« The Bush Economy's Consumer Debt Explosion | Main | Bush: "Biggest Spender Since LBJ" »
September 18, 2005
Red Elephant Alert: Take Action to Halt Latest Republican Travesties
As we Houstonians pitch in to help with Katrina relief efforts, outrage fatigue may easily overcome our appetite for political activism. Yet while the pictures which speak a thousand words about their failed policies inundate the mainstream media, Republicans are using the opportunity to mount more stealth attacks on everyday Americans. Yes, we have definitely entered "Red Elephant Alert" territory. (See chart above, based loosely on the Department of Homeland Security's Terror Alert System.) Here are just three of many targets in the Republicans' latest broad-based stealth attack:
- Republicans in the Senate voted to block an independent investigation of the federal government's Katrina response so that they can cover up their incompetence and corruption, and everyday Americans will never know the truth. An independent commission becomes even more essential now as Bush and the Republicans attempt to buy back their popularity with billions in reconstruction dollars.
- Bush just suspended the Davis Bacon Act, the 1931 law that guarantees prevailing wages for workers on federal contracts. Thus, Halliburton, Bechtel, etc., will rake in huge profits from no-bid or cost-plus contracts for the hurricane clean-up while cutting workers' pay to less than a living wage. Many of these workers will be everyday Americans who have already been ravaged by the storm.
- Republicans in the Senate have just sneakily tacked a rider onto a Transportation bill. This rider will open a gargantuan new loophole in our already woefully inadequate campaign finance laws, allowing incumbent Congress critters to use "Leadersip PACs" to circumvent contribution limits and hold their colleagues hostage for big pots of campaign cash. (Think Tom DeLay's TRMPAC on steroids.) Will everyday Americans have a voice when wealthy individuals can contribute $34,000 to one candidate?
Join me below the jump to find out how to take action.
TomPaine.com tells why we need an independent investigation into the federal government's response to Katrina here, and MoveOn provides us with a petition to demand one here. This is IMPORTANT, folks. Without an independent investigation, the Republicans will once again slither away without being held accountable for their callousness, cronyism, incompetence, and corruption.
To learn more about Bush's unconscionable suspension of the Davis Bacon Act, see the Washington Post here. If you have right wing friends or relatives who would not believe that their President could snatch much-needed dollars from the pockets of hurricane-afflicted workers while lining the pockets of his corporate cronies, point them to the President's own proclamation here. Naomi Klein of The Nation seems to be thinking more clearly about how to treat workers who will be involved in reconstruction efforts, as shown in this article that she wrote for The Guardian. Unfortunately, I have not yet seen any petitions calling for Bush to rescind his suspension of Davis Bacon, but that does not mean that we cannot write our Congress persons and media outlets.
All of this brings us back to our third Republican stealth attack: the sneaky, Tom DeLay-enabling rider on the Transportation bill. When the nonpartisan League of Women Voters issues an alert, you know it is serious. (See alert and take action here.) Katrina has shown us the results of Tom DeLay's pre-hurricane pay-to-play politics in bold relief, as FEMA and levee reconstruction funds were cut in favor of more pork for DeLay's lobbyist pals. Do we really want to allow this proposed Leadership PAC loophole to further enrich the Bugman's coffers?
In his book God's Politics, preacher and author Jim Wallis quotes a friend who was exasperated with people who were waiting for another Martin Luther King, Jr., etc., before taking action. She said, "We are the ones we have have been waiting for." Yep, we are ... so please, visit the links above, or just write your own LTEs, write your own Congress critters, or take other action so that we can hold the Red Elephants accountable and avoid another 2002 in 2006!
Posted by at September 18, 2005 10:04 PM | Permalink
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.houstondemocrats.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/568