peak Oil (a geological phenomenon) and petrocollapse (an economic and social phenomenon) on food supply and other services we depend on?

3. What is the role of the market in determining how severe will be the effect of shortage stemming from geological depletion?

4. Upon upheaval, deprivation, and a restructuring of social relations in a "new" local economics system, will we choose to create a sustainable culture?

5. Is there a "Plan B" to ease a transition to sustainable living in a world without plentiful energy and petroleum's materials? "It is up to us to find solutions that involve everyone in a spirit of solidarity," said Lundberg

Source: PRWeb.com

Katrina’s Wake: Our Government and the Common Good

Katrina’s Wake: Our Government and the Common Good

According to Mark J. Green, Air America is organizing a colloquium Tuesday evening, September 27, at CUNY Graduate Center in New York City entitled “Katrina’s Wake: Our Government and the Common Good” to begin a conversation that will next culminate in November ’06 or November ’08. For information about the guest speakers, please visit their websites : Katrina vanden Heuvel; Billy Sothern; Mark Green; National Priorities Project; ACORN.


SEE: If Poverty is the Question by the late Paul Wellstone:

I will be the first to say that adults in our society need to take responsibility for themselves if they possibly can. But until we come to a real understanding of the structural problems in our economy and society that are getting in our way, we will continue to legislate by bumper stickers and slogans. We need to have an honest national conversation, and an honest conversation in every community, about what is really going on, why we face the unacceptable level of poverty and near-poverty, and what we are going to do about it.

Obama Appreciated for Eloquence of Argument

Obama Appreciated for Eloquence of Argument

David Schraub (Moderate Voice) talks positively about Barack Obama, who has decided to vote against John Roberts.

Quote of the Day: Oliver Willis

Quote of the Day: Oliver Willis

"The left needs to realize that they are no longer fighting George Bush. "

- Oliver Willis, reminding progressive democrats that they aren’t running and advocating against Bush anymore - but against the "perverted movement" that he stands for.

Abandoning the Misplaced/Hiding the Poor

Abandoning the Misplaced/Hiding the Poor

Using an LA Times excerpt, Josh Marshall (with tongue placed firmly in cheek) says that "sometimes it's hard to appreciate the sort of tireless, behind-the-scenes efforts that the White House puts into into screwing the middle class and abandoning those displaced and uprooted by Katrina." It seems that rather than culturally integrating misplaced people, the White House believes in building trailer parks in which the poor can be crammed (and kept from the rest of America). That is morally wrong and socially unjust. What makes it unethical is the fact that the government would be putting these high-risk trailers on land which we know is vulnerable to natural disaster.

John Edwards coined* the moniker "Bushvilles" to represent the idea of concentrated numbers of poor Americans packed and hidden away in stacks of virtual tin cans on federal land in Edwards' speech on Poverty this week at the Center for American Progress. It's morally, ethically, and socially wrong, and I believe that most Americans would acknowledge that it's wrong for a democratic and multicultural society to function well when certain citizens are purposely isolated from others. It perpetuates "identity politics," which the Right will accuse the Left of opportunistically tapping into, when the Right have been the ones initiating the core problem and opening the doors wide open to vaild social injustice complaints.

*Note: NCDem at the One America website has advised me that Sen. Edwards hadn't actually "coined" the term, because it's been used for quite some time now. He simply brought it into the public consciousness.

No Direction Home: Bob Dylan

No Direction Home: Bob Dylan



I am looking forward to Martin Scorcese's "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan," which will appear this week on PBS's "American Masters" series. It's sequel to Bob Dylan's book, "Chronicles: Volume One," which is one of the most interesting memoirs I've read. According to Richard Harrington (WaPo), there will be "rare film and recordings, as well as something even rarer: an extended interview with the famously private artist.." Scorcese did not actually meet Dylan while making the film, but he says that Dylan gave him free rein to shape the story and complete control over the final cut. Dylan admits that back in high school, "two girls in particular brought out the poet" in him. I'd like to shake their hands. When this quiet, intelligent boy from the mundane town of Hibbing, Minnesota found himself, he helped a nation's young generation to find itself.

David Brooks on John Edwards

David Brooks on John Edwards

David Brooks has written a column in today's NYT (NYT Select) about the contrast that he clearly sees between John Edwards and John Kerry in light of the Democratic voters and what they are looking for in leadership. In my opinion, Mr. Brooks gives the first honest mainstream view of the two speeches, rather than lumping them together and calling them "withering attacks" on Bush, as so many newspapers unfairly did this week. He begins his piece this way:

John Kerry and John Edwards ran for office together and they lost together, and they both gave major speeches about Katrina this week, but there the similarity ends. The two men might as well live in different worlds.

He goes on to explain how he believes the Kerry-Edwards contrast is characteristic of the argument that now causes division within the Democratic Party.

On one side are those who believe that the party's essential problem is with its political style. On the other side are those who believe that the Democratic defeats flow from policy problems, not from campaign style or message framing. They don't believe that Democrats can win wrapped in their own rage, or kowtowing endlessly to their psychologically aggrieved donor base. For them, the crucial challenge is to come up with policies more in tune with voters...Kerry speaks for the first group, which believes in more partisanship, and Edwards for the second, which believes in less.

Mr. Brooks does not believe the Democratic party will snap back to the centrism of Bill Clinton, and neither do I. If Democrats are going to come back and succeed, they need to do it with a leader who is not a Bill Clinton-clone. Clinton did an excellent job as President in his time, but that time will have been "eight years gone" by the next Presidential election. I think most people would agree with me when I say that the world has drastically changed since President Clinton presided over this nation.

John Edwards's speech had a different feel. Edwards took some hard shots at Bush, some of them deserved, but having left Washington after the election, Edwards is not so obsessed with power struggles. In his talk he roamed outward and spoke about the complexities of actual life.

Democrats need a liberal populist with solid and innovative ideas; who is not afraid to be himself (or herself); an eloquent-yet-straight-shooting communicator; someone who will stick by his (or her) own convictions without hesitation or equivocation. If you ask me, that leader is John Edwards. When he says he believes in one America for all of us, I believe him because I can hear it in his tone and in his ideas. I think he's a natural. I'll bet that he'll convince many others as days go on.

____________

Update: At Daily Kos, davidkc says that he believes that David Brooks incorrectly concluded that Dems must choose one side or the other as it decides where it wants to go in the future, and this is a false choice...Dems need to do both. I don't think it's so much of a "false choice" as it is good, plainspoken advice. We do need to move ahead with creativity and innovative ideas about how we can govern better, while not being intimidated by criticizing the obvious shortcomings of the Bush administration.

See this related Daily Kos entry, too. A commenter named "briannowhere" says we need a candidate who has a clear and inventive message:

The Democrats are suffering from a lack of imagination. Nothing more. They way to win the hearts and minds of Americans is to buck the status quo and start thinking outside the box. I think Edwards has the best potential to be the candidate who comes closest to that (while also being realistcally electable). I truly get the sense from him that he actually cares about the issue of poverty and it's effects and does not seem to be simply playing lip service to the notion of helping communities change.

Related:
See - The Return of John Edwards [TPM Cafe]

What will Edwards bring? Edwards will bring the progressive ideology to heal the nations wounds. He has liberalism diplomatic skills that would enhance our standing in the world. He would appoint competent Secretary of Defense that would end the War in Iraq. We would finally see a domestic approach aimed at reducing the levels of poverty, protecting minority rights, expanding healthcare, more funding for education, reform Social Security, ending tax and corporate loopholes benefitting the rich, more jobs, and a national security aimed at protecting it’s citizens. He would work to unite the country and end the constant bickering between our nations top parties.

Quote of the Day - Arianna on Blogs

Quote of the Day - Arianna on Blogs

"When bloggers decide that something matters, they chomp down hard and refuse to let go. They're the true pit bulls of reporting. The only way to get them off a story is to cut off their heads (and even then you'll need to pry their jaws open). They almost all work alone, but, ironically, it's their collective effort that makes them so effective. They share their work freely, feed off one another's work, argue with each other, and add to the story dialectically. All of which has made the blogosphere the most vital news source in our country -- and led me to take a flying leap into it with The Huffington Post."

- - Arianna Huffington in an interview with Wired News

* A tip o'the hat to the Gawker, whose big story today is a National Enquirer story about George W. Bush - believe it or not. Justin Frank is quoted in the NE article - see my August 2004 review of Dr. Frank's book here or at DKosopedia.

In the GOP, It's Suddenly Every Man for Himself

The Threat - gulp!

In the GOP, It's Suddenly
Every Man for Himself

I looked at Dana Milbank's latest WaPo article, and I could just imagine what another Category 5 hurricane, fast approaching the Texas coast, might do to the GOP and their hideous scrambling jumble of political self-preservation.

This week, I think I've heard it all. President Bush says we'll spend like [wise and honest] drunken sailors to rebuild New Orleans, with Karl Rove at the helm. Halliburton will profiteer. New Orleans workers will have their wages slashed while millionaire cronies walk away with their pockets full. Not one fat-cat will be left behind - every tax-cut promise to the richest will be kept.

But what's THIS I'm hearing!? Treasury Secretary John W. Snow says that hurricane recovery spending will push the GOP's plans to extend the tax cuts to the back burner for this year.

But what's THIS I'm hearing!?! The Washington Post reported Sept. 9 that Treasury Secretary John Snow is once again being shown the door. His rumored replacement is White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, who would then be replaced either by Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove or Office of Management and Budget Director Josh Bolten. [Washington Times]

Dick Cheney said he sees no need for a "czar" to oversee the Katrina response.

But what's THIS I'm hearing? Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said after meeting with administration figures yesterday: "I feel we need a czar, an administrator."

Tom Delay (R-Tex.) asserted last week that the GOP majority had "pared... down" federal spending so well that there was no more fat to be found. There ain't no pork. As DeLay said about the budget, "After 11 years of Republican majority, we've pared it down pretty good."

But what's THIS I'm hearing? The weeping hypocrite Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is telling us that the evil Washington Times made up these Tom Delay quotes. [see Atrios]

But what's THIS I'm hearing!? The chickenhawks of Congress have come up with a tough-guy sounding "Operation Offset" to balance Hurricane Katrina recovery costs with other federal spending reductions. The brave and brawny National Taxpayers Union (NTU) has reported "ready for duty," armed with budget restraints to make any social Democrat's bleeding heart stop beating.

_________
Don't take my pork!.................Pork? What pork?

I thought that Speaker of the House Denny Hastert looked like he was going to toss his cookies today when he was put on the spot about House minority leader Nancy Pelosi's challenge to him - daring him to commit to giving up his precious pork.

The messages are swirling. We feel like we're spinning in hurricane-induced whirlpools. How can we be one America when it's every man for himself?

I agree with what Jonathan Chait has said about the GOP - "the usual guideline in these kinds of circumstances is craziest man wins."

> 1,900

> 1,900
The war in Iraq passed a sobering milepost Tuesday when U.S. officials reported 12 more Americans were killed — eight of them members of the armed forces, raising to more than 1,900 the number of U.S. service members who have died in the country since the invasion. [Houston Chronicle]

John Edwards' Speech at Center for American Progress

John Edwards' Speech at Center for American Progress

Restoring the American Dream
An excerpt from my guest-blog at the One America blog:

John Edwards assures us that a war on Poverty is not a futile one. He envisions what he calls the Working Society, where every American who works hard should have tangible rewards to show for it, whether it's a home, a savings account, a chance to get ahead, an education, a safe neighborhood, or easier access to a job. It is based upon the principle that no one succeeds on their own and it strengthens our national community by making the pact that, if you're willing to hold up your end of the bargain, the Working Society will make sure you are able to get ahead, and not just get by.

What I appreciate most about Sen. Edwards is that, unlike any Democrat today, he has forwarded concrete ideas that will make a real difference in the personal lives of so many poor and hard-working Americans who aren't looking for a hand-out, but are instead willing, responsible, and enthusiastic partners in the Working Society. The ideas he brings to us are not ideas to benefit the poor alone; they are for all of us - one America. With our eyes focused upon a higher purpose and a new social compact, we will be a stronger national community.

I wish to end with some lines from a song that increased my own awareness of Poverty many years ago, and it reinforces John Edwards' hope to see fewer Americans living "just a bank account away" from the American dream. It's by one of my favorite songwriters, Nanci Griffith:

Can you spare the time?
Can you spare a dime?
Can you look me in the eye?
I'm down 'n' out
And I am lonely
Do you ever think of me on
Sunday?
No. I don't live
Across the water
Hey, I live right here
On this corner
...just a bank account away from
America.

- from the song Down 'N' Outer by Nanci Griffith

Blogs:

See Ezra Klein's Been A Long Time Since I Had This Feeling


Comments in the media:

Thomas Oliphant: Edwards got it right about poverty [Boston Globe]

Dan Balz uses the angle that the Edwards speech was one of three recent public appearances (Bill Clinton, Edwards, Kerry) that was an opportunity to criticize the handling of Katrina'a aftermath. While that may be so, in part, I would be disappointed to think that's the main point that most people might take away about Edwards' speech after reading the Washington Post article. The speech was brimming with new ideas, something you rarely see (or hear about) in the Democratic party these days. I noticed that Tracey Schmitt, press secretary for the Republican National Committee, had accused Edwards of attempting to politicize the tragedy along the Gulf Coast. It looks like Dan Balz wrote his piece all around the RNC fear. I think we miss a lot of constructive ideas when politics get in the way, but that's how the big show goes on, I suppose.

Chaos In Iraq Today

Chaos In Iraq Today

This is opening up a can of worms. I'd be remiss not to bring it to your attention.

In the WSJ, Yochi J. Dreazen says that new doubts are being raised about the U.S.-led coalition's strategy for pacifying southern Iraq by giving free rein to Shiite religious militias with ties to neighboring Iran.

Juan Cole says the NYT has the only version that makes any sense.

A spokesman for Moqtada al-Sadr has accused Abu Musab al-Zarqawi of dividing Shiites.

The British papers are mulling over what this means - and what comes next.

The Telegraph has asked the public for their comments - do they see a civil war in Iraq today?

Dem Leadership Should Take This Advice

Dem Leadership Should Take This Advice
Markos had some words for Dem leadership that I found to be excellent advice.

Iraq is only going to get worse. There is little danger in calling for a troop withdrawl upon approval of the Iraqi Constitution. Most Americans don't expect us to hold Iraq's hand for the long-term. It's their country, they're going to have to survive on their own. While "we broke it, we fix it" has its moral attractiveness, fact is we can't fix it. Only Iraq can, and we must let them do so..We also need the money and troops to help rebuild the gulf coast and prepare for the next big disaster. Katrina was definitely not the last we'll face.

Serious Democrats cannot take a muddled approach to Iraq. "Staying the course" is a phrase that has become meaningless to Americans, who are not stupid and can see that "the course" has produced disastrous results, and we have not learned from these mistakes because the president won't admit he made any. Polls show that Americans are afraid and non-trusting on the issue of this war. They need to hear that there is, indeed, a timetable for bringing our troops back. More than that, Americans are caring people, and they know we've gone in and bombed the hell out of Iraq - and we aren't the kind of society that would run from an obligation to assist in rebuilding the country. Like it or not, Bush committed us to this mess and we will never regain any international respect if we break a nation and fail to assist in fixing a new infrastructure.

The window of opportunity is not closed. Most Democrats can support a pull-out now and escape appearances of pandering (especially with Katrina as cover). But if they wait until next year as Iraq burns hotter and public support for the war falls further, and suddenly announce a big turnabout on the war, they will be every bit the panderers they appear to be. And if they continue supporting the war, they'll simply be supporting a failed adventure with no hope of success..In other words, Democrats can still get ahead of the issue, or they'll be on the wrong side of history next year. But that window of opportunity is closing fast.

Now is the time. Now. Now. Now. Before anti-war protestors clash with pro-war supporters. Before things in Iraq get worse. Before FOX News and National Review morph the public's opinion of you into silent supporters of "the course" and we send more soldiers to die. Americans are intelligent and intuitive people. Trust them. They'll trust you if you do.

Read Kos' entire post on this issue.

Sheehan Manhandled by Authorities at Peaceful NYC Rally

Sheehan Manhandled by Authorities at Peaceful NYC Rally



I picked this one up from Common Ills. It appears that Cindy Sheehan was manhandled yesterday by the New York City authorities.

I attended a Bring Them Home Now rally last week, and I can tell you, in no uncertain terms, that these people are intelligent, introspective, and they do not promote any kind of violence. In Syracuse, some of the speakers engaged those in the crowd who had oppositional beliefs with respect and entertained their concerns.

I'm disgusted that the authorities would have treated Mrs. Sheehan in this manner, whether or not the paperwork had been properly filed.

Posse Comitatus Revisited

Posse Comitatus

"The Dims will raise a great cry against this in an attempt to style themselves defenders of liberty."

- Freeper quote, exposing the fear that surrounds the Bush administration's revisiting of the Posse Comitatus Act.

I can just hear Gore Vidal saying, "I told you so." We cannot allow the Bush administration to turn us into a banana republic with a wealth-filthy class on one side of a divide, a deep canyon in between, and the rest of us on the other side - with our own military policing our side. That's a sickening thought.

"Americans need to rethink how to protect the country curtailing the rights and the privileges of the free society that we defend."

- Gore Vidal

*tip o' the hat to Pam Spaulding on the Freeper quote

Bob Livingston Boggles Minds

Bob Livingston Boggles Minds
...with his absurd finger-pointing

At Think Progress, Judd exposes former Congressman Bob Livingston for the boob he appears to be. Still blaming Clinton - for things he's never had control over. I got this tip from Andrew Sullivan, who calls it mind boggling.

Five years into the Clnton Presidency -

"I would like to note that the current economic expansion is now entering its seventh year. That makes it already a long upswing by historical standards. And yet, looking ahead, the prospects for sustaining the expansion are quite favorable."

- Alan Greenspan, March 20, 1997

Those were the days.

Clinton Disappoints on Iraq

Clinton Disappoints on Iraq

I believe that Bill Clinton was one of the best presidents this country has ever had. He was an excellent diplomat, and I saw him being a very good diplomat yesterday at exactly the when he shouldn't have been. I thought that former President Clinton was far too careful yesterday when he was interviewed about the Iraq war by Tim Russert on Meet the Press. In an atmosphere where I don't just suspect, but I know that I (and all Americans) have been lied to - flat out and bold faced - by our President, platitudes, soft criticism, and wimpy rationalizations just don't engender my trust or warrant my respect. Those who care about America understand that America is worth fighting for. I want a man or woman of firm and undeniable conviction to say the words to Tim Russert or George Stephanopoulos which give clear indication and acknowledgement that we've been bamboozled on Iraq - that it's clearly a disaster - and that we must change the course - and not throw one more troop's body to the Iraqi civil war until we can show that we're capable of cooperating with international allies to organize a protective force for innocent citizens while their burgeoning democracy is "growing up".

Bill Clinton didn't do that. If you ask me, he looked like a bowl of cold pablum.

I was disappointed in his performance. What he did gives every one of the right wingnuts who tried to destroy his own presidency the ammunition to continue to attack Democrats of conviction - like his own VP Al Gore.

Arianna Huffington commented on her belief that Russert dropped the ball and how National Review moved in to take Clinton's cold pablum on Iraq and spin it into more of Bush's Fools' Gold.

There's a fallacy about this being the first time one former American President has publically criticized the incumbent President. It's being spread by Powerline, and it stems from an AFP report with an overdramatic (and decidedly false) headline ["Clinton launches withering attack on Bush"] :

"Breaking with tradition under which US presidents mute criticisms of their successors, Clinton said the Bush administration had decided to invade Iraq "virtually alone and before UN inspections were completed, with no real urgency, no evidence that there were weapons of mass destruction."

First of all, that's not a "withering attack." It's the damned TRUTH. Only a fool or a blind partisan couldn't tell the difference.

John Hinderaker speaks of the public criticism, saying, "This has never happened before," which is totally false. High-profile blogger should be careful about disseminating obvious disinformation.

________

UPDATE: Arianna has more on this today (Sept 20). See Bill Clinton's Muddled Attempt to Own the Middle

Nat'l Voter ID Card Could Disenfranchise Millions

National Voter ID Card Could Disenfranchise Millions

At 10:35 am ET, President Bush will receive former President Carter and James Baker's election reform report. There's something contained within that report that is dismaying for any libertarian-leaning citizen to learn. Millions of Americans will likely be made ineligible to vote in elections should legislation be enacted to require national voter ID cards. It is believed that it would also inevitably disenfranchise minority voters, along with those who live in poverty and the elderly. In a shocking turn of events, Raw Story reports that a voting reform commission which has already taken heat for playing host to sham voting rights groups run by members of the Bush-Cheney campaign has now recommended the institution of a national voter ID card. What is particularly disturbing is that civil rights groups had essentially been barred from testifying about their concerns. You can the Commission on Federal Election Reform here (pdf).

UPDATE: Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL), Chris Dodd (D-CT), and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) will hold a 2:15 pm ET press conference to voice their opposition to a recommendation made by the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform which would require all Americans to show photo identification before voting. [Source:TheNote/ABC]

Hypocritical Times

Hypocritical Times

We're living in hypocritical times. We are aware that the US went into heavy deficits four years ago. The Bush administration has taken us to two wars - one in Afghanistan and the other in Iraq, but never saw a need to call for any personal sacrifice to carry the debtload of hundreds of millions of dollars each day. Instead of calling for sacrifice, tax breaks have been legislated for the benefit of the richest. Through our need to borrow, our own economy has come to depend on the kindness of communist nations like China to pay for our elective wars which we claim will "make the world safe for democracy." Meanwhile, the gap between rich and poor has widened. Poverty in America is on the rise while the Bush economy grows, taking on third-world characteristics. We see a staggering amount of concentrated wealth that recalls to us the memory of the pre-Depression days. Hurricane Katrina literally blew the lid off the issue of poverty and washed away the illusion that we didn't know that the problem of poverty existed. The truth is, we didn't act because we didn't want to look, as Sen John Edwards eloquently said today in his Center for American Progress speech on "Restoring the American Dream." The $3.oo per gallon we pay at the pump for our gas is a personal sacrifice - but only for the oil companies.

I want to know what happened to the America where caring citizens shared common traditional values and worked for the common good? Just about any issue you examine today leaves you with a sense that you're living as an island - in a vacuum where everything your leadership is telling you they're doing raises a distinct sense of hypocrisy when you look at the actual outcome of their actions.

Americans thirst for community - and they're becoming increasingly tired of the kind of political hypocrisy where one thing comes out of the President's lips, and another thing happens altogether.

Peter Daou: The Triangle

Peter Daou: The Triangle
Limits of Blog Power
Peter Daou of the Daou Report[Salon.com]has written a piece on blogging and its political power and the limits of that power. As a Kerry advisor, he says he'd made his case as forcefully as he could on behalf of netroots organizing as a communications tour de force, but to a good extent, "the old guard" made it clear that it was too early in American political history for convincing them.

By defining "political influence" as the capacity to alter or create conventional wisdom, (conventional wisdom meaning a widely held belief on which most people act), Daou uses Hurricane Katrina and Ohio candidate-for-Congress Paul Hackett as prime examples of how a triangle of blogs, media, and the political establishment has been (and can be) an essential influence in creating a major shift of "conventional wisdom."

Daou offers his view of the confluence of the triangle construct (netroots + media + party establishment = Conventional Wisdom), and forwards the notion that, although media would get along just fine without bloggers - having a megaphone large enough to keep their corner as the gatekeepers of Conventional Wisdom - the bloggers' presence has thrown an undeniable monkey wrench in the spokes of their wheels.

From whence doth netroots power cometh? I'll use Peter Daou's words:

Reporters, pundits, and politicians read blogs, and, more importantly, they care what bloggers say about them because they know other reporters, pundits, and politicians are reading the same blogs. It’s a virtuous circle for the netroots and a source of political power.

I found agreement with Daou's view of the right blogosphere in that their primary strategic aim seems to be preventing the left from forming its own triangle, as they have done with Drudge-Fox News and the RNC (top-down strategy). Desperation shows when an unvarnished truth (such as that exposed by Katrina) appears, rendering their "conventional wisdom" as little more than a smoke screen - a "triangle-emperor with no clothing."

As far as the left is concerned, Daou says :

...left-leaning bloggers face the challenge of a mass media consumed by the shop-worn narrative of Bush the popular, plain-spoken leader, and a Democratic Party incapacitated (for the most part) by the focus-grouped fear of turning off "swing voters" by attacking Bush. For the progressive netroots, the past half-decade has been a Sisyphean loop of scandal after scandal melting away as the media and party establishment remain disengaged.

and he offers some advice:

It would seem reasonable to conclude, then, that the best strategy for the progressive netroots is to go after the media and Democratic Party leaders and spend less time and energy attacking the Bush administration. If the netroots alone can’t change the political landscape without the participation of the media and Democratic establishment, then there’s no point wasting precious online space blasting away at Republicans while the other sides of the triangle stand idly by.

If I were to throw in any additional advice, it would be for left-bloggers to continue to contribute and forward constructive ideas about respective issues, because someone is definitely listening and may be interested or influenced by those ideas.

When Karl Rove Speaks

When Karl Rove Speaks...

...people listen to (and tell about) what the influential gasbag is saying.

Middle Class Taxpayers Will Lose American Dream

Paying for Katrina:
Middle Class Taxpayers Will Lose American Dream

On Katrina rebuilding:

"It's going to cost whatever it costs," [President] Bush said [last Friday.] Allan Hubbard, Bush's economic adviser, was equally blunt when asked who will pay: "The money ... is going to come from the federal taxpayer." [USA Today]

Do the math, whiz kids. Unless Bush tax cuts are rolled back now, you middle-class taxpayers are going to bear the brunt of this thing - and so will your children. Bush says he's confident that "we" can handle it - meaning you, the taxpayer. Are you so sure? Tom Delay admits there's no more federal spending to cut. "No appreciable fat", he says, as if he's talking about Kate Moss instead of your government.

This is where the rubber meets the road - and Karl Rove is drunk with power at the wheel. I can see us going off the road, Middle Class taxpayers, and what will be derailed, by the undue burden put upon you, is your American dream.

Call for Bush tax rollbacks now - before it's too late. Demand a realistic and transparent plan to rebuild New Orleans and end the poverty that pervaded the city before the Hurrican ever came close.

John Edwards to Give Speech on Poverty

John Edwards to Give Speech on Poverty

Today at 1:15 pm ET at the Center for American Progress, Sen. John Edwards will discuss the structural poverty that was exposed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and how the country needs to seize this opportunity to take the steps necessary to fight poverty and expand opportunities for everyone in our country. For more information, click here. [from-OneAmerica]

Watch the One America website for my summary of and thoughts on John Edwards' speech.

CYA on WMD Tied Military's Hands in Iraq

CYA on WMD Tied Military's
Hands in Iraq

"I was in meetings where (General John) Abizaid was pounding on the table trying to get some help," says a senior military officer.

This is just one of the sad and shocking facts revealed in the most recent Time magazine [The Secret History of How the U.S. Misjudged the Enemy in Iraq], showing that the Bush administration was trying so hard to cover their asses on WMD that our military was barred from obtaining important intelligence to help them fight the insurgency because it wasn't "the priority."

I'm furious - and if you're not, then you are not paying attention.

Iraq's missing $1billion

Iraq's missing $1billion
One of the largest thefts in history

One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq's defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country's army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons. [Independent]

Quote of the Day: Frank Rich

Quote of the Day: Frank Rich

"What comes next? Having turned the page on Mr. Bush, the country hungers for a vision that is something other than either liberal boilerplate or Rovian stagecraft. At this point, merely plain old competence, integrity and heart might do."

- Frank Rich [NYT]

Harry Hopkins' Name Making a Resurgence

Harry Hopkins' Name Making a Resurgence

Ralph E. Shaffer and Walter P. Coombs, professors emeriti at Cal Poly Pomona, talk a bit more about good old Harry Hopkins (as I did on September 16th).

See: Why It's Time for Dr. New Deal (Again)

The anti-visionaries are once again coming out of the woodwork, too - once again calling old Harry Hopkins - the man who brought America up from its knees to newfound success - a "commie".

Quote of the Day - John Dryden

Quote of the Day - John Dryden

"Let grace and goodness be the principal loadstone of thy affections. For love which hath ends, will have an end; whereas that which is founded on true virtue, will always continue."

- - John Dryden

Neocons Will Burn Jurassic Park DVDs

Neocons Will Burn Jurassic Park DVDs
..when they hear this one:

From today's Miami Herald:

Actor Sam Neill has blamed President Bush's economic policies for contributing to the disaster that engulfed Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina hit, reports The Associated Press.

In a speech Wednesday night attacking New Zealand opposition leader Don Brash ahead of the country's general elections on Saturday, Neill, a supporter of the ruling Labour Party, compared tax cuts proposed by Brash to Bush's election pledges in 2000.

'Perhaps we should look at somewhere else where they recently used the time-old bribe of tax cuts, and see how it worked. In 2000 George Bush, under the reasonable sounding `compassionate conservatism,' offered huge tax cuts. And he delivered,'' Neill told an audience in Oamaru, 200 miles east of his home and vineyard on New Zealand's South Island.

''Take a look at America now. The rich are certainly richer, but the economy is in the tank, a healthy surplus has been converted into a massive deficit, and the U.S. is a place that cannot even afford the basics. Like maintaining levees in low-lying Louisiana. Might I suggest that tax cuts led indirectly to the flooding of New Orleans?'' Neill added.

He also heavily criticized the war in Iraq, saying that Brash, a former central bank governor, would have sent New Zealand troops to Iraq in 2003 while Prime Minister Helen Clark refused.

''The greatest achievement of this government is that they kept us out of the war in Iraq. Let's make no mistake about this -- this war is a bloody mess, and a terrible blunder, with disastrous consequences for the future,'' he said.

Tar Heel Tavern #30

Tar Heel Tavern 30

Don't miss Erin's beautifully displayed Tar Heel Tavern XXX.

The Next Inaugural

The Next Inaugural

Stirling Newberry takes you on a hopeful journey forward to January, 2009.

May it be.

Bring Them Home Tour - Part One

Bring Them Home Now Tour - Part One
Notes from the "Bring Them Home Now" bus tour, which stopped in Syracuse NY on September 14.

Mike Ferner was the first to speak.He is a freelance writer from Toledo, Ohio, and a member of Veterans for Peace. Encouraging all to attend the March on Washington on September 24th, he commented it should have come as no surprise when a powerful insurgency emerged in Iraq. He asked all to consider that if a foreign power had invaded our country, that we would have fought back, and we see the same level of violence in Iraq today. He said, "We need to get the hell out of Iraq – and the sooner the better. I have a two-word exit strategy – SHIPS and PLANES. Get our troops on them and bring them home now."

Tammara Rosenleaf of Helena, Montana spoke on behalf of Military Families Speak Out - tearfully, she described how her husband is soon to be deployed to Iraq and how he is willingly going to Iraq for “his buddies.” She knows that when she wakes in the middle of the night, scared to death that her husband is dead or injured in Iraq - or if he really is injured or killed, that the military is not going to be there for her as they claim they will be. She hears many people say that it's demoralizing to troops when Americans speak out against the Iraq war. Ms. Rosenleaf's husband tells her that he does not believe it’s demoralizing to troops at all. She assured the group of about 150 people that her husband and most troops would agree that our constitutional right to free speech was living in each person that was in attendance at the rally. In her words: "Who needs a free speech zone? We ARE a free speech zone." While in Crawford, she had seen a photo display of wounded soldiers that deeply disturbed her - their pain cannot be understood unless you really look at their eyes. She says that our leaders need to take a close look at those men and women before committing another soldier to die.

Quote of the Day - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Quote of the Day - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

About America:

"Those of us who know that it’s worth fighting for have to take it back now from those who don’t."

- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Photos - Syracuse MoveOn.org Vigil

Photos - Syracuse MoveOn.org Vigil


l-r: Mike, Alexis, Gina, Austin, me. My story about the vigil is here. Someday I'll learn to open my eyes for the camera. You can see the signs better in this shot.


Here we go - that's better.

The Helping Hand

The Helping Hand

Bishop T.D. Jakes of the Potter's House in Dallas, Texas delivered an inspiring and healing sermon today at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. on this National Day of Prayer for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. He stressed that faith-in-action is the truest example of sincere compassion toward one's fellow man or woman, and that pretty rhetoric without action is little more than poetry. Speaking about the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, he drew out five points and lessons, skillfully applying them to our modern public lives and our treatment of the poorest among us. He called upon Americans to "dare to discuss the unmentionable issues that confront us" and to not rest until the poor are raised to an acceptable living standard.

The first Parable-related point that Bishop Jakes made was that "Restoration is more than observation." We can no longer be a nation of people who can pass the ghetto on our way to Mardi Gras, to pass Harlem on our way to Manhattan, or to pass Compton on our way to Rodeo Drive while ignoring the poverty of our fellow Americans. Second, he raised the question, "Who is my neighbor?" Your neighbors are more than the people who look just like you; who live where you live; or who vote the way you vote. Third, he reminded us of the vision of our wounded neighbors lying by the side of the road (in the parable as well as in New Orleans), and how some people choose to pass them by - a powerful and humbling reminder that you can't help others if you exalt yourself above them. In the parable, the Samaritan came off his beast to help the bleeding man. "Come down where the pain and poverty is," recommended the Bishop. Fourth, Bishop Jakes pressed the fact that "Resources, not rhetoric, are what bring about meaningful changes in our lives." It's not what we say that is important. It's what we do that is important. Real leadership is defined by what we do. The Bishop suggests that we need to love our neighbors enough to "pay the bill." Fifth, he asked the question: "Are our relationships productive?" He said that we must know each other if we are to help one another, despite our distinctive perspectives.



Bishop Jakes spoke about the Twin Span Bridge that connects Slidell, Louisiana to New Orleans which was partially submerged by Katrina and will need rebuilding. He called it a symbol of our need to rebuild bridges between our ideas, our perspectives, and our differences - we must build unity. "We can't multiply by dividing and we can't add by subtracting," said Bishop Jakes. If we rebuild that bridge with unity, it could make a real difference, letting go of the divisive illusion that we're black or white; Democrat or Republican; "right" or left." The true vision, he said is "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." He took his Five Points and compared each of them to a finger of one Helping Hand stretched out our nation's poor and underprivileged, and stretched out to those all over the world who've been ravaged by Poverty. He concluded that our nation - and the world - will be the place we've thought it could be when we've closely examined the lessons of the story of the Good Samaritan and applied them, with faith and action, to our society.

Where is Bush's Harry Hopkins?

Where is Bush's Harry Hopkins?


I thought that President Bush gave a pretty-sounding speech last night. With the "beauty shot" of Jackson Square lit up like an angel's daylight behind him, he exuded hope to those who searched for it. The hopeful overtones seemed closer to what you'd expect from the articulate and inspiring Sen. John Edwards. The usual G.W. Bush "sloganese" was absent, for the most part. When he reassured America that the great city of New Orleans would rise again, I think that many believed that he'd meant what he'd said. He admitted his mistakes. He spoke of the rebuilding as a "common effort," which was one of the most uniting and sincere-sounding phrases I've heard from Bush since 9/11. It was good talk, yet we realize the cagey devil remains to be found slithering among the bare details. What Bush had to say was not easy to accept, but it was realistic. For many conservatives, it was a slap to the face. After all, piling $200 billion (plus) to the monster of a deficit that the Bush administration has already created is staggering in its economic implications.

Rather than offering an Inspector General to ensure that our tax dollars will be spent honestly and wisely by reviewing upcoming expenditures, I believe Bush should have given us the name of a new program with an administrator who has real and material experience in social management and economic oversight. A glorified auditor is not sufficient, and Bush can't handle the job himself. Karl Rove is the worst person for the job because of who he is and what he stands for. After what we saw with FEMA, I don't trust that we can leave this awesome task to the various bureaucracies (DHS, Labor, SS, FEMA,et al) with no one "czar" to report to. The military may be of invaluable assistance, but they should not be required to have as broad of a role as recommended by the President. New Orleans is going to be more than just a bunch of new buildings. It's going to be a city to which a lot of underprivileged people will return with the hope of opportunity.

Harry Hopkins, one of the great American policy makers and innovators of the 20th century who lived in New Orleans for a time, was FDR's trusted channel of communication and administration. He was chosen to head up the short-lived FERA (Federal Emergency Relief administration), which vastly improved the fortunes of the unemployed in the 1930s. Back then, America was fighting to recover from a depression and Congress was generous, spending a whopping $4 billion in total on FERA programs. It was the economic pump that broke the depression. It provided a substantial stimulus to the revival of business by creating purchasing power in a once-destitute class. It raised the standard of living of the poorest and lowest-paid people. In his day, many right wingers called Harry Hopkins a "communist" because of his focus on social justice. Louisiana's own Huey Long had disagreed, averring that FDR had not been generous enough with federal funds and admitting that the redistribution of wealth to the American people was socialistic but necessary. Harry Hopkins had said:

"We can only say that after every dollar entrusted to us for lessening of distress, the maximum amount humanly possible was put into the people's hands. The money, spent honestly and with constant remembrance of its purpose, bought more of courage than it ever bought of goods."

In 1935, the work of FERA was taken over by the Social Security Board, and Hopkins moved on to become director of the Works Projects Administration, one of the most famous of all New Deal programs. The WPA employed more than three million people and was responsible for the building of highways, bridges, public buildings and parks. Even though Congress eventually found the programs unpopular and unnecessary, Harry Hopkins had handled the programs with extraordinary skill and they had served their purpose well. Hopkins' political honesty (what's that, you ask?) and competence was a boon to FDR's popularity.

Where is President Bush's Harry Hopkins? We need him. Bush may speak pretty rhetoric, yet he is virtually silent about the social needs of New Orleans and of the worsening poverty across the United States. Waiving Davis-Bacon while silenty offering rebuilding contracts to profiteering political cronies is nothing but worrisome. Bush pushed his "ownership society" ideology during his speech, the Urban Homesteading Act for example, which is short-term Republican micromanagement of an insidious poverty that will still exist when the funds have run out. Does the President believe that he can accomplish a war on poverty without informing the American people that either their taxes will need to be raised or else they will suffer an ever-widening gap between rich and poor while government manipulates more tax breaks as a way to redistribute wealth to the richest? Somewhere along the way, we know that sacrifices must be made for what we've deliberately done in Iraq and for what nature did to us in New Orleans. The bill has been placed in front of us. Who's going to wind up paying the bill? If the richest are not called on by the Bush administration to pay their fair share, the middle class and the poor will be the ones who will suffer most, even though their taxes are not "raised". They will pay higher prices. Their schools will suffer. Their social programs will dissipate as spending becomes restricted to fighting in Iraq and rebuilding New Orleans. The gap between the "two Americas" will deepen.

The economic realities that Republican leadership have avoided, with an all-too-supportive FOX News giving cheerleader's megaphone, have hit us in the face. The Grover Norquist-"drown it in the bathtub" form of federal government was drowned by the floodwaters of August. This is a brand new day.

Where's Harry Hopkins?




Related story: FDR had had his own Hurricane to deal with in 1935.

Headlines

Headlines

Quote of the Day:

"The reconstruction of New Orleans starts now. We need to reconstruct the truth."

-Jordan Flaherty, New Orleans resident, union organizer, and an editor of Left Turn Magazine (www.leftturn.org). [SFBayView.com]

__________ ___________


DNC Chairman Howard Dean's op ed titled "The Verdict on John Roberts" will appear in tomorrow's newspapers. For a preview, see Democrats.org. He believes that John Roberts is the wrong man for the job.

__________ ___________

In typical House Republican fashion, Democratic attempts on Wednesday to force the Bush administration to surrender documents on prewar intelligence and the disclosure of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame were derailed. Liz Sidoti reports that Republican leaders want to avoid the spectacle of either issue being debated on the House floor amid some fear that the measures could succeed if enough Republicans side with minority Democrats. [WaPo]

__________ ___________

In a new e-mail distributed by the One America Committee, Elizabeth Edwards asks all supporters to rally others to sign a petition for her husband Sen John Edwards' "New America Initiative." The plan is intended to assist the victims of Hurrican Katrina, asking the president to “provide the victims of this disaster with the skills, materials and planning they need to revitalize their region.” Mrs. Edwards says it is sad, but not surprising to see how the Bush administration's weak response to the disaster and the Republican leadership's irresponsible policies are a reminder of the immeasurable suffering that results from the disregard. She says that it has to stop, and it can. In her words:

We cannot expect that the Republican Congress or White House will come up with a plan that has the interests of all Americans in mind. In both their long-standing policies and their response to this disaster, their disregard and callousness have been painfully evident. Grover Norquist, a seminal thinker among the Republican leadership, has said that he wants government to be so weak that he could "drown it in a bathtub." That image is searing today. And he is wrong - we need a government strong enough to protect our people and ensure hope and opportunity for all Americans, not just the wealthy.

__________ ___________


On the eve of the President's address to the nation about Hurricane Katrina, AFSCME challenged the Bush Administration to abandon plans to give more tax cuts to the wealthy and immediately implement a comprehensive plan that would both prepare for another Katrina-like disaster and bolster relief efforts.

AFSCME calls on Congress to promptly move ahead with a comprehensive preparedness and relief plan:

* Immediately suspend tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans
and use the money to provide relief to evacuees and rebuild the Gulf
Coast. No new tax cuts should be considered.
* Create a WPA-like jobs program for the nearly half a million workers
who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina, putting evacuees to work
rebuilding the Gulf Coast. Guarantee prevailing wages for the men and
women rebuilding hurricane-torn areas.
* Provide health coverage to every evacuee by enrolling every evacuee in
Medicaid, and don't cut this vital program.
* Give immediate relief to states housing evacuees. If we don't provide
some relief, these states will have to cut programs that serve the
people hit hardest by this tragedy.
* Make the investments in infrastructure necessary to protect against
future disasters, such as a major earthquake in California or a
devastating hurricane in Florida.
* Give emergency responders the tools they need and set up funds for
public employees and relief volunteers. After 9/11 these highly
valuable workers got a lot of lip service but not enough action.

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David Corn asks: What Went Wrong? [TomPaine.com]

People died because of this. And a harsh reality was exposed: In the event of a calamity—whether caused by nature or by terrorists—we cannot expect the government to respond competently. It is scary out there. And the people of New Orleans—and the rest of us—deserve a few answers. If we are on our own, it would be better to know that now rather than later.

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In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, leaders of five mainline religious denominations have joined in a renewed call on U.S. Congress to oppose cuts to programs serving the poor. [U.S.Newswire]

Elizabeth Green, who is a public policy associate for Call to Renewal, believes that people of faith must use this moment, when poverty is in the national spotlight, to call for a change in our country's priorities for the common good. Will we accept a federal budget that provides tax benefits to the wealthiest while deeply cutting vital programs for the poor, and all of us? Or will we use this opportunity to call for morally grounded budget and tax policies that help families escape the growing vise of poverty in times of crisis and "normalcy"?__________ ___________

OAC guest-blogger Joe Clark discusses FEMA and the Revolving Door. He discusses a WaPo piece by staff writers Griff Witte and Charles R. Babcock. The article revolves arounf the new test for FEMA - how do they plan to distribute the $62 billion Congress has approved for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts? How will they monitor the private contractors who will do much of the work? It's like a gut punch when you read that..

"Last spring, the Homeland Security Department's inspector general's office audited the FEMA staff that manages its contracts and found it "impossible to determine whether the acquisition personnel met training, education, and experience requirements." As a result, the auditors concluded, "FEMA may be at risk that its acquisition workforce is not qualified."

A CBS article titled "Big Contracts Went To Big Donors" speaks for itself.

I think about Sen John Edwards' New America Initiative, where the rebuilding of New Orleans and surrounding devastated areas could be led by the citizens who live there rather than by cold proprietary interests whose primary goal is profit - and not the public interest. The head of FEMA was a political appointee who didn't know sh*t from Shinola about handling a tragic American emergency. It was an unecessary tragedy. People DIED because of it. Seeing friends of corporate lobbyists get contracts over skilled professional disaster teams and local urban planners who, in rebuilding, will best preserve the spirit of the city they know so well is bothersome to me - especially since it does nothing to better the economic position of the people living and resettling in the disaster areas (which were a disaster BEFORE the floods due to povertry and social injustice).

It screams "WRONG!" The situation demands the public's concern. Any government that would hire private contractors like KBR or Halliburton [indianexpress.com] to gentrify New Orleans and further enrich the rich while failing to serve the very poor, and that allows public interest to suffer at the preference of private interest cannot stand as a popular government or a government with high or historically respectful or abiding purposes. To put it in simpler terms. I smell corruption. And the smell is far worse than the receding floodwaters down in the 9th Ward.

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Stick a fork in him, he's done.
E.J. Dionne explains that any myths or pretensions still sheltered or promoted about Bush being a political success have been dispelled by Katrina. No longer "the Bush Era", Dionne says it's time for new leaders to emerge with better ideas. In his words:

Those who call for yet more tax cuts risk sounding like robots droning automated talking points programmed inside them long ago. Katrina has forced the issue of deep poverty back onto the national agenda after a long absence. Finding a way forward in -- and eventually out of -- Iraq will require creativity from those not implicated in the administration's mistakes. And if ever the phrase "reinventing government" had relevance, it is now that we have observed the performance of a government that allows political hacks to push aside the professionals.

And what of Bush, who has more than three years left in his term? Paradoxically, his best hope lies in recognizing that the Bush Era, as he and we have known it, really is gone. He can decide to help us in the transition to what comes next. Or he can cling stubbornly to his past and thereby doom himself to frustrating irrelevance.

to be cont'd

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