Day: March 30, 2006

Bush Tax Cuts at Work: Roads, Waterways, and Skies are a Mess

Trish

Chalk up another failure for the Bush tax cuts. The head of UPS today is warning that America’s neglected infrastructure is hobbling us in the global marketplace.

“What’s shocking, quite frankly, is the inability of our transportation infrastructure to keep up with the normal day-to-day stresses imposed upon it,” said UPS CEO Mike Eskew

Describing the nation’s roads, ports, railroads and airports as the backbone of global trade, UPS’s chief executive officer today warned that America was taking a chance with its future by neglecting its infrastructure.

“What’s shocking, quite frankly, is the inability of our transportation infrastructure to keep up with the normal day-to-day stresses imposed upon it,” said UPS CEO Mike Eskew. “Our highways, waterways, railroads and aviation networks are simply not keeping up with ordinary demands.

After Hurricane Katrina even emergency supplies languished in ports and parking lots. Eskew said you don’t have to wait for a storm or earthquake or terrorist attack to see the problems. You also don’t have to be a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, but they have issued a scathing analysis of our transport system.

“In 2005, here’s what our infrastructure report card looked like: our aviation system got a D+; navigable waterways a D-; roads a D, and rails a C-.”

“What does the overall report card on our national transportation infrastructure look like? Well, let’s put it this way: if your kids brought home report cards like this, someone would be grounded.”

Eskew was especially critical of railroads. As those of us who live near its Jacksonville headquarters are well aware, Bush Treasury Secretary John Snow was head of CSX before his crony status qualified him for a seat at the Bush cabinet table. CSX is a leader in the rail industry at avoiding liability and sticking it to the taxpayers every time its worn-out tracks cause an Amtrak derailment.

Eskew [added] one private business sector that particularly needs to step up is the rail sector. The nation’s railroads are “under-investing” in advanced technologies available today that could improve the capacity and safety of their networks, he asserted.

The problem is not insurmountable, he added, but it’s time “to sound the alarm.”

New & Improved: Actually See What You’re Typing!

Trish

To all the insightful P.R. readers who let us know that leaving a comment on our posts involved magnifying glasses and microscopes, thanks. No. 1 Editor Jon seems to have fixed the problem and accommodated all those who, like me, just had to hope we were typing what we thought we were. Sometimes the phrase “web master” just doesn’t cover it. How about “web genius?” Thanks Jon!

If tiny type was holding you back before, please feel free to comment early and often now.

Update: I made another adjustment. Check it now.

Kaloogian on Fake Photo: I’m Not Lying Just Incompetent – Standard GOP Dodge Works Every Time

Jon Ponder

One of the characteristics of the current Republican era is that when Gops are caught lying, they automatically claim incompetence. The truly astounding aspect of this is that it works every time.

Kaloogian will probably get away with this dodge. It was worked well for President Bush, especially in excusing his two biggest failures – Iraq and Katrina.

Case in point is the flap over the photo of a purportedly showing a “calm and peaceful” corner of Baghdad posted to the website of California GOP operative Howard Kaloogian who is running for the House seat vacated by Duke Cunningham, a Republican who is serving time for taking bribes worth millions of dollars. (Go here for our coverage of the story yesterday.)

The photo was, in fact, taken in the suburbs of Istanbul, which, for everyone educated after the 1970s, is in a country north of Iraq called Turkey.

Now Kaloogian is denying he intentionally tried to defraud the public by posting the photo and is blaming the flap on the incompetence of his staff:

“They used a picture that was wrong. There’s nothing sinister about it,” [Kaloogian] said.

And, oh yeah, it’s the librhul media’s fault:

In an e-mail to supporters, [Kaloogian] blasted bloggers and journalists for using the photograph to attack his campaign for the 50th Congressional District.

“The liberal journalists who dominate the ranks of the media want American troops to pull out of Iraq before the mission there is completed,” he wrote.

That’s a bit nicer than his earlier statement that journalists “are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism.”

Kaloogian will probably get away with this dodge. It has worked for President Bush time and time again over the past five years, but especially when he was excusing his two biggest failures:

  • The president has denied lying when he said Iraq had WMD, instead he says he incompetently took the country to war based on bad intelligence
  • During Katrina, he denies lying when he said that “no one” could have anticipated the levee breaches, despite videotape evidence showing him being warned about just such an possibility, instead he was just incompetently out of touch while on vacation

So good luck, Mr. Kaloogian. I’d say that with tap dancing like this, you’ll go far as a Republican congressman.

GOP in Trouble So Now Iran Gets Warning: Bombing to Start in 30 Days

Jon Ponder

The time has come to wag the dog:

Will the bombing have the effect the GOP wants and rally the whole country — or just its base of Dittoheads and sheeple who are addicted to terror?

The U.N. Security Council gave Iran 30 days to clear up suspicions that it is seeking nuclear weapons, and key members turned their focus on what to do if Iran refuses to suspend uranium enrichment and allow more intrusive inspections…

After three weeks of intense negotiations, the 15-member Security Council approved a statement Wednesday asking the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to report back in 30 days on Iran’s compliance with demands to stop enriching uranium.

The Bush Administration has zero credibility in most of the world and among a majority of Americans. The timing of this is too perfect. Bombing will start around the first of May when campaigning is ramping up. It will be interesting to see if our attacks on Iran have the effect on the electorate that the GOP intends, or whether the bombing only rallies the 25 percent who make up their base of Dittoheads and sheeple who are addicted to terror.

If You’re Gay, BMW Wants Your Money. But Forget About Those Employee Benefits

Trish

It takes more than targeting ads to gays to make a company gay-friendly. Ad Age is reporting that gaywheels.com is calling BMW out for soliciting gay sales but failing to provide benefits for partners of gay employees.

In an article called, “What is the German Word for Hypocrisy?” Joe LaMuraglia says both BMW and publications like “Out” and “The Advocate” that accepted the ad money, are at fault.

Our goal is not to incite a boycott of BMW’s cars, but rather to arm you, our readers, with awareness of the company’s actions as well as of those of the media outlets that published the ad. Speaking of which, one would hope that the publishers of GLBT-owned magazines and web sites would have higher standards than to accept advertising from a major, multinational corporation whose policies discriminate against the very audience that those publications were created to serve.

According to Ad Age, BMW claimed that since it is headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, it is just following Garden State laws.

The site goes on to list companies which are — and which are not — gay-friendly.

Gay-friendly:
DaimlerChrysler’s Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz and Maybach
Ford MotorCo.’s Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo, Aston Martin and majority-controlled Mazda
Toyota Motor Sales USA’s Toyota, Lexus and Scion
General Motors Corp.’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn
Volkswagen of America’s Audi, VW and Bentley
Subaru of America
Isuzu Motors America
Mitsubishi Motors North America

Non-gay-friendly:
American Honda Motor Co.’s Acura and Honda
BMW’s Mini and BMW
Hyundai Motor America and affiliate Kia Motor America
Nissan North America’s Nissan and Infiniti
American Suzuki Motor Corp.