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Friday, November 15, 2002

What it's all about:

We read in the New York Times that Government Plan May Make Private Up to 850,000 Jobs.

We doubt that the money saved is all that much. Even the administration isn't sure. From the article:
The administration was vague about how much money its initiative might save. The president's budget said savings were on the order of 20 percent, and other officials said 30 percent, enough to save many billions of dollars a year in a $2 trillion federal budget.
As far as we're concerned, this is union-busting. Pure and simple.

Public employee unions are a political force, and they usually support the Democrats. That's why Bush want's them cut down.


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Where is it?

We can't find Andrew Sullivan's Dish on the Washington Times' breakfast table this Friday morning. (At least not online.) Has the noble experiment been terminated? If so, will Sullivan now add the Washington Times to his enemies list? Will he introduce a Blankley Award? Does anybody care?


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Names please!

There is a bit of a buzz being generated about the following remarks:
  • Pat Robertson: "Adolf Hitler was bad, but what the Muslims want to do to the Jews is worse." .
  • Jerry Falwell: The prophet Mohammed was "a terrorist".
  • Jimmy Swaggart: Said that Mohammed is a "sex deviant" and a pervert and demanding that Muslim students in the US be expelled.
The response from the administration?
  • Secretary Powell: "This kind of hatred must be rejected."
  • President Bush: "Some of the comments that have been uttered about Islam do not reflect the sentiments of my government or the sentiments of most Americans. Islam, as practiced by the vast majority of people, is a peaceful religion, a religion that respects others."
Strong words!

Not really. No person or group was called out by name. Reuters headlined their story: Bush Takes on Christian Right Over Anti-Islam Words. But how do we know that? Maybe Bush was upset with comments by (recently deceased) Jewish activist Irv Rubin.

We'll believe Bush has a backbone when he chastises prominent members of the religious right by name.


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Thursday, November 14, 2002

How to attack Pelosi: A primer.

We took a look at David Horiwitz' Front Page Magazine website to see what the weirdos were up to. Sure enough, there was a hit piece on Nancy Pelosi by Lowell Ponte. It went like this:

Attack of the Pelosicrats
By
Lowell Ponte
FrontPageMagazine.com | November 14, 2002

Just how far out on the Loony Left is Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.), expected on Thursday to be elected House Minority Leader and successor to Rep. Richard Gephardt (D.-Mo.) by her Democratic comrades? One clue comes from the establishment media, which describes even Lefty Sen. Edward Kennedy (D.-Mass.) as a "moderate" but firmly labels Pelosi, 62, a "Liberal," defining her as more gauche than Teddy.

"The ‘Democratic Socialists of America’ are the U.S. arm of the Socialist International," writes Balint Vazsonyi in Tuesday’s Washington Times. "58 members of the U.S. House of Representatives formed a subdivision of the Democratic Socialists of America and called it the Progressive Caucus."

[The Democratic Socialists of America were recruiting young socialists from across America to trek to Minnesota for the November 5 election, take advantage of the Gopher State’s same-day voter registration, and pile up votes to reelect another Progressive Caucus member, Senator Paul Wellstone.]

"Rep. Nancy Pelosi," Vazsonyi continues, "has long been, and is now, a member of the executive committee of the Progressive Caucus. Her election as minority leader would firmly establish the link between the Democratic Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Socialist International."

...

Wow! Hot stuff. We decided to look into the remarkable claim that: The Progressive Caucus is a subdivision of the Democratic Socialists of America.

So we checked out the Washington Times story by Balint Vazsonyi. It reads (in part):

November 12, 2002

Putting Pelosi's cards on the table


Balint Vazsonyi

     A few days ago the New York Times reported in the lead position, above the fold, that Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, had the votes to become the next minority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives.
     Much is discussed about the congresswoman, but without a single mention of her executive position in the Progressive Caucus, and the latter's ties to the Socialist International.
     
Question: If an international organization existed to carry the torch for Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, and if a person running for minority leader had past or present ties to such an organization, what are the chances the New York Times would find it irrelevant to the matter at hand?
     None. Zero. Nada.
     Double standards: Do you remember the Austrian nationalist Joerg Haider? He had no such affiliation. Yet the mere possibility that he might harbor sympathies for National Socialist ideas sufficed to make him, and the country in which he holds office, an international pariah.

     The Socialist International carries the torch for Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, V.I. Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Josef Stalin.
Pay no attention to the desperate attempts by socialists to distance themselves from Stalin. For our purposes, it suffices to observe that every single tenet of the Socialist International is the exact opposite of the principles upon which America was founded, and which define the U.S. Constitution.
     
For our purposes, it suffices also to observe that members of the U.S. Congress are required to furnish an oath whereby they will preserve, protect, and defend said Constitution.
     
DSA/USA, the "Democratic Socialists of America" are the U.S. arm of the Socialist International. They share the symbol of the fist holding the rose, and they share the tasks to be accomplished — in our case, an altogether different America.
     Some time ago — the date is missing from the descriptions — 58 members of the U.S. House of Representatives formed a subdivision of the Democratic Socialists of America and called it the Progressive Caucus.
Their statement of purpose, as well as their membership list, formed an integral part of the dsausa Web site (www.dsausa.org). The membership list appeared on the screen with the continuous background of the fist holding the rose, should anyone have missed the connection with the Socialist International.
     Following the exposure in this newspaper of the Progressive Caucus (Nov. 10-11, 1998), action was taken to hide the true nature of the organization, and its membership list was eventually taken off the dsausa Web site. In fact, the only listing to be found right now is a web site maintained by Rep. Bernie Sanders, Vermont Independent, the only member professing to be a
socialist. But interested parties can type "Progressive Caucus" in a search engine, such as Google, and find the dsausa link right up front. The link brings up a screen saying "the page cannot be displayed," but the listing confirms its prior existence.
     Rep. Nancy Pelosi has long been, and is now, a member of the executive committee of the Progressive Caucus. Her election as minority leader would firmly establish the link between the Democratic Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Socialist International.

...

We did a Google for ourselves, and here is what you get:

Searched the web for Progressive Caucus

House Progressive Caucus
Progressive Caucus. of the US House of Representatives The Progressive Caucus
of the US House of Representatives is made up of 58 members of the House. ...
www.dsausa.org/pc/pc.caucus.html - 6k - Cached - Similar pages

Some observations:

  • With very rare exceptions no Democrat would willingly be labeled a socialist.
  • The "fact" that 58 members of the U.S. House of Representatives formed a subdivision of the Democratic Socialists of America and called it the Progressive Caucus apparently was established simply from reading the Google summary.
  • The main link is dead, and Vazsonyi didn't bother to examine the Cached entry. If that was done, you get the following unremarkable page:

Progressive Caucus

of the U.S. House of Representatives

The Progressive Caucus of the US House of Representatives is made up of 58 members of the House. The Caucus works to advance economic and social justice through sponsoring legislation that reflects its purpose. The Caucus also works with a coalition of organizations, called the
Progressive Challenge, to bring new life to the progressive voice in US politics.

Table of Contents

Statement of Purpose

The Progressive Caucus is organized around the principles of social and economic justice, a non-discriminatory society and national priorities which represent the interests of all people, not just the wealthy and the powerful.

Our purpose is to present thoughtful, practical solutions to the economic and social problems facing America. Our people-based agenda extends from job creation to job training, to economic conversion, to single payer healthcare reform, to adequate funding for the AIDS crisis, to environmental reform, and to women's rights.

Now that the cold war is over, this nation's budget and overall priorities must reflect that reality. We support further cuts in outdated and unnecessary military spending, a more progressive tax system in which wealth taxpayers and corporations contribute their fair share, and a substantial increase in social programs designed to meet the needs of low-and-middle-income American families. We believe that these goals fit within an overall commitment to deficit reduction.

[a list of members follows]

Which is simply an informational page. The only live connection we can find between the Progressive Caucus and the Democratic Socialists of America is that Bernie Sanders (quasi-socialist, VT) is a member of the Progressive Caucus, and he has spoken to the DSoA.

Let's review the right-wing logic:

  • Pelosi is a member of the Progressive Caucus (membership also includes such wide-eyed radicals as: Rep Henry A. Waxman, Rep Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Rep John Lewis).
  • The Progressive Caucus had an informational page on the DSoA website.
    WorldNetDaily claims that: "Until 1999, the website of the Progressive Caucus was hosted by the Democratic Socialists of America." We're not so sure. Is having a couple of pages about the Progressive Caucus considered hosting? We believe the Progressive Caucus had no problems with the publicity, but doubt very much that they wanted a formal association with the DSoA, let alone being a subdivision.
  • Therefore the Progressive Caucus is a subdivision of the DSoA. FALSE
  • Therefore Pelosi is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. FALSE
  • The Democratic Socialists of America are the U.S. arm of the Socialist International. MAYBE, WHO KNOWS?
  • Therefore Pelosi is a member of the Socialist International. FALSE
  • Therefore Pelosi carries the torch for Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, V.I. Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Josef Stalin. FALSE
We know that Front Page Magazine, the Washington Times, and World Net Daily are oddball publications. Unfortunately, these are the breeding grounds where falsehoods are nutured. So we thought we'd be proactive and get the low-down on the Pelosi story before it grows out of control.


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Ruben Bolling gets it:

In the current Tom the Dancing Bug, we see how absurd it was to chide Democrats for not having an economic vision/program. The Democrats were opposed to Bush's tax cut, but the punditocracy demanded that the Democrats do more. But why? If the Republican policy is unwise, reversing it should be enough. There is no automatic requirement for Democrats to come up with an alternate policy. Yet the notion of no-policy-Democrats-are-inadequate was widely accepted.

These days, when reading about politics (not unlike an Ann Coulter book) you have to     challenge     every     single     word.


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Pitching for another term as Fed chief?

We read that Alan Greenspan doesn't want the Bush tax cuts repealed. He said, "It would probably be unwise to unwind the long-term tax cut, because it is already built into the system."

Built into the system! Who is he kidding? Clinton's tax rates were "built into the system" for seven years. Why didn't Alan complain in 2001 that Bush's proposed tax cuts were upsetting the then built-in tax schedule?

Because Greenspan shares the smaller-government outlook of the right wing. The Libertarian/Randian view.

Unanswered by Greenspan: What about the "built in" obligations to retirees post-2010?

He also said monetary policy (interest rates controlled by the Fed) can be more responsive to economic conditions, and that fiscal policy (government spending) is not very effective. Which is a way of saying that the government shouldn't try to stimulate the economy - and that no Federal help should be extended to the out-of-work.

As Krugman wrote in early 2001, Greenspan "crossed the line" when he endorsed Bush's tax cut. Back then, the Fed chairman was saying that it was better to tax less and spend less (on things like prescription drugs), which is a political choice, not an economic issue. This guy is the most irresponsible Fed chief in recent memory.

ADDENDUM: In the same story, we read that: Mr. Greenspan also expressed confidence that the United States could shoulder the costs of a war with Iraq, arguing that the economic impact would be significantly less than that of the wars in Korea and Vietnam.

Less than Vietnam. That war is estimated to have cost, at a minimum, $140 billion. Or about $500 billion in today's currency.

But wait! Bush's tax cuts are going to reduce tax receipts by $200 billion / year by 2012. The Fed chief is blithe about the costs of war, yet concerned about a tax rollback.

Alan Greenspan is not making sense.


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Monday, November 11, 2002

Salute!

Our good President salutes those in uniform this Veterans Day.

On his impromptu visit to the 20-year-old black granite wall honoring the fallen in Vietnam, Bush encountered a group of veterans. "Thank you for serving," he told them. "God Bless you all."

And we salute Bush for having his Department of Veterans Affairs issue guidance* to its field officials to cease outreach activities. We read that VA official, Laura J. Miller, has advised field directors that funding shortfalls are to blame for the decision to eliminate marketing activities. "Actuarial projections indicate a widening gap in the demand versus resource availability." In addition, Miller predicts an equally bleak future under the Bush Administration, "Growth in enrollments and consequent demand is expected to continue."

But hey, that's what happens when tax cuts are a higher priority than medical care for veterans.

* in August 2002


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