JUST THE FACTS, M'AM....

As I have read various guest editorials and letters to the editor published in The Albany Herald in recent years, I've wondered what purpose is gained by the Herald's penchant for regularly printing assertions of fact which are demonstrably false. On a page which is supposed to be devoted to opinions, is it too much to ask that the Herald maintain a modicum of integrity with regard to the facts on which those opinions are based? As the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but everyone is not entitled to his own facts.

The recent guest commentary of a Saxby Chambliss Fair Tax supporter is a typical example. The Chambliss acolyte no doubt believes his "facts:" "China backs our dollar, which depreciates the value of the dollar" (any foreign country buying our dollars will cause the value of the dollar to appreciate in value, not depreciate); China is a "socialist country" (while technically true in that in China the government owns the means of production, is misused in the context of the article to make it a pejorative assertion; he is apparently unaware that many Western democracies which embrace freedom as much as Americans profess to do are economically close to a Socialist model-- he probably meant to say that China is a totalitarian Communist dictatorship); "Big Government, with its wasteful spending and higher taxation, has killed off our small businesses" (the U.S. Census Bureau reported that in 2005 there were just under six million small businesses, defined as having from one to 500 employees, which employed just over 116 million people with an annual payroll of over 4.5 trillion dollars; if one includes in the total all non-employee small businesses, there were 26 million).

But the one assertion that caught my eye was the contention that if China calls in its loans from the United States Government, it could somehow "take control of our assets," including "stocks in our military" and "stocks in our resources like oil, natural gas, etc." I must confess, I was unaware that there was a stock market in which one might purchase shares of our military (the Army is down 2 1/2 points today, while the Marines are up 3 points on a volume of two million shares exchanged) or our government owned natural resources (much as the oil companies wish it were so, and perhaps it was closest to that model during the Bush Administration when everything appeared to be for sale, including public lands to developers and the opportunity of Jack Abramoff's clients to receive government contracts and write the laws regulating their industries).

The author also asserts, without a single source cited, that "World economists have proven and examined Fair Tax policies, claiming it [sic] would solve our current problem with the economy." As many problems that our current economy has, including lack of credit fluidity, poor investments by large financial institutions, large car makers running their companies into the ground, spiraling health care costs, and so forth, I have never seen an assertion by any economist that having an income tax instead of a 23% national sales tax was a root cause (or replacing the latter with the former a potential solution) of our recent economic travails.

As I write this, the election run-off hasn't been decided yet. But any voter who went to the polls assuming that a vote for Saxby Chambliss is a vote that will cause the income tax system to be replaced by a national sales tax has failed to address a political reality: if Saxby Chambliss couldn't even get a recorded vote on a Fair Tax bill during the 12 years he was in a Republican controlled Congress (8 years in a GOP controlled House, four in a GOP controlled Senate, until the 2006 election), with six of those years under a Republican President, then there is zero chance that he will get such a bill to a floor vote with a Democratic Senate and a Democratic President setting the agenda. And to be both consistent and accurate, that is my opinion, not a "fact."

HOW LOW CAN SAXBY GO?

Saxby Chambliss' toxic ads are a reprise of his infamous ads linking disabled Vietnam Veteran Max Cleland to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. But Jim Martin and his bride serenely rise above the sludge spewed by Saxby.


In response to the letter in Monday's Albany Herald from Mr. Crisp Gatewood defending Senator Saxby Chambliss and referring to my analysis as "shallow" and as "nothing more than talking points," let me say that the information I provided came from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports that Senator Chambliss' campaign filed, and it also came directly from Senator Chambliss, whom I have known since he was a trial lawyer in Moultrie, and whose campaign responded to a list of e-mailed questions I sent him just before I attended the WALB-TV televised Senate debate.

Senator Chambliss told me that he sees nothing wrong with accepting money from the defense contractors who depend on his vote in the Senate Armed Services Committee. Here are his answers, word for word, on that subject:

"12. Q. Would you support a law banning federal campaign contributions from companies and their employees who are doing business with the federal government?

a. No. Corporations or companies may not contribute to a federal election. Individuals or employees of any corporation or company may participate in the political process by making personal contributions to federal candidates or, if their employer has a authorized Political Action Committee (PAC), they may voluntarily participate through the employer’s PAC. Every American has the right to participate in the political process. Political contributions are a form of speech and are protected under our Constitution. Furthermore, candidates are required to disclose contributions in excess of $200.

13. Q. Have you accepted any campaign contributions from companies or their employees which have federal contracts? If so, why? If not, why not?

a. Yes. Please see answer to 12."

It is a fact, not a "talking point," established by Senator Chambliss' FEC filings, that on two occasions, first in August of 2007, and later in February of 2008, he accepted tens of thousands of dollars from executives of the top grossing defense contractor, Lockheed- Martin, including their Potomac, Maryland based Chairman and CEO, Robert Stevens, whose job was listed simply as "Lockheed Martin Executive" on the FEC filing. It is also a fact that in February of 2006, I had to write a check for $6,000 for protective vests for my son and other members of his unit just before he went on his second deployment to Iraq. The first time he went was on March 20, 2003, with the original invasion force. He had no ceramic inserts for his vest and his Humvee was canvas covered, a situation which existed for hundreds of thousands of troops for years following.

It is a fact that Senator Chambliss accepted thousands of dollars from mortgage companies, banks, and the real estate industry, and it is a fact that he has opposed regulation of those industries.

I'm going to append to this column all of the FEC filings and summaries in case anyone at the Albany Herald wants to ask Senator Chambliss directly, as I did, why he has accepted money from the industries that have depended on his support in Congress.


BANKS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS:

American Bankers Assn $9,000
Bank of America $5,500
Branch Banking & Trust $1,000
Cash America International $-500
Citigroup Inc $5,500
Credit Union National Assn $7,500
Financial Services Roundtable $2,000
Independent Community Bankers of America $1,000
JPMorgan Chase & Co $6,498
Regions Financial $2,500
SunTrust Banks/Georgia $5,500
Wachovia Corp $2,500
Washington Mutual $1,000
Wells Fargo $5,000

REAL ESTATE:

Fannie Mae $10,000
Fidelity National Financial $5,000
Mortgage Bankers Assn $1,000
National Assn of Realtors $4,000
Wells Real Estate Funds $5,000


MEDICAL PROFESSION:

American Academy of Ophthalmology $2,500
American Assn of Clinical Urologists $1,000
American Assn of Orthopaedic Surgeons $6,500
American Assn/Oral & Maxillofacial Surg $1,000
American Chiropractic Assn $1,000
American College of Radiology $2,500
American Dental Assn $5,500
American Dietetic Assn $1,000
American Interventional Pain Physicians $5,000
American Physical Therapy Assn $4,000
American Society of Anesthesiologists $5,000
Cooperative of American Physicians $2,000
American Hospital Assn $4,000
Federation of American Hospitals $1,000
HCA Inc $2,500
Tenet Healthcare $1,000
Triad Hospitals $2,500
Universal Health Services $1,000

HMO'S AND HEALTH SERVICES:

Acadian Ambulance Service $500
Aetna Inc $3,250
Centene Corp $0
Express Scripts $2,000
Louisiana Healthcare Group $2,000
United Surgical Partners International $1,000
UnitedHealth Group $2,000
Wellpoint Inc $8,000

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES:

Abbott Laboratories $5,000
Amgen Inc $4,500
AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals $5,000
Biotechnology Industry Organization $1,000
Bristol-Myers Squibb $2,500
Covidien US $5,000
CR Bard Inc $2,000
Cryolife Inc $600
Edwards Lifesciences $500
Invacare Corp $1,000
Johnson & Johnson $4,500
Novartis Corp $6,000
Solvay Pharmaceuticals $6,000
Steris Corp $2,000
Wyeth $1,000



DEFENSE AEROSPACE:

BAE Systems Inc $1,000
Boeing Co $3,500
EADS North America $1,000
General Electric $8,500
Goodrich Corp $4,000
Honeywell International $6,500
Lockheed Martin $10,000
Rolls-Royce North America $3,500
Textron Inc $5,000
United Technologies $6,000
Vought Aircraft $1,000

DEFENSE ELECTRONICS:

Advanced Solutions for Tomorrow $3,000
Ball Corp $1,000
DRS Technologies $4,000
General Dynamics $8,500
Harris Corp $2,500
Raytheon Co $6,000
SAIC Inc $2,000
Sierra Nevada Corp $1,000

OTHER DEFENSE:

Alliant Techsystems $1,000
Armor Holdings $1,000
Emergent BioSolutions $9,700
General Atomics $1,000
Northrop Grumman $7,500
SRA International $1,000
Washington Group International $1,000


LOCKHEED-MARTIN INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTORS:
FROM FEC DISCLOSURE REPORT BY SAXBY CHAMBLISS:

Chairman, President, and CEO Robert J. Stevens
2007 Sales (mil.) $41,862.0 (41 billion dollars)
2007 Employees 140,000


BRUNO, SALVATORE
FREMONT, CA 94536
LOCKHEED MARTINVICE PRESIDENT GEN 02/28/2008 1000.00

BURBAGE, TOM
ALPHARETTA, GA 30005
LOCKHEED MARTINEX. VICE PRESIDENT 08/10/2007 1000.00

BURICK, RAYMOND
KENNESAW, GA 30152
LOCKHEED MARTIN VICE PRESIDENT 08/02/2007 1000.00

CESSARIO, NICHOLAS
MARIETTA. GA 30063
LOCKHEED MARTIN PROGRAM MANAGER 08/03/2007 1000.00

CHAUDET, STEPHEN
ARLINGTON, VA 22201
LOCKHEED MARTIN EXECUTIVE 08/02/2007 1000.00
#2 03/06/2008 1000.00

CRANDALL, MYLES
PLEASANTON, CA 94566
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP.VP STRATEGIC 02/28/2008 1000.00

CROCKER, JAMES
CASTLE ROCK, CO 80104
LOCKHEAD MARTIN CORP.VICE PRESIDENT 03/28/2008 1000.00

CROWLEY, MARK
MORGAN HILL, CA 95037
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP. VICE PRESIDENT 03/24/2008 500.00

DAHLBERG, GREGORY
ALEXANDRIA, VA 22308
LOCKHEED MARTIN EXECUTIVE 08/02/2007 1000.00
#2 (misspelled as “Delberg in #2) 03/07/2008 1000.00

DAILEY, BRIAN
ARLINGTON, VA 22209
LOCKHEED MISSILES & SPACE BUSINESS 08/02/2007 1000.00
#2 (misspelled as “Brien” in #2) 03/06/2008 1000.00

DUNCAN, LAWRENCE
BETHESDA, MD 20816
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP.EXECUTIVE 04/11/2008 500.00

GRANT, JAMES
COLLEYVILLE, TX 76034
LOCKHEED MARTINE XECUTIVE 08/02/2007 1000.00

HAINES, DAVID
MARIETTA, GA 30068
LOCKHEED MARTIN VICE PRESIDENT 08/10/2007 1000.00

HEATH, RALPH
ALEDO, TX 76008
LOCKHEED MARTIN
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT 08/01/2007 1000.00
#2 03/06/2008 1000.00

INGLEE, WILLIAM
ALEXANDRIA, VA 22309
LOCKHEED MARTIN EXECUTIVE 08/02/2007 1000.00

JOHNSTONE, J BRIAN
MARIETTA, GA 30064
LOCKHEED MARTIN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 08/02/2007 500.00


KRISCH, CHARLES
NEW HOPE, PA 18938
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP.EXECUTIVE 03/06/2008 1000.00

KUBASIK, CHRISTOPHER
POTOMAC, MD 20854
LOCKHEED MARTIN EXECUTIVE 08/02/2007 500.00

MAGUIRE, JOANNE
MANHATTAN BEACH, CA 90266
LOCKHEED MARTIN EXECUTIVE 02/28/2008 1000.00

OVERSTREET, JACK
BURKE, VA 22015
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP.V.P.LEGISLA 08/02/2007 1000.00

REYNOLDS, ROSS
ACWORTH, GA 30101
LOCKHEED MARTIN EXECUTIVE 09/21/2007 1000.00

RHYANT, LEE
ROSWELL, GA 30075
LOCKHEED MARTINEXECUTIVE 08/02/2007 1000.00

RUE, STACIE
SAN JOSE, CA 95120
LOCKHEED MARTIN GOVT RELATIONS 03/06/2008 500.00

SEALBACH, MARIJEAN
SUNNYVALE, CA 94087
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP.VICE PRESIDENT 02/28/2008 1000.00

SHREWSBURY, JUNE
COLLEYVILLE, TX 76034
LOCKHEED MARTIN
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT 03/06/2008 1000.00

STEVENS, ROBERT
POTOMAC, MD 20654
LOCKHEED MARTIN EXECUTIVE
(note: he is Chairman,
President & CEO but
did not list that) 08/01/2007 1000.00
#2 03/07/2008 1000.00

STEVENSON, RICHARD
ALEDO, TX 76008
LOCKHEED MARTIN EXECUTIVE 08/02/2007 1000.00

STREATKER, JOHN
SAN JOSE, CA 95148
LOCKHEED MARTIN VICE PRESIDENT 03/06/2008 1000.00

SWISTKOWSKI, LEONARD
SAN JOSE, CA 95138
LOCKHEED MARTIN VICE PRESIDENT 03/06/2008 1000.00

THOMSON, J R
LOS ALTOS, CA 94024
LOCKHEED MARTIN VICE PRESIDENT 02/28/2008 1000.00

TRICE, ROBERT
ARLINGTON, VA 22207
LOCKHEED MARTIN EXECUTIVE 08/22/2007 1000.00

VALERIO, MARK
EVERGREEN, CO 80439
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP.
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT 03/06/2008 1000.00

WALTERS, GREGORY
VIENNA, VA 22182
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP. VICE PRESIDENT 04/11/2008 1000.00

WILDFONG, D JOHN
CENTREVILLE, VA 20120
LOCKHEED MARTIN EXECUTIVE 08/01/2007 1000.00

I WANT TO BET WITH STUPID

These two should loan their tin foil hats to Ga. Rep. Repug. Paul Broun, who is among those warning of the dire consequences of an Obama Administration and who think he is a secret Muslim plotting with terrorists to destroy Israel and turn America into a Muslim and/or Socialist and/or Marxist and/or Gestapo run country


To all of the wingnuts out there predicting disaster while cowering in their basements in their tinfoil hats to ward off government mind control rays, and to all of the bellicose Conservative Pundits living in their right wing fantasy world in a parallel universe who have managed a near 100% failure rate on their observations and predictions during the Bush Era, I have a proposition for you. Get 99 of your friends, and each of you put up $1,000 against my $100,000.00. I will bet that none of the following actual honest to goodness wingnut predictions I have received via e-mail, sourced from the Internet (so they must be true! No further checking necessary!) occurs within 2 years of Barack Obama being sworn in and assuming the presidency:

(1) Barack Obama is sworn into office on a Koran, reveals he was a Muslim after all and announces that we are now a Muslim nation.

(2) Barack Obama announces that he was a terrorist (or a supporter of Hamas/Al Qaida/ the PLO/ radical Pakistani religious group) and that he will now use U.S. planes to bomb U.S. cities and/or take over the United States in the name of (the previous organization or any Islamic group).

(3) Barack Obama states that the United States is now a (you can pick either one) Socialist/Communist country and all industry and wealth is now owned by the government and all wealth will be redistributed to the poorest and those who refuse to work.

(4) Barack Obama dismantles the U.S. military and surrenders to (pick any of these) Al Qaida/Iran/Kenya/any other African or Asian nation.

(5) Barack Obama will admit that he wasn't born in the United States of America (or a legitimate birth certificate will show up that conclusively proves it in the view of the major news organizations, including Washington Post & New York Times).

(6) An investigation by any governmental agency or responsible news organization (again, Washington Post & NY Times must agree on this one) proves that Democratic voter fraud or ACORN voter fraud allowed Barack Obama to win the election.

(7) President Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist dictatorship.

(8) President Obama will ban gun ownership by Americans.

(The last two were added to pay homage to Georgia Congressman Paul Brown, who aptly describes his own mental faculties: "It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is,.... I'm just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may - may not, I hope not - but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism.")


Off the top of my head I can't think of any other crazy crap that's been floating around the Internet. But if you point it out to me I'll add it to the list. [Note: this post has already changed to add # 7 and #8.] Remember, all you need is one of the above batshit insane things to occur and you get $1,000 and I lose $100,000.00 Surely you can find at least 99 other people wearing tinfoil helmets who believe everything sent to them via e-mail or that shows up on the internet (else the Nigerian oil minister would be broke by now).

My point is that I would really like to see the purveyors of this crap put some money in my pocket. We can select a trustworthy stakeholder. If you can't find 99 others to match, you can put up as much as you want, up to $100,000.00. The deadline for accepting this offer is November 30, 2008.

Jim

(Note to first poster who comments that he has never seen any of these predictions on the Internet: Read Rep. Broun's statements on #7, which was added after your post, and go to Conservapedia's entry on Barack Obama: "President-elect Obama could become the first Muslim President to be sworn into office at his inauguration on January 20, 2009, possibly using the Koran.[4]..... Obama is the first person having ties to a known former terrorist to gain control over America's nuclear weapons" http://www.conservapedia.com/Obama
JF)

RESPONSE TO JONAH GOLDBERG'S USA TODAY COLUMN

This letter was sent to USA Today in response to a curmudgeonly whine by freedom and democracy opponent Jonah Goldberg, who approves of young American Muslims being sent to fight- and die- in the war championed by Goldberg while he cowers in his parents' basement; but he opposes their being allowed to vote for President

Here's an election question that everyone should be asking: why do leading publications like USA Today permit bloviators like Jonah Goldberg to appear on their pages? Mr. Goldberg's post election column (Election questions no one ever asks) shed no light on any issue. It was simply a 900+ word whine about the election results from a "pundit" who has been so famously wrong on so many subjects that if he were a football coach his won-lost record would make him unemployable in his profession. Cranky Goldberg's latest column disses young voters, early voting, and voters who couldn't decide whether they were more "anti-Republican" or "pro-liberal"-- in short, everything that combined to defeat his candidate and his party.

What would make Mr. Goldberg's column slightly more tolerable would be to provide the same information- such as the player's batting average- that appears in the baseball box scores on the sports page. That way readers can marvel that someone whose analytical ability misses so often can still earn a living tapping out words on the computer in his parents' basement . On February 8, 2005, Goldberg wrote: "I predict that Iraq won’t have a civil war, that it will have a viable constitution, and that a majority of Iraqis and Americans will, in two years time, agree that the war was worth it.” Almost four years later, with bombs still going off on a daily basis, millions of Iraqis living in fear or refugees in other countries, and a roused American populace having voted in the first anti-war presidential candidate in history, Goldberg's profound yet unerring instinct for missing the mark continues to marvel. Here's a more recent gem: on September 9, 2008, Goldberg wrote that John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin as his nominee for Vice President "has Team Obama rattled and in danger of choking." He went on to say that "Obama doesn't stand up very well against Palin. All of the mythic themes of Obama's political narrative -- the ethics reformer, the bipartisan, the new kind of politician -- all look like press-release material next to Palin's accomplishments."

In baseball it's three strikes and you're out. How many more whiffs does Mr. Goldberg receive before he gets the boot?

THE SENATOR SELLS OUT OUR DEMOCRACY

I commend Donald Pollock, certified public accountant, for his concern for the pernicious influence of money in subverting our 232 year old democracy ("Giveaway mentality kills democracy", November 10, 2008). As a civic minded citizen, Mr. Pollock could put his accounting expertise to good use by reading the reports of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to find out who has been buying our democracy.

Senator Saxby Chambliss has been in Congress for 14 years including 6 in the Senate, and the FEC reports he has raised $12,041,398 for the 2008 Senate race starting on the day he was sworn in in 2003. Mr. Chambliss has consistently opposed regulation of commercial banks and the real estate industry. Those industries put $362,163 (real estate) and $211,248 (banks) towards his re-election- including $10,000 from Fannie Mae, $9,000 from the American Bankers Ass'n, (and $1,000 from my mortgage company, Washington Mutual, which recently collapsed).

In the health insurance arena, Mr. Chambliss opposed any regulations that would prohibit insurance companies from refusing to insure persons with pre-existing illnesses or HMO's from refusing to pay for life-saving medical procedures. He opposed any effort to remove the burden of providing employees' health insurance from America's struggling businesses (GM, Ford, and Chrysler all pay billions in health related costs while their foreign competitors pay nothing). He supported a Medicare prescription drug benefit that prohibited the government from negotiating discount prices and kept seniors from ordering cheaper drugs from Canada. He has been rewarded with $261,861 from the insurance industry, $282,160 from medical providers, and $46,600 from various pharmaceutical companies such as Abbott Laboratories ($5,000), AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals ($5,000) and Johnson & Johnson ($4,500).

Mr. Chambliss, who has served on the Armed Services Committee, failed to ensure that our troops had life saving armored vests and up-armored vehicles when he voted for War in October of 2002 (I had to spend $6,000 out of my pocket for vests for my son and other members of his unit during his second Iraq deployment in 2006) , but he made sure that the largest defense contractor in the world (Lockheed-Martin) continued to get tens of billions of dollars in funding for advanced fighter jets that have no usefulness in the War on Terror. That company supported him with fund raisers in 2007 and 2008, led by its Maryland based CEO, and the company's top executives from Texas to California gave him $36,500 in the span of a few days.

THE CAMPAIGN IS OVER, NOW IT’S TIME TO ACTUALLY GOVERN

One of these men will be sworn in as President on January 20, 2009. What should he do first?




THE CAMPAIGN IS OVER, NOW IT’S TIME TO ACTUALLY GOVERN


I’m deliberately writing this column and posting it to my editors before I know the results of the 2008 election. I don’t want to be unduly influenced- either by elation or depression- by the results. The campaign is over. Now the hard part begins. Whoever is sworn into office come January of 2009 will have to make hard decisions. Here are some suggestions on how to deal with the tough issues that face us:

CAMPAIGN REFORM: If John McCain wins the presidency (about a 10 to 1 shot as I write this) or if the Democrats gain the presidency and retain control of both houses of Congress, their first order of business should be procedural, not substantive. They should take a firm stand on campaign finance reform and give the public what the public wants- clean elections, fought by candidates over real issues that will matter the day after the votes are counted, not anonymous surrogates doing voice over ads with moronic attacks accusing opponents of raising taxes, coddling terrorists, and allowing a million immigrants to move in next door. If the battle for campaign finance reform does only two things: (1) redefine all lobbyist contributions as illegal bribes that will land the recipient and the donor in the federal clink; and (2) provide for public financing of all federal elections- then the rest of the issues will be actually doable and comparatively easy.

CHANGE THE TONE IN WASHINGTON: Whoever runs Congress would do us all a service by turning off the incredibly mean and personal sniping by both parties. What the country needs and voters want is a true bi-partisan working coalition of left and right, North and South, East and West, Red States and Blue States. Here are some ideas that might work:

* Change the rules to allow every Senator and every Representative in Congress to have a recorded vote on at least one bill every year. Each member would be allowed to bring one bill to the floor that could not be amended and would be subject to a recorded vote. Whatever the issue- global warming, high gas prices, providing equipment and better pay and benefits for the troops- there will be no earmarks, no hidden pork, no poison pill amendments that will cause good bills to be voted down by the very people who sponsored them- like the bailout bill that the Democrats filled with pork projects, or during a prior term, a Republican joke of putting a repeal of the estate tax for billionaires on a bill to raise the minimum wage.

* Allow the minority party on committees to exercise subpoena power so that whatever party is out of power will still have the wherewithal to investigate waste and fraud by the current administration- whether it be Republican or Democrat. Amazingly enough, during the 2006 and 2008 campaigns, not one candidate managed to rouse the public to the fact that American taxpayers have been defrauded of billions of dollars by companies operating in Iraq with no oversight. Billions have literally disappeared, along with thousands of weapons and other gear provided by American taxpayers to help equip the Iraqi police- weapons which instead have gone to arm the insurgents because of incompetent oversight. Giving subpoena power to the party out of power will help curtail these outrageous abuses.


* End the practice of party caucuses deciding public business in secret. If it’s the public’s business being conducted, then we have a right to see how it’s being done. If Wall Street hedge funds get laws passed that remove oversight and regulation, if Exxon is going to get a $30 billion tax break, if Merck and Pfizer are going to make billions from a prescription drug bill by keeping seniors from buying cheaper generic drugs abroad, then let’s make the proponents of those travesties have to make their speeches on the public record. No more drafting bills in secret and dumping thousand page pieces of legislation on members’ desks an hour before a vote to avoid a government shut down. Party leaders of whichever party is in power should apply the same “government in the sunshine” laws to Congress that currently apply to most local governments around the country.

ATTACK THE REAL PROBLEMS- NOW: Whether the issue is war, a sane fiscal policy or dealing with with Social Security or Medicare, we need real solutions, not sound bites for next year’s ads. Start with:

* OUR RUINOUS NATIONAL DEBT: As tired as I am of hearing Republicans attack my party as being “tax and spend” Democrats, I’m even more tired of the total lack of a riposte from spineless and clueless Democrats, who failed to point out that the Republicans’ “borrow and spend” antics have driven the national debt up from $5 trillion to over $10 trillion in seven plus years under President Bush. We are all stuck with the bill when Congress spends money on expensive new weapons or a drug benefit that will make more billions for drug companies without having the revenue to pay for it. We’re the ones paying $350 billion annual interest on that $10 trillion. It’s time to pay the piper, and better now that later, before the interest payments alone swallow all of our tax revenues. We’re going to have to make hard choices, and going to a zero based budgeting system requiring every agency, every department, to justify every dollar spent, is one way to start. Enacting real campaign finance reform and eliminating all money from lobbyists to candidates is the only way truly responsible budgeting will ever be possible.

* GLOBAL WARMING: Scientists have predicted that there is a “tipping point” not too far away after which, if we don’t address global warming , we are all in deep trouble. Once the ice caps reach a certain stage of melt down and glaciers have all but disappeared, once the seas have warmed and started to rise, we don’t get a “do over” to get them back. When the process gets that far along, it won’t be reversed. Letting energy companies get away with paying scientists to muddy the issue and delay the inevitable is irresponsible governing, and a bi-partisan consensus needs to be reached before it’s too late for the planet and its inhabitants.

* SOCIAL SECURITY & MEDICARE: President Bush famously said, just after his 2004 election victory, that he had political capital to spend and he was going to spend it. So while Hurricane Katrina was devastating New Orleans, President Bush was on tour in Arizona and California touting his Social Security privatization plan that would have wrecked the fiscal integrity of the system. Soon after, his political capital was gone. But the problems remain, and no one appears to be interested in dealing with them because of the political fallout. Medicare will go belly up in about 10 or 15 years. Medicaid is already a disaster. And so called “tort reform” capping medical malpractice awards has had zero impact on doctors’ insurance premiums. Someone in power needs to call a “time out” and suggest that for once, we don’t need a committee or a blue ribbon commission. All we need is the willingness to schedule real hearings before committees on the issue with eminent experts to testify and tell us potential solutions. Then schedule real votes- not the “gotcha” kind that are designed to be included in next election’s campaign commercials. Instead of allowing amendments, let each representative or senator put out his or her proposal as a bill that will get an up or down vote (the once a year recorded vote mentioned earlier).

* OUR MILITARY AND FOREIGN POLICY: The next Congress is going to have to deal with the aftermath of the disastrous decisions of the Bush Administration which have decimated the military. Say what you will about John Kerry, but a tactless remark he made had one element of truth- the Army has had to drop its recruiting educational standards lower than they’ve been in 30 years just to try to reduce their shortfalls. What Kerry should have said was that with Bush, you can fail at your education but still be allowed to go to Iraq to serve with the smart kids who are already there. As for foreign policy, traditionally the purview of the President, Congress is going to have to hold hearings, investigate pre-war manipulation of intelligence, the outright fraud and theft of money and materials, and the poor preparation of the military- all legacies of the Iraq War. When Donald Rumsfeld said that you go to war with the Army and the equipment that you have, not the Army that you want to have, that should have been an alarm bell to both Congress and the American public. After all, it’s Congress’ Constitutional duty to raise the army and provision it, not the President’s job. His job is to be Commander in Chief once the army is ready to go and Congress has declared War. Somehow, Congress got left off the hook while the members went on junkets with defense contractors and took millions from them in campaign contributions. So the taxpayers ended up paying billions for useless relics of the Cold War like nuclear attack submarines and super cool next generation jet fighters- all of which are useless in dealing with an enemy using boxcutters, roadside bombs, and hiding in caves in remote mountains or among the general population in urban areas.

In conclusion, the time for stupid ads and moronic slogans (on both sides) is over. Let the real work begin.