Just POlitics

Russia moved WMD’s

NewsMax reports that Russians moved the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction:

According to a former top Bush administration official, Russian special forces teams moved weapons of mass destruction out of Iraq to Syria.

"I am absolutely sure that Russian Spetsnatz units moved WMD out of Iraq before the war," stated John Shaw, the former deputy undersecretary for international technology security.

Social Security wars

"Maybe we ought to focus on the solvency and bring people to the table just over what do you do for the solvency for the next 75 years," Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said.

Sen. Grassley, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee that will be in charge of drafting Social Security reform, sent a message that Democrats were being allowed to avoid Social Security’s financial failings due to obfuscation of the issue with the subject of personal accounts.

"It really has given the Democrats an opportunity to focus on the personal accounts and avoid the responsibility that we all have about the solvency of it," Grassley said.

Grassley suggested that the long term Social Security shortfall could be eliminated by tax increases and benefit cuts.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist today announced that the Social Security Bill may not be taken up until next year.

Meanwhile yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Congress that they must do something with the looming Social Security and Medicare problems.

"I fear that we may have already committed more ... resources to the baby-boom generation in its retirement years than our economy has the capacity to deliver," he said.

Greenspan further warned that if nothing is done that the nation could expect trillions of dollars of deficits in the future.

There is no doubt that this will be one of the centerpieces for the 2008 presidential debate. Sen. Chuck Hagel plans to make his solution to solving the Social Security problem public during a speech next week at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. It relies on personal accounts as the key to reform, similar to what the White House is expected to eventually propose.

The Hagel plan would allow for some of the 12.4 percent federal payroll tax payments made by workers and employers to be invested in financial markets but did not provide further details on what limits it will propose.

The White House is launching their ‘60 days, 60 stops’ tour to bring attention to the fact that there is a Social Security problem. Treasury Secretary John Snow visits Arkansas today in the first of the 60 visits.

"Americans are beginning to have a good understanding the system won't be there unless we act soon," Snow said.

Social Security benefits will have to be cut by 27 percent, or more, in 2042 if nothing is done to the system. The more difficult aspect is that the pay as you go system of paying for Social Security has the workers spending all of their taxes on those who are retired. This system faces a serious challenge due to the decreasing number of workers who will have to pay for those who are retired. The President’s personal accounts would shift the system to those who are working are paying for their own retirement.

In 1950, there were 16 workers paying for one retiree. Today, there are 3.3 workers paying for one retiree. In 2008, there will be two workers for one retiree. The projections are that there will continue to be fewer and fewer workers paying for one retiree.

It will be impossible to use the third option of higher rates of returns to solve the Social Security insolvency if workers are not saving for their own retirement. This is because everything being paid in under the pay as you go system will have to be paid out to those already retired.

This will leave only the two options expressed by Sen. Grassley” raising taxes and cutting benefits.

DNC gets personal

The Democratic National Committee is sending out personalized messages to the faithful to spread the word on what terrible things President Bush is doing:

Iowa residents are facing severe cuts if George Bush's new budget becomes law -- but you can help stop it in its tracks.

Bush recently unveiled his reckless plan to privatize Social Security, and now he's touting a budget that slashes key programs that help Iowa's working families.

Bush plans devastating cuts to America's top priorities, from homeland security to health care to education to benefits for veterans and much more. Despite these cuts, this budget is a fiscal disaster, with Bush's trademark irresponsibility pushing America deeper into the red with another record deficit.

And this budget is a huge disaster for Iowa. Here are just a few of the cuts Iowa faces under Bush's 2006 budget:

Homeland Security

·        The Bush 2006 budget cuts $420 million to state and local funding for homeland security, including a $14.3 million cut for Iowa. These cuts will take police and firefighters off your streets.

·        The Bush budget cuts the COPS program, which has put 745 officers on Iowa streets, by 96 percent.

Health Care

·        The Bush budget cuts $45 billion from Medicaid, enough to provide health care to 1.8 million children. Iowa's share of these cuts is $386 million.

·        Bush's budget cuts the very same community and rural health care programs he touted during the campaign, even though more than 76,000 Iowa residents have lost their health care coverage since Bush took office due to his failures.

Education

·        Bush underfunds his own No Child Left Behind Act by $13.1 billion in his budget. In Iowa, that means a shortfall of $69.3 million, leaving behind 14,290 Iowa children.

·        Bush promised to fund Pell Grants in his State of the Union address, but his budget is $6.6 billion short. That's $75.9 million less than what's needed in Iowa, a real burden for the 58,868 students in Iowa who receive the grants.

Other Priorities

·        Bush cuts $9.2 million from Iowa job training programs in his 2006 budget.

·        The Bush budget would require many veterans to pay a new $250 annual "user fee" to use the Veterans Administration health care system, and would double the prescription drug co-payment for the 292,020 Iowa veterans.

·        Bush cuts Iowa clean water programs by $5.2 million.

·        Bush's 2006 budget also cuts the Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program -- which helps low-income families afford heating fuel in the winter -- by $234.4 million, including $4.3 million cut for Iowa residents.

And Bush's irresponsible budget is a record $427 billion in the red, increasing each Iowa family's share of the federal debt by $37,496.

MoveOn... making a joke of politics

RollingStone magazine [LINK] recently wrote of MoveOn.org:

They signed up 500,000 supporters with an Internet petition -- but Bill Clinton still got impeached. They organized 6,000 candlelight vigils worldwide -- but the U.S. still invaded Iraq. They raised $60 million from 500,000 donors to air countless ads and get out the vote in the battle-ground states -- but George Bush still whupped John Kerry. A gambler with a string of bets this bad might call it a night. But MoveOn.org just keeps doubling down.

Now that Howard Dean has been named chair of the Democratic National Committee -- an ascension that MoveOn helped to engineer -- the Internet activist group is placing another high-stakes wager. It's betting that its 3 million grass-roots revolutionaries can seize the reins of the party and establish the group as a lasting political force. "It's our Party," MoveOn's twenty-four-year-old executive director, Eli Pariser, declared in an e-mail. "We bought it, we own it and we're going to take it back." The group's new goal is sweeping in its ambition: To make 2006 a watershed year for liberal Democrats in Congress, in the same way that Newt Gingrich led a Republican revolution in 1994.

...MoveOn's values aren't middle-American values. They're the values of an educated, steadily employed middle and upper-middle class with time to dedicate to politics -- and disposable income to leverage when they're agitated. That's fine, as long as the group sticks to mobilizing fellow travelers on the left. But the risks are greater when it presumes to speak for the entire party....

It is no coincidence that Howard Dean was MoveOn’s number one choice for president – the failed candidate whose campaign burned through over 40 million dollars but only won one primary (Dean’s home state of Vermont.) – and was MoveOn’s choice for DNC chairman.

Talk about no bang for your buck!

And it would appear that MoveOn.org seems to want to continue to make politics into a joke. If they keep it up long enough maybe they will become a joke as well. Here is their latest endeavor:

Dear MoveOn member,

The Republicans are running a $100 million public relations blitz to convince Americans to privatize Social Security. Today, we're launching a contest to find an entertaining, memorable, and persuasive Macromedia Flash piece that can pierce the Republicans' spin. (A Flash is a kind of animation, game, slide show, or program that can be easily viewed on the Internet.) We believe that when we put our heads together, our creativity and authenticity can beat high-priced PR any day of the week.

During the election, MoveOn Voter Fund's Bush in 30 Seconds contest asked MoveOn members to make political ads about the real George W. Bush. Over a thousand people across the country submitted ads, and political media expert Kathleen Hall Jamieson said the winning ad, Child's Pay, may rank as "the ad that has achieved the most air time with the least dollars expended of any ad in the history of the republic."¹

Now we're announcing Bush in 30 Years, a contest to find the best online Flash animation, game, or application exposing Bush's real plan for the retirees of the next generation. Joining us in this effort is a great panel of celebrity judges -- actor John Cusack, comedian and radio host Al Franken, columnist Arianna Huffington, filmmaker Richard Linklater, and animator Aaron McGruder. MoveOn members will pick 10 finalists, and the judges will decide on a winner. We'll run the winning Flash on major news and youth websites. And to sweeten the deal, we'll give the winner a brand new Apple PowerBook.

Interested in making a Flash piece for Bush in 30 Years? Learn all about the contest at:

China: U.S. violates human rights

The Washington Post carries the story of how China and other countries are claiming the U.S. is hypocritical when it comes to human rights:

"The International Committee of the Red Cross believed that abuse of the detained Iraqis in the notorious Abu Ghraib Prison was not a single case. It was systematic behavior," Beijing's declaration said. "According to some White House documents that were made public on June 22, 2004, the Department of Defense approved to use harsh means to interrogate prisoners in Guantanamo, Cuba."

DNC gains small donors

According to an analyses released by the Federal Election Commission the Democratic National Committee saw the biggest increase in contributions from $200-and-under donors in 2003-04. It took in nearly $166 million worth, compared with about $38 million in the 2002 election cycle.

The Republicans -- who have always held the advantage in small donors -- fell behind the Democrats in that category. The Republicans brought in a $157 million from such donors in the last election season, and they collected about $103 million in 2001-2002.

McCain’s new book

The Hill reports on Sen. John McCain’s new book deal:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is hard at work on yet another book, slated for publication in the fall.

“Character is Destiny: True Stories Every Child Should Know” will be, according to publisher Random House, "a book for parents to share with their children — original stories that illustrate the character lessons every young person should learn."

Soros being stalked?

The NY Post reports that George Soros is complaining about another billionaire stalking him:

… [B]illionaire George Soros claims right-wing billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife is trying to smear him by posting an embarrassing story on the Internet. Soros is being sued for $6 million by a carpet installer who claims the investor's Labrador attacked him in 2004 when he came to work at Soros' Westchester estate. Yesterday, Cybercast News Service (www.CNSNews.com)

When the end comes

The Washington Times Inside the Beltway reports there’s a party planned for the night Dan Rather officially signs off for the last time as anchor of CBS News:

Atlanta-based author, pundit and media consultant Phil Kent, former president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, tells this column that he's hosting a party on the evening of March 9 in the Buckhead section of the city to honor popular Internet blogger "Buckhead" — otherwise known as prominent Atlanta lawyer Harry MacDougald.

"Harry is the bathrobe-clad guy — literally — who 'outed' Dan Rather and CBS less than four hours after they broke the phony Bush National Guard papers" story, Mr. Kent says.

Byrd’s brain?

The question: Is Sen. Robert C. Byrd is still with us mentally?

While it is possible to construe the history lesson Byrd was trying to present to the Senate and the nation was not saying that the Senate Republicans are like Adolph Hitler, it is far more easily understood from what he said that it did imply that he was saying that the Senate Republicans are like Hitler.

"Hitler never abandoned the cloak of legality. He recognized the enormous psychological value of having the law on his side. Instead, he turned the law inside out and made illegality legal," Byrd said in his arguments against changing the rules regarding the filibuster of presidential judicial nominees.

Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist has stated that he has the votes to sustain a ruling of the Chair that it is unconstitutional for Senators to filibuster presidential judicial nominees. The argument being that the Senate is to provide advice and consent, and that means a vote on the floor of the Senate.

Daschle’s building

The Democrats will be running their Senate campaigns out of a building named for Tom Daschle, the South Dakotan who led them in the Senate from 1994 until his defeat in last November’s elections. The Capitol Hill office will be known as The Senator Thomas A. Daschle Building.

Poll Watching

New York Times/CBS News poll: Bush's approval rating remained unchanged at 49 percent, while 53 percent felt efforts to bring order to Iraq were going well, up from 41 percent a month ago. Those who disapproved of Bush's Iraq policy fell from 55 to 50 percent, while those who approved rose from 40 to 45 percent.

Edwards adds Harvard

John Edwards will be among visiting fellows at Harvard University's Institute of Politics this spring. Visiting fellows meet with student groups to discuss topical issues and their experiences in public and political service; give a public address in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum; and participate in a public policy class with students and Kennedy School of Government faculty.

House approves Trans. funding

The House Transportation Appropriations Committee approved a six-year, $284 billion highway and mass transit bill. The House bill would authorize $225.5 billion for highway programs, $52.3 billion for mass transit programs and $6.1 billion for safety agencies.