GARVEYBLOG
July 4, 2008
A new team
By Ed Garvey
Karl Rove is hovering over the Obama team like a red tail hawk with a squirrel in his sight. McCain shakes up his campaign and Rove moves closer to the top spot. Meanwhile, Obama chooses to shake up his followers rather than his campaign. Fill in the blank: "I've always said... .
The latest "I've always said..." was a real wakeup call. It took two news conferences in Fargo to explain the new posture in Iraq is really the old one. "I've alwaays said that the pace of withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops."
We are not alone in raising questions about the perception of a gallop to the right. The NY Times lead editorial entitled "New and Not Improved" Obama lists his new or slightly new positions. Has Rove already spooked Barack into a series of Kerry-like "I actually voted against it before I voted for it" TV spots? Can you see five 30-second spots--"I've always said...I'd filibuster FISA...but..."
Memo to David Axelrod--Don't change the message too much if you expect the level of enthusiasm in November that got you here. (I'm not comforted that Ed Schultz of Fargo and Air America fame bragged that Barack promised to send more troops to Afghanistan. I'd be more comfortable if he had condemned the Iran invasion plans not to mention the ExxonMobil, BP, Total oil theft.)
Happy 4th of July. Good time to relax, enjoy the Summer and begin focusing on climate disruption. Can't avoid fires in California, record heat in Arizona, floods in Iowa and Wisconsin. Something is happening and Bill McKibben will keynote our global concerns at Fighting Bob Fest. Theme for our seventh Fest--a call to action. Baraboo on September 6.
Something else to think about. The Milwaukee School Board has asked for 1.5 percent funding increase but that translates to 14.9 percent increase in the property tax levy. yikes! Time to change the formula before WMC shifts the entire tax burden to sales and property taxes.
GARVEYBLOG
July 3, 2008
Wish you hadn't told me
By Ed Garvey
We all accepted the idea that Barack Obama had figured out the way to foil Big Money and special interests on his way to the White House. Many had tried but few had conquered the Internet-giving challenge. So successful was he that he could turn down $84 million clams of public financing. That is one hell of a lot of clam chowder. And, he could ignore the money boys once elected. Huzzah!
The thought occurred to me the other day that perhaps Barack was falling gently, ever so gently, into a trap. I asked, what if the little people who are struggling to make ends meet with gas approaching $4.25 per gallon and food prices escalating, opt to tell Barack, "Not now--just gave--gotta go to my second job--call me in October." The normal put-offs. And might a lot of little givers find the 84 million dollar snub just a tad insulting? "Why should I give 50 bucks if he turns down 84 million?"
If my fear is reality-based, how does he compete with "Daddy Warbucks" McCain? He wants to raise $200 million. (Imagine the egg-on-face if he doesn't raise $84 million.) Enter, stage right, the money folks who think of the $2,300 maximum per individual like you think of the cost of a Culver's butter burger or a Spotted Cow at the Main St. Depot.
Who heads Barack's campaign finance committee? Why, wouldn't you know it, a billionaire by the name of Pritzker. You know--the Hyatt hotel money. Penny Pritzker (how quaint--"penny") is the chair and she is delighted that the candidate now has time to attend pricey fundraising events. Example: Penny and her husband hosted an event. How much? To cite the old saw--"If you have to ask you can't afford it". NYT reports, "The required contribution per person was $28,500. Same thing last week in L.A., but the little givers had an event just prior to the $28K event at the bargain basement price of $2,300 per person."
Remember, he wants to raise $200 million. I'm not kidding. Here is why Penny, whose family was reportedly heavily involved in the "Mortgage Backed Securities" mess known as the sub-prime scandal, is happy, "We have not been able to have much of the senator's time during the primaries so we have had to rely on the Internet." Heaven forbid! Not the Internet! Ah, the little givers. How time-consuming. She went on: "Now we have a little bit more access, the Senator is able to do events." (Pritzker did not define "we" in the interview.)
Who shall lead? Who shall fill public stations...
ARTICLE
July 3, 2008
Crazy for war
By Ed Garvey
There is no rational explanation for what the Bush administration is doing in Iraq.
GARVEYBLOG
July 2, 2008
Even Starbucks struggling
By Ed Garvey
Starbucks will close 600 outlets. Result--12,000 employees will be fired by Starbucks and, one hopes, given a free cup of java for years. "Brother can you spare a latte?" They have 6,793 outlets so who cares about 600 shops and 12 thousand people who probably cannot afford to visit a Starbucks? 6,793 is too many of anything and while rebuttable, the presumption is they were cornering the market by driving out little places. So maybe, just maybe, a failing economy will do for competition what our moribund Justice Department would not do.
Meanwhile, another reminder of the class war. A.I.G. fired its CEO who performed like Brownie after Katrina. He gets more than a latte. He got a $47 million severance package. Advice to grandchildren--go to work for A.I.G and get fired!
But good news for WMC. Their working majority on the Supreme Court, 4-3, held that fraud is not grounds for home buyers to sue. OK Jim Haney!
One last word on Starbucks. OK, I'm biased. I like local coffee shops and I don't mind Folgers. Would I rather drink an expensive mocha? Grande no less? You betcha but I hear my mother's voice asking "is this really necessary?"
GARVEYBLOG
July 1, 2008
C'mon, Barack
By Ed Garvey
The headline on the A.P. story spoke volumes. Actually shouted volumes: "Obama to expand Bush's faith-based program." I'm not making this up. He even contracted with the former head of Bush's program to get his take on Barack's program.
"I came to see faith as being both a personal commitment to Christ and a commitment to my community," Obama says. A.P. suggested that Obama would push to "permit discriminatory hiring practices based on religion."
What's going on? We all understand that he is no lefty, but to support the FISA capitulation, capital punishment, Scalia on guns and now add a dash of Billy Graham and James Dobson, and an entirely new Obama emerges. Memo to Obama: Don't lose your base.
Not scared? Read "Preparing the Battlefield" by Seymour Hersh in the latest New Yorker. The conclusion is damned near inescapable: Bush and Cheney, with silent support from Pelosi, Reed, and Rockefeller, will bomb Iran. What will Barack do? Whoa Nelly! Read please and comment.
School Funding: No child left behind? How about an entire school district--or two or three? Read John Smart's superb article "Watching Wausaukee." Hello Governor? Legislature? Anybody home?
Final insult. Miller Beer is no more. It is now MillerCoors, L.L.C. So much for the high life.
ARTICLE
July 1, 2008
Watching Wausaukee
By John Smart
As one district votes to dissolve, others are sure to follow if the state does not fix its unworkable school funding system.
GARVEYBLOG
June 30, 2008
Surely you jest
By Ed Garvey
"U.S. Advised Iraqi Ministry on Oil Deals." Once again, the leftist NYT must be stirring up trouble by falsely suggesting that our country is involved in the decision to grant no-bid contracts for our oil, temporarily under ground in Iraq, to ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total and BP. Yikes! Is there no end to the cynical perspective suggesting that we invaded Iraq for oil?
C'mon! We did not do that. We invaded Iraq to spread democracy and to make certain that Iraq's sophisticated nuclear weapons would not be dropped on Fargo.
So, here we go (says NYT): "In their role as advisers to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, American government lawyers and private-sector consultants provided template contracts and detailed suggestions on drafting contracts, advisers and a senior State Dept. official said." I say nonsense.
First of all, there would not be an Oil Ministry had the U.S. invaders not guarded it during shock and awe and afterward. The claims by the irresponsible lefties at the Times are as nutty as Alan Greenspan's latest book in which he said it was "war for oil." (He must have been misquoted.)
In case you may be tempted to think that our country is involved I have absolute, irrefutable proof it was not. First, Condi Rice said, "The U.S. government has stayed out of the matter of awarding the Iraq oil contracts. It's a private sector matter." And she said that on Fox News, so you know she is a truth-teller or the gang at Fox would have ripped her apart. I like Condi.
If that is not enough for the lefties, Dana Perino said, "Iraq is a sovereign country and it can make decisions based on how it feels that it wants to move forward in its development of its oil resources." (OK, OK, she forgot to mention the gun to their head, but that is a detail.) I trust Dana, don't you?
Take that, you doubting Thomases. Take that. I am canceling my subscription to the "Pravda" Times.
GARVEYBLOG
June 29, 2008
Really?
By Ed Garvey
Justice Annette Ziegler met with the JS editorial board and the softballs were duly noted. To show what a good winner she is, she will not raise money to repay the debt she and her millionaire husband lent to her campaign. A mere $823,000 will leave a ping in their bank statement. But that's okay because Mr. Ziegler is on the bank board and he need not anticipate a call on his loans.
She thinks negative TV spots are just dandy because the public "has a very good compass and they're able to sift through the rhetoric..." She defends self-funded campaigns because if a candidate does not, "it increases the likelihood that your campaign is, A, funded by people who donate to your campaign and B, the message is driven by outside interests." (Sort of the Herb Kohl "No one's senator but yours" approach to justice.) How about a rule prohibiting law firms from making contributions? And, you have closed the books on your last campaign. Are they open for the next race?
If you would take a contribution for the next one, what are the rules you will impose on yourself and your Bank Director husband? More loans?
She did join the other justices in asking the Legislature to publicly finance elections, but in the Journal Sentinel meeting she seemed to lack enthusiasm: "There aren't a lot of great options there as far as I'm concerned."
All in all, the loan, if considered an investment, was pretty good. She will earn $1.5 million over her term, so the $823,000 loan will pay off.
Housing Crisis: NYT reports today that 6 million homeowners may face foreclosure. Conservatives say the government should not get involved as that might reward foolish investments. Nonsense! Speaking of foolish investments, we spend $341 million per day on Iraq--how about one week's worth to save six million people who could soon be on the street?
Ms. Forward gives us a treat this morning. Read and smile.
ARTICLE
June 29, 2008
About time
By Ms. Forward
A Wisconsin business has finally stepped forward to say how out of step WMC is with Wisconsin business.
GARVEYBLOG
June 28, 2008
'Taliban imperil Pakistani city'
By Ed Garvey
That NYT headline should grab your attention. The story is a sad one. Pakistan is coming undone. "In the 1980's the Americans used the city as rear base for the mujahedeen, the Islamic fighters, supplied by Washington to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden came here ...20 years ago. Mr. bin Laden held meetings at a house here that gave birth to Al Qaeda."
So, how's our old ally Osama doing? And this is called "the good war" by many, including Barack Obama on the campaign trail. Don't we learn anything? If the Brits could not hold Afghanistan; if the Soviets could not hold Afghanistan; why would the U.S. do better? (The terrain alone should tell us something.)
We have had many comments on the Obama decision to become the first candidate to opt out of presidential public funding. Read our regular GuestBlogger Bill Kraus for his take on the decision.
And catch this. Epic "won't deal with WMC"! Hooray. Maybe the arrogant folks on E. Washington will learn there are consequences for those who seek to purchase the Court. Well done, Paul Soglin.
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