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Activism

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News

Judge Rejects Challenge to Bush Education Law. On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the federal government can require states to spend their own money to comply with No Child Left Behind. This is both a historic and ridiculous ruling. The message that the court is sending is that Congress can essentially do anything they want, specifically because they didn't indicate, in the NCLB legislature, that the federal government would pay for it all. The Judge, Bernard A. Friedman, said that if lawmakers had meant to pay for mandates in the law, they would have phrased the legislation "to say so clearly and unambiguously." So, now we're stuck with an act that, despite recent concessions, still doesn't work and states will have to divert funds to pay for. And if you need more evidence that NCLB doesn't work, check out the state of Tennessee. Tennessee's 8th grade students tested at 87% or above the proficiency level in math. But under NCLB, the federal government decided that only 21% of those students were considered "proficient" in math. And it's not just Tennessee; over a dozen states have experienced similar problems with federal reporting. Still want to try and tell us that NCLB is the way to go?

Democrats Call for Policy to Address High Fuel Costs. Is it just another gesture, or are Democrats flexing their new-found muscles? Governor Christine Gregoire (D) of Washington used this week's Democratic radio address to demand a better national energy policy. The simple truth is that, right now, more Americans care about the cost of their heating bills than they care about the Jack Abramoff investigation. And really, can you blame them? Although the Abramoff investigation speaks to corruption in the highest levels of government, high heating bills will directly affect the pocketbooks of every American. Gregoire notes that this Republican-led Congress won't "create a national energy policy that works." But if states like Washington, Pennsylvania and New Mexico can embrace alternative energy sources, why can't our federal government do the same? Oh, right, because they want to help oil executives.

Republicans Are Deeply Split Over How to Apportion New Tax Cuts. This is just the height of absurdity, but it's also some good news. The White House and House Republicans want tax cuts to go to the rich (i.e. the top 1%). They also want Bush's tax cuts to be extended. Senate Republicans, though, don't want to renew Bush's tax cuts, they want to shield middle- and upper-income families from the alternative minimum tax, and they want a one-year, $5-billion tax on major oil companies and a provision that would make it easier to impose steep penalties on people caught using illegal tax shelters. Obviously, both parts of Congress want to favor the upper-class, but the Senate less so. Quite honestly, we're not sure why Republican leadership in the Senate is continuing to split from Bush, and we can only conclude that key Senators are looking to help their own causes, not only with re-election in 2006, but for those with presidential aspirations in 2008, a stunt like this not only still appeals to their base, but makes it look like they are doing something for the ever-shrinking middle class. Not going to work, guys. Sorry.

Editorials

The Phony War Against the Critics. Michael Kinsley gets back to his roots with a fantastic editorial on Dick Cheney's hypocrisy. Now that the administration freely admits that Hussein had no WMDs, wouldn't the reasons that we went to war be considered "mistaken?" Yet, even with this "revelation," we're still supposed to think that anyone who accuses the administration of leading us to war by "faking a belief that Saddam Hussein possessed nuclear and/or chemical and biological weapons" is dishonest, reprehensible, corrupt and shameless? Nope, and Kinsley tells us why. Back in 2000, Cheney was highly outspoken against Clinton's military campaigns in Bosnia and Kosovo, saying that we absolutely must have an "exit strategy." (Remember, we had a total of 11,000 American troops over there, alongside 55,000 allies). How, exactly, are our troops supposed to feel now, knowing that 2,107 American soldiers have died for a lie?

Bad for the Country. You might have read that GM is cutting 30,000 jobs. And unless you or someone you know is personally affected, you probably thought, "Oh, that's too bad," before moving on to the sports page. But Paul Krugman is here to tell us why we should care about this. GM's weaknesses are a reflection of the "broader weakness of US manufacturing." And that weakness can be summed up in one word: healthcare. Our economy has been turned into a shambles under this administration, and we've been importing far more than we export. The trade deficit has exceeded $600 billion, which means more money is leaving this country than coming into it. As a result, employers are forced to spend more money on healthcare, which means less profit, which means layoffs. As Krugman shows, it's all intertwined, and if the current situation continues, it won't be good news for any of us.

Blogger Commentary

American Traitor. We don't particularly like wasting space on idiots like Ann Coulter, but we couldn't let this Daily Kos commentary by Hunter go by without writing about it. In a recent column, Coulter calls Representative John Murtha, and, by extension, Democrats, traitors. Her words: "The Democrats are giving aid and comfort to the enemy for no purpose other than giving aid and comfort to the enemy. There is no plausible explanation for the Democrats' behavior other than that they long to see U.S. troops shot, humiliated, and driven from the field of battle." It's incredible to consider that a pampered, spoiled rich toerag like Coulter would have the audacity to call a Vietnam veteran like Murtha a traitor. Incredible, that is, until you consider that Coulter's attempt to shine the spotlight back on herself stem from her position as "batshit crazy frothing McCarthy-loving racist head-spinning lying female ass of the Right" is being usurped by the other batshit crazy woman on the right, Michelle Malkin. So, this personal vendetta is nothing more than a popularity contest, and the country is suffering because of it. We ask you, who's hurting the country more: John Murtha or Ann Coulter?

Analyze This. From Mahablog, it just wouldn't be a week if the blogosphere on the right didn't find something to bitch at. This week, Maha writes about conservative idiots who are up in arms over the decision by the U.S. Postal Service to discontinue printing the "Madonna and Child" holiday stamp. They see at as another attack on Christians. Never mind that Christians haven't seriously been targeted as a group in this country since, well, ever. No, what makes this story amusing is that the USPS has no plans to stop printing the Madonna and Child stamp. In fact, it's still up on their website. Yet, according to some conservative blogger "who got it from her mom who got it from a clerk at the local post office," not only will they not reprint the stamp, but "clerks have been instructed not to wish customers Merry Christmas; it’s Happy Holidays only." Gosh, Shaggy! Stop the persecution train! The idea that anyone is going to get upset and uptight over this is simply stupid, so we'll let you draw your own conclusions.