Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Arlen Specter Always Uncomfortable, Never a Leader

The problem for Arlen Specter (PA) and the Democrats is that this man who knows better will probably be as uncomfortable as a Democrat as he was as a Republican.

Arlen Specter's  jump to the Democratic Party surprises no one. For the past half dozen years it was clear that Specter was uncomfortable with the Neocons and right-wing zealots in his party. The addition of one more vote in the Democratic column is all he brings, along with his desk and chair.

Over two years ago we posted Arlen Specter Makes a Deal: Sells Out The Constitution for Power. At the height of one of the Constitutional crises presented by the out of control Bush White House that had no recognition of civil liberties, Specter made a lot of noise about freedom and then collapsed:

Specter went into negotiations with the White House and his own party, knowing that his chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee was at stake. He caved.

...It is hard to believe that the Arlen Specter of the nineteen-eighties—the maverick who defied his party on an issue of the magnitude of the Bork nomination—would have considered yielding on a question as fundamental as habeas corpus ...

He destroyed the foundation of Anglo-American jurisprudence and took us back to the days of the Star Chamber Courts.

...Specter is hoping the courts will restore the rights of the detainees to bring habeas cases. “The bill was severable. It has a severability clause. And I think the courts will invalidate it,” he told me. “They’re not going to give up authority to decide habeas-corpus cases, not a chance.” Others are less sure.

When you look at Specter's record on all matters Constitutional in 2006, the man has no shame. He signaled all year that he was unprincipled and shallow.

Unlike most of the Republicans in power at the time, Specter knew better as to what was right and what was wrong. Like all of the Republicans, he failed to show any leadership.

Specter is as good as those who surround him. He is not a leader.

That is why he choose to be a Republican in the first place, that he why he failed to lead during the Bush Constitutional crisis, and that is why, faced with sure defeat as a Pennsylvania Republican, he switched parties.

What power he gathered was through seniority, not command.

His vote is welcome; his addition to the majority is welcome.

Never count on him to lead.

Fitchburg Mayoral Candidate Says Drumlin Farmers Linked to "Domestic Terrorists" - WTF?

In what could be a very tight election for Mayor of Fitchburg, Mark Vivian's campaign has run off the rails of sanity into the great bog of the bizarre. Facing a popular 14-year veteran City Councilman, Jay Allen, former Mayor Vivian sent out a fundraising letter that claimed that:

"My opponent, Jay Allen, has introduced legislative action to use the City’s police powers to condemn land owned by the Novation Campus, and threaten 2.5 million dollars of your tax money to interfere in what should be a private matter between current tenants living illegally on Novation property and its owners. The illegal tenants have known ties to an organization identified on the U.S. Federal Government list of domestic terrorist groups."

Huh? In Fitchburg? Really?

Bill Lueders has the story on The Dailypage:

Grab the kids and run for cover! Can car bombings in McKee Park be far behind? Will deadly biological agents be added to the produce at the Agora Pavilion farmers market? Will Berbee and Promega become havens for sleeper cells?

Allen explains that he recently introduced a resolution to begin an eminent domain process against Alexander Co., which is developing the Novation Campus. He says the goal was to compel the company to discuss the possible sale of Drumlin Farm, a five-acre community garden that enjoys huge community support.

Waxing America told you about Drumlin Farm and the land development deal it is located smack dab in the middle of:

Everybody understand the meaning of "fair market value determined by independent appraisal assuming the highest and best use of the property?" As the Novation Campus business park develops, the highest and best use of property within and adjacent to it is... as a business park, not a farm or a community garden.

Lueders showed the Vivian letter to Allen:

Apprised that his rival in the race for Fitchburg mayor has linked him to domestic terrorists, Jay Allen has an interesting reaction: He laughs and laughs.

"He wrote that?" says Allen, a 14-year veteran of the Fitchburg Common Council, between guffaws. "Oh my God! That is just crazy. Just absolutely insane."

Drumlin Garden neighbor Tim Morrissey sees politics behind it all, but will be vigilant:

Jay Allen, terrorist sympathizer?  Yah, and I'm the poster boy for Weight Watchers.  This is a low blow even for the right-wing stooges behind Vivian's campaign.

I live a few blocks from the development site in question, but I'm across the boundary line in the wide-open Town of Madison.  I'll be sure to watch for any suspicious characters planting things over there in the community farm.

We need to keep an eye on those radical gardeners.

Maybe this photo of the Drumlin Garden explains Vivian's fears - the metal sculpture could do more than scare crows:

Fitchburg curmudgeon and lifelong troublemaker Rich Eggleston had the best reaction:

The Drumlin Gardeners are a well known terrorist group, dedicated to bombing us with tasty vegetables and threatening the American way of life, i.e., Americans' propensity to consume over-processed foods, foods laced with artificial ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup and foods grown thousands of miles away from our stomachs.

Emily Mills puts it all in perspective:

Basically, Vivian's letter is a pile of crap, and an incendiary one at that. The issue of land use rights and specifically what happens with the Drumlin/Novation property is an important one, and deserves a higher degree of debate that that which Vivian appears to be prepared to offer. I can't imagine that someone who would put out a piece of literature as ridiculous as that would make an even remotely good mayor. But, ultimately, that's for the fine folks of Fitchburg to decide.

Right. Early next month, we'll know whether the Fitchburgers, now living on land that was almost entirely farmland, will allow manufactured fear of the farmers to rule their city.  Shame on Mark Vivian.

- Barry Orton

Why We Lost The Cold War

As a child growing up in the nineteen fifties there were plenty of reminders about the never-ending battle against Soviet Communism.

In and out of the classroom we knew of the value of our democracy, the freedoms we enjoyed as Americans.  We had open and free elections, though blacks could not vote in the South where the poll tax ensured the rule of whites. We could travel across our great country without having to show identification or answering to anyone as to our purpose, so long as there was no probable cause to stop us.

The differences were not limited to democratic values.

The virtues of capitalism were everywhere. In Poland, peasants stood in line for hours for a loaf of bread. In Moscow it took weeks, no months, to have a telephone installed. And the Soviet airline Aeroflot was a joke, United States Airlines Compete With Aeroflot - And Win :

At the height of the Cold War, Americans indulged in self congratulations when comparing our airline industry to the Soviet's Aeroflot. The rickety communist propelled travel provided images of a sweaty, husky commissar boarding an oversold but underfueled airplane, burdened with packages and a bottle of carry-on borscht.

As he worked his way into the seat, storing his chickens in the overhead compartment and his goats under the seat in front of him, he settled in next to an equally husky and sweaty peasant with a crying, soiled child -one  under each arm. If they were lucky, they would arrive at the scheduled destination city, and perhaps within twenty-four hours.

Onward

After the first of the year I was shopping at a big box store. The lines indicated it would take a half hour to check out. I asked the manager why there were so few clerks, "With the holidays over, no help to be had?" The response was frank and honest, "No, after the new year, we were instructed by regional to reduce our staffing to these levels."

My Facebook friends know that I spent over an hour on hold Monday with a life insurance company, a health insurance company, and a telephone company.

It was my fault trying to reach them on the first Monday after the holidays. Of course, I tried reaching them last week to no avail. There are only so many minutes one can waste on a cell phone.

Maybe the free-everything capitalists are right. We need competition. We need competition from the Communists. Then American corporations will start providing service.

Some of my friends probably think that the destruction of our Constitution under the second Bush reign with warrant-less search and seizures is a disaster. They probably think the telephone company turning over their phone records to the government without any legal authority is a travesty.

Screw the Bill of Rights.

The real travesty is the telephone company not answering the phone.

Praise Nordstroms. Praise the local Sundance 608 movie theater. Praise the Nitty Gritty. Praise the local Sentry.

 

 

 

Economic Disaster That A Fool Could Forecast

Like most states, we are caught up in the cruel torture of national policies that are driven by greed, imperialism, and stupidity. Readrers of Waxing America will recall that in the spring of 2007 I forecasted a stock market crash and repeated it last January, Another War; Another Recession. Whatdidyah Expect?

Last  spring I used my limited abilities in forecasting the economy and predicted a stock market crash... For the second time in my lifetime a stupid, foolish war built on lies not only wrecked havoc with another country but it is destroying the American economy.

It does not take a rocket scientist to get it right... Go on take 10% of your income and set it on fire, throw it down the toilet, or just rip it up. And just for good measure, borrow a lot of money and rip it up too.

It is so simple. You cannot destroy your resources and your assets. Imagine the homes and schools that might have been built. Billions of dollars - now that is stimulation for the economy.

I am not a genius in these matters; it is that I am not driven by blind ideology in arriving at conclusions about the ecomony. A few years experience in the public and private sectors, an understanding of history and a willingness to distance myself from bad public planning, or lack of planning, no matter how politically popular the proposal, do help.

As the fall elections approach, candidates for the Wisconsin legislature and Congress from both political parties will warm your frontal lobes with cuddly promises of 'no tax increases,' cutting fat from the budget, and reducing spending.

If you are attracted to those soft sweet sounds, complete the job and instead of voting, just get a lobotomy.

If you want a candidate who will  provide a lump of coal to warm you in your decrepit retirement, and a dull knife so you can remove your spouse's appendix by candlelight in your toothless waning years, I suggest looking for the following promises:

• A pledge to the business community to provide an educated, trained workforce, not lower taxes.
• A pledge to increase spending on education from kindergarten through the University of Wisconsin and Voc-Tech Systems.
• A commitment to spend money on infrastructure that places a priority on the environment, health, and safety.
• A commitment to regulate where appropriate and needed.
• That infratstructure will be funded through borrowing as should any reasonable capital budget item.
• The operating budget, unlike the capital budget, will be funded by general purpose revenues, and only general purpose revenues. No borrowing here.
• It will be necessary to increase taxes. The increase will be progressive and will fall on wealthier taxpayers.
• A commitment to regulate where required for health and safety.
• A declaration that international trade which exports great jobs and imports poisonous pet food and baby formula is not working.
• There will be no reductions of state revenue payments to local units of government. These reductions only end up with increase in the property tax which has the impact of shifting taxes from the wealthy to the middle class.
• On the national level there will be increases in the income tax- progressive increases.
• If we fight a war, there will be honest talk. It is impossible to have guns and butter. If we fight a war there must be sacrifices at home as well as on the battlefield.
• If the candidate tells you they are highly regarded by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), tell that candidate to move to Alaska.

 

 

It does not take a rocket scientist to get it right... Go on take 10% of your income and set it on fire, throw it down the toilet, or just rip it up. And just for good measure, borrow a lot of money and rip it up too.

It is so simple. You cannot destroy your resources and your assets. Imagine the homes and schools that might have been built. Billions of dollars - now that is stimulation for the economy.

Republicans Blaming Pelosi: They Sure Showed Her and Millions of Americans

As the dust settled on Wall Street and the savings and retirement hopes of millions of Americans crumbled, it was clear the the House Republicans had their way. The Associated Press headline said it all, Bailout bill slapped aside; record stock plunge.

Down in the  twenty-fourth paragraph, long after the carnage and mayhem were reported came this:

Republicans blamed Pelosi's scathing speech near the close of the debate — which assailed Bush's economic policies and a "right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation" of financial markets — for the defeat. It was not much different from her usual tough words against the president and his party.

If there was ever demonstrable proof of the infantile nature of the extreme right wing of the Republican Party this was it. Out of spite, create the greatest one-day loss in the history of the marketplace. So much for the rationality of capitalism.

My guess is that not far off in the future we will see today's losses recouped, but that will be little consolation to the the millions of Americans who lost billions of dollars over a hissy fit.

My thoughts about the Democrats who voted against the bill are not kind, but at least their behavior was rational. Fearful of rabid Republican opponents who would use the issue in the election a month away, they ducked, or as we like to say here at Waxing America, "A candid examination of right-wing policies and the Democrats who play along..."

McCain Immaturity in Foreign Affairs: Georgia Russian Conflict

With ego and showmanship, Republican John McCain showed his lack of experience in diplomacy with sweeping commitments to Georgian President Saakashvili when he told him, "that I know I speak for every American when I say to him today, we are all Georgians.''

Such unequivocal statements are misleading on at least two levels.  First, not all Americans support Georgia in this conflict. This is a complicated issue of borders and secession that go back over five hundred years and covers almost the entire history of the Russian Empire.

While it is clear that any Russian move against Poland, the Baltic States or Asian nations are clear signs of Russian aggression and imperialism, the situation in Georgia and Ossetia is not as clear cut.

Secondly, we must understand that the Georgians very cleverly manipulated the Bush Administration with its commitment of 3,000 troops in Iraq. When the rest of the rational world was putting as much distance between themselves and the American lie in Iraq, Georgia stood with us with the third largest contingent there, as they curry favor with NATO.

It makes no difference that both McCain and Obama are clearly opposed to Russian aggression. What does make a difference is that McCain has signaled to Georgia that we will stand with them, unequivocally. That is a commitment we do not make to even the British or the Australians.

Law and Order American Style: Fascist Home Wreckers

Last week's story from Prince George's County, Maryland was not unusual or rare except that the facts in this instance are so clear and unconverted. A police dog found a package at a shipping facility that contained thirty pounds of marijuana. They followed the delivery to the nice middle class home and then conducted a raid.

There was a problem. They knew nothing about the intended recipients of the package. Police raid Md. mayor's home and kill his dogs

Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened package...

...Police say the couple appeared to be innocent victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana by having it delivered to about a half-dozen unsuspecting recipients.

Before this chaotic event was resolved, the two family dogs were shot,

Calvo insisted the couple's two black Labradors were gentle creatures and said police apparently killed them "for sport," gunning down one of them as it was running away.

and Calvo's mother in law was treated like the victim of a Fascist state:

But officials insisted they acted within the law, saying the operation was compromised when Calvo's mother-in-law saw officers approaching the house and screamed...

...when she was handcuffed and interrogated for several hours.

Nothing surprising here. Nor should you be stunned or shocked by the response of the police department:

Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin High.. defended the way the raid was conducted. He and other officials did not apologize for killing the dogs, saying the officers felt threatened...But officials insisted they acted within the law, saying the operation was compromised when Calvo's mother-in-law saw officers approaching the house and screamed.

Years ago I had a discussion with Madison police officers on city policy regarding searches and intrusions without a warrant. One officer defended departmental policy saying, "Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions allow us to do it, it is within the law."

He was right, but I responded, "Just because the Supreme Court has lowered the bar, compromised rights to protect citizens from abusive process of law, does not require us to lower our Constitutional standards."

This is the result of the cynical appointments to the United States Supreme Court by Reagan, Bush, and Bush.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court rulings are no different with the court now owned by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) The election of Anette Ziegler and Max Gableman ensured a right-wing majority that will do all within its power to limit citizens' protections against illegal search and seizures and unwarranted brutal force.

Years ago I created a Public Safety Review Committee for the city of Madison.  This is exactly the kind of subject they should examine. It would be wise for them to call in police officials and go over the Madison standards in these kind of situations. Nowhere is it written that we have to live by the lowest common denominator whether it is set by Clarence Thomas or Max Gableman.

These folks were white and middle class, and the mayor. Imagine being black and not so middle class, and not the mayor.

Masks in China. The Olympic Committe is A Joke. Nothing Has Changed

The hoopla, pageantry, silliness, nastiness and profiteering of the Olympics has not changed in over fifty years. If there is any question in your mind, run out and get Dave Maraniss' insightful  Rome 1960. The Olympics that Changed the World. 

Soviet Communism and the Cold War ended,  but the organizers and operators of the games are still far more important than the athletes. While the achievements of the competitors is often compelling and poignant, on the world stage the manipulations of governments, businesses, and  street level ticket scalpers is far more important when measuring the impact on the world's peoples.

Start with this story, and follow what unravels over the next few weeks. US cyclists apologize for wearing masks.

BEIJING (AP)—A group of American cyclists has apologized to Beijing Olympic organizers after arriving in China’s capital wearing face masks.

Jim Scherr, the U.S. Olympic Committee’s chief executive officer, said his organization didn’t ask the cyclists to apologize.

“Those athletes regret that action and have written an apology to BOCOG on their own behalf,” Scherr said. “They now realize and understand how their actions were perceived by the host nation and by the organizing committee.”

The China Olympics are a joke. A failure before they start.

For starters, the International Olympic Committee had this silly notion that by awarding the Olympics to China, it would induce that government to halt repression and recognize basic human rights. That was Joke 1.

Not content with destroying the jobs of American industrial workers with wages unfit for any dignified person, the Chinese spent most of this past year trying to murder our dogs and cats with poisoned pet food. Joke 2.

Finally there is the effort to contain the pollution. As though the soiled land, the contaminated waters, and the fouled air disappear by banning half the cars in Beijing on alternate days and temporarily closing industrial plants. Joke 3.

You cannot possibly insult the Chinese government by wearing face masks when eleven months of the year half of China tries to keep the pollution out of their lungs.

"I am sorry my voice sounds muffled, but if I remove my mask, the air pollution will burn my lungs like dry twigs in a campfire."

Those voices are muzzled for reasons other than the pollution. Those faces are hidden for reasons other than the pollution.

Huebsch Losing Control of Republican Assembly, Errant Nass

In the past two weeks  Republican Assembly Speaker Michael Huebsch (West Salem) took two body blows from know-nothings in his own party. First his hand-picked  thug designated to trash the University of Wisconsin System, Stephen Nass (Whitewater), turned on him when the Speaker negotiated a budget agreement with the Senate Democrats and Governor James Doyle in less than a week, rather than an eon.

Nass, who received quality committee appointments from Huebsch, who hoped to quiet the billy goat, lashed out, as reported in the  Sauk Prarie Eagle:

"Sen. Decker has criticized big business for using accounting gimmicks, but his fake morality regarding economics doesn't apply to state government," fumed Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, in a press release. "However, I am more shocked that Speaker Mike Huebsch would again sell out the Republican principles on taxation and government spending."

Then came the Republican Convention last weekend, and a broadside, as reported by Boots and Sabers, Congressman Sensenbrenner Hits Speaker Huebsch For Budget Repair Bill:

Unfortunately, Speaker Huebsch decided to push it [the budget repair bill] through the Assembly.

You have to love it. Huebsch who tried to shore up his right flank by saying , "No," when Wisconsin Manufactures and Commerce (WMC) agreed with the health care industry that the 'hospital tax' was worthwhile since it would bring  $420 million of new federal funds to Wisconsin.

All of this means that the math does not compute for Huebsch's future.  If the Democrats gain control of the Assembly, he is out. If the Republicans retain control of the Assembly, it will only be with more Nass clones, so he is out.

Which proves that the extreme right wing of the Republican Party is so disconnected from reality that they make the Weather Underground of the late 1960's look like mah jong playing grandmothers.

.

 

Kevin Barrett: Someone Else's Billy Goat

My old friend, AFSCME union leader, Dode Lowe, used to have an appropriate saying for the occasional loose cannon among his members.  When confronted with a questionable individual that the union was forced to defend, Dode used to say, "He may be a billy goat, but he is our billy goat."

Those of us who defended the University of Wisconsin from narrow minded assaults this past year, often had Kevin Barrett held up to us as an example of a misguided teacher who was a waste of taxpayers' money. This is the Barrett who doubts that the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center was the work of foreign terrorists, but offers suggestions that perhaps domestic operatives were responsible for the attack.

Barrett is now running for Congress, as a Libertarian in Wisconsin's Third Congressional District.  As John Nichols notes in The Capital Times column on Friday:

Barrett will shake up District 3 race

...Barrett, a convert to Islam who has argued for a number of years that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon "had nothing to do with Islam" and that "the war on terror is as phony as the latest Osama bin Laden tape."

...A Republican legislator, Whitewater state Rep. Steve Nass, condemned the university for a man critics describe as "a conspiracy nut."

...A 10-day review by UW Provost Patrick Farrell of Barrett's teaching record and his plans for the introductory class determined that Barrett would fairly represent a variety of viewpoints in his course -- and was thus fit to teach.

Those of us who believe that professors should be left alone to teach as long as they are open and fair, will continue to defend his right to espouse his bizarre world view.

On the other hand, now that Barrett has solidly aligned himself with the Libertarian Party, it gives me great comfort that everyone knows he is someone else's billy goat. It was last year that I repudiated Barrett and Ward Churchill as not being part of the political left.

The Libertarians and the conservatives can have him.

So there.