Censored Whig Letters

Neck Deep Secret: Gore Was Right

http://consortiumnews.com/2007/082607.html

By Robert Parry
August 27, 2007

Having written several books that span periods of years, I’m often surprised how patterns emerge that aren’t apparent to me in day-to-day news coverage. In Neck Deep, our new book about George W. Bush’s presidency, one of those surprises was how often former Vice President Al Gore turned up making tragically prescient comments.

Gore, whose admirers sometimes call him “the Goracle,” comes across more as a Cassandra, warning the nation of looming disasters and finding himself either ignored or mocked by the dominant politicians and media pundits.

Time and again – from Campaign 2000 to the post-9/11 “war on terror” to the invasion of Iraq to Bush’s expansion of presidential powers – Gore pointed to grave dangers when nearly all other national political leaders and media bigwigs were either running with the herd or keeping silent.

In our daily coverage of those political developments at Consortiumnews.com, we’d run stories citing Gore’s speeches, but it wasn’t until we pulled together the book that Gore’s extraordinary role jumped out.

Though there were a few other political leaders who made prophetic comments, such as Sen. Robert Byrd in his pre-Iraq War speeches on the Senate floor, none was as consistently on target as Al Gore.

Indeed, a poignant aspect of Neck Deep is the recognition that a less hostile press treatment of Gore during Campaign 2000 or a full-and-fair recount of votes in Florida after Election 2000 might have put the United States on a very different track.

Hearing Gore’s nuanced advice about how to proceed after the 9/11 attacks, why invading Iraq made little sense or what are the proper limits of presidential power, you can’t help but wonder where the United States would be now if the popular will of the American voters had been respected in November-December 2000.

There’s a good chance that more than 3,700 American soldiers would be alive today, along with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. The United States also might not be faced with the horrible choice of either continuing an open-ended occupation of Iraq or withdrawing troops with the prospect of a sectarian war engulfing the Middle East.

Even if Gore and his national security team could not have prevented the 9/11 attacks – and there’s a case to be made that they might have – President Gore surely would have focused American retaliation on Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, not left the job half done and gone after Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9/11.

Gore didn’t buy into the neoconservative agenda of invading Muslim countries to impose regime change designed to bring those governments in line with Israel’s goals for the region. Though a supporter of Israel who picked Sen. Joe Lieberman as his vice presidential running mate, Gore kept the neocon agenda at arm’s length.

Gore also didn’t share Dick Cheney’s agenda of establishing an imperial presidency that could ride roughshod over the rule of law, the constitutional checks and balances, and the inalienable rights of American citizens.

Like no other American politician, Gore perceived the challenges and the opportunities of the 21st century. He recognized the potential of the technological revolution and understood the threat of uncontrolled climate change.

Despite some weaknesses as a politician – he certainly lacked Bill Clinton’s glibness and George W. Bush’s swagger – Gore might have been a near ideal leader for the start of the new Millennium. And one could argue that the American people made that judgment by giving Gore a narrow plurality in the popular vote.

But, as Neck Deep explores, deep-seated problems in the U.S. political process and the U.S. news media kept Campaign 2000 close enough so Bush could exploit irregularities in Florida’s balloting to snake away with its electoral votes and thus the White House.

Now, as the nation is poised at the starting line for another presidential race, the same failings are still there. The tragic lessons of recent American history remain little understood by either the broad public or the political elite.

One of the chief reasons for writing Neck Deep was to place the troubling events of the George W. Bush era in the fullest historical context possible, a perspective informed by original investigative journalism that explodes some popular myths and spotlights many crucial facts that will change how people understand these extraordinary years.

Our hope is that an American public, armed with enough information, will not tolerate the kind of distorted political process that overturned the popular will in Election 2000 and launched the nation on a disastrous course.

(Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush is available both at the publisher’s Web site, http://www.neckdeepbook.com, and at Amazon.com. If you buy the book through the publisher’s Web site, $5 will be rebated to Consortiumnews.com to help defray the costs of the site’s original news articles and investigative journalism.)

Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush, can be ordered at neckdeepbook.com. His two previous books, Secrecy & Privilege: The Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq and Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & ‘Project Truth’ are also available there.

From Mid-Atlantic Labor.com

Maryland Labor Day Commemoration

Where:
In front of the State Fed Building, 7 School Street, Annapolis, MD

Map link here

Mid-Atlantic Labor.com
August 26th, 2007
http://www.midatlanticlabor.com

This is my new labor union website dedicated to Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia (Washington).

C.L.E.A.N.- Community, Labor, Environmental Action Network

The best ideas emerge unexpectedly from the grassroots in seemingly unlikely places. One of those ideas is an organization called C.L.E.A.N. which stands Community, Labor, Environmental Action Network. The story behind the creation of this group is both enlightening and interesting. The concept is very sound. I hope C.L.E.A.N. chapters will eventually be in every state.

C.L.E.A.N. resulted from a Delaware UFCW Local 27 organizing drive. While organizing, the UFCW realized that workers were being exposed to dangerous chemicals in the work environment. As they explored the worker safety issue, they realized that adverse health effects impacted workers, their families and the surrounding community. As a result, the UFCW reached out to other unions, churches and community groups to build a coalition. C.L.E.A.N. was born. The growth has exploded in just 4 months.

Among the unions and other groups who have joined in Delaware are A. Philip Randolph Institute, AFSCME Local #640, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 842, Christiana Presbyterian Church, Sprinklerfitters Local 669 , Delaware Ecumenical Council on Children and Families, Delaware State AFL-CIO, Community Services , Democratic Talk Radio , Interfaith Coalition Building Block for Wilmington, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees- Local 284, IBEW Local 313, LIUNA Local 1029, LIUNA Local 199, Methodist Action Program, OPEIU Local 277, Pacem in Terris, Progressive Democrats for Delaware, St. Paul’s Church, 23rd RD Committee, UAPP Local #74, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27, USW, District 4, Voices Without Borders and Young Democrats Movement. C.L.E.A.N. is actively seeking new member organizations.

Here is their story. While looking into the connection between worker safety and the health impacts of pollution in the larger community, the UFCW discovered some shocking facts. Below are just a few examples:

The rate of asthma among adults in Delaware is 11.7% while nationally it is 10.8%. In the most populous county in Delaware (New Castle), the American Lung Association graded them F for pollution.

Delaware’s 1999-2003 overall cancer incidence rate was 5.3% higher than the national estimate. There were a shocking 20,793 cases reported during this period.

919 total cases of urinary bladder cancer were diagnosed among Delaware residents during 1999-2003. A 1195 study found that “A total of … 21% to 27% of bladder cancers are estimated to be related to occupational exposure.”

Luckily, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) in Region 2 had many top notch leaders, organizers and staffers on the job when these facts came to light. UFCW Regional leadership under Director Alvin Vincient, Jr. and his Executive Assistant Pat Burgwin had long emphasized the need for unions to reach out to the community and get more involvement in organizing drives.

Fortunately, UFCW Local 27, under the enlightened leadership of President Buddy Mays and Organizing Director Tim Goins, placed union resources at the disposal of the larger community in order to get C.L.E.A.N. started. Buddy Mays truly understands the significance of the problem. He stated, “We realize that the problems are not just local issues. The problem is a national one. Employers often knowingly place the health of both workers and the community at risk by exposing them to dangerous chemicals. It is our obligation and civic duty to expose these situations when we discover them.”

In Delaware, the UFCW had help from the International in the form of organizers Gina Swinea and Courtney Foley working closely with UFCW Local 27 Business Agent Donna Smits. As a member of the Delaware State AFL-CIO Executive Board and head of the UFCW political effort in Delaware, Donna Smits helped broaden the coalition by identifying and recruiting key players in labor, politics and community organizations.

Samuel Lathem, President of the Delaware State AFL-CIO stated that they “are fully in support of the C.L.E.A.N. effort and applauds the UFCW for their lead role in getting the group started. The Delaware State AFL-CIO wants to work with allies in the larger community on a variety of issues.”

Delaware State AFL-CIO Executive Director and state legislator Gerald Brady was an early supporter. Courtney Foley said, “Gerald Brady was very instrumental in getting labor onboard.” She cited many other leaders, both inside and outside organized labor, as very helpful including President of the Delaware Building Trades Council Harry Gravell, Executive Director of the Interfaith Coalition Building Block of Wilmington Ed Klinge, Mark Brunswick from A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI) and Reverend Dr. Greer of the Ezion Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church to name just a few.

Courtney Foley was given primary responsibility for building the coalition because of her deep background in community organizing. Although still very young, this young lady from Mississippi has extensive experience. She started her efforts organizing on behalf of Congressman Jim Moran in Virginia. In 2005, she worked for Paul Hackett in the Ohio Congressional special election that received so much national attention. She was working for Sherrod Brown in 2006 in his successful bid to become a US Senator from Ohio.

Early in 2007, Foley was helping in New York with SEIU in their successful public relations effort to stop a proposed billion dollar cut in health care that politicians in Albany were pushing. In New York, she realized “how powerful and important the faith-based community can be in rallying public support to promote progressive change.”

While the original mission statement of C.L.E.A.N. reads:

It is the mission of C.L.E.A.N. to promote a safe and healthy environment for families in Newark and the surrounding areas.

Objectives
To increase the awareness of toxic substances being used in local industries and their effects on workers and the environment
To protect the welfare of workers and residents from the dangers of toxic and carcinogenic substances
To educate and empower the workers and families of Newark
To hold local industries accountable for the abuse of safety and environmental regulations
To facilitate change in regulatory safety statutes

The organization is already becoming active statewide in Delaware. Gina Swinea stated, “If C.L.E.A.N. is successful in Delaware, the UFCW would look into expanding the coalition into other states.” She went on to state that the coalition grows daily as more partner organizations take leadership roles in the coalition.

In addition to worker safety and environmental issues, the organization can be expanded into other areas were labor and community groups can work together. In Delaware, one of these expanded areas of interest is a pre-apprenticeship training program which is a part of the South Wilmington Special Area Management Plan (SAMP).

“In a system of positive and progressive movements occasionally one such initiative distinguishes itself above the others due to its diverse yet comprehensive approach and profound impact. This year that program is C.L.E.A.N. (Community, Labor, Environmental Action Network)”, said Gerald Brady. This writer agrees completely!

Readers should contact Courtney Foley by calling her at 1-800-809-4303 ext. 12 or emailing her at cfoley@ufcw.org for details about C.L.E.A.N. Ask about the “Clean-up Delaware Day” project and other future activities. Please visit their C.L.E.A.N. website at http://www.cleanindelaware.blogspot.com.

Written by Stephen Crockett (co-host of Democratic Talk Radio http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com ). Email: midsouthcm@aol.com . Mail: P.O. Box 283, Earleville, Maryland 21919. Phone: 443-907-2367.

Feel free to publish without prior approval at no cost.

Thompson Already in Race, Blogger Complains to FEC

Fred Thompson has been “testing the waters” for weeks, operating officially as a non-candidate but seeming very candidate-like indeed. Trips to New Hampshire. Speeches. Even a howdy at the Iowa State Fair. Now it may have caught up to him.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/20/AR2007082001857_pf.html

New Bush Policies Limit Reach of Child Insurance Plan
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The Bush administration, engaged in a battle with Congress over whether a popular children’s health insurance program should be expanded, has announced new policies that will make it harder for states to insure all but the lowest-income children.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/20/AR2007082002159_pf.html

Democrats preach virtue of labor unions
By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press Writer
Sun Aug 19, 4:38 AM ET

Original Article

Democratic presidential candidates argued Saturday night that organized labor is an essential part of the nation’s economy whose troubles mirror the deterioration of the middle class way of life.

“The only way to reinvigorate the middle class is to reinvigorate the labor movement,” Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware told several hundred union members at a labor forum in eastern Iowa.

For all the candidates, it was one stop in a busy several days leading to a Sunday morning debate in Des Moines. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York leads the Democratic field in national polls and has pulled into a three-way tie in Iowa, where the first votes of the 2008 campaign will be tallied.

One of her chief rivals, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, energized the crowd with his rebuke of Democratic candidates who accept donations from lobbyists. While he has done so at other forums, this time Edwards did not single out Clinton for raising tens of thousands of dollars from lobbyists.

“We are not the party of Washington insiders. We are the party of the people, and so from this day forward we say no — no forever to the money from Washington lobbyists,” said Edwards, the party’s vice presidential nominee in 2004. “Their money is not good anymore.”

He singled out money tied to drug companies and health insurance companies. “I don’t represent those people,” he said. “I want to represent you.”

Clinton addressed the crowd first. “It was unions that organized workers, that gave them better wages and working conditions and benefits like health care and pensions,” she said. “And what is happening now is that the American middle class is under assault.”

The crowd thinned out after Edwards’ speech, leaving scores of empty seats for Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, who spoke third. The rest of the field spoke to mostly empty rows.

Obama said a Democratic president, backed by organized labor, can change Washington and protect the middle class.

“We need a president … who is not afraid to mention unions,” he said.

Biden said Republican are trying to destroy the so-called house of labor — “the house the built the middle class.”

Labor organizations are critical to any Democratic candidate, particularly in Iowa where grass-roots organizing is key.

“I never once had to look over my shoulder and wonder whether organized labor and unions stood with me,” said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., in a fiery speech. “I’m a union guy!”

Obama plans to attend fewer such multi-candidate events in the future, his campaign manager wrote on Obama’s 2008 Web site.

“We simply cannot continue to hopscotch from forum to forum and run a campaign true to the bottom up movement for change that propelled Barack into this race,” David Plouffe wrote. He added, “I think this approach will be better for the voters and the campaign.”

He said Obama was committed to five remaining debates sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, two Iowa debates in December and one in Florida on Sept. 9.

Many of Obama’s rivals also have complained about the overwhelming number of multi-candidate gatherings and could follow suit

Earlier in the day, Clinton, Edwards, Dodd and Biden attended an event at a minor league baseball field where they ate boiled sweet corn and made their pitches to more than 1,000 people.

In central Iowa, Obama toured a city-owned utility plant to promote his energy policies. He said the country faces an “an urgent moral challenge” to reduce reliance on oil and needs a president willing to defy special interests in Washington that dictate energy policy.

Obama, casting himself an agent of change in a crowded field of White House hopefuls, suggested that he is voters’ best bet to shake up the status quo.

“We’ve got to have a president in the White House who sets bold targets and sets broad goals and isn’t intimidated by the barriers and the roadblocks and isn’t driven by those who already have an investment in the status quo — somebody who can overcome the lobby-driven, divisive politics that characterizes this issue,” Obama told about 300 people at Waverly Light and Power, the city utility.

___

Associated Press Writer Amy Lorentzen contributed to this report from Clinton, Iowa.

Karl Rove gave the Republican Party the political equivalent of the credit card teaser rate! It sure seemed good in the short term but reality sets in over the long run. Yes, “political genius” Karl Rove is the Democratic secret weapon that spells many, many Democratic victories over the next generation.

The big problem for an evil “genius” is that they are evil and the American people really are not evil. Yes, Americans can be deceived and manipulated with scare tactics, lies, dirty tricks and simplistic slogans…. for awhile. In the long term, those efforts always backfire. When these “darkside” political tactics get transferred from election strategy to policy, they will inevitably blow-up in the face of their users. Karl Rove never learned this lesson from the era of Richard Nixon.

We should realize that Karl Rove was not the only top Republican to misunderstand the lessons of the greater Watergate scandal. Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, most Republicans in Congress and the Republican National Committee are equally blind. In the Republican Party, they are all Rovians! Hurrah for us Democrats that they are!

Voter suppression, tampering with the voter rolls, intimidation, fear, slander, lies, deception and obsessive secrecy were keys to Republican victories in 2000, 2002 and 2004. These “darkside” tactics led to the Rovian Republican dream of a permanent Right Wing Majority ruling America for the next generation. It was always a crazy dream. It only made sense if you lived in the distorted, alternative reality of 24 hour Fox News and Rush Limbaugh-style talk radio. Most Americans live in the real world.

Even the short term victories from 2000 to 2004 were only possible because Democrats had not held firm against the creeping subversion by the Republican Right of our courts and regulatory agencies. Democrats should never have permitted Right Wing radicals like Thomas and Scalia to have become Supreme Court Justices before 2000. Bush did not legitimately take control of the Presidency in 2000.

Rovian tactics like the illegal, false felon purge by Katherine Harris in Florida before Election Day 2000 made the Florida vote close enough to let the Supreme Court thwart the will of the people and select George W. Bush over the real winner, Al Gore. Thus began the rule by Rovian policy which we call the Bush 43 Presidency.

In policy terms, the triumph of Rovian policy meant secret government by and for the economic elite. Trillions in tax cuts for the wealthiest of the wealthy and a few extra dollars in tax breaks for the rest of us were the first order of business. Most of us saw our tiny tax breaks disappear into our gas tanks as the oil companies who bankrolled the Rovian Republican Revolution financially raped us. California got punished by Bush (Rovian) energy allies like Enron in an illegal, electricity price-gouging scheme that federal regulators should have stopped immediately. Unfortunately, the Rovians got to the regulatory agencies first.

There was an immediate drop in Bush’s approval rating. Only the 9-11 attacks saved Bush from one-term status and allowed the Rovian Revolution to last past the first few months.

Bankruptcy laws were changed to screw-over debtors. Polluters got pretty much everything they wanted. Trade pacts were signed all over the third world so companies could ship good American jobs out of the country while flooding us with cheap, often dangerous imports. Within a couple of years, the 9-11 scare tactics and secrecy were not being truly effective in keeping Americans in line politically.

Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush dreamed up a war in Iraq! It was a great political success and Rovian Republicanism was soon in total political control. All government policy was soon Rovian Republican!

Then the results of Rovian Republicanism became apparent. Afghanistan did not turn-out to be a mission completed as the Rovians had told us. The same goes for Iraq but multiply the mistake fifty times. Osama never got caught. The anthrax terrorist was never caught. Food and energy costs rose sharply. Republican officeholders were caught in scandal after scandal. The White House got caught in lie after lie. Stonewalling and claims of executive privilege became the order of the day. The national debt exploded. The super rich got much richer while everyone else got poorer.

The true nature of the Rovian Revolution which is Bush Republicanism has been revealed. It is out of touch with real American values.

Americans support Social Security and do not want it privatized. They support universal health care. They do not want the Bill of Rights trampled on by power crazed public officials. Americans do not want endless war. Americans want a strong defense but realize stupid can never be strong. Most Americans want to be union members. Most citizens want to protect American manufacturing and American jobs. Americans want renewable energy, safe products and bridges that will not collapse under them. They want honest elections where everyone gets to vote and have their vote counted. Americans like balanced budgets. They want to rich to pay their fair share of the tax burden. Americans want to be able to sue corporations when those corporations wrong them.

Americans do not want the kind of Republican rule that Karl Rove was selling. Americans in increasing numbers like the Democratic approach over the Republican one. Thank goodness, the Democrats had their secret weapon…. Karl Rove (and crew).

Written by Stephen Crockett (co-host of Democratic Talk Radio http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com ). Email: midsouthcm@aol.com . Mail: P.O. Box 283, Earleville, Maryland 21919. Phone: 443-907-2367

Feel free to publish without prior permission at no charge.

Aug. 17, 2007

With voter discontent fueled by an historically unpopular
Republican president, a bloody and botched war and a shaky
economy, three of the top four Republican House leaders are
heeding advice from the classic Monty Python version of King
Arthur and his men: “Run away! Run away!” They have decided to
bow out of the 2008 campaign. The latest is Rep. Deborah Pryce,
who saw her once commanding control of Ohio’s 15th Congressional
District shrink to a 1,000 vote squeaker last November, due in
large part to the working family vote. She joins former House
Speaker Dennis Hastert and Rep. Ray LaHood in fleeing. Look out
for the killer bunnies.
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/wda31_F1eqkb/

Quick Poll: Do you think the United States is safer today than
it was in 2000?
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/xda31_F1eqkm/

Got comments? Post them at:
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/x7a31_F1eqkE/

*****

Retire or Get Defeated at the Ballot Box? Republicans Say:
Retire http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/w7a31_F1eqk6/

Breaking: Three Rescue Workers Killed, Others Injured at Utah
Mine http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/spa31_F1eqku/

U.S. Workers Fight for Iraqi Workers’ Freedom
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/s7a31_F1eqk7/

Democratic Candidates Slam China, Support Working Families at
Iowa AFL-CIO Forum http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/w1a31_F1eqkg/

Steelworkers, Giant Paper Company Reach Historic Agreement
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/s1a31_F1eqkW/

****

Read more important news of the day on the issues working
families care about on AFL-CIO Now:
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/x1a31_F1eqkj/

*****

Visit The Union Shop!
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/xpa31_F1eqkU/

Come to Williamsburg for Justice @ Smithfield
to Protest Smithfield Foods’ Annual Shareholders Meeting
Wednesday, August 29th at 11:00 AM
First Baptist Church
727 Scotland St, Williamsburg, VA 23185

Smithfield Foods in Tar Heel, NC is
responsible for:
• Widespread environmental degradation;
• Retaliation against workers who stand-up
for their rights;
• Assaults and false arrests of workers;
• A record of racial tension between
African American and Latino workers.
Stand with Smithfield workers on Aug.
29th to demand an end to the abuse!

Wilmington, Delaware Bus
6:30 AM Depart UFCW Local 27 - Newark, Delaware Office
1501 Casho Mill Rd, Suite 11
Newark, DE 19711

Contact: Courtney Foley - Local 27
Office: 302-292-6670 Ext. 12

Here is a great link where you can find more information about the struggle at Smithfield
http://www.changetowin.org/campaigns/justice-at-smithfield.html