Vigilante Republicans
San Francisco, CA -- Eric Rudolph killed people. Tom Delay killed bugs.
Eric Rudolph bombed the Atlanta Olympics to attack a federal government he didn’t like. Tom Delay wants to bomb the federal bench, to take out judges whose views he dislikes.
Eric Rudolph bombed gay bars because he hates homosexuals. Delay, George W. Bush and other Republicans want to bomb the Constitution because they fear gay marriage.
Eric Rudolph bombed abortion clinics, killing and maiming people because he believed in life. Tom Delay, Jeb Bush, the president and yes, the Pope’s global pro-life point man, Frank Pavone, egged on the Operation Rescue crowd outside Terri Schaivo’s hospice.
The real soul of the Republican Party is not the president bowing before the papal coffin. It is the outlaw Eric Rudolph, who hated gays, the government and abortion doctors.
Eric Rudolph bombed the Atlanta Olympics to attack a federal government he didn’t like. Tom Delay wants to bomb the federal bench, to take out judges whose views he dislikes.
Eric Rudolph bombed gay bars because he hates homosexuals. Delay, George W. Bush and other Republicans want to bomb the Constitution because they fear gay marriage.
Eric Rudolph bombed abortion clinics, killing and maiming people because he believed in life. Tom Delay, Jeb Bush, the president and yes, the Pope’s global pro-life point man, Frank Pavone, egged on the Operation Rescue crowd outside Terri Schaivo’s hospice.
The real soul of the Republican Party is not the president bowing before the papal coffin. It is the outlaw Eric Rudolph, who hated gays, the government and abortion doctors.
The real consequences of Tax Day
AUSTIN, Texas -- Happy tax day, fellow citizens!
My favorite authority on taxes is David Cay Johnston of The New York Times, who won a Pulitzer for reporting on the terminally unsexy topic of taxes. His book "Perfectly Legal -- The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super-Rich -- and Cheat Everyone Else" is the single best work on public policy of recent years, I think.
Johnston reports: "Through explicit policies, as well as tax laws never reported in the news, Congress now literally takes money from those making $30,000 to $500,000 per year and funnels it in subtle ways to the super-rich -- the top one-one hundredth of one percent of Americans.
"People making $60,000 paid a larger share of their 2001 income in federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes than a family making $25 million, the latest Internal Revenue Service data show. And in income taxes alone, people making $400,000 paid a larger share of their incomes than the 7,000 households who made $10 million or more."
My favorite authority on taxes is David Cay Johnston of The New York Times, who won a Pulitzer for reporting on the terminally unsexy topic of taxes. His book "Perfectly Legal -- The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super-Rich -- and Cheat Everyone Else" is the single best work on public policy of recent years, I think.
Johnston reports: "Through explicit policies, as well as tax laws never reported in the news, Congress now literally takes money from those making $30,000 to $500,000 per year and funnels it in subtle ways to the super-rich -- the top one-one hundredth of one percent of Americans.
"People making $60,000 paid a larger share of their 2001 income in federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes than a family making $25 million, the latest Internal Revenue Service data show. And in income taxes alone, people making $400,000 paid a larger share of their incomes than the 7,000 households who made $10 million or more."
Congresswoman Cynthia Mckinney Urges Reform of Voting Process at Historic Conference
Summary: Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney adressed the closing of the National Election Reform Conference Saturday, April 9th in Nashville. Congresswoman McKinney is the first black female elected to Congress from the state of Georgia. Elected in 1992, she served five consecutive terms. In 2002 she was the subject of an intense campaign by the Republicans to run her out of office for questions she asked about Bush Administration knowledge of events surrounding September 11th. After a two year hiatus she returned to the public arena and successfully regained her seat. She addressed the National Conference on Election Reform regarding the historical suppression of the black vote and modern attempts at gerrymandering and voter suppression.
Technical violations: oh, they're all related
AUSTIN, Texas -- Freshly returned from a week of intellectual sparring at the Conference on World Affairs, the annual gabfest in Boulder, Colo. (the late jazz critic Leonard Feather called it "the leisure of the theory class"), I find making connections between headlines mere child's play.
After a week of contemplating Persian poetry, the possible aphrodisiac effect of black licorice, American foreign policy, what we do in the name of God (an actual panel title), war and medicine, I scarcely blink, much less boggle, at such simple topics as tax policy, international finance, terrorism and offshore money laundering.
After a week of contemplating Persian poetry, the possible aphrodisiac effect of black licorice, American foreign policy, what we do in the name of God (an actual panel title), war and medicine, I scarcely blink, much less boggle, at such simple topics as tax policy, international finance, terrorism and offshore money laundering.
Beyond the Narrow Limits of News Coverage
I was glad to open the New York Times last Monday and see the headline:
“In Steinbeck’s Birthplace, a Fight to Keep the Libraries Open.” After
visiting Salinas, Calif., over the weekend, I was eager to find out whether
the disturbing and uplifting events there would gain any significant
national coverage.
It was a close call. Other than the medium-length Times article, accompanied by a photo of an 8-year-old girl standing next to an endangered library, the media coverage was sparse. And the Times piece -- while doing a good job of focusing on the danger that all three public libraries in Salinas might close by midyear -- bypassed the connections that many participants in a 24-hour “read-in” had made between lavish spending on war overseas and a funding crisis for libraries at home.
It was a close call. Other than the medium-length Times article, accompanied by a photo of an 8-year-old girl standing next to an endangered library, the media coverage was sparse. And the Times piece -- while doing a good job of focusing on the danger that all three public libraries in Salinas might close by midyear -- bypassed the connections that many participants in a 24-hour “read-in” had made between lavish spending on war overseas and a funding crisis for libraries at home.
Abortion and Schiavo -- The stories we tell
Even if you've heard more than enough about Terry Schiavo, it seems useful
to consider why Bush's political grandstanding backfired. Over seventy
percent of Americans, including solid majorities of self-described
evangelicals, opposed the intervention of the White House and Congress.
Those surveyed mistrusted the Bush administration's blatant disregard for
local control, the rule of law, and the right to be protected from a
capricious federal government.
Their responses also speak to a broader shift in how we deal with difficult end-of-life issues. For twenty years, gradually increasing majorities have agreed that for all our technological inventiveness, what some people need most is the right to die in peace.
You'd think that this belief--that the most difficult intimate decisions must be our own--would also raise support for maintaining the right to abortion. But it hasn't. In the 30 years since Roe v. Wade, support for keeping abortion legal, and without onerous restrictions, has stayed even, at most, and new onerous restrictions keep getting imposed.
Their responses also speak to a broader shift in how we deal with difficult end-of-life issues. For twenty years, gradually increasing majorities have agreed that for all our technological inventiveness, what some people need most is the right to die in peace.
You'd think that this belief--that the most difficult intimate decisions must be our own--would also raise support for maintaining the right to abortion. But it hasn't. In the 30 years since Roe v. Wade, support for keeping abortion legal, and without onerous restrictions, has stayed even, at most, and new onerous restrictions keep getting imposed.
Non-parent in residence
AUSTIN -- Why in the name of sanity, you may ask, should an aging, overweight spinster like myself agree to go bungee jumping with her nephew? My fellow aunts will understand immediately, however, when I explain that the nephew in question is 15, wears his baseball hat backward and has attitude.
As a veteran aunt (helped raise one set of two, am working on the next set of three), I have been enjoying my recent stint as non-parent in residence. Being an aunt is a great gig. You get to hand the kids back at the end of a week or a month, so discipline is not your problem. Veteran aunts never insist on vegetables or museums. Aunts without children of their own have an extra edge, since we're not really, exactly grown-ups. As permanent non-parents, we can still side with kids. We can Mame it up all we want. (All this may hold true for uncles as well. I'm just not well-informed on that angle.)
As a veteran aunt (helped raise one set of two, am working on the next set of three), I have been enjoying my recent stint as non-parent in residence. Being an aunt is a great gig. You get to hand the kids back at the end of a week or a month, so discipline is not your problem. Veteran aunts never insist on vegetables or museums. Aunts without children of their own have an extra edge, since we're not really, exactly grown-ups. As permanent non-parents, we can still side with kids. We can Mame it up all we want. (All this may hold true for uncles as well. I'm just not well-informed on that angle.)
How and Why We're Working to Block the Bankruptcy Bill
"April Fools! We're not really going to wreck the bankruptcy system and turn families over to the gentle mercies of credit card companies! We just wanted to see how extreme we could get and have the media still believe it!"
That's what I'd like to hear the United States Senate announce today, but I won't hold my breath.
When a majority of U.S. Senators, including 19 Democrats, voted to pass the bankruptcy bill, some of them may have thought that no one was watching. Certainly consumer groups, labor, community organizations, and civil rights groups had written the bill off as virtually unstoppable. Stopping it was not at the top of their agendas, each already overloaded with other defensive battles against the Bush onslaught.
That's what I'd like to hear the United States Senate announce today, but I won't hold my breath.
When a majority of U.S. Senators, including 19 Democrats, voted to pass the bankruptcy bill, some of them may have thought that no one was watching. Certainly consumer groups, labor, community organizations, and civil rights groups had written the bill off as virtually unstoppable. Stopping it was not at the top of their agendas, each already overloaded with other defensive battles against the Bush onslaught.