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Lazy Journalists: Kill the Poor
I met this woman at a peace vigil the other night and admired her t-shirt. I read my weekend newspaper stories, and then had time to look at some commentary. It didn't take long to substantiate the message on her t-shirt! I wanted to share this piece by Ted Rall, one of my favorite alternative cartoonists. Consider that this "study" by the Heritage Foundation was dutifully and unquestioningly reported by major news media.
KILL THE POOR
Phony Poverty Study Fools Lazy Journalists
NEW YORK--They're baaack! Once again the Heritage Foundation is mangling statistics to whitewash the ugly facts of life in Republican-run America.
Last time, in 2005, they attacked the image of U.S. soldiers as cannon fodder being exploited for Halliburton. Au contraire, claimed the conservative propaganda mill. American troops, they said were actually "wealthier, more educated and more rural than the average" citizen. Of course, this wasn't true. "Military personnel are poorer and less educated" than the average Joe, I found when I took a closer look. Heritage's soldier study used junk logic and apples-to-oranges statistics to promote the GOP's wars against Iraq and Afghanistan. And it worked.
The lazy men who run the big newspapers and TV networks, deluded into believing there are two sides to every story, dutifully repeated Heritage's lies. They never questioned a word. More soldiers died. The Heritage story made us feel less guilty about it.
Now Heritage is telling us that there are no poor people--very few, anyway, and then only for short periods of time--in the United States. The truth is that capitalism is failing millions of Americans. The less we think about the problem, the less we think it is a problem, the worse it will become.
The pseudoacademic demagogues of the right want us to distrust our own eyes. Panhandlers? "Homeless by choice" urban campers, Ronald Reagan, patron saint of modern Republicanism, called them. Single mothers? He said they were "welfare queens." Americans who live in the sprawling slums of the inner cities, the washed-up Walmarted Main Streets of the farm belt, and the scary barred-window suburbs of California and Georgia and Illinois? They're living large, says the Heritage Foundation in a "study" whose dubious findings have already been reprinted--completely unquestioned, as usual--by hundreds of newspapers read by millions of gullible subscribers.
The Census Bureau says that 36.5 million Americans--one in eight--are poor. But "if poverty means a lack of nutritious food, adequate warm housing, and clothing for a family, then very few of the people identified as living 'in poverty' would, in fact, be characterized as poor," says Heritage's Robert Rector. "The typical person defined as 'poor' by the Census has cable or satellite TV, air conditioning, a microwave, a DVD player or VCR, and two color TVs."
No doubt, poor people in a technologically advanced nation like the United States don't live as minimally as those in undeveloped states like Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, on the other hand, a middle-class American homeowner would be spectacularly wealthy. A man worth $500,000 could become a warlord. There are no Afghan billionaires. Poverty is relative.
Even the claim that gadget ownership is incompatible with true poverty doesn't hold up: Rector refers to "a DVD player or VCR." But VCRs are antiquated, a decade out of date. It's like saying that someone who owns "a computer or a typewriter" isn't poor.
"Poor Americans living in houses or apartments, on average, have more living space per person than does the average citizen living in European countries such as England, France and Germany," the Heritage study asserts. There's a footnote--but the source material doesn't include figures for per-capita housing density in Europe. (As far as I can tell, such data doesn't exist.) Even if it's true, though, it's a factoid without a point. Europe, urbanized for the past 2000 years, has an overall higher population density than we do--yet enjoys the world's highest standard of living.
The more you think about Heritage's BS, the worse it gets.
(story continues below)
"Three quarters of these 'poor'"--note the quotes--own a car," Rector continues. Are those cars in good working order, or up on blocks? He doesn't say--but there's a difference.
"When asked, [the typical 'poor person'] reports that his family was able to obtain medical care whenever needed during the past year," he continues. True--sorta. Uninsured people often rely on hospitals, enduring long waits and high fees for substandard care rendered by harried emergency room staffers. Hospitals are legally obligated to treat them--but it's hardly a workable system. Many poor (and middle class) people put off going to the doctor as long as possible.
Then there's this sparkling gem of compassion: "Some poor families," admits Rector, "do experience a temporary food shortage, a condition touted as 'hunger' by activists. But even this condition is relatively rare: 89 percent of the poor report their families always have 'enough' food to eat, while only 2 percent say they 'often' do not have enough to eat."
"Temporary food shortage." If that isn't hunger, what is? "Very simply," says the U.S. Department of Agriculture, "hunger is defined as the uneasy or painful sensation caused by lack of food. When we talk about hunger in America, we refer to the ability of people to obtain sufficient food for their household. Some people may find themselves skipping meals or cutting back on the quality or quantity of food they purchase at the stores. This recurring and involuntary lack of access to food can lead to malnutrition over time."
Economists consider a society's infant mortality rate to be the most reliable indicator of its citizens' quality of life, and the prevalence of poverty. The United States has the second-worst infant morality rate in the industrialized world--behind Latvia, tied with Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia. Western Europe--France, Germany, etc.--kicks our national ass. The poverty rate for American children under 18 was 21.9 percent in 2006, the highest in the developed world.
Upwardly mobile Americans can escape poverty numerous ways--by, for example, earning a college scholarship. But we also suffer a lot of downward mobility, typically after losing a job. "While in any given year 12 to 15 percent of the population is poor," says Michael Zweig, author of "What's Class Got To Do With It, American Society in the 21st Century" (2004), "over a ten-year period 40 percent experience poverty in at least one year because most poor people cycle in and out of poverty."
Even the Heritage Foundation concedes that some poverty exists in this best of all possible laissez faire worlds. But, they argue in the finest tradition of blame-the-victim, it's "self-inflicted, a result of poor decisions and self-defeating behaviors."
Poor Americans, they say, have a "weak work ethic." The evidence: "The typical poor family with children is supported by only 800 hours of work during a year--16 hours per week. "If work in each family were raised to 2,000 hours per year--the equivalent of one adult working 40 hours per week throughout the year--nearly 75 percent of poor children would be lifted out of official poverty." This assumes that poor parents live in a magical job market where they can work as many hours as they please--a condition that would only exist with zero percent unemployment.
"Father absence is another major cause of child poverty," says Heritage's poverty study. True. "Nearly two-thirds of poor children reside in single-parent homes; each year, an additional 1.3 million children are born out of wedlock." Again true. The conservative solution: "If poor mothers married the fathers of their children, almost three-quarters would immediately be lifted out of poverty." Stupid welfare queens! Why do they refuse to marry the fathers of their children?
A cat or dog understands hunger. The fact that we have to have this discussion demonstrates the success of the right in redefining basic terms--and the failure of the press to question it.
(see http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucru/20070905/cm_ucru/killthepoor
(Ted Rall is the author of the new book "Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East?," an in-depth prose and graphic novel analysis of America's next big foreign policy challenge.)
Excellent thread header Slugbug.
The right (um wrong) has been successful in blaming the victim as you point out. However, I'd like to point out that a college graduate today, is likely to graduate more than 60k in debt. They will have 20 different loans and they will likely graduate to a minimum wage job.
The student loan companies are loan sharks.
Yet this is truly a catch 22. If you go to college to 'make a better life for yourself' you still may not be able to find a job that keeps you out of poverty.
Where I live, I can't tell you how many people with Master degrees work at our books stores for just slightly above minimum wage.
The fact is that the media has highlighted the 'welfare queens' and our own bigotry has allowed the frame to persist. But will that frame persist now that more and more college graduates are seeing their hard work and their debt levels have not paid off?
This is the first generation where our children may not do as well as we did.
Is that the only thing that will blow the Heritage's frame into smithereens?
Monday Moanin' Limbo Contest
How loathe can ya go?
How loathe can ya go?
Everybody!
How loathe can ya go?
How loathe can ya go?
I heard that Rumsfeld and Rice will probably go to work at a conservative thinktank, on Stanford campus but I don't think it's truly connected with the University. To think that Joan Baez's ex was once student body President there .. those guys probably would have been run out on a rail by the students.
Speaking of student loans, there was a time when the government helped capable but poor students. My only loan was $1200 at 3% interest and the rest was Pell grants, Work/Study, an Office of Education Grant, Teaching Assistantship, Research Assistant and Post-Doc, so that I went to school from 1970-1976, worked for a year and got my Certificate of Clinical Competence, worked for a year on a federally-funded CETA (Comprehensive Education Training Act, under the maligned Jimmy Carter) and gained in-state tuition after a move, then went to school from 1978-1985. That is 15 years, paying only $1200, aka "professional student."
That would not happen today.
I can go pretty low on the loathing.
Right now I just heard Jack Cafferty (who I adore) but he's Stephanie's future husband so I shouldn't say that...
Anyways, Jack and Stephanie spoke about the funding coming up. Of course the wise suggestion is to tie in the funding with a withdrawal date. But both agree that the Dems will fold. They also spoke of not needing 60 votes as the Dems claim.
I called Pelosi's office (again) and asked why impeachment hearings aren't beginning. The response: "no comment."
So there you go.
That's how loathe I can go.
Posted by: not my president at September 10, 2007 11:00 AM
I know someone who got a full scholarship to NWU. Of course it wasn't an academic scholarship it was an athletic one.
Which goes to show you that sports pay more than brains.
But we knew that, didn't we?!
I guess I was a "welfare queen" - today I would probably have to join up with the military for life to get any help from the government. That may be a big part of how they get people in.
From Crooks and Liars...today's 'action' alert:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/09/09/south-african-paper-reports-petraeus-told-troops-surge-has-not-worked-out-as-we-had-hoped/
General Petraeus will be testifying to Congress Monday. Tell your Congressman to ask him about this:
General David Petraeus, the commander of United States forces in Iraq, admitted on Friday that sending 30 000 more troops into the war zone in January had failed to yield the desired results. “It has not worked out as we had hoped,” the general said.[..]
“Many of us had hoped this summer would be a time of tangible political progress at the national level,” Petraeus wrote. “All participants, Iraqi and coalition alike, are dissatisfied by the halting progress on major legislative initiatives,” he wrote.
Though he seems to be saying something different to the press:[..]
“Based on the progress our forces are achieving, I expect to be able to recommend that some of our forces will be redeployed without replacement,” he told the Boston Globe by email on Friday…. “Few of these political solutions would have been possible without the improved security provided by coalition and Iraqi forces.”
Sparrow
Sports scholarships are still the easiest to get.
& programs are being designed now for the elite. They have to pay through the nose or borrow in the triple digits.
If I were a young person today, I'm not sure I'd go to college. It wouldn't be that I wouldn't want the perks, but that I didn't want the overhead.
It took my son seven years to get a double BA (3 community colleges, 2 universities) because he had to work the whole time. The tuition and books alone was outrageous, even in-state.
& he's still working at the bakery, for now. He says that he probably will never be able to own a house, and most kids he knows are delaying marriage, kids etc. and living in single rooms that take more than half their earnings or packing in like sardines to afford the rent, or moving home at least temporarily.
Oh and he doesn't have health insurance. His employer is small and can't afford it, he can't afford it on his own, we can't afford it. He is a college graduate with middle class college-educated home-owning parents and he is uninsured. So are both of my brothers and their families.
We belong to an HMO and my mother joined one too, rather than participate in Bush's Medicare Part D. So we will relinguish our Medicare to the HMO and they will decide how it is spent but it's less money out of pocket each month. It's fine unless something serious happens and then it's a crapshoot, up to some bureaucrat bean counter. & if my son should be in a car accident, there goes our life savings and house. Need to figure something out.
This is modern America.
So there you go.
That's how loathe I can go.
Posted by: sparrow at September 10, 2007 11:00 AM
Weight'loathe, Dr. Theuth!
Student loans for past 2 years of school-subsidied curr rate 6.02%, unsubsidized rate 6.89%.
And they will vary.
Which goes to show you that sports pay more than brains.
Posted by: sparrow at September 10, 2007 11:02 AM
Absolutely true. :(
today I would probably have to join up with the military for life to get any help from the government.
Posted by: not my presidentq at September 10, 2007 11:03 AM
At least they (the conservatives) consider the military to be "hard work" rather than a "government handout."
I'm lucky to have paid off my student loans by age 29. But then, I had to give up graduate school, live with my parents, and sink every extra penny into paying off the loan.
Agreed with NMP's son - with the real estate prices the way they are, it'll be extremely difficult to afford a house for me too. Sure, there are ex-urban places that I *may* be able to afford several years from now, but ex-urban areas in SoCal, as everyone knows, are too red for me.
I've also decided that short of moving to Canada, I will never have health insurance.
Truly, Generations X and Y are doomed to be worse off than their parents.
But then, Generation Y bought into Britney Spears' virginity pledge and other moralistic crap, and voted for W in droves after the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. So they deserve some of it.
One more thing to add -
The Republicans' strong opposition to equality for everyone means that discrimination becomes quasi-legal and rampant for many.
I went bankrupt 6 years ago due to rampant workplace discrimination. I had no income - not because I was lazy, but because nobody would let me work.
8 years of Reagan and 12 years of both Bushes have been a total disaster for the American people. This is why I am voting for a Dem next year for President, even if the choice turns out to be Hillary (as satisfactory as her husband - in other words, not very much).
Oh. Slugbug,
I love the photo and the way the light played off of the girl and her shirt. Maybe accidental, but the use of shadows and light seem to represent truth and lies and how the words "Abc...B.S" is in the light.
(Of course, I can't tell what the bottom half of her shirt says.)
Ally, pick 2 colors.
If you cant decide, just tell me what colors you decorated your living room.
More loathing...
Stephanie Miller is playing the other September anniversary. The words spoken on September 8, 2002. The day(s) the "four horsemen" rolled out the lies for support of attacking Iraq.
In another deja vu, it crests this week with more propaganda from Petraeus.
Now she's reading from Rich's article.
Sparrow, me too, love the pic but can not see exactly what it says.
Posted by: Christy at September 10, 2007 11:53 AM
baby blue and olive green.
You know I'd never pick any shade of red (except, maybe, pink, in honor of CodePink)!
What are these colors for, anyway? :)
The cost of living in the cities is out of reach for most single middle working class citizens. Ally, during the huge slump (recession that felt more like depression) during 2000 right after George got in, this country's economy was awful. I worked in a travel/real estate industry and our office that had been full of people and thriving the summer before, was dead as a doornail. People were calling in to sell their property, but there were no buyers.
They laid people off, little by little as it got worse. I was one of the last to get laid off, but I noticed that other than the sales staff, most of us in the corporation that were over fifty got laid off, and they kept the twenty to forty year olds. So that is age discrimination, and can be as devastating as other discrimination, so I understand what you mean.
Younger people in a corporation have almost 1/3 the cost to the corporation for their share of their health insurance. They laid one poor guy off in management who was over fifty and had just found out his wife had cancer. It was a terrible time.
I have relatives older than me who are STILL paying off their student loans, I think my son got his paid off, if he did he is one of the lucky ones.
You are absolutely correct about people in the cities renting rooms for over half their monthly salaries, plus they have to pay half the utilities too, which, in Reno, are four times higher than they are here.
The thing that bugs me about it the most is that by lying about it in their propaganda, not only are they hurting people financially, physically (medical), but also emotionally. My younger son feels like a failure because he doesn't have enough to buy a home, and doesn't want to live with his parents, so he gets a roommate, but it has really done a number on his self esteem. It has done that to millions of people who hear the lies and think that there is something wrong with "them" as to why they can't have a higher standard of living. The lies hurt people emotionally and psychologically as much as they do physically and in every other way.
VOTE FOR MY YOU TUBE VIDEO!!!!
HERE:
http://proctoringcongress.blogspot.com/
My Video: WHAT conversation?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFFpv3_rUGU
Description: The "lack" of conversation at Hillary Clinton's You Tube website. Very strange indeed.............
Here are the choices:
Campaign Video Of The Week -- September 8, 2007
September 8 -- War For Peace : Big Brother Takes On Iran !!!
September 7 -- A Letter To New Hampshire
September 6 -- Change
September 5 -- WHAT conversation*!*!*!*!*
September 4 -- Senator John Edwards' Memorial Day Message
_________________
btw: If my video wins, it becomes campaign video of the week!!!! whoopee!!!
Posted by: TSP at September 10, 2007 01:37 PM
That slump you're talking about had much to do with 9/11. And, also, the bursting of the Silicon Valley bubble, which had kept the economy red-hot during the Clinton years (you can hardly blame Clinton, or even W, for the bubble bursting though).
It was horrible. That's when I was forced to leave the San Francisco Bay Area myself, and relocate to the Red State of Arizona (big mistake on my part).
One thing I've learned: you can pass all the anti-discrimination laws you want (and there ARE laws against discrimination based on age or gender), but as long as the state has an at-will employment law, the anti-discrimination laws are meaningless, as the employer can use any other reason (or no reason at all) to fire you.
California is an at-will state thanks to the southern conservatives; the northern liberals can pass all the anti-discrimination laws they want, but they are useless. And not only do the employees hate that, but the employers too, as the employee can always leave at will, a poor reward for all the investment a business puts into its employees.
I make $60K per year salary, plus engineering fees based on my projects, so I can theoretically make $80K+ per year. But I still find it difficult to rent my own place - it's either my parents' place (in a reactionary neighborhood) or a roommate, even with my not-so-low income. And here in Los Angeles, a "you are what you drive" society, much of this income goes to an obscenely expensive luxury import car - I drive a BMW 3-series, and it's considered an *economy car* in my neighborhood. (I'm downgrading to VW next time, however - the pop culture be damned.)
And as we talked before, bringing in immigrants BEYOND the job market's ability to absorb them has only hurt the workers more, and crashed wages. It's especially true of construction industry in SoCal, where people who once used to get $30/hr easily now must live on $10/hr. Only white unionized guys on government construction projects get $30/hr anymore, and the way W is leading things, their days are numbered. Perhaps we need to change the focus of immigration, so that instead of having immigrants take American jobs, have them CREATE new American jobs; the Canadians have such an immigration policy, and it works.
Ally
My Beetle has 105,000 miles on it now and I'd buy another again.
Seven U.S. troops die in Iraq vehicle accident
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Seven U.S. troops were killed near Baghdad early Monday in a vehicle rollover accident, U.S. officials said.
Officials do not believe any hostile fire was involved. The location and name of the unit were not available as officials attempted to notify next of kin.
The U.S. military also said that a Task Force Lightning soldier died Sunday from injuries caused by rocket fire during a patrol in the northern Tameem province.
The number of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq war stands at 3,770, including seven civilian employees of the Defense Department.
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/10/iraq.main/index.html
Roll Over Bait Oven
We belong to an HMO and my mother joined one too, rather than participate in Bush's Medicare Part D. So we will relinguish our Medicare to the HMO and they will decide how it is spent but it's less money out of pocket each month. It's fine unless something serious happens and then it's a crapshoot, up to some bureaucrat bean counter. & if my son should be in a car accident, there goes our life savings and house. Need to figure something out.
This is modern America.
Posted by: not my president at September 10, 2007 11:10 AM
So there you go, and we still have idiots, here in Australia who will bitch about our hospitals, Can't talk about the hospital system in other States, but in Queensland your penniless, and in need of hospitalisation and surgery you get it.
As I said in the last Link, let the ones bitching about our hospitals head over to America, then they will have something to bitch about.
pATREUS AND CROCKER HEARING:
Code Pink people are being arrested right and left... it looks like the "report" is going to be a whitewash - "we are makin' progress, good progress"
BTW is anyone blogging this hearing?
My Beetle has 105,000 miles on it now and I'd buy another again.
Posted by: not my president at September 10, 2007 02:54 PM
Already? It looked fairly newish to me when I saw it last year...
I once hesitated about the Beetle because of its Mexican origins (and Mexico is pretty darn homophobic), but if I can have real homophobes (BMW, Honda, Hyundai, etc) in my garage, then a VW shouldn't be a problem. I'm looking at something larger though - like a Passat.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Seven U.S. troops were killed near Baghdad early Monday in a vehicle rollover accident, U.S. officials said.
Posted by: monkey at September 10, 2007 03:11 PM
Think they'll be counted amongst the dead, after all their vehicle rolled, they didn't lose a couple of legs, an arm, their brains blown aways.
Don't forget it's Georgie counting here, and we all know he fixes the numbers.
One day, you will have to come paint with me. Under both our flags.
Posted by: Christy at September 10, 2007 09:20 AM
Good pussycat, give him a hug for me, I'll get over there still have'nt been to New Orleans yet, but you'll have to fix it for me before I come. Yu do the painting though, I'll sit back and do the drinking and admiring, I'm a lousy artist.
Posted by: Ralpheh at September 10, 2007 03:53 PM
AFAIK it *is* a whitewash... not surprising.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Donald Rumsfeld served as President Bush's Secretary of Defense for six years, but he told GQ magazine he doesn't miss his old boss and the two now rarely talk.
In an issue set to hit the newsstands on Sept. 25, Rumsfeld tells the magazine he still likes Bush but can't recall the last time he spoke with the president.
And asked directly if he misses the president, Rumsfeld told the Magazine, "Um, no."
But Rumsfeld offered Bush praise, and claimed that he is a victim of the media not giving him enough credit in a similar fashion that previous Republican presidents have had to endure.
"Just think, in my lifetime, the Republican presidential candidates: Dwight D. Eisenhower, considered to be a bumbler, bad syntax. Gerald Ford, the best athlete they had in decades, and they called him a stumblebum and demeaned him and made fun of him. Said he wasn't smart, which he was. He'd gone to Michigan, he'd gone to Yale Law School. I mean… And Ronald Reagan. You read his diaries now, and the man is remarkable — and yet he was dismissed as a movie actor and not very smart.”
Rumseld added, "So, I mean the fact that President Bush is demeaned is no different than Eisenhower or Ford or Reagan. And the fact that people believe that to be the case is not a surprise when they're told it day in, day out, by the, uh, eastern media."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/09/10/rumsfeld-on-whether-he-misses-bush-no/
Posted by: monkey at September 10, 2007 05:01 PM
Hogwash! Eisenhower was not demeaned. Reagan was an actor, and some people even liked his acting but his diaries are no better than mine. And in terms of Bush, I'm smarter than him when I'm stone cold drunk (which means 3 sips of wine).
So I think Rummy is just a liar.
But then we already knew that, didn't we?!
baby blue and olive green.
You know I'd never pick any shade of red (except, maybe, pink, in honor of CodePink)!
What are these colors for, anyway? :)
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at September 10, 2007 12:11 PM
Excellent choice.
What for? Not exactly sure yet, I'm thinking, but when I come back for your street addy, it should be ready to ship.
Rossi, yes, you do the drinking. I always enjoy getting fallen catholics drunk. They say the most interesting things.
Ralpheh,
I couldn't live blog that hearing today; I was teaching. I'll get the skinny later on from the Code Pinkers.
Right now we are heading up to campus to see a film on how the media spins the war. Deja vu sensations already kicking in...
Mexico Dynamite Truck Explosion Kills 34
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070910/mexico-truck-explosion/
PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico — A dynamite-laden truck exploded after colliding with another vehicle on a busy highway in northern Mexico's coal country, killing at least 34 people, including three reporters at the scene, state and federal officials said.
Authorities said the two vehicles crashed into each other Sunday evening, drawing a crowd of curious onlookers as well as a small army of police, soldiers, emergency officials and journalists.
Shortly after the crowd arrived, the wreckage caught fire, and the dynamite exploded, sending a ball of fire into the sky that consumed nearby cars and left a 10-by-40 foot crater in the concrete, said Maximo Alberto Neri Lopez, a federal police official.
He said more than 150 people were injured.
The explosion raised further questions about the safety of Mexican trucks.
This weekend, Mexico began sending its first tractor-trailers across U.S. territory under a long-delayed, NAFTA-mandated program. Before, Mexican trucks were limited to 25-mile zone along the border.
Many in the U.S. fought the change, arguing that Mexican trucks are unsafe.
Randy Grider, editor of Truckers News magazine, however, said Mexican trucks with hazardous materials aren't included in the new program.
So I think Rummy is just a liar.
But then we already knew that, didn't we?!
Posted by: sparrow at September 10, 2007 05:16 PM
Rummy once said that he doesn't know high culture because he was raised in Chicago, not exactly a high-culture city according to him.
Every Chicagoan I know, including those here, is enraged by those remarks.
Rummy should truly go Cheney himself.
Posted by: rossiann at September 10, 2007 06:00 PM
NAFTA has allowed Canadian trucks on US highways for years; I don't mind them, because Canadian trucks are safe, and the drivers are very well-treated. But Mexican trucks are a different story.
American truck drivers have been struggling for a while - they've been steadily losing their union representation, for starters.
W's opening up American highways to Mexican trucks is to exploit the Mexican drivers, who are paid only a fraction of the American drivers' wages, and destroy the American trucking industry. This also will probably win a few Latino votes.
But then, since most truckers I see on the road, at least here in Red California, are heavily pro-W and anti-choice, they probably deserve to starve.
And here's another point I need to make...
The free trade that W believes in is about the free movement of goods, which destroys jobs and fattens the coffers of only a select few, and NOT about the free movement of people, which enriches all societies involved.
And this is why I am opposed to free trade agreements that W has been negotiating. I'm especially incensed about the free trade agreement that nobody knows about - the secret one South Korea's neoliberal government imposed on the US.
Rossi, yes, you do the drinking. I always enjoy getting fallen catholics drunk. They say the most interesting things.
Posted by: Christy at September 10, 2007 05:29 PM
Have'nt been drunk in 15 years since Nats engagement and 21st when the kids tripled my bicardi shots, man I was out of it that night kids got the pics to show me.
And I don't believe I am a fallen Catholic, I still have my faith, I just don't believe in priests molesting children, and the church covering up their sins, bloody born again Presidents who are mass murderers, and the church in Rome that invites a mass murderer through its doors, I was in Rome and had an audience with the pope, and it makes me want to puke thinking that Georgie even got through the gates.
Anyhow always got Kevvie saying plenty of Hail Marys to get me through the Pearly Gates, just as long as I don't have to be in the vicinity of any of the hypocritical thugs in the White House, otherwise I think Hell would be preferrable.
Posted by: rossiann at September 10, 2007 06:16 PM
Rossi, I share your disgust for the church in Rome.
And it's also why the BMW that I drive now will be my last one. BMW is a major supporter of the Pope and his policies.
Posted by: Christy at September 10, 2007 05:29 PM
Christy,
Just to let you know that I don't have a safe place to receive mail, especially from "left-wing wackos" like DCP members.
I'll figure something out though...
Thanks for your offer though.
Unfrikingbelievable
US TO BUILD BASE ON IRAN BORDER
The Pentagon is preparing to build a base near the Iraq-Iran border in an effort to stem the flow of "advanced Iranian weaponry" to Shiite militants in Iraq, according to Monday's edition of the Wall Street Journal.
"The push also includes construction of fortified checkpoints on the major highways leading from the Iranian border to Baghdad and the installation of X-ray machines and explosives-detecting sensors at the only formal border crossing between Iran and Iraq," the Journal said.
The move comes amid continuing reports of US plans to strike Iran and several weeks after a RAW STORY report which signaled that the US had shifted its focus from Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program to its alleged shipment of IEDs across the Iraq-Iran border as the principal rationale in selling a possible attack.
http://rawstory.com//news/2007/Pentagon_plans_base_along_Iran_border_0910.html
Ret. USMC General: Occupation of Iraq appears permanent
http://rawstory.com//news/2007/Gen._Jones_US_Occupation_of_Iraq_0909.html
At the Iraq hearing:
TWO SLAM-DOWNS BY CONGRESSPEOPLE:
1) A Congressman (I didn't get his - black hair with a big bushy black moustache) pulled out an Op-Ed by Patraues from 3 years ago saying that things were going very well in Iraq. Soldiers and police were being trained, the government was being rebuilt etc... The Congressman says since you were so wrong then, why should anyone belief you today?
2) Rep. Loretta Sanchez got a hold of a BBC/ABC poll of Iraqis which revealed that the Iraqis felt no more secure after the surge than before the surge. Crocker was caught unaware - he had not seen or heard of the poll.
There was lots of tough questioning - Congressmen did not like much of their testimony. It is yet another open-ended, blank check, no timeline, endless commitment. I am going to start calling it the "occupation".
otherwise I think Hell would be preferrable.
Posted by: rossiann at September 10, 2007 06:16 PM
not to mention a killer house band...
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at September 10, 2007 06:08 PM
A diary at kos about the Senate vote on the new Mexican Truck Crossing Pilot Program.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/10/133239/604
My own personal side note:
It's not only the trucker's wages at stake. Think about our ports. Don't the union people unloading the ships earn around $25/hour? How much nice would it be for those imports from China to be dropped in a Mexican port, taken off the ship for 7 bucks and then transported into the US for cents/mile instead of dollars/mile!
A win win for the corporations using slave labor overseas then racking up the money from Mexican workers.
Also, think about the trade tarrifs. Right now, there is no tax (tarrif) to bring the merchandise in, whether it comes from Asia or Mexico, so they'd just as well spend a little to save a lot by dumping them in the Mexican ports.
Swear him in.” That’s all I said in the unusual silence this afternoon as first aid was being administered to Gen. David Petraeus’s microphone at the hearing before the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees."
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/091007a.html
(Ray McGovern)
They refused to let Rev. Yearwood into the hearing because he wore a "I love Iraq" pin. Then watch what the police do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiradcejA6o
This is very upsetting.
not to mention a killer house band...
Posted by: monkey at September 10, 2007 08:44 PM
Ahahahahahaha
The student loan companies are loan sharks.
Posted by: sparrow at September 10, 2007 10:08 AM
Perhaps Howard's vision was taking us to this point sparrow. He was trying to impress his very close friend, the American President, and he kept taking from the poor. I'm so glad that he doesn't have more than 3 months left to rule. Most likely 1 month.
Our students are able to get their tertiary studies loan from the federal government and it doesn't have to be repaid until the income they are earning after completing the studies, reaches about $40,000AUD. It's called HECS (Higher Education Contribution Scheme) and perhaps for this, and for Health Care, the American governments should start looking at better ways demonstrated by our little country Down Under. HECS is also means tested so only those in need (almost all students) qualify.
Loan Sharks and Insurance companies are together with Real Estate people and Used Car dealers in terms of being rotten from the core out.
That would not happen today.
Posted by: not my president at September 10, 2007 11:00 AM
Right nmp. I actually got paid to go to Teachers' College. And the rest of the degrees were still free, so it was easy.
I don't know how I've managed to sit through this entire News Hour. Hooray! Hooray! There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that when we do leave Iraq, we will have won. In the Fall. A Democrat said, It is not possible to WIN an OCCUPATION! That was ignored of course.
There was no other reference to Occupation. Just al Qaeda being in Iraq preparing to attack America when they go home. Even when it was stated that al Qaeda was not in Iraq until America took them there, that was ignored as easily as the word OCCUPATION was ignored and bulldozed.
People need to let General Petreus know that he HAD an unblemished record until he came home with NO support for overworked, overstretched, traumatised troops. Just more of the same trauma. Now, his record IS BLEMISHED!!
To have done what his CIC said - the disclaimer didn't sound at all sincere - he sounded as though he was trying to get the majority of people to believe his words were not those of the most dangerous man in this world. His boss.
If it wasn't tragic it would be funny.
If it wasn't tragic it would be funny.
Posted by: woz at September 11, 2007 03:54 AM
Isn't that the truth.
Another difference between our 2 country's governments is that In Australia, like the UK, the Prime Minister can actually be tossed out by another politician within his/her party who has aspirations and who also has the numbers - 51% of the votes in the challenge.
It's happened a few times, the most recent being on 20th December 1991 when Prime Minister Bob Hawke had to stand down for our new Prime Minister - Paul Keating. Keating was Australia's treasurer throughout Hawke's reign.
Right now there are rumblings in the government for John Howard's treasurer to challenge him for the leadership and become Prime Minister before the election. The election has to be called 30 days before the 19th January 2008. Prime Minister Huff'n'Puff Howard's days are numbered with or without a party room challenge. The only person people like less than Howard is Costello - the only likely challenger.
General’s long view could cut debate short
Petraeus, Crocker try to slow down Washington
ANAYLSIS
washingtonpost.com
If Gen. David H. Petraeus has his way, tens of thousands of U.S. troops will be in Iraq for years to come.
Iraq's armed forces are improving, Petraeus told Congress yesterday. Overall violence is down. Sunnis are turning against al-Qaeda in Iraq, and many Baghdad neighborhoods are more peaceful. Political reconciliation, said Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, who testified alongside the general, is a now-visible light at the end of the tunnel. But the two men offered no clear pathway or timeline to reach the end.
Petraeus and Crocker have long complained that the Washington clock -- with congressional demands that the time has come for Iraqis take over their security and reconcile their political differences -- is running far faster than the one in Baghdad. Yesterday, they tried to slow Washington down.
"The process will not be quick," Crocker emphasized. "It will be uneven, punctuated by setbacks as well as achievements, and it will require substantial U.S. resolve and commitment. There will be no single moment at which we can claim victory; any turning point will likely only be recognized in retrospect."
Judging by the relatively mild congressional reaction in a joint hearing of the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees, Petraeus and Crocker may well succeed this week in deflecting Democratic demands to bring the troops home sooner rather than later. They are likely to face tougher questioning -- and stiffer challenges to the emerging trends they described -- from two Senate committees today. But by the time President Bush speaks to the nation later this week, September's much-anticipated battle over Iraq policy may be all but over.
Invoking Vietnam
Some Democrats sought to challenge the general. "The administration has sent you here today to convince [Congress] . . . that victory is at hand," Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (Calif.) said in an opening statement. "With all due respect," Lantos told Petraeus, "I don't buy it."
Others invoked the Vietnam War, a historical analogy that Bush has recently used to make his case in favor of the Iraq war. "Twenty years from now, when we build the Iraq war memorial on the National Mall, how many more men and women will have been sacrificed to protect our so-called credibility?" asked Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.). "How many more names will be added to the wall before we admit it is time to leave? How many more names, General?"
Republicans countered by citing the threats from al-Qaeda and Iran, and defended Petraeus's honor against criticism from antiwar activists.
"The enemy . . . did not count on the United States regaining the initiative and going on the offensive throughout this strategy behind the surge," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.). "This strategy has driven a wedge between al-Qaeda and the Sunni population, and that will help drive a similar wedge between the Shia extremists."
more crap here...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20715230/from/RS.4/
Did yall see this...?
"Conyers blasts DoJ for cherry-picking U.S. attorney docs."
With this
"Now, Conyers and his colleagues want Gonzales to explain why DoJ is withholding the documents"
Gee, Mr. Conyers. Too bad there is not some kind of, you know, judicial group, within comgress, that has the power to do something about it.
Just imagine if he was head of such a group, he would not have to 'blast' the untouchable Torture Boy, and demand 'explainations' with 100 lousy letters that never seem to work.
IF ONLY IF ONLY he had other options.
It is nice to know though how just any of us can withhold documents from him, and he would never quite be able to do anything about it.
I mean, if Torture Boy can constantly constantly constantly get away with it, then that must mean we all could...RIGHT?
Too bad Torture Boy is not a, say, mother of a dead Iraq soldier in his office begging for him to do his job, because we all know how easily he can have those kinds of people arrested.
I am now declaring myself also exempt from ever being sworn in. No matter who or what I am being asked to testify too.
I am so freaking sick of them somehow being allowed to operate by a whole different set of 'laws'. So I have decided I will make up the laws I see fit to live by.
"It had dawned on me that when House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Missouri, invited Gen. Petraeus to make his presentation, Skelton forgot to ask him to take the customary oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I had no idea that would be enough to get me thrown out of the hearing."
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/091007a.html
In a rush/ PLEASE read and ACT:
September 11, 2007
Dear Karen,
Remember when Colin Powell stood in front of the UN in 2003 to make his case for war? Remember how he lied about weapons of mass destruction? Remember how the country was fooled into entering a disastrous war? Well, the Bush administration is pulling the same tricks again with the Petraeus report.
Yesterday afternoon when General Petraeus presented to Congress what amounted to lies, exaggeration and p.r. spin about the "successes" of the so-called U.S. "troop surge" in Iraq, we were expected to sit in the room and quietly listen. When polite political discourse in the halls of Congress countenances torture, murder, theft of resources, and ongoing occupation, we think that rudeness is the correct response. If it's embarrassing for women to shout out, "War criminal" at war criminals in expensive suits and military uniforms, then we are all for embarrassing ourselves.
Our CODEPINK heroes Medea, Liz, Desiree, Leslie and Mona made a distinctly unladylike scene in the Petaeus hearing. They stood up for truth in the face of official lies. They stood up for the 2.2 million internally displaced Iraqis, the 2.5 million Iraqi refugees, and the 650,000 Iraqis and 3,700 U.S. soldiers -- more Americans than those killed in the horrific attacks on US soil six years ago today --who have died in this miserable war and occupation.
You can see the coverage we have received for our actions, from the New York Times to MSNBC, in our press room. To find out how to join our feisty protests in DC and help us Whip Congress into Shape, click here.
Thankfully some members of Congress are waking up. Today, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) plainly said "I don't buy it" to General Petraeus. Please help us get more of our Reps to stop buying Bush's war by signing our pledge to "Whip Congress into Shape." When you pledge to do a simple action every week to end the war, you will get a personalized pledge page to pass around to your friends, invite them to sign on, and watch your impact spread across the country! The CODEPINK member who inspires the most pledges by the end of each month will win an unforgettable trip to the CODEPINK house in DC!
This week, we're asking everyone to call your Senators ( 202.224.3121) and say "Petraeus can only betray us. Don't be duped again. Don't buy Bush's war."
As Bush memorably said, "fool me once, shame on - -shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again." He's right. We can't get fooled again. Let's make sure Congress can't, either.
Proud to be rude for peace,
Dana, Desiree, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Jodie, Karin, Liz, Medea, Nancy, Pamela, Patricia, Rae, Samantha, and Vanessa
Of course it would be enough to get you thrown out of the hearing. You interrupted "business" talk... not the "Peoples Business", but "BUSINESS"... aka "Bidness"... ya dig?
Take your freedom of speech somewhere else, this is the United States Congress!
I have been thinking about a recent thread where another dem got mad at me for being mean to Conyers, and proceeded to tell me how Conyers is their 'personal hero'.
I mean, on so many levels I was so...bothered.. by that argument. As if his personal standing in our hearts is suppossed to void perfectly reasonable and even merited critisism.
But I just realized why it really, really bothered me most. And, I accidently realized exactly what the cure is for all this dem infighting.
Maybe the cure for the entire nations political ills.
In times of open High Treason and war crimes, you should make it a point to not make the politicians involved into your own 'personal heros'.
If they want to be freaking HEROS then they can be so by doing their duty to the US Constitution and fufilling the oath they took to it.
"we were expected to sit in the room and quietly listen. When polite political discourse in the halls of Congress countenances torture, murder, theft of resources, and ongoing occupation, we think that rudeness is the correct response. If it's embarrassing for women to shout out, "War criminal" at war criminals in expensive suits and military uniforms, then we are all for embarrassing ourselves."
DAMN RIGHT!
Amen.
I have an inflection question.
Was that damn right as in, damn straight, as in damn correct.... orrrr, damn right as in, may the right be damned?
They all work for me Monkey.
Hey, I work for me Monkey too, but that's a story for another day...
I can't watch this be-tray-us crap anymore. His lies disgust me.
He has no reason at all to be honest. The more I see the more disgusted I get.
I do not have to damn them Monkey, they already damned themselves. And they are determined to take us and the rest of the world to hell with them.
I am soooo disgusted it is actually painful.
General Betrayus - that's great!
It also has kind of a Roman Empire sound.
We were built much bigger, much faster than Rome.
We will also fall much further, much faster than they did.
Are yall listening to this crap on your teevees?
OMFG!
Proud to be rude for peace,
Dana, Desiree, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Jodie, Karin, Liz, Medea, Nancy, Pamela, Patricia, Rae, Samantha, and Vanessa
Posted by: karen at September 11, 2007 08:38 AM
I'm glad to be associated in some small way, with all of you.
Was that damn right as in, damn straight, as in damn correct.... orrrr, damn right as in, may the right be damned?
Posted by: monkey at September 11, 2007 08:56 AM
They all work for me Monkey.
Posted by: Christy at September 11, 2007 09:02 AM
And for me monkey and Christy
General Betrayus - that's great!
Posted by: nmp at September 11, 2007 09:20 AM
It's what the dems should be doing all the time, General Betrayus, short soundbites repeated constantly, it is what the republicans do so well, and what the democrats and the people, need to be doing all the time.
General Betrayus, works well, sinks into the mind of the masses.
Beat them at their own game.