Loose Lips & Peer Pressure

[UPDATE] 2:

This is a nice start but what about the rest of us? What about all of the folks who are targeted by other kinds of hate speech -- the Muslims, the gays, the Hispanics, the African Americans, etc. etc. etc.? Still, I'm encouraged that a Republican is at least thinking along these lines.

Adding .... The more I think about this idea, the more pissed off I get. It's like how in Tennessee you can take a gun anywhere except the state house. If legislators and "government officials" don't want guns near them, why are they so quick to make sure the rest of us have to come in constant contact with them. What makes you guys so special?

------------------------

[UPDATE]:

What the hell were you thinking, local edition.

Go read it ... excellent reminder that "passion" on local issues can easily be turned into intimidation, too.

------------------------

The Tucson shootings have prompted me to revisit this column by Rick Perlstein, which I linked to back in September.

Perlstein was responding to the Koran-burnings a couple of right-wing pastors were planning. He observed:

The problem is that elite media gatekeepers have abandoned their moral mandate to stigmatize uncivil discourse. Instead, too many outlets reward it. In fact, it is an ironic token of the ideological confusions of our age that they do so in the service of upholding what they understand to be a cornerstone of civility: the notion that every public question must be framed in terms of two equal and opposite positions, the "liberal" one and the "conservative" one, each to be afforded equal dignity, respect — and (the more crucial currency) equal space. This has made the most mainstream of media outlets comically easy marks for those actively working to push public discourse to extremes.

At the time I agreed with Perlstein, and noted just because people are going on about FEMA camps and Koran-burning pastors, that doesn’t mean the media has to cover it ad nauseum. But now I’m not so sure.

Perlstein, a historian, revealed that back in the early ‘60s there were anti-JFK rallies promoting fear and lies about Communist infiltration of America; some of these rivaled today’s Tea Party rallies in numbers. As Perlstein pointed out, the national media thought better of reporting on this “fringe” in the interest of "civil discourse." But let’s remember what happened to JFK, shall we? It’s not as though not covering the anti-JFK fringe kept a lid on violent acts and prevented tragedy.

Conversely, today we have “pastor” Fred Phelps presiding over a group of about 90 people who are primarily members of his own extended family, spreading their hate all across the national news media. But Phelps is universally reviled. Both right and left find his protests of funerals repulsive and the Southern Baptist Convention has condemned Phelps and his “church.” Sunlight is the best disinfectant, or so the saying goes, and perhaps making the nation aware of the fringe factor is actually the first step to confronting it.

The second step, of course, is what Perlstein called "stigmatizing uncivil discourse." Ed at Gin And Tacos wrote this morning:

[...] We need people in general, and Republicans in particular, to take a more active role in condemning this kind of rhetoric – before something terrible happens, not when the body count starts rising.

There is a very simple, useful question that we do not often enough ask in the United States, especially where politics are concerned. The GOP, in the last several years, has avoided it altogether. We need to make a concerted effort to stop excusing or encouraging insane behavior and ideas with one question: "What in the hell is wrong with you?"

No one asks that anymore, which is odd given how often the need to do so arises.

That's precisely the type of question which has shoved Fred Phelps and his cult of merry hatemongers off to the fringe and completely deflated his anti-gay message. You're going to protest a soldier's funeral? What the hell is wrong with you! You're going to protest Elizabeth Edwards' funeral? What the hell is wrong with you!

As I stated yesterday, our problem is not violent rhetoric, it is our violent culture from which this rhetoric springs. But when violent rhetoric does enter the discourse, why does the Right always go on the defensive? The Left, after all, is the group that held a Rally To Restore Sanity two and a half months ago -- which was derisively mocked (and misrepresented) by Righties like the folks at Fox & Friends. Ironically the mere concept of a "Million Moderate March" completely confused the mainstream media. So, you know, it's not like anyone is listening to us on the Left. The Right needs to quit its reflexive wagon-circling and call out its own when they do things like bring an assault rifle to a presidential event.

At one time I had hoped my own Senator Lamar Alexander would be that person. He's an elder statesmen of the Republican Party, a man who has served his country in a variety of capacities and has a long, distinguished career in public service. I begged him during the whole "death panels" brouhaha to come forward and tell everyone to calm down and quit the lies and misrepresentation so we could have a real conversation about healthcare. Sadly, I got crickets.

So yesterday Sen. Alexander told CNN's Candy Crowley that we need to stop talking about Sarah Palin’s “cross-hairs” ad and remember that, unlike the Tea Party, Jared Loughner had “The Communist Manifesto” and “Mein Kampf” on his reading list. The implication being, of course, that such books are on liberals’ reading lists (and he ignored more benign books on Loughner’s reading list like “Aesop’s Fables” and “Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland.”).

So I’m calling out Sen. Lamar Alexander: what the hell is wrong with you? If you won’t step up and condemn this stuff, who will?

Tennessee Republicrites Visit Spring Hill

File this one under "taking credit where it’s not due": Senators Bob Corker, Lamar Alexander and Congressman Marsha Blackburn all went to Spring Hill today Friday to take credit for what the Democrats did:

The irony of the Republican lawmakers' presence wasn't lost on the workers who attended the ceremony; they booed Tennessee Republican Bob Corker, and one UAW official made clear from the stage that the union still remembered which politicians had voted to rescue Wall Street but opposed an auto industry bailout.

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker
Then: "This administration has decided they know better than our courts and our free market process how to deal with these companies....This is a major power grab." - March 30, 2009.

Now: "At the end of the day we all have to feel good about what we did," said Corker, who did attempt to negotiate the failed 2008 aid package. "I contributed to strengthening the auto industry in this country."

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander
Then: "This is not the right direction: taxpayer money down the drain, and Washington politicians trying to run auto companies. The sooner the politicians get out of the way, the sooner auto jobs and taxpayer dollars will be secure." - March 30, 2009.

Now: "The center of the auto industry is still moving to Tennessee and the mid-South," Alexander told WSMV-TV.

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn
Then: "I certainly can't think of the last time the federal government stepping into an industry caused that industry to be more successful, or more efficient. " - December 2008.

Now: Blackburn attended, but no quotes from her have been reported. She has been busy with other issues, including a bill to overturn the upcoming ban on incandescent light bulbs.

Bob Corker, of course, voted yes on the bank bailout, no on the auto bailout. Lamar Alexander voted yes on the bank bailout, and missed the auto bailout vote because of surgery, but said he would have voted no. Corker tried to negotiate an alternate auto deal because, as he said at the time, the Big Three Bailout wouldn’t help the industry one bit:

"I mean you couldn't make it almost more ineffective and more complicated," said Corker about the White House plan.

Oops. Looks like you were way wrong on that one, buckaroo! And look who shows up expecting chocolates and roses when GM is back in the black and rehiring laid-off workers one year later?

File this one under assholes.

(h/t, ThinkProgress.)

One Thing We Liberals Could Do Better

Liberals are always asking how can we make our voices heard, why aren’t we out rallying in the streets like, say, the Tea Partiers (lack of major corporate money and backing by a major cable news network are to blame there, IMHO), why don't Democrats in Congress pander to their base the way Republicans do, etc. etc.

There’s obvious disagreement over how we can best utilize our time and organizing skills (and many folks disagreed with me when I said this was not helpful.)

One thing we could definitely do better is engage our elected representatives when they are back home during things like the August recess. We could fill up the town hall meetings with liberals and challenge people like Lamar Alexander when they spout obvious bullshit like this:

“Finally, part of the way this bill is paid for is through almost $10 billion of permanent tax increases on multinational corporations that would have the effect of driving jobs overseas. Just one more action by the Democratic majority and this administration in the middle of a recession, at a time of near 10 percent unemployment for the nation, that makes it harder to create new jobs in the United States.”

Well look who finally woke up and realized jobs are going overseas! Where ya been, buckaroo? Jobs have been going overseas for years. During the entire time you've been in the U.S. Senate. All of your sucking up to corporations hasn't stemmed the tide of greedy, cheap-labor loving corporations and all of your votes for NAFTA and CAFTA and every other free trade legislation has only sped up the exodus. Thanks for playing.

Corporate tax rates are the lowest in U.S. history. Meanwhile Republicans already nixed a bill that would aid sick 9/11 emergency responders because it was paid for by closing a corporate tax loophole that allows U.S. corporations to operate offshore, tax-free.

Umm ... Senator, I think keeping crap like that and all of the other corporate tax loopholes on the books does more to ship jobs overseas than keeping teachers employed so the American workforce is educated. Just sayin’.

We’re losing ground to the rest of the world, fast. Today MoveOn is holding rallies across the country to protest corporate influence in our government. Yes, there’s a rally planned for Nashville.

But I’ve also heard (though I have found nothing confirming this) that there is going to be a town hall meeting where Senator Alexander will address the teacher aid bill. I don’t know where it is or when it is. Maybe it doesn’t exist. Anyone else hear this? Regardless, I'd rather MoveOn send people to an event like this (if it is indeed happening, or another event of its kind) than gathering on a street corner for yet another rally that will once again be ignored by the media. Again, just sayin’.

Anyway, we need to find a better way to present our issues.

Oil Spills Rarely Happen & Other Fairy Tales

I can no longer remember the name of the first wingnut Republican to claim oil spills are rare, for some reason I’m thinking David Vitter of Louisiana or perhaps Haley Barbour of Mississippi but regardless we’ve heard it from several folks by now. And I have to say, it’s one of the stupidest right wing talking points to come out of the collective Republican gob since Saddam’s mythic WMD’s. I mean yeah, if oil spills are so rare, then why do oil companies make chemical dispersants by the truckload?

Anyway, today we learn of yet another oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:

A second leak, discovered at the Ocean Saratoga rig, is leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Initial reports claim the the volume of crude oil being released is much less than that of the Deepwater Horizon, but a 10 mile long oil slick has been detected by satellite. The site is visible in satellite images gathered by Skytruth.org, which first reported the leak on its website May 15.

The Ocean Saratoga site, owned by Taylor Energy, is located approximately ten miles off the coast of southern Louisiana. Official figures released report only 14 gallons of oil per day being emitted into the Gulf of Mexico to account for the massive oil slick.

Reports admit that small amounts have been leaking daily since Hurricane Ivan hit in 2004 causing an undersea mudslide that destroyed the rig. Taylor Energy says they have been working since that time to stop the leak.

I’m sorry, there’s been a leaking oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico for six years? WTF?

Meanwhile out West in Utah, Chevron’s weekend oil spill looks to be another environmental disaster:

SALT LAKE CITY — Emergency workers believe they have stopped a 21,000-gallon oil leak from reaching the environmentally sensitive Great Salt Lake, one of the West's most important inland water bodies for migratory birds that use it as a place to rest, eat and breed.

But the spill has taken a toll on wildlife at area creeks and ponds, coating about 300 birds with oil and possibly threatening an endangered fish.

Lovely. This reminds me of how after the Kingston coal sludge disaster, we started hearing about all those other leaky coal ash ponds.

Another story which hasn’t received much national attention is the Pennsylvania natural gas well which blew last week, courtesy of the former Enron Corp. That spewed 35,000 gallons of toxic chemicals into the air after a blowout preventer failed. Here’s the best part:

Though the industry says blowouts are rare, another natural gas well, in West Virginia, blew up on Monday, burning seven workers.

Well, if “the industry” says it, it must be true! Just don't pay attention to that other eco-disaster happening in another part of the country. Look, shiny-sparkly Lindsay Lohan thingie over there!

Folks, we’re doing it wrong. We’re fouling our nest. Fossil fuels are a dirty, nasty business. Pipelines and oil rigs leak. Tankers leak. Oil spills happen all the time, and when we aren’t polluting our food supply pulling this stuff out of the ground or transporting it, we’re polluting our air and water when we actually use the stuff.

And speaking of stupidity coming from Republican gobs, the best one yet came from my own Senator Lamar Alexander, writing in the Wall Street Journal on Friday. Lamar has continued to perpetuate the myth that nuclear energy is somehow safe and clean and even affordable. Right after dissing wind energy because “windmills generate electricity—not transportation fuel” he writes:

If we need more green electricity, build nuclear plants. The 100 commercial nuclear plants we already have produce 70% of our pollution-free, carbon-free electricity. Yet the U.S. has just broken ground on our first new reactor in 30 years, while China starts one every three months and France is 80% nuclear. We wouldn't mothball our nuclear Navy if we were going to war. We shouldn't mothball our nuclear plants if we want low-cost, reliable green energy.

Without even getting into how environmentally damaging mining uranium fuel is (I talked about it last year), let me remind Lamar Alexander of one very simple fact: what we are dealing with in Kington, TN, the Gulf of Mexico, Utah, Pennsylvania and hundreds of other places I haven’t even mentioned is a failure of our technology. Accidents happen. Blowout preventers fail. Coal sludge ponds fail. Pipelines break. Anything made by human hands can and most assuredly will fail.

Imagine if any of the accidents I mentioned in this post had been radioactive? Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. You can count on it. You can take that piece of wisdom to the bank. You want to do that with radioactive fuel? Spent nuclear waste? A nuclear reactor? You, sir, are an idiot.

But fine, you want your nukes? Sure, as soon as you repeal the Price Anderson Act which places a liability cap on nuclear power accidents. If there's another Chernobyl or Three Mile Island, then by God let the utility responsible pay for it, not the taxpayers. Just as everyone is crying for BP to clean up the oil spill, let's make sure we don't socialize the losses of a nuclear accident. I'm sure as a fiscal conservative you would support that, right?

Oh Great Diviner Pat Robertson, What Is God Trying To Tell Us Now?

First we had a coal sludge pond disaster in Tennessee, then we had a coal mining disaster in West Virginia, followed by an oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and now we have a fucking nuclear power plant leak. For reals, y’all:

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Radioactive water that leaked from the nation’s oldest nuclear power plant has now reached a major underground aquifer that supplies drinking water to much of southern New Jersey, the state’s environmental chief said Friday.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has ordered the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station to halt the spread of contaminated water underground, even as it said there was no imminent threat to drinking water supplies.

The department launched a new investigation Friday into the April 2009 spill and said the actions of plant owner Exelon Corp. have not been sufficient to contain water contaminated with tritium.

Tritium is found naturally in tiny amounts and is a product of nuclear fission. It has been linked to cancer if ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin in large amounts.

Yeeeearrrgh, as if the real housewives of New Jersey aren’t toxic enough. I’m sure the snooze media will ignore this story because they haven’t thoroughly flogged to death the other two stories they are covering this week. But let me just say: Holy crap.

Plus, there was this accident last year and it's already contaminated the water table?

Quick, let’s Google “Solar Power Accident” and see what we get.

I’ll wait.

Oh, and Lamar Alexander? You still think 100 of these contamination factories is a good idea? 'Cause I'm thinking, not just No but HELL NO.

Don't Hate The Player, Hate The Game

Well okay, hate the player. Massey Energy and Don Blankenship are certainly deserving of our scorn. But while our hearts go out to the families of the West Virginia coal miners who lost their lives, and our anger is turned on Massey Energy, which appears to have bought every politician which has stood in its way, we all need to look in the mirror, too.

Coal produces 54% of our electricity in this country. Every time you flip a light switch or crank up the air conditioning or purchase another appliance, think about where we get the juice to power that equipment. Think about what you are doing to keep the Massey Energies of this country in business.

Look, folks: coal ain’t cheap, regardless of what TVA’s Tom Kilgore and the folks at Big Coal would have you believe. It just looks cheap because when they’re crunching the numbers, they only count part of the cost. They don’t factor in the cost of cleaning up all those leaky coal sludge ponds, and the environmental and health costs associated not just with coal burning but also things like mountaintop removal mining.

(And while we’re talking about this, good for Senator Lamar Alexander, who last year introduced a bill that would basically ban mountaintop removal mining. This is so huge and significant and Lamar deserves a flood of phone calls thanking him for taking this step. And every other senator needs a phone call asking them to support the Cardin-Alexander Appalachian Restoration Act.)

However, it’s not enough. We need to do more, and we need to do it faster. West Virginia, Kentucky and other Appalachian states need to transition their economies away from the coal mines which have forced people to choose between poverty and poison. And some choice that's been: these states are still among the country’s poorest. People need jobs but they shouldn’t have to choose between poisoning their communities and risking their lives just to put food on the table.

Hate the player all you want, folks. But the problem is the game.

There are things we all can do to cut our coal consumption. At the Beale household we swapped out leaky old windows. When we remodeled our house we purchased energy-miser appliances. I close our blinds in the summer to keep the sun out, which does an amazing job of keeping the house cool. We changed our light bulbs to CFL’s. We signed up for TVA’s Green Power Switch program. And lastly, we put up a solar array on our roof, so NES actually pays me. I am sure we still use some coal, but not as much as we used to.

If you need some ideas on simple things that can save you lots of money in utility bills, as well as the true cost of coal, check out the film "Kilowatt Ours."

We aren’t perfect at the Beale household. Our house is old and there are energy leaks all over the place, especially around old door frames. We use way more electricity than we should. But it’s a start.

At Long Last Bipartisanship?

While our illustrious news media wallows in the glow of bipartisanship they say passage of the Senate jobs bill represents, I counter it highlights how bad partisan gridlock in Washington truly is.

First, from the Los Angeles Times:

More notable, perhaps, than the bill itself was the fact that 13 Republicans crossed party lines to vote for it. The $15-billion bill passed by a 70-28 tally.

The bill would grant employers a "holiday" on their 6.2% Social Security payroll contribution for every new employee hired through the rest of the year, as long as that employee has been out of work for at least 60 days. It would also make it easier for businesses to write off equipment purchases and would extend federal highway and mass-transit funding programs.

This is a tax cut bill. Since when are we doing double back-flips over the fact that 13 Republicans voted for tax cuts?

Hey, Republicans: I thought you people hated taxes! That’s all we ever hear every time you folks open your mouths: “tax cuts tax cuts tax cuts.” Okay, the Democrats gave you your damn tax cuts. And only 13 of you voted for it? What the hell is wrong with you?

Even worse:

Eight Republicans who Monday didn't support a procedural motion to proceed with the jobs bill switched sides Wednesday to support it, including Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) Thad Cochran (Miss.), Orrin Hatch (Utah), and Richard Burr (R-N.C.). Hatch was a co-author, along with Schumer, of the payroll tax provision in the bill.

Yes that’s right, our own Sen. Lamar Alexander ended up voting for a bill he tried to block two days ago. Holy flip-flop!

And our grand wanker of the day prize goes to Orrin Hatch, a co-author of the bill, who tried to filibuster it on Monday, then voted for it on Wednesday. Yes that’s right, Orrin Hatch tried to filibuster his own tax cuts which he ended up voting for anyway.

This is the glorious “bipartisanship” we’re celebrating?

Feh.

Dear Lamar: Thank You For Playing!

ThinkProgress pokes some fun at Sean Hannity, Lamar Alexander and the whole “enemies list” meme. Watch it:



ThinkProgress concludes, noting:

The irony is rich, of course. In attempting to debunk Anita Dunn’s argument about Fox News, Sean Hannity has instead validated it — proving just how effective Fox News can serve as the “communications arm of the Republican Party.”

Thanks for playing along!

Lamar Alexander Listing To The Right

[UPDATE]: Pith has video of Lamar's floor rant.

--------------------------------

What is it with Tennessee Senators making bizarro comparisons? Yesterday Sen. Corker compared the American Medical Assn. to a prostitute.

Today Sen. Alexander compares President Obama to Richard Nixon:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top Republican invoked the memory of the scandal-marred Nixon administration on Wednesday to urge U.S. President Barack Obama to "back up" and not "start an enemies list."

Senator Lamar Alexander told Reuters he has begun to see the Obama White House adopting an attitude similar to that of the Richard Nixon White House four decades ago, that "everybody is against us and we are going to get them."

Gee, you don’t say. Excuse me, but you kept your yap shut when the Bush Administration created its own de facto enemies list by politicizing the Dept. of Justice, outting a CIA agent because her husband called bullshit on pre-war lies about Saddam Hussein, and even engaged in its own long-running feud with the New York Times. Don’t recall you clutching your pearls about an “us vs. them” attitude back then, Senator.

Of course, he’s just reciting a Karl Rove talking point from three days ago. Which makes so much sense. The “enemies list” is one of those silly political mudballs one side throws at the other when they’ve got nothing better handy. It conjures up negative historical connotations (Nixon! Hoover! McCarthy! Bad!), negative social connotations (they must be paranoid! And a narcissist!) and emotional fears (A list! That means conspiracy!). It's also a great distraction from more pressing business--in this case like, oh, how the Republican Party is bleeding voters at the seams.

During the last presidential campaign the Clintons supposedly had one. So did, incidentally, the Obama campaign. Everyone from Michael Moore to Markos Moulitsas supposedly made George W. Bush’s list. Bill O’Reilly said his was real, and he threatened to post it on the internet.

There’s more:

Alexander made the comments at the Reuters Washington Summit, a series of interviews with key Washington figures, in advance of a speech that he plans to give later in the day on the same topic on the Senate floor.

Seriously? You’re going to devote a floor speech to a point Karl Rove made on Fox News Sunday?

All in defense of Fox News?

You know, not too long ago when the Republican base was frothy-mouthed about birth certificates and death panels and tea party “patriots” hung Democratic Congressmen in effigy, a few of us went to Sen. Alexander’s office in Nashville and asked why he was remaining silent. As a member of the Republican leadership, an elder statesman of the Republican Party, we viewed him as someone with the gravitas needed to influence his colleagues and urge everyone to dial back the rhetoric.

But now we know why he kept silent. He has no interest in being the measured voice of reason. That’s not how he rolls these days. He’s cast his lot with the wackadoodle wing of the Republican Party, proving his conservative bonafides by spreading nonsense about an “enemies list” right alongside Karl Rove.

Nice work, Senator.

Visit To Lamar's Office

Nice little lunchtime demonstration in front of Sen. Lamar Alexander's office today. I counted about 25 people there, four of them (not surprisingly) from my church. I think the progressive faith community gets a bum rap by a lot of folks on the left because when they show up at events like this they aren't carrying crosses and wearing clerical robes.

Reaction at this busy intersection was mostly positive. There were quite a few horn honks and thumbs up, a couple of thumbs down, but not as many as I had expected. One person, predictably, shouted "get a job!" There's always one asshole who has to remind us of the country's unemployment rate. I'm not being sarcastic here, either: I have yet to attend a rally or visibility event where there wasn't one person shouting "get a job!" Probably the same guy, too.

The check was delivered to Sen. Alexander's office after the demonstration was over.

Lamar Alexander: Wanker Of the Day

Sen. Lamar Alexander thinks "it’s dangerous” for the government to write laws dealing with end of life issues.

Reports WPLN's Nina Cardona:

Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander says it’s dangerous to write laws dealing with end of life decisions.

Oh that’s great. I am so glad to know Sen. Alexander has come out against the death penalty.

Wait, that’s not what he said?

Hmmm. Okay, at least let me look up all of his vocal opposition to the famous “Palm Sunday Compromise” orchestrated by fellow Tennessee Senator Bill Frist that interefered in the Terri Schiavo end of life issue.

Wow, can’t seem to find any of those, either.

Okay, let’s look at what he actually said:

“Almost every doctor I know has these sort of discussions with families and with patients as part of an ongoing relationship. For the government to get involved in this at all is risky business and fraught with misunderstanding and a bad idea.”

Let’s be clear on what you are opposing, Senator Alexander. You are opposing Medicare reimbursement of doctors for these discussions.

In other words, you are objecting to Medicare payment of a component of the doctor-patient relationship you admit is quite commonplace, something which “almost every doctor” you know does with their patients.

You are in essence saying that something which is so common that “almost every doctor” you know does it should either be free, or patients should pay for it out of their own pocket.

You, Sen. Alexander, are an asshole.

Can The GOP To Get Its Act Together?

Joan Walsh writes:

And unfortunately for Obama's dreams of bipartisanism, it's way past time for him to give up his hopes that he can bring "sensible" Republicans on board with a smart, fair bill.

Well, duh. That “bipartisan” ship sank before it ever left the harbor. The Republicans aren’t interested in bipartisanship or reforming healthcare, they’re interested in winning the 2010 midterm elections. Please don’t tell you’re just now cluing in to that reality.

What I want to know is, where are the “sensible Republicans,” anyway? Are they an endangered species? How much longer will the Republican Party allow stuff like this to represent their side of the healthcare debate?

Where are the grownups? Looks to me like there are none left in the GOP.

Doesn’t anyone at the GOP worry that with the tea-shouters and birthers on TV morning, noon and night defining the opposition, these folks might alienate that coveted voting block known as the “undecideds”? The “independents”? That great, glorified “middle” of the American electorate?

Yesterday I went to visit Sen. Lamar Alexander’s office to voice my support for healthcare reform and a public option. Several other women were there with the same message. And one asked why Alexander has basically been absent on the healthcare issue. I thought that was a damn good question.

I don’t agree with Sen. Alexander on most things but he’s one of those “elder statesmen” of the Republican Party who can usually be relied upon to offer a measured perspective on the issues. And yet, people like Alexander seem to be sitting on the sidelines.

Instead we have Sarah Palin and her fictitious “death panels,” and Newt Gingrich coming to her defense. We have folks going on cable news claiming it’s unconstitutional for the president’s advisers to be named "czars." Another protester told Fox News that Nancy Pelosi dispatched goons to his house in the middle of the night.

This is some serious crazy, and I don't mean that in the metaphorical sense. I’d blame the media for sensationalizing the fringe except even the “serious” people on the right are coming off like loons.

Arthur Laffer is seemingly unaware that Medicaid and Medicare are government programs. Investors Business Daily claimed in an op-ed this week that:

People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

Apparently they were completely unaware that Hawking is a British citizen, born and bred. Remind me not to take investment advice from these clowns.

Even a once-"sensible" Republican like Chuck Grassley looks ridiculous when he says:

"We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma."

Um, WTF? Well, Senator, you’d be thrilled to know that no one is advocating such a program. Can we have a serious conversation now?

Good grief. Pardon me for concern-trolling here, but if I were a strategist with the Republican Party I’d be deeply worried. Y'all are looking like a crazy train that no one in their right mind would want to board. You think this is going to bring you an election victory in 2010?

Now would be a good time for someone to step forward and be the voice of reason, someone like a Lamar Alexander. The fact that no one has is more than a little puzzling.

A Message For Senator Alexander

Hey Lamar! Your call for 100 new nuclear power plants is stupid.

Says Lamar:

Why are we ignoring the cheap energy solution to global warming which is nuclear power?" Alexander asked a hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), of which he is a member.

He said, "Over the next 20 years, if we really want to deal with global warming, we really only have one option and that is to double the number of nuclear power plants. There is no technological way to obtain a large amount of cheap, reliable, clean electricity other than nuclear power."

One keeps hearing how “cheap” nuclear energy is, which I find incredibly dishonest. If it were so cheap, there would be nuclear power plants all over the place. There are not. Lamar is doing some funny math.

There are a slew of government subsidies to the nuclear power industry, stuff that green energy producers (or any industry, for that matter) would give their eye-teeth to have. For example, we have the Price Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act , in which the government indemnifies the nuclear industry in the event of an accident. Boy, Big Pharma would kill for one of those. And we have the Dept. of Energy’s Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository, in which the government pays for building and securing long term storage of nuclear waste. Man, the chemical industry is pea-green with envy over that one!

And by the way: what about all of that nuclear waste, Lamar? That stuff which is lethal for hundreds of years? That doesn’t sound so clean or cheap to me. Where are we going to put it all? At taxpayer expense, no less?

What about the pollution caused by uranium mines, Lamar? What, you never heard of the polluted well water in New Mexico and poisoned waters of Lake Ontario? Who pays for that?

What about the fact that so much nuclear fuel comes from Central Asia and Africa? So we’d be trading a Middle Eastern energy source for an African one? Trading being nice to Saudi Arabia to sucking up to Uzbekistan? Not sure that helps our energy security, buddy. They boil people alive there.

This is just so typical of our politicians today: spit out some bumper sticker nonsense they’ve dreamed up (“cheap, reliable, clean electricity!”) and don’t even bother to see if it’s true. Do you think uranium pellets grow on trees?

Dumbass.

The Sierra Club’s Carl Pope has more about Lamar’s boneheaded idea:

It appears that what is envisaged is that the taxpayers actually pay for building these plants -- but not that the taxpayers would ever be repaid from the sales of electricity. No, the profits from this investment would flow to shareholders in big utility and nuclear companies. This is not even a bailout -- I guess you could call it a bail-forward. And it would be very expensive.

This is your typical wingnut welfare program. Get the government (that’s you and me, folks) to pay for the infrastructure, and make sure we keep on paying while wealthy investors reap the profits. While you’re at it, by all means make sure there are tax cuts for the wealthy to ensure that the true beneficiaries never repay the government (you and me) for our initial investment.

It’s a classic example of nationalize the costs, privatize the profits. Furthermore:

Even the Business Round Table, in its recent study calling for major policy initiatives in the climate arena, conceded that in the absence of much larger subsidies than are currently available to nuclear, the most we can realistically expect is to replace the existing fleet of nuclear power plants as they are retired -- nuclear simply is not going to be a bigger part of our energy future unless we just keep throwing more money at it.

So, even 100 new nuclear plants won't be enough to replace the dirty coal plants as Lamar envisions.

Don’t want.

The Root Of The Problem

I think I’ve figured out why Republicans and conservative Democrats are so at odds with progressives on the healthcare reform debate.

Progressives want to give everyone healthcare. The other side wants to give everyone health insurance.

Big difference, and it’s evident in the plans. Look at the GOP’s healthcare “plan”:

The four-page Republican health care outline lays out a plan that would allow states, associations and small businesses to pool together to offer health insurance. It would give tax credits to low and modest income Americans to help them buy health insurance. It would also let dependents under twenty-five stay on their parent's health insurance.

Here’s the plan that Tom Daschle, Howard Baker and Bob Dole have proposed:

Rather than a federal public option – a nonstarter for Republicans – the panel proposes financial and technical support for states that set up their own plans to compete with private insurers “on a level playing field.”

If after five years private plans aren’t meeting the need for affordable coverage, the president can use new fast-track procedures to set up a federal public plan.

Look, people: health insurance is not healthcare:

Over the last three years, according to research published in Health Affairs, out-of-pocket healthcare costs have increased 34% says WSJ.

Even having health insurance, it would seem doesn't appear to protect the average American against the rapidly escalating costs of health care and to prevent the health care system from taking a big bite out of household budgets.

So, everyone talking about making sure more Americans have health insurance: You’re focusing on the wrong thing.

I need you to show me how we can all get healthcare and if you think health insurance needs to be part of the mix, then let’s talk about why it’s necessary. But with healthcare costs going through the roof, even having health insurance doesn't guarantee that you can get the care you need. And again, Congress delivering 45 million uninsured on a silver platter to insurance companies will not solve the cost problem. It will simply make insurance companies richer.

And I have a special wag of the middle finger reserved for Sen. Lamar Alexander, who threw out the mother of all Hail Mary’s, fearmongering over a state income tax:

In an interview with The Tennessean on Thursday, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander warned that a Democratic plan being considered in the Health, Education, Labor & Pension committee, on which he sits, would require a state like Tennessee to cough up a 10 percent income tax by 2015 to pay for it.

Geez, you can practically hear the refrain from “Psycho” playing in the background.

I called Senator Alexander’s office in D.C. to ask why he’d muddy the debate with fear tactics; the kid who answered the phone must have been hearing a lot from folks like me because he immediately explained that the Senator was merely giving a hypothetical. Oh, give me a break. This isn’t Alexander’s first rodeo, he knows how words like “state income tax” sound to voters. It’s another wingnut dog whistle, designed to rally the pack of rabid free-marketers across the state.

Let’s keep the debate fact-based, shall we, Senator Alexander?

Lamar's Democratic Roots

Apparently the beans have been spilled: I've just learned that Lamar Alexander started in politics as a Democrat:

Gov. Phil Bredesen bestowed Sen. Anna Belle Clement O’Brien, the first lady of Tennessee politics, the 2009 Humanitarian Leadership Award. U.S. Sen. and former Gov. Lamar Alexander, along with former Gov. Ned Ray McWherter, hosted a reception in her honor at the Tennessee State Museum. The event also raised money for the Clement Railroad Hotel Museum, which honors O’Brien’s brother, the late Gov. Frank Clement.

In his remarks, Sen. Lamar Alexander disclosed for the first time that he cast his first vote for Frank Clement and led a campus organization for Clement.

Of course, I recall Bill Frist once donated money to Al Gore's senate campaign. Lots of Tennessee Republicans were once Democrats, of course. I can't help but wonder: as the GOP heads further into right field, how much longer will sensible people like Lamar follow behind wackadoodles like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh?

How much further into the wilderness are they willing to go?

Lamar Alexander: Wanker of the Day

Wow, I always thought Lamar Alexander was supposed to be some kind of moderate. But in yesterday’s Nashville City Paper, he attacked President Obama with the emptiest of partisan rhetoric, telling him to focus on the economy instead of his NCAA bracket, and telling him not to do too much in these first few months because ... well, he didn’t explain that part. He just said the economy was important, so quit worrying about all that other stuff like healthcare and energy independence and education.

For the record, the commentary was basically a repeat of a statement Alexander made on the senate floor at the beginning of March.

So let’s see, where have we heard this one before? Oh, yeah. Never mind, it’s just another wingnut talking point. I thought Lamar! was supposed to be above that sort of stuff, but apparently not.

Welcome to the wingnut party, Senator. Hope you enjoy the Kool-Aid and please don’t hog the Cheetos at the refreshment table.

I know it’s really a shock to finally have a president who can walk and chew gum at the same time. A leader who doesn’t run off to presidential retreats at Camp David, Crawford, or Kennebunkport, in between afternoons spent mountain biking. That was our last president, who took more vacations than any of his predecessors, including during times of economic crisis, war, and natural disasters. I don’t recall Sen. Alexander scolding President Bush to get back to work.

Thankfully during this time of crisis we have a president who understands that fixing the economy requires addressing a broad range of interrelated issues, and the flow of credit is just one component of that. Fixing the economy involves addressing a lot of things that were ignored over the past eight years, things that are drains on our economy and threaten our economic future.

You know, things like healthcare, energy independence, and education. Anyone out there think Sen. Alexander doesn’t get that?

Of course he does. I don’t for a moment think Lamar! is that clueless. I think the Republican’ts are simply at a loss as to how to effectively put the brakes on Obama’s agenda--the agenda which the American people elected him, overwhelmingly, to implement. So by peddling this false “ooooh he’s doing too much, he’s not focused on the crisis at hand” meme, they’re hoping to hit upon a winning talking point that will derail the Obama Administration.

Yeah, good luck with that.

Here’s a thought for Sen. Alexander. Instead of wasting your time recycling wingnut talking points in the local newspaper, why don’t you and your colleagues roll up your sleeves and offer some ideas of your own to fix the economy? Something besides, you know, tax cuts for the wealthy. We’ve seen how well that works.

I'd like Senator Alexander to stop playing partisan games. People don't have time for this nonsense. We're not stupid, and we know President Obama inherited a huge mess which was made on Sen. Alexander's watch.

And I invite you to give Sen. Alexander a call and let him know what you think of his little commentary: 202-224-4944

Hey Lamar! Spending IS Stimulating, Ya Moron

Lamar Alexander doesn’t get it. But John Aravosis does:

It doesn't matter what the money is spent on, in principle, IF the money is spent in a way that fills the demand gap. Meaning, if you hire a million workers to help clean up the national mall, you are not just getting a service (mall clean up), you are creating jobs (for the cleaners, the cleaning company that hires and manages them, new federal employees hired to oversee the project, the hot dog vendors on the mall, the guys who rent the port-a-potties, the taxi drivers who have to shepherd the people to the mall, the gas stations that sell gasoline to the employees who drive to the mall, the local city government that sees increased metro ridership, and income, as a result of the new employees heading to work, the accounting firm that handles the employees' paychecks, the health insurance company that handles their benefits, the accountants that handle their tax returns, and even the Wall Street bad-guys who handle their retirement accounts. Those previously unemployed or underemployed workers now have a greater hope for the future, with more money in their pocket and a job, and with a little luck, being more financially secure, they are more likely to themselves spend more money on goods and services in the future.

Similarly, over at Eschaton this morning there was a nice conversation about how spending on the arts stimulates the economy. Simply put: if you’re going to put on a show (or make a movie) you need to hire carpenters, painters, electricians, caterers, printers, truck drivers, not to mention all of the supplies these trades use, etc. This should be a no-brainer, but because conservatives view things like the arts as trivial, they refuse to believe there is any benefit to investing in them. These are the same people who live in towns like Nashville and Brentwood, who benefit each day from the stimulating effect on the local economy of the country music and contemporary Christian/gospel music industries. Go figure.

While it’s possible that arts spending may not, dollar for dollar, be as stimulating as, say, building a new highway, the $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts that was taken out of the stimulus bill is not anywhere comparable to the funds devoted to bricks-and-mortar infrastucture projects in the bill. In fact, according to Ben Adler:

Unfortunately, $50 million is an awfully small amount: it is 1/600 of the $30 billion allotted for roads and bridges.

So quite your whining, rightards. It’s not like the money is all going to Derek Dye The Abstinence Clown. It would be amusing to hear conservatives whine about their favorite bugaboo, the NEA, except that it’s such a tired argument that I’m surprised and frustrated that anyone still buys into that nonsense anymore. It’s clearly one of those hot buttons the righties like to push when they need to get their base into a foamy-mouthed tizzy. And it still works, like the good zombie lie it is.

Adler goes on:

The money for artistic projects is almost by definition ready to be injected into the economy. It may take years to draw up a plan for a highway, obtain the right of way and fend off legal challenges before the bulldozers start rolling. But to buy a canvass and some paintbrushes, or even some metal for a public sculpture, is comparatively straightforward. That puts quick money into the pockets of the companies that build, sell and ship those artistic materials as well.

"The money goes straight into the economy," says Janet Echelman, a sculptor whose giant metallic nets have revitalized public parks and downtowns from Texas to Portugal. "I pay two full-time assistants in my studio, plus consultants who are architects, engineers, and landscape architects, as well as lighting designers. A very large portion goes into fabrication, which is funding workers at a steel factory." Echelman currently has a commission from Phoenix to build a centerpiece for a new downtown park that may face funding shortfalls. There are "shovel-ready" arts projects like hers throughout the country.

I’m not advocating a huge investment in the arts here, but I am saying that the whining is way out of kilter with the facts.

Just more ignorance being unleashed on Americans through a clueless media that parrots conservative talking points without bothering to dig a little deeper.

Lamar Alexander Destroys The Landscape

Paging Sen. Lamar Alexander! Yes, I’m talking to you, buddy. You’re shameless, you know that?

Your pitiful performance at yesterday’s TVA ash spill hearings are made all the worse when one remembers your previous jihad against wind power because you thought turbines "destroy the landscape.” Of course, it’s hard not to remember that and immediately think of your opposition to the CapeWind project on Nantucket Sound that would have interfered with the view from your $800,000 Cape Cod land.

You wanna talk about destroying the landscape? Check this out:



The first one is how they get the coal, by removing the tops of mountains.

And here’s a coal sludge pond on a good day, you know, a day where it hasn’t busted its dike and flooded a community. Do you like that landscape Sen. Alexander? Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

As guess as far as those hearings yesterday goes, Alexander forgot what the word “oversight” means, because that’s what they were supposed to be about. Instead we got questions from the Senator on the cost per kilowatt hour to generate electricity, comparing coal to other means such as hydro, solar and, ooopsie daisy, wind. Guess who came out on the top end of that cost analysis? Of course, that doesn’t include the $100 million+ clean-up costs associated with an accident at just one coal fired plant. And even TVA CEO Tom Kilgore admitted that those costs are for older coal-fired plants, not new ones.

Look, I’m not a big proponent of wind power per se. I’m more of a solar girl, truth be told. But I’ve seen wind farms out West and I don’t find them especially ugly; they can be quite beautiful in a hi-tech sort of way. Not everyone has the same taste, I get that. But if you’re going to oppose a form of alternative energy, doing it on aesthetic grounds is pretty moronic when the one you’re touting is probably the ugliest blight on a landscape one could imagine, from start to finish. And let’s face it, Alexander’s economic argument just doesn’t hold water.

I’ve long believed that Lamar Alexander is one of those people who is riding a “moderate” image that is completely undeserved. He talks the talk but when push comes to shove he doesn’t walk the walk.

Here’s a brief look at his record on energy:

• Voted NO on tax incentives for energy production and conservation. (Jun 2008)
• Voted YES on removing oil & gas exploration subsidies. (Jun 2007)
• Voted YES on making oil-producing and exporting cartels illegal. (Jun 2007)
• Voted NO on factoring global warming into federal project planning. (May 2007)
• Voted NO on disallowing an oil leasing program in Alaska's ANWR. (Nov 2005)
• Voted NO on $3.1B for emergency oil assistance for hurricane-hit areas. (Oct 2005)
• Voted NO on reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025 (instead of 5%). (Jun 2005)
• Voted NO on banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Mar 2005)
• Voted YES on Bush Administration Energy Policy. (Jul 2003)
• Voted NO on targeting 100,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles by 2010. (Jun 2003)
• Voted NO on removing consideration of drilling ANWR from budget bill. (Mar 2003)
• Keep efficient air conditioner rule to conserve energy. (Mar 2004)
• Rated 0% by the CAF, indicating opposition to energy independence. (Dec 2006)
• Open the Outer Continental Shelf for oil & gas leasing. (Jun 2008)
• Establish energy security strategy with domestic production. (Jul 2008)

And now we’re stuck with him for another six years.

Lamar Alexander: Wanker Du Jour

It was really nice of Sen. Alexander to spend his time at these TVA hearings boosting the TVA board he helped create and touting the cost-effectiveness and other wonderful properties of “clean coal.”

No questions to Kilgore at all about how this is going to increase our utility bills. No questions about whether Mr. Kilgore might want to forego his million-dollar “incentive” bonus.

I guess Lamar has forgotten who he represents in the Senate. It sure isn’t us.

The TVA Board That Operates Like A Business

Not to put too partisan of a spin on things here, but when the inspector general issues a report questioning TVA’s regulatory compliance and management practices, and one remembers that the TVA Board of Directors “sets policy and strategy for TVA,” one should also remember the recent changes to the TVA Board, which make it for all intents and purposes a Republican operation.

The TVA board used to consist of three members, nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. In November 2004 the board was expanded to nine members, a scheme concocted by Tennessee Senators Bill Frist and Lamar Alexander to “modernize the management structure” and “lead to more accountability at TVA,” and which was implemented without any congressional hearings of any type.

In 2008 Frist called the new board a resounding success:

Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, the Tennessee Republican who wrote the changes in TVA’s governance, said the new system has been “very positive” and helped the utility run like most businesses with a policy-making board overseeing management under a chief executive officer.
 
“To have an identity operating under a 1933 structure in 2008 simply would have been unsatisfactory,” Dr. Frist said. “Over time, I think the board should be more nonpartisan and we can get away from using that position as political patronage but having people who are extremely well qualified. The intent was to get politics out of the system, and I think that has been achieved.”

"Over time” being GOP-speak for “the time when Democrats are in the White House.” Right now, the board is comprised almost entirely of Republicans--the only non-Republican being Bishop William H. Graves of Memphis, a senior bishop of the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church and a registered Democrat who happened to co-chair Shelby County’s Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election campaign. Good Democrat there, rightey-o.

This blatant partisan power grab prompted current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to hold up a couple of board confirmatons in the interest of getting more political diversity on the panel. This in turn resulted in much whining and stomping of feet from Tennessee Republican Senators Corker and Alexander. Reid, who’s got the spine of an overcooked linguine, of course caved, resulting in much happy dancing in the offices of Corker and Alexander.

And yes, that would be the same Alexander who sits on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which will conduct hearings into the TVA coal ash spill next week.

Oh my, things are getting curiouser and curiouser. Could we have a conflict of some type, Senator Alexander? You are conducting hearings into an accident at a TVA plant when you basically are one of the architects of the current TVA board, and battled the Senate Majority Leader over the confirmation of some board members? I wonder if his questions will be of the “may I pray for you” variety.

As for the rest of the board , in the grand Republican tradition of “operating government like a business” it is made up of Republican donors and patrons:

Most of those appointed to the TVA board over the past two years by President Bush have been Republican activists and financial supporters of GOP causes. Robert “Mike” Duncan from Kentucky is chairman of the Republican National Committee, and Susan Richardson Williams, who is awaiting confirmation for another term, was previously chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party. TVA Chairman Bill Sansom, a Knoxville businessman, served in the Cabinet of U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., when Sen. Alexander was Tennessee’s governor.
 
Collectively, the eight people appointed or nominated to the TVA board by the Bush White House, and their spouses, gave $592,405 to Republican candidates and organizations since 1994, according to a Chattanooga Times Free Press compilation of campaign records. Four of the board appointees also contributed lesser amounts to Democratic candidates.

The GOP tilt to the new board is one of the unintended consequences of adopting the TVA board change without congressional hearings in 2004, Mr. Crowell said.
 
“All the board members will now be of the same political party, which I don’t think reflects the diversity of opinion in the Tennessee Valley,” he said. “There also appears to be a lot of importance put in these appointments to where people live, which encourages them to represent those areas and not the broader interests of TVA.”

Getting back to where our story started, it’s interesting to me that Frist and Alexander expanded the TVA board to make it “operate more like a business,” supported President Bush when he filled it with cronies and party patrons, and now we have an inspector general’s report showing this:

According to an IG report dated March 4, 2008, on leaks in the flue gas ductwork at the Widows Creek Fossil Plant in Alabama, TVA put "business operations" ahead of "ethics and compliance issues" at the steam plant.

According to the report, while the duct work problems were addressed and management made efforts to repair the leaks, "the emphasis was on efforts to contain the leaks while keeping the plant operating until the next major outage."

The report says little consideration was given by TVA officials of reporting the "continuous nature and extent of the leaks" to Alabama environmental authorities.

"Rather, the leaks were addressed as a safety or maintenance issue and not a permit issue. We also found no evidence that ethics and compliance issues were considered, presumably because of the emphasis on business operations," the report concludes.

[...]

Meanwhile, a February 2008 TVA inspection report of the Kingston steam plant showed a TVA fly ash retention pond has had leaks, seepage and water-logged walls for years before the Dec. 22 failure. The report shows TVA knew about leaks at the site for more than two decades.

Well, that sounds about right. I was shocked when CNN reported that TVA’s priority after the Kingston coal ash accident was “clearing the railroad tracks .. because that's how they get the coal into the plant.”

Remarked Stephen Smith of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy:

"TVA has the heavy-duty emphasis on cost-cutting, on keeping the plants running without any downtime," he said. "(TVA's emphasis) is on nothing to slow the production of electricity. I don't have the exact set of what all the metrics are that all these executives get bonus pay for, but I'm reasonably confident it's associated with cost-cutting and uptime, not downtime (of plants). Bringing plants down may be frowned on because it may be in conflict with how an employee gets compensation.

And this:

How the Tennessee Valley Authority decided to stabilize Kingston's ash landfill would have implications for its many other elevated waste dumps, an important tool in the agency's strategy to maximize its storage on-site and avoid more costly options.

A Tennessean review of state records and some TVA documents shows that top officials rejected solutions that were deemed "global fixes" because they were simply too costly. The most expensive option was listed at $25 million.

In the end, TVA chose to install a series of trenches and other drainage mechanisms to try to relieve the water pressure and give the walls more stability.

On Dec. 22, the walls gave way.

You’d think the oh-so-business-like TVA Board, were it not filled with cronies and big GOP donors, might put the utility's emphasis on safety, ethics, and accountability, not profits. Because this clean-up is going to cost a lot more than $25 million.

But that’s not “business-like,” I guess.