Stuck at home

I'm staying home sick today so I'm reading the news. Lots of it.

- National 1
I read about the federal budget provisions proposed in the House - Big cuts to the federal student aid program (aka "only rich kids should go to college"), cuts to child support enforcement programs ("we care about life from the moment of conception to the moment of birth"),reductions in spending on food stamps programs ("fuck the poor, and really fuck the working poor").

I read about the federal budget provisions proposed in the Senate - $10 billion cuts to Medicare and Medicaid that may result in, among other things, limited access to generic prescriptions for Medicaid patients.

I read about how these cuts are necessary in order to pay for hurricane relief. And here I thought the cuts were necessary to help to pay for that huge corporate tax cut package that was passed in October of 2004.

Last Fall, the Washington Post reported that when Bush took office in January 2001, the government was forecasting a $5.6 trillion budget surplus by 2011. A surplus! So why is the economic outlook so bad that congress is considering these horrible cuts now? The republicans are correct to some degree. It is in no small part because we've been overspending. We overspent fighting a war that was predicated on lies. Meanwhile, we went and cut off our access to tax revenues. Where was the outrage when republican and democrat lawmakers joined together last year to squander our country's long term economic outlook on rewards to corporations who don't even have to promise to invest in creating domestic jobs? I'm also quite disappointed that the issue of the loss of tax revenue has not entered into discussion of the current federal deficit/budget. It seems like it at least warrants mentioning.


- National 2
One ambiguously nice item in the national news today: Bush is pulling his support for Supreme Court nominee and Bush Co. croney Harriet Miers. I'm not super psyched about this one because I think Bush will just look for someone who is as bad or worse.


- Local
I switched from the national to the more local. Very local in fact, college again. The news ripped from the campus paper headlines today is similar in type and scale to any of the state or national querulous neo-con based fiascos reported in the big press. Yes, I know "fiasco" is an overused term but it seems appropriate here. Any event involving Ann Coulter, prominent harbinger of hackneyed controversy, automatically deserves the title "fiasco". If it involves college students at a public university paying Ann Coulter over $16 thousand to grace the campus with her divisive, petulant, hate mongering, simple minded punditry* I think the event is elevated to Goat Screw.
* (thanks A! good word)

The announcement that our undergrad student government approved funding for the goat screw was given as a sort of after thought in the campus paper. Here's how it reads (late on page two): "In other business, the senate approved funding of $16,035 to the College Republicans... The funding approved will help to bring Republican Ann Coulter to U___."

$16,000 is 60% more than is given to any other group on campus for a speaker. If I were an undergrad and funds from my mandatory fee were being spent on this shit, I'd be fucking pissed, especially when we consider this expenditure in the proper context. That is, when we consider that the college republicans are making a habit of asking for student funding of outrageous punditainment which they justify as attempts to engender thought provoking discussions and debates. An excellent example of such a thought provoking event was ex-professional wrestler turned conservative speaker Warrior who the student republican club brought in last April.

It was billed as an "interactive discussion" but when it became interactive, Warrior was unhappy. His statements like "Queerin don't make the world go 'round" were not received as the insightful commentary they apparently had sounded like in the ex-pro wrestler's head. In the aftermath of the Warrior clusterfuck, students were angry their money had gone to fund this. The justifcation for using student fees to fund the Warrior event was that the college republicans had "...Wanted to host a thought-provoking discussion from an individual who, given his celebrity status, would appeal to a broad range of students." In the days just following the event, members of the college republicans said they were disappointed with Warrior's behavior because they had hoped his presence would "bring another view to add to respectful debates".

Having students pay to be insulted en masse by an inflammatory peckerhead is "thought provoking" the way throwing a drink in someone's face is "engaging". Inviting a vitriol spewing loser, paying him with money that is meant to provide non-exclusionary enrichment and social activities for the undergrad body as a diverse whole, and expecting the event to result in "respectful debate" is either simple minded or obnoxiously underhanded. I think it is the latter but you never know...

Today's report regarding the approval to pay Miss Coulter $16 thousand to have an argument went on: "According to Funding Board Chair Sen. Mike McKiernan, security has been accounted for, to prevent physical attacks. College Republicans hired a private security force for the event..."

I feel a bit uneasy about "a private security force". It could be the college republicans have some reason to believe they may not get the service they'd like from the university police. After having to defend the Warrior against the inevitable rabble his ignorant insults had succeeded in rousing, one of the campus police officers was quoted saying "How do you think I feel I have to protect him," April 5, 2005

And Ann Coulter promises to be about as intellectually engaging, thought provoking, and given to "respectful debate" as the Warrior.
Here's how the Editorial review at Amazon.com describes Coulter: "Ever combative, Coulter is unafraid to court controversy..." Publisher's Weekly says: "Never mind this book’s title (How to Talk to a Liberal - If you must); from the writings collected here, it sounds like Coulter has never talked calmly with anyone, much less "liberals." In her view, "liberals" aren’t even "sentient creatures.""

I can see how hard the college republicans are trying to add to respectful debates with this line up of speakers.

So does Ann Coulter need security to speak at our university?
One student senator cautioned that "In the last university event Coulter attended, students ran to the stage and threw pies at her..."
Oh dear.

I think we should have a bake sale outside and donate the money to organizations like Planned Parenthood, the AFL-CIO's Hurricane Katrina relief fund, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The Coulter event is planned for the first week in December, which is the holiday season. So many nice things to bake. Pumpkin pie, mincemeat pie, pecan pie (ouch!), coconut cream pie, and of course some cookies.