Sherif Lee Baca: A Stand Up Guy

Responding today to Republican representative Mark Souder in a Congressional hearing, Sherif Baca got in to a dust-up with the congressman when he tried to impugn Baca’s credibility and reputation, claiming falsely that Baca supports terrorists.

As reported by radio correspondent Kitty Felde, and published by LAObserved, the money quote from Baca came after his testimony:

When a member of Congress is that misinformed, you gotta question whether or not they understand what their constitutional obligations are when it comes to public safety.”

You gotta hand it Sheriff Baca, he recognizes a knucklehead when he hears one. We have a hell of a lot of misinformed knuckleheads in Congress trying to scare and intimidate the American people and we need to show them the door.

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Health Care Talkie Thingy May Have Done Some Good

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Genie In A Bottle

Based on the inept and almost comical leadership in the House and Senate, these two are going to need way more than three wishes.

Again, they sure don’t make TV like they used to

Crossposted at Distributorcap NY.

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Sad When They Don’t Quit in Time. Case in point: Senator Grassley

It is hard to let go, to release one’s grasp on power and privilege. Sometimes a top athlete holds on for additional seasons of declining performance; fans watch sadly–and with some embarrassment–for the player who did not leave with their game intact.

The same holds true for political leaders.

Senator Chuck GrassleySenator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) served the nation and his state well in a career of public service: as an Iowa state legislator (1958-1974), three terms in the House, and five terms in the Senate. As ranking minority member of the Senate’s Finance Committee, even now he holds a pivotal position in determining U.S. law.

His service and principled actions earned my respect. But, his unprincipled remarks have lost that respect.

This summer he told an Iowa senior citizen that if that man wanted health care equivalent to the health care Grassley enjoyed then he should “go work for the federal government.” Turns out Grassley is almost fully funded by the people who would like our health care system to stay just the way it is now.

Sorry, it gets worse:

Last week Grassley attacked the public option aspect of the health care bill, calling it “socialism.” Then he went on to defend his own participation in government farm subsidy programs. His words speak for themselves as he admits that as a congressman he has “lived off the public tit all these years.”

Full Text:

“For the first 16 years I made $3,000 every other year as a state legislator. Now do you expect me to live on $3,000 every other year? No I was a factory worker for 10 years and I was a farmer for that period of time and I farm with my son now. So if you’re trying to make a case that I’ve lived off the public tit all these years, I think you’re saying correctly in the years I’ve been in the Congress but not the years before I came to Congress.” (Watch it above.)

He should have quit while his career was untarnished. Please, Senator Grassley, it’s time to step down.

C-SPAN interview with Grassley

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Health Care: Congress Needs To Share The Benefits

Throughout the entire health care debate it has been incredibly ironic that Congress seems to be forgetting that all citizens are considered equal under the law in the United States and that certain perks that they reward themselves with in terms of enhanced health care options ought to be extended to all citizens. Either that, or Congress itself should dispense with the perks and find their health care in the public market place like the rest of us. From time to time the term elitism gets thrown around in the political discourse, well this is actually a real example of elitism out of control, and elitism beyond any moral standard.

Where in our Constitution does it say that we, the citizens, through our tax contributions will pay for enhanced medical care for our members of Congress, which they will embrace and utilize to the fullest extent, while concurrently with holding access to the same level of accessible health care to all other citizens? Is this what the founders of our country had in mind, an elite governing class that would by virtue of their government health plan receive access to health care that is denied to most Americans? Are we all, who are not in government, just commoners?

Dave Gilson of Mother Jones sums it up in the following item titled “The Real Public Option: Congress’ Private Medical Clinic”:

You can’t say this enough: While members of Congress are busy protecting us from the inefficiency and danger of government-run health care, they’re receiving top-notch taxpayer funded health care—seemingly without complaint. The LA Times recently detailed the benefits: A choice of 10 insurance plans and access to a wide network of doctors and HMOs. Plus, they “get special treatment at Washington’s federal medical facilities and, for a few hundred dollars a month, access to their own pharmacy and doctors, nurses and medical technicians standing by in an office conveniently located between the House and Senate chambers.” ABC News has more on that in-house clinic for lawmakers, officially known as the Office of the Attending Physician:

Services offered by the Office of the Attending Physician include physicals and routine examinations, on-site X-rays and lab work, physical therapy and referrals to medical specialists from military hospitals and private medical practices. According to congressional budget records, the office is staffed by at least four Navy doctors as well as at least a dozen medical and X-ray technicians, nurses and a pharmacist.

Sources said when specialists are needed, they are brought to the Capitol, often at no charge to members of Congress.

Explains a former doc from the Congressional clinic, patients who can’t get treated on-site get referals to top specialists all over the country. “You would go to the best care in the country. And, for the most part, nobody asked what your insurance was.” And the cost? $503. A year.

What we need to be doing is holding our Senators’ and Congresspersons’ feet to the fire on this issue. Our government owes the American people the same options for health care that are available to other industrialized democracies, and from a moral perspective, the same options for health care that they extend to themselves.

If you agree with this, pick up the phone and call your senators and representative, or email them. We need to keep the pressure up. We need to tell all Democratic congress people that this is what we wanted when we put a majority in office and they have a moral and honorable obligation to act at the will of the people who gave them their jobs. Tell them to stop prostituting themselves to the deep pocketed special interest groups, and to do the right and historic thing for their country.

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The Power Of The People

How It Can Bring Down A Demagogue & How It Can Make Our Public Servants Listen To Us In Terms Of Health Care Reform

The twenty-four hour period immediately following President Obama’s address before Congress on September 10 produced a graphic demonstration of the power of the people. During the president’s address something previously unheard of occurred when South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson in an act of overt boorishness, heckled the president and called out the president as a liar. Ironic that this tool of the right wing extreme chose to act out right when the president was debunking the claims of the real liars who, despite the documented facts, continue to try to spread the lie that one of the objectives of the proposed health care initiative would be to euthanize (i.e. kill) elderly Americans.

joe Wilson, through his ignorant political posturing has just put Rob Miller, his Democratic opponent in the 2008 election, and his opponent in the 2010 election on the map, as a nationally known and well funded, viable candidate who could tip over Wilson’s apple cart. In this last twenty-four hour period, the netroots of the Democratic party (via ActBlue) have raised approximately $697,000 in donations for the Miller campaign, from 19,018 Americans disgusted with the fear and ignorance that the Republican party continuously tries to foist off on the public. This is a great example of the power of the people when they want to be heard.

If you were outraged by Joe Wilson’s outburst, consider kicking in a few dollars to help unseat Joe Wilson by donating via ActBlue.

Another way of demonstrating your power is to tell your representatives in Congress what you think about health care reform. While we know that politicians of all political stripes seem to act as pawns of the moneyed special interests, they are also more fearful of the voting public, when it, the public, is able to form cohesive blocks of voters with common interests. This is a crucial time in our history, we have a chance to use our government and its resources to enact and execute policy that will serve all of the people in the delivery of something as basic to human rights, as the opportunity to have a long and thriving life.

Now is the time to speak and be heard by your representatives in Congress by emailing, writing or calling them. Congress.org has made the process of communicating directly with your representatives very easy. A link on their home page will enable you to identify your elected officials, find their contact information, and send them an email, or a letter, or get you their phone number.

I sent the following to my two Senators and Congressman today:

It is imperative that this Congress pass health care reform, that includes a public option; we can no longer allow vested commercial interests to dictate the availability of health care to our citizens. What might be passed now is only the beginning of real health care reform which must include changing the way we train our medical professionals and how they practice medicine and how they are given incentives.

Meaningful health care reform is more than wrangling the greedy insurance companies and profit driven pharmaceutical and medical testing and medical device industries. Meaningful health care reform is changing the paradigm so that delivery of health care is no longer a corporate profit center, but a manifestation of the intellect, decency and survival instinct of the human species.

I wrote summary of an insightful article by Atul Gawande about how mainstream, for profit, medical services are delivered today as opposed to how they are delivered using the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, etc. models. If you have not seen the original New Yorker article, you might consider reading my summary: “Health Care Reform: More Than Insurance“.

I am a senior citizen, a veteran, a voter and a taxpayer, and this is what I want to see from my representatives in government, nothing less than what is provided to citizens of other democratic industrialized nations.

Feel free to copy and use any of this, or write your own message from your heart and send it to your members of Congress. We do have the power to influence the outcome of this critical national issue, let’s not let the opportunity pass us by.

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Segmented representation on health care reform

Legislators are generally beholden to a number of constituencies, including just plain  citizens.  But far too often loyalties lie with other segments of constituents, such as lobbyists, party and other special interests.  Thus my  interests go unrepresented unless I belong to a special interest group.  In the case of health care reform legislation, my Republican senators and Republican U.S. Representative ignore my needs.  The Democratic Party, my party is split into liberals and conservatives.  I often feel left out of the Blue Dogs’ stance.  I cannot afford a lobbyist.  But I do belong to some special interest groups:  Democracy for America, Organizing for America, Social Workers, and the AARP.  And I am a part of the liberal blogosphere community.

So who will represent me in this? All my special interest groups are doing a good job so far, but their power is limited.  For example, DFA’s Howard Dean has been unflagging in his optimism regarding the future of truly comprehensive health care reform that includes a public option.  But he is not in the inner circle of legislative power.  Thank goodness, however, he has been seen smiling and firmly pro-reform on several TV news shows recently including Rachel Maddow on the night of August 20.  Rachel’s tweet cited a recent poll supporting the public option that Dean referenced during his interview.

The group at the fulcrum of change right now numbers 6. The only committee with work left to do is the Senate Finance Committee.  What they are considering is some sort of nonprofit cooperative as the public option. The six “negotiators” plan to meet occasionally during the recess.  And these senators represent only a very small number of the American people.  Following are the 2008 estimated state population figures along with the percentage of the total U.S. population (source Wikipedia).  The senators include:

• Finance CommitteeChairman Max Baucus (D-Montana, Est. pop: 967,440 – .31%)
• Charles Grassley (R-Iowa, Est. pop: 3,002,555 -.98%)
• Mike Enzi (R-Wyo, Est. pop: 532,668 – .17%)
• Olympia Snowe (R-Maine, Est. pop: 1,316,456 – .43%
• Kent Conrad (D-N.Dakota, Est. pop: 641,481 – .21%)
• Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mex., Est. pop: 1,984,356 – .64%).

These figures  total only 8,444,956 people or 2.74% of the total estimated population of the entire United States and its territories.  By sheer force of numbers, not to mention politics, there is no way these six could be considered to be representative of all of us or our wishes.  First I do not live in any of these states and second,  nor does 97.26% of the rest of you.

The House of Representatives’ position right now is the closest match to my own views on what reform should look like. Here, courtesy of Michael J.W. Stickings’ tweet, is a Bloomberg story on what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is planning when Congress comes back into session.  To quote: “U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she won’t be able to pass health-care legislation in her chamber if the measure doesn’t include a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers.”

So now we wait for Congress to come back in session.  We wait for the next report of a disrupted town-hall meeting.  We wait for President Obama’s next speech to clear up misrepresentations put out by other special interest groups.  We wait for Labor Day.  And we wait to see what the Senate leadership will decide about legislative tactics that will get us health care reform without the Republicans participating.  How about a cool drink while we wait?

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The future of health care reform —

Who knows what will happen to the biggest item on the Obama agenda for change, health care? No one can tell for certain but a few are willing to hazard guesses. This is the last week Congress will be in session before the summer recess. CQ Quarterly predicts that the Senate Finance Committee will not report out a health care reform package Due to the inability to reach a bipartisan agreement, as well as the press of much other business, work will resume in September. Prediction: A decent bill will be ready for the President to sign before the end of the year. And President Obama will weigh in with his final requirements only late in the game.

Republicans remain uncooperative — Taegan Goddard points out that we are still waiting for the Republicans’ Health Care Plan. It is a safe bet, in my opinion, that there will be none forthcoming. Prediction: What will be forthcoming from Republicans is fear mongering about raising your taxes, plus everything else they can think of to “throw against the wall.”

Progressive Dems vs. Blue Dogs is a continual pull and tug between special interests and voter constituents. Prediction: Progressives will not get a pure public option, but a public plan that is nonprofit “co-op” based. The following piece illustrates that the key swing Blue Dog Democrats could play the largest role in how reform legislation emerges from Congress. To quote Politico.com:

President Barack Obama’s signature proposal, a public plan option to introduce more competition in private markets, would be significantly weakened, reflecting pressure from Blue Cross-Blue Shield plans that dominate many rural states and that were a source of millions of dollars in campaign contributions last year. The small-business lobby, itself a political powerhouse, carved out a larger exemption for operations earning up to $500,000 annually. At the same time, families are asked to dig deeper to afford the promised coverage to be bought through public exchanges.

House Democrats have proposed a sliding scale of subsidies so that new health insurance mandates don’t impose a disproportionate — and ultimately unaffordable — burden on working- and middle-class families. Without that feature, Democrats would risk a serious backlash if costs become too great and households rebel against the health care mandate. And the House maneuvering is important as a preview of the larger battle ahead in the Senate, where the Finance Committee is proposing far less generous subsidies.

The other chamber’s conservative Democrats, such as Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), are being heavily lobbied via huge donations from health insurance companies and stand to cast votes this year that will reelect them to the Senate in 2010. Progressive Democrats are already using targeted ads to try to force the adoption of a public option by wavering Democrats from conservative districts. To be sure the debate will get noisier as Congress heads home to hear what the folks in their districts have to say. Prediction: The major ad campaign, featuring things of which you should be afraid will encourage timid constituents to seriously pressure lawmakers to either stop entirely or compromise severely.

Senators will speak from experience — Senator Chris Dodd, who spearheaded the H.E.L.P. Committee’s health care reform bill has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He sat in for Senator Ted Kennedy, himself ill with brain cancer. Lobbyists have paid tribute to Senator Kennedy’s heroic fight by donating generously to causes that he supports. Prediction: Using their own health care challenges as either spoken or unspoken backdrops to their reform leadership, several key senators, including Senator Specter, will be articulate and passionate spokesmen for significant reform.

Reference: CQ Politics launched the CQ Election Map for 2010 House races.

My all-in-one Home Page of websites where I post regularly: Carol Gee – Online Universe

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics health care congress

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Congresswoman Richardson: Put Your Own House In Order

Laura Richardson represents the 37th District in Southern California, first elected to Congress in a special election in 2007, then returned for a full two year term in 2008. Prior to that Richardson served in the California Assembly representing the 55th District in 2006/2007 and first held political office as a member of the Long Beach City Council from 2000-2006. Richardson was also on the payroll of Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamente with the title Southern California Director from 2001-2006. Richardson’s educational background includes a Bachelors, Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles, 1984, and a Masters, Business Administration, University of Southern California, 1996.

It would seem from Representative Richardson’s resume that she has plenty of political “smarts” and useful connections, and the educational and intellectual tools to be very successful in her role representing the constituents in her district in California, however, she has tarnished her own reputation and is likely losing the confidence of her constituents, and is becoming emblematic of the ethical lapses demonstrated by some of her more senior colleagues in the Congress.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Laura Richardson is now under investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics. This investigation has come up all because of a house in Sacramento, California that Richardson owns. It is not certain if Richardson ever lived in the house, as she acquired it during her brief stint in the California state Assembly, but the house became, arguably, a public nuisance after Richardson let it fall in to disrepair, failed to pay taxes and defaulted on her mortgage. According to one neighbor:

The paint peeled, much of the grass and many plants died from lack of water, and weeds grew 3 to 4 feet high in back. Rats began breeding in the backyard and spread to the house next door.

That neighbor and other neighbors grew so concerned that they paid their own gardeners to mow the grass, and they would take a hose from their yards to water the plant material, trying to mediate a dilapidated eyesore in the middle of an otherwise well kept, middle class neighborhood. Likely all the while worrying about how their property values would be affected by their absent and apparently disinterested neighbor.

The house was subsequently foreclosed and sold to a third party, who then proceeded to rehabilitate the property, but then Richardson was able to convince the lender to take back the house from the new owner and give it back to Richardson, as outlined in the Los Angeles Times article by Jeff Gottlieb:

Richardson bought the house in the tree-lined upper-middle-class Curtis Park neighborhood for $535,000 in early 2007 after she was elected to the Assembly. She already owned two houses, one in her Long Beach district and the other in San Pedro. She has defaulted six times on both homes.

After serving briefly in the Assembly, Richardson was elected to Congress in a special election later and moved out of the Sacramento neighborhood nearly two years ago.

The Sacramento house went into foreclosure in early 2008. Richardson also owed about $9,000 in property taxes at the time.

[James] York bought the house in May 2008 for $388,000 and recorded the deed. He sent in a crew and began remodeling, to the joy of neighbors.

It wasn’t long before Washington Mutual took it back and returned it to Richardson. York sued, and the case was settled with each side agreeing to keep details secret. JP Morgan Chase, which bought Washington Mutual last year, said it would be a violation of customer privacy to discuss the case.

In addition to the Sacramento home, Richardson owns a home in Long Beach, California and San Pedro, California, and reports are that she has had loan defaults on all three homes a total of eight times. If nothing else, Richardson has become very adept at using the system. After her Sacramento home was cited by local code enforcement and they boarded up the garage and sent her a bill for $400, she managed to weasel out of paying the bill. Since joining Congress, Richardson has gone whole hog at the trough of perks by distinguishing herself as being the member of the House with the most expensive auto lease, $1,200 for a Lincoln Town Car, when the norm for all other House members is $400-$800.

Richardson seems to manage her automobiles in a similar manner to how she manages her real estate holdings, as reported in the Los Angeles Times by Jesus Sanchez:

While Richardson has leased the vehicle only since last fall, it already been involved in one traffic accident while being driven by a staff member. In addition, Long Beach police ticketed the car in January for illegal parking, a ticket that has gone unpaid.

The congresswoman has had a spotty record with government-issued autos in the past:

When she was a councilwoman in Long Beach, she crashed her BMW, abandoned it at a body shop, failed to pay a prior repair bill, and then racked up 30,000 miles on a city-owned hybrid in one year — apparently violating a policy against personal use of city cars.

Through her personal financial management Richardson put herself upside down on the Sacramento home, owing more in principal and interest on the loan than she originally paid for the house, not unlike her management of her campaign spending in which she raised $1,039,162 in donations, spent $1,010,267 of her campaign treasury, and still owed, as of December 30, 2008, $357,747 in unpaid campaign related bills.

It is interesting that some of the significant sources of Richardson’s 2008 campaign funds were various union organizations, including building trade unions and the National Association of Realtors. So it seems that Richardson has an acute ability to leverage the housing industry for her own advantage, but at what cost to the taxpayers and what impact to those of us who do pay our bills on time, and according to all agreed terms. We the tax payers, who are homeowners and voters, are paying a price (through our taxes and our own mortgage costs) to prop up the home mortgage industry and the mortage backed investment banking industry that tanked because of the individual greed of irresponsible consumers like Laura Richardson and the institutional greed of Wall Street.

The question hanging over Laura Richardson, is, after serving her own interests, who’s interests does she serve, the people who she represents, or the business, industry and lobbying interests who facilitate her financial escapades and political career? Richardson does seem to have some sensitivity to the ethical trap she has placed herself in, by abstaining from voting on HR 3221 amending federal housing foreclosure assistance and related tax provisions, and abstaining from voting on HR 5818 a bill to provide assitance to states for purchasing foreclosed homes. But recusing herself from these votes is not enough, Congresswoman Richardson needs to come to terms with her own poor judgement and lack of responsibility, she needs resolve her personal financial issues, and demonstrate that she is not under the shadow of imminent financial disaster and all of the unnecessary pressure that brings to bear upon her ability to function rationally. Richardson also needs to demonstrate that due to her personal circumstances, she is not susceptible to trading her societal values owed to her individual constituents to the agenda of some deep pocketed special interests. If not, she will lose the trust of the voters who have placed her in office.

Clean up your act Representative Richardson.

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Health Care Overhaul — Get on Board the Train

Different legislative tracks intersect at several points – cost, control, consumer needs, care-giver interests and collegiality. Republicans are almost universally skeptical. Democrats are very divided about health care reform between liberals and moderates. How fast the legislation can move through Congress depends on how fast the committees can complete their work. President Obama wants a vote in the Senate by August. The President now active in the debate using the town hall as his forum. So far the American Medical Association is opposed to a public option. And it is fairly apparent that a single payer plan is out of the question.

“The health care industry has a huge stake in reform” opines J.P. Green of the Democratic Strategist: “They will fight the public option, but they know that some form of expanded government health coverage is inevitable.” To quote Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown, “The public insurance option remains the single biggest obstacle to a bipartisan bill, snarling the parties – and wings within each party – in a debate over the power of government, the role of the free market and the need to cover the uninsured.”

A big part of the division in the Senate is associated with the so-called “public plan.” Senators in the cross-hairs of several active advocacy groups include Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Kent Conrad of North Dakota. Other moderates with whom groups must contend are Evan Bayh of Indiana, John Tester of Montana, Tom Carper of Delaware, along with Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.

Floor strategies in the Senate are not yet settled. The reconciliation process, needing just 51 votes is still on the table. Two senators, Kennedy and Byrd, are absent due to illness, and the Minnesota seat is still empty. Senator Chris Dodd is acting in a leadership role for Senator Ted Kennedy’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has, quoting Politico:

. . . released a 615-page bill, but details on the most contentious issues, such as the public insurance option and the employer mandate, were left out for now . . . The bill calls for insurance market reforms, a prohibition on insurers’ denying coverage to sick people, a mandate on individuals to own coverage and the creation of marketplaces where people can compare and buy coverage.

In the U.S. House of Representatives – According to Patrick O’Connor and Chris Frates of Politico, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s top aides have prepared a joint memo indicating the unity of their leadership positions. To quote:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer are double-teaming powerful chairmen and rank-and-file members to save health care reform from a repeat of the Democratic Party infighting that helped kill it in 1994.

. . . Pelosi and Hoyer urged Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) to heed the concerns of moderate Democrats.

. . . Waxman, Miller and Rangel — along with their respective aides — are trying to draft legislation in concert with each other so their committees will take up the same bill later this summer.

In the House, moderates include Blue Dog Democrats, constraining any public health plan option, and members of the New Democratic Coalition. Again, the public option provides a variety of sticking points for them including cost, Medicare rules. Rep. John Dingell of Michigan is a respected leader who has “offered a universal health care bill every year since he came ot Congress in 1955,” the authors reported. To quote:

Toward the end of Tuesday’s caucus meeting, he rose on his crutches and told the audience that this measure has the promise of becoming a legacy like Social Security — a program his father helped create in the 1930s.

As he closed, he told members they should have the courage to move forward, eliciting a standing ovation from his fellow Democrats. Pelosi announced Tuesday that the bill will bear Dingell’s name.

. . . House Democrats expect to introduce actual legislation next week, Waxman and others said Tuesday. The preliminary goal is to move legislation out of the committees by the Fourth of July and then clear the House by the August recess, setting up a fall showdown with the Senate over a final bill.

Health Care Reform will happen this year, in my opinion. The train has already left the station. In fact change is already happening. The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is now the law of the land. Health Information Technology reform is being funded by the President’s Stimulus monies. And the President will soon sign the bill to mandate tobacco regulation by the FDA. If all of us work hard, a new era can emerge. But it could also easily get derailed. It is going to be an interesting ride.

References:

• “Can Health Overhaul Heal the Economy,” by Alex Wayne of Congressional Quarterly (6/3/09).
• “Axelrod Fuels Democratic Message Machine for Health Care Overhaul,” by Drew Armstrong of Congressional Quarterly (5/13/09).

[Original Post date - June 12, 2009]

See also Behind the Links, for further info on this subject.

Blogs: My general purpose/southwest focus blog is at Southwest Progressive. My creative website is at Making Good Mondays. And Carol Gee – Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics health care reform obama congress U.S. Senate U.S. House

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“Activists and Candidates”

It takes both activists and candidates to make our political system work well. Each new era brings in new generations of both citizen categories. Matt Blizek at Democracy for America recently used that phrase in his e-mail to me. It was striking to think that we all could be trained together. That activism was used in the same breath with candidacy was a pleasing thought. To quote Matt’s piece:

When Gov. Howard Dean founded Democracy for America, he insisted that one of our core missions would be training a new generation of activists and candidates in states all across the country.

And that’s exactly what we’ve done.

The DFA Campaign Academy has trained over 10,000 activists and candidates at nearly 100 weekend trainings in 38 different states — we’re not going to stop now.

The election is over, the 111th Congress is working successfully to pass legislation, and Tuesday night our new President spoke to the Congress and to all of us about his plan for next steps. CQ Politics had the story: “Obama pledges an America ‘Stronger than Ever.” Craig Crawford’s blog Trail Mix at CQ Politics added a nice touch “Introduction inflation grips Congress.” And, like thousands of activist bloggers, a fellow member of the Political Voices of Women Blog Community covered the Presidential Address that night.

President Obama talked about the economic recovery legislation just passed by Congress And there is much more to come regarding energy, education and health care. President Obama expects a healthy national debate on reforming health care. Democrats.com has a way for citizens to “Tell Congress we want single payer health care” (2/16/09), if that is your preference. Mitch Stewart at Organizing for America, the new iteration of the Obama campaign website, now under the DNC sent an interesting e-mail on Monday that really pertains to those of us who helped get the stimulus bill passed. He said,

“Your representatives need to hear from you when they vote for the change you mandated in November. Doing what’s right can be thankless when the culture of Washington tries to make political games out of the issues that matter to everyday Americans.

You’re part of a powerful grassroots movement that can change that dynamic.

[regarding calling your legislator] Here are some suggested talking points for your call:

- I’m calling to thank [Congress member's name] for supporting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
- I’ll be watching closely online and in the news how taxpayers’ money is spent in the implementation of this Act.
- I encourage [Congress member's name] to continue working with President to lift America out of this economic crisis.

Activists also write in addition to talking to your Senators and Representatives. And we link to each other more than to newspapers, it seems. I recently found this at blogasm: “50% of links on Technorati Top 10 blogs lead to other blogs. Only 4% lead to newspapers” (2/22/09). One of the most successful bloggers, FDL’s Christy Smith wrote a piece that I highly recommend, “Bloggers as watchdogs: Liberal blogging in a Democratic administration” (2/21/09).

Activists in my state of Texas usually have our hands full. For example, ACLU of Texas supports the Fifth Circuit suit challenging the Texas legislature’s addition of the word “pray” to activities permitted during schools’ mandatory moment of silence, because it is already protected in the Constitution. In another case (2/11/09) ACLU of Texas wanted help: Please contact the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Justice and request that it conduct a full investigation of RCDC, the Reeves County Detention Center.

Reference – ProPublica introduced Change Tracker: Tracking Change in Washington (2/19/09). It “watches pages on whitehouse.gov, recovery.gov, and financialstability.gov so you don’t have to. When the White House adds or deletes anything— say a blog post, or executive order—ChangeTracker will let you know, if you sign up for the alerts.

See also Behind the Links, for further info on this subject.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics obama congress activism bloggers

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Friday the 13th

[afternoon of 2/13/09]    Friday, the 13th is President Obama’s lucky day. By all reports the so-called “stimulus package” will be voted out of the Senate late today with the minimum of 60 votes, three of whom will be rebellious Republicans. It will be lucky to pass. Democrats prevailed in the House of Representatives around noon with no Republican votes at all. Luckily the Democrats have a good sized majority in the House. President Obama is not having very good luck with the party of the Loyal Opposition. On this rocky road with this issue, bipartisanship is dead. It was, and probably still is, a lovely fantasy of President Obama’s.

Actually it was probably never a viable option for governing in these times. The economy is too scary to Republicans. At some deep level they privately realize it went south on their watch. They have nothing new to offer to governance. Too many Republicans helped redistribute the nation’s wealth upward, deregulated even more than was begun during the ’90s, lived on corporate welfare from the government, turned a blind eye to greed, cozied up with lobbyists and special interests, and just generally screwed up. This time only three Republican Senators knew how to help out the country by joining with the other party. All the rest refused to help. Bipartisanship to the majority of Republicans means “my way or hit the road.”

For the next four years, governing for Democrats will be a very rocky road. Surrounded by economic and foreign policy crises, second-guessed by the hypercritical mainstream media, rebuffed by Republicans, the Obama administration will be forced to get aid and comfort from the citizenry. Participatory democracy will be what saves the country during these trying times. Officials will have to call on all their considerable intellect, all their good faith, all their respect for the rule of law, and all the luck they can muster. Maybe the fact that this first big bill passed on Friday the 13th is a very good omen for governance by this group of fledgling statesmen and women.

See today’s Behind the Links post — “On a tough road” — for all the pertinent links to news items associated with the stimulus package, the financial stability initiative, and the still empty Cabinet seats.
My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics democrats republicans economy congress

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Transition soon to end –

Obama transition time is now less than a week. There is considerable Inaugural hope, but America is still in shock#. But everyone is moving forward and looks to be mostly on track. For example, Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog posts “The Official Photo*” (1/14/09), noting,

The official presidential photograph of Barack Obama has been released. It’s the first ever presidential portrait shot with a digital camera.

It’s the Economy, stupid — In his economic speech on January 8, President-elect Obama admits that there is so much work to be done. The nation is fearful that we are fighting off economic depression#. At the very least, as McClatchy headlines, “Recession calls up sacrifice* (1/6/09). As the first part of the new strategy, the Senate voted Thursday, 52-42 to release the second $350 billion of the TARP funds.

Confirmation votes have already begun. To track those nominations and confirmation fights, see “References” below. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted positively Thursday for Secretary of State designate, Hillary Clinton, with only one Republican dissenting, Senator Vitter. There was an interesting related article in The New Republic – The Plank: “They Are All Hillary’s Women Now*” (1/14/09). To quote Michelle Cottle’s conclusion:

Both the history and the temperament of the incoming Secretary of State suggest that she will prove a strong champion of women . . . in such straits. To be sure, Hil will have a lot on her plate. But she has always taken pains to remind us (not to mention an annoyed Chinese government) that women’s rights are human rights.

Confirmation hearings continue — La Vida Locavore headlined, regarding Governor Vilsack’s nomination to be Secretary of Agriculture and his ties to agriculture and biotechnology, “Department of odd omissions*” (1/12/09). Eric Holder’s nomination as Attorney General had much potential for fireworks until this news came through. We learned what Holder said from Yahoo! News: “Holder: Waterboarding is torture#.” There was no equivocation, no mincing words, no shading of his important legal opinion. Pundits were of the opinion that that declaration will seal his successful nomination. CQ Politics says that, “Holder Signals New Era at Justice Department, Vows Independence as Attorney General” (1/15/09). To quote further:

Attorney General-designate Eric H. Holder Jr. outlined positions on detainee treatment and presidential authority that differ starkly from those of the Bush administration during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing Thursday.

. . . “I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, waterboarding is torture,” Holder said. The statement was an unequivocal departure from the stance of Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey , who refused to make such a statement at his own 2007 confirmation hearing.

The statement has potentially significant implications for government agents who waterboarded suspected terrorists since 2001. And it is symptomatic of the new approach Obama is expected to take to the detention and treatment of suspects in the war on terrorism.

How will the new President govern? McClatchy puts it this way (1/7/09): “Move over, boomer presidents: A new generation takes charge*”. Politico says that there will be “late nights, long hours in Obama White House” (1/14/09). There is also an interesting question posed by Secrecy News (11/6/08): “The Presidential Transition and Secrecy.” The Democratic Strategist takes “Two new looks at Obama” on (1/12/09). To quote:

One, by Mike Tomasky in The Guardian, coins an interesting new phrase for Obama’s approach to the stimulus package: “indirect direction:”

. . . Meanwhile, over at New York magazine, John Heilemann takes everything ever said about Obama’s unique political appeal and ramps it up many notches in a piece that suggests he’s the first “Independent” president.

Running three governments at the same time – is what Politico calls right now, “Obama’s speed and balancing act” (1/14/09). To quote:

First is Obama’s own administration, still being assembled and facing a few rough patches a week before his Inauguration. Next is his ambitious economic recovery bill, approaching $850 billion and fast becoming a second government in its own right. Third is the leftover business of the outgoing Bush White House: what to do with the last $350 billion in a financial markets rescue fund approved a month before Obama’s election.

Finally, maintaining a Democratic Congress could prove to be a big advantage in President-elect Obama’s first full term. If President-elect Obama maintains his bipartisan, pragmatic style of trying to fix problems and get things done, he should be able to avoid a mid-term defeat at the hands of the now mostly discredited Republicans.
Additional References:

• Financial Times: “In depth coverage of the Obama transition“
• CQ Politics: “Track Obama’s Cabinet Nominees“
• ProPublica: “Gitmo Database Details 779 Prisoners’ Cases” (1/15/09)
• McClatchy: If you are thinking of turning your assets into gold heed this 24-karat advice: Beware*. (1/6/09)

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are “betmo*” and Jon#.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics presidential transition congress economy

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What will the new Congress do?

When the U.S. House and Senate come back into session in early January, it will be a changed legislative body. There will be a number of new senators and House members, for starters. And most of them will be Democrats. But will it mean a real change, or just a change of bodies? It will be interesting to observe whether Congress can listen to its better angels, or whether it will in 2009 again be business as usual.

If they are smart – Congress can easily renew the SCHIP children’s health insurance program before it expires in March 2009. It could be one of the easiest and earliest successes possible. A recent poll showed that they could even garner widespread support for covering the children of legal immigrants, according to the Congressional Quarterly. And Congress is wisely considering adding a number of other health care measures to the economic stimulus package, the Washington Post reports, a clever way to “kill two birds with one stone.”

If they are vigilant — They will continue to investigate. There are pertinent committees chaired by smart peopole with no lack of situations that cry out for the light of day, and/or legislative fixes. ProPublica’s recent investigative pieces include: Unsafe/unhealthy housing provided to Katrina victims; gaps in aviation security; as well as threats to the nation’s water supply. The economic rescue program alone could occupy a dozen committees for a dozen months. Yahoo! News spotlights the banking bailout scandal regarding huge gifts to banking execs#. Another similar story points out that there has been no overall accounting of how the banks spent# the bailout monies.

If they are patriotic – They will investigate the true nature of the loss of civil liberties in the past eight years, as chronicled by Tom Head at About.com/civil liberties. And they will investigate themselves as the peoples’ guardians of constitutional protections in the process, as the latest Glenn Greenwald post at Salon.com suggests. Jeff Schweitzer at the Huffington Post reveals just how bizarre are Dick Cheney’s recent revelations# on the administration’s blatently lawless view of a unitary presidency. Will there be any criminal prosecutions? It remains to be seen.

If they are brave — They will begin to try to bridge the partisan divide, the widest in a long time, according to a fascinating recent Congressional Quarterly study. And they should work hard to avoid intraparty divisions, that could be nudged along by spoiler Republicans, according to Politico.com.

If Congressional leaders are to be a match for our new presidential leader, they will turn over new leaves, letting go of their previously ineffectual tactics. There will be no more excuses in 2009.

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are “betmo*” and Jon#.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “personal” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics congress democratsleadership

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The Truth is still coming out

It is not a pretty picture as the Bush administration transitions out. In an interesting turn of events our current president (OCP) has taken to a bit of introspection. Do not hold your breath for miraculous self-awareness, however. Mr. Bush said, in a series of interviews filled with Freudian slips, that all the bad stuff just cannot be his fault. In the Washington Post, for example,

In the interview with ABC’s Charles Gibson, Bush also admitted to errors and regrets in several key areas. He said he wished “the intelligence had been different” on Iraq but declined to speculate on whether he still would have decided to go to war. “That is a do-over that I can’t do,” he said.

Perpetual denial has been another hallmark of the current administration.Think Progress (12/1/08) headlined, “For Nearly A Year After Recession Started, Bush White House Insisted That ‘We’re Not In A Recession’.#”  This most recent instance of avoiding the truth had rather large consequences, an almost 700 point drop in the Stock Market on Monday.  To quote:

Earlier today, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) announced that “the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007, making official what most Americans have already believed about the state of the economy.” The group, which the White House has previously pointed to as the determinative body for eclaring a recession, said in a statement that the “decline in economic activity” after Dec. ‘07 “was large enough to qualify as a recession.”

White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto commented on the news “without ever actually using the word ‘recession.’” Instead, Fratto released a statement saying the White House was focused on what they “can do for the economy right now.”

It’s not surprising that Fratto would avoid the word “recession.” Though economic analysts and experts were predicting in late 2007 and early 2008 that the U.S. economy was likely to face a recession, Fratto declared on Jan. 8, 2008, “I don’t know of anyone predicting a recession.”

Democratic leaders and lawmakers are being forced to deal with the truth. The economic meltdown persists and ever-widening ripples affect state and local circumstances. President-elect Obama is doing his part, and Congress will be getting back to work on it this week. Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was to meet with Governors association leaders to discuss their states’ needs that could be included in any possible stimulus package. The ideas include transportation and infrastructure projects that are ready to go, and help with Medicaid shortfalls. The President- and Vice-President-elect are set to meet with the Governors’ representatives today, Tuesday. If everything worked perfectly, such a multi billion dollar economic stimulus bill would land on President-elect Obama’s desk the day he takes office. Congressional Quarterly Politics has the details.

What should Congress do about the ailing auto industry? The auto executives’ last appearances before Congressional committees presented a very discouraging picture of lagging behind, staying in denial, and succumbing to greed. Committee members were not impressed and told them to come back with something reflecting a more realistic picture. Tuesday is the due date for the Big Three car makers to present their separate plans to Congress in order to receive financial aid. To quote the Politico article:

Detroit’s Big Three take center stage in Congress this week, with Democrats working to stave off bankruptcy but insisting that any government loans will be callable if a company fails to live up to the restructuring plans due Tuesday. . . . But with new unemployment numbers due Friday, the immediate priority for Democrats is keeping the companies afloat through the first quarter of 2009 and thereby buying time for the new Obama administration to get its feet on the ground and address the situation.

. . . This week’s hearings — beginning Wednesday at the Senate Banking Committee and then Friday before the House Financial Services Committee — are pivotal given the political landscape. And even if the leadership opts to press ahead with an aid package, it could become entwined with other demands by states for aid to help with food banks and health care for the poor.

Monday’s official confirmation that the nation is in recession punctuated bad economic reports for manufacturing and construction — followed by a nearly 680-point drop in the stock market.

It does not look very good for Charley Rangel.  The truth of the matter is not yet known. Because he is facing an enlarging Ethics Committee investigation for several alleged instances of wrong-doing, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi faces pressure to replace Rangel (D-NY) as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. The investigation could be settled before the end of the 110th Congress on January 3, but it is not a sure thing. Tuesday’s Politico story by John Bresnahan explores Rangel’s concerted challenge of the truthfulness of the New York Times, who recently exposed new potential Rangel ethics problems. And Republicans, of course, are all over the potential problems with Rangel.

Democrats also face their own internal divisions in Congress. Politico has a good analysis of how that the differences might play out. To quote:

With nearly complete control of Washington for the first time in three decades, Democrats are entering a treacherous power zone in which any of their priorities could easily be undone by the geographic, demographic and ideological factions that compete for supremacy within the party.

Unless Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) can whip their caucuses into unity, numerous fault lines will be revealed: Southern Democrats vs. Northern liberals on labor law; California greens vs. Rust Belt Democrats on global warming; socialized medicine adherents vs. go-slow health care reformers; anti-war liberals vs. cautious centrists on national security. And don’t forget the anti-bailout crowd vs. the powerful Michigan Democrats in both chambers when it comes to money for Detroit.

Republicans insist they will fight for their issues when they can, but they also might simply take a front-row seat to see if Democrats implode.

The truth is coming out. OCP will not change, nor will his legacy. The economic crisis will not improve very much between now and January 20. And by then, most of the money in the bailout bill will have been spent by Henry Paulson. There will be none available to help states and local governments. That must wait for a new Congress and a new president. Truthfully, the auto makers could also be forced to wait. Speaker Pelosi, rightfully, must wait for her Ethics Committee members to decide what is the truth of Rangel’s troubles. And both Senate and House leaders will have to accept the truth of how weak or strong are their law-making majorities.  It will be very interesting to watch it all play out.

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are “betmo*” and Jon#.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics bush democrats pelosi rangel congress economic crisis

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