Bush desecrates Rosa Parks' Funeral

The sheer cynicism and arrogance of the Bush Administration is amazing. Here we are laying to rest a cherished national elder and Bush uses it as a photo opportunity and even dares to bring newly nominated right wing extremist Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, or "Scalito" as he is called.

Alito is against everything the Civil Rights Movement stood for. Rosa Parks, no doubt, opposed everything Bush and Scalito stand for. As Bush and his allies work to take our rights away, they smile in our faces and proclaim themselves as friends.

But we are not fools and most of us know our history quite well. Bush's poll numbers will continue to belly-flop.

Bush's Halloween Trick: Scalito

From Thinkprogress.org:

Samuel Alito’s America

CNN reports that “President Bush will nominate 3rd Circuit Appeals Court Judge Samuel Alito for the U.S. Supreme Court.” Who is Samuel Alito? ThinkProgress has the facts:

ALITO WOULD OVERTURN ROE V. WADE: In his dissenting opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Alito concurred with the majority in supporting the restrictive abortion-related measures passed by the Pennsylvania legislature in the late 1980’s. Alito went further, however, saying the majority was wrong to strike down a requirement that women notify their spouses before having an abortion. The Supreme Court later rejected Alito’s view, voting to reaffirm Roe v. Wade. [Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 1991]

ALITO WOULD ALLOW RACE-BASED DISCRIMINATION: Alito dissented from a decision in favor of a Marriott Hotel manager who said she had been discriminated against on the basis of race. The majority explained that Alito would have protected racist employers by “immuniz[ing] an employer from the reach of Title VII if the employer’s belief that it had selected the ‘best’ candidate was the result of conscious racial bias.” [Bray v. Marriott Hotels, 1997]

ALITO WOULD ALLOW DISABILITY-BASED DISCRIMINATION: In Nathanson v. Medical College of Pennsylvania, the majority said the standard for proving disability-based discrimination articulated in Alito’s dissent was so restrictive that “few if any…cases would survive summary judgment.” [Nathanson v. Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1991]

ALITO WOULD STRIKE DOWN THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT: The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) “guarantees most workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a loved one.” The 2003 Supreme Court ruling upholding FMLA [Nevada v. Hibbs, 2003] essentially reversed a 2000 decision by Alito which found that Congress exceeded its power in passing the law. [Chittister v. Department of Community and Economic Development, 2000]

ALITO SUPPORTS UNAUTHORIZED STRIP SEARCHES: In Doe v. Groody, Alito agued that police officers had not violated constitutional rights when they strip searched a mother and her ten-year-old daughter while carrying out a search warrant that authorized only the search of a man and his home. [Doe v. Groody, 2004]

ALITO HOSTILE TOWARD IMMIGRANTS: In two cases involving the deportation of immigrants, the majority twice noted Alito’s disregard of settled law. In Dia v. Ashcroft, the majority opinion states that Alito’s dissent “guts the statutory standard” and “ignores our precedent.” In Ki Se Lee v. Ashcroft, the majority stated Alito’s opinion contradicted “well-recognized rules of statutory construction.” [Dia v. Ashcroft, 2003; Ki Se Lee v. Ashcroft, 2004]

George Clooney's New Film "Good Night and Good Luck": Deja Vu

I just came back from seeing George Clooney's film "Good Night and Good Luck" and it's absolutely brilliant! I honor Clooney's courage for doing such a thoughtful, gutsy film to wake up many Americans who are still sleeping.

I only regret that it is being shown only at art house movie theaters because it is a film that needs to be marketed more generously at all of the megaplex theatres.

Legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow had the courage to stand up and challenge the red-baiting, fear-mongering, democracy-stealing, smearing techniques of Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy in the early to mid-1950s. This climate of fear and blind patriotism of the the 1950s directly mirrors the climate in this country today: Our media are thoroughly intimidated and afraid, the Republican party is bent on eviserating the two party political system at the cost of American democracy and rationalism has been suspended in 2005.

The CIA leak scandal (particularly yesterday's indictment of White House aide Scooter Libby) is a vivid illustration of the lack of integrity and the sheer incompetence of the people running our government today. The supposedly "liberal" mainstream media like The New York Times' Judith Miller and Time Magazine's Matt Cooper willingly become political pawns as a trade for access while in the process helping take this country into an unnecessary and heinous war in Iraq.

Our thoroughly intimidated media continuously allows politicians and pundits to spin unchecked until citizens' sense of the true and false is blurred in the misconstrued name of "balance".

Oscar-worthy "Good Night and Good Luck" is a refreshing journey back into our past when amid incredible political and economic pressure, journalists took a stand and displayed integrity, making sure the public was informed of the truth.

In fairness, it was quite refreshing to see American journalists stand up during Hurricane Katrina and ask the hard questions then followup with more. Here's hoping the sleeping giant of the Fourth Estate will remain awake and re-commit to acting accordingly in the interest of the public.

U.S. Court Suspends Voter ID Law in Georgia

The state of Georgia was trying to get the Voter ID law back in place for the November 8th municipal elections, but the U.S. Federal Courts turned them down.

I've watched this law come into place in Georgia, but I actually don't agree that it is designed to keep black people from voting. I think it is designed to keep Democrats from voting regardless of race, age, and economic class.

There's never been any documentation that proves that voter identification fraud is even a problem in Georgia. However, there is significant documentation that shows that the new electronic voting machines with no paper trail are highly vulnerable to tampering. The Georgia Republican majority has been totally silent on this though. And, to be honest, the Democratic legislators have not been out front on the voting machines either.

American democracy continues to be on the ropes.

Miers Is Out! Heaven HELP US!

So, the radical right wing extremist groups have asserted their pressure on Bush and he has capitulated by yanking Harriet Miers' Supreme Court nomination.

This definitely weakens Bush further and it is my hope he will nominate a reasonable, mainstream candidate who will mirror Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. It is fortunate that Bush is reeling under horrible poll numbers, Iraq, scandals involving Hurricane Katrina, the CIA Leak, Bill Frist and Tom DeLay. Perhaps he will realistically see that it is not wise to nuke the Senate with a right wing wacko nomination like Janice Rogers Brown.

Bush can not continue to ignore the rest of the country in order to throw red meat to his right wing base which is in the minority. His poll numbers demonstrate this and will continue to reflect the anger of the majority if he fails to head our displeasure.

Let's see who Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald indicts tomorrow and see if that's enough to move him to err on the side of moderation with the new nomination.

Bush reinstates wage rules in hurricane areas

Finally, a victory for the workers:

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Reversing a decision made in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration will reinstate rules requiring that companies receiving federal contracts for hurricane reconstruction and relief efforts pay local prevailing wages.

The administration said that suspending the rules would reduce rebuilding costs and help open opportunities for minority-owned companies, but critics said it would result in lower pay for workers.

Members of Congress were first informed of the decision at a White House meeting with Chief of Staff Andrew Card on Wednesday morning.

The decision, which means that workers will get wages closer to what they were making before the hurricane, was met with approval by Republicans and Democrats, many of whom felt that out-of-state workers were descending on hurricane-ravaged areas and working for a fraction of a living wage.

The Davis-Bacon Act, which guarantees the wage levels, was suspended Sept. 8. It will be reinstated Nov. 8.

Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, who attended the White House meeting, told CNN that the situation was unacceptable.

"The danger we have in the Gulf Coast in general is profiteering. When you have these large contracts and again, when you suspend some protections ... it appears you can pay people whatever you want to pay and the rest of the money goes into the profit column of the corporation," he said.

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., who has led his party's charge against the Davis-Bacon suspension, said in an interview with CNN, "At least those wages will be protected where federal money is involved, and that's very important to the economy of that region. This is why we couldn't understand how the president could take such a callous position immediately after the hurricane to just decimate the protections for the wages of people who are trying to rebuild their families, their communities, their lives."

All of our phone calls and emails to Capitol Hill paid off. Let's hear one for the power of organized campaigns! It's important to take a moment to celebrate and then hunker down and pressure Bush to reinstate affirmative action in the hurricane areas as well.

2000

It's official: 2000 American soldiers are dead

Actually, when you tally up the number of dead soldiers in the coalition forces - along with the Iraqi civilians, my outrage becomes new again.

I watched Tim Russert's "Meet The Press" this past Sunday and heard New York Senator Chuck Schumer tell Russert if he knew then what he knows now, he'd still vote to give Bush permission to invade Iraq. I've heard Hillary and Bill Clinton basically adhere to these same right wing talking points, too. The Democratic Party leaders just don't get it.

This is NOT what the netroots want to hear.

Heck, polls now show that that triangulating crap isn't what the majority of America wants to hear. Cindy Sheehan gets it. Russ Feingold gets it.

In order to be a leader, you need to reflect the will of the people. Otherwise, the people will push you out of the way and find a leader who will do our bidding.

I worked to get John Kerry elected even though time and time again he was wishy-washy, spineless and voted for the War. I was that desperate to get Bush, a man who clearly has no business being Governor - let alone President - out of office.

But I will not swallow my principles and back another Pro-War Democrat.

The Iraq War MUST END. The Iraqis are able to conduct their own civil affairs without us. They've been doing so for thousands of years.

Meanwhile, Bush's toxic policies are leading this country to rot from the outside in.

So, the Washington establishment Dems like Chuck Schumer, Hillary and Joe Biden need to realize that we netroots are going to FORCE them to change their spineless position on this war. Either that or our leadership will come from someplace else.

End of story.

Rosa Parks: 1913-2005

Rosa Parks Dies at 92

And so, another wise Elder has left the circle of Spiritual Warriors to join the Ancestors. As a 38 year old African American from Detroit, Rosa Parks resides in my memory as the brave woman whose "refusal to relinquish her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Ala., helped touch off the civil rights movement." But, of course, Parks and her husband had been longtime civil rights leaders in Montgomery before that. Actually, although it is little known, black women began the Civil Rights Movement and continued to play a prominent role in its growth. Here is a great links page on the Civil Rights Movement.

I am saddened because we are in the midst of yet another great social movement period. We need guidance from the "old heads" like Rosa Parks, and they are dying out. Luckily, Rosa Parks' life and words have been chronicalized reasonably well and she received a lot of honors before she crossed over to the other side last night.

ALL is in divine order. Although we grieve for the lost of yet another revered social justice warrior, we know that she has left us plenty of recorded rich wisdom that has saturated our bones to an extent that cannot be adequately perceived and appreciated right now.

Go, in peace, our great spiritual leader Rosa Parks. You have walked your divine path in life on your own terms and we are all the richer for it.

And so I bow and salute you, my Great Sister.....

They Think We're Stupid

This week as we await Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's announcement of who, if anyone, will be indicted in the CIA leak case, we are subjected to the GOP's attempt to spin their way pre-emptively out of the anticipated indictment of White House Senior Aides Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. John Tierney has a particularly insulting column in today's New York Times "And Your Point Is?"(subscription needed):

If you, like me, have been trying to figure out the point of Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation, Howard Dean has a couple of answers.

The CIA Leak case is not hard to understand. In fact, I am shocked that the corporate media has done such a poor job of providing the context of the Iraq War and the nonexistent WMDs, the Downing Street Memo and the massive damage the Bush Administration has wrought upon the almost 2000 dead American soldiers, thousands wounded and over 100,000 dead Iraqis.

U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson heard Bush's lie about Saddam trying to purchase WMDs in Nigeria, went to Nigeria to investigate the claim and discovered that it was untrue. He told America the WMD rationale was a lie and the Bush Administration did what they always do to people that cross them. They tried to destroy Joseph Wilson by mounting a smear campaign of lies and personal attacks, even going so far as to leak the name of Wilson's wife who was a covert CIA agent to the press. And our Fourth Estate who are supposed to act as advocates for the public, otherwise known as the corporate media (in the form of New York Times' Judith Miller and Time Magazine's Matt Cooper) willingly allowed themselves to be pawns in the scheme to thoroughly discredit hero Joseph Wilson.

Basically, Karl Rove and Scooter Libby betrayed America in a time of war. There's no telling how many lives were changed or how many deaths occurred due to the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame. No wonder the CIA is hemorraghing career agents badly and morale is so low. Their own Commander-in-Chief has demonstrated that he will betray them again and again in order to help the GOP hold onto power. After all, the Elephant continues to fly higher than the Stars and Stripes.

Predictably, Tierney tries to use Howard Dean, Hillary and Bill Clinton as scapegoats to blunt the effects of the criminal activity taking place in the White House:

Neither involves the original reason for the special prosecutor's investigation - the accusation that White House aides deliberately outed a covert C.I.A. agent. Much of Washington now figures that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby didn't violate that law. But Dean, the Democratic Party's chairman, says we need to look at the larger lessons from this scandal.

"The problem, what got Rove and Libby in trouble was because they were attacking, which the Republicans always do, attacking somebody who criticized them and disagreed with them," Dean said on "This Week" on ABC. "A fundamental flaw in the Bush administration is the personal attacks on people for meritorious arguments."

Personal attacks! Can you imagine President Bush's critics ever sinking to that level? Dean himself may have occasionally faulted Republicans - using words like "liar," "brain-dead," "corrupt" and "evil" - but he must have meant them, like Dame Edna, in a caring and nurturing way.

The other supposed reason to care about the investigation of the C.I.A. leak is that it's really not about the C.I.A. leak, anyway. As Dean explained, "This is not so much about Scooter Libby and Karl Rove. This is about the fact that the president didn't tell us the truth when we went to Iraq, and all these guys are involved in it."

I have a hard time with this argument, and not because I'm a fan of the Iraq war. If I'd been in the Senate, I would have voted against it. The Bush administration's plan to quickly transform a Middle Eastern country struck me as terribly naïve. When I consulted experts in democratization, they predicted that American troops would be stuck in Iraq for at least five years, if not forever.

But I can't understand Democrats now gleefully suggesting that Libby and Rove are getting their just desserts for the "crime" of claiming that there were W.M.D. in Iraq. Yes, they were eager to embrace any bit of evidence for weapons there, but they had plenty of company in their suspicions, including Democrats like Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The wingnuts kill me when they come with the fact that many Democrats and officials at the UN thought Saddam Hussein had WMDs. But Bill Clinton didn't think the evidence was credible enough to take us to war. Only Bush did that and he must be held accountable - although I'm not sure if I'll live to see it.

Then Tierney goes in for the kill and still tries to call Joseph Wilson a liar when we ALL know there were no WMDs in Iraq:

The White House struck back by leaking its side of the story and disparaging Wilson - some of whose claims were indeed found to be false by a subsequent Senate investigation. It now looks as if the White House leakers were accurate in their warnings to reporters to be leery of Wilson's story.

But, what really gets me is that Tierney dares to argue "no harm, no foul" regarding Bush's astronomical blunder in taking this nation into an unnecessary war in Iraq:

You can argue that the leakers should be fired for carelessness in revealing that Wilson's wife worked for the C.I.A., but there's been no evidence yet that they realized it was illegal because of her status as a covert agent. You can argue that Libby should be fired for stupidity because of the letter he wrote to Judith Miller, the Times reporter, that sounded like a vaguely clunky - and unsuccessful - attempt to coach her testimony.

But no one deserves to go to jail for leaking information to reporters without criminal intent. The special prosecutor was assigned to look for serious crimes, not to uncover evidence that bureaucrats blame other bureaucrats when things go wrong.
No one deserves to be indicted on conspiracy charges for belonging to a group that believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Foreign policy mistakes are not against the law.

Tierney believes that the Bush Administration is ABOVE THE LAW and there should be no accountability for mere "foreign policy mistakes". Never mind the millions of lives these people have changed and all of the unnecessary human suffering. For Tierney, this doesn't meet the sniff test of a "serious crime" because it is between mere bureaucrats. Yes, bureaucrats who are servants of the people who are directly accountable to us, regardless of the fact that our system of checks and balances is blown to hell in America right now.

We must not let the massive GOP spin machine undermine or blur the simple specifics of the CIA Leak case and how it directly relates to how we were taken to a war in Iraq which is the new Vietnam. We must speak out and keep speaking out by writing letters to the Editor in our local and national newspapers, calling our Congressional representatives and discussing this with our family and friends.

In the meantime, America continues to reside in the Twilight Zone.

Pimpin' Ain't Easy: The New Face of the Black Church

There it is, folks. The "Money Shot". That's Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s daughter REVEREND Bernice King, Mega-Church preacher Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, GA and Laura Bush sitting side by side. This pic is reminiscient of that infamous march Eddie Long and Bernice King led back in November in support of the Constitutional Ban Against Gay Marriage only days after Bush stole another President Election. I remember the bitter anger I felt at King and Long. They wouldn't lead a march for election reform, but they'll lead one against their fellow American citizens. My People! My People!

I'm particularly disappointed in Bernice King. As perhaps one of the consummate spiritual progressive, her father led an inclusive, loving civil rights movement. A movement so powerful that many clergy in the metro Atlanta area and around the world STILL pattern themselves after Dr. King. Bernice disgraced her daddy's memory. Whatever she got from Bush, it certainly wasn't enough.

Blogger Jasmyne Clynnick writes an astute article called "Pimpin' Ain't Easy: The New Face of the Black Church" on the way African Americans are being manipulated by some of the hate merchant mega church preachers who've been bought and paid for with George Bush's Faith Based Initiative money. Actually the Faith Based Initiative money belongs to all of us - the taxpayers - but it is being misused to finance the GOP machine.

The spineless Democratic legislators are too intimidated to speak up with a message of gay-inclusiveness and a big vision of hope for the future. But the spiritual progressive clergy could and should begin to step forward on this issue in a bold way.

I see that the Black LGBT Democrats have formed a Caucus and plan on taking the homophobic clergy head on. I applaud them and plan to help in any way I can. Everything that SpiritualAtlanta.com is about is the divine truth that ALL ARE ONE! Furthermore, I know that as America rots further on Bush's watch (example: Katrina), the truth about gay marriage and abortion being used as a distraction will become even more obvious. It can't come soon enough.

"Only Two Percent!" For Bush?

Media pundit Earl Ofari Hutchinson has an interesting take on an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that Bush's popularity rating had plunged to an eye-popping, head shaking low of 2 percent. Hutchinson is on point with his assessment of African Americans' seething anger and hatred of President George W. Bush. Yes, he made some minor gains into the black community in last year's election based primarily on gay marriage, but Katrina and William Bennett ended those gains quick, fast and in a hurry.

Now, it is up to the Democratic party to step up to the plate with a powerful, compelling and healing message of outreach, respect and inclusion in time for the 2006 election because this is what blacks and the rest of the frustrated American electorate's thirsting for.

Harriet Miers Supreme Court Nomination Is In Trouble

Well, a few days ago I said that I didn't think it would get much better than Harriet Miers from Bush. She seemed to have the potential for being a political moderate, but apparently that is not the case. The truth has come out about what actually was discussed during James Dobson's conference call with Karl Rove that led him to claim two days after Miers' nomination:

When you know some of the things that I know--that I probably shouldn't know--you will understand why I have said, with fear and trepidation, that I believe Harriet Miers will be a good justice."

John Fund has written an Op-Ed piece in today's Wall Street Journal that provides strong evidence that James Dobson received blunt assurances from the White House that Miers would definitely vote against abortion should the opportunity arise. I don't see how Miers nomination can survive. Democratic interest groups will pressure the Dem Senators to filibuster and social conservatives weren't crazy about her in the first place and are unlikely to trigger the nuclear option.

I shudder to think about Bush's second nomination.

Black gay activist blocked from speaking at Millions More March

I watched the Millions More Movement Rally on C-Span yesterday. I was inspired even more to help organize, build coalitions and help strengthen the progressive movement. However, I did wonder about the fact that no speakers spoke on the issue of homphobia in the black community - an issue that seeks to divide the black religious community and our progressive coalition-building.

Another blogger, Pamindurham, has the story. The issue of homphobia must be squashed in the black community or Bush and the social conservatives will continue to divide us based on it. I've lost patience with the so-called black political leadership like Minister Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson and others can not see what needs to be done and truly go ahead, demonstrate real leadership, and do it. If you want the story right from the mouth of the excluded black gay rights activist Keith Boykin - along with the speech that he planned to give yesterday - check it out.

It Won't Get Much Better Than Harriet Miers

So, Bush finally just comes right out with it and admits that he nominated Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court because she's his friend and subscribes to his religious beliefs:

"People ask me why I picked Harriet Miers," Bush said in response to a reporter's question at an Oval Office appearance with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski. "They want to know Harriet Miers's background. They want to know as much as they possibly can before they form opinions. And part of Harriet Miers's life is her religion."

We're told the Republican party is in disarray over the nomination:

We are now witnessing, in activist Ed Morrissey's words, "a conservative civil war" over the Miers nomination, with many leaders on the right declaringthat they no longer can take President Bush at his word. They're demanding that Miers answer the kinds of questions that they considered out of bounds just a few weeks ago. They're even circulating these questions among themselves.

They want to know (among other things) whether Miers, as an evangelical Christian, had moral qualms about running the Texas Lottery Commission. They want to know why she sympathized with people with AIDS while serving on the Dallas City Council. They want to know why she helped create a lecture series that brought famous liberal feminists to Southern Methodist University in 1998.

First off, I am appalled that a sitting President of the United States would admit to submitting a nomination based on such religious and personal criteria. But I have long felt that America has dwelled in The Twilight Zone since November, 2000 - so nothing surprises me about this incompetent and corrupt regime that resides in the White House. These days, I am unflappable.

Some say they believe that the Republicans are merely faking their disarray in order to manipulate the Democrats and American citizens into supporting Harriet Miers confirmation as well as distract us from all the Bush administration scandals of late. But I tend to believe the disarray is genuine since it seems to me the GOP leadership and grassroots are too arrogant and drunk with power to go to the trouble of play-acting.

As an spiritually progressive ordained minister , high priestess and feminist, anyone Bush would choose would normally meet with my opposition. For he has continuously demonstrated to the nation that he has poor judgement. I'm not particular about her, but I am enjoying watching the conservatives foaming at the mouth and eating their own.

I also believe that sexism is playing a role in how scathing the criticism has been against her. I am not convinced that this leading corporate litigator from Texas has somehow become an intellectual lightweight overnight.

Looking at her record, she gives signs that she could prove to be a moderate Republican like O'Connor as opposed to Antonin Scalia. For this reason alone, I am willing to suspend judgement and hopefully she'll do okay during the hearings and get approved. She'll probably "grow to the left" once she gets on the Supreme Court. The statistical odds bear this out.

I definitely do not want Meirs nomination to fail because if Bush submits a second one the new nominee is guaranteed to be a right wing wackjob! And so I must be pragmatic and hold my fire.

Every Worker In America Needs to Be Paying Attention to the Delphi Bankruptcy

Worker's rights in America, whether you are a member of a union or not, are being severely rolled back by Corporate Greed right before our eyes. It is chilling what's going on in Detroit, Michigan with the Delphi bankruptcy:

Delphi Must Reduce to Survive: CEO

DETROIT (Reuters) - Disgruntled workers at Delphi Corp. (DPHIQ.PK) are understandably angry about its proposals to cut wages and benefits, but the auto parts maker has no choice if U.S. plants and pensions are to survive its bankruptcy restructuring, Chief Executive Steve Miller said on Wednesday.

Delphi, which filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. automotive history on Saturday, wants only to put wages and benefits for hourly workers in line with rates unions often have agreed to at its U.S. competitors in the supplier industry, Miller said.

He acknowledged that would mean steep cuts in pay, in the range of about 63 percent, for members of the United Auto Workers union employed in Delphi's factories across the country.

But he said he was confident Delphi could reach a new labor agreement with the UAW, while avoiding a potentially devastating strike, because the UAW can no longer command high wages and benefits for manual laborers in an increasingly competitive global marketplace."

Miller the blood-sucker wants to reduce people's wages by 63%!!! These are highly skilled and loyal workers with bills, families and other responsibilities. They want to slash benefits, too. These are people who are making $27-$35 an hour and they want to reduce their pay to about $10-$12 an hour. They won't be able to afford the GM cars they help build every day or their mortgages.

But, wait - the "charitable" CEO Steve Miller says:

``I do think there is a lesson for America in this,'' Miller told a news conference at Delphi's headquarters in Troy, Michigan.

``The world pays knowledge workers far more than it pays manual, industrial workers. And that's what's sweeping over here,'' Miller said.

``I do not blame these people (union workers). They are being hurt, their expectations are being dashed,'' Miller told reporters. "Globalization has swept over them and they are extremely angry and they need to lash out at someone and they lash out at me. I understand it. I forgive them.''

Who in the heck is he to offer forgiveness to these loyal workers he's raping economically?

What is the union's strategy for dealing with this crap? We don't know because the union isn't given a voice in this article. We're told they couldn't be reached for comment. But Miller goes ahead and speaks for the union, too:

Miller said he does not believe the UAW would react as the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association did in calling for a strike in August against Northwest Airlines.

``They fundamentally understand that absolutely nothing could be gained by a strike at any Delphi facility other than to hasten and expand the number of plants that might have to close and further jeopardize any chance for salvaging plants and pensions,'' Miller said.

This is union-busting plain and simple! Miller has cocked a 57 Magnum and is holding it to each line worker's head and is going to pull the trigger one way or another! But as brutal as the effects of "globalization" are on Delphi and the rest of the auto industry, Miller can still find funds to give the Delphi executives RAISES:

Miller bristled at criticism of Delphi's plan to offer executives incentives to stay through the restructuring while pursuing the wage and benefit cuts.

``There is a market for manufacturing labor, and we are paying triple for that labor and there is a market for executives and we are underpaying for it and we are at risk of losing our management,'' Miller said.

Delphi's success at cutting labor costs will determine how many U.S. plants are salvaged and the likelihood of preserving pensions, which are underfunded by about $5 billion, he said.

Preservation of the pensions under any plan may require the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. to agree to extending payment schedules over a
number of years and the consent of other creditors, Miller said.

This cold-blooded, subhuman CEO Miller is so arrogant and assured of victory. He and the other auto industry giants know that they can follow United Airlines to the U.S. Federal Courts and dump their pensions on the government (causing workers to lose over 70% of their pensions) and cancel the union contracts. The Republican party has stacked the courts with Corporate-friendly, worker-hostile judges who lean over backwards for corporations and leave the working and middle class Americans with practically nothing.

The unions must find a new way to do business and this is why I think the recent split in the AFL-CIO could be a good thing. The upstart 9 unions who seceded from the AFL-CIO now comprise the Change to Win Coalition. This coalition has recently begun meeting with unions around the world to fight the exploitative effects of globalization.

There can be no doubt that America is in the midst of another great Social
Movement that we've not seen since the likes of the Civil Rights/Vietnam Movement. I believe that if workers keep getting shafted like this and the Bush Administration continues to encourage it in attitude and deed, there will soon be mass civil disobedience and violence in the streets. And, don't forget that that new bankruptcy bill goes into effect on October 16th. So, we are being enslaved in America while the rich Republican donors grow fatter.

Bush plans to continue immoral fiscal policies at the expense of Katrina survivors

I'd hoped that after Hurricane Katrina that Bush would see the light and embrace some progressive fiscal policy, but it's not looking that way. See this New York Times article:

Liberal Hopes Ebb in Post-Storm Poverty Debate

By JASON DePARLE

As Hurricane Katrina put the issue of poverty onto the national agenda, many liberal advocates wondered whether the floods offered a glimmer of opportunity. The issues they most cared about - health care,housing, jobs, race - were suddenly staples of the news, with President Bush pledged to "bold action."

But what looked like a chance to talk up new programs is fast becoming a scramble to save the old ones.

Conservatives have already used the storm for causes of their own, like suspending requirements that federal contractors have affirmative action plans and pay locally prevailing wages. And with federal costs for rebuilding the Gulf Coast estimated at up to $200 billion, Congressional Republican leaders are pushing for spending cuts, with programs like Medicaid and food stamps especially vulnerable."

Later we're told...

"This is not the time to expand the programs that were failing anyway," said Stuart M. Butler, a vice president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research and advocacy group influential on Capitol Hill."

But, Butler fails to mention that programs such as Medicare and social security were never adequately funded on Bush's watch in the first place. Instead, they prefer to increase tax cuts for the rich and slash the social safety net - in effect, forcing the poor to pay for Katrina. But here is a crucial point that the New York Times journalist Jason DeParle makes that is rarely brought up:

"Economic growth is crucial to reducing poverty, but the effect of tax rates is less clear. In 1993, President Bill Clinton raised taxes on upper-income families, the economy boomed and poverty fell for the next seven years. In 2001, President Bush cut taxes deeply, but even with economic growth, the poverty rate has risen every year since."

There are so many holes in the logic of the tax-cuts-for-the-rich-obsessed far right that it's ridiculous. They care not one jot for the poor and middle classes - we can all rot. It is only going to get worse for us all during the next 3 years - our only hope is to make significant gains in 2006 despite the security-compromised computerized electoral machines. If the media does its job then it's possible that the moderate and fiscally conservative Republicans in the Senate will stand up and stop this madness. Bush and the GOP's poll numbers continue to plummet, after all. The actual article's a bit long, but well worth the read.