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r.elrick@verizon.net
By Richard Elrick
On priorities , and
promoting the "general
Welfare"
With
each passing day, the harm
caused by the Iraq war and the
misguided national priorities it
symbolizes becomes more sadly apparent.
In speech after speech, seemingly
always before friendly military families,
President Bush attempts to describe how
successful our presence in Iraq has been.
Unfortunately, like his recently announced
goal of cutting Middle East oil imports by
75 percent within 20 years, his rhetoric in
no way mirrors reality.
With the financial costs of the war to
date at a staggering $242,537,141,000, and
growing by thousands of dollars every sec-
ond (and $4.5 billion a month), it seems
altogether appropriate to consider what
other national and international needs we
might have funded if these monies spent
on an unnecessary war could have been
diverted to some important and legitimate
peaceful purpose.
According to the National Priorities
Project , the billions of dollars expended
for the war so far could have paid for:
32,120,907 children to attend a year of
Head Start; 4,202,781 additional public
school teachers; 2,183,603 additional hous-
ing units; basic immunization for every
child in the world for 80 years; four-year
scholarships at public universities for
11,756,530 students; or health care cover-
age for 82 million children.
Instead, what GW's War has wrought is:
2,274 dead American soldiers (as of 2/18)
and 16,549 Americans wounded; between
30,010 and 40,000 Iraqi civilians killed;
terrorist recruitment and activities are up,
while Iraqi resistance skyrockets; the U.S.
government's standing and credibility in
the world is at historic lows; the majority
of U.S. troops report low morale; the U.S.
budget deficit is soaring; and volatile oil
prices continue to increase.
As Bush and his neo-con cronies contin-
ue their war on the Iraq front , they have
als.-* opened a domestic front with their
war c.gainstthe poor and dispossessed of
our cc untry. Under the phony mantra of
"streamlining government and exercising
budget discipline," the Republican con-
trolled House and Senate have passed $39
billion in budget cuts for Medicaid, Medi-
care, student loans, and child support.
According to the nonpartisan Congres-
sional Budget Office (CBO), these cuts in
benefits will result in hundreds of thou-
sands of enrollees paying substantially
more for their prescription drugs and
health care, with many (60 percent be-
ing children) losing healthcare coverage
entirely.
As was pointed out by state Sen.
Therese Murray at the recent Legislative
Budget Forum held at the Community Ac-
tion Committee building in Hyannis, these
reductions in federal funding for Massa-
chusetts could be "potentially catastroph-
ic," with cuts in funding of more than 10
percent not unlikely. These kinds of cuts
mean programs for child development ,
community policing, housing and econom-
ic and community development likely will
be eliminated or substantially reduced.
As cynical, and as painful as these cuts
will be for those who rely on the programs
being eliminated or reduced , the fact that
these cuts will be used to help fund $70
billion in tax breaks for the wealthy is
despicable and shows the big lie George
Bush's rhetoric about being a "compas-
sionate conservative" has always been.
As much as Bush and his right-wing
conservative ideologues would like the
poor and the structural problems fac-
ing our country to simply disappear, they
won't. Poverty is growing, our roads,
bridges and levees are in drastic need of
maintenance, the future of Social Security
is in doubt , and the number of Ameri-
cans without healthcare insurance rose
from 39.8 million in 2000 when Bush was
running for president to 45.8 million in
2004 -with some projections showing the
number of uninsured could be 56 million
by 2013.
For good and obvious reasons our
Founding Fathers warned against "foreign
entanglements," and wrote in the pream-
ble of the U.S. Constitution that one of the
primary obligations of government was to
promote the "general Welfare."
On both these accounts the Bush
administration and the cooperative Re-
publican Congress have failed miserably.
The priorities they have created for our
country are not emblematic of a great and
compassionate people; rather they charac-
terize a country on the way down. Let us
hope that it is not too late to turn things
around.
From Hxm
ON YOUR DANCE
CARD - The Grand
Dedication for
Freedom Hail in Cotuit
On Nov. 7, 1884
was celebrated with
a ball. As was the
fashion of the time,
the invitation doubled
as the dance card,
here showing half of
the 24 selections for
the evening. Music
was provided by Prof.
Fish's Quadrille Band.
ACROSS TIME 6PLACE
RETROSPECTIVE S FROM THE AR CHIVES
pgauvin@barnstablepatriot.com
— ¦
By Paul Gauvin |
Housing for all could be 8th
wonder of world
If ancient Egyptians had been constrained by
current state building laws and the stridence of
the CapeCod Commission,rank and file pharaohs
attempting to build pyramidsunder Chapter 40D
(D for Dead) "affordable tombs law"would still
be waiting for a final resting place.
The pyramids, the oldest of the original Seven
Wonders of the World built from about 2700 to
1000BC, simply would not be gracingthe deserts
of Giza, near Cairo. Instead, open space would
have been preserved and dearly departed mum-
mies-daddies too -would have been confined to
six by six follicles in Earth's crusty epidermis.
Againstthis historic backdrop, the Barnstable
Town Council last week invited Atty. Mark
Bobrowski, professor at New England School
of Law and recognized expert on land use, to
explain differences in various housinglawsunder
consideration by the council asit ponders afford-
able housing and growth as ongoing exercises
in near futility.
Laymen watching that show on television
learned, if little else, that affordable housing is
a lumbering enigma; that town councilors who
have to muddle through myriadlawsandpolitical
booby traps and intramural differences to help
tackle the issue are quitebraveto do so and that
20 minutes into the show the layman was yearn-
ing for the simplicity of plot governing TV Sheriff
Andy Taylor's syrupy town of Mayberry.
Councilor Ann Canedy, a lawyer who took
courses with Prof. Bobrowski at New England
School of Law and whose daughter is now a
student there, says the state offers "carrot and
stick" incentives that may or may not improve
the town's lot over the long haul.
Councilor Jim Crocker of Osterville provided
an example of such enticements by calling for
study of a law passed in November that Canedy
says could have conceivably changed a Chapter
40B housing project of 148units at Independence
Park into a Chapter 40R (orS) project of possibly
220 units. Not quite so, counters Crocker.
The public isunfamiliarwith Chapters 40R and
S that, in brief, offer cash incentives to towns
in return for redevelopment projects of sardine-
can density in an effort to fill affordable housing
needs. Councilor Canedy, in whose bailiwick
the Independence Park project is proposed ,
questions the efficacy of incentive gains vs. the
long-term problems created by mega-dense
housing.
Crocker's role alerting the town to the recent
state law was confounded by a revelation from
the floor that his cousin, John T. Shields of
Centerville, was one of three principals in Village
Green , the Independence Park project. Crocker
doesn't hide the relationship and even Canedy
said it is of no significance to her.
"My mother was a Shields," Crocker says,
noting that the Village Green principals weren't
about to chase a different permit after working
nearly four years to get the 40B. Shields' partners
are Joseph Kellerof Osterville and Daniel Griffin
of Centerville. Together they form JDJ Housing
Development Corp. of Delaware.
The project has been in the works for nearly
four years and has opposition from Barnstable
Village residents who believe an industrial
park without sidewalks and a site too close to
the airport (noise), the adult XXX zone (porn
potential) and high tension wires (shocking!) is
no place to house families.
However, even Canedy, who isn't keen on the
development , knows the town must act to reach
a 10 percent affordable housing mandate set by
the stateand that this as-is 148-unit undertaking
is important in that respect.
There are nearly 100 market-rate housing
units under construction privately in downtown
Hyannis. It shows how more quickly unfettered
market-rate developers can move vs. those
leaping through the hoops of affordable housing
regulations.
As the Cape 's labor pool and biz center,
Barnstable requires affordable housing. That's
hard to achieve in the open market when, on
one Hyannis Street alone, 20 of 31 houses are
second homes and empty all winter - heated
- but empty. They should be "affordable " but
demand by outside investors places them on
labor 's untouchables list.
Barnstable is moving against significant odds
to achieve housing for all income levels and it can
be said that if it succeeds , it may stand beside
the pyramids and qualify as the eighth wonder
of the housing world.
. cr3
i—
I
_I
CORNErl
Invites columnists to
weekend spin in ER
It is quite clear from the
first sentence and the last
paragraph that Mr. Gauvin
holds nurses and perhaps
women in fairly low esteem.
His claim that he provides
a "layman's perspective " is
quite obvious. I am sure there
is nothing much I could say to
change his mind but consider
these few facts. When you are
asleep there are nurses work-
ing. When you are enjoying
your Thanksgiving Dinner
there are nurses working.
During the last blizzard
nurses struggled to get to
work not because they have
"inflated views of self worth"
but because we know we
have a responsibility to care
for patients and relieve our
colleagues so care is provided
safely. Because hospitals
never close incentives were
provided for nurses who
work weekends or permanent
nights in attempt to cope
with a very real nursing short-
age.
In the spirit of full disclo-
sure I am not a weekend
nurse but due to relative
newness at Cape Cod Hospi-
tal I will more than likely be
bumped from my job. I would
invite Mr. Gauvin to spend
several days with me in the
Intensive Care Unit and see
disease and the dying close
up and perhaps he will see
that my job is much more
than supposed vindictive
behavior with a bedpan.
Margaret Connolly, RN
East Sandwich
Fuzzy math found in
'Florence Nightingale
missing' column
A photocopy of your "Opin-
ion" from The Barnstable
Patriot (Paul Gauvin, Feb.
17, 2006) found it's way to my
kitchen counter this morning
with the word Ignorance writ-
ten across the top, and after
reading it I could not find any
evidence to refute the label.
You see, I do not read the
Patriot on a regular basis, but
my wife happens to be one
of those weekend nurses you
attacked.
My wife, and the rest of
the nurses at the CCH are
not money hungry, greedy
vultures. They are compas-
sionate people that make
physical and emotional
sacrifices daily to keep their
jobs and sanity while helping
others. Regarding your com-
parison of their wage to local
retail workers, all of these
nurses hold college degrees,
they are highly skilled and
highly trained. They are the
last line of defense when a
doctor makes a prescription
error, or a pharmacist fills it
incorrectly.
How many "retail" work-
ers hold you or your loved
one's life in their hands on
a daily basis? If you ask me,
and many others -they are
underpaid.
The reason CCH offered
these positions in the first
place is to keep local nurses
from commuting to Boston
and elsewhere for higher pay-
ing positions -higher paying
positions that STILL exist.
It is my understanding that
there is a nursing shortage
in the rest of Massachusetts,
but apparently the CCH does
not feel this affects Cape Cod.
It would be wonderful for
our family to be in a position
to absorb the cost of this de-
cision, but unfortunately we
simply could not survive here
CONTINUED ON PAGE C.7
r
ILETTERSZ
stevetefft@yahoo.com
By Steve Tefft £
Usefu l Enemies
D
ick Cheney must go to sleep
every night thanking God for
his political adversaries...es-
peciallythe Washington press corps.
Only the DC media could turn a
hunting accident whose aftermath
was miserably handled into a story
about THEM....and actually create
sympathy for the vice president ,
whose name does not leap to one's
mind when the term "sympathetic"
comes up. If NBC's David Gregory
and the rest of the press room
caterwaulers did not exist, Dick
Cheney would have to invent them.
Admittedly, the vice president
and his underlings did not drench
themselves in glory - or efficiency
-in the aftermath of the Harry
Whittington shooting. Could they
have handled disclosure of the mat-
ter differently? Absolutely. A phone
call to the press pool reporter
would have staved off some of the
media circus that later developed.
Cheney could have made a brief
public statement - in front of a TV
camera -in the first day or two
after the accident, rather than wait
a full four days to do it. The "take
our time" approach only reinforced
the media memo that the veep is
"overly secretive " (an image still
being promoted a full week later by
Time magazine, whose cover story
was "Cheney 's Secret World" ). To
paraphrase Cool Hand Luke, what
Cheney had was a failure to com-
municate - quickly enough. But
that's an easy criticism to make
now, hindsight being 20-20.
The Whittington incident could
have developed into a fairly serious
issue for Cheney, and by exten-
sion, the Administration....if we
had a saner, more serious national
political media unclouded by its
own bias. But we don't, and that's
where the press blew it. They
viewed the accident not as what it
was - an accidental shooting whose
aftermath was botched by clumsy
decision-making - but as another
excuse to attack President Bush
(make no mistake; the rhetorical
blasts aimed at Cheney were meant
to strike Cheney's boss). Whitting-
tonGate was this month's version
of Abu Ghraib/National Guard/
Hurricane Katrina/missing Iraqi
explosives; a reason to launch an
anti-Bush jihad. And the way they
went about it -shouting accusa-
tions, eyeballs bulging with anger,
at hapless Bush spokesman Scott
McClellan -made the national po-
litical media look even more biased
than ever (if that's possible). The
print media weren't immune to the
feeding frenzy either. On Feb. 14,
the New York Times complained
that "...it took the White House
nearly 24 hours to share that infor-
mation with the rest of the nation."
Two days later, the same New York
Times labeled Cheney 's Fox News
appearance "hastily arranged".
Well, which is it? It seemed the
Times wanted information as
quickly as possible , but not if it
came via Fox News.
The mainstream media 's problem
is the same as that of the Demo-
crats: they cannot get beyond their
ideological, personal and/or policy-
based hatred of President Bush.
It colors their outlook on events,
locks them into a knee-jerk stance
of automatic skepticism, and leads
to embarrassing and self-defeating
displays like their national melt-
down over Dick Cheney accidental-
ly shooting a friend with birdshot.
It'? not pretty to watch.
In many, clear ways, the Bush
Administration is suffering from
second-termitis. The need for new,
fresh personnel is obvious, but it's
often inadvertently minimized by
a press corps that can't get out of
its own way. Time and again the
Bushies are saved from themselves
by the over-the-top anger of their
adversaries -the Democrats and
the media, two groups by now func-
tional equals.
A few weeks ago Newsweek ran
a cover story suggesting Bush was
the "president in the bubble". Last
week's press fiasco suggested it is
the media who are the ones locked
in a bubble of their own making;
one of excessive regard for them-
selves, and self-destructive loathing
of an administration many of them
have never accepted as legitimate.
From Mff lMT