Requiem for a trickster

OK, OK, I'll admit straight out that I'm way beyond biased on this, but...

Whatever will King George do for a brain now that Karl Rove won't be around? Our own Axis of Republican Evil Acts will be spending more time with his family - at least until the other shoe drops on some of the illegal activity in our current administration that he masterminded.

Yesterday while being interviewed on CNN Bill Bennett commented that there are five rooms lined with books floor to ceiling in Karl Rove's house. He's been a self-educated guy. While I'm generally a big fan of bootstrappers, perhaps there's a bit of breadth that has been missing in his choices of reading that has obscured his perception of ethics. Maybe he's just been reading tome after tome that reinforces his own worldview. Would be interesting to see a reading list...

Did you know that Rove's reputation for dirty tricks started way back in 1972 with a contested election among the College Republicans? According to Wikipedia, Terry Dolan of California (one of the other candidates) went anonymously to the Washington Post with recordings of several training seminars for young Republicans where Rove discussed campaign techniques that included rooting through opponents' garbage cans. On August 10, 1973, in the midst of the Watergate scandal, the Post broke the story in an article titled "Republican Party Probes Official as Teacher of Tricks."

Former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean, who was implicated in the Watergate break-in and became the star witness for the prosecution, has been quoted as saying that "Based on my review of the files, it appears the Watergate prosecutors were interested in Rove's activities in 1972, but because they had bigger fish to fry they did not aggressively investigate him."

The Karl Rove-Dubya affinity began in this same timeframe. In November 1973, Bush Sr. asked Rove to take a set of car keys to his son George W. Bush, who was visiting home during a break from Harvard Business School. It was the first time the two met. "Huge amounts of charisma, swagger, cowboy boots, flight jacket, wonderful smile, just charisma - you know, wow", Rove recalled years later.

The flight jacket comment is particularly interesting considering that King George walked away from his obligation to the National Guard and, in effect, turned in his wings. All flight jacket, no plane.

By the way, Jim just asked me, "Did you ever notice that George H. W. doesn't allow his son to pilot the family boat?"

Are enough Americans listening?

Thought all of you would want to listen to this essay from MSNBC, if you have not already. Use your browser and go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aCNFDdZ0uc

As we proceed in our local elections on our local voters' issues and concerns, are enough local citizens really listening to who will do what about local issues?

Are all the local citizens that are eligible to vote, also registered to vote?

Do they go to the polls on primary and general election days and actually vote?

Ask your family members, good friends, and neighbors whether they are active voters.

Encourage and support them in discussing the issues of concern to them (even if they are not the same as your opinions/views) because healthy dialogue is a VERY good thing.

Share this YouTube link with them and with everyone you know.

Are enough Americans voting? Voting to protect their children, their parents, and their wallets from those who believe themselves above the Constitution, from those so wealthy that they distain the middleclass, the working class and poor of America?

Are enough Americans even listening?

Candidates speak at Grassroots Series

I have to say that I'm pretty psyched about the field of Democrats running for York County Commissioner. I saw the three of them last night at the most recent Grassroots Speaker Series, this one held at York Little Theatre.

Doug Hoke, Doug Kilgore, and Ned Grove spent about an hour responding to questions on numerous issues impacting York County, and on their perspectives on county government's role.

Kilgore is the lone Democrat incumbent (of three positions) and spoke most memorably about just why it was important for the county to take possession of the Highpoint property. A former dairy farmer, Kilgore said it's important to always be looking ten years out, at what we want our county to look like. His point in supporting Highpoint as park area has two major areas of emphasis: the preservation of the Susquehannock Indian site there and the importance of conserving the delicate ecosystem that borders the Susquehanna River and eventually impacts the Chesapeake Bay.

Doug Hoke's experience in managing large construction projects came through in a question asked about the significant cost overruns in the new County Courthouse building project. Hoke grew up in a household of public service - his father was a supervisor in West Manchester Township. He owns a small farm and is part owner of two businesses housed there, but will be retiring from his job in December after he wins a commissioner seat.

Ned Grove's main message was that there's no way to achieve tax savings without making cuts - saving on expenses, removing unnecessary personnel from county payrolls, etc. Grove is a real estate agent, but plans to let his license lapse once he's elected commissioner.

Democrats can only move two of these candidates forward to the general election by their vote in the primary May 15. This field of candidates provides a great opportunity for York County Democrats to regain a majority in the Commissioners' Office.

Hear from the true roots of grassroots Democrats

Join fellow Democrats on Monday, March 26 at 7pm at the headquarters of the Democratic Party of York County. That evening you will hear from a panel of representatives of several of the Democratic Party clubs and societies describing what Democrats are doing in the neighborhoods and communities around you.

Do you worry that you do too little while talking too much about the state of American politics, the war in Iraq, the sleaziness of Karl Rove’s tactics that he learned as a White House junior staffer during Nixon’s presidency? Then don’t delay . . . opportunities abound for you to make a difference.

Join your fellow Democrats and learn how to you can become part of the Democratic Party solutions that our county and our great nation need at this critical time. Learn how to become actively involved on your own street, your own neighborhood to ensure your values are represented in your municipality’s elected leadership in 2007.

Let’s get York County ready to help Democrats reclaim the White House in 2008!

See you at 275 W. Market Street in York City at 7pm this Monday, March 26, for learning and sharing with your fellow Democrats and Progressives. Email me at jimpoland@jimpoland.com if you need directions for that evening

What's next ?

Last night a dentist shared his frustration with the dental health insurance environment that he must function within. He declared that his frustration is intense, but minor when compared to what his peer physicians must feel being squeezed between health insurers, malpractice premiums, and the government. For him, at times he feels like he should just conclude . . . “Close the doors. Turn out the lights. You’re done!”

Over thirty folks participated in a very lively program about health care coverage for every resident of Pennsylvania. Governor Rendell’s approach includes the health insurance companies as part of the solution and HELP Fund PA proposes removing those insurers from the solution because they have identified those very insurers as the root cause of the lack of affordability of health care coverage for us.

Great turnout, great event, exciting time had by all ! ! Thank you to all who participated and to Bob Kefauver for his assistance and his videotaping of the program for submission to our local public access tv folks.

Participants were asked what they’d like to experience in the future programs presented as the Grassroots Topics series at the Democratic Party of York County Headquarters. Their responses were exciting:

- Education Reform, including funding
- Fair Trade
- Consolidation of municipalities
- Immigration issues
- ACLU – the war on our civil rights – Patriot Act – Guantanamo
- Women’s issues
- Oil – money to the Middle East – oil pipeline
- How to run a tight, well organized campaign
- How to pick winning candidates
- Establishing a county-wide Human Relations Commission
- Joint meeting with all the other Democratic Party clubs, associations (Young Dems, Southern, etc.)
- Use the wall in there in the headquarters of the Party to provide photos and biographies of our leaders of the Democratic Party of York County
- Identify the elected positions that we need to recruit Democratic Party candidates for . . . in the current election cycle and the near future
- Defining ourselves and who we are and where we stand as the Democratic Party of York County for recruitment of Dem voters and candidates

Obviously, it was a fantastic night of lively interaction by your fellow Democrats and Progressives. Join your neighbors and your peers next month for the next Grassroots Topics program. Watch for details.

In the meantime, find a military service veteran (current service or years ago), his/her family members, and even those who grew up as military “brats” and thank them for their sacrifices and their loyal service to us all, to our great nation ! ! !