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Akaoni
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Flashlights at the end of the Tunnel
by Ed Garvey (FightingBob.com)
"...there are signs that our long political winter of discontent is almost over."
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Wisconsin
| Vast Dairy State Conspiracy | |
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Oshkosh
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| Lake Winnebago Green Party |
Media
| Democracy Now! | |
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| Oshkosh News | |
| Oshkosh Northwestern | |
Greens condemn bipartisan
support for the Real ID Act and
Iraq occupation appropriations
(Green Party Press Release)
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders
claimed that Democrats are supporting some of
the most damaging and extreme agenda of the
Republican Party, citing the unanimous Senate
vote to institute a national identity card for all
Americans.
"We're moving towards a one-party system, with
Democrats rubberstamping most Republican legislation,"
said David Cobb, the Green Party's 2004 presidential
candidate.
Senate Democrats and Republicans, unanimously and
virtually without debate, approved the 'Real ID Act.'
This legislation mandates electronic ID cards for all
Americans in accord with Homeland Security
Department specifications.
Greens called the Real ID Act, which was slipped into
an otherwise uncontroversial spending bill, a major step
towards universal surveillance, a violation of the right to
privacy and freedom of mobility, an ineffective security
measure, and a vicious attempt to blame undocumented
immigrants for the nation's problems. (Many Greens
have supported other provisions in the bill, especially
the increases in death benefits, life insurance, and
payments for traumatic injury for U.S. service members.)
The Senate also voted unanimously on May 10 in favor
of $82 billion in emergency appropriations for military
expenses in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Greens have called for an immediate end to the
occupation and are urging defeat for HR-1268, the
National Defense Authorization Act, but predict
overwhelming support for the bill from both Democrats
and Republicans.
Green Party leaders noted that mainstream Democrats
have long agreed with Republicans on numerous major
issues, favoring antidemocratic supranational trade
authorities (NAFTA, WTO, etc.), the war on drugs, the
1996 Antiterrorism
and USA Patriot Acts, the death penalty, the 1996
Telecommunications Act, welfare reform that penalizes
the poor, expanded drilling for oil in Alaska, bills
privileging credit card and other financial corporations
over working Americans
<http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2005_04_21.html>, and
surrender of Congress's constitutional power to declare
war to the White House. Last month, Democratic Party
national chair Howard Dean endorsed the continued U.S.
occupation of Iraq.
(Greens take the opposite position on all these issues.)
Democratic Party leaders have also rebuffed attempts
within their own party to introduce
national health insurance, repeal Taft-Hartley
restrictions on workplace organizing, and grant statehood
to the District of Columbia.
"When John Kerry scolds his fellow Democrats for
supporting same-sex marriage and Howard Dean hopes
that Bush's Iraq policy is 'incredibly successful', it's
painfully clear that the U.S. lacks opposing leadership,"
said Pat LaMarche, Green candidate for Vice President in
2004. "Democracy demands an opposition party to
challenge and debate the direction of our nation. The
U.S. is in grave peril with no voice but that of the
administration, amplified by the Democrats. That's why
the Greens are the fastest
growing political party in the country."
Censorship Wars Update
by Akaoni
I’m sure that most readers of this site
(if there are any) are aware of this
whole Newsweek fiasco. Well today
Newsweek completely retracted their
story in the face of heated criticism
from the White House and Pentagon,
and of course excessive screaming and
bloviating from the right. What is not
getting a lot of time is the fact that what
Newsweek reported is not at all new.
All of these claims were out there
previously, beginning with four former
British detainees. Raw Story illustrates
in great detail.
So what is this really about? It seems
pretty clear to me. The Bush
administration and wingnut right has
once again seized the opportunity to
take the SCLM to task for daring to
make public, information that is critical
to the Bush admin. and its policies. It is
particularly hypocritical for the very
same right wing punditocracy, who
whole heartedly denies any connection
between U.S. policy and the upswing in
anti-American sentiment, to then blame
Newsweek for printing news, which
was corroborated by a source at the
Pentagon.
If there was violence, it was not
Newsweek policy that caused it, it was
U.S. government policy which must
take at least part of the blame. Even if
the Koran abuse story turns out not to
be true (which I doubt), it is not
Newsweek who is ultimately
responsible. Maybe they should have
more thoroughly vetted their source,
but they even checked the story with
the Pentagon before printing it. How
much farther must they go before
printing information?
This is ultimately about the Bush
administration once again deflecting
criticism and blaming the messenger.
The Pentagon and the Bush
administration have been shown time
and time again that they were at the
very least allowing detainees to be
treated poorly, and at worst
encouraging such behavior. But once
again the administration does everything
in its power to avoid responsibility, and
deflect blame. That is the real story
here, it’s sad that the media once again
lets it be a story all about themselves.
On another front, the administration’s
war against Public media has moved to
NPR. Today’s New York Times has a
story about Ken Tomlinson’s continuing
war on truth. As you may remember,
in a previous post (The Assualt on
PBS), I said that NPR is pretty safe
from these attacks because of the
generous endowment of Joan B. Kroc
(Ray Kroc’s widow), I was wrong. As
the New York Times Reports:
- In one of several points of
conflict in recent months, the
chairman of the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting, which
allocates federal funds for
public radio and television, is
considering a plan to monitor
Middle East coverage on NPR
news programs for evidence of
bias, a corporation spokesman
said on Friday.
The corporation's board has told
its staff that it should consider
redirecting money away from
national newscasts and toward
music programs produced by
NPR stations.
Top officials at NPR and
member stations are upset as
well about the corporation's
decision to appoint two
ombudsmen to judge the content
of programs for balance. And
managers of public radio
stations criticized the
corporation in a resolution
offered at their annual meeting
two weeks ago urging it not to
interfere in NPR editorial
decisions.
Yes, Tomlinson has expanded
the war on independent media
and truth telling. Even though
internal polling by the CPB has
shown that PBS and NPR are
not generally viewed as biased,
Tomlinson is taking up the
sword in the name of balance.
Yes the old right-wing meme,
which is so often trotted out, is
once again invoked. See my
previous post for my view of
“balance.”
Anyway, this time Tomlinson
has taken the bizarre step of
appointing two ombudspersons,
one from the left and one to the
right to ensure balance. To start
with this is absurd, and
contradicts the very nature of
who an ombudsperson is and
what he or she does. Salon's
Eric Boehlert explores this issue:
"It mystifies me," says Geneva
Overholser, a Washington-based
University of Missouri
journalism professor who served
as the Washington Post's
ombudsman from 1995 to 1998.
"What in the world does it mean
to have two? It makes no sense."
She argues that ombudsman
responsibilities are specifically
designed to be carried out by just
one person as way to
demonstrate that a single
journalist can be open-minded
and listen to all sides of a
dispute. By setting up a sort of
left-vs.-right, "Crossfire"
approach, Overholser says, the
CPB model "participates in the
ideological charade that
journalists can't be fair. This is a
perversion of the ombudsman.”
[…]
The two-person, right-vs.-left
approach "is antithetical" to the
ombudsman position, says
Jeffrey Dvorkin, who holds that
position for NPR and serves as
president of the Organization of
News Ombudsmen. "The value
of the ombudsman is as an
ideological and political
independent."
"Why stop at two ombudsmen?
Why not have four or a
committee of 12?" quips Carl
Stern, a former correspondent
for NBC News who teaches
journalism ethics at George
Washington University and, like
Overholser, is a member of
PBS's Editorial Standards
Review Committee. "Balancing
ombudsmen -- when will this
end? Are we going to have
armies of ombudsmen? This is
silliness."
But as I’ve already noted this is
not really about balance. Even if
NPR was perfectly balanced, if it
continued to report issues of
truth, it would inevitably
contradict the Bush
administration. It is this truth
with which the Bush
administration is truly at war.
This issue is about shutting up
dissent; specifically, its about
censoring news coverage which
might be critical, or produce
information which contradicts
the Bush administration
narrative. Since NPR and PBS
present sensible, rational news,
they must be brought into line
with the rest of the garbage,
sensational media. They know
information is power, and have
done a masterful job of
manipulating the media. Let’s
make sure that this effort is
unsuccessful.
Salon also has a great article
about Bill Moyers' battle with
Tomlinson here.
The Carpetbagger Report weighs
in as well.
and more here
Sensenbrenner's Folly
by Akaoni
JIM SENSENBRENNER IS AN
ASSHOLE! First he introduces a
terrible anti-abortion bill, in which he
made it a crime for family members
and even taxi drivers to transport
minors across state lines to obtain
abortion services. Then he alters
Democratic amendments to make it
appear as though they support child
molesters. Next he has the unfunded
and chilling REAL ID act attached to
the budget resolution, basically
guaranteeing passage. Now he has
released his newest monstrosity upon
the world: H.R. 1528: Defending
America's Most Vulnerable: Safe
Access to Drug Treatment and Child
Protection Act of 2005.
Clearly the man is mad with power.
This bill is Republican excess at its
ugliest. H.R. 1528 increases
mandatory minimums for a number
of drug offenses despite the fact that
mandatory minimums have been
largely shown to be ineffective at best
and often counter productive. Not
only do mandatory minimums not
decrease drug offenses, they serve to
fill prisons with low level drug
offenders, costing tax payers billions
of dollars each year. Mandatory
minimums have also been shown to
disproportionately affect people of
color, in particular young urban black
men.
Families Against Mandatory
Minimums (FAMM) spells out the
case against mandatory minimums
here.
This bill is excessive to say the least.
Under this bill you could be
imprisoned for a 5 year sentence just
by passing a joint to someone who
happened to be undergoing drug
treatment. A mother who sold a joint
to a friend while her child was at
school would receive a 10 year
minimum sentence. Someone who
knew about drug related offenses on
a college campus could receive a 5
year sentence for not informing the
police within 24 hours of the incident.
This bill is down right scary.
For other information on this bill
please check here and here.
Please take time to write your
congresspeople and urge them to
oppose this bill. If your
congressperson is Jim
Sensenbrenner, God help you.
Class Matters
by Akaoni
There is an interesting article
in the New York Times this
morning entitled "Class in
America: Shadowy Lines That
Still Divide." It essentially
reinforces what I've already
read elsewhere: that class
mobility is down in the US,
and has been dropping since
the 1970s. In fact, it appears
that class mobility is lower
here than it is in many
European countries.
Sadly, I fear that this issue is
never going to gain any
foothold in the main stream
consciousness. It's just not
sexy enough. What's more, it
runs counter to many of our
national myths. It's very
important for many Americans
to continue to believe that the
United States is the land of
opportunity. Where anyone
can roll up their sleeves and
work hard and make it. A poll
conducted by the New York
Times (found in this nice,
handy dandy graphic) found
that 80% of respondents felt
that it was possible to start out
poor, work hard and become
rich in this country. Of
course it's true...it is possible.
The rags to riches story of
Mark Cuban, dot.com
millionaire and high-profile
owner of the Dallas Mavericks
nicely reinforces this belief.
He has lived the Horatio Alger
story, and his astonishing rise
to wealth serves as an
example that people can site of
the greatness on the United
States.
But do people really think it's
that easy to move up the
ladder? Once again according
to the NYT's poll, 40% of
respondents stated that it was
more likely now than thirty
years ago, whereas 23%
stated that it was less likely
and 35 % said it was the
same. Of course the sad truth
is that it is less, not more
likely now that an individual
would move up the class
ladder. But the dream
remains. It is this disconnect
that is the key to
understanding why working
class people tend more and
more to side with Republicans
who consistently vote against
their economic interest,
instead of voting with
Democrats, who traditionally
are thought to fight for
working class economic
values (I'll save the topic of
whether or not they really do
for another post). It's much
easier to believe this myth of
equality. I mean come on,
anyone who talks about
wealth, or income inequality,
or social mobility is engaging
in "Class Warfare" (just ask
Sean Hannity). And if you're
engaged in Class Warfare, you
might as well be a
Communist. So, talk of class
mobility, is often discredited in
the public discourse.
Plus, Big Media doesn't like
these issues anyway. Instead,
it's much more fun to discuss
sexy, so-called morality
issues, like the three Gs: God,
Gays and Guns. It's unlikely
that technical topics like
income and wealth mobility
get any coverage from the TV
media. There are no live
feeds, car chases, sexy
scandals, etc. Issues of
income are just too difficult to
discuss; and they tend to get
drowned out by more
important stories like the
"runaway bride" anyway.
But issues of income and
wealth need to become part of
the discourse. Time and time
again people have voted with
their pocketbooks. And
hopefully people will begin to
see that the massive inequality
of wealth and income in this
country is not a healthy thing.
First they have to hear about
it. Sadly, I don't think that
most people will be reading
these articles in the Times.
The Times is running a whole
series on class this week.
Follow it here!
Cheryl Hentz (Eye on Oshkosh) is
going to find out...
To Taxpayers and Parents in the Oshkosh
School District,
Some visitors to the Eye on Oshkosh web
site have been kicking around the idea of
starting a recall effort against eligible
school board members, following their
dismissal this past Wednesday evening of a
petition signed by more than 600 parents
and taxpayers who wanted the board to
reconsider its intention to change the early
dismissal time for hundreds of students in
the upcoming school year. Parents are
angry and fed up. They also are concerned
about the quality of education their
children will receive under this new early
dismissal/schedule plan.
On Sunday, May 15 someone posted a
public invitation to me to take on the task
of looking into a recall effort and what
would be required. I will be happy to look
into this and provide information to people.
But this type of effort is a huge
undertaking, as I explained in a previous
post. It requires a lot of people working
together and is not something that a
handful of people can do on their own. I
also have to be able to reach people
through some other means than writing or
contacting them like this. If interested
parties would like to email me their name,
address and phone number so I can begin
developing a list of volunteers willing to
help in this cause, that would be great. But
by myself or with only a small handful of
people, not much can be done - especially
when all our lives are busy.
Willing and interested parties should
contact me with their information by
writing me at hosts@eyeonoshkosh.com.
Together we can accomplish what needs to
be done. But by ourselves we will continue
being defeated by those who either have
their own agenda or by those who think
that the agenda desired by some is the
agenda which is best for all.
Cheryl Hentz
email: hosts@eyeonoshkosh.com
homosexuality
DEAR ABBY: In a recent column you
advised the mother of a girl who had
confided that she is gay and wants to come
out, that homosexuality has "nothing to do
with parenting and everything to do with
genetics." You need to retract that
statement. If you do not publicly admit
your error, I will know you are a
mouthpiece for the gay and lesbian crowd.
-- LEONARD IN LYNCHBURG
DEAR LEONARD: If I did not believe
with all my heart that what I wrote is true,
I wouldn't have put my thoughts on paper.
Homosexuality is simply a variant of
sexual orientation. Those who claim it is
"unnatural" should direct their attention to
Dr. Joan Roughgarden, a biologist at
Stanford University with a Ph.D. from
Harvard, who states that more than 300
vertebrate species have been found to
practice homosexuality. (A visit to any
zoo might confirm it.) And while one gene
may not be responsible for this variant,
Italian researcher Andrea Camperio-Ciani
of the University of Padua notes that
research findings point to there being more
than one "gay gene," and that the genetic
factors linked to homosexuality in men are
also linked to increased fertility in women.
I stand by my reply.
The Public Campaign Action Fund has put together a chart ranking House members based
on money they have received from Delay's ARMPAC, money they gave to Delay's Legal
Defense Fund, and how often they voted with Delay. Below is Wisconsin's 8
Representatives. Click here to check the Top 25. Click full list to see all Representatives.
| Wisconsin Representatives |
$ from Delay |
$ to Delay |
voting record |
Score |
| Mark Green (19th in the National Rankings!!!) |
$29,414 |
$1,000 |
91.13% |
7.82 |
| Paul Ryan |
$25,390 |
$1,000 |
92.26% |
6.85 |
| Tom Petri |
$1,295 |
$0 |
84.33% |
4.19 |
| F James Sensenbrenner Jr. |
$20 |
$0 |
87.86% |
3.26 |
| Ron Kind |
$0 |
$0 |
20.94% |
0.42 |
| David Obey |
$0 |
$0 |
13.05% |
0.26 |
| Gwenn Moore |
$0 |
$0 |
8.14% |
0.16 |
| Tammy Baldwin (One of the 10 members furthest from Delay!) |
$0 |
$0 |
5.58% |
0.11 |