Saturday, November 20, 2004
And so it begins, part 3
House and Senate negotiators have tucked a potentially far-reaching anti-abortion provision into a $388 billion must-pass spending bill, complicating plans for Congress to wrap up its business and adjourn for the year.
The provision may be an early indication of the growing political muscle of social conservatives who provided crucial support for Republican candidates, including President Bush, in the election.
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The abortion language would bar federal, state and local agencies from withholding taxpayer money from health care providers that refuse to provide or pay for abortions or refuse to offer abortion counseling or referrals. Current federal law, aimed at protecting Roman Catholic doctors, provides such "conscience protection'' to doctors who do not want to undergo abortion training. The new language would expand that protection to all health care providers, including hospitals, doctors, clinics and insurers.
Story. Senator Barbara Boxer is fighting it. Tell her to keep up the good work.
posted by chris at 10:01 AM
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Thursday, November 18, 2004
Back in business
Heroin production is booming in Afghanistan, undermining democracy and putting money in the coffers of terrorists, according to a U.N. report Thursday that called on U.S. and NATO-led forces get more involved in fighting drug traffickers.
So will the same thing happen to Iraq when we move on to attack Iran? Oh wait, Iraq's major export is oil . . . and we love that stuff.
posted by chris at 5:11 PM
Heroes of Hypocrisy
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on Thursday urged Democrats to stop blocking President Bush's federal court nominees and hinted that he may try to change Senate rules to thwart their delaying tactics.
"One way or another, the filibuster of judicial nominees must end," Frist, R-Tennessee, said in a speech to the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group.
The Democrats' ability to stall White House picks for the federal bench was one of the most contentious issues of Bush's first term. Despite the GOP majority in the Senate, Democrats used the threat of a filibuster to block 10 of Bush's nominees to federal appeals courts. The Senate confirmed more than 200 of the president's choices.
What crybabies. The Republicans control both houses of Congress and the Executive Branch and Frist is whining about the Democrats using legal Congressional procedures to block judicial nominees? If it was the Republicans in the minority, you can bet they'd be using every trick in the book to stop a Democratic nominee. Do they have to stack the deck in their favor every single freaking time?? Just play by the rules for once. (Or perhaps don't nominate right-wing wacko nutjobs to the courts - just a thought).
Via the brand new LeftTank.
posted by chris at 4:25 PM
Tax woes
One of Bush's key projects this second term is adjusting the tax code. How will he pay for various changes?
To pay for those large tax cuts, the administration is looking at eliminating both the deduction for state and local taxes, and the business tax deduction for employer-sponsored health insurance. That would raise nearly $926 billion over five years, according to White House and congressional documents.
In other words, Bush wants to eliminate one of the main incentives for employers to provide you with health insurance. Take that tax deducation away, and it makes little financial sense for employers to continue the program. Especially with health costs getting more and more expensive.
posted by chris at 3:37 PM
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Wednesday, November 17, 2004
A portent of things to come
Three headlines in today’s New York Times clearly show what Bush’s second term is all about: loyalty and control.
Cabinet Choices Seen as Move for More Harmony and Control
New C.I.A. Chief Tells Workers to Back Administration Policies
House Republicans Move to Protect Their Leader
posted by chris at 3:26 PM
Starbucks to use recycled material
Hoping to win over customers who care about the environment, Starbucks, the Seattle coffee company, plans to announce today that it will start stocking its stores with cups made with 10 percent recycled material.
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Despite the small fraction of recycled content in the new cups, Starbucks said the move would have considerable environmental effect, saving approximately five million pounds of virgin tree fiber a year. . .
. . .Starbucks said it was using only 10 percent recycled material partly because the material costs more.
The higher cost is one reason that other food companies have not switched to recycled cups.
It was not immediately clear if Starbucks would bear the added recycling costs or pass them along to its customers.
Ask for Fair Trade coffee in that recycled cup.
posted by chris at 3:24 PM
Looking out for their own
House Republicans today approved a change in party rules to prevent their majority leader, Tom DeLay, from having to step down from his leadership position should he be indicted in an investigation in Texas.
After a debate lasting two and a half hours, the Republicans voted for a new procedure under which the House party leaders would have 30 days to deliberate if one of their colleagues were indicted on a felony charge. At the end of the 30 days, the leaders would decide whether to ask the person under indictment to step aside at least temporarily.
The new rule supplants one that required a leadership member facing a felony indictment to step aside immediately.
No surprise here.
posted by chris at 3:20 PM
Why deficits matter
Deficits such as these matter because the increased government borrowing creates a drag on the economy; it reduces the amount of capital available for private investment and consequently the increased national income that would result from greater investment. As Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan told the Senate Banking Committee last week, "There is no question that if you run substantial and excessive deficits over time, you are draining savings from the private sector, and other things equal, you do clearly undercut the growth rate of the economy." The problem occurs because -- as the administration, which tried for a while to argue this Economics 101 point, now concedes -- the greater competition for capital drives up interest rates. Mr. Mankiw summed this up nicely in his best-selling economics textbook: "When the government reduces national saving by running a budget deficit, the interest rate rises, and investment falls. Because investment is important for long-run economic growth, government budget deficits reduce the economy's growth rate."
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These particular deficits matter even more than general macroeconomic theory would suggest. It makes sense for the government to spend more than it takes in during periods of economic downturn. But the administration's tax cuts -- at least $1.7 trillion from 2001 through 2013 and more than $3 trillion if the administration gets its way and the supposedly temporary cuts are made permanent -- effectively lock in deficits for years to come, unless the tax cuts are repealed or draconian spending cuts, which would be politically unpalatable, are approved. Even the administration's own projections show a deficit of $226 billion in 2008. And while administration officials confidently talk about the economic growth that they expect the tax cuts to generate, their own analyses don't suggest the cuts pay for themselves. "Although the economy grows in response to tax reductions (because of higher consumption in the short run and improved incentives in the long run)," the 2003 Economic Report of the President said, "it is unlikely to grow so much that lost tax revenue is completely recovered by the higher level of economic activity."
Moreover -- and most worrisome -- these structural deficits are being put in place at precisely the wrong time: when we ought to be socking money away (or at least paying down the existing debt) to pay for the soon-to-explode costs of Social Security and Medicare.
And this administration wants to borrow even more money, increasing our deficit.
posted by chris at 2:01 PM
Closing doors in an open democracy
The Department of Homeland Security is requiring thousands of employees and contractors to sign nondisclosure agreements that prohibit them from sharing sensitive but unclassified information with the public.
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Steven Aftergood, editor of the federation's newsletter, which reported the policy last week, said the DHS is sweeping whole categories of government information under restrictions previously used only for classified data. Such categories include "official use only" and "law enforcement sensitive."
"Its likely consequence will be to chill even the most mundane interactions between department employees and reporters or the general public," said Aftergood, who obtained a copy of the form under the Freedom of Information Act. "Employees will naturally fear that even the most trivial conversation could mean a violation of this draconian agreement, and so the result will be a new wall between the government and the public."
Story.
posted by chris at 1:53 PM
The EU vs. America
After adding 10 new Eastern and Central European nations last May, the European Union now has a much larger population than the United States, and a slightly bigger economy. As Jeremy Rifkin argues in his dense and contentious new research-driven tome "The European Dream," the United States remains ahead in per-capita GDP, but the difference is not as significant as it looks.
Much of American "productivity," Rifkin suggests, is accounted for by economic activity that might be better described as wasteful: military spending; the endlessly expanding police and prison bureaucracies; the spiraling cost of healthcare; suburban sprawl; the fast-food industry and its inevitable corollary, the weight-loss craze. Meaningful comparisons of living standards, he says, consistently favor the Europeans. In France, for instance, the work week is 35 hours and most employees take 10 to 12 weeks off every year, factors that clearly depress GDP. Yet it takes a John Locke heart of stone to say that France is worse off as a nation for all that time people spend in the countryside downing du vin rouge et du Camembert with friends and family.
European children are consistently better educated; the United States would rank ninth in the EU in reading, ninth in scientific literacy, and 13th in math. Twenty-two percent of American children grow up in poverty, which means that our country ranks 22nd out of the 23 industrialized nations, ahead of only Mexico and behind all 15 of the pre-2004 EU countries. What's more horrifying: the statistic itself or the fact that no American politician to the right of Dennis Kucinich would ever address it?
Perhaps more surprisingly, European business has not been strangled by the EU welfare state; in fact, quite the opposite is true. Europe has surpassed the United States in several high-tech and financial sectors, including wireless technology, grid computing and the insurance industry. The EU has a higher proportion of small businesses than the U.S., and their success rate is higher. American capitalists have begun to pay attention to all this. In Reid's book, Ford Motor Co. chairman Bill Ford explains that the company's Volvo subsidiary is more profitable than its U.S. manufacturing operation, even though wages and benefits are significantly higher in Sweden. Government-subsidized healthcare, child care, pensions and other social supports, Ford says, more than make up for the difference.
The new EU constitution, currently being considered by the member states, is an unwieldy, jargon-laden document that runs to 265 pages in English (and even more in Spanish and French). It should also serve as an inspiration to progressives around the world. It bars capital punishment in all 25 nations and defines such things as universal healthcare, child care, paid annual leave, parental leave, housing for the poor, and equal treatment for gays and lesbians as fundamental human rights. Most of these are still hotly contested questions in the United States; as Rifkin says, this document all by itself makes the European Union the world leader in the human rights debate. It is the first governing document that aspires to universality, "with rights and responsibilities that encompass the totality of human existence on Earth."
...For all the grandeur of its new vision, Europe still has relatively high unemployment and relatively sluggish economic growth. The continent faces major structural problems, most notably a declining birth rate and a long-standing hostility to immigration, which has led to a population that is aging much faster than America's. While the European welfare state is certain to remain generous by American standards, significant renegotiation of rights and benefits will be necessary unless this demographic time bomb can somehow be defused.
Despite its deepening inequality, the United States remains to a large extent a more dynamic and less class-bound society, and it still offers individuals that opportunity for constant reinvention that lies at the heart of our national dream. Rifkin in particular believes that the new cold war with Europe will be good for America in the long run and may help rejuvenate the American left (even if the next four years are likely to get pretty ugly). Americans may need to be taught, by example, that unfettered corporate capitalism, regressive taxation and a bare-minimum social safety net are not the only way to guarantee prosperity -- and perhaps that our definition of what constitutes prosperity could stand some scrutiny.
More.
posted by chris at 1:35 PM
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Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Circling the wagons
Expect more secrecy and protecting the President from the new Attorney General.
A new report from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press paints a picture of White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales -- who has been nominated to replace U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft -- as someone who has worked tirelessly to keep information from the press and public if he believes it could hurt the president, and does not appear ready to change.
Gonzales has "played a key role in keeping presidential records out of the public eye and asked for several extensions to deadlines for turning over papers of past presidents," the report says. "Earlier this year, Gonzales also pressured the nation's archivist, John Carlin, to resign, according to Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.). Carlin's departure -- he resigned without giving a reason -- sparked speculation that he was forced out in order to protect the records of the first President Bush."
The report also cited Bush's efforts to protect his advisors from being forced to testify, saying, "Gonzales picked one battle in particular to doggedly fight: that the president and those working closely with him must be able to receive counsel from advisers without public inquiry. Gonzales argued throughout the summer of 2002 that Vice President Cheney and the records of his energy policy task force should not be subject to open-government laws."
The report also cited Gonzales' comments following the release in June 2002 of memos and documents detailing the administration's decisions on the use of torture. In "a rare appearance at a news conference later, Gonzales hinted that secrecy would remain the norm for related documents. 'The government is releasing an extraordinary set of documents today, and this should not be viewed as setting any kind of precedent,' Gonzales said. 'But we felt it important to set the record straight. Additional documents may be withheld in the future for national security and other reasons.'"
Story.
posted by chris at 5:23 PM
Facts are simple and facts are straight
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don’t do what I want them to*
Howard Zinn, author of the wonderful book, A People's History of the United States, has prepared a companion volume, Voices of a People's History of the United States. The following excerpt is taken from his introduction to that volume.
From the start of my teaching and writing, I had no illusions about "objectivity," if that meant avoiding a point of view. I knew that a historian (or a journalist, or anyone telling a story) was forced to choose, from an infinite number of facts, what to present, what to omit. And that decision inevitably would reflect, whether consciously or not, the interests of the historian.
There is an insistence, among certain educators and politicians in the United States, that students must learn facts. I am reminded of the character in Charles Dickens's book Hard Times, Gradgrind, who admonishes a younger teacher: "Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life."
But there is no such thing as a pure fact, innocent of interpretation. Behind every fact presented to the world -- by a teacher, a writer, anyone -- is a judgment. The judgment that has been made is that this fact is important, and that other facts are not important and so they are omitted from the presentation.
There were themes of profound importance to me that I found missing in the orthodox histories that dominated American culture. The consequence of these omissions has been not simply to give a distorted view of the past but, more importantly, to mislead us all about the present.
If you've never read Zinn's A People's History of the United States, I strongly urge you to do so.
*Crosseyed and Painless, The Talking Heads
posted by chris at 4:24 PM
Ch-ch-ch-changes
I've made a few additions to the site that you've probably noticed. First is a search engine that allows you to search this site for any word or phrase in any post I've made since I started this thing. Oooh! Hours of fun!
Secondly, you'll notice that the time stamp at the bottom of each post is now a pretty red. That's a permalink that allows you to link specifically to that post. The fun just never stops around here.
posted by chris at 1:31 PM
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Monday, November 15, 2004
Lazy blogging
Just go read Bob Harris. I'll eventually get around to posting some of his stuff, but he's on a roll lately.
posted by chris at 5:26 PM
Death penalty declines
The number of U.S. convicts imprisoned with death sentences dropped in 2003 to its lowest level in 30 years, helping to provoke the third straight annual decline in the nation's death row population and signaling the continuation of a slow trend away from state- and federally ordered executions, according to data released yesterday by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Story.
posted by chris at 5:02 PM
Powell out
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has submitted his resignation to President Bush, the White House said on Monday.
It's not a surprise, but it's still scary that the only (semi-) moderate voice in the cabinet is leaving.
posted by chris at 11:02 AM
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Sunday, November 14, 2004
Is this what democracy looks like?
The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources.
The CIA is supposed to be loyal to the country, not a particular president. There were errors made in the run-up to the attack on Iraq (often based on how the White House demanded information), but simply removing people the President doesn't like isn't the way to solve the problem. Four more years of this shit . . . it makes my head hurt.
Story here.
posted by chris at 5:33 PM
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