TEAR DOWN THIS MYTH!! DON'T LISTEN to unpatriotic Republican/Obstructionists who are trying to destroy our country. Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Sean Hannity should be indicted for treason — for "hoping our president fails" and for spreading lies and propaganda about this stimulus plan. This is a very, very good bill. Here are some facts about what the bill really does:
* Creates or saves 3 million to 4 million jobs in the next two years.
* Averts "literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs"—and doubles funding for the Department of Education.
* Creates 500,000 green jobs and doubles our clean energy production.
* Immediately helps unemployed folks get affordable health insurance.
If President Obama's economic stimulus plan doesn't pass, we're in deep trouble. Even John McCain's economic adviser estimates that without the stimulus, unemployment would top 11% by 2010, the highest level since the Great Depression. Who had power the past 8 years and drove our economy into the ground with their 3 trillion dollar war and giant bonues for corporate CEOs?
...Read more below, but first, this message:
TEAR DOWN THIS MYTH! On Monday February 9, 2009, Will Bunch will be the guest on theBasham and Cornell Radio Show at 8 am Pacific Time on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas.
Will Bunch is an award-winning political journalist, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, and author of its popular blog, "Attytood." His new book is titled "Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future."
Ad: From the Las Vegas Review JournalBasham and Cornell Radio Show at 8 am Pacific Time on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas and simulcast worldwide on the web.
In this provocative new book, Will unravels the story of how a right-wing cabal hijacked the mixed legacy of Ronald Reagan, a personally popular but hugely divisive 1980s president, and turned him into a bronze icon to revive their fading ideology. They succeeded to the point where all the GOP candidates for president in 2008 scurried to claim his mantle, no matter how preposterous the fit.
With clear eyes and an ever-present wit, Bunch reveals the truth about the Ronald Reagan legacy, including the following:
* Despite the idolatry of the last fifteen years, Reagan's average popularity as president was only, well, average, lower than that of a half-dozen modern presidents. More important, while he was in office, a majority of Americans opposed most of his policies and by 1988 felt strongly that the nation was on the wrong track. Reagan's 1981 tax cut, weighted heavily toward the rich, did not cause the economic recovery of the 1980s. It was fueled instead by dropping oil prices, the normal business cycle, and the tight fiscal policies of the chairman of the Federal Reserve appointed by Jimmy Carter. Reagan's tax cut did, however, help usher in the deregulated modern era of CEO and Wall Street greed.
* Most historians agree that Reagan's waste-ridden military buildup didn't actually "win the Cold War." And Reagan mythmakers ignore his real contributions -- his willingness to talk to his Soviet adversaries, his genuine desire to eliminate nuclear weapons, and the surprising role of a "liberal" Hollywood-produced TV movie.
* George H. W. Bush's and Bill Clinton's rolling back of Reaganomics during the 1990s spurred a decade of peace and prosperity as well as the reactionary campaign to pump up the myth of Ronald Reagan and restore right-wing hegemony over Washington. This effort has led to war, bankrupt energy policies, and coming generations of debt.
With masterful insight, Bunch exposes this dangerous effort to reshape America's future by rewriting its past. As the Obama administration charts its course, he argues, it should do so unencumbered by the dead weight of misplaced and unearned reverence.
Wall Street Insiders Whine Over Obama Executive Pay Limits: ‘$500,000 Is Not A Lot Of Money’....
THESE MEN ARE LYING TO YOU:
Who had power the past 8 years and drove our economy into the ground with their 3 trillion dollar war and giant bonues for corporate CEOs? Don't listen to Obstructionist Republicans who are trying to destroy our country. If President Obama's economic stimulus plan doesn't pass, we're in deep trouble. Even John McCain's economic adviser estimates that without the stimulus, unemployment would top 11% by 2010, the highest level since the Great Depression.
RUSH LIMBAUGH IS UNPATRIOTIC AND A DISGRACE TO OUR NATION
** Most Republican governors have broken with their GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of President Barack Obama's economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works and health care.
This stimulus plan is the BEST plan for recovery. Conservative talking points are dominating the media's coverage and there's lots of misinformation around. Here are a few things you may not have heard about it:
1) This is a very, very good bill. As The Nation writes, "If enacted, the economic recovery plan will be one of the biggest and boldest pieces of progressive legislation in the past forty years."
This is a very, very good bill. Here are some facts about what the bill really does:
* Creates or saves 3 million to 4 million jobs in the next two years.2
* Averts "literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs"—and doubles funding for the Department of Education.3
* Creates 500,000 green jobs and doubles our clean energy production.4
* Immediately helps unemployed folks get affordable health insurance.5
Some folks are arguing that it should be bigger, and they're probably right, but this is the best down payment on economic recovery we have seen, and it needs to be passed.
2) The stuff that's being singled out for criticism amounts to a tiny fraction of the bill—like anti-smoking programs that make up less than one-ten-thousandth of the spending.6 They would have you believe this is the centerpiece of the bill. It is not. This kind of nit-picking is pure politics.
3) If it doesn't pass, we're in deep trouble. Even John McCain's economic adviser estimates that without the stimulus, unemployment would top 11% by 2010, the highest level since the Great Depression.7
"Obama's proposed cap on salaries for top executives of bailed-out corporations is a first step: next, there should be inquiries into who, exactly, caused the financial crisis." Just the Beginning
JOHN NICHOLS, The Nation |
We all urgently need to get these facts out before the public. Can you write a letter to the editor of your local paper about how the stimulus will affect real people? Our tool makes writing a letter really easy. Click here to get started:
Click here!
Last week alone, 100,000 people lost their jobs in this country.8 So we need to make sure the Senate takes action quickly. Nearly 200 economists from across the political spectrum wrote to Congress, agreeing:
"We do not have the luxury of a lengthy debate over the best course of action. This legislation may not be enough to solve all the economy's problems, but it is urgently needed and an important step in the right direction."9
But with so much rhetoric and demagoguery surrounding the bill, it won't pass unless we can get the real facts out to a wide audience.
SEND A LETTER TO YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER NOW. Please....?
Basham and Cornell Radio Show at 8 am Pacific Time on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas and simulcast worldwide on the web. Coming up: A review of THE READER, my pic as most haunting, complex film...
