Goldy the new Elections Director? Well, no… not really. But imagine if King County Executive Ron Sims did indeed appoint me, a muckraking partisan blogger, to a key post in the elections department? Think that might generate a little outrage from suspicious righties?
So forgive me for not cheering at the news that WA Attorney General Rob McKenna has named Tim Ford, a former BIAW attorney and Sound Politics contributor as his new “Open Government Ombudsman.” Yeah… nothing instills confidence in the AG’s open government initiative like having it overseen by a ruthlessly partisan Republican.
Of course, the outgoing ombudsman, Greg Overstreet, was also a BIAW attorney, though, not to worry, we’re told:
Overstreet was well received in the job. The Washington Coalition for Open Government — a group that includes the media and activists like the Evergreen Freedom Foundation — recently gave him one of its “Key Awards” for his work at the AG’s office.
Oh well, if the EFF applauded Overstreet, that should be good enough for me. After all, it was EFF President Bob Williams who during the 2004 election controversy repeatedly called for KC Elections Director Dean Logan to be jailed. Yeah, that’s the EFF’s idea of open government… imprisoning your political opponents. What a prick.
But you know, as long as reporters continue to pretend that organizations like the BIAW and EFF (not to mention uSP) are just nonpartisan civic groups, there will be absolutely no political cost to McKenna packing the AG’s office with partisan party operatives.
Hmm. Sounds familiar.
Lest anyone (you know like Johnboy and other Publican wannabes) pretend that non-partisanship and getting along are important, remember what happens when you let one Publican asswipe get his grubby hands on a position of power, even just the AG’s office. You get this kind of shit. Should provide plenty of ammo for getting this piece of shit his old job back, i.e. sucking some right wing piece of shit’s ass.
IS THIS THE REAL REASON THAT ROVE CAME TO WASHINGTON? GOT MCKENNA IN PLACE AND GOT THEIR CRONIES IN PLACE FOR THE NEXT ELECTION?
THE REPUBLICAN PARTISAN BIAW REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION AKA SPECIAL INTERESTS SPENT MORE THAN 1.3 MILLION DOLLARS LAST YEAR ON ADVERTISEMENTS IN AN UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO OUST SUPREME COURT JUSTICE GERRY ALEXANDER.
WHAT DID THE BIAW HOPE TO “BUY” FOR THEIR $1,300,000 IN CONTRIBUTIONS?
ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER REPUBLICAN SCANDAL
“REPUBLICAN Ted Klaudt,former GOP honcho in the South Dakota legislature, deserves mention.
A former South Dakota lawmaker is accused of molesting his own foster children and legislative pages.
Ted Klaudt, 49, a Republican rancher from Walker, faces a long list of charges: eight counts of rape, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of witness tampering, sexual contact with a person under 16, and stalking.
Court documents mention five possible victims. Three were foster children between the ages of 15 and 19 who lived with Klaudt’s family. One is a cousin of one of those girls, and the fifth is Klaudt’s daughter’s friend
So many Republican hypocrites, so little time.
Gee Moldy, and pratically every other govt position in this state, from local to federal, is held by a partisan Democrat. But I guess partisanship is ok as along the Democrats control EVERYTHING. What big fat lying POS you are.
NW PUD
THE DIFFERENCE IS THE LYING REPUBLICANS WERE YELLING VOTER FRAUD WHEN THE ONLY FRAUD WAS COMMITTED BY THEIR PARTY BY DISENFRANCHISING VOTERS.
PARTISANSHIP OVER COUNTRY IS THE REPUBLICAN MANTRA
LIVE WITH IT DUDE
#7 The Moron: Kiss my ass, you lying blowhards did worse during the 2000 election when there was no proof of fraud. You libs are nothing but troop-hating bastards. Choke on it.
GOOD FOR TIM!! he’s a great guy and very honest….and anyone that says he isn’t doesn’t know what they are talking about.
goldy you are just pissed that there will be oversight [and we know how roaches hate the light] and that you weren’t appointed. if you were…would you be bitching because you are a partisan hack?
oh…hah hah hah…this just made my year.
and it will make the 2008 elections so much cleaner i’ll bet too.
let’s see here….for 2008: no more cheating and voter fraud in washington state, the radio station that goldy-kins works for was recently purchased by a mormon group [hmm..that’s a thinker with mitt romney running]..
this is going to be very very amusing and interesting.
i can hardly wait.
but don’t worry goldy…remember you were ‘crowing’ that the dems had an embarrassment of riches with their candidates. are you sure that isn’t just “embarrassment,period” you were talking about?
you might want to rethink it….heh heh heh
can it get better than this????
NWdude@ 6 and 8……BINGO!!! you said it brother……..
but don’t worry as flip as goldy is being right now his little head is about to blow off. you might want to listen to the radio this weekend [i know on memorial day weekend it does seem obscene to listen to a commie but…] cause i’ll bet his voice just shot up to where only dogs can hear it. LOL.
sweetie….”But imagine if King County Executive Ron Sims did indeed appoint me, a muckraking partisan blogger, to a key post…”
i can’t even imagine you with a J-O-B. LOL.
@9
I’d be happy with a Roach-less legislature !
dave…i’ll bet you would![so would i…but down here in california our roaches aren’t as creepy as yours] i wish the best for the honest citizens of washington state…it looks like you are going to have a fighting chance after all.
“Yeah, that’s the EFF’s idea of open government… imprisoning your political opponents. What a prick.”
Bob Williams has more integrity in his little finger than you do in your entire being Goldy ( got have a fund raiser to pay my mortgage…I mean vacation to Florida)and done more for this state than all the posters on this blog combined. This state is lucky to have someone like Bob watching what the gov’t is doing….
right stuff…goldy is talking right now BUT you just can’t hear him because his voice has shot up sooo high….
and you are so right about bob………..
Yep right stuff. The cons have done as much good for washington as bush has done for america right? Time for your children to pay your taxes! Cough it up kiddies!
Right Stuff @14,
Bob Williams is a self-righteous, vindictive prick, who would use the power of the state to impose his own narrow world view on the rest of us. He would have jailed innocent people and destroyed lives if that’s what it took to install Rossi in the Governor’s mansion. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could spit.
He and his fellow brown shirts at the BIAW just can’t get over the fact that they failed to bully the Dems or the courts into halting the recount in 2004 the way Republicans managed to halt the recount in Florida in 2000. It galls them to no end.
If that’s what you mean by “integrity,” then I want nothing of it.
@12 You may not have got my point, if you really are down south:
http://www1.leg.wa.gov/senate/roach
http://www1.leg.wa.gov/house/roach
@18 Dave, it is difficult to guess what our ectoplasmic apparatchik “gets”. She still thinks Goldy is Roger Rabbit. . .!
Just as she believes all sorts of other BS. . .like Ronald Reagan was a great man and the governor’s election Washington in 2000 was stolen.
I see Mr. Minion started off the comments by once again by trying to prevent any sort of actual discussion. And what is it with your apparent fascination with oral and anal sex, anyway, Mr. Minion? You really should look into getting some therapy.
On to more important topics.
Mr. McKenna has shown the exact opposite of bipartisanship. He’s deliberately picked a strongly partisan individual to head an important function of his office.
For the moment, I’ll assume that Mr. Ford will not deliberately and maliciously use his office in a partisan manner. Let’s just assume christmasghost is correct in her opinion of Mr. Ford, and he’s an honest Republican.
Nevertheless, his demonstrated view is that when the Republicans think something should be open, he agrees, and when the Republicans think something is too delicate or important or whatever for the public to be actively involved, then he also agrees.
This is one reason why “bipartisan” functions are normally performed by two or more people. Get a Democrat and a Republican together to discuss and decide. Additionally, the default position should be “open”. If either one of them thinks that whatever is being discussed or decided needs to be opened to the public, then it is. Period.
Of course, “open government” hasn’t exactly been one of our strongest suits. One of the drawbacks to having what is effectively a one-party government is that we tend to like doing things behind closed doors ourselves, whenever we’ve got something that could potentially be embarrassing.
(Don’t start laughing Republicans. You’re at least as bad as we are about this even on the state level, and on a national level, this is one area you have us beat hands down. Nobody is better at hiding government processes from the people than you folks.)
Political functionaries and officials can usually come up with some plausible reason why the public should be excluded from debate and discussion. With our being firmly in charge of both houses at the moment, having a partisan Republican may not be the worst thing that could happen for the moment.
But… It’s a very bad precedent. Mr. McKenna should remember that “bi” means “two”. Binary = two numbers, bicycle = two wheels, bipartisan = two parties.
And we should insist.
(Another post caught in the filter. It will be here soon, I’m sure.)
Oh, and Goldy. I think you’d be a fine Elections Director. Just one small favor. Someone please videotape Mr. Sharansky when he hears the news.
“America’s Funniest Home Videos“! I would pay good money to see the look on his face.
Hey, RightEqualsStupid,
Lay off Barelli. Those of us on the left should not eat each other. Barelli makes sense most of the time. He also seems to be an honorable fellow. You make sense when you are not attacking Barelli. So, knock it off. We don’t need to make enemies of our own. You hurt your credibility when you attack someone who makes a reasoned argument. Is your goal to be in a permanent minority? If so, some of us who might agree with you most of the time ideologically would suggest that you just find a cave and hang out there until the next election has passed.
@6 “Gee Moldy, and pratically every other govt position in this state, from local to federal, is held by a partisan Democrat. But I guess partisanship is ok as along the Democrats control EVERYTHING. What big fat lying POS you are.”
The difference is that Democrats work in government to serve the common good, whereas Republicans want power so they can line their own pockets at public expense.
@8 “You libs are nothing but troop-hating bastards.”
Wrong — the troop-hating bastards are the Republicans who tried to cut our soldiers’ combat pay, blocked soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan from voting, cut veterans benefits, and made wounded veterans live in moldy warehouses unfit for habitation while waiting months for medical care. We care about the soldiers; that’s why we want to end this war, so you troop-hating Republican bastards can’t keep squandering their lives for nothing. All you care about is lining your pockets with the profits from defense spending.
@10 Xmasvapor is calling goldy a “commie” again. We’re making progress.
14, 15 – This is what one wingnut giving another wingnut a blowjob looks like. Yeccchhhh.
The good thing about it is blowjobs don’t produce offspring.
@19 “She still thinks Goldy is Roger Rabbit. . .!”
Nah, I don’t think she believes that. She simply tells a lie every day to stay in practice.
@21 Sharansky looked and sounded like a cat with its tail caught in a door on Robert Mak’s show last weekend.
BTW Stefan, your former watchdog, Stefani, says hi. She likes the food here better than the food at your place.
Proud fuck you – I do and say what I want here – if you don’t like it suck my dick. Johnboy is a traitor, a coward and a punk and you are too if you want to join him playing up to the other side.
Here’s the problem – THEY don’t play fair. THEY don’t care about the rules or civility. THEY are good at pretending to be interested in non-partisanship which to THEM means WE give in. Those on the left who want to work with such people got us the worst President in US history stuck in the White House. Those who want to work with the Publicans got us into Iraq. It’s time to take sides. You’re with us or them. If you’re with them, you deserve to end up like them. If you’re with us, then get busy showing everyone you ARE with us.
America is under attack allright – but not by Muslims. It’s the neo-cons and their minions who seek to kill our way of life. I am not going without a fight. You and Johnboy can lay down, stick your tails between your legs and become Publican bitches. I won’t go that way.
#17 Goldy – get your facts staight:
An Online NewsHour Report
More than three months after Democrat Al Gore conceded the hotly contested 2000 election, an independent hand recount of Florida’s ballots released today says he would have lost anyway, even if officials would have allowed the hand count he requested.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/me.....t_4-3.html
The Republicans did not manage to halt the recount in 2000 – the courts did and beside Gore would have lost no matter what.
Trying to run off another Democrat, Mr. Minion?
Somehow I doubt that Proud Leftist is likely to switch parties or stay home on election day, but I suppose the hope is that you’ll get him to quit trying to show people that we Democrats are actually reasonable people with the best interests of the state and country at heart.
Yes, the Republicans would like to have us come out as raving loonies, so that they can point to that and ask if the American public really wants “those people” in charge.
And from what I understand, one page out of the Karl Rove playbook is to have anonymous people make outrageous public statements that can then be attributed to “the Democrats”.
It’s along the same lines as getting people into anti-war demonstrations to burn soldiers in effigy and carry anti-troop signs. The goal is to discredit the movement, because you can’t discredit the ideas.
Don’t worry, Mr. Minion. If Mr. Esser ever reads this blog, I’m sure he’ll be impressed with how hard you’re working to discredit us. Maybe he’ll even look at you some day.
minion n. An obsequious follower or dependent; a sycophant.
“Bob Williams is a self-righteous, vindictive prick, who would use the power of the state to impose his own narrow world view on the rest of us. He would have jailed innocent people and destroyed lives if that’s what it took to install Rossi in the Governor’s mansion. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could spit.”
I understand why you fear Mr. Williams Goldy. He is about integrity and accountability in government. Something the Democrats of this state are afraid of.
wow…the shrill little screamers are out in force!
what’s wrong goldyroger….scared??? [talk about hyperbole!!! whew! goldy…brownshirts????? and you call yourself a jew??? shame goldy, shame!]
you probably should be scared…after all it doesn’t look as if it’s going to be BS as usual…..
which would be very very bad for you……
gawd….still laughing…this is great!
john….NO ONE ,but NO ONE would have to work HARD to discredit any of you.
god man…get a grip!
your opinion of yourself is exceeded only by reality.
and dave…i got what you were saying…i guess you didn’t get what i was saying….
just saying …….
hey, right is stupid…..what does “Publican” mean to you exactly?
just interested….
Ghost, don’t expect an answer for stupid. His mommy hasn’t let him play with computer yet today.
If BIAW and EFF are nonprofit civic groups, then Roger Rabbit’s stock portfolio is too — and deserves the same tax exemptions that BIAW and EFF get! After all, supporting a cute fluffy bunny in his old age is even more civicly worthy than polluting the atmosphere wingnut hydrogen sulfide.
Cheap Labor Conservatives Declare Victory!
“By Seattle Times news services
“American men in their 30s today are worse off than their fathers’ generation, a reversal from a decade ago, … a new study finds.
“The study also says the typical American family’s income has lagged far behind productivity growth since 2000, a departure from most of the post-World War II period.
“The findings suggest ‘the up escalator that has historically ensured that each generation would do better than the last may not be working very well,’ says the study, released Friday. …
“Along with data showing more workers are earning less in comparison with the incomes of top earners, the report suggests a growing number of Americans ‘believe that the rules of the game are no longer fair,’ said John Morton, director of the Economic Mobility Project at the Pew Charitable Trusts and one of the study’s lead authors.
“In 2004, the median income for a man in his 30s was $35,010, the study says, 12 percent less than for men in their 30s in 1974 … adjusted for inflation. …
“The report also found that between … 1974 and 2000 … productivity rose 56 percent while income rose 29 percent. Between 2000 and 2005, productivity rose 16 percent while median income fell 2 percent, challenging ‘the notion that a rising tide will lift all boats,’ the report says.”
Quoted under Fair Use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://tinyurl.com/yqx3lf
Roger Rabbit Commentary: People are working longer and harder, and productivity is up, but incomes are down — what gives? Atlas Shrugged off the working class, that’s what. Reward is not based on effort or merit but ability to grab. It’s not difficult to figure out into whose pockets all the money is flowing. In 2006, at least three CEOs received total compensation of over a BILLION dollars, and that doesn’t count independent operators like Boone Pickens (the corporate raider who, a few years ago, wanted to dismantle Boeing and put thousands of Seattleites out of work to fatten his own wallet), who made $1.5 billion last year ($1.2 billion AFTER TAXES).
American workers are getting fucked by the owning class, it’s that simple. And they get fucked AGAIN by the tax system the owning class imposed on them.
Now watch the wingfuck trolls screech, “class warfare!” You bet your ass there’s class warfare in America: By the rich against the working class.
RightEqualsStupid says:
Here’s the problem – THEY don’t play fair. THEY don’t care about the rules or civility.
Lets see: Civility = “Proud fuck you – I do and say what I want here – if you don’t like it suck my dick.” proudly posted by Rightequalsstupid…..
Playing Fair = “America is under attack allright – but not by Muslims. It’s the neo-cons and their minions who seek to kill our way of life. I am not going without a fight.” another proud post by Rightequalsstupid
I think all of america wants people who think and speak like that
Luckily for Roger Rabbit, I had a small amount of capital ($10,000), assiduously saved from my meager wages, that enabled me to become (in a very minor way) an “owner.” That 10 grand is now six figures, thanks to our screwed-up reward system that values owning many times more than it values working, and also thanks to our screwed-up tax system that taxes stock market winnings far less than it taxes the labor that makes stock worth more than the paper it’s printed on. Our economic system sucks, no doubt about it, and as an “owner” of a six-figure stock portfolio I see absolutely NO REASON TO WORK!!! Why should I, there’s no incentive to work, the owner class took it all and left crumbs for the working table. Fuck work. Nobody should work. Everybody should flip real estate and stocks for a living! That way, we can have a zero-growth economy like the Chinese had for 3,000 years.
@41 Republicans are the problem, not the solution. See:
1) Fucked up Iraq war
2) Fucked up Katrina response
3) Fucked up health care system
4) Fucked up pension system
5) Fucked up economic reward system
6) Fucked up tax system
7) Fucked up government contracting
8) Fucked up war on terrorism
9) Fucked up homeland security
In fact, there isn’t a fucking thing that Republicans haven’t fucked up. Republicans should just shoot themselves and get it over with!*
* Just kidding! Wingnut humor, Coulter-style — even Republican humor is fucked up!!! All I do is copy it.
Christmasghost commented:
“john….NO ONE ,but NO ONE would have to work HARD to discredit any of you.
god man…get a grip!
Putting a fake liberal troll into a liberal blog to make obscene sexual comments and insult anyone willing to even speak with you folks is a pretty good start. I wonder just how many of Mr. Minion’s rantings have made it into unSP or into your own blog as the “voice of the Democrats”?
Again, it’s like getting people into an anti-war rally to burn a soldier in effigy. If you can’t attack the message, discredit the messenger. Rove Campaign Tactics 101.
“your opinion of yourself is exceeded only by reality.”
While I doubt that you meant to say what you just did in that comment, I’ll thank you anyway. ;-)
Someday soon, after Republicans have exported ALL of our jobs to China, no one in America will work! Americans will simply sell and resell real estate and stocks to each other. We’ll become a nation of leeches sucking each other’s bank accounts dry. Then, at least, we’ll finally achieve economic equality: No one will have anything.
Turning America into a Third World country is the GOP dream.
I don’t suppose it ever occurred to any of these greedy Republican businessmen that if their workers don’t make any money, there’ll be no one out there with enough money to buy the goods and services their businesses sell. Then, they’ll be just as broke as the workers they refused to pay.
CHEAP LABOR CONSERVATIVES aren’t turning America into a zero-sum society; they’re turning it into a zero-income society.
@42 Rodent:
Oh please! At least be honest. You saved that 10 grand from your gov’t cheese checks. Wages? No, that’s what we that work for a living receive. You on the other hand, are a professional state benefits scammer.
Republicans reflexively hate workers. They don’t even think about it — if people work, they hate ’em.
“You can look at any social or political situation with regard to how it affects the compensation and treatment of labor, and predict with one hundred percent accuracy where the Bush Administration will stand on it.
“If a policy is favorable to the working class, Bush and his cheap labor conservative allies oppose it, and vice versa. Bush and his ‘cheap labor conservatives’ are against programs like social security, overtime, universal health care, unemployment insurance, minimum wage, unions, fair trade, or any government program that protects workers and gives them physical and economic security. The ‘New Deal’ economic mechanisms that built that great American economic engine, the middle class, are being systematically dismantled. …
“The ‘cheap labor conservatives’ are now running this nation, and the middle class is shrinking fast. Organized capital (Corporations) have defeated organized labor (Unions). Wealth and income distribution is being skewed heavily toward the top .05 percent. Upward economic mobility has become nearly impossible. …
“Without a propagandized and uninformed citizenry, the cheap labor conservatives would be sent packing, but they know how to play the shell game that keeps the working class under control. What happened before the ‘New Deal,’ can, and very likely will, happen again. Even bad history has a way of repeating itself.
Jerry Sneirson
Durham, NH”
http://tinyurl.com/2yleuu
You nailed it, Jerry! “Propagandized and uninformed” — that’s the wingnut trailer park class who are HELPING the wealthy exploit them. They believe whatever Lush Flimflam tells them. What in hell does a redneck making $18,000 a year have in common with a professional propagandist who pulls down $38,000,000 a year?
The only small satisfaction in all this is that wingnuts are cutting their own throats along with ours. So, as you stand here drowning in bills and red ink, you at least have the satisfaction of watching them bleed, too.
Mr. Rabbit
Good thing that bush can’t run again, and the Democrats will have the whole sheebang. Then who the hell you gonna blame the illegal immigrant population?
Just think your leader may be the one an only “Edwards” who is promoting Anti War protests during Memorial Day Parades around the country this weekend. Sure fire way of showing support of all those that have served/died/protected our country.
TAKE AWAY ROGER RABBIT’S TAX BREAKS!!!
Why should a scruffy rodent living in a hole under a tree root in a public park get away with paying 5% capital gains tax on money he gets for doing NO WORK while you fork over 33% of your hard-earned wages to the government? TAX THE OWNING CLASS, starting with that lazy rabbit! Of all the frothing hypocrites on this board, none are more obnoxious than a 30-inch tall, 30-lb. rabbit who talks like a Republican and rakes in stock market winnings like a Republican and even pays taxes like a Republican!!! Hell, he even WAS a Republican once, and was trained by Republicans to behave like a Republican, which is why he behaves like one. Show Roger Rabbit you mean business! Make the owning class pay the same taxes as the working class! Then that lazy rabbit will have to get off his fat ass and get a job.
I rather think the “up escalator” broke down quite a while ago. Its main driving force after WWII was the GI Bill. This enabled a lot of veterans to get a college education and enter the white-collar job market who wouldn’t have otherwise. It also helped that the Cold War and the race to the moon created a lot of prestigious jobs in technology.
I decided I wanted to become an engineer in my early teens. There were a lot of reasons, fascination with technology being the greatest, but I was also aware at the time that engineers around here worked for Boeing, made lots of money (like, at the time, around $10,000 a year), lived in great big houses on Magnolia and Mercer Island, and drove cars like Cadillacs and Mercedes–except for a few iconoclasts who were among the first Volkswagen owners at the time.
Well, I think through my career I managed to do more or less OK. I’ve pulled in a salary that I think has been in the ballpark with the officially inflation-adjusted equivalent of what those Boeing guys did in the 60’s. On the other hand, we live in a modest house in Wedgwood, and we’ve never owned a new car. Some of ’em, in fact, have been clunkers. And this has been with my wife working most of the time.
Now, like a lot of other boomers, we’ve inherited some money from our parents, and if we so desired we could take that and go into debt again and buy some crystal palace. Not much point to it, though. With our last kid about to move out, we certainly don’t need more room. Furthermore, we’re trying to be as wise as possible at investing what we have to weather what we think is going to be a bumpy road ahead for the old economy, keeping in mind that the idiots are still likely to screw with Social Security and that a already broken health care system is going to take a long time to get fixed, if it ever does.
Members of the next generation are likely struggling to get into some crackerbox condo in Ballard, and a lot of ’em are surprised because they spent their teens watching the “dot-com” bubble with its false implication that everyone was going to get to be rich.
If you’re curious what CHEAP LABOR CONSERVATIVES are all about, here it is in a nutshell:
“When you cut right through it, right-wing ideology is just ‘dime-store economics’ – intended to dress their ideology up and make it look respectable. You don’t really need to know much about economics to understand it. They certainly don’t. It all gets down to two simple words. ‘Cheap labor’.”
Yep, that’s what it’s all about — devaluing your labor so they can live off YOUR hard work. The whole purpose of being a Republican is to live off other people’s work so they don’t have to do any work.
Here’s some more info about CHEAP LABOR CONSERVATIVES and what they’re doing to you:
“1. DUBYA’S TAX CUTS AND RESULTING BUDGET DEFICITS
“Twenty years ago, cheap-labor conservatives claimed that tax cuts would stimulate the economy and lead to balanced budgets. They don’t even bother spouting that crap any more. Now they say that deficits ‘aren’t so bad’, they don’t drive up interest rates, and they don’t create inflationary pressure. Here’s the real skinny. The purpose behind tax cuts and budget deficits is to bankrupt the government.
“Conservatives hate ‘social spending’. That’s what they mean by ‘big government’. They want you naked in as harsh an economic environment as they can create. But here’s the problem. Most ordinary people aren’t so ruthless. Most people think life is for living, not working your ass off until you drop. So if we the people can provide some basic social infrastructure for things like a basic retirement, assistance for higher education, unemployment compensation to get you through those Republican periods of high unemployment – well, most people support all of that stuff. Conservatives lose elections when they talk about undoing it.
“So the manipulative sons of bitches – who don’t really believe in your right as a citizen in a democracy to establish institutions that do you any good – have come up with a ‘stealth plan’ to get rid of our entire social welfare infrastructure. It’s called ‘bankruptcy’, and it is not an accident that the first thing Dubya did when he took office was bring back the deficits Bill Clinton had eliminated.
“2. OPPOSITION TO EVERY IMPROVEMENT IN WAGES AND WORKING CONDITIONS IN US HISTORY
“This is obviously directly related to ‘cheap labor’ and doesn’t require much further explanation. In fact, the heading serves as the ‘One Sentence Response’ – and I would stress the ‘every improvement in US history’, all the way back to abolition of slavery, and such obvious reforms as child labor laws. Cheap-labor conservatives have never been the friend of working Americans. Ever.
“3. OPPOSITION TO ANY SORT OF NATIONAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
“Health care costs are outrageously expensive, and threaten people with financial ruin. Also, health insurance is primarily provided by employers through ‘group plans’. So if you lose your job, you lose your health coverage. This is not quite as a big a problem, since the passage of COBRA – which was opposed by guess who? That’s right, the cheap-labor conservatives.
“In short, national health insurance would provide a huge measure of security for working Americans from potential financial catastrophe – which catastrophe is therefore no longer a force keeping you suitably intimidated by your employer.
“4. SCHOOL VOUCHERS, OPPOSITION TO THE FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, OPPOSITION TO LOCAL BOND ISSUES, ETC.
“Way back in the late nineteenth century – where the cheap-labor conservatives are trying to take us – conservatives opposed universal public education. You can go to ‘Freeper’ right now and find cheap-labor conservatives who still oppose it. And the reason is simple. Ignorant and illiterate people have fewer options in life, making them fit subjects for ‘industrial serfdom’. In other words, an ineffective public education system is necessary to create a semi-literate workforce of ‘industrial serfs’, which accounts for cheap-labor conservative opposition to increased teacher pay, smaller class sizes, improvements in physical infrastructure, and anything else that might actually work.
“Let’s just propose a simple thought experiment. Suppose we had 95% functional literacy, with similar high school graduation rates, and vast numbers of those high school graduates going to college, or receiving specialized technical training. When everybody is properly educated, who is going to ride on the back of the garbage truck? Who is going to pick tomatoes? Who is going to dig footers on construction sites? And what kind of wages are such workers – who are in short supply and smart enough to know it – going to command?
“But wait, there’s more. Let’s consider your average dittohead ‘wannabe’ living in the suburbs. Does he really want his children competing with those ‘brown’ children for a seat in the university? What interest does he have in universal education that actually works? And you know how conservatives are about their ‘self-interest’. Well, he can’t very well advocate ‘resegregation’. So here’s what the cheap-labor conservatives came up with. ‘Vouchers’. …
“5. ‘LAW’ AND ‘ORDER’
“According to cheap-labor conservatives, the only legitimate function of government is to protect the fortunes and privilege of the ‘haves’. Economic progress like ‘full employment’, living wages, and first rate education system, all improve the living standards and prospects of the ‘working poor’ – and the ‘cheap-labor conservatives’ can’t have that, can they. So that leaves prison as the only ‘social program’ the conservatives support. They say we ‘throw money at every problem’. Well ‘cheap-labor conservatives’ throw prison at every problem.
“6. ‘FAMILY VALUES’ AND THE ‘CULTURE WAR’
“They say they are defending American ‘culture’ – but that ‘culture’ is the culture of the corporate ‘middle class’. It features conformity, hierarchy, ‘respect for authority’, regimentation and other ‘values’ of the industrial work place. In fact, America was founded by a group of decidedly undisciplined nonconformists. But that won’t do at all, if you want a docile workforce who will work cheap.
“7. RACISM AND OTHER FORMS OF BIGOTRY
“This one is amazingly easy to understand. Dividing working people against each other along racial, gender and ethnic lines keeps them from uniting along class lines. Consider the following example. In 1990, the nation was suffering under yet another period of Republican high unemployment. That was the year that Jesse Helms ran his famous ‘angry hands’ commercial against Harvey Gantt, former African-American mayor of Charlotte. ‘You needed that job, but they had to give it to a minority.’ This gambit is 150 years old. The cheap-labor conservatives produce a high deficit, high interest rate, ‘structurally sluggish’ economy – then tell struggling white wage-earners that the ‘problem’ is ‘unqualified minorities’. It was classic ‘scapegoating’, when the real culprits were the cheap-labor conservatives who liked that sluggish economy.
“And in case you doubt whether they liked the sluggish economy, consider the eight year tantrum they threw as President Clinton undid the deficits, brought interest rates down, and fueled an eight year economic boom, bringing unemployment to a 30 year low. Naturally, throwing a wrench into that economy was the first order of business after Dubya’s inauguration.
“8. ‘RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS.’
“Since prison and punishment are generally ineffective to reduce crime, and since the ‘cheap-labor conservatives’ will hear of no economic improvements that are effective, ‘self defense’ is about your only protection from crime. Instead of better schools, full employment and other improvements in social conditions, the cheap-labor conservative solution is ‘buy a gun’.
“9. THE ‘WAR ON DRUGS’
“Maybe you don’t see the cheap-labor connection. It’s there. The ‘libertarian’ position on this is that what you choose to voluntarily ingest, is your business. And of course, marijuana isn’t nearly as bad for you as say, alcohol abuse. But cheap-labor conservatives don’t give a rat’s ass about your health, anyway.
“What they do care about is delegitimizing the ‘counter-culture’. If they could do it, they would outlaw deviations from the conformist culture of the ‘corporate middle class’. They can’t do that directly, so they have come with a ‘back door’ method. They find cultural practices – like smoking a joint – and punish those. Today, they deny education benefits if you have any drug conviction – even for simple possession. They have also encouraged this ‘privatized’ harassment of corporate workers through drug screening, etc. in an effort to economically marginalize the ‘counter culture’. It is really an exquisitely efficient means to keep the industrial work force intimidated.
“10. ‘PRO OIL’ ENERGY POLICIES
“Answer this question, why don’t we have efficient cost effective renewable energy systems? Why didn’t we follow Jimmy Carter’s advice in 1979, and undertake the ‘moral equivalent of war’ for energy independence. The technology has been around for decades. In the case of hydrogen fuel cells, the first one was invented in 1843 – that’s ‘eighteen forty three’.
“Energy is like labor in its central importance to the economy. But while conservatives want ‘cheap labor’ they want ‘expensive energy’ – in sources they can monopolize and control. Unfortunately, sunlight is like air. It’s kind of hard to ‘corner the market’ on it. Meanwhile, the biggest beneficiary of ‘cheap energy’ is the work force – who pay a larger portion of their income for energy. Well, we can’t have that. Lowering a wage earner’s ‘balance of payments’ is just like giving him a raise. The same logic, by the way, motivates a ‘high interest rate’ environment.
“Now you know why conservatives bad mouth ‘renewable energy’, and claim that the government ‘has no business’ subsidizing R&D into this technology – as if the government hasn’t subsidized R&D into virtually every piece of high tech gadgetry in your house. Meanwhile, there is one form of ‘alternative energy’ they like. Nuclear power. Why? Because nuclear power is horrendously expensive, and can be monopolized by the huge corporations selling it.
“Meanwhile, they support destruction of pristine habitats like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and unlawful invasions of sovereign nations sitting on a ‘sea of oil’ to use the words of Paul Wolfowitz. All of which proves that the cheap-labor conservatives will do anything – and I mean anything – to prevent any improvement in the wage earner’s economic circumstances, including making sure he doesn’t have access to ‘cheap energy’.
“11. THE INVASION OF IRAQ AND THE ‘BUSH DOCTRINE’
“Perhaps, you thought this should be first – since it is highest on the national agenda right at the moment. Actually, the War in Iraq is an aggregate application of a number of simpler ‘cheap-labor’ policies. First of all, Republican ‘demonization’ notwithstanding, Saddam Hussein was a ‘target of opportunity’. Paul Wolfowitz said so. Saddam sat atop a really odious regime, in a country sitting atop a ‘sea of oil’ to again quote Paul Wolfowitz. As for global opposition to the US invasion, that was not an ‘unforeseen complication’. It was another ‘opportunity’. In fact, one of the objectives was to demonstrate to the world that the US can do whatever it wants.
“But what about the ‘cheap-labor’ angle, you ask. The invasion of Iraq is the first step in establishing a US led global corporate empire, with a wealthy corporate elite living off of a global pool of ‘cheap labor’. Don’t believe it? Go to whitehouse.gov and look at the National Security Strategy of the United States. This remarkable document lays out the ‘cheap-labor’ foreign policy of the United States. In addition to the doctrine of ‘pre-emption’ – which is nothing new, we’ve been doing it for fifty years – there is the general strategy of ‘forward deployment’ of US forces in the middle east and east Asia, along with the express goal of ‘discouraging’ the emergence of a military rival. But the National Security Strategy doesn’t stop there. It goes on to discuss which internal policies of other nations the US will ‘encourage’. Guess what those policies are? The very same policies they are promoting here, including ‘free trade’, ‘flattening’ tax rates, shifting taxes away from passive investments, reducing the ‘public sector’, and generally paving the way for corporations to dominate other societies.
“The US military will be the ‘police force’ for this global ‘corporate order’, and Iraq is nothing more than the start of establishing the ‘military pre-eminance’ of that ‘global police force’. Notice that the neocons are specifically intent on destabilizing international organizations that don’t promote corporate dominance. The conservatives don’t like the World Court, the United Nations or similar organizations. But GATT, the IMF and the World Bank don’t bother them a bit since those organizations undermine the ability of third world nations to establish anything like our ‘New Deal mixed economy’.
“And don’t forget, the cheap-labor conservatives are busy destabilizing our own ‘New Deal mixed economy’ in favor of an economy that strongly resembles present conditions in say, Argentina.
“In short, the invasion of Iraq has nothing to do with any ‘threat’ of weapons of mass destruction. Neither do the cheap-labor conservatives really care about a ‘dictatorial regime’ since they prop plenty of them up, and even supported Saddam Hussein in years gone by. The real purpose of the invasion of Iraq is to provide a demonstration of American military ‘pre-eminance’ which will ultimately translate into global corporate ‘pre-eminance’. If you want another word for this ‘cheap-labor’ foreign policy, try ‘corporate feudalism’.
“These aren’t the only examples of ‘cheap-labor conservative’ policies and positions. … Anytime a cheap-labor conservative takes a position on anything at all, take a look at the details. See if somewhere in those details there isn’t some way the wage-earner loses out. I have not yet failed to find the connection. Either the conservative position undermines the bargaining power of the wage earner, limits his economic options, harasses the wage earner in some way, raises his cost of living, increases his economic vulnerability or accomplishes some combination of the above.”
http://www.conceptualguerilla.com/?q=node/16
The declining fortunes of the middle class are no accident. It came about by design. All you have to do is look at the consistency in employment statistics under Democratic and Republican administrations:
Jobs Records of Presidents
(as percentage of workforce)
Democrat Roosevelt 5.3%
Democrat Johnson 3.8%
Democrat Carter 3.1%
Democrat Truman 2.5%
Democrat Clinton 2.4%
Democrat Kennedy 2.3%
Republican Nixon 2.2%
Republican Reagan 2.1%
Republican Coolidge 1.1%
Republican Ford 1.1%
Republican Eisenhower 0.9%
Republican Bush Sr. 0.6%
Republican Bush Jr. (0.7%)*
Republican Hoover (9.0%)
* As of Dec. 2003
Or just check out some general economic statistics:
From Harding In 1921 to Bush in 2003:
— Democrats held White House for 40 years and Republicans for 42.5 years.
— Democrats created 75,820,000 net new jobs; Republicans 36,440,000.
— Per Year Average: Democrats 1,825,200; Republicans 856,400.
— Republicans had 9 presidents during the period and 6 had depression or recession.
— The Dow Jones Average grew by 52% more under Democrats.
— GDP grew by 43% more under Democrats.
Comparing Clinton to Reagan:
— JOBS grew by 43% more under Clinton.
— GDP grew by 57% more under Clinton.
— The Dow Average grew by 700% more under Clinton.
— NASDAQ grew 18 times as much under Clinton.
— SPENDING grew by 28% under Clinton; 80% under Reagan.
— NATIONAL DEBT grew 43% under Clinton; 187% under Reagan.
— DEFICITS: Clinton converted a deficit to a surplus; deficits grew by 112% under Reagan.
— NATIONAL INCOME grew 100% more under Clinton.
— PERSONAL INCOME grew 110% more under Clinton.
SOURCES-Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.BLS.gov)
Economic Policy Institute (EPI.org)-Global & World Almanacs from 1980 to 2003 (annual issues)
Roger Rabbit Commentary: If you still believe “Reaganomics” works, you’ve got you head up a voodoo doctor’s ass.
Republicans have to fill the airwaves and print media with smears and lies, rig voting machines, and suppress the votes of minorities and the poor because they KNOW that they would never “win” an honest election based on debate of issues that affect ordinary Americans, because literally everything they do is designed to hurt ordinary Americans.
Have a good day, wingfuck traitors. I’ll be back later to expose more crimes of you rat bastards.
I have this mental picture of A lil Pink Bunny with his front paws stuck in both his floppy ears, shaking his head back and forth, and screaming “I can’t hear you” over and over……..
@59 Nobody I know. Sounds like a Republican rabbit. I’ve heard there’s a few of those, although none around here.
54 – EXCELLENT INFORMATION ROGER. AS STINGING A REBUKE OF WINGNUT TREASON AS I’VE READ ANYWHERE!
Hmmm . . . I came back to the post on the letter by Port Commissioner John Creighton supporting I-25 to check on whether Goldy or anyone else has put forth any intelligent policy-based arguments why I-25 is a bad idea.
. . . what do I see, but the personal attacks on Creighton have morphed into personal attacks on me.
Apparently, this blog, which started out with the very laudatory purpose of taking on Tim Eyman, has devolved into a site haunted by brainless wackjobs with nothing intelligent to say, just a bunch of strawman issue bashing and slanderous personal attacks. Too bad . . .
And what d’ya know . . . that guy Creighton seems to have broad support across the spectrum (including Gary Locke, Norm Rice, Operating Engineers, Machinists, environmentalists). Just like a nonpartisan officeholder should have, eh?
Just like the concept of an elected elections official having broad, bipartisan support.
Yet none of the most erudite commenters on the blog can seem to rack their tiny brains – not even in this post’s comments! – for even one little argument against it, rhetorical or otherwise!
Hmmm, interesting . . .!
Ghost yes the right is stupid and I say Publican because you asswipes don’t know how to say Democratic. I say Publican because there’s also an implied insult since you are mostly bible-thumpin’ hypocrites, Publicans were a phrase used in old times to describe hypocritical political types who hid behind religion to enforce their agendas. Like you and your butt-boy Bush.
art@52……..aren’t there any programs for service men and women in washington state such as we have here? the one in humboldt county is called “upward bound” and it provides people getting out of the military with help with going to college etc.
perhaps ,on memorial day weekend, it would be a good time to look into that?
perhaps, less bitching and self serving and more thinking of others and ACTUALLY doing something to help them would be a good idea?
goldy begs for money to take a vacation to florida rather than work…and then has the gall to bitch that “the average ‘common man’ is being destroyed by the bush ‘regime’ ”
why didn’t he donate that money to a family in need?
and rogergoldy….if you think you shouldn’t be getting benefits from money you invested or saved because “they are wrong, man” then why the hell don’t you stop TAKING the money? or better yet…why not donate it to help someone less fortunate than you?
why???
because you are as full of sh&* as anyone can get. all hot air no action.
PHONY PHONY PHONY………..
notright….what “old times”??? why don’t you cite a reference for that?
but, by all means…keep it up.
how many people that just spew hatred,hyperbole and foul language has anyone ever really listened to?
how many people that use childish “nicknames” have YOU listened to since..oh, i don’t know….FIFTH GRADE???
uh huh…it’s a thinker alright………
A history lesson for Mr. Minion:
Next, for Ms. Ghost:
An interesting use of the “strawman” in an argument. First, you somehow equate Democrats and Liberals with extreme socialists, then berate us for not following the principles of that philosophy.
Obviously, since your first assumption is untrue, the only way you can get away with your argument is to keep anyone from even glancing at the assumption.
Hate to break it to you Ms. Ghost, but liberals take vacations, and have no problem asking people to support services that we provide. Heck, I even expect to get paid for work I do.
Goldy spends money running this blog. He wanted to use that money for other things, and asked us to pitch in. Some of us did. We did so voluntarily, as we considered it to be value given for value received. I’ve also been known to contribute to NPR for the same reason.
If you don’t like it, don’t contribute.
(Why is that such a difficult concept for you right wing types, anyway?)
@64 Xmasvapor, if you did a little research before shooting off your mouth, you’d find out some things. Such as Washington’s DEMOCRATIC legislature passing tuition relief for veterans … that’s been on the books … oh … only about 35 years.
@66 “Heck, I even expect to get paid for work I do.”
That’s why they don’t understand you, John.
GOP = cheap labor conservatives = freeloaders
john john john………the problem with your whole theory is that goldy LIED. he needed the money or he would be in a bad way….blah, blah blah
why lie? most of the people that were foolish enough to give goldy money could hardly afford to do so themselves….and most likely would NOT HAVE if they had known he just wanted a bigger screen for his computer and to take a vacation.
the problem is…he lied about it.
it seems that you guys can’t get the whole concept that it isn’t okay to lie and cheat and it isn’t okay to take someone else’s choices AWAY from them by lying to them. that’s what lies do…they cheat people out of making honest decisions based on reality.
look…i contacted goldy right away when i read about his “need”. if i thought he was going to lose his house or really be in a bad way i was willing to help him.in spite of the fact that, as an adult with responsibilities and experience, it has been my experience that the worst thing you can do is GIVE someone destructive [either to themselves or others] money.goldy assured me that he had some savings and was going to be okay. after that, well, “fool you guys once” obviously isn’t enough….for SOME of you.
he lied…that’s the rub. he didn’t have enough faith in the people that he gives his “opinions” to to still give him money if he told the truth.
don’t you see that as a problem?
look….most people that take vacations EARN the money to do so.perhaps you feel that goldy’s blogging and the entertainment/enlightenment[god forfend!] that you get out of it makes it more than worthwhile to give him cash for his efforts. that’s fine.
but wouldn’t you rather have him tell you the truth rather than tricking you?
it has been my experience, john, that you cannot trust ANYONE who has an “end justifies the means” mentality….
ROGER= GOLDY.
and rog baby….here i believe it isn’t “relief” [only you libs would want to put people who fought for their country on any kind of “relief”]but free college tuition, help with studies etc.
less talkee for roger more workee, maybe…….
What I’m hearing here is that it’s PERFECTLY OK to appoint partisans to important government positions overseeing government fairness–unless they’re Democrats. Well, kiss my ass, Republicans.
What I think is funny is that if Hillary is elected in 2008 she WON’T take us out of Iraq, but Republicans will complain about her keeping us there!
Daddy Love @ 72,
No, what I’m hearing from supporters of I-25 is that it isn’t okay to appoint anyone to an office, but if you elect them properly, it doesn’t matter if they’re a D or an R or an I.
I’m still waiting on an intelligent, thoughtful reason for not supporting I-25. Seems like the comments here are long on namecalling and short on actual civilized discourse on an important public policy issue.
Oh well . . . thirty years later, and no wonder we can’t seem to get our roads fixed or effective mass transit in this town. We suffer from even more and more wackjobs moving to our wonderful corner of the country.
Democrat Playbook, Chapter 1, Part IV.
The peoples tax money is to be refered to as “revenue”. After all, just like a business, we need to grow government. Use Business terms.
Since citizens will most likely be unwilling to part with their hard earned money, especially to fund projects like high tech toilets that turn in into crack houses and drunk hotels, lie about what the money is for, or threaten to cut back critical services. This will get the money flowing.
Ex. “The point is, I need cash, and so I’ve decided to do what I first should have done a couple years ago, and hold an online fundraiser. That’s right, I’m asking you, my loyal readers, to help me continue my hard work, by forking over a little or your hard earned cash.
I won’t be spending the money on fancy computer equipment (though I’d love a new MacBook if anybody has one to spare)… just the mortgage, health insurance, maybe a trip to the dentist and stuff like that. Just the nuts and bolts of getting by.”
Then of course, immediately go on vacation to Florida.
This tactic works everytime, so please use it liberally!
Here is the formula
Lie about need + overstate and exaggerate critical nature of “revenue”+ threaten to pull essential services = The peoples money flowing for pet projects
I don’t blame Goldy, he’s only acting on instict as a Liberal Democrat.
cristmasghost, you are so quaint and smug in your ignorance. isn’t it fun to type in lower case and run on sentences? your antiquated diatribe and over spun talking points are some of the major reasons that your imploding political party and your failing neocon babble is falling becoming less relevant each day. in such a beautiful state as california…..maybe it is the time for you to pull your head out of the ground and start thinking about the real world that you are trying to live in.