Author: Cheri DelBrocco

FREAKS – 1, CLUB FOR PHONIES – 0

After the market ticker had scrolled all day, CNBC ran the prime time Kudlow and Cramer. The show offered stories and interviews impacting economic and business news. Jim Cramer and Larry Kudlow, hosted the program by holding discussions with business world leaders and government officials. The bespeckled, button-downer, Larry Kudlow displayed the smugness of a bemused business professor who found a personal satisfaction in flunking his students.

Having served as associate director for economics and planning in the Reagan administration, Kudlow now owns an investment consulting firm, and is contributing editor to the conservative National Review. Like most right wingers, he is a fervent disciple of the trickle-down philosophies and exploding budget deficit theories of St. Ronnie and the Supplysiders. He recently helped establish a new Republican campaign organization called The Club for Growth Ð a sardonic name with an amusing twist.

As good compassionate conservatives, Larry and his Club cronies have been fondly sponsoring that pithy ad most Iowans, by now, can probably recite by heart. It was featured prominently last week by news networks reporting on the Democratic caucus. It shows a couple of creepy, white haired seniors who look like they were just cast in a version of Alien: Resurrection of Periodonitis. They rip with gusto into the government expanding, latte -drinking, sushi-eating, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving ” freaks” from the Dean campaign and urge them to take it back home to Vermont. No one should be surprised, really. This is faith, hope, and charity – Republican style Can’t you feel the love?

I’ll confess, I received a Starbucks’ gift card for Christmas, so I have enjoyed my tall cafŽ

mochas, without the latte, thank you. Occasionally, I have downed a crunchy shrimp roll with my fill-up at the Asian-owned Gas For Less/Deli Sushi Bar around the corner. Paul Krugman is one brilliant economist who writes the best column in the New York Times. It’s reprinted in the local daily, so naturally, I read it. Although I drive a Mazda, I have taken a ride with my sister and her three year old daughter in the family’s Volvo. America – behold thy freakdom.

Government expanding? After living with a Bush economy for three years – now there’s a subject a freak can understand. The Bush White House and the Republican Congress are spending at twice the rate as under Bill Clinton. So far, Bush has yet to issue a single veto on spending, and the passage of this year’s omnibus bill would mark the third consecutive year of massive discretionary spending growth following increases of 13 percent and 12 percent in the previous two years.

The $400 billion pharmaceutical corporation giveaway, known as payback – excuse me Ð the prescription-drug benefit, signed by Bush last year, will provide the largest expansion of government in a generation. The 2003 budget called for $396 billion in military spending, representing a one-year increase of $48 billion – more than the increase Bush had promised over nine years during his election campaign; more than the total increase he promised for health, education, and defense; and more than any other nation’s entire military budget. Like they say, “a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon we’re talking real money.”

So perhaps if Larry Kudlow and his friends at the Club For Growth could get out of the

Democratic candidate bashing business long enough, they could figure out what actually is growing in America: Poverty is growing , job losses are growing, health insurance costs are growing, and bankruptcies are growing. They are growing like there is no tomorrow. Of course, something else that is growing like an athlete on steroids is the $7 trillion national debt. All that spending like “drunken sailors” will saddle the nation’s future generations with decades, perhaps centuries, of tax increases, low wages, and inflation.

Members of the Club claim to be economic conservatives who are frustrated with politicians who have veered away from fiscally sound policies that promote prosperity and limited government. They advocate for controlling federal spending and minimizing government’s role in our daily lives. Maybe it is time for this organization to change its name to The Club for Phonies because anyone who wants limited government couldn’t possibly want more of the spending and borrowing antics of George W. Bush. Better yet, maybe it is time for those who are concerned about the sham economic policies of this administration and the nasty name calling by its hypocritical supporters to say “Get yur Freak on.”

JUST SAY NO TO JOE

During the election campaign of 2000, when Vice Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman appeared at a local fundraiser, the crowd found him to be cordial and funny. Most had decided it was time to forgive his sanctimonious prime time backstabbing of President Clinton from the Senate floor on the night of the Impeachment.

Despite his repulsive demonstration of disloyalty to his Party and President through his moralizing, self-righteous sermon, his selection on the ticket with Al Gore inspired a sense of confidence in Lieberman’s integrity, honor, and trustworthiness. Obviously, Gore chose poorly and the faithful were misled.

Lieberman’s inability to gain votes on his own merit, leave him with only cheap shots designed to undermine Dean and other front runners. With his recognition of that fact and all his fundraising frustrations, Lieberman can only offer undecided voters cheap shots aimed at his rivals without regard to the long-term cost to the Democratic Party. When it comes to money, the Republicans, and their corporate donors will spend almost a quarter of a billion dollars to gain victory this fall. What Democrats resent is Lieberman’s willingness to cut Bush slack, his inability to define what our country would look like today had Al Gore been properly recognized as President of the United States and providing Karl Rove sound bites ad nauseam about Howard Dean’s Republican media fabricated deficiencies.

Senator Lieberman’s willful attempts to defeat the other candidates, specifically Howard Dean, by name calling and character assassination are desperate attempts that could potentially destroy the Democratic party’s chances of beating George W. Bush. In fact, they serve as a demonstration of his continual promotion of Bush. His barb that Howard Dean is so divisive that he is unfit to lead the nation is both below the belt and over the top. While claiming Dean had crawled into a spider hole of denial regarding the capture of Sadaam Hussein, it appears Senator Lieberman has crawled into his own hole of denial regarding his party affiliation. His pronouncement that Governor Dean is not electable because he makes all Democrats look like untrustworthy weaklings is beyond the pale. That outrageous comment makes Lieberman look desperate and weak. No respectable candidate would assail another with such reckless abandon in the distinct hopes of taking down the entire party. Most are finding this contentious lashing out to be inexcusable and it is likely the reason the senator’s polling numbers have fallen into single digits. Apparently, Lieberman has decided to prove he is the Democrat mostly likely to assist in helping the re-election of George W. Bush by slicing and dicing members of his own party. The old saw, “with friends like this…”is definitely applicable.

Howard Dean has become the front runner because, unlike Lieberman, he’s not afraid to act like a Democrat. He talks about the things that matter to Democratic voters: healthcare, education, jobs, and the security of their retirements. He is candid with the working middle-class about losing their status and how with another four years of Bush, they could wind up becoming part of the exploding population of unemployed bankruptcy filers with little chance of recouping their lost wages. Dean recognizes the Democrats’ anger and frustration with their party’s leadership who have spent the last three years rolling over and playing dead while the present White House occupant has looted the Treasury, turned over the government to corporate special interest groups, and exploited 9/11 with attacks on civil liberties and the unilateral invasion of Iraq. Most Democrats want a strong voice of opposition to Bush and his wrong headed policies and Dean is delivering the truth, unvarnished, about the crookedness of the path and the darkness of the road.

While Americans appreciate Senator Lieberman’s years of contributions to civil rights, women’s rights, and affirmative action, most Democrats find alarming his close alliances with high profile advocates for the Republican party such as Bill Bennett, Gary Bauer, Ralph Reed, and Jerry Falwell. These relationships are wholly inconsistent with most Democrats’ view of the nation. He is clearly out of touch with his support of the war in Iraq, the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, school vouchers and calls for the partial privatization of Social Security. In other words, when it comes to most of the issues, he offers little change and virtually no opposition to the Bush way of running America.

The Democrats have had enough of the back room guffaws from the party in power. The only belly laughing and back slapping Democrats want to hear in November are celebrations and congratulations on a job well done in taking back this country.

City employees have confirmed that Darrell Eldred, Mayor Willie Herenton’s rejectewd nominee for the position of general services director, has resigned effective Friday, January 9.

In a appointment hearing before the city council Tuesday, Eldred was grilled about malfeasance in the general services division, as well as two possible instances of using racial slurs. The deputy director of the division, Eldred told the council he had never had a complaint against him until he and former division director Rodney Eder started an investigation into wrongdoing at the division last year.

Not all council members were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Tajuan Stout Mitchell started to say she appreciated Eldred’s 17 years of service with the city, but then changed her mind and said that she “acknowledged” his time with the city.

Eldred could not be reached for comment.

WILLIE TO W: ‘WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO PEACE ON EARTH?’

When Dubya went home to Crawford for Christmas, he may have listened to some holiday music. As a confessed country music fan, he might have turned on the local radio station to hear Willie Nelson’s latest song. I doubt it. Red, white, and blue Willie, one of country music’s biggest icons, has kicked up a little Texas dirt for the New Year by writing a jimdandy song that is bound to stir passions and possibly, the pot.

It seems Willie, who rarely ventures into protest music, spent some time watching the news on Christmas Day. If he was watching FOX news, he might have wondered if the cow had jumped over the moon and the dish had run away with the spoon. Sandwiched between missives of peace by the Pope and reports of the world’s Christians attending services to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, news from Iraq, delivered by teheeing happychatterers complete with video shots of bombings, bloodshedding, and brutality was served up as entertainment and amusement. Other networks did much the same.

Thus, Willie, in his apparent disgust, penned “What Ever Happened To Peace On Earth”. He will play it on Saturday at a concert to benefit one of the Democratic presidential candidates.

Country and western fans may be finding themselves embroiled in another industry induced conundrum. Since the corporations who run the country music radio stations have demanded the radio personalities to become the purveyors of Republican patriotism and Bush adoration, things have gotten real stupid and totally scary. Last year, when the ever popular Dixie Chicks decided to go public with their feelings of embarrassment about being from the same state as The First Fan, the country music world went into a tailspin. The Chicks suddenly found themselves to be the scorn of the industry, complete with DJ hurled invectives and a boycott of their songs. “Getting Dixiechicked” joined the American vernacular and became a known fear shared by any music artist who might have considered voicing opposition to the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq.

The White House claimed the fans were just giving the Dixie Chicks what they deserved when the industry boycotted them. It remains to be seen whether Willie Nelson’s song will spawn similar reactions and whether he will be brandished by Bush devoting station owners as an unpatriotic, ungodly, evildoer who deserves to be profaned and boycotted by his fans.

The country singer, who has five nominations in the upcoming Grammy Awards said his new song is intended to voice criticism of the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq and those who thought it unpatriotic to speak out against the war. “I hope that there is some controversy. If you write something like this and nobody says anything, then you probably haven’t struck a nerve”, said Willie Nelson. Spoken like a star-spangled patriot and America’s greatest singing cowboy.

What Ever Happened To Peace On Earth

There’s so many things going on in the world

Babies dying

Mothers crying

How much oil is one human life worth

And what ever happened to peace on earth

We believe everything that they tell us

They’re gonna’ kill us

So we gotta’ kill them first

But I remember a commandment

Thou shall not kill

How much is that soldier’s life worth

And whatever happened to peace on earth

(Bridge)

And the bewildered herd is still believing

Everything we’ve been told from our birth

Hell they won’t lie to me

Not on my own damn TV

But how much is a liars word worth

And whatever happened to peace on earth

So I guess it’s just

Do unto others before they do it to you

Let’s just kill em’ all and let God sort em’ out

Is this what God wants us to do

(Repeat Bridge)

Now you probably won’t hear this on your radio

Probably not on your local TV

But if there’s a time, and if you’re ever inclined

You can always hear if from me

How much is one picker’s word worth

And whatever happened to peace on earth

But don’t confuse caring for weakness

You can’t put that label on me

The truth is my weapon of mass protection

And I believe truth sets you free

(Bridge)

And the bewildered herd is still believing

Everything we’ve been told from our birth

Hell they won’t lie to me

Not on my own damn TV

But how much is a liars word worth

And whatever happened to peace on earth

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES

Syndicated columnist Georgie Anne Geyer used her regular op-ed column this week (http://www.uexpress.com/georgieannegeyer/) to look back upon the remarkable international events of the past twelve months. In that column, Geyer calls 2003 a “watershed year,” suggesting it will come in time to be regarded as a turning point in our nation’s history, although not necessarily a good one.

Check out her thoughts on the subject, and then try to remember what you were doing and thinking last New Year’s Day. Then ask yourself the following questions:

1) Last New Year’s Day, we all knew that a presidential decision to embark upon a preemptive war against Saddam Hussein and Iraq was very much in the cards. But could any of us have anticipated the Bush Administration’s launching an invasion of that country with such minimal international support, against the clear opposition of several long-time American allies, and without anything remotely resembling a United Nations’ consensus?

2) This time last year, we all could have expected that President George W. Bush would tell Americans at some point that he was going to war because he was certain that Iraq possessed “weapons of mass destruction.” But could we have ever imagined that, nine months later, the U.S. government would fail to produce a single piece of evidence that those weapons actually existed?

3) Could we have possibly comprehended last New Year’s Day that the administration’s planning for war in Iraq would be so simplistic and so inept as to not anticipate the guerrilla uprising that followed the military “victory” celebrated by President Bush on an aircraft-carrier deck in San Diego Harbor last May?

4) Could we actually have imagined last January 1st, not only the Bush Administration’s failure to anticipate this guerilla-warfare scenario, but also the failure of its key players to understand how their own actions and inactions helped create an ideal environment for chaos, disorder and rebellion?

5) Could we have believed that our senior military leadership — experienced generals most of whom had witnessed, as young officers in Vietnam, what happens when powerful armies fight far away from home in hostile and unfamiliar environments — would go along with a decision to invade Iraq, without first insisting upon a coherent plan for that country’s post-war stabilization, along with a viable American exit strategy?

6) Could we have imagined, just 365 days ago, that President Bush would embark upon this country’s most ambitious military endeavor in four decades — an undertaking with costs spiraling into the hundreds of billions of dollars — while continuing his previous policy of drastic tax cuts?

7) Could we have imagined a Republican Party congressional leadership ignoring altogether the balanced-budget concept that has been a traditional cornerstone of its economic policy, rubber-stamping Administration tax cuts and collaborating with the White House in its continued redistribution of American wealth in favor of our country’s richest citizens?

8) Could we imagine ourselves lending any support to a President whose “war on terrorism” policies would allow Osama Bin Laden to remain at large, the Taliban to regain its strength in Afghanistan, and American military and economic resources to be consumed by the invasion and occupation of a country whose link with 9/11 has yet to be established?

9) Could any of us have imagined that President Bush’s response to critics who raised some of these very questions would be to continue wrapping himself ever more tightly with the American flag, and to keep repeating the mantra: “You’re either with us, or with the terrorists”?

10) Could we possibly have imagined that this President would play the patriot card so stridently that his actions would hinder and obstruct the efforts of an independent commission, chaired by a former Republican governor, trying to get to the bottom of 9/11 tragedy?

11) Last New Year’s Day, could we have comprehended this President, his nation at war, continuing to polarize the country on myriad domestic issues ranging from gay rights to the environment, so much so that this polarization of American politics would appear to be a deliberate part of his 2004 re-election strategy?

12) We could certainly have believed on the first day of 2003 that any invasion and occupation of Iraq would cost the lives of several hundred GIs. But could we have imagined, after that invasion was launched and American soldiers started dying, that the President of the United States would not attend a single one of their funerals?

13) Could we have believed that one of the best-selling toys of the 2003 holiday season would turn out to be an “action figure” of George W. Bush as “U.S. President and Naval Commander,” commemorating his May carrier-deck landing and his declaration there of “victory” in an Iraq war we have not yet and may never win?

14) Could we have possibly believed that the national media would devote countless broadcast hours and thousands of newspaper line-inches to celebration of this San Diego Harbor event, without hardly mentioning the fact that “Naval Commander” Bush was AWOL from his Reserve unit for over a year in the early 1970s?

15) Could we have imagined that, in April, a top New York Times reporter (Judith Miller) would write and be allowed to publish on Page One of that newspaper a banner-headlined story reporting the “discovery” of weapons of mass destruction, deriving her report entirely from an “unnamed source” in the U.S. military?

16) Could we have been able to comprehend that, once that story was shown to be completely fraudulent, that on this New Year’s Day 2004 Judith Miller — unlike Jayson Blair — would still have a job with the Times?

17) Could we have believed that, as part of its endless summer gushing about our Iraq “victory,” the media would celebrate the “heroic” rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch ad nauseum, until Private Lynch herself — a true American hero — demonstrated courage and integrity by saying “enough!” to the military spinners and their media co-conspirators?

18) Could we have imagined, last New Year’s Day, that George W. Bush would have been delusional enough to do many of the things mentioned above, all the while creating a domestic political environment built around fear, and an international one in which America has become more loathed in more corners of the globe than ever before in its history?

19) Now here comes the hard part: Could you or any other sentient being actually have stretched your imagination widely enough to comprehend that, after all this, George W. Bush would be marching merrily into 2004 with a swagger in his step, as an odds-on favorite for re-election next fall?

20) And last but not least: Could you have this time last year imagined that, instead of rising up en masse against the incompetence and wrong-headed policies of this administration, America would have so lost its ethical and political bearings that a majority of the electorate now appears ready, willing, and able to vote for more of the same in November 2004?

The President may be delusional, but a significant portion of the American populace, clearly, has simply lost its collective mind.

Kenneth Neill is the publisher/CEO of Contemporary Media, Inc., the parent company of The Memphis Flyer.

PEGGING THE NEW YEAR RIGHT

Like many kids, my brother had one of those toy shape finders. It came with a little mallet and wooden pegs for hammering correctly shaped pegs into matching holes in a bench. When playing with his friends, inevitably, some would not be able to fit the peg into its corresponding shape.

One kid would always figure out that if he took the mallet and banged and hammered really hard, and forced the peg, even if it splintered or broke, eventually the peg would fit into a hole that did not fit its shape.

George W. Bush has been the kid who has forced the square pegs into the round holes. He has beaten and hammered the country and the world. He has used force to break us, and come hell or high water, he is going to bang those pegs into the shapes he wants, even if they are the wrong ones.

In 2004, we have finally, finally reached another election year. As the year unfolds, it will become clear to voters that after four long years of being forced, divided, hammered, and broken, they will have a distinct choice in candidates and the chance to replace the destructive forces of George W. Bush.

Recently, in The Washington Post, Al From, who heads the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, credited Howard Dean with running a successful campaign, but questioned whether Dean can effectively lead the party as its nominee. “We need to lay out a reason to replace Bush.” From said. Al From should take a break from his efforts to create the Republican-lite a.k.a. Loser Party and listen to Howard Dean, for he has been laying out reasons to replace Bush for months, now. The following are just a few reasons why most Democrats and many Independents think another four years of a Bush administration will be a global tragedy in the making:

Reason Number One: The greatest disaster to ever happen in our country, September 11, 2001, could have been prevented by George W. Bush. He has taken more vacations, more long week-ends, and more taxpayer financed campaign fundraising trips than any President in history. Former Republican governor of New Jersey, Tom Kean, chairman of the independent 9/11 investigating commission said publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented. Why was Bush taking a month off to vacation in Crawford, Texas just prior to 9/11 when he and his national security adviser had been warned repeatedly of its imminence? Why did he fail to alert the American people? Is it too much to ask of the President to stay on the job and not take a month’s vacation if he has been told we might be attacked? Governor Kean promises major revelations in the coming new year, but if his commission raises doubts about the President’s competency, Bush will just take that proverbial mallet and bang away until the will of the people is thwarted and the square peg has fit into the round hole.

Reason Number Two: Bush lied about his reasons for invading Iraq. He squandered the country’s entire stock of global empathy and goodwill following 9/11 by invading Iraq under false pretenses, in violation of international law, and without the approval of most of the world. Bush said Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction(WMD) posed an imminent danger to America, but when no WMD were found, he said we invaded Iraq so we could install democracy there. Bush used 9/11 as a pretense for invading Iraq and repeatedly spoke of Sadaam Hussein and 9/11 in the same breath, as if it was Sadaam Hussein who had orchestrated the attacks on our country. Our efforts should have been concentrated on capturing Osama bin Laden and defeating al Qaeda, but Bush handed victories to the very terrorists he claims to scorn by placing our troops in Iraq. It took 150,000 soldiers, tens of thousands of deaths, and a billion dollars a week to capture Sadaam Hussein. Americans are told the country is safer, but are given warnings of “high alert” for more terrorist attacks. So which way is it? Are we safer? Are we more vulnerable and at a higher risk of another 9/11? Where are the weapons of mass destruction that were such an imminent danger?

Reason Number Three: Under Bush, at the expense of necessary programs such as Social Security and Medicare, the giant corporations who contributed so lavishly to his campaign, are being rewarded. During this administration, three million people have lost their jobs. Daily, the corporate giants announce thousands of jobs being exported to India and China. The Wall Street Journal, recently reported that if this trend continues, by 2010, well over half of America’s high tech jobs will have vanished and America will have completed its transformation from an advanced to a Third World economy! And what about those Bush tax refunds? The $300 in tax relief most middle-income earners received was more than offset by increases in local property and state taxes, tuition hikes, and increased energy costs due to draconian cuts in federal funds for vital state and local services.

Reason Number Four: Bush has transfigured a healthy budget surplus created by Democrats into an endless sea of red ink – in the form of massive federal deficits of over $500 billion. Taxpaying families, their children, and their children’s children will be swimming in debt to pay for what? Endless war, tax cuts for millionaires, and multinational corporate bankrolling.

The national debt has exploded to over $6.9 trillion since 2000. Since then, our currency has declined in value over 30%. This President is asking future generations to pay more taxes, experience high inflation, and suffer a devalued currency to repay the unrealistic tax cuts of his reckless fiscal policies.

So ring out the old, ring in the new! The year to come will surely be a bright and happy one when we get someone in the White House who doesn’t beat, hammer, and bang America by splitting it and forcing it into a shape it doesn’t belong.