Monday Mashup Part Two (8/23/10)

(Part One is here.)

Former Bushie Lurita Doan returned to clownhall.com today to opine as follows (here)…

Our founding fathers endorsed a fundamental belief in the importance of the presumption of innocence, but recently, the far left seems to be challenging that basic principle.

Tom DeLay was vindicated when the Justice Department dropped all charges. But, that wasn't good enough for left-wing extremist groups such as CREW that have continued their campaign to besmirch the reputation of the former House Speaker.

I thought this recent editorial from the New York Times made some good points about the “Bugman” beating the rap, as it were (here)…

The Justice Department decided last week not to bring charges against Tom DeLay, whose unethical conduct represented a modern low among Congressional leaders. The decision is a reminder that some of Washington’s worst big-money practices remain either legal or far too difficult to prosecute.

Mr. DeLay, the Texas Republican who had been the House majority leader, crowed that he had been “found innocent.” But many of Mr. DeLay’s actions remain legal only because lawmakers have chosen not to criminalize them. Mr. DeLay’s wife and daughter, for example, were paid more than $500,000 by his political action and campaign committees for “strategic guidance” and event-planning. Others in Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have put family members on the payroll.

The Justice Department spent six years investigating Mr. DeLay’s relationship to Jack Abramoff, the über-lobbyist who served three years in prison for fraud, corruption and conspiracy. Just to recall: Mr. DeLay, his wife and several staff members took a lavish 10-day golf trip to England and Scotland in 2000. The trip was arranged by Mr. Abramoff and paid for by gambling-industry clients, including the Choctaw Indian tribe. Two months later, Mr. DeLay helped kill a bill to ban Internet gambling — a proposal that the tribe and Mr. Abramoff’s other client feared would hurt their business.

There were several other trips arranged by Mr. Abramoff and conveniently followed by legislative favors. In 1997, Mr. DeLay and his wife visited the South Pacific island of Saipan. The trip was paid for by the island’s government and garment manufacturers, clients of Mr. Abramoff. Mr. DeLay later helped block a bill that would have required the garment manufacturers to pay workers the minimum wage.

Doan continues…

(The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) has declared that Mr. Delay is “one of the most corrupt” members of Congress. But, the Justice Department looked at the evidence and decided that the evidence does not support those charges.

"Innocent until proven guilty" isn't directly stated in the U.S. Constitution, but it is understood to be a fundamental principle of U.S. juris prudence. When biased groups, such as CREW, try to pass themselves off as objective third parties and try to ram through their flawed sense of moral right or wrong, they undermine citizens' confidence in our system of justice.

Of course, there is a certain irony in CREW's pretense of objectivity and their, supposedly, objective declaration of Mr. Delay’s guilt since their efforts are made, at least partly, possible with generous funding from George Soros, who may be politically motivated to press such an attack.

As noted here (near the bottom), Soros “does (not) have any input over CREW's day to day activities.”

Continuing with Doan…

This intolerance seems merely the latest manifestation of the age of oversight and investigations where powerful politicians, looking for an edge in forcing legislation or winning an election, find willing allies in the press, special interest groups and federal investigator corps anxious to escalate any “allegation” into a page one scandal.

For example, Speaker Pelosi's reaction when Americans objected to the building of a mosque at Ground Zero was to call for an investigation into the funding of the protesters. Too often, Americans are seeing congress abusing their positions of power, using investigations to settle policy disputes, preferring to attack using the levers within their control rather than debate the merits of an issue.

I can’t think of a word to describe the willful ignorance of that observation, considering that Doan, as former head of the GSA, was a charter member of the Bushco gang that, as noted here, used the Patriot Act to try and criminalize the activities of antiwar protesters, which, I would say, goes just a bit beyond trying to find out how their activities were funded.

It’s fairly plain here that Doan is out to try and settle scores over accusations leveled against her that, while employed by our prior ruling cabal, she quite probably violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits government resources – including employees' time or space in a government building – from being used for partisan politics (first item from here).

Doan finishes by asking “Where does one go to get one’s reputation back?”

Gee, I don’t know - maybe the same place you would go to find out what happened to the following: $14,000 for Internet dating services and a dinner at a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Orlando, Fla.; $45,000 at Brooks Brothers and similar stores for tailor-made suits — $7,000 of which were purchased a week before Christmas; and $642,000 from 180 convenience checks written by an Agriculture department employee for a live-in boyfriend over a six-year period (all charges on government credit cards that should have been flagged by Doan and her agency, seeing as how they constituted abuses on her watch).

Next, we had the following from Repug U.S. House Rep Ted Poe last week (here in the New York Times)…

The Republican National Committee is demanding that the Census Bureau stop being so nosy, or at least stop requiring that Americans comply.

The Republican Party isn’t taking on the census itself, the count of the United States population made every 10 years, but the more comprehensive American Community Survey.

…

…the Republican National Committee resolved this month that the Census Bureau behaves “exactly as a scam artist would, asking very personal questions,” and called the survey “a dangerous invasion of privacy,” and “overreaching and intimidating.” The committee said the Census Bureau was “spending millions of tax dollars to violate the rights and invade the personal privacy of United States citizens.”

The resolution invokes the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and notes that the Constitution mandates a count only every 10 years — to reapportion seats in the House of Representatives. The party is demanding that the bureau either scrap the American Community Survey or make participation voluntary.

The resolution endorses legislation introduced by Representative Ted Poe, a Texas Republican, to require the bureau to stick to the basics: name, contact information, date and the number of people living at an address. A spokesman for Mr. Poe said on Thursday that the bill had attracted 34 co-sponsors.

With that in mind, we learn the following from this Daily Kos post…

..the reluctance of Texas Republicans to complete the Census might be owed to their representation in Congress, which has been quite vocal on the subject…

…

The irony, of course, is that the lunatic rants of GOP Congressman like Poe and (Ron) Paul, should they prove successful, will have one near-certain consequence: fewer Republican districts. Meaning, of course, fewer Republican Congressmen.

Tee hee hee…

Next, this Times story tells us the following…

David A. Moss, an economic and policy historian at the Harvard Business School, has spent years studying income inequality. While he has long believed that the growing disparity between the rich and poor was harmful to the people on the bottom, he says he hadn’t seen the risks to the world of finance, where many of the richest earn their great fortunes.

Now, as he studies the financial crisis of 2008, Mr. Moss says that even Wall Street may have something serious to fear from inequality — namely, another crisis.

The possible connection between economic inequality and financial crises came to Mr. Moss about a year ago, when he was at his research center in Cambridge, Mass. A colleague suggested that he overlay two different graphs — one plotting financial regulation and bank failures, and the other charting trends in income inequality.

Mr. Moss says he was surprised by what he saw. The timelines danced in sync with each other. Income disparities between rich and poor widened as government regulations eased and bank failures rose.

“I could hardly believe how tight the fit was — it was a stunning correlation,” he said. “And it began to raise the question of whether there are causal links between financial deregulation, economic inequality and instability in the financial sector. Are all of these things connected?”

To which I reply, well, duuuh! (here is some food for thought on that subject…and I should note that this story appeared on the same day as this one in the Times, which was quite rightly commented on by Atrios and others, so it’s possible that it was overlooked).

I suppose you could file it under the category of “something our corporate media doesn’t give a fig about unless it impacts the investor class” (which is a HUGE category of stories, it should be noted).

The Times story also tells us the following...

R. Glenn Hubbard, for instance, who was the top economic advisor to former President George W. Bush, said income inequality was not the culprit in the most recent crisis.

“Cars go faster every year, and G.D.P. rises every year, but that doesn’t mean speed causes G.D.P.,” said Mr. Hubbard, dean of the Columbia Business School and co-author of the coming book “Seeds of Destruction: Why the Path to Economic Ruin Runs Through Washington, and How to Reclaim American Prosperity.”

This tells us the following about Hubbard who, like Lurita Doan, also served our prior ruling bunch of pirates…

President Bush also politicized the Council of Economic Advisers, which is supposed to produce straight analysis, not administration spin. CEA staffers complained that top Bush economic adviser Larry Lindsey, not even a member of the council, encouraged them to produce data supporting the president's controversial tax cut initiatives. CEA chairman Glen Hubbard also pushed staffers to find literature supporting the questionable argument that tax cuts created job growth.

Many thanks to the Times for more accountability-free reporting.

Finally, I give you the following from the office of Dem U.S. House Rep Patrick Murphy…

Patrick Murphy Announces New Support for Program to Expand Bucks Manufacturing

Pennsylvania Congressman visits Quakertown fabric manufacturer, highlights program that helps local small businesses secure American jobs

(Quakertown, PA) – The Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center (DVIRC) exists to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers in the region develop strategic expansion plans, increase exports, and compete in the Philadelphia area and around the world. But not enough businesses are taking advantage of the help that DVIRC could provide.

On Thursday August 12, Pennsylvania Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-8th District) visited a Quakertown manufacturing company, Fabric Development, to highlight the work that DVIRC does and how companies can learn about and use their services. He also announced that the $185,000 in federal funding he is working to get for DVIRC has cleared a key legislative hurdle toward becoming law.

“To propel our economy out of the recession, we need to focus on making things in America again,” Murphy said. “I’m committed to connecting small businesses with the resources that will help them succeed, grow, and hire new workers. DVIRC is a key resource, and I’m proud to partner with them to support domestic manufacturing here in Southeastern Pennsylvania.”

Among other things, DVIRC puts together strategic plans for manufacturing companies looking to expand, improve the efficiency of their operations, or take advantage of new export opportunities. DVIRC will meet with business owners and put together a specific proposal for that company. If the company accepts the proposal, DVIRC will serve as their consultant and help them carry out the expansion plan.

“Patrick Murphy’s support allows us to help Bucks County manufacturers operate more efficiently and create jobs, even in today’s difficult economic climate,” said Tony Girifalco, Executive VP of DVIRC. “Many of our clients have been able to avoid layoffs or even hire new workers during the recession because of the improvements they’ve made to their operations.”

“Patrick Murphy understands the needs of small businesses,” said Mary Shafer, General Manager of Fabric Development. “By supporting organizations like DVIRC, he is helping local manufacturers from the ground up, giving us the tools to increase our competitiveness and retain or hire new workers.”

Fabric Development, a fabric and textile manufacturer with 91 employees, is one of dozens of companies in the region that have benefitted from DVIRC’s services. On Thursday, Shafer addressed the changes her company has made as a result of their partnership. She said the company has adopted new “lean manufacturing techniques” to become more competitive and retain jobs. Shafer credited DVIRC’s strategic plan for the company as a main reason why they have gotten through the economic downturn without having to lay off a single employee.

To help DVIRC serve more companies, Patrick Murphy is fighting for $185,000 in federal funding that DVIRC will be use to help more small and medium-sized manufacturers develop growth strategies. That funding has been passed by the Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee, the first major step toward becoming law. DVIRC would use the funding to develop an Emerging Manufacturing Initiative, a program designed specifically for smaller manufacturers to help them develop growth strategies for their businesses and to become leaders in our regional economy.

In the past, Murphy has fought for full funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce. DVIRC is part of the national MEP network.

Companies seeking additional information on DVIRC can click here.

To reward our congressman’s good behavior, click here.

Sunday Stuff

Hopefully back to posting tomorrow - we'll see...

I liked Michael Eric Dyson after seeing him on "Real Time" every so often, and I thought he was good again in the clip below from early last week (in response to that idiot Franklin Graham - and speaking of religious propaganda, Frank Rich had a particularly good column on that today)...



...and I thought this was an appropriate meditation also.

Friday Stuff

Kudos to firedoglake for capturing this inspired moment from Chris Hayes earlier this week, sitting in for Rachel Maddow (what with MSNBC's video site still sucky and all - and by the way, Obama is a SCARY MUSLIM SCARY MUSLIM SCARY MUSLIM SCARY MUSLIM!!!!!)...



...Worst Persons" from tonight (Alan D. Aviles, president of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, gets the "bronze" for throwing out a doctor who had served there for nearly 40 years - nearly 300 medical professionals have signed a petition urging his reinstatement, but thus far, Aviles has done nothing; somebody named Patrick Tribett gets arrested again, a man with perhaps the Internet's most notorious mug shots; but Ted Nugent gets the nod for racist remarks at some venue in Iowa this month, even though he's scheduled to appear at the fiasco sponsored by "Bonkers" Beck on the 28th, the same day as Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech - all class)...



...and Jon Stewart brings us "The Ground Zero 'Mosque' - The Sequel" (neat twist at the end - had to think about it, but Stewart ultimately is right)...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Extremist Makeover - Homeland Edition
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

...and my God, am I glad this week is over (I always wondered what happened to Dr. Crusher, by the way:-).

Thursday Stuff

(Maybe back to posting tomorrow, don't know...).

Hey, did you hear the one about Rupert Murdoch giving a mil to the Repugs? Oh, wait - you mean it's for real?...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
News Corp. Gives Money to Republicans
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

...and though I always admired his politics, I was never much of a fan of his music, though I liked this tune (nor am I of observations like this - and as we know, it was illegal for any musical act in the '80s NOT to feature a satin windbreaker...pop quiz; who is the news/pop culture icon who introduces the clip - hint: he was from Philly).

Wednesday Stuff

Thank God (posting is highly questionable for tomorrow, by the way...the clip segment from about 8:00 to 9:30 should be required viewing for everyone, just before Tweety shows up though he isn't bad either, including our president who refuses to establish an actual commission of inquiry for real, as opposed to the jokey one run by Pat Roberts, into how this atrocity occurred)...



...and though a bit elegiac, I thought this was appropriate anyway.

Joe Pitts Give Us "The Business" On HCR

(The acronymn stands for Health Care Reform).

Yes, he’s at it again (and where else but The Daily Caller from a few days ago – here)…

Every year millions of Americans risk their savings and work hard to start a small business. According to the National Federation of Independent Businesses, about 1 in 10 adults are currently taking steps to create a business.

…

One provision in the new health care law will be yet another costly distraction for small business owners. In order to raise revenue to pay for the $1 trillion new health care program, the law includes a provision requiring businesses to file a 1099 form with the IRS for each supplier or service provider they pay more than $600 to in a year.

Tom Schell, a rare coin dealer in Lititz, said the provision will require him to file 4,000 1099 forms a year. He told the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, “I probably would just get out of it if it actually came to that.”

With all due respect to Mr. Schell, somehow I don’t think a rare coin dealer is going to generate much employment for the immediate future.

However, concerning the main point about the 1099 forms, this New York Times story tells us the following…

The reporting provision at issue is Section 9006 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which adds “amounts in consideration for property” to the types of payments over $600 for which a business must file an information return with the Internal Revenue Service. In addition, the provision also closes a loophole that made payments to corporations exempt from the filing requirement. Under the new law, a company will have to file a Form 1099 with the I.R.S. for every vendor from whom it buys more than $600 in goods.

The section was intended to be a fund-raiser for the rest of the health care bill; it was projected to deliver $19 billion over the course of 10 years by making it more difficult for businesses to keep income unreported. But business groups assailed the new provisions. “This is absolutely unmanageable,” said Bill Rys, tax counsel for the National Federation of Independent Business, which is leading the effort to overturn the law. “It’s not just the amount of time and money businesses will have to spend, but all that goes with collecting this information. Who do you send it to? What do you do with employees who travel and are making purchases on the road?”

OK, so what do we do about the extra reporting, then? Well, the Times tells us further that…

In the Senate, the latest incarnation of Majority Leader Harry Reid’s small-business jobs bill, proposed late Thursday night, offers his colleagues a choice: they can vote on an amendment by Republican Mike Johanns of Nebraska to repeal the new requirement (to complete the extra 1099s), or they can vote for a Democratic alternative that scales it back. (Of course, individual senators could also vote to do both or to do neither.)

The Democrats’ measure would raise the threshold for reporting goods purchased to $5,000 from $600 and would exempt businesses with 25 or fewer employees from the requirement altogether. It also excludes purchases made by credit card, because these will be reported separately by credit card payment processors under a different law that takes effect in January. These revisions, according to a Finance Committee aide, would likely cost the Treasury $10.1 billion in lost revenue.

Both amendments, however, come with a poison pill that will be tough for members on the other side to swallow. The Johanns amendment is paid for with money from health care programs created by the reform law, while the Democratic proposal is offset by eliminating an income deduction for the five largest oil companies. With each side making offers the other cannot accept, it is difficult to predict where repeal will end up.

Again, it’s kind of startling to me that Pitts, as a member of Congress, somehow doesn’t know this.

And our author concludes with this…

It’s just been four months since President Obama signed the new health care law, and already Democratic leadership is conceding that portions of the bill will harm the economy. We cannot create a massive new government entitlement program without someone footing the bill.

Small businesses all over America have just been told that they will have to pay billions more in taxes to foot the bill for Obamacare. That’s money that might otherwise go to job creation. That’s just one reason why America isn’t creating more jobs.

In response, I would ask that you consider the following about how the new health care law is projected to reduce the deficit (here).

Also, Pitts really has no room to complain about the Dems supposedly harming small business considering some of his votes in this area. With that in mind, I give you the following (here)…

Small-business credit. Voting 241-182, the House authorized the Treasury to lend up to $30 billion to community and regional banks to leverage up to $300 billion in new credit for small businesses. As collateral, the Treasury would receive dividend-paying preferred stock redeemable within 10 years. Financial institutions with assets under $10 billion would be eligible for the program. The deficit-neutral bill (HR 5297) is now before the Senate.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: John Adler (D., N.J.), Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), and Joe Sestak (D., Pa.).

Voting no: Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

Small-business investment. Voting 247-170, the House passed a deficit-neutral bill (HR 5486) that uses incentives such as nontaxation of capital gains and the waiver of certain Internal Revenue Service penalties to stimulate small-business growth. In part, the bill eliminates capital-gains taxes on the sale of certain small-business stock bought between March 15, 2010, and Jan. 1, 2012, increases deductions for start-up expenditures, and eases rules for deducting losses from investments in enterprises such as farming and energy exploration. The bill is now before the Senate.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Adler, Andrews, Brady, Castle, Dent, Fattah, Holden, Murphy, Schwartz, and Sestak.

Voting no: Gerlach, LoBiondo, Pitts, and Smith.

But wait! There’s more (here)…

Jobless, business benefits. Voting 215-204, the House passed a nearly $100 billion bill (HR 4213) that would extend jobless checks for the long-term unemployed through November and renew an array of tax breaks - such as the research-and-development credit - that benefit businesses.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Adler, Andrews, Brady, Fattah, Holden, Murphy, Schwartz, and Sestak.

Voting no: Castle, Dent, Gerlach, LoBiondo, Pitts, and Smith.

Want still more? Check this out (here)…

Summer jobs, disaster aid. Voting 239-175, the House sent the Senate a deficit-spending bill (HR 4899) to provide $600 million for summer jobs for youths and $5.1 billion for federal disaster relief. The bill defines the disaster aid as emergency spending and thus exempt from the "pay as you go" law. The bill extends until May a provision of last year's economic stimulus allowing the Small Business Administration to guarantee up to 90 percent of certain loans to companies.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Adler, Andrews, Brady, Fattah, Holden, Murphy, Schwartz, and Sestak.

Voting no: Castle, Dent, Gerlach, LoBiondo, Pitts, and Smith.

Jobs bill. Voting 246-178, the House passed a deficit-neutral bill (HR 4849) providing tax breaks to spur investment in small businesses and public-works construction by states and cities. The $18 billion-plus cost would be offset by other changes in the tax code. Under the bill, those who make certain small-business investments before Dec. 31 would receive a 100 percent exemption from capital-gains taxes on stock held for at least five years.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Adler, Andrews, Brady, Castle, Fattah, Holden, Murphy, Schwartz, and Sestak.

Voting no: Dent, Gerlach, LoBiondo, Pitts, and Smith.

Had enough yet? No? Here is more…

Jobs creation. Voting 217-201, the House passed a jobs bill (HR 2847) that would temporarily exempt businesses from having to pay the 6.2 percent employer's share of Social Security withholding taxes on workers they hire this year from the jobless ranks. Employers also would receive a $1,000 tax credit for each new hire who stays on the job for one year. The two incentives are designed to put 300,000 people back to work at a cost to the Treasury of about $13 billion.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: John Adler (D., N.J.), Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), and Joe Sestak (D., Pa.).

Voting no: Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

Allyson Schwartz didn’t vote.

To be fair, though, I should note a very rare Pitts “Yes” vote concerning small business here (maybe he was ill or something)…

Small-business financing. Voting 410-4, the House passed a bill (HR 4508) to extend several Small Business Administration loan and grant programs while awaiting Senate action on a House-passed bill to upgrade and reauthorize those programs.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: John Adler (D., N.J.), Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), Joe Sestak (D., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

But Pitts returned to form once more here (I could go on, but you get the picture)…

Estate taxes. Voting 225-200, the House passed a bill (HR 4154) to permanently extend the estate tax at a top rate of 45 percent and with provisions to limit it to individual estates above $3.5 million and joint estates above $7 million. Initially, the bill would exclude more than 99 percent of estates from taxation, including nearly all family-owned small businesses and farms. But that figure would gradually diminish because the exemption levels are not indexed for inflation. The bill's cost of nearly $237 billion over 10 years would be added to the national debt.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: John Adler (D., N.J.), Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), and Joe Sestak (D., Pa.).

Voting no: Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

Oh, and here is something else to consider when it comes to the Repugs supposedly supporting small business.

As you might expect, this is where I usually finish off one of these posts telling voters in PA-16 to oppose Pitts for election in the fall and provide a link to the web site of Lois Herr, his highly worthy Democratic opponent.

So here it is.

Tuesday Stuff

I'll let you in on something - I get fed up with the political yak-yak also, and when a certain milestone occurs, I think it's more important to commemorate that instead; this is such a milestone (And speaking of sports, can't this guy slip on a banana peel and blow out his knee or something? And yes, that is snark)...



...and this tune is a bit loosely commemorative of Thomson's achievement - OK, very loosely.

Tuesday Mashup Part Two (8/17/10)

(Part One is here.)

I give you The Orange One on the 75th anniversary of the passage of the Social Security Act last Friday (here)…

“For 75 years, the Social Security program has served the needs of millions of American seniors, and Republicans are committed to protecting Social Security and preserving this invaluable program for current and future generations of retirees. The Social Security and Medicare Trustees have repeatedly warned Congress and the American people that reforms are necessary or future benefits will be threatened.

Some Democratic leaders – from Vice President Biden to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to Majority Whip Jim Clyburn – have expressed a willingness to have an open and honest conversation about preserving the future of Social Security, but most Democrats, including President Obama and Speaker Pelosi, refuse to even acknowledge the challenges it faces. It’s time to have an adult discussion about the future of this crucial program. Working together, we can protect Social Security and ensure these critical benefits are there for America’s seniors for generations to come.”

“Republicans are committed to protecting Social Security”; Boehner makes a funny – tee hee hee…

In response, I give you Paul Krugman (here)…

Social Security’s attackers claim that they’re concerned about the program’s financial future. But their math doesn’t add up, and their hostility isn’t really about dollars and cents. Instead, it’s about ideology and posturing. And underneath it all is ignorance of or indifference to the realities of life for many Americans.

About that math: Legally, Social Security has its own, dedicated funding, via the payroll tax (“FICA” on your pay statement). But it’s also part of the broader federal budget. This dual accounting means that there are two ways Social Security could face financial problems. First, that dedicated funding could prove inadequate, forcing the program either to cut benefits or to turn to Congress for aid. Second, Social Security costs could prove unsupportable for the federal budget as a whole.

But neither of these potential problems is a clear and present danger. Social Security has been running surpluses for the last quarter-century, banking those surpluses in a special account, the so-called trust fund. The program won’t have to turn to Congress for help or cut benefits until or unless the trust fund is exhausted, which the program’s actuaries don’t expect to happen until 2037 — and there’s a significant chance, according to their estimates, that that day will never come.

However, I will agree with Boehner on one point in his Hill post; I believe he is right to say that we should have an “adult discussion” on Social Security, among other topics.

And I think that discussion should start with an explanation as to whether or not Boehner really wants to raise the retirement age to 70 for purposes of benefit eligibility, as noted here. Also, I’d like to hear him say categorically that he opposes privatization (noted here), even though, as noted here, many actually support that (fools…in that awful event, watch and see what would happen to your monthly benefit the next time the market lost 260 or so points in a single day).

Next, this story in the Philadelphia Inquirer tells us of the recent controversy surrounding Woods Services in Langhorne, PA, the residential facility that “has housed, taught, and served thousands of disabled adults and children for nearly a century.”

The school has been in the news over the recent death of Bryan Nevins, a severely autistic 20-year-old man who was left alone in the back of a parked van on a day of record-setting heat for five hours (as the story tells us…Bucks Country prosecutors have charged a veteran Woods Services counselor, Stacey Strauss, with felony neglect in Nevins' death).

Another autistic client, 17-year-old Robert Percaro of New York, ran from his building late one night last October and fell to his death from a Route 1 overpass; police and state Welfare Department officials found no fault with Woods Services in that case.

As nearly as I’ve been able to determine from my reading about Woods Services (known for a long time in these parts as The Woods School), it provides an invaluable service, enjoys a fine reputation, and is run by dedicated professionals.

However, the reason why I’m taking note of this is the following (which was also noted immediately by online commenters to the story)…

The nonprofit care center employs nearly 1,900 people in the region, from a president and chief executive, Robert Griffith, who collected $735,000 in salary and compensation two years ago to the hundreds of residential counselors, like Strauss, who earn as little as $11 an hour.

Geez, sounds like Griffith is in the running for a “Marrazzo Award” (based on this).

I have no grounds to critique Griffth’s performance in running this facility; it’s possible that he is an exemplary administrator and is thoroughly dedicated. Also, the story doesn’t tell us if this is annual salary and compensation or accumulated over a longer duration.

The fact remains, though, that we’re talking about nearly three quarters of a million dollars for running a nonprofit (and $11 an hour to pay counselors for dealing with a population of young and older adults with difficult developmental issues?).

As noted here, though, Griffith and the school have been extraordinarily generous to the Middletown Township Police Department, contributing about $35,000 per year.

What matters most in this story is resolving the matter of Bryan Nevins’ death as thoroughly as possible, from taking any and all corrective action to proceeding with the charges against counselor Stacey Strauss.

After that, though, I have a feeling that Woods Services needs a financial audit for public benefit, if for no other reason than to improve the pay rate of the individuals responsible for its day-to-day operation.

Finally (and believe me when I tell you that I tried to stay away from this topic), Larry Gatlin (??) bloviates as follows at the Fix Noise site (here)…

I have expressed my disdain for most of the president's policies. I have not been shy about "giving him what for" here on these "pages," as they say in The Wall Street Journal. I think he is totally inept and out of his depth. But inept and heartless are two different things.

I just find it hard to believe that a good, decent, smart, God-fearing Christian (ask Rev. Wright, he will vouch for him) like Pres. Obama, could be so cavalier, so out of touch, so...how can I say this... so afflicted with Cranial Rectamitis, that he would so blatantly shove his heartlessness right in the face of the good folks of Arizona, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and yes, even Kansas, by sending the first lady and one of the first daughters to SPAIN to hang with, well, SPANISH NON-AMERICANS. I just do not believe it!!

It’s been a long time since I read what passes for a post which is, in fact, a continuous comment thread IN WHICH THE AUTHOR APPARENTLY FORGOT TO UNLOCK THE “CAPS” KEY on his or her keyboard. And I suppose Gatlin is trying to be a bit tongue-in-cheek here, though the floating “Impeach Obama” ad at the top of the page kind of belies that.

Besides, I recall hearing nary a peep out of idiots currently frothing over the trip by Michelle Obama and her daughter Sasha when Laura Bush and her daughters visited Africa and took time for a “safari” (here; and when it comes to the proverbial blind squirrel finding the nut, I give you this).

As anyone with even a passing familiarity with this site knows, I had a ton of issues with a certain 43rd President of the United States and his pals, and still do, but overseas travel was not one of them.

I thought that some of the posts here about the importance of travel were well worth reading. There is no better way to acquire the perspective of other people and cultures, and though many of us don’t have this luxury because of the economy, I certainly don’t think taking advantage of this is a bad idea (contrary to the media “conventional wisdom” that apparently sprung up overnight stating that, during bad economic times such as these, those in the public eye are supposed to stay within our borders).

And for disclosure purposes, I should note that I’ve barely traveled outside this country myself. But the next time I get a hankerin’ for some Conch Fritters and a “Goombay Smash,” I’m diggin’ out my passport and hoppin’ a jet to you-know-where!

Monday Stuff

I had some stuff I couldn't quite get to today, but I hope to take care of it tomorrow.

And oh yeah, about the Afghan war...



...and RIP Abbey Lincoln, an individual who knew something about protests (here with David Sanborn).

Saturday Stuff (updates)

Yeah, Rand, the whole "Aqua Buddha" thing will just disappear over the latest 24-hour news cycle, and that will be it - sure it will (h/t Daily Kos - if you think Paul is full of it and you want to help his opponent, click here)...



...and I sure hope those zany teabaggers don't find out about this song; I'd just hate to give them an anthem of sorts (that probably won't happen, though, now that I think of it, because the song has nothing to do with a birth certificate, "socialism" or threats of violence).

(P.S. - Good for him for standing up on the mosque, by the way, though he does seem to be "walking that back" a bit.)

Update 8/15/10: OK, my bad on the "walk back" thing (here).

Update 1 8/16/10: There are times when Harry Reid is a cowardly gutter snipe, and now is one of those times (here).

Update 2 8/16/10: Talk about a picture saying a million words (here, from a commenter at Balloon Juice - h/t Daily Kos).

Update 8/18/10: Wow - just, wow (never thought I'd see this, unfortunately...h/t Atrios)

Friday Stuff

Jon Stewart brings us the wrapup of last Tuesday's political action as only he can...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Indecision 2010 - Primary Proxy Battle Theme
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...and I know we still have a couple of weeks to go for the summer (sniff), but I thought this song and video had kind of an end-of-the-holiday wistful kind of quality to it - could be just me, though.

Friday Mashup (8/13/10)

(I also posted here.)

I visited the blog at GOP.gov (yes, they have one, such as it is), and found this item, telling us the following…

Unemployment has remained at a historic high under President Obama and a Democrat-led Congress.

Actually, as noted here, unemployment reached 9.7 percent under “Republic” Party president Ronald Reagan, though I will admit that the current high number is nothing to be proud of (and not completely reflective of the Obama Administration either, it should be noted, but such are the political spoils I know).

And as long as we’re talking about jobs and presidents, this National Journal account tells us the following…

From February 2001, (George W.) Bush's first full month in office, through January 2009, his last, total U.S. nonfarm employment grew from 132.5 million to 133.5 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's an increase, obviously, of just 1 million. From January through April of this year, the economy created 573,000 jobs. Over a full year, that projects to 1.72 million jobs.

And this tells us that 431,000 jobs were added in May since that article was written (yes, I know most of them were “public” temp jobs related to the census, but a paycheck is a paycheck).

So let’s see how many “private” jobs are added for the rest of the year and whether or not it turns out that the Obama Administration will have created more jobs in a single year than Former President Highest Disapproval Rating in Gallup Poll History did throughout his entire nightmare of a presidency (and if that does indeed happen, let’s wait for the sound of crickets from gop.gov).

Also, Michael Scherer of Time tells us the following about ethically troubled Dem congressman Charles Rangel (here)…

"A gaffe happens when someone slips up and tells the truth," goes the old Washington saw. But there is a corollary: A scandal occurs when someone gets caught doing what everyone else is doing. Gambling in the casino!?! He had an affair?!? Ethics impropriety in the U.S. Congress!?! Clutch the pearls, call for an investigation, restore order.

Something like this is at play in the current excoriation of Charlie Rangel, who has been accused by the House Committee On Standards of Official Conduct of improperly raising money from companies with business before his committee for a non-profit cause--an academic center named in his honor--that amounted to a personal benefit. In a new story on Time.com, I explain why this sin is not exceptional in anything more than some of the specifics, like the type of stationary he used and the fact that, at one point, the academic center planned to give him an office.

It doesn’t come across to me, either from reading Scherer’s post or his article, that he is aware of the fact that Rangel is facing 13 counts of ethics violations in the House (here); in addition to the charge of improperly raising money from companies with business before his committee for a non-profit cause (the academic center Scherer mentions), he is also accused of using a rent-stabilized apartment in Harlem for his campaign office; of failing to report more than $600,000 on his financial disclosure report; and of failing to pay taxes on rental income from a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic.

Rangel should have taken the hint long before now and gracefully retired from a public life that, to be fair, has been rich in accomplishment. However, he now seems bound and determined to make a spectacle of himself while his party faces a difficult fall election cycle, thus giving further ammunition to the opposition.

I guess this is called “going down in flames” (and if anyone out there thought I was going to defend Rangel merely because he's a Dem, you were very much mistaken).

Next, we have the latest wingnut hero, and that would be Allen West, running against Ron Klein in Florida’s 22nd Congressional district (here)…

For retired Army Lt. Col. Allen West, Republican candidate for Congress in Florida’s 22nd District, one word seems to sum up his campaign, his career, his life: “leadership.”

“We’ve got to rediscover what leadership is in this country,” West says during an interview in Washington. “In the last 2008 election cycle, we saw American Idol play on a grand scheme. And unfortunately, we believed that giving a good teleprompter speech meant leadership.”

Uh, is West running against Klein or Barack Obama (something to wonder about based also on this, which I discussed here)? If he’s running for the GOP presidential nomination, he’s too early (but not by much).

This, though, is boilerplate stuff for West, who said here that his supporters should “make (Klein) scared to come out of his house,” part of a pattern of hate speech noted here.

The best way to respond to West, then, would be by clicking here for starters.

Update 8/18/10: West is a real sweetheart, isn't he? (here)

Finally, I give you the following from Matt Campbell, running against the totally awful Steve King in Iowa’s Fifth Congressional District…

Steve King has said some pretty offensive things in his time in Washington.

To remind the voters of the real Steve King, we've put together a "TOP 10" list of the most ridiculous, offensive, and down-right stupid things King has said. Each week, we'll work to raise $1,000 online to cross one off and to help silence him in November.

I'm working to run a positive campaign and to revitalize our economy but these statements are part of Steve King's record and sadly reflect his poor representation in Congress.

Click here to contribute $5 or more to help us cross off Steve King item #10!

The full list is below, but #10 is a golden oldie from 2005:

10. King has referred to unions as "economic weapons of mass destruction."

Unions are the backbone of American society and fought for values like the 40-hour workweek and safe work places. It is offensive that he'd compare them to "weapons of mass destruction" as unions have spent a generation building the middle class.

Help cross off King's offensive item #10 by chipping in $5 or more today (here)!

Thanks again for supporting my campaign.

I hope with your help, we'll be able to restore common-sense leadership to Iowa.

Fight on,
Matt Campbell

P.S. Here is the full list below - help us cross of item #10 by giving $5 or more!

SILENCE STEVE KING LIST….

1. King stated that American treatment of Iraqis in Abu Ghraib "amounts to hazing."

2. King called Senator Joseph McCarthy a "great-American hero."

3. King argued that President Obama "has a default mechanism that favors blacks," and has charged that the administration has a racial bias.

4. Steve King in a recent editorial indicated that Democrats are acting like Pontius Pilate in wanting to legislate comprehensive immigration reform and washing their hands of the consequences. Pontius Pilate was the Roman administrator that sent Jesus Christ to his death.

5. Steve King who had this to say on the subject of calling members of Congress "faggots" and "n__[racial slur]" after the health-care debate:"I just don't think it's anything," King said, emphasizing that the incidents were isolated. "There are a lot of places in this country that I couldn't walk through. I wouldn't live to get to the other end of it."

6. King was the only member of Congress to oppose a measure to honor the role slaves played in building the U.S. Capitol in the Visitors Center.

7. King, after hearing about a suicide attack on a federal building in Austin, said "I understand the deep frustration with the I.R.S," empathizing with an act of domestic terrorism that killed a Vietnam veteran, and injured several others.

8. King, on hearing Congressman Barton's apology for the BP escrow fund, said "I think Joe Barton was spot-on when he called it a 'shakedown.'"

9. King opposes the Treasury's efforts to fight tax evasion in international structures as it "squeezes the rich." The Treasury program King opposes follows-up on a UBS agreement to pay a $780 million fine to settle charges it helped individuals evade U.S. taxes.

10. King has referred to unions as "economic weapons of mass destruction."

To help Matt Campbell, click here.

Update 8/16/10: The beat goes on - ugh (here).

Thursday Stuff

"To fight socialism, we must become communists" - Baby Newton Leroy Gingrich (as Jon Stewart tells us below...good move to lose the goatee, by the way)...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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...and to tell you the truth, I think this guy has a good idea.

Thursday Mashup (8/12/10)

(I just don't know about posting tomorrow, by the way - kind of questionable at this point.)

I happened to come across the following at Tucker Carlson’s Crayon Scribble Page…

Seriously, Tucker, you want to go there?

How about this?

And for good measure, I give you this.

Also, it looks like former Laura Bush employee Andrew Malcolm is trying to make up for lost time, since he’s generating the “dookey” as furiously as he can (here)…

A slight majority of Americans -- 52% -- approve of Barack Obama's handling of the country's race relations.

And that's about it.

On every other issue surveyed in the new Gallup Poll, the Democrat's job approval rating is under 50% -- in some cases way under.

In fact, on eight of the 13 issues surveyed by Gallup, a majority of Americans disapprove of Obama's job -- in some cases overwhelmingly.

Like 2-to-1 overwhelmingly.

For some context, the following should be noted from here; namely that Obama’s predecessor’s disapproval rating overwhelmingly exceeded his approval rating.

Like (very nearly) 2-to-1 overwhelmingly (also, the only president with a higher disapproval number upon leaving office was Richard Nixon, who, of course, was impeached).

Also, Malcolm makes a crack about Obama supposedly “approach(ing) his next set of vacations,” when again, Number 43 set the record on that score (here).

Malcolm is truly an embarrassment, and I really go back and forth as to whether I should even waste people’s time refuting this stuff, but here’s why I end up doing it; in the ‘90s before the presidential election took place when Clinton finished his second term, there was no alternative form of media to point out that Wired Magazine was full of crap when it “reported” that Al Gore claimed that he invented the Internet.

So the lie spread. Everywhere. And every slacker or pseudo-intellectual wastoid who thought he or she was politically informed started repeating it (to say nothing of Republicans). And then it became “conventional wisdom.”

And I don’t think it will ever be completely erased from our discourse (and Bob Casey Sr. supposedly being denied the right to speak at the ’92 Democratic National Convention because he was pro-life is another one).

Next, Repug U.S. House Rep Kevin McCarthy of California tells us the following (here)…

The cartoon musical television series Schoolhouse Rock presents children with an educational perspective on how the United States government creates laws. An animated piece of legislation, aptly named “Bill,” dances on the steps of the Capitol and sings, “I’m just a bill. Yes, I’m only a bill. And I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill.” He explains to viewers the entire legislative process, from committee consideration to the possibility of a presidential veto. While this series is considered by many to be a classic teaching tool, it fails to accurately prepare its audience for the reality of this Democratic-controlled Congress.

The updated version for this Democratic Congress would educate viewers about backroom deals, payoffs and kickbacks. It would feature floor speeches about the irrelevance of the Constitution. The animated cast would include a bill too stuffed with pork to dance around on the Capitol steps, characters who exploit their positions of power for personal gain, and others who turn a blind eye to the culture of corruption they’ve bred. Characters would laugh at the idea of reading the legislation they’re voting on, and would mock any attempt to cut spending. At the end, “Bill” wouldn’t be brought up for a vote on the House or Senate floor, he would be “deemed” passed. Unfortunately, this isn’t a cartoon; it’s U.S. government.

Of course, McCarthy provides no citations, particularly for the claim that a Democratic U.S. House member said the Constitution was “irrelevant.” Also, as far as “deeming” a bill as passed, McCarthy should check to see what a senior member of his own party has to say on the subject (here).

The point of this post by McCarthy, such as it is, is to publicize the so-called America Speaking Out web site, which, as Steve Benen via Crooks and Liars tells us here, is nothing more than a PR gimmick by the congressional minority party.

McCarthy has done a good job of flying below the proverbial radar up until now, trying to do more party organizing and candidate recruitment. However, since he ended up endorsing Dede Scozzafava in the NY-23 congressional race (as noted here), it’s likely that he feels the need to burnish his supposed teabagger bona fides in response, which, for his party, is a smart move considering this.

Finally, concluding today’s conservative absurdity, J.D. Mullane of the Bucks County Courier Times inflicted the following on his blog from here, claiming that Daily Kos diarist Something The Dog Said was trying to equate the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks with teenage car crashes, in terms of the raw number of fatalities.

And having thus created his own straw man argument, he responded as follows:

Car crashes. Mass murder in the name of Islam. It's all the same to the left.

Cute.

The only problem is that the Daily Kos post came in response to the demonizing of Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is heading efforts to build a community center in New York. As noted here, Glenn Beck (first sign of trouble) claimed Rauf currently "employs" an imam who blamed "the Jews" for 9-11; in fact, the imam resigned in 2001 prior to making those comments.

Further, Daily Kos diarist STDS said as follows, in the course of a dialogue in which he tried to convince another respondent (TJ) that not all Muslims are scary terrorists trying to blow up people (which Mullane failed to note, of course)…

I stopped my conversation with TJ when it became clear we could not agree on facts. He will not accept that there is a major difference between the acts of the few and Islam as a whole. His sources of information are nearly exclusively from the radical Right. He is has a world view that does not admit accept the citizens who are Muslims value their country as much as citizens who are Christian.

As long as that is the accepted meme from the radical Right there can be no end to the suggestions of limiting the rights of Muslim citizens. They are willing to participate in guilty by religious association. No charges have been filed against Imam Rauf, no investigations by the State Department have been launched into possible ties to terrorist organizations, no evidence of any kind of misbehavior has been brought forward, yet he and the members of his mosque are accused of trying to put some kind of trophy building at the site of the 9/11 attacks. It is the worst kind of hysteria, and thoroughly un-American to do so.

Finally we come back to the Constitution. The Framers where wise in their instance there be no test of religion for public office nor that there be some religions that are favored by the State over any others. There were Muslims in the United States at the time the Constitution was written. Thomas Jefferson owned and read the Qur’an. We have had Muslim citizens who have fought in our wars, helped build our cities and make this nation what it is across its entire history. The idea that just because a majority of people have a negative opinion of this group now is reason enough to give up the level of legal tolerance that we have enjoyed for more than 220 years. This is the worst possible outcome.

Carrying out religious persecution of a majority for the sake of only a few. Deciding that baseless propaganda is actual fact and acting on that incorrect premise.

It’s all the same to the right.

Wednesday Stuff

Here's Jon Stewart's take on the "mosque that may be built at ground zero" thing (I think it would be more positive than not, but if more of the friends and families of the 9/11 victims oppose it than favor it, then their wishes should be honored)...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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...and I think this is the most appropriate tune for the occasion.

Wednesday Mashup (8/11/10)

So Ben Quayle, campaigning for the third congressional district seat in Arizona, calls Obama the “worst president in history” (here).

Gee, you would think he would want to tone it down after this.

Ben, I knew of your father when he was vice president. I laughed at his adventures with the English language, shook my head in disgust over his inability to see beyond his own privilege, and cringed at the thought that, if something were to happen to Poppy Bush, he could actually be president.

Ben, you’re no Dan Quayle.

Also from the GOP Outrage Factory, it seems like Harry Reid is today’s piñata, if you will, to be beaten with metaphorical sticks over his comment wondering why Hispanics would vote for Republicans.

I give you Mary Katherine Ham (here)…

After proclaiming that their skin color should prevent people of Hispanic descent from voting any which way they please…

This is bizarre even for the wingnuts. Where does Reid advocate such a farcical point of view?

Besides, based on this, I believe the Repugs are wasting their calories by going after the wrong target, which actually is fine with me (and I don’t recall that Ham or her pals had anything negative to say about Luis R. Guevara, who basically said here in March ’09 that the Repugs can’t count on the Hispanic vote).

And yes, I realize that that doesn’t necessarily mean that the Dems can take the Hispanic vote for granted either (or anyone else’s, for that matter).

In addition, we have Kathleen Parker of the WaPo here kinda sorta sayin’ that, well, y’know, Michelle Obama shouldn’t have taken that trip to Spain with one of her daughters…

Is it really such a terrible thing that the president's wife took a few days off to enjoy the beaches of Spain? Yes and no. Michelle Obama's trip, though expensive in the context of our dire financial straits, isn't putting a dent in the Treasury. But as a political move, it could not have been more out of step with most Americans' reality. The obvious reasons include the stagnant job market, the depleted fortunes of the middle class, millions of lost homes and, for many, the prospect of an insecure financial future.

As noted here, though, Parker has a problem with separating the smoke from the proverbial fire, if you will.

And here’s one more Parker gem from today’s column (another “zombie lie”)…

George W. Bush largely escaped scrutiny because his preferred getaway was a place no one else, especially the media, wanted to go. Crawford, Tex., in August? Fabulous.

Whatever else one thinks of Bush, he did have a sense of propriety in matters recreational, perhaps in part attributable to his life of privilege and attendant guilt. He gave up golf after invading Iraq because he felt it would look bad to be perfecting his swing while those he had consigned to battle were losing their limbs. A token, perhaps, but a gesture nonetheless.

For the record (as noted here), this tells us that Dubya claimed that he gave up golf in August 2003, but his last recorded game came in October of that year (with Brandon Friedman, a veteran US infantry officer who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, telling the Press Association: "Thousands of Americans have given up a lot more than golf for this war. For President Bush to imply that he somehow stands in solidarity with families of American soldiers by giving up golf is disgraceful. It's an insult to all Americans and a slap in the face to our troops' families.").

What exactly was Parker’s Pulitzer for again?

Finally, the race for the PA-08 U.S. House seat currently occupied by Patrick Murphy is making the news again; this tells us the following:

The candidates for the 8th District congressional seat argued about the benefits of the (recently signed $26B bill), which will keep teachers and cops on the job.

To Congressman Patrick Murphy, you're against police officers and for tax cheats if you voted Tuesday against a $26 billion bill aimed at saving hundreds of thousands of teachers and other public workers from unemployment.

To Mike Fitzpatrick, the legislation is a continuation of Democrats' "failed policies."

"The bill does nothing to create private sector jobs," he said.

…

The GOP objected to raising $10 billion in taxes on some U.S.-based multinational companies. Advocates for the poor were protesting a provision to accelerate the phasing out of an increase in food stamp payments implemented in last year's economic recovery bill. Under the measure, payments would return to pre-stimulus rates in 2014, saving almost $12 billion.

"State and local budgets are out of balance and Washington, D.C., has decided to bail them out with money borrowed from China to be paid for by our children and grandchildren," Fitzpatrick said.

In a press release, Murphy stated that "Keeping cops on the beat by closing down Bermuda tax shelters for big corporations makes sense to me."

By the way, I would ask that Mikey take a look at the black framed area in this graph. That is the portion of the debt run up by the ruinous 109th Republican Congress while he represented this district (in trillions). He can think about that the next time he prattles on about the debt we’ve run up under our Chinese “benefactors” that will have to be paid off by “our children and grandchildren” (a tragic byproduct of the offshoring of our jobs, which Mikey didn’t do a thing to prevent, it should be emphasized).

And as we know, government can’t directly compel the private sector to create a new job, though it can keep people employed in the jobs they have (Mikey is typically counting on us to forget that, of course).

I’m also not surprised to hear Fitzpatrick criticize Murphy’s efforts to keep teachers employed; this tells us that our former rep voted for a $250 annual tax credit for teachers, though, as you can view from the video here, at least one teacher far exceeded that amount in yearly out-of-pocket expenses for his students.

Also, as noted here, Fitzpatrick opposed tax credits for job creation; more than that, it’s actually funny to for Mikey to preach fiscal austerity considering all the pay raises he awarded himself when he was a Bucks County Commissioner (here).

At least one candidate in this race is doing what he can to try and revive our economy which was very nearly wrecked under Mikey, Dubya and the Repugs, and to reward his good behavior, click here.

Tuesday Stuff

After this week, I truly hope I never hear the phrase “the professional left” again (I know I got into this over here, but some of it bears repeating)…



…and one bad outcome over what Gibbs said and the fallout was that it diverted attention from this; this is the only musical response I could think of (with the late Doug Fieger…actually, I don’t have a problem with Palin’s supposed sarcastic eye roll, which I think may have been just her dimwitted attempt at being folksy, as much as I had a problem with her cronies trying to put their hands over the camera – God forbid some footage goes viral that makes her look like a dope…again).

Tuesday Mashup Part Two (8/10/10)

(Part One is here...also, I had a couple of items in my “in” bin from the weekend that I’m just getting to now.)

Timed somewhat for the 36th anniversary of President Nixon’s resignation from office over the Watergate scandal, Adam Nagourney of the New York Times reported the following (here)…

Officials at the National Archives have curated a searing recollection of the Watergate scandal, based on videotaped interviews with 150 associates of Richard M. Nixon, an interactive exhibition that was supposed to have opened on July 1. But the Nixon Foundation — a group of Nixon loyalists who controlled this museum until the National Archives took it over three years ago — described it as unfair and distorted, and requested that the archives not approve the exhibition until its objections are addressed.

The foundation went so far as to invoke Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, noting that those presidents surreptitiously taped White House conversations before Nixon stepped on the scene.

Bob Bostock, a former Nixon aide who designed the original Watergate exhibit and has been enlisted by the foundation to challenge the installation, filed a 132-page letter of objection to the archives last week, claiming that the exhibit lacked the context needed to help young visitors learning about Watergate to understand exactly what Nixon did.

“Taping and wiretapping go back as far as F.D.R.,” Mr. Bostock said. “It lacks the context it needs: that Nixon was not the first president to do some of these things and that some of these things had been going on with many of his predecessors, in some cases, much more than he did.”

It really cracks me up here that the Nixon people are acting like the fact that he taped conversations was the issue, forgetting, by design I'm sure, that the issue wasn't the actual taping, but the contents of what was taped...hush money to Watergate burglar Howard Hunt and the rest of them, what a pain in the ass Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox was as far as Nixon was concerned, some of the rough language that shocked people at the time, etc.

Richard Nixon wasn't named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Watergate cover-up by a grand jury on March 1, 1974 merely because of the existence of the taping system (the grand jury also indicted White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, assistant to the President John Ehrlichman, AG John Mitchell, Republican official Robert Mardian, Special Counsel Charles Colson, Haldeman aide Gordon Strachan and Kenneth Parkinson of the Committee to Re-Elect the President in the cover-up).

Richard Nixon wasn't maligned by individuals of diverse political persuasions merely because of the existence of a taping system in the White House, but for schemes such as formulating a plan with Haldeman to have the CIA impede the FBI's investigation of the Watergate break-in. He is also held in low regard by a great many Americans because of his "deliberate, contrived, continued and continuing deception of the American people," according to John Doar, Chief Counsel for the United States House Committee on the Judiciary, which he said in 1974 a few months before Nixon's resignation.

And I, for one, can’t wait to view the exhibit at the National Archives.

Also (speaking of Republican chief executives), Former President Highest Disapproval Rating in Gallup Poll History told us the following (from here – more certifiable idiocy courtesy of Matt Bai of the Times)…

Once, in what seems like another eon of Republican politics, George W. Bush dreamed of building a multiethnic party that would achieve dominance in a nation where the words “majority” and “minority” were losing their meaning. Mr. Bush was adamant, in the days after the terrorist attacks of 2001, that American Muslims not become the targets of public resentment, and he later pushed a plan to offer illegal immigrants a path toward citizenship.

In response, I give you the following (here)…

In the days after the horror of the 11 September attacks, President George W Bush made a point of saying Muslims per se were not America's enemy.

But in the five years since then, he has taken less care to emphasise that message, US Muslim leaders are saying.

They are upset about his use of terms like "Islamic fascists", which he used this week both for Hezbollah and the suspected bomb plotters held in the UK.

"It offends the vast majority of moderate Muslims," Ahmed Younis said.

"The use of the term casts a shadow upon Islam and bolsters the argument that there is a clash of civilisations between Islam and the West," Mr Younis, the national director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (Mpac), told the BBC.

Also (returning to Bai)…

When Mr. Bush, a Texan fluent both in Spanish and in immigration policy…

Ugh – Bai is such a dope; as noted here, Dubya is fluent in English only (and based on this, even that claim is debatable).

Update 8/12/10: And Bai remains a dope, as noted here (h/t Atrios).

Further, we should all welcome former Laura Bush employee Andrew Malcolm back from vacation; he told us the following from here…

Although polls show frustrated Americans now hold Obama responsible for the nation's lagging economic condition…

Uh, no.

Also, it appears that Malcolm has dug out his crystal ball through which he can peer into the political future (to wit)…

A year from now if Obama's political standing continues its national slide presaging a possible Jimmy Carteresque single term…

I’ll tell you what – just click here to read what Media Matters has to say in response (in particular to the Obama/Bush stuff).

Finally, Joe Pitts is at it again (here, on the subject of what to do if you lose your employer-based health insurance)…

Congress recognized this problem in 1986 and gave Americans the right to continue their employee coverage in the Combined Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA).

However, COBRA benefits come with a hefty cost. The unemployed must cover the full monthly cost of benefits plus a 2 percent administrative fee. This is typically more than $1,000 a month. Paying for COBRA benefits can quickly eat through a family’s savings and unemployment benefits.

That’s why I voted for federal COBRA subsidies over the last two years that helped to pay for up to 65 percent of the cost of continuing benefits. Congress recently failed to pass an extension for this program. However, I support legislation that would continue this temporary benefit without increasing the deficit and without increasing taxes.

As you may expect, Pancake Joe doesn’t bother to cite his votes, but this tells us that he voted No to a bill that, in part “would appropriate $79 billion to fund unemployment checks and COBRA health benefits for the long-term jobless and help states meet Medicaid obligations, among other social safety-net outlays.”

Continuing…

The problem with COBRA is that when you need it, you can’t afford it. I’ve heard this over and over from people. Constituents asked me to find a solution, and so I’ve introduced H.R. 6001, the COBRA Affordability Act. My bill would allow Americans to save up for future COBRA payments tax-free.

While my bill would not benefit current COBRA participants, it would provide a means for those currently working to plan for the possibility of future unemployment. Right now, COBRA benefits must be paid for out of personal savings, with no tax benefit.

My legislation would allow workers to contribute to a new COBRA Premium Payment Account with pre-tax dollars. Individuals could contribute up to $2,500 a year to these accounts. The bill has a cumulative contribution cap of just under $12,000 per individual and just over $27,000 for a family. The caps are indexed to a government measure of medical price inflation and were established based on the average cost of buying COBRA benefits for two years.

Soo…individuals can only contribute up to $12,000 and families up to $27,000 under Joe’s “cumulative contribution cap”? At that point, then, these folks are “maxed out”?

And of course, this assumes that people will actually be able to save that much money for their own coverage (wonder how many years that will take)?

Meanwhile, this tells us that “In 2008, the full annual cost of employer-sponsored health insurance averaged $4,704 for an individual policy and $12,680 for a family policy.8” (and you can be sure that those amounts have risen over the last two years; the only question is by how much).

And keeping the Kaiser numbers in mind, under Pitts’s “plan” that he’s so proud of, individuals would only be able to afford their COBRA coverage for not quite three years and probably less ($4,704 divided by $12,000) and families for less than that ($12,680 divided by $27,000).

And as Pitts tells us, his bill wouldn’t do a damn thing for anyone trying to pay for their COBRA benefits now (and not everyone who is unemployed qualifies for COBRA, it should be noted), because they weren’t clairvoyant and/or thrifty enough to anticipate their unemployment and squirrel away the money they need in advance.

Once more, I must implore any voters of PA-16 who may be reading this to do the right thing and click here. As long as he is allowed to take up space in the House so he can vote No, Pitts’s very presence is a danger to working men and women and families across this whole country, not just in his own district.

Sunday Stuff

(No posting tomorrow, blah blah blah, this is a recording I know...)

By the way, do you want to know what a Dem is supposed to sound like? Pretty much like this (more here, and to do more, click here also)...



Update 8/10/10: I give Conway more credit than to engage in the shenanigans here, but if somehow he had, this election would be over.

...and I thought this was really slick.