Chris Coons is terrible. He has been terrible when it comes to protecting the taxpayers and the fiscal integrity of the county he currently runs. According to a National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) analysis: “As New Castle County’s spending skyrocketed by 10 percent under Coons’s leadership, he shifted the burden for his irresponsibility to taxpayers with three massive property tax hikes of 5 percent, 17.5 percent and 25 percent respectively. In 2008, Fitch Ratings downgraded the county’s ‘rating outlook’ from stable to negative because the county’s cash balances were decreasing under Coons’s reckless stewardship.”Yeah, well, that’s about what you would expect a Repug to say given the fact that tax receipts declined along with matching federal dollars for Delaware and, like just about everywhere in this country, Coons had to find a way to provide existing services for less.
From here…
Republicans are likely to make hay out of a budget crisis Coons endured as a two-term New Castle Executive. Coons raised property taxes by 25 percent and laid off employees, although he said those actions were necessary to maintain the county's triple-A bond rating.And as noted here, Coons supports a lifelong ban on senators becoming lobbyists (works for me – I would say that this is an idea whose time has definitely come).
“We delivered a budget on time and with a real minimum of rancor,” he said. “That encouraged me in my gut feeling that this is a community of grown-ups — people who expect their elected officials to talk directly to them and are willing to make hard choices.” Giroux, Greg, CQ Politics, "Storming the Castle: Democrats Believe Coons Can Win," April 15, 2010(2)Giroux, Greg, CQ Politics, "Storming the Castle: Democrats Believe Coons Can Win," April 15, 2010
Often the basis for jokes, it should not be forgotten that vote fraud is a serious problem. An American is stripped of her civil rights every time vote fraud occurs. The injury is felt when her legally cast vote is cancelled out by the fraudulently cast vote. This leads to the core American belief of “one person, one vote” becoming a myth and places the outcomes of elections in doubt as vote fraud pervades our election process. Contrary to the belief of some, vote fraud is not a victimless crime.I should say that, personally, I find nothing funny whatsoever about vote fraud, whether it is real or (as it frequently is) imagined (the quintessential Repug issue where they yell that they’re being oppressed when in fact they are the ones doing the oppressing).
Since the start of this century, a myriad of characters have engaged in concerted efforts to steal elections by way of vote fraud. In 2000, there was the New York socialite using cigarettes to encourage the less fortunate to vote for Al Gore.
And as proof, I give you the following here (from Wisconsin, the state where the cigarette anecdote came from)…
A massive, coordinated and illegal plan to suppress Wisconsin voter turnout in November was exposed today by One Wisconsin Now (OWN).Gosh, teabaggers helping to commit vote fraud for real! And in collusion with the Repugs (and don’t tell the teabaggers that they’re basically Repugs in disguise, even though, based on the little they know of the issues, they really are).
The plan, targeting minority voters and students, is a joint effort of the Republican Party, Americans for Prosperity, and Tea Party groups. OWN has somehow obtained both copies of the plan and a recording of a meeting at which it was discussed, both available on a new website, SaveWisconsinVote2010.org
OWN Executive Director Scot Ross said the group will request investigations by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, as well as the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Election Integrity Task Force and the Government Accountability Board, to insure the right to vote is not stolen by these plans.
The term for what the right-wing intends to do is called "vote caging," and involves sending mail to addresses on voter lists and using returned mail to challenge voters at the polls on election day.
The result? Some voters are forced to cast provisional ballots, which require them to follow-up the day after an election for the ballot to be counted. Historically, about 35% of all provisional ballots are never counted.
Voters who have no reason to think their registrations will be challenged at the polling place may not have the required material to complete an Election Day registration, so the voter will be turned away or sent home to get more documents.
Tight credit, reduced spending, and a host of symptoms of the poor economy have pummeled businesses large and small, and workers are feeling it with 9.6 percent unemployment. Unable to find credit to expand or even endure bad times and unable to find customers willing to spend, companies are forced to lay off workers. Two hundred employees of a plant in Winchester, Va., will soon join the millions of American unemployed.This was written by U.S. House Repugs Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and “Smokey Joe” Barton and Michael Burgess of Texas, who have introduced H.R. 6144, the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act.
The Winchester 200 weren’t working for a small, struggling company. In fact, their employer, GE, is one of the world’s most robust corporations. They weren’t manufacturing high-end computers, super colliders, or luxury consumer goods Americans don’t feel they need or can afford. Instead, their product is on the shopping list of tens of thousands of Americans at this very moment. They made “old-fashioned” incandescent light bulbs. They have lost their jobs not through market failure but because Washington policy makers capriciously decided to give them the boot.
(I would ask that you hold your applause until the end of this post. Thank you.)
In addition to the fact that this attempt at legislation is like putting a band aid on a compound tibia fracture, it should be noted that the Waxman-Markey energy bill which passed the House but is (altogether now) stuck in the Senate addressed this matter and a host of other energy-related issues.
As noted here (from last year)…
This bill would complete America’s transition to a clean energy economy, which was begun in the stimulus (see “EIA projects wind at 5% of U.S. electricity in 2012, all renewables at 14%, thanks to Obama stimulus!“). Within four decades, the vast majority of American’s carbon dioxide emissions and fossil fuel consumption will be replaced by the technologies discussed here: “An introduction to the core climate solutions.”And by the way, as noted here, Barton, Blackburn and Burgess all voted No on Waxman-Markey (and I’m trying to resist snark about “dim bulbs,” I should point out).
This bill makes possible an international deal in Copenhagen this December — as well as a bilateral deal with China, hopefully sooner. Had the bill failed, the chance of humanity avoiding catastrophic climate change would be all but eliminated. As Nobelist Gore wrote earlier today, there was no “backup plan” to Waxman-Markey.
And there still isn’t, even though, as noted here, the bill could save $3,900 per household and created as many as 650,000 new jobs by 2030 (and as noted here, the bill “sets forth a series of energy efficiency programs that target energy reductions and efficiency standards in buildings, lighting and appliances, industrial facilities and public institutions,” so yes, light bulbs are covered).
Many of the gaps in the nation’s food protection system that the bill would close became apparent in the recent recall of 500 million eggs after more than 1,500 people became ill.As noted here, Coburn has received $331,822 in political campaign contributions from “agribusiness” since 1989, as well as $102, 569 from “food processing and sales.”
For instance, the F.D.A. never inspected the Iowa egg facilities at the center of the recalls. Even if it had, the agency would not have had the power to order that their eggs be recalled despite conditions it later found to be filthy. And until recently, producers were not required to ensure that their eggs were safe.
By requiring regular inspections of high-risk facilities, providing the F.D.A. with the power to order recalls and demanding food makers create plans for safe processing, the proposal would change many of the circumstances that led to the illnesses.
But in a little-known footnote to the egg recall, inspectors from the Agriculture Department regularly visited the Iowa egg facilities to grade the eggs and noted unsanitary conditions but never told the F.D.A. about them. That kind of poor communication and coordination between the government’s main food agencies is routine, and the legislation stalled in the Senate would do little to correct them.
Nonetheless, mainstream consumer advocates and major food makers are nearly united in calling for passage.
That’s one hell of a good “return on investment,” unfortunately.
1 comment:
I can always count on Mickey to leave a comment when I mention Marsha Blackburn - thanks.
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