Senator Obama's Opening Statement for Floor Debate on Ethics Reform

Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Mr. President. Over one hundred years ago, at the dawn of the last century, the Industrial Revolution was beginning to take hold of America, creating unimaginable wealth in sprawling metropolises all across the country.

As factories multiplied and profits grew, the winnings of the new economy became more and more concentrated in the hands of a few robber barons, railroad tycoons and oil magnates. In the cities, power was maintained by a corrupt system of political machines and ward bosses. And in the state of New York, there was a young governor who was determined to give government back to the people.

In just his first year, he had already begun to antagonize the state's political machine by attacking its system of favors and corporate giveaways. He also signed a workers' compensation bill, and even fired the superintendent of insurance for taking money from the very industry he was supposed to be regulating.

None of this sat too well with New York's powerful party boss, who finally plotted to get rid of the reform-minded governor by making sure he was nominated for the Vice Presidency that year.

What no one could have expected is that soon after the election, when President William McKinley was assassinated, the greatest fears of the corrupt machine bosses and powerbrokers came true when that former governor became President of the United States and went on to bust trusts, break up monopolies, and return the government to its people.

His name, of course, was Theodore Roosevelt. He was a Republican. And throughout his public life, he demonstrated a willingness to put party and politics aside in order to battle corruption and give people an open, honest government that would fight for their interests and uphold their values.

Today, we face a similar crisis of corruption. And I believe that we need similar leadership from those in power as well.

The American people are tired of a Washington that's only open to those with the most cash and the right connections. They're tired of a political process where the vote you cast isn't as important as the favors you can do. And they're tired of trusting us with their tax dollars when they see them spent on frivolous pet projects and corporate giveaways.

It's not that the games that are played in this town are new or surprising to the public.

People are not naive to the existence of corruption and they know it has worn the face of both Republicans and Democrats over the years.

Moreover, the underlying issue of how extensively money influences politics is the original sin of everyone who's ever run for office - myself included. In order to get elected, we need to raise vast sums of money by meeting and dealing with people who are disproportionately wealthy. This is a problem that predates Jack Abramoff.

I agree with those on both sides of the aisle who believe that we shouldn't let half-measures and partisan posturing on campaign finance reform derail our current efforts on ethics and lobbying, but I also think this is an issue and a conversation we must have in the months to come.

Yet, while people know that both parties are vulnerable to these problems, I do think it's fair to say that the scandals we've seen under the current White House and Congress - both legal and illegal - are far worse than most of us could have imagined.

Think about it. In the past several months, we've seen the head of the White House procurement office arrested. We've seen some of our most powerful leaders of both the House and the Senate under federal investigation. We've seen the indictment of Jack Abramoff and his cronies. And of course, last week, we saw a member of Congress sentenced to eight years in prison for bribery.

Now, some have dismissed these scandals by saying that "everybody does it." Well, not everybody does it. And people shouldn't lump together those of us who have to raise funds to run campaigns but do so in a legal and ethical way with those who invite lobbyists in to write bad legislation. Those aren't equivalent, and we're not being partisan by pointing that out.

The fact is, since our federal government has been controlled by one political party, this kind of scandal has become the regular order of business in this town.

For years now, some on the other side of the aisle have openly bragged about stocking K Street lobbying firms with former staffers to increase their power in Washington, a practice that should stop today and never happen again.

But what's truly offensive to the American people about all of this goes far beyond people like Jack Abramoff. It's bigger than how much time he'll spend in jail or how many members of Congress he'll turn in. Bigger than the K Street project and golf junkets to Scotland and lavish gifts for lawmakers.

What's truly offensive about these scandals is that they don't just lead to morally offensive conduct on the part of politicians; they lead to morally offensive legislation that hurts hardworking Americans.

When big oil companies are invited into the White House for secret energy meetings, it's no wonder they end up with billions in tax breaks while most working people struggle to fill up their gas tanks and heat their homes.

When a Committee Chairman negotiates a Medicare bill one day and then negotiates for a job with the drug industry the next, it's hardly a surprise that that industry gets taxpayer-funded giveaways in the same bill that forbids seniors from bargaining for better drug prices.

When the people running Washington are accountable only to the special interests that fund their campaigns, it's not shocking that the American people find their tax dollars being spent with reckless abandon.

Since George Bush took office, we've seen the number of registered lobbyists in Washington double. In 2004, over $2.1 billion was spent lobbying Congress. That amounts to over $4.8 million per Member of Congress.

How much do you think the American people were able to spend on their Senators or Representatives last year? How much money could the folks who can't fill up their gas tanks spend? How much could the seniors forced to choose between their medications and their groceries spend?

Not $4.8 million. Not even close.

This is the bigger story here. The American people believe that the well-connected CEOs and hired guns on K Street who've helped write our laws have gotten what they paid for. They got all the tax breaks and loopholes and access they could ever want. But outside this city, the people who can't afford the high-priced lobbyists and don't want to break the law are wondering, "When is it our turn? When will someone in Washington stand up for me?"

We need to answer that call. Because while only some are to blame for the corruption that has plagued this city, all are responsible for fixing it.

As you know, I'm from Chicago - a city that hasn't always had the cleanest reputation when it comes to politics in this country. But during my first year in the Illinois State Senate, I helped lead the fight to pass Illinois' first ethics reform bill in twenty-five years. I hope we can do something like that here.

But we have to pass a serious bill, and it has to go a long way towards correcting some of the most egregious offenses of the last few years and preventing future offenses as well. This is not a time for window-dressing or putting a band-aid on a problem just to score political points. This is a time for real reform. I think the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which has 41 cosponsors, established the right marker for reform, and I commend Senator Harry Reid and his staff for their hard work in putting it together.

Real reform means making sure that Members of Congress and senior Administration officials wait until they leave office before pursuing jobs with industries they're responsible for regulating.

Billy Tauzin may say he wasn't negotiating for a job with the drug industry at the same time he was negotiating the Medicare bill, but the fact is this: while he was a Member of Congress, he was negotiating for lobbying jobs with not one, but two different industries that he was responsible for regulating: the drug industry and the motion picture association. That's wrong, and that shouldn't happen anymore.

Real reform means ensuring that a ban on lobbying after members of Congress leave office is real and includes the behind the scenes coordination and supervision activities now used to skirt the ban.

Real reform means giving the public access to now-secret conference committee meetings and posting all bills on the Internet at least a day before they're voted on, so the public can scrutinize what's in them.

Real reform means passing a bill that eliminates all gifts and meals from lobbyists, not just the expensive ones.

And real reform must mean real enforcement. Because no matter how many new rules we pass, it will mean very little unless you have a system to enforce them.

I commend Senators Lieberman and Collins for their efforts to create such an enforcement mechanism through an independent Office of Public Integrity. While this proposal doesn't go quite as far as my proposal for an outside ethics fact-finding commission, it's still very good, and I will work with them to try to get it included in this bill.

But to truly earn back the people's trust - to show them that we're working for them and looking out for their interests - we have to do more than just pass a good bill this week. We have to fundamentally change the way we do business around here.

That means instead of meeting with lobbyists, it's time to start meeting with some of the 45 million Americans with no health care.

Instead of finding cushy political jobs for unqualified buddies, it's time to start finding good-paying jobs for hardworking Americans trying to raise a family.

Instead of hitting up the big firms on K Street, it's time to start visiting the workers on Main Street who wonder how they'll send their kids to college or whether their pension will be around when they retire.

All these people have done to earn access and gain influence is cast their ballot. But in this democracy, it's all anyone should have to do.

A century ago, that young, reform-minded governor of New York who later became our twenty-sixth President gave us words about our country everyone in this town would do well to listen to today. Teddy Roosevelt said that,

"No republic can permanently endure when its politics are corrupt and base...we can afford to differ on the currency, the tariff, and foreign policy, but we cannot afford to differ on the question of honesty. There is a soul in the community, a soul in the nation, just exactly as there is a soul in the individual; and exactly as the individual hopelessly mars himself if he lets his conscience be dulled by the constant repetition of unworthy acts, so the nation will hopelessly blunt the popular conscience if it permits its public men continually to do acts which the nation in its heart of hearts knows are acts which cast discredit upon our whole public life."

I hope that this week, we in the Senate will take the first step towards strengthening this nation's soul and bringing credit back to our public life.

Thank you.

Barack Obama

http://obama.senate.gov/

 

12/22/2005

Well, if you are disabled, among the poorest of Americans that gets medicaid, or a poor child that depends on food stamps you just got your benefits gutted by the Senate. If you're a deadbeat Dad you got lucky..funding for that program got cut. The Senate did try to get a kinder package passed but Republicans bent on having the poor pay for Katrina because they needed those Tax breaks for Millionires, and pushed and got the much harsher bill through. And it is truly appalling. I really do not understand how our body of lawmakers could have come so far from the ideals this country has always stood for and passed a bill that is going to harm so many people that have little or nothing and struggle daily to exist. It is truly a sad day when our nations government becomes the voice of the rich and forgets the weak. That day happened today.

BUT

The bill has to go back to the house for because it wasn't as bad as the one our Vice Pres. interrupted his Iraq trip and spent all that jet fuel to fly back home and cast the tie breaking vote to pass.

I quote The ARC - Our disability Voice and advocate - "This Bill cuts Medicaid at a time when low income Americans and victims of the hurricanes desperately need this program the most. Cutting Medicaid is both reckless and unnecessary; There are hundreds of thousands of our people with disabilities who are now on waiting lists for Medicaid long-term supports. Medicaid needs to be expanded, not cut, to address vital human needs; It is unconscionable and fiscally irresponsible to pay for hurricane relief and deficit reduction on the backs of poor people with disabilities; Eliminating tax cuts, not expanding them, is a more appropriate and responsible mechanism to achieve deficit reduction."

I will be interesting to know if those Congressmen and Women struggling with their integrity that voted for this bill and stated that they really did not want to, will develop back bones. That this bill was even conceived at this shows such a lack of decency after so obvious a open show of poverty in America that Katrina brought to everyone's attention. Who with any sense of right and wrong can think it is possible and just to rob the very poorest and weakest of Americans to pay for those poor that Katrina made homeless. And then turn around a reward our very rich for being rich by giving them tax cuts. 

I have absolutely no trouble understanding why this administration has taken a country that was billions of dollars in the black thanks to that bad boy Clinton and sunk it billions of dollars in the red. They can't do add and take away. So the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and The middle class pays for the war. The President just gets more disassociated and Chaney get meaner.

 

 

11/18/2005

Ah Politics. I have been reading with great interest all of the opinions, blogs, Lawyers rants, etc floating around now regarding the many messes the Administration and some key Lawmakers have found themselves in lately. Plamegate, Abramoff, DeLay, Iraq and The good news for the rich..continued tax breaks ..bad news for the poor and handicapped..Medicare and foodstamp  and student aid cuts.

Bob Woodward has said that the top unnamed official that told him Wilson's wife worked for the CIA  spoke as if it was common gossip and he thought that it wasn't a big deal and still doesn't. I have several blogs and articles that stated much the same thing. It didn't hurt national security so whats the big deal. Lots of people were talking about it. Well, the big deal folks is that it was classified information. Yup. That means it is not supposed to be shared with Reporters as general gossip No matter how big their egos are. And if top administration officials can not keep one secret can they keep any? Where do they draw a line? It obviously did not matter to this administration that a career was destroyed because Valerie Plame was on the wrong side of this administration and the President has always made it perfectly clear what that means. Flush one career agent. So Yes it is extremely important that this information was so lightly tossed about because its a crime to do so. The ethical considerations need not be mentioned because I don't think evidence of those could be found among the people involved.

Fitzgerald said that Libby was the first KNOWN person to leak information. I capitalize known because everyone seems to be overlooking it this week. Libby was indicted for obstructing justice and lying to prosecutors, not leaking information.

This administration has covered up and manipulated what it wanted the American people to know from day one and its still playing that game. 

The House squeezed though a bill late last night approving $7.8 billion in loan cuts to college students, $4.9 billion in cuts to child support enforcement, $11.4 billion in Medicaid cuts, and a $796 million reduction in food stamp funding.. The Senate approved $57 billion in new tax cuts, most of which benefit households with annual incomes of over $1 million. The House has a nice capital gains tax break package lined up for approval next month. Some of the most appalling cuts that in medicare in the bill were removed in last ditch effort to slide it though. Removed was a section to have the poorest medicare recipients pay more for their co-pay. Removed was a second to the many poor school children who's families will now be deprived of food stamps, denied free school lunches. Many moderate Republicans voted against this bill. The budget plan squeaked through after an all-day search by Hastert, Blunt and others to round up votes from reluctant moderates and other lawmakers uneasy with the bill. Despite the changes, the core of the five year, $50 billion deficit-reduction bill remains intact. The liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated that the last minute changes only eased the cuts aimed at the poor by 2 percent from the original version. The children are going to suffer the most. one of the prime targets of this so-called austerity package is children. Remember that in families living below the poverty line, child support accounts for 25 percent of total household income. The Republican budget plan will enable deadbeat parents to avoid child care payments estimated at $21 billion and will literally prevent thousands of kids from getting the minimum food, shelter and clothing they need to survive. How do these people sleep? Or are they so distanced from people not of their class that those people are not quite real to them? It is so cruel and inhumane that it is really difficult for me to understand anyone's ability to remove themselves from so very far from poor children, the elderly and the handicapped. But those lines could not be clearer if they were etched in stone.

Because of the Republican budget plan, 295,000 people, many of them working poor, will lose their access to food stamps, millionaires will get yet another tax break from the Republican Congress, and the federal budget deficit will increase by anywhere between $7 billion and $35 billion, depending on the final outcome of the budget reconciliation process.

Our nations poverty is increasing, our unemployment under The current president has increased by  at least 1 million non -African Americans, if you still think this is not everyone's problem.

Our Republican lawmakers still are able to rob the poor to pay for Katrina and give the rich more protection so that they will in turn donate money to keep them in office. Poor People are just not dependable when you need big bucks to get reelected. So much better to keep your rich friends and fellow Millionaires happy. 

Oil Companies have made more money in the past several years then ever before. Are we going to tax that money? Ask Them for any of it to help subsidize poor people who can't afford fuel? Are you kidding. The Pres got elected by big oil. They get to keep all those profits while we pay higher and higher fuel and gas bills. And They did not have a secrete meeting with Cheney or any of his staff to discuss the energy policy..even if there is a paper trail and people saw representatives from most major oil companies at the oval office. Never happened..Cheney has lied and everyone is swearing to it. What a keen administration.

Cheney told his closed door Republican audience the United States doesn't engage in torture, these participants added, even though he said the administration needed an exemption from any legislation banning "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment in case the president decided one was necessary to prevent a terrorist attack. 

Calling Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela..You need to have a chat with Dick. He has a screw or two loose.

When an American Vice president thinks torture is acceptable and the administration has the right to choose when to use it..something is terribly wrong in his head. The Geneva Conventions and the law of war separate us from being barbarians.

Lying and manipulation of facts have never been a problem but they aren't for a lot of politicians as we're finding out almost daily..Torture of another human being however crosses a different line and asks the question of just how far Mr. Cheney is will to go to justify his agenda or met his goals.

 

10/25/2005

In Memoriam

Rosa Parks died at home surround by friends and family. She was 92. She came to our attention by refusing to give up her humanity. She lit the fire that would become the civil rights movement. Of herself she said it best..

“I am leaving this legacy to all of you ... to bring peace, justice, equality, love and a fulfillment of what our lives should be. Without vision, the people will perish, and without courage and inspiration, dreams will die — the dream of freedom and peace.” 

 

9/9/2005

We as a country are in rescue and recovery mode following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We are saddened, grieving and angry. Many of us and our world neighbors are shocked and appalled that the level of poverty in the deep south has never been addressed. America is not supposed to be a third world country but it may as well have been for many of the desperately poor that were left behind when the more mobile residents of New Orleans evacuated.  I am aware that some people chose to stay because they would not leave their homes or property or pets or just because. Others chose to stay because they saw a means of criminal activity and profit in doing so. It is not those people I mourn so much because they made a choice. The very poor do not have cars, you can not evacuate in a wheel chair or from a nursing home bed. Nobody came to save those people. The Government knew what would happen if that hurricane hit new Orleans and the President could have Federalized the troops to go in and evacuate those people before it happened. But he was busy elsewhere. Of course some of them didn't die until Friday..but nobody ever came. 

9/10/2005

 The Spin Doctors are very busy trying to make a total failure of administration and government to respond to the worst natural disaster to hit this country in anyone's memory into anybody else's mistake.

I'm sure you, like just about all of the rest of the nation are grieving and looking for ways you can be of help during this horrendous disaster that has taken so many. I'm surging between anger and a deep sense of loss and pain for the elderly, the ill and the desperately poor that could not evacuate because they had no means of transportation - so they drowned while our Government bumbled and waited and our president imperiously flew over New Orleans and waved. He had been to California to make a speech, knowing that a class five hurricane was in the Gulf of Mexico and would likely hit the gulf coast...most likely New Orleans. What the destruction  of a class three storm would do to the levy system and New Orleans was predicted to FEMA just last year. But since Weather is in no way related to Terrorism it is not a priority of this Government. Even if it has the power to kill many thousands of people.

You can't just blame FEMA but it doesn't help that lack of experience may have been the cause every single thing its director did that cost lives and froze any offers of aide. The Washington Post reported on Friday that five of eight top FEMA officials had come to their jobs with virtually no experience in handling disasters. The agency's top three leaders, including Brown, had ties to Bush's 2000 presidential campaign or the White House advance operation. 

All fire and rescue in neighboring counties in Louisiana and Mississippi were told by FEMA not to respond. 

Some of them did anyway. Unofficially.

 FEMA has been sucked into Homeland Defense, and all of it's real power and its original mandate taken away, plus a good deal of it funding. Thank you President Bush for castrating an effective organization and appointing an inexperienced crony to direct it. After four years Homeland Defense now actually has a working rough draft of their Mission. Yes they do have a rough draft. It arrived on everyone's desk right after hurricane Katrina destroyed the gulf coast. Excellent timing guys. One of Homeland Defenses first priorities was supposed to be to secure the gas and oil supply in the southern states. We see how well that worked.

Our President has stated that it was not his fault. It was the fault of people in lower positions with lesser power. Pathetic. He only had to emulate his own Father to do the right thing. It is not a Republican or Democratic thing contrary to what Karl Rove's buddy Grover Norquist would have you believe. I quote Grover.."the fault is with Democratic looters, a democratic Mayor and a democratic Governor." 
Grover has probably been stiffled while damage control is being done.

But back to Bush Sr. He was on the ground in the rain and wind assessing damage control in Florida the day after Andrew hit. He did not hesitate to federalize troops when he though they were needed in Watts. But Bush Jr. seldom seeks his Fathers input. He has of course teamed him with Bill Clinton to help down south where they will both be effective and useful and he hopes make him look good. He's lucky to have the help of both Men. 

Sadly he is not their equal.

9/12/2005

There is a population that has been neglected and marginalized in the deep south and they are finding comfort where they always have. In New Orleans a large portion of that population is black. But in New Orleans Poverty is the Norm. 75 % of the population lives below the poverty level. Our current welfare system doesn't work because it doesn't educate and better peoples lives or encourage them in any way to do so. Changes need to be made in this country. Its not about being Republican or Democrat, black or white, yellow, red or brown. Its about human beings and acceptable quality of life and acceptable standards of behavior and accountably for our Government at all levels, State and Federal. People are going to try use this tragedy for their own agenda's. You already see it happening on all fronts. It is hard to place blame where it belongs and to judge accountability without clouding issues with political and racist rhetoric but we need to try do it. I certainly have very strong options about who blew it and what needs to be done. Poverty is not a black issue although it does effect a large number of blacks. It is a human issue that effects a significant amount of our population that is White, Native American , Latino, Asian and Black. In a way it is about race but it's also not.  The current administration has problems with both issues.
Poverty and Race.

Black and White in the sixties

I worked and protested and fought in the sixties to get laws changed because Black people were not real Americans. Their rights were not the same as everyone else's. It was sickening to realize that any human being could be judged less then another by the shade of their skin. But People always told me they didn't want to be around when my bubble got busted. Funny, some people still say that..but you know..I still find it sickening people are judged by their skin, culture or religion and not by their humanity. I did not get my sense of right and wrong, of humanity and dignity and what is acceptable behavior towards another human being from my family. I'm a southerner but nobody in my family dares to use certain words around me though they do not understand me. I don't know why when I first went out into the world, peoples diversity was magic for me and filled my heart with wonder and joy. But the hard lessons I learned were from a wonderful teacher and they have served me well though life.

A very incredibly brave, Motherly Woman named Wendella Franklin showed a very naive 18 year old white girl exactly what decimation was. I adored her. We worked in the same building where I was working the year before I went to college. I needed to work to save some money. I worked in the office and she worked in the warehouse. We met in the lunch room. I had led a very sheltered life and had known no black people before.  I was totally enraptured by all the lovely skin tones, warmth and generosity and laughter. People had such daring with clothing color and jewelry and everyone was interesting and offered to share their food with me. And the food was divine. But especially Wendella. I come from a family that is not demonstrative. Wendella taught me how to hug and I'm a world class hugger to this day. She also taught me courage and that no one can take away your dignity and sense of self worth..you have to give to them. I wanted to  take her to lunch because she had be so very kind to me. She told me she couldn't but did not say why. I insisted. So at the next lunch time we walked across the street to the closest Restaurant and entered. The owner barred our way and said I could stay but she wasn't dirtying his place. I felt like I had been struck. I turned to Wendella. She just looked at him with great dignity, took my hand and we left.  I couldn't speak when we got outside and was shakings very badly..I think it was the first time in my life I ever really wanted to do very serious harm to another person. Wendella hugged me and said she was sorry but I needed to understand. She was right, there is nothing like an object lesson when the object of the lesson is someone you love and admire. I learned about nobility, dignity, honor, love, trust and humanity that day and I never forgot what it cost Wendella to teach me that lesson.

There are still big problems with the way Americans deal with racial issues. And there is certainly a problem with the way we deal with poverty issues. But not just blacks are poor although  there are a disproportionate number of southern blacks that are. But poverty is not a race issue any more then the failure of  all levels of government was. Most of my heart and mind believes that. 

There is still a part of my brain however that is saying..Yo - Michal, deep south, are you paying attention here and the song  "Bye Bye Black Bird" wafts though my head. Its a ugly, ugly little piece of my mind but I have read some pretty disturbing things in the past week or so that give me pause and keep me uneasy. It would be a terrible thing if we had made so little progress in the way we see our fellow man. Race or at least the way people perceive it has been at least part of the present tragedy in the gulf states. White people carrying food in pictures are labeled finding food, black people carrying food are labeled looters. That is impossible to reconcile in my mind with equality. 

Or maybe race is just one way the haves can easily classify the haven't but it isn't a very accurate indicator of who is or isn't poor..The hideous poverty you see on Reservations in the southwest , in industrial towns were the unemployment is so high because all the factories closed to open in countries where labor is cheaper, Migrant Farm workers, many elderly and ill, single women with children who's husbands have left for any number of reasons, the mentally ill we no longer care for because of budget cuts.. we have homelessness and poverty across this country. Katrina just added the population of two cities to the homeless tally. We have a lot of work to do to make it right. 

Who is poor in America..

"Who are the poor? With whites making up 72 percent of the population, the United States contains more poor whites than poor blacks or Hispanics. In fact, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that the increase in white poverty in nonurban areas accounts for most of the recent uptick in the poverty rate. But only a little more than 8 percent of American whites are poor, compared with 22 percent of Hispanics and nearly a quarter of all African-Americans (in a country that is 12 percent black). This represents a significant advance for blacks in recent decades, thanks to the growth of the black middle class, but it's still a shamefully high number. By contrast, immigration has sent poverty among Hispanics up, though it has not been as intractable for them across generations."

Poverty in America is not acceptable. We have to much not to share. We are to smart not to be able to see that all people need what we consider the basic necessities of life and that all children need to be educated and that if we did that we would all benefit. 

How hard it that  to understand.

I think Howard Dean summed it up pretty well.

Howard Dean said the government's slow response revealed "the ugly truth that skin color, age and economics played a significant role in who survived and who did not."

 

There is an old saying that I can not remember exactly about not being able to understand someone unless you have walked a mile in their shoes. We can not change our heritage but we can change how we react and behave towards  others. How we deal as a country with the poor and with long term recovery for the disaster victims, poverty in general and the cries of racism in the next few years is going to be very telling. That is not always an easy thing, especially if ridiculing peoples differences is acceptable in your social group or family and ignoring social problems your normal mode. There is a quote I do remember pretty well..
The ancient Chinese had a saying..

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. "

Our current president is the first seated President that has not addressed the NAACP since its creation. This administration has slashed poverty bills and had plans to recommend cut more. He is now speaking with NAACP leaders and making promises for poverty aide for the poor displaced by Katrina. That pretty much includes everyone that lost everything. Of course he's on the hot seat now. If done correctly, recovery and rebuilding lives for the disaster victims could be a model for our nations poor. But it is our job to make sure that its done.

And Bush has already moved to suspend the law requiring federal contractors to pay workers the average wage in the region, holding down salaries for many minority laborers.

I think Howard Dean summed it up pretty well.

Howard Dean said the government's slow response revealed "the ugly truth that skin color, age and economics played a significant role in who survived and who did not."

Our first step is recovery relief and rebuilding Biloxi and New Orleans and surrounding Perishes. Then, we go on to correct our disgraceful national poverty issues. We will have experience doing the right thing instead of believing that being poor is the fault of the poor and looking the other way because its an ugly situation and we don't want to get involved.

9/13/2005

The picture of recovery after Katrina is complex and is spawning many side issues for me and many other people. Part of me is in the immediate, with the victims and what to do now..but part of me is also very much with Wendella and back in the sixties, remembering and hating that there the is still so much isolation. That segregation in housing and economic status remains the norm in ethnic populations of all races in America. Because Dr King really did have a wonderful Dream. We have had forty years to remind ourselves that the voting rights act was only a start..
I quote..

‘The contemporary significance of the Voting Rights Act is that it reminds us that democracy is an unfinished experiment.’  

 

— CLAYBORNE CARSON Author, editor of the King Papers

9/14/2005

I am hopeful.

The President is taking responsibility for the government he heads. 

President Bush said Tuesday that "I take responsibility" for failures in dealing with Hurricane Katrina and that the disaster raised broader questions about the government's ability to respond to natural disasters as well as terror attacks.

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at joint White House news conference with the president of Iraq.

"To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said.

A step.

President Bush appointed a federal official with three decades of firefighting experience and a background in emergency management to be the new acting director of FEMA. Let us hope that events will lead to dropping the acting qualifier from his title. Miami native R. David Paulison will replace Mike Brown. Brown who resigned Monday after days of criticism of his response to Hurricane Katrina’s devastation. Since December 2001, Paulison has led the U.S. Fire Administration, a division of FEMA and the Homeland Security Department that works to reduce life and economic losses caused by fire. 

Another step..this one is very good indeed because it not just impacts how FEMA is directed but internal moral as well. The Agency has just about the lowest of any Government agency in employee satisfaction and loyalty. Many that could get a job elsewhere, did.  Appointing one of their own to the top position instead of the bringing in another outsider will do a lot for moral within the agency... and they need it.

There are many ways all of us will be helping for a long time to come. Donating money is one.

The Red Cross, The Salvation Army and the Humane Society have been there, as have many other groups. These three are particularly good at directing funds at relief very rapidly. That is not to say that others are not. There are going to be many local groups working to raise funds as well. Please just make sure that they are legitimate because sadly there are going to be scams along with many good works. . Just check out where your money and gifts are going.

http://www.redcross.org/

www.salvationarmyusa.org

http://www.hsus.org/

Your local Church or any National church organization 
will have a relief fund.

All of the southern Churches will be heavily burdened with efforts to house and help with relief efforts as many thousands of displaced people seek help and turn to God and fellow Christians for help. This is a problem so catastrophic that it is beyond any normal capacity of any relief organization to function at their traditional level of competence. There are going to be failures and breakdowns even with the Red Cross and other organizations that were as prepared as possible because this is a level of disaster that this country has never dealt with and we are fighting it on two fronts. Two cities destroyed not one. Local churches will be helping well past their normal relief efforts and be the direct support and comfort for many people.

 

All of the Black churches in the south and across the country have opened their doors and provided sanctuary and comfort, food and clothing and promise for the the poor black community as they always have. Now they are doing it on a very much larger and longer term scale. People are seeking comfort where they are sure they will find it. For the disparately poor southern black community that is their local Black church. They are wretched of both body and sprit. They watched as their city was destroyed and some looters turned to anarchy and all the poor were blamed. They are flooding their churches seeking God and their fellow Christians for the comfort, life's necessities and the understanding they need to carry on. 

The National Baptist Church Convention has a donation site for Relief Funds. All of the large African American Church's have united in their efforts to channel relief to community Black churches. 

The National Baptist Church Convention Hurricane Relief

 

And the bad news..

Yesterday, FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said the agency was investigating reports of fraudsters using e-mail and Web sites to impersonate legitimate fundraising and relief organizations.

"People who want to make a donation or contribute to a cause should actively seek out reputable organizations and then contact them by telephone or by typing their Web address into a Web browser," Bresson said. "The important point is that they initiate this contact on their own."

Federal Trade Commission spokeswoman Claudia Bourne-Farrell said people should never click on any link in an e-mail solicitation because they may end up at a site that looks real but is set up by identity thieves to get confidential information. "If you get an e-mail from the Red Cross, close the e-mail and go to the Red Cross Web site as you otherwise would," through a search engine, phone or regular mail, she said.

 

It's not just solicitations consumers should worry about. Security experts also caution computer users to remain vigilant against e-mails claiming to contain attached photos of the disaster because clicking on such files could launch viruses or worms.

Fraud watchers said Americans who want to make contributions should stick to Web sites of established national charities. The Web site for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18473 ) also lists a number of Web sites where people can securely send donations to legitimate charities, as does http://www.give.org, part of the charity-monitoring service of the Better Business Bureau.

 

2/19/2005

When my Sister Genie married David, he brought with him a family member that I would adore and cherish from the moment I met her. She curled up on my lap, put her head on my shoulder and I was in her family from then on.
David's family is small and his cousin, Ethel Miller, called Estley by her family was his only living relative when she died on Tuesday. Estley had Downs Syndrome and like many of the people with that disorder, had a sweet, kind nature. We were very blessed that she did not have many of the health problems often associated with Downs syndrome but lived a long and happy life until she was 57. It was only then that she would begin to have the strokes that would eventually take her from us and all of her many friends. We buried her yesterday with feelings of great sadness, joined by her peers and many of the support staff that had worked with her over the years and come to love her so much. My Vicar gave the service and peers, friends and family spoke about her and their love for her. I had written something about her life to guide Fr Jim when he was speaking about her but he chose to read it instead and I have enclosed it below because it speaks to you a little about a person who was very special and brought joy to everyone she encountered. 

 

Ethel Miller  Sept. 1947- Feb. 2005 

Ethel was an uncommon person. Her sweet, kind nature, sense of fun, loyalty and dedication to work made her friends were ever she went. She was confident and assured in herself as a person, felt that her work was meaningful and important and traveled to Disney world often and to redskin games.  

Her father Ted Miller spent a great deal of time with her and they shared many activities and he was responsible for her great love of sports. She had a loving family and wonderful childhood. Ted took her bowling every week, they watched and played baseball and she could quote scores and tell you what was what. 

Ethel was the first and lone graduate of the Wilkes Street School in Alexandria in 1968. There were thirty other students to this new school. She wore a white dress and white knee socks and looked like a little angel. 

When both of Ethel parents died she came to live in a group home in Alexandria. She was very fortunate to meet and have for her roommate for twenty years, her friend Mary Anne. They would become as sisters and love each other very, very much. 

She lived at Taylor Run Group Home and had many many, friends. She had a very special boyfriend named Clark, who she will be seeing in heaven. She had long loving relationships with many wonderful people that she met during her exciting life that was anchored at this wonderful home. 

She worked for Alexandria Vocational services. She liked work, insisted on bringing it home with her, was proud of it. She had many friends at work as well and to go there was very important to her. 

She was at Seminary group home a short while before she moved to Fredericksburg to be with her family for her last three months. 

Harry has long been her case worker and for that the family is very grateful. There have been so many people through the years that have been a part of Ethel’s life and care and the family knows some of them but not others. All of them are very special people that are dedicated to serving others. We, her family are very glad you have been her friends.  

And there are her peers. For those many friends I know it is very hard to lose someone you love. Someone who is funny and happy and dear. She had a very happy life full of wonderful friends. That’s the very best sort of life you can have. 

Everyone that Ethel met was touched by her kindness and joy in just being. She was infectious.

She lived at Carriage Hill nursing home her last three months and some of you that have known her for so many years visited her there. She was happy and they loved her and treated her with great kindness and care. Several weeks before she became ill, there was a prom. It was a lovely occasion and the staff voted on who would be prom Queen and King. Ethel was prom queen and her friend Eddie was prom king and she was adorable in her tiara and pink outfit, sitting in the arbor under the lights, beside Eddie, Sweetly smiling at everyone. We, her family were able to visit with her almost every day while she was with us. It was not enough. She was such a joy to be near that we just wanted her longer. 

Michal Justis  2/18/2005