btchakir's blog

A long time ago, in my youth in Connecticut, I remember a really different country than we have now. I didn't learn about the Federal Government through C-Span, which, of course, didn't exist back then, but through the Bristol Press and the Hartford Courant (and, occasionally, the Waterbury Republican.) These were the newspapers that came to our house, either by paper boy or by my father bringing them home at night from the Bristol Pharmacy after the 10 PM close.

My parents were moderate Republicans (a concept which doesn't seem to exist any more), but some of my family were Democrats (My Uncle Pete, my Grandfather, my Aunt Helen... etc.) They all got along together. And they were part of a middle class that spent my first thirty years on this globe (I'm 65 next Tuesday) increasing their social and financial strength in a growing economy that was available to most of the population...not just the top 1%.

I tripped over a quote from President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a two term Republican and hero of WWII... Republicans and Democrats respected the man... that relates to our latest political conflict.

Ike said this on November 8, 1954:
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
Now it seems that those of negligible number or obvious stupidity are no longer a tiny splinter group, but a small control force with names like Koch Brothers, or Rupert Murdoch, or Grover Norquist, who are adamantly against the country solving it's economic problems by fair taxation of all economic levels. Nor do they want the remaining middle class, or the even poorer classes that much of that middle class is joining, to have access to adequate Social Security (if they have access to it at all) or Medicare or Medicaid or Food Stamps... you pick out any of the civil advancements we've made over the decades and it seems that this small control force is guiding the Republican Congress members into national devastation.

Part of their secret weapon in defying Ike's prediction is in the creation of the Tea Party... getting a group of middle class or lower people to commit crippling torments on themselves... and then blaming progressives, and, indeed, our President for them. How did the rich get the not rich to carry out their self mutilation?

One way was to spend lots of money on Republican politicians, on political lies during elections and on encouraging racial and social segregation feelings among folks with a history of the same and a minimum of intellectual dexterity. You can tie this to a previous administration (Read Bush II) that decimated the money kept aside for Social Security, leaving filing cabinets loaded with IOUs that were never intended to be paid while they cut the settled tax rates for the very rich... tax rates that never stopped them either being rich or getting richer ... leaving no more expected income for the needs of government.

And the Tea Party folks BELIEVED all this crap. What must the laughs have been like at the Koch Brothers family cocktail gatherings? What was John Boehner's thoughts of getting progressive legislation stopped as he played at his golf outings? Those of us entering the world of Social Security/Medicare supported retirement have much different thoughts. Those who will retire ten years from now have even less positive expectations to think about.

I am frustrated with much of what is happening... and aside from making statements in my blog, or on my podcast or on the Friday Morning radio show where I am a co-host... don't see what I can really do about it. I continue to vote and never miss an election, but my level of winning, the level of any progressives winning, is well below 50%... I live in the midst of conservatives and small thinkers, and of Democrats who might as well be Republicans.

We have Corporations that are treated by our Supreme Court's conservative majority as individual citizens, with no control of the money spent by such private power. We have oil companies that make billions in profits, but receive billions from our government as subsidies.

There is another President, even earlier than Eisenhower, who also had a vision of what could happen in our society:
"The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. ”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Be afraid, my friends. Be very afraid.

Here in West Virginia we are seriously interested in reforming the coal mining industry – whether easing it out entirely or at least improving the pollution of the air and water due to mining practices – but the most important reform necessary is mine safety.

There have been many regulations passed over the years to improve mine safety including inspections, improved methods and both labor and management responsibilites. One year ago today, however, a company called Massey Energy and an inspection system that was basically ignored, was responsible for an explosion in the Upper Big Branch Mine, Montcoal, WV (about 30 miles south of Charleston.)

29 miners died.

Today,

Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health, issued this statement:

“One year ago today, an explosion in the Upper Big Branch Mine took the lives of 29 miners in the worst mine disaster in 40 years. Mine safety and health took on new meaning as we witnessed the devastation and pain of the families, friends and communities of the miners who perished in that catastrophe.

“The anniversary of that tragedy brings us fresh resolve to see that an accident of this magnitude never happens again.

“Over the past year, the Mine Safety and Health Administration has been fulfilling the commitment President Obama made to honor those miners and their families by ensuring justice is served on their behalf and taking action so that an accident like this never happens again. As the anniversary of this tragedy so vividly reminds us, we in the mining community must continue to work tirelessly to ensure that miners go to work and return home safe and healthy to family and friends, every shift of every day.”

Upper Big Branch had a history of serious problems. In 2009, Massey Energy, was fined a total of $382,000 for “serious” unrepentant violations for lacking ventilation and proper equipment plans as well as failing to utilize its safety plan properly. The month before, authorities cited the mine for 57 safety infractions. Upper Big Branch received two citations the day before the explosion and in the last five years has been cited for 1,342 safety violations. The CEO of Massey Energy, Don Blankenship, has received criticism for his apparent disregard of safety. The Upper Big Branch Mine-South, where the explosion occurred, has been in operation since October 1994. Between 2000 and 2009, two fatalities occurred at this mine.

Yet mining went on as usual and an explosion occurred on April 5, 2010. It is not yet certain what the actual cause was, though a methane explosion, largely preventable by proper ventilation, is being closely examined. Federal regulators had ordered portions of the mine closed 60 times over the year preceding the explosion. In addition, the FBI has reportedly also launched a probe, investigating possible criminal wrongdoing at the mine, including criminal negligence and possible bribery of federal regulators.

But today, we remember the 29 men whose lives were taken in the disaster and hope that such a tragedy will be avoided in the future.

http://underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com

On May 24th I'll be sixty five and another 1st generation Baby Boomer will be officially "Old" (though, because of our cruddy economy which stands between employment and age, I am already retired and at the mercy of Social Security... which my Congressional leadership wants to do away with).

Most of my adult life I have been a liberal Democrat... in college during the height of the Civil Rights movement and the fiercest part of the anti-Vietnam War campaign, as a working citizen through booms and busts in the economy ending in the major recession we are apparently now out of (except in my house... yours too?)... and I voted as a liberal Dem in the past couple of elections. Now I'm not certain that "liberal Democrat" has meaning anymore.

While I shudder at people who are now called "Originalists" (heard this term on a CATO Institute panel on C-Span, where it was tied as a label on Justice Clarence Thomas),  who think of the Constitution as unchangeable and fixed, I am upset with some lack of adherence to Constitutional regulations which have not been changed in the document, but have certainly been changed in practice.

The power to declare war, for instance, is still Constitutionally the province of Congress, and specifically the House. Yet, from my earliest childhood when Truman got us into the "Korean War" - called a "Police Action" because it was never declared by Congress (and also never ended, btw); to my early adult years when LBJ got us into the "Viet Nam War", started as a Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), again, without the declaration by Congress as a war; to the first "Gulf War" that George H. W. Bush got us into without a Congressional Declaration; to the Second "Gulf War"...also known as the "War in Iraq"... which has really not ended since it was followed by a decade of occupation, which spread from George W. Bush through Bill Clinton to Barack Obama and continues, to some extent, today (although the government would have us believe that it is over); to the current "War in Afghanistan" started by Bush 2 a year before the Iraq War, allowed to simmer over a low flame for a dozen years, then refocused and put into first place by Barack Obama; I have seen the Congress give up it's war declaration responsibilities and the Executive Administration take the freedom to do whatever they want with the Military it commands.

Whew...sorry for the long paragraph above. I had to get it out, however.

Now we are in a conflict in Libya, not yet called a "War", although as you watch the TV news you can see that label arriving on swift feet. The President didn't bother doing anything with Congress on this... they were on vacation (from the tedious job where they work from Monday to Thursday, then spend the rest of their week raising money for the next election) after all... but took the excuse of a U.N. Resolution taking precedence over our National Law and all of a sudden we are in our third Middle East conflict, going on simultaneously with the first two. And we're doing all of them without a supporting economy... the romance of borrowed funds.

Now I read that the Conservatives in Congress are going to come back this week, from the much needed time off they have had, and express opposition to Libyan war. As Representative Roscoe Bartlett (R - Maryland) said last night:

“The United States does not have a King's army. President Obama's unilateral choice to use U.S. military force in Libya is an affront to our Constitution."

Of course, some would say that the Conservative Republican majority in the House, by spending most of their year on voting against anything their more liberal colleagues are in favor of in areas which have little to do with our current problems, ignoring the unemployment problem the recession has created and deciding to "fix" the economy by defunding most of the services that keep us going, while making sure the rich don't get taxed, has also been in an affront to our Constitution.

I'm getting more and more upset with both sides of our elected officialdom and with the outrageous empire we have established worldwide with our 200+ military bases and rush to be the "defense" force in countries where there is oil for our insatiable power demands. I am frustrated that, as an individual, there seems to be little or nothing I can do about the situation, with the one exception of pointing the problems out in this blog. Voting doesn't seem to solve the problem because politicians lie... they run saying they will do one thing...they get elected...and then they become the managers and implementers of the "same old same old."

The Corporate World eats up the majority of our economic resources. The Corporate world controls the officials their support elects. The Corporate world does not mind that they have allowed our millions of jobs to move to China and India for cheap costs and have wrecked our own economy in the process. Yet they are not a power that is recognized by our Constitution. only by those our Constitution allows us to elect.

I guess I would like to define myself as a "Constitutional Progressive" and no longer as a "Democratic Liberal." I would like to see us uphold those regulations and responsibilities that the Constitution-as-Amended contains, yet support changes in the Constitution that reflect our current world and the protection of the people in our Nation without depriving them of their rights and input. That means not an "Originalist" viewpoint, but a believer in the social and political equality of citizens and the ability to lead full and meaningful lives in a country that our taxes support.

I don't know if this is likely, but I will campaign for it as if it is.

http://underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com

I’m watching the vote as the Republican majority votes on debate rules to defund National Public Radio. So far all Republicans are voting to cut the funds and all Democrats are voting to save the funding. If it keeps up like this, NPR has no chance.

C-SPAN is taking in phone calls during the vote, alternating between Democrats and Republicans, and the trend among callers of both parties is that NPR should keep its funding. Oh, there are a few who are supporting it because they claim it’s the government telling people what to watch (where they get that from, I don’t know.)

There is a predominance of callers from small towns and farm areas who realize that NPR and PBS allow broadcasts of unbiased news that they certainly don’t get from commercial stations. They are not looking forward to the cuts… however, the funding from the government is very small and NPR will work very hard in their other fundraising channels (like you and me).

I don’t know when they are having the final debate (they are apparently going to debate troops in Afghanistan next.) But I don’t hold out a lot of hope.
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There is a new product out called Makena (Ma – Kee – na) which prevents pre-term labor in women who are prone to premature birth. The drug is a form of progesterone, and, for years, has been available to doctors from special compounding pharmacies at a patient cost of $10. to $20. a shot. And it has been pretty effective.

But things can change… and sometimes the change is devastating.

After years of exploration, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in association with The March Of Dimes carried out their program of tests and finally issued their support for the drug. Since it is FDA approved, the drug could be signed to a major manufacturer, in this case KV Pharmaceutical of suburban St.Louis, who won government approval to exclusively sell the drug. That means compounding pharmacists can no longer make Makena (or any similar progesterone) for doctors. So what is wrong with that?

KY has increased the cost per required weekly injection from $10. to $1500.

Nope. That wasn’t a typo. KY has increased the price 150 times, causing a rage among both doctors and patients. Dr. Roger Snow, deputy medical director for Massachusetts’ Medicaid program commented on the price change:

“That’s a huge increase for something that can’t be costing them that much to make. For crying out loud, this is about making money.”

NPR has cited some other doctors at major organizations:

“I’ve never seen anything as outrageous as this,” said Dr. Arnold Cohen, an obstetrician at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia.

“I’m breathless,” said Dr. Joanne Armstrong, the head of women’s health for Aetna, the Hartford-based national health insurer.

The thing that concerns doctors the most is that the cost is going to prevent middle and lower-class women from taking Makena, causing an increase in premature births which the standard progesterone compounds have caused to go down.

KY says the cost is justified to avoid mental and physical problems that come with premature births…a premie can add $51,000 in unexpected medical costs to new parents. This is according to KV Pharmaceutical chief executive Gregory J. Divis Jr.:

“Makena can help offset some of those costs. These moms deserve the opportunity to have the benefits of an FDA-approved Makena.”

The FDA plays no part in setting the price for any drug. KY has hired a marketing company to promote it and is supposedly setting up a patient assistance program to help uninsured and low income women. But “uninsured” is the point. Currently insured women will be hit with the $1500 price – which could easily be disapproved by their insurance companies… or else cause the price of insurance premiums to go way up.

In other words, an organization that gets our tax money, the FDA, and a non-profit that we give donations to (and have since we were children in school), The March Of Dimes) have paid to develop a product that has been given to a Corporation, KY, whose major interest is profits over people.

If this doesn’t make us reject the idea of corporate control of things the government should protect citizens against, I don’t know what will.

http://underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com

Today people are returning to the Wisconsin capitol building to protest the act of the Republican Senators and the approval they have received by Scott Walker. The organization of trade unions is becoming intense and recalls of some legislators and a build up to recalling Walker (which cannot happen until next January by Wisconsin law) are in process.

Frank Emspak of the Workers Independent News in Madison stated:

“We’ve had democracy by deception here. You’re talking about disenfranchising millions of people, not only in Wisconsin, but also throughout the Midwest, and basically saying that working people, in an organized fashion, have no right to participate in the electoral process. That is what the Republicans are doing.”

And there was this statement by Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME):

At a time when we should be pulling together to create jobs, Governor Walker and the legislators who back him are more interested in stripping nurses, teachers, correction officers, bus drivers and EMTs of their rights. This is a question of right and wrong. The governor is tearing Wisconsin apart when voters want real solutions to the problems they face.

This is about more than Scott Walker's arrogance. He is tossing aside basic American values. Public workers fought long and hard for the right to collective bargaining. Martin Luther King, Jr. died defending that right for AFSCME sanitation workers in Memphis. We are not going to allow a small group of radical politicians in Wisconsin destroy what Americans have fought generations to win.

Only one Republican, Dale Schultz, voted against the bill last night. Schultz is a moderate Republican who previously proposed a compromise. His vote is likely to protect him from a recall effort by unions and Democrats.

Shultz stated:

As someone who as spent the better part of the last four weeks working toward and hoping for a compromise, this is a difficult night.

I’ve had the honor and privilege of representing folks in Southwest and South Central Wisconsin for 28 years, and where I come from ‘compromise’ isn’t a dirty word.

I’ve received tens of thousands of emails, thousands of phone calls and letters, and spent hours meeting with thousands of citizens in my district. I’ve heard personal and heartfelt stories of friends and neighbors, and they ask for just two things.

First, be inclusive by listening and working with your colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reach a compromise which addresses our fiscal crisis. Second, public employees are willing to make sacrifices on things like wages and benefits, but we need to preserve collective bargaining as a tool which has helped keep labor peace in this state for decades.

Ultimately, I voted my conscience which I feel reflects the core beliefs of the majority of voters who sent me here to represent them.

Because of the Wisconsin law that prohibits a recall until an elected official has served one year in office, only eight of the Republican Senators, who violated the open meeting rule and the 24 hour public announcement policy by eliminating collective bargaining last night, may currently be recalled. These are:

* Robert Cowles
* Alberta Darling
* Sheila Harsdorf
* Luther Olsen
* Randy Hopper
* Glenn Grothman
* Mary Lazich
* Dan Kapanke

The protestors will have until January of next year to get the 500,000 signatures needed to recall Scott Walker. Meanwhile, Walker has been a Uniter, not a Divider: he has united the Unions, the Democrats, the people of Wisconsin and voters all across the unites States. Perhaps we could get the Republicans to run him for President.

http://underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com

What does it mean to take away bargaining rights from public employee’s unions? As we watch the Republicans in Wisconsin, it might be worth it to look at Indiana where, 5 years ago upon being elected, Republican Governor Mitch Daniels eliminated collective bargaining for public unions in that state. Now their state legislature is carrying things a step further…it’s going after the PRIVATE UNIONS (just what the Wisconsin Republicans are denying will ever happen). And, according to Politico, their getting the same kind of response that is occurring in Wisconsin now:

“The Indiana bill bars unions from negotiating contracts and requires that non-union members pay fees. In response to the Indiana bill, just two of the 40 House Democrats showed up in the state legislature Tuesday.”

It is not going to be enough, however, for Democrats to just avoid showing up to prevent votes from happening. We have to get to the point where Republicans agree to the Democratic principle of COMPROMISE… something that has distinguished this country since it was formed in the eighteenth century. Yet, Scott Walker is insisting he will not compromise on the matter of collective bargaining, even though the Unions have agreed on salary cuts and just about every other request…wanting only to retain their major human right to negotiate and compromise.

Governor Daniels in Indiana, probably because he is heading for a presidential primary run and doesn’t want to appear offensive to anyone, has now come out publicly to have his Republican legislative majority to stop campaigning to eliminate bargaining rights for all unions.

Of course, Republican Governor Kasich, to make sure managers maintain control of public unions…especially teachers…has steered the Ohio General Assembly to consider a proposal similar to legislation introduced by Republican Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin that would roll back collective bargaining rights for public employees, including teachers. While saying that this move is not meant to destroy unions, how can it be looked at any other way given the occurances in Indiana and Wisconsin?

Republicans nationally, led by John Boehner in the House, have publicly come out opposed to compromise, especially with Democratic workers. Leslie Stahl caught him on 60 Minutes on Sunday:

STAHL: But governing means compromising.

BOEHNER: It means working together.

STAHL: It also means compromising.

BOEHNER: It means finding common ground.

STAHL: Okay, is that compromising?

BOEHNER: I made it clear I am not going to compromise on my principles, nor am I going to compromise the will of the American people.

STAHL: What are you saying? You’re saying, “I want common ground, but I’m not gonna compromise.” I don’t understand that. I really don’t.

BOEHNER: When you say the word “compromise,” a lot of Americans look up and go, “Uh oh, they’re gonna sell me out.” And so finding common ground, I think, makes more sense.

Then, Stahl noted that Boehner compromised his position on the Bush tax cuts to get a deal with Obama last week, noting that he had wanted the all the Bush-era tax cuts extended permanently but only got a two-year extension. Boehner again said it wasn’t a compromise. “Why won’t you say you’re afraid of the word,” Stahl asked. “I reject the word,” Boehner said.

OK. My wife is a community college teacher who works for the State of Maryland. I am a retired Social Security recipient who must start Medicare and Medicaid in May. If we are anything we are, and have always been, Middle Class. And we see the Republicans coming directly at us… and we are prepared to do something about it. We will campaign for candidates who will refuse to send this country back to the days of Herbert Hoover. I will make this blog a source for truth and information protesting the Middle Class destruction that the 1% rich, like the Koch Brothers, are investing their assets in. Together we will continue to fight for the Middle Class and try to make the members of that Class who voted for Republicans in the last elections realize how they were..and still are…being used.

I advise all my readers not to give up…and not to give in.

http://underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com

Obama is getting ready to put in his budget cut proposals and it looks like the folks who are going to be asked to hold their breaths and take the biggest cuts are those of us on the bottom.

This from the Associated Press:

Less than two months after signing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans into law, President Barack Obama proposed a spending plan to Congress that cuts funding to programs that assist the working poor, help the needy heat their homes, and expand access to graduate-level education, undermining the kind of community-based organizations that helped Obama launch his political career in Chicago.

Now here is what I want to know...since the Tax Cut deal Obama supported and got through is going to give us a $1.6 Trillion deficit, and our Federal Revenues will be greatly reduced because of the cut, what will keep us functioning? Part of the budget proposal swings more responsibility to the States:

“To help employers keep workers on the job, the Budget will encourage States to expand use of short-time compensation... Also known as work-sharing, this voluntary employer program helps firms retain workers by reducing employees’ weekly hours instead of laying them off. Workers with reduced hours receive a partial unemployment check to supplement their reduced paycheck.”

From what I understand, however, the States don't have a big income source either. I look at West Virginia especially. We are one of 45 States who are not going to make our State Budget this year. Very few of the funds from the Recovery Act are available after August 2011.

I have an idea... let's bring back some of the taxes on the top 2% of our citizens and write of this problem once and for all. I'm not opposed to taking my cut here as long as those rich types get their incomes cut, too.

http://underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com

“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”

- Mark Twain

As I settled in this afternoon awaiting a coming ice storm (the first of these just missed us last night) and curious about what's going on in Egypt where around 2 million people were demonstrating today for Hosni Mubarak's resignation (in a speech this afternoon he said he would not run for reelection and would be out of office by the Fall... as you might guess, this does not seem good enough for the demonstrators who want him out now) I wondered what was happening on C-Span 2.

I thought I'd watch the Senate debate the FAA Funding Bill and what do you think happened? Senate Republicans have attempted to repeal last year's sweeping health care law via an amendment to a FAA funding, proposed by the beloved Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Not since the Earth's creation some 6000+ years ago, when men and dinosaurs peaceably shared the world, have I heard such idiocy.

So, instead of solving the major problem of supporting and improving Airline regulations, we are listening to Republicans tell us that most Americans are opposed to the Health Care law (although recent polls indicate that an average of 80% of those Americans DON"T WANT IT REPEALED!) They are adamant that 50 million people who became covered due to parts of the Affordable Care Act should be dropped from coverage... and at the same time they will continue to waste our time and money with this kind of folderol. I thought Harry Reid was going to keep this crap off the floor.

I guess this is going to be Mitch's strategy... no matter what bill is proposed, Mitch will see to it that an amendment to repeal Health Care will be included. And we will look on in disbelief. Maybe we need 2 million Americans to stand outside of Congress until Mitch and his pals decide to take an early vacation.

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