http://www.fightingbob.com/ An online magazine about progressive politics in Wisconsin. en-us Subscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with RojoSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with Pageflakes http://www.fightingbob.com/weblog.cfm?postID=2603 "Bush, in Shift, Accepts Concept of Iraq Time line." Supposedly, he is making a concession to the government of Iraq--be clear about it--not a concession to 70 percent of the American people but to Iraq! if you believe that, send an email because I have some land in Florida I'd like to sell.

Could it be? An end to the occupation...a concession that Barack was right all along...no more Gitmo...habeas corpus is back...Blackwater a footnote?

Not so fast. McCain is confused. He responded "An artificial timetable based on political expediency would have led to disaster and (listen up Mr. Bush,)
could still turn success into defeat." Yikes! This drivel from McCain, while a member of Maliki's party said, "the Iraqi government considers the withdrawal of foreign forces an important issue...it is the core issue."

I don't want to jump the gun but it is over. Too late for Jackie Larsen of Tacoma who was the latest soldier to die. But think of the joy that will greet the end of this absurd war and occupation.

Now the bad news. Phil Gram is gone. One hopes he is getting counseling. Fellow Whiners unite! Bring back Phil!

Ah, is he a secret Muslim? Forget that. John McCain told the K.C. Star that Obama might be a socialist. (I'm not making this up. Is "marxist next?)]]> Ed Garvey 2008-07-19 http://www.fightingbob.com/guestblog.cfm?postID=2602
The entry fee is money.

The players are the candidates, the political parties, and anyone or anything (anything being an organization with members with money and a cause, bias, phobia, preference on or about any subject or candidate) else.

The candidates’ rules are well defined and rigorously enforced. They must reveal the names and occupations of their contributors, and their contributors are subject to limitations on the amounts that they can give to the candidates’ campaigns. The penalties for non-compliance are harsh.

There are similar, much more lax and flexible, rules for what the political parties can collect and spend.

Everyone else who can pay an entry fee can do or say almost anything they want, use money from anyone without limits or without identifying where they got the money, and can do so anonymously.

There are two restrictions on their participation.

They cannot collude with the candidates they support.

They cannot use the words “vote for” or “vote against” the candidates they favor or oppose.

Not a problem.

There are two kinds of organizations that are participating under these very liberal rules.

One kind is usually a membership organization whose members are identifiable in general and whose agenda is obvious from the name. WEAC is funded by teachers and supports things you would expect teachers to support, including better pay and benefits for teachers.

WMC is a business organization whose members’ interests are mostly economic, and who support and oppose things you would expect them to support. The only difference between WEAC and WMC is that the businesses that contribute to the political activity of WMC are, for the most part, not willing to broadcast this fact.

The other organizations have goody-two-shoes names (Greater Wisconsin Committee, the Coalition for America’s Families, One Wisconsin Now, The Club for Growth) and agendas that can be ferreted out by the people they choose to front for them: Bill Christofferson, Steve King, Scot Ross, for example.

Thanks to the over-the-top protection of free speech and free speakers by the U.S. Supreme Court it is none of your or my business who is paying for the messages they promulgate.

There is a proposal to bring some transparency to the participation of all of these incipient campaign hijackers which most lawyers think will get past the Supreme Court.

You will not be surprised to learn that it is vigorously and anonymously opposed by the above-named beneficiaries of these two sets of rules.

Anyone out there in favor of a fair fight on an even playing field?]]> Bill Kraus 2008-07-18 http://www.fightingbob.com/weblog.cfm?postID=2601 NYT shows results of a riot in front of the Pakistani stock exchange. The market has fallen 14 days in a row and the rioters think the government should have closed the exchange. The index has dropped by 36 percent since April.

Catch this. A former broker in Karachi and a rioter yesterday, said, "I have lost my life's savings in 15 days." How much did he lose? A total of $4,175. That is bad, but before you get too down, the Times reports that Mayor Bloomberg has done just fine. His net worth is now put at $16 billion to $20 billion, enough to fund 25 percent of New York City's budget. Now, let your mind wander. What could he do for Pakistan? Buy Islamabad? Help the losers in the Pakistani stock exchange? Whoa Nelly!

You gotta love the FDA. They can't figure out how the problem with tomatoes started so they did what comes naturally--they withdrew the warning. Still, they say, children and feeble seniors should not eat Jalapeño peppers--no kidding! 1200 people in 42 states have become ill from the tomatoes, but says, FDA, what the hell. Put some tomatoes on your cake and eat it.

Is FDA in charge of electrical work in Iraq? Our soldiers are getting shocks and some die because the private contractors are incompetent. For God's sake! Can't we do anything right? Call Bloomberg I say.

Good meeting in Baraboo with the best volunteers in this state, preparing for Bob Fest. Enthusiastic response to the program; McKibben, Donahue, Ritter, Hightower--go to www.FightingBobFest.org for all the details.]]> Ed Garvey 2008-07-18 http://www.fightingbob.com/weblog.cfm?postID=2600 President Bush has nominated Milwaukee Circuit Court judge Timothy Dugan for a life time appointment to the Federal Bench. Dugan would take the position now held by Federal District Court Judge Rudolph Randa, appointed by Bush 41. Randa notified the Bushies that he would retire if a successor is appointed by Bush/Cheney and is confirmed by the Senate. (Is that the way it is supposed to work? I don't think so. But give them points for creative control.)

The Milwaukee Federalist Society put out a news release but Dugan said "he is not now nor has he ever been a member of the Federalist Society". Oh, that makes me feel good all over! Missing from the news release were "wink, wink, nod, nod."

Dugan had been expected by Milwaukee insiders to be the WMC candidate to challenge Justice Louis Butler for the Supreme Court seat last year but he ultimately declined, forcing Jim Haney to find and support Gableman.

Dugan, first appointed to the bench by governor Tommy Thompson, said, "I'm honored and humbled by the nomination and the support from Congressman James Sensenbrenner and, (sit down please) Senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl. Whoa Nelly! What is going on? (Bush never appoints moderates to the federal bench.You know he has been vetted by the real Federalists so why would our Democrats in the Senate rush to confirm this nominee?)

Relax. Stop the train. Let President Obama or McCain choose. Hasn't Bush done enough? Time for his nap.]]> Ed Garvey 2008-07-17 http://www.fightingbob.com/article.cfm?articleID=874 Ed Garvey 2008-07-17 http://www.fightingbob.com/weblog.cfm?postID=2599
Somehow the long lines around Indy Mac--the second biggest bank failure in our history--not to mention the possible failure of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, killed the joy of the Berra kiss. (Error. Yesterday I wrote that Indy Mac was the biggest failure--that trophy goes to Continental Illinois.)

On top of all that bloviating about the game's greatest owner (Remember he never went to prison and Reagan did pardon him for his felony conviction?) there this quote about another baseball hero, the Busch family: A worker in St. Louis, a member of the Teamsters, at Anheuser-Busch was quoted in the NYT saying, "We were betrayed. The good Lord was sold out for thirty pieces of silver. We were sold out for $70 per share." Now 6,000 jobs are at stake.

Will John McCain say anything? I doubt it, because a lobbyist for Anheuser-Busch bundled more than $500,000 for McCain. (And Fannie Mae and NRA--but hey, that's politics.)

But not to worry while the taxpayers of NY will spend more than one billion dollars on the "new, new" Yankee Stadium to help "the boss" the economy is just dandy. How do I know? Check this lead in the paper of record: "Gloom Around Capital. And "Fed Chief Mainly Bleak on Outlook," but catch this, "Bush Offers Assurances." Whoa Nelly! The "doin heck of a job Brownie" guy is now telling us "doin heck of a job Bennie" but, he quickly adds, "Why so glum?...take a deep breath," and all will be well.

Then the frog turned into a beautiful princess on Fox News and they lived happily ever after.

Oh, yeah, the American League won the meaningless game.]]> Ed Garvey 2008-07-16 http://www.fightingbob.com/weblog.cfm?postID=2598 New Yorker, I look forward to the cartoons almost as much as Seymour Hersh's analysis of the Bush war machine. As Bill Maher said, "If you can't do irony on the cover of the New Yorker, where can you do it?"

Something different is happening and I suspect you are as confused as I am. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

My concern began at a reception last week, before the cover appeared, where lots of bright progressives gathered. The conversation seemed focused less on Barack's dash to the middle of the road than on the question of whether a black man can be elected president in white America. I can report that there was genuine fear that the answer is no, and I suspect that fear is driving the reaction to the New Yorker cover "cartoon."

Are you angry with the magazine that piles up in your computer room week after guilty week, filled with unread but superb fiction? Or, as I think more likely, do you fear that the Swift-Boat-Willy Horton TV spots produced by the Karl Roves of politics are given a green light to smear the Obama family as they hide behind the New Yorker cover?

The thought of the Democratic nominee losing while the economy is in free fall, the Iraqi government is saying "Yankee Go Home," and the "good war" in Afghanistan looks more and more like a disaster, is damned scary. John McCain? C'mon.

But the signs of panic are around. I think that all the talk about the Clinton's debt, the goofy fundraising for the Democratic Convention, and even shock and awe at the New Yorker cover should cease. The goal is not to pay off Mark Penn. The goal is the White House. Eyes on the prize, folks.

Oh, yes, it is OK to laugh at the New Yorker. (Jon Stewart said you can even laugh at Obama.) As kids used to say, "Why so tense?"]]> Ed Garvey 2008-07-15 http://www.fightingbob.com/article.cfm?articleID=873 John Stauber 2008-07-15 http://www.fightingbob.com/weblog.cfm?postID=2597 Anheuser-Busch was sold to InBev, the Belgian-Brazilian monster that produces Stella Artois and Bass. Busch controls Budweiser, Michelob, and, most importantly, the Clydesdales that got more attention than the Teamsters in stories about the sale.

In the same paper reporting that the Democrats are having problems raising $40 million for their convention, we are told that Anheuser-Busch will receive $52 billion. The Democratic Convention is a good deal for corporations in that light. Lobbyist Steve Farber, a Denver lawyer, is in charge. Why not sell 49 percent of the convention to InBev? Democrats are beer drinkers after all. (Possibly InBev could also run Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.)

Farber told NYT, "I have my list of companies, not only my client's list, but companies throughout Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region." That is a safe bet.

The better question is why Democrats plan to spend $40 million on a do-nothing corporate extravaganza called a "convention"?

Tax problems: I can hardly wait to read testimony from the newly appointed Secretary of Revenue, former Republican State Senator Carol Roessler, on the fiscal crisis caused by the Supreme Court's tax collection decision. Should be lots of fun.]]> Ed Garvey 2008-07-14 http://www.fightingbob.com/weblog.cfm?postID=2596 NYT reports that our government is thinking of reducing troop levels in Iraq "as many as 3 of the 15 combat brigades could be withdrawn," (catch this) or at least "scheduled for withdrawal" by January 20 when Bush beats it to Dubai or Saudi Arabia.

Why? Well, that is a little murky, but if the U.S. reduces the number of troops by, say, 30,000-40,000, they can go to Afghanistan while 140,000 of our young people remain in Iraq! The official reason given for the reduction is that John McCain was right. The surge has reduced violence. The real reason: to give the Republicans something to talk about before November and free thousands of troops so they can fight in Afghanistan.

Things are going downhill quickly in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The only substantive change in Iraq has been the government of Iraq demanding a time table for U.S. withdrawal. Rather incredible, but Bush was able to dismiss such "nonsense."

Message to Bush: We are not stupid. You and Mr. Gates failed to get more NATO Allies to send troops to Afghanistan so now we must reduce the numbers in Iraq so they can be sent. Nonsense. At $370 million per day and the financial markets reeling while the dollar falls, and your only message remains, "Stay the course"? Whatever happened to Mission Accomplished?

Bob Fest: We seem to have the right speakers for every headline. The Bushies won't do anything to improve the climate--we have Bill McKibben to map our strategy. The Cheney administration is trying to find support to bomb Iran. We will listen to Scott Ritter. His new book, Target Iran is, to say the least, timely.

Great Lakes? Peter McAvoy; on the corporate theft of our water above and below ground--Alan Snitow and Robert Glennon. Campaign reform--Granny D and Mike McCabe. The ravages of war--Phil Donahue and his film, Body of War. (A focus you will never forget). Bob McChesney on the condition of the media; Arvonne Fraser on the status of women; music, humor, populist prescriptions for what ails you--Raging Grannies, Jim Hightower and Peter Leidy not to mention two terrific bands. And the icing on the cake? Gwen Moore, Tammy Baldwin, Matt Rothschild, and Stan Gruszynski, Dave Zweifel, John Nichols, Megan Yost, Kathleen Hart and, of course, Nancy Unger. Laura Boyd the indefatigable coordinator and a cast of ten thousand will greet you in Baraboo. Don't miss this one.

Please register today and, if you can afford a contribution, feel free. Our costs will be higher this year given air fares and gasoline.

GREEN Convention: See Green presidential candidate Cynthia McKenny's speech.

]]> Ed Garvey 2008-07-13