My Kitchen Table

A major difference between Bush and Barack

I was thinking about this today.

George W. Bush had everything handed to him from the day he was born. When he needed a cushy military posting in order to not go to Vietnam, his dad arranged it. When he needed a job, his dad arranged it. When he failed, his dad or his dad's friends bailed him out. When he first ran for politics, it was more than a little on his dad's name. (And then when he needed his dad's advice the most, he ignored it. Go figure.)

Meanwhile, Barack Obama's had disappeared almost right away. He was raised by his single mom and then his grandparents. Nothing was handed to him. He had to work his way to the top.

That makes you a different kind of person. I believe it's why he'll be a better president than Bush.

Sarah still not in the game

Sarah Palin did an interview the other day and wondered about the way the media was treating Caroline Kennedy, who is shilling for Hillary Clinton's New York Senate seat.

"I've been interested to see how Caroline Kennedy will be handled and if she will be handled with kid gloves or if she will be under such a microscope," Palin told conservative radio talk-show host and filmmaker John Ziegler.

This just in, Sarah ... they are hammering Sweet Caroline. Haven't you noticed? Oh right, you couldn't remember what media you read, listened to or watched ... well, most of the coverage has been brutal. In fact, it's fair to say that the media's coverage may end up costing her the seat because it's been so decidedly negative.

Sarah Palin ... still clueless. Pay attention a bit,eh.

The Bush administration's desertion of Iraq war vets

For the past hour, I've been listening to reporter Aaron Glantz talk about his new book "The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle against America's Veterans"(University of California Press). It is a staggering indictment of the Bush administration's treatment of wounded returning war veterans, which Glantz alleges is a deliberate policy on the part of this administration in order to cover up its bungling of the war in Iraq.

Here's are a few stunning statistics: of the 1.8 million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, 300,000 of them have physical brain injuries. 300,000! And less than half of that 300,000 (along with any soldier diagnosed with PTSD) are receiving treatment of any kind. Meanwhile, 1000 soldiers a month who are under the care of the Veterans Administration are attempting suicide. More than 5000 veterans commit suicide every year.

This is an excerpt from Glantz's book that details how a young wounded soldier, who was being treated (and I use the word loosely) at a VA facility in Fort Knox, Kentucky, died sitting in the chair in his room and wasn't discovered for more than two and half days. And this story is not an exception; this lack of care is rampant throughout the military system.

But Glantz's more serious charge is that the Bush administration took deliberate steps to prevent veterans from receiving better care because if it did so, it would have to admit that its preliminary predictions about the way ("It'll be over in a few weeks") were wrong. Glantz says that at one point, then VA head Anthony J. Principi went to President Bush to ask for more money and more doctors to deal with the "surge" of wounded and was fired for his concerns. He was replaced a Bushie loyalist, Jim Nicholson, who had no experience dealing with vetran issues, but did help Bush win the state of Florida in 2000. (Nicholson resigned after the Walter Reed story broke.)

Currently, the Bushies are madly trying to put a new coat of paint over their dismal record and convince people they were a wonderful bunch after all. But once the overall story of this administration is known - which will include the sort of decisions that were made about veterans care - it will truly be considered one of the worst the country has ever seen.

Don't seat Burris

I don't think the Senate should seat any person - Democrat or Republican - who names both of his children after himself: Roland and Rolanda. It speaks of an ego that will not go quietly into that good chamber.

On a more serious note, the Senate should not seat Roland W. Burris as the Senator from Illinois unless 1) the Illinois legislature agrees with this Blogovich choice or 2) he is reappointed by the successor to the soon-to-be-deposted Gov. B. Until then, Burris can cool his heels at the Starbucks just around the corner from the Capitol Building.

And allow me to say that Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush's decision to try and play the race card in this situation - comparing the Senate's decision to not seat Burris with segregationalists who stood in school doorways in the 50s and 60s to block African-American kids from entering - is just plain stupid. In fact, it's not just stupid, it has no meaning coming less than two months after the country elected an African-American president. (But maybe Rush is annoyed that the guy who tried to take away his primary seat from him a scant eight years ago is now the top dog.)

Meanwhile, you just have to see how annoyed conservatives are over at the Washington Times about Al Franken's looming victory in the race to be the next senator from Minnesota. Former Times editor Wesley Pruden (love that name) attacks Franken and says he's soon be "the Official Senate Pornographer." But the comments at the bottom of the piece are even better. I can see that conservatives are going to have a hard time adapting to this opposition roll. My favorite note comes from the woman who found a way to attack both Abraham Lincoln and the "War of Northern Aggression" in her comment and be completely serious at the same time.

Some people just find it hard to move on, I guess.

Report: Bush told Gonzales to fabricate stories

If this is true, it's a big story. At any other time, it would be the lead story in all the media. The Atlantic reports that former Attorney General is claiming that President Bush directed him to fabricate notes.

Real Dirty Politics

What is the world coming to? An Ohio GOP candidate accused of being (gasp) a Wolverine fan because he used blue and yellow in his campaign posters. He's toast for sure.

Cheney's Office Interfered with Climate Report

This just in ... Vice-President office interfered with climate change testimony. The Wall Street Journal reports that "U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's office was behind a push to censor congressional testimony that global warming poses a danger to the public, a former Environmental Protection Agency official told Congress."

Real Politiks Point: I'm not sure why this is news. I thought it just would have been assumed to be the case. Let's face it, nothing will be done to change this country's pathetic approach to global warming until either John McCain or Barack Obama are elected president.

The Difference Between Rolling Poll and Regular Polls

Marc Blumenthal (who also writes for Pollster.com) has a good "Mystery Pollster" column at the National Journal about the differences between daily tracking polls (where the pollsters basically survey a group of people very night and average the results from several days) and traditional polls (where people are surveyed over two or three nights for one complete result).

Often the reported results between the two are quite pronounced - like night and day different. But Blumenthal says the differences between the two kinds of surveys are not all that great.

Report: Biofuels Cause Food Crisis

Farmers in Iowa aren't going to like to hear about this report.

A new confidential report from the World Bank shows that biofuels have forced up food prices more than 75 percent. The report, which was obtained by the British paper, the Guardian, "... emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce their dependence on imported oil."

Despite the evidence from the World Bank (and a forthcoming report from the British government that is expected to show the same results) there is a snowball's chance in Miami that this issue will get discussed in the current U.S. presidential campaign. Iowa is seen very much as a swing state and if McCain or Obama even mention the report, they risk losing the state.

American farmers (and more important, big framing conglomerates) are addicted to subsidies that push the use of corn as biofuels. It's not likely they'll want to give up that addiction any time soon, regardless of what it means to the rest of the world.

Surprise! Politics Involved in Hiring at Justice

Reading the media reports of the hiring scandal at the Justice Department, I find myself saying, "Yea, so what else is new?"

With everything we know about the way the Justice Department was run under Alberto Gonzalez and his minions (and never was the word "minions" put to better use), what is so suprising about the news that Alberto's fun house was a repository of far-right conservatives who turned down extremely qualified applicants for what amounted to illegal reasons - but were all about politics, of course.

It's like peeling off layers of an onion. Each new level undercovers more rot and corruption.