Greg Palast on Bush's State of the Union Numbers

His website is here.

In his State of the Union, the President asked Congress for $300 million for poor kids in the inner city. As there are, officially, 15 million children in America living in poverty, how much is that per child? Correct! $20.

Here’s your second question. The President also demanded that Congress extend his tax cuts. The cost: $4.3 trillion over ten years. The big recipients are millionaires. And the number of millionaires happens, not coincidentally, to equal the number of poor kids, roughly 15 million of them. OK class: what is the cost of the tax cut per millionaire? That’s right, Richie, $287,000 apiece.

Mr. Bush said, “In neighborhoods across our country, there are boys and girls with dreams. And a decent education is their only hope of achieving them.”

So how much educational dreaming will $20 buy?

-George Bush’s alma mater, Phillips Andover Academy, tells us their annual tuition is $37,200. The $20 “Pell Grant for Kids,” as the White House calls it, will buy a poor kid about 35 minutes of this educational dream. So they’ll have to wake up quickly.

Ross Perot Believes Everything He Reads on the Internets...

When I asked about Barack Obama, Perot said he admired his eloquence but thought it "a little odd that we would be less concerned about his background than being a Mormon." Perot was pleasantly surprised when I told him that Obama was a Christian, not a Muslim, and relieved when I informed him that the e-mail Perot (and untold others) received about Obama not respecting the Pledge of Allegiance was a fraud.

Rep Lasee in right! Fully fund Medicare dental:

He is wrong throughout the article, but gets it right in the end:

This problem needs to be addressed by paying market rates, not by adding more people. It isonly right and fair that our government pays market rates for goods and services. What we do now is dishonest and hurtful to those who are least able to afford medical care.

Great, Rep Lasee, let's raise the funds to make it happen.

MLK in Green Lake

Playing catch up on some posts...

Sen Robson quoted from a speach Martin Luther King Jr. made in Green Lake, WI:

In the fall of 1956, King spoke in Wisconsin at a conference of the American Baptist Assembly and American Home Mission Agencies near Green Lake. He asked the people to consider what the Apostle Paul might tell them today.

Paul might point out the success of capitalism in making America the richest nation in the world, and the failure of capitalism to lift all boats.

"God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty," King said. "God intends for all of his children to have the basic necessities of life, and he has left in this universe 'enough and to spare' for that purpose. So I call upon you to bridge the gulf between abject poverty and superfluous wealth."

Why 'Reaching Across the Aisle' Doesn't Work

Charles Pierce in Media Matters/Altercation:

Take the list of Republican congresscritters, House and Senate. Make me a list of 10 of them with whom you think you can work to achieve anything close to the progressive goals you have said you want to achieve. Give me an honest run, and I guarantee you that you can't do it. You may get "something done" but it's not going to have anything to do with anything resembling the values of the party you seek to represent. This is a party that has to be forcibly disenthralled from its lunatic base.

OshNW - Letter to the Editor: Olsen's Ethanol Conflict

Letter: Sen. Olsen has conflict on ethanol bill
State senate bill 380 is back and once again they are trying to force everyone to use ethanol-tainted gasoline. If ethanol were such a superior product, why would it need government to force us to use it? Ethanol has been proven to be an actual cause of more pollution not less because you need to burn more if it to get the same result as gasoline. But what is really interesting is whose name is listed as a co-sponsor of this corporate welfare and that is Senator Luther Olsen (R)-Ripon. Senator Olsen is part owner of feed and milling companies and his brother (Paul) operates Utica Energy, LLC that owns an ethanol plant in Oshkosh.

Senator Olsen in the past had decided to recuse himself from voting on pending ethanol bills due to business ties, so what has changed in the senators life that has eliminated his blatant conflict of interest? Is it now acceptable to have our elected officials pass laws designed to line their own and their families pockets? Senator Olsen is an embarrassment to the Republican Party and should resign.

Eric Destiche Appleton

Here is a summary of the bill.

Stew's Right, Again

Credit where credit is due, this is a great column:

Stew Rieckman column: Reply to all: Get past superficial to find real Oshkosh
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The subject line of the e-mail is: "You know you're from Oshkosh when
…."
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You can visit three world-class museums for pocket change.

You can wile away a Saturday morning browsing the collections at a great municipal library

You can enjoy the Thursday night summer music festival at a river front amphitheater, walk two blocks to your car and be home in five minutes.

You can choose from one of two excellent YMCA and watch your children enjoy indoor soccer, ice-skating, rock climbing, swimming and other activities in a wholesome environment.

You can go downtown to find a "thing-a-ma-gig" for your weekend project and get knowledgeable, friendly assistance from a clerk at Kitz and Pfeil.

You can stroll the Gallery Walk in downtown, explore the unique variety of shops and develop an appreciation for the eclectic art community in Oshkosh.

He has a bunch more here.

It is nice to see an appreciation of what Oshkosh has to offer. He also challenges people to add their own. Go here to do that.