Progressive Democrat Issue 200

Unemployment skyrockets and Republicans sit on their hands refusing to help. In fact, all we see from that side of the aisle is more of the hypocrisy typical of Republicans: bailing out banks but not working and middle class Americans; attacking Dashle for his tax problems while ignoring the fact that their own political icons, Sarah Palin and Joe the Unlicensed Plumber, had pretty much the exact same tax problems (see below); holding Blagojevich against Democrats while sheltering similar corruption in another of their failed heroes, Norm Coleman. When will Republicans ever learn?

Obama has in some ways already lost a bit of steam, but beneath the surface, a great deal is changing. From Obama administration phone calls that stopped AIG from using our tax money to buy a luxury plane, to Citicorp being forced to abandon a luxury junket to Vegas, to caps on CEO salaries if they want bailout money...etc. Recently I mentioned the end of the Global Gag Rule: in mere days a horrible policy of the past 8 years was reversed. Similarly, within days of Obama becoming President the first clinical trial using stem cells was approved (for spinal cord injuries). Torture was ended on day one. Oil leases in Utah's wilderness areas were cancelled. Obama will face many obsticles in Congress and the media is focused on that. But countless policies that were determined by Bush's fiat are being reversed and the country is much better off for it.

Now on to an item that was missed in the mess about Daschle's taxes. Didn't even occur to me until it was pointed out. From Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic:

Someone should make the point that the theory on which Daschle did not pay taxes on an extraordinary non-salary benefit provided by his employer (car and driver) is exactly the theory on which Palin did not pay taxes on an extraordinary benefit (free air travel for her children, and 60 dollar per day per diem payments for use of her own house).

Palin never paid back taxes but simply produced a squirrelly letter from her lawyers saying that someone could believe in good faith that taxes were not owed on the travel or per diems she received, so her failure to report those items as income was excusable.

Funny how it was okay for Palin but not for Daschle. To me it wasn't Okay for EITHER of them to duck their taxes, but the right wing hypocrites that dominate the Republican Party seem to think it was fine for Palin to break the same rules that they are up in arms about Daschle breaking. Daschle at leas finally paid up. Did Palin? Why was it okay for the woman they wanted to be VP to do it but not okay for a man who wanted to be Secretary of HHS?

And let's not forget that other Republican icon from McCain's losing strategy, Joe (not his real name) the plumber (unlicenced) also had some problems paying his taxes.

Let me be clear. It was not okay for any of these folks to duck their civic duty. They all should pay up with hefty fines. But it is one more issue where Republicans choose hypocricy over values, partisanship over the law.

This week we also had Dick Cheney crawl out from under his rock to wish new terrorist attacks on Americas. I will leave you with Keith Olbermann's comments on these words from Dick:



This is why I love watching Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow: they cut through the bullshit in a way no other American mainstream media even wants to.

Here is this week's newsletter:

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

BANK OF AMERICA: Pissing of America

ACTION ALERT: Howard Dean for Secretary of HHS

Republicans Abandon the Jewish Vote...AGAIN

Bush's Waste of Our Tax Dollars

NYC: Sweetheart Deals for Developers

NEW YORK STATE

Orange County, CA Events

San Diego, CA Events

CALIFORNIA

Navajo Green Jobs

ARIZONA

Urbana-Champaign, IL Books to Prisoners Project

ILLINOIS

NORTH CAROLINA

COLORADO GREEN JOBS

COLORADO

FLORIDA

NEW JERSEY

TEXAS

PENNSYLVANIA

WISCONSIN

GEORGIA

VIRGINIA

WASHINGTON

IOWA

NEVADA