Still Fighting

Activism

It's Election Day! Now, it might not be election day in your state, but that doesn't mean there's nothing you can do. If you live in Virginia, or know someone who does, it's time to get out the vote for Tim Kaine for Governor. If you live in New Jersey, or know someone who does, then help out Jon Corzine for Governor. But that's not all - in Ohio, you can help out Reform Ohio Now, who is pushing for YES on Issues 2-5. And, finally, in California, there are five ballot initiatives, including parental notification for abortions. You can make a difference in these states. Together, we'll make a more progressive America, election by election.

News

Medicare Drug Plan Finder: Still Waiting. After scamming America into paying $150 billion dollars more for the prescription drug plan, you'd think that the government would, at the very least, have the website working. You'd be wrong. The government had planned to create a tool on the Medicare website to help people understand their choices with the new Medicare benefits. It's been just about a month since the new website tool was promised, and it didn't go up until late yesterday. But it's not like there's a viable option for those who would rather use a "Medicare Advantage" program, offered by providers like UNUM, because although they appear cheaper, they wind up costing far more. The new plan takes effect on January 1, 2006, and while the government trumpets that there's still "plenty of time" left in the year to sign up, perhaps they don't realize that there are only seven weeks left in this one. And when you consider that the elderly are going to have to carefully study plan after plan to figure out which plan will work best for them, we see this turning into one giant clusterfluck. (There's more on health care below, in the editorials section).

U.S. Should Repay Millions to Iraq, a U.N. Audit Finds. The U.S. made history last Friday! "[T]his is the first time that an international auditing group has suggested that the United States repay some of that money to Iraq." Congratulations to us! And of course, what's the company that was responsible for overcharging Iraq? Why, none other than KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary. Whenever anyone on the left claims that we went into Iraq to "loot their oil", they're labelled as a radical. But when stories like this come out, how are we supposed to believe otherwise. This is wrong in many different ways: First, we're essentially stealing Iraqi money. Second, we're stealing it because the Administration wants to prop up its corporate cronies, who in turn will use some of their plunder to fund their re-election. And thirdly, as a former Iraqi says in the article, "Something like this will be caught in the Iraqi press and be discussed by the Iraqi general public and will leave a very bad taste in the mouth of the Iraqis...It will increase the hostility towards the United States." Hey, it's a lose-lose for everybody! Except for the star of our next article, and his buddies at Halliburton.

Cheney Fights for Detainee Policy. Dick Cheney is the most evil Vice-President in the history of the country. There, we said it! Yes, that's including Schuyler Colfax (Grant), and even Richard Nixon. While Bush is touting our stance against torture, Cheney has been campaigning for it. It's not a recent thing, either - Cheney's been doing this for months. What's intriguing is that the rest of his party, even inside the Administration, is turning on him. Of course, it's only because public opinion is finally turning on him - you can be sure that if Bush's approval rating was up, most would be firmly behind him. But Cheney doesn't tolerate dissent, which is why he's resorting to his standard evil tactics, which have "included 'trying to have meetings canceled ... to at least slow things down or gum up the works' or trying to conduct meetings on the subject without other key Cabinet members, one administration official said." Most. Evil. Veep. Ever.

Editorials

Revision Thing. Sam Smith at Harper's presents a history of the Iraq War. It contains quotes like "You couldn't distinguish between Al Qaeda and Saddam when you talked about the war on terror," and "We waged a war to save civilization itself. We did not seek it, but we fought it, and we prevailed." The entire article is actually composed of quotes from Bush Administration officials, and tells an entirely false tale of the Iraq War. It's entertaining on one level, and deeply disturbing on another. What we think is important to take from this little article is how easily the truth can be distorted, and how valuable our democracy is. Imagine if Ashcroft had stayed on as Attorney General and the Plame leak had never been investigated. Imagine if the White House had gotten further in its corruption of the press, and we had never learned about Abu Ghraib, or Jose Padilla, or any other atrocities the Administration has perpetrated? We need to end the war in Iraq and make sure the truth comes out, not just so that justice can be achieved, but so that history is written truthfully. If we let the propagandaists rewrite history to their liking, we will once again be doomed to repeat it.


Pride, Prejudice, Insurance. If you've read us at all, you know that we're disgusted with the health care system in this country. Massive premiums and CEO salaries have forced organizations to cut their health care spending. But even those corporations aren't without fault, as their CEOs take down millions of dollars each year. As Paul Krugman writes, "America's health care system spends more, for worse results, than that of any other advanced country." Isn't that ridiculous? The most "advanced" nation on the planet, and we have the worst health care in terms of bang for the buck. We've talked about it before, but it bears repeating that a majority of Americans prefer universal health care, even if it means paying more in taxes. Instead, we've got a corrupt system that rewards those at the top and punishes those who really need it. Instead of learning from what our neighbors are doing right (Canada, Germany, England), we instead continue to flounder, and more and more people lose the ability to afford basic health care. Is that a system you want to be a part of?

Blogger Commentary

Religion, Wars, and the IRS: Pro-War Sermons Get Tax Privilege; Anti-War Sermons Not. Reading this commentary by Steve Clemons, we're just pissed off. If you read the comments below the story, you'll see that there are very specific things that a church can and can't do (in order to maintain it's non-profit status). They can't endorse candidates or contribute cash, goods or services to a campaign. But what about political policy and discourse? Two days before the 2004 election, a liberal-leaning church in California saw their pastor deliver an anti-war sermon. He is quoted as saying that Jesus would have told Bush, "Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine. Forcibly changing the regime of an enemy that posed no imminent threat has led to disaster." There was no urging of people to go out and vote against Bush. In fact, Reverend Regas said that "good people of profound faith" could vote for either man, and did not tell parishioners whom to support. Yet the IRS saw fit to serve the church with a letter, warning them that they were under investigation because of the above sermon, and a piece in the LA Times. What gets us extremely angry about this is the fact that we see much more obvious political proselytizing from the right quite frequently. Remember Pat Robertson asking God to "open a vacancy" on the Supreme Court? Or what about James Dobson, having it on "good authority" from Karl Rove that Harriet Miers would have voted pro-life? Hell, even Bush's own church called for an end to the war! Until the IRS (a supposedly apolitical organization) starts investigating churches equally, we consider this nothing more than right-wing thuggery, and it sickens us.

Three Strikes and We're Out: Destroying America. Arthur Silber writes a long, meandering rant, and frankly, it's a bit depressing to read. But his core points are important, which is why we're linking to him. There are three big issues he's concerned about, and it's tough to dismiss his concerns. Even if Democrats are finally showing some semblance of a spine, and as weak as Bush is, American principles are still actively being undermined. First, there's the Patriot Act, which is almost definitely going to be renewed, undermining many of our Constitutional protections. He quotes from the Nation: "The Patriot Act has been and will continue to be used mainly against ordinary Americans accused of crimes unrelated to terrorism, or those who disagree with government policies or happen to be immigrants or of the Muslim faith. The result is likely to be an enduring shift of power from the legislative and judicial branches to the executive branch--and less privacy and liberty for all." Next is the confirmation of John Roberts, who has "unquestioning deference to an omnipotent executive, at least in times of war." And finally, there's the Jose Padilla case, in which an American citizen has been held for three years, without charges. Add it all up, and what does Arthur get? "It now appears that neither Congress nor the judiciary will defend the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. I add to this list of crimes against history, and against what the United States once stood for, the fact that Congress has also completely abdicated its Constitutional responsibility with regard to declaring war..."