Posted on 11/25/2004 9:43:08 AM PST by Jose Roberto
AUSTIN, Texas -- Dan Green of New York City says of the election results, "You can't be depressed now, the worst is yet to come." Following that good advice, I intended to keep my indignation dry and save the outrage for when it is really needed, kind of like saving room for the pumpkin pie after Thanksgiving dinner. If we're going to get through the next four years, we have to pace ourselves, I concluded.
But here it is, not even three weeks into the new Bush regime, and already I'm jaw-dropped, you've-got-to-be-kidding mad. Here's the record so far:
-- Republicans somehow managed to squirrel an obscure little provision into the appropriations bill that gives congressmen or their "agents" the right to look at your IRS return and make what use of it they will. This perverse item was apparently the brainchild of Rep. Ernie Istook of Oklahoma, who is such a hopeless chucklehead it's often hard to take him seriously as a menace. He's chair of the transportation subcommittee of the appropriations committee, and in that position clearly needs to see your tax return. He also voted for funding for light rail in Salt Lake City (he's Mormon), but against light rail funding for Oklahoma City.
What is it with Oklahoma? Even Istook is likely to be out-dumbed by Oklahoma's new senator, Tom Coburn, who believes "lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they'll only let one girl go the bathroom" at a time. No evidence could be found for this peculiar claim. He also described state legislators as "a bunch of crapheads." While I do not agree, I am sympathetic to the perspective.
-- Sen. Ted Stevens, who as usual has larded the appropriations bill with an outsize package of goodies for Alaska, assured the Senate that Istook's amendment would be deleted before the bill was sent to the president. He begged, he pleaded. "Do I have to get on my knees?" he asked.
Quick, someone check just how much more in federal spending the 250,000 citizens of Alaska are getting than the rest of us.
-- Also stashed away inside the appropriations bill was a provision imposing a domestic gag rule on abortion: no federal money to agencies that require doctors, hospitals or insurers to provide abortions, cover them OR give referrals to abortion providers. Sailed right through the House. Hey, why not put a new abortion restriction in the appropriations bill, along with the kitchen sink?
-- Republican House leaders rejected the 9-11 commission's bill on intelligence reform. Eighty percent of Americans want the intelligence reforms, and our safety is directly at stake. But hey, we're just chopped liver: The reforms would take power away from the Pentagon. And as we all know, we just can't have that.
-- The Senate voted 65 to 30 to set funds aside for a special category of "priorities," including a new presidential yacht.
-- It's really fascinating to watch the Republican slime machine at work on Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle. Earle is one of the longest-serving district attorneys in the entire country. His constituents have been re-electing him since 1976. He was one of the first prosecutors in Texas to create a victim assistance program and helped start the Austin Children's Advocacy Center to help abused kids.
He's pretty much a local hero around here, and no D.A. gets that way by being "soft on crime." Earle is death penalty advocate. He is also noted for going after corrupt Democratic politicians in this state, even though he's a Democrat himself. He was willing not only to take on the slam-dunk cases, but also some tough ones just to remind everybody that the law is to be obeyed.
Earle is such a careful craftsman of prosecution that Time magazine selected him as their main example for a major 2003 article to explain how DAs like Earle might bring some resolution to the death penalty debate. Earle has experienced both the good and bad of the death penalty -- consequently, he has a special review procedure for cases on which his office seeks capital punishment.
He is widely admired among his peers, and his innovations are often copied. This is the guy the Republicans are blithely dismissing as a "crackpot." Since Earle has been in office almost 30 years and has a fine national reputation, it's ludicrous to dismiss him as a "runaway district attorney." Does anyone at Fox News ever do any research?
-- As though things on the legislative side weren't bad enough, Bush and Cheney are moving to make the executive branch all-powerful. You can already see several of the unfortunate characteristics of the first term being intensified in the second. The emphasis on secrecy is already more pronounced, as is the selection of people for loyalty rather than competence.
But we have to save some room for when it gets worse, so I'd like wish absolutely everybody, including the Bush administration, a swell Thanksgiving.
Yes, but why should the Feds be paying for bridges in Alaska OR New York?
This is also the origin of the word "hysterectomy" - removal of the uterus.
Molly Ivins should be thankful that Bush 43 was re-elected. Otherwise, she would drift back to anonymity in a red state. At least for the next 4 years, she will be on the invite list for the MSM elite parties. But don't get a swelled head Molly. You are the token hayseed from flyover country. Your heroes really don;t like Texans.
Helen Thomas: now that's a face for radio.
I want to see the guy that she went to bed with to get her job. Yikes!!
Pray for W and Our Troops
Hey Molly, Face north and keep walking before you know it you will be in Canada P.S. bring warm clothes.
A light rail system makes sense for SLC. It's fairly compact, on the edge of a mountain and between the mountain and the lake. SLC spreads north and south, with fairly good sized cities north and south, almost contiinuously. So a rail system that went north and south would stop a lot of traffic along the interstate.
Oklahoma city, however, is spread out. Not a lot of people, but over a wide area in a circle. Except for the inner city half mile, it would be a waste of money for public transportation.
Aside from things that are truly of value to the nation as a whole (brdiges would actually be covered as part of a functional road system), if the feds are funding it, they have too much money. They should reduce federal taxes by a like amount and let the state fund it themselves if they want it. That way the states will still be funding their own projects with their own money, they won't have to pay the percentage off the top to the administrators, they won't have the federal funds gun to their head re BAL levels, helmet laws, etc., and they'll still have the power to make the decision locally whether the item is needed or not. I realize they are not presently being forced to build the bridge, but in a way they are, because if they don't build it, they lose the grant money with no commensurate decrease in tax dollars extracted from their state.
Molly, Molly...werent' you just dropped from a radio show dear? Go away Molly...we hardly knew ye and boy are we glad.
"The Worst is Yet to Come (Molly Ivins Rips Bush)"
That title could be applied to almost every article the woman has written.
Molly is not amused nor pleased? The perpetual Molly Ivins condition. - Life is good. - 'Tis a happy Thanksgiving, indeed!
Her wailing is fun, Jim Hightowers' is even mo' fun.
>I intended to keep my indignation dry and save the outrage for when it is really needed
So much for that bipartisan, reach across the aisle, effort that you demanded, huh?
How they don't see that as an outright lie escapes me.
NEW REGIME????
Molly. Let's start with the basics. I know you liberals are pretty lofty in thinking and feel you're far above conservatives in intelligence. If that is actually so, then why is it that you can't even realize that Bush's FIRST TERM HAS NOT YET ENDED????!!!!
Will you liberals EVER get beyond being 'FULL-OF-YOURSELVES?' Sheeeesh!!!!
And a blindfold and a cigarette, she truly is a communist of the worst sort.
Since this creep will never die a hero to his movement, this 'looker' should be his reward as a replacement for the similar al Qaeda '72 virgin deal' thing.
Sound fair? I knew you'd agree.
Molly get laid? Have you ever seen Molly Ivins? Obviously not. She is a 2 bagger.
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