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Subscribe to RSSDéjà vu -- how the situation in Libya and $100-a-barrel oil seem like a flashback to the summer of 2010 (BP spill and Greek debt crisis)… The White House’s decision not to defend DOMA’s constitutionality draws plenty of health care comparisons… Daniels seems to change his tone in Indiana… McCain now the most conservative U.S. senator?... Rolling Stone’s eyebrow-raising Psy-Ops story… Huntsman spotted at the “Jasmine Revolution”… And Huckabee speaks at the National Press Club at noon ET.
A Gas price sign is seen at a station on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday. The national average for a gallon of unleaded was $3.19 on Wednesday.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Déjà vu? Is anyone else having flashbacks to the summer of 2010? As the Obama White House tries to focus on the U.S. economy -- the president holds a meeting at 1:45 pm ET with his Jobs and Competitiveness council -- external events are forcing him (as well as the media) to focus on other matters. The situation in Libya looks more precarious and dangerous than Egypt did. “Forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi were reported to be striking back in several cites surrounding Tripoli on Thursday, as rebellion crept closer to the capital and defections of military officers multiplied,” the New York Times says. Next, due in part to Libya, oil prices have now spiked above $100 a barrel for the first time since the summer of 2008. Beyond the violence in Libya, the fear at the White House is that it could end up doing what the Greek debt crisis -- in combination with the oil spill -- did in May of 2010: slow down the economic recovery. The good news for Team Obama is that this isn’t the summer of 2012…
*** DOMA arigato, Mr. Roboto: One thing that ISN’T an external factor was the Obama administration’s decision yesterday to no longer defend the constitutionality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which says that marriage can exist only between a man and a woman. It's a full-fledged flip by the president, though one he's been telegraphing. (Late last year, he said he was "struggling" with the issue of gay marriage.) Interestingly, much of the reaction -- from the right and left -- seemed aimed at the health-care law. Some conservatives were saying: If Obama loses re-election, would this give a Republican president the green light not to defend the law’s constitutionality? (Of course, it’s more than likely the Supreme Court will deliver a verdict on the law anyway.) House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith complained, “It is a transparent attempt to shirk the department’s duty to defend the laws passed by Congress.” (Then again, that hasn’t stopped Republicans from trying to eliminate -- and defund -- a law passed by Congress.) As usual, with heavy doses of spin, there's hypocritical holes in multiple arguments. But politically, beyond some folks in the base, will the public care that much after today?
*** Daniels changes his tune? Was someone able to change Mitch Daniels’ mind? Or are his presidential aspirations bigger than many think they are? A day after the Indiana governor called on state Republicans to drop their anti-union legislation, the Indiana governor referred to public employee unions “privileged elite.” And he released a statement calling the fleeing state Democratic lawmakers to come back to work. “The House Democrats have shown a complete contempt for the democratic process... You don’t walk off the job, take your public paycheck with you, and attempt to bring the whole process to a screeching halt. You know, if they persist, the Democratic Party of Indiana will need a rebranding effort because this is as anti-democratic as behavior can be."
AP
U.S. Senator John McCain during a visit to Tunisia. McCain was named among a group of most conservative senators in 2010.
*** McCain’s rightward shift: Is John McCain now the Senate’s most conservative member? So says National Journal, according to its annual congressional vote ratings. From “a comprehensive examination of 96 Senate votes taken in 2010, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., along with seven of his colleagues, voted most often on the conservative side. His 89.7 composite conservative score ties him with stalwarts like Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and gives him a more conservative score than Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.” More: “From 2002 to 2006, he bounced between the 44th- and 49th-most conservative member, giving him the maverick title. His 89.7 composite conservative score is the farthest to the right of any year he has served in the Senate.” Bottom line: This is what it took to for McCain to win re-election last year. Of course, he also kept opposing Obama initiatives (DADT, START) after he won re-election, which kept his score that high.
*** The Men Who Stare at Goats, Part II: This isn’t your average story -- by a long shot -- but it's already cable TV/internet/Twitter fodder. Rolling Stone writes, “The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in ‘psychological operations’ to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war, Rolling Stone has learned - and when an officer tried to stop the operation, he was railroaded by military investigators. The orders came from the command of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, a three-star general in charge of training Afghan troops - the linchpin of U.S. strategy in the war… Those singled out in the campaign included senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Jack Reed, Al Franken and Carl Levin; Rep. Steve Israel of the House Appropriations Committee; Adm. Mike Mullen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Czech ambassador to Afghanistan; the German interior minister, and a host of influential think-tank analysts.” By the way, was this all really psy-ops, or amateur political communication hour?
*** Huntsman spotted at the “Jasmine Revolution”: This isn’t your average story, either. NBC’s Adrienne Mong reports that U.S. ambassador to China (and potential presidential candidate) Jon Huntsman “was spotted last Sunday outside McDonald’s in the heavily-trafficked shopping district of Wangfujing in the capital. His appearance wouldn’t have generated much interest (Huntsman is known here for his unorthodox style as America’s top representative in China) except for the little fact that a would-be revolution [the “Jasmine Revolution”] was under way exactly where the ambassador was standing. In fact, Huntsman’s presence – which the U.S. embassy in Beijing says was part of a ‘family outing’ and ‘purely coincidental’ – has generated controversy on a number of fronts.”
*** More 2012: Mike Huckabee speaks at the National Press Club at noon ET… Rick Santorum is in Iowa, where he’s interviewed by the Iowa press corps in a forum moderated by Mike Glover of AP and Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa… And Newt Gingrich is in Florida speaking in West Palm Beach at 6:00 pm ET. By the way, check out this quote from Huck: “It doesn’t mean that I can wait indefinitely, but it certainly means that I’d be smart to wait for not only the field to develop, but to not walk away from a platform where I get to determine what I want to talk about.”
*** Foxx in the DNC hen house: The Democratic National Committee’s three-day winter meeting begins today in DC. Today’s highlight: In the evening, Charlotte (NC) Mayor Anthony Foxx will talk about plans for the 2012 convention in the city. On Saturday, DNC Chairman Tim Kaine and White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley will address the confab.
Countdown to continuing resolution’s expiration: 8 days
Countdown to Election Day 2011: 257 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 347 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up
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With much of the strife occurring in the Middle East and the amount of criticisms against regimes and dictatorships, the US needs to be mindful of the dictators allowing any nuclear armaments falling into the wrong hand. The US would be wise to closely monitor any weapons situation because if any regime throws its hands up and says “forget it”, handing over the keys and key codes, thus setting off further tensions. I’m all for freedoms and exercising rights, but when there are nuclear weapons and no clear indication who is who that is fights, it can become worse than when the Revolution began.
Maybe Gadhafi needs a call from Ian Murphy… oh wait, Ian already pimped the entire Republican party. Can anyone say Walker, Texas Wanker?
The simple fact that Republithugs come to the defense of this person shows how blindly they follow lock step with the Gestapo when they would be the victims. The voters that continually support these demagogues and have no idea how to think for their selves deserve what they get. When they rely on a guy that rants and raves racist, crazy talk, scraping his knuckles on a chalk board, need to have their heads examined.
When a Republithug speaks, a demon escapes from Hell. I mean that, something evil has dug its claws into that party and they enjoy the feel of macabre like sensations. I'm sure President Obama has a branch just for you guys to examine the effed up members of our society.
Any Republithug that has any sense left, hey I’ll gladly call you a Republican and quite possibly my friend, but until then you guys need to seriously examine yourselves to see what you truly stand for. Do you blindly follow lock step with a group of people that would instinctively infringe on your rights or do you unshackle yourself from the prison of Fear?
I pity Republicans… well, no I don’t because they are pitiless. If Republicans had any vestiges of a heart, it dried up long ago and now looks worse than a prune baking under the Sun.
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
Why is was only yesterday that Mr. Bill was stomping his little feet and DEMANDING concrete evidence that Governor Walker wasn't bought & paid for by the Koch Brothers!
Even though ample documentationhad been provided on numerous occasions to back up the assertion.
Who would of EVER thought that it would be Governor Walker himself who handed Billy the 'smoking gun'
Billy, you really are a silly old goat! You may now return to your regularly scheduled hobby of flogging the dead horse…
Here's a CLUE: Miss. Scarlet did it in the library with the candle stick! lol
LouisJ
The simple fact that Republithugs come to the defense of this person shows how blindly they follow lock step with the Gestapo when they would be the victims.
How low can a Republican/Tea Bagger go?
The Fox News show Fox & Friends referenced the USA Today/Gallup poll. With incredible brazenness, the Fox hosts actually reversed the results of the poll in order to claim that two-thirds of Americans supported Wisconsin-style laws rather than opposed them.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/23/fox-reverses-poll-union/
Gaddafi's ethics, and labor violations sh!t forget about violence, let’s look at the gov's phone cals and e-mails. Never mind the prank call. While forgetting the prank call, let’s not forget this fool, the gov considered sending in outsiders to foment violence, and; thought it would lower his poll numbers?
Louis you are right.
THIS is the “Change you can believe in”??
These Barry admin jokers are a bunch of clowns that think most of the American people are stupid morons. And they are probably right. After all, they did elect him President.
From Politico:
Lobbyists: W.H. hides meetings off-site
By: Chris Frates
February 24, 2011 04:41 AM EST
Caught between their boss’s anti-lobbyist rhetoric and the reality of governing, President Barack Obama’s aides often steer meetings with lobbyists to a complex just off the White House grounds – and several of the lobbyists involved say they believe the choice of venue is no accident.
It allows the Obama administration to keep these lobbyist meetings shielded from public view — and out of Secret Service logs collected on visitors to the White House and later released to the public.
“They’re doing it on the side. It’s better than nothing,” said immigration reform lobbyist Tamar Jacoby, who has attended meetings at the nearby Jackson Place complex and believes the undisclosed gatherings are better than none.
The White House scoffs at the notion of an ulterior motive for scheduling meetings in what are, after all, meeting rooms. But at least four lobbyists who’ve been to the conference rooms just off Lafayette Square tell POLITICO they had the distinct impression they were being shunted off to Jackson Place – and off the books – so their visits wouldn’t later be made public.
That's right, the Republicans are pimped day in and day out and enjoy the BSDMMD or whatever it's called. Thing about it, the Republicans will drink this TEA up like it is something good. SMH.
Narrow-minded people represent the slow process our education system is going through right now. There is so much to teach and so little time to do it... reform education now.
Feisty: Your above comment is priceless. "Me First" Bill just doesn't want to believe "indisputable evidence". But in a little while he will come along and try to defend himself...because he couldn't imagine himself being wrong.
LouisJ
That's right, the Republicans are pimped day in and day out and enjoy the BSDMMD or whatever it's called. Thing about it, the Republicans will drink this TEA up like it is something good. SMH.
And you know it. What's worse the teabaggers really don't know they are being pimped or that their leaders are whores.
With every crisis, Obama proves how unsuited he is for the job he occupies.
Yesterday, finally, we got a statement on Libya, and the violence against their own people. If you read the statement, it seemed okay- although it lacked the"teeth" of calling for new sanctions against Libya. If you watched it, you say that he was simply reading a statement- there was no conviction behind the words.
Then, we have Carney's answer on why it took so ling for Obama to make even that lame statement- it was not on the schedule.
Anybody need any more proof that he is completely flummoxed by the unanticipated?
Or struck by the comparison between his handling of the crisis in Libya, which is eerily similar to his handling of the post- election crisis in Iran, and his handling of the Egyptian crisis? I suppose he has strong words for our allies, but shrinks from chastising countries that are aggressive toward us.
He seems to have chosen to ignore, completely, the situation in Bahrain- despite its being the home of the Fifth Fleet. My personal view is thAt he is bored with the situation, has no clue how it will work out, and has chosen the preferred democratic response to intractable problems- ignore them, and maybe they will go away.
Rather than focus on the worldwide problem of unrest in the Middle East, perhaps taking advantage of a golden opportunity to forge an alliance with the forces in Libya who seek to overthrow a despot, thus creating a new ally in a region where our existing allies are under siege, he prefers to interject himself in the problems in Wisconsin- dispatching his own personal political arm to foment more unrest in that, and other, states.
Showing the true convictions of their party, his party loyalists have chosen to run and hide, rather than debate, and lose a vote. Perhaps they should read this
http://www.clarusrg.com/sites/default/files/Majority%20Oppose%20Labor%20Unions%20for%20Government%20Employees.pdf
On the other hand, perhaps they have, which is why they have chosen to hide under their beds in another state. I wonder how pArty contributors feel about paying for their temper tantrums, since I have read that it is the state democratic party committee that is paying for their hotel rooms.
Meanwhile, Obama is offering "fellowships" in community organizing in order to recruit troops to further his agenda- for all time. One wonders who is paying for these fellowships- could not be the taxpayer, could it? We may not get answers for that, as the media seems loath to investigate such issues.
He has a jobs council with no small business representation. There is a story on Politico about lobbyist meetings that take place off the White House ca pus- so that they never appear on the White House visitor logs, they are shielded from the media, and there is no need for disclosure.
Unemployment is stagnant at above nine per cent- do not be fooled by the drop in percentage points, as that was accomplished by pushing hundreds of thousands off the active rolls, and into the discouraged worker pool.
The debt is astronomical, and he calls for adding $13 trillion to the debt, while calling it a cut, and expects the electorate to believe that baloney.
Well, he will always have the First Read regulars. I only hope the new president has what it takes to fix this mess, because Obama is actually worse than Carter. That is something I never expected to see in my lifetime.
Well Joe I think that if we are going to compare morons to morans head up like this I'm going to have to award the contest to you and yours hands down. At least President Obama's morons are smart enough to take a page from old Geogre and Dicks Morons and keep it of the books instead of getting on the phone revealing thier lack of good common sense.
Feisty,
Why are you intentionally an idiot?
Walker doesn't even know Koch, know what his voice sounds like - how do you think he managed get punked.
Ron said Koch gave $43,000 in the last election. BFD. The unions have given given Dems $3.6 million the last two elections in Wisconsin.
Trumpka is on tape saying he as at the White House 2-3 a week, talks with someone in the administration every day. Unions gave over a $171 million plus services, (get out the vote, phone banks, poll watching, they demonstrate - counter demonstrate.....) all valued at over another $250 million.
And you obsess over a jr. high school phone prank. Must really suck having nothing better to argue.
Louis J:
Great post this sunny morning. Was not sure I would post anything today, yesterday was my birthday and did not get much reading done.
The GOP/TP has an identity problem. They do still do not have and ideas on how to create jobs in this country nor do they have any plans on how to keep an improving economy improving. Both things they campaigned on. Instead it is all about the attacks on peoples rights, spending cuts that are 100% on the backs of the Middle Class and how to shut down the government and blame President Obama.
As was the Case yesterday... This is pretty much a none Story . but as usual the Libbies here will beat the Drums for Days. ..
Rise and Shine Peope Get ready for another day of The Party of NO SHOW to sit in their Hotel Rooms in some Trashy State . Partying on the Peoples time
Going once, going twice... are there any other Republithugs that are willing to defend the indefensible?
Man you guys are truly a hoot. You make a Thursday seem like a Friday. Priceless.
Happy belated Birthday Navy... hope you had a blessed day.
Hard to see the relevance when Walker admitted to a whole raft of dirty tricks to someone he thought was Koch...even if your statement is true.
I bet my husband dinner that it would be less than a half hour before NJNB chimed in with her customary I HATE OBAMA rant on Libya!
Jesus Christ!!! President Obama could CURE cancer and she's still spit her standard venom!
Honey - hate to tell you, but, I got a taste for some 'surf & turf'! lol
PS: Happy Belated Birthday to you Navy! Hope is was special! *hugs*
Good morning Ron Indiana
Feisty: Your above comment is priceless. "Me First" Bill just doesn't want to believe "indisputable evidence". But in a little while he will come along and try to defend himself...because he couldn't imagine himself being wrong.
You and Feisty got it just right.
@ Fiesty
. [*** Ethical violation much? ***]
Yes, there are.
There were little children there in addition to other people. Yet the angry (read stupid whore) wanted to bring in outsiders to foment violence. The only thing this sh!thead was concerned about was his poll numbers. Wake up tea baggers
Yes, the GOP/TEA Party cares nothing about life, liberty, or the pursuit of happeniss of Americans.
Good news on the job report buffalo beast. Support democracy not the GOPher Gov. Scott Walker(what a rat) and Ruperch Murdoch’s FOX NOISE.FOX LIES!!!
Feisty did you see in the thread yesterday the problems I, other democratic election judges, and even the other republican judge had with an arbitrary nut job republican tea bagger judge calling election central trying to get me kicked out? She said I touched a ballot. Duhh, who stupid can one be?
Speaking of 'sucking' along come Bobby...
I'm obsessed?
Really? You're the one who took the time to respond... and not very effectively I would add! LMFAO!
Have another drink Bob - it's got to be 5:00 somewhere! ;o)
no joe,
To borrow from Lewis -
Obama is harmless as an enemy, treacherous as a friend.
Great comments.
Feisty,
To borrow from Fields -
I may be drunk, but tommorrow I will sober, you my dear will still be ignorant.
Another stupid Red reply.
Dear no joe:
It is quite entertaining watching folks who want to obsess about injustice over the water, but ignore the cess pool that is going on right here. The Governor of Wisconsin is a crook in the pockets of billionaires. He is not alone. Our representative government has been purchased.
And you want to rant daily about President Obama's "style".
The "delay and distract" tactic is losing its effectiveness as more and more Americans start to see that those who carp and whine the loudest about the "guvment" are also the ones who profit the most from gaming the system.
Thanks Louis.
Feisty; Just yesterday one of the usuals was trying to make the case that only the Democrats are guilty of name calling on this board and we do it vastly more often than the GOP/TP. Just look at what is here so far.
Too bad "Bill" is exposed as being wrong again I wonder how he is going to try and defend this now.
Happy birthday, Navy and thanks for your service! Hope you had a special day.
Feisty----can't believe your husband took that bet. All is right in the world as No Joe has spouted her venom for the day.
Nash:
Good to see you again. It is all about diversion trying to get the American people off track on what is going on here like no ideas on how to create jobs in this country, no ideas on how to help an improving economy to continue. They just do not have a clue as what they are going to do, so they find something else to try and stir our attention to. Karl Rove would be proud.
Feisty and Ron, not bad but as usual not quite right. You may recall the "evidence" that Ron spoke of referred to a ThinkProgress piece he specifically cited -- a piece that did not in fact include the "evidence" he claimed. But I'm sure that little factoid will zoom right over your heads.
As for the phone call, it suggests two likeminded people were conversing on a subject they saw in a similar light. So I'm not sure it's quite the smoking gun you folks are playing it up to be. Oh, and isn't recording phone conversations without the knowledge of one of the parties illegal? I kinda thought so, but I guess the left doesn't care about such niceties.
As for Scarlett, my favorite is "tomorrow is another day." Thanks for reminding me.
Bob (Numbers):
I suggested that you read more before writing. Go back and read my posts. I did not state an amount given to Walker by the Koch family. The comment was, "The evidence is indisputable that the Koch brothers have purchased Governor Walker of Wisconsin. In light of yesterday's evidence, my comments stands as is.
When will the Party of No SHOW. Show up and Vote. When will the Party of No Show go back to work and stop Claiming Fake Sickness as a Reason to be out Protesting all while wanting to be Paid..
Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen. This is the Democrat Party Always wanting to be Paid for Not doing their Jobs..
no joe, no bo, nj
Well, he will always have the First Read regulars. I only hope the new president has what it takes to fix this mess, because Obama is actually worse than Carter. That is something I never expected to see in my lifetime.
No Jo as Martin Luther King always said that hate in the evil that will do us all in, and i see more and more from you hate had invaded your soul. my god have mercy on you.
Are you OLD enough to remember Nixon!!!!! the only president to resign. that right your were born in 1980.
Happy Birthday Navy . . . guess I picked a good day to check in, huh? :o)
Hope you have a great one!
Louis J
Dude - You said
When a Republithug speaks, a demon escapes from Hell... Any Republithug that has any sense left, hey I'll gladly call you a Republican and quite possibly my friend.
Then you end as always with you pithy statement "United we stand divided we fall." Maybe you should read the book, How to win friends and influence people. You won't make many friends or influence any minds with your hypocrisy.
"At least President Obama's morons are smart enough to take a page from old Geogre and Dicks Morons and keep it of the books instead of getting on the phone revealing thier lack of good common sense."
_______________________________________
So, IR, Barry's hypocritical stance on lobbyist's and his efforts to cover it up are apparently " Change you can believe in"??
Gee, why am I not surprised?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ron,
I recalled seeing $43,000 to Walker in an argument similiar to yours.
Sorry I wrongly attributed it to you.
"their leaders are whores."
_____________________________
Speaking of whores, Bev, how is Nancy Pelosi? You don't hear much about her now that she is not flying her broom around the House chamber.
bob-1805084
Feisty,
Why are you intentionally an idiot?
Walker doesn't even know Koch, know what his voice sounds like - how do you think he managed get punked.
Ron said Koch gave $43,000 in the last election. BFD. The unions have given given Dems $3.6 million the last two elections in Wisconsin.
Trumpka is on tape saying he as at the White House 2-3 a week, talks with someone in the administration every day. Unions gave over a $171 million plus services, (get out the vote, phone banks, poll watching, they demonstrate - counter demonstrate.....) all valued at over another $250 million.
Well, maybe not. But what Walker said – after saying “Yeah” in the phone call was, “Good stuff.”
From the transcript:
My only fear would be is if there was a ruckus caused, is that that would scare the public into thinking that maybe the governor has got to settle to avoid all these problems; said Gov. Walker.
So you think it's not idiotic that that fool, Gov. Walker would say a thing like that; but, won't talk to Democrats?
And you obsess over a jr. high school phone prank. Must really suck having nothing better to argue.
Oh yeah, how 'bout that budget; booby trap? The stupid Gov. didn't even talk about it. Really, it's stupid to support a governor who'd rather discuss union busting and baseball bats rather the deficit the governor created intentionally.
BTW; the conversation hasn't convinced the people of WI even with FOX NOISE lying about the poll. See my post about skewed numbers
"Feisty----can't believe your husband took that bet. All is right in the world as No Joe has spouted her venom for the day."
________________________________________________________
Imagine how horrendously pathetic and boring your life would have to be to actually discuss the personalities you hate on FR with your spouse??
Sad, but, Hillaryously FUNNY.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Being an Independent my question to the group is don't you think the Unions do the same on the Democratic side? Is it only OK when that represents your special interest group? I think campaign reform needs to be tightened up quit a bit on all sides. But I also think you are incredibly naive if you don't think it happens on both sides of the house and I certainly don't defend it either way.
The jackass was baiting Walker - Walker didn't fall for it. I don't like Greta particularly, hardly ever watch, but I did see this piece.
Walker also said he would love to talk to the Dems.
Quit lying Beverly. Must suck not being able to rely on the truth.
US Navy Disabled Veteran - Retired
Louis J:
Great post this sunny morning. Was not sure I would post anything today, yesterday was my birthday and did not get much reading done.
The GOP/TP has an identity problem
Let me be another friend to wish you a Happy Belated-Birthday.
The GOP/TP has more than an identity problem. They have some issues with ethics. They have no moral codes. Most of their principal commit abortion on democracy.
Bob ~
Darling Bob: Here are the real numbers. Koch Industries PAC gave Walker's campaign $43,000. They also gave more than $1 million to the republican governors campaign committee, which in turn gave $65,000 to Walker. Then, Koch Industries, following the Citizens United ruling, spent $3.4 million on ads against Walker's opponent, Tom Barrett.
I make that out to be about $3.5 million spent by the Koch brothers, directly for the benefit of one man -- Scott Walker. In a SINGLE election.
No wonder Walker said this in his inaugural State of the State message:
http://www.nbc15.com/news/headlines/Wisconsin_Is_Open_For_Business_-_Transcript_of_Walkers_Inaugural_Address_112814799.html
More ironic words have probably never been spoken.
While thousands and thousands of ordinary Wisconsin citizens -- whom Walker claims to be for -- have tried to reach Scott Walker by telephone in the past few weeks, only one got through -- the faux David Koch.
Now exactly why would that be, Bob?
Open for business, indeed.
Bob ~
Didn't fall for it? Are you kidding? In that single telephone call, Walker revealed, among other things, that he actually considered unleashing VIOLENCE against ordinary Wisconsin citizens -- whom he claims to be for -- but didn't do it only because he was afraid of the political fallout; after accusing democrats of taking lunches from union members -- of which he has NO PROOF -- he actually accepted what he thought was an offer from David Koch to fly him to California for a "good time" after he put down the unions -- what is THAT if not influence peddling of the first magnitude?; AND he revealed his plan to trick democrats to return to the state by LYING to them, thus validating their current position, and revealing himself to be nothing but an unprincipled snake.
Didn't fall for it? What planet are you on, Bob?
As we speak, a former Wisconsin attorney general is working on filing multiple ethics violation charges against this saint who supposed "didn't fall for it."
Well, maybe not, but he may be about to TAKE the fall for it. LoL
Anna Molly:
You are being especially nice today calling Bob, "darling". You are also especially accurate in the numbers you present. Maybe "Me First" Bill from Fairfax will take notice.
Oh, you were just kidding about Bob.
LoL Ron. What, me, kid?
I just don't want darling JoAnna to accuse me of hypocrisy.
She is, however, free to accuse me of irony and sarcasm.
Anna,
Assume you are right. Sounds like the playing field was actually leveled.
So did Koch break any laws? Did Koch take money out of his employees' paychecks every week just for the priviege of having a job and use the money for political purposely against their will like the unions do?
Yet still - Walker had no idea who he was really talking to. He has never met Koch. Sounds he is telling the truth if doesn't recoginize the voice, recoginize how Koch actually speaks, etc.
Funny thing about the prank phone - it proved there is no relationship (to anyone with any common sense), thus actually voided the libs rant about the relationship.
You guys punked yourselves and are stupid to even realize it.
Bob:
"There you go again" getting collapsed. I did not flag you Bob because it's more fun to debate you and win. Lets try again, Turn off Fox, read some books, stop calling people idiots or morons, and listen to what Anna Molly is trying to teach you.
US Navy Disabled Veteran - Retired
Happy belated birthday! I think I love you, of the regulars, most of all!
All the intellectual spitting you elite over educated smartie pants can do.....and you really cant change a thing. Just sit in your comfy chairs and muse over the backside spread your accumulating and wait for the fall form grace of all the public Unions in every republican controlled state. I know you all WANT to believe your spewing is going cause a great chasm in politics and all of us independents are going to say....hmmmm I believe I was wrong, I have to support the left! Not going to happen. I have voted and supported several Democratic administrations, hell I even served under two as my CIC (Peanut boy and Billi BJ) But not now and as far as I can tell not in the near future. Feisty, I hope you enjoy your dinner at Red Lobster, remember to take the lobster out of the shell before you slobber that butter laden logostino down your throat!
Walker realizes he is beholden to the rich for investing all that money into him. He needs the no contract bids to pay them back, now he realizes that will not happen since he revealed the scam on the worldwide stage. He's a joke without a punchline. It looks like a curtain call for Walker, Texas Wanker.
Hey I have some popcorn, anyone want some?
I'm still waiting for the "I'm an Independent that hates Liberal stances" rant from the Right... that should be good.
Look...............let's just get one thing straight..
The democrats don't care that this country is BROKE...
What they care about is keeping the unions alive......you see, rank and file union members pay ALOT of money in for "DUES"....then the UNION BIGWIGS or FATCATS (whichever you prefer) give that money to Democratic candidates to push their socialist agenda.
The rank and file members DON"T get a say in where their "dues" money goes....and they really don't care as long as the UNION FATCATS are getting them MORE. and MORE, and MORE of our TAX DOLLARS.
Sorry Joe I must have been mistaken I thought we were comparing morons. You need to keep up a little better we ‘ve done already did all the hopin’and changin’ moved on past the yes we can to yes we will. Fixing to move into I guess we’re goin’ to have to because judging what I can see you’ll other guys can’t and won’t
I'm just curious, when Walker said, "Thanks a million!" - was that code for his price for delivery?
Hmmm,...I am pretty sure prostitutes have been arrested on less specific 'pricing' structures.
Just sayin'!
Don't worry, I won't insult you.
HAHAAAAAA! Right Clara. You make pimping is such a passe term... I'm thinking High Priced Hook-Crooking is more a more conducive term.
bob-1805084
The jackass was baiting Walker - Walker didn't fall for it. I don't like Greta particularly, hardly ever watch, but I did see this piece.
Walker also said he would love to talk to the Dems.
Quit lying Beverly. Must suck not being able to rely on the truth.
I'm lying? Gov. Walker ram through his special interests without talking to the dems
That sucker also said he would make state government more transparent.
Maybe you mean Walker talked to them when he said the Democratic members of the state Senate to return to work to do the job "they were elected to do.
But collect bargain is off; that's not talking.
Anna,
You didn't see the interview. The jackass was baiting Walker. Walker's comments to most statements was Yeah, as in whatever, ie;when Breibert was mentioned Walker said yeah, Walker had no idea who Breibert was. Fly you out to California - Walker's response was the equivalent to a whatever and moved on.
You guys go ahead and try to polish this turd of an argument all you want.
Bob,
No one but you and your AA sponsor believes you'll be sober tomorrow, in light of the numerous imbibed postings we see at all hours.
And everyone else:
It's too easy; but did anyone else notice Bill, Fairfax doesn't have a "Clue"? OMG I am still LMAO at that one.
Nevada has a brothel room waiting for Gov Walker once he is ousted. See, Harry Reid was right, prositution has to go... well at least until former Governors are on the payroll... Sarah Much?
HAHA! HOOHOO HEEHEE!!! Man you guys are truly entertaining.
But on a more serious note, Wisconsin is being saved thanks to Ian Murphy and a class act prank call.
Hats off to you Mr. Murphy.
Bob, do YOU routinely take calls from people you have never met and whose voice you don't recognize? Do YOU tell people confidential information without verification of their identity? Do YOU disclose plans that might be illegal to strangers on the phone?
I don't...
I knew I could count on you to catch that GF! ;o)
Here's 5 bucks Mr. Bill, so you can buy one!
Ron,
"There you go again" getting collapsed.
Hadn't noticed, thanks for pointing it out. That seems to be happening a lot. Seems like I got collapsed 3 times yesterday. Funny - they all got restored. They were also the highest (one had 123 votes - not bad for a conservative, huh?) voted. Funny all consrvatives like JoAnnaSmith with high votes got collapsed and restored. How does that restoral work.....the kids that can't handle the truth collapse the post then an adult at FR comes along and retores it because it shouldn't been collapsed? Libbies are evidently gutless cowards, I guess.
I did not flag you Bob because it's more fun to debate you and win.
That's what you all say. I guess no joe and other conservatives that feel the same way are collapsing them.
Debate me? Very rarely do you even reply. You will take 1 shot then give up. Actually, I have always respected you in a way for that - knowing you won't win instead of continuing to make an idiot out of yourself like newday and some of the others.
Win? Please, please, please, please re-post when you have ever won one. The best you ever offered was a we just disagree (which fair and quite honest).
Lets try again,
Anytime Ron, I have always said you appear to be brighter than most of the lefties here and I would love to have a real exchange with you.
Want to go for it now? Want to discuss unions, foreign policy, energy, HCR, whatever you want Ron.
Bob:
You don't need to use bad language in attempt to make a point. Are you sure Anna Molly didn't see that interview? Perhaps your father never told you not to play with feces, if you stick your hand in it, your hand will always come out smelly.
And I really didn't flag you Bob.
Does that mean it's all BullS#!^ Ron? As long as they don't eat it...
:^/)
Please Insult Me!
You were not paying attention. I was responding to Bob's comment about polishing turds.
Thanks for playing PIM.
Ron,
Turd / feces? Really Ron.
Besides polishing a turd is funnier and more accurately describes Anna's attempt than polishing feces.
Maybe we can agree to disagree on this however.
I try to post stuff at times that is somewhat different, a different perspective, word usage, slant or whatever. The barf off was over the top, but it was different than the same weekly Dew Drop blather week after week. Did you like the Shanker quote? Jacques and Julia vs. Bert and Ernie was different. Whatever.
I could not care less about being collapsed.
And about playing with feces and smelley hands - be sure to tell Anna to hold that turd she is trying to polish by the clean end.
Bob:
When you stop playing nice, you have to play by yourself.
Maybe some other day we can play again.
I wouldn't be so sure about that...
Seriously? That wasn't the tune you were singing only yesterday... lol
I thought the article was about Deja Vu. To me this seems more like the seventies and Jimmy Carter. Oil prices will spike, there will be lines and we will have high inflation. The difference is we are now deeply in debt and unemployment is very high. We must find a way to produce our own energy so we can not be held hostage. I know it's not popular with environmentalist's but we must drill for our own oil and we have an abundance of natural gas. We could create so many new jobs if we just took advantage of our own natural resources. We could export natural gas and make $ and maybe use it to pay off debt..
No surprise you're familiar with that... you can open all the accounts you want - Newsvine has the ability to track your IP address!
It wasn't a threat hon... more like a promise! ;o)
Seriously? That wasn't the tune you were singing only yesterday... lol
You really think my apology for using bullsh!t instead of bull squeeze was sincere?
yea, lol....
I noticed no one here (you know, Feisty, bev, Louis J.,etc.) can comment on this....hmm...wonder why?
The democrats don't care that this country is BROKE...
What they care about is keeping the unions alive......you see, rank and file union members pay ALOT of money in for "DUES"....then the UNION BIGWIGS or FATCATS (whichever you prefer) give that money to Democratic candidates to push their socialist agenda.
The rank and file members DON"T get a say in where their "dues" money goes....and they really don't care as long as the UNION FATCATS are getting them MORE. and MORE, and MORE of our TAX DOLLARS.
just run away Dems, just run away
By the Way..
In case any of you didn't know, Wisconsin law allows compulsory unionism. That means public school teachers are FORCED to pay union dues to a private organization with a partisan political agenda - simply for the privilege of having a job. If you want a teaching job in Wisconsin it's - Pay your dues, sit down, and shut up.
So, what is the WEAC (Wisconsin Education Assoc. Council) actually protecting?...it's members or it's source of income?
In forced unions, the union speaks for the teachers even if the their view conflicts with the teachers own personal views.
How is this democratic, transparent, or fair?
Louis J..........John B.................No, ..................hmmm..........
The nation has long term debt problems that need to be dealt with, but "broke" is nothing but a Conservative talking point. Our debt load was FAR higher as a proportion of GDP after WWII and we were making good progress on the remainder when Reagan broke the budget permanently.
Yesterday WI Governor Walker gets punked by a fake “Koch Brother”. People, you have to listen to this tape as it is an example into the thinking and agenda of the GOP/TP Party and their “Sugar Daddy’s” like the Koch Bothers. First the Koch Bothers gave Walker 43,000 for his campaign, they gave another 1 Million to the RGA of which 65,000 of that went to Walker and then they (RGA) paid 3.4 Million for attack ads against Walker’s opponent. But, back to the tape, Walker says;
1. He did considered using trouble makers in the crowds but his handlers talked him out of it as they felt it would tarnish his position.
2. He has a plan to sneak attack the Democrats by calling them back to the bargaining table only to recess with the democrats for a private meeting (the Senate is still in session) and then the Republicans would vote while in recess to pass the bill. Anybody remember Japan and Pearl Harbor??
3. He said on the tape he has no intention of compromising at all, none, zero. That is not what he says on the Media.
4. He also acknowledged he is a staunch Koch puppet
This despicable behavior is not only with Walker, but the GOP/TP governors across the board. It is about them and only them. It is not about the deficit at all but about destroying the Unions and the Middle Class. This agenda has now been exposed and is on tape for all to hear. Also this new budget gives control of Medicaid to the governor in addition to letting him buy/sell power plants etc with no open bids. He can make any deals he wants; this is a big pay day for the Koch Brothers as they have several energy companies in WI.
The GOP/TP House tries to slip a fast one pass the Democrats. They took their 60 Billion Dollar Spending Bill and pro-rate it on a weekly basis and claim they have made a compromise. It is the same identical DRCONIAN cuts as before, the only difference is we pay for it on the weekly plan. This is NO compromise just another trick to try and blame the Democrats for the pending government shutdown that is the GOP/TP fault. They are masterminding the collapse of this country and still trying to shift he blame. Nothing new.
President Obama’s administration will no longer defend the DOMA Bill in the courts saying that denying marriage to the Gay population is basically unconstitutional. The Law still stands but they will not contest it in court battles.
Walker spoke for every Republican office holder out there, they're all puppets.
The weekly "compromise" position runs directly against one of the most consistent talking points currently stocked in the Conservative pantry. How many times have we heard the word "uncertainty" over the last 6-8 months, yet Republicans are working to CREATE uncertainty by creating this suspense over a possible government shut down instead of just making a budget.
We're past 1 1/2 months in the majority now and still no plan that balances the budget while cutting taxes...only more of the uncertainty they themselves claim is poison to the economy.
Louis, John B:
I hear you loud and clear. At the end of the day no matter what their rhetoric that fact remains they are still "Obstructionist" and the party of NO. They will ride this agenda all the way to 2012 thinking that is the road to the White House.
The American people are starting to stand up and hit the streets in protests to their DRACONIAN ideology. 61% of the people do not want Collective Bargaining to be eliminated. Again the party that claims to listen to the American People has gone deaf.
"There's a lot of us new governors that got elected to do something big. This is our moment."
So says Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. Hard to quarrel with that, even though Navy Vet will find a way. What was it you folks on the left kept telling us as the Dems were conspiring to ram through HCR last year? Something about elections have consequences as I recall. Judging by the opposition to Walker coming from the left, I guess you all think it's OK to implement those consequences only when the elections turn out in your favor.
There was a time in America when working men and women were frequently abused by those who employed them. It was a sordid chapter in our history, and a chapter that led to a union movement that was successful in fixing many egregious practices. But those times are long gone. Today union power has evolved to the point where the wage and benefits they demand often surpass the ability of employers to satisfy those demands – and still remain solvent.
GM knows all about that, it's one of the reasons they steadily lost market share by being forced to sell cars at prices that had to factor in ever increasing wage and health care costs. State and local governments know about that too as they grapple with how they will ever find the cash to cover the unfunded liabilities in the generous pension programs for their employees.
So while Americans understand and appreciate the legacy of the unions, more and more Americans are coming to understand that we are at a tipping point when it comes to our ability to finance the wage and benefit packages that some union employees enjoy – particularly public employees where it's we the people who are doing the financing via our tax dollars. To paraphrase Governor Walker, this is our Greece moment. And this moment is just beginning, as more and more state house across the country are being forced by fiscal reality to confront this problem.
That's the overarching issue in play here. Unions are fine, they have an honorable history and few want to undermine the conceptual basis that led to their formation in the first place. What most Americans want to challenge are the powerful special interest institutions into which unions have evolved. Institutions with narrow self interests that have contributed mightily to the fiscal mess in which we find ourselves. Institutions which show little inclination to acknowledge the role their power played in contributing to that mess. And institutions which will fight against the interests of the many, in order to cling to the power they wield for the benefit of a few.
Dearest Bill:
This paragraph you wrote is complete and utter bull"
I was unable to read any further that that . . .
We live in a culture where mine operators figure it is cheaper to let a few folks blow up than address well know safety issues.
We live in a culture where we have folks who WORK in the health care industry who don't have health insurance.
We live in a culture where wages have gone down while corporate profits continue to go up.
We live in a culture where a business will sell food and drugs that they KNOW are tainted. for a buck.
We live in a culture where the CEO of a corporation makes more in a YEAR than all of his employees COMBINED will make in a lifetime.
We live in a culture where a minimum wage that is BELOW the poverty line is considered a hardship.
Bill, you present a "reasonalbe" facade, but you are a fraud.
There is NO ENTITY in this country, unions included, that in ANY WAY rival the TOTAL DOMINATION of CORPORATE PEOPLE in America.
Period.
The fact that even though they have TOTAL CONTROL for our economy and government, the richest among us still WHINE AND SQUEAL and require TOTAL CAPITULATION is a testament to their complete and total loss of touch with anything resembling REALITY.
But you know what? That last greedy quest for MORE is finally going to WAKE up more of the confused and stressed out people in this country to what is REALLY going on, so I say BRING IT ON!
Show AMERICA who you REALLY are REPUBLICAN PARTY! Let us know who is pulling the STRINGS!
Here is a hint:
It is not the voters.
Nash GF - You're on FIRE today! ;o)
We must keep putting the truth out there front and center and NO one does it better than you!
The Public Unions have bleed the states dry. For too long the Democrats politicians have gotten into power and negotiated to give these sweetheart deals to the unions, THEIR unions, and have sent the bill to the taxpayers. Now the states are broke, and the Democrats and the unions are the reason.
Well guess what Democrats, the taxpayer has figured out this little scam of yours. No more are you going to give these great payoff deals to the unions, and have those unions kick back some of that money to your campaigns. And your Fleabagger state senators that run off to other states as they have in Wisconsin and Indiana to prevent votes to be taken on the people's can hold out forever. Soon enough those poor and hungry state senators will have to show up for work.
The Democrats are putting up a huge fight for their unions, because they know they can't win elections without the union money revenue stream to their campaigns. For too long the Democrats have robbed that money from the taxpayers. That will end now Democrats. Go find someone else to steal from.
Dear Please Insult Me!:
Feisty and I are in love, have been for years!:o)
Here's hoping you find someone special one day . . . maybe if you find something you actually LIKE to SHARE instead of always complaining about something?
Just a thought.
I gotta hand it to ya, Bill, you definiately write a beautifully eloquent narrative, but draw the WRONG conclusions every time.
Your premise - and eventual conclusion - states that although unions are fine, but they are costing us too much to continue (I am paraphrasing here). You seem to applaud Governor Walker's assessment that 'this is our Greece moment'.
What you FAIL to acknowledge is that MAYBE Gov. Walker created the 'crisis' so he could ride in and 'save the day'. From what I have been reading on this subject, there was a projected SURPLUS in the budget - that was, until there were tax breaks given to Corporations that almost equaled the projected surplus.
Now the numbers are recomputed, and there is a deficit. Do you think that we would go back to those Corporations and say, no, you cannot have those breaks? Of course not. We made an AGREEMENT with the Corporations that they would get their tax breaks. We wouldn't want to break our word, would we? I mean, our word is our bond, isn't it?
With all of that being said, the State of WI also has a deal with the unions. The Unions bargained fairly to get what they have. They made a deal, and the State has to honour its deal with the unions. We wouldn't wantto break our word, weould we? I man, our word is our bound, isn't it?
Not when Gov. Walker is involved.
It is funny that the Gov. will honour the deal he made with the Corporations and then in the next breath want to BREAK the deal he has with the Unions, citing that the unions 'cost too much'. Well, if there is a shortfall, maybe we should be looking ELSEWHERE for some savings.
Why does the savings ALWAYS have to be at the expense of the people who can least afford it?
Bill, I cannot believe that you would willingly fall for this claptrap that you are trying to protray here. It is not a left v. right thing that we are seeing - it is a Governor that picks and chooses which agreements he wants to honour, and is using the unions as a wedge to get what he wants.
Plain and simple.
You can continue with your conclusion that 'more and more Americans are coming to understand that we are at a tipping point when it comes to our ability to finance the wage and benefit packages that some union employees enjoy' but fail to recognise that more and more Americans are coming to understand that we are at a tipping point when it comes to our ability to finance the tax breaks and concessions that many Corporations enjoy.
It is funny how there is two sides of this coin that we, the electorate, are paying for.
I applaud you, Bill for your eloquent and passionate post. It was beautiful. However, your premise and conclusions are wrong, especially when you do NOT take into account the whole picture of what is going on.
JoAnna:
It's. Not. Working.
The truth is not on your side.
Now what?
US Navy Disabled Veteran - Retired
#4. He also acknowledged he is a staunch Koch puppet
What a joke this Gov. Walker puppet has turned out to be. it has been viewed at less 1/2 million times on you tube. Can you imagine how many other times on media outlets?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBnSv3a6Nh4&feature=related
It' so funny that it's so sad too be that dumb and pathetic.
=============================================
@Please Insult Me!
Why do ask to insulted when it's you who does it?
Noticed that Clueless Harry Reid figured out the deal the Republicans offered him for renewing the CR was the same as the 2011 $61 billion dollar(de)funding bill the House sent to him last week, and he prompptly rejected it. Should have taken the deal though Harry, it's the best you'll get. Clearly the Democrats are not concerned about deficit reduction when they can't come up with even $2 billion in cuts, let alone $60 billion. Even $60 billion in cuts is nothing, especially when Obama just submitted his joke of an idea of deficit reduction, a 2012 budget with a $1.65 TRILLION dollar deficit.
The Democrats have gotten used to owning Congress, spending more and more, dumping the debt on the taxpayer. Nancy and Harry manged to add $5.5 trillion worth of debt during their 4 year rein from 2007-2011. Thanks you two. Thanks alot. You two being sold out to the unions does have its price, a price the taxpayer is left to pay.
And now Clueless Harry says the world will end if anything is cut from his bloated CR. Keep it up Democrats, if last years election results were not clear enough for you, the 2012 will give you another crack across your head to think about.
It's obvious Clueless Harry has a better idea on the budget. Well rather than just say NO to the GOPs bill Harry, lets see you and your Senate pass a budget with a least a little bit of cuts in it. But Harry can't, cause his Senate isn't in session for a few more days. Harry says "Crisis? What crisis?". Sure Harry, if the government shuts down pal, that's on you. You've had plenty of time to deal with this CR, you know when it expired. And yet you still have done nothing.
Pietro:
Good morning, you have said what I have been saying but so much better than I did. Great post. Have a great day.
Oh really, Joanna?
You have to remember that these states have choices when employing these unions. Many of these unions have scaled back their concessions and benefits so that they DON'T break the cities/municipalities that employ them.
So of these unions are 'bleeding' the states, who don't the states do something about it? The states are negotiating contracts with the unions all the time. At the end of the contract period, why not make a change?
Could it be that the negotaiations are MISMANAGED?
But, true to form, JAS1 is crying that she is hungry when she has 2 loaves of bread under each arm and wants you and I to give her our last few scraps of food.
The States are honouring the tax breaks that they made to Corporations.
So why is it so hard for them to honour the deals they made with the unions?
Could it be that there was never an issue with the union contract(s) to begin with?
As usual, JAS1 takes one side and tries to spin it as truth.
The bottom line is this - if you are going to honour the deal(s) you made with the Corporations for tax breaks and concessions, then you MUST honout the deal(s) you made with the Unions.
If you word is your bond, what is the difference? A deal is a deal.
Unless you weren't serious in the first place.
Id get her before she has that serf n mudpie dinner, Im not into women that smell like fish and pie!
Sure, go ahead. In fact have the unions sue the states for their money. So how will that work? The states are broke. When the unions win their case in court will they 1) Go collect their money from the empty state bank accounts? 2) Have the courts force the states raise taxes so that the union deals can be paid off? 3) Have the states declare bankruptcy and the unions, and everyone else, get nothing?
The Democrats and the Unions were not adversaries during when these contracts were written. The Democrats and the Unions were in fact on the same side, and the taxpayer was never represented during these negotiations. These contracts are nothing more than an agreement between the Democrats and the unions that the taxpayer owes them money.
The word was between the government and unions, two of the same. The taxpayer, the one on the hook for paying for these agreements, was not represented during those negotiations. And that is exactly why public unions should not be allowed to have collective bargining.
Nashville, great post! Thanks!
You know, JAS1, I just LOVE IT when you put your foot in your mouth. The snippet from your post (which is shown above) tells volumes about you.
Now for you to say that the taxpayer, who is on the hook for paying these agreements, was not represented during this negotiations is being willfully ignorant.
Have you FORGOTTEN that the ELECTED OFFICIALS, who represent their ELECTORATE (so you can understand, Joanna, the TAXPAYERS that elected them) ARE the 'Gubmint'?? The cities/states/municipalities that enter into these agreements do so ON BEHALF OF THE TAXPAYERS (electorate). That is what REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT is all about.
JAS1, you reasoning is, for a lack of a better term, ridiculous.
The other point I need to make - if the state/city/municipality is looking for some entity to provide services that are needed, what is the difference if the entity is a private company or a public union? Both have to negotiate with the city/state/municipality for compensation.
So what you are saying, JAS1, that public unions should not allowed to negotiate via collective bargaining.
OK, fair enough.
Then, in the issue of fairness, a private company should not be allowed to negotiate either - via whatever means they have to negotiate.
Does that pretty much sum up what you are saying, JAS1?
That notion that an entity will just 'take what is handed to them' is ridiculous and solidifies my argument that you are not speaking from an informed position.
You can get back to me when you start making sense in your posts.
Pietro, you are such a hoot.
They haven't done a very good job, now have they P? Seems they made agreements that have bankrupt the states. So either they forgot to raise the taxes to cover their swetheart deals with the unions, or they just left the mess for someone else to clean up later (see Scott Walker for details). Or are you just another denier that can't read those pesky balance sheets?
Ohhh, you do catch on fast. And here everyone else is saying you're just not that sharp.
Private companies can enter into any contract they wish to enter.
And your non-answer 'post' solidifies my argument.
Thank you JAS1 for proving you STILL have no ideas and NO clue about what you are posting.
Hmm, I just got notice of my yearly merit raise. It was less than 2% and I was in the second of 4 tiers with the first getting the highest increase, just slightly over 2%. Their excuse? These are hard times for everyone and everyone must sacrifice. Problem is, I work for an VERY LARGE corporation that increased it's profits by 28% from the year before and made over a billion dollars in profit.
Yeah, the corporations can be trusted to treat their employees fairly.
(Wait for it, I will be attacked for not performing well at my job, it was my fault I did not get more, if you don't like it go find another job, etc. Go ahead, it only shows you for the heartless fools and corporate lackeys that you prove yourselves to be every day on here.)
Okay, off topic, but maybe interesting to some. I wasn't in a writing mood yesterday, so decided to do some reading instead - a cruise down memory lane, a.k.a. the First Read Archives. First thread ever was from August 29, 2006, titled just "First Glance". It was about President Bush attending a prayer service for the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and it got exactly one comment that was all of one word long - "thankings"(?) - from an unidentified poster.
By November 5, 2008 the headline "Obama Wins" drew all of - are you ready? - 43 (!) comments - congratulations to newdayDawning and Amy B in Portland for being among them. The headline for First Thoughts that day was "The 44th President" and it did a bit better, with 91. Nice to meet you, Clara and Steeler Fan and Ron, Indiana - if any of the other current regulars on either side were also there, I apologize for missing you. It was strange not to see any direct replies or votes, and nice not to see any collapses or deletions. My favorite comment from that day was actually the first one, from someone named Chuck, NY:
"Remember…no gloating, no taunting and no claims of repudiation achieved. Be a quiet hero today. Remember and cherish the images. Look in the mirror and assess your ability to attain and affect change. Make each day progress from 'yes we can' to 'yes we did'. "
Fast forward to yesterday, where the thread about the Defense of Marriage Act drew a whopping 2419 comments at last count. How far we've come, right? Kind of hard to equate quantity with quality, though, as a few typical examples included:
"When can I marry Obama's dog?"
"SIEG HIEL HERR OBAMA !"
"How much more before we take to the streets to rid ourselves of this evil leader?"
"Obama didn't win in '08. ACORN won the election for him. Millions of dead people and subway shops voted for him."
"Hey you dumb ass muslim idiot, marriage is between a man and a woman"
"WOO HOOO!!! Eat that you hate filled christian extremists and filthy teabaggers of ignorance".
Ah, well......so much for the theory of evolution, right? On the other hand, kudos to the hundreds of other posters who managed to wade through all of that sort of insanity and actually make some well-written comments and thought-provoking discussion.
There are days when it hardly seems worth trying to make a point here. Then there are days when the "quiet heroes" make you proud to at least try.
To anyone who recognizes themselves in any of the comments above, I'd say that Chuck,NY's advice from over two years ago still holds true:
"Remember…no gloating, no taunting and no claims of repudiation achieved....... Look in the mirror and assess your ability".
Thanks to our hosts for planting that first seed and to everyone on both sides who have helped it to grow and thrive. And a special thanks to Chuck, NY - wherever you are today!
FR was a totally different format back then JoAnne, that is why there were no replies or collapses and such!
And looking back - it was MUCH better... ;o)
The change came last year on June 1st!
JoAnne: Excellent Post...
It is amazing what you can learn from reading old posts...
Thanks, Jo Ann. It was a fun (but sad, in many ways) read!
Joanne PA:
Great post today. Things are a changing for sure and you hit it on the head. I look at that thread yesterday and it was so toxic I needed a hazmat suite just to read it.
True confession:
It was all I could do to read the first page of that thread and came to the conclusion I wasn't going back!
JoAnne:
Thanks for the memories . . . those were indeed the days! :o)
After 3+ years on First Read, my favorite day is still the day that President Obama won the NPP!
There was so much popcorn flying around it was hard to type with all the butter dripping from the keyboards!
The right was particularly cantankerous that day!
Ahhh *good times*!
So true Feisty, so true . . . who would have thought that a Peace Prize would be more fun than the Super Bowl!
lol
And here we are two years after President Obama was elected . . . troops out of Iraq, democracy sweeping the Middle East, Don't Ask Don't Tell repealed, health care reform passed, Great Depression averted, American manufacturing pulled from the ashes, and folks are still complaining!
America rocks! :o)
Thanks for the shout out, JoAnne---we Keystone girls have to stick together! I wish we could have more real discussions here but I always enjoy the exchanges of ideas and opinions when they happen. Would like to have commented on the DOMA thread but didn't have the patience.
JoAnne: just peeking in...thanks for the trip to memory lane.
It's funny reading through those old archives. So many of the "characters" back then have disappeared. The "moons"...the Chihuahua Gang...Eric...JaWillie...just to name a few.
Great Post JoAnne,
I look forward to November 9, 2012 when the Headlines read, "Obama Wins Re-Election" and the other story feature, "What went wrong for the GOP"?
Feisty - I remember the day the format changed - for the next two weeks, every time another regular "crossed over", it was like they'd navigated their way through a maze and arrived safe and sound and only a little worse for wear. I'm sure our hosts are glad we've finally stopped complaining about the type font, but just for the sake of discussion, I still miss the old yellow and black!
Nash - No, thank YOU - when I first started lurking around here and trying to get up the nerve to post myself, "Nashville Fan" was always the first name I used to look for. You and IR can take all the credit (or blame?) for there being a JoAnne in PA at all!
Grimey - How about Jerry, Corpus Christi and Bobbi, Eau Claire? And CA, Tuscaloosa, if you're out there, hello!
JoAnne, I am humbled and flattered!
You are truly a great addition to First Read and a breath a fresh air . . . thanks for sharing your sane and reasonable voice with some of us old timers . . . Lord knows we need some sanity around here . . . and I admit, I have been a part of the problem as much as the solution! :o)
JoAnne, the stroll down memory lane was great. I think the stroll points out something that has overtaken everything the past two years. Just as Clinton's election in 1992 brought out more militias, plenty of conspiracy theories, the right even accused the Clintons of murder in the White House. Limbaugh was just getting started and FOX cable was not around yet; the internet was a baby, no blogs, no political discussion sites but despite that, it was still a nasty political environment. Liberals criticized Bush but mostly about Iraq, torture, Gitmo, etc.; some may have called him war criminal or Bush-whacker (two I recall reading) but the majority of posters never attacked him personally, never questioned his religion, never attacked his wife Laura. President Obama is elected, and the hounds from hell are unleashed only this time the hounds have powerful right-wing media radio and TV outlets to spew lies, twist words, make wild accusations, create conspiracy theories, and in general speak with absolutely NO respect for democracy, no respect for responsible free speech and mostly promoting fear. Why is it acceptable to criticize the First Lady's body shape? That's what Limbaugh did. Why is it acceptable for Limbaugh to now call fire fighters, police officers, teachers "bottom feeders" and "freeloaders" yet after 9/11, he and his FOX friends wrapped themselves in the flag, praised them as "heros"? This is what angers me--hypocrisy, ugly, hateful, disrespectful, egotistical crap for ratings at the expense of listeners and viewers many of whom believe every word without question.
Shout out to Pete in Albany, Cindy in Las Vegas, Donna, PA, Lisa in New Britain, Diane, IL & Jaycee, Ventura
And who can ever forget David Anders, TX - I swear that dude is related to ITM! lol
I remember Chuck, NY's, comment! My goodness, I must have a FR archive buried in a set of my brain cells.
The back story for my posting on FR is that I used to read Eric Alterman on MSNBC, in the dark days of the Bush years, when the media lay down with the Republican Party. I was furious when they let Eric go and replaced him with this political blog; I suspected the suits were censoring his liberal voice. I'd already stopped trusting ABC's The Note, after I got sick of their jaded attitude, and I didn't trust these unknown MSNBC journalists. Their photos in the margains spooked me too, as it looked like their eyes were following me when I tried to read.
Anyway, I wrote an angry email one night, to the woman in charge of the blog, Elizabeth Wilner, accusing her of being biased, after some flippant crack she made about a Democrat, and she actually wrote me right back. Yikes! I cut her some slack after that, and I gradually started to trust this blog.
My trust has grown over the years, as the journalists often share their internal debates over what to write about and how. I truly believe the FR reporters take their mission, to report the news and explain the details, to a general audience, seriously. I learn so much reading FR and reading the comments that follow. It's very challenging to follow along, but so rewarding. And addictive.
Job1: Sorry...the headline on November 9, 2012 is gonna read:
"Frank "Grimey" Grimes' upstart candidacy stuns the world as he becomes the youngest President in US History" and the other story feature, "Is he serious about moving the Oval Office to a penthouse suite at the Bellagio in Las Vegas"? Hmmm...maybe I've had a wee bit much caffeine this mornin'. ;-)
Joanne, Feisty: Yeah, I wonder if any of the people we're mentioning did make the transition to different monikers? J Merle Stanley disappeared as well.
Actually Grimey, J Merle popped in a couple of weeks ago (under the same moniker) - last I heard of him, he was flying over the Bermuda Triangle with a bloody Mary in one hand and his arm around his life size Hillary doll!
TRUE story - it was the last post I saw of his? lmao
As for Chuck, NY he moved to WA and became Chuck, WA!
Thanks for the memories...
Good Post JoAnne,
If only we could remember that phrase everytime one of the opposition says something we find really insulting. Just Let it go, and argue facts, facts, facts. *sigh* And grats to all you regulars for surviving this long.
That's a good one Frank.
JoAnne -- Thanks so much for that post. What a ride it's been since we turned First Read into a blog in August 2006. A couple of quick notes: Before the new format, we had to manually approve every comment, and for that reason we'd usually cut off the number of comments per post b/w 50-100. But with the new format, the number of comments is now unlimited. Second, the dialogue typically devolves when MSNBC.com or MSN places the post on its main page -- which drives more traffic. That's what happened with the DOMA story yesterday.
Amy -- I really appreciated your comments about my old boss, Elizabeth Wilner. Thanks for reading and staying with us. You guys are what makes this site so great. It's more than a political blog; it's a community. Thank you all....
Jody--great point. I agree with you that the personal attacks are wrong. Even after what happened to our country on George Bush's watch, the left never said about him the kind of things that are routinely said about President Obama. And the attacks on the First Lady are shameless and senseless and, again, nothing of the sort was ever said about Laura Bush.
Also, thanks for your comments about the font/type on the blogs. We're having a meeting with the MSNBC.com folks to discuss how to improve the blog. Beyond the font/type, what else would you guys like? Be honest. I can't promise that things will change, but I'm happy to relay your opinions.
Best,
Mark
Grimey -
Can I be your Vice-President? We could be the first bi-partisan ticket, and you'll need someone much older and wiser to guide you along (wasn't that you who'd never heard all those great Dan Quayle stories?) I can't claim to see Russia from my front porch, but I can see (and hear!) the main Amtrak tracks on the East Coast from my back door, for whatever that's worth.
Speaking of being much older, did anyone else happen to see the contestant on American Idol last night who said they'd never even HEARD a Beatles song? Call the nursing home and tell 'em to get my room ready!
Thanks for popping in Mark! :o)
My only comment on the blog would be that since the ads have been added to the comments, it is difficult to scroll up and down (or maybe its just my old computer - lol).
Thanks for the input Mark! We always appreciate your 0.02! ;o)
Speaking of improving the blog - the one thing I would point out is what I believe are the ads now in the middle of the pages.
I understand the need for revenue, however, the more comments that post the more difficult it becomes to navigate by scrolling.
Don't know if you saw it or not - last week a couple of new posters commented that they would no longer be 'visiting' First Read for that very reason!
Maybe they could move the ads back to the right side like they have in the past?
Mark---thanks for all you and your colleagues do to make this community so great. I understand that ads may be necessary to pay the way, but do they have to be in the middle of the blog--couldn't they be out to the side?
As long as I'm "wishing"---I wish you could add an "unlike" button---as a way to express disagreement with a post.
Mark -- One more suggestion, can they remove the 'collapse' feature entirely?
Our hall monitor 'Tyler' appears to me MIA and posts are continually collapsed when they are in no way a violation of the COH.
Take for example 'Spanky's' #1 post under the Walker thread yesterday, (trust me I'm NO fan of his).
As of this morning, it still hasn't been restored and in turn the 70+ comments/voices that replied to him have been silenced!
I still can't figure out how (5) knuckleheads can collapse a post with 100+ votes...?
Okay, I'm stepping off my soap box now! lol
Joanne...you're on the short list for sure!! :-) I need to consult the legal team to see when I need to be 35 to be legally allowed to run for Pres. And yes, it was me asking about Dan Quayle. The first election I could vote in was 1996 (Clinton vs. Dole). I think I learned half of what I know about politics through the satire of "The Simpsons".
JoAnne in PA
Thanks for taking us back down memory lane.
@Mark Murray
I really like the format because it allows everyone to post a comment.
I do have one request. I'm not sure if you have FR on default to not except images. If you do what are the chances we can post an image?
I think a picture says more than a thousand words.
@Clara
I really miss Diane in Illinois. In fact, I worry about here. I wonder too how many of the old posters have passed on.
Mark -
Thanks for the reply and all of the interesting background. As for suggestions - what Feisty, Nash and Steeler Fan said!
Grimey - Don't worry; I won't ask for your birth certificate if you don't ask for mine!
Oh, you're welcome Mark. You can tell Elizabeth Wilner she won a lifelong fan for First Read by simply responding to me like a civil person. I try to remember that approach in my work, as I have to deal with alot of angry clients.
Hmmm, how to improve the blog. Well, I think it's pretty darn perfect the way it is. I like links that are educational, as in, that direct me to original sources or are more detailed than a typical news article. So much of our news is spin, spin, spin, or entertainment oriented, it's challenging to find news that gives you the facts.
One thing I would suggest is that the "collapse" feature, rather than being a symbol of disapproval, be put on EVERY post so that the web page doesn't become so long that the computer grinds to a halt every time you hit the scroll bar. While the number of opening threads per page is limited, the number of replies to a thread is not, and that's what makes the web pages so very long after a few hours. Especially the first page.
Mark - I would get rid of the 'collapse' feature. If there are ignorant things being posted, I want to be sure that everyone sees the ignoramus that posted it.
Common ground with my partner in snark, the Feisty one. The collapse feature should be eliminated. Every American has the right to speak their piece. If you don't like the comment, skip it. Or better still, come up with your own biting rejoinder.
For what it's worth, I also think the bar should be raised for getting a star. Five votes is too easy, should be at least 10 prferrably 15. The way it is now kind of reminds me of the stars the kiddies in school get just for showing up.
Hi Mark, I am coming late to the party today, I too, appreciate all the work you and the rest of the crew do to make this available to us every day.
My first request would be as others above have asked , to do something about the slowness in the scroll. I know you guys have to pay the bills but if possible could they be paid another way, or may be different use a software.
Also Mark, the collapse feature needs another look, or may be better monitoring, as we have some posting here who downright vulgar and rude. That thread yesterday on DOMA, was disgusting, some just dont know any better and need to chastised in a different way than collapsed.
Thanks for all you do.
Hi mark, I would like to see all posts. There are to many on this vine who collapse just cause the don't like the person's point of view. The scrolling is often slow. But I appreciate the opportunity to express my opinion and to hopefully offer some solutions to our common problems.
I see Amy B. Portland showed up today.....................Did you figure out who Trumpka is yet?
Holy smoke, Grimey! You're so young and yet so wise (for your years, anyway, after all you're still a conservative ;-))) ).
Mark, Along the lines for improvement, I am of two minds on the getting rid of the collapse feature suggestion. In one way, it is good that vile, hateful posts can be collapsed but then again, it is also good that everyone can see those posts and judge any other post that person makes based on it. What I would rather see from the community is a record of the "I like this" and a record of the "I do not like this" counts. An "I do not like this" choice would need to be added.
The collapse should not be automatic, but if enough people vote something as 'inflammatory', the moderators should look at it and decide whether to collapse it or delete it. The moderators should also be a bit relaxed in their decision and any deletion or collapse really should just be something totally tasteless or hateful as we are all adults and some of the banter can be . . . ummm . . . 'not so nice(?)' but perfectly acceptable to most of us.
P.S. Grimey, you are one of the good guys that help us on the left believe there really is intelligent and respectful life on the right. Keep up the good ways/work and keep us honest by presenting well thought out comments that present actual facts and identify opinion as opinion.
Hope I am not too late to the party. Spent the day off getting treatments. (yuck).
I have said it before, and will say it again- we need more moderation on this aite. Good posts , ( both right and left) are collapsed simply because a posse decides they do not like the content.
Ad hominem attacks, vile and/or viscopious language, from" trusted" posters, stands, with no penalty for CoH violations.
I got an email from a "sometime" poster the other day, asking me how I could stand to post here. I told that person that the reason was that, when I first started following this blog, there were virtually NO reasonable voices from the right- there are more, now. That I thought it was important to keep posting for those who read, but do not post.
And, I do not miss Jerry, Corpus Christie. I still remember one of his last, (thankfully) posts. I cannot abide racists, or bigots of any kind.
Which is why I am glad Eric in Salinas is gone.
I know there are bigots in the world. I do not believe First Read needs to give them a venue to spew their venom. So, in case I was remiss, thanks for banning them.
I am swamped right now; but COULD NOT STAND to miss a trip down Memory Lane:
Ahh, Feisty you beat me to the punch on Chuck, NY becoming Chuck, WA - he's still around on occasion; but very rarely.
Speaking of worried? Has anyone heard from Leon in Houston? That one troubles me greatly. I also miss Richard, Washington State - We never agreed with each other but he was sure fun! and of course Pat, Huntington, NY- Greg P. Indiana – Tzalaran – Gary Schear Bozeman – donna - Captain Smashmouth – Andrea New York City - Mark, Seattle – Joe Don Topeka, KS - Jawillie - Pajama Pundit - MSierra SF (before he went off the rails; but even still I miss him) and I really miss CA-Tuscaloosa, too, Oh here's one from the vault - Econ Donna Juana - I think her name was Donna Lincroft, NJ - well okay - I don't 'miss' her; but she left a mark - okay more like a stain; but you get my larger point. tee hee
Mark, as always - a wonderful host! Thanks for soliciting feedback:
I, too, struggle with the scrolling when an article gets more than three pages of comments. I personally believe it is a buffering setting on Newsvine's site - where they are downloading ALL content per article. If they could look into changing that to 100 comments or so at a time - I think the delay would be much better. I don't care about the advertising since I don't really believe that is causing the problems.
I also agree that collapsing is the antithesis of what the forum is about. Without a doubt there are some items that should be flagged as inflammatory or advertising; but collapsing is ridiculous.
This has indeed become a wonderful community. I have made some GREAT friends here and without the NEW format, many of these connections wouldn't have been so easily formed. So thank you for constantly striving to improve.
Oh, and Mark - I can't help it; but any time we go down 'memory lane' I like to throw up this old link:
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/20/1046706.aspx
I guess part of my recommendation is that they get you guys a “Smart Board” before the next election. LOL and a wink!
Hi Clara!
Don't worry about Leon - I'm in touch with him via e-mail and he's doing as well as can be expected! He still has many health issues.
He told me I remind him of Joan Walsh with Salon (couldn't have had a better compliment)! ;o)
Oh, and I too remember Donna from Lincroft, NJ - what a piece of work that one was. Although, I have to say someone that lurks around here sounds a whole lot like her...?
If you catch my drift! ;o)
(Oh, and Joe- YOUR post was 'fun', too. Don't want you to feel left out...)
Did anyone happen to notice that Russia just went on a $650 Billion military spending spree? 600 new warplanes, 2 new aircraft carriers, 1000 new helicopters and even new nuclear subs.
Sounds like the PERFECT time for us to cut our defense spending! :-)
The top 5 countries’ military spending (as a % of all military spending) are: US 41.5%, China 5.8%, France 4.5%, UK 4.5%, and Russia 4%.
The next 10 combined = 21.1%.
The rest of the world combined = 18.6%.
Additionally we have 700 military bases in 135 countries.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending
We only spend 10x what Russia does on defense. We'd better panic!!!
Yeah... I guess you are right.
I mean why should we worry about the fact that they are getting all this brand new, state of the art fighting equipment and we have a navy that is the smallist it's been since 1909 and an airforce that is the most aged it has been since 1947 (that is to say the average years of service on the equipment is the highest it has been since 1947).
Yeah... no need for panic. You're right man! I mean I am sure that my old Model-T could take that Fomula 1 car in a race... Right?
Apparently model T's are very expensive.
F15s that have been extensively refitted and still flying rings around anything else in the air, F35s coming online in the not too distant future, B2 bombers that have proven remarkably effective for being 'obsolete', Predator and Reaper drones, $35B worth of new aerial tankers coming, new Virginia-class attack subs, a fleet of C5s that are still serving as reliable workhorses while the Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft program continues to develop a replacement for older, small field cargo planes...and 10x the spending of the Russians.
Sick,
Don’t forget what John Boehner reminds of every few hours:
“We’re broke”
Dennis,
We may be broke... but if that's the case we should cut ALL spending... let's talk about all those welfare and entitlement programs... not just the military. If this were your personal financing you would do that. You can't spend what you don't have! WAIT! That's not true! Just learn to speak Chinese and everything will be ok.
And by the way there John B old buddy old pal...
The F15 was first built in 1972... That means it is approaching 40 (that's right.... 40) years old! for pete's sake... we are still flying B-52's which have been around since 1952!
You can put a new bumper on that Model-T but it's still an old car. So... don't give me that crap about how much we spend!
Sick,
I heard that same line 20 years ago only then it was Japanese and before that it was Russian.
I say put everything on the table even entitlements. But when the military budget is nearly as big as the rest of the world combined something seems out of whack to me especially when our population is only 5% of the world.
How about getting our troops out of the Middle East? That alone would be a savings of over $150 billion a year.
Sure we need new fighting tools but they must come out of the existing defense budget. We need to fix our infrastructure to keep our competiveness in the world economic market. Again, it must be part of our priorities.
So many problems and all any of us do is divide them up between Left and Right and none of them gets solved.
I thought the Conservative response to most things is "throwing money at problems doesn't solve them."
So the Governor of Wisconsin is caught on tape saying the exact opposite of what he has been saying in public, and it doesn't even make First Thoughts?
Yeah, I know, you covered it in some other posts.
But I am just trying to figure out how the governor of a state talking with an out-of-state donor about a national strategy to prevent already marginalized unions from having the right to bargain as a group (How can you legislate away that right anyway? Can't people negotiate any way they want? If not, why not?) is not bigger news?
The Governor of Wisconsin admitted that:
- he is lying about his motivations
- he is willing to lie and decieve to get what he wants
- he is willing to accept gifts for political favors
- he is willing to send in fake protesters to generate controversy
- he has no intention of negotiating ever
and the media that is owned and operated by the same entity that he was on the phone with (which is also the same entity that owns the Supreme Court and the Congress) gives the story fleeting catnip style coverage and starts telling us that John Huntsman went to McDonald's in China?
Seriously?
If the American people think that once the corporate people get what they want, things are going to get better, I've got a foreign car to sell them.
Wake up America. This ain't about unions. This ain't about politics. This is about the haves protecting themselves from the have nots. This is about keeping us strung out so we will never come together and DEMAND what is rightfully ours.
If you think that it is a coinky dink that right after the people of the Middle East realized that they already had enough power to demand better treatment, those in power here decided that they had better convince us that we are all better off going it alone, then you truly do need to go to cut off your TV and radio, go to your local library, and spend some time thinking for yourself.
The American people have been sold out, and they are counting on us not to notice.
I call bullsh!t.
You noticed that to Nash?
They didn't cover it on the Today Show either - guess Kate & Wills first public appearance since their engagement is of more substance!
I double your bullsh!t!
Feisty:
A house built on lies cannot stand. That is not only true in Egypt, and that is what is scaring the hell out of these crooks that have been selling the American people a lot of patriotic mythology.
Just because the folks who own the media don't want to talk about it, doesn't mean that folks aren't noticing what is going on.
Their only chance is that we continue to play by their rules - the thing that scares them about Wisconsin is that folks are using their brains and not accepting the "options" that these crooks are presenting.
The house of cards is about to come tumbling down, and the state run media does not have permission to cover it.
Oh well, luckily enough, we don't need them.
Nash:
Great post and the American people are starting to notice that the GOP/TP sold them a pack of lies and empty promises. It is all about what they want and how they can squeeze those last few dollars out of our pockets and into theirs. It is about destroying our rights and giving themselves more freedoms in the name of Greed and Power.
Great post, Nash. We all must do our part to get the truth out by whatever means possible. I was feeling discouraged by recent events and thought to myself---we inspired those people in the Middle East and must in turn be inspired by them.
Nash:
Why do you get all hostile because something wasn't covered to your liking? Most people in America could care less about politics. It is not exactly a very interesting subject. If you REALLY think about it; A politician is a politician is a politician and they ALL push their OWN agendas. Politicians are about power and they will do whatever it takes to maintain or gain it. The American people are the ones that are divided and it is to the politician's advantage that we are. This goes both ways. There is not one POLITICIAN (Dem or Rep) including Obama that should be thrust upon a pedestal.
Everything they do is calculated. The average American thinks these politicians make speaking errors all of the time but in reality a lot of that is purposely done. Nowhere but in political land can you "WALK" something you said back. WTF is walking back? If I tell someone F-you, there is no walking back, it is out there and I meant it. The MEDIA is the driving force of a lot of whats wrong in this country. The media knows that the average person is only going to tune into something they like and tune out the things they dislike. Unfortunately this is the culture and it will be here when we all on this board are on our backs permanently.
That is the truth. People can accept it or reject it but it will not change the reality.
In the Middle:
Me? Hostile?
lol
I agree with your comment. That said, as a person on the BOTTOM, you will forgive me if I don't have a lot of patience with all this political theater while the real problems in my real life go unaddressed.
So again, respectfully, I must call bullsh!t.
:o)
Nashville_fan: "you truly do need to go to cut off your TV and radio, go to your local library, and spend some time thinking for yourself."
Really good point, Nash. I posted something the other day about the city of Camden, NJ closing their last public library branch (in addition to massive police and firefighter layoffs) and someone pointed out to me - quite correctly, unfortunately - that with the range of information available today on the Internet - and, I suppose, with the growing popularity of Kindle, etc. - that libraries are a dying breed, kind of like local bank branches and daily newspapers. As someone whose Mom started taking her to the library before she could even read, I find that incredibly sad - but given the type of "information" that's now so easily accessible on the Internet, I also find it incredibly disturbing. Pretty much anyone with a keyboard can now claim to be a "source" of information - a source of facts, a source of truth, justice and the American Way. Some do it for fun. Others do it for profit. Others because they need to stroke their massive egos. And some do it to control the game. And for the most part, we let them do it. We don't want to take the time to use the old card file and pull books off the shelf and take notes from different sources and then take the time we really need to process the information and form our own judgements.
Sigh.....the pleasant nostalgia I started the day with seems to have been replaced. Not your fault, though. Time moves on, whether I want to move with it or not. Like you, I'm all in favor of people thinking for themselves. But as whoever that was the other day pointed out, we're soon going to have a hard time finding that nice quiet library to do it in.
JoAnne:
There will always be libraries . . . why?
Because I will see to it! :o)
We need libraries for the SILENCE if nothing else, where else can you find that these days?
Don't be discouraged . . . one thing I have learned by putting politics on the backburner is that even though politics is important, ACTION is more important.
We need fewer political action committees and more ACTION. Instead of begging these crooks . . . er . . . politicians to legislate something that actually benefits people over power, we can take the same energy and money and just do it ourselves. . . build clinics . . . tutor in schools . . . clean up our parks.
Truth is, we need these crooks a lot less than we think we do . . .
Keep your head up JoAnne . . . we are living in AMAZING times . . . we can't see it because everything is filtered through for-profit, controversy generators . . . but it is still true . . . which brings us back to getting out of the fray, finding some silence, and really THINKING about things every once in a while . . . makes a big difference.
Thanks, Nash. I saw a new bumper sticker the other day -
Politicians care about three things:
1. Power
2. Money
3. Not you
See you at the library!
Joanne I to love the library. I go at least twice a week. Our library has been cut to 4 days a week. Politicians don't have to worry about the Nation as long has they have us fighting with each other.
Daniels only changed his tune because someone called and threatened his campaign cash.
If he's really looking at 2012 AND has any electoral sense, he'd back away from the anti-union campaign and either drop it or work out a compromise (which union reps have offered multiple times). Otherwise, he could very well put swing-rust belt states like PA and OH off the table before the campaign even starts.
Then again, Daniels will change his tune overnight when someone pulls his purse strings, so I doubt he'll get his head out of the sand in time.
Walker & the GOP Governors exposed. When Shep Smith on FOX declares that Walker's talk about his bill to eliminate collective bargaining as necessary for budgetary reasons is "malarkey" and states Walker's goal is to destroy unions, the stuff has really hit the fan. Wisconsin citizens better dig in the weeds of the budget because within Walker's plan is a provision that allows the sale or contract leasing of state owned energy plants without a bid--just sell or contract to the person Walker and the GOP likes for a cheap price. What better way for the GOP to keep their Corporate masters happy. Koch Industries is probably high on the list. Seems any reasonable governor would want to get the best price for the citizens of Wisconsin but Walker has exposed himself to be a corrupt politician in the pocket of Koch brothers and others like them.
The collective bargaining rights in this country was fought and earned with bloodshed. Reagan began attacking unions, along with government, as evil and a problem. He and fellow GOPers succeeded in reducing private sector unions. Graphs show that the declining incomes of America's middle class run parallel with the declining of union influence. The more affluent in the country have seen the reverse, their incomes have steadily risen; the nation's wealth has become more and more concentrated in a small percentage of Americans.
What is happening in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa is simple to understand if one bothers to look beyond their political ideology. If Koch brothers and other wealthy business owners can buy enough state and federal legislators and Governors, they ensure they will never pay higher taxes both personally and for business profits. In the process, that means everyone else will be subsidizing the rich and aiding the further concentration of wealth in the few and ensure the declining income of everyone else.
This fight is not about being republican or democrat, it is a fight for middle America and for the American dream; it is a fight against the return of the "robber barons." Hard to say who will win this fight today but Walker's pranked call should be a wake-up call to every citizen regardless of party affiliation.
Well written, Jody, and thanks for connecting the dots. Taking the rights and livelihoods of average Americans while making sweetheart deals with the wealthy elites. That's the GOPTP philosophy.
Jody:
Kudos, right on. The GOP/TP talks about spending cuts (on the backs of the Middle Class) and then take those dollars saved and use them the give the rich and corporations (their Sugar Daddy's) the money in the form of tax cut, reduced regulations, etc.
What amazes me Jody is how so many of the very people who are under assault cooperate in this assault with their votes and support. And they don't seem to realize it.
I feel sympathy for the people in Wisconsin. Maine knows the pain of having a Tea Party governor. Our wingnut, Paul LePage, is quoted in today's paper as saying that the worst the chemical BPA, which has been shown to disrupt estrogen in the body, does is "it might cause women to grow little beards." He doesn't "see the science" behind banning it from plastics used in sippy cups. What a genius.
It was recently revealed that the governor's proposals for rolling back environmental laws, including the law banning BPA from children's items, was written by a woman who is a registered lobbyist for chemical companies and the Toy Industry. The proposals submitted to the legislature literally have her firm's stamp on each and every page - she used her office printer to print them.
Would LePage have thought up repealing the ban on BPA all by himself? Probably not. Looks like it 's the work of a puppetmaster, using our dumb- as- dirt new Tea Party governor to repeal a law that threatened the profits of the chemical industry (which he chose to do over protecting the health of Maine's children.) What gets me is how some people think voting for a Tea Party candidate is an act of rebellion, of "protecting our freedoms," when the result is that those candidates, once in office, merely do the bidding of their corporate masters.
Amy B;
Look, everyone just has to accept that these people won the election. They are not going to govern the way a progressive would like. A liberal is not going to govern the way a conservative would like. See how that works. When you win, you propose what YOU like and if it passes, so be it. If someone dislikes the outcome, take it to the courts.
Show me ONE DEMOCRAT in Congress that has not accepted ONE dime from a corporation. Most of them own stock in these corporations that are being vilified. Your friikken 401K is most likely connected to some of these corporations that you despise. One the one hand you want these corporations to hire and stay here in America but on the other you want to vilify and run them out of business.
IntheMiddle (Not)
There is line between accepting campaign contributions from a company, and picking a corporate lobbyist to write the regulations governing that industry. If you don't see that line, than I guess your family will starve because you choose a fox to watch the chicken house. Or, more likely, your grandkids will get cancer because they consumed BPA in their infancy.
I've had it with rightwing bullies who claim that all politicians are crooked. They claim that nothing government does has any value, paying taxes is for schmucks, and we should all just give up and let the corporations write our laws and form our policies.
It took years, millions of dollars, and the work of committed activists, but we finally cleaned up the pollution private industry left in our rivers in Maine. That didn't just happen, and it didn't just happen because the free market dictated it happen. It happened because of government action, spurred by the initiative of private citizens, made it happen. If Democrats and Republicans had allowed corporations to write our environmental laws in the 70's, we wouldn't be catching fish in those rivers today. We certainly wouldn't be eating those fish.
The Saudis have said they would replace any oil losses from Libya. But the speculators will still take advantage of the situation. I wonder how much more money the Koch brothers will make profiteering from this human tragedy? I guess they will be able to give Walker and the other republican governors a pay raise.
Very true, Patrick. My employer hedges in the oil market to control costs. Our analysts are telling us that a huge price spike is imminent even though there's plenty of capacity left in the world market. Speculators are having a heyday...at the expense of the rest of us.
John B:
Very true, we have seen this with speculators before. They have the power to artificially inflate/deflate any commodity they wish and make a ton of money in the process. And of course, we the Americna people pay for it.
Patrick:
Not to burst your bubble. The Koch Brothers are not the only people in the world INVESTED in oil. Take a look at your 401K and how it moves with the price of oil. Go look at the CONTENTS of those Mutual Funds you blindly invest in and see if oil commadities are not included.
ITM. You are not bursting my bubble. I have no problem with anyone making a good living or being profitable. I do however have a problem when they use their wealth to elect people who will work to increase the wealth of the richest while reducing the standard of living for the middle class and everyone else.
FR's glib remark about psy-ops being merely a communications 'amateur hour' is itself disturbing because it projects the idea that our own military using psychological operations on our own elected (and other) officials is no big deal.
This betrays a lack of understanding about psy-ops and the range of operations that can be undertaken. These include, but are not limited to, misinformation (lies), sensory manipulation (both strengthening and deprivation in subtle but effective ways), drugging and environmental controls. Before dismissing the techniques as 'comical', FR should research exactly what was done. Also, this could be a tip of the iceberg report. That three-star needs to go if he hasn't retired already.
It is also illegal to use psyops on American Citizens
Why is this seen as amusing instead of as an act of treason? With respect to those who have served, it seems to me that the military today exists to further its own aims of more money, arms and people and if the American people have to pay the cost in the loss of life and financial disaster to our budget, in the words of Mr. Boehner, "so be it."
Fancy:
I ditto what you said. As an a retired SF soldier I agree.
US Navy:
You would not know if it was being used on you anyway.
SteelerFan:
It is obvious you have never served and have no understanding of how the military operates. What American (people) besides the military is paying in loss of life? Only .1% of the public even serves.
You are right, ITM, I have never served and I do respect those who have. I also have eyes and a brain and I can interpret what I see. I suspect that the families of those who have died in these wars are paying dearly for the loss of life. As a nation we all pay dearly when our most precious asset, our young people, lose their life in war.
President Obama has said that he wants his legacy to be that of a "transformational" President...he has cited Ronald Reagan as his preference in terms of an example of a "transformational" President (Sorry, Bill).
Unfortunately, President Obama's best hope of being a truly transformational President isn't the kind of opportunity that any liberal/progressive President would welcome. The truth is, it's becoming increasingly apparent that the most significant achievement available to ensure that President Obama will always be regarded as one the most important leaders in U.S. history would be his implementation of policies to address the nation's debt crisis.
The sea of red ink that threatens to foreclose the future of the United States has already foreclosed any fantasy notions that President Obama may have had about significant "investments" in infrastructure, or really, much of anything else...there's simply no money. Treasury Secretary Geithner pretty much conceded this in his comments in the U.S. Senate last week.
No...if President Obama is determined to be a "transformational" President, it's left to him to be the President that diverts the United States from its present course towards economic ruin. Call it bad karma, call it whatever you like...but, the nation's crushing debt burden is becoming the signature issue of our times and certainly the issue that will define the Obama Administration.
Sadly, it's hard to imagine a leader less equipped, philosophically or temperamentally, to deal with the challenges involved in confronting the nation's debt crisis...but, those are the cards President Obama's been dealt. This is the job he asked for.
And...the opportunity to be truly "transformational" is there.
Bag:
Yeah, it's too bad Obama didn't get rid of the Bush tax cuts that were responsible for most of the deficit. That would have gone a long way toward addressing the "crisis." Of course, he would have done so if the Republicans in Congress weren't so concerned about protecting the special interests that finance their campaigns. The debt "crisis" can't be much of a crisis if it's not big enough to inconvenience those with incomes over $250K with a modest marginal tax increase.
The Republicans seem to think that whole problem can be solved with a little union busting, and defunding Planned Parenthood and various federal agencies whose budgets amount to chicken feed in comparison to the gaping hole in the budget caused by the Bush tax cuts, the funding shortfall caused by the Bush Recession, the unfunded Bush Medicare giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry, and of course, the unfunded wars that Bush started but couldn't finish.
Houston:
I agree with you. When you exclude (insulate) a segment of the population from the pain that the rest are facing they see no reason to change and will not do so and complain that those who are footing the bill are being selfish. Who are the real ones being selfish here.
Houston-
Are you aware that, in the CBO's latest 10-year forecast, the federal government will add $13 trillion in new gross debt, and that interest payments on federal government debt will rise to $844 billion annually? Of course, that assumes that worldwide investors will continue to purchase U.S. debt indefintely...heaven help us should they decide otherwise.
Think about it, Houston...interest on federal debt approaching $1 trillion annually. The entire Obama Administration FY 2012 budget proposal totals $3.7 trillion...and $1.1 trillion of that is borrowed!
Your comments about Republicans' solutions to the debt problem conveniently ignores several inconvenient truths;
President Obama initiated the discussions that led to the extension of all the Bush-era tax cuts and brokered the deal with Congressional Republicans that extended them. Given a level of sustained economic growth insufficient to significantly impact a persistently high, unacceptable level of joblessness, that's hardly surprising...raising taxes in the current economic environment would have been surprising, and President Obama chose not to;
Similarly, President Obama empanelled the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, and its findings and recommendations were initiated by Obama's executive order. It's surprising that the President has shown so little enthusiasm for his creation's findings...he asked for them.
You can deny and hide from the implications of the CBO numbers and the conclusions of the debt commission just as Democratic state legislators are running from reality and their responsibilities as elected officials...but President Obama will ultimately be forced to deal with the nation's debt crisis.
Like it or not...this is the issue that will define his presidency.
He can't avoid it.
Navy, sadly the only ones in pain are the ones who can least afford the inflation. Those who can afford it will be completely unphased - and emboldened to demand MORE concessions.
There is Union Busting and then there is Middle Class busting and the Power and Money Grab Class have proven they are not above BOTH tactics.
Bag:
Are you aware that most of the deficit comes from the Bush tax cuts, the funding shortfall caused by the Bush Recession, the unfunded Bush Medicare giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry, and of course, the unfunded wars that Bush started but couldn't finish?
You should be, since I already mentioned that. I'll believe YOU are serious about the deficit when you admit that getting rid of the Bush tax cut for the wealthy is the only thing that is going to make a serious dent in the deficit that will not simultaneously slow down the already too-slow economic recovery.
The public service unions didn't cause the current deficit crisis, and breaking the unions will not solve it. The Republicans' corporate paymasters caused the current situation by gambling away other people's money in the Wall Street Casino.
Tell us this, Bag: Why should the guilty be rewarded with big NON-STIMULATIVE tax cuts while the unions are punished for the crimes and incompetence of the "malefactors of great wealth" as Teddy Roosevelt called their ilk back in his day?
By the way: The Commission on the deficit that Bag raves on about also recommended tax INCREASES. He doesn't seem too worried that Obama is ignoring their advice to raise taxes.
Houston-
You really don't have a clue, do you?
If President Obama imposes the sort of across-the-board cuts in spending (including spending on national defense) his commission has recommended, I can agree with their proposals to increase taxes. Are you also willing to sign on to what the President's commission has urged?
I hope you'll tell me, Houston, what could be done with the nearly $1 trillion annually that will be spent to service the interest on federal government debt within 10 years...?
I'll bet President Obama would love to spread that around...but, he won't be able to.
Because he can't.
Again, Houston...
Reality.
As he often does, Chris Matthews missed the significance of the prank phone call to Wisconsin Gov. Walker and just relegated it to his "Side Show" segment. Ed Schultz has been a lot closer to the mark.
This is at least as significant a story as the Acorn videos, with a couple differences: The Acorn stunt involved low-level employees while the Walker prank involved the highest-level official in the state of Wisconsin. And the phone tape wasn't selectively edited to take what Walker said out of context the way the Acorn videos were edited. Walker really did say he had considered sending in "trouble makers" to turn the public against the protesters in Madison and that he'd go on a pleasure trip at David Koch's expense.
But I'll bet the same "objective" media outfits that enthused over the phonied-up videos that destroyed Acorn will bury the scandalous story on Walker as quickly as possible.
So what will you do?
Setting aside the politics of any event is an exercise that has become less and less tenable with each passing year, especially when the event is political in nature, as the current battle between Wisconsin's governor and the public unions there is. Though he has tried to frame it in budgetary terms, the bottom line is that it is a political battle that the right wing of this country has been waging since the mid-1800's and it does not appear as though the battle will end any time soon.
My concern, however, is far more pragmatic.
The effectiveness of this particular salvo from the right lies in the dissatisfaction that many have with the diminishing success of the public school system nationwide. The right wing in general, showing a general refusal to reflect on the reasons why this might be happening, have decided that the blame lies with teachers. If you read the message boards on this issue, they will be littered with posts that excoriate teachers - specifically tenured teachers that do not face the same threat of termination that untenured professionals would face. Conflated with this is the notion that a system that rewards seniority is inherently inferior to one that rewards merit.
You will see anecdotes of ineffective teachers who failed their classroom and therefore did not deserve the largesse of the noble taxpayers and who should have been fired years ago. These are compared to the bright, hungry, young, (always young - because the simple truth that the right wing will not admit during these posts is that the young are inherently cheaper as labor), teachers who inspire their classrooms - and are then never mentioned again. Of course, these young, cheap, inspiring firebrands in the classroom presumably at some point become lazy, ineffective, expensive leeches the closer they get to 1.) tenure and then 2.) the age when they would actually start collecting that pension they are extorting the poor, suffering, noble taxpayer for.
Perhaps I am also drifting into politics here, but my post here today has a more pragmatic bent.
So essentially, the core of what the right wing wants presumably revolves around fairness. They do not typically dispute the fact that the typical public servant's wages are approximately 10% lower than those of comparable workers in the private sector, however, through a nifty trick of accounting by which they include all of the public servant's benefits, they reach the conclusion that the actual earnings of the public sector employee dwarfs that of his counterpart in the private sector.
That, of course, they claim is inherently unfair.
So in order for fairness to be achieved, the benefits of the public sector employee must be stripped. Note that his or her wages do not need to be increased in order to bring them in line with the private sector. No, the benefits need to be stripped because to do otherwise would be to ignore the plight of the longsuffering taxpayer in these troubled economic times.
So what happens when the economic times are not so troubling anymore?
Do we return those benefits to the public sector employees. Or do we leave them in circumstances where their wages still lag behind the private sector employee's by 10% and in which his or her benefit packages is, at best, comparable to the private sector employee's? That is the question I pose here. I think I can reasonably predict the right winger's answer.
Since these people are nothing more than leeches and have failed to teach our children anyway, then they don't deserve any more.
But that leads to another question. So, since you have thus made the profession of teaching an inherently unattractive one through a combination of depressed earnings and constant hostility, do you reasonably expect that the young people in universities over the next twenty years will willingly enter into it?
So twenty years from now, when there is a massive shortage of the young, inspiring, cheap teachers that you so love these days in schools, what do you do?
If you have made the profession of teaching less rewarding than, say, being a first year assistant manager of a Taco Bell, who do you blame for the failures of the public school system then?
I have to admit that I find the current commercials that appear on primetime television exhorting people to become teachers pretty funny, when you take them into the context of our society. They are cheerful and attempt to be uplifting, but the reality of what they are asking the person in question to do is to work less, face a constant wall of hostility from the public and be regarded as a leech by half of the population of the nation.
I could not imagine a less inviting environment for anyone to choose the profession of teaching than exists in this country today.
So the question is posed for the right wing.
In 20 years, when you have effectively managed to drive all talent out of the teaching profession, what do you do?
Thanks for reminding us that education is a far bigger issue than just whether they're allowed to keep their collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin.
One of the common threads among nations that are seeing better results than ours is professional development. In this country that's all on the backs of the teachers. Want more pay, the ability to teach a different area, or professional advancement? Go back to school and pay for it yourself. Meanwhile little is done by the school districts to develop those teachers professionally. There's a lot more to teaching Chemistry than understanding the Periodic Table, in fact much of it has precious little to do with Chemistry itself.
Paying people tens of thousands per year less than they can make in the private sector with the same level of education, leaving them to stand or fail in the classroom with little or no professional development or mentoring, then making them the scapegoats for kids who fail because Mommy and Daddy show nothing but contempt for education is a recipe for failure.
Michael - I have always maintained that teachers are getting a raw deal. Many teachers do what they do because they LOVE their profession.
I think that we, as a society, are penny-wise and pound foolish.
If it were up to me, teachers would NOT be making less that $100,000 per year (depending on the market). As with most industries, when a person has reached the pinnacle of their profession, what do they do - the TEACH the ones coming up what they have learned and experienced. This is how society progresses.
I went through training to become an airline pilot. Many of my instructors were my peers who were CFI's; some were CFIIs. They were in it to get the hours so they could advance to get their ATP so they could land a job with an airline. When I took my check ride, I was fortunate to have a 'real' old-time pilot as my evaluator. I saw the difference in the attitude, the approach and I saw the LOVE he had for flying.
This guy was 82 years old.
Did he have to spend his time checking out a really GREEN pilot like myself? No. He did it because he loved it. He did it because he felt it was important to pass on his knowledge to a new pilot like myself. His words to me when I passed my check ride - 'This ticket you have earned is just the BEGINNING of your journey and you should NEVER stop learning.'
This is a tenet that I hold dear to this day.
I bring this up because as a society, we have stopped learning. We have made teaching so difficult that learning is the LAST thing on a student's mind when they are in school. They just want to get out of there. There is no FIRE in learning anymore, and this is why I believe that so many get 'derailed' by the special interests that prey on our ignorance.
By NOT funding - and rewarding - the teachers in our society, we are literally starving ourselves to death. The passage of knowledge should be revered, not vilified and demonized. We are effiectively 'dumbing' ourselves to death and we don't even seem to care.
Instead of trying to take money away from teaching, we should be putting more money INTO teaching so our children will be able to compete in a world that is leaving the United States behind. I think that is why the President is putting so much political capital into education. Education is the NEW currency of the world, because if you don't know anything, you cannot make any money.
Finally, Michael's question - and challenge - to us is pertient: 'In 20 years, when you have effectively managed to drive all talent out of the teaching profession, what do you do?'
The short answer - we will look at each other and exclaim 'What have we done?' when it is too late.
We don't have to go down this road. We can change our trajectory if we would just make learning a priority and teaching an honourable profession that is compensated correctly. The investment in our teachers will pay off dividends that cannot be counted.
Thanks for the thought provoking post, Michael.
What a great post, Michael! On a topic that is too often overlooked. Thank you.
Teaching and learning affect so much in our society. Beyond the mere exercise of imparting knowledge, they are the conduit for raising educated, thinking, compassionate citizens. We are failing at his. Just look at the comments on these boards! And at what is going on in society and the world.
Thank you Mr. Murray and First Read for leading off the first thoughts with a good deja vu comparison between this and last year. Spot on.
In both cases events outside of the control of the administration have hampered their abililty to speak to the economic problems facing us. Obama's handling and ability to adress the BP spill was limited because in that case BP was better suited in their expertise and knowledge base to clean up and handle the mess they created.
In Libya I look to the administration to use the State Department diplomacy, confer with our allies and partners and use their expertise to address this situation. Of course they can't be mind readers but they have to have a playbook, a rules of engagement on how to proceed when events like this take place. It is happening at an astonishing weekly rate now.
On the economic front, there is a bit of a dip in the unemployment numbers which I am happy to see. However for all of you who thought that the tax cut extensions for everyone would fantastically, magically turn things around; I ask where are the jobs?
Hey every body there is a new sheriff in town, Rahm Emanuel, with the walker ranger in wisconson all the chicago thug talk is not here, where are my anti chicago fan. come on No Jo steve, Inthemiddle where are you when we need you!!!!!
Very interesting artical in the chicago tribune,
The city unions are not all that happy rahm won. the unions are weary of a Democrat mayor, that does seem strange. i though unions only hates republicans?
Governor Quin is trying to make good on the bet a month ago from the packers beard game, but Governor walker is so embroiled in union busting he can't collect on his bet.
Deja Vu?
Has anyone notice the gas prices? How about groceries? Retail? Utilities? Are we looking at the beginning of inflation? Do you remember the lines to pump gas, I do and it wasn't pretty. I can only speak for myself and its getting harder to buy gas, to buy groceries, to pay for utilities and you can forget about retail. I have been lucky to survive the last few years but whats coming next, I am not so sure. Does anyone else have concerns, or is it just me.
I said something similar on this post today. This is very similar to the Carter years except I think this is worse. The banks are going to put houses on the market to get them off the books which will further hurt the housing market. Inflation is coming anyone who goes to the pump knows gas prices are increasing, food prices are souring, Clothing prices will be up due to a shortage in cotton, an oil is going sky-high which will affect the price of everything. Worst of all our debt is out of control. I have grave concerns.
TARP - Toxic Asset Relief Program
Weren't the banks already PAID for this inventory?
I get confused on this one,...
"Daniels changes his tune? Was someone able to change Mitch Daniels’ mind? Or are his presidential aspirations bigger than many think they are?"
MSNBC, do you even pretend to be an objective news source? Or are your cheerleading poms-poms for the Left out all the time?
Mitch Daniels is doing a good job representing the taxpayers of Indiana, regardless of your shallow sniping at his motives.
Why do you disparage the Governor's motives? Do you ever similarly disparage the President's motives?
Governor Daniels said he would specifically put aside a union bill, in order to allow other important legislation through, regarding education reform The Democrats who fled the State still wont come back, showing they are total union shills and phonies.
Think of the state of our society today. Are we lustful in our passions of earthly life? Do we over-indulge and over-consume to the point of waste? Do we exhibit an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than we need or deserve, especially with respect to material wealth? Do we utilize our talents and gifts to their fullest? Do we refuse to help others in their times of need? Do we have feelings of hopelessness, despondency, pessimism and impending doom? Do we, as a society, have feelings that presents themselves with self-destructiveness, violence, and hate that may last for centuries. Do we resent that another has something we want, and wish the other to be deprived of it? Do we have desires to be more important or attractive than others, to the point of failing to acknowledge the good work of others?
Or do we, as societies, exhibit chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness or humility?
*boggle* Umm.. what does that have to do with anything?
I'm not a big fan of chastity, but I'm on board with the rest.
I don't remember seeing anything on MSNBC or from the other liberal news about Richard Trumka, head of the national unions, bragging about talking to someone in the White House everyday and visiting the White House 2 or 3 times a week. Maybe he is telling the Obama administration that if you want the hundred of millions the unions donate to the democrats, get behind the unions programs or forget about the funding of your re-election campaign.
Is the Motown celebration one of the external events that is preventing Obama from focusing on the economy?
There you go again with your sarcastic on-liners. They are not funny and contain no facts.
I'm sure the Governor of Wisconsin will prevail in this battle. But the war is far from over. Consider less than 33% of the electorate voted in 2010. This is a nationwide statistic. When the other 66% vote in 2012, President Obama will win re-election by a landslide and the Democrats will take control of a Fillibuster Proof Congress, Again.
The Goverenor of Wisconsin will be impeached before his 1st term is over.
Dennis,
We may be broke... but if that's the case we should cut ALL spending... let's talk about all those welfare and entitlement programs... not just the military. If this were your personal financing you would do that. You can't spend what you don't have! WAIT! That's not true! Just lern to speak Chinese and everything will be ok.
And by the way there John B old buddy old pal...
The F15 was first built in 1972... That means it is approaching 40 (that's right.... 40) years old! for pete's sake... we are still flying B-52's which have been around since 1952! So don't give me that crap about how much we spend!
Am I the only person who has this sick feeling in my stomach that we have a presidentin the White House who is totally incompetent? Obama does not inspire confidence - never has - but now it's worth than ever with so much going on in the world and Obama only uttering platitudes in his own stoic, emotionless way. He has no emotions when speaking, no solutions domestically and internationally. I believe he is wringing his hands wondering what might be expected of him next. What in the world possessed the American people to hand the presidency to this novice, who is harldy dry behind his ears. Not only is he messing things up internationally, but domestically we are in a mess as well. One thins is sure; the world is no longer looking to the USA for leaadership as they did when Reagan was president. Or maybe Obama is still blaming Bush? I guess so.
No Amos you are not, But the country voted for him inexperience and all. But he did create 3 million jobs, I think , well at least he said he did. And he brought unemployment down to 8 %, because Congress passed His budget back in 2009. And the his Administration has created a biger deficit in 2 years than any previous 2 year period.
But on the bright side, just think how much more damage he can do in 2 years, that will make his first 2 years look even better. Yes he CAN!
Save the world. Get rid of Obama the same way Egypt got rid of Mubarak. The unions have screwed the people. Repossess their houses and cars. Make their lives miserable. They are doing it to you. The non unions are sick of the unions.
Dennis-3071307
Save the world. Get rid of Obama the same way Egypt got rid of Mubarak. The unions have screwed the people. Repossess their houses and cars. Make their lives miserable. They are doing it to you. The non unions are sick of the unions.
Correction: the GOP/TP, Rove et al, AND Koch are sick of unions
USA Today/Gallup Poll: 61% Oppose Limiting Union Bargaining Power
http://themoderatevoice.com/102199/usa-todaygallup-poll-61-oppose-limiting-union-bargaining-power/
That's way over half of the people who are not sick of unions.
Yes we do want the union to keep screwing the people. The more they call in sick the more pissed we get. Non unions don't get paid when they don't work they get fired. The more non unions get forclosed and reposssed the worse it will get. The target is Nov 2012. Half the teachers in Detroit will be gone by September. Madison, Milwaukee, and Green Bay are next. The anger will be breathtaking.
I'd say it already is. How Conservatives can hate so openly and so deeply is truly, truly troubling to me and, it's becoming evident, to the majority of Americans.
And since Conservatives have already sorely lost on things that matter: economy, jobs, Union rights, etc. it looks like the 2012 platform will be guns, gays and abortions. Again.
Yay.
yeah toast.............have you read the open and deep LIBERAL hate on this blog?
all around the country coast to coast,
people always say what do you like most,
I don't wanna brag i don't wanna boast,
I always tell 'em I like toast.
"...Oil prices, which recently hit a record of close to $115 a barrel, eased a bit on Wednesday. Gasoline prices have soared, too, marching towards $4 a gallon..." (that is the report on 4/20/2008)
And, that is the reasons that we need to have green technology. Therefore, we will not /would not compromise the interest of U.S. of A. as a pro-democratic supporter and as an human and civil right supporter.
Double the rates on electricity to pay for the solar panels. Cut the heating subsidy for the poor. Build more windmills to kill the birds. We need more Clintons who helped every woman he could get his hands on. Obama has hurt more blacks with foreclosure than any other President in history. But he did give billions to the millionaire bankers.
Both parties are in the pocket of Big Banks and Wall Street. They robbed this country blind yet no one has the balls to hold them responsible. I keep asking where is the money? Financial reform did not to stop Wall St . They sit in their NYC penthouses and count their money. No wait that's really our money. We bailed them out and now they won't lend money to us.