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Open thread
- By Phillip Brownlee
- Posted Jan. 26, 2007 at 1:05 a.m.
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62 Comments
More Willful Indifference
Mark Foley fled his seat in the House of Representatives last September when his sexual approaches to teenage pages finally reached the news media after years of a shameful cover-up in the halls of Congress. Now it turns out that the F.B.I. was just as phlegmatic about the scandal as Mr. Foley’s Republican colleagues. An inspector general’s report excoriates F.B.I. agents for brushing aside “troubling” evidence of the lawmaker’s flirtatious message-writing, and then falsely blaming their inaction on the watchdog group that tried to alert the government in the first place.
The report underlines the calculated indifference at the heart of the scandal. In their final hours in power, the Republicans who controlled the ethics committee issued a report that whitewashed the fact that key members of the Republican leadership and their staff members were aware of Mr. Foley’s long predatory history. The F.B.I. inspector general’s report showed the same indifference among law enforcement officials charged with investigating Mr. Foley’s actions. The report describes one F.B.I. supervisor who said he had read Mr. Foley’s e-mail notes and thought, “What a freak,” but who had then sent the evidence on a fruitless bureaucratic roundabout.
The lug-headed consensus was that there had been no real crime, when — as the inspector general pointed out — agents should have been urgently alerting the page program’s supervisors.
When the scandal finally became public, the F.B.I. falsely claimed that a watchdog group — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics — had been uncooperative and withheld vital information. In truth, it had been entirely forthcoming in passing on full details from a former page who had complained about Mr. Foley’s lewd predilections.
The new Congress voted to overhaul protections by mandating that an oversight board of surrogates be enlarged to include a former page and a page’s parent. It will have an even balance of House members to end the majority control that helped bury the Foley scandal. The F.B.I. had better take stock, too, and treat Congress with less wariness.
Lawmakers call for Bush impeachment, NM
04:34 PM Mountain Standard Time on Wednesday, January 24, 2007
By Deborah Baker / Associated Press
SANTA FE (AP) — Two New Mexico lawmakers have introduced a measure calling on Congress to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney.State Sens. John Grubesic of Santa Fe and Gerald Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque, both Democrats, said the resolution is a serious effort to try to trigger impeachment proceedings.New Mexico, where lawmakers are meeting until March 17, would be the first state to pass the resolution, they said.The measure alleges that Bush and Cheney conspired with others to intentionally mislead Congress and the public about the threat posed by Iraq in order to justify the war.It also cites the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program and alleges the torture of prisoners and the denial of constitutional rights to enemy combatants.”This is not a publicity stunt,” Ortiz y Pino told a cheering crowd at a rally at the Capitol on Tuesday. ”This is action that we can take, and it’s an opening for the citizens to act.”Ortiz y Pino said lawmakers in their 60-day session are grappling with the effects of resources at the national level being diverted from human needs and used instead for warfare and oppression.”We simply cannot carry out the business of the Legislature with that shadow, that pall, hanging over us,” he said.Grubesic told the crowd that by introducing the resolution, ”we created a ripple. Your voice is going to turn it into a tidal wave, hopefully.”The state Democratic Party, at a meeting in March, adopted a call for Bush’s impeachment as part of its platform. Party chairman John Wertheim said at the time it stemmed from ”perceived abuses of power and corruption in the Bush administration.”Nationally, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has made it clear she will not entertain efforts to pursue impeachment.A state can’t mandate impeachment, but impeachment charges from a state can be forwarded to the U.S. House of Representatives and referred to the House Judiciary Committee, according to impeachment advocates.
…Daddy Bush’s smear machine pressures Crats to back off…
http://economistsview.typepad.com/
American politics is ugly these days, and many people wish things were different. … If all goes well, we’ll eventually have a new era of bipartisanship — but that will be the end of the story, not the beginning. …
You see, the nastiness of modern American politics isn’t the result of a random outbreak of bad manners. It’s a symptom of deeper factors — mainly the growing polarization of our economy. And history says that we’ll see a return to bipartisanship only if and when that economic polarization is reversed.
After all, American politics has been nasty in the past. Before the New Deal, America was a nation with a vast gap between the rich and everyone else, and this gap was reflected in a sharp political divide. The Republican Party, in effect, represented the interests of the economic elite, and the Democratic Party, in an often confused way, represented the populist alternative. …
[T]he G.O.P.’s advantage in money, and the superior organization that money bought, usually allowed it to dominate national politics. … Then came the New Deal. I urge … everyone … who thinks that good will alone is enough to change the tone of our politics — to read the speeches of Franklin Delano Roosevelt…
F.D.R. faced fierce opposition as he created … Social Security, unemployment insurance, more progressive taxation and beyond … that helped alleviate inequality. And he didn’t shy away from confrontation.
“We had to struggle,” he declared in 1936, “with the old enemies of peace — business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. … Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me — and I welcome their hatred.”
It was only after F.D.R. had created a more equal society, and the old class warriors of the G.O.P. were replaced by “modern Republicans” who accepted the New Deal, that bipartisanship began to prevail.
The history of the last few decades has basically been the story of the New Deal in reverse. Income inequality has returned to levels not seen since the pre-New Deal era, and so have political divisions in Congress as the Republicans have moved right, once again becoming the party of the economic elite. The signature domestic policy initiatives of the Bush administration have been attempts to undo F.D.R.’s legacy… And a bitter partisan gap has opened up between the G.O.P. and Democrats, who have tried to defend that legacy.
I have to disagree, morg.
I’m certainly not in the “economic elite” – none of us are. But the Republican party is the party for me. Why?
I believe that government’s role in business is generally to stay out.
I believe our country has unlimited opportunity for most anyone. It’s the job of the people to make use of that opportunity – not government’s job to give it to those that aren’t willing in to earn it.
I believe we have to defend ourselves proactively. We can’t wait for another 9/11 to decide that maybe we should go after those that sponsor terrorism.
I believe in fiscal responsibility – something not practiced by this administration.
I believe we should privatize social security.
I believe nationalized health care would be a disaster.
I believe our country has unlimited opportunity for most anyone. It’s the job of the people to make use of that opportunity – not government’s job to give it to those that aren’t willing in to earn it.
http://post-gazette.com/pg/05133/504149.stm
As rich-poor gap widens in U.S., class mobility stallsFirst in a SeriesFriday, May 13, 2005
By David Wessel, The Wall Street Journal
The notion that the U.S is a special place where any child can grow up to be president, a meritocracy where smarts and ambition matter more than parenthood and class, dates to Benjamin Franklin. The 15th child of a candle-and-soap maker, Franklin started out as a penniless printer’s apprentice and rose to wealth so great that he retired to a life of politics and diplomacy at age 42.
The promise that a child born in poverty isn’t trapped there remains a staple of America’s self-portrait. President Bush, though a riches-to-riches story himself, revels in the humble origins of some in his cabinet. He says his attorney general “grew up in a two-bedroom house,” the son of “migrant workers who never finished elementary school.” He notes that his Cuban-born commerce secretary’s first job for Kellogg Corp. was driving a truck; his last was chief executive.
But the reality of mobility in America is more complicated than the myth. As the gap between rich and poor has widened since 1970, the odds that a child born in poverty will climb to wealth — or a rich child will fall into the middle class — remain stuck. Despite the spread of affirmative action, the expansion of community colleges and the other social change designed to give people of all classes a shot at success, Americans are no more or less likely to rise above, or fall below, their parents’ economic class than they were 35 years ago.
We just need to get back to where our government isn’t in shambles any more.
I cannot stress enough- that when Republicans are majority- the whole USA goes to pot.
And it’s not that I think dems should run wild either, really I don’t. We have to have all different sides represented. The biggest problem is that republicans ventured way off course from where they should have been. Too much power, too much greed.
The only way to fix the wage gap- is for the business owners to pay the people on bottom better. But I really don’t see that happening. Maybe the way to get the business owners to pay better is to offer incentives or deductions that ONLY apply when they pay their employees a percentage of the company profits?
I agree completely PMom. The current administration and too many of the most vocal Republicans of today don’t resemble the Republican Party of history. It isn’t a shining example of the best of the Republican Party principles. Government has “grown” more under this administration than ever before, they don’t seem to have any understanding of the words accountability or responsibility. I know many Republicans who agree. I think those that are still walking this administration’s line are remembering what was and have their heads in the sand to what really is.
“We just need to get back to where our government isn’t in shambles any more.
I cannot stress enough- that when Republicans are majority- the whole USA goes to pot.”
Let’s see:GDP: steadily growing at about 3.5%Unemployment: low.Interest rates: low.New jobs: historically high.Wages: growing.Dow: all-time high.Inflation: practically zero.
Yep, we suck.
Your post sure expains the last elections, doesn’t it?
Goof Nut–
New job growth is not historically high. New jobs ran about a quarter million a month under Clinton.
For the first four years of Bush-reich, there was a net LOSS of private sector jobs. It was only because Bush grew the gov’t by almost 900,000 jobs that job growth stayed BARELY in positive territory.
The Dow hit a record high. Well, duh. It’s been SIX YEARS of Bush-reich. It took five years just to get back to where it was under Clinton-Gore. Under Clinton, the Dow hit a new historic high practically once a year.http://www.the-privateer.com/chart/dow1.html
“Inflation” is low because everytime wages start to creep upward, the fed panic stops the economy by raising interest rates. Everytime a RepubliCON says, “inflation,” substitute the accurate word “wages.”
Inflation is low = wages stay low.
Then there’s the 800 pound gorilla in the living room, GoofNut just can’t seem to see–an illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq in which we lose 2-3 Americans soldiers a day and on which we spend 2 billion a week.
Damn good show, Goof . . .
gster,The last election was about:1) Iraq2) Conservatives not being conservative.
That’ll change by 2008.
True Golf, and it was about weak-minded individuals falling prey to the mental manipulations of the morally-bankrupt liberals.
The last 6 years were a completely Republican controlled government and I think that is a major factor as to why the voters overwhelmingly booted out the GOP. Due to the total control, Bush and Cheney pushed their Iraq War through, were extended executive powers never before granted the White House, ran up the national debt, Bush never vetoted one single spending bill that was sent to him.
I think the voters have learned that to give one party complete control is a recipe for disaster. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
This is alittle unclear here but the unemployment rate is closer to 8% and rising
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm
U-6 Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus totalemployed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilianlabor force plus all marginally attached workers…………………. 8.4 7.8 7.8 8.6 8.4 8.0 8.1 8.0 8.0—–
KGN says:I believe that government’s role in business is generally to stay out.
http://www.counterpunch.org/
The Struggle Erupts and Big Mirga Raids the PlantThe Workers at SmithfieldBy MIKE ELY and LINDA FLORES
On Wednesday, January 24, agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (ICE) staged a raid of the largest pork processing plant in the world–Smithfield Food’s massive operation in Tar Heel, North Carolina. This plant has been the site of intense struggle throughout the last year, with over a thousand workers striking in November against the firing of undocumented workers. According to the first press reports, this raid arrested 21 workers–in a plant where the federal authorities are demanding the firing of over 600 workers for being undocumented. The following article was based on the interviews and investigations conducted by a team of reporters and translators from Revolution newspaper who went to this rural area of North Carolina in December. It is a sister piece to the article “No Longer Hidden, No Longer Hiding Strikers at Smithfield’s Tar Heel Slaughterhouse” that was published here on Counterpunch.
A team of reporters and translators from Revolution recently traveled through North Carolina to talk with workers and activists involved in the November 16, 2006 wildcat strike at Smithfield Foods’ Tar Heel plant. This is the second of a series of reports from that trip. The first part “No Longer Hidden, No Longer Hiding” appeared in Revolution #76.
“We came for the money,” Jose told us. And we heard those same words from all the immigrant workers who spoke with us on our trip to southeastern North Carolina.
The workers had come far north for the same wages that many Black workers consider intolerably low. Starting pay at Smithfield Foods’ massive hog-killing operation is $8 an hour. It is more in a day than Jose could make in a week in Guerrero, Mexico. One Black worker said to Revolution: “At these wages, we can barely live in a rundown house or trailer.”
Many immigrants are sending money home to family in Mexico and Guatemala, and dreaming of returning themselves, once they have saved “enough,” to build a house or buy a patch of land.
Under these conditions, thrown together by the workings of a global system of plunder, workers from different parts of the world have found themselves working side by side. And they often look at each other across a real divide created by their different experiences and different summations of how things came to be the way they are.
morg,That story makes me hungry for pork loin. Thanks!
Brownback claims to be for families and against poverty but he recently voted to lower the minimum wage to $2.65 an hour.
bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2007/01/who-wanted-to-eliminate-federal-minimum.html
Kansas has the lowest minimum wage in the nation and that’s propped up by the federal minimum wage. Brownback thinks earning $11,500 is way too much (although he had no problem with giving himself over $30,000 more in pay over the last few years) so he wants to reduce it. So a minimum wage employee can expect less than $5100 a year under Brownback’s plan.
A couple of thoughts on points raised by the editorial signed by Rhonda in today’s Eagle.
1)The state bioscience initiative: perhaps the reason it seems to be exclusive to northeast Kansas is the work done in that part of the state, in research and otherwise, for years preceding the initiative. Could it be we here in Wichita were too concerned about the aircraft industry and matters thereto related to pay attention?
2) Keeping any discount airline/low air fares for Wichita is highly important to Wichita. Looking at passenger loads, etc. (and acknowledging that Air Tran has posted a fourth quarter loss), I am of the opinion that there must be a permanent subsidy to accomplish this. I don’t like it, but it is my thought that there will not be a sufficient market to ensure unsubsidized low fare service from Wichita in my lifetime.
Awaiting all responses with anticipation, as well as with fear and trepidation.
If by conservatives being conservative you mean reducing the size of government and cutting taxes. They don’t do that when their in charge anywhere. And they create business regs if it serves their agenda, trying ordering some wine from California some time.
So Red state Kansas supports a bastard form of Communism propping up failing business with tax dollars. Whats airtran’s incentive to have a successful business model and turn a profit if they can go groveling and get tax money. Individuals are only allowed to collect welfare for so long before their cut off.BTW is still cheaper to fly from KC or OKC than from Wichita, unless your going to Vegas.
Dingus, if one looks solely at air fare, you are most correct in many instances. However, when one adds in the cost of travel to KC (round trip) plus, if needed for late night arrivals or early morning departures, the cost of lodging, the advantage disappears in many cases.
The airline subsidy business needs to go away. If people aren’t flying enough then the airlines are justified in charging more to cover their expenses. It is called supply and demand.
More people flying = lower cost tkts
Less people flying = higher priced
Vaughn,
I must agree. In the last two years, I have traveled to Miami three times to visit my sister (her birthday, engagement and Thanksgiving) and my tickets were never higher than $230 round trip. (of course, one flight was free through the free fares promotion that I qualified for) I certainly can’t fly out of KC or OKC for that price. Perhaps it is more in WHEN you book the flight and WHICH airline you use. Many people are very down on AirTran and refuse to fly them. However, I have flown United, American, Continental and Airtran all to Miami, and Airtran was BY FAR the best flights I have had. Barring the rare exception, I use them nearly exclusively for my travel now… And they have always been most helpful when I am traveling alone with my son. Of course, my flight costs will be increasing this year, as my son can no longer fly for free – BUT still, $230 for a roundtrip ticket to Miami? I fail to see how that is overpriced…
Colbert Tried to Warn You — The #1 Threatdown
http://www.webwaymonsters.com/song.shtml
BEARS !!
Sing along
BEAR DOWN, CHICAGO BEARS
Bear Down, Chicago BearsMake every play, clear the way to victory!Bear Down, Chicago BearsPut up a fight with a might so fearlessly!We’ll never forget the way you thrilled the nationWith your T-formationBear Down, Chicago BearsAnd let them know why you’re wearing the crown!You’re the pride and joy of Illinois,Chicago Bears, Bear Down!!
Wendy – AirTran doesn’t fly where I need to go. That is the big problem with the subsidy; it only applies to select destinations while those of us floying north or west are on our own. I’d rather see us subsidize a shuttle to KCI and I can then fly anywhere from there.
VT – re: biosciences. You are absolutely correct. We have NIAR in Wichita to support the aircraft manufacturers. We don’t really have much science infrastructure here to work with.
DA BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, Ben, that is a problem. Where AirTran doesn’t fly, there aren’t competitve fares out of ICT. Luckily for our family, AT flies into BOS, which allows our daughter’s fares (whether AT or otherwise) to be as reasonable as one might hope. I like your idea on the shuttle, makes sense to me.
BTW, if Air Tran is successful in its tender offer for Midwest Airlines, there will be some hope going West (as Midwest is adding SeaTac to its destinations).
HEY HEY, BOO-BOO!Balls smells a pick-a-nic lunch.
Dingus!That was some good shit you posted.Fine American patriot….I saloooot you!
So when are you “conservatives” going to let the market rule?
Talk about massive bail outs!Yee-ha!Here we go:
Influence and bailouts a business tradition in Bush familyBy ROBERT TRIGAUX
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 29, 2000
Once upon a time, a rich and powerful father gathered his four young sons and urged them to become rich and powerful, too. Take risks. Push yourselves. Influence others, he ordered in a bold voice.Then he whispered, “And if you muck things up, a fairy godfather will always appear to make things better.”Those may not have been the precise words spoken, but this is no tall tale.It’s the business model adopted long ago by George and Barbara Bush to propel sons George W., Jeb, Marvin and Neil into the high ranks of industry and, at least for two boys, politics.Sure, by now in the presidential campaign Dubya’s dubious business transactions have been poked at repeatedly by the media.No question, Jeb’s numerous and often questionable business dealings have been scoured more than once.Little has been written about Marvin, an investment adviser. Neil, the youngest, took some serious legal heat in the 1980s for his role in the demise of a Denver savings and loan. But he has since retreated to the Bush home turf of Houston and largely disappeared from the national spotlight.Altogether, the Bush boys’ business deals have received scant attention.What’s intriguing is that, time and again, all four brothers have chosen to use a remarkably similar two-step business model.
STEP 1: Leverage the Bush family name and a small personal investment into really big money, always provided by others.
STEP 2: If any deal goes sour, exit early with personal fortune intact. Or rely on a bailout from one of Dad’s fairy godfathers: some of the thousands of wealthy Republican fundraisers and longtime supporters of former President Bush.
Of course, playing off the privileged and famous Bush name is inevitable. To a point.
But to the Bush boys, dubbed the “Shrubs” by detractors, it’s become a chronic dependency. A habit of striking consistency.The Bushes uniformly deny any wrongdoing and insist they haven’t profited improperly on their family’s political and financial connections. But let’s just take a quick peek at some of the more interesting “Bush business model” deals pursued over the years by each of the boys.
George W.Alaska construction: At age 27 and halfway through two years at Harvard Business School, Dubya spent the summer of 1974 in Alaska working for a small airline-and-construction business. The company, Alaska International Industries, had received a letter from an executive at a Houston construction company asking about a job for Bush. The aviation arm of Alaska International had an unusual list of clients that just happened to include the shah of Iran and the Central Intelligence Agency. Dubya’s father would be appointed CIA director the following year.
Oil deals: In Texas, Dubya took his $50,000 trust fund and in 1977 started his first company, Arbusto Energy Inc. He got friends to invest in various drilling ventures that mostly went nowhere (but did generate big tax deductions). Friendly investors arranged a 1984 deal in which struggling Arbusto was acquired by another drilling company called Spectrum 7. When Harken Energy bought Spectrum in 1986, George wound up on the board with a $120,000 consulting gig and $530,380 worth of stock.
In the midst of his father’s presidency in 1990, Bush unloaded his Harken shares for $848,560. Less than two months later, Iraqi troops marched into Kuwait, throwing the oil business into turmoil. Harken shares plummeted and the company reported a $20-million quarterly loss. The Securities and Exchange Commission investigated Dubya for improper insider trading but issued no reprimand. At the time, the SEC was headed by Richard Breeden, a former aide to President Bush.
Baseball: Dubya was appointed managing partner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, even though he put up only $600,000 of mostly borrowed money for a 1.8 percent stake in the team. Among the big backers buying the Rangers were William DeWitt (a fellow Yale alum of Dubya’s) and Mercer Reynolds. Both were major contributors to President Bush’s campaign. Earlier, the two also were in on the rescue of Dubya’s oil company.
Dubya later sold out of the Rangers’ ownership group. His take: $15-million. That sum made Dubya rich and finally in a comfortable position to pursue a political career.
In 1998, Dubya and his wife reported income of $18,405,524, on which they paid federal taxes of $3,772,252, or 20.5 percent. Most of their 1998 income came from long-term capital gains. And nearly all of that resulted from the original $600,000 investment in the Texas Rangers.
JebMiami real estate: After relocating to Miami from Texas, Jeb quickly teamed up with Cuban-American real estate investor Armando Codina. A prominent fundraiser and staunch supporter of President Bush, Codina took Jeb under his wing and eventually made him a partner in the Codina Bush commercial real estate business. Jeb, with no investment, would get 40 percent of the real estate company’s profits plus chances to invest in other ventures. After Jeb entered the race for Florida governor and lost to Lawton Chiles in 1994, Codina welcomed Bush back to the firm. That relationship made Jeb a millionaire, with a net worth of about $2.4-million by 1997.
Water pumps: In 1988, the same year Jeb’s father became president, Jeb formed a partnership with David Eller, Broward County’s Republican fundraiser, to market irrigation and flood control pumps overseas. Bush went to Nigeria, where he pledged his father would increase aid to developing countries, according to Nigerian press reports. Nigeria received $74-million in loans from the federally backed Export-Import Bank of the United States to buy the pumps, giving Jeb a healthy commission. Twelve years later, Nigeria has yet to repay most of the loans.
Golf community, IBM property: When Bush and Codina needed to unload Deering Bay, an upscale South Florida golf community that had lost millions, they found a buyer in Florida developer and major Republican fundraiser Al Hoffman. Hoffman would become the primary finance chairman of Jeb’s successful campaign for governor.
Separately, in what Jeb considers one of his biggest deals as a real estate broker, his firm was hired by IBM Corp. to find a buyer for its massive Boca Raton office park. Jeb handled the sale personally. He eventually sold the property for about $46-million in 1997 to a group that included Mark Guzzetta, a key fundraiser for then-former President Bush. Guzzetta later co-chaired Jeb’s campaign for governor.
Jeb said he got a great sales price for IBM. This year, Guzzetta and his partners sold the property for about $140-million, nearly three times what they paid a few years ago.
MarvinCoral Gables director: As an executive of Winston Partners Group, a northern Virginia investment company, Marvin was named to the board of South Florida-based Fresh Del Monte Produce in 1998. The international fruit and vegetable company, run by the Abu-Ghazaleh family, has a board full of Bush family friends. Among them: Stephen Way, who heads Houston-based HCC Insurance Holdings and is a major fundraiser for Bush family politicians. Way also invited Marvin on to the HCC board last year, a position that pays Bush thousands of dollars and gave him options to purchase 12,500 shares of HCC common stock.
Stratasec: Marvin was recruited to join the board of this secretive Virginia security company that serves international corporations and governments. The company is awash in ex-government security and military personnel. Among them: Barry McDaniel, who served during the Reagan years as deputy director of readiness for the U.S. Army Materiel Command; and retired U.S. Air Force General James A. Abrahamson, who served as director of President Reagan’s “Star Wars” Strategic Defense Initiative.
The company touts such major customers as Dulles airport near Washington, as well as Los Alamos National Laboratories (where former scientist Wen Ho Lee pleaded guilty to improperly downloading nuclear weapons design secrets).
KuwAm Corp.: The investment company, with roots in Kuwait (the country “liberated” by President Bush’s Gulf War), is a large backer of Stratasec. Stratasec chief executive Wirt Walker also is a managing director of KuwAm. And KuwAm chairman Mishal Yousef Saud Al Sabah also sits on Stratasec’s board.
NeilSilverado failure: In the mid-1980s, Neil served as a director of Denver’s Silverado Savings & Loan. The bank loaned more than $100-million to Neil’s two partners in JNB Exploration, their unsuccessful oil company. Silverado later failed, in part because Neil’s two partners did not repay $132-million in loans. After years of regulatory hand-wringing, Neil was fined $50,000 for ethical lapses. He did not appeal the fine.
Oil deals: Like brother Dubya, Neil went into the oil business with poor results. In 1989, he bailed out of JNB Exploration, the company where he became president with a personal investment of a few hundred dollars. His next company, Apex Energy, was formed with a personal investment of $3,000, plus a $2.3-million loan from the federal government’s SBA program. Like JNB, Apex went belly-up with few assets to repay the SBA. Afterward, Bill Daniels, a cable-TV magnate and prominent contributor to President Bush, offered Neil a job.
Interlink: Neil now runs Interlink Management Corp., a Houston business based in the same building as his father’s office. Interlink invests in small companies such as Pennsylvania-based Lithium Technology (rechargeable batteries) and represents Universal Display Corp. (flat panel displays) in Asia. Interlink’s executives included “Bush Pioneers”: fundraisers who have raised at least $100,000 for Dubya’s campaign.
Building a political dynasty has been a priority of George and Barb Bush for decades.
Almost 40 years ago, in the height of the Kennedy era, a competitive George Bush was heard to say: “Just wait ’til I turn these Bush boys out.”
So far, the former president and wife have done a pretty good job. If you don’t look too closely.
Any conservatives here remember a long forgotten institution…..Savings And Loans?How much did that bunch rape us for?
Or that a Republican dominated county commission voted unanimously to raise property taxes to build a school so that the aircraft industry can train its workforce at taxpayer expense. At the same time get exempted from the same taxes. Also the last major statewide Tax hike happened under Gov Graves and a republican dominated Legislature.
Senator Hagel reportedly considering a presidential run. This could make for a very interesting primary, if the chief opposition is Senator McCain. However, from the article, his polling is about where Senator Brownback is:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012502086.html
Democrats wasted no time restoring the pay-go rules that had led to the budget surpluses of the late nineties.Just as ordinary Americans do every month around their kitchen table, the Congress will have to look at its bills,the money it wants to spend and figure out how to pay for it.The unlimited credit card has been cut off.
Two hundred and eighty members of the house, including forty-eight republicans voted to approve the new rules. The new provision requires that tax cuts or increased spending be paid for by raising taxes or cutting spending elsewhere.It will also require the disclosure of earmark sponsors, which direct spending to their home district or favored special interest.This new provision is a somewhat weaker version of the pay-as-you-go rule originally adopted in 1990.That provision triggered across the board cuts in spending each time the deficit was increased.According to the Congressional Budget Office, “between 1991 and 1997, most new revenue and mandatory spending laws that were enacted were consistent with the PAY-GO requirement to be deficit neutral.”
Rep Rahm Emanuel from the floor of the house declared, “The one thing we can say about George Bush and his economic policy is ‘We are forever in your debt.’ … Enough is enough with running up the debt of this country. We’re going to put our fiscal house in order.”But putting the government fiscal house in order will require some trade-offs, just as it does for many Americans balancing their budgets. The Democrats had promised to cut student interest rates in half, to keep promise and comply with the new pay-go rules they will have to phase the cuts in over five years.
This rule has sent members of the house looking for ways to cover the cost of spending they want.The Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Charles Rangel is searching the tax code for breaks that benefit special interests.Other options being considered are allowing the president’s tax cuts to expire and eliminating the federal deduction for state and local taxes. Rangel said, “At this point, nobody… has convinced me that there should be exemptions from pay go.”With no exemptions, lawmakers are going to have to make hard choices, choice they may not be popular with their constituents’ back home.
If legislation is worth passing, it worth paying for.
If tax cuts are not just for political gain, but to actually benefit the country then we will find a way to fund them. Continuing to build up debt that we pass on to our children, leaves them with a legacy that says we did not value what our government provided us with enough to pay for it.And we don’t value them enough not to stick them with our debt!
Now I know why no one has been charged with the outing of Valeria Plame. Fitzerald agree to give Ari fleischer immunitybefore he heard Ari’s story. Ari was one of the leakers.
Yes, CREW has been cleared. Now I would like to see if any of the news organizations and pundits who blamed them for purposely leaking the e-mails report on this report.
Hagel could make the primaries VERY interesting. I can see the swiftboat guys now!
In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.~George Orwell
What an immense mass of evil must result…from allowing men to assume the right of anticipating what may happen.~Leo Tolstoy
Peace is constructed, not fought for.~Brent Davis
Let’s here it for those subsidies! I don’t want to pay more than $100 to fly anywhere. And why should I when I can use the government to force all of my neighbors to pay for my travel plans. Maybe next year I’ll take that long awaited trip to Peru. I don’t want to pay for it, so I’ll call the Mayor and City Council to force everyone else to pay for me.
If I go buy a Ford maybe the govt will cut me a check.
Remember these Republican “fiscal conservatives”?
In an effort to take advantage of the real estate boom (outstanding US mortgage loans: 1950 $55bn; 1976 $700bn; 1980 $1.2tn) and high interest rates of the early 1980s, many S&Ls lent far more money than was prudent, and in risky types of ventures in which many S&Ls were not competent. Whereas insolvent banks in the United States were typically detected and shut down quickly by bank regulators, the Congress and the Reagan Administration sought to kick the can down the road by changing regulatory rules so S&L’s would not have to acknowledge insolvency and the FHLB would not have to close them down.
There are several ways in which the Bush family plays into the Savings and Loan scandal, which involves not only many members of the Bush family but also many other politicians that are still in office and still part of the Bush Jr. administration today. Jeb Bush, George Bush Sr., and his son Neil Bush have all been implicated in the Savings and Loan Scandal, which cost American tax payers over $1.4 TRILLION dollars (note that this is about one quarter of our national debt).
Between 1981 and 1989, when George Bush finally announced that there was a Savings and Loan Crisis to the world, the Reagan/Bush administration worked to cover up Savings and Loan problems by reducing the number and depth of examinations required of S&Ls as well as attacking political opponents who were sounding early alarms about the S&L industry. Industry insiders were aware of significant S&L problems as early 1986 that they felt would require a bailout. This information was kept from the media until after Bush had won the 1988 elections.
Jeb Bush defaulted on a $4.56 million loan from Broward Federal Savings in Sunrise, Florida. After federal regulators closed the S&L, the office building that Jeb used the $4.56 million to finance was reappraised by the regulators at $500,000, which Bush and his partners paid. The taxpayers had to pay back the remaining 4 million plus dollars.
Neil Bush was the most widely targeted member of the Bush family by the press in the S&L scandal. Neil became director of Silverado Savings and Loan at the age of 30 in 1985. Three years later the institution was belly up at a cost of $1.6 billion to tax payers to bail out.
So the truth is that the Reagan/Bush fiscal conservatism has been one huge joke.Trickle down wasn’t it?
Neil and Jeb alone have cost us upwards of two BILLION dollars.
I have to tell you, I am betting on the Bears.
Not a lot of science goes into my bets. But, Peyton Manning was on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week… And that’s good enough for me…
http://www.conservativenannystate.org/cns.html#2
The Basic Conservative Nanny State MythologyThis larger group of professionals has constructed and promoted the key myth of the conservative nanny state; they have succeeded where others have failed because they have the ability and education to succeed in the 21st century world economy. The problem with the others that have fallen behind — the autoworkers, the shop clerks, the restaurant workers etc. — is that they don’t have the skills needed to compete. The remedy of the nanny state conservatives is to either tell the losers to be more like them and work harder (the Republican nanny state conservatives) or express sympathy and throw a few dollars at vocational education and trade adjustment assistance (the Democratic nanny state conservatives). The key to a real solution is to move beyond the conservative nanny state mythology.
It doesn’t take sophisticated economics to understand how some professionals have fared well in recent decades, even as most workers have done poorly; it is a simple story of supply and demand. The rules of the nanny state are structured to increase the supply of less-skilled labor, while restricting the supply of some types of highly skilled professionals. With more supply, wages fall — the situation of less-skilled workers. With less supply, wages rise — the situation of highly skilled professionals.
John Edwards Two Americas?
Say Hello to his $6 million, 100 acre, 28,000 square feet mansion.
http://www.carolinajournal.com/
Anybody listen to Talk of the Nation on NPR yesterday?
Fasinating research the author Chris Hedges has done on the radical Christian right. It’s very scary, but a must to listen to.
*Warning* Not for the faint of heart for those who consider themselved strong believers of the Christian Right.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7020219
From the mouth of babies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WPqkyHZd6Q&NR
Bear Down, Chicago BearsMake every play, clear the way to victory!Bear Down, Chicago BearsPut up a fight with a might so fearlessly!We’ll never forget the way you thrilled the nationWith your T-formationBear Down, Chicago BearsAnd let them know why you’re wearing the crown!You’re the pride and joy of Illinois,Chicago Bears, Bear Down!!
Good one, Joe.I’ve heard he eats dog food, just to keep it real.
…dances on the head of a pin…
Joe,
And Edwards made his fortune by representing people against companies who put out defective products, like the lawsuit he won for the family whose child had their guts ripped out by a swimming pool drain.
mulva-Is he part of the group who makes money from the guy who ironed his shirt while he was wearing it, got burned, then sued the iron company because there wasn’t a label instructing him not to do that?Or, perhaps, the guy who drove with his windshield sunshade still in his windshield, got into a wreck and sued.
John Edwards:Ambulance Chaser
Oh please Fleets enema, you’d be first in line if you were ever damaged by a defective product that resulted in death and injury.
And you know what? You should.
You right wingers are always spouting off about accountability, except when it comes to the rich and the corporations.
fleettwood,
Ambulance chasers, their are lawyers that you could call that, but you just show your ignorance when you refer to Edwards as one, or is it a Dems. and Repug thing with you?I”ll bet you don’t know the first thing about the case I mentioned. The company that made the pool knew it was defective and refused to fix the problem. So go ahead and stand up for companies who make products that are defective. Maybe someday you or yours will come up against a like situation. Oh, that’s right you dislike lawyers, so no law suit for you.
Thanks for the link, Joe. I heard the program. There was one good call, where the caller asked him to define who he was talking about. Hedges did okay with that, but it does seem somewhat difficult to define this group, without having a lot of false positives.
I think if you are a member of the Army of God, you are who Hedges was talking about. I was going to post a link to their site, but I just can’t do it – because of all the gorey photos there. Suffice it say, they believe that those who murder abortionists are heroes and should not be punished for their crimes.
Army of God people are SSSCCCAAARRRYYY.
I’m sure there would be a mental disorder that would apply to them.
But really, all they are is believers, and in their reality, the only thing that matters is their definition of God’s law- no different than the terrorists who flew planes into the World Trade Center.
Imagine how sad that has to be- to die, come before God after sacrificing your entire life for Him to be told “dude, you’re going to Hell”.
and those people say they worry about my soul. Ha.
What I liked about the audio, was how the author pointed out how one one hand they talk about the loving god, and in the other talk about how he will kill and destruct. That’s not a God I consider loving.
By the fundie view, God is really a sadist on a grand scale, far worse than those we go to war over for the same ideology.
Dear delores,
http://www.overlawyered.com/2005/10/valerie_lakey.html
Ambulance chaser of the worse kind. It will be easy for the liberal women to vote for him though, he looks pretty!
Hank
Hank, can you literally tell me that if this happened to Nathan, you’d just be ok with it?
Now remember, I’m the one who says “you know, accidents happen, and people die”.
Yes, I’m the one who has said that and I stand by it.
Accidents do happen, but you also have to look at how negligent the actions of the others were.
I don’t merely believe that one should be sued for deaths that occur when someone looks down and plows into an oncoming car. Because that kind of thing every single one of us could do.
If the owners of the pool didn’t know how very dangerous the drain was, they should have had no liability.
But the company, they should have known.
Companies should be held liable for dangerous and defective product.
But making a fortune off the backs of the people who suffered is something I do not take very likely. I think John Edwards is a crook, a skilled liar and has a despicable character. His political party affilation has nothing to do with it. I’m not looking at him as a Democrat.
There are just too many stories. I remember reading one about John Edwards cutting in line of a Best Buy during the Sony P3 rollout, so he can get his son a Sony P3. Let’s just say those people who have been camping out for days to get in line were very, very upset.
He used his celeberty status to get a PS3 before everybody else. That is the character of John Edwards. He doesn’t care about people. It’s just a dog and pony show.
Hey PM,
Read the link and we’ll talk. I’m not sure how having a lawyer lining his pockets off the personal tragedies of people makes anyone safer.
Read the link.
Hank
I DID read the link.
The cover had been removed, and they didn’t replace it, therefore they do still have some liability- I was speaking as if the cover had been left on.
Joe, the story from Faux News.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,230200,00.html
And by the way, isn’t it the whole ‘capitalistic’ ideals that you all love sooooo much that lawyers can choose to charge however much they want to to provide their service? Hmmm?
Why is it wrong for a lawyer to charge 300 bucks an hour to recoup money, but a doctor can charge 300 bucks an hour to save a life or damage you for life?