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Dear Jeb: You can leave your hat onShort memo to Bill McBride: Mary Jo Malone, St Petersburg Times, 10/8/02 Advance Draft of Bush's Astounding 9/11-Anniversary Speech (Fantasy)By Bernard Weiner Good evening. I have asked for this broadcast time because on this first anniversary of 9/11, I wanted to join you in grieving for our massive losses. Let us all bow our heads in silence, in honor of those who have fallen. [ 20 seconds of silence. ] Thank you. First off, I want you to know that nobody wrote this speech but me. Another speech was handed to me yesterday -- you know, for me to go over it a few times before it went on the teleprompter here -- and I started to rehearse it. But the second time I went through it, something grabbed me by the heart and told me to throw it away and to write my own. I prayed and meditated about what I really wanted to express. So here goes: All my life, I've been told what to say, what to do, how to do and say it, and I was handsomely rewarded for all that. For being basically someone else's creation -- essentially a puppet, beholden to others. I did that as governor of Texas and I've done it for the first two years of my presidency. But no more. Tonight, I want everyone to hear me loud and clear. I'm no longer anyone's puppet, or patsy. I'm my own man, with my own ideas. And those in my administration who don't like what I'm doing, or saying here, can go...find employment elsewhere. Historians and politicians always talk about a President's "legacy" -- that is, what enduring values and programs a President leaves for his fellow Americans. I was on my way to an embarrassing legacy, that of a President who would be remembered first for obtaining the office in a strange manner, and once in residence in the White House for fostering a culture of corporate greed, destruction of our glorious environment, and for behaving like an arrogant bully in the global arena, starting wars and alienating a good share of the world. That is not how this President wants to be remembered. I have done some low, despicable things in my short time on earth -- from putting substances into my system I shouldn't have to selling my soul for ill-gotten gains -- but I'm finally willing to accept responsibility for my actions (unlike so many other friends and colleagues), and to try to atone for the worst aspects of my life by doing good. I realize that powerful forces in this country will try to discredit my new stand -- they'll say I've had a "nervous breakdown," or that I've been brainwashed by terrorists, or that I've sold out to pinkos, or that everything I'm saying now is purely for electoral gain -- but, with your help and support and faith in me, I know I'll be able to make my way through. Whatever comes -- be it political garbage heaped on my head by those calling me a "traitor" to my class or to the conservative cause, or, God help me, an assassin's bullet -- I move forward with my head held high, my heart pure, my mind calm. Because, finally, in the bosom of Jesus -- not just saying that I'm "born again," but knowing it deep in my soul -- I now understand why I was set upon this earth: not to help myself to the spoils provided me by my family and connections, but to help others, around the globe and right here in our own, great country. Last year, after 9/11, I thought I had discovered my reason for being: to lead the fight against the new scourge of mankind, terrorism. But over the months, it became evident to me that though the target is the correct one -- we can't have folks going around blowing up innocent civilians -- the way we were going about it was, as we say in West Texas, back asswards, and counter-productive to boot. Let's go back to 9/11 and I'll try to explain. When we came into office -- and I won't even go into how an unelected candidate was installed into the White House -- the outgoing administration passed on to us all sorts of intelligence about Muslim fanatics associated with Osama bin Laden, and gave us suggestions for how to cope with this new reality. We ignored those warnings partially because we were busy with the transition to power and partly because we thought anything Clinton said or did automatically was suspect. But also because, during the first eight months of our Administration, our program was in tatters in the Congress (even before Jeffords defected from the GOP); we knew that the best way to get our agenda through was somehow to frighten the public to demand a firm hand at the top. And so we did not listen, did not want to listen, to all the warnings last summer coming almost daily from our friends and allies abroad, about an imminent al-Qaida air attack on American icon targets. We were busy getting our post-attack plans ready -- both here in this country, in terms of how we could bend and alter the Constitution in the name of "national security" and "homeland defense," and abroad, realizing that we were the only superpower left on the globe and could get away with almost anything because there was nobody out there to stop us. And so we turned the other way when we knew that a terror attack of massive proportions was coming toward us. More than 3000 good folks died one year ago today because of our conscious choice not to act on our pre-knowledge. As long as I live, I can never forgive myself for that act of political cowardice. I know that by admitting this, I leave myself wide open for impeachment, but if I go down, I'm going to take a whole lot of people with me, also involved in the 9/11 cover-up. But, who knows, some of those people also may go down for other reasons: the Vice President because of his Halliburton irregularities and his refusal to turn over to Congress the relevant energy-policy documents; the Attorney General, for his leadership in carving away the protections of the Constitution and for moving toward a neo-fascist police state; Don Rumsfeld, Gale Norton, Tom White, Larry Thompson, Harvey Pitt, and all the others. (And even me for financial shenanigans when I was at Harken Oil.) But at least I -- secure in my soul -- am willing to tell the truth about what happened, and why, and face the consequences. The others, after all the dodging and running, will have to speak for themselves. It's the nature of the Presidency that it forces you to take a good look at yourself in the national mirror. I didn't like what I was seeing. Given my history, it's not surprising that I more or less just turned over the government to giant corporations; they helped write their own regulatory laws, they got what they wanted with regard to deregulation, corporate accounting, profit-taking, tax-law, relaxation of pollution controls, trade, etc. etc. They scratched our backs with campaign donations, we scratched theirs so they could run rampant in their corporate pursuit of profits. I guess I should have known that some of them would carry things to extremes. I felt like a total hypocrite, forced by political pressure -- when the markets tanked and all those seniors' retirement plans got wiped out, when nobody trusted the financial statements of large corporations -- to denounce the warped, unethical and probably illegal practices that made so many of my friends and supporters rich at the expense of ordinary Americans. How could Dick Cheney and I talk about the need for accounting reforms, and denounce greedy corporate executives, when we ourselves participated in many of the very same practices? That was a big one when I stared at myself in the mirror. Please don't get me wrong. I continue to believe fiercely in the capitalist ethic of letting the market determine a good share of social policy. Initiative should be rewarded. But when the system is rigged against the have-nots and the have-littles in favor of those who already have lots, then something must be done to even the playing field, to set and enforce some rules so that not just the wealthy benefit. In foreign affairs, we in the U.S. simply must change the way we look at others, and the policies that cause so many problems in the world. This is one planet, and we humans no longer have the luxury of behaving as if we are separate creatures from others around the globe. What we Americans do in Iraq and the Middle East, for example, will affect the entire world's economy for decades -- not to mention what might happen if nuclear or biological weapons are employed anywhere, by anyone. So, tonight, I am halting all planning for an attack on Iraq and requesting a review of all U.S. policy around the globe, to be on my desk within 14 days. I realize, for example, that until a just Israeli/Palestinian peace is reached, there will be no stability in that region, or elsewhere, and so I will become personally involved in helping develop that peace, for the sake of generations to come of Israeli and Palestinian children, who may one day become friends and partners instead of constant antagonists. We simply must alter the chemistry of the soil in which so much terrorism grows; we must provide hope to these young, would-be suicide-bombers that their world will change for the better, with peace and justice and jobs in a viable country of their own. To do nothing to alter that soil is to do untold damage to the vital national interests of the United States, and of our friends and allies. I am also requesting a thorough review of all federal environmental policy, to develop programs that will help preserve and improve air and water quality, reduce greenhouse emissions in the light of global warming, punish polluters, give tax incentives for developing alternative fuels, require higher gas-mileage for new cars, and so on. I also vow to fight for repeal of the large tax breaks given to the wealthy 10 years out. We took that action when there was a huge anticipated surplus (estimating a decade out when we had no idea what the economy would look like then, or even a year from passage of the bill); now, we're hurting and it's time to revise our thinking, so that the little guy and the middle-class don't get the shaft in terms of taxation, and so that we have monies to fund some of the all-important governmental programs without dipping into Medicare and Social Security trust funds, as we are now doing. I have to take a deep breath here. I've been thinking so much in the past few days that it almost overwhelms me. I don't have details to lay out here. They will come. But I did want to make sure that everyone understands my new frame of mind, my new priorities, my new plans in broad outline. As I suggested earlier, I expect a huge storm of opposition to my new positions from some inside my Administration and in the Congress, especially from many of my fellow Republicans on the far right. But I'm hoping that once they get a sense of the broad, overwhelming support for these positions from ordinary Americans, Democrat and Republican alike, they will come to see the wisdom of making the necessary changes for the good of our country. If you choose to permit me to serve out my term, I vow to all my fellow Americans that I will work tirelessly on everyones' behalf, not just for those who supported me with money or who felt they were ideological or religious kin. I will be happy to work with Congress, including the Democrat leaders, in helping to truly alter the tone in Washington, and to move this country back to civility and closer to the center, where all of us can benefit. God bless you all. God bless America. Thank you. Bernard Weiner, a playwright and poet, was the San Francisco Chronicle's theater critic for nearly 20 years. Holder of a Ph.D. in government & international relations, he has taught at Western Washington University and San Diego State University, and has published other satires and investigative articles in The Nation, Village Voice, The Progressive, Northwest Passage and widely on the internet. http://www.democrats.com/view2.cfm?id=9077 What Jeb and George are doing to FloridaSt. Petersburg Times;
St. Petersburg, Fla.; Jun 17, 2002; Diane Roberts;
Rejoice, citizens of the Sunshine State: Florida is saved. Our waters will remain as pellucid as a summer sky; our sandy beaches will remain as white as Britney Spears' teeth. Our governor and our president have agreed to pay three oil companies and the rich folks who own Collier County to pack up the heavy equipment and go away. Newspapers are casting garlands. Audubon Society types are rolling over and purring. Let us crown Jeb Bush with native Florida laurels (Kalmia hirsuta) as the Environment Governor. Nature is, of course, above politics. Now if you buy that, go on back to sleep. For the rest of you, here's what's really going on. Jeb and George Bush recently cut a $235-million deal with taxpayer money that will neutralize a number of natural gas and oil drilling sites in the Gulf of Mexico and near the Everglades. There are now nine fewer active leases off the northern gulf coast and less of a chance that we'll have to scrub bubbling crude off herons and panthers in the Big Cypress Swamp. This is a good thing, and you should be grateful. This is also a political thing, and you should be suspicious. Let's not forget that George W. Bush would stick a derrick in the White House Rose Garden if he thought he'd find black gold under the Madame Isaac Pereires. He is not offering to retire leases off the coast of California. He still wants to drill in the Alaskan wilderness. The Bush Fraternity is clearly hoping this happy story (Chevron can't hurt the porpoises now!) will harvest green votes. But what about the cement plant on the Ichetucknee, the one that was supposed to be clean as a limestone spring and as unobtrusive as a water lily? It has gotten bigger and filthier while your back was turned. What about the legislative raids on Preservation 2000, the fund set up to buy unspoiled lands for parks and wilderness areas? Republican oligarchs pirated $75-million from P2000 in 2001, then swore piously that it was just this once, a fiscal emergency, and they'd never ever do it again. At least until this year when they tried to loot $100-million from the P2000 Debt Service Reserve Fund and the Florida Forever Trust. The governor, wisely both for Florida and for his chances with swing voters, just vetoed the Legislature's $100-million conservation swipe. If he hadn't, he'd look like a wolfish developer in ecological sheep's clothing. Of course, without that venal $262- million corporate tax break the governor was so keen on getting passed, we might not be in yearly danger of mortgaging our environmental future. Citizens who buy bonds to help acquire vulnerable beaches and forests are going to be madder than an army of wet hens if every session brings a choice between protecting natural Florida and keeping the big boys of Associated Industries (coincidentally, mega-GOP contributors) fat and happy. The high-profile restoration of pillaged P2000 funds, plus the congratulatory whoop-de-doo over the drilling leases, is smart politics on Jeb Bush's part. It might even obscure reports of that cancerous growth on the Ichetucknee River. Two years ago, in the teeth of all common sense and ecological decency, the Department of Environmental Protection approved the building of a cement plant near Ichetucknee Springs State Park. Jeb Bush and DEP Secretary David Struhs trumpeted the alleged state-of-the-art pollution controls and concessions they won from Suwannee American Cement, as if a facility that burns tires and coal and releases 3,000 tons of pollutants into the air every year would somehow enhance the elemental beauty of Suwannee County. Now we know (thanks to Times reporter Julie Hauserman) just how nasty this place might become. DEP discovered in March that the cement plant's air quality monitors, which were supposed to check the atmosphere around the place, didn't even work. And Suwannee American dug a pond two feet deeper than the state permitted, opening up sinkholes which could allow ground water to become contaminated. Now we also find that Suwannee American has permission to expand its 100 acre limestone mine to an 800 acre limestone mine. Appalled? Disgusted? You had your chance to complain: notice of the proposed expansion was posted - in the Suwannee Democrat, a twice- weekly paper with a circulation of 5,300. Now that the dirt is in the street (or in the river), Bush and Struhs have ordered a delay in the plant's operating permit, saying they are shocked! shocked! that the parent company Anderson Columbia - one of Florida's worst polluters - has been stinking up the state. Struhs blames Florida's lax mining regulations, bleating that he tried to get the Legislature to pass tougher regulations but couldn't. He didn't try very hard, though, and the governor didn't exactly get in there and push for some kind of law that would keep major polluters off our last wild and beautiful places. Maybe it's just another coincidence, but Anderson Columbia has given Okeechobee-sized contributions to the Republican Party. To be fair, they've given to the Democrats, too. But that was back when Democrats mattered in Florida government. So why don't we ask this question: How much is it worth to us to stop ruining every beautiful place we have? What would you pay to have kept Captiva unspoiled? What about the Ichetucknee and the Oklawaha and the Wakulla? Or do we just give up, pollute it all, pave it all, and let the whole state look like Orlando? ....Diane Roberts, a former St Petersburg Times editorial writer, is a professor of English at the University of Alabama. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. Medical Malpractice and Jury Awards
The US Supreme Court now says that it
is unconstitutional to execute people who are mentally retarded and
that only a jury can decide when to impose the death penalty.
This ruling is bound to have a profound effect nationwide as states
begin to review hundreds of affected cases.
Yet at the same time, and most interesting,
we are being bombarded with messages that juries should not be allowed
to award more than X amount of dollars in personal injury and
malpractice cases. We are being led to believe that the
"litigation train" is out of control, sometimes awarding
upwards of $1 million dollars, and that the resulting costs to
insurance premiums for doctors and for average citizens are likewise
"skyrocketing."
Furthermore, we are being fed the line, via
advertising and other messages, that "trial lawyers are
"making out" because of these "outlandish" awards
while good doctors are being shown the door to unemployment.
A recent study now circulated by proponents
of tort reform is called Jury Verdict Research (JVR). The study
supposedly shows that “jury awards in medical malpractice cases
jumped 43% in one year from $700,000 in 1999 to $1 million in
2000.” The Democrat even recently published an guest editorial
that cited this study and attempted to build a persuasive argument for
reform.
Among the flaws of the study, however,
according to Joanne Doroshow of the Center for Justice and Democracy,
"JVR’s data are skewed toward the high-end, they do not include
defense verdicts, verdicts in non-jury trials, or verdicts overturned
on appeal, and they are not adjusted for inflation. Furthermore,
they have no relation to what insurance companies actually pay out to
claimants an average of $30,000 per claim." In other
words, the JVR researchers were very selective in the data they chose
to include in their findings.
Even the Associated Press reported in a
January 31, 2001 article about the year 2000 JVR data, “The study
includes all figures from plaintiff awards that could be collected
from every state, but is not a comprehensive database of every award
nationwide.”
On the other hand, in an actuarial analysis
conducted in 2001 by the Consumer Federation of America, using the
most recent insurance data available from the National Association of
Insurance Commissioners and A.M. Best and Co., from 1991-2000 the
average malpractice insurance payout remained constant at $30,000 per
claim, with total payouts for that period ranging from $2.5 billion to
$4 billion.
Medical Malpractice as a percentage of
national health care expenditures is at an all-time low, barely 1/2 of
1 per cent. There is no “explosion” in claim severity, says
Doroshow, who requested the CFA analysis. "Americans spend
twice as much each year on dog food."
If a jury - a collection of our peers - is
now to decide the fate of one individual with a possible resultant
cost of life, why is it not reasonable to expect that the same jury
can continue to behave responsibly when it comes to making decisions
against industries, corporations and physicians that act only in their
best interests and only for the bottom line - profit - and whose
actions at times lead to the loss of life, whether actual or quality.
We should be thankful that so much
responsibility is in the hands of a jury, just as our country's
founders intended, and not solely in the hands of appointed judges or
industry-written laws. I think qualified citizens are still
competent enough to handle this civic responsibility, regardless of
what reform messengers say.
Peace.
Jacob Lerner Tallahassee, 6/26/02
LETTER TO
LEGISLATORS ABOUT REP.ALEXANDER'S NEW CITRUS CANKER LAW
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Scandals haunt Jeb Bush |
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March 10, 2002—Florida Governor Jeb Bush must be getting a little punch drunk by now. Last year, rumors swept through Tallahassee that Vanity Fair and the tabloid, "The Globe," were on the cusp of breaking a story alleging an affair between Bush and controversial Florida Department of Management Services head Cynthia Henderson. Before the Vanity Fair story came out the so called "Rumor" took on a life of its own when a Tallahassee Democrat veteran reporter wrote a column about the subject and speculation swept the corridors of the Florida Press Center. That shoe never did quite drop. The Vanity Fair piece and the writer, David Margolick, did point out that the rumors were being spread by angry Republican rivals—not Democrats. Margolick reported that although the alleged liason with Henderson was minus a smoking gun, reliable sources told him that Columba Bush did angrily lash out at another alleged object of Jebs affections, Secretary of State Katherine Harris. Indeed, CNN's in-house conservative, Robert Novak, inflamed passions and stoked the fires of speculation when he wrote in his syndicated column that Jeb Bush might not run because of "family problems." A hot under the collar Jeb Bush angrily declared to Florida reporters, "Bob Novak doesn't know what he's talking about." After the "Rumor" died down, Jebs next PR crisis occurred at the end of last January, when his daughter Noelle was arrested and charged with felony prescription fraud. Although Noelle has escaped prosecution and is reportedly on the mend in a drug rehab program, the arrest led to a spate of other stories indicating that the governor's daughter received special treatment. Despite a horrendous driving record and several car crashes, including one with Tallahassee resident Sandra Morrow in which Ms. Bush told police she was taking a prescription drug, Noelle wasn't subjected to a drug or alcohol test when she pulled up at Walgreens to fetch her fraudulent prescription for Xanax. More proof that the rich and powerful are different when it comes to the law occurred when several weeks ago the National Enquirer broke a story that Noelle had previously tried the same scam. The Enquirer had the smoking gun as well in the form of stolen prescription forms filled out and signed by Noelle. Those fraudulent prescriptions were for the painkiller OxyContin and Xanax. Despite the smoking gun provided by the Enquirer and no denials from the Bush camp, the national and state media ignored the fact that Noelle Bush was a multiple offender. The Jeb-Enron Connection Now another potential PR bombshell has landed in the lap of Jeb Bush in the form of a front page story in the business section of the March 3 New York Times, with the headline "At the 11th hour, He Bought Enron. But Why?" The story by Leslie Wayne, and datelined Tallahassee, speculates on the motives for why Alliance Capital Investment Management investor Alfred Harrison invested so much of Florida's pension funds in Enron even while the Enron stock was falling. The Florida pension fund was the biggest loser, $350 million, next to Enron employees. It surely brought no joy to Jeb's inner circle to see the paper of record point out that Jeb Bush, a state pension trustee and one of three who administer the state's pension fund, also had a direct economic relationship with Enron in the form of a partnership. And that like his brother, George W, Jeb at times promoted Enron interests and received campaign donations from Enron executives. The Times article notes also that speculation is rife that perhaps Jeb Bush had some role in the stock purchases, a charge denied by Bush and Alliance. Still it doesn't bode well for Jeb that as he plans re-election strategy state Attorney General—and Democrat—Bob Butterworth will be investigating the pension fund fiasco. And not to mention there will also be a high profile national look at the Florida pension fund issue by a U.S. Senate panel whose members include, as the Times points out, Florida's Democratic Senator Bill Nelson. Adding to Bush's public relations woes was a recent call by Public Citizen's Joan Claybrook, in both a newspaper ad and an article in the online magazine "CounterPunch.com," for Jeb to recuse himself from any role in investigating the Florida pension fund fiasco. The infamous Watergate question, "What did he know and when did he know it" will inevitably be raised in the matter of Jeb Bush and Alliance Management. Whether there's any fire in this latest Bush political brouhaha remains to be seen, not to mention all the previous scandals we won't go into here. But without a doubt, Jeb Bush, like the Enron infested administration of his brother, is feeling the heat. |
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Jack McCarthy for 15 years was managing editor and a columnist for the Tallahassee independent daily, "The Florida Flambeau," now defunct. He can be reached at jackm32301@yahoo.com. reprinted
from the Florida Report at OnlineJournal.com |
UNDER JEB BUSH, NATIONAL STUDY SAYS FLORIDA FAILS UNEMPLOYED WORKERS
Citing a study that gives Florida failing marks when it comes to unemployment benefits, Florida Democratic Party Chair Bob Poe today called on Gov. Jeb Bush to take immediate action to address the shortcomings in the state's unemployment insurance system. The study, released Tuesday by the Economic Policy Institute, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the National Employment Law Project, shows Florida was among 23 states receiving an overall failing grade. Florida received failing grades in three out of the study's five categories: eligibility requirements; unemployment insurance recession preparedness; and revenue.
The Economic Policy Institute's "Failing the Unemployed" study found:
* Only 27 percent of Florida's unemployed workers received unemployment insurance benefits in 2001, compared with 43.3 percent nationally. * Only four states have a lower percentage of unemployed workers who received unemployment insurance benefits in 2001 than Florida - Louisiana, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Virginia. * The maximum weekly benefit an unemployed worker in Florida can receive is $1 above the poverty line for a family of three. * Florida is among the states where eligibility requirements are so narrowly drawn that two-thirds or more of unemployed workers do not qualify to receive any benefits at all. * Florida is among the states that not only disqualify those who work less than 20 hours a week at the minimum wage, but also fails to count a worker's most recent earnings in calculating benefits - having a greater impact on women who make up about 70 percent of part-time workers.
"Instead of safeguarding the state's unemployment system as a backstop to promote economic security for working people, Jeb Bush has used the unemployment trust fund as a vehicle to fund his tax breaks," Poe said. "This study shows that during the current recession, unemployed workers in Florida are among the least likely to receive benefits. This is yet another reason why working Floridians need to hold Jeb Bush accountable."
According to the Agency for Workforce Innovation, Florida's January unemployment rate stood at 5.2 percent with 400,000 Floridians out of work. That means nearly one out of every twenty Americans out of work in January were from Florida. During the current legislative session, Democrats are prime sponsors of two measures to extend Florida's unemployment benefits that have stalled in the Legislature (House Bill 1167 and Senate Bill 1220).
Find the "Failing the Unemployed" study at: www.epinet.org/briefingpapers/122/122.pdf
The following is the press release on the study. It can be found at:
http://www.epinet.org/
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VerSteeg: Jeb's election-year memory losses
By Jac Wilder VerSteeg, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 12, 2002
Jeb Bush is my age. Like many of us getting up there, the governor is
starting to have senior moments.
Last week, Gov. Bush's spokeswoman said that the governor had had a half-hour phone conversation last April with Ken Lay. At the time, Mr. Lay was chairman and CEO of Enron. When asked later what he and Mr. Lay had chatted about, however, Gov. Bush said: "I don't think I talked to him. I don't remember talking to him."
Who hasn't been there? One minute you can remember all kinds of things. You can remember who gave $6,500 to your campaign for governor. You can remember who has been telling you to deregulate the state's energy industry. You can remember who wants to privatize your state's water supply. You can remember whose stock your state's pension fund was buying and buying and buying even as the price kept falling and falling and falling.
Then, all of the sudden, it just goes . . . zingo . . . and you can't remember a silly little thing like talking for half an hour to the chief of the country's seventh-largest corporation and your brother's biggest financial contributor.
As I said, I know just how Jeb feels because -- amazing coincidence -- I can't remember talking to Ken Lay, either.
I'm sure his memory lapse is terribly embarrassing for the governor. Given the level of interest in Mr. Lay and his connections with government, lots of people are curious about the former Enron chief. And if Jeb were to remember what he and Ken talked about, those curious people would ask questions, as they had begun to do when news of the phone call came out. They had been asking things like, "What did you talk about?" and "Did Ken Lay try to get special favors?" and "Did you promise Ken Lay any special favors?"
When people start asking questions, it is a blessing to have a brain like an Arthur Andersen shredder. "Don't remember," you can say. "What was the question?" "Do I know you?" "What day is it?"
People who have taken money from Enron seem to be having a lot of memory problems. President Bush could remember dimly that he appointed the man to a board or something in Texas, but he seemed to recall that he was doing it at the behest of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards.
Just last week, former Enron honcho Jeff Skilling testified before Congress that he couldn't remember being told about the shady partnerships Enron used to hide its debts and fleece stockholders -- such as Florida's pension fund. Mr. Skilling said he didn't remember being at the meeting where it was pointed out that he, Mr. Skilling, was responsible for approving all those partnerships. When a congressman produced minutes showing Mr. Skilling had been present, Mr. Skilling suddenly remembered that he was "in and out of the meeting."
Fortunately, there are products and techniques known to improve memory. Gingko is one. Immunity from prosecution is another. I have a hunch that someone involved with Enron eventually will opt for the immunity cure.
Unfortunately, forgetfulness is not confined just to Enron matters. Gov. Bush frequently says education is his top priority. But he keeps forgetting to budget properly for education. And whenever he talks about "big increases" in money for schools, he forgets to factor in inflation.
Gov. Bush also said in his State of the State address just a few days ago that he wanted to hear a full debate about reforming Florida's tax system. Senate President John McKay wants to reduce the sales tax from 6 percent to 4.5 percent and remove some exemptions. He's trying to put it on the ballot so voters can decide if that's what they want to do. But last week -- just as he was forgetting whether he talked to Ken Lay -- Gov. Bush forgot about the debate and announced that he was against letting voters decide on the sales tax cut.
As I said, this is the kind of thing that happens when you get older. It's also the kind of thing that happens to politicians in election years. I was concerned when Janet Reno had a fainting spell the other day. Gov. Bush's memory problems worry me more.
Jac Wilder VerSteeg is deputy editorial page editor of The Palm
Beach Post. His e-mail address is jac_versteeg@pbpost.com
"Banana Republic" by
Philip Farruggio
Former Sen. Simon from Illinois told of being on the re-election stump years ago. As he returned to his hotel after a long day of campaigning, he found 10 message slips awaiting him. Going through them he realized who must be called back first: the only campaign contributor of the ten callers. "That's the reality of electoral politics", Simon admitted.
The "EndRun" aka Enron debacle is just the tip of the iceberg. Multiply that by a hundred fold (or more) to see the scope of money influencing politics. When approximately ¾ of our U.S. Senators and nearly ½ of our Representatives receive cash in some manner from one company - well its time to listen to the Progressive "voice in the wilderness". The presence of money in electoral politics should be like oil to water, or a match to dynamite. The two simply do not mix. And the solution is staring us in the face.
As all good constitutional students know, the "infamous" Buckley vs.Valeo Supreme Court decision of 1976 stated that "money is free speech" (some oxymoron hah?). Boy, were they ever wrong - there is nothing "free" about money. Back in 1997 former Senator Bill Bradley was on C-Span giving a talk. Bradley stated to his audience that the time had come for Americans to consider taking all money out of politics, to "level the playing field" and diffuse the corruptive influence of this thing called "political contribution". A member of the audience, being a good citizen, reminded Bradley of the aforementioned Buckley vs. Valeo ruling. Dollar Bill smirked and retorted without pause "well, the last time I looked, we have twenty some odd amendments to the constitution - why not one more?"
Why not? Why not a national (and statewide) referendum allowing we the people to decide? You don't let the fox decide who enters the hen house, do ya? Let's vote on it! As far as the media: they should give plenty of free and equal time to both opposing viewpoints on banning money from electoral politics. And, we need legislation to counteract the "paid commercials" that lobbying groups bombard us with. Shouldn't local and national town hall meetings replace unbalanced "Madison Avenue manipulation"? Enough is enough!
Now, what to do until (and if) the lengthy amendment process succeeds? Well, in 1996 Maine found a solution. Under its "Clean Election Law" a candidate can voluntarily not accept (or spend) private monies. Ya wanna be a candidate in your district? Go out and get registered voters to a) sign your petition of candidacy, and b) write a $5 dollar check, made out to the election board. Once you have the designated amounts needed, you're on the ballot as a "clean" candidate. The checks you collected, called "seed money", are put into the public funding kitty. "Clean election candidates" are allowed to share the public funds to run a campaign. Obviously, the public funds are limited and distributed equally. Those who refuse to run as "clean election candidates" can raise as much money as allowed by law. If its their own money, the Constitution says "skies the limit" (some free speech hah?) Despite spending imbalances in the 2000 election, close to 50% of Maine's "clean election" candidates won seats.
The Maine formula is not the perfect solution - yet its the best one for the time being. At least the voters go into the booth knowing who raised monies and who did not. I guess ole Honest Abe's adage on "fooling the people" has some value after all.
So, dear readers, why not consider the options? Then, please call or e-mail or fax your elected officials, federal, state and local. Inform them that you refuse to vote for their re-election until you see them take a positive position on this most important (probably the most important) issue. Either they a) initiate (or support) a bill mandating a voter referendum on amending the Constitution to ban money in campaigns, or they b) introduce a Maine type clean election bill. As far as our city officials who simply "pass the buck" onto the state - demand that they pass city council resolutions calling for such state mandates.
Finally, to quote Shakespeare: "The fault
is not in our stars, dear Brutus, it is in our selves". Make that
call, before we become a total Banana Republic! Philip Farruggio, son
of a longshoreman, is "Blue Collar Brooklyn" born, raised
and educated (Brooklyn College, Class of '74). A former progressive
talk show host, Philip runs a manufacturers representative business
and writes regularly for many publications. He lives currently in Port
Orange, FL. You can contact Mr. Farruggio at e-mail: brooklynphilly@aol.com.
Sticks and stones will break your bones
A couple of weeks ago the startled-looking, forever youthful host of the CSPAN2 weekend review of the news was taking call-in comments when his demeanor escalated to a more-startled-than-usual look which startled me. I began listening more closely to hear a shocked host exclaiming something like:
Sir! Do you really believe our President could have participated in a scheme to allow the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center at the loss of thousands of lives?!
We’ve heard of that specious theory and won’t have it repeated here! He blustered.
Then a friend told me about having heard Diane Ream of NPR ream a caller for blaspheming our President. (Reminds me of when Joan Rivers, not one of my faves, reamed Ms. Ream on the Larry King Show for attempting to contradict Rivers’ panning comments about Laura Bush’s wardrobe. And, Ms. Ream, who has been one of my faves, spoke in such drippingly condescending tones that Rivers’ invective was particularly spiked. The Aussies would say: Good on ya, Joanie!)
Back to Basics
Well, gosh, folks. It does seem to me that politics is Big Business, and owned by Bigger Business. So what’s wrong with having a jaundiced view of both and saying so?
If you were among the lucky who saw the Mark Twain documentary on Public TV, you’ll remember the ultimate message of the American Master. Twain, nee Samuel Langhorn Clemens, basically addressed in his writings a reminder of the classical view of the human animal as scallywaggish, greedy, scurrilous, lying, deceitful, hypocritical, and dangerous enough to have created a god in his own image.
Or, you could read about Caligula, Stalin, Cassius, Bluto, Heap and Golum. Or go direct to the source and sample some of our role models from the Good Book itself.
Yet, with all the lessons of history and mythology, there remains such a market for the malarkey about human kindness and potential good. Why, those good "on-air personalities", as they’re called, could do no less than represent the self-perceived righteousness and total gullibility of their general populace audiences.
Now, I am not suggesting Dubya and his boys exercised such cynical judgment that shocked Mr. Wild Eyes. (Dub’d say "evil, evil, evil, evil" for visceral effect on his fundamentalist dupes ever cadging more votes for the next election.) However, it is not so difficult for me to speculate that Dick Chaney (and some of the same Dubya Boys) were meeting with Enron; not about a bogus energy program, but about the best mutual damage control they could connive on the eve of the monumental collapse resulting in Enron’s being the largest bankruptcy in the nations history.
That is, if you don’t count the political bankruptcy and bail-out of the savings and loan industry during the most recent Bush/Reagan administration. Or, the Reagan bankruptcy of the very nation with his trillions in deficit spending. Sure, he out-spent the Soviet Union on war materials, but certainly not with the intent to run them out of the competition. Dubya’s in a similar position with the phantom war against Osama and Mullah Omar. This is going to be a very long war, he told us from the beginning. Probably the last thing he wants is to find Osama.
"This war’ll last at least seven years, better reelect me, you know the damn Democrats won’t contract with our benefactors to the degree that I will. Naw, can’t find Osama. Hell, I can’t even find Dick. Heh, heh."
Yeah. I can imagine all that.
And, there they go again
So, it’s not a real leap to imagine all that top administration talent hosting the Enrons and the Andersen Consultings to discuss . . .What?
Money and politics. Like, how could they work it out so that the Enron mullahs and those they have bankrupted on a personal level can get their own bail-out, and so that Dubya can still believe in his reelection prospects. Yep, I can believe those were the thoughts uppermost on the minds of all that talent as those days dwindled down.
Can’t you?
Better not say so if you don’t want Barbara Ream on your case.
JEBBIE
Now, our Bushie, JEBBIE, you believe he’s thinking about anything but money and politics? Don’t.
Poor JEBBIE, he’s taken a pretty bad whupping in the media lately. Bet he’s been ranting at his paid flack corps in the agencies for not deflecting the barbs.
Why, he’s our "Education Governor," you know. And, he’s really concerned about the environment, especially the Everglades, really. He just happens to be for smaller government. And, I ask you, how can government get smaller without you cut out all that fat for the old folks (who should have been born right so they could afford their own services like the rest of us). ‘N you gotta cut the kiddy programs, ‘n shift money outta the trust funds to cover the lack of revenue some say relates to our tax cuts for the people (we like).
No, forget that. Please just report that I’m for smaller government, will ya?
Ah, JEBBIE. Like your big brother, the people have started laughing at you again.
Ta, Ta. Katy.... Katy Bar The Door, 1/19/02
Questioning authority is still essential
By DIANE ROBERTS
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 13, 2001
Some of us have wrapped ourselves in the flag so tightly that our brains may not be getting enough oxygen.
The television show Politically Incorrect was dropped by some ABC affiliates because its host, Bill Maher, had the temerity to trust in the First Amendment and say something, well, politically incorrect about the U.S. military. Addressing the issue, Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer informed Americans that "they need to watch what they say and watch what they do."
And if they don't, others will watch for them. A letter to the editor in the Oct. 8 issue of Time magazine says people must become "providers of information to authorities about those who act suspiciously or voice anti-American opinions."
So now we all become our own little Un-American Activities Committees, finger on the speed dial programmed with the FBI's 800 number, Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA blasting in the background?
There's nothing more American than dissent, nothing we should be prouder of than our right to question authority. It's scary when some no doubt well-intentioned citizen wants us to inform on those who might go on a peace march or fail to have the Stars and Stripes flying from the front porch or suggest that expanding the government's power to wiretap is not such a great idea. It's downright ominous for the White House to imply that criticism of the government is unpatriotic.
You can be a good American and think bombing Afghanistan back to whatever came before the Stone Age won't stop terrorism. You can be a good American and feel that cutting the capital gains tax will not cure our rickety economy (though it'll cheer up rich folks). You can be a good American and deplore attacks on our civil liberties in the name of "national security."
We may be at war, but that shouldn't make us forget what the country is supposed to be about.
The Bush administration calls the military campaign against the Taliban "Operation Enduring Freedom," yet seeks to limit some of our freedoms. Despite all the calls for "national unity," now's the time to exercise those freedoms -- in Washington and Tallahassee -- in vigorous debate. If the debate is partisan, fine. That's what democracy is about. We still have a society to run here. We have children to educate, the elderly and the sick to care for, unemployed people who need jobs, an environment to protect, rights to safeguard.
The Bush brothers -- George W. and Jeb -- have been getting a free ride in the name of a patriotism that equates love of country with conformity and quiescence. Republicans in the U.S. Senate are trying to use our "national emergency" to push through the nominations of conservative judges. If Democrats protest, they are accused of not standing behind the president.
Democrats in the Florida Legislature have been saying that the state's precipitous budget shortfall, obvious for months now, means less money for social services, education, you name it. Gov. Jeb Bush denied it. House Speaker Tom Feeney denied it. When Bush and Feeney finally admitted the state was in trouble, they blamed the terrible events of Sept. 11. Calling that political opportunism, wondering if cuts in the intangibles tax and other hand-outs to the wealthy had something to do with the shortfall, why, that would be downright "unpatriotic."
Even more alarming, Floridians' constitutional right to know what their government does in their name is under siege. In a report on "Anti-Terrorism Capabilities," Jeb Bush and FDLE Commissioner Tim Moore suggest law enforcement be allowed to arrest a person and keep his or her name, the date and location of the incident and the arrest, as well as the charge, secret. Moore complained in an interview on National Public Radio the other day that he doesn't like it when a reporter shows up at a suspect's house before a police officer. Understandable from his point of view, though you'd think that was a fault in law enforcement, not the public's right to governmental oversight.
Now Speaker Tom Feeney wants to be able to hold secret legislative meetings. In a letter to the First Amendment Foundation, he quotes the provision in the Florida Constitution (Article III, Section 4e) he claims would allow it, but uses ellipses to leave out the language which, to put it charitably, complicates the issue. This is evidently a trick they teach in first-year law school -- you might just get a judge who's too lazy to check the full text.
It's to be hoped that the citizens, and the free press that serves us all, are not too lazy to check the full text and check out what we are told. Challenging those who rule us is not just an American right, it's an imperative. An America that debates, argues, criticizes, questions and even offends is the only America worth fighting for. Otherwise, what freedom can endure?
-- Diane Roberts, a former Times editorial writer, is a professor of English at the University of Alabama.
DANIEL RUTH
On assuming office, Gov. Jeb Bush, as if he were posing for a spot on
Mount Rushmore, pledged his
would be the most ethical gathering of public
servants since Eliot Ness and the Untouchables last dined together.
Hardy-har-har. That Jeb, he's such a scamp. Most ethical? Beyond reproach? Simon Pure?
Tell that to Omar Shafey, a former (accent on former) state epidemiologist with an admired record of scientific integrity, who was fired by the Florida Department of Health - because he did his job.
In Tallahassee's own version of the Dreyfus Affair, a reputable, honest, candid state employee has had his reputation soiled and his career terminated because he had the audacity to tell the truth about the health dangers of malathion spray carpet-bombing to combat Medfly outbreaks.
What was that again, Gov. Bush, about ethics, accountability, yada- yada-yada?
Tribune reporter Jan Hollingsworth has detailed Shafey's fall from grace at the hands of state health officials after the epidemiologist refused to alter a report revealing widespread medical ill effects associated with malathion spraying during a Medfly infestation in 1998.
Shafey's findings that the pesticide caused rashes, respiratory problems and other illnesses were subsequently excised from the final draft of his report, in which another hand instead concluded no direct link between health effects and the spraying could be established.
After all, state agriculture officials had been running around claiming malathion was so safe, why, if they had served the stuff at Jonestown, everybody would have been just fine.
You couldn't have some egghead scientist raising concerns over the safety of malathion when Deputy Agriculture Commissioner Martha Roberts was practically inviting reporters over to the house to watch her take a bath in the pesticide.
What was that again, Gov. Bush, about morality, and high principles and blah-blah-blah or whatever?
Obviously, Shafey had clearly overstepped his authority.
Imagine, a scientist committing science and then refusing to change his findings to accommodate political concerns. The snooty gall of some people.
So it didn't take long for Shafey to find himself brought up on charges that he had ripped off the good taxpayers of the state of Florida to the obscene toll of $12.50 - the amount his minders accused him of inflating his expense account.
You'd think if you were going to take a man's livelihood away, besmirch his name and send him packing - all over $12.50 - the poor schmo would at least be given an opportunity to explain the discrepancy. Yet Shafey was never asked about the egregious $12.50 overage by Health Department investigators (who had to feel like a bunch of boobs) and a hearing scheduled to allow Shafey to respond to the charge against him was canceled.
Due process, whatta hoot!
As well, additional accusations that Shafey called the paper-pusher who fired him a ``worm'' and ``excrement'' were added to his disciplinary file. But, then again, Shafey is an epidemiologist, whose expert opinion ought to count for something.
Ah, what's that again, Gov. Bush, about character and honesty and boom-chuck-a-lucka?
What happened to Shafey may have a more toxic effect than any saturation malathion bombing.
State employees who do their jobs with the public welfare at heart have every right to feel threatened if their work conflicts with the political interests of the powers that be.
Omar Shafey gets the boot, while Bush's head of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Cynthia Henderson, can play footsie with the very businesses she is supposed to oversee; hire friends and cronies; fire investigators who get too close to her pals; intervene on behalf of a restaurant where she has been a patron and cancel a $184,000 liquor tax debt, and Gov. Diogenes does - nothing.
It all sorta reconfirms your faith in government, doesn't it, especially if the government is North Korea.
Uh, what was that again, Gov. Bush, about rectitude and fair play and ... oh, never mind.
Giving Workers the Treatment
- If you raise a stink, you go to a shrink!
by Peter Downs
On October 5, 1998, Norm Crosty sent a letter to the labor relations department at his plant. Crosty, for thirteen years an electrician at Ford Motor Company's Wixom, Michigan, assembly plant, complained that he could not do his job because so many of his bosses were taking the necessary equipment out of the plant to work on their homes or personal businesses.
The next day, the plant director of human resources invoked a Ford program for combating workplace violence to bar Crosty from the factory and ordered him to see a company-paid psychiatrist or lose his job.
A little more than fourteen months later, and 725 miles away, officials at Emory University cited a similar concern about violence to justify using armed guards to escort Dr. James Murtagh off university property when Dr. R. Wayne Alexander, chairman of the department of medicine at Emory, ordered him to see a company-selected psychiatrist or lose his job. Six weeks earlier,
Murtagh, a professor of pulmonology at Emory, had filed a false claims suit against the university, alleging that it had misspent millions of dollars in federal grant money. He claimed the university diverted money from research grants in order to pay for salaries and trips for administrators and some staff. The specific allegations were sealed by order of the federal judge.
Crosty and Murtagh don't know each other. It is unlikely their worlds would ever intersect, but they have at least one thing in common. They both are victims of an increasingly popular employer weapon against whistleblowers: the psychiatric reprisal.
Across the United States, companies have seized upon concerns about workplace violence to quash dissent. Hundreds of large corporations have hired psychiatrists and psychologists as consultants to advise them on how to weed out "threatening" employees. They say they are only responding to a 1970 directive from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration that they maintain a "safe and secure work environment." But by drawing the definition of "threatening" as broadly as possible, they are giving themselves a new club to bang over the heads of workers.
Maria Buffa, a former salaried employee in the personnel department at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, said she, too, was sent to a psychiatrist after she filed a sexual harassment complaint in February 1999 against a woman co-worker. "You think, maybe I am the problem, else why would they be sending me to a psychiatrist," she said. The psychiatrist Ford selected, Dr. Edward Dorsey of Midwest Health Center, made a report that said the only psychiatric symptom Buffa displayed was anxiety. Dorsey's report said that the referral came from Ford's medical department and was at least in part due to her complaints of sexual harassment. He also noted that the Ford doctor who referred Buffa cited a couple of "incidents": She was seen yelling at someone, and she had shown up at a fitness center "wearing less than the usual amount of clothing for that physical activity."
In April 1999, Buffa's boss fired her "for the good of the company," she recalled being told.