To give the tsunami tragedy some perspective, and if we consider ourselves citizens of the world as well as America (I do):

Assuming:

6.5 Billion people on Earth
270 million Americans

Then:

The 114,000 currently estimated dead in the tsunami is equivalent to 4,735 Americans (proportionately) or 50% more than died in September 11th.

Some statistics on our 'generosity'

According to a poll, most Americans believe the United States spends 24 percent of its budget on aid to poor countries; it actually spends well under a quarter of 1 percent.

Mr. Powell pointed to disaster relief and said the United States "has given more aid in the last four years than any other nation or combination of nations in the world." But for development aid, America gave $16.2 billion in 2003; the European Union gave $37.1 billion. In 2002, those numbers were $13.2 billion for America, and $29.9 billion for Europe.

Victims of the earthquake in Bam, Iran, a year ago are still living in tents because aid, including ours, has not materialized in the amounts pledged. And back in 2002, Mr. Bush announced his Millennium Challenge account to give African countries development assistance of up to $5 billion a year, but the account has yet to disperse a single dollar.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/opinion/30thu2.html?oref=login

Yet how much military aid does Isreal get per year from us?

$2.16 billion

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/11/21/israel.us.aid/

Does this seem right to you?

An update to yesterday's post (in the interest of integrity, I won't just change the previous):

1000,000+ people die in the worst natural disaster in modern history.

Bush stays on vacation, make no public statement

Damage is spread across an entire continent.

The US pledges $35 million in aid.

What is $35 million?

Bush is spending over $35 million on his inauguration.

Oshkosh is spending over $2 million on the band shell.

Are we building 17 bandstands for the survivors?

Or just holding one party?

Here is a my response sumbitted to the Northwestern to this letter:

Evolution in school has led to moral decline

http://www.wisinfo.com/northwestern/news/opinion/stories/opinion_19198513.shtml

My letter:

In response to Mr. Gardinier's recent (Dec 29th)statement, "is it a coincidence that our nation has been morally declining over the past 164 years?"

A quick review of the last 164 years:

The end of slavery, the beginning of women's suffrage, equal protection under law regardless of race or position, voting rights, the civil rights movement and act, the GI Bill, Social Security, the New Deal, the Great Society, standing up to dictatorship in WW2, Badger and Senior Care ensuring helthcare options for Wisconsin's poor, labor movements ensuring safety at work, fair pay and the 40-hour work week, universal education for all Americans, abolition of poll taxes, equal housing laws, Americans with Disabilities Act, and many more.

I believe each of these were huge moral steps ahead for American society. When people try to isolate moral issues by a narrow religious view, society as a whole falters.

Allowing your society as a whole to prosper by offering economic and social equality in opportunity (not result), is a more moral stance than one that says if you do not worship my god or conform to my standards, you have no rights.

Unfortunately, Mr. Gardenier and those that share his views seem to long for the good old days of equal rights for white, male, heterosexual, christian property owners only.

That is not a land in which I want to live. And it is definitely not a moral value.

Aid grows amid questions about Bush
Should vacationing president have spoken out?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6763683/

It is a shame that this person represents my country:

Earlier yesterday, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the president was confident he could monitor events effectively without returning to Washington or making public statements in Crawford, where he spent part of the day clearing brush and bicycling.

Once again, as the death toll in this tragedy approaches 100,000; I would like to apologize for our nation's leaders.

40,000+ people die in one of the worst natural disasters in history.

Damage is spread across a continent.

The US pledges $15 million in aid.

What is 15 million?

Bush is spending over $35 million on his inauguration.

Oshkosh is spending over $2 million on the band shell.

What's wrong with this picture?

The best Christmas present I recieved this year was America: The Book A Citizen's Guide to Democract Inaction.

It is great - read it.

The best present I purchased for myself was Green Day's American Idiot - Album of the year!

"Troops are being shoved two or three times into the furnace of Iraq by astonishingly incompetent leaders who have been unable or unwilling to provide them with the proper training, adequate equipment or even a clearly defined mission."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/24/opinion/24herbert.html?th

Here is a great editorial:

"I'll give you 10 news stories from the past few weeks and you tell me what they all have in common."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/26/opinion/26friedman.html?th

I'll give it away:

"The common denominator is a country with a totally contradictory and messed-up set of priorities."

I will disagree with him on his analysis. I think this reflects most of the Republican agenda - HYPOCRACY!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6732614/site/newsweek/

Transition: And Another Year of War
By Dirk Johnson

NewsweekDec. 27 / Jan. 3 issue - You hear the bell ring, or a knock at the door, and there stands a military officer with a crisp uniform, a grim face. Even before this dreadful moment of truth, some families have feared the worst: an unaccustomed telephone or e-mail silence, or just a deep-in-the-bones intuition that something's wrong. And now the words are spoken.

That silence will never end, the tears never quite dry.

In the past year, more than 800 American troops came home from Iraq or Afghanistan in caskets. The death toll of American soldiers now exceeds 1,400. Hundreds of Iraqi police and military have been killed, along with a much larger number of civilians—how many, it's hard even to estimate. In the name of freedom, as President Bush proclaims, dead American troops are lauded as heroes—and no one can argue. Whatever the merits of the American policy, they made the ultimate sacrifice.

One was the Arizona Cardinals' Pat Tillman, who decided it was trivial to play pro football while others were laying their lives on the line. According to the elegiac initial accounts, he died in a fire fight with enemy forces; we now know he was shot accidentally, by "friendly fire." This doesn't detract from his heroism or his sacrifice. But there is also no denying: Pat Tillman died for a mistake.

Tillman was the rare celebrity exception among the GI Joes and Janes: This war hasn't piqued the patriotism of many latter-day Glenn Millers and Ted Williamses. Some 20 percent of those killed were reservists, attracted in part by such benefits as college tuition. It's fair to assume recruiters didn't dwell on the chances of their being sent overseas to brave bullets and bombs—often with substandard armor and equipment. In almost every American neighborhood—rich, poor, middle class—cars sport yellow ribbons to show support for the troops. But those troops come disproportionately from the poorer parts of big cities and from speck-on-the-map towns: Makoti, N.D.; Bartonville, Ill.; Moose Lake, Minn.; Rupert, Idaho. America's vast and prosperous suburbs are largely missing in action. Today's volunteer military mirrors the Vietnam-era draft, where the privileged and educated found ways to avoid combat.

The big difference is the presence of women—who account for about 15 percent of the dead. Not so long ago, prevailing wisdom held that Americans would never abide female soldiers' having to dodge bullets. Wrong. "Putting women in danger on the battlefield has not caused much upset," says Charles Moskos, a military sociologist at Northwestern University. "There's been no particular uproar." Holly McGeogh, barely out of high school, wrote an e-mail to her grandparents from Iraq last winter. "I can't believe I'm only 19 and have my combat patch. What's even cooler is that I will be only 20 when I do get out... I will have accomplished so much in my life. Cool, huh?" McGeogh liked shopping and the outdoors, hunting with her dad. It was the life she longed to return to in her little hometown of Taylor, Mich. She came home in January. An American flag was draped across her casket.

© 2004 Newsweek, Inc.

I'm sure privatizing Social Security and setting up individual tax-exempt health-care accounts will correct this problem:

Blacks dying for lack of health care
Disparities cost 886,000 lives in the U.S. in '90s

More than 886,000 deaths could have been prevented from 1991 to 2000 if African Americans had received the same care as whites, according to an analysis in the December issue of the American Journal of Public Health. The study estimates that technological improvements in medicine -- including better drugs, devices and procedures -- averted only 176,633 deaths during the same period.

Can we for once have a solution that will focus on those who need help, not those who can afford help......?

What if Rummy had never been born?

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/opinion/19dowd.html

A must read....

In case you are interested in the America/Europe Debate:

The Great Powers of Europe, Redefined

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/opinion/17gartonash.html?oref=login&th

I think that Europe has spreading democracy right in this case.

They have proven that you can change governments with the carrot not the stick. Something Bush needs to learn.

The great Paul Krugman once again saying it better than me:

Buying Into Failure

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/opinion/17krugman.html?oref=login&oref=login

Excerpts:

In particular, the public hasn't been let in on two open secrets:

Privatization dissipates a large fraction of workers' contributions on fees to investment companies.
It leaves many retirees in poverty.

More than 99 percent of Social Security's revenues go toward benefits, and less than 1 percent for overhead. In Chile's system, management fees are around 20 times as high. And that's a typical number for privatized systems.

In Britain, which has had a privatized system since the days of Margaret Thatcher, alarm over the large fees charged by some investment companies eventually led government regulators to impose a "charge cap." Even so, fees continue to take a large bite out of British retirement savings.

A reasonable prediction for the real rate of return on personal accounts in the U.S. is 4 percent or less. If we introduce a system with British-level management fees, net returns to workers will be reduced by more than a quarter. Add in deep cuts in guaranteed benefits and a big increase in risk, and we're looking at a "reform" that hurts everyone except the investment industry.

Advocates insist that a privatized U.S. system can keep expenses much lower. It's true that costs will be low if investments are restricted to low-overhead index funds - that is, if government officials, not individuals, make the investment decisions.

So the Bush administration wants to scrap a retirement system that works, and can be made financially sound for generations to come with modest reforms. Instead, it wants to buy into failure, emulating systems that, when tried elsewhere, have neither saved money nor protected the elderly from poverty.

Then, go here and buy a t-shirt that will let everyone know who has it right (mine comes in on Monday):

http://www.cafepress.com/ninjasfordean.9396884

What are we teaching our children about who to look up to?

Miller to Honor Swift Boat Vets' Group

The American Conservative Union on Thursday announced it has tapped Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., to present the "Courage Under Fire" award to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth at the Conservative Political Action Conference's Feb. 18 banquet.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=512&ncid=703&e=2&u=/ap/20041216/ap_on_go_co/miller_swift_boat


Pres. Bush awards Presidential Medal of Freedom to Tenet, Bremer, Franks

It's the president's latest answer to criticism of his Iraq policy. Tuesday's Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients are former CIA chief George Tenet, former head of the US Authority in Iraq Paul Bremer and former CentComm Commander Tommy Franks. All three men were central to the president's policy in Iraq.

President Bush said, "These three men symbolize the nobility of public service the good character of our country and the good influence of America on the world."

Tenet has been criticized for intelligence lapses leading to the attacks on September 11th, 2001. It was Tenet who said the case for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was a slam dunk.
Bremer oversaw creation of the interim Iraqi government. His decision to disband the Iraqi army after the US invasion is widely seen as a factor in the ongoing unrest.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honor.

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2689817

No politics for this one, just want anyone in the blogosphere to know that the Nada's are a great band.

I am just back from my third time seeing them live.

Check them out at:

http://www.thenadas.com/

-jef-

I have a solution for the Rumsfeld problem

It is no secret that I am enamored with Janeane Garofalo. So in my regular searches for new Janeane news, I found this virulent anti-Janeane site:

http://www.dynamictruth.com/enemies/garofalo.html

This site is particularly upset with Janeane because of a March 7th O'Reilly interview in which she makes some wild, unpatriotic accusations about our upcoming war with Saddam.

Some out-takes:

"Bill O'Reilly asked Garofalo, "If you are wrong... and if the United States - and they will, this is going to happen - goes in, liberates Iraq [with] people in the street, American flags, hugging our soldiers... you gonna apologize to George W. Bush?"

"Garofalo replied, "I would be so willing to say, 'I'm sorry.' I hope to God that I can be made a buffoon of, that people will say, 'You were wrong. You were a fatalist.' And I will go to the White House on my knees on cut glass and say, 'Hey, you and Thomas Friedman were right... I shouldn't have doubted you.'"

"Garofalo claims that our military - the best military the world has ever seen - will kill 100,000 Iraqi civilians in this next war."

Let's see, according to Janeane, the Iraq War will result in 100,000+ Iraqi casualties, we will not be welcomed as liberators, and the post-war will be difficult.

Now, on March 6th, 2003; Janeane Garofalo knew more about the future of the Iraq conflict than our President, out Vice-President and our Secretary of Defense.

I say, fire Rumsfeld & hire Garofalo. She'll do a better job.

Social Security Reform:

This is from MSNBC's coverage of the 'summit' today:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6718105/

"As the huge Baby Boom generation reaches retirement age beginning in about 2010, Social Security faces a shortfall projected at $3.7 trillion over the next 75 years."

WOW! $3.7 trillion over 75 years, that's a lot of money!!! We better do something right away to save Social Security.

I AGREE WITH BUSH THAT WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING TO END THIS SHORTFALL!

Here's my proposal:

3.7 trillion / 75 years = $49.3 billion per year

$49.3 billion / 270 million Americans = $182.72

That's right, we can save Social Security, perhaps the most successful Government program in history if each of us merely kicks in $182.72 per year.

It is not broke, do not fix it.

Sign of the times:

Steinbeck’s hometown closing all its libraries

“Unfortunately part of the $8 million solution is the $3 million library program,” Salinas City Manager David Mora said in an interview on Wednesday. “But in addition to the libraries we are not hiring police officers, we are closing recreation centers, we are making further reductions in maintenance services.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6719008/

I wonder if they could afford more property tax cuts for their wealthy. To many people say this is an expenditure problem, I say when you say you can't afford police and libraries, you have a tax collection problem.

This is sickening:

As if Rep. Petri's ties to Walgreen's through his huge ownership of stock was not conflict of interest enough, now his allies in passing the Medicare Drug rip-off are cashing in as well:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/politics/16drug.html

Some selected lines:

"Representative Billy Tauzin, a principal author of the new Medicare drug law, will become president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the chief lobby for brand-name drug companies, the trade group announced Wednesday."

"Drug makers said that the job was not a reward for Mr. Tauzin's (I have found that when they say something is not something, that is exactly what it is... -jef-) work on the Medicare bill, which followed the industry's specifications in many respects. The law was signed by President Bush on Dec. 8, 2003, a few weeks before a lawyer for Mr. Tauzin began talks with the drug trade group."

"Mr. Tauzin (pronounced TOE-zan) and Mr. White refused to discuss Mr. Tauzin's new salary, except to say it was comparable to the pay at other large trade associations. People at other trade groups said they believed that Mr. Tauzin would receive $2 million a year or more."

"Representative Pete Stark of California, the senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, said: "As a member of Congress, Billy negotiated a large payout to the pharmaceutical industry by the federal government. He's now about to receive one of the largest salaries ever paid to any advocate by an industry.""

"Mr. Tauzin wrote large parts of the new Medicare law as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and as a member of the conference committee that hashed out differences between the House and the Senate in four months of intense negotiations last year."

"The law steers clear of price controls and price regulation, which are anathema to drug companies. The law forbids the government to negotiate with drug manufacturers to secure lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries. "

Why are we disillusioned with our government? This is shamefull.

I'm listening to Joe Jackson right now and the best line just came up. It's in his song 'Rant and Rave'

"Instead of using the force of example, we use the example of force."

A truer sentiment for the times......

Ralph Nader begs Micheal Moore for Money.....

http://www.counterpunch.org/nader12082004.html

Funny letter from Nader to Moore. He bags on Moore for the letter and then tells him that he can make up for his 'sin' of supporting the Democratic Party by giving Nader and his supporters money.

You're a multi-millionaire as well, Ralph......

You both can give to jef4wi here:

http://www.jef4wi.com/contribute.html

I'm poor.

I am not keepin it a secret that I support Jeff Rammelt for Chair of the State Party.

It looks like Ed Garvey just might agree with me:

http://www.fightingbob.com/weblog.cfm?PostID=1007

GarveyBlogby
Ed Garvey

December 11, 2004

Dems want two for one?The Wisconsin Democratic Party has many strengths, but nearly all of them reside at the county level--Price, Rusk, Douglas, Washburn, Dane and others. But the top-down, insider-ruled state party is the scourge of those who seek office.

The state party is little more than a conduit for in-state and out-of-state campaign contributions. The party does little in terms of recruitment, training and funding for non-incumbent candidates, but they love to have lots and lots of meetings. Just try to reach one of them on the phone.

It has been more than a decade since Dems picked up more legislative seats in an election cycle than they lost. Even this year, with all the enthusiasm of the presidential primary and election, the Republicans gained seats. Now the Assembly and Senate are dangerously close to being veto-proof, and that means concealed weapons, reduced services, and more.

There has been no grass-roots strategy, no involvement in battles to save our environment or to stop Wal-Mart, little tolerance of outsiders in the heady atmosphere of the state party headquarters. The closed atmosphere surrouding the governor's office is a reflection of the closed party which has been dominated for 20 years by Madison incumbents.

The anwer to this problem? Lobbyist and former legislator Joe Wineke and current chair Linda Honold will run as a team. Whoa Nelly! Where can we get the yard signs? When things are going badly, why not more of the same?

Sad, but so true....

http://theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4049

The Great Paul Krugman on Social Security Privatization:

"Once you realize that privatization really means government borrowing to speculate on stocks, it doesn't sound too responsible, does it? "

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/opinion/10krugman.html?oref=login&th

This is where we need to stake our ground and not allow passage. Write your Congress Members....

I love reading "BUSTED _ Tales From Police Beat" in the local college paper.

http://www.advancetitan.com/story.asp?issue=11112&story=3460

I noticed these 2 and thought it was pretty funny, yet sad....

Nov. 30, 2004
1:27 a.m. – An officer responded to a report of a male passed out in the stairwell of Donner Hall. The officer found the male to be awake upon arrival but intoxicated. UW-Oshkosh student Paul Satterlee, 20, was cited for underage drinking.

Dec. 2, 2004
12:48 a.m. – A Webster Hall Community Adviser requested officers to respond to two males causing a disturbance outside of Donner Hall. The males were yelling and pounding on doors and windows outside of the hall. Investigating officers found that an underage drinking party in the hall, where two students were celebrating their 21st birthday, was the cause of the disturbance. UW-Oshkosh students Meghan Gilles, 18 and Paul Satterlee, 20 were cited for underage drinking, while Alexander Moss, 21, was cited for disorderly conduct. Student Adam Paulke, 21, was cited for knowingly permitting underage consumption on the premises, and student Bradley Champine, 19, was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia.

Now, I do not know who this Paul Satterlee guy is, but looking him up online, he has anothe 3-4 underage busts as well.

Now, in college, before I was 21, I was known to throw down a few beers, but I never once got an underage. Much less 5 or 6.

By all means, party, but party responsibly for heck's sake.

Also, read this:

Car hits students crossing onto Algoma Blvd.
http://www.advancetitan.com/story.asp?issue=11112&story=3455

Jake (aka Box) is my rookie from my rugby team, wish him well if you know him.

(p.s. do you think that turning off streetlights will help the situation.....?)

AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT SEES THE STUPIDITY HERE:

University vandalism costly

Five UW-Oshkosh signs have been stolen or vandalized in separate incidents, costing the university approximately $12,500 within the last year and raising its insurance premium.

http://www.advancetitan.com/story.asp?issue=11112&story=3456

AND:

When the lights go down in the city

Hundreds of streetlights are being removed to cut costs

http://www.advancetitan.com/story.asp?issue=11112&story=3465

Here is a great reason for Dems to stick with the "NO" strategy for the next few years.

Let's make sure we become a true opposition party:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A41818-2004Dec6

"Remember Bill Clinton's 1993 economic plan that put the United States on the path to budget surpluses? It passed without a single Republican vote. Republicans predicted doom for the economy. In 1994 Republicans went after Democrats who had voted for Clinton's tax increases. They took back the House of Representatives and the Senate, and paid no price when their predictions of catastrophe proved dead wrong. "

This logic holds even in the messy scandal over the Oil-for-Food Program, a badly managed affair surrounded by corruption. But who designed the Oil-for-Food Program? The United States and Britain. They wrote the rules that allowed Saddam Hussein to choose his trading partners, banks and consultants. They vetted every one of the 30,000 contracts that passed through the program. They held up 5,000 over concerns about materials that could be used for weapons of mass destruction, but not one over concerns about corruption. Saddam's major revenues actually came from smuggling, which was an activity the United Nations was not mandated to stop. The only ones who could have stopped it were the ones with military force in the region—the United States and Britain. The truth is that Washington—during both the Clinton and the Bush years—cared little about Iraq's corruption. It cared only about its weapons.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6653227/site/newsweek/

Great points made in this article.

Triin Tael, who was out with her baby along the cobblestone streets of Tallinn, said that many Estonians considered the U.S. and Russia to be equally bad. But, she said, they want to cultivate ties with distant Washington to protect them from neighboring Moscow.
"It is in our interest to be friendly to the U.S.," she said, "because we are hoping that the U.S. and NATO will protect us if Russia attacks."
So, on the basis of those 55 soldiers in Iraq, the U.S is now committed to using its full economic and military force to back Estonia?
"Yes," she said. "That's exactly what we think."
It was my turn to look stricken.
Estonia's contribution is not unusual. Eight of our partners in Iraq have fewer than 100 soldiers there.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/08/opinion/08kristof.html?th

Krugman is back!!!!!

On Social Security:

"But it's a problem of modest size. The report finds that extending the life of the trust fund into the 22nd century, with no change in benefits, would require additional revenues equal to only 0.54 percent of G.D.P. That's less than 3 percent of federal spending - less than we're currently spending in Iraq. And it's only about one-quarter of the revenue lost each year because of President Bush's tax cuts - roughly equal to the fraction of those cuts that goes to people with incomes over $500,000 a year."

"There's no honest way anyone can hold both these positions, but very little about the privatizers' position is honest. They come to bury Social Security, not to save it. They aren't sincerely concerned about the possibility that the system will someday fail; they're disturbed by the system's historic success."

"For Social Security is a government program that works, a demonstration that a modest amount of taxing and spending can make people's lives better and more secure. And that's why the right wants to destroy it."

Read it all here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/opinion/07krugman.html?th

This is one of my biggest concerns for the short term, passing up even the healthcare crisis.

If we do not do something about the value of the dollar, we are all going the way of Argentina. This article calls on the Bush administration to use statesmanship, control and diplomacy, do you think we can trust them in this?

http://hnn.us/articles/8669.html

Don't Let the Dollar Take the Fall
By JEFFREY E. GARTEN
New Haven — AS the dollar continues to sink against the euro, the yen and other currencies, the conventional wisdom is that there is little choice but to allow it to continue to fall.
America's trade imbalance can be corrected, the current reasoning goes, with a much cheaper dollar - perhaps 30 percent cheaper than it is today. The idea - supported by Treasury Secretary John Snow and Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chairman - is that this would raise the price of imports for Americans, who would thus buy less from abroad. A cheaper dollar would also supposedly allow us to sell more to the world by making our exports less expensive.
Here is what's wrong with this analysis.
A falling dollar is unlikely to curtail imports as much as hoped. It is more likely instead to act as a consumption tax. About one-quarter of the United States import bill arises from oil purchases, which are priced in dollars. A rapidly depreciating dollar thus means lower earnings for OPEC producers. In response, the cartel might well raise prices. Goods from Asia, especially China, account for at least another 25 percent of our import bill. Because these computers, machine tools, TV's and toys are essential to our work and lifestyle, chances are that we will still buy them, even at higher prices.
Nor will a cheaper dollar encourage domestic production that can replace imports, as some argue. Auto parts, for instance, are increasingly produced in Mexico and other developing nations. These plants, part of a highly specialized global supply line, are not likely to be replaced by suppliers in the United States just because of temporary currency movements.
American exports, meanwhile, will not be spurred as much as most forecasters hope. Because currencies' values are relative to one another, the lower the dollar gets, the higher the euro and yen rise. As the currencies of Europe and Japan strengthen, the exports of these nations will become more expensive. That could easily translate into slower growth in those already slow-growing regions - and less money to buy our exports.
What's more, with the exception of agriculture, fewer American products are sold from our shores. Increasingly, they are sold by American subsidiaries overseas. While big American companies still export billions of dollars' worth of goods across the Atlantic, they sell three to five times as much from their European-based operations - to countries in Europe. A lower dollar won't have much effect on those sales.
The problem with the administration's devaluation policy is that it doesn't treat the root causes of America's economic imbalances. Our need to borrow so much from abroad is caused by our enormous consumption and our anemic savings. Today, Americans save just 0.2 percent of their disposable income, practically the lowest level in 45 years. Since we have so little savings to finance capital investment, we borrow from savings pools abroad. Our government, too, needs foreign creditors to invest in Treasury securities, to finance its escalating budget deficits.
Another trade issue not addressed by dollar devaluation: the need to sharpen our global competitiveness. In an advanced economy like ours, price should be less of a selling point than the quality and sophistication of a product. This isn't going to happen unless we improve the fundamentals underlying competitiveness - our education system and labor-force skills. A devalued dollar also does not lower health-care costs - costs so high that they encourage American employers to move operations to countries where governments often pick up the insurance tab.
Traders churning $2 trillion daily in currency markets know that if the United States relies on a cheap dollar alone to correct its trade imbalance it will push the currency down fast and for a long time - because the benefits will never quite match the predicted expectations.
This is a one-way bet for speculators. Already, rumors are rampant that several central banks with significant dollar holdings may diversify into other currencies. Hedge funds and other speculators may be moving in. If momentum to sell dollars gathers steam, it could lead to a dollar plunge, a global financial crisis and deep worldwide recession.
The dollar may well be overvalued now. But rather than just talking the currency down, Washington should try to pursue a formal agreement with Europe, Japan and China that addresses not only currency realignments but also the domestic policy changes needed to back them up.
A model for this is the so-called Plaza Accord negotiated by the Reagan administration with Germany and Japan in 1985. Then, as now, the United States was running large trade deficits and wanted to devalue the dollar. But rather than talking down the currency or letting it fall on its own, President Reagan's team got key trading partners to share the burden of adjusting policies to correct the imbalance. It worked. America's trade gap slowly narrowed, and foreign lenders did not demand significantly higher interest rates on Treasuries. If Washington negotiated a similar accord today, countries like China and Japan could slow the dollar's slide by revaluing their currencies. The pact could also involve policy commitments to support the currency realignments.
For example, rather than just assert that economic growth will reduce our budget deficits, the Bush administration might postpone or trim permanent tax cuts. It could also agree to partly privatize Social Security only after creating a plan to finance the $1 trillion to $2 trillion in transition costs without deepening the deficit. It could announce measures to improve our export performance - starting, perhaps, with more support for certain research and development programs and a plan to lower health-care premiums for employers by offering reinsurance for catastrophic-illness costs.
For their part, European nations could pledge to accelerate deregulation to further open their economies and become bigger importers. And key countries could agree to intervene in currency markets to keep the dollar's decline gradual and orderly.
A great power does not debase its currency - a currency around which most global commerce revolves. It does not take its hand off the tiller, as if the market bears all responsibility for global financial stability. To fix the problems that underlie huge trade imbalances, it uses statesmanship - at home and abroad.
Jeffrey E. Garten, dean of the Yale School of Management, held economic and foreign policy posts in the Nixon, Ford, Carter and Clinton administrations.

Read this.... It is FDR's reaction to Clavin Coolidge's re-election.

I believe this is just history repeating itself, unfortunately.
http://hnn.us/articles/8669.html

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/120704U.shtml

Howard Dean on the future of the Democrats - I agree with himthat to win we do not become more like Republicans, we draw the lines that define us better:

"For example, Democrats historically tackle economic issues with bold, common-sense policies. Our last Democratic president created 22 million new jobs in this country. In the last four years, George W. Bush oversaw the loss of over 1.5 million. Democrats balance budgets, Republicans do not. Democrats consistently try to pass legislation that would provide some kind of affordable health care, Republicans do not. Democrats believe we ought to raise the minimum wage to help the average worker keep up with the cost of living, Republicans do not. Democrats believe corporations have too much power over our daily lives; Republicans do not - and to prove it, they have given away billions of dollars of our tax money to the biggest corporations in the world over the last four years."

How's this for a frightening headline:

Fox to provide news to Clear Channel stations
Network signs 5-year deal that covers more than 100 stations

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6660838/

Welcome to the future - keep fighting.....

"You can actually make the case that the president's marketing of his Social Security "reform" has been brilliant. Why? Because it has diverted people from asking a basic, simple question. Which is this: wasn't Social Security designed to be a safety net for old people? When did it change from something designed to keep you from being poor into something to supposedly help make you rich?"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6652755/site/newsweek/

Fear this program - it is not in the best interest of most of America....

From the Northwestern:

I can tell you this with certainty. I have disagreed with Mark Harris on a number of issues but he is not capable of being spiteful. I am not in the position to say the same thing about Van De Hey.

http://www.wisinfo.com/northwestern/news/columns/stories/columns_18895823.shtml

I would like the echo him. I have come to know Mark Harris, and I can say he is a very genuine person. Someone truly concerned with Oshkosh and it's citizens. I look forward to seeing what his energy and compassion can do for the county.

Go here:

www.harris4exec.com

For more info & to volunteer/contribute.

Another story that should have hit a month ago:

Asked whether he considered the invasion a mistake, the Pakistani leader said: "With hindsight, yes. We have landed ourselves in more trouble, yes."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/05/musharraf.cnn/

This is an amazing opinion piece.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/25/opinion/25friedman.html?th

In My Next LifeBy THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
n my next life, I want to be Tom DeLay, the House majority leader.
Yes, I want to get almost the entire Republican side of the House of Representatives to bend its ethics rules just for me. I want to be able to twist the arms of House Republicans to repeal a rule that automatically requires party leaders to step down if they are indicted on a felony charge - something a Texas prosecutor is considering doing to DeLay because of corruption allegations.
But most of all, I want to have the gall to sully American democracy at a time when young American soldiers are fighting in Iraq so we can enjoy a law-based society here and, maybe, extend it to others. Yes, I want to be Tom DeLay. I want to wear a little American flag on my lapel in solidarity with the troops, while I besmirch every value they are dying for.
If I can't be Tom DeLay, then I want to be one of the gutless Republican House members who voted to twist the rules for DeLay out of fear that "the Hammer," as they call him, might retaliate by taking away a coveted committee position or maybe a parking place.
Yes, I want to be a Republican House member. At a time when 180 of the 211 members of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Iraq who have been wounded in combat have insisted on returning to duty, I want to look my constituents and my kids in the eye and tell them that I voted to empty the House ethics rules because I was afraid of Tom DeLay.
If I can't be a Republican House member, I want to be Latrell Sprewell, the guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves. I want to say with a straight face that if my owner will only give me a three-year contract extension for a meager $21 million, then he's not worth working for, because "I've got my family to feed."
Yes, I want to be Latrell Sprewell. At a time when N.B.A. games are priced beyond the reach of most American families, when half the country can't afford health care, when some reservists in Iraq are separated from their families for a year, including this Thanksgiving, I want to be like Latrell. I want to make sure everyone knows that I'm looking out for my family - and no one else's.
If I can't be Latrell Sprewell, I want to be any American college or professional athlete. For a mere dunk of the basketball or first-down run, I want to be able to dance a jig, as if I'd just broken every record by Michael Jordan or Johnny Unitas. For the smallest, most routine bit of success in my sport, I want to be able to get in your face - I want to know who's your daddy, I want to be able to high-five, low-five, thump my chest and dance on your grave. You talkin' to me?
I want to be able to fight on the court, off the court, in the stands and on the sidelines. I want to respect no boundaries and no norms. And when I make your kids cry, I want to be able to tell you to just "chill" - that my coach says "stuff happens" and that my union rep is appealing my punishment in the name of the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta. Yes, in my next life, I want to be The Man.
If I can't be The Man, then I at least want to be the owner of a Hummer - with American flag decals all over the back bumper, because Hummer owners are, on average, a little more patriotic than you and me.
Yes, I want to drive the mother of all gas-guzzlers that gets so little mileage you have to drive from gas station to gas station. Yes, I want to drive my Hummer and never have to think that by consuming so much oil, I am making transfer payments to the worst Arab regimes that transfer money to Islamic charities that transfer money to madrassas that teach children intolerance, antipluralism and how to hate the infidels.
And when one day one of those madrassa graduates goes off and joins the jihad in Falluja and kills my neighbor's son, who is in the U.S. Army Rangers, I want to drive to his funeral in my Hummer. Yes, I want to curse his killers in front of his mother and wail aloud, "If there was only something I could do ..." And then I want to drive home in my Hummer, stopping at two gas stations along the way.
If I can't be any of these, then I want to be just a simple blue-state red-state American. I want to take time on this Thanksgiving to thank God I live in a country where, despite so much rampant selfishness, the public schools still manage to produce young men and women ready to voluntarily risk their lives in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to spread the opportunity of freedom and to protect my own. And I want to thank them for doing this, even though on so many days in so many ways we really don't deserve them.

Why didn't we do this in Ohio & Florida.

There is still time....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6374820/

I can no longer remain silent (but I don't have much time now, so I will post more in depth later...)

After Petri says that it is no big deal that DeLay is dishonest, they vote to change the rules so that if he faces FELONY INDICTMENT he can still be the leader of there party?

Where are we going?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61374-2004Nov18.html


Then - Why didn't Greenspan give this speech 3 weeks ago:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6529487/

Greenspan: Trade gap could hurt U.S. economy
Fed chairman says reducing budget deficit is key

WASHINGTON - The persistence of bloated U.S. trade deficits over time can pose a risk to the U.S. economy

Time to put down my PS2 & Pick up the fight.....

Hello!

I have just finished up the series of debates with Rep. Petri. I have heard from attendees and the media that it was a sweep! Jef Hall won all three.

There has been great response. I am trying to get the first debate on local cable shows before Election Day. I have a DVD of it available if you can help me get it on your local cable access channel. On the DVD Tom Petri replying to ethics concerns about his Medicare votes in light of the millions of dollars he owns in Walgreen’s stock, is quoted “Walgreen’s isn’t a drug company, they just sell prescriptions.” He also equated Tom DeLay’s selling of access to the congress laughing, “It’s a little like a traffic violation, you can get arrested for something, but it’s not like a murder.”

On the issues, we were 100% in opposition in healthcare, worker’s rights, tax policy and many other issues. We need to change our representation.

We can hold Petri accountable for his Medicare record at an upcoming forum - Wednesday, October 27th, 1:30 at Pine Haven Christian Home, 500 block of Giddings Ave in Sheboygan Falls. The sign says “Medicare reform, Rep. Tom Petri, Public Welcome.” I would like to get a crowd of people there with pill bottles and Walgreen’s stock certificates (background info is here: http://www.jef4wi.com/petridrugs.pdf). Please reply to this message if you can be there. Also, please pass this on to others who may be able to come. We need to get press on this issue, and this is the best way.

While Petri has received the recommendations of the Oshkosh Northwestern and the Appleton Post-Crescent both included great words about my campaign, and given the political tilt of those papers, I consider this a victory. A quote from the Post-Crescent:
“In Jef Hall, Petri faces a worthy opponent who isn’t simply a name on the Democratic ticket. He espouses a noble philosophy that, if you take care of people, business will take care of itself. He makes his strongest arguments about health care reform, strengthening the middle class and eliminating unfunded mandates.”
What can we do between now and the election? I hope you are volunteering at your local coordinated campaign or county party office. They will be organizing lit drops and have my lit piece there as well. Please sign up for a shift, there is nothing more important than getting the vote out this year, here are some places you can contact:

Winnebago County: Charis Rose – 101 High Ave, Oshkosh – 920-996-0081 – charisr@wisdems.org
Fond du Lac County: Ben Gaines – 20 S Main St, Fond du Lac – 920-924-0569 – beng@wisdems.org
Sheboygan County: Mike Bare – 816 N 8th St, Sheboygan – 920-4578685 – mikeb@wisdems.org
Manitowoc County: Kate Farrar – 822 S 8th St, Manitowoc – 414-704-4577 – katef@wisdems.org

We have been very lucky in the quality of the organizers that have been sent to our area, please utilize them. Also, make sure they are including my lit piece with any lit drops they do.

Please continue putting out signs, displaying my bumper sticker, and wear my lapel sticker around. There is a large supply in each of the county offices.

I have a supply of lit pieces in each office; please grab a handful to pass them out to friends, family and co-workers.

Thank you for all your help over the campaign. And please keep up the good work!

Don’t forget, reply to this message if you can help me make a scene at the Sheboygan Falls Medicare Forum, Wednesday.

-jef-

For a look behind the curtain, here are the rules for the first debate:

To: Representative Tom Petri, Jef Hall, Carol Rittenhouse
From: David Siemers, Dept. of Political Science, UW-Oshkosh
Re: Debate set-up and formatCandidates-

Thanks again for participating in next Monday's forum. You each are doing a service to the voters in the 6th Congressional District by appearing. My goal is a debate which illuminates your differences on the issues, which is simultaneously cordial and respectful of the office of U.S. Representative.

As you know, the debate will be held in the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh's Reeve Union (Room 227), beginning at 6PM. The parking lots in between High and Algoma Streets nearest the Union are available for you and others from off campus to park in. The lot at the corner of John Street and Elmwood Ave. should also have spaces available. I hope to begin promptly, and once we start, the debate will last for 75 minutes. The three of you will each be standing at podiums on a raised stage, as will I. Each podium has its own microphone. Regional media outlets have been invited to the event.

We do not have a system of lights to warn you that you are running out of time. Therefore, I strongly recommend that each of you bring a watch which will help you conform to the time constraints set forth below. I will be keeping official time and will stop you if you go over the specified length for a response. While you may always use the full amount of time allotted to you, you need not use it all.

We will determine the order of speaking in the minutes before the debate begins. I will bring a bag with three Scrabble tiles in it, one marked "P," one marked "H," and one marked "R." One of you will choose a tile out of the bag, and the person whose last initial it is will choose to speak either first, second, or third. We will maintain this order throughout the debate. A second tile will be drawn and the person whose initial it is will choose among the two remaining spots. The candidate whose tile is not picked will take the remaining position.

Our format will be as follows:

Opening statements: each of you will be allotted 2 minutes (total time: approx. 6 min., order to be determined by the method outlined above).

Questions asked by the candidates: Each of you will pose two questions, one each to both of your opponents. The candidate responding to the question will be allotted 2 minutes; the candidate who posed the question will have 1 minute to respond to that answer; the original respondent will then have 30 seconds of rebuttal time. The candidate who delivers the first opening statement will ask his/her questions first, followed by the second candidate, then the third. Each candidate may choose which opponent to address first. Please keep your questions concise (total time: approx. 21 min.).

Audience/Moderator questions: Before the debate I will have circulated 4X6 cards on which audience members will write questions directed at specific candidates. I will choose which of these questions to ask and I may also ask questions I have formulated. The candidate I ask the question of will have 2 minutes to speak. Both other candidates may, at their discretion, deliver a 1 minute response. After the 1 minute response(s), the candidate I originally asked the question of will have 1 minute of rebuttal time. Depending on time, each of you will be asked 3 or 4 questions (total time: approx. 45 mins.)Closing statements: each of you will be allotted 1 minute (total time: approx. 3 min., speaking order is the same as above)

I look forward to seeing you next Monday, the 18th. Should you have any questions or concerns, do let me know (920) 424-0435 or siemers@uwosh.edu.Sincerely,David SiemersAssociate ProfessorUniversity of Wisconsin-Oshkosh

When do you develop plans?

"The strategy — already largely outlined by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other top officials in recent weeks — was developed over the summer as Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry was accusing President Bush of lacking a coherent plan to end the rising violence and pave the way for the withdrawal of American troops."

Shouldn't Bush have developed the plan in Jan 2003.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=716&e=5&u=/ap/20041008/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq

Here is the text of a statement I read for Wisconsin Public TV. It ended up, when I read it to be over 5 minutes (all the time I was given), so when you see it, it will be a little different.

Anyway, here's the gist:

Hello, my name is Jef Hall, I am a Candidate for the 6th Congressional District.
In 1944’s State of the Union, Franklin Roosevelt set forth what he called “a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race, or creed.”
This was a statement of what Americans deserve from their government, and 60 years later, we still owe these basic rights to our people.
Franklin Roosevelt dreamed of an America that worked for a living, and received fair pay for that work. He wanted to build strong families by educating our children, and ensuring them food, clothing and shelter.
He demanded honesty of our corporations, and fair compensation for our farmers and small business owners.
He wanted to guarantee Social Security benefits at the end of your career, and demanded healthcare for all Americans 60 years ago.
And now, 60 years later, we are still fighting for these basic rights.
Growing up in the small town of Princeton, I learned many of these values of which Roosevelt spoke. I learned that people deserve fair pay for a hard days work, that you aren’t really getting ahead if you are doing it at someone else’s expense.
I learned passion for your beliefs and compassion for others. I learned that the most important question is how can I help others?
I am afraid that these are values that our government has since forgotten. If you look at the policies supported by the current administration and my district’s representation, they are values of property over people.
I want to change this. As a proud member of Middle America, I want to return government’s focus to people over property. I realize that without a vibrant, empowered middle class, we will not have the strong marketplace and tax base that America needs to grow. I propose to end the Bush/Petri tax cuts on the wealthy, shifting this relief to the middle and working class, as well as to reduce the deficit that is eating America’s potential.
If you look at our history, you will see that in every period of growth and prosperity, it was through the work and discipline of the middle class.
We have not seen the growth that we were promised from the current economic policy, and it is easy to see why. You cannot grow the economy and add jobs by giving tax breaks to the wealthy. It is said that if you give a business owner another $20,000 in tax cuts, they will hire someone. This does not stand up to reason. To stimulate hiring, you need to increase demand for that business owner’s product or service. You grow both economy and jobs by increasing the consumer base.
What we have seen as a result of the current policy is a slowly growing economy; however, this is accompanied by a dramatic increase in the number of people living in poverty, over 4 million in the last 4 years.
What does this mean; we have a small amount of people with a lot more money, and a large amount of people losing income. We are gutting the middle class – precisely the people that America was built on and we need to advance.
One of the first business stories we learn in school is that Henry Ford believed if we paid workers enough, they would all go out and buy cars. On this principle he built the largest corporation in the world at the time. Wal-Mart seems to believe the same thing, they pay their employees so little, they can’t afford to shop anywhere else.
Now, don’t think I am anti-business, just like Roosevelt, I believe that every business deserves to make a fair profit. It has been said that what is good for business is good for America, I disagree with this statement. I believe that what is good for Americans is good for business. You cannot send your customer’s jobs overseas and still expect them to buy your product or service.
Every day we hear about more jobs moving oversees. Wisconsin has lost 75,000 manufacturing jobs to foreign factories in the last 4 years alone. Just recently, 190 good people in Oshkosh lost their jobs. Their average age was 53 years old. Do you really believe that these skilled workers will find employment at a similar level? Where did these jobs move? Canada.
Why Canada? Because of what I feel is the most important issue in this election cycle, and the decade: healthcare.
We have all felt the blow of raising healthcare and insurance costs. However, the response we have seen from Washington has been either ineffective or actually helping the drug and insurance interests.
I want to propose a solution. I propose we allow Medicare to negotiate for all health services. We need to use the power of the marketplace to get better prices for all Americans.
The recent Medicare Drug law actually made it illegal for Medicare to negotiate better prices for our seniors. As a result, since this law was passed, the top 138 drugs used by seniors have risen over 8% in cost. In Walgreen’s 2003 corporate report, they estimated this law adding 75-100 million prescriptions added to their books in the next year.
A law sold to the people to cut prescription costs should not add costs into the system. My opponent said that this law was the quote “Without question the most significant domestic legislative accomplishment of 2003” unquote.
Why would he say that a bill that actually raises costs on our seniors was so important to pass? He personally owns up to $25 million dollars in Walgreen stock.
One thing I can guarantee as your representative is, if you’ve seen my stock portfolio, there is absolutely no conflict of interest. Just like most of you, I have only a small 401k in index and mutual funds. I will also, while I represent the people of Wisconsin, stick to investing in only index funds.
We need to separate the money from politics. And we need representatives for the people that are of the people. As a member of the middle class, I will bring the integrity that comes from knowing a hard days work to Washington. I will bring the understanding that healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and that you should never be denied lifesaving medications simply because of your station in life.
I thank you for taking the time to listen to me today. If you would like more information on me, you can look me up online at www.jefhall.com – now, I spell jef with one ‘f’ so it is j-e-f-h-a-l-l dot com. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
Thank you for your time, and please vote November 2nd.

They are admitting it now:

"A Bush adviser said the president hopes to change the dynamics of the race with more biting attacks on Kerry's record and trustworthiness and on what Bush charges is Kerry's reluctance to use U.S. military force to defeat terrorism. The strategy is aimed at stoking public fears about terrorism, raising new concerns about Kerry's ability to protect Americans and reinforcing Bush's image as the steady anti-terrorism candidate, aides said. "

I quote again: "The strategy is aimed at stoking public fears about terrorism."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A10573-2004Oct6?language=printer

They are admitting that they lie about our danger for their own political gain....

-jef-

More evidence of no collusion between Al-Quaida & Iraq:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6196962/

Duelfer found that Saddam, hoping to end U.N. sanctions, gradually began ending prohibited weapons programs starting in 1991. But as Iraq started receiving money through the U.N. oil-for-food program in the late 1990s, and as enforcement of the sanctions weakened, Saddam was able to take steps to rebuild his military, such as acquiring parts for missile systems and restoring domestic chemical production.
However, the erosion of sanctions stopped after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Duelfer found, preventing Saddam from pursuing weapons of mass destruction.
“He was making progress in eroding sanctions — a lot of sanctions,” Duelfer told Congress. “And had it not been for the events of 9-11-2001, things would have taken a very different course for the regime.”

Here's one for Cheney saying he had never met Edwards....

http://www.dailykos.com/images/admin/cheney_edwards.jpg

The More Things Change:

Here are some adds from the Ford campaign:

http://www.pbs.org/30secondcandidate/timeline/years/1976c.html#movie

Watch the 'Man on the Steet" add - then remember that a lot of the people from the Ford administration are, in fact, in the Whitehouse now (Cheney, Rumsfeld....).

Let's hope we have the same conclusion.

Note: The second add "Feeling Good About America" has a message W couldn't put out there.

Here's an old one from emails:

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF MIKE RIGHT-WING REPUBLICAN

Mike gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.

With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised. All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Mike gets it too.

He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Mike's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry. In the morning shower, Mike reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Mike dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Mike begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Mike's employer pays these standards because Mike's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union. If Mike is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

Its noontime and Mike needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Mike's deposit is federally insured by the FDIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Mike's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression. Mike has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Mike and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.

Mike is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification. He is happy to see his father, who is now retired.

His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Mike wouldn't have to.

Mike gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Mike enjoys throughout his day.

Mike agrees:"We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives!After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

I got this in email today - I don't know who wrote it.

The Republican Guide to Hurricane Preparedness.

1. Wait for government funded agency to issuehurricane alert.

2. Board up windows at on home that is insuredwith government sponsored flood insurance.

3. Drive family and pets to safety on world-classgovernment built highway system.

4. Spend the night in gymnasium at governmentbuilt/subsidized school or shelter.

5. Watch government funded guardsmen and policeon tv as they patrol the streets andneighborhoods protecting my personal belongingsand government insured home.

6. Wait in government built shelter whilegovernment subsidized contractors clear the roadsand streets so that I can return to my governmentinsured home.

7. Be first in line to pick up governmentwelfare , erh, I mean FEMA "relief" check.

8. Go out on November 2 and vote for George Bushto "get big government off my back."

I was right all along.....

"When Paul Samuelson, the dean of American economists, begins questioning the benefits of free trade, it is a bit like the pope having doubts about the virgin birth. "
"If enough higher-paying jobs are lost by American workers to outsourcing, he calculates, then the gain from the cheaper prices may not compensate for the loss in U.S. purchasing power. In other words, the low wages at Wal-Mart do not necessarily make up for their bargain prices. "
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=8686

Anyone that has seen me speak has heard me tell the Wal-Mart story - it goes like this:

Back in the day. Henry Ford believed that if he paid his employees enough, they would all go out and buy cars.... Wal-Mart believes the same thing, they pay their employees so little, the can't shop anywhere else.

WAL-MART IS THE SINGLE GREATEST ANCHOR ON THE AMERICAN ECONOMY. I don't think that I can state it any more clearly than that. Until they pay their employees a fair wage, and attempt to sell American products when possible, they will continue to gut America's purchasing power by forcing manufacturing jobs oversees and decimating pay in the retail sector.

DO NOT SHOP THERE UNTIL THEY REFORM.

Here's a last Wal-Mart Joke -

Q: Did you know that you can't but Sam Walton's book there anymore?
A: They don't allow anything in there with 'Made in America' on it.

Here's the letter I sent to the Alliance for Retired Americans asking for endorsement. I think it covers my ideas pretty well:


Alliance for Retired Americans
Department of Government and Political Affairs
888 16th Street, NW, Suite 520
Washington, DC 20006


To Whom It May Concern,

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss my views regarding retirees’ issues for the upcoming election. I feel that the issues you detailed in your questionnaire are some of the most pressing domestic issues in America today.

They touch upon all American life, not just retirees. The skyrocketing costs of healthcare are not only bankrupting seniors, but contributing to job losses and hardship for all American families.

I consider controlling the spiraling costs of Healthcare to be the most important issue in this election cycle. I feel that Medicare should be empowered to negotiate for healthcare costs across the board, and for all Americans, not just for drug prices, and not just for seniors, the indigent and the poor.

When Medicare negotiates with current providers for all health services, they will be doing so from a standpoint of providing for all Americans, offering businesses and individuals to buy into their programs based on ability to pay. Only when Medicare leverages this huge buying power, will we truly get the best of our healthcare dollar.

My opponent does not believe that Medicare should have this power. He has argued that competition alone should result in lower prices. He has also stated that the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2003 was “without question, the most significant legislative accomplishment of 2003.” We have seen that this a failure of a law has only resulted in higher drug costs for seniors.

It is in this spirit that I would like to request the endorsement of the Alliance for Retired Americans in the race for Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional Seat.

I can be reached for comment or questions at 920.203.6883. My email is jef@jef4wi.com.

Thank you,



Jef Hall
Democrat for Congress – Wisconsin’s 6th District

Some healthcare figures that need to get out more:

"Worker premiums rose 35.9 percent over the past four years, nearly three times the average growth in earnings, the report said. For family coverage, the employee's portion of the average annual premium grew to $1,947 from $1,433, it said.
But in 26 states, including closely contested Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico and Wisconsin, premiums paid by workers increased more than 40 percent since 2000, the report said.
At the same time, the number of Americans younger than 65 who spent more than a quarter of their earnings on health care increased by 22 percent.
The number of people without health insurance in a two-year period also rose substantially during the Bush administration, from 72.5 million in 1999 and 2000 to 85.2 million during 2003-2004. The latter figure represents more than a third of Americans younger than 65, and thus not covered by the Medicare program. "

Here's more:

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2004/09/27/ap1562399.html

I want to make sure all Americans have access to affordable healthcare. We need policy that protects patients, not profits.

I have been saying this all along. We need to stand up and make sure we get the best prices!

"The Big Scare for drug companies isn't really Canadian imports, despite all the noise they've made. It's the threat that the government will step in to negotiate prices once the new Medicare drug benefit gets underway next year. The Feds already negotiate prices for Veterans Administration insurance and pay about the same as the Canadian price, says Bill Hubbard, an FDA associate commissioner. Wouldn't it be nice if the rest of us could, too?"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6039139/site/newsweek/

If you want to see why we don't get the best prices, look here:

http://www.jef4wi.com/petrivert_files/slide0001.htm

Jimmy Carter on voting in Florida:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52800-2004Sep26.html?referrer=emailarticle

This goes back to things I have pointed out in other posts - we do not have a fair system in Florida.

In Venezuela, there were receipt printed out for all electronic votes, but we are told we cannot do that in America?

Watch out for your freedom come Nov 2nd. The only way to make sure we have a fair election is to get so many Democratic votes out that the ones they take away will be irrelevant.

Here is a great counterpoint to Bush spin - the Iraq War as seen through Powel's words, then & now:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/27/opinion/27herbert.html?th

Great Kerry quote:

“Four years ago, this president came to office calling himself a ‘compassionate conservative.’ Well, in the story of the Good Samaritan, we are told of two men who pass by or cross to the other side of the street when they come upon a robbed and beaten man. They felt compassion, but there were no deeds. Then the Good Samaritan gave both his heart and his help. For four years, this president has talked about compassion, but he’s walked right by. He’s seen people in need, but he’s crossed over to the other side of the street. For four years, we’ve heard a lot of talk about values. But values are not just words. They’re what we live by.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6083383/site/newsweek/

Federal workers offered Catholic health-care plan

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/north/chi-0409250057sep25,1,1924604.story?coll=chi-newslocalnorth-hed

Not only is this a church/state problem, but are we really using our resources the best? High deductible health insurance resulting in profits for a religious organization through tax-payer funds, that will actually cut benefits to the workers.

Exactly how many levels can this be wrong on at one time?

-jef-

If we want to advance as a country, we need to be able to think our way out of any hole we end up in.

Which candidate is the most supportive of science?

Here's the skinny:

http://www.nature.com/news/specials/uselection/index.html

Winning Hearts and Minds......

http://www.freep.com/news/nw/iraq25e_20040925.htm

"BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Operations by U.S. and multinational forces and Iraqi police are killing twice as many Iraqis -- most of them civilians -- as attacks by insurgents are, according to statistics compiled by the Iraqi Ministry of Health."
"According to the ministry, which provided the Free Press with the figures Friday, the interim Iraqi government recorded 3,487 Iraqi deaths in 15 of the country's 18 provinces from April 5 -- when the ministry began compiling the data -- until Sept. 19. Of those, 328 were women and children. Another 13,720 Iraqis were injured, the ministry said."

"From that date until Sept. 10, 1,295 Iraqis were killed in clashes with multinational forces and police versus 516 killed in terrorist operations, the ministry said. The ministry defines terrorist operations as incidents in which someone is killed by an explosive device in a residential area, killed by a car bomb or assassinated."
"The Health Ministry is the only organization that attempts to track deaths through government agencies. The U.S. military said it kept estimates, but refused to release them."

Where are our jobs?

http://www.workingamerica.org/jobtracker/index.cfm

Here is a great resource to see if the companies you do business are exporting American jobs.

-jef-

This is how Bush plans to keep up the Army. Is this how we 'honor' our armed forces:

Soldiers from a Fort Carson combat unit say they have been issued an ultimatum - re-enlist for three more years or be transferred to other units expected to deploy to Iraq.

Hundreds of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were presented with that message and a re-enlistment form in a series of assemblies last Thursday, said two soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_3185596,00.html

This is another example of how our government thinks that regular people like you and me are merely to be used for their ends, not individuals with hopes, dreams and maybe even some rights.

It is reflected across the board from military policy, tax policy, healthcare - name it, and if you scratch the surface you will see that the policy is merely subterfuge for another way to use regular people for their means.

That is why we need to elect one of us to the congress.

-jef-

Some thoughts on campaign financing

Here is a link to Rep. Petri's money sources:

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/geog.asp?CID=N00004426&cycle=2004

In-State vs. Out-of-State:

In-State $38,050 (28.9%)
Out-of-State $93,384 (71.1%)


Top Metro Areas:

WASHINGTON, DC-MD-VA-WV $36,199
DALLAS $25,500
APPLETON-OSHKOSH-NEENAH $9,550
LOS ANGELES-LONG BEACH $8,250
MILWAUKEE-WAUKESHA $6,350

Is he our representative or Texas/DC's?

If you look more on the site, you will see that I show $0 in contributions. That is because I did not cross $5,000 in contributions until Aug 31. You do not have to report until after you hit that threshold. My reporting will be in in October - the next deadline.

As of today, I have raised about $8,000. Petri has about $1,000,000 in the bank.

Why? He has saved his money from year to year when no one ran against him. I believe this is wrong. At the end of any election cycle, your account should be at $0. If someone contributes to my campaign, they are because they think that this year, I am the best choice. I should not be allowed to carry that over into the next election cycle. I might no longer be that persons choice.

Allowing the carry-over of dollars to following election cycles is an incumbancy protection program that is bad for democracy.

I will, as you congress member introduce legislation abolishing this.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1756&e=2&u=/040911/480/whre11109111723

Put your hand on your heart, Mr. Bush......

This is not the way to treat freedom of speach:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1756&e=3&u=/040909/480/pajl10109091829

Look at the smile on the guy's face....

-jef-

Here is what Petri voted against:

The bill reads as follows, at section 521:
"None of the funds provided in this Act may be used by the Department of Labor to implement or administer any change to regulations regarding overtime compensation (contained in part 541 of title 29, Code of Federal Regulations) in effect on July 14, 2004, except those changes in the Department of Labor ’s final regulation published in the Federal Register on April 23, 2004 at section 541.600 of such title 29."
Section 541.600 indicates that for employees to qualify as exempt, they must earn at least $455 per week.

This amendment signifies that the people the the Bush Administration say will be added to overtime will still be added, but no one will be removed.

If Dave Obie is your rep, send him a heartfelt thanks.

-jef-

Petri Misses Another Opportunity to Defend Workers

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/roll434.xml

Yesterday, the House voted on an amendment removng the new overtime regulations (originally co-sponsored by Petri).

These remove overtime protections for up to 6 millions workers (I have written more about this below).

Petri had an opportunity to change his position and support Wisconsin's working families yesterday, but did not take it.

This is yet another example of Petri's the out-of-touch policies. It's time for change.

Tomorrow's Headlines today.....

This from a Pakistani paper:

"In counter-terrorism, the programmes are in place. We are after these guys globally. Success against people that you know about, Osama could happen tomorrow, could happen the day after, a week from now, or month from now. Everything is in place. A little bit is needed to localise these people and to catch them,” he said.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_4-9-2004_pg7_8

For the record, we have been saying for over a year that the October surprise will be the capture of Osama. If this is truly going to happen, it is politics.

Be a skeptic.

"At some level the people at that convention know that their designated hero is a man who never in his life took a risk or made a sacrifice for his country, and that they are impugning the patriotism of men who have."

"Nothing makes you hate people as much as knowing in your heart that you are in the wrong and they are in the right."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/03/opinion/03krugman.html?hp

Krugman always says it better than I ever could.

Let's talk about how we can make America better.

Not all GOP youths willing to fight

"Young Republicans gathered here for their party's national convention are united in applauding the war in Iraq, supporting the U.S. troops there and calling the U.S. mission a noble cause."

"But there's no such unanimity when they're asked a more personal question: Would you be willing to put on the uniform and go to fight in Iraq?"

"Frankly, I want to be a politician. I'd like to survive to see that," said Vivian Lee, 17, a war supporter visiting the convention from Los Angeles,

"As long as there’s a steady stream of volunteers, I don't see why I necessarily should volunteer," said Lee, who has a cousin deployed in the Middle East.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2004/Sep/20040902News017.asp

They obviously exhibit the moral character of their party leaders....

http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=list&category=%20NEWS%3B%20Chickenhawks

Who do you think said this:

"Tonight I can tell you of dramatic changes in our strategic nuclear force. These are actions we are taking on our own, because they are the right thing to do. "

"After completing 20 planes for which we have begun procurement, we will shut down production of the B-2 bomber. We will cancel the ICBM program. We will cease production of new warheads for our sea-based missiles. We will stop all production of the peacekeeper missile. And we will not purchase any more advanced cruise missiles. "

"We will eliminate all Peacekeeper missiles. We will reduce the number of warheads on Minuteman missiles to one and reduce the number of warheads on our sea-based missiles by about one-third. And we will convert a substantial portion of our strategic to primarily conventional use. "

Is this an example of John Kerry irresponsibly cutting defense as the Bush campaign alleges?

Nope, this is George H. W. Bush's 1992 State of the Union speech. Kerry did vote to cut these programs, with George H. W. Bush.

But, who proposed all of these cuts? From the same speech:

"The Secretary of Defense recommended these cuts after consultation with the joint chiefs of staff."

Who was the Secretary of Defense at the time? Dick Cheney. In every case, the defense cuts they accuse Kerry of voting for were proposed by Cheney and a Bush.

Do not believe what you are told by these people, research on your own....

-jef-

A Newsweek article that makes some good points:

"18 months ago the goal should have been to calm the international scene and build cooperation. The cancer of Al Qaeda had largely been cut out. The challenge was to keep it from metastasizing. This was the moment for the war of ideas to begin in earnest and international cooperation to be at its height. This was the time when terrorist recruiters could have been isolated and their lies exposed."
"Instead, our impulsive, almost petulant invasion of Iraq did just what so many of our friends and allies warned it would do. It created a whole new hot-bed of fanaticism, and an inspiration to terrorist recruiters everywhere."
"As a voter trying to choose, I confess I find it pretty disconcerting to watch Bush make big lies sound like simple truths, while Kerry makes complicated truths sound like embarrassed fictions."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5878893/site/newsweek/

We need to make sure we are working WITH people. The phrase, "If you aren't with us, you are against us." cuts both ways.

If we are not working with our allies, are we against them?

How many assaults on fair and private voting are we going to tolerate:

"It is unclear how good the protections are to guard against tampering. The e-mailed ballots will be handled by a contractor, Omega Technologies, hired for this purpose, at the company's offices and without the election observers who are present at normal polling places."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/31/opinion/31tues1.html?th

I urge all to ensure there is a physical piece of paper when you vote.

Even if you have to go out of your way to vote absentee.

Bush/Cheney Unveils New Campaign theme...

http://www.msnbc.com/comics/daily.asp?sFile=bo040829

-jef-

Report: 1.3 million more Americans in poverty
Ranks of uninsured grow by 1.4 million, Census Bureau says

"The rise was more dramatic for children. There were 12.9 million living in poverty last year, or 17.6 percent of the under-18 population. That was an increase of about 800,000 from 2002, when 16.7 percent of all children were in poverty."

"The poverty rate has risen from a recent low of 11.3 percent in 2000, meaning an additional 4.3 million people are living in poverty as defined by the government."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5829707/


These are the results of the Bush policy, supported lockstep by Rep. Petri. It further shows how incredibly out of touch Petri is - the headline of his last (June 2004) newsletter - "The Economy is Back on Track"

Some quotes from Petri:

"Underlying the improved jobs picture is America's current strong economic performance. In the third quarter of 2003, the economy spurted ahead by 8.2%. Gross Domestic Product growth continued well above the historical average at 4.1% in the fourth quarter and at 4.2% in the first quarter of this year."

"All in all, it's obvious that we have finished correcting the economic excesses of the late '90s and are back on track. Many Americans are still struggling to make ends meet, but the overall outlook shows considerable opportunities ahead."
http://www.house.gov/petri/newslett/june_2004.pdf


If this is how Petri expects to put us 'back on track', I'd like to offer you a different train. Mr. Petri, the 'economic excesses' of the 90's left us with historically low poverty. I call that success, not excess.

We need to end the tax cuts on the wealthy that are strangling the American economy. We need to direct this relief where it will do the most good, the middle and working class.

We need to invest in getting people out of poverty, not take away overtime and make the crawl up the ladder of the American Dream harder yet.

We need jobs that will provide not only income, but benefits the workers. We need to make sure that all Americans have access to quality, affordable healthcare. It is a moral shame that in history's wealthiest society, we can have workers - much less children - without health coverage.

I challenge Petri & the Bush administration to release the chains they have put on the market. Allow Medicare to bargain for drug prices, allow importation if drugs, allow the working poor to advance themselves.

And above all, allow every American access to life saving healthcare regardless of their station in life or their place in the economy.

Sen. Edwards is correct when he talks about the two America's. Petri's personal economy may be right on track, but it is at the expense of the millions of American's his policies are are driving deeper and deeper into poverty and hopelessness.

I will be the representative of all members of American society.

This is too important to ignore. We have given Petri 25 years to work on these issues, he has failed. It is time for change.

I'm copying Eric Alterman, my favorite blogger - his link is to the left 'Altercation' - read it everyday, please.

He makes a great point of what a truly moral position in war is.

Here is the post below:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/

It’s amazing and a bit disgusting that our election seems to be turning on a war that took place thirty years ago in which the man who served honorably both in the war and in the anti-war movement is on the defensive against the man who supported the war but took a pass on any service or sacrifice it might have involved, but there it is. Given that we have no choice but to engage the issue, let’s think about it for a moment and see if we can isolate the kinds of decisions that faced young men in those dark days when American leaders—as they are doing today—unjustly sent America’s youth to pay for their own folly and ignorance.
Recall that only privileged Americans had a choice as to whether to fight in Vietnam. The sons of poor and working-class people did not have access to educational deferments and hence were unceremoniously sent to the firing line. Given that, here are a few categories of the choices faced and the choices made, in what I judge to be descending order of moral fortitude.

A taxonomy of positions on Vietnam:

Category A: Exhibiting the strength of one’s moral convictions.
Supported the war and served in Vietnam (John Kerry, John McCain)
Opposed the war and served in Vietnam because it would have been unfair to force someone less fortunate to take one’s place (Al Gore)
Opposed the war and dedicated oneself to anti-war movement at some personal risk, including conscientious objection. (This position is not as dangerous as serving in a war, but it is nevertheless just as moral. The war was evil. Putting oneself at legal and physical risk as many did to try to end this evil strikes me as an unimpeachable moral position, though given America’s political culture, it would also be untenable for any contemporary presidential candidate to hold.)

Category B: Exhibiting the strength of one’s moral convictions after protecting one’s posterior
Opposed the war, protected self, and then worked for anti-war movement (Bill Clinton)This position seems to me to be the minimum necessary to consider oneself a moral being. Risking one’s person for one’s principles is a lot to ask for most of us, but the least one could ask is that if we identify an evil that is literally killing people, our peers included, one lifts a proverbial finger to stop it, say, by working for the presidential candidacies of Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy or George McGovern.

Category C: Having no convictions to protect save self-protection
Opposed the war, protected self, let others worry about it (Howard Dean, Joe Lieberman)This is the position of those who merely opted out of the question, accepted their college deferments and went on with their lives and did not feel any sense of responsibility for their peers and countrymen.

Category D: Contradicting one’s alleged convictions in the service of protecting one’s posterior
Supported the war, preferred to let others fight and die for it (George W. Bush, Dick Cheney)This seems to me to be the least defensible position imaginable. Bush and Cheney both used their privileged positions to protect themselves; Cheney says he did it because he had “other priorities.” Bush says he did it because he wanted to “better himself” by learning to fly planes. Whether he deserted his post or not—and I think he did-- it is incontrovertible that he wasted the government’s million dollar investment in his training by allowing his qualifications to lapse while he was still supposed to be on active duty. (And what if during this period, the Guard was actually needed, if say, Oklahoma had invaded Texas?)

One day, historians will attempt to explain just how two men who fall in category D somehow made the election about the moral rectitude of a man who fell into category A not once but twice. We have to admit this. This Rove feller really is a genius. Just when you thought the media couldn’t be any more irresponsible, he proved it had even more to give. (Most journalists today of the proper age, I imagine, fall into category B or C, with a significant number in D and a tiny, tiny minority in A.)

-jef-