Our Man in Washington

"I'll be Home for Christmas" is not only a popular holiday song, but also a treat for Rani Ward, Turban Court resident here at Shell Point, and for Democratic Club members who assembled on December 27 to hear Rani's son, Stephen, known popularly as "Our Man in Washington". No, he didn't sing, but he did talk, holding the attention of the audience like no other speaker we have had in all of 2007. Stephen, pictured to the left (he's the tall one in red) is Chief of Staff to Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, and he outlined the achievements of the Democratic 110th Congress despite the obstacles thrown in its path by obstructionist Republicans who are blocking change and endorsing the status quo. Also pictured are Ray Troy, Chairman of Lee County Democrats, dressed appropriately in blue, in honor of the blue state Florida will become in the 2008 election, Betty Bainbridge (right), a broadly smiling founder and past-president of our Club, and our current president, Joan Walton, (left) smiling to be in such august company. Our own private paparazza, Helen Moe, pursued these celebrities relentlessly to make this shot.

Ward's talk was divided into six main topics: Restoring Accountability to Washington, Improving Health Care, Strengthening Our Economy, Enhancing Energy and Environmental Security, Making America More Secure, and Honoring Our Veterans and Troops. He reminded us of the difficulty of getting 60 votes in a 51 Democrat/49 Republican Senate in order to overcome a filibuster within the Senate, and 67 votes to over-ride a presidential veto. Congressional rules also have an impact. In what Stephen calls the tyranny of the majority in the House in which one vote majority is all that is required for passage of a bill, and in the Senate which he labels the tyranny of one when the filibuster rule can allow one senator to hold up bill passage: these two rules, coupled with trying to incorporate party principles in legislation, have caused the legislative procession to become very strained. Passing legislation through both houses and getting it signed by the president has become exceedingly difficult.

Looking at each topic separately, restoring accountability to Washington is perhaps the highest priority in order to change the American public's opinion of the job being done by Congress, whose rating is as low as that of its opinion of the job being done by President Bush. Landmark ethics and lobbying reform is now law as are measures to keep politics out of our justice system. A District of Columbia voting rights bill was blocked in both houses.

Improving health care achieved a few successes but many more defeats. Three bills passed reauthorizing FDA and improved drug safety, blocking a scheduled 11% cut in general practitioner Medicare physician fees, and funding women's health care. The defeats were bitter pills for the Democrats to swallow coming at the hands of special interests and our President's misguided morality. Lower prescription drug costs and Medicare drug price negotiation both were blocked and health insurance for children and stem cell research, which had both passed, were vetoed by Bush.

Ten bills that will strengthen our economy were passed and signed into law. Perhaps the most important of these raised the minimum wage. From September 1, 1997 to July 23, 2007 -a period of nearly ten years-the federal minimum wage remained constant at $5.15 per hour. Other laws passed to keep the U.S. competitive in the global economy, make college education more affordable, expand Head Start, modernize the FHA, and keep the Internet tax-free, among others. The Senate passed seven additional bills including one that finished 2006 appropriations work left by the Republicans.

Far reaching laws enhancing energy and environmental security passed in this session. Raising fuel efficiency standards on our cars to 35mpg (the first raise in standards since 1986) was applauded by drivers in these high cost at the pump times, and even a mundane light bulb is due to achieve notoriety as it changes shape, uses less electricity, and becomes more long lasting. Ambitious standards for renewable fuels grown here were passed, but new standards and tax incentives to produce renewable electricity were blocked, chiefly by southeastern utilities.

Making America more secure has been the Republican mantra since 9/11 and they have played it for all it's worth. But this Democratic Congress has shown that it can enact laws that take measures to increase our security rather than parrot Republican fantasies. This Congress has passed seven laws involving funding for the Defense Dept., Homeland Security, local law enforcement, and terrorism insurance in addition to securing our borders, ports, and transit systems which the Bush administration has virtually ignored. The 9/11 Commission's recommendations were finally passed into law and benchmarks to measure progress in Iraq were enacted.

Honoring our veterans and troops is last on our list but first in our hearts. Six laws to protect our troops and care for our veterans were passed. Funding mine-resistant combat vehicles is crucial; Bush sent our invading forces into Iraq ill-equipped resulting in untold deaths and injuries. Protecting our troops against IEDs (roadside bombs) is now law as is giving the National Guard the equipment it needs. And why should every worker in the U.S. receive a minimum pay raise and exclude the military? We did that too! Every man and woman in the military got a pay raise!

Stephen also spoke about the prospects for increasing the Democratic majority in the Senate, suggesting that the odds were good for at least a 3 seat pickup, and maybe as large as a 5 seat gain. With these additional seats and the ability to cobble together a few moderate Republican votes, key legislation that has been blocked may be possible to move in 2009.

Ward closed his outstanding presentation with a Q & A which was as lively and provocative as his address. Questions about the primaries and elections, both parties included, predominated and answers all seemed to fall into one category. Who knows?

Thanks, Stephen, for countering the media, especially Fox News, with some Democratic facts to set the story straight.

Tirade Against Obama

Along with a variety of Christmas cards, some Santa oriented, some religious, that I have received on the internet, I have also received over the past few days two scurrilous attacks against Barack Obama. They accuse him of masquerading as a Christian in order to infiltrate the government of our country and bring it down. Both of them are filled with Koran quotations which the writer uses to support his accusations, none of which is factually accurate. I hesitate to include his entire tirade since that is exactly what the writer wants readers to do: forward his message to as many people as possible. If you receive a forwarded e-mail with the subject line reading "Important Read" or "Can Muslims Be Good Americans?" you probably are the recipient of this cyber attack on Obama. Instead I suggest you sign into http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp for a point-by-point examination of the charges the writer makes and then this site refutes each one of them. Snopes.com is a website which explores popular "fictions" which are promulgated as fact and includes many more than just the Obama tirade. They call them Urban Legends and all are worth reading. Who knows? Maybe you'll find out that something you always believed was the truth is actually not true at all.

Obama on the Fence

At our November general meeting during which seven Club members presented the credentials of the leading seven Democratic contenders for the Presidential nomination the statement was made that Barack Obama was in favor of completing the wall between the U.S. and Mexico for the full length of the border. Where did this information come from? I have spent hours reading all of Obama's statements on this and other topics that have been published on the internet, both by his campaign aides and in some cases by groups that are opposed to his candidacy. Nowhere can I find such a statement. I did find that he voted in favor of the Manager's Amendment offered by Sen. Specter (R) to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006. This amendment included a provision that requires consultation with the government of Mexico concerning the construction of additional fencing and related security structures on the Mexican border. This would virtually guarantee that the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border would never be completed. This amendment passed by a vote of 56 to 41.

His campaign website states that "he supports additional personnel, infrastructure and technology on the border and at our ports of entry. Obama believes we need additional Customs and Border Protection agents equipped with better technology and real-time intelligence". The word "infrastructure" could possibly mean fencing, but that is an inference, not a fact.

Did hearing this statement about Obama and the border fence influence your vote for the most favorable candidate in the straw poll that ended the program? Obama did win over Clinton, but only by the slightest margin: 29% to 26% of total votes cast. Did you change your mind before voting for Obama and instead vote for one of the other candidates as a result of what you heard then? With the new evidence stated above would you change your vote if you had the chance? Make your voice heard by clicking the Comment below and letting us know what you think.

BEWARE OF SCAMS

This post was submitted by Norman Kurland, a member of the Issues Committee of our Club.

During these years of rapidly rising healthcare costs, especially for drugs, for which the Bush administration has refused to negotiate prices, many people, not just seniors, are searching for alternative sources for prescription drugs. Norman was one such person whose online search resulted in his being scammed. For the naive among us "scam" is a verb/noun widely used in internet terminology meaning "fraud". In Norman's words "I was recently scammed and distributed the scam until two of the recipients exposed my error. I won't repeat the scam--it was on drug costs--but here are some sites to use to keep you from also becoming a victim.

The easiest path to follow is to go to Google and type in "internet scams" in the search box, click Search and you will have access to 2,170,000 sources on the subject. Don't panic! Of these, the first page of sources, 10 in total, are probably all you will ever need to protect yourself from being scammed. These sources are: http://www.scambusters.org/; www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/internet; www.hotscams.com/; www.hoax-slayer.com/; http://www.snopes.com/; http://www.fraud.org/; and a few others. Many of these sources have links that will transfer the reader to specific types of fraud or areas of fraud, like drugs.

To be safe rather than sorry remember that if an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is just that. If you are suspicious of an e-mail that has been forwarded to you or if the e-mail ends by asking you to forward it on to other people, that is a tip-off that a hoax is involved." Thanks, Norman, for keeping us on our toes and out of trouble.

P.S. If you have never received an e-mail from a lawyer in Lagos, Nigeria telling you that a civil engineer with your last name was killed in an auto accident in 2001 and to claim the $1 million in his Nigerian bank account, please reply post-haste blah, blah, blah. Raise your hand!

Here's the Democratic Candidates, Folks!

Here they are, the primary

candidates lined up

for their rogues' gallery photo by Issues Committee photogra-

pher, Helen Moe, who is usually published in more prestigious media than our Blog. like the Police Gazette, for instance. Since jobs are scarce in a Republican administration she accepted our offer of two votes, not one, in forthcoming elections as payment for her services.

Our Club did not host a televised debate on November 24 at our monthly meeting, but we did the next best thing. Seven of the leading Democrats competing for the party nomination for President were represented by seven prominent local Democrats, all members of our Issues Committee. Though our Club does not endorse or plan to endorse any one candidate at this time, we wanted all Club members and guests to know where each candidate stands on a number of vital issues facing our country. The issues and each candidate's background and position on each issue were presented along with an expert Power Point presentation devised by committee member Gordon Buchi doing double duty as a presenter as well.

In alphabetical order (we are nothing, if not fair) the first candidate, Joe Biden, was represented by Jack Dreyer, who presented Biden's biography and stand on Iraq, healthcare, education, energy and the environment, national security, immigration, and the economy. Not to be outdone, Hillary Clinton in the person of Linda Forcey took off the gloves (not the long opera ones) and came out slugging with her programs on the same issues. There was no time for rebuttals from Biden, but you can be sure that he would have made some before Chris Dodd disguised as our own Jack Lowman took center stage to give his solutions to the same issues. Then Harold Gibson, back from Ohio, did a commendable job of imitating John Edwards on the campaign trail even though Harold lacks a y'all Southern accent. Gordon Buchi next switched hats and became Dennis Kucinich for a few minutes to give that Ohioan's viewpoints on the topics. In what turned out to be the only case of trans-gender identification of the program Betty Bainbridge, who doesn't resemble Barack Obama at all, still managed to make herself believable as she expounded on the issues that most concern him. Finally, the last candidate, Bill Richardson, who left his sombrero and mariachi band at home, was in reality Norman Kurland who concluded the presentations to a chorus of ole, ole, ole.

The audience was squirming to get into action by this time and the Issues Committee Chair, Hal Bratt, gave them their chance. Every presenter left the non-existent podium and dispersed among the tables to present copies of all the candidates' programs and a survey card on which every audience member rated the candidates on each issue plus their electability as the Democratic candidate for President. A strong positon was ranked as a 5 and a weak position was rated a 1 in the estimation of our audience. Those ranking the highest on their positions were Kucinich with 3.9, Obama 3.9, Richardson 3.9. Following in descending order were Clinton 3.8, Edwards 3.8, Biden 3.6, and Dodd 3.4. When the candidates' electability was considered there were some changes. The top candidate was Obama with 4, then Clinton with 3.8, followed by Edwards 3.6, Richardson 3.3, Biden 2.9, Dodd 2.3, and Kucinich trailing with 1.5. The results of the straw poll to choose which candidate the audience members would prefer to clinch the nomination (you read it here, folks, before you saw it anywhere else in the news!!) the winner was Obama with 29% of the vote followed by Clinton with 26%, Richardson 18%, Edwards 13%, Biden 7%, Kucinich 5%, and Dodd with 2%. Is it any wonder that Obama and Clinton are battling each other in such a close race? Stay tuned!

Rating Our Democratic Candidates

"Rating the Candidates" is the feature presentation of our Club's November meeting. Seven of the most prominent Democratic Party primary presidential candidates will be represented by seven Club members, each of whom will present a visual and oral outline of the candidates' viewpoints on a wide range of topics of interest to Florida voters. Issues to be presented include Iraq, healthcare, the environment, and education, among others. At the conclusion of the presentations the audience will be asked to rate on a survey card the candidates on the various issues. The results will be published on this blog a few days later.

The meeting is scheduled for November 24 at 9:45 a.m. in the Social Center on the Island at Shell Point. To reach Shell Point drive west on Summerlin Road toward Sanibel Island and after passing through the intersection of Summerlin Road and McGregor Boulevard stay in the right lane and exit Summerlin Road at the next traffic light (Shell Point Boulevard).Proceed past the Comfort Inn and Suites and the Woodlands at Shell Point to the end of Shell Point Boulevard and the guard station entrance to Shell Point Island. Tell the guard that you are attending a meeting at the Social Center and he will instruct you where to park.

Our Disney Adventure

It's a small world, after all! Despite what the song says, it's not true. Not if you were attending the Florida Democratic Convention at Disney World on October 26-28. Our Club was represented by Joan Walton, President; Bobbi Brown, Vice President; Betty Bainbridge, Past President; and Linda Forcey, past Secretary, who were there and would agree that it was a very wide, wide world--widely diverse in age, gender, and ethnicity. Even without the Democratic candidates present, the convention was energizing, particularly the inspiring addresses by Senator Bill Nelson, Jim Davis, former Congressman who ran for governor in 2006, and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (right hand to Speaker Nancy Pelosi) among other Florida party leaders. In fact the absence of the Presidential candidates kept the focus of the convention on ideas and learning rather than on personalities.

Our ladies remarked that all the meetings were educational, whatever the topic. Economic issues such as property taxes, health costs, and insurance costs are foremost in the minds of the Florida voters. Southwest Florida is also getting younger, more educated, and more Democratic in long-run trends. Despite what is known as the 30-70 Rule (30% of 30-year olds vote, but 70% of 70-year olds vote) the convention was remarkable for the number of young voters who were attending.

The difficulties that Florida Democrats have with the National Democratic Party leadership about the date of our primary election should not distract us from the main message about voting: "Democrats, vote in the Primary; the whole world is watching". It doesn't matter if the votes are not counted; they will influence every primary that follows ours. Most of our state leadership believes that our delegation will be seated and will be allowed to vote.

Welcome home, ladies. from your Disney adventure. Hope the Mad Tea Party ride didn't make you dizzy, or was it the partying after the meetings that did it?

Wine and Cheese Bash

The Comfort Inn and Suites at the entrance to the Shell Point property was the scene of a Club fall fundraiser on Saturday, October 20, with over 100 members and guests attending. The wine flowed freely and the cheese and other tasty comestibles donated by Club board members and local area merchants kept everyone drinking and eating and talking, especially talking. During the evening two lucky people won tickets to the show of their choice at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre in the lottery drawing which was a party highlight. Those tickets were donated by impresario Will Prather, who is well known for his support of Democratic events. Special kudos go to Muriel Rains who arranged the discounted wine pricing and even exacted some free cases from the same wine merchant. The entire Ways and Means Committee and cheerleader President Joan Walton, caught in a moment of revelry in the enclosed picture, deserve thanks from all Club members for a fun evening and a profit for our Democratic activities of $1011.

Activist Nogaj's Immigration Presentation

Richard Nogaj, Immokalee activist who is associated with both Harvest for Humanity and Habitat for Humanity. spoke to the Club on Saturday, October 27, on the issue of immigration and how the Bush administration as well as some Democrats in Congress are distorting the true picture of immigration. He remarked that the immigrant situation in the early part of the 20th century is exactly like it is today. Early settlers from Europe were often called WOPs, referring not only to those of Italian descent but to others as well. A WOP is a person "without official papers"; their equivalent today is often labelled as an illegal alien, when in reality they are undocumented immigrants and there is nothing illegal about their entry into the United States. In both situations these individuals are merely seeking a better life for themselves and their families.

In the earlier century capitalist businesses welcomed the European immigrants as a source of labor for their burgeoning factories and expanding infrastructure. Now the same businesses do not need this labor source since they are finding a labor pool in Asia which enables them to produce their goods or grow their food even cheaper than they can in the U.S. So these businesses have alligned themselves with the anti-immigration forces in the Bush administration to perpetuate many myths about immigration. First, they claim that immigrants don't pay taxes. The fact is that immigrants pay taxes, whether income, property, sales, or other. Second the claim is made that they come here to take welfare. The ratio between immigrant use of public benefits and the amount of taxes they pay is consistently favorable to the U.S. Thirdly, they claim that immigrants cross the border illegally. Untrue. Around 75% have legal permanent (immigrant) visas; of the 25% that are undocumented, 40% overstayed temporary (non-migrant) visas. Lastly, they claim that the war on terrorism can be won through immigration restrictions. No restrictive immigration measures could have prevented the terrorist attacks. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were here on legal visas. The key is good use of good intelligence; only that could have prevented those attacks and only that will prevent future attacks as well, not restricting immigration or building fortified walls along borders.

Mr. Nogaj concluded his talk with a Q&A session from a very appreciative audience.

OCTOBER CLUB MEETING

Richard Nogaj, Immokalee activist involved in both Harvest for Humanity and Habitat for Humanity, will be the featured speaker at the October meeting of our club. Nogaj's interests in alleviating poverty and providing home ownership for the Florida farming community are reflected in these involvements.

His talk entitled "My Views on Immigration" takes a hard look at this topic which did not gain Congressional approval recently but continues to be an issue in Florida's agricultural community.

The meeting is scheduled for Saturday, October 27, at 9:45 a.m. in the Social Center on the Island at Shell Point Retirement Community in Fort Myers. To reach Shell Point drive west on Summerlin Avenue toward Sanibel Island. After passing through the intersection of Summerlin Road and McGregor Boulevard stay in the right lane and exit Summerlin Road at the next traffic light (Shell Point Boulevard). Proceed past the Comfort Inn and Suites and the Woodlands at Shell Point to the end of Shell Point Boulevard and the guard station entrance to Shell Point Island. Tell the guard you are attending a meeting at the Social Center and he will instruct you where to park.