Leaving Children Behind

Economist's View: Paul Krugman: Leaving Children Behind

As the events in Wisconsin progress, the issues are gaining clarity. Perhaps the real agenda of the Right is at last so crystal clear that folks are finally beginning to pay attention. At least the folks in Wisconsin are aware and involved. The issues are large, the choice is stark and clear. It will take some work, some energy, and some good ole' fashioned stubbornness to fight off the threat to the middle class, the poor, the children, women, college students, and the unions. Speaking of unions:

Back in 1776 a whole new nation was formed. Thirteen British colonies tried unsuccessfully to have the concerns of their citizens heard or taken seriously by the empire across the Atlantic. So the colonists formed themselves into a union. The preamble to the constitution begins with these words "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union…". A more perfect union was the very first reason for the founding of the United States of America. America IS a union. You can't be anti-union and pro-America at the same time. Period.

- Arlo Guthrie
www.Arlo.net

Fact is, America came into being as a place to escape religious and economic persecution, and gain a voice in our own governance. That, friends and neighbors, is what is at stake in Wisconsin.  Governor Walker considers his recent actions a crusade.  He feels that he is the consummation of Ronald Reagan and the Right Wing dream of plutocracy.  He considers himself to be the leader of this fantastic movement and that ultimate victory is in sight. He's going for the gold, literally and figuratively.

The current recession and fiscal crisis is the golden opportunity, largely brought on by these very partisans, to gain what they consider to be an ultimate, final, and complete victory over... whom?  Think Progress has a good list of ten more things besides children they are fighting to defeat. Here's a review:

1. MEDICAID; A Wisconsin success story being cast aside by ideological hacks.
2. POWER PLANT PRIVATIZATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL NEGLECT - a rapid fire-sale, no bids sale of state owned power plants.  Deemed fiscally irresponsible by the last Dem Governor, these aging facilities are being handed over to private companies releasing them from regulation, rewarding political cronies, and handing environmental responsibility to private corps.
3. CLEAN WATER - Mr. Walker is trying to cut the regulation that requires municipalities to disinfect their drinking water. The GOP cry of "too expensive" is a stark contrast to what they consider a good bargain. Before the regulation of the water supply, 103 folks died and 40,000 were sickened in Milwaukee in 1993. Bargain indeed.
4. WETLANDS - deregulating a GOP donor's private wetlands with language that might affect the entire surrounding county.  Bye bye ecosystem.....
5. LEGISLATING A "NO NEW TAX" RULE - it will take a 2/3 vote to initiate any new revenue or raise taxes, forcing cuts in social services, transportation, education, and law enforcement.  See what's important?
6. DISENFRANCHISING VOTERS - a tried and true GOP partisan wet dream.  Fewer voters are necessary remember, because there aren't as many Republican voters!
7. CUTTING JOBS, LOSING THE FUTURE - The High Speed Rail line that was funded by the Stimulus has already cost Wisconsin 130,000 jobs and untold numbers of future jobs and business start-ups that would have accompanied the building of the railway.  For a history lesson, go review the role of the railroad in the opening of the great western half of America.
8. NAKED POWER GRAB - The governor will now have the sole oversight of government agencies and services including rule-writing power over education, law-enforcement and ethics in government. These agencies have always been independent...  Foxes and hen houses anyone?  I remember a famous President once saying that it would be "easier to be a dictator."  Evidently Mr. Walker agrees.
9. STIFLING INNOVATION - Mr. Walker tried and failed to cancel 11 proposed wind power projects.  His motivation.... would it perhaps be to increase the state's use of coal?  Yup... His most famous friend, David Koch, is just achin' to sell the Gov. lots and lots of coal.
10. POLITICIZING STATE AGENCIES - Cronyism unbounded.  The GOP passion for litmus testing any and all state beaurocrats is in evidence here. He's trying to switch 37 state employees from civil servants to political appointees.

So what is the GOP fighting for?  Could it be any more evident.  Mr. Krugman gives a powerful example. The events in Wisconsin highlight it in living real-time technicolor.  The GOP is fighting the poor, the middle class, the teachers, firefighters, policemen, and civil servants of all stripes.  We saw it at the end of the last legislative session.  Nothing less than the total ascendency of the plutocracy will do.  NOTHING  is more important than preserving and building the wealth of the few at the expense of the many.  This is clear.

Go make a sign and walk around town.  Start a parade.  Write a letter.  SPEAK UP!  This whole debate is about really, really rich people complaining bitterly and violently about the wealth and privileges of the POOR.  The choice is clear.

More work to do.

Business Lobbyists Demand Rep. Issa Launch Assault On Key Environmental, Financial Regulations

ThinkProgress » REPORT: Business Lobbyists Demand Rep. Issa Launch Assault On Key Environmental, Financial Regulations

File this in the category of "what have you done lately to improve the quality of life for Americans?"  I'm thinking this will only be one of many assaults on the quality of American life over the next two years...

More work to do....

What Wisconsin's governor is really threatening

What Wisconsin's governor is really threatening - War Room - Salon.com

This is the key:

The cultural and historical significance of Gov. Walker's action can't be ignored. When he proposes using the National Guard to break a strike, he conjures a period of American history in which labor and capital were locked in violent, terrible struggle, when income inequality had reached epic heights, and workers had to bleed to organize. This is a step backward, not forward, in the march of American progress.

A step backward to the turn of the last century. The right wing trying to lead us to this, a 19th century America. Will it lead to violence? Further, is this a proof that the authoritarian regime sought for, even yearned for by the hard right is now within sight?

Gov. Walker's action is significant because it is an expanded interpretation of the power of the executive office. This would introduce once again the idea that a governor could use the military to impose his personal, political will on a state.

Dictatorship anyone?

Republican Officials Cut Head Start Funding, Saying Women Should Be Married And Home With Kids

ThinkProgress » Republican Officials Cut Head Start Funding, Saying Women Should Be Married And Home With Kids

Another volley fired at women and children by wrong-headed, regressive Republicans. That these guys would seriously suggest that we try and return to a single breadwinner economy and that the woman's place is in the home nurturing the family and supporting the husband. Sounds sweet, but that was almost never the case and certainly does not reflect the times in which we live. Where have these folks been for the past 50 years? That they seem to be serious is worrisome. Pretty soon there will be lots of folks on their doorsteps with signs like what's already happening in Wisconsin. They've got some different issues in Wisconsin, but the extreme naivete shown by these earnest but ignorant local politicians is a trait they share with the good Governor of Wisconsin, Mr. Walker.

For the folks at home, the war on Women and Children, as documented by Think Progress, has only just begun. The Republicans, who won the November election on a promise of jobs and winning back the economy are instead pursuing a culture war agenda against the members of our society that are the least able to fight back. Cowards... The GOP has shown a dramatic unwillingness to address any pressing need of governance and is behaving like a kid in a candy jar, addressing all their most basal, most ignorant, and most repressive social ideals.

Defunding Head Start? This is simply radical regressive, ignorant nonsense! This is from the Head Start Foundation:

A study from researchers at UCLA found that Head Start children are significantly less likely to have been charged with a crime than their siblings who did not participate in Head Start.

The results of a randomly selected longitudinal study of more than 600 Head Start graduates in San Bernardino County, California, showed that society receives nearly $9 in benefits for every $1 invested in these Head Start children. These benefits include increased earnings, employment, and family stability, and decreased welfare dependency, crime costs, grade repetition, and special education.

So just why again is this vital program on the chopping block? Shouldn't the Culture Warriors be jubilant at a program that addresses some of the very issues they say they care most about?  At least they give lip service to gainful employment, family stability, and decreased welfare dependency.  It must be the lower of crime costs (a cash cow for some of them) or increased earnings (spreading that wealth around) that upset them so...

What is getting saved and what is getting killed?  Republicans, have you ever asked for ANY sacrifice from your wealthy constituents?  Isn't it about time? Are you really willing to play with the lives of Women and Children simply to preserve and protect wealth and power for yourselves?  Are you actually asking for ridicule and scorn?  You've got plenty from this blogger.

More work to do....

Republicans are Defunding Half-Finished Stimulus Projects They Once Supported And Took Credit For

ThinkProgress » Republicans Call For Defunding Half-Finished Stimulus Projects They Once Supported And Took Credit For

File this under "This is making my head hurt."

At the very least, it fosters the notion that the House of Representatives just doesn't know what it's doing. They sound bewildered and confused, wobbling this way and that.

I repeat. Not time to cut spending... Not time to cut spending.... Wait for it..... Not time to cut spending...

More work to do.

Justice -- The Battle For The Judiciary

Justice -- The Battle For The Judiciary

As it turns out, the GOP isn't just eager to see more judges who share Vinson's disdain for health reform -- they appear downright giddy to see most of the 20th century declared unconstitutional.

There you have it friends and neighbors, the Rip Van Winkle Party. Carry us back to the good ole 19th century when women knew their place, children could do a day's work, and there was no safety net to keep the peasants hanging around past their time. Immigrants were at least white and showed some potential, the labor force worked hard for low wages and no benefits just like they are supposed to, and the slaves and negroes of the north and south were kept firmly under control.

What does an activist judge look like? Right there for all to see. Judge Vinson.... Write your congressman, write a letter, hold up a sign..

More work to do.

MoveOn.org Political Action: Redefining Rape?

MoveOn.org Political Action: Redefining Rape?

Damn. This is a salvo in the War on the Poor.

Federal funds are already severely restricted when it comes to reproductive rights and women's health care, a situation that ends up hurting lower-income women in particular, who tend to use federally-funded services more often than wealthy women. The last thing we ought to be doing is legislating to make these laws more stringent.

It's a backwards step in the fight for women's rights.

The Smith bill is just the first of many attacks on women's rights to come in the new GOP-controlled House. If it moves forward, it would set an incredibly dangerous precedent for GOP action in the House for the next two years.

It's an attempt to declare that sexual assault is legal.

But according to the New York Times, the Smith bill would narrow that use to "cases of 'forcible' rape but not statutory or coerced rape."2 This could mean cases where women are "drugged or given excessive amounts of alcohol, rapes of women with limited mental capacity, and many date rapes" would no longer count as rape.

Damn! Sign this and send it to everyone you know!

Much more work to do!