Current Events

“Operation Offset” is more accurately “Operation Offset with money from your pocket”

The Republican Study Committee (RSC) lead by Indiana Rep. Mike Pence proposes “Operation Offset” which is their plan to pay for Hurricane Katrina, by raping America and transferring money to their big business cronies.

Marla helps us out by summarizing the plans:

  • $225 billion cut from Medicaid, the last-resort health insurance program for the very poor.
  • $200 billion cut from Medicare, the health care safety net for the elderly and the disabled.
  • $25 billion cut from the Centers for Disease Control — pending flu pandemic? What me worry?
  • $6.7 billion cut from school lunches for poor children — protein deprived children grow up to make a less pesky, more compliant workforce or breatharians must receive early training.
  • $7.5 billion cut from programs to fight global AIDS — it’s bad enough we have to pay anything for one group of poor black people, so don’t push it.
  • $5.5 billion to eliminate all funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — bye-bye Big Bird.
  • $3.6 billion cut to eliminate the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities — if we can’t tolerate Big Bird, don’t even dream of tolerating art. So what if it’s an essential for consideration as a civilized society and only costs us 4 cents a day. You don’t expect the richest 1 percent to give up their tax cuts. Puhlease!
  • $8.5 billion cut to eliminate all subsidized loans to graduate students — aka professional jobs should be reserved for the sons and daughters of the oligarchy.
  • $2.5 billion cut from Amtrak — except for the commuter trains for Wall Street types, there goes that program, too.
  • $2.5 billion to eliminate the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative — the only thing remotely environmentally friendly Shrub embraced but what’re two hurricanes when you can make more, more, more!
  • $417 million cut to eliminate the Minority Business Development Agency — it’s not as if a reasonable amount of the windfall of the Katrina/Rita budget is going to make it into minority-owned businesses anyway. All those rules were suspended along with the prevailing wage requirement straight off.
  • $4.8 billion cut to eliminate all funding for the Safe and Drug-Free schools program — no use trying to prevent any future poverty if we’re not willing to pay for it now.

Now, none of this would be neccessary if Bush eliminated the tax breaks he’s given to his big-business buddies, and to the richest 1% of America. But of course that’s not gonna happen.

I think the Repugnicans are forgetting what happened after Marie Antoinette and her infamous “let them eat cake” incident. The peasants rose up and cut off her head. Almost makes me want to take up knitting.

Continue Reading“Operation Offset” is more accurately “Operation Offset with money from your pocket”

Reports of anarchy at Superdome overstated

All those ultra-conservatives who sent around e-mails decrying the “chaos and break-down of society” in the wake of Katrina (the fault of poor people and liberals, of course) — full of crap, reports the the Seattle Times:

Following days of internationally reported murders, rapes and gang violence inside the stadium, the doctor from FEMA — Beron doesn’t remember his name — came prepared for a grisly scene: He brought a refrigerated 18-wheeler and three doctors to process bodies.
“I’ve got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome,” Beron recalled the doctor saying.
The real total?
Six, Beron said.
Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide, said Beron, who personally oversaw the handoff of bodies from a Dome freezer, where they lay atop melting bags of ice.

Continue ReadingReports of anarchy at Superdome overstated

Indiana Peace Rally this Saturday, Sept. 24th

Indiana Peace Rally
Date: Saturday, September 24, 2005 at noon
Time: All Day
Location: Monument Circle
In concert with the peace rally taking place in Washington D.C., join millions across the nation, from many walks of life, for many different reasons, on Sept. 24th to rally for peace…
www.indianapeacerally.org
what they are saying:
* End the war in Iraq.
* Bring the troops home now.
* Stop putting our citizens & soldiers at risk.
* stop military recruiting in our schools.
* stop promoting international terrorism.
* stop the lies & deception.
* stop violating international & US law.

Continue ReadingIndiana Peace Rally this Saturday, Sept. 24th

Indianapolis City Council figures it out

When an amendment to the city’s Human Rights Ordinance was proposed to the city council last year which would introduce protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, the council was bombarded with e-mail from the religious right — most of it from outside of Indianapolis, and some of it from even outside the state of Indiana (generated by a campaign from the extreme religious right).
Many councilors changed their votes to dismiss the legislation, only learning later that the mail against the ordinance was not from their constituents at all.
As you can tell from this Sunday’s Indy Star article, the councilors have figured it out, especially since they’ve sat down and had meals with Indianapolis residents who would be protected by this legislation.

Continue ReadingIndianapolis City Council figures it out

The Normality of Gay Marriages

A New York Times opinion piece:

There’s nothing like a touch of real-world experience to inject some reason into the inflammatory national debate over gay marriages. Take Massachusetts, where the state’s highest court held in late 2003 that under the State Constitution, same-sex couples have a right to marry. The State Legislature moved to undo that decision last year by approving a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages and create civil unions as an alternative. But this year, when precisely the same measure came up for a required second vote, it was defeated by a thumping margin of 157 to 39.
The main reason for the flip-flop is that some 6,600 same-sex couples have married over the past year with nary a sign of adverse effects. The sanctity of heterosexual marriages has not been destroyed. Public morals have not gone into a tailspin. Legislators who supported gay marriage in last year’s vote have been re-elected. Gay couples, many of whom had been living together monogamously for years, have rejoiced at official recognition of their commitment.
As a Republican leader explained in justifying his vote switch: “Gay marriage has begun, and life has not changed for the citizens of the commonwealth, with the exception of those who can now marry who could not before.” A Democrat attributed his change of heart to the beneficial effects he saw “when I looked in the eyes of the children living with these couples.” Gay marriage, it turned out, is good for family values.
Some legislators who strongly oppose gay marriages also switched their votes this year for tactical reasons. They realized that the original measure was headed for defeat, and they had never really liked the part that created civil unions anyway. They are now pinning their hopes on an even harsher proposal, endorsed by Gov. Mitt Romney, that would ban gay marriages without allowing civil unions.
We can only hope that this new appeal to fear and bigotry will stumble over the reality, already apparent, that gay marriage is no threat to the larger community. States that rushed to ban same-sex marriages after the Massachusetts court ruling were succumbing to misplaced hysteria.

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There were not 2,000 school buses

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  • Post category:Politics

Conservative pundits have been hammering the idea that there were “2000 school buses” that New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin could have commandeered to get the poor people of the city evacuated. According to Media Matters, this falsehood has been repeated over and over again.
In fact, the city of New Orleans has 364 school buses, of which 70 were in the shop for repairs and were not driveable. There were not drivers available for the remaining school buses to take people out of town, or personnel to gas them up, etc. Or a way to round up residents and get them to a single meeting point. The logistics of it would have been impossible.

Continue ReadingThere were not 2,000 school buses