Memorial Day Resolution: Dems urge GOP to join in fully funding services for Utah vets

So far about 1.4 million American serviemen and women have been deployed to serve in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

A significant proportion returning from deployment may be suffering from mental health and substance abuse problems that could cause severe problems re-adjusting to family and civilian life. Suicide among returning servicemen and women has been called an “epidemic,” and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been severely criticized for its handling of the crisis.


UTAH BACKGROUND

The Utah Democratic Party applauds the hard work of those individuals and organizations that played key roles in passage of recent bills supporting our veterans, including: HB 407, Counseling For Families of Veterans, 2006; HB 129, Appropriation of $19.7 million dollars for design and construction of a Veterans' Nursing Home in Ogden; and SB 247, Veterans Procurement Provisions, a bill to provide information and assist veterans and their families to get benefits and services currently available to them.

The purpose of HB 407 was to develop and implement a statewide counseling program for service members and their families to facilitate the reintegration of servicemembers back into civilian and family life after deployment. In a larger sense, the measure was meant to prevent cases of extreme violence and treat aggravated cases of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

However, funding and services have been cut by the Republican-controlled Utah Legislature.

Utah Democrats believe it is unconscionable that members of the Republican-controlled Utah Legislature would severely limit services Utah’s Department of Veteran’s Affairs can provide, even as they portray themselves as staunch patriots and strong supporters of the Bush administration’s conduct of U.S. security and foreign policy, and even as the need for those services grows as a consequence of the Bush policies they endorse.

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, terrorist groups worldwide possess a capacity and willingness to inflict massive and traumatizing damage on our country and a tactical ingenuity and ability to carry out their missions;

WHEREAS, the American military has been tasked to fight the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan without clear and achievable missions, without adequate equipment and resources required to successfully achieve those missions, and without adequate training to fight asymmetrical warfare;

WHEREAS, the war continues to put a crushing burden on America’s armed forces with no end in sight and with readiness of our forces, both active and reserves, plummeting;

WHEREAS, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan is more physically dangerous and emotionally stressful to a wider range of military personnel than other wars because of close combat, constant vulnerability to surprise attacks and hidden explosives, and suicidal adversaries;

WHEREAS, our federal government has not adequately planned or funded medical care for emotionally damaged and physically wounded returning veterans, despite American taxpayers spending an estimated $2.4 billion per week on combat-related activities in Iraq;

WHEREAS, suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans in facilities run by the Department of Veterans Affairs;

WHEREAS, the human, social, and economic costs of not addressing the mental health and substance-abuse needs of returning servicemen and women can take a horrendous toll on their families, schools, the workplace, the community, the state, and ultimately the nation as a whole;

WHEREAS, all Americans have a moral obligation to care for the servicewomen and men they send to war;

WHEREAS, members of the Republican-dominated Utah Legislature have cut funding to services provided by Utah’s Department of Veteran’s Affairs;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Utah Democratic Party is unequivocal in support of our servicewomen and men;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Utah Democratic Party urges the Republican-controlled Utah Legislature to join Democrats and the majority of Utahns in support of our veterans by enacting and fully funding programs for returning servicewomen and men, including HB 406.

This a snapshot of the strengths of the Democratic Party in Utah and America

Look closely. You’ll see a couple dozen Utahns – black and white, rich and poor, gay and straight, young and old, men and women, Hispanic and Anglo, Mormon and non-Mormon.




These folks are Utah’s Democratic delegation to the upcoming national convention in Denver later this summer.

It’s a snapshot of core Democratic values – inclusion, diversity, tolerance – that contrasts sharply with the delegation our Republican friends uptown elected. The GOP elected mostly white men (Excluding relatives of prominent figures in the party, the delegation comprises only 13 percent women; the only prominent African-American, designated flamethrower and Salt Lake County GOP Chairman James Evans, failed to make the cut; no one elected has a Hispanic surname).

Republicans make few provisions to break down barriers to equal participation. And that's what will be on display at their convention in Minneapolis - a lily-white party of and for wealth and privilege.

Same as it ever was.

John McCain, the media-created "maverick" vs. John McCain, the pandering reality

After casting himself as a "maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the most radical elements of the Republican Party and embracing the ideology he once denounced.

On the campaign trail McCain has abandoned many of his previously held positions, even contradicted himself, in a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in 2008.

• As Big Money Republicans in Utah are asked to applaud the most unpopular president in the history of the United States ...

• As they are asked to kneel, once again, before the candidate (aka “Utah’s Favorite Son,” as crowned by Republican Joe Cannon’s Deseret News) whose political makeover was rejected by their own party's far-right power brokers ...

• As the Republican National Committee taps Utah, one of their last remaining strongholds, in a quixotic attempt at helping McCain fill his war chest ...

Here is a series debunking “McCain mythology” that national and local news outlets continue to perpetuate:

Click here to read it:
• MYTH OF THE DAY (May 15): A "transparent leader" and a break from Bush
• MYTH OF THE DAY (May 14): McCain's "plan" to balance the budget
• MYTH OF THE DAY (May 14): McCain the "popular populist"
• MYTH OF THE DAY (May 13): McCain the "environmentalist"
• MYTH OF THE DAY (May 8): McCain the "party maverick"
• MYTH OF THE DAY (May 7): McCain the "moderate" Republican
• MYTH OF THE DAY (May 6): "Supporting" our troops when they return

Deseret's Republican editor picks saga of singer over pivotal Democratic primary

Here is a sampling of regional newspapers, according to newseum.org, that decided last night’s primaries in Indiana and North Carolina could be pivotal in the Democratic Party’s ordeal to pick a presidential nominee and merited Page 1 coverage: The Salt Lake Tribune, (Logan) Herald-Journal, The Arizona Republic, Billings (Mont.) Gazette, Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune, Las Vegas Review Journal, (Portland) Oregonian, (Spokane) Spokesman-Review, The (Tacoma) News Tribune, Santa Fe New Mexican, Albuquerque Journal, The Denver Post, The Rocky Mountain News, The Seattle Times, The (Seattle) Post-Intelligencer.

Missing from the list is The Deseret News, which devoted over 100 staff-produced stories published on Page 1 to the campaign of Republican Mitt Romney and annointed him "Utah's Favorite Son" in its so-called "objective" coverage. It makes sense when you consider that none of the above newspapers is edited by a former chairman of a state Republican Party.

A fluffy preview about a local entertainer who may or may not be an “American Idol” made the cut instead.

Neil Postman’s 20-year-old prophecy is coming true at The Deseret News under Joe Cannon's leadership, at least when it comes to covering Democratic presidentials: “We’re amusing ourselves to death.”

Western 'sage brush' Democrats with a populist bent: Don't fence us in

Once upon a time in the West, there were liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats, in addition to conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats. They didn’t agree on everything. Labels didn't mean much. They usually agreed to disagree. There was a measure of tolerance and mutual respect.

And now, as the Democratic Party of Utah attempts to shelve ideological litmus tests we get “Dems aren’t too picky about hopefuls’ politics.”

Sheeeeeesh!

Is this an example of how the commercial news media enable a dysfunctional political system? Shouldn’t both Democrats and Republicans embrace a wide range of ideas that generally would fall within their philosophical worldview then let the best one become policy? Wouldn't that be a good thing?

On May 9, Brian Schweitzer, a nationally prominent, pistol-packin’ (literally) Montana governor, will speak at our Jefferson/Jackson Celebration. He will be warmly welcomed as a successful Western Democrat and pragmatic environmentalist (He believes working for a healthy environment can produce good jobs, even in rural economies).

His motto, like that of many Western “sagebrush” Democrats with a populist bent (and Republicans such as Dave Hogue who think like Democrats), could be: “Love me or leave me, but don’t fence me in!”

Sutherland's veneer of respectability covers GOP head-in-the-sand energy policies

If the kind of perspective offered the past few days at the Sutherland Institute’s ExxonMobil Earth Week 2008 did not have an impact on environmental policy and economic development in Utah, it would be easy to dismiss it as just another stop of The Circus of Flat Earthers, as The New York Times and The Washington Post implied in their coverage of a similar conference held last month. We could dismiss it as a marginal tactic in the multimillion dollar, multiyear “disinformation” campaign funded discreetly by the one of the world's biggest, most profitable multinational corporations to reverse perceptions on the virtual consensus surrounding human-caused climate change.

After all, influential Republican lawmakers in the audience probably didn’t hear anything they didn’t already agree with. But what Sutherland offered was a veneer of respectability to justify their head-in-the-sand thinking amplified by puffery disguised as news on radio, television and commentary published in at least one newspaper, The Deseret News, the statewide-circulation newspaper edited by the former chairman of the Republican Party of Utah.

The danger as Jack Spencer, a presenter from the Heritage Foundation, pointed out yesterday is that Utah does not have what he called a “diversified energy portfolio.” We rely primarily on coal to generate electricity. The next Congress is expected to enact limits on coal-fired electrical generation not only because of carbon emissions associated with global warming but also because coal is contaminated with toxic elements like mercury, arsenic, and lead that end up in the air, water, and soil. The costs of coal are disproportionately borne by the poor communities where it is mined and by children exposed to its pollution.

Our utility bills likely will go up because policy makers here in Utah have not shown the kind of foresight in helping to develop a wide range of energy sources – and the jobs that would follow – that neighboring states have.

We have only have only ourselves to blame if we allow the climate-change deniers, who demonize environmentalists while putting all of our energy needs into one dirty basket, to make energy policy for Utah. Renewable sources of energy generation, even on massive scales, are being encouraged by other Western states. And well-paying jobs for rural economies will follow.

Earth Day the Sutherland way: ExxonMobil's "disinformation" in SLC

“Continued enslavement,” “aid and assistance to America’s mortal enemies,” “preventing the poor from being able to afford to climb the ladder of economic opportunity.”

Oh my heck!

“What is under attack is our ability to transform constitutionally protected rights into civil rights that we actually enjoy: jobs, homes, transportation, healthcare, modern living standards, and other earmarks of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Gracious.

That’s the kind of venom reserved for – who else? – Al Gore and his fellow travelers, in Utah, the self-indulgent, latte-addled, Edward Abbey trust-funders of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Get a job!

Welcome to this morning’s right-wing rant from Roy Innis at “Earth Week 2008: The Future of Utah,” the Sutherland Institute’s latest attempt at pseudo-academic respectability.

Innis works for ExxonMobil, although you probably wouldn’t know it unless you did a little digging. His organization, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), was once a leader in the fight for civil rights. Now it receives tens of thousands from ExxonMobil to help spread the corporate giant's message on the "myth" of human-caused climate change, according to an exhaustive report by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

One word, says Innis. Sunspots.

Any other explanation has to be a product of liberal media propaganda. And bureaucrats (invoking the populist code segregationist George Wallace used in the 1960s).

ExxonMobil is the world’s largest publicly traded oil company. It has long been the leading corporate symbol of skepticism about global warming, with good reason. In 2005, the end use combustion of ExxonMobil’s products - gasoline, heating oil, kerosene, diesel products, aviation fuels, and heavy fuels - resulted in 1,047 million metric tons of carbon dioxide–equivalent emissions. If it were a country, ExxonMobil would rank sixth in emissions.

The corporate giant has played the world’s most active corporate role in underwriting efforts to thwart and undermine climate change regulation. For instance, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, ExxonMobil’s PAC - its political action committee - and individuals affiliated with the company made more than $4 million in political contributions throughout the 2000 to 2006 election cycles. It was consistently among the top four energy sector contributors. In the 2004 election cycle alone, ExxonMobil’s PAC and individuals affiliated with the company gave $935,000 in political contributions, more than any other energy company.

Much of that money went in turn to President Bush’s election campaign. In addition, ExxonMobil paid lobbyists more than $61 million between 1998 and 2005 to help gain access to key decision makers.

So, with a Republican member of a legislative committee whose oversight includes state energy policy in the audience, did ExxonMobil get its money's worth from Innis when he offered this perspective? “The radical environmentalists do not have a true claim to the moral high ground, because they use this instrument to deny access to available energy. The environmentalists’ claim to the moral high ground is illusory, immersed in hubris and cloaked in pseudo science.”

This is the "hubris" of the secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, as he stakes the moral high ground "cloaked" in "pseudo science": “The recent findings of the IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) sounded a clarion call; they have unequivocally affirmed the warming of our climate system and linked it directly to human activity.”

And this from the United Nations Development Programme's 2007/2008 report titled "Fighting Climate Change: Solidarity in a Divided World": “Increased exposure to drought, to more intense storms, to floods and environmental stress is holding back the efforts of the world’s poor to build a better life for themselves and their children.

“Climate change will undermine international efforts to combat poverty. Looking to the future, the danger is that it will stall and then reverse progress built-up over generations not just in cutting extreme poverty, but in health, nutrition, education and other areas.”

With Earth in the balance, two perspectives: one funded by the world’s leading producer of carbon emissions; one not.