In theory Americans should vote for leaders who best serve their interests. The middle class is the largest voting block in the country and should have the most say in electing the next president. Below, themiddleclass.org analyzes just how well the current crop of candidates has represented the bulk of the American electorate...
It is because of numbers like these that Republicans can never rely on issues based campaigning and instead relentlessly use fearmongering and Swift Boating to win elections.
The most extreme high priests of the tax cut cult operate right here in
California. Because Democrats do not hold a two-thirds majority in our
state legislature, a small minority of Republicans is able to hold
Californians hostage to a $20 billion state budget deficit, refusing to raise taxes on the super-rich.
It gets worse. Much worse. While California's future is being put in grave jeopardy, the tax cut cult is refusing to close a tax loophole for yacht and private jet owners.
Schools closing. Social services slashed to the bone. And right-wing Republicans are letting the uber-wealthy off tax-free on yacht and private jet purchases. It's no wonder the California Republican Party has been re-branded as the “Yacht Party” by the netroots.
To increase the pressure on Republicans in Sacramento to close this
yacht tax loophole, we need to make this “Yacht Party” brand stick. That's
why the Courage Campaign and California Nurses Association have just
teamed up to produce a new 60-second TV ad that strips naked the
shocking nature of the California Republican Party's priorities.
Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), the Budget Committee Chairman, uses lots of charts to discuss the deficit, debt, tax cuts, historical economic recovery, job creation, economic growth, fiscal responsibility, spending priorities, revenues, propaganda and partisanship.
He may not be a scintillating speaker but he does cover a lot of important ground in about 7 minutes.
One hopes that with all the money the wealthiest 0.6% of Americans - who received 75% of $92 Billion in savings from Bush's generous tax policies on capital gains and dividends in 2005 - were able to get themselves a sweet second or third yacht. Of course, this is a double whammy for the other 99.4% of us who not only didn't see much benefit from Bush's tax cuts but now share in the responsibility of making up those lost revenues to the government. Some more fun stats from Citizens for Tax Justice:
*Half of all tax filers (67 million Americans) reported an adjusted gross income of less than $30,000 and received virtually NONE of the benefits from the tax cuts.
*0.6% reported incomes greater than $500,000 and received tax deductions averaging $81,204 and accounted for 73.4% of the total tax savings.
*13,776 tax filers with gross incomes greater than $10 million or 0.1% of all filers, received 28.2% of the total benefits averaging $1,876,280 each!!!!!
*The number of Americans living in extreme poverty has grown 26% since 2000. In all, 37 million Americans, or about 12% of the country, now live with “low food security,” uh, poverty.
*2 out of 5 elderly Americans live on less than $18,000 a year including social security.
*Low income Americans with disabilities experienced 50% cuts in their housing programs.
*Half of all IRS audits are now conducted on Americans making less than $25,000 per year.
For more dismal statistics on the rich poor divide see one of my earlier BRAD BLOG posts.
Thankfully Bush recognizes a problem when he sees it and before leaving on his month long vacation stressed that we need a new round of corporate tax cuts to make sure US corporations stay competitive!
In all fairness, it takes huge balls and a lot of propaganda to convince anyone that what the country needs is more corporate giveaways to the rich. That is a tall order that will require great effort by Bush. And it will be essential for him to recharge his batteries over a long vacation before the big sell. And if it means that he crushes Ronald Reagan's two term vacation record with 17 months to go in office, so be it.
Plus, nobody wants to be in the Capital during the God awful month of August when temperatures regularly hit a humid 100 degrees. Perhaps it was the heat that allowed Congressional Democrats to pass the new FISA law - which seems to get worse and worse by the day - before leaving on vacation. But Washington heat ain't nothing compared to Baghdad heat, huh, Tony Snow:
“You know, it's 130 degrees in Baghdad in August.”
Which helps explain why the Iraqi parliament is taking the month off as well. Surely our troops, a record 162,000 strong in Iraq, will get the month off too, right? I mean, one suspects that with all their gear, outdoor work and combat, the misery index (weather, though both work) would be worse for our troops than say an air-conditioned Oval Office, uh, speed boat.
Actually, while George W. Bush smashes records for vacation days our troops are getting tours of duty extended from a year to 15 months. And it is a bit odd that Bush would take off so much time right before the crucial General Petreaus report on Iraq. Especially since we are amidst:
“the inescapable calling of our generation”
Oh, I almost forgot that the greater troop levels were the result of Bush's January “Surge” plan. You might recall that the new plan came after great deliberation and partying during which time hundreds of our troops lost their lives:
Ultimately Bush decided upon following neocon Fred Kagan's (fresh off a “very cool” chinook helicopter ride over the Potomac) “Surge” plan which called for an additional 50,000 troops, uh, 35,000, no, 30,000, wait, 50,000, no, 30,000, hold on, 31,500, stop, 20,000, then 35,000, oh, let's just say more troops.
But here's the thing, while Bush and the lawmakers are getting much needed R&R, our depleted troops are dying in the heat of the Iraqi desert by the droves. Long time reporters in Iraq write about the grim picture. According to our own ambassador in Iraq, electricity in Baghdad can be counted on for “an hour or two a day” which is down from six hours earlier in the year and 16-24 hours under Saddam. Even the Brits admit the Surge will not succeed.
But none of this or the rising troop deaths can dissuade the Bushies who have already kicked up the propaganda so many notches that Emeril Lagasse must be envious. Sadly, the American people continue to buy into it. And the real big propaganda push will not hit until September.
Sadly, the truth is that there is nothing that Petraeus could say that would change the course of the war. As Eugene Robinson wrote in the Washington Post:
But if you think Bush is going to care what Petraeus's report says in September, get out of the sun immediately and drink lots of water. You're delirious.
Clearly Bush will continue this unjust, horrific war until the end of his presidency. And nothing from escalating American and Iraqi body counts to American geopolitical strategy can change his decision which was made long ago. W. has even stated that his presidency will be judged on the long term outcome of Iraq. And since pulling out or significantly reducing troops is akin to failure, Bush ain't budging. In other words, he's passing the buck to the next president.
This alone is immoral and it is patently absurd that a decision of this magnitude should rest with a man with such an obvious conflict of interest. And since everyone knows this, it is also immoral for the American people to standby and leave the decision to Bush.
And that would be true even if Bush were a moral person. The fact that he is not just makes the situation that much clearer. Lest we forget that he:
*Continues to push legislation to further enrich the super wealthy at the expense of the most needy in society.
*Imposes anti-condom policies throughout Africa which has led to a remarkable rise in HIV/AIDS.
*Signed a secret executive order authorizing the policy of “extraordinary rendition” which allows the CIA to kidnap any terror suspect from anywhere in the world and transfers them to prisons to be tortured and sometimes killed in countries like Uzbekistan and Egypt.
*Invades countries under false pretenses to further enrich the military industrial complex and his corporatist cronies.
Sick. Martin Luther King Jr. had it right when he said that “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” How can anyone read that short list of transgressions above and not believe that time is now?
*In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
*When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.
*Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
*Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
*The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
We Americans like to think ourselves noble and a country that has done great things for the world. We stopped Hitler for crying out loud. Yes, but that was a couple of generations ago. And by remaining silent, this generation is burying the memory of the “Greatest Generation.” And our lack of action, for whatever reason, is as immoral as George W. Bush's action.
It is imperative that we wake-up to our faults and correct them before it is too late. For example, a glance at the two pictures below describe a world turned upside down by American military spending and penchant for war and killing:
Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
We Americans seem to be the only ones oblivious to our faults. The entire world has been telling us we are ill for some time. The general consensus around the globe is that the US is a greater threat to world peace than even Iran and North Korea! And our best friends, the Brits, believe that only Osama bin Laden is a greater threat to world peace than the United States.
We are a sick country whose leaders continue to exploit our weakness. And our continued silence is immoral. We sit silently while our government exchanged our leader of the free world status with leader of rogue nations lambast. And if the people will not stand up united and force our leaders to listen to our will, we will become the “infamous generation” whose silence enabled George W. Bush and the corporate elite to destroy the Republic.
The 104-acre $592 million US Embassy in Iraq will staff more than 1,000 people and cost $1.2 billion per year to operate.
Norman Solomon writes at AlterNet that no major presidential candidate for either party is seriously speaking about getting our military out of Iraq. Instead, we are witnessing a replay of the same lies designed to placate the populous about an eventual pullout, all the while a military buildup is in the works. Solomon writes:
Scratch the surface of current media scenarios for a U.S. pullout from Iraq, and you're left with little more than speculation -- fueled by giant dollops of political manipulation. In fact, strategic leaks and un-attributed claims about U.S. plans for withdrawal have emerged periodically to release some steam from domestic antiwar pressures.
This is the same playbook, according to Solomon, followed by the Bush administration before the 2004 election:
Nearly three years ago -- with discontent over the war threatening to undermine President Bush's prospects for a second term -- the White House ally Robert Novak floated a rosy scenario in his nationally syndicated column that appeared on Sept. 20, 2004. “Inside the Bush administration policy-making apparatus, there is strong feeling that U.S. troops must leave Iraq next year,” he wrote. “This determination is not predicated on success in implanting Iraqi democracy and internal stability. Rather, the officials are saying: Ready or not, here we go.”
The embassy will be 6 times larger than the United Nations compound in New York
The hype about leaving Iraq was b.s. then as it is now. What's of particular interest is what Solomon writes is the reason behind the half-hearted calls for withdrawal by Democratic candidates:
Those candidates know that powerful elites in this country just don't want to give up the leverage of an ongoing U.S. military presence in Iraq, with its enormous reserves of oil and geopolitical value. It's a good bet that American media and political powerhouses would fix the wagon of any presidential campaign that truly advocated an end to the U.S. war in -- and on -- Iraq.
The nearly completed US embassy monstrosity.
What this all means for Iraq and our troops in Iraq, in the run-up to the 2008 election, depends on where you sit:
The disconnect between public opinion and elite opinion has led to reverse perceptions of a crisis of democracy. As war continues, some are appalled at the absence of democracy while others are frightened by the potential of it. From the grassroots, the scarcity of democracy is transparent and outrageous. For elites, unleashed democracy could jeopardize the priorities of the military-industrial-media complex.
Unfortunately, the odds of winning the struggle for an Iraq pullout and winning back our democracy are equally bad. See the stolen elections of 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006. Thus, instead of listening to the political rhetoric and media propaganda it is imperative to look at the facts, including:
1. JOINT CAMPAIGN PLAN: recently leaked classified plan which calls for a significant American role in Iraq until at least 2009.
2. KOREA MODEL: Bush has referred to the Korea Model on multiple occasions over the last couple of months. The US has a significant military force in Korea for more than a half century.
3. PERMANENT MILITARY BASES: Despite the recent House Bill banning permanent bases in Iraq, the US continues to build huge multi-billion dollar bases. First, the House Bill only bans new bases which should hardly be a problem since the permanent bases have long been under construction. Second, if need be, the military need only call the bases, some of which are the size of small towns, “enduring” bases.
6. THE OIL: We are not going anywhere until the oil issue is settled. In other words, not until the Iraq legislators we installed feel sufficiently bribed or threatened enough to hand over the vast oil resources of their country to Exxon.
7. THE BUSH LEGACY: Sure it is a joke. Everything the Bushies have touched over the last 6 1/2 years have gone the same way as Iraq. His so-called greatest achievement, No Child Left Behind, has been disastrous for education. Hurricane Katrina. Squandering the surplus and creating a ginormous deficit. Turning world opinion against Americans. Dividing the country. Torture. Corporate giveaways. Extraordinary rendition. Gitmo. Habeas Corpus. 9/11. Osama. The point being, that Bush will go down as the worst president ever even if we were to find some face saving way out of Iraq.
But, because everyone says his legacy depends on Iraq and he clearly believes the same, what incentive does he have to throw in the towel? There might be a few people in the world willing to sacrifice their own legacy for the greater good of humanity, but Bush ain't one of them. Hell, it took the mightiest of efforts to get W. to sacrifice a single day of vacation to conduct a fly-over of the gulf region days after Hurricane Katrina hit.
8. THE EMBASSY: Like the permanent bases, the new half billion dollar plus, gigantic, architectural disgrace of an embassy (seen in the three photos above) will cost more than a billion dollars a year to run.
Thus, the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the White House plans are to continue full speed ahead in Iraq no matter what General Petraeus September progress report brings. And the lame attempts by the leading Democratic presidential candidates to put a stop to the Iraq war does suggest that, as Solomon writes, they fear what upsetting the media and elite power brokers would do to their candidacy and thus will continue to not rock the Iraq boat.
In other words, don't believe the hype heard throughout the mainstream media concerning a troop withdrawal or pullout. Because it's pure and simple propaganda.
UPDATE: Bhc has a must read post on how the Bushies are using the “liberal” media to manufacture the consent necessary for the long term presence of significant American troops in Iraq. While the entire read is a must, I particularly loved this paragraph:
Yes, this is a victorious day for the truth-seekers at Powerline and Captain's Quarters. Michele Malkin is moist. For not only has the truth about Iraq won out, it has done so by the fey hand of “liberals,” from the “liberal” Brookings Institute, and been doled out on the pages of the “liberal” New York Times, sure to be sopped up with gusto by those northeast, latte-slurping liberals. This is good, you see, because liberals run everything, which is why the US is fighting two failing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, agitating and arming for a third with Iran, sending missile defenses to Europe to piss off the Russians in the hopes of ramping up a new cold war, sending arms to Saudi Arabia, backing the brutal actions of Ethiopian government troops in Ethiopia and Somolia, and arming rebels in Darfur. If liberals weren't in charge, why, imagine the bliss. But I digress.
UPDATE II: Pentagon Announces 20,000 more troops headed to Iraq
Nearly 20,000 U.S. troops based in the United States will begin departing for Iraq in December as part of the regular rotation of combat forces there, the Defense Department announced Tuesday. These Army and Marine Corps units are not related to the buildup of American troops announced by President Bush in January, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
America's super-rich have returned to the days of the Roaring Twenties. As the rest of the country struggles to get by, a huge bubble of multi-millionaires lives almost in a parallel world. The rich now live in their own world of private education, private health care and gated mansions. They have their own schools and their own banks. They even travel apart - creating a booming industry of private jets and yachts. Their world now has a name, thanks to a new book by Wall Street Journal reporter Robert Frank which has dubbed it 'Richistan'. There every dream can come true. But for the American Dream itself - which promises everyone can join the elite - the emergence of Richistan is a mixed blessing. 'We in America are heading towards 'developing nation' levels of inequality. We would become like Brazil. What does that say about us? What does that say about America?' Frank said.
In 1985 there were just 13 US billionaires. Now there are more than 1,000. In 2005 the US saw 227,000 new millionaires being created. One survey showed that the wealth of all US millionaires was $30 trillion, more than the GDPs of China, Japan, Brazil, Russia and the EU combined.
The rich have now created their own economy for their needs, at a time when the average worker's wage rises will merely match inflation and where 36 million people live below the poverty line. In Richistan sums of money are rendered almost meaningless because of their size. It also has other names. There is the 'Platinum Triangle' used to describe the slice of Beverly Hills where many houses go for above $10m. Then there is the Jewel Coast, used to describe the strip of Madison Avenue in Manhattan where boutique jewellery stories have sprung up to cater for the new riches' needs. Or it exists in the MetCircle society, a Manhattan club open only to those whose net worth is at least $100m.
Do yourself a favor and watch all of these videos. Then do the country a favor and forward them to everyone you know. The first video begins with investigative reporter Greg Palast who explains the entire US Attorney scandal so that anyone can understand. He also explains how John Kerry defeated Bush in 2004, how Bush stole the election and how the Republicans plan to steal the election in 2008. Palast also reveals that he has 500 of the “missing” Karl Rove emails which he obtained when Bushies sent email to a bush .org account instead of .com. Palast is great and you will definitely understand the Bush administration a lot better having watched.
But as good as Palast is, RFK Jr. is just incredible. I've never seen him speak so well. While he uses a conversational style, I felt he gave one of the better speech/talks I've heard in many moons. His deep understanding of almost every issue across the board was reminiscent of Bill Clinton. And, perhaps most impressive was the moral authority and leadership qualities RFK has aplenty. And I could not help but think of his father.
Part 1
Part 2: Some Karl Rove E-mails even included caging lists which the GOP illegally used to deprive minorities and the military from voting. Over 3 million votes in 2004 were not counted.
Part 3: Iraq plan about oil with goal of raising oil prices. Oil profits have skyrocketed. Patriot Act.
Part 4: Greg Palast announces that he put his book in the public domain so that it can be spread around at little cost. Education is the key.
Part 5 - ABSOLUTELY MUST WATCH!!! RFK begins by blowing up the myth that the Bush administration is conservative. The only thing conservative about Bush, et al
Part 6 -Two big failures of our Democracy are the corporate money that goes into elections and the failure of the media. The beginning of the end for the media was Reagan's abolition of the Fairness Doctrine in 1988.
Part 7 - Americans most entertained and least informed in the world. Studies show that Republicans have a huge information deficit the result of watching Fox “News” and listening to conservative talk radio.
Part 8 - Heads of Departments throughout the government are all former lobbyist. Corporations are running the American government. Capitalism is very different than crony capitalism. Corporations, by law, must plunder. Many famous Americans, ex-president's have warmed that corporations and fascism could be our downfall.
