Politics

Former Republican Sen. Warns GOP May ‘Have Gone So Far Overboard That We Are Beyond Redemption November 27th, 2010 at 4:30 PM by Alex Seitz-Wald In an age when far-right tea party activists have taken over the Republican Party and demanded lockstep allegiance, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) has been one of the few GOP lawmakers to step out of line. In particular, Lugar, the ranking GOP member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has blasted his own party for relentlessly blocking ratification of the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia, calling on his fellow GOP senators to “do your duty for your country” and complete the pact. Not surprisingly, this insubordinat…

I NEVER thought I'd see the day when Tom Coburn, Jim Demint and I would line up on the same side of an issue. Hell finally has frozen over. Is ethanol mandate the first test of GOP seriousness? By GREG SARGENT WASHINGTON – IS THERE a new intra-GOP war brewing — a sequel to the Tea Party’s big win in the battle over earmarks? Conservative GOP senators are opening a new front in the fight over government spending that could be similar to the earmarks standoff: They are calling on Congress to let billions in ethanol subsidies expire at the end of this year. Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, two leading conservative senators who have pushed the GOP to be serious about its…

I strongly suspect that there remain a few shoes yet to hit the floor. I believe that some of the measures taken to avert catastrophe were wrong headed &/or awkwardly implemented. But I have not the slightest doubt that without the quick, decisive actions of the government of the United States two years back, we would now be mired in the first true world wide depression since the thirties. Thanks Uncle Sam; you did OK. PS: About a million folks associated with the automotive industry send their thanks too.

Republicans Could Save $2.4 Million A Year By Forgoing Their Health Care Sam Stein stein@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting WASHINGTON -- Some progressive organizations have been making a push in recent days for incoming congressional Republicans to drop their government-sponsored health care on the grounds that keeping the plans would be hypocritical. The incident started after incoming Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) complained loudly during freshmen orientation that his coverage wouldn't start immediately upon taking office. It took a new turn when Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Penn) and Bobby Schilling (R-Ill.) both said they would, in fact, forgo the coverage. It escalat…

This senator recently commented that cable "news" networks and shows should be eliminated by the FCC. As many have pointed out, the FCC does not have the authority to do anything to or about cable TV. Is he off his meds? What would make a senator make these kinds of comments? Doing what he suggests is clearly unconstitutional as well as silly. Are the Rockefellers so inbred that they are now simpletons? Why is he being elected or re-elected? Best regards, RA1

Texas Considers Medicaid Withdrawal By EMILY RAMSHAW, The Texas Tribune Published: November 6, 2010 Some Republican lawmakers — still reveling in Tuesday’s statewide election sweep — are proposing an unprecedented solution to the state’s estimated $25 billion budget shortfall: dropping out of the federal Medicaid program. Far-right conservatives are offering that possibility in impassioned news conferences. Moderate Republicans are studying it behind closed doors. And the party’s advisers on health care policy say it is being discussed more seriously than ever, though they admit it may be as much a huge in-your-face to Washington as anything else. “With Obamacare m…

When did genitals become junk? I thought they were a particularly valued part of the body. So valued, in fact, that TSA agents can no longer retrain themselves and must touch everybody's "junk." I don't often agree with Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer...no relation to jackhammer...but his column today sums up all the absurdities we are now faced with at the airport: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/18/AR2010111804494.html?hpid=topnews

Ridiculous Corporate Subsidies Creating Middle Class 'Wealth Destruction' First Posted: 11-19-10 05:35 PM | Updated: 11-19-10 05:48 PM Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston says it's no accident that the middle class has been shrinking. In fact, in a recent conversation with Aaron Task and Daniel Gross on Yahoo's Tech Ticker, Johnston argues that the middle class is a direct result of a maze of subsidies and sweetheart deals that states and cities have doled out to big companies. (Johnston is the author of "Free Lunch: How The Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves At Government Expense (And Stick You With The Bill.") "We've changed the govern…

I found this most interesting. Almost 1/3 of self identified gays voted Republican in Tuesday's Election. Maybe the Democrats shouldn't take the gay vote so much for granted anymore. Note the story from Politico: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44743.html

Cindy McCain for DADT repeal yesterday, against it today.

Got the message! Okay, it was a sweeping mandate for change. And so shall it be. Health-care reform shall be repealed, and the number of Americans who have no insurance shall rise in the face of ever-increasing health-care costs. They will not receive regular care but will be able to visit over-crowded emergency rooms when their untreated chronic condition becomes critical and it is too late to help. The rich shall continue to collect and own a higher and higher percentage of the economy, and the legislature, and the courts. Product and food safety rules will continue to be weakened, but there will always be the overcrowded emergency rooms to deal with that. Minimum wag…

I don't know enough to have an opinion on whether this draft proposal to reduce the deficit makes any sense but I do like the way it illustrates the gravity of the problem. Or, as the writer puts it, who all would get their hair on fire at any serious effort to reduce the deficit? Draft report of Commission to Reduce Deficit I'll leave it to Lucky to point out the impact on high tax states like Cali of the elimination of the Federal tax deduction for state and local taxes. I can smell the hair burning all the way down here in Mississippi.

Deficit targets: Social Security, mortgage breaks Contentious targets: Deficit panel: curb Social Security, tax breaks, spending Andrew Taylor, Associated Press, On Wednesday November 10, 2010, 9:15 pm EST WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a politically incendiary plan, the bipartisan leaders of President Barack Obama's deficit commission proposed curbs in Social Security benefits, deep reductions in federal spending and higher taxes for millions of Americans Wednesday to stem a flood of red ink that they said threatens the nation's very future. The White House responded coolly, some leading lawmakers less so to proposals that target government programs long considered all b…

The LA Times tells us today about the rising prices of commodities, coffee, cotton, and other items, that will be pinching our pocketbooks even more as the dollar weakens: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-commodity-prices-20101110,0,6641189,full.story

November 2, 2010, 11:59 PM How Obama Saved Capitalism and Lost the Midterms By TIMOTHY EGAN If I were one of the big corporate donors who bankrolled the Republican tide that carried into office more than 50 new Republicans in the House, I would be wary of what you just bought. For no matter your view of President Obama, he effectively saved capitalism. And for that, he paid a terrible political price. Suppose you had $100,000 to invest on the day Barack Obama was inaugurated. Why bet on a liberal Democrat? Here's why: the presidency of George W. Bush produced the worst stock market decline of any president in history. The net worth of American households collapse…

Dems To Cave On DADT Repeal In Lame Duck Jason Linkins jason@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting First Posted: 11- 8-10 12:28 PM | Updated: 11- 8-10 12:28 PM The vast majority of the American people want the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy repealed. A majority of conservatives want it repealed. A soon-to-be-released Defense Department study finds U.S. servicemembers do not mind serving alongside gay soldiers. Admiral Mike Mullen wants DADT repealed. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wants it repealed. So, naturally, Congressional Democrats are poised to turn tail and run from taking any kind of stand on the matter: President Barack Obama has repeate…

Op-Ed Columnist Our Banana Republic By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Published: November 6, 2010 In my reporting, I regularly travel to banana republics notorious for their inequality. In some of these plutocracies, the richest 1 percent of the population gobbles up 20 percent of the national pie. But guess what? You no longer need to travel to distant and dangerous countries to observe such rapacious inequality. We now have it right here at home — and in the aftermath of Tuesday’s election, it may get worse. The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976. As Timothy Noah of Slate noted in an excellent series …

Republicans map out their agenda of less By Lori Montgomery Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, November 6, 2010; 12:33 AM Republicans are mapping an agenda for the new Congress that calls for a radical reduction in government spending, a hard-line stance against new taxes and a "sustained" battle against federal regulators - all aimed at easing the concerns of voters desperate for jobs and anxious about the soaring national debt. The path charted in the party's "Pledge to America" and in a new blueprint released this week by Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the No. 2 Republican in the House, is certain to provoke clashes with the White House. It is already stirring d…

As a state that many associate with the Tea Party, it may come to a surprise to many that Kentucky's second largest city elected an openly gay man as mayor. Kentucky's largest city also has had a gay rights ordinance for several years. http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/11/02/Gay_Mayor_for_Lexington_Ky/

You may not agree with it, but this video shows the Chinese as victorious over the United States by 2030:

Supreme Court Rolls Back Campaign Finance Restrictions First Posted: 01-21-10 10:19 AM | Updated: 01-21-10 03:48 PM By a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court on Thursday rolled back restrictions on corporate spending on federal campaigns. The decision could unleash a torrent of corporate-funded attack ads in upcoming elections. "Because speech is an essential mechanism of democracy -- it is the means to hold officials accountable to the people -- political speech must prevail against laws that would suppress it by design or inadvertence," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy for the majority. In his dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens accused the majority of judicial activism…

Wells Fargo Repossesses A Fully Paid Off Car First Posted: 11- 2-10 08:08 AM | Updated: 11- 2-10 09:05 AM Keeping up with your car payments, it seems, is not always enough to keep away the repo man. As King 5 TV reports, Adlantis Newton, a Tacoma, Washington, resident, says she faithfully paid her car payments of $299 each month and had a title proving that she owned her 1999 Chrysler LHS. Which didn't stop Wells Fargo from seizing the vehicle anyway. (Hat tip to the Big Picture) Only after being called by King 5's Jesse Jones did anything happen. Newton tells King 5 News that the President of Wells Fargo -- presumably they're referring to John Stumpf -- called …

Wells Fargo Overdraft Lawsuit: Bank Ordered To Pay $203 MILLION In Fees Over 'Unfair' Charges (AP, Eileen Aj Connelly) -- A federal judge in California ordered Wells Fargo & Co. to change what he called "unfair and deceptive business practices" that led customers into paying multiple overdraft fees, and to pay $203 million back to customers. In a decision handed down late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup accused Wells Fargo of "profiteering" by changing its policies to process checks, debit card transactions and bill payments from the highest dollar amount to the lowest, rather than in the order the transactions took place. That helped drain customer ban…

How can anyone or any system justify spending 27 million to recover 869,000 from Madoff? Best regards, RA1

New Figures Detail Depth Of Unemployment Misery, Lower Earnings For All But Super Wealthy First Posted: 10-25-10 12:22 PM | Updated: 10-25-10 03:05 PM One out of every 34 Americans who earned wages in 2008 earned absolutely nothing -- not one cent -- in 2009. The stunning figure was released earlier this month by the Social Security Administration, but apparently went unreported until it appeared today on Tax.com in a column by Pulitzer Prize-winning tax reporter David Cay Johnston. It's not just every 34th earner whose financial situation has been upended by the financial crisis. Average wages, median wages, and total wages have all declined -- except at the…