Soy Blue

Republicans Face "Near Lethal" Environment

Via Political Wire

A new strategy memo from James Carville and Stan Greenberg says the discontent with Republicans "has moved now to a new level" and that the GOP's motivation in pushing an immigration bill is "to consolidate and energize their voters in a near lethal environment."

Key findings from a new survey:

• Among self-identified Republicans, 40% say the country is headed in the wrong direction and 24% want to go "in a significantly different direction than Bush."
• In red counties, those carried by Bush in 2004, 64% say the country is headed in the wrong direction and Republican have only a 48% to 43% lead in the races for Congress.
• In white rural areas, 61% say wrong direction; and amazingly, Democrats and Republicans are running even in the races for both the House and Senate.

To further exploit this fractured GOP base, Carville and Greenberg advise Democrats to also use the immigration issue by offering "realistic solutions to this big problem. This means addressing acculturation and English requirements for citizenship, enforcement and a respect for the law, and paths to citizenship for the law-abiding. They also will do well attacking the Bush administration for failing to enforce the law at the borders and with employers."

NM republcians miss the point

So what else is new?  Last night KOB TV reported that :

"Some republican state lawmakers are planning to ask Governor Bill Richardson to call the legislature into a special session for the sole purpose of cutting the state gas tax."

Jesus H. Christ.  That's all these yahoo's know how to do and notice how it's always after some sort of crisis.  After 9-11, bush got his tax cut in for the nations wealthiest people and the rest of us got a hundred buck. 

Go to war in Iraq based on lies, no problem, we'll pass another round of tax cuts, and  keep the costs of the war in Iraq of the books so the true amount is not wildly known.  Hat tip to Enron for that one.

And now it's another tax cut because the bush presidency and republican controlled congress can't govern.  They created the conditions for this to happen, it's like the electricty blackouts in California in 2001, regular folks got soaked and people like Ken Lay, George Bush, and Dick Cheney made out... well like Enron (before the fall).  This administration have let the wolves into the hen house and now we're all paying for it.

George Bush and New Mexico republicans don't understand what governing is.  The cowardly weak republicans idea of governing is to just give people tax cuts that way government doesn't have to provide a service. 

Want proof?  Look what New Mexico republican gubinatorial candaidate, j.r. damron told the Farmington Daily Times

"It's not the government's responsibility to take care of everybody"

And there's your sign.

They don't understand that leadership and governing  is not cowardly calling for another tax cut.  Here's a hint NM republicans, look up the word "Govern" in a dictionary, better yet I'll do it for you here:

Govern

Main Entry: gov·ern
Pronunciation: 'g&-v&rn
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French governer,  
1 a : to exercise continuous sovereign authority over; especially : to control and direct the making and administration of policy in

The problem is this administration and NM republicans only know how to use the words leadership and govern in the descriptive sense.  At least they know what a  noun is but No Child Left Behind is for another day.

The irony of this pathetic stunt is that their all alone in the wilderness calling for this.  Not even the Tax Cutter in Chief is proposing a cut in the gas tax. 

The AP reported today that as lawmakers grapple with ways to make oil prices more palatable to the general public...

Cutting gasoline taxes is not a good way for the country to deal with soaring energy prices, President Bush's top economist said Tuesday.

And why not?  Well bush's economic advisors details

• "One of the things we worry about when we cut the tax on gasoline is that it basically stimulates additional use,"

 

• "Over a longer period of time, it would be a significant problem ... because what it would do is it would encourage us to use more oil, not less and that is the way we got to the situation right now,"

• (Are Tax Cuts) the best way to be using our tax revenues[tax cuts]? Is it the most efficient way to allocate our resources?

This is what governing is about, asking questions, answering them, and then deciding on the best course of action based on:

Is it good for New Mexico or the country?

Not the corporations or China  who we've sold out to.  America is waking up to this and their doing so by saying not to republican led gas tax rebates that make a mockery of respect for the citizens of this country.

Even the leader of the r.n.c. knows this

According to an e-mail from the Evans Novak Political Report:

"RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman met with Republican members of Congress this week to impress upon them just how bad the opinion polls are looking for them, and warning that they face a possible catastrophe in November.

1) This warning contributed to GOP determination to pass a tax reconciliation bill that will extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts beyond their current expiration dates at the end of the decade."

Their going to rob and plunder our future away until their kicked out of power and in a very forward thinking kind of way.  When Democrats take over Congress their going to have to clean up the mess they made and they may have to reverse those tax cuts.

Just remember that, republicans control every branch of government at the Federal level and we see the proof of it every single day.

 

bush taking a page from Kenny-Boy

Political wire asks who's Like Enron?

History Wire reviews Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy by Bruce Bartlett and highlights a section comparing the Bush administration to Enron.

"Enron borrowed heavily, paid little in taxes, and made big profits in ways that were known to be contrary to sound business practices. But for a while, its system seemed to work, until its basic unsoundness caused it to collapse. I see this as a metaphor for Bush's policies because they are also based on a huge increase in debt, tax cuts, and an unsound increase in federal financial commitments at a time when such commitments should be been scaled back, rather than increased."

This is exceptionally harsh criticism when you realize Bartlett is a former Reagan White House aide who also helped formulate Bush's 2001 tax cut package.

So what dooes Congress do?  Well Bloomberg reports that after a four-month deadlock, Republicans in Congress have finally come to a tentative agreement on a $70 billion package of tax cuts. &&LINK

MORE TAX CUTS!

Bloomberg Notes that the legislation, if approved, "would hand President George W. Bush a political victory to tout before the November mid-term elections," while also helping lawmakers by ensuring "that millions of families won't be subject to a tax increase in an election year."

Yeah because taxes are bad, I mean who needs levee's or funds to help rebuild a city or things like that?

The Library of Congress Presents

Crazy que no?  The United States of America's own Library of Congress has a copy of the National Anthem  that was translated into Espanol.  The translation was commissioned by the US Bureau of Education in 1919 (Now I know why Republicans are so hell bent on getting rid of the Department of Education) and as Atrios noted today:

        National Anthem Sung In Spanish At First Bush Inaugural             

            

Pop star Jon Secada sang the national anthem in English and Spanish.

Apparently, Secada singing the anthem in Spanish was a regular feature of the Bush campaign. From the 8/3/00 Miami Herald:

The nominee, his wife Laura, erstwhile rival John McCain and his wife Cindy joined Bush on a platform where children sang the national anthem - in “Spanglish,” Secada explained.

 

So, to follow up and answer my question yesterday, What's the Hum bud, Bud, there is no hum bud, it's all manufactured to distract Americans from the issues that are really affecting us.

As Maggie wrote so eloquently earlier...

By now most Americans realize that the recent embroilment over illegal immigration was created as a media diversion to take our eyes off of the Bush Administration's completely failed Iraq policies.

Right on Maggie, I like Maggie, she's no punk, she knows what's up.  My dad emailed me what he thought of this faux debate (my word, my dad would never use a French word, although he would roll his eyes after i used it and accuse me of trying to be better but that's for another time.)

My Dad writes,

The hubbub on issues like the Spanish anthem  is just to keep our minds off the real issues IRAQ, THE DEFICIT, LOSS OF INSURANCE BY RETIRED WORKERS, THE LACK OF INSURANCE FOR CURRENT WORKERS, THE LACK OF SUITABLE WAGES FOR THE LOCALS WHO DO NOT WANT TO WORK FOR WHAT THE IMMIGRANTS ARE WILLING TO WORK FOR, ETC.

Eso Dad!  Se puso un poquito caliente alli toward the end but he knows too.  My dad no punk either, he's a retired federal employee, veteran, businessman, rancher, and farmer and he's seen first hand on this current crop of republicans have worked hard to dismantle a government and programs that help people.  Specifically VETERANS.

These are only a handful of the issues that Congress should be working on but instead the media/industrial complex chooses to ignore whats really going on so that they always come out on top and benefit from a distracted citizenry.

It's three card Monty and we're all the suckers.

Like James Moore and Wayne Slater noted in their book, Bush's Brain, detailing karl rove's success, his expertise was all about creating wedges and magnets.

Find the wedge issue, manufacture outrage, and then create magnets that the manufactured culturally disaffected people can rally around.  Groups like Ranch Rescue or politicians like Tom Tancredo prey on the hurt and frustration that republicans have caused and the very same people whose lives, rights, health, privacy, and earnings are being exploited by are leading the charge against everything that is American.

I wish (speaking as a Tejano here) we had deported bush back to Connecticut back in the day.

So what's the answer?  Yo no lo se but I do know that we're all in this together.  Here are some suggestions, participate in groups like Move On, Think Progress and the Progressive Legislative Action Network, run for office, or just volunteer for your favorite cause or organization.

I like to believe that our greatest days are ahead of us not behind us ( I wish I knew where I heard that) and together we can do better.

NM Day without Immigrants Round Up

Duke City Fix has a nice photo retrospective on their Flikr page,  and be sure to check out Johhny Mango's 36 Hours with Jim Baca.

Maggie has a great post on the "Failed Diversion" of "the recent embroilment over illegal immigration was created as a media diversion to take our eyes off of the Bush Administration's completely failed Iraq policies."

La Queen Sucia tells us of the stupidity that lands in her in box from anti-Latino folks.


Susan G over at Daily Kos has a nice wrap up of national coverage

And  Atrios points out Bush flip flopping and actually singing on the National Anthem in Spanish.

A commenter at Think Progress caught this. Bush a couple of days ago:

After saying he did not consider the anthem sung in Spanish to have the same value as the anthem sung in English, Mr. Bush said: "I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English. And they ought to learn to sing the anthem in English."

From Kevin Phillips' American Dynasty:

When visiting cities like Chicago, Milwaukee or Philadelphia, in pivotal states, he would drop in at Hispanic festivals and parites, sometimes joining in singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" in Spanish, sometimes partying with a "Viva Bush" mariachi band flown in from Texas.

What's the Humbub, Bud?

There's been much pontificating on all sides of the issue regarding the National Anthem being sung in Spanish lately, all a distraction from The War in Iraq to the price of gas.

Yet no one is advocating that the National Anthem officially be sung in Spanish, it would be counter intuitive to American culture and identity, something that I am not in favor of at all.

BUT

That being said, I don't have a problem with the song, music is an art form that sometimes forces us to look at an issue and peel the layers of the issue back, like an onion. 

Of course there will be rabid reactionaries on both sides but for Pete's sake the US Constitution is translated into Spanish by the US Federal Government here.

CONSTITUCION DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA
1787

 

          NOSOTROS, el Pueblo de los Estados Unidos, a fin de formar una Unión más perfecta, establecer Justicia, afirmar la tranquilidad interior, proveer la Defensa común, promover el bienestar general y asegurar para nosotros mismos y para nuestros descendientes los beneficios de la Libertad, estatuimos y sancionamos esta CONSTITUCION para los Estados Unidos de América.

I wonder if the Constitution was translated into German, Italian, or Russian for newly emigrated immigrants back in the day when Ellis Island was open and the Statute of Liberty beckoned all who came with these words:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Ahhh the good ole days but I digress.  What better way for a newly emigrated immigrant to learn the foundation on which this country stands on?  In their own language and in the correct colloquial context so that it is understood.  It would be the first step in assimilation and learning English.

The US Constitution is an amazing document that inspires me every time that I read it and it gives me those spine tingling shivers of pride and awe that the founders were wise enough to not distinguish between race, religion, or language. 

What's really interesting is the way that race and race baiting falls into the singing of the National Anthem in Spanish and  Texas State Representative Aaron Pena point's this out on his blog

Ten percent of the Minutemen's 8,000 members are Hispanic, according to Al Garza. If you remember Al Garza is the former Texas president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. He is now the group's second-in-command, to one of the nation's most prominent Hispanic anti-immigration activists. Garza is featured in a Houston Chronicle story about Hispanic Minutemen and is quoted as saying:

"This has nothing to do with race," said Garza, who was born in Raymondville in South Texas. "Anyone that has any racial agenda is not wanted in our group."

Now this is a very interesting dynamic that we have here or as Rep. Pena put it "the subtle complexities of the immigration argument."  If there's not anything wrong with a Mexican-American from South Texas being the second in command of the Texas Minute Man Project and the most prominent anti-immigrant activist then there should be no sense of wonder or outrage that the National Anthem could be sung in English.

The subtle differenes are so becasue we the people never stop to learn the otherside of an issue or truly understand that cultural identity trumps that which brings us together.

 

Hat tip to the Rep. for the pic.

By the Numbers

Think Progress has a great post looking back 3 years ago when bush triumphantly declared "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!"

	May 1, 2003	Today
U.S. Troops Wounded	542	17,469
U.S. Troops Killed	139	2,400
Size of U.S. Forces	150,000	132,000
Size of Iraqi Security Forces	7,000-9000	250,500
Number of Insurgents	5,000	15,000-20,000
Insurgent Attacks Per Day	8	75
Cost to U.S. Taxpayers	$79 billion	$320 billion
Approval of Bush’s Handling of Iraq	75%	37%
Percentage of Americans who Believe The Iraq War Was “Worth Fighting”	70%	41%
Bush’s Overall Job Approval	71%	38%

Domeneci lets Oil Cartel's off the Hook

Yesterday one lone Democratic US Senator chose to do the the unthinkable and filibuster Sen. Domenici's "anti-price gouging energy bill" although you wouldn't have known it becasue none of New Mexico's newspapers reported it.

 

"Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden (news, bio, voting record) tied up the Senate for more than 4 1/2 hours Thursday trying to force a vote on a plan to end subsidies of energy companies that lease federal land."

Sen. Wyden did so because Sen. Domenici's price gouging bill would not apply to big oil companies and would basically only affect small, mom and pop retailers. 

Section 2 of Domenici's bill states"

“(for purposes other than resale)” thereby exempting the price gouging when gas is sold from one person to the other for the purpose of selling it again.

Section 3 also states it exempts price gouging of wholesale prices.  So, if Exxon jacks up the wholesale price of gas and then follows the law when it sets the retail price, they didn't’t gouge.

A friend noted that " gas prices are higher mostly because of oil company exploitation, not because the price of oil is going up at the same rate.  Oil companies are using the futures market as an excuse for massive price increases. If global instability were the only cause for high gas prices Exxon would not have reported $8 billion in profits.  We can't leave out the oil companies from this story."

Crooks and Liars did a remarkable job of capturing video of Sen. Domenici going bat shit over Sen. Wyden's Amendment.  I don't think that I've ever seen anyone on the floor of any legislative body vociferously come to an industry's defense like Sen Domenici did for the world's oil cartels.

Compare how Sen. Wyden stood tall and Sen. Domenici frighteningly tried to talk down his amendment.  It's really sad to see how weak Sen. Domenici is completely bought and paid for  by the big oil cartels.

See for yourself

With full compliments to Crooks and Liars  Video-QT