Progress Report: A Week in the 'Culture of Life'

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Tue, 29 Mar 2005 08:23:06 -0800

Progress Report: A Week in the 'Culture of Life'

" American Progress Action Fund "

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AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND

The Progress Report

by Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin with Nico Pitney and

Mipe Okunseinde

www.progressreport.org

3/29/2005

 

For news and updates throughout the day, check out our new blog at

ThinkProgress.org.

 

VALUES

 

A Week in the 'Culture of Life'

 

Contrary to the impression given by Washington conservatives and

mainstream media cognoscenti, the Terri Schiavo case is not the only

" culture of life " issue of concern to Americans. At least two other

horrible tragedies took place last week – the second-deadliest school

shooting in American history, and the deadliest day for U.S. forces in

Afghanistan in nearly a year. Both deserved serious discussion, but

barely managed to cut through wall-to-wall Schiavo coverage. And while

pundits were busy repeating their broken-record commentary on " culture

of life " politics, reality showed otherwise.

 

SILENCE ON RED LAKE KILLINGS: On Monday, 16-year-old Jeff Weise opened

fire at his high school on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern

Minnesota, gunning down an unarmed security guard, a teacher and five

fellow students before killing himself. What was President Bush's

reaction to this, the second-deadliest school shooting in America's

history? Silence. For nearly a week, neither President Bush nor

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings uttered a single word about the

tragedy. Finally, almost a week later, the president noted the

killings during his Saturday radio address. Clyde Bellecourt, a

Chippewa Indian who is the national director of the American Indian

Movement in Red Lake, said Bush's response came too late. " He should

have been the first one to reach out to the Red Lake Indian

community, " he said. Instead, he was one of the last.

 

INACTION ON RED LAKE KILLINGS: President Bush's response stands in

stark contrast to President Clinton's reaction – both rhetorically and

substantively – to the Columbine massacre. Clinton " spoke to reporters

on the night of the shootings, " proposed specific initiatives to curb

school violence during his radio address four days later, and within

weeks had " summoned a broad array of interests to a White House summit

on the shooting. " President Bush, on the other hand, has fought to cut

all funding for the $180 million program " Clinton launched after

Columbine to help districts place more police officers in schools, "

and tried to eliminate " a $437-million program that provides grants to

states to fund school antiviolence and antidrug programs. " Did the Red

Lake killings create a change of heart for conservatives in

Washington? It doesn't appear so. House Judiciary Committee hearings

urged by progressives the day after the shootings have seemingly gone

nowhere, while President Bush's address on Sunday contained a single

vague sentence on preventing further acts like Red Lake: " To keep our

children safe and protected, we must continue to foster a culture that

affirms life and provides love, and helps our young people build

character. "

 

UNPRINCIPLED ON SCHIAVO: Though President Bush's decision to abruptly

end his vacation and fly to Washington to sign the Schiavo bill

suggested his passion for the cause, it's worth noting how he reacted

to the Asia tsunami disaster three months ago. As the Washington Post

reminds us, Bush " continued to vacation, unseen and unheard [for three

days], and the world may well have wondered what kind of catastrophe

would be sufficient to interrupt the president's agenda of clearing

brush and riding bikes. " Now we know. Yet, as with Tom DeLay, polls

showing widespread disapproval with federal involvement in the Schiavo

case prompted a quick turnaround on President Bush's part. After

flying across the country to save her life, Bush then " retreated back

to his ranch and remained largely out of sight as the nation wrestled

with the great moral issues surrounding the fate of Terri Schiavo. "

His radio address on Saturday extolling a " culture that affirms life "

didn't mention Schiavo once.

 

FORGETTING U.S. CASUALTIES: Four U.S. national guardsmen from Indiana

were killed Saturday when their vehicle struck a land mine in

southeast Afghanistan. It was the deadliest day for U.S. forces in

Afghanistan in nearly a year, and " highlighted the dangers still

facing foreign and Afghan troops more than three years after the fall

of the Taliban. " Didn't hear about any of this? Hardly a surprise. A

LexisNexis search of broadcast and cable news television transcripts

found only seven references to the deaths in Afghanistan – two on ABC,

two on NBC, and three on CNN; the average length of the reference was

32 words, about 15 seconds of airtime. During the same period,

LexisNexis found 159 programs featuring discussion of the Schiavo

case, with most devoting an entire segment to the issue.

 

HEALTH CARE

 

Patients' Rights Under Attack

 

In one of the " latest manifestations of the religious right's growing

political reach, " at least eleven states are considering or have

passed laws allowing pharmacists to interfere with your medical care.

Such laws would exempt pharmacists from having to fill prescriptions

for birth control, emergency contraception, or any other medication

they decided violated their system of personal belief, even when that

refusal directly endangers a patient's health or rights. The

legislative action follows a trend around the country as some

pharmacists seek to impose their moral beliefs on customers, sometimes

lecturing patients or even refusing to transfer prescriptions to

another pharmacy " when time is of the essence. " It is part of a

concerted attack on reproductive rights which endangers women's health

and increases the likelihood of unwanted pregnancy and abortion.

 

BIRTH CONTROL 'INTRINSICALLY EVIL': The most high-profile case of

" religious refusal " occurred in Wisconsin, where Kmart pharmacist Neil

Noesen refused to fill a university student's birth control

prescription because he believed the pills were " intrinsically evil. "

Noesen also refused to transfer the prescription to another pharmacy.

The student, who missed a day of her birth control, took Noesen to

court, where Judge Colleen Baird issued a " strongly worded decision "

recommending Noesen be suspended for two years, as well as required to

take ethics classes, alert future employers to his beliefs and pay

what could be as much as $20,000 to cover the costs of the legal

proceedings. The judge said Noesen had clearly violated state

regulations prohibiting pharmacists from engaging in practices which

could be " a danger to the health, welfare or safety of the patient or

public. "

 

WISCONSIN CONSERVATIVES SUPPORT NOESEN: Instead of heeding the judge's

recommendation and focusing on making sure pharmacists look out for

the health of their customers, Wisconsin lawmakers responded with an

attempt to pass a " refusal clause " that would give pharmacists the

right to refuse services they don't agree with. Planned Parenthood of

Wisconsin has introduced its own bill to prevent pharmacists from

injecting themselves into decisions of physicians and patients.

 

SEIZED RECORD: Efforts to support pharmacists refusing to fill

prescriptions are the latest in a series of anti-choice scare tactics

initiated by the Bush administration. Last year, then-Attorney General

John Ashcroft tried unsuccessfully to subpoena abortion records from

several Planned Parenthood affiliates as part of the government's

defense of a new law barring a certain type of second-term abortion.

And just last week, Planned Parenthood denounced prosecutors in Kansas

and Indiana for trying to seize patient medical records from clinics,

calling the actions a " coordinated attempt to intimidate health care

providers and patients. " In Kansas, Attorney General and " ardent

abortion opponent " Phil Kline has requested the medical records of 90

women from two Kansas abortion clinics, including their " sexual

history, birth control practices, prior medical and personal history,

notes from the physical examinations, and a number of other things

that the clinics contend are protected by the patient-physician

privilege. "

 

UNDER THE RADAR

 

BANKRUPTCY – JUDGES SPEAK OUT AGAINST BILL: The goal of the bankruptcy

bill steamrolling through Congress isn't to reform the bankruptcy

system, it's to destroy it. Bankruptcy judges around the country are

speaking out against the legislation. Keith Lundin, a federal

bankruptcy judge in the eastern district of Tennessee in Nashville

said, " [t]he advocates [of the bill] aren't trying to fix the

bankruptcy law; they're trying to mess it up so much that nobody can

use it. " Under the new law, repayment plans would be so expensive that

many debtors would be unable to keep up, " forcing debtors out of

bankruptcy court protection. " Creditors could then " try to force

debtors to pay the full amount owed — not the reduced amount a judge

had ordered — by moving to repossess their belongings or bringing

legal actions. " As a result, " many people would have to pay creditors

far into the future ... and thus be unable to restart their economic

lives, a long-held aim of bankruptcy. "

 

BOLTON – GROUP OF DIPLOMATS REJECTS THE NEWEST ADDITION: A coalition

of former American diplomats will be sending a letter to the Senate

with one directive: reject the nomination of John Bolton as the next

United States ambassador to the United Nations. The letter, which is

signed by nearly 60 diplomats who have served at the pleasure of both

Democratic and Republican presidents, is addressed to the chairman of

the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and not only states that Bolton

is " the wrong man for this position, " but also rebukes his " insistence

that the U.N. is valuable only when it directly serves the United

States, " a position that would impede diplomatic negotiations.

Additionally, the letter addresses Bolton's tenure as the State

Department's senior arms control official and highlights his

" 'exceptional record' of opposing American efforts to improve national

security through arms control. "

 

MEDICARE – THE NEEDIEST WON'T GET HELP: The new Medicare prescription

drug bill is a boon to the pharmaceutical industry – but those who

need help the most are unlikely to benefit. On Monday, the Bush

administration sent " 20 million applications to low-income people who

might qualify for financial assistance. " One problem: the form is so

complex it's expected " fewer than 5 percent of the people [will]

respond. " James P. Firman, president of the National Council on the

Aging, was even more pessimistic. Firman said, " [h]istorically, the

response rate to mailings like this among low-income people has been 1

percent or 2 percent. "

 

ADMINISTRATION – FLEXING MUSCLES IN SPACE: Recent technological

developments being pursued by the Pentagon as well as " a series of

Pentagon doctrinal papers " have domestic and foreign advocates of arms

control concerned " with the Bush administration's push for military

superiority in space. " These concerns do not seem unfounded in light

of the wording of the Air Force's Counterspace Operations Doctrine –

which " described ways and means by which the Air Force achieves and

maintains space superiority " – and a March 1st strategy paper signed

by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld that asserts " the use of space 'enables

us to project power anywhere in the world from secure bases of

operation.' " A former arms control official, who now serves as

president emeritus of the Henry L. Stimson Center, stated that " the

United States is moving toward a national space doctrine that is

'preemptive and proactive.' " Additionally, a foreign ambassador feared

that, " It is no exaggeration to say that outer space would become the

fourth battlefield after land, sea and air should we sit on our hands. "

 

IRAQ – PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ASSAILS CIA, INTELLIGENCE FAILURES:

Early leaks of the Silberman report – the final intelligence analysis

from the commission President Bush was forced to form in response to

the Iraq WMD intelligence failures – reveal that the document will

include " a searing critique of how the C.I.A. and other agencies never

properly assessed Saddam Hussein's political maneuverings or the

possibility that he no longer had weapon stockpiles. " Though the

C.I.A. bears much of the brunt of the criticisms on the " deeply

flawed " assumptions made about Hussein's WMD capabilities, the Defense

Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency also receive " a

hearty condemnation. " Some of the " assertions " championed by the

president and his administration in the run up to the war, and yet to

be " backed away from " by the vice president, are " particularly

ridicule[d] " in the report. The report will " warn … that major

obstacles remain to intelligence sharing among spy agencies " as well

as make suggestions for " broad changes in the sharing of information

among intelligence agencies that go well beyond the legislation passed

by Congress. " The classified version of the report delves into more

intelligence failures when it comes to Iran and North Korea's weapons

programs.

 

GOOD NEWS

 

The New York Times reports Wall Street is tightening up on ethics

violations, with corporations and their boards adopting zero-tolerance

policies towards ethical transgressions. Now, if only Congress would

follow Wall Street's lead…

 

DON'T MISS

 

DAILY TALKING POINTS: Extremists Seek More Interference in our

Personal Lives.

 

SOCIAL SECURITY: Bush proposal for personal accounts a " bad idea " and

" downright scary, " say conservative scholars.

 

SCHIAVO: Paul Krugman on extremism in America.

 

IRAQ: NYT Photo Gallery: The Wounded.

 

ECONOMY: Judges say bankruptcy bill will undermine system.

 

DAILY GRILL

 

" Scott Savelkol, Recent Graduate From Dickinson State University:

'Doing Nothing Is Not An Option.' "

 

– Article excerpt reprinted in right-wing " research briefing "

purportedly showing that Americans support President Bush's

privatization plans, 3/24/05

 

VERSUS

 

" Scott Savelkol, who recently graduated from Dickinson State

University, said he also opposes private accounts. He would prefer

lawmakers lift a $90,000 cap on wages taxed for Social Security.

'Doing nothing is not an option,' Savelkol said. "

 

– Actual quote from excerpted AP article, 3/23/05

 

DAILY OUTRAGE

 

Bob and Mary Schindler, the parents of Terri Schiavo, have authorized

a conservative direct-mailing firm to sell a list of their financial

supporters, making it likely that " thousands of strangers moved by her

plight will receive a steady stream of solicitations from

anti-abortion and conservative groups. "

 

© Copyright 2005 by American Progress Action Fund. All rights reserved.