Chris Hayes of the Nation Magazine:
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Engel: Terrorist suceed even when they fail.
This amazing revelation from Richard Engel brought to mind how easily Republicans are cowed by terrorism. If anything, conservatives have only encouraged terrorist to continue their campaign of fear. Maybe there's a symbiotic relationship between the two, with the media too afraid to bring up the issue?
Chris Hayes of the Nation Magazine:
Chris Hayes of the Nation Magazine:
Authoritarian Rule not going over well in Wisconsin, as Community Abandons Draconian Catholic Orthodoxy.
This is the reason I’ve always hated the Catholic Church.
Wisconsin State Journal: St. Mary's Catholic Church in Platteville, stung by a plunge in donations following the arrival of three controversial priests, has issued an urgent plea for money to keep its parochial school open.
The 75-year-old St. Mary's Catholic School is subsidized by the church, which has seen weekly donations fall more than 50 percent in four months … the school, with 106 K-8 students, needs an additional $200,000 to keep the facility open through the end of the school year.
The financial crisis coincides with Madison Bishop Robert Morlino's decision in June to bring in three priests known for traditionalist liturgy and devotion to orthodox Catholic teaching.
Changes the priests have made, including barring girls from being altar servers, led to a petition last month signed by 469 of the church's approximately 1,200 members asking Morlino to immediately remove the priests.
Changes the priests have made, including barring girls from being altar servers, led to a petition last month signed by 469 of the church's approximately 1,200 members asking Morlino to immediately remove the priests.
In a response letter to the parish last week, Morlino said the priests have his full support and will stay. He chastised parishioners for conduct he called "gravely sinful.""It grieves me to acknowledge that the reputation of three happy, holy and hardworking priests has been seriously tarnished by rumor, gossip and calumny — lying with the intent to damage another's good name — by some within the parish community," Morlino wrote in the letter.
Fay Stone, a 25-year St. Mary's member, said people are leaving and taking their money with them. Weekly collections had been running between $10,500 and $11,500 prior to the priests' arrival and now average barely $5,000.
"They're teaching morals, and that's what we need," said Barbara Splinter, a 45-year member.” The priests are "being treated very terribly," she added. Mike Worachek said he's disappointed that his fellow parishioners aren't giving the priests a chance. "I think people should grow up and face the reality that people are different and you have to accept them for what they are," he said.
Again, the Democrats aren't listening to the Republicans. NO COMPROMISES!!
Thank you Rachel Maddow, for noticing the obvious and telling the whole country how pathetic the Democratic Party really is right now.
The Voting Public Embraces their batterer, Republicans, because things will be different now...lie to us some more.
The funny thing about the recent tidal wave Republican sweep of the elections, is that it was all based on a mountain of lies. Adding to that heap, the GOP is now repeating the notion that they now reflect the public rejection of what can be only described by realists as a fictionalized Obama administration.
How effective was the conservative campaign to mislead the public? Keith Olbermann shows us:
Lies:
Obamacare will add a trillion dollars to the deficit, which is just the opposite.
The stimulus failed, the opposite of the CBO estimates that indicate it saved and created 2 to 4 million jobs.
Obama increased the deficit with liberal spending, when he saved money and decreased the deficits the Bush administration estimated for this biennium.
Oh well.
How effective was the conservative campaign to mislead the public? Keith Olbermann shows us:
Lies:
Obamacare will add a trillion dollars to the deficit, which is just the opposite.
The stimulus failed, the opposite of the CBO estimates that indicate it saved and created 2 to 4 million jobs.
Obama increased the deficit with liberal spending, when he saved money and decreased the deficits the Bush administration estimated for this biennium.
Oh well.
Clueless Tea Party Suckers. Bullying can only get them so far.
Matt Taibbi explains how the GOP played the tea party for saps. That's not to say the tea party had any clue about how to run the government, even one by, for and of the people.
Scott Walker: Let the Private Sector Job Killing Begin?
From Eye on Wisconsin:
We all know that Scott Walker will continue his model of laying off and eliminating the jobs of public employees in the state. But given his gushing over the private sector who would have thought that some of the first workers that he would lay off as governor would be 300 from private sector? ... if it wasn't for him, there are thousands of high speed rail jobs that wouldn't be in jeopardy right now. And as WISC-TV reported earlier this week, there are 300 current private sector workers that have already been laid off as a result. They are real people losing their real jobs as designers, engineers and consultants. I'm also sure that they have real families to support.
If he is successful in killing high speed rail, he will also kill the current and future private sector jobs at Talgo in Milwaukee ... Who would have thought that Scott Walker's first layoffs would happen to private sector workers?
We all know that Scott Walker will continue his model of laying off and eliminating the jobs of public employees in the state. But given his gushing over the private sector who would have thought that some of the first workers that he would lay off as governor would be 300 from private sector? ... if it wasn't for him, there are thousands of high speed rail jobs that wouldn't be in jeopardy right now. And as WISC-TV reported earlier this week, there are 300 current private sector workers that have already been laid off as a result. They are real people losing their real jobs as designers, engineers and consultants. I'm also sure that they have real families to support.
If he is successful in killing high speed rail, he will also kill the current and future private sector jobs at Talgo in Milwaukee ... Who would have thought that Scott Walker's first layoffs would happen to private sector workers?
Boehner Traumatized over Hard Work, Menial Jobs, Chasing the American Dream, working hard.
Ed Schultz says it all here:
Tea Party Candidate Platform: "You can't make specifics until after the elections."
Who wants to put the tea party in charge? Anybody?
The video below is a fascinating look at the thinking these "constitutional conservatives" use to push their agenda. After bashing Democrats for not compromising with Republicans on the health care reform bill, the tea party and GOP are promising...no compromises. Do they know how surreal they are?
Here's a clip featuring tea partier Karin Hoffman, of D.C. Works for US, pushing the idea of a stealth "surprise inside" candidate in this and future elections:
Q: What do you make of the Republicans, so many of them coming on and not being specific about where they'll make some cuts?
The video below is a fascinating look at the thinking these "constitutional conservatives" use to push their agenda. After bashing Democrats for not compromising with Republicans on the health care reform bill, the tea party and GOP are promising...no compromises. Do they know how surreal they are?
Here's a clip featuring tea partier Karin Hoffman, of D.C. Works for US, pushing the idea of a stealth "surprise inside" candidate in this and future elections:
Q: What do you make of the Republicans, so many of them coming on and not being specific about where they'll make some cuts?
Karin Hoffman: "Well, you can't really make the specifics until after the election, that would not really help you in the election process, but now that they're in office, now the discussion can happen."
How many ways can you avoid saying you support high deficits and the Bush tax cuts? Cantor goes for record.
And he's one of the Republican party leaders? In a surprisingly weak performance from Rep. Eric Cantor, the easy Fox News question "do you support keeping all the Bush tax cuts" left him scrambling to find different ways to say "yes." Kinda.
After Cantor proudly defended the idea of saving "small businesses" the pain of losing the Bush tax cut, I conveniently inserted a small piece by Keith Olbermann on what constitutes a "small business." It should put things in perspective.
Still, as clever as I think I am by doing the video clip below, the fun is still seeing Cantor evade outright support extending the Bush tax cut on the wealthy. You can't say Chris Wallace didn't try:
After Cantor proudly defended the idea of saving "small businesses" the pain of losing the Bush tax cut, I conveniently inserted a small piece by Keith Olbermann on what constitutes a "small business." It should put things in perspective.
Still, as clever as I think I am by doing the video clip below, the fun is still seeing Cantor evade outright support extending the Bush tax cut on the wealthy. You can't say Chris Wallace didn't try:
David Stockman: New GOP wants to protect Wall Street CEO's bonus pay from expiring Bush tax cuts.
Reagan's budget director David Stockman ripped Rep. Mike Pence's tax cut happy talk a new one, with this now unspeakable truth:
Stockman: "Two years after the crisis on Wall Street, it has been announced that bonuses this year will be $144 billion — the highest in history. That’s who’s gonna get this tax cut on the top, you know, 2 percent of the population. They don’t need a tax cut. They don’t deserve it. And therefore, what we have to do is focus on Main Street."There so much more too. Remember, you were warned, from the guy who started Reaganomics:
What a strange political world. Or is it?
Is it so strange for the Republican Party to win an election based on the poverty and joblessness they created? Is it also strange that the “massive liberal spending spree” we’ve heard so much about was a public repudiation of the stimulus package, a state saving bailout that spared the U.S. economy from spinning into a second Great Depression? Rep. Paul Ryan explains:
Which leads us to the following commentary by Motley Cow. What will the new Republican America look like?
See the whole commentary at MotleyCow.What does Conservative change look like? It’s familiar to every American. It’s the kind of Reaganomics-driven change that limited the average salary increase among middle class workers to less than 1 percent between 1980 and 2008, while simultaneously cutting taxes and government regulations in a way that launched the income of the wealthiest 5 percent into the orbit.
Tuesday’s choice for the comfortably nonthreatening 1 percent improvement stands in stark contrast to the, apparently frightening, 30 years of Dark Ages between 1950 and 1980, when the average worker’s salary rose 74.6 percent. Voters acted just in time too, for had this uncontrolled pattern of income growth for regular Americans continued through 2008, the average income of the bottom 90 percent of Americans would have been 68 percent higher than it is today: a disturbing $406 a week for the typical family.As this column has pointed out before, Republicans can take pride in never having to pay for anything. Democrats, on the other hand, can be safely saddled with the elitist albatross of having never once increased national debt as a percentage of GDP, not since FDR.
Just like those friends of yours who don’t owe anything on their credit cards. The credit card industry calls people like that “deadbeats.” Conservatives call people like that “liberals.”
One more note, just scored by PolitiFact, about Ryan's claim Obama increased spending 84 percent:
Outside experts (say the numbers) do show a big jump -- from $434 billion in 2008 to $537 billion in 2010. But that’s a 24 percent increase, not the 84 percent claimed by Ryan and his colleagues.
Ryan’s calculations also include another number -- the discretionary spending portion of the economic stimulus package. That adds another $259 million to the total, which brings it to $797 billion (with rounding) and the 84 percent.
One problem, and it’s a significant one in terms of Ryan’s statement: The stimulus
package was approved in February 2009. Ryan includes it in the 2010 totals, so the two-year trend under Obama looks like a rocket headed straight up.
The two-year trend under Obama looks more like a roller-coaster ride … Up a lot, and then down … not everyone agrees it’s appropriate to even include the stimulus money in the calculation, since it could be considered one-time emergency spending -- not part of the underlying base … the ultimate "emergency" allocation aimed at preventing another Great Depression.
Most experts told PolitiFact Wisconsin it’s fine to include it, as long as it appears as a one-time blip -- creating that roller-coaster rise and fall. It’s a nifty accounting maneuver. But it’s still a maneuver. We rate Ryan’s claim Barely True.
Viewsonic G-Tablet Silently Nudges iPad to the Ditch!
Finally, a choice and a way to steer clear of anything Steve Jobs. From a Sears review:
We recently wrote about the Viewsonic G-Tablet in this week's electronics deals roundup, and we're especially excited about this new product.
Why? Well, for starters, the G Tablet has every feature one could want from a tablet, something no other tablet of this level of quality and size can boast:
You can see why we're excited about the Viewsonic G-Tablet, and hopefully you can see why we are too.The G-Tablet features a true 10" multi-touch screen, which is very similar to that of the iPad.
The G-Tablet utilizes the hottest and most recent operating system: Android 2.2. This system supports Flash which enhances the web experience. (This is something the iPad can't do.)
It features a 16GB hard drive, but can can be expanded to 32GB via a microSD slot.
(Something else the iPad can't do.)The dual-arm processor within the G Tablet allows for easy multitasking, pictured here:
Its front-facing camera allows users to use applications such as Skype.
The G-Tablet has its own app store full of thousands of apps for you to choose from.
Homophobic resistance to Anti-bullying in schools a legitimate Reason to take them seriously?
Let’s start with the terrorizng premise of homophobia:
In truth, they appear to have their own “hidden agenda” based on biblical misinterpretations and their own sexual hangups. But that’s the socially excepted counterpoint to gay equality now.
NY Times: Alarmed by evidence that gay and lesbian students are common victims of schoolyard bullies, many school districts are bolstering their anti-harassment rules with early lessons in tolerance … Many educators and rights advocates say that official prohibitions of slurs and taunts are most effective when combined with frank discussions, from kindergarten on, about diverse families and sexuality.Sounds logical, fair and an equal rights issue. But in today’s debate, all points of view, no matter how discriminatory and unequal, are respected and given equivalence. For example:
Angry parents and religious critics, while agreeing that schoolyard harassment should be stopped, charge that liberals and gay rights groups are using the antibullying banner to pursue a hidden “homosexual agenda,” implicitly endorsing, for example, same-sex marriage.That would seem to be their own paranoid homophobic problem, and not a credible reason to oppose anti-bully rules in schools.
In truth, they appear to have their own “hidden agenda” based on biblical misinterpretations and their own sexual hangups. But that’s the socially excepted counterpoint to gay equality now.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
If Walker and the GOP are so Against Government Run Health Care, They should Give theirs Up. Walk the walk.
Just a thought, but shouldn't the press always ask that question of any taxpayer supported politician. How can these government freeloaders bash so unmercifully health care reform, misstating it as "government run," and expect to keep their own taxpayer paid insurance if it's just going to destroy the best system in the world?
Will somebody get on this?
Will somebody get on this?
Fed move Boosts Gas and Food Prices, "Imposing a new tax on consumers." Any GOP Outrage?
It's a funny thing about the Republican support of Wall Street; when investor profits directly cause what is basically a tax on consumers, after a major recession, there's not an angry word about it's job killing effects. Funny isn't it?
Just how much is that? How much of our hard earned money is taken directly out of the economy?ABC News: There's one place holiday shoppers probably won't find a bargain this year: At the gas pump. The Federal Reserve is taking steps to stimulate the U.S. economy, but those moves are also helping to push oil prices near their high for the year. That increase will eventually translate into higher gas prices.
It will probably keep rising. Some analysts think the price could be a nickel to a dime more by Thanksgiving. Besides higher prices at the pump, consumers will also pay more for basics like food.
"Effectively, what the Fed did yesterday was impose a new tax on consumers," Cameron Hanover analyst Peter Beutel said.
For every penny the price at the pump increases, it costs consumers an additional $4 million, Beutel said. If the price rises a dime, it means consumers pay $40 million more each day that 10-cent hike is in place.
Watch for it: State GOP Control means tax benefits for Business, Citizen Sacrifices of public services and safety nets.
The citizens of Wisconsin just asked for and voted in cuts to programs and services they appear to have taken for granted, just so they could pay for corporate welfare. What deal.
Maybe we were all living well beyond our means and needed a few draconian reality checks Republicans have been chomping at the bit to put in place.
How will Republicans create jobs and continue Wisconsin's shrinking wages?Wisconsin State Journal: State Rep. Robin Vos, R-Burlington, who is expected to co-chair the Legislature's budget-writing Joint Finance Committee, stressed that the first priority will be to spur the state's economy by passing a major economic growth package, which he said would include tax cuts, regulatory reform and a continuation of essential public services.
Senate majority leader, Scott Fitzgerald, wouldn't say what those cuts will be but predicted there may be an "all-out war" with unions this spring "based on their typical approach to anything that touches their bargaining process."Think about it. The war against unions is really a cover for their real agenda; They think wages and benefits are too high and detrimental to attracting busisness to our state. What Sen. Ron Johnson calls "creative destruction." Why can't we match the wage structure in China? And we will.
But business friendly Republicans are selective when it comes to contributors and who they'll be business friendly too, especially if they happen to be start-ups brought in by Democratic governors.
Trainmaker Talgo Inc. said Friday it can't promise it will stay in Milwaukee if Wisconsin scuttles its plans for a high-speed rail project as Gov.-elect Scott Walker has proposed.
Walker has criticized the high-speed rail project that would link Madison and Milwaukee as a waste of taxpayer money. He has vowed to shut down the $810
million project, which is being funded by federal stimulus money.Walker spokeswoman Jill Bader said in an e-mail that the governor-elect is "reaching out to leadership at Talgo to encourage them to stay in Wisconsin."
Talgo said at the time it planned to create 125 local jobs, not including additional
work for vendors and suppliers. Friend said the company expected to have 40
employees by the end of the month, but said she could no longer make any staffing predictions beyond that.
Sacrificing a few jobs for their grander plan of loosening business regulations and environmental controls is well worth the risk. After all, Republicans have waited a long time to turn our beautiful state for tourism into a business cesspool and dump.
Republican Plan to Create jobs; Repeal Obama Programs!!
This AP story said it all:
In a speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the only way to achieve key GOP legislative goals such as cutting government spending and repealing the health care law "is to put someone in the White House who won't veto" them.
I can't wait to see how many jobs are created in the next 6 months, the same time the Republicans gave Obama after the recession. (can't wait for the long list of excuses why their plan isn't working too)
In a speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the only way to achieve key GOP legislative goals such as cutting government spending and repealing the health care law "is to put someone in the White House who won't veto" them.
I can't wait to see how many jobs are created in the next 6 months, the same time the Republicans gave Obama after the recession. (can't wait for the long list of excuses why their plan isn't working too)
Friday, November 5, 2010
Greenberg Poll offers glimpse of Democratic strategy.
More on the reasons Democrats lost the midterms.
Progressive pollster Stan Greenberg and strategist Robert Borosage had this response from their exit polls:
"And then let Republicans kill it."
Progressive pollster Stan Greenberg and strategist Robert Borosage had this response from their exit polls:
The Wall Street bailout was "truly damaging to the president," and those who viewed banks as responsible for the economic crisis voted Republican.Those surveyed expressed frustration with what they perceived as the nation's decline, with 89 percent agreeing with the statement that "America is falling behind" in the global economy and need a competitive strategy to revive the middle class. Greenberg's poll also found that:
People are looking for "a big vision." The popularity of the Republican Party has not changed over the past three elections. Voters remained pre-disposed to support the president, and are generally hopeful about the country's future.Here's their prescription:
Focus on American jobs vs. outsourcing. Focus on a "keep your hands off" Social Security and Medicare message. Focus on the downside of repealing health-care legislation and the influence of Tea Party Republicans. And focus on the Republican support for continuing Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy.Compromise on those issues?
Survey says: bye-bye White House.It will be up to Obama, Borosage says, to lead, allay fears, and drive "bigger, more optimistic agenda.
"And then let Republicans kill it."
No growth in Hospital Costs in Massachusetts, bodes well for Obamacare.
From Econobrowser, this update on health care reform, Massachusetts style (hint, it saves lives and money):
The use of emergency rooms for routine care fell, as did hospital admissions for treating preventable conditions, and the proportion of uninsured among hospital inpatients (by 36%), while there was no increase in the growth of hospital costs. From the NBER Digest article summarizing NBER working paper 16012 by Jonathan T. Kolstad and Amanda E. Kowalski:
The national health care legislation passed in March 2010 requires U.S. citizens to obtain health insurance coverage. Modeled on legislation passed in Massachusetts in 2006, the new federal law contains many provisions that are similar to that state's reform, including new requirements for employers and expansions in subsidized health insurance.Note: the analysis in this paper relies upon data. If you are averse to looking at data, no point in looking at this paper (you know who you are).
...Using hospital discharge data, they conclude that the Commonwealth's health insurance reform reduced the number of uninsured among the inpatient hospital population by 36 percent. The reform increased coverage most among: young adults and the near elderly, men, people from the lowest-income zip codes, and people identified as black and Hispanic.
Insurance coverage through Medicaid, the state-run federal program designed for low-income people, expanded by approximately 30 percent among nonelderly residents of Massachusetts. ...
Use of hospital emergency rooms for routine care also declined after 2006: the reform’s expanded insurance coverage resulted in a 2 percentage point decrease in the fraction of hospital admissions from the emergency room. The reduction in emergency admissions was particularly pronounced among people in low-income areas of the state.
Hospital admissions for treating preventable conditions also fell. The authors find a decrease of 2.7 percentage points in inpatient admissions attributable to preventable conditions.
The authors note that the Massachusetts mandate for individual insurance coverage widened access to outpatient treatment and thus management of preventable conditions. Despite finding other hospital impacts, this study finds no evidence that hospital cost growth increased following the reform.
Conservative Wisconsin State Journal Surprised Walker Will Actually Stop High Speed Rail.
The Wisconsin State Journal thought Scott Walker was just playing politics when he made opposing the high speed rail project the main focus of his campaign. So the paper endorsed the conservative candidate. Now that he won, they’re actually surprised he intends to follow through on his campaign promise.
Here’s the bizarre midterm editorial capper:
Not only is it amazingly naive of the State Journal’s editorial board’s brain trust to assume this hot campaign issue was just talk, but you’ve got to ask how the newspaper could have missed the Republican anger over the project. Here’s the editorial from the online only, liberal Capital Times:In another surreal editorial comment by the Wisconsin State Journal: Gov.-elect Scott Walker pledged to create new jobs in Wisconsin. We're disappointed that the first people being hired for extra work are local attorneys to dream up legal arguments for stopping the high-speed train from Milwaukee to Madison.
Walker should be looking for ways to gracefully veer from his campaign pledge and accept that it would be unwise - silly, really - for Wisconsin to reject nearly $1 billion in federal funds.
We endorsed Walker, a Republican, over Democratic challenger Tom Barrett because we thought the Milwaukee County executive was better suited to tackle the black hole that has become the state budget - something the train project barely affects. Walker also was more convincing in his call for a friendlier business climate.
We knew Walker would at least make a show of trying to stop the rail line. What we didn't expect was outgoing Gov. Jim Doyle to halt it for him.
Developing a high-speed rail system is essential to Wisconsin's economic future. Failure to do so will leave the state behind as the national transportation infrastructure of the 21st century is developed.
Gov.-elect Scott Walker knows this … Unfortunately, Walker has chosen to play politics rather than lead … he now says he will use legal and political gimmicks to stop the $810 million Milwaukee-to-Madison passenger rail project. If he succeeds,
Wisconsin will not enjoy the benefits of a national passenger rail system, which will be central to the economic future not just of the Midwest but the nation.To opt out of the project would be like Wisconsin opting out of the
interstate highway system in the 1950s.It is a case of putting politics ahead of planning and common sense. And it will have severe consequences for job creation and growth in this state.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
I’m afraid were headed for a major economic collapse, one person at a time.
When average Americans defend huge tax cuts for the wealthy (remember the rich don’t pay 12.4 percent Soc. Sec. tax on anything above $106,000, like average Americans), don’t want universal health care so they don’t lose everything due to an illness, think people with good pay and benefits from government jobs should get lousy pay and no benefits like in the private sector, demand politicians listen to them and be bipartisan but then gain power promising no compromises, put the same party in power that crashed the economy and blew away 8 million jobs because they promised to create jobs, and are okay with reducing their own retirement programs while fighting for tax cuts for the wealthy…were all lost and it’s going to take a major catastrophe to restore sanity.
Take the upside down thinking by voters in Wisconsin when they voted in Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, who really did bankrupt the county, and Ron Johnson, who really defended offshoring jobs and the business climate in China while shrugging off the lost jobs in his state as “creative destruction.”
Take the upside down thinking by voters in Wisconsin when they voted in Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, who really did bankrupt the county, and Ron Johnson, who really defended offshoring jobs and the business climate in China while shrugging off the lost jobs in his state as “creative destruction.”
Chicago Tribune: Unhappiness with the federal government and the sputtering economy were too much for veteran Sen. Russ Feingold and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tom Barrett to overcome, an exit poll of Wisconsin voters showed. I worry the economy is getting worse," said Kristina Mann, a 28-year-old hair stylist in Appleton. She said she blamed Democrats and voted a straight Republican ticket. Mann said her business has slowed considerably as clients have told her they and their husbands are losing jobs.Here are more national numbers:
Wisconsin voters mirrored the nation Tuesday, with three in five saying the economy was the most important issue facing the country while only one in five chose health care. Barrett did well with voters who made under $30,000 or lived in a union household, while Walker -- the Milwaukee County executive -- did well with white Protestants and voters making $100,000 to $199,999 a year. About three-fourths of voters who thought an ability to bring about change was the most important quality in a candidate chose Johnson. Nearly half of voters surveyed said they think Congress should repeal the health care overhaul,
Related articlesNearly 9 in 10 called the economy bad and expressed worry over the coming year, and 4 in 10 said their personal finances had grown worse under President Barack Obama. All of those people leaned strongly Republican.
Stephen Skavlem, 45, a Cincinnati Republican, said of the economy "I blame the Democrats in Washington. I feel they got the keys to the castle, they couldn't reach a consensus and didn't get a lot done" ... about 54 percent expressed disapproval of the job he's doing and similar numbers said his policies will harm the country. A majority said the government should more often leave people and businesses alone another group that tilted Republican.
Asked to choose among three issues, about 4 in 10 want Congress to focus on reducing the federal deficit while nearly as many prefer spending to create jobs. Tax cuts finished last. Overall, about 4 in 10 want to continue the tax cuts approved under President George W. Bush, including reductions for people earning at least $250,000 annually. About an equal number want to let the cuts expire for the wealthiest earners ... Close to half want to repeal the health care overhaul Obama enacted this year, while about the same number want to expand it even further or leave it in place.
Taxpayers just aren’t paying enough for Voucher and Charter schools. Pony Up!
This commentary from the Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog should tell you something about the rising cost of education, which will first and foremost, force parents to pay more money out of pocket just to keep their kids in school.
.The Post-Election Education Landscape: Vouchers Up, WEAC Down by: Alan J. Borsuk
Let’s assume it’s good-bye to the 22,500-student cap on the voucher enrollment in Milwaukee. Will (Gov. Scott) Walker and the (Republican) Legislature expand the voucher program beyond the city … Will they open the doors wider for charter schools, for national charter-school operators to come into Wisconsin, and for more public bodies to be given the power to authorize charter schools? … Perhaps most important, what will the Republicans do about the per-student payments to voucher and charter schools? School leaders now are chafing under the impact of receiving less than $6,500 per student for each voucher student and less than $8,000 for each charter student. Will this be one of the very few spots where the Republicans increase the state’s financial involvement? Pretty good chance the answer is yes to all of the above.
What I didn’t know, and should have anticipated, was the growing dissatisfaction of the private sector over the “cheap” taxpayer funded student voucher. Despite the
private educational sector drawbacks that include the surprise closing of schools that aren’t profitable and tuition balances above and beyond the government voucher that have to be picked up by already squeezed income strapped parents, the public is still buying into the propagandized lie that vouchers are the answer.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Conservatives destroy judicial branch of government, just what the founding fathers would have wanted.
The grossly misnamed “Constitutional conservatives” continue to move toward a fictionalized version of our founding document, all the while portraying themselves the great protectors of our countries heritage.
They really are that dumb? The three branches of government are supposed to be independent...checks and balances...oh what the hell.NY Times: An unprecedented vote to remove three Iowa Supreme Court justices who were part of the unanimous decision that legalized same-sex marriage in the state was celebrated by conservatives as a popular rebuke of judicial overreach, even as it alarmed proponents of an independent judiciary.
The outcome of the election was heralded … as a national demonstration that conservatives who have long complained about “legislators in robes” are able to effectively target and remove judges who issue unpopular decisions. Leaders of the recall campaign said the results should be a warning to judges elsewhere.
“I think it will send a message across the country that the power resides with the people,” said Bob Vander Plaats, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor who led the campaign. “It’s we the people, not we the courts.”
Protesters who claim judges who make “unpopular” decisions are "legislators in robes" are actually creating just that:But critics of the campaign said the politicization of uncontested judicial elections represented a danger. “What is so disturbing about this is that it really might cause judges in the future to be less willing to protect minorities out of fear that they might be voted out of office,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the University of California, Irvine, School of Law. “Something like this really does chill other judges.”
From its first decision in 1839, the Iowa Supreme Court demonstrated a willingness to push ahead of public opinion on matters of minority rights, ruling against slavery, school segregation and discrimination decades before the national mood shifted toward racial equality. Conservative groups this year launched similar campaigns in a number of the 16 states that use merit selection, targeting supreme court justices for rulings on abortion, taxes, tort reform and health care … all re-elected.
Related articlesJoseph R. Grodin, a law professor who was one of the three California judges who lost a re-election bid. “But more than that,” he continued, “I think the damage is not on judges, but that courts will come to be seen and judges will come to be seen as simply legislators with robes.”
The judges declined requests for interviews but released a statement that decried what they called “an unprecedented attack by out-of-state special interest groups.” The statement defended the system for selecting judges but offered what a veiled warning about populist impulses to remake the judiciary: “Ultimately, however, the preservation of our state’s fair and impartial courts will require more than the integrity and fortitude of individual judges, it will require the steadfast support of the people.”
“A lot of time we start in the courts because they’re there to protect the minority against the tyranny of the majority,” said Carolyn Jenisen, executive director of One Iowa, an organization supporting gay rights, “Because they’re there to make tough decisions without regard to popular opinion.”
In with Money, out with The League of Women Voters.
I guess some people weren't "listening to them."
It's a familiar line heard often at townhall meetings, shouted by misinformed tea party protesters around the country. But now those voices seem to be broadening their "your not listening to us" theme to their fellow Americans. Take the story of the League of Women Voters, in this Capital Times editorial:
It's a familiar line heard often at townhall meetings, shouted by misinformed tea party protesters around the country. But now those voices seem to be broadening their "your not listening to us" theme to their fellow Americans. Take the story of the League of Women Voters, in this Capital Times editorial:
The League of Women Voters, founded 90 years ago as an extension of the women’s suffrage movement, has worked harder and longer than any other group in the United States to ensure that this country’s elections are fair, that citizens can engage, and that the promise of American democracy will be fully realized.
Historically, candidates of all parties have respected and worked with the league.
But as big money has taken over the electoral process, the league has been pushed aside by the power players, who would rather manipulate elections than allow voters to make honest and informed choices.
The 2010 election season saw several ugly and discouraging assaults on the league’s work nationally by political insiders … After backers of a Republican congressional candidate in Illinois organized an interruption of a league-sponsored debate -- by demanding that the crowd recite the Pledge of Allegiance and then shouting down the moderator -- the moderator received death threats.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the FBI was called in to investigate. La Crosse and Milwaukee-area debates were also interrupted, as were debates in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and other states.
With tens of millions of dollars flowing into the political process from corporations and wealthy individuals who want to buy results favorable to their interests, it is now possible to gain that control via television ads, mass mailings and appearances on “echo chamber” talk radio and television programs. And thanks to favorable rulings by the current Supreme Court, the political players can send their messages anonymously and with no limits on spending.
Rand Paul on our new Corporate Lords: "We all either work for rich people or we sell stuff to rich people."
The election has come and gone. Republicans are now on the hook to show the American voters what they plan change. But change is not coming to the "burdened" wealthy and corporate elite, it's coming in the form of "shared" sacrifice" by the spoiled working class.
Since we've given them personhood, corporations now have free speech rights. We've offered up plans to lower their taxes to almost nothing, and put them first in the pecking order to spur on an economic recovery. They're special because they're rich and provide jobs. But the new business model includes fewer employees, lower wages and major cuts in benefits. It's an economic class of royalty protected by small government conservative Republicans. Like Rand Paul:
Since we've given them personhood, corporations now have free speech rights. We've offered up plans to lower their taxes to almost nothing, and put them first in the pecking order to spur on an economic recovery. They're special because they're rich and provide jobs. But the new business model includes fewer employees, lower wages and major cuts in benefits. It's an economic class of royalty protected by small government conservative Republicans. Like Rand Paul:
PAUL: There are no rich. There are no middle class. There are no poor. We all are interconnected in the economy ... We all either work for rich people or we sell stuff to rich people. So just punishing rich people is as bad for the economy as punishing anyone. Let’s not punish anyone. Let’s keep taxes low and let’s cut spending
Let's see if Republicans can sell privatizing Medicare? Public must sacrifice, while cutting tax burden for corporations.
Again, for the those fact check organizations who claimed Democrats were wrong saying Republicans wanted to privatize Medicare, here’s more proof to the contrary.
Giving Republicans a pass without stirring up public outrage over the cuts aided the conservative efforts to dismantle the safety net programs seniors depend on. So instead of lazily sitting around in assisted living facilities, they can hit the pavement and shop for health care coverage.The Hill: A top Republican this week endorsed a GOP plan to rein in deficit spending by privatizing Medicare and scaling back the program's benefits. Rep. Spencer Bachus (Ala.) said the controversial measure — championed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) — would shore up the nation's entitlement programs … the "Roadmap" replaces Medicare's single-payer system with vouchers for those entering the program after 2020 — vouchers that would be worth less, when the program launched in 2021, than the projected benefits for Medicare enrollee under the current program, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
"Beneficiaries would therefore face higher premiums in the private
market for a package of benefits similar to that currently provided by
Medicare," CBO said.Also, because the value of the vouchers is expected to grow more slowly than medical inflation, more and more costs would shift to seniors as the voucher program ages, CBO said. "Beneficiaries would therefore be likely to purchase less comprehensive health plans or plans more heavily managed than traditional Medicare, resulting in some combination of less use of healthcare services and less use of technologically advanced treatments than under current law."
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Health Care Reform Innovation and Savings to End, Curent broken Free market to expand.
As I've been posting here, health care providers and insurers are exploring new ways to improve care and treatment outcomes, as a way of cutting the costs. With the prospects of defunding reform or flat out repeal, innovation will bow to profits once again, and fewer people covered. Take this interesting approach below:
What if doctors' offices were like the gym: pay $50 to $150 monthly and come as often as you like -- without insurance? It's already available
Thanks to a little-known provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as health care reform, beginning in 2014 a new type of medical practice will be allowed to compete within state-based insurance exchanges. They're called direct primary care practices or "medical homes."By eliminating insurance companies from the health care equation, these practices promise to lower the cost of medical care by up to 40% -- according to some experts -- the amount sucked up by insurance company profit and overhead.
The way it works Rather than paying an insurance company every month for health coverage, you cut them out and pay a doctor or group directly. It's like a gym membership: You pay every month whether you go or not, but you can go as often as you want, whenever you want.No insurance, no deductible, no paperwork, no bill. The cost: $50 to $150 per
month, depending on your age.
See what doctors and patients are saying about direct primary care in the video below, then meet me on the other side for more.
Democratic Two Year Strategy Tip #1: Ask and repeat over and over: “Where are the Jobs?”
Republicans forced Obama into a two year economic turn-around and job creation timetable, an impossible task given the Great Recession. they successfully sold that idea to an angry public.
It was an election year strategy that worked. Now it’s our turn.
At every opportunity, in every interview, debate, talk show and water cooler discussion, press your conservative blowhard, “Where are all the jobs?”
Like Eugene Kane of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote: “Will job creation start right away?”
It’s simple really, never let them forget. We want to see jobs, now, immediately before the 2012 election. Don’t blame the past.
It was an election year strategy that worked. Now it’s our turn.
At every opportunity, in every interview, debate, talk show and water cooler discussion, press your conservative blowhard, “Where are all the jobs?”
Like Eugene Kane of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote: “Will job creation start right away?”
It’s simple really, never let them forget. We want to see jobs, now, immediately before the 2012 election. Don’t blame the past.
Republicans who decry Government interference in Business now threaten businesses who opposed their political platform.
The party promising to fix the economic mess they now deny they created, with even more deregulation, are now poised to break their one big rule; picking business winners and losers. In this upside down, no real agenda, avoid the press at all costs election year nightmare, Republicans aren't waiting to break their own rules.
Who knew that free speech rights and business personhood would also subject corporate America to political retribution? The authoritarian inclinations of the Republican Party could not be more obvious.
Who knew that free speech rights and business personhood would also subject corporate America to political retribution? The authoritarian inclinations of the Republican Party could not be more obvious.
Now that’s political retribution. Imagine if a Democrat had been caught saying anything like this, suggesting of course, a pay to play system of corrupt government? But that’s not even a question asked in this Washington Post story. The unanswered question, answered here, has always been whether money really influences politicians.Republicans have a message for the businesses that worked closely with the Obama administration over the past two years on key controversial issues: We won't forget.
Take the case of Wal-Mart … it began to break ranks with industry groups by speaking out in favor of an increase to the minimum wage and health-care reform. And, for the first time in its history, it gave more money to Democrats than the GOP for Tuesday's elections … caught the eye of Republican Rep. Dave Camp (who) bluntly reminded Wal-Mart of its unpalatable position on the issue, according to sources familiar with the conversation.Companies that worked with the Democrats over the past two years would face a far less sympathetic audience from Republicans, "Some businesses joined in on the hang-me-last strategy," said Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.). "I think upon reflection, in moments of candor, they may say they were foolish to do that."
Are there any other questions about the pay to play conservative political pro-business party?GOP leaders began speaking with lobbyists and corporate donors about the imbalance in their campaign contributions as momentum for a Republican upset built over the year. In this election cycle, corporate political action committees donated $262 million, with 53 percent going to Democrats and 47 percent to Republicans … During the last midterm elections, Democrats received only 35 percent of corporate PAC money.
(Big PhaRMA’s) Billy Tauzin struck a deal with Democrats under which the industry would give up $80 billion in revenues over 10 years to help pay for the legislation. Tauzin's strategy did not sit well with House Republicans … John Boehner blasted PhRMA in a scathing letter. "Appeasement rarely works as a conflict resolution strategy," he wrote to Tauzin. "When a bully asks for your lunch money, you have no choice but to fork it over. But cutting a deal with a bully is a different story, particularly if the 'deal' means helping him steal others' money as the price of protecting your own."
"There's going to come a time when pharma companies are going to want Republicans to take a tough vote for them, and they're going to be like, 'Why are we going to walk off a cliff for you guys? You were fighting against us,' " said one Republican lobbyist, who declined to be named
in order to speak candidly.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Private School Enrollment Down, Tuition up. Public School Enrollment Down....
We always hear that public schools are more expensive than private, and that states can save lots of money instituting charter and voucher systems, all while improving competition.
But the reality of the private sector now reveals to us the dirty little truth. Privatizing education will only increase public costs per student, which in turn reinforces their argument that private schools can do the same job cheaper, while deconstructing our current public system.
The private school reality, if applied to public schools, will increase costs substantially. For example:
Simply put, public education has the ability to offer a broader variety of services to students via taxpayer support and buying power, while private schools are limited to the prevailing interests in private funding. But that’s the bigger point;Lima, Ohio: Few schools in the region have seen enrollment growth in the past 10 years, and the majority of the schools with the greatest drop are private; a trend officials said is happening around the country. “Catholic schools are struggling nationwide. It is a continual problem,” said the Rev. Stephen Blum, of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. St. Gerard Catholic School struggled the most (with a drop of) 48.7 percent, followed by Van Wert’s St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic School at 44.8 percent.
Temple Christian School Superintendent Ken Grunden sees a lack of commitment, some because of finances, to private education. The school has dropped 32.7 percent in 10 years. “Maybe they think they can get the same services at a public school,” he said. “Maybe they offer more sports, more interventions, a greater variety of services.”
The economy has without a doubt affected private schools. St. Charles and Lima Central Catholic, which saw an 18.3 percent decline, must raise tuition about every year, Blum said. “If we get more students in, that would help lower the cost across the board, but every year our student population decreases, then our cost go up,” he said.Bottom Line: In the private sector, lower student populations mean rising tuition costs. Wouldn’t that be true for public schools? And since it would be true, wouldn’t those rising costs help privatization advocates complain that public educations costs are too much?
Lima City Schools enrollment is down 25.8 percent from 10 years ago. The district loses students to community schools and online schools, and to private schools through vouchers.
How Messy was the Obama's Last two Years?
Clive Cook, of the Financial Times, wrote this analysis of the bizarre nature of the midterm elections.
First, of course, is the economy. In 2009 Mr Obama inherited an even worse mess than was realized at the time. Two years on, deleveraging has a long way to go; the housing market is not mended; consumers and investors are still anxious; growth in jobs is slow. Unemployment alone, more the fault of the previous administration, indicates a thrashing for the party in power. Right there, for some, you have the whole explanation.
Next is the president himself. Let me count the accusations. He was out of touch. He
was too professorial. He was too condescending. He was too black. (Not black enough, thankfully, has gone from the list of defects.) He failed to lead. He
deferred too much to Congress. He surrendered to the left. He surrendered to the right. He refused to fight for progressive ideas. He was only interested in progressive ideas.Messaging and personality aside, critics insist, his policies were wrong. He was too timid, say liberals. He over-reached, say conservatives. Then again, he never really seemed in charge: his policies were not his policies.
Democratic leaders in Congress did him in, acting on a mandate they never had. Republicans did him in, opposing him reflexively and telling lies. The press did him in, reporting those lies as if they were true. Gutless conservative Democrats did him in, by watering down healthcare reform and other measures. The Tea Party did him in, to save the American way of life.
The Tea Party did him in, out of pure stupid nativism. Nobody need feel, evidently, that a setback for the Democrats is an unfathomable mystery. My own preferred theories emphasise the economy – which the administration has handled tolerably well in appallingly difficult circumstances – combined with serial political miscalculation. Mr Obama often settled for untidy centrist compromises (on the stimulus, on healthcare), thus disappointing the left; but without ever championing those compromises, causing moderates to wonder where he would stop, given the chance to go further. Offending both segments was an avoidable mistake.
One should pay special tribute to the role the left has played in its own downfall. It did not have to be this way. Pleasing swing voters, if this could even be done, would be no use if committed Democrats did not vote. Tactically, it was better to prioritise as he did. As a matter of electoral arithmetic, I disagree, but the dilemma was real enough.
So credit please where it is due. The whining utopian left has a very full schedule of despising Republicans and the idiots and scoundrels (a little over half the country) who keep voting for them. Yet it can always find time to attack its own team, cry and complain, and demand to be patted on the head. The left’s role in Tuesday’s elections should not go unacknowledged.
Reform Helps Small Businesses. Others Rely on Cliched Ignorance.
To show how effective the conservative message has been about health care reform, this story is a defining moment.
Republicans not only claimed reform was too long and complicated to understand, they decided not to even read the newspaper’s reporting about the newly implemented changes. This next paragraph is stunning:NBC29: A Charlottesville small business owner claims health care reform is saving her thousands of dollars, but not everyone is sold on the reform law. One side will tell you it's extending coverage to millions, while cutting taxes. The other side says health care reform is raising taxes for some and does nothing to control costs.
Janet Miller owns a small business in Charlottesville called Search Mojo, and, for her, business is booming. Because of that, she pays 90 percent of the health care costs for her 10 full time employees. Now, thanks to health care reform, she's getting a break. Miller said, "Our company is eligible for the 35 percent tax credit this year, which will equate to about $25,000 in tax savings for my company this year."
On the conservative side, we have more of the same irrational hyperbole base solely on ideology.If it sounds hard to believe, you're not alone. Even Republican Congressional candidate Robert Hurt questioned Democrat Tom Perriello when the incumbent mentioned Miller in a debate.
However, UVA Health Policy Analyst Carolyn Engelhard says this tax credit is real. "The health care reform bill offers a tax credit to small businesses with employees between 10 and 25 employees, and the tax credits go from 35 percent to 50 percent after 2014 for those who have 10 employees, and it decreases proportionally up to 25 employees," she said. "It also includes a salary range of $25,000 up to $50,000."
Bennet Saunders owns a larger business, but doesn't fall into that category. Saunders feels it's another example of the government interfering in people's lives. He also says that the 2,800 pages of legislation is confusing. "We've talked to three different brokers this year and no one can tell us what health care is going to do," he said.Fire the brokers. Can you imagine not knowing what’s in reform if you in the business of selling health insurance? That’s what anyone in the private sector would call, incompetence.
Saunders says he's all for change, but this law is too much. "Without a doubt we need changes, but the way this thing was put together in a totally, totally partisan way was nothing but one side of the isle represented," said Saunders.It must not work if it’s a partisan bill. Like the Bush tax cuts, passed through reconciliation, right?
Engelhard says the reform does some good things. It cuts taxes for small businesses, and in 2014 the health care reform will create a health care exchange where smaller buyers can form groups, with hopes of lower rates. However, Engelhard said the health care reform doesn't control costs. Also, individuals that make more than $200,000 a year, or couples that make more than $250,000 a year, will see a tax increase.
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