A YEAR LATER, THE PEOPLE SPEAK LOUDLY

Progressives can take heart once again after last night’s elections.  In major races and issues across the country and here in Kentucky, the people spoke loudly and clearly as to how they feel about the direction the Republicans have taken us since the 2010 elections.  A year ago this morning, we woke up having given over control of the whole country, state by state, to the Republicans after they campaigned hard preaching and promising that they were all about JOBS, JOBS, JOBS.  Instead, in the year that followed, they did not bring even one jobs bill forward in Congress and they stymied every single piece of legislation President Obama and the Democrats tried to pass to help  the unemployed, suffering Americans.  But they have brought at least 27 bills to the floor that would dictate how women could, or rather, could not control their own bodies.  They have passed legislation prohibiting federal funds to be used for abortion—even though it was already prohibited.  They also passed a resolution just last week that the motto of the United States is “In God We Trust”.  Keep in mind, however, that that was already our motto.  No one that I know of has ever suggested that it should NOT be our motto or that it be changed.  But, in the House Republicans’ infinite ignorance, they felt a need to spend their time, while citizens of this country are unemployed, hungry and homeless, by re-affirming that our official motto is “In God We Trust”.  Well, it’s a good thing that we do trust in God, because we certainly can’t trust our Republican members of Congress to do a blamed thing that might help those of us who are not millionaires and billionaires.  Let us not forget that the very first thing John Boehner and the House Republicans did after the 2010 elections was to establish for every two weeks they were in session, they would take a week off.  Additionally, they have made no secret of the fact that they fully intend to do absolutely nothing to help this country’s economic situation before the 2012 elections.  Nice gig, if you can get it.

            Here in Kentucky, David Williams went down in flames to incumbent governor, Steve Beshear.  He was overwhelmingly defeated by a more than 20 point margin.  All those millions that Daddy-in-law Terry Stephens spent amounted to pretty much nothing.  For some reason, Terry Stephens really, really, REALLY wanted his son-in-law to be governor.  I know for a fact that not only did he spend millions trying to buy the election, but he was also making phone calls all day yesterday trying to twist arms to go vote for his son-in-law.  I happened to be in an office visiting with a friend when his call came in.  But it all came to naught and I am delighted--so delighted, in fact, that I may help the Williams/Farmer machine remove all those “Williams/Farmer” signs that sprouted up overnight near the polling places.  Sadly, though, based upon Williams’ concession speech, his ego simply will not allow him to recognize that the people of Kentucky want him to just go away.  He said, “…The candidate wasn’t nearly as popular as I’d hoped I would be, but the agenda is a correct agenda…”  How deluded can you get?  We can only hope that when it is time for his re-election that the people will once and for all get it through his head, but don’t hold your breath.  His home county and the surrounding counties voted heavily in his favor, obviously having been brainwashed.

            In Ohio, SB 5--the Union-Busting bill that newly-elected Governor Kasich powered through soon after taking office was soundly defeated and will now be repealed.  In conservative Mississippi they were not able to pull off the most restrictive attack on reproductive rights yet—the “personhood” amendment, which would have defined a fertilized egg as a person, thus outlawing any abortion, even in cases of rape or incest.  It would have also made illegal most forms of birth control and made miscarriage a matter for criminal investigations.  Thank God, even in the most conservative of states, reasonable Mississippi minds prevailed—soundly prevailed.  In Maine, after the Republican legislature decided to make it more difficult to vote by eliminating the 38-year rule allowing same-day voter registration, THE PEOPLE swiftly let them know that wasn’t going to fly and re-instated same-day registration.  In Michigan, THE PEOPLE have successfully recalled Republican Assemblyman, Paul Scott, a crony and ally of the Republican Governor Rick Snyder.  And, THE PEOPLE of Arizona have recalled the author of the onerous anti-immigration law, State Senator Russell Pearce.

            If I were Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin right now, I’d be sweating bullets…

            We can only hope that Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, and the rest take a lesson from yesterday’s elections.  But egos and arrogance being what they are and based upon  how big their egos have become and the arrogance they have displayed over the last few years, like David Williams, they will probably continue to be unable to hear  the loud and clear voice that was spoken yesterday by THE PEOPLE.

            All in all, it was a very good day.

RESTORING AMERICA…TO WHAT, EXACTLY?

I want to begin today by explaining to everyone that I will no longer be writing columns for the Russell County News-Register.  On Thursday morning, I submitted my latest column for Saturday's paper (which follows this explanation) and they refused to print it.  The following is the email I received from the editor of the paper after he received my submission:

Kathy,

I have talked with you in the past about writing columns on local folks or issues and it is something we'd rather not participate in at this time. We feel it is in the best interest of the newspaper, and its current management since Mr. Davenport passed, that we steer from this type of column at the present time. We welcome columns for the News-Register on national issues, and as I've told you before you're welcome to continue writing on those topics. Thanks.

Derek Aaron
Managing Editor
Times Journal/Russell County News-Register
270-866-3191 phone
270-866-3198 fax
editor@tjrcn.com
PO Box 190
120 Wilson Street
Russell Springs Ky, 42642

 

I responded to him by saying that I didn't realize that the Kentucky gubernatorial election was a "local" issue.  I am no longer interested in spending my time to contribute to the local paper.  But, I will continue to write and post by blog.  The following is the column that was rejected:

 

 

            As of the last few days, we have been inundated with campaign ads on television bashing Governor Beshear—all of them paid for by a PAC called “Restoring America”, the ONLY donor of this PAC being our own local gazillionaire, Terry Stephens of Stephens Pipe and Steel, the daddy-in-law of governor-wannabe David Williams.  Like Democratic State Chairman, Dan Logsdon said, “Now we know why Restoring America fought so hard to hide its donors, because Restoring America has one donor — Terry Stephens, David Williams’ father-in-law…Now we know why they set up shell committees, laundered money and fought restraining orders. It's become clear that Williams and his father-in-law wanted to avoid Kentucky's campaign finance laws and hide their scheme to funnel money into the support of Williams’ campaign,”

            Of course, Williams’ campaign chairman, Donald Storm denied the allegations saying, “This outrageous allegation is 100 percent false.  Senator Williams does not take lightly these reckless, defamatory comments and believes that those making them should be held to personal account.”  In an email to reporters on Wednesday, Stephens said he didn’t direct Restoring America to support any particular candidate or campaign and denied that there was any collusion or cooperation to support any candidate’s campaign.

            Yeah, right.  The only thing “outrageous” is that either one of them could make those statements with a straight face.  That must be why Stephens addressed it in an email instead of speaking directly to the reporters.  His contribution of nearly $1.4 million came after a $1 million contribution to the Republican Governors Association and only 15 days after he hosted a fundraiser at his home for his son-in-law that garnered nearly $63,000.  It’s difficult to imagine that Stephens is spending all these millions just because he thinks sonny is such a fine man or because he wants to see Robin as Kentucky’s First Lady—no, methinks he might be expecting a much more tangible return on his investment.

            Perhaps it is time for an Occupy Russell County event because this is the perfect example of what the 99% are demonstrating about.  Oh, I forgot, that won’t work because too many people in this county are beholden to the Terry Stephens’es of this county for a job—even if that job only pays minimum wage with no benefits, while he spends the massive profits off their nearly slave-labor on attempting to buy an election for his son-in-law—hopefully, a futile attempt.

            But let’s look at the content of the ads that Pops has funded.  The one I have seen the most often claims that Governor Beshear has pardoned convicted felons.  "When Steve Beshear became governor, one of his early actions was to grant pardons to convicted felons. Governor Beshear has granted partial pardons to at least eight convicted murderers and 14 rapists, allowing them to vote and even run for office." At this point in the ad, you see a grainy black & white video showing men walking out of a prison cell. 

Although the governor has the ability to issue pardons, Governor Beshear has NOT issued any pardons since being in office.  He has, like many of his predecessors, issued “partial pardons” which are also known as a restoration of civil rights, to convicted felons cited in the commercial, all of whom had completed their sentences.  Not mentioned in the ad is that in 2001, David Williams as a state senator, voted with the majority in the General Assembly to make it easier for convicted felons to apply for partial pardons after they left prison or parole.  Those convicted felons mentioned in the ad did just that, and they were able to do it because of the legislation that David Williams help to pass.  The partial pardon does NOT clear their record or restore all their rights, as the commercial attempts to make you believe.

It remains to be seen whether or not Stephens’ millions will pay off the way he wants it to, but we don’t have to wait to see whether or not it was money honorably spent.   I wonder if he’s ever thought of becoming a philanthropist and spending some of those millions on doing something good for his community.  Nah, after all, he’s part of the 1%.

O.W.S. MOVEMENT TERRIFIES REPUBLICANS

            At this writing, we are now in day 26 of the Occupy Wall Street movement and it shows no sign of waning.  In fact it is gaining momentum every day it seems.  There have now been over 250 protests in communities large and small across the nation.  One way you can tell for sure that this movement has legs is by watching and listening to the Republicans.  At first, they were dismissive and barely paid attention.  Then, it was obvious that they were becoming nervous about it and now they are terrified.  This is evidenced by their public comments:

            Peter King, Republican Congressman from New York and Chairman of Homeland Security Committee, called the protestors a “rag-tag mob” and “anarchists” and “anti-American”.  Additionally, he would rather that the media didn’t even cover them.  "[W]e have to be careful not to allow this to get any legitimacy," he warned. "I'm taking this seriously in that I'm old enough to remember what happened in the 1960s when the left-wing took to the streets and somehow the media glorified them and it ended up shaping policy," he said. "We can't allow that to happen."

            After all, the protests in the 60s against the Vietnam War that killed over 56,000 young (mostly poor & middle class, by the way) soldiers that eventually resulted in shaping policy that got us out of Vietnam has been proven to have been a major mistake, right?  And the Civil Rights protests of the 60s that shaped policy so that Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act has been nothing but a major disaster!  I mean, God forbid should we allow average Americans to unify, peaceably assemble and actually shape public policy—now that is REALLY un-American!   Besides, shaping policy is only to be done by the super-wealthy and big corporations.  [Sarcasm added.]

            Republican presidential hopeful, Herman Cain said it plainly enough:  "I don't have facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration," Cain said Wednesday to the Associated Press during a book signing event. "Don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks, if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself!"

            However, the very best indicator that the 99% movement is real and is growing and that the Republicans are scared to death is the way that they are starting to sing a different song in just a matter of days…sometimes hours.  Read on.

            Eric Cantor, GOP House Majority Leader, on Friday said, “I for one am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and the other cities across the country,” Cantor said on Friday. “And believe it or not, some in this town have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans.”  A mere 4 days later, his tune had changed a bit.  “People are upset and justifiably frustrated.  They’re out of work.  The economy is not moving.  Their sense of security for the future is not clear at all.  People are afraid and I get it.”  (Source:  CNN)

            Then, there is Mitt Romney, who on Monday at 12:36 pm at a town hall in Milford, New Hampshire criticized the Wall Street protestors and defended the investment bankers.   “One of the things that has made America’s economy the most powerful in the world is that we have a very capable financial services sector that makes loans and allows businesses to start and thrive…finding a scapegoat, finding someone to blame is not the way to go…”

            Romney, who founded Bain Capital, a private investment equity firm and estimated to be worth over $250 million, then said exactly 6 hours later at another town hall meeting in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, “I don’t worry about the top one percent. I don’t stay up nights worrying about ‘gee we need to help them.’ I don’t worry about that. They’re doing just fine by themselves. I worry about the 99 percent in America. I want America, once again, to be the best place in the world to be middle-class. I want to have a strong and vibrant and prosperous middle-class. And so I look at what’s happening on Wall Street and my own view is, boy I understand how those people feel…The people in this country are upset.”

            Personally, I think what he really understands is that the polls show that now might not be the right time to be singing the praises of Wall Street big-wigs even if his most recent endorser is former New Hampshire senator, Judd Gregg, who is now an international advisor for Goldman Sachs.

            Sadly, the Republicans in the Senate led by our own Mitch “#1 goal is to defeat Obama” McConnell and the ever comical Rand Paul doesn’t yet get it.  Yesterday, every single Republican in the Senate and 2 Democrats voted to filibuster the American Jobs Act, thus preventing it from being passed with a simple majority.  This is an act which would have put thousands back to work re-building our infrastructure and educating our children and all of it would have been paid for by a sur-tax on the super wealthy—a tax that would have been placed on the 2nd million dollars and above they make—not the 1^st million.  That amounts to a tax on .1% of Americans—not 1%--POINT ONE PERCENT.

            If that doesn’t tell you where Mitch “#1 goal defeat Obama” McConnell and the rest of the Republicans stand where you and I and the other 99% are concerned, then I’m afraid you are beyond hope of ever understanding anything.

AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IN ACTION!

            I’m back!  To all of you who thought I’d been “fired” – NOT SO!  It just so happens that I have had a very busy summer and could find no time to write.

As I return, I am so excited about the events taking place in New York and around the country by the average “everyman”, the 99% of the population who have finally had enough and found their voice.  For those of you in Russell County who insist on only getting your news from FOX, I’d like to point out that whether you like it or not, whether you recognize it or not—YOU ARE a part of that 99% even if you are doing the bidding of the other 1% (of which there are only less than a handful here in Russell County).

            The following is the transcript of the Declaration and Call to Action issued by those participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement.  If you really want to be informed about what is happening in New York, other American cities and around the world, you’ll read this because you won’t hear it on FOX News.

  As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, formerly divided by the color of our skin, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or lack thereof, political party and cultural background, we acknowledge the reality: that there is only one race, the human race, and our survival requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their brethren; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give CEO’s exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated gender inequality and discrimination in the workplace.

They have poisoned the food supply, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have continuously sought to end the rights of workers to negotiate their pay and make complaints about the safety of their workplace.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty book keeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.

They have participated in a directly racist action by accepting the contract from the State of Georgia to murder Troy Davis.

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

BUDGET DEFICIT SOLVED ON THE BACKS OF WORKING POOR

Thirty-nine days after Larry Holt (585-2002), Ronald Johnson (566-1887), Brook Cochran (566-4521), Jimmy McQueary (566-1787) and Greg Popplewell (866-1157), magistrates of the Russell County Fiscal Court, decided to solve the county's budget deficit on the backs of the working poor and middle class citizens of this county while giving a break to the wealthy and powerful, they met again for the regular monthly Fiscal Court meeting. After nearly 2 grueling and monotonous hours wherein they decided to take another road into the county, admitted to buying a “pig in a poke” when purchasing the most recent road grader or dump truck (I don't remember which), approved the purchasing of two used (new to us) dump trucks, salt boxes and possibly a road grader; while at the same time virtually ignoring a representative from the local Red Cross and denying extra funds to the Green River Animal Shelter, I was finally granted the floor.

At that point, I asked for the results of the research they had promised would be done at the last Fiscal Court Meeting on the impact of a cap vs no cap on the Occupational Tax imposed by other counties. I wish you could have seen the faces staring back at me from the table of magistrates—well, at least they were staring back at me, unlike the first meeting I attended where half of them had their backs to the public. After I asked for those research results, I would have sworn I was looking at five deer caught in headlights. The silence was deafening. You could practically hear the gears turning behind the whites of those eyes. Finally, Magistrate Johnson spoke up, saying that he had done research but only spewing out comments that had been reported in the previous meeting—that some counties had a cap, others didn't; some counties had a net profits tax, others had a license fee for business—all information that had been discussed at the previous meeting, making it clear that he had done no further research, as was promised.

I then asked each magistrate, starting with Larry Holt, the magistrate who represents the district in which I reside, whether or not he was satisfied with what he and the Court had done regarding the Occupational Tax and the cap that allows the wealthiest a break while putting the heaviest burden on the working poor and middle class. Other than being outwardly hostile and disrespectful to me for the second straight meeting, Mr. Holt flatly refused to answer my question, ultimately bowing his head like a petulant child refusing to even acknowledge my presence. I do not take his rudeness and and defensiveness personally, however, I must question whether someone who cannot treat his own constituent with respect, whether or not he agrees with him/her, should be in a position of public trust, supposedly representing their interests.

Next, I went down the line asking each of the magistrates of this county whether or not they were satisfied with the way they have implemented this Occupational Tax, placing the heaviest burden on the working poor and middle class, or if they intended to revisit this issue before it expires in two years under the sunset clause. This, a reasonable question considering that a little over a month ago at the end of March at the Special Called Meeting to pass this tax increase, they must have asked County Attorney Shearer at least 6 times whether they could come back and amend this Ordinance later because they were under the gun and had to pass something that very night and therefore didn't have time to research the pros & cons of the cap. And, at least 6 different times Mr. Shearer told them they could come back and amend it at any time. Oddly, when I asked them this question, at least two of them seemed to be confused and wanted me to clarify my question as if they didn't know what I was talking about. No doubt, because as far as they were concerned, this was a done deal and they hadn't given it another thought since the last meeting (and hoped that no one else had either). They obviously never had any intention of revisiting this issue; they only pretended to. And this was confirmed when each and every magistrate in turn answered that they had no plans to bring this issue up again, with the exception of Greg Popplewell. When it came his turn, he answered that he had done some further research (although he didn't expound upon the results of such research) and that after 8 months or so, when he sees what kind of monies this Occupational tax brings in, he does plan to bring this matter up again.

While I do appreciate that four of the five magistrates gave me the courtesy of a little respect and an answer to my question, I have to admit I was not surprised by their answers, but I was disappointed. At the time, I was even a little appreciative that Greg Popplewell indicated that he had not totally given up on the idea of possibly amending it sooner than the expiration date. But since then, I have had time to think about his answer. What did he mean? Does he mean that if the majority of us working-stiffs making about $22,000 per year (because that IS the median income in Russell County) paying our full 1% brings in enough to put us on track to solve the deficit, then great! It's working! Are they going to keep the status quo—keep those working stiffs with no power and no voice paying their full 1% while they give a break to Terry Stephens, Mike Adams, Randy Hart and anyone else who makes over $80,000 per year? Or, if it isn't bringing in enough to solve the deficit, what then? Perhaps they will consider amending it to make those poor working stiffs shoulder even more of the burden. Because certainly they don't want to make waves with the rich and powerul. Basically, I am not heartened at all by Greg Popplewell's answer. (Although I do thank him and the other four for at least granting me the courtesy of a response.)

One magistrate even said to me as we were leaving the building that they were all just “wore out” on this issue. I reminded him that those out there trying to support a family on $20,000 per year were always “wore out” and it was his job to do right by them. Unfortunately, I'm afraid this fell on deaf ears. It seems that the only things our magistrates are really concerned with is doing the bidding of the rich and powerful of this county.

Apparently, though, I am the only one in the county who is concerned about any of these issues because I was one of only about 3 people who attended this meeting that wasn't there to find out if they won a bid to provide oil or pavement or some such thing. And as long as I am the only one who cares, then why shouldn't the magistrates do the bidding of the rich and powerful? I mean, they know who butters their bread. When the interests of the rich and powerful are at stake, they (the rich & powerful) show up and they are heard loud and clear. And, I'll bet you every dime I've ever made in my life and every dime I'll ever make in the rest of my life, that Larry Holt would never, and I mean NEVER, talk to Mr. Terry Stephens or Randy Hart or any of the other big wigs of this county the way he spoke to me on Monday night.

OSAMA BIN LADEN’S LEGACY

            Sunday night and Monday found all Americans heralding the good news that Osama bin Laden was dead.  It reminded me of The Wizard of Oz when everyone was celebrating, “Ding Dong, the witch is dead…”  It seemed that once again, if only for a moment, we all came together in unity as Americans.  But then, all too quickly, the Republicans and their followers seemed to realize mid-celebration, “Uh oh, this could be construed as a success for President Obama.  We must stop this immediately and start doing some spin control.”  Thus began their ridiculous pats-on-the-back of former President Bush and extolling the benefits of torture, claiming that an incident of water boarding over 7 years ago was the primary thing that led directly to the discovery and destruction of bin Laden.

            Let me remind everyone of Bush’s words at a press conference 6 months after 9/11 in answer to a question about Osama bin Laden:

“I don’t know where he is. I, uh, [chuckle] I repeat what I said, I truly am not that concerned about him…”

He later, in fact, dismantled the CIA’s bin Laden Unit and then took us to war in Iraq, a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.

It was President Obama, then candidate Obama, who vowed in a debate with John McCain, "If the United States has al-Qaida, bin Laden, top-level lieutenants in our sights, and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, then we should take them out."  He also made the pledge: "We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaida. ... That has to be our biggest national security priority."  He has now made good on that pledge.  That is a fact and there is nothing the Obama-haters can do or say that is going to change it.

Unlike the Bush administration, Leon Panetta, the CIA Director did not lie to us and say unequivocally that we didn’t get ANY information from those un-American intelligence gathering methods, but rather, that there were many sources from which the information was gathered.  Intelligence experts have said that information gathered from prisoners is generally only useful within the first 15 or 20 minutes—on occasion as much as 2-3 days.  But now, Republicans like Congressman Pete King, want us to believe that Cheney’s torture tactics of 7 years ago resulted in this victory.

Okay, so Osama bin Laden is dead.  That’s wonderful.  We can all agree that the world is a better place without him.  But what was his goal that fateful September day?  Was it to kill thousands of Americans?  Well, yes, but not in and of itself.  If you will recall the interview he did with Al Jazeera a month later when he was gloating over the 9/11 attacks, what he focused on was the economic impact to America.  His goal was to force us into being so scared that it would cripple our economy and bring us to bankrupt ourselves.  This was still his main message when we last saw him deliver a video taped message in October before the 2004 election.  “We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy … as for the economic deficit, it has reached astronomical numbers estimated to total more than a trillion dollars…the real loser is you.  It’s the American people and their economy.”

In the Washington Post, Ezra Klein wrote about “Bin Laden’s War against the U.S. Economy.”  He wrote, “For bin Laden…success was not to be measured in body counts.  It was to be measured in deficits, in borrowing costs, in investments we weren’t able to make in our country’s continued economic strength.”

The Washington Post chronicled how much money we have put into defense, intelligence and security in the last decade in an investigation entitled “Top Secret America.”  Since 9/11 the Pentagon Defense Intelligence Agency has gone from 7,500 employees to 16,500.  The National Security Agency’s budget has doubled.  The 35 FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces went from 35 to 106.  The largest government complex since the Pentagon is being built for the Headquarters of the Department of Homeland Security at an estimated cost of $3.4 billion.  By the end of 2001, 24 new government organizations were created; in 2002 an additional 34 were created to track weapons of mass destruction, collect threat tips and coordinate the new focus on counter-terrorism followed by 36 more in 2003; 31 more in 2004; 32 more in 2005 and 20 or more each in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

On 9/11/01, the U.S. national debt was approximately $6 Trillion.  Ten years later it is over $14 Trillion.  The U.S. defense budget, already massive, has doubled.  The U.S. intelligence budget—well, there was no Department of Homeland Defense then and last year their budget alone was $42 Billion.

 Also, over the last decade or so:

U.S. Median Income:

1999 -              $52,377

2009 -              $49,777

Health Care Costs/Average Annual Insurance Premium per family:

2000 -              $6,438

2010 -              $13,770

Home Heating Oil:

2000 -              $1.35/gal

2010 -              $3.88/gal

U.S. Education/U.S. Rankings in Math & Science:

2000 -              14^th and 18^th

2009 -              17^th and 25^th

The result:  The middle class in this country is disintegrating.  According to the Organization of Economic Co-Operation and Development, “The U.S. is the country with the highest inequality level [between rich & poor] and poverty rate…” and it is getting worse.

 I ask, has bin Laden’s goal died with him?   Or, is it in full swing?

Maybe there is little that you and I can do about all this, but we can do something here locally.  The Russell County Fiscal Court is meeting Monday evening, May 9^th at 6:00 pm.  That will be the 39^th day since they declared war on the average working Joe and Jane here in Russell County by passing the Occupational Tax Ordinance which penalizes the working poor and middle-income citizens of this county, while giving a huge break to the wealthy.  Once again, I urge everyone to come to the meeting and let our magistrates know that we are watching and listening.  At the end of every meeting, they are presented with a list of expenditures -- bills to be voted on & paid.  At every meeting they vote to pay those bills while those of us in the audience have no idea what those bills are.  I have requested that we be shown these bills so we can at least see what they are.  I don’t know if my request will be granted, but we will soon know.  Please come out and participate in your local government.

WAR ON MIDDLE CLASS OVERVIEW - NATIONAL & LOCAL

            On this, the 27^th day since the Russell County Fiscal Court declared war on the working poor and middle-income citizens of this county, I’ve decided to present an overview of other battles being waged, almost exclusively by Republicans, against Americans who struggle the most to create a decent life for themselves and their families.  But first, I want to make you aware that President Obama, in his Facebook town hall last week, spoke directly to our very own Russell County magistrates:

            “Nothing is easier than solving a problem on the backs of people who are poor, or people who are powerless or don’t have lobbyists or don’t have clout.”

            Okay, he wasn’t speaking exclusively to our magistrates, but he was speaking directly to them, although I’m afraid I don’t have any faith that they were listening.  He was also speaking to a lot of other state and local governments as well as the Republicans in the House who just passed the Paul Ryan budget proposal that cuts Medicare benefits in order to give the wealthiest 2% even more tax breaks.  His ridiculous plan reduces the top tax rate 10% from 35 to 25% and reduces corporate taxes even more.  Although how corporate taxes can get lower than zero, which is what GE paid last year, I have no idea.  His plan does nothing to reduce the deficit; nor does it say anything about controlling health care costs or education.

            Then there is the President’s call to immediately end the $4 billion taxpayer subsidies for the big oil companies.   No way will the Republicans agree to that—no doubt because they get so much money from big oil to fund their campaigns and push their agendas.  It is anticipated that the first quarter profits for Exxon Mobile, Chevron and Conoco Phillips alone will be over $18.2 billion (that’s a “B” folks), a 40% increase over last year.  This, while gas prices are up 53 cents per gallon over the same 3 month time period and still going up.  So, while we are now shelling out nearly $4.00 per gallon to get to & from our barely-above-minimum-wage jobs here in Russell County (although employers here refuse to admit in public that they pay such low wages), and while we are paying our new 1% Occupation tax for the privilege of working those fine jobs (while the employers are NOT paying 1%), we are also paying for $4 BILLION of tax subsidies going to those fat cat oil companies.  Is there any sane human being out there who really believes this is a good thing?  Well, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and the other Republicans must think so—but then again, I said “sane,” didn’t I?

            That’s not really fair, though, because if your real goal is to make sure that President Obama doesn’t get re-elected in 2012 above and beyond any other concern – like say, the welfare of the average American citizen, then it is very sane to do everything in your power to make sure gas prices stay high.  Why?  When asked about Obama’s chances to be re-elected recently, John Boehner said, “…If gas prices are 5-6 dollars per gallon, he certainly won’t win…”  And with the wealthy, big oil and Karl Rove’s Citizens United behind him and other Republicans, they certainly don’t need to be concerned with the middle class.

            Now let’s take a look at what is going on in some other states with Republican governors and legislatures:

• Wisconsin – We already know about the illegal legislation passed by the Republicans and Governor Scott Walker to strip union rights.  In Milwaukee, Walker is starving public schools to pay for his new voucher system which puts private companies in charge of running the schools there.  The achievement testing in those schools show that his voucher program is failing because the students are doing the same or worse than the kids in public schools.  Not one to let details like this stand in his way, Walker now wants to expand this failed program to the entire state.  Oh and that pesky problem of low achievement?  He knows how to solve that too—he will just exempt those voucher schools from any further state achievement testing!  Now, there’s a real problem solver!
• Michigan – The Republican Governor of this state, Rick Snyder, has simply decided that Democracy, itself, is the barrier to solving his state’s problems.  He has expanded the power to simply go into a city or town and throw out all the duly elected officials and substitute his own dictator, which is what has been done in the very poor town of Benton Harbor.  The median income in Benton Harbor is $10,100.  The state appointed dictator/manager has decided to give the public park in Benton Harbor over to a developer to construct a huge golf resort.  The annual membership fee to play golf at this new resort will be $5,000.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that this resort is not being built for the residents of Benton Harbor since it would cost them half their annual earnings to play there.
• Michigan just keeps getting better—Republican State Senator, Bruce Casswell proposed this week in his new budget that the state’s foster children should only be allowed to get their clothing from 2^nd hand stores.  Really.  This is really a true story…
• Maine – Republican Governor Paul LePage is backing a bill in the legislature which would roll back many of the state’s child labor laws by eliminating the maximum number of hours a minor could work on a school day, allowing them to work until 11:00 pm on a school night and increasing the maximum number of hours they could work per week to 24.  And did I mention that they would also pay minors less than the legal minimum wage?  Does anyone remember the original reason for child labor laws in the first place?  That perhaps children should be in school learning instead of working???  You can bet that the children of wealthy folks won’t be spending their formative years working for less than minimum wage instead of getting an education.

These are just a few of the shots being fired at the poor and middle class across the country.  I would have to have this entire paper not just this week but every week to discuss all the efforts being made by Republicans to demolish the middle class.

      However, the middle class are not giving up and rolling over (except for maybe here in Russell County, that is).  After the Republicans in the House passed the Paul Ryan budget they came home to their districts to hold town hall meetings where they are being met with anger and hostility.  They are learning that 80% of Americans don’t want Medicare and Medicaid changed.  They don’t want the wealthiest 2% to get even more tax breaks funded by removing benefits from the elderly and poor.

      In Wisconsin, even though they want everyone to believe that there is just as much backlash against the Democrats who left the state in opposition to the illegal bill they pushed through their legislature, the facts say differently.  As of yesterday, the Democrats’ grass roots efforts to recall some Republicans from office have been successful—they have obtained enough signatures to file recall elections on 5 Republican legislators and expect to file the 6^th one today.  On the other hand, the conservatives targeted Democrat Senator Lena Taylor for recall, but they missed the deadline to file because they needed 13,498 signatures and they only got a few hundred (embarrassingly enough, some of those were only obtained by buying their signatures with booze—true story—caught on audio tape).  Democrat Senators Fred Risser, Spencer Coggs and Mark Miller were also targeted by conservatives, but alas, they also missed the deadline on them as well due to not enough signatures.

      As far as the local war goes here in Russell County, I might be wrong and I hope I am, but I believe that the topic of amending the new unfair Occupational Tax to make it more proportionally shared by the rich is dead unless more of us show up and continue to bring it up at the Fiscal Court meetings.  The next meeting is Monday night, May 9^th at 6:00 p.m.  Are you going to show up?  Or, are we satisfied to surrender to the wealthy and powerful and just call this war against us lost?

(Note:  If you’d like to receive the Russell County Fiscal Court’s notices of meetings—special-called and regular, agendas and minutes please send an email to minutes@rckygov.com requesting to be added to the email list.  I urge ALL concerned citizens to do this and stay informed.)