Year: 2005

I never thought it would be fun to be a Democrat in Florida again, but the headlines following the close of the state legislative session on Friday were pretty satisfying.

Florida Times Union (Jacksonville):

Governor, His Major Initiatives Left in Cold

This winter, Jeb Bush sent the Legislature a wish list of Medicaid reform, class-size amendment changes and school voucher expansion.

On Friday, legislators crumpled it up and threw it back…

Tallahassee Democrat:

Session Showed Gov. Bush Era Waning

Gov. Jeb Bush hopped the globe to monitor aid for tsunami victims in Asia and mourn Pope John Paul II in Vatican City, but it was a more humbling year at home.

Halfway through the next-to-last year of his second term, Bush no longer can crack a whip and get all fellow Republican lawmakers to follow…

Orlando Sentinel:

Legislators Cut Gov. Bush’s List Down to Size

Like his brother in the White House who is struggling to sell a Social Security overhaul to a reluctant Congress, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush might have reached too far during the just-completed state legislative session…

Miami Herald:

Rebuffs Reduce Gov. Bush’s Power

After a six-year reign as arguably the most powerful governor in state history, Jeb Bush met mortality last week at the hands of his fellow Republicans…

What these stories, and the session itself, showed is that a one-party system doesn’t automatically produce accord. Florida’s Republican governor couldn’t get his signature projects through the Republican State House or the Republican State Senate. And the Republican House and Senate couldn’t get many of their slam-dunks into each other’s baskets.

Why? My theory is that we have a one-party system in Florida, not because everyone thinks Republican, but because the GOP has done such a thorough job of selling the message that the only way to win here is to have the R-label. Hand in hand with that, stacking districts helped a lot too. So now a whole bunch of people who aren’t REALLY Republicans have little elephants on their lapels. And the Jebs of the world still don’t always get their way.

Here’s one that is a top candidate for the Brass Cajones World Class Chutzpah Award:

A Wall Street tycoon accused in the 1980s of cheating thousands of investors out of their savings in one of the biggest financial scandals in history now says the state of California cheated him. So he has launched a campaign to change the state tax code — retroactive to 1992 — in hopes of getting $5 million back.

The “tycoon” is Peter Ackerman who worked for Drexel Burnham Lambert, along with “Junk Bond King” Michael Miliken. As a result of the scandal, Miliken went to jail but Ackerman walked away with a fine and, reportedly, $500 million.

JUMP: Read the rest of the article.

The hopeful signs of democracy in the Middle East are not a consequence of the Bush administration’s unilateralism but a significant reversal of its policy, so says former Clinton official Nancy Soderberg via Alternet:

The positive developments of the last few months are indeed encouraging and are to be embraced. They are not, however, a consequence of the Bush administration’s harsh, unilateral foreign policy, but instead the result of a not-so subtle shift to a more realistic foreign policy favored by past presidents. It seems diplomacy—that much-maligned policy option—gets results.

For most of his first term, Bush was under the spell of the myth that, as a superpower, America could bend the world to its will, primarily on its own and through military means. The results of that muscle diplomacy are in. America is bearing the burden of rebuilding and securing Iraq essentially on its own, while Iran and North Korea have been pursuing their nuclear weapons programs unchecked. Because the administration has undermined myriad arms control conventions, weapons of mass destruction may be now more accessible to terrorists. Anti-Americanism has spiked to unprecedented heights, making the world less willing to act with us to share the superpower burden. Who could imagine student protestors in Tiananmen Square today building a replica of the Statue of Liberty as they did in May 1989?

While it has been loath to admit it, the Bush administration is quietly shifting back to the tough work of diplomacy. After the administration claimed America could protect itself on its own, and that it did not need “old Europe,” working in partnership is suddenly back in fashion. And it is getting results—not, as some have claimed because of events in Iraq, but rather because American diplomats are seeking once again to return the United States to its rightful role as a persuader, not just enforcer.

The photo at right shows Cynthia Ore, the alleged girlfriend of Rep. Don Sherwood of Pennsylvania. Wonkette has a great quote from Ms. Ore:

“Every day he told me I’m his lady, he loved me. He told me he had deep feelings for me…So my girlfriends know. Actually they think he’s hot, which he is of course.”

The affair came to light after Ore called 911 to complain that Sherwood had choked her during a back rub. She alleges that she has been sleeping with Sherwood, who is married, since 1999. In 2004, Sherwood voted for the “Marriage Protection Act.”

PR’s first story is here.

After threatening to protest at a Durham, NC, high school performance of the “Laramie Project,” a play about the martyrdom of Matthew Shepherd at the hands of speedfreak homophobes, Rev. Fred Phelps failed to show up. His supporters were there, above, of course – as were counter-protestors, including Pam Spaulding, editor of Pam’s House Blend.

Independent, UK:

It has been only six years since Kansas covered itself in ridicule by giving schoolteachers the green light to teach the Genesis creation story as a serious scientific alternative to Darwin. That decision was hastily reversed, and the Christian fundamentalist majority on the Board of Education overturned, following a hue and cry from scientists and educators from around the world.

Now, though, the Christian conservatives are back in the ascendant – as indeed they are in every area of Kansas politics, and in much of the United States. The seemingly pleasant, down-to-earth sensibility of the American Midwest has been upended by a new radicalism, one which has fundamentalist protesters wielding “God Hates Fags” placards in the streets of Topeka and Christian choirs singing in the rotunda of the state capitol. As one of the vanguards of this new radicalism, the board of education has every intention of defying the conclusions of its own standards committee by endorsing Intelligent Design and changing the state standards accordingly.

This week’s hearings were the one concession that Dr Abrams, a country veterinarian turned right-wing Christian pointman, was prepared to give to mainstream opinion. “We’ll put our experts on the stand”, he suggested a few weeks ago, “and the pro-evolution scientists can have an equal amount of time to make their argument”.

As it turned out, however, no mainstream scientist wanted anything to do with a public spectacle many of them variously denounced as a kangaroo court, a show trial, a dog-and-pony show and a farce reminiscent of the infamous Scopes monkey trial in Tennessee in 1925. “We concluded it’s not worth debating creationists because you can’t win,” said Liz Craig of the Kansas Citizens for Science. “so we organised a boycott instead.”

TV Newser:

In response to this morning’s post about Paula Zahn’s ratings, a CNN insider says: “FNC should be less concerned with Zahn’s performance and more concerned with the fact that O’Reilly continues to hemorrhage viewers month-over-month since October.” Here are the monthly averages:

October: 3,166,000 / November: 3,080,000 / December: 2,610,000 / January: 2,478,000 / February: 2,391,000 / March: 2,320,000 / April: 2,178,000 / May-to-date: 2,096,000

Inevitably, support for President Bush in the hinterlands has taken on a cult-like quality:

Religion and politics clash over a local church’s declaration that Democrats are not welcome. East Waynesville Baptist asked nine members to leave. Now 40 more have left the church in protest. Former members say Pastor Chan Chandler gave them the ultimatum, saying if they didn’t support George Bush, they should resign or repent. The minister declined an interview with News 13. But he did say “the actions were not politically motivated.” There are questions about whether the bi-laws were followed when the members were thrown out.

The by-laws probably state, “All members of this church shall worship George W. Bush or be cast out as heathens.”

There is video here.

In a memo to Microsoft employees today, CEO Steve Ballmer announced that the company would support expanding state and federal bans on workplace discrimination to include gays and lesbians:

After looking at the question from all sides, I’ve concluded that diversity in the workplace is such an important issue for our business that it should be included in our legislative agenda. Since our beginning nearly 30 years ago, Microsoft has had a strong business interest in recruiting and retaining the best and brightest and most diverse workforce possible. I’m proud of Microsoft’s commitment to non-discrimination in our internal policies and benefits, but our policies can’t cover the range of housing, education, financial and similar services that our people and their partners and families need. Therefore, it’s appropriate for the company to support legislation that will promote and protect diversity in the workplace.

Accordingly, Microsoft will continue to join other leading companies in supporting federal legislation that would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation — adding sexual orientation to the existing law that already covers race, sex, national origin, religion, age and disability. Given the importance of diversity to our business, it is appropriate for the company to endorse legislation that prohibits employment discrimination on all of these grounds. Obviously, the Washington State legislative session has concluded for this year, but if legislation similar to HB 1515 is introduced in future sessions, we will support it.

Here is background on the story from ZDNet:

The issue exploded into public consciousness several weeks ago after Seattle newspaper The Stranger reported that Microsoft had backed off support for a state antidiscrimination bill after being contacted by a conservative local pastor.

That pastor, a leader in conservative religious organizations’ opposition to gay marriage and nondiscrimination legislation, said he had threatened Microsoft with a boycott of the company’s products if it supported the state bill. Microsoft executives later said their position on the bill was not related to the pastor’s pressure, but connected to a broader company policy of avoiding taking divisive positions on “social issues.”

The Washington bill subsequently failed by a single vote. Gay and lesbian organizations, which previously had applauded the company’s internal policies of support for nondiscrimination, criticized the company widely over the situation. At least one prominent gay employee resigned this week from the company, according to The Stranger.