So you like being bent over by the Supreme Court on calling the last election? Get ready for more while they look at you straight-faced and claim they are being impartial. Just another reason to vote for Kerry this fall and replace these whacked out right-wing extremists in the courts who side with the corporate elite.


Center for American Progress


SECRECY
Scalia Shows His Cards

In a last ditch effort to keep the American people in the dark, Solicitor General Theodore Olson argued before the Supreme Court that the activities of Vice President Cheney's 2001 energy task force should remain completely secret. The argument has already been rejected by two federal courts. To avoid making even the most preliminary disclosures, the vice president has had to defy an explicit court order. At issue is a relatively obscure 1972 law, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which requires government advisory committees that have members from outside the government to meet in public. Although no formal members of Cheney's energy task force were from outside government, a 1993 federal appeals court ruling – stemming from efforts by conservatives to learn the details of then first lady Hillary Clinton's health care task force – found that outsiders who play an active role should be considered members. It is already well-known that former Enron CEO Ken Lay and other energy industry executives were involved in shaping the nation's energy policy through the task force. But Dick Cheney doesn't believe the American people have the right to know the extent of their involvement. See the amicus brief American Progress filed with the Supreme Court about this case.

SCALIA SHOWS UNFLINCHING SUPPORT FOR ADMINISTRATION ARGUMENTS: Particularly receptive to Cheney's arguments: long-time friend and duck hunting partner Justice Antonin Scalia. After flying on Cheney's government jet to a private Louisiana retreat in January, Scalia insisted that "his friendship with Cheney did not effect his ability to impartially decide the legal issue before the court." Specifically, Scalia claims his friendship with Cheney is irrelevant because "nothing the court says on those subjects will have any bearing upon the reputation and the integrity of Richard Cheney." Yet, during yesterday's argument Scalia "left little doubt that he agreed with the Bush administration's argument." At one point during the argument Scalia said "I'm asking whether they were members of the committee, and the answer has to be no." Scalia elaborated that the notion a private individual should be considered a member of the panel regardless of that person's formal designation was "not plausible."

ADMINISTRATION TELLS AMERICA TO STAY OUT OF ITS BUSINESS: Many have suggested the administration has devoted significant taxpayer resources to withhold information from the American people, hoping to avoid "a major embarrassment for the president" by revealing how he allowed energy executives to write the nation's energy policy. But Paul Krugman suggests an even more frightening motivation: "the administration is really taking a stand on principle." The case is indicative of the "administration's deep belief that it has the right to act as it pleases, and that the public has no right to know what it's doing." The arguments presented in yesterday's case were "'strikingly similar' to those [the administration] makes for its right to detain, without trial, anyone it deems an enemy combatant."

TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS HAVE KEN LAY'S FINGERPRINTS: However the Supreme Court rules, it is clear that the national energy policy produced by the vice president has the fingerprints of industry executives all over it. First, the task force recommends opening up the nation's treasured Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and examining "the potential for the regulated increase in oil and natural gas development on other federal lands." Another revolutionary idea: more coal power plants. The task force notes "the U.S. has enough coal to last for another 250 years. Yet very few coal-powered electric plants are now under construction." Meanwhile, the task force cautions "the day [renewable energy sources] fullfills the bulk of our needs is still years away."

ECONOMY
Disconnected from Reality

As the economy still struggles to shake the doldrums, the Bush administration in the last few months has made some strange economic declarations, while its conservative allies in Congress have resorted to outright fantasy. First, the White House said offshoring U.S. jobs was a good thing, then it claimed cutting off millions from federal overtime protection will be good for workers struggling with stagnating wages. Then the president, seemingly unconcerned with the gas price crisis hitting average families, refused to personally intervene after his longtime friends in the Saudi Arabian government cut oil production and raised gas prices (Bush's refusal did nothing to tamp down speculation that he is working with the Saudis to manipulate oil prices for the 2004 election). And yesterday, the administration actually claimed that lower drug prices for American consumers would be bad for the economy, despite economic data to the contrary. For more on conservatives' disconnect from economic realities, see yesterday's American Progress column by senior economist Christian Weller and research associate John Lyman.

TOM DELAY'S FANTASY WORLD: Meanwhile, the WSJ reports that while even some conservatives on Capitol Hill "are clearly nervous about letting the economic recovery speak for itself," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) said, "no matter what way you look at it, the American economy is the strongest it's been in 10 years." It seems DeLay hasn't seen the data which shows more than 8 million Americans are out of work, more than one million have exhausted their unemployment benefits, consumer debt is at record levels, wages are stagnating, and more than 40 million Americans are living without health insurance. See this new American Progress backgrounder of how rhetoric from conservatives compares with the harsh economic reality for millions of Americans.

GOOD NEWS – THWARTING BUSH'S EFFORT TO PUSH OFFSHORING: The White House has done its best to encourage U.S. companies to move jobs overseas – from encouraging offshoring to endorsing tax breaks for companies that move abroad, to sponsoring conferences teaching corporate executives how to move operations offshore. But at least some companies aren't biting. As the NYT reports "Even as the prospect of high-skilled American jobs moving to low-wage countries ignites hot political debate" some U.S. entrepreneurs are finding that offshoring "is not always as effective as advertised." Many companies "are concluding that the cost advantage does not always justify the effort" and that "for many of the most crucial technology tasks, a work force operating within the American business environment better suits their needs."

POLL – INVESTORS DON'T LIKE BUSH'S PUSH FOR OFFSHORING: As more companies try to hide their offshoring practices, new Gallup poll finds that while some on "Wall Street may love offshoring jobs to low-cost foreign countries, investors do not. Most think it's bad for the U.S. economy, and they appear to support tough measures against corporate America to control it." Specifically, 66% of investors surveyed said they think offshoring is "bad for the economy.'' 76% described a variety of curbs as effective ways to deal with offshoring including requiring all government-related jobs to be performed in the United States, improving the quality of education in the United States, and reducing the cost of health care benefits to companies to make it cheaper to hire U.S. workers. A full 72% said they thought tax penalties for companies that move jobs out of the country would work.

RED-HERRING – WHITE HOUSE SAYS LOWER DRUG PRICES MEAN JOBLESSNESS: Showing how desperate the Bush administration is to defend its campaign contributors in the drug industry, the White House actually claimed yesterday that bipartisan legislation "to allow Americans to legally import cheaper prescription drugs would lead to U.S. jobs losses." With no data to back up the claims, the administration told a Senate panel that pharmaceutical industry jobs would be lost – a direct contradiction of new research that shows importation could actually add to pharmaceutical industry profits and jobs because more people who simply cannot buy medicine would be able to re-enter the pharmaceutical market. The issue has transformed from a purely health issue to an economic one: with Americans being squeezed by the highest drug prices in the world, more and more families are being forced to use dwindling disposable income on medicines.







WOMEN – REPORT EXPOSES ADMINISTRATION'S ATTACK ON RIGHTS: Days after hundreds of thousands of women gathered in Washington, D.C., to stand up for women's rights, a new report from the National Women's Law Center details the Bush administration's relentless attack on women's interests over the last four years. According to the American Prospect, the report cites, among other things, "the abolishment of the Equal Pay Matters Initiative; the cut in funding for programs that advocate gender equity in education; the reduction in the number of children served by the Child Care and Development Block Grant, which helps low- and moderate-income families afford child care; and the proposal to fund support services for domestic violence victims at 26 percent below the authorized level." The report concludes: "In ways both well-publicized and carefully hidden, glaring and subtle, the Bush administration is taking steps to roll back women's progress in every aspect of their lives -- their opportunities to succeed at work and in school, their economic security, their health and reproductive rights."

EDUCATION – THE HYPOCRISY OF "RONALD REAGAN UNIVERSITY": AP reports, wealthy conservatives are banding together to fund an ambitious plan to create Ronald Reagan University outside Denver. The school "would focus on the former president's economic and diplomatic principles." But naming a university after Reagan is an odd tribute to his legacy: it was Reagan who tried to eviscerate America's higher education system while president. As the Washington Post reported on 4/9/85, Reagan tried to "cut college student aid by $2.6 billion" in just three years. The Christian Science Monitor noted on 2/17/82 that "the proposed Reagan cutbacks in higher education funding" was causing a "crisis" that threatened "future U.S. research capabilities." Princeton's graduate school dean at the time said the Reagan cuts, ''are a terrible blow. They are short-sighted to the point of irresponsibility." (Of course, conservatives named Washington's airport after Reagan, even though his most famous airport policy was to fire striking aviation workers). Their fundraising strategy, however, is a more appropriate tribute to Reagan. Former Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese plans to "pick up the phone and call every wealthy person in the country."

CIVIL LIBERTIES – SUPREME COURT WEIGHS IN: The Supreme Court will weigh in today on whether the Bush administration's post-9/11 policy of "open-ended detention" for those it labels "enemy combatants" is constitutional. Today, justices will hear the cases of two American citizens: Yaser Esam Hamdi and José Padilla. Though they have not been charged with any crime, "Mr. Hamdi and Mr. Padilla are being held in the same Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. Neither was allowed to see a lawyer for two years. Later, they were given limited access to lawyers, although the government insisted, in effect, that it was doing the prisoners a favor rather than granting them their rights."

CORRUPTION – JUSTICE INVESTIGATES ASHCROFT: As senator of Missouri, Attorney General John Ashcroft failed to report a valuable campaign fundraising list as an asset on his Senate or Justice Department financial disclosure statements. The WP reports, "The Justice Department's Public Integrity Section is reviewing allegations that Attorney General John D. Ashcroft may have violated federal campaign finance and disclosure laws based on information developed by the Federal Election Commission." Ashcroft, whom an FEC investigation three years ago found guilty of committing "at least four violations of federal campaign laws," may now be the subject of a special counsel appointed "to investigate whether Ashcroft or his committees had broken any criminal laws."

HOMELAND SECURITY – FEDERAL MONEY NOT TRICKLING DOWN: The NYT reports "More than $5 billion in federal money to help communities brace for terrorist attacks has not yet reached the local authorities and remains stuck in the administrative pipeline." Shockingly, the figure represents "more than 80 percent of the money approved by Congress to help cities, counties and states since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." A new analysis found "states have such cumbersome procedures, and their needs are so ill-defined, that it can take months or sometimes years for federal money to reach local police, fire and emergency response teams." The Department of Homeland Security has recently created a panel to look into improving the process.



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