Friday, December 31, 2004
House GOP to Gut Ethics Commitee;
To Vote to OK Bribery & Corruption;
Capitol Hill To Become "Dodge City"
Ahhhh, the glories of the holidays, with their glacially slow news days.0 comments
That can mean only one thing: more stories about GOP outrages.
Today's "Story that's guaranteed not to be seen by anybody until it's too late":
House to Consider Relaxing Its Rules
(GN emphasis):
The proposed change would essentially negate a general rule of conduct that the ethics committee has often cited in admonishing lawmakers—including Majority Leader Tom DeLay—for bringing discredit on the House even if their behavior was not covered by a specific regulation. Backers of the rule, adopted three decades ago, say it is important because the House's conduct code cannot anticipate every instance of questionable behavior that might reflect poorly on the chamber.
Republicans, returning to the Capitol on Tuesday after increasing their House majority by three seats in the Nov. 2 election, also want to relax a restriction on relatives of lawmakers accepting foreign and domestic trips from groups interested in legislation before the House.
A third proposed rule change would allow either party to STOP the House ethics committee from investigating a complaint against a member.
Currently, if the panel, which is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, is deadlocked on a complaint, the matter automatically goes to an investigative subcommittee after 45 days. The proposed change would drop any complaint that is not backed by a majority vote to move it forward.
Government watchdog groups called the proposals startling and unjustified. If the proposed rules are adopted next week as GOP leaders suggest, they would amount to "the biggest backtracking on House ethics rules that we have seen," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21.
Nothing any GOP Congressman does is out of bounds any longer. They no longer have to be circumspect about being crooks and thieves; now they can shout it from the highest D.C. Memorial. They're about to stuff their pockets and their mattresses without even looking over their shoulders, because they won't have to anymore.
And "Relaxing" is very much a misnomer here.
They're about to gut the Ethics Committee like a sturgeon.
And as quickly as a long-time fish cutter at the Fulton Fish Market can, too. They're going to have a day of "discussion" on Monday, and vote on it on Tuesday. That's it. Biff. Pow. Complete.
Americans won't even have time to put the kids back in school, and catch their breath after the holidays, before they realize the U.S. House of Representatives is officially and openly up for sale to the highest bidders.
So, if you're not watching C-SPAN early this week, you'll probably end up very confused as to why "your Representative" doesn't even TRY to hide the bribes and special interest-paid junkets he's taking. Or his wife or brother are. And why there's not even a note about "the concerns of my constituents are important to me" on his web site anymore.
That's because they are not!
Unless they ante up the cash.
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Den of Thieves Is Open for Business!
How long until GOPers start openly shooting Democrats who annoy them on the floor of The Den of Thieves? Gives a whole new weight to VP Cheney's "Fuck yourself" to Sen. Patrick Leahy. The GOP is THAT out of control.
ePop Quiz:
When's the last time that your District's Thief in The Den of Thieves,
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 11:46 PM
Thursday, December 30, 2004
This Is Bush's America
How a Handful of Setbacks Sent the Ryans Tumbling Out of Prosperity0 comments
Peter G. Gosselin and The Los Angeles Times are to be commended for this in-depth look at the precarious position most Americans find themselves in these days, and how badly the economic decks are now stacked against all of us.
A fabulous and horrifying article.
posted by Gotham 1:27 AM
A Heart-Breaking Day for New Yorkers
New York City lost two of her sons today.0 comments
Two who were uniquely NYers, who embodied every "not pretty" but gallant, and thereby, beautiful thing this city embraces.
First, we lost Jerry Orbach, who was born Off-Broadway, raised On Broadway, and who came to maturity playing a New York City cop on TV, in a manner which only slouched, hard-working, underpaid New York City cops themselves could truly appreciate.
'Law & Order' star Jerry Orbach dies of cancer at 69
Don't be scared away by the article's sub-head referring to "the anti-NYer," newspaper gloryhound Morals Master Rudy, he's only in one sentence. He's there to make you appreciate how much NYers really have to put up with everyday, and to show how deeply this city treasures the real article in people such as Orbach.
Second, we lost our most treasured of Original Mets today.
Rod Kanehl (KA-KNEEL for you out-of-towners) has died. He was 70.
It's not possible. How in heaven's name could a Rod Kanehl be dead? Hell, how could he even be 70!!???
Rod ("Hot Rod") Kanehl's obviously still in his twenties, throwing himself around—to no great avail, mind you—at the old Polo Grounds in Manhattan, where the Mets first played.
Original Met Rod Kanehl dies at 70; was early fan favorite
He was also Casey Stengel's favorite, and that meant everything to us young Mets fans. If he was jake with Case', he was jake with us.
Good Night, Gentlemen. Sleep your sleep well. New York City will stand watch.
You will be missed.
posted by Gotham 1:06 AM
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
U.S. Navy Renews CACI's Torture Contract
This is the Bush administration's idea of privatization in full flower:0 comments
Navy Re-Ups CACI's Support and Training Contract
Along with the Titan Corp., CACI operatives are the wonderful folks who brought you the torture prisons of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and the prisons in Afghanistan.
Remember those uniformed, but untagged, "intelligence officers" who ran around, giving the orders to uniformed AND properly tagged U.S. military personnel in Iraq and elsewhere?
The ones who were behind all those disgusting photos and Seymour Hersh articles?
Yep! Those guys. And we just gave this vermin scads more money.
That's because CACI and Titan supply the mercenaries who obtain the "real, boots-on-the-ground-type" intelligence that the Pentagon of Donald Rumsfeld is so enamored of. The kind those sissies over at CIA don't have the heart or the balls to go get.
The fact that they merely swept thousands who knew nothing off the streets and out of their homes and into prisons, and then tortured them, raped them and humiliated a whole culture before this Arab scum either died, told CACI anything they wanted to know about anybody just to stop the pain, or were set free by those Liberal pansies on the Supreme Court, thereby igniting a popular anti-U.S. revolt among the Iraqi people that's closer to the French Resistance than it is to the army of North Korea, is completely beside the point.
There were contracts to fulfill.
It might have been better, if America's good name was going to be dragged through the mud, that some of the intelligence obtained in that manner was actually accurate and useable. The sad truth buried in the disgust, is that all of the info obtained this way was garbage and useless.
Basically they had the shopkeeper saying that his next-door neighbor, the electrician, was a Saddam general, and was in direct contact with Osama bin Laden. This made CACI happy, and they'd take the electric clamp off his genitals.
Then the electrician disappeared, and suddenly the taxi driver he fought with for years disappeared, and so on, and so on, and so on, until the prisons overflowed with the screams of "terrorists."
CACI International Inc. of Arlington won a $16 million contract renewal from the Navy's Fleet and Industrial Supply Center to provide logistics support and training services to the Navy and Marine Corps.
The one-year contract, with four one-year options, would be worth $85 million if all options are exercised. The renewal is the company's fifth contract over the past 17 years for services supporting the Navy's Fleet Assistance and Shipboard Training program.
This on the heels of this other contract the Pentagon gave them.
The award follows another major win for the company with the Navy. In November, CACI won a $15.7 million award from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center to support a communications system that allows Navy personnel to transmit battlefield-related data among aircraft, ships and shore installations. If all options are exercised, that contract has a potential value of $27 million over five years.
When you watch movies, the bad guy always has this seemingly unending army of usually faceless armored soldiers trying to defend "the hideout," shooting and missing at James Bond or Harrison Ford in Star Wars, or some other set-up.
Ever wonder? Who ARE those guys the good guy gets to dispatch so easily?
They're mercenaries. Most likely from CACI. Or Titan.
Slowly, the letters in CACI should start morphing for you into these:
SS.
posted by Gotham 11:25 AM
Monday, December 27, 2004
Peace
In this traditional season of fellowship and humanity, all of us at Gotham Notes send out a wish for you and your family and loved ones that you all are able to live the lives you choose to live, and that you each live in peace and contentment with the world you find around you.0 comments
Meanwhile, as a gift, I simply pass on pictures of My New York:
via The New York Times
via Newsday
via The New York Daily News: (an oversized collection of the last three days in NYC
And I'll add a wish that peace and sanity returns to our city, our country and our world in 2005.
Be well,
E. J.
posted by Gotham 10:57 AM
Bernie's Dwindling Options
What will it be like for the vaunted Karl Rove team within the Bush White House to have to describe for us just how it is that their prized hand-picked nominee for DHS Secretary eventually ends up either doing time, or the bloody target of a mob hit?0 comments
The pal who busted Bernie
And desperately covering up all these fissures as they all start spouting steam should keep our beloved Moral Master Rudy busy and out of our hair for the next election cycle or two.
posted by Gotham 1:38 AM
Sunday, December 26, 2004
The Harold Ford, Jr. Watch Begins...
Over at Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall has an interesting and vital theme running. It concerns those Democrats—perhaps short on spine, and long on personal ambition or self-defense—who seem poised to aid and abet George Bush in his demonic gutting of Social Security Insurance. Marshall calls it his "Fainthearted Faction." I call it the "Kill Granny" Team.0 comments
Among the U.S. House membership, Marshall points to two leaders of this "Faction" who are poised to push your Grandfather into the street:
Rep. Harold Ford (D-Memphis, TN)
Washington, DC office
325 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Ph: 202-225-3265
Fx: 202-225-5663
and
Rep. Allen Boyd (D-Tallahassee, FL)
Washington, DC office
1227 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Ph: 202-225-5235
Fx: 202-225-5615
Both first elected to Congress in 1996, these two Democratic Representatives are senior leaders of this Democratic privatization group—who will not stand up for SSI along with other Democrats, but who sit ready to do Bush's bidding.
They also are two members in good standing of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of Democrats in name who basically subscribe to an agenda that was considered to be the mainstream Republican position, back in the years when the GOP was still a viable political party. These are Democrats who have been given the rare privilege of holding their own prized Republican Rubber Stamp.
Why would these two support Bush attempts to deny basic food and shelter to people in their 70s and 80s?
With Boyd, it's pure political survival. He represents Panhandle Florida, which hasn't yet evolved much past the 13th or 14th Century.
On the other hand, Ford now exists as perhaps the single, most-threatened politician in America. This comes not from Republicans nor conservatives, either nationally or within the state of Tennessee, but stems from the meteoric ascendancy of incoming Sen. Barak Obama of Illinois. You can see Ford's transparent attempts to reposition himself in this new political landscape—in order to beat out Obama in Ford's perhaps obsessive race to be the First African-American President.
As a child of political privilege, Ford seems to have been shooting for the presidency almost since college at the University of Pennsylvania. He worked on his father's successful Congressional campaigns for that same Ninth District seat from 1974 to 1994, gaining valuable expertise and political savvy. Through his father, the Honorable Harold E. Ford, Sr., he was able to obtain party positions such as working on the Clinton campaign and transition teams, and later, latching onto Senate aide spots.
As soon as Ford, Jr. graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, Ford, Sr. retired, effectively turning over his seat to Junior. From there, Junior has repeatedly targeted open Tennessee Senate seats, from which to effectively wage his presidential run. Only the seniority system within the Tennessee state party has slowed Ford down to this point. But Ford has spent his time assuring one and all that this would be only a temporary setback.
Ford, the Democrat's Convention Keynote Speaker in Los Angeles in 2000, has carefully positioned himself as the "attractive, well-crafted, well-connected Rising Star in the Party who could bring along the black vote and still make white hearts flutter." He would be Politics' answer to Derek Jeter or Tiger Woods: someone who's almost omni-racial. He has worked to insinuate himself clearly within the center-right of Bill Clinton's New Democrat machinery.
Then, when the world changed and Bush took power, we watched Ford segue smoothly into the Zell Miller wing of the Democratic/Republican Party, albeit with a polished mein, impeccable tailoring, sad green eyes and sexy, shy smile.
Simply because this is where the power went. And with that, the money. So, there goes Ford.
He has marketed himself on a non-stop basis to every media outlet that would have him, in order to maintain a profile alien to that of your typical Congressman from the Ninth District of Tennessee. He seems to have been on the air more than Don Imus or Tim Russert over the last eight years. And has become one of the Republican pudit-ocracy's and the Republican media's favorite Democrats.
Bam!
Then this Obama clown shows up with that Billion-Megawatt smile, dopey African name, a People Magazine-perfect biography and an electric 2004 Democratic Convention Keynote Speech of his own in Boston, that simply turned on a nation, and turned the political landscape upside-down. You can almost smell the gears grinding inside our young Mr. Ford.
Now, there is a real threat to "the plan." This Obama fellow simply won't do.
It's obvious Ford feels the Bushies are going to control things for quite some time, so if he is going to have access to the power he craves, he'll have to create a Bush-friendly position so that he can be "the successful Democrat" in this new environment. And if Bush REALLY wants SSI on a platter so badly, then, fine, let him have it. But gain some concessions that make it look like you were the sole barrier against total defeat at the hands of the administration. Then, grab the first TN Senate seat that opens and fight Obama on equal footing.
So, from now on, Harold Ford, Jr. stands not only as "the Dean" of the "Fainthearted Faction" on Social Security Insurance as Josh Marshall claims, but as the new, unofficial Chair of the "Stop Obama At Any Cost!" team.
Ambitious men are always to be watched closely, since their actions emerge from their deepest lust for power, rather than from serving the Commonweal. So, watch every move Ford makes from here on in this light:
"Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look."
—William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
And trust him not at all.
Here's Marshall's take on the Social Security Insurance floppers on the Senate side.
posted by Gotham 2:13 PM
Warm Up that Ol' Tom DeLay Rule!
Oh, Boy!0 comments
More Republican Crooks!
You can just feel the indictment of Tom DeLay waiting in the wings.
And I love the way they try to slide such juicey trash like this past us on some of the slowest news days of the year, when no one's looking.
I just love the Internet!
Tribal Money Linked to GOP Fundraising
Say, is there a uniquely Republican perp-walk?
posted by Gotham 2:34 AM
Friday, December 24, 2004
Minimum Wage Finally Goes Up
Baseball Minimum Salary Rises to $316,0000 comments
It's so hard to skrimp by on those lower 6-figure salaries these days.
Remember that the next time the 25th guy on the roster starts whining about pretty much anything.
posted by Gotham 2:39 AM
Blood Money
Disgusting.0 comments
George W. Bush sent out word weeks ago that this would be a low-key inaugural celebration, noting the seriousness of the plight of the troops who've been shoved into death's way in Iraq.
But the lobbyists and Bush's supporters on the loony right decided to blow off that taste and discretion, and PAR-TAY! PAR-TAY DOWN, my man!
Bush Inaugural Donors Add $3.3 Million in 6 Days
"We are going to ENJOY this!" they seem to be saying to the whole country.
While hundreds and perhaps thousands of GIs die for lack of adequate body armor, bullets, vehicles that run right and food.
While millions of Iraqi civilians have no medical supplies, electricity, clean drinking water or food for their dying, malnourished children.
While American cities and states are at the brink of bankruptcies; are taxing average Joe citizens through the nose to keep from going off a fiscal cliff while their schools are rotting.
"Screw all that," these selfish, priviliged people seem to be saying. We won, and we're gonna have a goooooood time!
Again, Republicans prove to be true Patriots.
But, just lousy human beings.
The next time you hear a Republican whine about there not being enough money to fix this problem or offer that service, remind them of this little inaugural item, then spit on their Gucci's.
posted by Gotham 2:15 AM
Thursday, December 23, 2004
What Kerik Has to Fear Most...
This from Josh Marshall:0 comments
Giuliani-Kerik LLC to be renamed Giuliani Security & Safety. Kerik "to take some time off to focus on my family."
This is something to keep an eye out for.
If Bernie Kerik's grasp for glory has brought ANY extraneous light and heat on those who are involved in various New York-area Famiglia-type activities of the, shall we say perhaps, extra-legal kind, Bernie could end up taking a whole lifetime off.
posted by Gotham 8:37 PM
"I want to go out on my own terms."
How often has that been said just before something bad happens?1 comments
Mets sign Andres Galarraga to minor-league contract
The New York Mets of 2005 are now looking to be older than some of those fabled George Allen/Washington Redskins teams from ages ago.
I was rather looking forward to a young, hustling, talented N.Y. Mets baseball team, actually.
Not one that looks to become fully enmeshed in the donnybrook over Bush's demonic gutting of Social Security Insurance by mid-season.
posted by Gotham 7:04 PM
Life and Death, Buried in the New York Tea Leaves...
NYS Speaker Hints Death Penalty May Be Passe?0 comments
New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat from the old school, is nothing if not inscrutable. But merely raising a question is yet another indication that capital punishment is not the super-hot issue it was when crime dominated the headlines, both legislative chambers wanted to reinstate the death penalty and his support for it helped George E. Pataki defeat Mario M. Cuomo, a foe of capital punishment.
Today, with crime down, a nationwide debate about the effectiveness of the death penalty and the fairness of its application, and instances of DNA evidence clearing inmates, the climate has clearly moderated.
Mr. Silver said that he was not predicting how the Assembly would vote. Or whether it would vote at all. It can do as the Republican-led Senate has, revising the law to address the court's concerns. Or it can do nothing.
That would leave the law as is—without the death penalty, but with life without parole, a part of the 1995 law that withstood court scrutiny.
This is how Right-to-Life is defined in Blue states.
posted by Gotham 6:53 PM
What? You Didn't Get Your Invite?
It's in the Mail, Dude!0 comments
Night of the Tuxedos
posted by Gotham 6:45 PM
Now, This Is Just Plain Wrong...
Last Days at Fulton Fish Market0 comments
Next, you'll tell me they sold Rockefeller Center to the Japanese.
Oh..., they did, huh?
Is NOTHING sacred?
posted by Gotham 6:43 PM
Slick George's Non-Plan
Bush Criticized Over Social Security Plan0 comments
Here are some things to keep in mind while you watch the Social Security Privatization debate play itself out:
- It's not needed.
- It won't work.
- They're going to pay for it all on credit.
- It will bankrupt the economy.
- They will then gut your SSI benefits.
- Those who do poorly with their new plan will be allowed to starve in the streets.
- We will eventually need a new, expensive program to save our elderly from starving in the streets. We will call this plan: Social Security.
Other than all that, it's a simply spiffy plan.
"Social Security is like a car with a flat tire," said Peter Orszag, an economist at the liberal Brookings Institution and adviser in the Clinton White House. "There is a problem. We need to fix the flat tire. But we don't need to replace the car."
But this has nothing to do with mere necessary fixes. That would simply be sane, logical, intelligent, and of scope. Not talents necessarily possessed by the Bush administration.
The truth is simple.
The Far Right/Wall Street cabal and their friends in the administration want to kill SSI, one of the last remaining programs of the FDR era, by any means necessary. Duping impressionable young Americans with lies about their future—when they're already terrorized by the Bush economic debacle—is as low as Bernie Kerik's blaming his woes on a non-existent nanny.
If they have to lie and distort facts and figures until they sound scary to you, then they will do so.
Bush has also cleverly attempted to have his cake and eat it too, as it were.
He's running around, trashing the current and future plan to any human being who will listen. It's all doom and gloom, as far as his speeches are concerned. But he's not going to tell you his plan until the world is beating down his door for a New Plan.
So, if people fall for it, he can come out with a plan that's pre-sold. If they don't, he won't have squandered any of his precious capital.
Bush repeated his demand for congressional action on Social Security, but refused to provide details.
"Don't bother to ask me," he said, making clear he would not engage in a public debate about Social Security until he gives Congress "a solution at the appropriate time."
The administration has said a plan is still being crafted.
"The temptation is going to be ... to get me to negotiate with myself in public. To say, you know, 'What's this mean, Mr. President? What's that mean?' I'm not going to do that," Bush said. "The law will be written in the halls of Congress. And I will negotiate with them, with the members of Congress."
Yeah, right.
Anyone remember any time when this administration actually NEGOTIATED with members of Congress, rather than just sending down marching orders for the rubber-stamp crowd?
Slick, George. Very slick.
posted by Gotham 3:05 PM
An Environmental Strip-Search
The new, but long-anticipated, Bush administration Fucking for Virginity Program has finally begun.0 comments
Administration Overhauls Rules for U.S. Forests
posted by Gotham 9:23 AM
Back to the Future...State-Style
Russian Dictator Vladimir Putin takes charge.0 comments
Democracy is officially dead in Russia.
State Russian Oil Firm Buys Mysterious Bid Winner
George W. Bush has such odd friends. When they start exploring all the angles in this deal, it's going to smell as badly as the background of our beloved Bernie Kerik.
posted by Gotham 9:09 AM
Drip, Drip, Drip...
U.S. Soldier Killed in Baghdad By Roadside Bomb0 comments
Remember, this warfare has no purpose for U.S. interests.
posted by Gotham 8:55 AM
Fred and Ginger...and On Being Careful-Challenged...
For the good friends of Gotham Notes who live outside of this fair and wondrous city, again let me attempt to advise you:0 comments
Former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is a sleaze-bag; i.e., a man of low-to-no moral fibre or ethics, uniquely unqualified to be Mayor, or to hold any other public office (i.e., president).
Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik is a dirty cop.
The Bush administration is horrifically incompetent.
Remember, it was the vaunted Karl Rove Machine that vetted Kerik and said he was just Honky-Dory. Afterwards, they claimed that they KNEW all of the dirt that has been uncovered on ol' Bernie and they were just fine with it.
Perhaps there IS no difference between Skeletons in the Closet and Skull & Bones.
However, the two dirtiest words in most corners of New York City are these: Dirty Cop. Our greatest heroes: those that expose Dirty Cops (i.e., Serpico).
That enflames the local citizenry, embarrasses the good cops on the force and sets the whole Hero/Zero N.Y. press mechanism into motion. Once the story surfaces, they'll dig until their arms are blue to find the next explosive peice of dirt, which passes for NYC hard news.
Dirt. A word that fit Bernie Kerik to a tee.
Kerik Quits Giuliani Firm to Work on `Clearing' Name
From reading this article, it's clear that the word, "Quits," in the link title above should be in quotes as well. Rudy the Sleaze said,
"He continues to be a friend,'' Giuliani, 60, said of Kerik. "I believe he'll be able to successfully address the issues that are raised and then I think he'll re-emerge a better man.'' The former mayor said facing those issues is "going to take his full-time attention.''
That, ladies and gentlemen, is called a pink slip in New York City.
My favorite line comes at the end, when all manner of Love ("Tough" and otherwise) breaks out:
Last week, Giuliani was quoted in a Daily News interview saying that he told Kerik he'd made "significant mistakes.'' He added, "This is an aspect of Bernie's personality that needs to be changed. In this area—being careful—he is challenged. Really challenged.''
We'll be sure to hold a Telethon for Bernie, then.
But how careful, then, is a man who gave Kerik NYC's top police job without vetting him thoroughly—or worse—ignoring what info WAS uncovered at the time, and then aggressively lobbied to have him named the Nation's Security Czar without supposedly having any idea of who he was or was about, or how mobbed up he might be?
About as careful, I guess, as screwing your girlfriend downstairs in the Mayor's Mansion, while your wife and kids slept upstairs.
As I said, sleaze.
And reckless.
posted by Gotham 1:27 AM
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
"We Want Your Money,
And We Want It Now!"
—Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, ...
... State Street Corporation, Charles Schwab & Company, the United States Chamber of Commerce, American Express, the American International Group (AIG), Morgan Stanley, Vanguard, MFS Investment Management and Fidelity.0 comments
The 'make a buck at any price' boys are ("Shhhh, quietly...") swinging back into action.
Wall St. Lobby Quietly Tackles Social Security
Always remember:
"Greed is good!"—Gordon Gekko, in Wall Street (Oliver Stone, Director)
These are the same fellows who made a bundle, even as upwards of 70% of your retirement account was wiped out in the Bush Recession of 2001-2003. They're also the same lot who made a bundle on the ensuing recovery, even though you most likely weren't included in the surge, since you were probably sitting around, being unemployed, or something.
There are signs, however, that the [financial] industry is becoming a little more aggressive in pushing for private accounts, through a loose assemblage of trade associations, business coalitions and conservative research centers. These groups have lately begun trying to raise money from business interests and to marshal support on Capitol Hill, while also seeking to deflect criticism that Wall Street is behind the move simply to reap rich rewards for administering the accounts.
Along with the firms listed above, keep a sharp eye out for ANY of the following groups that either were started in order to dupe you into allowing Social Securty to be raped, or are elastic enough to simply expand their greed into that issue:
- The Securities Industry Association, which recently issued a research report arguing that the private accounts would not be a financial bonanza for Wall Street.
- The Investment Company Institute, the lobbying arm for the mutual fund industry
- The Alliance for Worker Retirement Security, a business coalition advocating private accounts
- The Club for Growth, a far-right Republican tax-abolition group that has also been active in the drive for privately held Social Security accounts
- The Cato Institute, a Washington policy research and lobbying organization with libertarian leanings that has received financial support from, among others, American Express and the American International Group, the large insurance company. State Street also provided funds in the past to support the institute's efforts to persuade Congress of the merits of personal accounts.
- The Coalition for American Financial Security, the unsuccessful effort in 2002 by an industry group for SSI privatization.
You can safely assume that anything you see in print or on TV from any of these groups or firms, or the people representing them, will be self-serving at best, and/or a lie.
Trust NOTHING they say.
posted by Gotham 4:01 PM
Relax! It's OK...
New administration Torture Czar Alberto Gonzales has given this his blessing, so there's no harm here.0 comments
And, as America well knows, no harm; no foul.
Cataloguing US abuses
posted by Gotham 11:34 AM
Saturday, December 18, 2004
One Republican; One Vote
Judge Blocks Washington State Ballot Count0 comments
Repeat after me:
Only Republican votes count.
Only Republican votes count.
Only Republican votes count.
Only Republican votes count....
If you had set aside a box full of Republican district votes, and found them later, they can be counted. If they're Democratic district votes (in this case, from heavily Democratic Seattle), they're obviously fraud.
And that sure-fire line of reasoning leads us to the winner of the Single Stupidest Civics Class Quote from the entire silly 2004 national election cycle:
[Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino] Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane said the judge made the right decision.
"If King County were allowed to keep adding more ballots, elections would never end," Lane said.
No wonder other countries are slow to embrace our approach to democracy.
I'd shoot anyone who forced this system on me, too.
posted by Gotham 1:10 PM
Friday, December 17, 2004
Missile Defense Test, Like Bernie Kerik, Goes Nowhere
It's so-o-o-o great that Russia's a dictatorship again, so that we can fight the Cold War all over again!0 comments
However, again, we see George Bush fighting the wrong war. And failing.
$85-million U.S. missile defense test goes nowhere
It's obvious that Bush still loves the lug, so this is a perfect job for Bernie Kerik! There's just tons of loose cash sloshing around this project, absolutely no one other than Bush and Condoleeza (Just What Does She Do for a Living?) Rice expects anything out of it whatsoever, and the project's already fucked up so badly that Kerik, as project manager, wouldn't have to spend much time away from managing his (many) personal affairs.
Perfect.
posted by Gotham 9:38 AM
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Another Republican Sex Pig for God and Country
Pastor Mike and the Babe(y).0 comments
This has been all the excitement today.
But first, here's where we all came in on the story of our good Pastor, the Rev. Mike Hintz:
President Bush Signs Tax Relief Bill
Benefiting Millions of Families
Remarks by the President on the Signing of
the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004
South Suburban YMCA, Des Moines, Iowa
That was in October, if I recall correctly. Prime Re-election real estate.
And here's even a post from that time, mentioning the bill-signing event right here on Gotham Notes.
But take another look at the picture of Pastor Mike (on the left), with his wife and his four kids, Senator Grassley (R-IA) and others:
Have you ever SEEN so many blondes?
It's like a Coors beer commercial.
Now, as the stories of the time all tell, Pastor Mike was there simply because he was squeaky-clean—as average a Joe as "average Joe's"
get—to regale the reporters at the event with a plausible description of how Bush's tax cuts saved a poor workin' guy like him gobs of money, which he could plow right back into saving the world, or words to that effect. Of course, his tax savings all came from the kids. It was the Child Credit provision he was referring to, which only extended something President Bill Clinton started, and was the only element of this tax bill which gave any relief to people who weren't rich. So, therefore, time to trumpet the CC. Hence, the Hallmark Card photo op.
Of course, the Child Credit becomes rather like the old Welfare boondoggle: more kids; more cash. But the White House, of course, ignores that aspect of it. Why kill a nice party?
OK, flash forward to today.
Here's why all the hyperventilating's going on today (via Atrios on Eschaton):
A Des Moines youth pastor is charged with the sexual exploitation of a child.
KCCI learned that the married father of four recently turned himself in to Johnston police.
Rev. Mike Hintz was fired from the First Assembly of God Church, located at 2725 Merle Hay Road, on Oct. 30. Hintz was the youth pastor there for three years.
Police said he started an affair with a 17-year-old in the church youth group this spring.
However, here are some summer / fall events starring ol' Pastor Mike:
College Days / Alumni Homecoming
... Pastor Mike Hintz from Des Moines First Assembly of God and a 1993 graduate of Trinity Bible College. Mike has worked with teenagers for the past eleven years. What he really loves about working with youth is seeing God take them out of their comfort zone and radically change the way they see God. ...
Yeah, in the backseat of his van.
He will also take time to share some of his unique methods of ministering to the youth of this generation.
Especially that willowy little blond number over there with the pouty lips. She gets those "unique methods" while thy're on retreat.
Here's my favorite degenerate line:
When not doing the work of (on?) youth ministry he can be found being a husband and father.
It's good he can squeeze in a little family time, since his kids seem to be a major part of his financial planning efforts.
My Word! How DOES he ever find the time to DO it all?
posted by Gotham 3:45 AM
Don't Leave Home Without It!
Oops, Sorry! You Don't Have a Home, Do You?
Atrios has some scary American Credit Card numbers posted on Eschaton.0 comments
But these rising credit numbers are not the sign of a bold, growing economy.
No, they're the sign of a totally broke and desperate American public in the Time of Bush—who have been forced to live on a slew of credit cards, racking up a crushing long-term debt just to get through their short-term shortfall—just like their favorite president has done on a national level.
When the economy crashes, as it will again sometime during this term, these people will most probably all be ruined.
Thank you, George.
The U.S. of A.—Trailor-Park Nation.
posted by Gotham 2:43 AM
Impeach Earl Warren! Or Somebody!
Uh, Anybody! We Have to "Get" Somebody!
Josh Marshall quotes the Financial Times as calling this whole affair a "witch-hunt."0 comments
Oh, I believe that's putting it mildly. The Republican party is now run by men who are much too racist for that. It's more of a "witch-doctor hunt."
"You stand in our way; you don't give us what we want on OUR timetable, we'll crush you" is the very clear Republican Party Platform.
House Republicans Say Kofi Annan Should Resign
Let me clarify, please:
A Congressman from ol' Gotham's beautiful home state of New Jersey is saying someone else should be IN JAIL on corruption charges???
New Jersey.
The Land Where All State Commerce "Fell Off the Back of the Truck"? THAT New Jersey?!?
HAHAHAHAAHOHOHOHOOHEEHEEHEEHEEHAHAHAHA!
Ummm...uh,
HOHOHOHOHEEHEEHEEHEEHAHAHAHA...HOO, BOY! Oh..., geeeez, let me catch my breath, here.
...OK, I'm better now.
Certainly, this particular group of Congressmen couldn't SPELL "bill" let alone vote on one without Bush/Rove/Hastart/DeLay telling them expressly what to do. Vito Fossela? Ohhh, come now. The most Fossela knows about International Affairs comes from his school trip to Ellis Island.
Honestly, aside from the purely partisan maneuvering here, what do these clowns bring to the table?
Nothing but photo-ops. And some pats and strokes from Boss DeLay and the others.
The Right has been trying to bring down the UN since God was a puppy. This is no great revelation.
But, the UN is a world body. Kofi Annan is not some Town Councilmember from Mississippi.
You can't lynch the Secretary of the United Nations.
But they'll try.
The bullies are out for the evening hunt. They HAVE to come home with SOMETHING!
posted by Gotham 2:07 AM
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Who's Zoomin' Who?
Dan Froomkin frames the latest framing games at the WaPo:0 comments
Framing the Social Security Debate
Repeat after me:
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The Republicans are pushing your kids into debt.
The Republicans are pushing your kids into debt.
The Republicans are pushing your kids into debt.
The Republicans are pushing your kids into debt.
The Republicans are going to raise your taxes.
The Republicans are going to raise your taxes.
The Republicans are going to raise your taxes.
The Republicans are going to raise your taxes.
The Republicans are going to raise your taxes. ..."
Republicans are going to tax your unborn children, just to give your money to their friends, the Stock Brokers and the Drug Companies.
And you'll be fighting Fluffy for the cat food.
Meow!
posted by Gotham 7:05 PM
Monday, December 06, 2004
The New Non-Draft Draft?
A nasty new theory I've heard bandied about in the wake of Rep. Sensenbrenner's (R-MI) adherence to immigration law changes being included in the 9/11 bill:0 comments
The U.S. military seems to be quickly running out of uniformed bodies with which to wage the Republicans' upcoming series of new Second-Term wars, along with whatever force we leave behind in Iraq. So someone seems to have come up with a great recruiting tool -- if it weren't so sinister and ugly.
I heard someone mention that some Repubs were entertaining the notion of using "entering the military" as a means for illegal aliens to gain citizenship (the ol' if-they-can-fight-for-us-they-can-vote-for-us lure). Forget haggling over whether they can have driver's licenses, or not; dangle citizenship at them and watch them line up for miles to gain a toehold in the American Dream.
So, they're being asked to move from cleaning up our restaurant kitchens, tending our children, hauling our garbage and building our pre-fab houses, to filling up our homecoming body bags.
Wow. Progress.
Hey, this way, no one in the media would even WANT to have access to the returning caskets, right? Who'd CARE?? And we could cut back on the quality of the wood used, as well. Pine'll be good enough.
And if they actually lived, they could come back, gain citizenship and have the privilege of having their vote not count. But at least they'd be courted by the GOP. What FUN that would be!!
Gosh, think of it. A few years from now, Osama bin Laden could be holed up in his Own Private Alamo, somewhere in Syria or Indonesia or Peru or wherever, and look out at the U.S. forces arrayed before him, and think to himself that they look suspiciously like Santa Ana's army in that Alamo movie he saw on the airplane.
Disgusting.
posted by Gotham 6:57 PM
Johnny, We Hardly Paid Ye
Treasury Secretary Is Likely to Leave Soon0 comments
What a loss for the country's economy and markets.
John W. Snow was a towering presence at Treasury, and had an astonishing impact on the American economic landscape.
Snow is, as you know, the major force behind ...
Well, the Treasury Secretary is the architect of the policy that ...
Ummmm, he was the brains behind the initiative to ...
Oh, OK. So, he didn't do squat for two years at Treasury. But the Secretary's chair is nice 'n' toasty and warm.
And he gave good fundraiser, and always seemed to get through his entire Bush/Cheney '04 stump speech without laughing -- which, you know, was no small task. And doing so without raising any bad press, since cabinet members aren't allowed to campaign by law.
I guess, at the least it kept him from applying for more tax rebates for CSX. His railroad, you'll remember, didn't pay ANY taxes for three out of the four years before Snow moved to Treasury on its yearly income average of $1 billion, yet it still received tax refunds of over $164 million on the taxes they never paid in the first place. You'd have to figure that THAT creative a person was a natural fit for the crack Bush Economic Team.
Considering that, in 2000, Snow made $1 million in salary, a $6 million bonus and more than $11 million in restricted stock and options, he'll be able to command so much more from CSX, due to his recent tenure as Bush's Fundraiser Secretary.
UPDATE (12/9/04):
Yes, you've heard by now that Snow is staying.
It's obvious that George W. Bush needs someone in the administration who knows less economic principle than he does.
posted by Gotham 3:55 PM
Look Homeward, William
It seems the U.S. should be looking to IMPORT freedom and democracy, not necessarily EXPORT it.0 comments
I am loathe to admit that I agree with much that's in William Safire's column today. But that's the fact of the matter.
Especially, his thoughts on "people power" through recent history.
However, it's now up to Safire to turn those thoughts from far away lands and turn them towards our native soil.
Which we all should be doing, in fact.
There actually is much for the Left to learn from the good folks in Kiev.
The Left succeeded wildly this year, when compared to the stunning machinery that Karl Rove commanded. A machinery which the Far Right has spent decades constructing. Now, an argument can be made that the extent of the Right's efforts were forced by the Left's stunning organizational successes, but we were still looking at being completely run over by election dirty-trick professionals, had our own "people power" not emerged.
Considering the Left's efforts really only started to take shape when the press began focusing on what Howard Dean was saying about Iraq, and in turn, what his campaign's efforts on the web were then starting to accomplish, the anti-Bush forces coalesced in an ad-hoc effort which fell short by only 2.7% of the vote. In fact, right up until election day, both sides were looking for a John Kerry win. Against a well-entrenched, fully financed, wholly constructed political juggernaught.
As people who felt thoroughly alone in their despair found there were a minimum of hundreds of thousands of others like them, their courage grew, and their feeling of perhaps having an impact grew as well.
This is the very definition of "people power." And it can only grow.
When we on the Left get over our Election Post-Mortem Funk, we'll find we're in much better shape for the future than we've realized.
Now, perhaps we just need to pick a spiffy color as a symbol, as the Europeans do so well. The Ukrainians have picked Orange, and when you see a photo, no one cares about the crowd count, like we fixate on here -- the impact comes from a sea of orange in this huge mob of people.
Very powerful image.
Something even Safire could see.
posted by Gotham 2:18 PM
Shanghai'd
Eight Soldiers Plan to Sue Over Army’s Stop-Loss Policy0 comments
OK, I admit I'm lost here.
How, exactly, is this different from the British Dragoons who would grab drunks out of bars and whore houses in the dead of night, and spirit them off to a army camp, or to the hold of a ship in need of deck hands?
And you still think there's not going to be a draft?
posted by Gotham 1:40 AM
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Uhhh...God's Been Talking to People Again...
The Latest from the Moral Values crowd:0 comments
Pastor Decried After Child's Arms Severed
Satan even puts in an appearance in this one.
posted by Gotham 8:06 PM
Saturday, December 04, 2004
The Tom DeLay Challenge
The challenge before you:0 comments
Try to read this article from the Texas Observer,
K Street Croupiers, 11/19/2004,
without puking.
posted by Gotham 2:16 AM
Our Allies Carry Out the Bush Doctrine
Israeli officer: I was right to shoot 13-year-old child0 comments
In Re Captain R.:
Witnesses described how the captain shot Iman twice in the head, walked away, turned back and fired a stream of bullets into her body. Doctors at Rafah's hospital said she had been shot at least 17 times.
On the tape, the company commander then "clarifies" why he killed Iman al-Hams: "This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed. Over."
This is result of the Bush administration bringing the international community into his war on terror.
posted by Gotham 1:34 AM
Thursday, December 02, 2004
What Would Karl Rove Do?
OK, here's the scenario:0 comments
You're Karl Rove, and say for argument, you're on the Left's side for a minute.
You're faced with an array of well organized, well financed loonies who have gained the upper hand in how the media presents arguments over issues, plus they've gained working majorities in both houses of Congress.
You're faced with an article in the NY Times such as this one.
Changing Senate Looks Better to Abortion Foes
Now, the challenge:
What Do You Do?
First, says You/Karl, Find a Diversion.
Parse EVERY word uttered by you foe or their surrogates, looking for a misstep, a misstatement or any other kind of opening. You find a talking point that's just as emotional in tone and fervor as the one currently on the table.
Then, says You/Karl, pound the livin' crap out of that second point, every day, in every interview, in thousands of faxes, from every surrogate, until it is ALL ANYONE IS TALKING ABOUT.
This article offers a perfect example, and a perfect opening:
As a result of November's election, the next Senate will have a bigger, more conservative Republican majority and several new opponents of abortion - including some of the most intense abortion foes in politics, like Tom Coburn, a doctor and newly elected senator from Oklahoma, who campaigned as "a committed defender of the sanctity of life in all of its stages." [GN emphasis]
You/Karl immediately send out the word that henceforth the most pressing issue of our time is ABOLISHING THE HORRORS OF THE DEATH PENALTY.
"PROTECT THE SANCTITY OF LIFE. ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY.
WE CAN'T SANCTION GOVERNMENTAL MURDER!
Sign up Tom Coburn! Make him National Chairman of our new Death Free America Foundation."
Or words to that effect.
Until even Wolf Blitzer, David Brooks and Chris Matthews are appalled by this governmental outrage.
And abortion foes are lucky to get onto page 63 of the NY Times.
Now, you know the drill.
Go forth and speechify!
Write your elected officials now! Write the ones going out; then, write the new ones coming in!
posted by Gotham 11:04 AM
