Over at Rockridge Nation there is an ongoing discussion about Thinking Points I mention this because the perfect opportunity has arrived to help explode the Myth of the Liberal Media.
If you want to see what caused the light bulb to go off in my head, follow me...
Update: Some folks have commented tht the Rockridge link did not work. I just tested it and it worked fine for me. However, here is the link:
http://www.rockridgenation.org/
link to
Thinking Points
The House of Representatives voted last Friday to authorize additional spending for George W Bush's Major Misadventure in Iraq. But this time, they put some conditions on the use of the money. And in the time honored tradition of politics, they had to do some horse trading to get majority support for the bill.
This also was the first major spending bill to come before the new Congress. The prior, Republican controlled, Congress had abdicated its responsibilities by not passing the appropriations bills necessary to fund the governemnt for this year. Instead they took their usual cop out and passed a Continuing Resolution. Pretty much they punted to the next Congress.
Well the new Congress has spoken. And when they spoke, they spoke for some folks whose voices had not been heard in at least six years. Katrina victims on the Gulf Coast were heard. Iraq veterans seeking humane health care treatment from their government were heard. Farmers facing natural catastrophes of their own were heard. Money to address all their needs was adding to the "Emergency Supplemental" Iraq appropriations bill by the newly empowered Demcocrats.
The Republicans, predictably, labelled this spending as needless pork. It was they who had refused to meet the needs of Katrina victims, veterans and farmers. It is not surpising that they would label this much needed funding as pork.
What is not so predictable, but maybe it should be, was that one of Florida's leading newspapers, the supposedly liberal St. Petersburg Times would chant the Republican Party Line regarding the funding the unmet needs of the American people. You can read their editorial here. My Letter to the Editor is below:
The St. Petersburg Times has just given us the smoking gun to expose the myth of the so called "Liberal Media". Your recent editorial regarding the adding of domestic spending to the Iraq "Emergency" Supplemental Appropriations bill is that smoking gun.
You have bought the conservative frame on this spending hook, line and sinker. The folks who were spending like drunken sailors when they held the gavel are now calling the appropriations added by the Democrats "pork". In your editorial, you repeat this characterization. The same folks who had no problems giving billions to Big Oil and billions in no bid contracts to Haliburton claim these domestic spending addons are "pork" and you fell into their trap.
The same folks who didn't pass appropriations bills before the elections are now bemoaning the fact that the new Congress has a different take on spending priorities. Barbara Boxer was dead on last week when she held up her gavel and said "Elections have consequences". Since the Republican controlled Congress would not make the hard spending decisions before the election, the new Congress controlled by Democrats will.
The very idea that the now five year old Iraq war requires "emergency" supplemental appropriations should be raising red flags aplenty. The American people spoke loudly and clearly last November that they wanted this country moving in a different direction. Part of that different direction includes the domestic agenda.
Katrina relief spending on the Gulf Coast, better care for wounded veterans and much needed aid to farmers stuck by their own catastrophes are not "pork". They are the consequences of the election. Big Oil will have to take a back seat now to the Big Needs of the American people.
I'm more than OK with that. It's what I voted for. The fact that you bought the "pork" frame of the Republicans points out the extent to which the "Liberal Media" misstates the facts.