CLOSED!!Political Discussion - A Place to &quot;duke it out&quot; (7400+)

http://www.drudgereport.com/bushgq.htm

Top 1074. Aug 20, 2003 5:49 AM

» Fred2000 - Re: Enronization of the Bush administration

In response to message posted by Laughman:

"What would Jesus do?"

-- posted by Fred2000

Top 1075. Aug 20, 2003 6:22 AM

» lcha - Re: Enronization of the Bush administration

In response to message posted by Laughman:

The Japan Times Laughman? Do you just type in "I hate Bush" at Google and post whatever starts popping up? That's really funny.

-- posted by lcha

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/miche...

Top 1076. Aug 20, 2003 7:23 AM

» DellaO - Michelle: Media Bias

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Bustamante, MEChA and the media

Michelle Malkin

August 20, 2003

Now that Democrat Cruz Bustamante is California's gubernatorial recall front-runner, we can look forward to in-depth media investigations of the Latino candidate's long-held ties to the racial separatist group MEChA, right?

Ha.

While Katie Couric complains about GOP candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger being "the son of a Nazi party member" and international media outlets assail Schwarzenegger adviser Pete Wilson as "anti-immigrant" and "racially divisive," the liberal press has been stone-cold silent on Bustamante's connection to one of the nation's most virulently racist organizations.

As a student at Fresno State University in the 1970s, Bustamante was an active member of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or MEChA, which stands for the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan. Bustamante repeatedly denies having a "radical ethnic agenda," but has refused to disassociate himself from his Mechista roots. In fact, Bustamante recently returned to Fresno State for a separate Latino commencement ceremony founded by two of his Chicano activist classmates.

MEChA has been dismissed by some as a harmless social club, but it operates an identity politics indoctrination machine on publicly subsidized college and high school campuses nationwide that would make David Duke and the KKK turn green with envy. MEChA members in the University of California system have rioted in Los Angeles, editorialized that federal immigration "pigs should be killed, every single one" in San Diego, and are suspected of breaking into a conservative student publication's offices and stealing its entire print run in Berkeley.

MEChA's symbol is an eagle clutching a dynamite stick and machete-like weapon in its claws; its motto is " Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada (For the Race, everything. For those outside the Race, nothing)." The MEChA Constitution calls on members to "promote Chicanismo within the community, politicizing our Raza (race) with an emphasis on indigenous consciousness to continue the struggle for the self-determination of the Chicano people for the purpose of liberating Aztlan." "Aztlan" is the group's term for the vast southwestern U.S. expanse, from parts of Washington and Oregon down to California and Arizona and over to Texas, which MEChA claims to be a mythical homeland and seeks to reconquer for Mexico ( reconquista ).

MEChA's liberation agenda, outlined in El Plan de Aztlan, states defiantly:

"We do not recognize capricious frontiers on the bronze continent. Brotherhood unites us, and love for our brothers makes us a people whose time has come and who struggles against the foreigner 'gabacho' who exploits our riches and destroys our culture. With our heart in our hands and our hands in the soil, we declare the independence of our mestizo nation. We are a bronze people with a bronze culture."

Substitute "Aryan" for "mestizo" and "white" for "bronze." Not much difference between the nutty philosophy of Bustamante's MEChA and Papa Schwarzenegger's evil Nazi Party. To date, however, the only exposure Bustamante's MEChA history has received has been on the Internet.

In a critical article on Bustamante published by David Horowitz's FrontPage Magazine.com last week, Lowell Ponte notes that "Like Nazism, MEChA has acquired more than a tinge of racism. In their tactics to advance Latinos and 'La Raza,' many of its activists have directed racist attacks against not only white-skinned Anglos but also against blacks, Asian-Americans and Jews -- in fact, against every non-Latino group."

Popular Internet blogger Tacitus points out: "It's tempting to dismiss this as a youthful affiliation that means nothing today -- but that temptation would be wrong. There are certain associations that are socially tainting (and justly so) in the modern day, and they don't have statutes of limitations. Former Klansmen and former Nazis don't get a pass unless they spend a great deal of time and energy apologizing for and explaining themselves in a convincing manner."

Why should Bustamante, a public figure already known to have used a racial epithet in the past (he infamously used the word "nigger" while addressing a Black History Month event two years ago) get a pass? Or, for that matter, former California State Assembly Speaker and Los Angeles mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa, State Assemblyman Gil Cadillo, State Sen. Joe Baca, and Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva -- all unapologetic Mechistas?

Ms. Couric, I know you'll get to the bottom of this. They don't call you Hardball Katie for nothing.

-- posted by DellaO

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Guardian (UK) - Private passion

Top 1077. Aug 20, 2003 8:46 AM

» Laughman - Private passion

Washington's fondness for privatisation and deregulation is creating dangerous problems at home and abroad, says Julian Borger

Wednesday August 20, 2003

The electrical forensics are still under way, but the big picture emerging from last week's unprecedented blackout is already clear: it was nature's warning against Washington's worship at the altar of privatisation.

Privatisation and deregulation are at the roots of both Thursday's north-eastern meltdown and the 2001 California crisis. Both events have been lessons in the dangers of taking an exclusively private route into far from perfect markets.

California was taken to the cleaners by private energy suppliers such as Enron, which found that it was easy for big sellers to manipulate prices.

In the north-east last week, the problem arose from the fact that, while the power grid works as an integrated whole, not all parts of it offer profitable opportunities for private investment.

There was plenty of supply from private companies at the time of the crash, but not enough transmission lines to take the power where it was needed. When a line became entangled in a tree in Ohio, the power it was carrying was diverted to other lines, which then overheated, sagged, hit trees and failed as well.

As the problems gathered momentum, there was not enough spare capacity in the regional transmission system to take the strain. It quickly reached full capacity.

Power stations did what they are programmed to do when the grid cannot absorb the electricity they produce: shut down. Within ten seconds, the citizens of New York, Cleveland, Detroit and Toronto were being given first-hand experience of what it was like to live in the nineteenth century.

In the process of deregulating the industry, no one has found a way of making investment in transmission lines pay. That is true politically, as well as financially.

Before the blackout, it was much easier to get elected on a programme of high defence spending than to go to the voters on a record of generous expenditure on transmission. Pylons and relay stations are not that sexy.

That is why there is a gargantuan defence budget, even though most of it will go towards traditional pork-barrel projects that have little to do with the war on terror and a lot to do with the clout of big defence contractors.

And that is why investment in the transmission system has lagged so far behind both the supply of power and the demand for it.

President George Bush described last week's power cuts, which affected up to 100 million people, as a "wake-up call". Arguably, though, the alarm first went off in the California emergy crisis of 2001, and the president simply hit the snooze button.

At the time, several members of Congress put suggested a $350m (£220m) repair package to improve the transmission system. The White House opposed it, and congressional Republicans, taking their cue, killed the measure.

In the wake of the recent devastating blackout, the administration blamed Congress for failing to agree on Vice-President Dick Cheney's energy plan, but that plan was more about oil (and where it might be found in Alaska) than about power lines.

Of course, the power grid's problems predate the Bush administration, and the problem is highly complex. One element of it is that transmission lines have fallen between state and federal power.

Individual states cannot resolve who should pay for lines that run between them, yet they are often too jealous of their own powers to allow the federal government to take over.

The issue is so touchy for the states that, despite the fact that the annual meeting of the National Governors Association was interrupted by the blackout, the subject was still not put on the agenda.

However, this administration has hardly provided a useful environment in which to deal with the problem.

The idea of public investment does not fit into the Bush-Cheney mission, with the patriotic exception of defence. But even there, the cult of privatisation has had a powerful and damaging influence.

The administration had to be coerced into nationalising airport security screening services long after it was apparent that private companies were failing at the task. Lip-service security is profitable. Real security is not.

The privatisation of defence contracting has also left soldiers in Iraq, supposedly the ultimate heroes in the Bush pantheon, without proper supplies, living quarters or even enough water in the desert heat. All these things were supposed to be provided by private companies, according to reams of contracts signed before the war.

The trouble is that contractors fall over themselves to sign multi-million dollar deals in peacetime but, when the shooting starts, their employees frequently refuse to drive their trucks towards the action.

In any case their corporate insurance rates go through the roof, making the original contract appear considerably less lucrative.

"You cannot order civilians into a war zone," Linda Theis, an official at the army's field support command, told the Newhouse News Service. "People can sign up to that, but they can also back out."

The problems are so severe that the Army Times - not the first place you would look for freely-worded dissent - has turned against the administration, running a series of bitter editorials.

In one, entitled Nothing but Lip Service, the paper argued: "In recent months, President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress have missed no opportunity to heap richly deserved praise on the military.

"But talk is cheap - and getting cheaper by the day, judging from the nickel and dime treatment the troops are getting lately."

The same goes for the civil reconstruction of both Afghanistan and Iraq, where many tasks that would have been performed by perfectly adequate local government bodies or aid agencies had been contracted out to US firms with close ties to the administration.

But those contractors are not getting the job done and, consequently, the security outlook in both countries is all the bleaker.

That is as potentially devastating for US security as the dilapidated power grid - perhaps even more so - but there is no sign of a radical change in administration thinking.

It is impossible to say whether the cult of privatisation owes its grip more to an ideological commitment by the White House, or the close personal ties between its inhabitants and the businesses they used to work in.

As in most regimes built on crony capitalism, the two have become indistinguishable.

-- posted by Laughman

Top 1078. Aug 20, 2003 8:56 AM

» Lawhawk - Re: Private passion

In response to message posted by Laughman:

How come the article is silent over Europe's energy crisis? Oh wait, the energy companies over there are government owned. France has suffered a potential catastrophe from the heat - 5,000 people dead at least according to the French government as they've had to cut back on energy from their nuclear power plants. They've had to cut back on shared electricity with their neighbors (much to those neighbors' dismay).

Privatization has had successes and failures, just as with any other government enterprise anywhere in the world. Bush neither is the start nor the end of privatization. To say there's a cult of privatization is disingenous.

-- posted by Lawhawk

Top 1079. Aug 20, 2003 9:15 AM

» DellaO - The Libs Never Quit

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California's socialist democrats have one note to play--increase taxes. They don't consider cutting some of the 40% increase in spending that Davis made over the last four years.

Posted on Wed, Aug. 20, 2003

Bustamante proposes increases in taxes, fees

By Howard Mintz
Mercury News

ELK GROVE - Pounding a lectern on his front lawn in a quiet suburban neighborhood here, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante on Tuesday became the first candidate in the recall election to offer a plan to solve California's budget mess -- one that relies on nearly $8 billion in higher taxes and fees aimed primarily at the wealthy and those who smoke, drink or drive expensive cars.

In releasing a proposal to close next year's projected state budget deficit, Bustamante has turned to a formula that depends heavily on the types of tax increases that did not survive the summer budget battle in the Legislature. But Bustamante vowed that, if he is elected governor in October, he would take his budget package directly to voters with a ballot measure if the Legislature fails to approve key elements, such as raising taxes on the top 4 percent of wage earners, dramatically increasing taxes on tobacco and reassessing commercial property.

Republican rivals quickly blasted Bustamante's plan as a replica of Gov. Gray Davis' efforts to handle the budget crisis, and business leaders denounced it as dangerous economic policy. The economic debate is likely to grow today, when two leading moderate Republican candidates, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Major League Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, are expected to reveal specifics of their economic plans as the historic recall campaign kicks into high gear across California.

Schwarzenegger is conducting an economic summit in Los Angeles and is then expected to outline his views publicly for the first time since jumping into the race. Hours later, Ueberroth plans to release his ``economic recovery'' proposals, formally kicking off his campaign in Los Angeles.

In releasing his ``tough love for California'' budget plan, Bustamante tried to steer clear of criticizing the way Davis has handled the state's mounting financial troubles, repeating his campaign mantra that he is ``no on the recall.'' Bustamante, who has started picking up endorsements from traditional Davis backers and who may get support Thursday from Senate Democrats, has positioned himself as the sole Democratic alternative if Davis is recalled Oct. 7.

Citing his budget plan, however, Bustamante added: ``Voters have asked for everyone to put everything up on the table.''

Davis officials, while declining to discuss specifics of Bustamante's plan, said it was worth further study. ``The lieutenant governor has some thoughtful ideas, but many of those mirror what the governor originally proposed,'' said Davis spokeswoman Hilary McLean, citing the governor's previous support for an alternative to raising car registration fees. In January, Davis proposed a budget blueprint that included tax increases on consumers, tobacco and high-income earners, but the plan was stripped of all tax increases in the Legislature.

Bustamante maintains that his tax increases would net nearly $8 billion for the state, the largest chunks from reinstating the 10 and 11 percent tax brackets on top wage earners and bulking up corporate taxes on commercial property. The commercial property tax increase would require a constitutional amendment, a move that would be opposed by advocates of Proposition 13.

In addition, Bustamante altered his earlier position on repealing the tripling of the car registration tax. The increase would remain in place under his plan, but would not apply to the first $20,000 in value of any car or truck, thus forcing only those who drive more expensive cars to pay higher fees. The plan also would hit smokers with a $1.50-a-pack increase on cigarettes, adding $1.3 billion to revenues, and raise taxes on alcohol.

Bustamante's plans for spending cuts and savings were less specific -- and more speculative. Among other things, he suggests $2 billion in savings from health care reform proposals that would switch Medi-Cal patients to private insurance coverage, but some experts question those savings. Bustamante also cited $2 billion in unspecified ``spending reductions'' that he said might have to come from finding ``10s, 20s and 50s in every single program we can.''

The lieutenant governor argued that his combination of tax increases and savings would leave the state with enough extra money to pay for the rollback of part of the vehicle license fee increase as well as reversing increases in community college fees.

The sweeping package of tax hikes drew sharp rebukes from conservatives and skepticism from others involved in the budget process. To pass the budget, the Democratic majority in the Legislature needs support from anti-tax Republicans for a two-thirds vote.

``I think the question that remains is how do you achieve the requisite two-thirds vote to pass that tax package?'' said Jean Ross, of the California Budget Project. ``That's where the governor ran into trouble with a similar-sized tax package.''

The California Chamber of Commerce quickly denounced the plan, saying it would aggravate the state's problems by driving businesses out of California.

Bustamante's opponents had an even harsher view. Columnist Arianna Huffington, running as an independent, branded the plan as the product of a ``bought and sold career politician'' unwilling to cut prison budgets or make Indian gaming interests pay more taxes. Conservatives Bill Simon and state Sen. Tom McClintock questioned why the lieutenant governor did not get more involved earlier in proposing solutions.

``Cruz, if this is `tough love,' what do you consider real decision-making to be?'' said McClintock campaign manager John Feliz. ``He's going to have to do much better than a one-page `this is my plan.' ''

Richie Ross, Bustamante's political consultant, said Bustamante did not pull together a specific alternative earlier in the budget process because he did not have the platform he currently enjoys as a leading candidate for the governor's office. And Bustamante questioned Republican backers of the recall effort for mounting the campaign against Davis without ``honestly addressing the state's budget crisis.''

Pointing to his neighborhood of relatively new, two-story homes 20 minutes away from the bustle of the Capitol, Bustamante said, ``The sacrifices we all have to make has more to do with neighborhoods like this than with special interests, celebrities or political gamesmanship.''

http://www.bayarea.com

-- posted by DellaO

Top 1080. Aug 20, 2003 9:55 AM

» Kirk - French Killing Fish to Stay Cool

In response to message posted by Lawhawk:

I heard the French gave approval to heat the rivers so they can discharge more hot water to cool the reactor. I guess we will see Greenpeace in Fance now saying they are killing fish to keep folks cool?

Man... what a thought.. heat waves, no AC and the French don't think they need deodorant and like to smell like stale smoke! (why else would they smoke so much?) I would think the tourist business will suffer this summer.

-- posted by Kirk

Top 1081. Aug 20, 2003 9:58 AM

» Kirk - Re: The Libs Never Quit

In response to message posted by DellaO:

that makes sense... we should not punish folks who drive inexpensive cars to get around (or old ones like me) but those that can afford to buy new luxury cars ... lets make it more painful for "the rich" to stay in CA so they take their jobs to another state which will make room and houses for more democrats to move in!

-- posted by Kirk

Top 1082. Aug 20, 2003 3:00 PM

» Fred2000 - Dem Start Group to Try to 'Recall' Bush

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By SHARON THEIMER
The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 20, 2003; 5:28 PM

WASHINGTON - The latest Democratic drive to make sure President Bush serves just one term takes a page from the effort to oust a Democratic governor in California, calling its web site "bushrecall" and garnering support through petitions.

A new committee called the Fair and Balanced PAC plans to launch its www.bushrecall.org Web site Thursday. The PAC's founders include Joe Lockhart, a press secretary to former President Clinton, and Mike Lux, a Democratic political consultant.

-- posted by Fred2000