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Grassroots Group, CODEPINK, Scolded For AIG Disruption, “Pink Ladies” Seek Peace and Social Justice

Posted on March 20, 2009 by Mike Bock

Interesting article in Salon, March Madness on Capitol Hill, by Mike Madden, tells how the chair of a House Committee investigating AIG, Paul Kanjorski, angrily scolded the “Pink Ladies” who were holding signs in protest. This is the first I’ve noticed the Pink Ladies, though they’ve been around now since the start of the Iraq War. The “Pink Ladies,” from a group called CODEPINK, are in the news because of their protest at the AIG hearing.

These signs angered Congress

The Madden article implies that, for members of Congress, their outrage at the AIG bonuses is all a show, but that outrage at the “Pink Ladies” was real. The subtitle of the article is, “Now that everyone knows about AIG’s bonuses, Congress decides to get angry about them.”

Madden says the genuine anger was reserved for the protesters because they dared to “disrupt their (Congress) choreographed show of outrage with some off-message signs in the background.”

Madden writes, “By around lunchtime Wednesday afternoon, the chairman of the House subcommittee on capital markets, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, a Democrat from just outside Wilkes-Barre, Pa., had heard enough. His committee had spent nearly four hours looking into the havoc that AIG’s derivatives traders had wreaked on the global economy — and into the company’s payment of $165 million to those very same derivatives traders after the government had dumped billions of tax dollars into saving the firm. But after sitting quietly through most of the testimony, Kanjorski finally lowered his brow, raised his voice, and tore into the people who had upset him the most throughout the hearing.”

The people who had upset Kanjorski the most, according to Madden, wasn’t the people from AIG, it was the ladies dressed in pink. What an accusation: The Pink Ladies upset Kanjorski more than the 165 million bonus money paid to the people who caused the financial mess at AIG.

I found the web-site, “CODEPINK.” It explains, “While Bush’s color-coded alerts are based on fear and are used to justify violence, the CODEPINK alert is a feisty call for women and men to ‘wage peace.’”

CODEPINK evidently has chapters around the nation. The site says, “CODEPINK is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities.”

A You-tube record (below) shows Kanjorski’s exasperation with the “Pink Ladies.” One You-tube viewer responded, “It’s about time someone in Congress did something to restore dignity to the proceedings. Code Pink members are idiots!” Another responder defended the ladies and mocked Kanjorski exasperated command to the group, “You’ve tried my patience.” The comment says, “Well Congressman, I think YOU have tried the TAXPAYERS patience.”

Posted in Special Reports | 1 Comment

The Quinnipiac Poll Failed To Ask: “Shouldn’t Ohio’s Most Wealthy Be Taxed More?”

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Mike Bock

It’s interesting to read the questions used in opinion poll of Ohio voters just released by Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. The poll seems to show that Ohio voters are firmly against increases in state taxes. But a key question on the poll is missing: Shouldn’t the rich in Ohio be taxed more?

Everyone seems to want to forget the fact that in 2005 our Republican governor and Republican Assembly pushed through a big tax reduction that drastically cut business taxes by over one billion each year, and cut personal income taxes by about $2.5 billion each year. In light of Ohio’s raging financial crisis, it seems strange that there has not been more discussion about the impact of these Republican tax cuts.

The big thing that everyone seems to forget about Ohio’s big tax cuts, is that the lion’s share of the benefit was allocated to Ohio’s highest incomes. A whopping 26% of tax benefits were gobbled up by the top 1% of incomes — incomes in excess of $340,000. In other words, Ohio is scrimping on its budget, cutting programs for the poor, in order to allocate each year an additional $600,000, or so, to incomes in excess of $340,000

You would think that Ohio’s Democratic Governor, Ted Strickland, would use the current budget crisis to revisit the lopsided tax cuts of 2005. Regardless that there may be little chance that Ohio’s Republican dominated Senate (21R -12D) would agree to change the 2005 Tax Reduction Law, I am disappointed that Strickland has not attempted to better educate the public about the need for Ohio to redeem the progressivity of its income tax system. (See my post: Ohio’s 2005 Tax Reduction Law Diminished, By 21%, The Progressivity of Ohio’s Tax Code)

The results of the Quinnipac University poll, I’m sure, will be used to argue that Ohio voters are opposed to raising taxes. But, the answers you get always depend on the questions you ask. Quinnipac doesn’t ask any questions about whether, or not, voters support revising the 2005 Tax Reduction Act to modify its huge windfall for the wealthy.

According to Quinnipac, 56% of Ohio’s voters would rather cut state services rather than raise taxes — and 42% of all Democratic voters agree. The Quinnipac question: “To balance the state budget next year, if you had to choose, which would you prefer – raising taxes to keep state services at their current level or Cutting state services to keep taxes at their current level?”

I would like to see the poll results of this question not asked by Quinnipac: “The 2005 Tax Reduction Act reduced Ohio’s income taxes on top 1% of incomes (those exceeding $340,000) by 26%. Because of the 2005 Tax Reduction, every year Ohio gives $600,000 in tax reduction to these top incomes. Do you support reducing this tax break for Ohio’s most wealthy?”

This idea seems so rational and fair that I’ve got to think that a big majority of Ohio voters, if asked such a question, would give a resounding “Yes”

Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling, analyzes the results of the poll. He says, “His (Strickland’s) support is weakest among those with lower incomes, less education and younger voters, who made up the Democratic coalition that elected him governor and Barack Obama President.”

Brown’s analysis of this poll confirms my less scientific observation that a lot Democratic voters have caught on that their Democratic governor, by failing to articulate a policy of tax justice, by supporting the Republican 2005 Tax Reduction Law, is too Republican in his fiscal policies. Because of Strickland’s failure to articulate and advance a Democratic viewpoint on tax fairness, increasingly, our Democratic Governor is a big disappointment to a lot of Democrats.

Posted in M Bock, Opinion | 2 Comments

Kucinich Urges Congress Investigate Whether Dick Cheney Used Illegal Death Squads For Assassinations

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Mike Bock

Dennis Kucinich has written a letter to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform urging the committee to investigate a credible allegation by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh that the George W. Bush Administration planned and committed illegal assassinations in foreign countries.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich

Kucinich’s letter quotes Hersh as saying, “Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently.”

According to Hersh these assassination squads “reported directly to (Vice President) Cheney … Congress has no oversight of it.”

Kucinich urges congressional investigation, because, “If true, these operations violate long-standing U.S. policy regarding covert actions and illegally bypass Congressional oversight. Current statute governing covert action (50 U.S.C. 413b) requires a presidential finding and notification to the appropriate congressional committees. Additionally, Executive Order 12333 clearly states that ‘[n]o person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in or conspire to engage in assassination.’”