by Anthony Ioven
There's no such thing as class warfare.
Sure. And Lee Harvey Oswald killed John Kennedy. (Sorry — I have to keep reminding myself that no one gives a damn about that anymore.)
 Admitting that you believe in class warfare is like admitting you are open to conspiracy theories. And in the conventional wisdom of the day, as so carefully crafted by the MSM, either pronouncement puts you in the category of a nut.
So here's nutcase Robert Kuttner in today's Boston Globe:
THE NEW York Times recently reported that the earnings gap is now the widest since 1928, with the richest 1 percent of Americans having captured most of the economy's 2005 growth, and the bottom 90 percent getting nothing. Between 1979 and 2005, according to MIT professor Thomas Kochan, productivity of American manufacturing rose by about 70 percent, but the real wages of production workers remained flat.
All that worker productivity not going to workers? And an earnings gap wider than seen since the year before the economic disaster of 1929? Probably just coincidence that Republicans (and a Republican wrapped in a Democrat's banner) have occupied the White House for all but two of those 27 years.
On the same Boston Globe op-ed page, Derrick Jackson reminds us how easy it is to keep the great silent majority (these days, I'm afraid that's us) in line: "Republicans keep saying that any attempt to close the American wealth gap is 'class warfare.' "
Sure is. But it's so much easier to pretend class warfare doesn't exist than to be ridiculed for acknowledging that it does. Step 1 in any recovery is admitting you have a problem.
Class warfare is real, all right. But only one side is fighting.
by Anthony Ioven
The long-term survival of America as a white-majority state, giving political expression to the national identity of white people, depends on...
Yes, you read that correctly. Do those words surprise you? Shock you, even? They should.
So why is it that the actual words don't:
The long-term survival of Israel as a Jewish-majority state, giving political expression to the national identity of the Jewish people, depends on...
The writer goes on to talk about the need for negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, and on that point he's right. But it's the bald — and so readily accepted — racism in that statement that's so jarring. Or should be.
Update: Palestinians mark today as Land Day, as posted here and here. And while we're on the subject of ethnic cleansing...
by Anthony Ioven
Kathy at Stone Soup Musings keeps a close eye on the corporate fatcats who divvy up the goldmine while the rest of us get the shaft, and this bit of shocking news about Circuit City did not escape her attention.
And while those fine folks at Circuit City were busy trashing the livelihoods of their "higher paid" employees, the venerable Fidelity Investments was killing off its pension program for its 32,000 employees. OBTW, Fidelity's 2005 profit was a very handsome $1.3 billion — a 20% increase over the previous year.
by Anthony Ioven
I guess that depends on what your definition of "out" is.
Both the House and the Senate have passed bills that set deadlines for withdrawing US troops from Iraq. But it turns out that Congress' bold (so we're told) withdrawal scheme is more of a modified, limited withdrawal:
Although the House and Senate bills set clear timelines for withdrawal of US troops, they also permit some troops to remain in Iraq as long as they are performing one of three specific missions: protecting US facilities, citizens, or forces; combating Al Qaeda or international terrorists; and training Iraqi security forces. How many troops are we talking about? Potentially as many as have been there for the past three years.
When are Washington pols going to stop playin these games with people's lives?
by Anthony Ioven
 Dennis Kucinich is never going to be president. As a result, the media pays him precious little attention. As a result, Dennis Kucinich is never going to be president. And round and round it goes.
The opinion peddlers have long ago declared Kucinich unelectable. So instructed, many millions of voters will go to the polls next year firmly convinced that a vote for Kucinich is a wasted vote — or worse, a vote for the Republican, whoever it might be.
Not voting for a candidate whose ideas you share — that is wasting your vote. Kucinich outlined a few of those ideas today on Democracy Now.
On the Senate and House putting political pressure on Bush to withdraw from Iraq
Our decisions have to be way above politics. We have the lives of our troops at stake here. There's no military victory in Iraq. We're there illegally. The occupation is fueling the insurgency...
I’m moving forward with a plan, it's embodied in HR 1234 that would stop the funding and the occupation, close the bases, bring the troops home, and set in motion a parallel process that would stabilize Iraq with the help of the international community...
On impeachment
I think that impeachment has to be on the table...
I do think that accountability is a key word here. And I think the President and the Vice President must be held accountable.
On media integrity and media consolidation
It's been 20 years since we’ve had and hearings at all on the [FCC] Fairness Doctrine. It’s been a long time since Congress has held hearings on the concentration in the electronic media.
And so I want to proceed with hearings sometime in the next few months [to ensure] that the electronic media shall serve in the public interest, convenience, and necessity. I want to hold that up and see if...the licensees have kept faith with the American people.
On the media's coverage of the presidential race
I'm not going to be on my knees begging for attention from the mainstream media. They have to realize that they have a responsibility as broadcast licensees to provide coverage to all the candidates. After all, this isn't "American idol", we're choosing a President of the United States. The American people have a right to a substantive discussion about those issues that affect their lives, such as war and peace, such as poverty and prosperity, healthcare for all...
On universal health care
Everyone in this campaign is for universal healthcare. But what Senator Clinton, Senator Edwards, and others are talking about is having the insurance companies still in charge of healthcare, of having the government subsidize the insurance companies or forcing people to buy insurance or have the government subsidize the purchase of insurance...
The Conyers-Kucinich Bill, HR 676, Medicare for all, it ends for-profit medicine, it is a single-payer system which recognizes we're spending $2.2 trillion a year on healthcare, but 31% of that, or $660 billion, goes for the activities of the for-profit system.
Take that money, put it into healthcare, and you have enough money to cover every medical need, including dental care, vision care, mental health, prescription drug, and long-term care. Healthcare is a right, it's not a privilege.
On soldiers who refuse to serve in Iraq
I support the troops who serve and also those who don't feel it's right to serve...[M]any people have looked at the war and realized that it's wrong. Some of those people are soldiers...I think we have to love our troops, whatever situation they find themselves in. And the way to support them is to bring them home.
Sound like someone you could vote for? Even if the media purveyors of all things wise call you a dope if you do?
More about the unelectable Mr. Kucinich's positions here.
by Anthony Ioven
Those blithe spirits who are determined to keep their heads buried deep in the sand about global warming may one day find their heads deep under water as well.
AP today cited two reports on the very real danger global warming represents to citydwellers in the not-too-distant future.
Summing up the findings published in the scientific journal Environment and Urbanization, AP wrote:
In all, 634 million people live in the threatened coastal areas worldwide - defined as those lying at less than 33 feet above sea level...
More than 180 countries have populations in low-elevation coastal zones, and about 70 percent of those have urban areas of more than 5 million people that are under threat. Among them: Tokyo; New York; Mumbai, India; Shanghai, China; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Dhaka, Bangladesh.
And then there's the report to be published next week by the Intergovenrmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which will warn that:
By 2080, flooding from rising sea levels could affect 100 million people a year.
By 2090, megafloods that normally strike within North America once every 100 years "could occur as frequently as every 3-4 years."
Coastal cities Los Angeles and New York are at risk from both rising sea levels and violent storms.
According to the AP:
In February, the IPCC warned of sea-level rises of 7-23 inches by the end of the century due to global warming, making coastal populations vulnerable to flooding and more intense hurricanes and typhoons.
But the What-Me-Worry crowd would much rather make fun of Al Gore than take this stuff seriously. Besides, saving the planet means — you know — having to spend money.
by Anthony Ioven
 Ok, so the polar ice caps may be melting at an alarming rate, threatening to inundate coastal cities worldwide and accelerate the destruction of the planet by global warming.
But there's a bright side. The extinction of the human race is probably still, hell, decades away, and in the meantime, a few enterprising souls are planning to go out filthy rich.
Because as the ice recedes, it is being chased by "an international race for oil, fish, diamonds, and shipping routes accelerated by the impact of global warming on earth's frozen north."
Oh, and did I mention oil?
The US Geological Survey estimates the Arctic has as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. Moscow reportedly sees the potential of minerals in its slice of the Arctic sector approaching $2 trillion.
Might be a good time to invest in that oceanfront property in Kansas you've always wanted.
by Anthony Ioven
I wish I could get all warm and tingly over yesterday's House vote to bring US troops home from Iraq by August, 2008. But in fact, it just depresses the hell out of me.
Is the vote really "the first concrete step to ending the war"? I'll let Howard Zinn answer:
[T]he Democrats are behaving with their customary timidity, proposing withdrawal, but only after a year, or eighteen months. And it seems they expect the anti-war movement to support them...
Ironically, and shockingly, the same bill appropriates $124 billion in more funds to carry the war. It’s as if, before the Civil War, abolitionists agreed to postpone the emancipation of the slaves for a year, or two years, or five years, and coupled this with an appropriation of funds to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act.
When a social movement adopts the compromises of legislators, it has forgotten its role, which is to push and challenge the politicians, not to fall in meekly behind them.
We who protest the war are not politicians. We are citizens. Whatever politicians may do, let them first feel the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not for what is winnable, in a shamefully timorous Congress.
The problem, Howard, is that we're a shamefully timorous nation.
by The Guests of 604
Does this sound like America to you?
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Dems are wrenching their arms right out of their sockets patting themselves on the back over today's narrow House victory for bringing home the troops from Iraq by August 31, 2008. I wonder how many kids who will read that story in tomorrow's papers are going to be dead by then, or have their limbs blown off, because the Dems don't have the courage to bring this tragic and senseless debacle in Iraq to its logical conclusion now, not seventeen months from now.
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Yesterday, a rocket exploded in Baghdad's super-safe Green Zone, about 50 yards from where Prime Minister Maliki had just boasted that the city was "on the road to stability." Then today, also in the Green Zone, the Deputy Prime Minister, Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie, was injured in a suicide bombing that killed nine people. And Baghdad residents woke up Thursday morning to find another 25 bodies littering the streets of the city.
So, Georgie, how's that surge-thing going for you?
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Will this be his greatest feat ever? As the Guardian put it — Remains to be seen.
by Anthony Ioven
It's not often an American politician stands up straight and proud and tall and dares to speak the truth plainly — especially about the character, or lack of it, of the American public, whose SUV-sized egos are accustomed to being shamelessly stroked by the pols.
So when the Mayor of Salt Lake City, Rocky Anderson, warned the other day about "a dangerous culture of obedience throughout much of this country," he won my immediate respect.
And he's right on the mark. Without such a culture of blind obedience, there'd be no way this anti-American administration could have survived so long. In fact, there would have been no Bush administration in the first place.
And speaking of Bush, Rocky had this to say:
President Bush is a war criminal...Let impeachment be the first step toward national reconciliation — and toward penance for the outrages committed in our nation’s name.
Spoken out of the American spirit I grew up admiring. And nothing like the spiritless equivocators in Congress, where impeachment is simply not on the table. And down and down it goes . . .
by Anthony Ioven
 It's always thrilling to watch the acrobatics politicians are willing to perform to get out of doing the right thing.
Yesterday, the daring performers under the Massachusetts universal mandatory health care tent were once again performing triple backward saltos and other breathtaking maneuvers. Kids, do not try this at home.
As noted here, here, and here, in order to maintain the appearance of providing full, universal coverage while keeping the insurance companies fat and happy, the new health care law is being watered down faster than your third martini at your favorite watering hole.
After allowing annual deductibles as high as $4000, when the law as originally written allowed zero annual deductibles, the pols are now messing with the other end — allowing lifetime caps on health care payouts.
Once upon a time, the law required that residents who already have insurance, but whose plans have lifetime caps — all 360,000 of them — would have to upgrade their plans to meet the no-cap rule. That requirement is now considered "problematic."
And all this before the law officially takes effect on July 1 (and btw, that might slip, too, at least for some).
If things keep going the way they have, Massachusetts' "universal" health care offering will consist of nothing more than a smattering of kindly grandmothers traveling the state and kissing boo-boos.
by Anthony Ioven
 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has confessed to being responsible for the 9/11 attacks, the killing of journalist Daniel Pearl, the Bali nightclub bombings, the thwarted shoe bombing plot, and a long list of other actual and planned terrorist attacks.
As if that isn't enough for him to brag about to his 72 patiently waiting virgins, the CIA has given him something else to add to his resume.
He lasted longer than any other detainee under torture.
Seems it took an entire two-and-a-half minutes of waterboarding before Mohammed confessed to just about every crime up to the assassination of JFK — and he probably took credit for that one, too.
Mohammed, shown here, incredibly, before he was tortured, had this to say at his Guantanamo tribunal to determine if he can be classified as an enemy combatant:
This is why the language of any war in the world is killing. I mean the language of the war is victims. I don't like to kill people. I feel very sorry they been killed kids in 9/11. What I will do? This is the language. Sometime I want to make great awakening between American to stop foreign policy in our land...
But war language also we have language for the war. You have to kill. But you have to care if unintentionally or intentionally target if I have if I'm not at the Pentagon. I consider it is okay. If I target now when we target in USA we choose the military target, economical, and political. So, war central victims mostly means economical target. So if now American they know UBL. He is in this house they don't care about his kids and his. They will just bombard it. They will kill all of them and they did it. They kill wife of Dr. Ayman Zawahiri and his two daughters and his son in one bombardment...
We are all serving one God.
Mohammed calls himself a man of God, but he is nothing of the sort. He is a monster, as is anyone who rationalizes the killing of innocents. This is what that kind of monster looks like, no matter what the monster's name or religion or country or professed beliefs.
by Anthony Ioven
 Take the Globalist Quiz in today's Boston Globe:
How many days does it take the CEO of a large US corporation to make what the average US worker makes in an entire year?
A month's worth?
Uh-uh. That would be Japan, where CEOs make about 11 times what an average worker makes.
Two weeks?
Nope. Now we're talking Germany and, you should pardon the expression, France.
Five days?
Sure - back in 1980, at the dawn of the inglorious Reagan Revolution.
Just one day?
Yup. But you knew that all along, didn't you.
The average CEO at the top 350 US companies received about $11.6 million in compensation in 2005...or about 279 times the salary of the average worker.
To add insult to injury, it's probably a day spent on the golf course schmoozing it up with clients.
So, what's in your wallet?
by Anthony Ioven
The triumphant AP headline:
Iraqi prime minister walks Baghdad
The fact that this is news just underscores how bad things in Baghdad really are. But the AP managed to turn the frown upside down nonetheless:
But the fact that he was able to venture out at all testified to the modest improvements in Baghdad security since the U.S.-led crackdown began last month.
Maliki's catching on — appearance is everything.
by Anthony Ioven
What do ordinary folks in Vermont know that those puffed-up, overpaid showboaters in Congress don't?
For one thing, they know a serious crime when they see one. And they have enough plain common sense to know that if the president and vice-president "deliberately or recklessly misled our nation" into war, and "condoned the use of torture," those are serious crimes. Crimes they should be tried for.
That's why Town Meetings in 29 Vermont towns yesterday approved resolutions calling for the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney.
If these crimes don't warrant impeachment, what does?
Oh yeah, I forgot.
by Anthony Ioven
Breathless headline in today's Boston Globe:
Insurers slice rates on health premiums
That's great news for those uninsured Massachusetts residents who will be forced to buy health insurance on July 1,under Massachusetts' new universal mandatory health care law. The insurer offering the lowest price just reduced its average premium to $175.15 a month. Other insurers are also offering lower premiums than previously announced Woo-hoo...
But when Massachusetts pols and insurance companies start telling you about the great deal you're getting, hold on to your wallets:
The low-end insurer touting the lowest average premium is Neighborhood Health Plan. This not-quite-a-household-name insurer deals primarily with government-subsidized Medicaid patients. In addition, its low-income customers will likely qualify for state insurance subsidies as well.
Insurers who are eligible to provide insurance under the new law will charge an annual deductible of $2,000 for an individual and $4,000 for a family. Not only is that mighty steep, but it represents a radical change in the original law:
“Eligible health insurance plan”, a health insurance plan that meets the criteria, established by the board, for receiving premium assistance payments; provided, that no eligible health insurance plan may require an annual deductible.
And what's this about an average premium? Turns out the older you are, the more you have to pay. One plan will charge people over 55 years old a premium of about $505.
Old and poor in Massachusetts? Tough.
by Anthony Ioven
Why impeachment is off the table — Hullabaloo nails it.
Check out the cartoon in the post, too.
by Anthony Ioven
 Mitt Romney doesn't like the McCain-Feingold campaign financing reform law, and neither do I. But for very different reasons.
I don't think the law goes nearly far enough to MOP up politics. Romney thinks this:
Supporters of McCain-Feingold "let the campaign finance lobby take away First Amendment rights" by banning unlimited donations by corporations, labor unions, and interest groups.
Huh? Why do corporations, unions, and special-interest groups have First Amendment rights? People have First Amendment rights. If individuals in an organization want to contribute to a political campaign, that's their right. But if I'm in a union, I don't want part of my dues going to support a candidate I don't agree with. As a customer, I don't want part of my purchase price going to that candidate, either.
Let's cut the crap. The First Amendment doesn't give corporations the right to buy politicians.
How's this for a radical idea — only those who can actually vote in an election can contribute to the candidates in that election.
by The Guests of 604
According to a NYT/CBS poll, Americans are just sick over heath care:
64% want government to "guarantee health insurance for all"
84% favor expanding government programs "to all uninsured children"
90% - ninety percent - want either "fundamental changes" in the health care system, or want the system "completely rebuilt"
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So with those stats, how come there's such an "immoral lack of care" in fat, wealthy America, where 1 of every 9 kids has no health insurance at all:
Health coverage can be provided to every child in America in 2007. The funding necessary to expand coverage to all children and pregnant women would be the equivalent to just nine days of Defense Department spending in 2007, and three months of the tax cuts to the richest one percent of Americans this year. (Indignant emphasis added.)
Time to take a good, hard look under the hood. I think someone's messing with the machinery of our democracy.
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How's this for corporate heresy — giving stockholders a say in how much CEOs are paid? Barney Frank:
I do not understand those who argue that the people who make up our stock markets are collectively very wise, but at the same time are somehow incapable of rendering a coherent opinion of what they should pay those they employ to run the corporations that they own.
Radical. Scandalous.
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Blammed in Boston — again:
First it was the diabolical light-bulb terrorist, the evil one known as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, who shut down the entire city for hours. Fortunately, the Boston Bomb Squad exploded the evildoer's devices before Bostonians laughed themselves to death.
Then just the other day, the bomb squad detonated a mysterious metal box that was chained to a pole near Post Office Square. Turned out it was just one of those traffic-counting thingies, but still...
And now this:
Boston Police Blow Up Suspicious Looking Man
You just can't be too careful these days.
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UpdateAmerica.com
604.UpdateAmerica.com
March's Posts
Candy from a Baby
Ignoring the Race Card
Ka-ching
Is Congress Taking Us Out of Iraq?
'This Isn't American Idol'
It Can't Happen Here
Entrepreneurs on the Titanic
Show Vote
'A Culture of Obedience'
Cirque du Politico
'We Are Doing Same Language'
And Worth Every Penny
A Walk on the Wild Side
On the Table in Vermont
First the Good News...
A Tribe Apart
Want Fries with that Pol?
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