Made In China

Political Cartoon is by Tab (Thomas Boldt) in The Calgary Sun.

Who's The Dem In 2010 Governor Race ?

I know it may seem a bit early to some of you to be talking about the 2010 elections, but for us political junkies it's never too early. The race for Texas governor is already taking shape for the Republican Party. Rick Perry will be seeking another term as governor, even though he received less than 40% of the vote in 2006. His main opponent will be Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who has already as good as tossed her hat into the ring.

Both of them are strong candidates. Right now I give the edge to Senator Hutchison, but either one could win what will be a knock-down drag-out fight for the Republican nomination. At the end of the primary race, there may be a lot of unhappy Republicans no matter who wins. But do the Democrats have a candidate who can take advantage of that?

To tell the truth, the pickings are pretty slim. For a while, the names of former Comptroller John Sharp and Houston Mayor Bill White were being tossed around as possible candidates. But in the last couple of weeks, both of them have declared their candidacy for the senate seat Hutchison will be vacating. It looks like both of them think they have a better chance of winning that than beating Hutchison or Perry in the governor's race.

There are some good Democrats who are popular in their own little corner of our huge state, but none of them have the financial support or name-recognition to run a state-wide campaign. I can see only one candidate willing to run on the Democratic ticket who could give the Republicans a run for their money.

That candidate is singer, comic and gonzo-politician Kinky Friedman. I know the thought of Kinky running as a Democrat will upset many of my brothers and sisters in the Texas Progressive Alliance, because they fought him tooth-and-nail in the 2006 election when he ran as an independent. Some of them are convinced he siphoned off enough Democratic votes to cost Chris Bell the election.

I don't agree with that assessment. Bell could not have won that election even if Kinky had not been in the race. The truth is that Kinky siphoned off a lot more Republican votes than Democratic votes.

Kinky has state-wide name recognition, and a solid base of voters from both parties who are willing to back him financially and at the polls. I think he could win the primary, and if the Democratic Party got behind him then, he could pull down enough Republican votes to make the election very close. He might even win.

I'm not asking anyone to jump on the Kinky bandwagon today -- just keep an open mind and see how things develop. He could turn out to be the Democrats best chance.

By the way, the above picture is of Kinky and me during the 2006 campaign.

Not For Nothing

Political Cartoon is by R. J. Matson in The New York Observer.

On Religion And Government

I posted the other day about the state of Washington trying to follow the Constitution regarding religious displays on government property. The state had allowed a christian organization to put up a nativity scene on the grounds of the Legislative Building in Olympia. In order to be constitutionally fair, they also allowed an atheist organization to put up a sign.

It made national news when the atheist sign was stolen, then found in a ditch and re-displayed. But that was only the beginning of Washington's problems. The governor has received over 15,000 phone calls from christians who wanted only a christian display on the government grounds (even though that is unconstitutional). These theocrats are perfectly willing to trash the constitution to further their own religious beliefs.

But the problems didn't stop there. After hearing of the brouhaha created by the competing displays, other groups wanted to put up their own displays. Among the displays requesting space were a Buddhist display, a Festivus display (popularized by the Seinfeld TV series), a "God Hates" display by the Westboro Baptist Church, a display featuring the Flying Spaghetti Monster (pictured above) and a christian goodwill message to atheists, among other display ideas.

The state received more requests than they had space for, so they have now declared a moratorium on any new displays. It looks like the only way out of this mess is to not allow any displays at all on state property next year.

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In other religious/government news, it looks like South Carolina will not be issuing new christian-themed license plates. The state legislature had voted unanimously to issue the plates, even though several members admitted openly that they would not do the same for other religions. The plates contained a cross on a stained glass window and the words "I believe".

Of course, this action made it official that the state of South Carolina had a governmentally-preferred religion -- christianity. But the Americans United for Separation of Church and State didn't think this passed constitutional muster and filed suit on behalf of three ministers, a rabbi, the Hindu American Foundation and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie agreed, and issued an injunction that stops the state from issuing or manufacturing the license plates. She has also ordered the state to remove the plates from the state's web site and tell those who have requested them that the plates will not be available.

Thank goodness there are still judges who follow the Constitution.

Out-Sourcing

Political Cartoon is by David Horsey in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Republicans Attempt Party Suicide

It looks like the Republicans aren't happy with just being trounced in the last election. It's not bad enough that in New England, the birthplace of the Republican Party, they don't have a single representative left in the U.S. House of Representatives. They're not content with traditionally Republican states voting Democratic in the last election. It seems that they're determined to do even worse in the 2010 elections, and perhaps destroy the viability of their party altogether.

That's what I have to think after watching their actions in Congress this past week. When the economy is good and most voters are doing well, people can be fooled into voting against their own interests with such fringe issues as flag burning, the "gay agenda", prayer in school, creationism, "reverse" discrimination, women-bashing and union-blaming. But this is not a good economy, and most voters are hurting too much to worry about anything except the economy.

Our economy is tanking badly, and about two million jobs have disappeared in the last year or so due to Republican policies started in the Reagan era and carried forward by the two Bush presidencies. Last week, in an attempt to do some "union-busting", the congressional Republicans voted to block a bailout to the auto industry.

Many of the same Republicans who voted to give $700 billion to their buddies in the financial sector, couldn't see their way to finding even $15 billion for the auto industry. It doesn't seem to matter to them that an auto industry failure could negatively effect our economy in a massive way, and probably push a bad recession into a horrible depression.

"If there were just a 50 percent contraction in the auto industry, nearly 2.5 million jobs would be lost in the first year, resulting in $125 billion less in personal income before a partial rebound in later years, according to the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. State and federal coffers would lose $50 billion from lost tax dollars, the center said." And we're not just talking about the auto industry here.

If General Motors and Chrysler (and possibly even Ford) were to go out of business, the economic shock waves would reverberate througout the country. Many other companies and small businesses would go out of business and millions of jobs would be lost. And it would be years longer before the economy could recover.

Do they think the voters will forget that it was the Republicans that did it? They are already viwed by the American people as not as economically capable as Democrats. Will destroying another 2-3 million jobs change the voters' minds? I seriously doubt it, and if any voters do forget, I'm sure the Democrats will be happy to remind them.

Frankly, I have to wonder about the sanity of that vote to kill the auto companies. It seemed like an effort to commit party suicide. But it looks like the same president who helped to destroy the economy, and who Republicans spent the campaign running away from, will probably now act to prevent the suicide attempt by Republicans. George Bush is now saying he'll find the money to keep the auto companies afloat until a new Congress can be seated.

The 2010 election will be little more than a referendum on economic policy. If the Republican Party survives it, they can thank George Bush. How ironic!

Happy(?) Holidays

Political Cartoon is by Mike Keefe in The Denver Post.

Tragedy In Zimbabwe

The country of Zimbabwe used to be one of the bright spots in Africa. That is, until Robert Mugabe took over. It's been sliding downhill ever since, and is currently one of the poorest countries on the African continent.

Mugabe destroyed an efficient and productive farming system, by taking the land away from the farmers -- supposedly for the good of the people of Zimbabwe. But instead of giving the land to poor farmers who would work the land, he rewarded his supporters and family with it. These people either had no interest in farming or no skills. Now Zimbabwe doesn't produce even a fraction of what it needs to survive.

Then he destroyed even the appearance of democracy in the country. He has rigged elections, thrown out the results of any elections that didn't go his way, and sent gangs of thugs to intimidate voters. But he not even a very good tyrant, and his government has been reduced to little more than "thug rule".

His incompetence and thug rule has destroyed the economy of Zimbabwe. Last week, his treasury started printing a $250,000,000 dollar bill (which is not worth even one U.S. dollar). The country's inflation is staggering, and is driving the few corporations and businesses left into bankruptcy. Poverty is rampant and jobs are disappearing quickly. Even the lucky few with a job find the raging inflation makes their salaries worth less with each passing day.

As if all this wasn't bad enough, the country's medical system has cratered along with the rest of the economy just as an outbreak of cholera has hit the country. There are estimates that over 16,000 people have contracted the disease, and nearly 800 have died from it. But Save The Children (STC) says this is an gross underestimate of the epidemic, and they believe the epidemic of cholera is growing and could soon have over 60,000 victims.

STC spokesmen say that with only the most basic healthcare, normally cholera would kill 1-2% of those stricken. But in some areas of Zimbabwe, a third of those stricken are dying. The epidemic is so bad that it has now spread into a Northern district of South Africa.

What is Mugabe's response? He has declared the epidemic is over. He seems to think if he just denies Zimbabwe's problems, the world will believe him and let him hang on to power. Several African and European countries have recently called for Mugabe's removal from power -- especially after the last stolen election and the outbreak of cholera.

I believe that is exactly what needs to happen. Someone somewhere needs to step in and remove Mugabe from power and stop the unnecessary deaths of the Zimbabwean people. Removing him from power would truly be a humanitarian act.

Many nations have put some serious sanctions on trade with Zimbabwe, but Mugabe doesn't seem to care about the suffering of his people as long as he can hang on to power by thug rule or any other means.

Wars have been fought for land, oil, money and a host of other ridiculous reasons. Maybe it's time to wage one to end this humanitarian crises. The world ignored Rwanda and Darfur. Is it also going to ignore Zimbabwe?

Retirement Plans

Political Cartoon is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.

The Legacy

Image found on the Seeds of Doubt website.

A Broken And Bloated Healthcare System

"According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the $6,102 spent per person on healthcare in the United States in 2004 was nearly twice the amount than in most other industrialized democracies and well beyond the average $2,660 of the organization's 30 member nations. At the same time, the average life expectancy in the United States was shorter (77.5 years) and the infant mortality rate higher (6.9 deaths per 1,000 births) than elsewhere in the developed world."

"Employers are increasingly opting for cheaper insurance plans with higher deductibles and co-pays, thus saddling workers with a greater share of costs. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 18% of all covered workers now face annual deductibles of at least $1,000, up from 12% in 2007. Among smaller businesses with up to 200 employees, more than a third of workers have deductibles of at least $1,000, up from 21% last year."

The above two quotes show just how broken and completely out of control the healthcare system is in the United States. While the insurance companies are getting richer and richer, most Americans are receiving less and less adequate healthcare coverage. In fact, the only people happy with our current system are the rich and the insurance companies. The rich don't need the health insurance and the insurance companies are making billions off the broken system.

Even the doctors and hospitals know our current system is a joke. They must wait an ever increasingly long time to be paid for their services, and then many times receive only partial payment. In addition, the medical caregivers can no longer make treatment decisions for most of their patients. The insurance companies now make those decisions by limiting what procedures they will pay for and how much they will pay for them.

Add to the above medical deficiencies these additional facts. 1)Over 47 million Americans (many of them children) have no health insurance at all. 2)The ever rising costs of employer-based insurance is becoming a severe hinderance for American companies who must compete with foreign companies (who's employees have government-provided insurance). 3)The continually rising portion that must be paid by the worker is in effect a pay cut -- something that is certainly not needed in our failing economy.

There is a solution, but that solution cannot leave for-profit insurance companies in charge of our medical care. These huge corporations will always place their profits over a patient's health. No, the only solution that makes sense is a universal single-payer government-run system that puts doctor's back in charge of making healthcare decisions, and preserves the patient's choice of doctor and hospital.

There is such a system that has been proposed by Rep. John Conyers. It is called the United States National Health Insurance Act (H.R. 676). We must avoid half-way measures that would leave insurance executives in charge. We must demand nothing less than a single-payer system. Nothing short of that will cure all the problems inherent in our current system.

Go to this website and check out Conyers' bill. It's the best solution I've seen.

Asking Santa

Political Cartoon is by David Fitzsimmons in the Arizona Daily Star.

More Political Corruption

I am a left-wing Democrat and proud of it. But that does not mean I am willing to put up with political corruption from a Democrat any more than I would if it came from a Republican. Both are equally bad and equally deserving of condemnation.

That's why I was disgusted to learn this week of the unforgiveable actions of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. After being elected on a platform of cleaning up government (the previous governor of Illinois is a Republican currently serving time for corruption), Blagojevich turns out to be just another corrupt politician, who wants to use his office to enrich himself.

Not long ago, Blagojevich actually said anyone could tap his conversations and they would only find that he obeys the law. Well, the U.S. Justice Department took him up on that challenge, tapped his office and home phones, and it only took them six weeks to make a case against him for corruption.

Blagojevich used his office to solicit and try to force payment of bribes from businessmen and others. But perhaps his most egregious crime was trying to sell the senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. As Illinois' governor, it was his job to appoint a replacement for Obama when he resigned the senate seat. But it was never his to sell!

He was caught on tape saying the senate appointment should get him a high-paying job at a non-profit organization or an organization affiliated with a labor union. He also wanted a job for his wife that would pay at least $150,000 a year. If he didn't get what he wanted, he was going to appoint himself, and then use the senate seat to enrich himself. What a scumbag!

The sad part is that as long as he is still governor, he can still legally make the senate appointment. He has that right unless he resigns, is convicted or is impeached. If he had an ounce of decency left, he would resign and let his Lt. Governor make the senate appointment. At this point, any appointment made by Blagojevich would be tarnished.

This whole matter is disgusting. I hope he gets at least as long a sentence as his Republican predecessor.

Two Simple Words

Political Cartoon is by Joe Heller in The Green Bay Press-Gazette.