Saturday, October 30, 2010

Complaint: Elderly Black Voters Intimidated at Home | Mother Jones

Complaint: Elderly Black Voters Intimidated at Home | Mother Jones

This is the next installment in Suzy Khimm's extensive coverage of the faux issue of "voter fraud." What's really happening is voter suppression and voter intimidation.

Interesting to note is the Republican clerk candidate, Natalie Nichols' response to requests for interviews. She pointedly refused. The tough questions would have been difficult for her to answer outside the conspiracy theory fishbowl of the local Republican Party. Better to avoid all contact with the "outside" world.

t r u t h o u t | Eight False Things the Public "Knows" Prior to Election Day

t r u t h o u t | Eight False Things the Public "Knows" Prior to Election Day


This stuff IS important. These types of contradictions are what this election is all about. It comes down to a blood match between the Frank Luntz talking points, an advertising campaign designed to put Republicans back in power, and the reality-based world we live in.

On one level it is fascinating to watch Wingnuts contort, twist, and try to fit narratives into these talking points. They rail against the stimulus, but celebrate the job creation from it in their own districts. They rail against "the government takeover" of health care and promise to solemnly protect medicare. They wail over the bank bailouts and curse the saving of GM, gnashing their teeth over unemployment while celebrating the jobs these two "government takeovers" saved... in their own districts.

On another more disturbing level, the Power Grab, which has been a part of politics forever, has taken on a historical intensity this year. The end result is that the campaign to attain the power simply doesn't have to make sense. The powerful ad campaign that is generating all the energy from the right is full of contradictions, hearsay, simplistic narratives, and a multitude of contradictions.

The politicians who shamelessly promote this ad campaign wear their hypocrisy on their sleeves as a badge of honor. The proudly spout the bromides that they are sure will put them back in power. That what they say is pretty much the opposite of what they will have to do when they get in power doesn't matter in the Power Grab. Getting control of the government purse strings is the only prize. It won't be pretty...

Go and vote.


Friday, October 29, 2010

The Tea Party's Election Spies | Mother Jones

The Tea Party's Election Spies | Mother Jones

Suzy Khimm is doing the heavy lifting on this important election issue. Voter fraud most surely exists. It DOES NOT influence the outcome of any election. The conservative response, let by the (I'm a Little)Tea(Pot) Party is hysterical, ambitious, and crazy. It is also beginning to have a devastating effect in some areas of the country already.

Conservatives MUST suppress the vote to win elections. Their war on the poor, the working classes, and the middle class demands them to try and keep as many of them from voting as possible.

Since the demise of ACORN, there is not much going on these days with regards to voter registration drives and this does not bode well for progressives who MUST have the support of minorities, the working classes and the middle class.

The battle is joined...

Private Prisons to hold Arizona's SB1070 Detainees. Prison for Profit

Adam Serwer Archive | The American Prospect

This then is how a conservative, free market America will work. Privateers create their own demand in collusion with legislators who are funded by the privateers.

This of course, perverts the role of the legislators who are representatives of their constituents. "Representing" the interests of the private sector is legal, but ignoring the rest of the population has a foul smell. The biggest problem?

The private prison system already introduces bad incentives into the policy-making process because people stand to make money from a more punitive, rather than a more effective prison system -- and in Arizona with SB 1070, we're seeing how that dynamic works as applied to illegal immigration. This isn't new; private prison companies have been in the business of detention for years -- but SB 1070, and the possibility that other states will follow Arizona's lead, is nothing short of a bonanza for an industry that profits from a harsh, ineffective immigration system.


Free marketeers are asking us to trust that their motives will match up with what's best for the population. This is but one example of how they don't.  If the Republicans succeed in their quest to repeal government services of all types there will surely be more examples like this, or of the family in Tennessee whose house burned to the ground while firemen watched, or health care denied or dropped because of the profit motive.

What a wonderful world it will be when our roads, our health care, our community safety, our zoning laws, our public lands, city parks, community centers, our utility infrastructure, and our public education system all come under the loving care of CEO's and corporate privateers who will turn all of these into money-making bonanza's.  I wonder.. where will the money come from and where will it go?  That great sucking sound you hear?  That's what's left of the wealth of the working classes swooshing into corporate coffers.

Yes, what a wonderful world...

More...

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Weigel : The Incredible Shrinking Joe Miller

The interesting thing here is the involvement of Sarah Palin. It doesn't seem to be helping. I was unaware until today of her unpopularity in her home state.


Obama On 'Daily Show': Stewart Presses President To Defend 'Timid' Policies, Hiring Of Old D.C. Hands (VIDEO)

Obama On 'Daily Show': Stewart Presses President To Defend 'Timid' Policies, Hiring Of Old D.C. Hands (VIDEO)

Now... with regards to my previous post, the President now speaks for himself. Please scroll down for the video interview.

You've heard the lies, now believe the facts - Barack Obama News - Salon.com

You've heard the lies, now believe the facts - Barack Obama News - Salon.com

54% ... Look at that for a little. Now look at it again. That's President Obama's approval rating... up 6 points since August. Now listen to the sadistic advertising campaign against him that's been beaten like a drum since November 2008.

Americans have some resistance to advertising, but a large batch of folks will believe something if they are told often enough. These folks, bless 'em, just don't care to do any fact checking on their own. So we have the misperceptions and lies that Mr. Lyons is referring to. I guess we'll find out if spending cuts, shrinking the tax base, and repeating the refrain that "we've fixing things," will stave off another great depression. That's the Republican plan.

I think Republicans are right about only one thing. If they keep to that last strategy, you know the one where they repeat over and over, loudly, "WE'RE FIXING THINGS!!!"?? Lots of folks will begin to believe it. Maybe that will calm folks down before they read in the small print on the back page of the newspaper that they couldn't do the first two after all....

They'll say their hands were tied by the hole that the Democratic Congress left them in. They'll say that because President Obama would veto it anyway, they won't even try. Then they'll accuse the Democrats of not wanting to "govern" in a fair and democratic way. They may even utter that strange and potent word... "obstructionists!"

Amusing....

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Wisconsin: The Tea Party test case - Tea Parties | Tea Party Movement, Tax Day Tea Party - Salon.com

Wisconsin: The Tea Party test case - Tea Parties | Tea Party Movement, Tax Day Tea Party - Salon.com

The contradictions abound. This piece by David Sirota dovetails nicely with my previous blog entry. The great swindle of '10 continues. The Tea Party strength is outrage, anger, and in the end an empty vessel. The brains behind the scenes are succeeding in using this energy to completely subvert the stated aims of the Baggers.

The case of the Wisconsin Primary is not a pure test of Tea Party power though. Mr. Johnson has split with the party line on several issues when nailed by Feingold. The bottom line remains however that the Tea Party support is enabling the Republican.
The key passage from Mr. Sirota:
On the other side is Republican Ron Johnson, the antithesis of everything the Tea Party says it stands for. In business, Johnson built a company propped up by government grants and loans -- otherwise known in Tea Party terms as “bailouts.” As a board member of a local opera house, he lobbied for funds from the same “big government” stimulus bill the Tea Party despises. During the campaign, he has touted NAFTA-style trade policies’ “creative destruction” of Wisconsin’s manufacturing economy. And rather than promoting the freedom the Tea Party says it values, Johnson has praised China’s repressive communist regime for its economic policies.
Mr. Sirota suggests that pure partisanship drives the Tea Party. I disagree. The Tea Party is an emotional response to fear. Name whatever fear you want, including the loss of prestige in our society, it is primal fear that drives the Baggers. Into this empty vessel has been poured the money of plutocrats who stand 180 degrees AGAINST what the Tea Party is fighting so hard FOR. The swindle is on and the results will be in soon.

Bob Cesca: The Republican Swindle About 'Obamacare and Stimulus'

Bob Cesca: The Republican Swindle About 'Obamacare and Stimulus'

This is a spot-on analysis. The Plutocratic machine, the power behind the scenes is running this election cycle. The Republican Party is bankrupt. They have no money. The local organizations have been swept by the (I'm a Little)Tea(pot) Party and the Plutocrats have co-opted their energy, but have kept the power to themselves.

Swindle number one, the Health Care Reform.

CMS said in November 2009 that because of the extension of Medicare and Medicaid for five years, the Health Care Program would end up COSTING $289 billion over the next 10 years. It should be noted that this is not what the Congress uses from the CBO and the same source says that it's not an "apples to apples" comparison. It does give the GOP rhetorical fodder though. In the end, Congress must use the non-partisan CBO scores.

Nobody ever said Health Care Reform would be free. The point was that Health Care for all should be a right, not a privilege. An entitlement? Republicans go all wiggly at just the mention of entitlements. They very honestly and forthrightly assert that rights ARE privileges for those who work hard, inherit a fortune, win the lottery, have enough money to make money, or just plain have money, money, money... moh-ny....

Swindle number two, the Stimulus.

Mr. Cesca says it the best,

...why are they against the stimulus? They really won't say other than to screech about how expensive it was. But, before we go further, read the paragraph about the deficit again. The Democrats cut the deficit. And then factor into the mix that $288 billion out of the $800 billion cost of the recovery act was composed entirely of tax cuts. Tax cuts! As a matter of history and taken as a lump sum, this was the largest American middle class tax cut ever. So it's not a stretch to suggest that the Republicans are suddenly against the largest middle-class tax cut in American history.
Despite the attempt to turn a derivation of the positive word "stimulate" into a negative, there's very little about the stimulus that actually sucked, other than the fact that it wasn't big enough. Beyond that, Republican voters need to ask themselves if the tax cuts were bad -- or maybe was it the new roads and infrastructure that helped to create jobs, or was it the money that was spent to keep the states out of bankruptcy and police, teachers and firemen from losing their jobs? What's awful about any of that?
'nuff said, but I like how Bob ends his piece. These are only the two biggest swindles perpetrated on the American people by the "conservatives."

It's worth noting here that this same Republican deception runs across other issues as well. Republicans are suggesting they'll protect individual liberty, while shrinking government small enough to fit into your bedroom or your uterus. Or they're running on the Constitution, while also having their hired thugs handcuff and detain a reporter in a flagrant violation of the First Amendment. Hell, some Republicans are running for U.S. Senate while opposing the 17th Amendment that established popular elections of senators. Wrap your head around that one.
Amen, Mr. Cesca, Amen.

Monday, October 25, 2010

I Wouldn't vote for a Republican, Part 3.

I wouldn't vote for a Republican. The current GOP is literally the War Party.  I'm not talking about the military, I'm talking about the domestic war they are currently waging using inflated and overblown rhetoric, a confrontational style, and extremist tribal behavior and commentary on the Fox Cable News shows.
The conservative government that has been in place since 1980, including the 8 years of the Clinton administration, has been waging a long war on the middle class, on poverty, on minorities, on labor, on education, and on our ability to govern ourselves.  The Republican candidates running for office around the country have embraced extreme, radical positions but their actual ability to govern is untested. 
This domestic warfare is funded by a few princely moguls of big business who are trying to buy America.  They are secretly channelling their funds to candidates of their choice who will be their warriors in a government they’ve confounded and stymied by all-out partisan warfare. There they will fight for a dirtier environment, for a hungrier, poorer less educated working class, and a richer, more secure, and smaller corporate elite.  For this reason alone, I would never vote for a Republican.

Fox News Loses Almost A Quarter Of Its Viewers - Lez Get Real

Fox News Loses Almost A Quarter Of Its Viewers - Lez Get Real

This friends is reality. MSNBC is gaining viewers in a wider demographic, Fox News is losing ground. The prediction that the demographic that drives the (I'm a little) Tea(pot) Party watches Fox News and responds on cue to the Fox News Cycle.

The white, aging folk who sit at home and watch the news on TV is a shrinking demographic. The most telling comment in this article is the statement that Fox is not very internet friendly, MSNBC is. I'm watching Rachel Maddow at this moment, because I'm usually doing something else at 8:00 every evening. I only listen to Countdown via podcast and I'm not the only one.

The energy gap? The problem with that scenario is that the Fox geezers are using up all the energy they have and their supply is diminishing. The rest of the folks in America are younger, more diverse, and have only just begun to show a small fraction of the energy they have in store.

Fox News pedals the antiquated "Southern Strategy" started in 1968 by Richard Nixon. Variations of this strategy have been necessary, but the desired result is still the same. Lock up the white vote, suppress the votes of all the rest. This year's "strangest election season of all time" is driven by the extreme views of candidates who carry the Republican banner. The energy expended and the level of extremism present in these campaigns can not be sustained. There isn't enough energy left in that demographic. They'll fight harder and harder but the awakening demographics of younger, newer citizens is poised to jump into the debate about their future.

My prediction? If Republicans actually do win one of the houses of Congress this fall, the awakening of the left will only speed up.  The extremist policies of the current crop of GOP candidates will become too hard to defend and the new demographics will have a huge effect on the next election cycle.  Stay tuned...

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Obama a success of historic proportions

This article by Tim Dickenson is a must read. It cuts through the fog of political warfare and nails the reality of Obama's accomplishments. Very encouraging to this Old Blue.

Amplify’d from www.rollingstone.com
Less than halfway through his first term, Obama has compiled a remarkable track record. As president, he has rewritten America's social contract to make health care accessible for all citizens. He has brought 100,000 troops home from war and forged a once-unthinkable consensus around the endgame for the Bush administration's $3 trillion blunder in Iraq. He has secured sweeping financial reforms that elevate the rights of consumers over Wall Street bankers and give regulators powerful new tools to prevent another collapse. And most important of all, he has achieved all of this while moving boldly to ward off another Great Depression and put the country back on a halting path to recovery.Read more at www.rollingstone.com
 

Friday, October 15, 2010

372 Bills That Have Been Passed by the House & Not Yet Acted Upon By the Senate (as of 8/23/10) - TheHill.com

372 Bills That Have Been Passed by the House & Not Yet Acted Upon By the Senate (as of 8/23/10) - TheHill.com

I wouldn't vote for a Republican. There are still hundreds of bills that have been passed in the House of Representatives that are awaiting action in the Senate. The Senate Republicans have embraced the political strategy of blocking these bills as long as possible to try and run out the clock on the Democrats currently in the majority. They are absolutely resolute in their commitment to making President Obama and the Democrats look bad. By not allowing even a vote on these items they are succeeding in bringing the business of the government of the United States of America to a complete halt.

This political strategy puts the GOP against such radical proposals as HR 409, Conveying Land to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, HR 548 Civil War Battlefield Preservation Act, HR 577 Vision Care for Kids Act, and HR 603 Utah National Guard Readiness Act. Could this game they are playing be any more obvious?

With Republicans the most important thing is pledging party purity over country, opposing bi-partisan and necessary legislation simply to play out a political strategy, and voting in virtual lock-step against legislation that has been approved by the majority. For this reason alone, I would never vote for a Republican.

Arguments from Global Warming Skeptics and what the science really says

Arguments from Global Warming Skeptics and what the science really says

I'd vote for anybody but a Republican. The Republican Party has fallen hook line and sinker for the Corporate subsidization of the hard line against the very idea of global warming. That means that Republicans stand aggressively against clean water, clean air, and renewable energy.

The science is complicated, but this much is very clear. If any of those Republicans running for office put their head in a paper bag and started breathing CO2, they'd pass out pretty quick and maybe even suffocate. I don't recommend that experiment to anyone. It's not that CO2 is a pollutant, it's that the percentage of CO2 and O2 is wrong.

Adding CO2 to the earth's atmosphere forces the earth's climate to change. Polluters, deniers, and, alas, Republicans are all for changing the earth's climate. I'd vote for anybody but a Republican for this reason alone.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

You're Radicals! Questions for Mr. Goodlatte and Ms O'Donnell

The Maddow Blog

A Question for Mr. Goodlatte:

If we had privatized Social Security in 2005 and, given the huge losses that would have been incurred to the citizen's retirement accounts, would you have supported a government bailout of the retiree's, both present and future, who would have otherwise had their retirement accounts wiped out?

That of course is a theoretical question. So now sir, do you support the privatization of Social Security? In your view, is this a conservative policy or is it a radical one? How does the privatization of Social Security help safeguard the future of our children and grandchildren?

Would you consign the future generations retirement income to the vagaries of the stock market? You and I know that the only winners are the ones who "let it ride." This is the strategy the US Government uses to fund Social Security. Do you have faith in the United States of America and its ability to insure the welfare of its citizents in retirement? Are the Wall Street investment firms so impoverished that they now need the trillions of dollars that will fund the future well-being of Americans to invest in profits for themselves?

In another political race to the north...

What to make of the O'Donnell campaign… Where are they? No public campaign events, no contact with the media save sanctioned conservative media. Only talking to themselves, only paying attention to themselves, only celebrating with themselves… Sounds an awful lot like group masturbation, no wait! They're against that…

Amusing….

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Behold the leader of the (I'm a Little) Tea(pot) Party. Sanctimonious Bigotry.

Political fundamentalists are as dangerous as any other kind of extremist. This is the politician who would be king, endorsing Tea Party candidates all over the country, channelling money and influence. King maker, country breaker.

Amplify’d from www.salon.com

Sen. DeMint bravely stands up for bigotry

The South Carolina Republican defends his belief that gays and unmarried women shouldn't be allowed to teach

Sen. Jim DeMint is standing behind comments he made Friday about gays and unmarried sexually active women being unfit to teach in America's classrooms. Today, a spokesperson attempted to explain the South Carolina Republican's comments: "Senator DeMint believes that hiring decisions at local schools are a local school board issue, not a federal issue. He was making a point about how the media attacks people for holding a moral opinion." Well, yeah, we do when that moral opinion is discriminatory and the person holding it has the power to influence public policy -- and so do gay rights groups and women's organizations.

DeMint's remarks at a church rally last week were reported by the Spartanburg Herald Journal: "DeMint said if someone is openly homosexual, they shouldn't be teaching in the classroom and he holds the same position on an unmarried woman who's sleeping with her boyfriend -- she shouldn't be in the classroom." He said of nearly identical comments he made in 2004: "[When I said those things,] no one came to my defense, but everyone would come to me and whisper that I shouldn't back down." How brave of him to be the martyr for self-righteous bigotry! He added, "They don't want government purging their rights and their freedom to religion." As the Charleston City Paper puts it: " DeMint's America is one where guns and God are allowed in the classroom, but not good educators who happen to have a functioning, unwed vagina or his and his bath towels."

Read more at www.salon.com
 

Friday, October 1, 2010

Good Policy. Repeat. Good Policy.

Conventional Wisdom driven by heresay and marketing. It's false. Repeat. It's false.

Amplify’d from motherjones.com

Unfortunately, it's also a testament to how little most people care about good policy and competent execution. As near as I can tell, it's practically conventional wisdom these days that the stimulus package was a complete bust—and all because the Obama administration initially made a lousy projection about the future course of the recession and suggested that the stimulus package would reduce unemployment to 8 percent. If their forecast of the depth of the recession had been correct and they'd predicted, say, 11.5 percent unemployment without a stimulus package and 10 percent with it—which is what happened—elite opinion about the stimulus would probably be completely different.


So there you have it. Good policy and good execution gets you bubkes. All it takes is one wrong forecast number to wipe it all out. Welcome to the real world.

Read more at motherjones.com
 

Government that Works.

I like the fact that the stimulus has come in on time and under budget. Sounds like good business to me. The fact that it saved our economic butts in the recent crisis is telling.



Of course, we shoulda done more.

Amplify’d from www.washingtonpost.com
Report gives stimulus package high marks



By Lori Montgomery

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, October 1, 2010;
1:38 AM




The massive economic stimulus package President Obama pushed through Congress last year is coming in on time and under budget - and with strikingly few claims of fraud or abuse - according to a White House report to be released Friday.


Coming barely a month before November's midterm elections, which will determine whether Democrats retain control of Congress, the report challenges public perceptions of the stimulus aid as slow-moving and wasteful - an image that has fueled voter anger with the dominant party. Even some former skeptics who predicted that the money would lead to rampant abuse now acknowledge that the program could serve as a model for improving efficiency in government.


"Given the ambitious nature of the stimulus, the fact that things have gone relatively smoothly suggests that they did put appropriate and adequate resources" into program oversight, said Soloway, an early skeptic of the package. "They definitely deserve credit for that," he said.


Bernstein said "people's feelings about the recovery act or the role of government in society" are unlikely to change because of Friday's report. "We have a ton more work left to do," he said.


But the report serves to verify, he said, that "the recovery act has accomplished much of what it set out to do."

Read more at www.washingtonpost.com