Saturday, February 26, 2005
Privatization Kills!
Forget at your own peril:1 comments
The profit motive will ALWAYS outweigh the value and quality of your life.
Privatization.
This story is simply disgusting. And in my beautiful home state, too.
More blood on the hands of Governor George Pataki.
Private Health Care in Jails Can Be a Death Sentence
You slowly begin to see why we entrusted certain functions within society to governmental bodies in the first place. There are certain functions where the populace needs to have the oversight power of the ballot box to wipe out the excesses and greed of the dark sides of human nature.
If you privatize prison health care, it's cheaper to let inmates die.
If you privatize prisoner interrogations, you've been promised results fast, so you get Abu Gharaib.
If you privatize military resupply, you get combat troops who get no or badly prepared food or supplies, as in Iraq.
If you privatitze airport security, you get 9/11.
If you privatize public schools, you get exploding class sizes, lower test scores, more violence.
Privatize highway maintenance, and be sure to stock up on shock absorbers and new tires for your car.
This is what you get when you privatize what are essentially public functions.
Then you get the eventual exposés.
Then comes the outrage.
Then the outcries.
A couple of people lose their jobs, the story gets buried (along with many people) and life moves on.
As long as the shareholders are never upset, then life moves on.
Since all of these firms answer to their shareholders; not to the public.
But, hey, you were able to say you cut taxes.
Yippee.
posted by Gotham 9:38 PM
Bush's Boyhood Dream:
Wiping Out SSI?
For Bush, a Long Embrace of Social Security Plan0 comments
It's staggering—but not really surprising—to learn here that George W. Bush, the silver-spoon scion of a financial services industry family, has been hungering to dismantle the Social Security Administration since at least the early 1970s.
Perhaps this explains a bit about his AWOL years—he was off studying Goldwater theory. I guess that counts as time served.
But three points jump out of this article at us with alarming speed and power:
1. Thirty-odd years or more of holding "the end of SSI" as a political mantra, and he still can't offer any specifics on just how his plan would be set up, and how it will pay for itself.
Hmmmm. That's an awfully long time to still not get to that chapter in the book.
If he's honestly not clear on the specifics after all this time, that in itself is chilling beyond belief.
However, if he does know for certain what his vision is going to look like and the impact it will have on the U.S. landscape, he's obviously not saying because he knows full well the American people would run him out of town on a rail if they knew the details. So, better to keep it vague and scare people into embracing "the plan" before you spill the beans. Invent a need, then fill it. Simple marketing.
2. While he's always happily bragged about being a C student, I do fear for his grasp of math. It seems he's been claiming that SSI would go belly up "within 10 years!"—ever since 1978.
This we will assume is the triumph of ideology over mathematics. It's simply a better political plan to him than it is an economic necessity.
3. We can also assume that he assumes that future prospects look rosy for the ability of those who think like he does to hold onto the reins of power. That's why he's hired Karl Rove, to assure things stay that way.
So what will the odds be, then, of there being another hideous, down market when YOU go to retire? One like the disasterous market from 2001-2003 that wiped out so much of the value of your retirement holdings in your 401(k) and IRA accounts?
If you remember those first two years of the Bush administration, you'll clearly, if painfully, recall the absolute free-fall all the markets were in. Stocks losing upwards of 60% to 90% of their value. Others wiped out entirely. How much did you lose? More importantly, how little has been rebuilt?
Even scarier, remember how totally clueless, inept and uncreative Bush's financial team was in trying to staunch the financial bleeding. They didn't even try. No sign of triage care emerged from this group whatsoever. All they could stammer was "Got Tax Cuts?" until the markets slid fully and hit their own bottom, then slowly began coming up the other side, as stocks always do if left alone. No thanks to Bush's crack (or rather, on-crack) economic team. They stood aside powerlessly as the cycle played itself out and Americans lost thousands upon thousands from their nest-eggs.
Remember how the administration then attempted, during the recovery, to claim credit for what were basic economic and market cycles and principles in action?
It's no wonder Bush was looking for terrorists under the furniture. They're much less scary than the prospect of John Snow attempting to think.
Since the vast majority of recessions occur under Republican administrations, we are forced to assume that future downturns will be ineptly handled as well.
The prospect of like-minded administrations standing between you and your starving in the gutter seems rather a reach, I'm afraid.
posted by Gotham 9:03 PM
Friday, February 25, 2005
Karl Rove's Nightmare
While these two ladies may be on the cutting-edge of progressive elderliness, the whole Boomer generation, that grew up having to make life and death decisions while still in their teens, and that came of age on the streets of Chicago and Washington, D.C. while reshaping the country, is coming right up behind them.0 comments
Movie Review / 'Sunset Story': High-Spirited Old Leftists Who Refuse to Go Gently
This sounds like a lovely film.
posted by Gotham 5:08 PM
Flowing Upstream
Ahh, things are slowly being pushed back upstream.0 comments
First the Markdown, Then the Showdown
Has anyone thought of doing this to the health care industry?
Instead of everyone ripping off hard-working people in the guise of "having to help pay rising health care costs," how about saying "the price is too high. Lower your price. Period."
Ooohhhh, then this administration would really have the cojones they keep telling us they have.
posted by Gotham 4:45 PM
The Joys of Friendship
Bush and Putin Mute Differences, Latching on to the Affirmative0 comments
Putin:
"I do what I damn well want to do, and you just shut up about it. Affimative?"
Bush:
"Oh, OK, Vlad. That's affirmative."
posted by Gotham 4:35 PM
Sister Ann Explains It All For You...
It seems the White House couldn't get Maggie Gallagher, for whatever reason, so they tossed the Guckert defense to Ann Coulter. It's a lesser effort, granted, but you get what you pay for and, after all, Free means Free.0 comments
Ann Coulter: REPUBLICANS, BLOGGERS AND GAYS, OH MY!
The first exciting aspect of this article is Ann's effortless insertion of the boogeymen themselves—Bill Clinton and Dan Rather into an article which has nothing to do with either.
Right-wing writers have recently created a new game among readers—akin to the ongoing game created by cartoonist Abe Hirshfeld in The New York Times. Abe invented a game that came to be called "Where're the Ninas?" for the name of his daughter which he would cleverly insert into the fabric of every drawing he did. RW writers have updated this game into "Where're the Dans?" Clever writers such as Coulter slip them in carefully—but if you're sharp of eye you'll find them; lesser wing-nut writers just toss them in willy-nilly, which which makes it too obvious, too easy and not terribly all that much fun.
As to what passes for message, Ann sums up her J'accuse thusly:
Gannon didn't write about gays. No "hypocrisy" is being exposed. Liberals' hateful, frothing-at-the-mouth campaign against Gannon consists solely of their claim that he is gay.
First of all, let's settle this finally: his name isn't "Gannon," it's Guckert (GOO´ - kurt). James (J. D.) Guckert. But in all due deference to Guckert's claim that his name is difficult to pronounce, I do admit that "Gannongate" does roll off the tongue much more smoothly than "Guckertgate."
Ann is asserting here that it is the Big Tent GOP which embraces All Things Gay, despite its being Constitutionally challenged.
And that it's the bad-bad Liberals who, while so tied up "frothing-at-the-mouth," just don't get the fact that this whole matter IS SIMPLY NOT ABOUT a hooker having the run of the White House grounds—coming and going on two years' worth of Daily Passes at the behest of the zipper and/or money clip of a rather high-ranking official of the Bush administration, who secretly set J. D. up in a comfy spot in the press corps, where J. D. was fed sensitive and perhaps even classified state secrets, which were then used against the political enemies of the White House, and perhaps also compromising this WH official and opening him up to blackmail from assorted terrorists, hostile nations and right-wing whacks galore.
It's only the frothers on the Left who don't understand that it's not about any of that.
Luckily, the good-good right-wingers who have liberated the GOP understand that this is all about the left's bashing of those poor gay and lesbian folks whom the Republicans have fought so valiantly for, for so long.
OK. I get it now.
posted by Gotham 4:18 PM
From the No Columnist Left Behind Bill...
There is ABSOLUTELY NO CREDENCE to the rumor that the White House's favorite literate paid employee was given $40,000 from the Yale Club to write this article slamming all things Harvard.0 comments
Maggie Gallagher:LARRY SUMMERS' BRAIN
posted by Gotham 11:49 AM
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Strength Isn't Power;
Strength Is Courage
As you're most likely aware, the Association for the Advancement of Retired Persons (AARP) received a great deal of flak as it rolled over on its membership and threw its sizeable support behind President Bush's first-term, gargantuan Medicare debacle.0 comments
But, as we know, things change...
These days, AARP has jumped on the other side of the Social Security issue, and has begun running ads opposing Bush's dismantling of SSI. Here is their current position.
Of course, this sent the "you're either with us, or against us" crowd in the administration into apoplexy.
You've probably already seen the incredibly stupid anti-AARP Internet ad run by the GOP front-group, USANext. This was meant to be the beginning of a multi-million dollar GOP campaign to smear AARP. However, you won't see it any longer since the blogs of the left were on it like wolves on red meat, and USANext pulled the ad and killed the campaign. For now.
Yes, they killed the effort—despite dragging out the carcass of ol' Art Linkletter to be its spokesdribbler. The saddest part of this is that everyone I've mentioned this to has responded in EXACTLY the same way: "I thought he was dead!" Maybe he is; maybe he's not. Only Karl Rove knows for sure.
Whether Art's dead or alive, we can only assume that they'll give Linkletter a new show for this, with the updated segment, "Bullies Say The Darnedest Things!"
OK, so Karl Rove's troops couldn't slip one by everybody on a slow-news holiday weekend, as they so love to do.
However, this story is not going away anytime soon. Just as the J. D. Guckert story isn't going away anytime soon (...and again, just who was Guckert's contact/mentor/lover/client within the WH, anyway?).
But the rapid response from the blogs of the left, working together, clearly shows that henceforth the viciousness of the right will be stood up to. Smears will not be allowed to slide into the American consciousness; they will be fought and debunked on the spot.
Here, Steve Soto outlines clearly what the left's ongoing response should be. This post includes a copy of the original USANext smear ad, in case you missed it.
The Left Coaster: Democrats Should Not Let USA Next Get Away With Smearing The AARP
In this era of playground politics, dealing with the class bully and his snickering cronies rings a bell with many of us. It's something most Americans have experienced at some point or other in our childhoods.
The principles stay the same. Today is no different than yesterday. Adulthood is no different than childhood. They're in the office. They're Little League coaches. They're in the government.
There has never been a bully born yet who would stop their behavior as long as they saw themselves as winning. Whatever that advantage meant to them. Like thousands of mini-Chamberlains, we've all taken a step backwards thinking that that would resolve the situation. Just give them that dopey step forward they want, and they'll stop. But that didn't work in Second Grade, and doesn't stop in politics. Simply put, for each step you cede to a bully, they'll then want two.
It's always been that way; it always will be. No great rocket science here.
As long as everyone else tries to reason with them, the bully is afforded the ability, the permission and the room to take another step or two, or twelve.
Until...
At some point or other, someone in the aggrieved group simply says "No."
To which, they are summarily pummeled. That often ends any resistance.
But if that someone gets back up, and again says, "No," you begin to see the unraveling of the power of the bully.
Whether in Miss Smith's Fourth Grade Class, or in Nazi Germany or in the White House, the bully holds only the power which the group cedes to him/her. On the day someone stands up against the bully, tightly holds the moral core and feels the ground solidify beneath their feet, the emotional grasp of the bully ends.
Be it ol' Chucky in the playground or our friends at the White House or at the RNC.
posted by Gotham 1:47 PM
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Pataki's Blood Money
German Cabrera has become Taxpayer Zero.0 comments
These two stories go hand-in-hand, and should be read together.
10 Years Later: Budget Growth Clouds Pataki Legacy of Tax Cuts
Beatings & then murder send fear thru subways
These are stories of high-level politics and simple human and societal greed on the one hand, and the bloody and often deadly results which always follow, as night follows day.
[For those of you outside the New York City area, first know that a majority of New York City's fiscal dealings are actually determined and controlled by the State government in Albany. So what the governor does and what the state legislature does impacts NYC in an outsized way.]
10 Years Later: Budget Growth Clouds Pataki Legacy of Tax Cuts
This article details moves by New York Governor George Pataki (who dearly wanted to take Dick Cheney's spot as vice president, but who will settle for running for president in 2008) to successfully answer the Republicans' call to cut every tax that's ever been passed in the history of the Republic, thereby doing his part in establishing the GOP Survival of the Fittest societal model.
[Have you ever noticed that as much as the GOP pushes Creationism at the American public, their basic, working, guiding premise of life, their "Contract with America," is pure Darwinian theory.]
Down into The Times article you'll see the dramatic impact that Pataki's cuts have had on, among others, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) in the greater NYC area.
Since the transit system is the lifeblood of this city, and the city is the fiscal engine that keeps Troy and Buffalo and Rochester and every other rusting 'burgh in this state afloat, it has always been prudent policy to keep the MTA running smoothly. That's not even addressing the paralyzing impact of added traffic to NYC's streets or the costs of cleaning the air of the metropolitan region if the transit system is hobbled.
But since 1995, Pataki has capped the state's share of the MTA budget at $200 million in order to pay for his upper-middle class/upper class/large corporation tax cuts. $200 million is governmental chump-change these days; barely 1/2 of a starting infield for the New York Yankees. And due to NYC's devastated economy and its ongoing runaway inflation, what the MTA actually receives is perhaps half that much in real 2005 dollars. So the MTA has been forced to fund itself in other ways, while beginning the process of devouring itself to cut costs.
The subway/bus fare has crept up from $1.25 when Pataki took over in Albany, to $2.00 a ride today, with another fare increase looming like a shadow. The MTA has also acquired massive debt to help pay the bills. Another strategy has been to close 164 token booths which some frat-child with a clipboard and a nice suit (and car service) decided could be easily eliminated—as if it were no great disruption for anyone to walk through two feet of snow or torrential rains or gang turfs for four to eight blocks to the next open booth, or to stand on a dark, deserted platform with no token agent sitting in a lighted booth serving up both fares and security.
Then...
Yes, the proverbial night always follows the proverbial day, and you get this:
Beatings & then murder send fear thru subways
The subway stop at W. 18th Street and 7th Avenue is heavily used by me and thousands of other NYers, 24-hrs., seven days a week. There are two stations there, actually: one on the Uptown side of the street, and a separate station across the tracks on the Downtown side; there is no connector between them. To get to the other side, you must go back upstairs to the street, cross the street, and come down the other side.
That city/state frat-kid decided the Downtown side would be a prime candidate for a token booth closing during non-rush hours. Folks can easily get a MetroCard across the street and come back over and use it. Or they can easily walk four blocks south to the 14th Street station or five blocks north to the 23rd Street station. Easy.
And that will save us so-o-o-o-o-o much money. And Life will be good. And the state Republican Party will be pleased. And we can push for more tax cuts, and everyone will be happy.
Unless, of course, you happen to be German Cabrera, 26, of Hamilton Heights, who had the misfortune of entering the Downtown side of the 18th Street station around 9:30am on a Saturday morning of a holiday weekend. He walked past the darkened token booth, paid his fare and stood alone on the deserted platform.
That he became easy prey is apparent.
What's not apparent is the difficulty the police would have in getting to the mortally wounded Cabrera.
To allow the closure of the token booth and still keep the station open and working, the MTA has created a web of iron bars at all the turnstiles that your basic NY rat couldn't crawl through. The only way in is by using a MetroCard to turn the ceiling-to-floor turnstiles.
So when the police, who usually drive from their suburban homes to their Precinct houses and park there, responded to the station, they could see Cabrera lying, bleeding on the platform; they just couldn't get to him. Because they didn't have MetroCards!
And no, there was no other emergency plan available.
When the next train arrived, the police were forced into having disembarking passengers card them in. The paramedics were forced to go through the same drill.
Again, the police have no emergency systems in place to handle the new MTA set-up.
So, German Cabrera died to help pay for Governor Pataki's tax cuts.
But he never got to vote on the idea of starving the NYC subway system to pay for corporate tax cuts.
And now you know that discussions of "tax cuts" are never held in a vacuum.
When the governor, or mayor or the president or anyone else signs a tax cut into place, it's important that along with the traditional pens, they now pass out paper towels to everyone, so they can wipe the blood off their hands.
For there will always be a harsh price for someone to pay in order to support those smiling, greedy faces.
posted by Gotham 10:41 AM
Saturday, February 19, 2005
On "Gannon"-gate
It's important to now ask the questions that have been hanging over this topic since this whole "Gannon"-gate scandal began to erupt.0 comments
Who inside the Bush White House has James D. Guckert been fucking?
And just what state secrets has that person been telling?
Whoever it is, they brought Guckert fully into the warm and fuzzy White House family. With all due powers and protections.
He has a powerful sponsor somewhere within this administration who has cleared the way for him every step of the way. This person has also been whispering sweet little national security nothings in Guckert's ear.
Simply put, someone in the Bush White House has been passing state secrets to J.D. Guckert.
Who was it?
The Bush administration owes the American people full disclosure on this nationally damaging development, possibly the greatest breech of American security since the months before September 11, 2001.
What is most notable about this entire mess is that it's not akin to simple White House Power/Sex scandals a la Warren G. Harding, or the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, but rather a Sex-for-Secrets scandal a la Britain's Profumo Sex Scandal of 1963.
This is the type of scenario over which governments topple and careers are ruined.
The facts of Guckert's bragging of the "shock & awe" Iraq invasion approach days before the Pentagon announced it; his knowing that the president was going on the air in four hours to announce the attack before anyone else in the press corps had any idea or inkling of such a thing, and his illegally having access to the sensitive CIA-Valerie Plame operative information, which was known by only 5 or 6 individuals within the White House itself—along with his hatchet job on Tom Daschle, and his now notorious inabilities to keep his mouth shut or tell the same story the same way twice—makes this a pillow-talk scenario of the most horrific kind.
It now clearly appears that Guckert has had access to untold amounts of sensitive national information through a sexual relationship with a White House figure(s).
None of Guckert's activities would have been allowed to proceed unhindered without direct approval from on high within the Bush White House. Ask Ari Fleischer.
The quaint Sixties' Homosexual Blackmail Theory—once thought to be a relic of an antique world—rears its ugly head once again.
What if Guckert had threatened to disclose the identity of the WH member(s) involved?
More damning: What if some other country or terrorist group had decided to blackmail Mr. Guckert into becoming its operative within the White House?
The dark possibilities are endless and mind-boggling for the future and safety of this great nation.
All this from a White House where cojones are particularly prized.
Perhaps now we see why.
I'll post the URLs that have followed the story most closely in the next post.
posted by Gotham 4:00 PM
Heeeeee's Back!
I apologize for the lengthy gap in posts to Gotham Notes.0 comments
Unfortunately, a perfect storm of job commitments hit, devouring all of my available time.
But that has all cleared up, and I'll be posting on a regular basis once again.
Thank you for your patience.
posted by Gotham 3:55 PM
