Tuesday, November 25, 2003
"Can't Anybody Here Legistate This Game?"
Anti-Spam Bill Draws Mixed Reaction0 comments
Let's see...
Here is an anti-spam law that will not reduce the level of spam and, like any good Republican bill, it actually gives the green light to hordes of companies who've avoided spamming up to now. And to paraphrase the gun lobbyists who extol their weapon of choice: when you criminalize the use of spam, only criminals will have spam.
Next, the Republicans have given us an energy bill that is supposed to fix our electicity demands for years to come, except that most of the money is to be funneled into the Energy Companies, who will then raise rates to consumers.
Then, there's the Medicare bill, which is trying to save seniors money by, ultimately, having them pay more for drugs and all their other costs, while the drug and health sector firms pocket the cash, and generations of Americans pay the tab.
Also, there's the popular "No Child Left Behind" school bill—which remains unfunded—which forces school districts to both jettison their lowest, most-at-risk, fringe students to the arms of the street, and to cook the books so that the numbers of school assaults—a verifying number for Federal support—will appear normal, even though the number of assaults on students and teachers has mushroomed.
This warm and fuzzy session of Congress has exelled at keeping everyone focused on the bauble part of each of these bills. But NYers know that were there to be any real meat in these bills, conservatives would lose their current image as the "get tough" guy and the "get it done" guy.
This is really dumb-show. And we really can't afford to keep these guys past 2004.
posted by Gotham 3:45 AM
The New Golden Parachute
Sprint to Cut 2,000 Jobs to Cut Costs0 comments
But, at least they now get to transfer their phone extensions with them!
posted by Gotham 3:22 AM
Monday, November 24, 2003
How to Restore the Lost Value of Your 401(k) Account
Medicare Bill Would Enrich Companies0 comments
This is time-sensitive; there's only a small window of opportunity for this, but here's how:
Take all the money George W. Bush's Crash has left you in your 401(k) and IRA Retirement Accounts and switch it to Health Sector funds and/or stocks.
Take every dollar you can scrape up or borrow and plunk it into those same accounts.
Billions of dollars are going to be flowing to those companies, just like the lobbyists and Republicans planned, and the general public might just as well benefit and get a bounce-back from all the dollars they're going to be throwing directly at the drug companies, the HMO- and PPO-based insurance companies and hospital corporations.
AMERICA! GET YOUR FAIR SHARE! BUY DRUG AND HEALTH STOCKS TODAY!
Then, as a shareholder, look to vote your proxies in such a way as to wreak havoc at the stockholders' meetings, and to generally make life miserable for the company's Officers and Board.
America. The Land of Opportunity.
Pop Quiz:
When's the last time that your representative in Congress,
or your Senator represented YOUR interests?
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posted by Gotham 2:18 PM
The Angels of Our Better Nature
Boxes, Greetings From N.Y. Reach Ill.0 comments
Since links to Associated Press stories tend to have short shelf lives, I'll paste the entire story about the actions of some residents of a New York City suburb here, since I feel it is that important.
This story touched me deeply. To me, this story contains the true meaning of "Christian values," no matter what your Faith is—even if you don't adhere to one. This is a core, human issue moment.
I challenge President George W. Bush to live the principles in this story, in order to show to the world that he truly is a strong man of caring, spiritual fiber—instead of the lying scumbag that half the Western world, and most of the rest of the world, currently perceives him to be.
I challenge Vice President Dick Cheney to do the same, and actually come to the assistance of someone who isn't Halliburton or an oil company.
I challenge everyone on the right to suspend the hateful rhetoric for a few moments, and become involved in this type of effort. I challenge Rep. Tom DeLay to do this. And Malcolm Forbes; and Sen. Dr. Bill "I killed Medicare" Frist; and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz; columnist Robert Novak and smarmy über-prig Tucker Carlson; and Pentagon adviser Richard Perle.
This is the type of compassion Americans thought Bush has been talking about, from the 2000 campaign to now. We didn't realize back then that he was merely refering to basic priggishness and hate.
Here's your chance to change some opinions, George. A chance to attone for your sins of the last three years, and make things right again with your Maker. Grab a pen, George, and take some notes:
Boxes, Greetings From N.Y. Reach Ill.
By JIM FITZGERALD
Associated Press Writer
November 23, 2003, 4:48 PM EST
HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. -- When you're pinching pennies and husbanding food stamps, the end of the month is always the leanest time. In November, that tough time also brings the added burden of Thanksgiving.
"At the end of the month the food stamps are stretched out, the food is diminished and even the pantry at our church is very low," says Ron Walker, outreach minister for the Church of the Cross in Pembroke Township, Ill.
It can make for a grim holiday in Pembroke Township, where the average yearly income is $9,642 and hundreds of families struggle "without running water, or with dirt floors, or torn-down roofs," Walker says.
But just in time, "the boxes" arrive -- the food boxes from New York. Every month, 60 or more families in and around the village of Hastings-on-Hudson each pack up a week's worth of groceries for a family in Pembroke, timing the delivery to the last week of the month.
They follow a shopping list drawn up by the program's founder, Pam Koner, and often toss in extras like linens or treats for the kids. They also include a letter, from one family to the other.
"We're not sending money and it's not a one-shot," says Koner. "We're sending food and we're offering friendship. We don't just do Thanksgiving and Christmas. We all send a box every month and we pack the food ourselves and we send a letter that says, 'How are you?'"
Pembroke is a rural community of about 3,000 residents, just one hour south of Chicago, and has no industry. According to the latest census data, more than half of the town's families with children under the age of 5 live below the poverty level.
It's not easy to bridge the gulf between Pembroke and Hastings, a leafy well-to-do New York City suburb on the Hudson River, where the average annual income is $50,000. Koner was sitting on her deck last year when she read a description of Pembroke Township in a newspaper story.
The story, detailing hungry children and ramshackle homes and faded hopes, moved Koner to action.
"I had to do something," she says.
Because she runs day care and afterschool programs, Koner knows many families in Hastings. She talked to a few of them, got their support and telephoned the church mentioned in the Pembroke story.
"She said, 'What can I do?'" Walker recalls, "And I said we always need food out here."
They called it Family to Family and it grew from seven Hastings families to more than 60, which results in scores of heavy boxes being lugged by neighbors to the back door of Koner's house during the third week of each month. FedEx delivers them to the church in Pembroke Township for free, and Walker manages the distribution at that end.
On a recent "box day" at Koner's house, Jenny Ambrozek came by to drop off her parcel and said, "I think the program's extraordinary ... It makes you appreciate what you have."
Isaac Shimsky-Agosto, 9, whose family participates in the program, said of his Pembroke family, "They don't have electricity, they don't have running water. Hardly any of them have cars. We thought it sounded like a nice thing to do."
Many Pembroke families send letters of thanks.
"I am so grateful for the food," one recipient wrote. "It always seems to come just on time."
Word of the program is spreading. Groups in Plano, Texas, and Birmingham, Ala., are planning to start Family to Family programs with needy communities. Students at a high school in Evanston, Ill., held bake sales to raise money to buy 60 turkeys, which were handed out Sunday in Pembroke. An inmate at the state prison in Attica sent Koner a $25 check, "since I am unable to shop."
Family to Family isn't the only effort under way to help Pembroke. Besides the food pantry at the Church of the Cross, which serves up to 500 families a month, there's a soup kitchen and clothing giveaway, Walker says. The state of Illinois is trying to improve the infrastructure, but, "We have no grocery stores, no gas stations, no Laundromats. That's the reality here," Walker says.
But the boxes from New York -- and the letters -- do make a difference, he says.
"It gives our people a chance to know that somebody cares enough to send a box out every month to them and to drop them a line," he says. "It's not going to solve all our problems but it does help."
* __
On the Net:
Family to Family
posted by Gotham 11:23 AM
A Perfect Storm
Kan. Town Requires Homes to Have Guns0 comments
I have seen the future...
Our Republican future...
It's name is Geuda Springs, KS.
Here's a perfect example of what life will be like for us, under the control of various Republican factions:
First, for the Malcolm Forbes-led tax hawks, there's no tax revenue collected for annoying, wasteful liberal baubles like police forces, or other "town/city services." No one has to pay for these extra bureaucratic services. Everybody protects themselves, just like on the frontier. We can even turn our backyards into trash heaps and cut out garbage collection, as well.
Second, for the gun lobbyists, everyone must have a gun, in order to protect themselves. Happily, those who can't are just on their own. And the good residents of Geuda Springs themselves get to determine just who is to be considered a threat to their peace and well being. It's a good way to control the tourist trade and fend off urban sprawl.
Lastly, the Christian fundamentalists will be pleased to see that there obviously is no possibility of homosexuality in Geuda Springs, KS, or any town or city which models itself after Geuda Springs.
Many Geuda Springs residents refused to talk about it, and others were tightlipped, saying outsiders should stay out of it.
"It's nobody's business but our own," said Phillip Russell, who owns a motorcycle shop in the town. "Everybody out of town is making this their business."
No, I sense waaaaay too much inbreeding here to worry about any homosexuality in Geuda Springs, KS.
posted by Gotham 10:25 AM
An Idea Whose Time Has Passed
Florida Drinking Water to Be Tested0 comments
Shouldn't they have done that after the 2000 election?
posted by Gotham 9:36 AM
Saturday, November 22, 2003
Fun City
Mike vows homeless crisis fight0 comments
Most likely without intention, today's New York Daily News has run a group of articles that encapsulate a great deal of what living in today's New York City is like.
The city currently shelters 38,000 people, 17,000 of whom are children - the largest homeless population in city history.
Those 17,000 children number more than many of your whole school districts around the country.
38,000 is a decently sized town.
But today in New York City, these are just the folks with no home to go to, many of them families like yours.
The mayor named a 10-member blue-ribbon committee to draw up a 10-year plan to attack the causes of homelessness.
"I don't think anybody is under the illusion that that goal is going to be something that's easy to reach or that it will be inexpensive," Bloomberg said.
So, these 38,000 folks shouldn't plan on being anywhere like home anytime soon, right? We can also safely assume, then, that many of these 17,000 children will no longer be children if and when they finally end up with a bed to sleep in that doesn't have to be fumigated regularly.
Bloomberg conceded there are no easy solutions to the crisis.
"God knows, homelessness is truly a difficult problem," he said. "But I don't think it is an unsolvable one."
Today's gratuitously stupid quote.
Of course, you can "solve" homelessness.
You start by building affordable housing. I know, no flash of brilliance there. But, it is that simple.
I think it's safe to assume that the bulk of the families showing up at the shelters were priced out of their former apartments, or have lost their jobs and thereby lost the means to pay for the ones they did have. It continues to be a safe assumption that most, if not all, of the families who are currently homeless, might find it a stretch to buy a decent apartment in the city for the going price of $1 million+; or be able to rent one for $2,000 to $5,000/mo. I dunno, just a guess here.
As per Bloomberg et al., you either build it, or you pipe down. Everyone with an income of $150,000 and above, and a pleasant, warm home to go to each night must avoid all comments to reporters about the problem if you've not going to take the simple steps to curb the real estate greed that paralyzes this city.
Either that, or invite a few folks over to the house from the shelter each night. Then, you'll truly look concerned.
More to come on today's Daily News articles in a later post.
Pop Quiz:
When's the last time that your representative in Congress,
or your Senator represented YOUR interests?
***
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posted by Gotham 8:08 PM
A New Breakthrough...
New pill approved to compete with Viagra0 comments
Oh boy! More spam.
posted by Gotham 2:34 AM
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
The New Election
Dean Calls For New Controls on Business0 comments
It's important not to miss this article by Jim VandeHei in The Washington Post. Let me go far out onto a limb here, but this may be the point where the entire 2004 presidential election debate begins to turn.
Personally, I have not felt any urge, thus far, to align myself with any of the Democratic candidates. No one seems to have articulated the leadership skills I feel will be necessary to win the presidency and reverse the slide in morality which the U.S. has endured the last three years.
I have been happy to merely support Any Breathing Human Being who stood in opposition to George Bush and Dick Cheney.
But, with this press conference, Howard Dean has reframed the entire debate.
This bears watching.
My favorite graph is this:
"In order to make capitalism work for ordinary human beings, you have to have regulation," Dean said. "Right now, workers are getting screwed."
It's about time that someone in this campaign, "got it." Here, Dean clearly frames the election as a fight between "Big Guy," and "Little Guy."
"Right now, workers are getting screwed."
If you're going to be a Populist, I say, be a Populist.
William Jennings Bryan must be smiling somewhere.
posted by Gotham 2:25 PM
Oink, Oink!
House Approves Energy Measure0 comments
Consider this the Pork Futures Bill.
There's bribery aplenty here, as Congressmen and Senators get all manner of local pet projects larded onto Shadow President Dick Cheney's bloated Energy sector corporate goodies bag.
Lobbyists up and down K Street are doing their part to help grow the economy today, running out buying those new Rolexes and furs, and that Porsche they've had their eye on. Both for themselves and as "thank you" gifts.
Oh, yes, by the way...
How to pay for all this largess?
Hey, just toss it onto that Deficit Pile over there. Everyone wins here.
Except you.
And me.
And our grandchildren.
Pop Quiz:
When's the last time that your representative in Congress,
or your Senator represented YOUR interests?
Get Angry! Have your say. Write your elected officials now!
Here's the Realtime Iraq Invasion Cost Clock!
posted by Gotham 1:47 PM
How NYers Really Feel
About White Collar Crime
50 cuffed in fed raid on Wall St.0 comments
Gosh!
I wonder if this means a few apartment vacancies will spring up?
posted by Gotham 11:51 AM
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
How to Lose Friends and Influence No One
AARP :: Community :: Message Boards0 comments
Well...my...!
This Medicare Bill endorsement is a fine howdy-do from the fine folks up at AARP (of which, disclosure demands, I am a member).
Click on the link at the top of this post here for membership reaction. This is a stitch. The link basically is to just the table of contents of the chat board. From there on in, amigo, you're on your own.
After the leadership of AARP publicly endorsed the Republican giveaway on the Medicare Bill, the AARP site chat boards nearly exploded.
Over a thousand replies appeared, written by AARP members who were none too happy about this endorsement, or the actions taken by AARP CEO William Novelli.
While the disgruntlement runs the full spectrum of ire, this may be the one post I found most stunning. From one unhappy camper—on this, the 25th anniversary of the mass suicides at Jonestown, Guyana:
Bill Novelli was supposed to lead us away from the KOOLAIDE.
Ouch! Rough crowd.
So, at least you get the flavor.
At the same time, the AARP leadership made the colossally boneheaded move of announcing their decision on the eve of a major AARP-sponsored presidential forum—which included participation by six of the Democratic presidential candidates!
This has to be a cry for help. It's just too painfully, blatantly stupid, otherwise.
Considering that the entire discourse on this bill came strictly from various factions within the Republican Party, and totally excluded any input from Democrats (since they don't have the votes to force inclusion or impact), it wasn't the smartest move to give the Democrats a national bully pulpit right in your own living room!
Let's see...In October, you invite your beau over to eat with the family on Thanksgiving Day. Then, the night before, you dump him—cruelly and without warning. But, you still bring him over to eat with the folks on Thursday. Inept planning, perhaps? Chaos theory in action? Is this Oprah territory?
Or Mister Roger's?
"Can you say 'photo op,' boys and girls? I know you can..."
Democrats Blast Republican Medicare Plan at AARP Forum
BEDFORD, N.H.—Howard Dean waved his stethoscope, Joseph Lieberman brought his 89-year-old mother and John Edwards touted his new book to underscore their opposition to a Medicare bill during a Democratic presidential forum Tuesday.
Six of the nine Democrats vying for the right to challenge President Bush in 2004 lambasted the $400 billion, 10-year Republican-crafted measure that adds a prescription drug benefit to the health insurance program for the elderly
Gosh, they took full advantage of the opportunity. Who'da thunk it?
AARP has consistently been fully bullet-proof, and monolithic as organizations go, with immense power to sway important minds and deliver votes. This episode, however, shows the leadership to be just another group of boneheads at the head of another group who think they know better than the membership because they're "on the board," and who go ahead and do something really dumb and get brought up short by reality.
How are earth can you go from a powerful lobbying force to "Novelli's board of geeks" in just two measly days?
This is my favorite part:
When an AARP television ad—part of a $7 million campaign designed to help push the measure through Congress—was played in the hall, there were scattered boos and hisses from the 800-strong audience.
And this was their showcase event.
"Yeah,...yeah, we're in touch with our members. We speak for our full membership."
Cheeeeez.
posted by Gotham 5:18 PM
Competing Firms, Start Your Ensigns...
U.S. Sets Time Frame For 24 Iraq Contracts0 comments
In essence, here's how it works:
Each of the competing firms sends a representative: someone of stature within the firm, who would not be seriously missed if circumstances go awry. A COO might make a good choice. Or if that's not practical, many firms are using the Managing Director position.
Those companies that can prove acheivement of "Ranger" status in fund-raising for George W. Bush's reelection campaign, will be allowed to provide their entrant with Kevlar heavy plate body armor, left over from deceased military personnel who've been shipped home.
Next, the representatives will be placed at one end of the Iraqi town of Tikrit, and asked to attempt to make it—on foot, and in acceptable corporate dress—to the far end of the city.
At the end of this Dash for the Cash, a royal celebration awaits possible surviving participants, not to mention the eternal gratitude of their corporations, which could, conceivably, last a full quarter or two.
Each of the surviving companies will also be encouraged to open recruiting centers in cities across the U.S. for these extremely high-paying jobs, since the turnover in Iraq is anticipated to be quite high. This is anticipated due to the high number of fatalities expected to be incurred by the contracted firms after U.S. troops are withdrawn. Administration officials refuse to speculate on an exact projected figure.
However, this new explosive, cyclical hiring growth is expected to be a cornerstone of the administration's new "jobs growth" policy, aimed at bringing down the unemployment rate before the 2004 election, a Senior administration official said today. This official went on to state that, "It'll be great for the economy. Gosh, for the president to have created so many jobs that carry such an extremely high income, and an equally high mortality rate; that means just great things for the retail and leisure sectors, as all that cash gets spent like there's no tomorrow."
***
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posted by Gotham 3:43 PM
Giants Still Rule
Newsday.com - Doctor Whispers His One Regret0 comments
This elegant article confirms that Jimmy Breslin is undiminished, and remains one of the greatest writers of our time.
posted by Gotham 8:16 AM
Sunday, November 16, 2003
U.S. Loses Air Superiority Over Iraq
17 soldiers die as 2 US helicopters crash in Iraq0 comments
The truth is now too blatant to ignore: the U.S. has lost control of the skies over Iraq.
And we are on the verge of losing George Bush's "war."
No plane or helicopter is safe in the desert or the mountains. If I'm an American soldier in Iraq, my first thought now is, "I ain't gettin' on that thing." Rocket grenades will pick you off if you fly too low; surface-to-air missles get you if you fly out of range of the grenades. Remember, we taught these forces how to do this against the Soviets. And they're very good students.
We have created a "perfect storm" of enemies in Iraq.
- Saddam Hussein is running freely with his Baathist loyalists, with safe houses throughout the country and the region.
With huge caches of small arms and equipment.
- Iraq is now a Black Hole, sucking in every angry malcontent within the Muslim world who fancies him/herself a willing terror candidate. The U.S., through the blundering, greed and stupidity of this administration, has become the prime recruiter for Osama Bin Laden, leading to the reformation and resurrection of al Queda as a viable fighting force.
Include in this scenario those same huge caches of small arms and equipment lying all about the country.
- The Governing Council. Made up of men whom the U.S. mistakenly felt it could control; this bunch, in truth, are ambitious, conniving men (the sole woman was killed off weeks ago) with little actual constituency within Iraq that the U.S. hasn't created for them, and for whom this is a perfect opportunity to amass power and wealth. As things continue to go wrong, they can be counted on to consolidate their own power bases and support whoever begins to emerge as dominant in the area—be it the U.S., Saddam or Osama. Doesn't matter much to them. They'll still get theirs. It's called "Diplomatic Flexibility."
They also have access to those same huge caches of small arms and equipment lying all about the country.
- The Turks and the Kurds. We used both of these centuries-old blood enemies to get our way last spring, and now they each mistakenly believe we're going to support them against the other. Without Saddam's ironfisted rule keeping order, the death toll is already beginning to rise, with U.S. troops smack dab in the middle.
Oh, and both groups also have access to those same huge caches of small arms and equipment lying all about the country.
- The Iraqi populace. They have suffered through: thirty years of Saddam's rule; ten years of crushing sanctions; almost indiscriminate bombing during the invasion, which destroyed what decent infrastructure they had; the deaths of thousands of civilians, including many of their own family members; empty U.S. promises of a better and safer day in Iraq, which they were led to believe would accompany the fall of Saddam; and, the racism of an occupying army with few, if any, troops who've been taught their language, who each now fear the general population and see each Iraqi as a very real threat to his/her very survival. No, this never was going to be Lyons in 1945, with pretty girls tossing flowers to the soldiers and their fathers pouring our boys wine. But, it could have come close.
Unfortunately, this disgruntled Iraqi populace also has those same huge caches of small arms and equipment lying all about the country.
All of this firepower, in the hands of all of these groups who now have a motive, leads directly to the ongoing murder of American sons and daughters at Bush's command. The blood is squarely on his hands.
Many years ago, Israel invaded Lebanon, which had once been known as "the Paris of the Middle East," to make it safer. It soon resembled the South Bronx in a bad year.
And now Iraq, once the cultural center of the Middle East, has swiftly been turned into a free-fire zone.
George & Dick's Excellent Adventure.
***
Get Angry! Have your say. Write your elected officials now!
Here's the Realtime Iraq Invasion Cost Clock!
posted by Gotham 9:33 AM
Continued Bad Weather Over America
The Bad Weather Over America0 comments
I first came upon this beautifully written James Carroll piece, originally in the Boston Globe, back in May, and I just stumbled over it again.
It was written in response to the months of rotten, depressing spring weather we'd endured to that point, and expanded from there.
I've just reread it, and all of its questions continue to have no answers and its points remain valid. To our deep shame.
posted by Gotham 8:02 AM
Saturday, November 15, 2003
It's a Tom DeLay World
GOP Hails Deal on Energy Bill0 comments
Today marks the official start of our new One Party System of Government.
It's been heading here ever since the Republicans took control of the White House, as well as both Houses of Congress (and soon, the entire Judiciary).
But, now Congressional Republicans can enact legislation and not even bother with any Democratic input to get in the way.
Because this is no longer Everett Dirkson's Republican Party. Or even Eisenhower's or Nixon's. There are no longer any messy factions or groups within the Party to battle over what part of the Republican view is best for their own constituents.
If you've been paying attention the last three years, you've noticed that Congressional members of the Republican Party have had the devil's own time in attempting to vote either their consciences or the wishes of their constituencies. The few who still care, that is. The rest are just happy to be on the bus.
Republican heavyweights have recruited the most like-minded candidates they could find, schooled them carefully on the new party orthodoxy, raised an obscene amount of cash for them, then made sure they clearly understood just who got them this seat at the table with the big boys and what would be expected of them upon their arrival in D.C.
As a result, votes on issues in every committee are pre-ordained and end in a 10-9 party line vote; and almost every vote on the floor of either the House or the Senate is a foregone conclusion as well. It's no longer an issue of whether the Republican leadership can muster enough votes to barely pass a measure.
There's no more wheeling and dealing with Democrats on legislation since they couldn't count on their own members, because with the Republicans acting as such a cohesive unit, Democrats are now simply superfluous.
Being elected to a Democratic seat in the House any more is tantamount to a 2-year vacation. You get to be paid to go fishing or sit by the pool for all the impact you'll have legislatively.
If a Republican were to vote against the White House or party leadership these days, Tom DeLay would simply have the transgressor electrocuted for Treason. Rep. Voinovich of Ohio barely got out of his moment of crossing the leadership with his skin.
The word comes from Rep. Tom DeLay or Sen. Bill Frist, or directly from the White House, and that's the end of it.
But, as the saying goes, "the lobster scrambles the eggs."
Everything from here on out gets blamed on the Republican Party. Even as they encourage their friends to back up the truck, and take what they want.
The pillaging of the U.S. Treasury has begun.
posted by Gotham 8:24 PM
Tits and Bush
Prez in Topless Tabloid0 comments
Your Morality and Values President has quietly reaffirmed his commitment to family values.
As long as the family is Rupert Murdock's.
Cheeez...
posted by Gotham 6:12 PM
Bush's Misery
Misery index rising under Bush0 comments
To help Kark Rove and Terry McAuliffe in their planning, we recap:
The Misery Index is the sum of the Inflation Rate and the Unemployment Rate. So, rising is bad; dropping is good.
Year / Incumbent / Index Number / Breakdown / Election Result
1976 (Gerald Ford): 13.1 -- 5.5 Inflation + 7.6 Unemployment (Carter wins)
1980 (Jimmy Carter): 20.2 -- 12.7 + 7.5 (Reagan wins)
1984 (Ronald Reagan): 11.6 -- 4.3 + 7.3 (Reagan wins)
1988 (Open Seat): 9.6 -- ? + ? (G.H.W. Bush wins)
1992 (George H. W. Bush): 10.6 -- ? + ? (Clinton wins)
2000 (Open seat): 6.7 -- 2.6 + 4.1 (G.W. Bush wins, sorta)
2003 (George W. Bush): 8.2 -- 2.2 + 6.0 (??? wins)
Ready, boys?
posted by Gotham 11:59 AM
Bush's Fuzzy Math Returns
For George W. Bush, "fuzzy math" means "election-year math."0 comments
I see...
Wal-Mart misses profit estimate; shares drop
Help me understand something here, if you would.
Wal-Mart hires low-cost firms which use a small army of illigal immigrants at minimum wage to clean their thousands of stores. They pay their store employees next to nothing, then reportedly lock the doors so workers are forced to work unpaid overtime.
And they can't make money!
Shares of Wal-Mart Stores fell nearly 5 percent Thursday and acted as a drag on the retail sector after the retailer reported a profit that was short of Wall Street expectations and said consumers are still living paycheck to paycheck.
The shares finished the session at $55.52, down $2.44 after dropping to $55.40 earlier in the session.
So, this is your mighty BUSH BOOM (recent New York Post headline) in action, folks.
Over the course of the quarter, Wal-Mart executives said on the call, sales growth slowed in September from August's robust pace and slowed again in October from September. The company blamed unseasonably warm weather.
"I don't think consumer spending is slowing," [Wal-Mart President Lee] Scott said, "but I don't see the strength that many of you in the investment community appear to see.
"We're still seeing a cautious customer who is buying at opening price points and who is timing their expenditures around the receipts of their paychecks, indicating liquidity issues," he said. Opening price points are the absolute cheapest level at which a consumer can buy an item.
Scott said he expects that pattern to continue until the U.S. employment picture improves. Holiday sales are on track to top last year's, but Scott noted that the company is going up against weak comparisons from last year.
Scott hit it absolutely right here. Comparing any figures to last year's figures, or to any of the last three years' numbers are skewed on the face of it. Things have been SO bad for so long, that ANY uptick will look massive, making a mockery of the comparison. But, taken in the context of the last five years, or last ten years, we see the small uptick as a small, encouraging sign and nothing more.
This is not to be construed as a sign of health or vitality.
Basically, it comes under the heading of hitting yourself in the head repeatedly with a ballpeen hammer. It feels soooo good when you stop.
***
Get Angry! Have your say. Write your elected officials now!
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posted by Gotham 11:07 AM
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Bush's Glass Jaw
Bush Looking to Transfer Power to Iraqis, U.S. Aide Says0 comments
—The New York Times
This smells.
This smells like a dead rat caught in your walls. In fact, many dead rats.
We've dragged every terrorist in the known world into Iraq. And gotten ourselves and everyone else inside that country drenched in blood.
But, since the bullies in the Bush administration can't take a punch, they now want to cut and run.
Leaving millions of vulnerable Iraqis and some VERY unfortunate (but VERY well paid) employees of Halliburton and Bechtel behind to figure things out for themselves when the great jihad starts and the place looks more like Little Big Horn than a desert paradise.
Many thousands of people more will die due to the incompetance of this administration. That is a certainty. It'll all be on Wolf Blitzer.
Over the next couple of months, you'll hear plenty of uplifting, warm & fuzzy reasons why we're speeding up the transfer of Iraq to chaotic, untrained Iraqi hands.
But make NO mistake. This is about polls. Polls in an election year, to be exact. Of course, this administration doesn't read and respond to polls. They just go in for informed strategic maneuvering.
Right now, George W. Bush's closest advisors—and the ones which political guru Karl Rove leans on the most—are named, Harris, Gallup, Zogby, Yankolovich, Quinnipiac and Pew. The Horsemen of the Major Polling Organizations.
Bush's domestic poll numbers keep dropping despite periodic, momentary upticks which the conservative press touts with all the fervor of VJ Day, until the next depressing numbers are inevitably released, and all the hoopla disappears.
The unraveling of Iraq—and the stunningly stupid job this administration has done while mucking up everything it touches there—is finally starting to catch up with Bush, as people keep seeing things go wrong on a massive scale before their very eyes. Perfectly healthy young American military men and women keep turning up dead on the 24-hour news channels, along with a whole lot of innocent Iraqis and the other odd foreign nationals from those few countries silly enough to have thrown their lot in with Bush.
So, now that Iraq has passed from being Bush's crowning glory to being his defining albatross, the decision has been made to dump it and run.
So, this post marks The Official Beginning of the Gotham Notes "October Surprise" Watch. You know that Rove will try something stunning to drag his horse across that finish line first. And we're ready!
As things stand now, by next summer, Bush's numbers may be in Jimmy Carter territory as the economy doesn't get better, and Iraq gets worse and Bush gets out.
Voila! He'll be an hombre again.
And, besides, what's the only thing more Commander-In-Chiefy than winning a cool war? Why, being the Benificent Leader who brings our Gallant Sons and Daughters Home. But he has to do it fairly quickly, so that we'll still have some left standing to bring home.
The Vietnamization of Iraq is in full swing.
Of course, this is what administration critics have been calling for, ever since Dick Cheney first told Bush to go invade that accursed country. Just not HOW.
It stills stuns many that the easy way out of all this is right in front of us, and has been steadfastly rebuffed. How long do we give these guys before we pull the plug on them? Cheney will never let Bush go to the UN as we should have done in the beginning, to say this is now a shared deal: we all put in troops and money, and we all get to have a say in re-ordering a democratic Iraq.
But here's what would happen if he did:
Our troops get relieved, and can come home to embrace their families.
Money flows into Iraq from around the world, so that we don't meet the same fate as the Soviet Union and go bankrupt.
The entire Islamic world slowly stops pointing at us as the Great Occupying Devil.
L. Paul Bremer III can come home to some of that gooood CEO money before they start regulating things again.
And Bush's Republican Guard in Congress gets to put away the rubber stamps, and go back to learning the ancient ritual of representing their districts.
***
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posted by Gotham 9:18 PM
Love from the Sewers
Every Boomer in America slowed his/her pace a little, and many of us thought to do that flailing-arm thing. Some of us even said a silent, "Hey, Ralphie boy!" in tribute to a time when being on the lower rungs of the ladder was tough, but you still had dignity.0 comments
Art Carney dies.
Farewell, Art. And thank you.
posted by Gotham 7:53 PM
Monday, November 10, 2003
"Scorecahd! Get'cher scorecahd!"
Geez...0 comments
You just can't rightly keep up with all the people and the various factions who are currently shooting at us in Iraq and its environs without a scorecard anymore.
We keep pissing all kinds of people off, whichever way we turn. We're getting into the middle of so many age-old murderous conflicts that we can't keep track of them all.
Now, we've been dragged into Turkey's historic Kurd separatists war. Well, that's just Jim Dandy! Even more places for our stretched-too-thinly troops to get themselves killed without knowing where it was coming from.
Haven't any of our guiding points of light in Washington, D.C. ever even looked into a Fodor's guide to the region--especially if they don't have the time to read up on the history of these countries?
Leadership.
Like I said, Geeeeez...
posted by Gotham 3:49 PM
Our Spreading Moral Values
This heartbreaking story carried by the BBC sheds light on further gaps in the George W. Bush Plan for better global living through Christian Fundamentalist living.0 comments
God, it seems, keeps stumbling, picking the wrong guy waaaay too often.
The administration talks a great game, but only seems able to handle its favorites on the "A List" of evildoers. Any petty dictator or rebel warlord whose country falls sadly onto the "B List" or below will just have to cope with beheading his citizenry, and raping its children, without our sizeable public relations assistance.
The administration has talked at horrified length about the "thousands of his own people" that Saddam was responsible for dispatching to the Almighty since the early 1980s when he was our buddy. But Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), under leader Joseph Kony, does away with that many by lunch on some days.
And not one peep from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
But, of course, this is an atrocity with no oil. With no Bush family ties.
Only human misery on an epic scale performed in the name of creating a moral country that would be based on the Ten Commandments.
Oh, so that's OK, then.
When Bill Clinton was lying to one and all (although mostly himself), at least he wasn't invoking the name, righteousness and backing of the Lord at every photo-op, while his cronies steal the country blind.
***
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posted by Gotham 2:28 PM
Sunday, November 09, 2003
The Daily Double
There are many wonderful reasons to live in New York.0 comments
Right now, one of the major ones is Elliot Spitzer as Atty. General. With his attacks on Wall St., the mutual fund industry and now the new SEC Chairman Bill Donaldson and his staff, he's turning into the kind of take-charge, ass-kicking government leader we always long for.
Plus, luckily for us here in New York, he's reported to be hungering for the Governor's chair. Just the kind of hard-boiled challenger that George Pataki can ill afford to have come at him.
Seems to be your basic Win-Win, if I may say so.
***
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posted by Gotham 12:59 AM
Friday, November 07, 2003
The Midnight Special
Andy Petitte, who has long toiled as one of the staltwalt members of the New York Yankees pitching staff, and who has many championship rings to show for his efforts, is being allowed by George Steinbrenner's braintrust (now there's an oxymoron!) to apply for free agency this winter.0 comments
One of the reported teams courting Petitte is the Houston Astros. The Astros are a perennially contending teams with good players. Generally, in purely baseball terms, a pitcher could hardly do better than sign with the Astros.
However, there are usually assorted life issues surrounding all those millions that different franchises throw at above-mediocre ball players.
So, let's look at Houston for a minute.
One positive note: Lee Brown, former NYC Police Commissioner and former Clinton-era Drug Czar, is mayor.
Other bits of interest:
- 71 persons were executed in the United States last year. 33 (47%) were in Texas -- the bulk of those in Harris Co. where Houston is the county seat.
- Houston was what Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Leadbelly, was writing about when he wrote, "The Midnight Special."
- Houston is the seat of the Bush family oil business. This is the land of Good-ol'-Boy networking on a grand scale, and where all of George W. Bush's family-political connections were formed.
- Houston is also the corporate home of Enron, and home to its embattled former CEO and Bush crony, Ken Lay.
- Mike Hampton, a fellow left-handed pitcher, currently with the Atlanta Braves, is a vocal family quality-of-life guy who has based his free agent decisions on family issues, and he left Houston to play in New York City, of all places.
- And Andy, the kicker for a single guy like you who's reaching a point of perhaps of slowing down soon and maybe getting married and starting a family, might well be this article from The New York Times.
Of course, the good news to be found in this article, is that numbers seem to get crunched in Houston much differently than in other areas. Ask Ken Lay about this. But, if the school system can put in 3,091 as a number for violent attacks within its school system and have it come out 761 on the official report, then think of the possibilities for your ERA. A 7.93 ERA you might have on April 30 can look like a 1.14 ERA by August without your having to throw a pitch after April.
Decisions, decisions.
posted by Gotham 11:49 AM
A True American Hero
Jessica Lynch gains her nation's thanks and respect for bravery and resourcefulness under fire. She has been under constant bombardment from the mighty U.S. Army press manipulation machine ever since her truck took that wrong turn that night in Iraq, which led to the deaths of the rest of her unit. But, true to her survivalist training, she took to ground to protect herself while the fierce battle roared over her head.0 comments
Now she's emerging with guns blazing, and her real enemies are getting a taste of what a truly courageous American soldier can do. John Wayne, himself, couldn't be prouder.
And true to her solid small-town upbringing and value system, her courage flows from that great American well—an appreciation for the Truth.
For those organizing the beatification of Pvt. Lynch within the Pentagon, this hurts as much as any mortar round, and is twice as damaging.
As the man said, the Truth hurts.
***
Get Angry! Have your say. Write your elected officials now!
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posted by Gotham 10:08 AM
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Vote Today!!
Today is one one of the High Holy Days of our democracy.0 comments
I hope you will vote in the elections in your area today, Election Day.
This simple but profound process is what has historically set us apart from much of the rest of the world for almost 300 years.
It's what good men and women have thought worth dying for during most of those 300 years.
It's THAT THING we keep invading countries for lately, all the while saying that THIS is what we're trying to give them.
So, if you are in the Support Our Troops crowd, make sure that you vote as well as pontificate.
I do. It helps build strong bodies twelve ways.
Plus, it gives you total carte blanche to bitch on any issue until the next election.
For those of you here in NYC, I urge you to vote "NO!" on Question 3. As does The New York Times.
The New York Observer carries an attempt to bolster the opposing view.
It carries the basic poor young suburban Republican alone in the bad, big city plaint.
New York simply does not have competitive elections. In many City Council and State Legislative districts, Democrats run without real opposition; in some districts, the Republicans don’t even bother to field candidates. Democrats outnumber Republicans by five to one in New York, and the paucity of non-Democratic officeholders should remind us that the party functions as a virtual monopoly.
Oh, poor baby...
These are among the same people who came here and felled the mightly token and shoved the MetroCard down our throats with no input from the public. Who are trying to fight rent regulations more for the fact that they got here too late to take advantage of them, and are silly enough to allow themselves to be price-gouged, than for any concrete philosophical purposes.
New York has a 5-to-1 Democratic majority because that has always been the preponderant philosophy of the citizenry of this fair city. We're quite aware that we're surrounded by a sea of Republicanism in New Jersey, Long Island and all of upstate. No one needs to remind us.
As New Yorkers, we've mostly all moved here to get away from the people in those areas. Do not think that we'd be happy with their moving here and attempting to make it the same as the rest of the area.
Consider NYC the Eastern Alamo, and we will fight for it.
Too many elections for City Council are decided not on Election Day but in Democratic Party primaries
What an increadibly stupid argument. This scenario is what has always been referred to as "Solidly..." whatever.
In any locale with a 5-to-1 party registration, you're going to have lopsided elections. The real, open fight will always be in the majority's primary, since the general election numbers will always preclude a fair fight.
I seriously doubt I would stand much of a chance running in the general election in counties that are "Solidly Republican" in the South or Midwest. Where even an incompetant maroon like Bush can do no wrong; where he can merely stand there with a basket and just catch the votes.
Well, amigo, New York City is "Solidly Democratic." And that's what galls you.
And you will happily throw Mayor Bloomberg's billions at this fortress, just like you egged on Darrel Issa's millions in California.
Because you can't win in these places in a fair fight.
You can't win it.
So, let's buy it.
***
Get Angry! Have your say. Write your elected officials now!
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posted by Gotham 7:36 AM
