The senior Senator from Vermont will be in the spotlight today as head of the Judiciary Committee trying to get some semblance of truth about the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys from Alberto Gonzales.
In an era when “politician” is an epithet, Leahy is a reminder of how it used to be. Anyone who can inspire his opponent to endorse him during a campaign and then drive Dick Cheney to cuss him out in the Senate deserves a closer look.
A former prosecutor, Leahy was the first Democrat elected to the Senate by Vermont since the Civil War and has been there over thirty years.
With no Presidential ambitions, he voted against invading Iraq in 2002 and has been perhaps the most vocal critic of the Bush Administration’s abuse of citizens’ privacy since then.
Republicans like to portray him as Gonzales’ Javier, Democrats as a Frank Capra hero. But Leahy, an ardent fan of the Grateful Dead and U-2, is no stereotype, just an honest politician seemingly doing his best to stay that way. There used to be more of them.
Vermont has a way of electing strong-minded people--Bernard Sanders, an independent who calls himself a Socialist but votes with the Democrats, and Howard Dean, a governor who exploded on the national scene by vocally opposing the Iraq war and then imploded by screaming on TV after the 2004 Iowa caucuses.
There must be something in the water.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Being Groomed for President
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Cho's Network of Choice
Why NBC? Between killings, why did Cho Seung-Hui send Steve Capus, News President of NBC, his package of videos and photographs?
The most likely answer is that Capus was the only network news executive he knew of, after seeing him on TV in those now-distant days of the Imus crisis.
But the real news is that Cho, described a thousand times this week as a "loner," was after all in the classic mold of assassins who use murder as the only way to break out of their unbearable anonymity--Lee Harvey Oswald, Arthur Bremer and the rest.
After shooting and paralyzing Alabama governor and Presidential candidate George Wallace in 1972, Bremer asked his captors, "How much do you think I'll get for my memoirs?"
Cho apparently couldn't wait to find out.
The most likely answer is that Capus was the only network news executive he knew of, after seeing him on TV in those now-distant days of the Imus crisis.
But the real news is that Cho, described a thousand times this week as a "loner," was after all in the classic mold of assassins who use murder as the only way to break out of their unbearable anonymity--Lee Harvey Oswald, Arthur Bremer and the rest.
After shooting and paralyzing Alabama governor and Presidential candidate George Wallace in 1972, Bremer asked his captors, "How much do you think I'll get for my memoirs?"
Cho apparently couldn't wait to find out.
Clinton Sinking
Gallup has more bad news for Hillary Clinton today: Her image has slipped below the water line with 52 percent of Americans having an unfavorable view of her. After months of campaigning, her "likability scores" are going down.
What's worse is not only do Democrats feel better about Barack Obama and John Edwards than they did earlier this year but, unlike Senator Clinton, they have more voters with "no opinion" of them (20 and 17 percent respectively) who they might win over. Only three per cent say they have not made up their mind about her. When candidates start debating later this month, the race will be wide open.
Ironically, Americans liked Hillary Clinton much better when her husband was being impeached. Two out of three had a favorable opinion of her then.
What's worse is not only do Democrats feel better about Barack Obama and John Edwards than they did earlier this year but, unlike Senator Clinton, they have more voters with "no opinion" of them (20 and 17 percent respectively) who they might win over. Only three per cent say they have not made up their mind about her. When candidates start debating later this month, the race will be wide open.
Ironically, Americans liked Hillary Clinton much better when her husband was being impeached. Two out of three had a favorable opinion of her then.
Remedial Journalism from Shanghai
Conventional wisdom has it that excitable bloggers spread false rumors during a crisis and muddy the informational waters, as opposed to the responsible, reliable old Main Stream Media.
Now here is James Fallows, a pillar of the MSM, from Shanghai taking to the woodshed another MSM outlet, the Chicago Sun-Times, for riling up the world's most populous nation by hawking a story that the Virginia Tech killer was Chinese and, when it proved unfounded, trying to burying the links to it.
Nice going, Sun-Times. Rupert Murdoch may no longer own you, but his legacy lives on.
Now here is James Fallows, a pillar of the MSM, from Shanghai taking to the woodshed another MSM outlet, the Chicago Sun-Times, for riling up the world's most populous nation by hawking a story that the Virginia Tech killer was Chinese and, when it proved unfounded, trying to burying the links to it.
Nice going, Sun-Times. Rupert Murdoch may no longer own you, but his legacy lives on.
Gates: Dems' Anti-War Pressure "Positive"
"The debate in Congress...has been helpful in demonstrating to the Iraqis that American patience is limited," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters in Jordan yesterday. "The strong feeling expressed in the Congress about the timetable probably has had a positive impact...communicating to the Iraqis that this is not an open-ended commitment."
On a Middle East tour, Gates was reacting to Muqtada al-Sadr's decision to pull out six followers from the Iraqi cabinet, expressing hope that "broadening representation" might be "positive."
It would be easy to dismiss Gates' comment as wishful thinking, but recognizing the value of Congressional opposition to the war is a huge step forward for the Bush Administration--a reality-based wishful thinking in contrast to the dream world that Donald Rumsfeld inhabited.
Now if only Bush and Cheney can resist the temptation to have Gates "clarify" his statement by denying it...
On a Middle East tour, Gates was reacting to Muqtada al-Sadr's decision to pull out six followers from the Iraqi cabinet, expressing hope that "broadening representation" might be "positive."
It would be easy to dismiss Gates' comment as wishful thinking, but recognizing the value of Congressional opposition to the war is a huge step forward for the Bush Administration--a reality-based wishful thinking in contrast to the dream world that Donald Rumsfeld inhabited.
Now if only Bush and Cheney can resist the temptation to have Gates "clarify" his statement by denying it...
Rescue Fantasies
I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around--nobody big, I mean--except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff--I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. --Holden Caulfield, Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.
In the era of televised traumas--Kennedy’s assassination, the killing of John Lennon, 9/11--it’s hard not to feel guilty over our helplessness and seek outlets for those feelings.
For months after November 22, 1963, many Americans would awake from sweat dreams of the Dallas motorcade, book depository, silent screams, slow-motion lunges at a relentless assassin, images of rescues going awry.
Now the Web is alive with Virginia Tech shoulda-woulda- couldas--conservatives blaming the victims for not overpowering the shooter, liberals deriding the blamers for their armchair courage.
Both sides cite the 76-year-old Israeli professor who died saving his students, but there is no moral equivalence between a Holocaust survivor and sheltered young people whose experience of murder is limited to movies and video games.
Perhaps the best way to settle the argument is to blame the video games, as Dr. Phil did last night on Larry King. That kind of wisdom will help us all sleep better.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Insane Fame
Cho Seung-Hui, anonymous in a world he hated while alive, is now a subject of universal interest and insatiable curiosity. We want to know every detail of his miserable life that led to the deranged murder of all those innocent people.
What comfort will those millions of words and images give us? What can we possibly learn from all that talk about an insane act? Why can't we grieve in silence and put it behind us?
In our media-saturated world, that's just not possible. For these few days, that bloody campus is and will be as much a part of our lives as the homes we live in and the places we work.
That may be the best evidence that we, unlike Cho Seung-Hui, are connected to one another in a human way that makes us incapable of doing what he did, and that may be why putting ourselves through all this is more than morbid curiosity.
What comfort will those millions of words and images give us? What can we possibly learn from all that talk about an insane act? Why can't we grieve in silence and put it behind us?
In our media-saturated world, that's just not possible. For these few days, that bloody campus is and will be as much a part of our lives as the homes we live in and the places we work.
That may be the best evidence that we, unlike Cho Seung-Hui, are connected to one another in a human way that makes us incapable of doing what he did, and that may be why putting ourselves through all this is more than morbid curiosity.
Body Counts
The Virginia Tech victims are being identified, next of kin notified, and soon we will know all their names, ages and home towns. The registry of the dead will be closed.
In Iraq, out of our sight, the body counts never stop. This month alone, 64 of our young people have died there so far, bringing the total to 3311, 73 of them women.
There is no wall in Washington, yet, to commemorate those lives wasted or sacrificed (depending on John McCain’s discretion), but if you want to know their names, ages, ranks and home towns, there is a web site that meticulously lists them.
While our eyes were fastened on Blacksburg, those who died in Iraq yesterday (that we know of) were Shaun M. Blue, 25, Marine 1st Lieutenant, Munster, Ind.; Jesse D. Delatorre, 29, Marine Lance Corporal, Aurora, Ill.; and Daniel R. Scherry, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, Rocky River, Ohio.
There will be more tomorrow.
In Iraq, out of our sight, the body counts never stop. This month alone, 64 of our young people have died there so far, bringing the total to 3311, 73 of them women.
There is no wall in Washington, yet, to commemorate those lives wasted or sacrificed (depending on John McCain’s discretion), but if you want to know their names, ages, ranks and home towns, there is a web site that meticulously lists them.
While our eyes were fastened on Blacksburg, those who died in Iraq yesterday (that we know of) were Shaun M. Blue, 25, Marine 1st Lieutenant, Munster, Ind.; Jesse D. Delatorre, 29, Marine Lance Corporal, Aurora, Ill.; and Daniel R. Scherry, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, Rocky River, Ohio.
There will be more tomorrow.
Fred Tompson's Career Move: Invade Iran?
To follow the fortunes of the Republican party requires close reading of both the political press and the TV trade journals: Will Thompson Jump Into the Race? Has Law & Order Jumped the Shark?
TV’s longest-running drama is “on the bubble” between renewal and cancellation, so even if Thompson is going to run, in fairness to “Law & Order,” he can’t announce until the May rating sweeps are over or equal-time rules will kick his show off the air.
Running second in the polls, Thompson has undoubtedly decided to audition for the ’08 reality-show version of “The West Wing,” and his party’s Pooh-Bahs have been busy appraising his credentials as a true-blue conservative.
The verdict so far seems favorable. In a cover story, their house organ the Weekly Standard has deemed him “the politically aggressive conservative that George W. Bush hasn't been for four years.”
The rest of us might have some cause to worry. Not only is Thompson gung-ho on Iraq, he wants to invade Iran as well.
According to the Standard, “Thompson says that the actions of the Iranian regime...are acts of war. He stops short of calling for a military response, but seems to suggest that he would be saying something different if circumstances were different...’I think the bottom line with Iran is that nothing is going to change unless there is a regime change.’"
If Thompson gets to the White House, we may have re-runs of more than “Law & Order.”
TV’s longest-running drama is “on the bubble” between renewal and cancellation, so even if Thompson is going to run, in fairness to “Law & Order,” he can’t announce until the May rating sweeps are over or equal-time rules will kick his show off the air.
Running second in the polls, Thompson has undoubtedly decided to audition for the ’08 reality-show version of “The West Wing,” and his party’s Pooh-Bahs have been busy appraising his credentials as a true-blue conservative.
The verdict so far seems favorable. In a cover story, their house organ the Weekly Standard has deemed him “the politically aggressive conservative that George W. Bush hasn't been for four years.”
The rest of us might have some cause to worry. Not only is Thompson gung-ho on Iraq, he wants to invade Iran as well.
According to the Standard, “Thompson says that the actions of the Iranian regime...are acts of war. He stops short of calling for a military response, but seems to suggest that he would be saying something different if circumstances were different...’I think the bottom line with Iran is that nothing is going to change unless there is a regime change.’"
If Thompson gets to the White House, we may have re-runs of more than “Law & Order.”
McCain Misfires Again
The Senator from Arizona seems intent on disqualifying himself for the White House. Why else would he choose yesterday of all days for a ringing endorsement of the Constitutional right to bear arms?
Asked about the Virginia Tech massacre, McCain replied: "We have to look at what happened here, but it doesn't change my views on the Second Amendment, except to make sure that these kinds of weapons don't fall into the hands of bad people...Obviously we have to keep guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens."
Yesterday's shooter very likely had no prior record to keep him from buying his rapid-fire, big-clip guns, so McCain is defending his right to keep them until they were pried from his cold, dead hands.
Someone should explain to the Senator when straight talk becomes stupid talk and let him know that the warranty on American sympathy for his POW ordeal has just run out.
Asked about the Virginia Tech massacre, McCain replied: "We have to look at what happened here, but it doesn't change my views on the Second Amendment, except to make sure that these kinds of weapons don't fall into the hands of bad people...Obviously we have to keep guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens."
Yesterday's shooter very likely had no prior record to keep him from buying his rapid-fire, big-clip guns, so McCain is defending his right to keep them until they were pried from his cold, dead hands.
Someone should explain to the Senator when straight talk becomes stupid talk and let him know that the warranty on American sympathy for his POW ordeal has just run out.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Jon Stewart Misplays Card
The Daily Show host, who stood up nicely last month to John R. Bolton, the UN ambassador who couldn’t get confirmed because of his nasty demeanor, suddenly turned soft tonight in interviewing Andy Card, Bush’s long-time chief of staff.
When Bolton disputed Stewart’s remarks about Lincoln, the man from Comedy Central did not retreat and the next evening brought on Doris Kearns, Honest Abe’s biographer, to back him up.
Tonight Stewart was apparently too charmed to ask Card the obvious question his audience would want answered--about the former Chief of Staff's comment in 2002 referring to the political campaign against Iraq as a "product" and telling The New York Times, "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August."
Too bad. It's the ultimate question a fake-news anchor should have asked.
When Bolton disputed Stewart’s remarks about Lincoln, the man from Comedy Central did not retreat and the next evening brought on Doris Kearns, Honest Abe’s biographer, to back him up.
Tonight Stewart was apparently too charmed to ask Card the obvious question his audience would want answered--about the former Chief of Staff's comment in 2002 referring to the political campaign against Iraq as a "product" and telling The New York Times, "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August."
Too bad. It's the ultimate question a fake-news anchor should have asked.
Death on the Campus
On August 1, 1966, a 25-year-old student and former Marine named Charles Whitman, after killing his wife and his mother the night before, barricaded himself at the top of a 27-story tower on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin and started shooting. He killed 14 people and wounded 45 before two lawmen finally worked their way up to the top of the tower and shot him dead.
Forty years later, he has been outdone. At this point, we know very little about the man with the guns on the Virginia Tech campus. One of the witnesses has said, “He was just a normal looking kid, Asian, but he had on a Boy Scout type outfit.”
Charles Whitman, a former Eagle Scout from a troubled family, four months before he did it had told a campus psychiatrist that he felt an urge to “start shooting people with a deer rifle” from the University tower. He was on medication for depression.
No matter what we learn about today’s shooter, we will in the end probably know no more about him than we do about Charles Whitman, certainly not what we want to know most: Was there any way to have predicted and prevented his actions?
In all the decades since Whitman, we have learned nothing that could have spared us today. “Mental illness” will undoubtedly be the verdict, but that’s a description, not a diagnosis or possible cure.
Whitman and today’s killer have this in common: They both looked calm and determined, and neither said a word.
Forty years later, he has been outdone. At this point, we know very little about the man with the guns on the Virginia Tech campus. One of the witnesses has said, “He was just a normal looking kid, Asian, but he had on a Boy Scout type outfit.”
Charles Whitman, a former Eagle Scout from a troubled family, four months before he did it had told a campus psychiatrist that he felt an urge to “start shooting people with a deer rifle” from the University tower. He was on medication for depression.
No matter what we learn about today’s shooter, we will in the end probably know no more about him than we do about Charles Whitman, certainly not what we want to know most: Was there any way to have predicted and prevented his actions?
In all the decades since Whitman, we have learned nothing that could have spared us today. “Mental illness” will undoubtedly be the verdict, but that’s a description, not a diagnosis or possible cure.
Whitman and today’s killer have this in common: They both looked calm and determined, and neither said a word.
Words Won't Do
This is a day of pit-of-the-stomach news, of feeling personally violated by TV images of a quiet campus suddenly struck by horror, of watching the aftermath of incomprehensible savagery in a world of laptops, cell phones--and semi-automatic weapons.
For the rest of the day and those to come, there will be a flood of words about the killer's identity and motives, campus security, gun control, violence in modern life, etc. etc. etc. Some of them may be comforting, like what people say at a wake, but in the end we will be left with simply more proof, as if we needed any, of how fragile our civilization is.
The only way to honor those victims is to keep doing everything we can to hold it together. Respectful silence would be a start.
For the rest of the day and those to come, there will be a flood of words about the killer's identity and motives, campus security, gun control, violence in modern life, etc. etc. etc. Some of them may be comforting, like what people say at a wake, but in the end we will be left with simply more proof, as if we needed any, of how fragile our civilization is.
The only way to honor those victims is to keep doing everything we can to hold it together. Respectful silence would be a start.
Stuffed With News, Starved for Knowledge
If 31 percent of Americans don’t know who Dick Cheney is, how many more have no idea of what he is?
A new Pew Center study today tells us that “the coaxial and digital revolutions have had little impact on...how much Americans know about national and international affairs.”
That’s not fair. Ask us about Imus, the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby or the backstage battles at “American Idol,” and we can tell you a lot.
That may not be fair either: Cable news, syndicated gossip shows, talk radio and all the rest certainly pander to their audience’s interests, but they didn’t invent them.
What may be scarier is that “high knowledge” Americans get their news from a strange combination of sources: the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, newspaper web sites, PBS’ News Hour with Jim Lehrer, the O’Reilly Factor, National Public Radio and Rush Limbaugh.
No one could admire Jon Stewart more than I do, but if he is today’s Tom Brokaw, he will be the first to tell you we’re in trouble.
Thirty-five years ago, I wrote, “Americans are stuffed with information but starved for understanding.”
Apparently we still are.
A new Pew Center study today tells us that “the coaxial and digital revolutions have had little impact on...how much Americans know about national and international affairs.”
That’s not fair. Ask us about Imus, the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby or the backstage battles at “American Idol,” and we can tell you a lot.
That may not be fair either: Cable news, syndicated gossip shows, talk radio and all the rest certainly pander to their audience’s interests, but they didn’t invent them.
What may be scarier is that “high knowledge” Americans get their news from a strange combination of sources: the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, newspaper web sites, PBS’ News Hour with Jim Lehrer, the O’Reilly Factor, National Public Radio and Rush Limbaugh.
No one could admire Jon Stewart more than I do, but if he is today’s Tom Brokaw, he will be the first to tell you we’re in trouble.
Thirty-five years ago, I wrote, “Americans are stuffed with information but starved for understanding.”
Apparently we still are.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
The Key to Getting Out of Iraq
We could extricate ourselves from the Middle East by taking all those billions spent on weapons to set up a TV network for every faction in the region.
Tonight the Shiite cleric Muktada al-Sadr announces he will announce tomorrow the withdrawal of his six ministers in the Iraqi government to protest Prime Minister al-Maliki's failure to react to his followers' protest last week to get our troops out of the country. Translation: We're not getting enough attention.
After the ratings coup by Iranian Prime Minister Admadinejad with the British sailors, it is clear that TV cameras can do more than explosives to calm down that part of the world.
It is noteworthy that al-Sadr is not pulling out his members of Parliament, saving that move for another round of headlines and TV bulletins. Attention must be paid.
Tonight the Shiite cleric Muktada al-Sadr announces he will announce tomorrow the withdrawal of his six ministers in the Iraqi government to protest Prime Minister al-Maliki's failure to react to his followers' protest last week to get our troops out of the country. Translation: We're not getting enough attention.
After the ratings coup by Iranian Prime Minister Admadinejad with the British sailors, it is clear that TV cameras can do more than explosives to calm down that part of the world.
It is noteworthy that al-Sadr is not pulling out his members of Parliament, saving that move for another round of headlines and TV bulletins. Attention must be paid.
Scooter Who?
Loyalty is a one-way street in Cheneyville. Asked by Bob Schieffer today on "Face the Nation" about conversations with his former Chief of Staff since Scooter Libby fell on his sword for him, the Vice President answered, "There hasn't been any occasion to do so."
Schieffer repeated his question. "But as your friend, wouldn't you even call and express your regrets?" Schieffer asked Cheney. "I mean, I am surprised to hear you say that."
Cheney said again, "I just—-I haven't had occasion to do that." Asked if he felt at all responsible for Libby's demise, Cheney said, "Bob, I'm simply not going to get into the case. And I think it would be inappropriate for me to do so."
Alberto Gonzales, take note: When you take the fall, this bunch doesn't send flowers or even call.
Schieffer repeated his question. "But as your friend, wouldn't you even call and express your regrets?" Schieffer asked Cheney. "I mean, I am surprised to hear you say that."
Cheney said again, "I just—-I haven't had occasion to do that." Asked if he felt at all responsible for Libby's demise, Cheney said, "Bob, I'm simply not going to get into the case. And I think it would be inappropriate for me to do so."
Alberto Gonzales, take note: When you take the fall, this bunch doesn't send flowers or even call.
Death Threats, Love Offerings
It’s all on schedule. After Googling “sharpton death threat” today, 365,000 hits will lead you to news about the Rev. Al’s beefed-up security after hate mail resulting from his courageous stand against the Evil Imus.
‘Twas ever thus. In 1991, while protesting racism in Brooklyn, the Reverend was stabbed by a drunken Italian gentleman and had to wait 12 years before a court case ended with New York City paying him $200,000 and covering a $7447 hospital tab for failing to provide enough security.
This could not be described as a “love offering,” which is Sharptonese for money that underwrites his expensive causes and extensive, often luxurious travel.
There are so many it’s hard to keep track:
*The $80,000 provided by admirers to pay off his defamation liability in the Tawana Brawley fake rape case.
*The $25,000 donation from folks seeking Harlem fast-fried franchises as the Reverend stood up for the “underchicken” and denounced Kentucky Fried Chicken’s fowl cruelty.
*The $100,000 misunderstanding that resulted in having to return Federal funding for his 2004 presidential campaign.
*The $240,000 a year the Reverend was getting to do commercials for Loan Max, which he renounced after an uproar over the firm’s 360 percent-a-year interest charges that often resulted in taking away cars from the poor.
*The $1.9 million the National Action Network reported in 2002 mostly from unidentified contributors, according to a New York Times report in 2004 on the Reverend’s finances:
“A recent filing with the election commission...provided new details about Mr. Sharpton's income. He disclosed that in 2002 he earned $381,900--$78,000 from the National Action Network; $75,000 from Kensington Publishing, the publisher of his book 'Al on America'; $25,000 from Pepsico for sitting on an advisory board; $3,900 from Inner City Broadcasting for a radio show; and $80,000 from various companies for consulting work.
“Another $120,000 came from speeches and sermons through a company he identifies in his filing and in court papers as Rev. Als Productions...actually RevAls Communications, a corporate identity he created in 1999, of which Rev. Als Productions is a subsidiary.”
But why go on? Uplifting the downtrodden is hard, dangerous work, and we should all pray for the Rev. Al’s safety and appropriate earthly rewards for his endeavors.
‘Twas ever thus. In 1991, while protesting racism in Brooklyn, the Reverend was stabbed by a drunken Italian gentleman and had to wait 12 years before a court case ended with New York City paying him $200,000 and covering a $7447 hospital tab for failing to provide enough security.
This could not be described as a “love offering,” which is Sharptonese for money that underwrites his expensive causes and extensive, often luxurious travel.
There are so many it’s hard to keep track:
*The $80,000 provided by admirers to pay off his defamation liability in the Tawana Brawley fake rape case.
*The $25,000 donation from folks seeking Harlem fast-fried franchises as the Reverend stood up for the “underchicken” and denounced Kentucky Fried Chicken’s fowl cruelty.
*The $100,000 misunderstanding that resulted in having to return Federal funding for his 2004 presidential campaign.
*The $240,000 a year the Reverend was getting to do commercials for Loan Max, which he renounced after an uproar over the firm’s 360 percent-a-year interest charges that often resulted in taking away cars from the poor.
*The $1.9 million the National Action Network reported in 2002 mostly from unidentified contributors, according to a New York Times report in 2004 on the Reverend’s finances:
“A recent filing with the election commission...provided new details about Mr. Sharpton's income. He disclosed that in 2002 he earned $381,900--$78,000 from the National Action Network; $75,000 from Kensington Publishing, the publisher of his book 'Al on America'; $25,000 from Pepsico for sitting on an advisory board; $3,900 from Inner City Broadcasting for a radio show; and $80,000 from various companies for consulting work.
“Another $120,000 came from speeches and sermons through a company he identifies in his filing and in court papers as Rev. Als Productions...actually RevAls Communications, a corporate identity he created in 1999, of which Rev. Als Productions is a subsidiary.”
But why go on? Uplifting the downtrodden is hard, dangerous work, and we should all pray for the Rev. Al’s safety and appropriate earthly rewards for his endeavors.
Upending the Tax-and-Spend Story
As we cheerfully write the checks and stuff the envelopes at tax-deadline time, David Broder in the Washington Post has some news for us: Those terrible tax-and-spend Democrats are working to get the government back to pay-as-you-go prudence after six years of Republican drunken-sailor binging:
“Instead of promising more unaffordable tax cuts that go mainly to the richest Americans, as their Republican counterparts have done for the past six years, key Democrats are imposing some real spending discipline on themselves.
“That is the underreported story in the budget resolutions passed by the House and Senate just before the Easter recess and now headed for tweaking in a conference between the chambers and final approval in the next few weeks...
“By itself, it does not deal with the long-term and massive problems of financing Social Security and Medicare benefits for the retiring baby boom generation. But it can be, if enforced, an effective way of preventing the budget deficit from getting worse.”
It’s becoming clear that, along with the high-profile investigations of Bush wrongdoing, voters are getting good returns on their November 2006 investment in Democratic control of Congress, even though the big one--stopping the war in Iraq--is still fluctuating in the market.
“Instead of promising more unaffordable tax cuts that go mainly to the richest Americans, as their Republican counterparts have done for the past six years, key Democrats are imposing some real spending discipline on themselves.
“That is the underreported story in the budget resolutions passed by the House and Senate just before the Easter recess and now headed for tweaking in a conference between the chambers and final approval in the next few weeks...
“By itself, it does not deal with the long-term and massive problems of financing Social Security and Medicare benefits for the retiring baby boom generation. But it can be, if enforced, an effective way of preventing the budget deficit from getting worse.”
It’s becoming clear that, along with the high-profile investigations of Bush wrongdoing, voters are getting good returns on their November 2006 investment in Democratic control of Congress, even though the big one--stopping the war in Iraq--is still fluctuating in the market.
Grimm Brothers: Gonzales and Thompson
If you like fairy tales, just look at the morning papers. Two Republicans, Fred Thompson and Arturo Gonzales, are updating the Grimm Brothers.
Uncle Fred is recycling the old one from the master storyteller of your parents' time, Ronald Reagan, about the magic tax cuts, the trickle-down and the beanstalk that grows to the sky.
The tooth fairy is back in Uncle Arturo's tale of how, while we are all tucked safely in bed, he and his elves who never sleep have been watching over us unselfishly day and night.
Now, children, just close your eyes until November 2008, and it will be Morning in America again with porridge for everybody.
Uncle Fred is recycling the old one from the master storyteller of your parents' time, Ronald Reagan, about the magic tax cuts, the trickle-down and the beanstalk that grows to the sky.
The tooth fairy is back in Uncle Arturo's tale of how, while we are all tucked safely in bed, he and his elves who never sleep have been watching over us unselfishly day and night.
Now, children, just close your eyes until November 2008, and it will be Morning in America again with porridge for everybody.
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