This Week:

Quote of the Week

Anti-War Resource of the Week

It’s Only “Common Sense”

Introducing “Lindner Watch”
And Then You Win

Greetings,

Looking back, I realized that I sort of promised a couple of weeks ago to write a little more about the relationship between taxation and a healthy economy. My plan was to do so last week, but life intervened, so I haven’t gotten to it yet. I haven’t forgotten the promise, however, and my research continues, so you should see something before long.

The root cause of this phenomenon—which I have taken to calling the “missing analysis” problem, since it results in some very important issues going “missing” from the pages of Nygaard Notes—is that there is just too much in the newspapers of late to fit into the modest confines of this weekly newsletter.

For this reason, and also for reasons of financial need, I am beginning a process of actively seeking a broader distribution for my writing. How successful it will be remains to be seen. I’m sure I’ll mention any interesting developments in these pages.

This week’s “Quote” of the Week comes to us from reader Rob in St. Paul. I probably don’t need to say that there is a lot of competition for this honor every week, but Rob’s submission from TIME Magazine really stood out this week. Thanks, Rob!

In case I haven’t mentioned it, Nygaard Notes has a new address on the web. It’s www.nygaardnotes.org. (Maybe I have said something about it.) Also, note the new email address: nygaard@nygaardnotes.org. Email sent to the old address will get to me for a while yet, but it’s probably a good idea to update your address book.

OK, all for now. I wish peace through strength—moral strength—to everyone.

Nygaard

"Quote" of the Week:

The current TIME Magazine brings us this week’s “Quote.” The article from whence it is drawn was headlined “Ready to Rumble,” with the sub-head, “U.S. troops at the front are frustrated by diplomatic delays and disconcerted by the antiwar protests.”

After some gratuitous insults of the French and a quote from a young soldier worried about protesters spitting on him when he returns home, the article gets to the point. After noting that “Northern Kuwait is now home to the largest store of aviation ordnance since Vietnam,” plus 70,000 U.S. troops, TIME explains some of the reasons why we had better not delay too long before unleashing the fury of the world’s most powerful military machine. Among the reasons is the mental state of the often teenaged soldiers that will do the dirty work of our U.S. leaders. Here is how TIME explained the dilemma:

“‘We're building them up to the point where they are emotionally ready to kill.’, says Marine Lieut. Colonel Bryan P. McCoy. Let a 19-year-old sit around for too long, commanders say, and he will start to think about what killing means. Military leaders want to avoid that, calculating that it would be as debilitating as the temperature that creeps up with each passing day.”

Anti-War Resource(s) of the Week

There are so many groups organizing against the upcoming slaughter that I hesitate to single out any of them especially. But I think the two best umbrella, coalition-type groups at the moment are United for Peace and Justice, found at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/ or 646-473-8935, and International A.N.S.W.E.R. at http://www.internationalanswer.org/index.html or 212-633-6646. Two very different approaches; check them both out.

A guy in Canada has put together a website that lists “101 Ways to Stop the War on Iraq.” I don’t know anything about this guy, but the list is a good one, and if you haven’t actually DONE something to stop the drive to senseless slaughter in Iraq, any one of these ideas would be better than doing nothing. Visit him at http://www.earthfuture.com/stopthewar/.

It’s Only “Common Sense”

“President” Bush’s plan to eliminate the tax on stock dividends would cost $364 billion over the next 10 years. Here’s a partial list of some of the things the federal government could do with $36.4 billion per year (list courtesy of Ted Kennedy!):

• fund a new National Institute of Health, with enough left over for two Centers for Disease Control, OR
• provide 43 million children with school lunches for an entire year, OR
• fund 107,000 new NIH grants for medical research to develop cures for our most dreaded diseases, OR
• provide all recommended vaccinations to 88 million children, OR
• fund adequate nursing staff for 728 150-bed hospitals, OR
• provide lifetime medical treatment for 156,000 people suffering from diabetes, OR
• provide dinner every day of the year for 50 million senior citizens through the Meals on Wheels program, OR
• provide enough funds to run almost every emergency room in America, OR
• provide enough funding to deliver 568,750 healthy babies, OR
• increase Medicaid funding for HIV/AIDS by 9-fold, OR
• treat 3.64 million Americans living with HIV/AIDS, OR
• provide health care for 9.1 million retirees not yet eligible for Medicare, OR
• provide bone marrow transplants for 291,000 children, OR
• provide energy assistance to 29 million families each year, while tripling the average award through Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, OR
• fully support state and local first responders in their efforts to prevent and respond to acts of terrorism ($4 billion), OR
• double the federal resources currently expended to fight health care fraud, OR
• end the backlogs at state crime labs

There’s more. But you get the idea.

“Marketing Wars” and Class Wars

It is not fomenting Class War, I hope, to point out that almost all of the programs listed above work largely to the benefit of poor and working-class people. Which brings to mind a quotation from our new Minnesota governor, Tim Pawlenty. He is in the process of “marketing” (his term) his plan to shrink the state government, which provides all sorts of things that poor and working-class people depend on. The largest cuts he is proposing are in the Department of Human Services, which administers various state income-support and health programs like Medicaid, nursing home care, a variety of services that help people live independently, welfare, and so forth.

Minnesota’s new governor was quoted in the Star Tribune (Newspaper of the Twin Cities!) of February 20th responding to the charge that “a 28 percent reduction in the program known as Local Government Aid would unfairly burden outstate cities and leave more affluent Twin Cities suburbs unscathed.” The headline read, “Pawlenty, Budget Critics Begin the ‘Marketing War.’” Here’s what he said:

“What else would you like us to cut? We've cut everything. It is simply a matter of common sense: When you reduce government, you are going to disproportionately impact the largest consumers of government.”

Right you are, Governor, right you are. I hope it occurs to Nygaard Notes readers that the Governor’s “common sense” statement is a quite profound argument against his program. In fact, it’s a pretty good piece of the argument against his entire philosophy—and that of the president of the United States. If it isn’t obvious to you why that is so, not to worry. I plan to explain why, in some detail, in a future issue of Nygaard Notes.

For now, let me just point out that the same reasoning can be applied to the other end of the budget continuum. That is, a larger public claim on the state’s wealth (i.e., taxes) would disproportionately impact the people who have the most of that wealth (i.e., the wealthy).

Introducing “Lindner Watch”

When I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Minnesota state Legislator Arlon Lindner, my point was primarily to illustrate the hate that drives heterosexual supremacy. But there is a more general point to be made about Mr. Lindner and his ilk, which is why I return to Mr. Lindner this week.

I don’t think this “Lindner Watch” will be a regular feature, but I do plan to occasionally include some news about the activities of my old pal Arlon. The reason I think it is worth paying attention to the activities of this man is not simply that I have some sort of personal vendetta against the public official who accused me of being a Zealot For Death (although I confess I did not receive that as a gesture of friendship).

No Longer on the Fringe

The real reason I think it’s worthwhile to pay attention to officials like Lindner was eloquently stated on February 15th by one Robert Sykora, in a commentary published by the Star Tribune (Newspaper of the Twin Cities!) on that day. After cataloguing some of Arlon’s more extreme positions over the years (such as when Lindner claimed that Buddhism “historically has been considered a cult because of its anti-Biblical teachings”), Sykora stated:

“Lindner is no more or less goofy than he's always been. It's the political landscape around him that has shifted. No longer at the fringe, Lindner has since November’s election found himself closer to the ideological center of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. He is no longer shunned as an extremist. He has allies.”

You notice that I have conscientiously refrained from referring to Mr. Lindner as “goofy.” I think he’s far more dangerous than that. In any case, Mr. Sykora’s point about how one travels from being on the fringe to being an oft-quoted source in the daily news is right on point. So, if he is representative of one strain of “respectable” opinion, it’s worth paying attention to what he has to say, doncha think? Hence, “Lindner Watch.”

Perhaps I will expand the feature into a “Lindner/Jungbauer Watch,” after Minnesota State Senator Michael Jungbauer, who introduced into the Senate on February 24 a bill—SF 545—identical to the anti-gay bill introduced in the House by Mr. Lindner last month. Now that I think about it, this “Watch” could include a lot of elected officials, which could get out of control. So, we’ll stick with Arlon for now, as he’s perhaps the most colorful and entertaining (in a frightening way) representative of his political breed.

And Then You Win

Two weeks ago I encouraged readers to participate in the “Virtual March on Washington” on February 26th. If your experience was anything like mine, it must have been a little frustrating. Repeated calls to our nation’s capital received a repeated message “We’re sorry. All circuits are now busy. Please try your call again later.”

The good news is that there must have been an awful lot of calls coming in to jam the switchboard for hours on end, at all available numbers. I did get three somewhat different results when I tried our two senators and our “president.” Minnesota Senator Mark Dayton’s line in D.C. was perpetually busy, so I called his local office, where my concerns were politely received.

The White House comment line was busy and I never got through, which once again makes me wonder if anyone ever gets through. Readers, please let me know if you have gotten through on either of these lines recently – 202-456-1414 or 202-456-1111. I have tried to call both of these numbers innumerable times in recent months, and have never gotten through. Always a busy signal. Anybody have George W.’s cell phone number? Pass it along if you do; I’d like to give him a buzz.

When I tried calling the office of Minnesota freshman Republican Senator Norm Coleman (“On everyone’s short list for Vice President,” according to a Republican power broker quoted in the local media recently) I got a little different non-response. Mostly I got a busy signal at his Washington office—and, unlike the other fella, Mr. Coleman doesn’t appear to have a local office—but I eventually did get transferred to the “voice mail box” of Senator Coleman. When I did, I was informed that “The voice mail box for [Norm’s voice here] Senator Norm Coleman is full. Goodbye.” Goodbye, indeed.

So, I salute the Win Without War coalition for their organizing this Virtual March, and I apologize to any who heeded my call to join in and ended up pulling out their hair in frustration. Those of us who meet this sort of frustration can’t afford the luxury of allowing ourselves to become paralyzed by these experiences; though; too many lives depend on us, as Tariq Ali so eloquently stated in the “Quote” of the Week of Nygaard Notes #193. Even if we can’t stop this war, we are laying the groundwork for stopping future wars, and creating millions of good citizens in the process.

These days it should help us all to remember the history of the abolitionists, of the civil rights workers, of the suffragettes, of the union members struggling for an eight-hour day, of South Africa’s blacks, of South Asians struggling against British colonialism, and so many others. They all suffered decades of losses before ultimately succeeding. A knowledge of history reminds us of how it has always been for those attempting to affect public policy or make social change, when they refuse to give up and keep on working and organizing:

You lose, you lose, you lose, you lose, you lose. And then you win.