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Wednesday, September 24, 2008
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Lousiana lawmaker advocates eugenics: Sterilize poor women, encourage rich to procreate..  The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that state Rep. John LaBruzzo (R) said yesterday that “he is studying a plan to pay poor women $1,000 to have their Fallopian tubes tied.” LaBruzzo worries that people receiving food and housing assistance “are reproducing at a faster rate than more affluent, better-educated residents”:
He said he is gathering statistics now. … “What I’m really studying is any and all possibilities that we can reduce the number of people that are going from generational welfare to generational welfare,” he said.
He said his program would be voluntary. It could involve tubal ligation, encouraging other forms of birth control or, to avoid charges of gender discrimination, vasectomies for men. It also could include tax incentives for college-educated, higher-income people to have more children, he said.
LaBruzzo said that mainstream strategies against poverty, such as education and family planning, “have repeatedly failed to solve the problem,” according to the Times-Picayune. “I don’t know if it’s a viable option…Of course people are going to get excited about it,” he said of his plan.
[Think Progress]
12:21:37 PM 
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Nathaniel Loewentheil: The Progressive Agenda and the Financial Crisis "We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob," Franklin Roosevelt declared in 1936.
Powerful words. It's hard to imagine a modern presidential candidate railing against financial institutions with such verve and vigor. But his central insight only gains relevance with time: government indifference towards markets provides shelter for financial speculation and greed. It was unregulated speculation that spurred the Great Depression, unchecked greed that drove us to the current financial crisis. Our government always has had and will always have a critical role in bringing such forces to heel.
But Roosevelt knew that it was not only the policies of the indifferent government that posed such a great danger. It was a deeper set of philosophical beliefs. "Above our market places," he went on, "stand the altars of our faith--altars on which burn the fires of devotion that maintain all that is best in us and all that is best in our Nation." We must always put values above money, recognizing that the economy serves society and not the other way around.
In his recent speech in Colorado, Obama struck a similar tone. "The American economy has worked in large part because we have guided the market's invisible hand with a higher principle," he argued, "America prospers when all Americans prosper."
The speech goes on to list a series of smart policy prescriptions for coping with the current crisis. Legislation that shores up both our families and our markets is a must. But, in light of the financial meltdown, we must also take a hard look at the philosophy underlying our economic policies. The conservative movement's narrative about the role of individuals and the market led us this mess. We need a new narrative, a new progressive economic philosophy, to lead us out. Our policy ideas alone will not capture the American public's hearts nor provide the answers to all our problems; our ideas must be linked to a picture of the nation and the world we hope to achieve. We need a narrative that energizes our ideas and builds the political will for meaningful change.
The progressive movement is slowly writing this narrative. Just this week, a coalition of think tanks and activist organizations released a major publication with a bold set of progressive values and a unified vision for what our country can achieve. New Progressive Voices: Values and Policies for the 21st Century features top intellectuals and leaders describing the America we must build in compelling language. In it, Andrea Batista Schlesinger of the Drum Major Institute describes how a strong middle class is integral to a stable democracy, while Deepak Bhargava of the Center for Community Change emphasizes community values over individualism. Larry Mishel explains how to build shared prosperity, and Miles Rapoport of Demos envisions a participatory democracy capable of true self-governance. The messages are compelling, clear and advocate the kind of transformation we so badly need.
But as important as the individual essays was the effort by leaders to come together and find common ground. This kind of effort to build a coherent progressive narrative will help us not only win elected office and pass legislation, but will fundamentally change the tone of the debate in America. And fundamental change is badly needed--the incremental policy reforms advocated by centrist democrats just won't do the trick. FDR concluded his 1936 speech, "That is why the recovery we seek, the recovery we are winning, is more than economic. In it are included justice and love and humility, not for ourselves as individuals alone, but for our Nation."
<a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=405eb659f47fb6b6161dea0c989c2292";><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=405eb659f47fb6b6161dea0c989c2292";/>
<img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=405eb659f47fb6b6161dea0c989c2292"; style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> - Nathaniel Loewentheil [The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com]
12:08:33 PM
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Rove on whether Palin would be ‘a good president’: ‘I don’t know.’.  During a speech at the Fraser Institute in Canada last night, a Toronto businessman asked former Bush political adviser Karl Rove “if he thought Sarah Palin would make a good President.” Rove’s response? “I don’t know“:
Last night, he did party spin but said something significant. A Toronto businessman asked him if he thought Sarah Palin would make a good President. “I don’t know,” said Rove.
Rove made headlines earlier this month when he declared that Palin was a “political pick.” Before that, he told the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza that Palin “was not a governing decision, but a campaign decision.”
[Think Progress]
12:03:55 PM
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Americans Blame Financial Crisis On ‘Lack Of Regulation,’ While McCain Says People ‘Don’t Want Regulation’. In an interview on Tuesday with WCAU in Philadelphia, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) backed away from his Sept. 16 claim that he believes in “excess government regulation,” saying that Americans actually want deregulation:
WELKER: It sounds like you’re calling for more regulation. Yet throughout your career you’ve advocated deregulation. Do you now see that as a failed economic policy — deregulation?
MCCAIN: Oh no. People don’t want regulation. They want to live as freely as they can. It’s smart regulation. Look, I’ve called for fixing Fannie and Freddie a long time ago.
Watch it:
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A new LA Times/Bloomberg poll doesn’t bear McCain’s claims out, however. It finds that Americans are actually blaming the financial crisis on a lack of government regulation:
McCain has consistently been a strong advocate of deregulation. In September, he said that “deregulation was probably helpful to the growth of our economy,” and he has also called for a similar deregulation of the health care industry. Of course, one of McCain’s top economic confidantes is Phil Gramm, who drove much of the financial industry’s deregulation.
[Think Progress]
12:03:16 PM
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"Agrarian Neocolonialism" Gains Ground. In direct consequence of the global food crisis and price volatility, plans
to buy or rent large-scale agricultural lands - sometimes on hundreds of thousands
of hectares - are increasing. They emanate notably from the Gulf countries,
big foodstuffs importers that in this way seek to guarantee their supplies with
developing countries that have lower population density, and superior space
and water wealth. The coveted lands are located in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Pakistan,
Uganda, Ethiopia and even Sudan. read more  [Truthout - All Articles]
12:01:57 PM
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FBI Investigates Four Firms at Heart of the Financial Mess. Probe seeks to learn if fraud played role in some of the
woes.
Washington - Federal investigators have opened preliminary probes into the
financial troubles of four high-profile companies that are at the center of
the current financial turmoil that the Bush administration says requires an
unprecedented proposed taxpayer-funded bailout to clean up. read more  [Truthout - All Articles]
12:01:00 PM
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© Copyright 2008 Patricia Thurston.
Last update: 10/1/08; 3:55:50 PM.
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