Republican Failures Deepen: More Bridge Closures

The failure of the levees in New Orleans woke America up to the true cosequences of the Republican "Drown America in a Bathtub" ideology. Bush claimed "nobody could have predicted the levees breaking." But the truth is his administration had been warned over and over again about the fact that those levees would fail under those precise circumstances. Bush ignored those warnings to such a degree that while the coastal areas of Louisiana and Mississippi drowned:



Bush and McCain were litterally eating cake:



But New Orleans is only the most dramatic example of the deliberate Republican failure of America. Yes...deliberate. It was stated by Grover Norquist and endorsed by Republicans from Bush to McCain that it was desirable to destroy the American government...and they HAVE been destroying it until we are unable to maintain our infrastructure.

After New Orleans the Republicans did not learn their lessons. I have been hearing from engineers for years that the bridges in America are unsafe. The warnings were ignored by the irresponsible Republican government until the I-35W bridge collapsed. Only now after people died are the bridges across the Mississippi River being inspected. And, just as engineers have been warning us for YEARS, the bridges are being found to be unsafe. This last week the third bridge since the I-35W collapse has been closed due to unsafe conditions, this time in Winnona, MN. The other two bridges that are closed are the Hwy 23 bridge in St. Cloud, which is being completely replaced, and the Hwy 61 bridge in Hastings that is only closed for repairs before being replaced in 2010. This leaves only three bridges remaining across the Mississippi River south of Minneapolis/St. Paul. That sounds like a commuter nightmare, and one that not only COULD have been predicted, but WAS predicted...and the Republicans ignored it.

This is deliberate neglect of America by the Republicans. From the Mississippi delta to Minnesota, Americans have been put at risk by an irresponsible and greedy Republican Party who would rather give money to Halliburton, Exxon and Blackwater than fix America's bridges. And remember, these problems are far cheaper and quicker to fix if caught early rather than late. So not only have Republicans put us all at greater, unnecessary risk, but they are costing us more money by leaving the repairs until they have gone too far. I hear that the American Society of Civil Engineers (who have been warning us for years about this problem) says we need to spend $1.7 trillion to simply fix what's broken in our infrastructure (thanks to a comment in the diary I link to above for this figure). Proper maintenance would have been far, far cheaper.

As America crumbles, all the Republicans do is eat cake. It's time for a change.

KEEPING ANTIBIOTICS EFFECTIVE

An ongoing effort of mine is to fight the misuse of antibiotics. Misuse of antibiotics has been an increasing health hazard for people, leading to many strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria that infect, and sometimes kill, people, particularly children, the elderly and the immunocompromised. Last time I wrote about this I was able to report a victory in the fight to keep antibiotics effective. Today I want to introduce the latest fight.

First, for those who want more background, the Union of Concerned Scientists has an excellent rundown. An excerpt from their site:

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are on the rise. Patients once effectively treated for pneumonia, tuberculosis, or ear infections may now have to try three or more antibiotics before they find one that works. And as more bacterial strains develop resistance, more people will die because effective antibiotics are not identified quickly enough or because the bacteria causing the disease are resistant to all available antibiotics.

Why have bacterial strains become resistant? The short answer is overuse of antibiotics. Physicians and hospitals have overprescribed the drugs, and patients have demanded them—even for illnesses not caused by bacteria. Veterinarians, too, overprescribe drugs to treat sick animals.

It is livestock producers, however, who use the vast majority of antibiotics produced in the United States. An estimated 70 percent of antibiotics and related drugs produced in this country are used for nontherapeutic purposes such as accelerating animal growth and compensating for overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on large-scale confinement facilities known as "factory farms." This translates to about 25 million pounds of antibiotics and related drugs fed every year to livestock for nontherapeutic purposes—almost eight times the amount given to humans to treat disease.

The most recent campaign to keep antibiotics effective is to contact Congress and urge your Congresscritter to support the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act. From the Keep Antibiotics Working website:

An estimated 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the United States are regularly added to the feed of livestock and poultry that are not sick—a practice with serious consequences for our health. Bacteria that are constantly exposed to antibiotics develop antibiotic resistance. This means that when humans get sick from resistant bacteria, the antibiotics prescribed by doctors don’t work.

Please write to your representatives today and ask them to support the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act. With members of Congress who have long supported curbs on antibiotic overuse now heading key congressional committees, the time has never been better to pass this critical legislation.

Please make your letter personal by adding in your own thoughts and concerns. Every letter makes a difference, but customized letters have the greatest effect!

And here are their talking points for your letter/phone call:

Talking Points:

* An instance when you, a family member, or friend suffered from an antibiotic resistant infection. Be as detailed as you can, including the type of infection (if you know this information and feel comfortable sharing it).
* An instance when you, a family member, or friend experienced food poisoning, or another bacterial infection, that required antibiotic treatment. Describe the importance of having drugs that work to treat these conditions.
* If you are a doctor or other medical professional, describe your experience treating patients with antibiotic-resistant infections, and the importance of these drugs to human health.

Please contact your Rep through this site and give them your opinion. This is a very important issue and I hope you help us protect our health and the health of our children.

The Republican Catholic Problem

The Republican Party is proving increasingly anti-Catholic...or at least my knowledge of their anti-Catholic tendencies is increasing.

John McCain and Joe Lieberman embraced right wing pastor John Hagee. In fact, John McCain SOUGHT OUT Hagee's endorsement and McCain specifically said, "I admire and respect Dr. Hagee's leadership of the -- of his church." McCain went so far as to call Hagee his "spiritual guide." Only much later (long after Barack Obama had distanced himself from Reverent Wright) did McCain, under considerable pressure, abandon Hagee. According to a Catholic News Agency article:

It’s not hard to find evidence that Rev. Hagee does not think highly of Catholics or the Catholic Church. In a video discussing the biblical book of Revelation, John Hagee suggests the Pope is the anti-Christ, and that the Catholic Church is "The Beast" (17:30 and following) mentioned in the book.

McCain clung to Hagee for so long...despite the fact that Hagee attacked Jews, Muslims and Catholics. Hagee has been described as a bigot who "waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church." And McCain called him his "spiritual guide" and expressed admiration of this bigot.

Of course McCain wasn't the only Republican candidate who embraced Hagee. Mike Huckabee also sought out Hagee's endorsement (from same article quoted above...also see this article). Huckabee was also endorsed by anti-Catholic author Tim Lahaye.

Well, now I am finding even more virulent anti-Catholicism by a Republican candidate right here in my own State Senate district in NYC. My State Senator is Democrat Velmanette Montgomery, a wonderful woman well loved by the community. A Christian who supports gay marriage, she is definitely a left wing Christian. In 2006 she won re-election against the Republican by what can only be called an overwhelming margin: 42,869 votes to 2,420.

This year the Republican Party is fielding a certain gentleman, Christopher Strunk, against Velmanette Montogomery. And this man seems the worst of bigoted, anti-Catholic scum to date. Let me offer you some quotes a fellow Daily Gotham blogger picked up.

Republican candidate in my own district, Christopher Strunk, blames all America's ills on Catholics:

The NWO [New World Order? He doesn't define this term] as with the Federal Reserve and the majority of the Supreme Court is under the control of the Vatican and Holy See (because it is the oldest and most continuous worldwide organization still left standing) and that the NWO is fine tuned by the Jesuit Military order, who absolutely directly control the Vatican See’s corporate business arm SMOM and all the dog an pony show spin-offs that sort of look different aren’t. The Jesuits very seductively use liberation theology insurgency operations that in the context of change use the it takes a village communist model of feudalism as a small is beautiful ploy want every community to be cut-off from the world and be on its own without mention of how to form a common defense and foreign policy projected to make such resolve clear...

The Government is the enemy of invention and crushes the people in favor of the friends of the Pope and Vatican see.

Wow...generally I have only heard this kind of paranoid bigotry levelled at Jews. Strange to hear it directed against Catholics, but hey, that's the modern Republican Party, I guess, from Hagee to Strunk.

I am sure that Strunk will lose badly to Velmanette. But come on. I THIS the best the Republicans in NYC can do?

Progressive Win in California

I have been pushing some candidates in California for a couple of weeks, mainly Progressive Majority endorsed candidates. In the June 3rd primary election, those candidates did very well.

First off is a race for Superior Court Judge (office 125) where I covered the rather shocking news that a white supremicist, Bill Johnson, was running for judge as a Democrat. The good news is that Bill Johnson lost. His opponent, James Bianco, won with more than 73% of the vote. The main down side is nearly 25% of DEMOCRATIC voters in the district voted for a white supremicist. This in no way suggests those voters are white supremicists. It shows that so few people actually pay attention to the judicial races that they cluelessly vote for a white supremicist probably because they liked his name better. This is why you will find me publicizing judicial races as often as I can using as much information as I can: people need to know more about who they are electing as judges.

Now we come to the Progressive Majority endorsed candidates. They did well. Of the nine candidates, two lost, one outright won, and six advance to a runoff. Here are the full results:

State Representative

Bob Blumenfield
State Representative - District 40
Advanced to runoff with 53% of the vote.

Marty Block
State Representative - District 78
Advanced to runoff with 36% of the vote in a four-way race.

Greg Pettis
State Representative - District 80
Eliminated with a second-place finish in a four-way race.


County Offices

Mark Ridley-Thomas
Los Angeles County Supervisor - District 2
Advanced to a runoff election with 45% of the vote in a nine-way race.


City Offices

Sheri Lightner
San Diego City Council - District 1
Advanced to runoff with 36% of the vote in a four-way race.

Stephen Whitburn
San Diego City Council - District 3
Advanced to runoff with 28% of the vote in a six-way race.

Tim Goodrich
Torrence City Council - At Large
Eliminated with 9% of the vote in a fourteen-way race.


School Board

John Lee Evans
San Diego Board of Education - Subdistrict A
Advanced to runoff to a runoff election with 40% of the vote in a nine-way race.

Richard Barrera
San Diego Board of Education - Subdistrict D
Won with 100% of the vote, running unopposed.