Right Here in Twin Falls!
Post Published: 17 June 2010I noted with sadness the Times News choose to give free advertisement to the John Birch Society on the front page of their paper yesterday. It is also notable that a recently elected Republican precinct captain is the assistant organizer for the JBS event, Liz Niccum. She was part of a dust-up in the local Republican Party and signed a complaint along with central committeeman George Nemitz over their perceived irregularities about appointing committee vacancies. It seems that many of the new precinct captains around here have some interesting friends, or in McManus’ speak, comrades.
Every member of the community that cares about civil rights, hates racism, and remembers the witch hunting, anti-communism of Joe McCarthy should be up in arms over this event. (For those under 30, the John Birch Society is the same group that brought your parents “Get out of the UN” and “Impeach Earl Warren!”) I am offended by the coverage that was given to this event. I ask you to take the time to write a letter to the paper and KMVT in protest.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that tracks racism and hate groups across the country, listed Bircher President John F. McManus on its “Meet the Patriots” list as a resurgent. Their site describes these so-called patriots as “people who generally believe that the federal government is an evil entity that is engaged in a secret conspiracy to impose martial law, herd those who resist into concentration camps, and force the United States into a socialistic “New World Order.”” Here is an excerpt of his profile at SPLC:
McManus, who joined the society’s staff in 1966, has continued to promote its founding principles. The central thesis is that a sinister cabal of politicians, bankers, globalists and other elites throughout history – including the Illuminati, every U.S. president since Woodrow Wilson and the Council on Foreign Relations – have worked to peel away the rights of individuals and put the U.S. on a path toward atotalitarian one-world government…An ultraconservative Roman Catholic, McManus has been accused of anti-Semitism, a charge he has denied. In 2005, according to The New York Times, Birch staffers who were ousted amid internal turmoil leaked recordings of McManus saying that Judaism was a dead religion and that militant Jews have influenced the Freemasons, who were “Satan’s agents” and part of the Illuminati conspiracy to cause world upheaval.
Tax evaders, militia members, right-wing bloggers, and radical radio personalities round out the rest of the Southern Poverty’s 2010 Meet the Patriots list. http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/summer/meet-the-patriots?page=0,1 McManus and the once shrinking JBS are riding the tide of racism and anti-amnesty fever. KMVT gave McManus a free sound bite last night. He spouted out the myth that Mexican-Americans plan to create a new country by adding Arizona, Texas, and California to Mexico. This falsehood has been floated by Bill O’Reilly and others and is very dangerous because it paints immigrants as traitors. All evidence available on immigration contradicts this. http://www.alternet.org/story/17653/ But facts never stop people and groups like this.
Supposedly over 100 planned to attend the meeting to listen to this racism veiled as concern about “treating people fairly as individuals.” http://www.magicvalley.com/news/local/article_d6bf87a3-9cc8-59b5-a107-b37168c47bb5.html I challenge readers and viewers to let the editos and station managers and the community know that Southern Idaho is too great to hate and that we have no need of McManus and his kind.
District throws a Firecracker at the Teachers and Hartgen Leaves Early
Post Published: 04 June 2010In a town where fireworks on the 5th are causing controversy, little mention has been made of the firecracker in the face the Twin Falls School District gave their certified staff Monday night. It appears that the same community that cares greatly about patriotism was also willing to show its support for teachers forced to meet on Memorial Day. Encouragingly the new Canyon Ridge auditorium was overflowing with teachers, administrators, friends and family. The 350 plus chose to support Twin Falls Teachers’ Associations instead of decorating graves, picnicking, or spending their time camping. Unfortunately the public was not allowed to address the board or TF School District representatives.
I attended the Due Process Hearing as an interested former teacher and community member. A district is required to meet before their school board in order to make changes in certified staff contacts. Our district was proposing 14 furlough days, freezing salary movement, and cutting pay for extra duties. This translates into roughly $200 to $400 monthly pay cut for teachers, depending on their pay grade. There were similar, but not equal, cuts for administrators.
Superintendent Dr Willey Dobbs began the meeting with a lengthy power point presentation of their proposal. It has been trotted out for months at various service clubs and emailed to certified staff. The representatives of the teachers’ association pointed out that the district violated the good faith of the negotiations when it issued press releases to the Times-News about details of the proposal. Dr. Dobbs talked to the press several times,
There were many other troubling irregularities. Administrative staff’s salary was set ahead of the certified staff, which is unusual. There was disagreement on dates and charges of “fuzzy math” on both sides, but it was obvious that the superintendent was uncomfortable being the bearer of such drastic cuts. Unfortunately the lawyer for the District, a Mr. Julian, was as rude and arrogant, as Dr. Dobbs was contrite and uncomfortable.
The main source of contention for the Twin Falls Education Association was lack of a specific offer as detailed by collective bargaining. Dr. Dobbs also mentioned his own frustration with the drawn out process. One teacher stated that the Association and the District have always worked together successfully in the past. She cited the presence of the district lawyer as the cause of their difficulties.
Stacy Behrens presented the Association’s proposal. Comparisons to higher salaries in surrounding districts and testimony on the negative consequences of the District’s plan for students, teachers and the economy were passionately given. I listened to a tearful teacher and veteran. She was furious over the choice of picking Memorial Day for the meeting. Efforts were made by the teachers association to change the date. It was perceived as a move to limit participation. It was a unpatriotic choice, regardless of the reason.
I agree with Dr. Dodds when he said that this was a painful process that “no one wanted,” but the date of the meeting and demeanor of the district’s lawyer were counterproductive. I hope that the school board will make some concessions and find a middle ground between the 14 furlough days proposed by the District and the 8 furlough days proposed by the Association. Teachers will meet at the end of the week to hear the decision of the board. Additional comments must be submitted in writing to the school board by this Thursday.
Judging from the demeanor of the board and the lack of questions, I am not optimistic. It appeared that some members of the board were more worried about breaks and couldn’t wait to leave. I left knowing one thing for sure. Representative Steven Hartgen (R) from District 23 didn’t stick around long enough. Hartgen, who sits on the State Education Committee, came in just before the hearing started. He shook hands with Dobbs and took a seat in the front row. How ironic that one of the architects of the educational cut backs didn’t have the guts to stick around to hear all the teachers testify.
The guy who once said “I think we need to support education but I also think we need to scrutinize it,” was there to hear the axe fall, but didn’t stay around long enough to hear how the reductions would impact his constituents. In a 2008 interview with the Boise Weekly Hartgen “lamented his old paper’s (the Times-News) softening stance on public schools.” Hartgen went on to say that “in his days at the Times-News the paper was more conservative on education, oriented to accountability and merit pay,” he didn’t hear from the teacher who was losing his National Teacher’s Certification from the state to a tune of $3000 thanks to decisions from the legislation. He didn’t hear the single dad that only had $17 after bills before the pay cut. This Canyon Ridge teacher wondered how he would continue coaching or even spend time with his own family. One teacher talked about how they are told time and time again to give more and more and get less and less. I spent over 70 hours a week with lesson planning, teaching and grading papers when I taught a few years ago in Jerome.
Hartgen crowed at a local service club not long ago, “All you need to know about the past legislative session is that we balanced the budget and there’s no new taxes.” He didn’t even have the decency to hear all the teachers’ testimony. Hundreds of teachers will have their income reduced from $200 to $400 a month and pay 15% more to insure their family next year. Teachers will take on second and third jobs, some will leave the District and others will just change professions. Clubs, sports, and humanities will suffer or disappear. Students will have less time on task with the same or even stricter curriculum and outcome demands. Each dollar that gets spent with local businesses turns through our economy six to eight times, so the $700,000 plus salary reduction will have a significant impact on Twin Falls.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Several counties have already passed emergency levies to help their school districts even though raising property taxes as much as 30%. Does the Twin Falls community have the courage to really do something to help their teachers… and thus their children… or is it just easier to watch the Hartgens of the world throw us under the school bus…
How should you vote in the primary?
Post Published: 24 May 2010Someone I greatly respect recently made me think about what it means to be a Democrat in this mostly red state. His response to my support of moderate Republicans in my recent blog made think about the best way to build the Democratic Party. Do we close our primaries and only support candidates that have a big D besides them and fight for issues that adhere only to our platform? Are we hurting our brand if we cross over and vote for a moderate Republican candidate?
Ironically I remember my grandfather and my mother having arguments about the same things over 40 years ago, only they were talking about the Republican primaries. My grandfather, a crusty old Irishman, felt that you never crossed party lines and that was what kept the two party system alive. My mother, who was at one time a Republican precinct captain, took the opposing view. I don’t recall the outcome of the argument or the particular election, but it was heated. It may have been over a judicial seat where my mom wanted to vote for the Democratic candidate.
My mom was as complicated and emotional as I am, but I have always had the heart of a liberal. Whether it was protesting Kent State or recoiling at Reagan’s busting of the unions, I never thought of myself as anything but liberal. From that first JFK button at 10 to now, if you cut me, I bleed blue.
I do however also have a passion for what is right. I do not want some far right wing PAC like Idaho Chooses Life pouring money into this community and sabotaging good people. I was outraged at MoveOn’s “Betray Us Petreaus” ads and I am outraged at mailers and web-sites calling my friend “a baby-killer!” These mailers are examples of the worse kind of politics. I just early voted on the Democratic ballot for county commissioner, governor, and judicial seats. One of my friends told me that she is so excited about seeing her name on the ballot for precinct captain that she cannot wait to vote. I think that the open primary is the best way to go. I normally always vote a straight ticket, but I would not hesitate to tell someone who is voting on the Republican side to vote for the moderates.
I am proud of the long list of candidates for precinct captains (one of the biggest ever) and the candidates that are running for office on the blue ticket. I do acknowledge that the support of blue dogs and the unwillingness of Idaho’s Democratic candidates to support a true Democratic platform can hurt our effectiveness in some ways. Some liberals may stay home over a candidate’s positions on nuclear energy or health care, but I would urge then to still vote Democratic. Vote for the best candidates and support your party, but there are times when local issues and fairness supersede party lines.
When big moneyed PACs target a state and races, it does not reflect the voters or the state. I didn’t like the robo calls (automatically programmed recordings) for and against Obama. I don’t think the majority of voters in Twin Falls want outside interests calling the shots. In the last legislative session, I got online and I saw how all my legislators voted. I emailed them and called with my displeasure and my support. Most got back to me. I didn’t need a score card from some PAC to inform me about the votes. And I am furious about the misinformation and out right lies about Planned Parenthood.
I have supported and volunteered for Planned Parenthood here and in Boise. I invite everyone to research the organization. They offer valuable services especially to the poor, including wellness care, prenatal care, and critical information about STDS. Magic Valley has some of the highest rates of STDs in the state and too many cases of rape and incest.
What is the answer for a girl who is raped by her father when the law requires parental consent for an abortion? Are those righteous folks, who stood outside Twin’s Planned Parenthood during Lent, going to raise all the babies that are neglected and battered? Where are all the foster parents clamoring for children to raise once they are born? I saw babies being passed around from kid to kid like dirty laundry so their mothers could go out and party at Boot Scooters. The new girl in school was always hit up to baby sit, sometimes they left the baby with her for days.
I had a student who had a mental breakdown after she delivered her rapist’s baby. Who protected this girl? Where is the outrage and protest for these women? These are questions the protestors outside our Planned Parenthood couldn’t or wouldn’t answer. And I asked them! No abortions are ever performed in Twin Falls, but clients had to walk by hateful signs and judgment just to get a pap smear or a wellness check up.
Everyone loves to protest, but where are the solutions and problem solvers? The rabble is trying to call the shots in Idaho and in the nation. The mainstream and even local media is enamored by them, but I feel that Twin Falls is better than that.
Idaho doesn’t look like the national Democratic party and our candidates don’t look like John Kerry or Howard Dean. Idaho is a complicated state with strange alliances and histories. We have had Democratic governors with Republican legislators and great statesmen like Frank Church, but never before anything like the log jam that is in the legislation with the take over of the GOP by extremists. I would encourage all Democrats to vote Democrat. I don’t want closed primaries because Idahoans do have an independent streak and we should have choices. We call Strong Democrats, Leaning Democrats and Independents and encourage them to get out and vote.
Being a Democrat in Idaho can be messy. I certainly don’t agree with many of Minnick’s positions, but if I was in the 1st district I would vote for him. I have sent letters and emails to him when he disappointed me and praise when he did something I agreed on. I am dedicated to having a viable Democratic party in Twin Falls and in the State. I will support my party, but I will also speak out when I see unfair slander against anyone or any organization. I am saddened by the current state of politics locally and nationally, but excited about the new strategies and ideas that we plan to implement in the future to grow our party in Twin Falls. I urge voters to make their decision based on the facts and what is the most important issue for you. If my actions or words make any one anxious, I apologize. It is completely diametrically opposed to my desires.
What to Wear?
Post Published: 20 April 2010
I am declaring war on all cute clothing for women over the age of twelve; especially for teachers. This is the scariest trend in education today (beyond textbooks out of Texas); those perky little sweaters and denim dresses with ABC’s or school books appliquéd on the pockets. I wake up in a cold sweat imagining that Shrek is stitched on my best Levi jacket. I have panic attacks thinking about greeting a class of savvy high school students sporting tiny little composition books and dancing pencils on my pant suit. I want to stop the crazy and demeaning trend of dressing adult women, especially teachers, like toddlers.
I expect that one day I will walk into a J C Penny store and see Bart Simpson or Sponge Bob dancing up and down on wool sweaters holding out those horrid red apples. I fantasize about picketing women’s shops with CJ and Banks in their names, carrying signs that say: “Teachers are Not Toddlers! Ban Bird House Blouses! No Cute Zone!” What can be comforting about meeting your child’s teacher for the first time when he or she is clothed in crocheted kittens? This can be especially upsetting if your child is in senior high or college. I personally didn’t go to college for four years and get an upper level degree in Advanced 20th Century American Literature to be dressed in nursery school characters.
Here is the ugly truth. Years ago I developed a phobia against sweet appliquéd figures when I was trying to supplement my meager income by taking in ironing. One tiny lady, size one I am sure, dropped off a load of barely wrinkled, expensive shirts for me to iron. There, in this mess of little linen sleeves and pointed-starched collars, was an exquisitely embroidered white cotton shirt with half a dozen cats expertly stitched on it. Now I must admit that at that time I could stomach some adorableness, especially if it pertained to cats, but I couldn’t even fit my baby toe into that blouse. But you guessed it; the blouse disappeared somewhere between my house and her house. She then accused me of stealing that darn cat shirt. Hence forth…I hate cute little anythings on clothing and I am on a campaign to stop this trend in its tiny paw tracks.
I certainly don’t want everyone to be Sarah Palin clones dressed in expensive Chanel power suits, Italian leather jackets, and thousand-dollar designer glasses (maybe the GOP could pony up some cash?), but there is something to be said for style and absence of logos and embellishments. There is enough Tommy Hilfiger and Juicy Couture, and Gucci stuff on the students.
Looking back at all the uproar over flag pins on Obama’s lapel, maybe teachers should wear something that reflects their philosophy of education. The liberals and progressives could wear those Darwin walking fish symbols you see on car bumpers, or union pins. Christians and conservatives could have crosses, and fish eating the Darwin symbols, and the agnostics could just have question marks. Students would walk into a class room and immediately know that their teacher would love a twenty-five page essay on “How Obamacare Destroyed America” by the Don’t Tread on Me Flag on the desk.
There is not much room for cuteness and chuckles, if you are an educator in Idaho today. With all the holdbacks, clothing is taking a backseat to just putting food on the table. With the recent cut-backs in education funding in Idaho, teachers may soon be sporting more Salvation Army chic or resale rack outfits. Torn jeans could become cutting edge and not just for students. Maybe the “Otter” could donate some of his old unused cowboy boots or the drapes from the Simplot mansion since he reported a net worth of between $8.9 and $31.7 million in 2006. There must be some castoff clothing in the closets of all those ultraconservative legislators that lobbied to slash education too.
The Times News reported today that “four Republican legislators, House Speaker Lawrence Denny, Majority Leader Mike Moyle, Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, and Majority Caucus Chairman Ken Roberts just sent out a letter to Idaho school districts advising them to prepare for a potential 5.5 percent holdback while negotiating next year’s teacher contracts” even when more moderate members and Democrats cite other options. Talk about kicking someone when they are down. Maybe teachers could just recycle No Child Left Behind curriculum guidelines into dashing new outfits. Oh, never mind. That’s last year’s fad.
Go Intimidate Somebody Else!
Post Published: 23 March 2010“Our presence here today is remarkable, but improbable!”
President Obama speaking today about the passage of health care legislation into law.
President Obama spoke for all the people in America that have been doing the “heavy lifting” to pass health care legislation today when he said that “people who love this Country can change it!” I again felt the same swell of optimism that warmed me back in January on that bitterly cold but historic inauguration day. As he signed the most sweeping health care reform for Americans in decades into law today, he evoked all the past leaders who fought to make America more equitable. He mentioned Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, the Clintons, Ted Kennedy and Rep. John Dingle, who has been fighting for health care legislation his whole career, but I grudgingly give a nod of thanks to a most unlikely group; the Republican party, especially the national party.
I could hear John Boehner gnashing his over-bleached teeth as the President called Nancy Pelosi “the best speaker the House has ever had!” Newt Gingrich is probably spitting up bile and Rove and Cheney are busy sharpening their word knives even now, but one of the reasons this moment happened is partly due to all the raving and pitch-fork shaking of the far right and all their punditry. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/23/obama-signs-health-care-b_n_509715.html
The big tent we call the Democratic Party, much like the Methodist church I belong to, is unwieldy and multi-faceted. Getting us to agree on things is truly “much like herding cats,’ but under the leadership of a dynamic Obama and the tireless efforts of Nancy Pelosi and other party leaders like Clyburn and Hoyer, we refused to “scale back on aspirations” and faced the challenges. In the face of the most disturbing racist and fear-mongering I have ever witnessed, Democrats from the anti-war Kucinich to pro-life Stupak came together to pass reform.
One thing that MSM paid little attention to with their coverage of the infamous Neugebauer “baby killer” remark is what Stupak actually was trying to say when he was interrupted by the Republican from Texas. Even though I think he was played by the conservatives like a fiddle, Rep. Bart Stupak had some words of wisdom as he called for Democrats to vote for health care Sunday night:
…Democrats guarantee all life of the unborn to the last breath of a senior citizen is respected, for the unborn child and his or her mother will finally have pre and postnatal care under this bill…. www.huffingtonpost.com/…/baby-killer-yelled-at-bart-stupak_n_507718.html
And in the grandest irony of all, it was the obstructionist turned defender who characterized his party with “We stand for the American people! We stand up for life!”
How unlikely that this pro-choice, progressive would be quoting Stupak today, but now he knows the lash of their whip and the stink of their hypocrisy. I hope this serves as a lesson to all the Dino’s out there who are Democrats in name only, that when you lie down with the extremists, you get more than fleas.
The outrageous actions, words and threats by a disturbing number of people today that resulted in the rocks thrown through windows, death threats against the children of Democrats that voted for this bill, and “lock and load” remarks by the queen of the crazies should not deter or dampen our spirits. According to a Gallup/USA Today poll conducted the day after health care legislation passed the House of Representatives, 49 percent of the respondents think the passage of reform is a “good thing,” compared to the 40 percent who think it is bad. The DNC also received a million dollars in one day without even sending out a request.
Today the Senate cleared a major procedural hurdle and the health care fight hits the floor, but we must not forget that we have accomplished something historic today; historic health care reform legislation is now the law of the land Rep. James Clyburn, a veteran of the civil rights movement, who received numerous threatening faxes Monday morning, including nooses on gallows, shared his insights. “This is all about activity trying to deny the establishment of a civil right. And I do believe that health care for all is — a civil right,” the House Majority Whip argued.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/23/clyburn-racist-faxes-imag_n_509365.html
Clyburn has been very vocal in calling on House Minority leader John Boehner, who frequently calls on members of the Democratic Caucus to distant themselves from Nancy Pelosi’s remarks, to speak up against such outrageous remarks.
After watching the hate on Boehner’s face Sunday night as the votes for health care added up, I think this is like calling for an arsonist to fight the fire he has lit. But I would caution my fellow Democrats to not let these threats and antics spoil the moment and take heart from the victory.
“It doesn’t make me nervous as all,” Clyburn said, when asked how the mob-like atmosphere made him feel as he walked through the protesters to pass health care reform. “In fact, as I said to one heckler, I am the hardest person in the world to intimidate, so they better go somewhere else.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/13/clyburn-town-hall-protest_n_259118.html
Don’t be intimidated, dear friends. Instead see the anger for what it is–fear. Fear that all America changed fundamentally today for the better. And it scares them to death.
The Luck of the Irish?
Post Published: 17 March 2010It must be some of President Obama’s Irish that brought him some St. Patrick luck and the promise of a yes vote on health care from Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Kucinich, who ran for president himself, was one of the few “holdouts that thought the bill didn’t go far enough” on the Democratic side. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/17/dennis-kucinich-health-care_n_502182.html
I am also betting that my favorite bloggers Markos Moulitsas has something to do with his reversal. Markos, the darling of the netroots and founder of the DailyKos, “suggested that Kucinich should face a primary challenge if he votes no.” Hats off to Markos, who has always wanted single payer and public option at the very least for putting his liberal agenda behind him and helping push health care through the final hurtles.
The other good news on this St. Paddy’s day, (thinking of you, Senator Ted Kennedy), is that the passage of health care reform will help Americans right away even though the loudest voices and the tea baggers would have you think differently.
Representative John B. Larson, House Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, listed “the following top ten immediate benefits you’ll get when health care reform passes” (not in 2013 or 2018 or whatever the critics say). The legislation will:
1. Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;
2. Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool;
3. Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;
4. Lower seniors prescription drug prices by beginning to close the donut hole;
5. Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;
6. Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;
7. Require plans to cover an enrollee’s dependent children until age 26;
8. Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;
9. Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;
10. Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs.
By enacting these provisions right away, and others over time, we will be able to lower costs for everyone and give all Americans and small businesses more control over their health care choices. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-john-b-larson/he-top-ten-immediate-bene_b_501748.html
On a personal note, these provisions will benefit my family in profound ways. My husband has Type-1 diabetes and pays almost $400 dollars a month with insurance now. My daughter is uninsured. This is the same daughter that took training a few years ago at Blue Cross in Boise. As her job training progressed, she soon realized that her main task was to deny any and all claims that crossed her path immediately without hesitation.
I am proud to say that she gave up great benefits, good pay and health care because she couldn’t live with herself if she did this. She has gone on to create her own niche in Boise that fits her values and her personality, but she cannot afford even catastrophic health insurance. I know of many full-time employed people who have had to drop their insurance, if they wanted to pay their rent or house payment.
A friend of ours in Montana was recently denied bone marrow treatment because it was considered “experimental.” Oddly enough it wasn’t experimental when the same man received a bone marrow transplant earlier and had almost ten years of recovery. The state health insurance that covered his wife and him delayed treatment. This young father of two boys died from complications awaiting the treatment that could have saved him.
All around us, we have incidents that reveal the broken health care system where insurance companies make unprecedented profits that continue to rise. The insurance and the pharmaceutical industries are breaking the backs of Americans. Things have to change and this is our last chance make a significant chance in health care.
President Obama sent out an email to all the faithful today and talked about why he is still fighting for health care. “And I’m here for my mother. She died of cancer, and in the last six months of her life, I saw her on the phone in her hospital room arguing with insurance companies instead of focusing on getting well and spending time with her family.”
I have no better argument than the president’s words…
Democrats Need to Quit “Cowering in the Corner and Put out the Fire!”
Post Published: 04 March 2010Once in awhile you read something and say damn that takes the words right out of my mouth. So I am going to dedicate this to Mitchell Bard, a writer and film maker whose blog can be found at Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mitchell-bard/attention-democrats-the-h_b_483868.htmls. His entry Attention Democrats: When the House Is on Fire, Don’t Cower, Grab a Hose is about the fire that is raging in the belly’s of American voters and how that fire is threatening to consume any progress the Democrats have made or hope to make in this political climate.
Bard talks about the impossibility of righting all the damage that has been done in the eight years of the Bush administration in 16 months and puts much of the blame Republican obstruction. But he doesn’t let the Democrats off the hook either. In words I wish were mine, he eloquently says it in a nut shell:
Democrats have to look in the mirror, too, and ask themselves if they have shown the courage and strength necessary to lead. They have to decide how they allowed a committed minority of 40 (and then 41) Republican senators to bully them out of coming together to pass legislation to start fixing some of the problems left to the country by eight years of Bush incompetence. Especially after the mandate they were handed in November 2008.
Voters are angry, and while it is illogical that people seem to be looking to break the gridlock in Washington by voting in Republicans who will, first and only, be concerned with perpetuating the gridlock in Washington, the anger is based on real concerns. Unemployment is high, and the government appears to be more concerned with the health of banks and health insurers than with the well-being of struggling average Americans. The American people voted for change in 2008, and you can understand if they feel like they’re not getting it…In short, the current state of affairs is what it is. The Democrats can’t go back in time, nor can they give a nationwide seminar to educate American citizens about the Jim Bunning- like obstructionism…(or the racism and ignorance of the Tea Party movement)
No, the Democrats have to decide what to do about it now. Or, to go back to my analogy, to figure out what kind of action to take now that the house is on fire… [a] fire [that] has made too many Democrats timid. They are either doingn nothing, or they’re pointing fingers at the malfeasance of the Republicans. Worse, many think that if they retreat and act more like Republicans, they will be rewarded by their constituents in November, as if campaigning as Republican Lite was ever a winning formula for Democrats. They are looking for an opportunity to vote against health care reform, as if their opponents won’t plaster the airwaves with ads touting their original yes vote.
Bard goes on to give the solution to put out the fire; passing bills like health care reform. Polls reveal that many Americans support much of the health care reform until we let the Republicans demonize it. The writer goes on to say that even if the Republicans filibuster, it will show the American people what they are. “ The best way to prove the Republican lie machine wrong is to pass legislation (even if through reconciliation) so Americans can see that reform isn’t the horrible government power grab the Republicans tell them it is.”
Bard makes a comparison to the GOP’s effort to torpedo Obama’s anti-terrorism policy. It isn’t working because we hear reports of arrests and killings of al-Qaida and Taliban leaders that make those of the Bush administration look puny.
So even if the Republicans filibuster everything; it will only “Make the GOP reveal to the American people who they are protecting.”
Here are Bard’s steps:
- Pass comprehensive financial reform legislation and let the Republicans filibuster it. Then it will be clear: The Democrats support the people and the economy, and the Republicans support the banks.
- Pass the Senate’s health care reform bill in the House, and then fix it in the Senate through reconciliation.
- If that can’t be done, bring an air-tight, paid-for, comprehensive health care reform bill (even with a public option) to the floor and make the Republicans filibuster it.
- Then the GOP will be revealed as the insurance company-protecting, sick-American-ignoring party it is.
One of his best lines is…”The current plan of too many Democrats is to hang out in the house, cower in the corner, and wait to burn to death. Call me crazy, but I think this is a lousy strategy.”
President Obama just called for an up and down vote on health care yesterday. In a passionate speech, he got right to the point, “At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem!” He finished with “I don’t know how this plays politically, but I do know that it is right.”
Hear, hear! I for one am tired of the cautious maneuvering of my elected officials worrying about what will get them a vote. Get up on your hind legs and support our platform and the progressive agenda even when it is not popular.
A Cure for the Winter Blues
Post Published: 01 March 2010We can finally put February behind us. If it hadn’t been for the Winter Olympics and the new faces on our Idaho political scene, I might have ran south to Tucson to live with my sister and brother-in-law. Thank goodness for those dear Canadians with their self-depreciating humor and generous hospitality. As I watched the closing ceremonies complete with the giant inflated Canadian Mounties and beavers, I thought how often we tend to take ourselves way too seriously in America. Today one AP headline points to all that went wrong at the “star-crossed” games.
Undoubtedly the horrifying death of luge slider Nodar Kumaritashvili will forever mar the event, but three cheers to a country that can laugh when its Olympic torch technology goes a wry and openly cry when tragedy strikes. I have a theory that the farther north you live, the more humor and pragmatism you have and need. I think that those who can say that -30 is a warm spell and live in places like Banff and Saskatchewan or Cut Bank and Havre have got to laugh.
Speaking of Montana and humor, I had the privilege of hearing Montana’s Senator Jon Tester at the annual Frank Church Banquet in Boise this weekend. Senator Tester, along with Keith Allred, Democratic candidate for governor, and Congressman Walt Minnick were all keynote speakers at the annual Democratic event. Tester was funny, down-to-earth and decidedly upbeat. He told about his Montana wheat farming, family similarities to Congressman Minnick in background, and even noted his missing digits on his left hand as testimony to his Western roots. A guy that can melt this city girl’s heart and make a convincing case for Western values and still end with “git her done” on health care, has my vote.
Of course, I can’t vote in Montana, but I left the banquet and the weekend events even more excited about our gubernatorial candidate Keith Allred. I can cast my vote for this cowboy. You can even go to Pioneer Salon in Ketchum and eat a steak on a plate featuring the A for Allred brand. Yes, Allred’s roots go way back in Idaho and ranching, but better yet Allred has experience fighting the special interests that are ruining politics on the left and the right. He founded The Common Interest five years ago and has over “1,600 members—Democrats, Republicans, and independents from across Idaho.” He calls it a “citizens’ group to put practical solutions ahead of special interest and partisan politics.” They have had success in cutting taxes (what Keith Allred, a Democrat, calls fun) in 2006 and helped protect our property rights.
With a Governor Allred, I can foresee Republicans and Democrats working together again. We need someone with the experience as a mediator and the respect of both parties to fix the mess Otter and his cronies have gotten us into. Keith Allred has both of those because what we have isn’t working. Otter has chosen again and again to ignore the needs of regular Idahoans when he increased our vehicle tags by 138% and only raised the heavy trucking industry by a mere 5%. Then in the most partisan state of the state speech I have ever heard, Otter went on a witch hunt to cut funds for everything that appeared to have ties to anything progressive.
Funny thing happened…it turns out that it is not just the liberals that watch Idaho Public Television and a lot of republicans like our parks, too. Saturday night Allred challenges Otter’s “irrational pessimism” stating that he ignores four different evidence-based projections of more than $80 million in new revenue next year.” This of course translates into massive cuts to education. Instead of putting our heads together and coming up with solutions, Otter’s ear is bent to those who either lobby for prisons or trucking or the just say no group. The republicans and moderates that I respect don’t think like that and neither does Allred. Not only is Keith from Twin Falls, but he has the respect of, not only my Democrat, but many of my Republican friends and neighbors.
No, Keith luckily doesn’t have a haircut like Testor’s, but this city girl has finally found a cure for her winter blues.
Check out Keith Allred’s websites at http://www.allredforidaho.com/www.allredforidaho.com and http://www.facebook.com/allredforidaho
