Greetings, fellow Freedom Fighters™ and Defenders of Democracy™!
Today, we bring you an assortment of news. Read all about it …
- who knew what when regarding the Foley scandal
- how New Jersey prisoners are protesting Abu Ghraib-like treatment
- why atheists do (and should!) care about religion
- the report of over 655,000 Iraqi civilian deaths due to the U.S. invasion
- the increasing probability that the U.S. WILL invade Iran
- the neocons’ contempt for the religious right
… and much, much more!
We’ve also thrown in a few laughs to keep things light ... goodness knows, we can all use a laugh these days.
Keep the faith and keep fighting: together, we WILL win our nation back!
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Recommended Links
Dilbert deserves the economic Nobel
(Seriously, faithful Readers: read this ... it is written in plain English and can make you rich)
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?
guid=%7BBE57F0AA%2D03D9%2D4320%2DBC4D%
2D83363B6372F6%7D&siteid=myyahoo&dist=myyahoo
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From our mailbag
Cute animation about our lack of civil liberties
http://inthedark.openthegovernment.org/index.html
A telemarketer's worst nightmare
http://joshualowry.vox.com/library/audio/
6a00c225203796f21900c2252ab8c18e1d.html
The ultimate collectible
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2cQyraFxC8
Why do atheists care about religion? Because the United States of America was NOT founded as a "Christian" nation, and, too often, "Christians" unite church and state to disenfranchise atheists from public office and other privileges that all Americans should enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/profile_favorites?user=GIIVideo&page=4
A letter from Dot Calm to the U.S. Congress via afterdowningstreet.org:
"Please obey both international and U.S. law, which forbid aggressive attacks on other nations. We oppose your proposal to attack Iran. If Iran does possess nuclear weapons, the U.S. has driven them to it. Remember, Iraq did not possess nuclear weapons. If Iran has them, one can't blame them for protecting themselves from rogue nations like the U.S."
How many members of the Bush Administration are needed to change a light bulb?
The Answer is TEN:
1. One to deny that a light bulb needs to be changed.
2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light bulb needs to be changed.
3. One to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb.
4. One to tell the nations of the world that they are either: "For changing the light bulb or for darkness."
5. One to give a billion dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton for the new light bulb.
6. One to arrange a photograph of Bush, dressed as a janitor, standing on a stepladder under the banner "Light Bulb Change Accomplished."
7. One administration insider to resign and write a book documenting in detail how Bush was literally "in the dark."
8. One to viciously smear #7.
9. One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light bulb-changing policy all along.
10. And finally one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.
Welcome to Bush's America ...
Jobless man asks judge for jail time
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A man who couldn't find steady work came up with a plan to make it through the next few years until he could collect Social Security: He robbed a bank, then handed the money to a guard and waited for police.On Wednesday, Timothy J. Bowers told a judge a three-year prison sentence would suit him, and the judge obliged.
"At my age, the jobs available to me are minimum-wage jobs. There is age discrimination out there," Bowers, who turns 63 in a few weeks, told Judge Angela White.
The judge told him: "It's unfortunate you feel this is the only way to deal with the situation."
Bowers said he had been able to find only odd jobs after the drug wholesaler he made deliveries for closed in 2003. He walked to a bank and handed a teller a note demanding cash in an envelope. The teller gave him four $20 bills and pushed a silent alarm.
Bowers handed the money to a security guard standing in the lobby and told him it was his day to be a hero.
He pleaded guilty to robbery, and a court-ordered psychological exam found him competent.
"It's a pretty sad story when someone feels that's their only alternative," said defense attorney Jeremy W. Dodgion, who described Bowers as "a charming old man."
Prosecutors had considered arguing against putting Bowers in prison at taxpayer expense, but they worried he would do something more reckless to be put behind bars.
"It's not the financial plan I would choose, but it's a financial plan," prosecutor Dan Cable said.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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A political letter from The Scallion to the U.S. Congress:
A recent study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and published in The Lancet, one of the oldest and most highly reputable medical journals in existence, shows that the number of Iraqis killed is far higher than the 20,000-30,000 estimates provided by the Bush administration (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001442.html). The Bush administration estimates were only publicized -- tardily, for that matter -- in response to the 2004 Lancet report of over 100,000 Iraqi deaths due to the 2002 U.S. invasion (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/29/iraq.deaths/).
The U.S. invasion has thus resulted in the deaths of over half a million Iraqis, most of whom were civilians. This death count is higher than the losses in Darfur or the tsunami that devastated Aceh. What’s worse, our own government is directly responsible for this vast number of civilian deaths.
As usual, Americans are not getting the whole story about Iraq. George W. Bush misled the Congress and the American people about Saddam Hussein’s WMD, which never existed. The administration grossly underestimated the number of troops that were needed. The administration glibly misunderstood the Iraqi culture in their expectations of being greeted as liberators. Arguably, this recent egregious undercounting of civilian casualties may be the worst cover-up yet. Mr. Bush has recently tried to claim that the number of civilians killed is 20 times lower than the estimate given by the Johns Hopkins researchers in the Lancet report. Given the Bush administration’s clear inability to get its facts straight and share them honestly with the American public, just whom does Mr. Bush expect Americans to believe?
Our own generals and allies have seen the devastation that our continued presence is causing in Iraq. It is time for Mr. Bush to face the facts and bring our troops home now.
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From our information clearinghouse
These are items we receive from the countless mailing lists to which The Scallion collectively subscribes. They are worth the effort of at least a good skim.
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From AlterNet
Conservative Christian leader on elections [VIDEO]
GOP better watch out...
War in Iran 'probable'
The Iranian Chalabi emerges...
More about why we suck at nation-building
A quickie follow-up.
Bush invites another Katrina [VIDEO]
Sidesteps congress to make way for the next 'Brownie'
Does Bush Think War with Iran is Preordained?
By Chris Hedges, Truthdig
The Christian right sees an apocalyptic nuclear war with Iran as a vision set forth in the Bible. Bush himself may be a believer, too.
White-Collar Workers Unite!
By Rina Palta, AlterNet
Barbara Ehrenreich's new organization seeks better health care, insurance and debt relief for unemployed and underemployed professionals.
The Byline Gender Gap
By Ann Friedman, AlterNet
It's time for progressive editors to stop paying lip service to the idea of gender parity and make some real changes.
What the Amish Are Teaching America
By Sally Kohn, AlterNet
The rest of us can learn a lot from how the Amish community responded to last week's gruesome school shooting in Pennsylvania.
Greed Fuels the Booming Counterfeit Drug Industry
By Terry Allen, In These Times
The true cost of counterfeit drug sales is being passed on to consumers in the developing world, who often suffer severe illnesses and death from fake medicines.
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Tucker Carlson: '[E]lites in the Republican Party have pure contempt for the evangelicals'... [VIDEO]
The GOP's useful idiots...
Evangelical minister's letter to Dobson:
'I'm afraid you may not be very evangelical anymore'
Hypocritical DeWine AWOL from Intelligence Committee
On talking tough, but not showing up
Hunter Duncan, Joe McCarthy and some smelly blue cheese
How's that for a title?
The Religious Right's Crusade for 'Decency'
By Celina R. De Leon, AlterNet
The Christian right has done its best to keep America obsessed with clean, friendly family values. But what constitutes 'decency' -- and where does the Foley scandal fit in?
The 'Poison Plastic' Retailers Won't Talk About
By Lois Gibbs, AlterNet
PVC plastic (commonly used in toys, shower curtains, bags, shoes and more) has been linked to cancer and birth defects -- so why won't big-box stores like Target stop selling it?
Bush's Tough-Talkin' Korean Bungle
By Robert Parry, Consortium News
In 2002, Bush put North Korea on a list of potential targets for U.S. nuclear weapons. It's no surprise, then, that Kim Jong Il has responded by creating a threat of his own.
Socialism Is Alive and Well... in Vietnam
By Frank Joyce, AlterNet
Southeast Asian nations could offer a way for countries like ours to become more democratic and prosperous.
Debunking the Green Building Myth
By Martin John Brown, E Magazine
Despite the new trend toward building 'green' McMansions, most of these homes are like hybrid SUVs: efficient only in comparison to other energy-guzzling behemoths.
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Bush: Iraqis willing to "tolerate" violence [VIDEO]
Bush doesn't find report that over half million Iraqis are dead 'credible'...
God convinces Hastert to resign
According to 'eccentric' preacher...
5 Scandals that Could Put Republicans in Jail
By James Ridgeway, Mother Jones
The Foley cover-up is just the tip of the iceberg. If the Democrats succeed in retaking Congress this fall, here are five investigations they should get started on right away.
Pro-Lifers' Frightening New Tactic
By Sarah Blustain, Reva Siegel
As South Dakotans prepare to vote on the abortion ban, they're hearing a twisted new argument: that the state must "protect" women by forcing them to bear children.
Study: More than 600,000 Dead in Iraq
By John Tirman, AlterNet
A researcher associated with a brand new mortality study is blunt to critics: 'its accuracy is not an issue... those who publicly dismiss the findings must offer an alternative.'
In Russia, a Courageous Voice Is Silenced
By Katrina vanden Heuvel, TheNation.com
Anna Politkavskaya's murder may mark the beginning of the end for the free press under Putin.
Dear Leader Brings It On
By Robert Scheer, AlterNet
Sensible Republicans must rein in the Bush administration and demand that progress take precedence over empty threats.
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Evangelical: Rove's office called evangelicals 'The Nuts' [VIDEO]
New book says Bush 'mocking... millions of faithful Christians'...
Republican Commission: Iraq War is Over
We lost.
Foley patted page's ass on House floor
Former page observed Foley's wandering hands in the People's House.
Minuteman storms out of Democracy Now! interview [VIDEO]
Columbia University says NO to Minutemen...
Memo to Dems Running in Red States
By Arianna Huffington, AlterNet
Economic issues are moral values.
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Colberts supports his troops... [VIDEO]
And the troops support their Colbert
Republican allegations of voting fraud... fraudulent
But registration hurdles continue...
American Fascism Is on the Rise
By Stan Goff, Truthdig
The precursors of fascism -- militarization of culture, vigilantism, masculine fear of female power, xenophobia and economic destabilization -- are ascendant in America today.
'Gay Curer' Psychologist Claims Africans 'Better Off' As Slaves
By Brentin Mock, Intelligence Report
In the latest episode of the so-called "ex-gay" movement's straying toward racial bigotry, the movement's leaders and its Christian right allies have failed to condemn an essay arguing Civil Rights Movement was "irrational."
Will Google Take the Internet Over the Cliff?
By Jeffrey Chester, The Nation
The Google/YouTube merger is more than a big media deal: It's the leading edge of a data-driven marketing system that will subvert the Internet as we know it.
Reflections from a Former Anti-Abortion Activist
By Elizabeth Wardle, PhD, AlterNet
As a good Christian teenager, I was active in the anti-abortion movement. So it stunned everyone, including me, when college women's studies classes turned my worldview upside down.
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AlterNet ad: The America We Believe in Leads the World on Human Rights
(A message from Amnesty International)
This September, thousands of human rights defenders dug deep to fight back President Bush's "Military Commissions Act." Their willingness to give, join, call, and act was inspiring. During one of our most difficult battles, this massive outpouring of grassroots support renewed our spirits.
Unfortunately, despite all our efforts, the "Military Commissions Act" passed. Bad policy has now become bad law. Given the history of this administration, we have no reason to believe that torture won't continue.
What are we doing? We're fighting back, and we're fighting back hard. This week, we launched a campaign devoted to changing America's course on human rights. Take a stand, take the first action of many, sign Amnesty's pledge.
Take action now. http://www.alternet.org/amnestypledge
Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Even as Iraq is on the verge of splintering into a sectarian civil war, four big oil companies are on the verge of locking up its massive, profitable reserves, known to everyone in the petroleum industry as "the prize."
One Less Eye on Gender Inequality
By Marcia D. Greenberger, TomPaine.com
The Bush administration guts another set of laws and policies that protect workplace equity for women.
A War of the Words Against George Bush
By Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com
Apt quotes from some of the most eloquent Bush critics in our era -- from Howard Zinn to Barbara Ehrenreich.
Military Fails Another Victim of Sexual Violence
By Marie Tessier, Women's Media Center
Three years after the public and Congress demanded reform, sexual assaults remain a persistent fact of life in the military.
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From the Center for American Progress
STATE WATCH
GEORGIA: "Martin Luther King's 78th birthday in January will feature a gift to the city: the first public viewing of more than 10,000 of his documents, notes and other personal items."
MINNESOTA: Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) endorses stem cell research.
ECONOMY: More Latinos are breaking out of the middle class and earning six-figure salaries.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Woodward: Cheney cursed at me about "State of Denial," then hung up the phone.
TRUTH OUT: Author and former NYT reporter Chris Hedges starts new column.
TPM MUCKRAKER: Duke Cunningham writes angry, "error-laden" letter to journalists who exposed his crimes.
HORSE'S MOUTH: Reuters editor loses job because he authored anti-Coulter book.
DAILY GRILL
"I actually got no money out of Xybernaut. I got paid in stock options which were worthless."
-- Sen. George Allen (R-VA), 10/8/06, explaining why he didn't disclose stock options he received for serving on the board of tech company Xybernaut
VERSUS
"Stock options that Senator George Allen described as worthless were worth as much as $1.1 million at one point, according to a review of Senate disclosure forms and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings."
-- Bloomberg, 10/10/06
ETHICS -- GEORGE ALLEN DIDN'T DISCLOSE STOCK OPTIONS: In his past five annual Senate financial disclosures, Sen. George Allen (R-VA) failed to reveal stock options he received as a director of Commonwealth Biotechnologies and Xybernaut, two government contractors he worked with as Governor of Virginia. The disclosure reports are designed to inform the public over potential conflicts of interest. In 2001, owning 110,000 undisclosed Xybernaut options, Allen "asked the Army to resolve a lingering issue with Xybernaut" at Xybernaut's request. Allen called these options "worthless," but Bloomberg reports that they were worth as much as "$1.1 million at one point." Allen sold his Xybernaut stock at a loss in 2005, but continues to hold his Commonwealth options. Commonwealth usually requires that departing board members exercise their options within 90 days, but Allen's were extended to 2009 because he was entering public service. Richard Freer, chairman of Commonwealth, said upon Allen's departure for the Senate, "We wish him much success in Washington and look forward to his pro-business agenda reaping benefits for CBI, the commonwealth and the nation." Allen also had failed to promptly inform the SEC of two instances of insider trading while serving as director of the two companies.
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GOOD NEWS
More than 650 of the nation's leading economists have called on Congress to increase the federal minimum wage.
STATE WATCH
IOWA: Starting in 2007, Iowa will pay "child care providers more money to look after infants and preschool youngsters whose families are eligible for state assistance."
NEW JERSEY: "A first-of-its-kind law that took effect yesterday" requires New Jersey doctors to screen new mothers for postpartum depression.
TECHNOLOGY: State politicians discover YouTube.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Video: Bush says Iraqis are willing to "tolerate" this "level of violence."
POLITICAL ANIMAL: The disappearing labor beat at U.S. newspapers.
TAPPED: Exploring the current tax breaks for religious organizations.
ALTERNET: Researcher involved in new Iraq casualty study defends analysis.
DAILY GRILL
"To link me to George Bush is like linking me to an Oscar. That's ridiculous."
-- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, 10/11/06
VERSUS
"Our president, George W. Bush, has worked hard to protect and preserve the American dream for all of us. And that's why I say, send him back to Washington for four more years. Four more years!"
-- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), address to the Republican National Convention, 8/31/04
MILITARY -- HAMDAN LAWYER PASSED UP FOR PROMOTION, SENDING CHILLING MESSAGE THROUGH PENTAGON: Lt. Commander Charles Swift, the lawyer who represented Guantanamo detainee Salim Hamdan in the landmark Supreme Court case that ruled President Bush's military commissions unconstitutional and in violation of international law, will be "passed over for promotion by the Pentagon and must soon leave the military." Dubbed the "hero of Guantanamo," Swift reported in June 2005 that when he was first asked to represent Hamdan, he was instructed that he could negotiate only a guilty plea. He called the instructions " clear attempt to coerce Mr. Hamdan into pleading guilty." Refusing to back down, Swift "ended up fighting his commander in chief at the U.S. Supreme Court." He explained, "As an officer, I have the deepest respect for the President. But as an officer, it is also my duty to point out when an order is wrong. What protects our democracy is that we do not just follow orders blindly." Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, argued Swift was "a no-brainer for promotion," given his devotion to the Navy, the law, and his client. The New York Times writes, "[T]here is no denying the chilling message it sends to remaining military lawyers."
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GOOD NEWS
"Bangladesh's Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for working to advance economic and social development among the poor."
STATE WATCH
ALASKA: "A nonpartisan organization described as a group of pro-business young Alaskans was created as a front for Exxon Mobil Corp., BP and ConocoPhillips to promote a natural gas pipeline deal."
PENNSYLVANIA: State House passes a ban on mandatory overtime for nurses.
IRAQ: New Institute for Southern Studies poll shows that 56 percent of Southerners support a decrease or withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Unwilling to investigate Bush administration, Congress returns to Clinton.
ABC NEWS BLOTTER: Marine sergeant comes forward to report abuse at Guantanamo Bay.
WARREN REPORTS: Poverty and middle class insecurity: connecting the dots.
DEFENSE TECH: Army "big brother" unit targets bloggers.
DAILY GRILL
"President Bush's chief political adviser [Karl Rove] told graduates of Jerry Falwell's Liberty University on Saturday to judge leaders on the basis of character. ... 'You either have values ingrained in your heart and soul that will not change with the wind, or you don't,' [Rove] said."
-- Washington Post, 5/9/04
VERSUS
"A new book by a former White House official [David Kuo] says that President Bush's top political advisors privately ridiculed evangelical supporters as 'nuts' and 'goofy' while embracing them in public and using their votes to help win elections. ... In the book, Kuo, who quit the White House in 2003, accuses Karl Rove's political staff of cynically hijacking the faith-based initiatives idea for electoral gain."
-- Los Angeles Times, 10/13/06
ETHICS
Losing the Faith
"More than five years after President Bush created the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives," David Kuo, the former special assistant to President Bush on faith-based issues, is "going public with an insider's tell-all account that portrays an office used almost exclusively to win political points." Kuo is a "self-described conservative Christian" who has worked with former Sen. Jack Kemp (R-NY), prominent conservative activist Bill Bennett, and former Attorney General John Ashcroft. In his book "Tempting Faith," Kuo accuses Karl Rove and others in the Bush administration of "cynically hijacking the faith-based initiatives idea for electoral gain," ignoring issues such as poverty, and limiting faith-based grants to organizations that are "politically friendly to the administration." Rove's office, according to Kuo, referred to evangelicals as "boorish," "nuts," "ridiculous," "out of control," and "just plain 'goofy.'" The revelations come as right-wing politicians "worry that angry evangelicals may stay home from the polls" because of the House leadership's mishandling of the Foley scandal. Kuo's new book reveals a conservative agenda which values crass politics over the "values" agenda. As E.J. Dionne writes, the current political climate presents a "national opportunity to break free from empty, politically driven rhetoric that has nothing to do with strengthening families and everything to do with electoral advantage."
NOT THE FIRST INSIDER CRITICISM: Kuo has criticized the administration's handling of faith-based programs before. In 2005, Kuo described the "minimal senior White House commitment to the faith-based agenda" during his time in the administration. Kuo bemoaned the lack of focus on poverty. "[The White House] never really wanted the 'poor people stuff,'" he wrote. Kuo was at one time the consummate right-wing insider. Keith Olbermann reported last night that during his stint at Jack Kemp's think tank, Empower America, "[Kuo] and his team taught more than 600 candidates how to run for office -- by blaming President Clinton for the nation's sad state of affairs at the time." John DiIulio, the head of the faith-based program until Aug. 2001, also spoke out against the administration's penchant for politics over policy. "What you ve got is everything -- and I mean everything -- being run by the political arm," DiIulio said. "It s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis." DiIulio, like Kuo, endeared himself to conservatives by attacking Clinton. "During the Clinton impeachment drama, he beat the drum for Clinton's removal from office and decried the failure to do so as a signal of the 'paganization' of American political culture."
USING EVANGELICALS FOR POLITICAL GAIN: In his book, Kuo says officials in Karl Rove's office "knew 'the nuts' were politically invaluable, but that was the extent of their usefulness." Staff members complained "politically involved Christians were 'annoying,' 'tiresome' or 'boorish.'" "National Christian leaders," Kuo writes, "received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as 'ridiculous' and 'out of control.'" The White House did more than belittle evangelical leaders behind their backs. According to Kuo, White House political affairs director Ken Mehlman "knowingly participated in a scheme to use the [faith-based] office, and taxpayer funds, to mount ostensibly nonpartisan events that were, in reality, designed with the intent of mobilizing religious voters in 20 targeted races." "[I]t can't come from the campaigns," Mehlman said. "That would make it look too political. It needs to come from the congressional offices. We'll take care of that by having our guys call the office [of faith-based initiatives] to request the visit." The revelations could hit conservatives where it hurts -- in the ballot box. Conservative Christian voters "were beginning to feel that they had been used," Newsweek's Howard Fineman said last night. "That was before this book came out, and I can tell you a lot of those same people...are going look at this new book and say 'Aha,' this is what we thought all along."
THE SHRINKING 'GOD GAP': "[L]eaders on the religious right have launched an all-out drive to get Christians from pew to voting booth," the Los Angeles Times reported several weeks ago, and "those guiding the movement say they owe it to God and to their own moral principles to do everything they can to keep social conservatives in power." But "the 'God gap' in politics is shrinking." By revealing the priorities of the right, the Kuo book and the Foley scandal may lead to decreased turnout among the religious right. ("It doesn't make you mad so much as it sickens you," one pastor said of the Foley debacle.) "I think there will be a lot of people who have done what they did in past elections," predicted Rev. Barry Lynn, the author of "Piety & Politics," "and just vote for third parties or not vote at all." During the summer, voters who describe themselves as "religious whites" favored conservative candidates by a 23-point margin. A recent Gallup poll shows the advantage has disappeared, with the Foley scandal being the "most likely reason for the drop in support."
DISCRIMINATION AND WASTE HAVE MARRED FAITH-BASED PROGRAM: The Kuo book paints the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives as haphazardly created and rife with discrimination. Kuo describes the creation of the faith-based initiative: "Karl Rove summoned [Don] Willett [a former Bush aide from Texas who initially shepherded the program] to his office to announce that the entire faith-based initiative would be rolled out the following Monday. Willett asked just how without a director, staff, office, or plan the president could do that. Rove looked at him, took a deep breath, and said, 'I don't know. Just get me a f***ing faith-based thing. Got it?'" Once the office had funding, the process of handing out grants was marred by political motivation and religious discrimination. "Many of the grant-winning organizations that rose to the top of the process were politically friendly to the administration," Kuo writes. And one member of the grant review panel told him "with a giggle," "When I saw one of those non-Christian groups in the set I was reviewing, I just stopped looking at them and gave them a zero. A lot of us did." Kuo's revelations confirm the findings of a recent Government Accountability Office report. The report found Bush's faith-based initiative "lacks adequate safeguards against religious discrimination and has yet to measure the performance of the groups."
STRENGTHENING PROGRESSIVE VOICES: Groups such as Faith In Public Life are working to give religious progressives, a group nearly as large as religious conservatives, a stronger voice. The Center for American Progress' Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative is pushing for policies that "strengthen the common good and respect the basic dignity of all people." The debate is already shifting away from "hot button" issues. A recent poll showed "moral issues people worried about most in their daily lives were very different from the ones dominating political debate." 28 percent of those polled thought the most serious moral crisis in America today is "kids not raised with the right values," with only 3 percent citing "abortion and homosexuality." 89 percent agreed the government should "take greater steps to help the poor and disadvantaged in America." The debate is shifting away from "hot-button" issues as religious leaders embrace progressive causes such as protecting the environment and raising the minimum wage.
Under the Radar
IRAQ--BRITISH ARMY CHIEF CALLS FOR PHASED WITHDRAWAL FROM IRAQ: The continued presence of British troops "exacerbates the security situation in Iraq" and they should be withdrawn "soon" said General Sir Richard Dannatt, the British Army Chief in an interview with the Daily Mail this week. He hastily backpedaled Friday morning, papering over his differences with the Blair government, and clarifying: "We'll probably reduce our soldiers over the course of the next year or two or three let's wait and see. That's what I mean by sometime soon." But Sir Menzies Campbell, leader of the Liberal Democrats, an opposition party, "said Dannatt's position was 'diametrically different' from government policy." Sir Richard's critiques come in the wake of several high profile proposals for strategically reducing Allied presence in Iraq, including "Strategic Redeployment 2.0" from the Center for American Progress, "Options for Iraq" from Anthony H. Cordesman at Center for Strategic and International Studies and, most prominently, two option papers from a Bush Iraq commission headed by James Baker entitled "Stability First" and "Redeploy and Contain." Said Sir Richard in his original interview: "The military campaign we fought in 2003 effectively kicked the door in. Whatever consent we may have had in the first place...has largely turned to intolerance....There is an element of the moral compass spinning. I think it is up to society to realize that is the situation we are in."
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DAILY GRILL
"The fact is the speaker and our leadership could not have been more aggressive. The moment they found out about this, they gave Mark Foley the political death penalty. They said, get out of Congress or we're going to throw you out."
-- Ken Mehlman, CNN, 10/15/06
VERSUS
"When [the instant messages] were released, Congressman Foley resigned. And I'm glad he did. If he had not, I would have demanded his expulsion from the House of Representatives."
-- House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), 10/2/06, noting how Foley had already resigned by the time his inappropriate emails were made public
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From "Democracy Now!"
* Twilight of the Assassins: Why the U.S. Refuses to Prosecute the Cuban
Exiles Luis Posada Carriles & Orlando Bosch For the 1976 Bombing of Cubana
Airlines Flight 455 *
It was the first act of airline terrorism in the Americas: thirty years ago
on October 6, 1976, 73 died in the bombing of a Cuban passenger plane. Now,
one alleged mastermind lives freely in Miami, while another is being held on
immigration charges in Texas. We speak to journalist Ann Louise Bardach.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/10/1355231
* Sarah Chayes on Life in Afghanistan After the Taliban and Why She Left NPR
*
Chayes discusses her new book and the stories she couldn't tell when she was
at NPR. Chayes covered the US invasion of Afghanistan for NPR but she left
journalism in 2002 to run an aid organization in Kandahar called Afghans for
Civil Society. She now runs the Arghand cooperative.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/10/1355235
* Headlines for October 10, 2006 *
- UN Security Council Unanimously Condemns North Korea
- ElBaradei: Push For Global Disarmament Has Been Set Back
- Report: Japan Could Have Bomb Within Months
- North Korea Defends Nuke Test
- Bush Hid CIA Report on Pakistan-N.Korea Nuclear Ties
- 70 Die in Baghdad; Car Bombing Kills 13
- Rep. Kucinich: Bush is Preparing For War Against Iran
- Military Attorney In Hamdan Case Forced to Leave Military
- Italian Prosecutors Seek to Try CIA Agents in Kidnapping Case
- Oaxaca Protesters Storm Mexican Senate
- Two Ex-Earth Liberation Front Activists Plead Guilty
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/10/1355226
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* Minuteman Founder Jim Gilchrist Storms Off DN! Debate With Columbia
Student Organizer *
The anti-immigration group the Minuteman Project announced yesterday that
they are seeking to strip Columbia University of federal funding for what
they say are violations of their civil rights. Last week, student
demonstrators disrupted a speech by Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist who was
invited to the school by the College Republicans. Gilchrist and student
organizer Karina Garcia joins us for a debate that ends when Gilchrist
abruptly pulls the plug.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/11/1430231
* Cable News Confidential: FAIR Founder Jeff Cohen on his misadventures in
corporate media *
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) founder, media critic and pundit
Jeff Cohen has written a new book. Cohen dissects the cable news channels
and finds serious failures in how they cover the most urgent issues of the
day. He joins us in our firehouse studio.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/11/1430244
* Headlines for October 11, 2006 *
- Study: 655,000 Iraqis Dead Since US-led Invasion
- North Korea Warns of Further Tests
- Strike Leaders, Gov. Reach Tentative Agreement in Oaxaca Standoff
- Thousands Attend Funeral of Slain Russian Journalist
- Mortar Attack Ignites Massive Explosion at US Ammo Depot
- India Enacts New Law Against Child Labor
- Court Upholds $13K Fine on Humanitarian Visitor to Iraq
- Blair Govt. Wins Ruling to Hold Al Jazeera Memo Trial in Secret
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/11/1430212
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* Co-Author of Medical Study Estimating 650,000 Iraqi Deaths Defends
Research in the Face of White House Dismissal *
The White House is dismissing the findings of a medical study that says
650,000 people have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion. The study was
conducted by American and Iraqi researchers and published in the prestigious
British medical journal, The Lancet. We're joined by the report's co-author,
epidemiologist Les Roberts.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/12/145222
* Did VA Hide Figures Showing 1 in 4 US Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan
Disabled From Service? *
Newly released documents reveal that more than 150,000 soldiers who left the
military after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have been at least partly
disabled as a result of service - this translates to one in four veterans.
What's more, it appears the Department of Veterans Affairs was trying to
hide the figures. We speak with Paul Sullivan of Veterans for America.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/12/145238
* New Jersey Prisoners Threaten Hunger Over Abu-Ghraib-like Conditions *
As many as fourteen hundred prisoners at New Jersey State Prison are
threatening to begin a hunger strike today to protest prison conditions.
Last week the prisoners complained in a letter that conditions inside were reminiscent of Abu Ghraib.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/12/145247
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* "Catch a Fire": New Film Depicts Life of South African Freedom Fighter
Patrick Chamusso *
Academy award-winning actor Tim Robbins joins us to talk about his new film,
"Catch a Fire." The movie tells the story of black South African
freedom-fighter Patrick Chamusso. It depicts life under apartheid rule - a
regime where torture and indefinite detention were commonplace for most of
the population and the label terrorist was applied to those seeking to end
apartheid and bring democracy to the country. We're also joined by the
film's producer, Robyn Slovo, the the daughter of anti-apartheid activists
Ruth First and Joe Slovo.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/13/1359229
* On the Day of the Nobel Peace Prize and the Week of His 75th Birthday, An
Interview With South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu *
On the day of announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize, we play an interview
with another Nobel Peace Prize winner -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Earlier
this week he turned 75 years old.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/13/1359237
* Headlines for October 13, 2006 *
- Chief UK Military Leader Calls for Iraq Withdrawal
- Report: Iraq Study Group Sees No US Victory in Iraq
- Iraq Law OKs Autonomous Regions
- Ex-UK Home Secretary Advised Bombing Al-Jazeera
- Freed Prisoners Describe Gitmo Abuse
- UNICEF: Palestinian Child Toll Nearly Double 2005
- Wal Mart Loses Suit Alleging Labor Violations
- Muhammad Yunus Awarded Nobel Peace Prize
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/13/1359211
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* Facing Up To 30 Years in Prison, Human Rights Attorney Lynne Stewart
Speaks Out As She Heads To Courthouse for Sentencing *
Civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart is to be sentenced in a federal court in
Manhattan later today. She faces up to thirty years in prison. Last year,
Stewart was convicted of five counts of conspiring to aid terrorists and
lying to the government. Stewart's case has reverberated with defense
attorneys around the country. Many argue that the government's aim is to
discourage them from representing unpopular clients.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/16/143257
* Scott Ritter on "Target Iran: The Truth About the White House's Plans for
Regime Change" *
Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter: "The path that the United States
is currently embarked on regarding Iran is a path that will inevitably lead
to war. Such a course of action will make even the historical mistake we
made in Iraq pale by comparison."
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/16/144204
* Headlines for October 16, 2006 *
- Bloodshed in Balad, Iraq: Over 97 Killed In Weekend Violence
- Maliki Faces Possible Ouster In Favor Of Strongman Government
- Sunni Groups Declare Islamic Republic inside Iraq
- Attacks on Iraqi Journalists Increase
- October Shaping Up To Be One of Deadliest Months for U.S.
- Italian Photojournalist Kidnapped in Afghanistan
- UN Security Council Imposes Sanctions Against N. Korea
- UK Coroner Rules U.S. Troops Unlawfully Killed Terry Lloyd
- Israeli President Faces Possible Rape Charges
- GOP Rep. Bob Ney Pleads Guilty in Abramoff Case
- British Schools Urged to Spy on Muslim Students
- Federal Agents Question 14-Year-Old Girl Over Webpage
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/16/143251
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From the League of Conservation Voters
Nothing more starkly illustrates how your representatives in Congress have helped or harmed the environment than our newly released 2006 National Environmental Scorecard.
Since 1970, the League of Conservation Voters' Scorecard has tracked your Congress members' voting records. Every member gets a final "LCV score" that should either shame them or make their constituents proud.
Unfortunately, too many Members of Congress put Big Oil s interests before their constituents.
How did your elected officials score? Find out click here to check out LCV's 2006 Scorecard.LCV's Scorecard is based on crucial environmental votes, including energy and oil drilling, environmental health standards, and protecting wild places.
Who scored the worst? Twenty Senators and 80 Representatives scored a dismal 0%, voting against the environment every single time. Rep. J.D. Hayworth (AZ) took home a zero, as did Sens. George Allen (VA), James Inhofe (OK), and Mitch McConnell (KY). Rep, Pombo (CA) got a paltry 17% and Sen. Santorum (PA) got an appalling 14%.
This bad voting record was made worse by the fact that congressional leaders blocked debate on good, sensible solutions to America's energy problems, such as making cars go further on a gallon of gas or increasing use of renewable energy. That's unfortunate in a year of skyrocketing gas prices, record-high oil company profits and growing concern about global warming.
Hats off to those legislators receiving a perfect environmental score of 100%. They include Sens. Robert Menendez (NJ), Jack Reed (RI) and many House members.
The good news is that the next Congress can do a whole lot better. They will have new opportunities to debate and vote on legislation to tackle global warming and promote a cleaner, safer, and cheaper energy future.
That's why LCV has launched New Energy Now!, a policy platform that lays out a positive new energy vision for Congress to adopt. You and over 31,000 people have already signed the New Energy Now! Petition to Congress. But we need more voices - click here to tell your friends about the New Energy Now! Petition and 2006 National Environmental Scorecard.
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From Impeachbush.org
We will place a new ad in the New York Times in the coming weeks, and we will continue our mobilization efforts to get Congress to introduce articles of impeachment. We have been able to make great strides so far with the support of all those who believe in the impeachment movement. We need to raise $100,000 in the next month to place the new newspaper ad. Your contribution is
urgently needed.
-Ramsey Clark
There can be no conflict between freedom and security. We must have both, or we will have neither. President Bush insists that we sacrifice freedom to be secure. His actions as President have endangered both our freedom and our security.
President Bush has radically diminished the security of the United States by his criminal acts. His wars of aggression, defined as the Supreme international crimeby the Nuremberg Court, in Afghanistan and Iraq have created anger, fear and hatred among vast populations all blaming the United States. Thousands of young men have been motivated to violence by the invasions and illegal U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. U.S. military bases, embassies, businesses and tourists around the globe are threatened because of the Bush Administration's aggressions and threats against evil empiresothers call home, or their part of the world. Fear of what President Bush calls terrorist actsstalks our own land.
Today's news reveals that 655,000 Iraqis have died as a consequence of the U.S. invasion and occupation of their country. This is being reported by the medical journal the Lancet from a study performed by U.S. and Iraqi doctors under the auspices of Johns Hopkins University. This stands as one of the great crimes in the modern era. George W. Bush and others responsible must be impeached.
U.S. intelligence agencies have confirmed the obvious. The U.S. assault and continuing presence in Iraq has fueled a new and massive potential for violence against the U.S. by people theretofore friendly to the U.S. Common sense and the slightest understanding of human nature informs us all that people react angrily to threats, assaults and foreign military occupations perceived as unjustified.
In a poll conducted in Iraq in early September by the University of Maryland, it was found that 75% of the Iraqi population believe the U.S. occupation causes more violence than would occur if the U.S. withdrew and now favor complete U.S. withdrawal within a year.
U.S. military capacity has been drastically impaired. Beyond the 2,740 military deaths and 20,000 serious injuries, more than 1,200 in August 2006 alone, the radically increasing military burden of Afghanistan and total additional war costs approaching a trillion dollars.
Bushs belligerence has created new crises. Consider North Korea, where a million troops have been massed on the border with the South. Seoul is within range of rockets from the North. All of the Korean people, in both the North and the South want peace and yet they are faced with a new possible confrontation.
With his usual arrogance, President Bush refused for nearly six years to talk with North Korea one on one, while threatening it constantly as an evil empire. He forced North Korea to show test, first its rockets, and now a nuclear warhead, to deter U.S. aggression against its people.
North Korea has witnessed George Bushs merciless aggressions against other nations and knows the U.S., at the very moment it threatens other nations not to develop nuclear weapons, is itself replacing older nuclear warheads and developing more advanced nuclear warheads and rocketry at a cost of additional hundreds of billions of dollars.
When the U.S. signed the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, more than three decades ago, it agreed to phase its nuclear arsenal out of existence to achieve a nuclear free world. George Bush has raced in the opposite direction.
The U.S. must lead the world in an open, orderly, total elimination of all nuclear arms. Only then can we hope for other nations to seek the same end. Add other continuing crises: Somalia where U.S. backed militia leaders have been driven out by Islamic forces; the continuing tragedy of Darfur; the use of National Guard units to police the border with Mexico; the greater toll in lives taken by Katrina because of the absence of Louisiana National Guard units sent to Iraq by President Bush; and you have the U.S. military stretched beyond its capacity to provide security for the U.S. because of President Bushs War on Terrorism which most of a billion plus Muslims believe is a war on Islam.
Add his continuing threats against half a dozen countries, most notably at this moment his reaction to North Koreas nuclear bomb test and his announced plan to punishIran, and his foreign policy is clear.
We, the people of the United States do not need this, but we are paying a staggering price in honor, respect, security and quality of life that threatens our future.
President Bush has simultaneously sacrificed freedom in America as no other President in our history by his criminal acts. While proclaiming his very purpose to be freedom, he has usurped power. He has granted himself the right to seize Americans and any others, tell no one, hold people arbitrarily, interrogate them ad nauseum, and use torture; to wiretap at will without warrants any person anywhere, abolish and defile the writ of habeas corpus the Great Writ of a free people use secret prisons in foreign countries where prisoners held are helpless. With contempt, he rejects the Geneva Conventions, designed to protect prisoners of war and civilian populations, ours as well as others. He is responsible for the destruction of Fallujah, Ramadi, Baghdad, Samara and deaths of children, the elderly and defenseless populations.
These acts include the crimes of murder, assault, kidnapping, torture, wrongful imprisonment to name a few. Having drastically eroded both security and freedom, President Bush daily condemns political opponents for lacking the courage to sacrifice freedom to win his worldwide war on terrorism.
Using fear, he has sacrificed freedom on the altar of security, questioning the patriotism of anyone who challenges his excesses.
President Bush proclaims the sacrifice of freedom as the price of security, assaulting both in the process. The obvious reality is that a people must have both freedom and security, or they will have neither. The absence of freedom will compel people to struggle against the repression of security measures, and the absence of security will threaten the freedom of all. No one is free who must live in a bomb shelter or cannot walk the streets with safety.
If the American people are to be both free and secure, intend to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and secure the blessing of liberty for ourselves and our posterity, in the words of Justice Hugo Black, we must not be afraid to be free.
Demand that the House of Representatives impeach George W. Bush, his Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and other officials, complicit in the High Crimes and Misdemeanors that have been committed in our name. We must act now to impeach President Bush.
We have made amazing progress in the ImpeachBush.org/VotetoImpeach campaign. More than 730,000 people have signed on to this movement. We have run newspaper ads that have reached millions of people with the message of impeachment. These full page ads have appeared in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, USA Today and many other papers.
We will place a new ad in the New York Times in the coming weeks, and we will continue our mobilization efforts to get Congress to introduce articles of impeachment. We have been able to make great strides so far with the support of all those who believe in the impeachment movement. We need to raise $100,000 in the next month to place the new newspaper ad. Your contribution is urgently needed.
Sincerely,
Ramsey Clark
October 12, 2006
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From Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans
See the Video: Why Wounded Troops Can't Wait for Congress
Dear Friend,
A couple of weeks ago, we told you about a pressing issue - the dramatic budget cut Congress had planned for the treatment of brain-injured troops. Thousands of Iraq vets are affected by Traumatic Brain Injury after being too near a roadside bomb or mortar attack, making TBI the signature wound of the war in Iraq. Check out this video to see the risks hundreds of thousands of our troops are facing.
So what's happening now? Your letters and phone calls kept the budget cut from being finalized - but we haven't won yet. Sen. Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Allen (R-VA) introduced amendments to give the TBI research and treatment center back the funding they need. But the amendments were put off until later this month, when Congress gets back from recess.
So the politicians told wounded troops to wait. This is a new low, even from a "do-nothing Congress" like this one. Rest assured, when Congress is back in session, IAVA will be holding the politicians' feet to the fire. But we need your help to keep up our momentum. Please forward this email and video so that your friends understand the risk of TBI -- and why these wounded troops shouldn't have to wait for Congress.
Sincerely,
Patrick Campbell
Congressional Liaison
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
www.iava.org
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From the Huffington Post
Pages Who Exposed Foley: "It Was In The Best Interests Of Kids"...
APIn the wake of the Mark Foley page scandal, Republicans have consistently attempted to deflect attention away from GOP House leadership by painting the timing of the events as a conspiracy of the Democratic party, meant to cripple the opposition just in time for the midterm elections.
But a Washington Post article has confirmed that two of the sources of explicit instant messages have come forward to say that intention of handing materials to the media at that time was to expose Foley, not to aid Democrats in the midterm elections. One former page, a staunch Republican, wrote "I decided that it was in the best interests of kids in general, pages, and my friends specifically that Foley be dealt with quickly and swiftly so that he couldn't hurt anyone else." The same source said that after ABC ran a story about Foley's "overly friendly" emails, he "knew everything I had already known about Foley was finally going to come out." The other source, also a former page, added, "we were reluctant to take on Congress as young politicos ourselves, but when first blows were made, there was no harm in coming forward."
Click here to read the whole story.
Click here to discuss it on HuffPost.
On AOL News...Are Republicans Losing Control? See What The Latest Polls Say...
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Arianna Huffington: Republicans are Whistling Past the Foley GraveyardDeborah Jones and Aimee Liu: In Memory of Anna Politkovskaya
Frankie Thomas: Pedophiles: America's Security Blanket
Jane Smiley: Election Thoughts
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2 TOP GOP SENATORS BREAK WITH BUSH ON IRAQ...
AP/yahoo.comTwo top Republican senators broke with President Bush yesterday in their calls for a change in Iraq strategy. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Sen. John Warner (R-VA) spoke out against the administration's plan in response to increasing US casualties.
Sen. Warner, who first called for change several weeks ago after a visit to Iraq, said there has been an "exponential increase in the killings and the savagery that's going on over there." Said Sen. Hagel, "The American people are not going to continue to support, sustain a policy that puts American troops in the middle of a civil war."
The Huffington Post regrets that former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) was incorrectly identified as a Democrat in Friday's Daily Brief.
Click here to read the whole story.
Click here to discuss it on HuffPost.
On AOL News: Earthquake Hits Hawaii, Knocking Out Power: Governor Issues Disaster Declaration
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Arianna Huffington: Help Save Ned Lamont: Write His Concession Speech TodayKara Swisher: The Louie Chronicles: Episode 2
Andy Stern: A New Financial Plan: Prison
Larry Beinhart: Another Kafka Morning
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From Thom Hartmann
One of the primary elements of a true, functioning, representative democratic republic, like we aim for here in the United States, is that its citizens be well informed.
When Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to his friend J. Correa de Serra on January 28, 1786, and said, "Our liberty depends upon the freedom of the press and that cannot be limited without being lost," he was assuming that Americans knew how to read their daily newspapers.
Not anymore. A 2005 study by the National Center for Education Statistics revealed that about 5 percent of the adults in the United States are not literate in English, meaning 11 million people lack the skills to handle many everyday tasks. Some 30 million adults, or 14 percent of the population, have "below basic" skills in prose. Their ability is so limited that they may not be able to make sense of a simple pamphlet, for example. Another 95 million adults, or 44 percent of the population, have intermediate prose skills, meaning they can do only moderately challenging activities. An example would be consulting a reference book to determine which foods contain a certain vitamin.
The cons' solution, as usual, is to privatize education. They say the public school system is too broken to fix. And just to make sure it stays broken, they passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which will cost the states more in property taxes and other taxes than they are going to get out of it.
The solution is not to go in with a hammer and destroy the schools. It is not to privatize the schools. It's to change the way we are teaching.
Education Is an Investment
There is a growing consensus that something is melting down in our schools, but the solution is not to abolish free public education. The solution is to make free public education better.
All the issues around education come down to one question: investment or expense? The conservatives would have you think that any kind of social programs are expenses. It's really important to reframe the conversation in terms of investment.
We know that the investment in a preschool program like Head Start yields substantial returns down the road in terms of reduced crime, reduced expenses associated with the detention of people, and increases in the tax base. For every $1 you invest in Head Start, you get $9 back. The child is far healthier, less likely to end up in special education or the criminal justice system, and more likely to go to college. Preschool is an investment, not an expense.
The cons, however, don't get it. The whole con agenda seems to be, "Let's go back to a caste system." They are hearkening back to men like John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, who believed we should have a ruling class and a working class and that the ruling class should be literate and the working class should just know enough to make change when they buy something.
They are doing their best to destroy public education. They are trying to destroy the teachers' unions and starve the schools.
Traditionally, we've determined the success or failure of the U.S. public education system by how competent our citizens are at being part of the workforce, participating in our democracy, and having social mobility. Those are all things that you can measure, and in many ways they all relate back to building critical-thinking skills-seeing the big picture, being able to challenge conventional wisdom, thinking outside the box to use the old cliché-as much as they do to the actual imparting of information. We've historically seen education as an essential and organic part of our democracy and considered access to higher education-regardless of the parents' income level-to be one of the keys to building a strong middle class, a strong economy, and a strong nation.
The cons, however, see education as just another commodity. And if it's just a commodity, like shoes or carrots, there must be a simple way to measure it. So instead of measuring its impact on society, they say, "Let's just see how well our kids are doing at memorizing some of the things that we think are important."
The Wrong Measure
The tragedy of treating education as a commodity is twofold. First, the things the cons are measuring in their one-size-fits-all tests don't include the basic issues of democracy, freedom, liberty, and the history of this nation.
Standardized tests don't let us know if our kids know the difference between the worldviews of Paine versus Burke or the differences in the vision of democracy between Plato and Jefferson. They don't test if our kids understand why the Boston Tea Party happened or what differentiated the Founders from the Royalists of 1776. And the tests the cons devise are not designed to teach kids a thing about the populist and progressive movements in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, the Wobblies and the history of organized labor, or the history of Roosevelt's and Truman's battles with cons over programs like labor policy, national health insurance, and Social Security.
The second tragedy for us and our children is that the cons-in their effort to commodify education-have turned the testing over to a few large corporations. Back when I was in school in the 1950s and 1960s, our teachers would write up their own tests, sometimes even in longhand, and make copies of them on the mimeograph machine. The cost was just a few cents-basically the cost of the paper and the mimeo machine's amortization. But the testing companies can charge $5, $10, $20 or more for 5 cents worth of paper. And the No Child Left Behind Act requires schools to buy these tests from specific large, politically active testing companies.
Testing has gone from being insignificant-basically just IQ tests-during the Golden Age of the middle class to being a million-dollar-a-year industry in the Reagan eighties to a multibillion-dollar annual industry after the passage of NCLB. They've used it as a way to privatize another part of education.
Combine that with the relentless pressure for school vouchers, the federal aid programs to religious schools, and the ongoing conservative assaults on every teacher's union contract that comes up for renewal and you get it that they want to destroy public education by completely privatizing it. The result will be that the rich won't see any difference (they're already sending their kids to private prep schools like Andover, where both George Bushes went), the poor will be left with a few token dregs of education, and the middle class will be squeezed even harder.
No Child Left Behind has really sped up this process. Once a school district accepts the federal money for NCLB, it has to agree to the federally mandated and corporate-run scoring system. And if your school fails the test twice in a row, you have to give kids the option of going to another school and then pay for their transportation. But there is no money budgeted to pay for that transportation. And every kid a school loses means fewer state and federal dollars for that school.
What school districts are finding is that they are getting screwed. The state of Utah, for example, one of the most conservative states in the Union, has refused to abide by the requirements of the law. And other states may soon follow.
The real problem with NCLB, however, is not that it is underfunded. The problem is the assumption that you can commodify education at all. You can't.
The No Child Left Behind Act, and other school-privatizing schemes, is really a blowback to a nineteenth-century "create kids for the factories" model of education. Teaching for the test is the worst thing you can do. Want to teach a child to hate learning? Drill them and you'll do that.
Different kids learn in different ways. The most powerful thing a teacher can do is not to make sure that a child has memorized a test but rather to ignite in that child a passion for learning, a love of knowledge. It's to bring back their natural curiosity.
Children love to learn. In just their first few years, they learn a language, how to interact in a family, and a million details. Kids don't fail-schools fail. And part of that failure is the result of the cons' meddling with our schools in an effort to break them so that they can say, "See? We told you public education isn't any good. Now let's hand it over to the business sector." And then we're back to the old rigid caste system in which the only people who get a good education are the children of the wealthy and the corporate elite.
Education is not a consumer product. Schools are not a commercial activity. They are part of the commons and essential to a functioning democracy. We have an obligation to make education work because we are creating the future of our country in our schools.
http://www.thomhartmann.com
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From Voice of the Faithful
Voice of the Faithful Focus A brief update highlighting both a problem in our church and some progress being made as we work together to Keep the Faith, Change the Church.
Problem: To this day a known California diocesan pedophile Catholic priest roams free in Ireland while his enabler presides over the largest Catholic diocese in the United States. We encourage all members to see Deliver Us From Evil, a new documentary film. The film depicts a serial abuser priest in the diocese of Sacramento, CA who was transferred from parish to parish by then Bishop Roger Mahony, now Cardinal of the archdiocese of Los Angeles. It is a striking expose of the clergy abuse scandal and won the Best Picture Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival last June.
- Visit the films website for more information and to post a comment.
- Visit the popular video website YouTubes related Deliver Us From Evilvideos and post a comment.
Progress: Change requires that all of us act in large and small ways. One small way is to sign the Petition for Accountability within Our Catholic Church.
- Take 45 seconds to sign the petition online.
- Email ten others to do the same.
Let the U.S. bishops know that you want to see more effort on behalf of the church hierarchy to end the sexual abuse crisis in our Church. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Causes and Contextstudy should be fully funded by now. A national database of credibly accused priests should be available by now to help protect children from further abuse and to validate the claims of those who have been abuse. By now financial accountability should be achieved by ensuring that finance councils in each diocese and every parish are genuine and effective; by now the regular release of all financial documents necessary to ensure financial transparency should be a given. But none of this will happen without your voice.
Learn how you can get more involved in the Campaign for Accountability at our website.
posted by The Scallion @ 8:05 PM
