The Washington Post's Unfair/Unbalanced Letter Policy

To the Editor:

Of the five letters to the editor in today’s Washington Post (Saturday, July 23^rd), I found that three of them were wildly misinformed. I wonder why The Post sees fit to publish letters that are obviously inaccurate. Is it to show “balance”? What balance is that – between the informed and the ignorant? Cases in point:

Bruce Kirschenbaum wrote about Dulles Rail. He stated: “Frankly, the Dulles rail project will benefit no one but regional residents and businesses.” Maybe so -- if it was called “Reston Rail.” However, as Mr. Kirschenbaum called it, the system is termed "Dulles Rail." By definition, it is rail to Dulles International Airport. Do I need to spell out why service to Dulles actually has national and international benefits – not just regional? Really?

Jadine S. Jett wrote “Raising the debt ceiling is passing on this debt to our children and grandchildren…” and she also wrote “The current fight is not against a looming debt limit but against the status quo…”  Thanks to the publication of letters like this and the corporate media’s love affair with spreading GOP misinformation, I can see why many people are confused. The simple fact is the debt ceiling needs to be raised so that the United States does not default on current obligations that are the result of programs and budgets already passed by Congress. If Ms. Jett would like to see higher interest rates and world markets react negatively, while shaking the faith in the solvency of the U.S. treasury, then by all means let’s not raise the debt ceiling. We started to come out of the Great Depression because of government spending. However, in 1937 we saw progress regress because FDR implemented spending cuts. Only the massive spending of WWII saved our economy. However, these facts do not reach the public’s ears because the corporate media publishes gibberish such as the garbage that Ms. Jett put on paper.

Finally, Jack Webb wrote letting the Bush tax cuts expire is another word for tax hike. However, as Mr. Webb pointed out, Bush’s tax cuts were tied to a sunset clause. By that very fact, the tax cuts were designed to be temporary. Letting them expire is not a tax increase. Since Mr. Webb likes analogies, let me offer one: this week the grocery store is having a sale on apples – 10% off.  Next week, when the sale ends, some would say that apples will sell at the regular price. Mr. Webb would claim that the grocer is increasing the price of apples. But trying to reason with Grove Norquist minions is like trying to compare apples and oranges.

I am disappointed that The Post promulgates such nonsense and is only adding to the misinformation and confusion. Just because someone does not agree with a piece in The Post does not mean you have to publish their letter to appear as if you listen to dissenting views. Rather, you should challenge them to speak the truth and not toe party lines despite the evidence against them.

Sphere: Related Content

Public vs. Private Compensation

We keep hearing from the "right" how the Wisconsin public employees are over compensated. (I am not posting links to such claims because I don't want to increase their search engine rankings. Feel free to Google it.)

However, such claims -- even when backed by data -- are faulty. Public employees overall -- and especially teachers -- have higher levels of education than the average private sector employee. If you compare people of similar education levels from the public and private sectors, public employees come up short.

Here are two recent studies that make these comparisons more accurately (both are PDFs):

• Out of Balance - Comparing Public and Private Sector Compensation over 20 Years. In summary, this study shows that state employees typically earn 11 percent less in salary than their private sector counterparts; in terms of total compensation, state employees receive 6.8% less than those in the private sector.
• Debunking the Myth of the Overcompensated Public Employee. This study calculates that Wisconsin public employees earn 4.8 percent less in total compensation than their private sector counterparts.

If the right-wing wins the battle and destroys the unions, teachers will make even less money. That will attract fewer people to the profession and the U.S. can continue its downward spiral in the race to the bottom compared to education in the rest of the developed world.

Believe what you want, but if you think that state workers are compensated so well, why isn't everyone rushing out to be a teacher? It's because after earning a masters degree, most people want to make more money than a teacher earns (and not work as hard). 

Sphere: Related Content

The Real Message of GOP Obstructionism

Today in The Washington Post there is an article titled "'Don't ask, don't tell' repeal efforts stalled by GOP plan." However, it seems like the "liberal" media is giving the GOP another pass and is not covering the real story.

The article stated that "...Senate Republicans vowed to block any legislation unrelated to government spending or tax cuts..."  To me, the most important result of that statement is that the GOP will not approve legislation to stimulate jobs. One of the most significant factors affecting the November elections was the unemployment situation. We want jobs, stupid!

Tax cuts do not create jobs, no matter how often Republicans repeat that lie. How well did the Bush tax cuts affect the economy? It is a fallacy to think that the 3% of small business owners who earn more than $250,000 annually will be able to substantially reduce the unemployment rate if their taxes are cut.

Let the GOP obstruct jobs and we will see another version of "throw the bums out" in two years.Only this time it will be the GOP bums out on the street.

Sphere: Related Content

No Defense for the TSA's Groping of the Previous Threat

Today in The Washington Post, columnist Ruth Marcus wrote in defense of the TSA's fear-based approach to reactionary security theater. Here is my letter to her:

Dear Ms. Marcus,

I generally enjoy your columns, but I was very disappointed with you attitude and logic in today’s column (“Don’t touch my junk? Grow up, America”).

I am not a Constitutional strict constructionist nor a prude. I am many things, socially liberal, and a figure artist, so I am very comfortable with the beauty that is the human body.

Let me put it bluntly: The TSA is fighting the previous battle – and consistently does so. One failed shoe bomber caused us to remove our shoes – indefinitely.  One failed underwear bomber – while the response should have logically been for us to be required to fly commando – has now required us to be digitally stripped of our clothing and/or have our genitals felt by a non-medical professional. (Your comparison to a mammogram was silly – you chose to have a medical professional examine you for your own personal health reasons. To get on an airplane, I do not choose to be stripped or groped.)  This is not about being prudish or modest.  This is a violation.

The terrorists have moved on. Now that they sit back and laugh as they watch us walk shoeless and virtually naked through airports, they are attacking cargo holds. Their most recent failed attempts now have the TSA blocking printer cartridges from Yemen. I imagine the terrorists are now done messing with printer cartridges and are trying something else that the TSA is not thinking about – yet. And yes, body cavities could be part of that equation. Ask any prisoner or drug smuggler how easy that is to implement.

So, a series of one-off failures have caused reactionary responses and continual losses of liberty.

Life is a risk.  You and I are much more likely to be killed or maimed in automobiles. In the U.S., more than 35,000 people die each year in their cars. Even more are injured and maimed.  Even if terrorists brought down one airplane per year, the death toll would be in the hundreds.  So, if you are so afraid of flying, you should be terrified of driving. The sound of car engines starting should be causing widespread panic in your world.

The only “system” that will reliably prevent aviation terrorism consists of the passengers themselves. Passengers stopped the shoe bomber, the underwear bombing, and they stopped Flight 93 from becoming another missile. I would feel completely comfortable going back to the metal detectors, with the understanding that passengers will take responsibility for watching out for terrorist-like activities on flights. Being a passenger – indeed a citizen – requires awareness and responsibility. We already have people sitting in exit aisles pledging to take on additional responsibility. To me, a logical extension is to have passengers affirm they will be aware and vigilant. Imagine a terrorist on a plane knowing that many of those sitting near him are willing to take him on.

The body scanners and pat-downs operate under the assumption that we are all guilty – we are all terrorists. To me, the TSA’s actions are clear violations of the 4^th Amendment. Where is the probable cause? The warrant?

Your column encourages us to cower in fear. Let's not take responsibility for our own safety – instead, we'll give up some liberty and dignity while delegating our personal safety to the TSA. You are playing on fear – even if unknowingly. Grow a spine, for goodness sake.

As Ben Franklin said, “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Based on your column, Ms. Marcus, I propose that you deserve neither.  Maybe you should do a little growing up yourself. 

Sphere: Related Content

working fast

Ooops - wrong blog! the post you are looking for is here:  http://greenmoonart.blogspot.com/2010/11/working-fast.html

Sphere: Related Content

Frank Wolf, Partisan Right-Winger

A lousy little free local paper that hits my home town, the Sun Gazette, recently ran a glowing article on Rep. Frank Wolf's "bipartisanship."  I had to double-check that the article really wasn't a propaganda piece paid for by the Wolf reelection campaign. It wasn't. 

I live in Virginia's 10th congressional district and Wolf is my "representative." I was insulted by the article because I have been here about 20 years (Wolf has been in his Washington-insider post for 30 years) and I watched in disgust as Wolf voted in lock step with Republicans during the dark W. Bush years.

The Sun Gazette does not have a letters to the editor page, but I wrote anyway. I just wanted them to know that their piece assumes their readers are idiots. It was insulting.

Wolf is very partisan.  If you look at the ratings that Wolf received from various organizations on all sides of the spectrum, you’ll see that he gets very low marks from moderate and liberal groups, and very high marks from conservative groups:
http://thehill.com/resources/lawmaker-ratings/83697-rep-frank-wolf-r-va
(Note that Wolf claims that human rights is one of his signature concerns, yet he rated a 0 from the Human Rights Campaign.)

Frank Wolf consistently votes against veterans: http://www.progressivepunch.org/record.jsp?member=VA10&district=10&issue=A7
Yet, on the 64 roll call votes on Iraq funding and escalation during the Bush administration, Wolf voted in lock-step with Bush and Republicans on each one: http://www.progressivepunch.org/record.jsp?member=VA10&district=10&issue=W4

Wolf wants to reclaim stimulus funding, yet he sponsored a job fair this summer. Companies at that job fair had received $400 million in stimulus funding: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/30/frank-wolf-on-stimulus/

Wolf has vigorously railed against the one case of liberal voter intimidation (the “New Black Panther” party issue that the “liberal” media has blown out of proportion - http://wolf.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=372&itemid=1622), yet Wolf has said nothing about the thousands of voter suppression and intimidation cases instigated by conservatives in 2008: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/22/votes, http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/voter_suppression_incidents/
Yet, the media has seemed to forget about all of those cases and is focused on the two losers outside of a Philadelphia polling place -- they just stood there in costume and didn't talk to anyone. Compare that to police in Ohio and Michigan who pulled "darker" people out of line and asked for documentation. Yeah, I wish we had a liberal media.

You'd think a crappy little local paper like the Gazette would know its audience better. Yet, they unabashedly show their bias with a puff piece on a partisan. Shame on you Gazette. But, I must say, you are good for lining the bird cage and wrapping fish guts.

Sphere: Related Content

Republicans Screwing Up a Basic Math Problem in Virginia

Virginia's Republican governor Robert McDonnell made a campaign promise to privatize the state-controlled liquor stores. In turn, he would use the one-time gain from sales of liquor licenses to fund transportation projects.

However, the one-time gain of $458 million in revenue is enough to cover one year of VDOT's budget for state-maintained road construction, or interstate construction - but not both. That's right, the windfall is enough to cover about 40% of 2010 construction costs. The result is that in 2011 there would be 0% coverage, in 2012 there would be 0% coverage... How does a one-time windfall help with recurring costs? Also, although $458 million sounds like a large number, it falls far short of many of VDOT's projects, which cost in the billions. The I-95/I-395 "mixing bowl" interchange ended up costing $1.5 billion.

McDonnell has proposed collecting taxes from restaurants and other establishments that will sell the new privatized alcohol, but that has gotten him into trouble with his tea and crackers right-wing that whines, "no taxes on nuthin'" ad naseum. So now McDonnell has had to back off his taxes idea, causing a loss of $47 million in annual revenues.

Not to be outdone in the logic department, disgraced racist ex-Governor George "Macaca" Allen came running to McDonnell's defense, spouting: "Worrying about how much revenue the government can keep from liquor sales is a distraction from the larger cost savings of privatization."


 It's so scary when Republicans try to do math. You see, George, there is no cost savings of this privatization. The state-run liquor stores generate a huge profit for the state treasury. Whether you agree that the state should be in the liquor business or not, you can't defend McDonnell's plan based on the numbers.  McDonnell's plan is a huge revenue killer for Virginia.

Sphere: Related Content

The GOP's "War on Arithmetic"

The Republican party is against so many things these days. They are against the Obama administration's efforts to save our economy from falling into a depression. They are against clean air and water. They are against gay marriage and gays in the military. They are against a woman's right to choose. They are against Muslims.

As far as I can tell, they are only for two things: 1) the Troops (even though the Republicans vote against funding for the wounded and veterans); and, 2) smaller government (which really means they are against the current government, of which they are a part, but hey - let's give them the benefit of the doubt).

You'd think that by being for smaller government, they'd at least get their new "pledge" right. However, the platitude-rich propaganda document is long on wind and short on substance.  Also, a quick aside, note that a "pledge" is not binding the way a "contract" is - and we all know how Newt's contract with America turned out.

As Paul Krugman wrote today in the NY Times:

Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has done the math. As he points out, the only way to balance the budget by 2020, while simultaneously (a) making the Bush tax cuts permanent and (b) protecting all the programs Republicans say they won’t cut, is to completely abolish the rest of the federal government: “No more national parks, no more Small Business Administration loans, no more export subsidies, no more N.I.H. No more Medicaid (one-third of its budget pays for long-term care for our parents and others with disabilities). No more child health or child nutrition programs. No more highway construction. No more homeland security. Oh, and no more Congress.”  [source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/opinion/24krugman.html]

That's right, the GOP "pledge" does not add up. And this is basic math we are talking about. Maybe if the GOP was not so hell-bent on destroying the Department of Education, they'd have some members who could add and subtract correctly.

To further demonstrate the GOP's disdain for math, at Tax.com, David Cay Johnston wrote about the results of the Bush 2000 tax cuts. He says that once the Bush tax cuts went into place, "Total income was $2.74 trillion less during the eight Bush years than if incomes had stayed at 2000 levels... Average incomes fell. Average taxpayer income was down $3,512, or 5.7 percent, in 2008 compared with 2000, President Bush's own benchmark year for his promises of prosperity through tax cuts." So, tinkle-down economics doesn't work? Johnston goes on to say:

The number of people reporting incomes of $200,000 or more but legally paying no federal income taxes skyrocketed in the second Bush term. A decade ago it was fewer than 1,500 taxpayers; in 2000 it was about 2,300. This high-income, tax-free group jumped to more than 11,000 in 2007 and then doubled in 2008 to more than 22,000.

But wait, aren't those the people (those making more than $200-$250K) who the GOP says need tax cuts so that they can create new jobs? Why didn't they create new jobs?

Johnston is no political hack. He's an economist and he's crunched the numbers. And you can see that he harbors no animosity toward the GOP. Here's how he sees the problem with their economic theories:

Ignore the cynics who say the Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, in Wasilla, and on the airwaves care only about the rich. I don't believe that. I think they are captive to economic theories few of them understand and that are simplistic in the extreme.

Here's what Johnston calls the "hard empirical facts":

The tax cuts did not spur investment. Job growth in the George W. Bush years was one-seventh that of the Clinton years. Nixon and Ford did better than Bush on jobs. Wages fell during the last administration. Average incomes fell. The number of Americans in poverty, as officially measured, hit a 16-year high last year of 43.6 million, though a National Academy of Sciences study says that the real poverty figure is closer to 51 million. Food banks are swamped. Foreclosure signs are everywhere. Americans and their governments are drowning in debt. And at the nexus of tax and healthcare, Republican ideas perpetuate a cruel and immoral system that rations healthcare -- while consuming every sixth dollar in the economy and making businesses, especially small businesses, less efficient and less profitable.

This is economic madness. It is policy divorced from empirical evidence. It is insanity because the policies are illusory and delusional. The evidence is in, and it shows beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts failed to achieve the promised goals.

Johnston produces many tables of the number he has crunched. They are all located here:
http://www.tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/CHAS-89LPZ9

Take a look for yourself and see you think the GOP has any clue about economic policy. I shudder to think how deep a hole our economy would be in now if McCain had won the presidency in 2008. After all, that fall he claimed that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

Sphere: Related Content

Glenn Beck's Chalkboard - A Secret Message

There is a secret message hidden on Glenn Beck's chalkboard:

(Hint: it has something to do with Rupert Murdoch's -- primary News Corp shareholder -- business relationship with Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed bin Talal -- secondary News Corp shareholder. Ironically, Fox News is lambasting the NYC "mosque" as being funded by a terrorist - the very same prince!)

A downloadable PDF flyer is here (containing more information) - feel free to distribute!

Sphere: Related Content

Fox News Is Terrorism

OMG, is Fox News evil or stupid? It may be impossible to determine.

The head of The Kingdom Foundation - excoriated by Fox as a terrorist funder - is Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, one of the biggest shareholders of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp!!!

Watch here: Fox Is Terrorism.

Thanks to Jon Stewart and The Daily Show for exposing the stupid/evil lie that the main stream media is too conservative and lazy to report.

Sphere: Related Content

The Lies of Glenn Beck

I keep thinking Beck has stepped off the edge with each succeeding lunatic theory he espouses. But he keeps outdoing himself. Yesterday he attempted to link President Obama to the New Black Panther Party. You have to see it. And after seeing it, if you think Beck is an honest journalist, then you ought to get back on your meds.

Here is a good, up-to-date listing of Glenn Beck's lies. What a loon.

Sphere: Related Content

Immigrants Lower Crime - Another Right-wing Mythbuster

Wingnuts in Arizona and other places claim that illegal immigration increases crime rates. That never passed the sniff test for me, because anyone with any street sense knows that illegal immigrants lay low and try to not make any waves so that they don't call attention to themselves.

This study shows that immigrants have a lowering effect on crime. In fact, it states that "first-generation immigrants were 45 percent less likely to commit violence than third-generation Americans."

In the bizzarro world of Arizona, "statistics from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency and the FBI indicate that both the number of illegal crossers and violent crime in general have actually decreased in the past several years."

According to the nonpartisan Immigration Policy Institute, proponents of the bill "overlook two salient points: Crime rates have already been falling in Arizona for years despite the presence of unauthorized immigrants, and a century's worth of research has demonstrated that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be behind bars than the native-born."

Check out the basic raw data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics website:

Source: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/dataonline/Search/Crime/State/RunCrimeStatebyState.cfm

Sphere: Related Content

Spill Baby, Spill

An Open Letter to President Obama
----------------------------------

Dear President Obama,

I live in Virginia and am strongly opposed to your plan to expand offshore oil drilling. "High tech" oil operations are not safe or clean. The current disaster in the Gulf shows us what the latest in offshore drilling technology can do for us: death, environmental havoc, and negative impacts to local businesses.

If you want to implement Sarah Palin's "drill baby drill" mantra, then all I have to say is "spill baby spill".

I am exasperated with your dismal environmental protection record. BP's offshore spill is the last straw.

I need a commitment from you to end ALL new proposals for offshore oil drilling. Instead of risking our lives, our jobs, our coasts, our clean air, and our security by perpetuating our addiction to oil, it's time to build a clean energy economy that means more jobs, less pollution, and real energy independence.

Sphere: Related Content

Obama's Health Plan has Many Republican Ideas in It

"Socialized medicine" is just fear-mongering, but makes for good headlines. The current broken health care system allows insurance bureaucrats to deny care, to ration coverage, and to select doctors. The plan on the table is not perfect, but it will help ~30 million people get coverage. If you like your current plan you can keep it.

A lot of Republican ideas are in Obama's plan - including breaking down state barriers - but it seems to be more fun to say no than to accept the commonalities: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/24/AR2010022403657.html

"It will allow Americans to buy insurance across state lines, a favorite idea of Republican House members including Paul Ryan (Wis.) and Mark Kirk (Ill.)."

"It embraces the pooled purchasing options for small businesses championed by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)."

"...letting people save on their premiums if they participate in proven employer wellness programs, a proposal supported by Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.). "

"...it would eliminate caps on benefits, a step that has been supported by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.)."

"Republicans including Sens. Tom Coburn (Okla.) and Richard Burr (N.C.) have backed one of the proposal's key elements: state-based, health insurance marketplaces..."

etc.

Sphere: Related Content