[NLA] but wait, there's more--Similar Language from D of Justice

Wed Dec 4 12:56:25 EST 2002

Colleagues:

Here is a clip from the NYTimes yesterday about a new
administration policy of awarding bonuses to political
appointees--it shows similar language to the USDA
memo where a politicization of areas heretofore
unpoliticized is taking place: .

"An Oct. 8 Justice Department memorandum explaining
how the bonuses will be distributed within the department
says that awards for political appointees "will be limited
to truly outstanding performance that contributes directly
to achieving the president's and the attorney general's
national goals and objectives."

"The policy is causing rumblings of discontent from some
 career officials. They say the policy threatens to reward
employees for political loyalty and could force career civil
servants to compete against well-connected political
appointees for the millions of dollars in bonus money that
their bosses distribute each year. The Bush administration
did not help matters last week with the announcement that
it was setting pay increases for career federal employees
below what Congress was seeking."

More at
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/04/politics/04BONU.html?todaysheadlines

Regards,

Catherine King

----- Original Message -----
From: Mary Lynn Carver <mlcarver at nsls.info>
To: <nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Sent: Monday, December 02, 2002 10:01 AM
Subject: Re: [NLA] but wait, there's more--USDE web site

> AAA-Mennnn!!
> MLCarver
> Gurnee, Illinois
>
> "George E. Demetrion" wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 27 Nov 2002 13:27:56 -0500 "Debbie Yoho" <dwyoho at earthlink.net>
> > writes:
> >
> > But my point was that in American politics the system is designed for
one
> > point of view to prevail--for a time--and for better or worse. The trick
> > is to insure the system protects the rights of those who have points of
> > view that are "on the outs" at the moment. But I don't look to the
> > reigning party for that protection. I may differ from some on the list
> > who,
> > like me, would call themselves liberal, but at age 51 I still have some
> > cockeyed
> > >faith in both my fellow citizens and the political system we live
with.
> >  Another day will come. In the meantime, I have to consider myself
among
> > the loyal opposition--unhappily opposed, but nonetheless loyal, at least
> > to the
> > >process.
> >
> > Debbie and others:
> >
> > I see your point here, though I'm troubled by a politics that is far
from
> > as usual these days.  As I recall the Clinton administration, that
> > represented anything but the domination of democratic liberalism.  One
> > thinks in the early days of Clinton's backing off of the issue of gays
in
> > the military and the nominee of Lanie Gaunier for Atty General, where
> > Clinton pulled both of these in response to Republican pressure.  One
> > also thinks of the failure of his early domestic reform--the emphasis to
> > be placed on job training as the quid pro quo for globalization and
> > welfare reform.  And then the incompetent fiasco of his health care plan
> > which did more than anything else to usher in the 104th Contract  With
> > America Congress, which threatened to eliminate adult literacy education
> > as we have known it.  Then, Clinton's rightward turn in 1996 on what is
> > euphemistically referred to as "welfare reform," which also gave us the
> > Workforce Investment Act.  Then, finally, all that impeachment furor
over
> > that Monica stuff.  Let's say that throughout the Clinton
administration,
> > conservative forces more or less effectively checked any liberal agenda
> > that might have issued forth from the "New Democrat," William Jefferson
> > Clinton."  From a more detached point of view, one might interpret such
> > stalemate as the typical checks and balance operative through much of
the
> > relationship between the Presidency and Congress.
> >
> > I think we're in a fundamentally different mode at this time, and that
> > any analysis of what might be perceived as politics as useful needs to
be
> > carefully sifted through the ideological forces that are currently
> > operative in the political culture.  The most fundamentals factor as I
> > see it is a very intentional and methodical right wing agenda which
> > dominates the White House and has sufficient power (now) in Congress to
> > freely impose its will on the nation.  This will soon be followed by a
> > federal court system that will be heavily weighed toward the
conservative
> > agenda and its impact will be felt for years.
> >
> > The Hartford Courant reported today that major corporate financial
> > support in the industries of the pharmaceuticals and insurance (and
> > others) are shifting their contributions much more decidedly to the
> > Republican Party, where up now it had been more equitably distributed
> > between the two parties.  Then there is the nightly rantings of
> > conservative television news programs (and not just Fox TV), drawing
> > millions of viewers and playing a major role in shaping the agenda of
> > what gets perceived as news and right thinking.  Night after night, the
> > drumbeat of the conservative agenda, combined with bashings of the "far
> > left" and claims of liberal bias in the media, and by this they mean
> > Peter Jenning!!, gets aired, with nary a centrist, never mind a "far
> > left" counter voice of any substantial proportion.
> >
> > Thus,with such a potent source of political power in place, the
political
> > fundamentalism of the Bush administration has attained a powerful
> > hegemony which spans the gamut of right thinking (double entendre
> > intended) from phonics to geopolitics.  Given this power, the Hartford
> > Courant has also reported that the GOP conservatives intend to push
their
> > conservative social agenda very far, which will include some major
> > restrictions on abortion and, as I gather,. some major public funding
for
> > faith based initiatives.  If I have this right, some time ago, the Pat
> > Robertson foundation was awarded a major grant.
> >
> > So the question becomes where are the checks and balances either within
> > the government itself, within the fourth estate (the press), or in
> > citizenry grass roots activism from below?  In 1964 Barry Goldwater said
> > extremism in the cause of virtue is no vice.  Now we have such extremism
> > in the White House, in the dominant forces in Congress, in the federal
> > courts, and on cable television news.  Rather than politics as usual, I
> > see this as politics in a new, virulent key, where the Administration's
> > capacity to effectively stifle, marginalize, and repress public dissent
> > over the President's Iraqi policy is symptomatic of a broader political
> > intention to destroy any  vestiges of progressivism (or apparently even
> > centriism) as a contemporary political force and to impose right
thinking
> > on the nation in the areas of education, culture, religion, social
> > issues, civic responsibility,  and foreign policy. While they're not
> > likely to attain their full agenda, there's very little on the horizon
by
> > way of check to blunt the full impact of a very powerful effort to
> > reshape culture and politics as we have known it in the United States.
> > And this will be done in the name of patriotism and imposing leadership
> > and bringing back respectability to the President.
> >
> > May I hear an a-men!
> >
> >  And to top it off, such ideology is buttressed by the allegedly
> > anti-ideological stance of scientific based research in the areas of
> > health, education, and God knows what else as a tool to impose the Bush
> > agenda on the American people, many of whom seem quite willing to
embrace
> > it--as they can really hear no other message.
> >
> > An essential part of the process of US democratic politics is vigorous
> > dissent when it is warranted.  The times they are before us.  Even if
the
> > logic of my thinking leads me to exaggerate at time or even if at times
I
> > get it wrong, better to speak up, I say and self correct on the fly
> > rather than to keep silence in the face of this hegemonic onslaught of
> > conservative ideology.  A stout defense of the First Amendment and the
> > vitality of US democracy itself demands such a stance.
> >
> > >In terms of advocacy for the AELS, there's nothing like an ogre on the
> > horizon to unify the troops. Perhaps in the next few years the NLA
> > will>truly develop into a force to be reckoned with. We've made a start.
> >
> > That's certainly my hope too.  After reading the Action Alert on the
AERA
> > web site, one wonders to what extent NIFL will allow unfettered free
> > speech on the listservs it hosts.  That's something to keep an eye on.
> >
> > George Demetrion
> > sophocles5 at juno.com
> > >Debbie
> > >
> > >Deborah W. Yoho
> > >Co-moderator, NIFL-Health Listserv
> > >President, SC Adult Literacy Educators
> > >Executive Director, Greater Columbia Literacy Council
> > >2728 Devine Street, Columbia, SC 29205
> > >803-765-2555 Fax 803-779-8417 dwyoho at earthlink.net
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >_______________________________________________
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> > >http://literacytent.org
> > >
> >
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