Notes about Washington 1/8

Bush's tax cuts for the rich may be an end around to kill social programs.

Even before Tuesday's proposals, the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] recently estimated that the federal books had fallen so deeply into deficit that Washington would need to divert more than $2.2 trillion in money raised for Social Security to operate the rest of government through 2012.

Tuesday's proposal could result in hundreds of billions of additional dollars being diverted from Social Security taxes -- just two years after Bush and Al Gore both pledged in the 2000 presidential campaign to reserve that money in a "lockbox" for paying down the national debt.

While Bush has vowed to protect some priorities -- such as aid to low-income schools and medical research -- his aides are trying to freeze overall domestic spending. And Democrats say that means even the programs Bush claims to favor will be shortchanged.

Instead of trying to vote social programs out of existence, Bush and company figure to run the country into huge deficits, blame the "war" and 9/11 for the problems, and then say they "have" to kill all the social programs. That is "compassionate conservatism" for you.

More comments on the tax cuts being proosed.

"Whenever the president talks about war, he talks about a spirit of shared sacrifice," William G. Gale, a tax economist at the Brookings Institution, said. "But for rich people, shared sacrifice appears to be accepting tax cuts, and for the poor, it seems to be accepting cuts in social spending. There seems to be a disconnect bordering on the dishonest."

Bush renominating judges who had been previously rejected.

"With the renomination of Charles Pickering to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, the White House called into question all of its promises to demonstrate that the party of Abraham Lincoln was truly committed to civil rights," said Senator Richard Durbin, who also sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Comment issued by Senator Chuck Schumer about Pickering and Owen:

"These two nominees were rejected specifically because of their hostility to the civil and constitutional rights of women and African-Americans. That President Bush could do this in the aftermath of the Trent Lott debacle is an insult to all fair-minded Americans."

There will be a fight over these two, and during that time some who are almost as bad will slip through. The Republicans have their game down if nothing else.

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Zell to retire after 2004!

Can I get a "Hell yeah!"

While a great Governor for Georgia, Zell has been little more than George Bush's lapdog since being re-elected to a Senate seat he was initially appointed to. Zell was preassuerd by the Republicans to switch parties during this term, and while he choose not to, he has marched lockstep with them since his re-election. It would be really nice to have an actual Democrat take a run for the seat, although it might be hard for one to win.

"I will neither endorse nor campaign for any candidate seeking this seat, but I will resign within days after the November 2004 election so that my successor can begin to serve immediately and gain additional seniority."

Yeah, a party loyalist to the end.

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Dozens of dogs and cats seized from Duluth woman.

I always wonder about these people who "hoard" animals. Perhaps she was trying to do good, perhaps these were mostly strays? This woman seemed to be taking care of most of the animals. A few showed signs of neglect, but most were in good shape. All the animals will be available for adoption at the Gwinnett County Animal Shelter.

And as always, Lifeline Animal Project has a database of pets for adoption throughout the metro Atlanta area.

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More calls for syndicating the Randi Rhodes Show.

Skippy the Bush Kangaroo is hoppingg on the bandwagon. You can also visit Take Back the Media for their story. I covered the issue with an earlier post.

Let Rush Limbaugh know that we know he is a big old wuss!

More

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Talk Radio out of tune with Reality

Charlotte Observer, Talk Radio is Serious Business

New York Times, Why the Right Rules the Radio Waves.

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