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This Is What Democracy Looks Like
www.NationalView.org's Note From a Madman
September 4, 2008
I'll be traveling this weekend and might not be able to get the next Note From a Madman out until Tuesday, September 9th. -NG
Talk About Natural Disasters!
The Republicans at their 2008 National Convention have decided to put a "natural
disaster insurance policy" into their platform. There's only one problem with
this part of their platform: Their standard-bearer and Presidential nominee,
John McCain, opposes the idea.
A "natural disaster insurance policy" law is already waiting on Senate passage
and it is being held up by Republicans who can't figure out a way to make it
seem like they are for helping people in their greatest time of need without
pissing off their real base of "haves and have mores", which, of course, include
Big Insurance Companies as a charter member.
Whether or not you believe that those of us living in non-hurricane and other
natural disaster areas should contribute to a fund that we will, more than
likely, never tap into isn't the point I'm trying to make here.
Of course Republicans from Florida, as well as their Democratic colleagues, are
in favor of such a fund - a fund I personally agree needs to be created.
But, again, John McCain doesn't, just like President Bush who has threatened a
veto should this bill get through the Republican block in the Senate and get to
his desk.
Bush's reason, and one could assume that it's McCain's reason as well, is that
such a bill would "disrupt the private market". Sure, I know that this needs
translation, so allow me the honor:
"Disrupt the private market" in McBush terms means simply taking profits out of
Big Insurance Companies pockets. It's the same reason the GOP, now led by McCain
but still following in the same failed footsteps the Bush administration has
left them, are against a real national health care plan which would cover all
Americans.
By keeping the current system, either Americans who live in these disaster areas
pony up the dollars for hefty insurance policies or they run the risk of losing
everything in the next disaster. And disasters have been getting more frequent
and more deadly.
But the kicker is that while those of us who live in these affected areas (I'm
not one of you) are paying outrageous rates for insurance which barely covers
their needs, when they actually have to file a claim they are left with choices
of taking a fraction of what they should get versus waiting, and waiting... and
waiting for their Insurance Company to review their appeal. All one has to do is
just look at how many families in and around the New Orleans area still haven't
received enough to rebuild their homes and their lives.
The kicker to the opposition to the McBush "natural disaster insurance policy"
is that when a disaster does hit, we, the American people, end up doling out the
big bucks to help subsidize what Big Insurance should have paid out to begin
with. Hurricane Francis saw Big Insurance beg for federal money and then had the
temerity to post some of the highest profits in history.
The Republican Party is even floating the idea that McCain will change his mind.
It's an interesting trick: Allow the candidate to keep the current track, never
changing his mind nor even reviewing his policy, then tell everybody that he
"could", may, "Possibly" change his mind.
"He's a reasonable man. It may be open to compromise,"
-National committeeman Paul Senft
"I think that Gov. Crist has talked to him about it and will continue to talk to
him after the election. I'm encouraged with the language, it's certainly a
starting point."
-State Rep. Marcelo Llorente (REPUBLICAN-MIAMI, FL)
Republicans at the convention are talking about the "language" of a bill such as
the "natural disaster insurance policy" rather than the bill itself. It's all
bull.
Certainly you can count on a candidate who says he's against a plan to aid the
average American prior to the election to keep that promise, no matter what the
rest of the party, or even his own spokes-people say.
"John McCain needs to explain why he is saying one thing and his party is saying
something else,"
-U.S. Rep. Ron Klein (DEMOCRAT, FL)
Klein is the man in the House of Representatives who wrote the bill which has
already passed the House and sits, idle, in the Senate due to the GOP
opposition. He did his job, as did the entire House, led by the democratic
majority. It is only a small group in the Senate who, led by a Republican
minority, who stand in the way.
"It's a nice little coup, it's a definite statement. Every little bit helps,"
-U.S. Rep. John Mica (REPUBLICAN-FL)
And it will be another "nice little coup" should McCain win the state of Florida
by having his people promise a plan such as the "natural disaster insurance
policy" and then not come through. Certainly Florida Representatives will have
to answer for this slight as will now-popular Governor Charlie Crist
(REPUBLICAN), an ardent McCain supporter.
-Noah Greenberg
What You Just Saw
I don't generally forward requests for contributions. Forget about the
contribution request and just consider what David Plouffe is saying. The
Republican Party for a long time mocked large central government. Reagan once
said that the most frightening statement a politician can make is "that I am
from the government and I am here to help you". To make up for a lack of
emphasis on federal governance, the Republicans pushed the concept of community
governance; Reagan's "thousand points of light". Now, the Republican are mocking
all forms of secular governance. Where does that leave them? Perhaps, rule by
religious governance! With the pick of Sarah Palin, McCain has sided with the
concept of religious governance. Palin belongs to a church that preaches the
Dominionist ideology that the constitution should be replaced with "Biblical
law". This is downright scary stuff.
-Robert Scardapane
No Room for Volunteers
The Republicans are mocking Obama for being a community organizer. That puts
them in a real bind. Here is my letter to the editor:
Speakers at the Republican convention mocked the role of community organizers.
Does the Republican Party understand the value of such groups? Community groups
run food banks and volunteer time in health care clinics across the country. The
Republicans used to believe that community groups make up for a large
government. Now, they don't believe in any sort of governance. Where does that
leave America?
-Robert Scardapane
I don't normally just reprint any articles in lieu of my own work, but this
piece by the AP says it all:
Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated
Press Writer
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held
back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and
flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the
reproach and the praise stretched the truth.
Some examples:
PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and
championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the
Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."
THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to
Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In
her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special
federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While
Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to
an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the
plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."
PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to
him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs
but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."
THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have
a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation
that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass
destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation
became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the
work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy
voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious
measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring
recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also
successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.
PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income
taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax,
raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by
hundreds of billions of dollars."
THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings
Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase
after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or
nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income
levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent,
the center concluded.
Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the
elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage
workers and higher credits for larger families.
He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the
wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above
$250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more
than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.
MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of
America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's
energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making
that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being
the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC
News' Charles Gibson.
THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a
state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more
"responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of
Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to
tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska
is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th
largest state — by population.
MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in
charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary
responsibilities," he said on ABC.
THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that
authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When
guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those
duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense
Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of
about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.
FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of
Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."
THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got
909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the
race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the
District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential
primaries.
FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from
a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for
every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government
liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."
THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative
Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year,
Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have
been in charge of the House and Senate.
-NG
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-Noah Greenberg