What President Bush Taught The Terminator
What President Bush Taught The Terminator
When Arnold Schwarzenegger landed his current starring role as California governor, many worried about his lack of political experience. Never fear; the actor has turned out to be a quick study in partisan trickery. Taking a page from the Bush administration’s playbook, Gov. Schwarzenegger has been using taxpayer money to pay for fake news.
This advertisement is filmed to look like a real news report. It’s narrated by an actual former TV reporter who, no longer a journalist, now works for the state. The ad pushes a new, government-backed, corporation-friendly proposal which would kill mandatory lunch hours. California workers – construction workers, waitresses, nurses, farm workers and a forklift operator — are shown in “interviews,” extolling the benefits of the proposal.
It’s pure political propaganda. The proposal is backed by big corporations like Wal-Mart and Home Depot, which have been in expensive hot water for denying workers time for lunch. It’s also backed by the California Restaurant Assn., “which donated $21,000 to one of Schwarzenegger’s campaign funds last year and provided food for his 2003 inauguration.” The “news” segment ignores all of that, and stays very quiet about the fact that “organized labor opposes the changes, or that workers would have a harder time suing employers over missed meal breaks.”
But you’d never know it wasn’t real by watching your local California news station. Eighteen stations ran the spots as news reports. The tape even provided positive promo text for the local anchors, which read: “If approved, the changes would clear up uncertainty in the business community and create a better working environment throughout the state.”
- Comments
- View Comments
Lieberman’s Triple Flip
Lieberman’s Triple Flip
Sen. Joe Lieberman, 5/4/98:
If we can manage the transition, we have a chance to not only do something right, but to give people more confidence about what their retirement years would be like. Of course, it also dramatically increases our savings rate, which has to be good for our economy overall. Not everybody supports this….I think in the end that individual control of part of the retirement/Social Security funds has to happen.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, 10/5/00:
For a while I was drilling into this idea of privatization of Social Security. It requires taking as much as a trillion dollars out of the Social Security fund. The independent analysts have said that would put the fund out of money in 2023, or if it’s not out of money, benefits will have to be cut by over 50%. That’s just not worth doing.
Washington Post, 2/28/05:
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has declared that Senate Democrats are united in their opposition to personal accounts carved out of Social Security…Despite Reid’s assertion, however, several moderate Democrats have not ruled out backing a more modest version of the president’s plan. Some of these centrists, such as Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., have been meeting with Republican colleagues to discuss whether there is a middle ground.
Censoring Satire
Censoring Satire
What The Chicago Tribune Doesn’t Want You To See
Once again, the Chicago Tribune decided to censor today’s Boondocks comic strip. Why? Aaron McGruder’s hard-hitting strip dared to comment on the recently released tapes in which President Bush implied he had smoked pot.
It’s not the first time the Chicago Tribune has decided Boondocks might harm the ever-so-delicate sensibilities of its readers. In July 2003, the Tribune also refused to run the strip because it attacked President Bush for his taunt to Iraqi insurgents to “Bring it on.”
At the time, the paper’s ombudsman, Don Wycliff, explained the decision by redefining the concept of censorship, saying, “The very fact that readers could find the strips elsewhere indicates that they were not censored.”
In lieu of an actual explanation today, the paper told readers it decided not to run the strip because “Today’s original Boondocks strip presents inaccurate information as fact.” (No word on the veracity of statements made today by Garfield or Family Circus’s Jeffy.) Note to the editors of the Chicago Tribune: Political cartoons by their very nature are meant to be provocative and to hold the feet of administration officials to the satiric fire. It’s time for the Chicago Tribune to grow a spine.
Abridged Brooks
Abridged Brooks
In Saturday’s NYT, David Brooks makes the case that the recent popular protests in Lebanon against the Syrian occupation are a result of the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq. It appears to be a pretty compelling argument.
First, Brooks quotes Lebanese dissident Walid Jumblatt: “It’s strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq. I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, eight million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world.” Thus, Brooks argues, a “maximalist,” interventionist U.S. foreign policy is justified, since “now we have mass demonstrations on the streets of Beirut. A tent city is rising up near the crater where Rafik Hariri was killed, and the inhabitants are refusing to leave until Syria withdraws.”
Of course, if you ignore half the relevant facts like Brooks did, you can quote the same sources and make just the opposite case. What if Brooks had instead quoted Walid Jumblatt from two months ago, when he described how “we are all happy when U.S. soldiers are killed [in Iraq] week in and week out. The killing of U.S. soldiers in Iraq is legitimate and obligatory.” As it regards Syria’s occupation in Lebanon, our “maximalist” foreign policy didn’t work out quite as well in 1991, when we “quietly supported the Syrian assault” against the Lebanese nationalists in power at the time — the same folks who Brooks is celebrating today.
Answering Africa’s Call
Answering Africa’s Call
Did you cry during “Hotel Rwanda“? Secretly root on Don Cheadle’s nomination last night? Have you been wearing your green “Save Darfur” bracelet despite it not always *gasp* matching the rest of your outfit?
And when thousands of people died yesterday in Africa, did you even blink an eye? More »
With God At The Four Seasons
With God At The Four Seasons
In April, 2002, Tom DeLay told a church crowd, “He [God] has been walking me through an incredible journey…He is using me, all the time, everywhere, to stand up for biblical worldview in everything that I do and everywhere I am. He is training me, He is working with me.”
No word on whether God was with DeLay during his luxurious vacation at the Four Seasons Hotel in London in mid-2000, paid for by corrupt GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff. This weekend, the National Journal provided new detail on the close, personal and grotesquely unethical relationship between DeLay and Abramoff. According to expense accounts obtained by the Journal, Abramoff financed DeLay and DeLay’s staff’s stay at the Four Seasons hotel in mid-2000, to the tune of $4,285.35. The total reimbursement for expenses in London was $13,318.50. More »
Charge the Senate
Charge the Senate
This week the credit card industry — which raked in $30 billion in profits last year — storms the Congress in an attempt to squeeze a few more dimes from Americans who are sick or out of work. Starting today the Senate will consider a bill (S. 256) that would amend bankruptcy law to “make it harder for families struck by financial misfortune to get back on track.” (Nine out of 10 bankruptcies “are triggered by the loss of a job, high medical bills or divorce.) The bill is supported in Congress by a bipartisan coalition on the credit industry dole. They think they can pass the bill without the American people noticing. Prove them wrong. Write your senators and tell them to reject the legislation in its current form.
The bill on the Senate floor right now doesn’t stop some of the worst abuses of our bankruptcy system. In several states — including the president’s home in Texas — a multimillionaire buisnessman can declare bankruptcy, avoid his debts, and still keep his palatial estate. Some examples:
Marvin Warner, a former ambassador to Switzerland and the owner of a failed Ohio Savings & Loan, who paid off only a fraction of $300 million in bankruptcy claims while keeping his multi-million-dollar horse ranch near Ocala, Florida.
Dallas developer, Talmadge Wayne Tinsley, who filed under chapter 7 after incurring $60 million in debts. Tinsley objected to the Texas law that permitted him to keep only one acre of his $3.5 million, 3.1-acre magnolia-lined estate. But that acre included a five-bedroom, six-and-a-half-bath mansion with two studies, a pool and a guest house.
The 2001 bankruptcy bill at least stopped these abuses by capping the so-called “homestead exemption” at $125,000. This bill has a complicated exemption that will allow “wealthy debtors who are sophisticated enough to plan ahead — and those are, after all, the people we are talking about — can purchase a homestead to shelter their non-exempt assets and simply wait [49 months] before filing their petition.”
Unfairly Balanced
Unfairly Balanced
An article in this morning’s Washington Post — headlined “Partisan Social Security Claims Questioned” — makes one of the mainstream media’s favorite arguments: both sides are wrong. The piece reviews the arguments made by Bush and his opponents about Social Security privatization and asserts that both sides are making arguments that are “flawed.”
It’s a convenient journalistic formula but the article fails to back it up.
The article addresses only two claims made by opponents of privatization. First, it examines the claim made by Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-NV) that Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security would cost “$4.9 trillion over a 20 year period starting in 2009.” The article claims that Cheney’s estimate that private accounts would cost “trillions of dollars” is “probably the most honest” because these things are hard to predict. Of course, Cheney’s estimate is not in conflict with Reid’s claim.
Second, the piece examines the claim by opponents that privatization “would benefit Wall Street.” The article doesn’t even attempt to dispute this claim. It merely notes that Bush’s plan aims to “hold down administrative costs” that would go to Wall Street and quotes a budget expert saying he didn’t think the fees would be so high that Wall Street “would salivate.”
Meanwhile, the article reveals serious flaws in claims being advanced by Bush to support the plan: that Social Security is going bankrupt, that private accounts would offer greater returns and that private accounts offer individuals greater freedom.
The liberal media strikes again.
The Gator Guarding the Hen House
The Gator Guarding the Hen House
The Department of Homeland Security has set up a committee to advise them on privacy issues. In theory this seems like a great idea. But the DHS has installed representatives from Cendant, SAIC and Claria on the privacy board.
This is the equivalent of putting Armstrong Williams on a federal advisory board for media ethics.
Cendant owns Galileo, a computer reservation system for airline travel. According to the Transportation Security Administration, Galileo “shared private information about their passengers” with the governement without their customer’s consent. The records included the travelers’ “name, address, phone number, e-mail address, credit card number and other personal details.”
SAIC is a major government contractor. Last month, a break-in at SAIC headquarters in San Deigo netted thieves “computers containing the Social Security numbers and other personal information about tens of thousands of past and present company employees.” Former weapons inspector David Kay — whose information was compromised because he used to work at SAIC — said, “I just find it unexplainable how anyone could be so casual with such vital information. It’s not like we’re just now learning that identity theft is a problem”
Claria is the internet advertising company formerly known as Gator. The company changed it’s name after being subject to criticism for having policies “not friendly to people who want reasonable levels of privacy.” The company was also sued “by The New York Times, The Washington Post and other media companies for installing unauthorized pop-up ads on their Web sites.”
Sounds like just the kind of folks we need advising the government on privacy issues.
Southern Conference: Focus on Faith
Southern Conference: Focus on Faith
[The Center for American Progress is co-hosting a two-day conference this week in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, entitled New Strategies for Southern Progress. The conference is convening more than 200 national, state and local political leaders, policy experts, journalists and academics to rethink critical issues facing the South and chart a new progressive vision for the region. ThinkProgress Team member Jon Baskin is on the scene]
Progressive religious voices at today’s third panel, “Rethinking the Role of the Faith Community,” argued over the legacy of the Civil Rights movement in the South. Congressman David Price (D-NC) said his social and political conscience was forged during the North Carolina sit-ins and harkened back to the Civil Rights movement as a moment characterized by interfaith coalitions and progressive ideals.
But Reverend Daphne Wiggins, the Assistant Pastor at Union Baptist Church, cautioned that even as pastors led mass movements to broaden rights and tear down segregation in the South, “in that same period, you had the emergence and increase of segregated Christian day schools. And older people of faith too, who had a particular agenda saying we’re not in the progressive movement, we’re not going to have desegregated schools.”
Wiggins was joined by Alabama Baptist Reverend James Evans in warning that many of the gains of the Civil Rights movement may not be as permanent as they once appeared. The modern Christian right wing, said Evans, wants to “refight battles its already lost. Evolution is back. they lost on Civil Rights but this battle over gay marriage is a way for white Christians to say, ‘by golly I’m right about this and I know I’m right.’” It also wants to dismantle the New Deal, said Evans.
Indeed, Wiggins emphasized the importance of not resting on laurels or “patting ourselves on the back” about past victories. “It seems to me that if we talk about what’s happening currently…good work once done is not being repeated in our pulpits, not being put in our Sunday school literature.” she said. “The people that went through [the Civil Rights movement] are not telling their stories. A generation of people are not getting the lessons.”
Quote That Made Me Hungry But Shouldn’t Have:
“It’s so hard when you have good sweet Anglo pastors who say, ‘Maria, we want to partner with your church and we want to be inclusive and we have decided, it’s taco night!’”
–Reverend Maria Teresa Palmer, founding Pastor of Iglesia Unida De Christo (United Church of Christ), explaining some of the benefits and challenges of inter-racial church activities
Southern Conference: Talking Tax Policy
Southern Conference: Talking Tax Policy
[The Center for American Progress is co-hosting a two-day conference this week in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, entitled New Strategies for Southern Progress. The conference is convening more than 200 national, state and local political leaders, policy experts, journalists and academics to rethink critical issues facing the South and chart a new progressive vision for the region. ThinkProgress Team member Jon Baskin is on the scene]
Our second panel today, “Rethinking Tax Policy,” focused on recent attempts to reimagine tax policy in several Southern states, most of which have been virtually bankrupted by economic dowturns and cuts in state aid under the Bush administration. You may not believe me, but this was an extremely interesting conversation, particularly the twin narratives of campaigns for progressive tax reform in Virginia (successful) and Alabama (unsuccessful).
Political consultant Robert “Sid” McAnnally told Alabama’s story. In 2003, Alabama Governor Bob Riley, a conservative Republican and Southern Baptist, proposed a $1.2 billion tax package that raised taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents and businesses and cut taxes on poor families. He had the backing of the state’s corporate conservatives, who realized the state had to deal with budget shortfalls in excess of $500 million. But millions of dollars were raised by groups, including significant factions from the religious right, to oppose the bill, and the Governor’s plan was badly defeated. More »
Bush Needs to Relearn his ABCs
Bush Needs to Relearn his ABCs
When his administration isn’t pushing the dangerous drug nevirapine, President Bush touts an abstinence first ideology, both here and abroad, when it comes to dealing with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. One of his favorite examples is the country of Uganda:
“I think it’s really important for us to focus on prevention. We can learn from the experiences of other countries when it comes to a good program to prevent the spread of AIDS, like the nation of Uganda. They’ve started what they call the A-B-C approach to prevention of this deadly disease. That stands for: Abstain, be faithful in marriage, and, when appropriate, use condoms. That’s what A-B-C stands for. And it’s working. I like to call it a practical, balanced and moral message. I say it’s working because Uganda has cut its AIDS infection rate to 5 percent over 10 years. Prevention works.”
Fellow conservatives joined him in this rhetoric and went so far as to liken the use of condoms to playing Russian Roulette:
“Condoms also do provide 85 percent protection against the HIV/AIDS virus, or roughly the odds one has of escaping unscathed when playing Russian roulette with a six-shooter with one chamber lethally loaded — if you’re interested in playing Russian roulette.”
Now, a decade-long study by several reputable health researchers on what’s really going on with condoms, abstinence education, and the country of Uganda presents a completely different story:
“Abstinence and sexual fidelity have played virtually no role in the much-heralded decline of AIDS rates in the most closely studied region of Uganda…Instead, the deaths of previously infected people, not dramatic change in human behavior, represent the main engine behind the ebbing of the overall rate, or prevalence, of AIDS in southern Uganda over the past decade…”
And far from the risky business that conservatives would want us to believe, in fact, “only condom use has kept the deadly [HIV] virus in check” in Uganda.
How Bush “Supports” Diplomacy with Iran
How Bush “Supports” Diplomacy with Iran
President Bush frequently says that “we are working with European allies” to use diplomacy to avert a nuclear impasse with Iran.
What exactly does that mean, you ask? Maybe toning down our heated rhetoric, or reassuring Iran we’re not planning an attack? Helping to cool down tensions in the Middle East so talks can proceed smoothly — or even joining the Europeans in the negotiations?
Uh, not quite. Here are some ways the White House has “supported” the talks over the past few weeks:
- 1) Refused to actually participate in negotiations, despite warnings from European diplomats and the IAEA that the talks will likely fail without U.S. involvement
2) Casually suggested that Israel may unilaterally attack Iran, and later implied the U.S. would likely support such a move, despite IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei’s warning that such talk “only makes [Iran] more determined to acquire a nuclear deterrent”
3) Announced the U.S. military is updating its war plans for a possible attack on Iran (though insisting the update is “routine”)
4) Waged a campaign to oust the U.N.’s widely-supported nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, using wiretaps on ElBaradei’s phone and alleged leaks of false information.
5) Pressuring European nations to designate Hizballah (an organization that includes both violent Islamists as well as more moderate, popularly elected politicians) as a terrorist group — a move Europeans have considered in the past, but which they consider horribly timed now since it would seriously undermine the nuke talks with Iran
Could it be — gasp! — the White House doesn’t really want the talks to succeed?
Southern Conference: Howell’s Agenda
Southern Conference: Howell’s Agenda
[The Center for American Progress is co-hosting a two-day conference this week in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, entitled New Strategies for Southern Progress. The conference is convening more than 200 national, state and local political leaders, policy experts, journalists and academics to rethink critical issues facing the South and chart a new progressive vision for the region. ThinkProgress Team member Jon Baskin is on the scene.]
During today’s first discussion, “The Mind of the South,” Dr. Susan Howell, the Director of the Survey Research Center at the University of New Orleans, set out an agenda for a successful version of “progressive populism” in the South. Progressive populism would emphasize:
– Health care insurance assistance
– College tuition assistance
– Controls on violence and pornography in the media
– Humanitarianism and the importance of a “giving, helping culture”
Progressive populism would set itself against:
– The corporate elite, which abuses working people
– Wealthy tax evaders who don’t pay their fair share More »
Duct Tape Panic Pays Off
Duct Tape Panic Pays Off
In 2003, Former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge warned Americans they needed to stock up on duct tape and plastic sheeting if they wanted to stay safe from a terrorist attack. His advice incited panic and inspired a run on the items. Duct tape and sheeting flew off the shelves as Americans flocked to stores to stock up on as much as they could carry.
Ridge resigned as Homeland Security Director last December. So what’s he up to today? It was announced today that Ridge is joining the board of directors of Home Depot … national distributor of duct tape and plastic sheeting.
Ann Coulter Sets the Record Straight
Ann Coulter Sets the Record Straight
“Gannon didn’t write about gays.” — Ann Coulter, 2/24/05
“[John Kerry] might someday be known as ‘the first gay president.’ . . . The Massachusetts liberal has enjoyed a 100% rating from the homosexual advocacy group, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), since 1995 in recognition of his support for the pro-gay agenda.” — Jeff Gannon, 10/12/04
“The brushfire ignited by Sen. Rick Santorum’s (R-PA) comments about the Texas sodomy case now before the Supreme Court continued to draw predictable reactions on Wednesday. Gay activists immediately denounced the remarks, likening them to words that drove Sen. Trent Lott from his Majority Leader’s position.” — Jeff Gannon, 4/23/04
“A month ago, the Associated Press quoted Herseth as saying, ‘I agree with the president on this issue. Marriage should be between a man and a woman’…Despite taking a conservative position on gay marriage, Herseth remains one of the star candidates supported by the liberal, pro-abortion group Emily’s List.” — Jeff Gannon, 3/30/04
Love, Hannity Style
Love, Hannity Style
[Ed. Note: To clear up any confusion, this is not a parody. These are actual profiles clipped from Hannity's website.]
Sean Hannity: Author. Television Talking Head. Radio Host. Pimp Daddy?
It’s true. Sean Hannity is trying his hand as matchmaker with Hannidate 2005, a dating service hosted on his Web site. If you’ve always been curious about romance, right-wing style, here’s what you’ve been missing:
NO CAVITY CREEPS!
Name: Gary
Location: OH
Age: 32
I live close to Dayton, Ohio. I am a 32 single white male. I am a smoker. I weigh in at 170 and stand at 5′-11″ Dayton has a lot of liberal women which I am tired of dating. Help me find a republican woman. Below is what kind of describes myself in a nutshell …. Some find me hot, some not. You decide. I have good morals and values and I am of a conservative nature. …I have all my teeth and brush them… Someone who isn’t a control freak. Good personal hygiene and has all their teeth and no rotten black teeth. I see this way too much and I find it a turn off…
WHOO HOO! WHERE ARE ALL THE WILD RIGHT-WING BOOOOOOYS?!
Name: Anna
Location: TX
Age: 42
About who I’m looking for–Fun, outdoorsy, moral, early riser, clean. Boy scout with a wild side. (*_~) Please don’t over-analyze me–half the time ‘I’ don’t know what I’m thinking. Or WHY. Great kisser–yes, you must be that. Christian, obviously. Brilliant, witty, patience of a saint, and so on and so forth. If this is multiple choice, I’m choosing ALL OF THE ABOVE this time.
STAY AWAY YOU LIBERAL HUSSIES
Name: Mark
Location: ?
Age: 49
I am a 49 year old truck driver. Divorced, one daughter, 18, looking for a LADY, 45 to 55 years old, no tatoos, no body piercings except ears, but most importantly NOT LIBERAL (lady and not liberal kind of go hand in hand, don’t they?).
Secrets and Lies
Secrets and Lies
“I live in a transparent country. I live in a country where decisions made by government are wide open and people are able to call people to me to account, which many out here do on a regular basis.”
- President George W. Bush, 2/24/05
“Secrecy in [the United States] government appears to be on the increase.”
- Judge Robert W. Sweet of the Southern District of New York, 2/24/05
Bush meets Putin meets Bush
Bush meets Putin meets Bush
Today President Bush met with President Vladimir Putin in a visit just as important as their first encounter, four years ago in Texas, where Bush “got a sense of his soul” when he looked into his eyes. The Russian Press Corps got the chance to take a look into President Bush’s eyes — and exhibit Russian-style democracy at work.
Highlights from the press conference include:
Bush on American and Russian differences — “if you really think about what we have done in the last four years and what we want to do during the next four years, the common ground is a lot more than those areas where we disagree.” Considering that Freedom House just downgraded Russia this year to “Not Free” for the first time in a decade — is that such a ringing endorsement for how the Bush Administration has behaved?
Bush on Putin — “This is the kind of fellow who when he says yes, he means yes, and when he says no, he means no. And we had a discussion about some decisions he’s made. He’s had some interest in decisions I’ve made. That’s a very important dialogue.” So, when Putin says “we’re going to remain committed to the fundamental principles of democracy,” that is the same thing as making “sweeping constitutional changes” to benefit one party?
Bush on the American Press — “And he wanted to know about our press. It’s a nice bunch of folks.” Apparently he’s changed his mind from the days of expressing his personal feelings about some reporters.
Russian scholars and politicians across America and in Western Europe all want Bush to be tough on Putin — but it is hard to tell what actually transpired in their private meeting. Was the President who met with Putin the Bush who said that America will “seek and support the growth of democratic movements… in every nation” or the Bush who asked “politely about Russia’s retreat from democracy?” We’ll have to wait and see.
Kerrying On About the Wrong Guy
Kerrying On About the Wrong Guy
During last year’s presidential campaign, the right-wing offered any number of reasons to fear a Kerry presidency. John Kerry, the typical tax-and-spender, would negotiate with the terrorists, undermine efforts to ban gay marriage, bring salacious scandals back into the White House, increase government spending while cutting vital missile defense, and get buddy-buddy with his surrender-monkey European allies, like close associate Jacques Chirac.
Or, in other words, Kerry might have…
-
– Suggested raising taxes to pay for the costs of his massive $2 trillion pet reform project
– Entered into negotiations with the terrorists in Iraq
– Proclaimed that “nothing will happen in the Senate” on the anti-gay marriage bill
– Nominated a possible cabinet member who once engaged in adulterous romps in a motel room reserved for exhausted 9/11 workers
– Offered White House press privileges to a partisan activist with an alleged history in gay prostitution
– Released the largest budget in U.S. history while slashing missile defense spending by $5 billion over six years
– During a “warm” and “friendly” tour through Europe, declared that Jacques Chirac could make a “good cowboy”
Scary stuff.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll