Tag: Governors

Letter To Candidates

Yesterday was primary day in Mississippi and all I could do was laugh at the outcome……

The Hotline reports that Mississippi Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant (R) won a crowded Republican primary with 59% of the vote, avoiding an August 23 runoff that will most likely be necessary for Democrats Johnny DuPree and Bill Luckett.

This is a letter that I sent to each candidate for the state of Mississippi……so now after the comedy of errors that was the debt debate and final deal……I ask ALL candidates to explain the thought…….

Dear Candidate:

You are asking the people of Mississippi to vote for you in an upcoming  primary…election after election we, the people, have been told and promised that tax cuts would make Mississippi a more prosperous state….year after year that has NOT been the case….and candidates are still trying to sell that idea and the people buy it….each and every time.  So my question is about these promised tax cuts.

Tax cuts….so far the only thing they have done is make for a great campaign slogan and a couple of bumper stickers…and that is about the extent of the promise……for more years than I care to count Mississippi has been at the top of every “worst” list and the bottom of every “best” list….so tax cuts have not help the state in anyway that is noticeable.

Every administration for the last couple of decades has cut taxes as way to attract good jobs to the state….and so far all it has done is basically pay corporations to re-locate in Mississippi…the jobs are NOT there….i.e.  a recent multi-million dollar industry has come to North Mississippi, they got tax cuts and breaks and economic development money and it will create 50 jobs…where was that tax incentive making Mississippi more prosperous?

We have heard the pundits use Connecticut as an example of what happens when taxes are raised….the business economy in the state sucks….but then if tax cuts are the answer why is Mississippi so far down the list?  By that analysis Mississippi should be leading the nation in jobs creation and a good economic atmosphere….we are NOT…so what is it that tax cuts is doing for the state?

Since jobs/education/health are all in the toilet in Mississippi….how will tax cuts change that?  And why, with all our past tax cuts is it not improving now?

My question is very simple….explain to me and the people of Mississippi just how tax cuts will make their life better and more prosperous?

Welcome Back, Jim Crow

No not a post on some fuzzy headed teacher that returns to his home town to teach……but rather a set of laws from our segregation days….the Jim Crow Laws…..

in case you are too young to remember the Jim Crow Laws…..let me help out…..let Wikipedia help…..

The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly “separate but equal” status for black Americans. In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were usually inferior to those provided for white Americans, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages.

These laws when it was the law of the land, especially in the South, had numerous ways to prevent minorities, especially blacks, from voting….poll taxes, literacy tests, etc….but thank God for the Civil Rights Act of 1965 which put an end to these practices….okay the improvements were not immediate, but they eventually stop all the crap…….”it stopped all the crap”?  I may have spoken too soon!

From the Newser website…..

After electing its first African American president—thanks in part to a surge of new voters—the US is in danger of seeing “a subtle return of Jim Crow voting laws,” writes EJ Dionne Jr. in the Washington Post. New laws being passed here, supposedly to prevent voter fraud, would be condemned as “election-rigging” in an emerging democracy—but here in the US no one is saying a word. Voter fraud is not a real problem, Dionne alleges, it’s an imaginary problem serving as an excuse for the GOP to wage war on the right to vote. The greatest impact of the new statues “will be to reduce turnout among African Americans, Latinos and the young,” the groups that helped to elect Obama in 2008. Meanwhile, the new laws—which include voter identification measures and limitations on early voting and same-day registration—will serve to benefit the Republican Party. In one particularly telling example, a Texas law allows concealed handgun licenses to be used as ID—but does not allow student IDs.

These attempts to limit the voting of minorities…all under the guise of preventing voter fraud….the problem is there is NO widespread voter fraud….in reality it is to try and limit the people that vote Democratic….you can scream voter fraud…….but there is little to use as evidence…..

And you still do not see the attack on one’s freedom to vote?  Next time one of your conserv candidates rant on about loss of freedoms….ask them about these attempts to keep people from voting.

I Was Wro….Wro…Wro…..Mistaken

A Correction to a blog post:

My post was on 21 Feb 2011 and entitled ” Civil Disobedience Comes Home”….

I try to be fair….yes, I have an opinion and I let it be known (surprise)…….but I will admit it when I am wro….wro….MISTAKEN!

The situation in Wisconsin lead me to report on an article I had seen that the Governor created the budget deficit that he now uses to try and kill all union activity in the state…..well, I know how hard it is to believe but I was mistaken and the good people at Politifact have brought it to my attention…..I will correct my error……..

There is, indeed, a projected deficit that required attention, and Walker and GOP lawmakers did not create it.

More on that second point in a bit.

The confusion, it appears, stems from a section in Lang’s memo that — read on its own — does project a $121 million surplus in the state’s general fund as of June 30, 2011.

But the remainder of the routine memo — consider it the fine print — outlines $258 million in unpaid bills or expected shortfalls in programs such as Medicaid services for the needy ($174 million alone), the public defender’s office and corrections. Additionally, the state owes Minnesota $58.7 million under a discontinued tax reciprocity deal.

The result, by our math and Lang’s, is the $137 million shortfall.

It would be closer to the $340 million figure if the figure included the $200 million owed to the state’s patient compensation fund, a debt courts have declared resulted from an illegal raid on the fund under former Gov. Jim Doyle.

So, I apologize for my mis-reporting on the deficit for the state of Wisconsin……but (there is always a but)…..I stand by my assertions about the motives of Gov. Walker…..that he is only pursuing the tact set forth by the GOP in the 40’s….attack on the unions with the intent of breaking them and making them ineffectual….both economically and politically…..

But do not take my word for it….go to

http://bit.ly/b6LX4i

Why does the Right seldom use Politifact and its fact checking?  Could it be that they know their spin is mostly LIES?  Just a thought!

I regret that I did NOT pay enough attention to all the facts….hopefully I have learned my lesson and it will not happen again….but after all I am only human (a point that some will debate)……

The GOP’s Man Crush

By now we ALL have heard about the doings in states like Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, to mention a few……if not then there is a rush by GOP governors to attack public employees and their unions….it seems to these types all the budget problems and shortfalls are ALL the fault of public employees and the unions……It seems that the GOP is still trying to negate ALL progress of workers that started back in the 1940’s………..conservs make it sound as if the public employees have somehow stolen their benefits….utter and total BS!

I am still waiting for these governors to focus on one of their major points that helped them win a large percentage of the vote….that point is…the creation of jobs…..somehow lower corporate taxes will create jobs….it has NOT in my state, which has some of the lowest in the country, and have been promised great prosperity will come with lower taxes….not so in the last 50 years…..nowhere have these elected officials created a job and their points they are pushing like furloughs, dismissals, etc….will create NO jobs  but will create a rise in unemployment….keep in mind you mental midgets voted for these people….are you pleased with your choices?

Anyway back to the man crush thing…….The darling of ALL conservs, Gov. Cristie of New Jersey today on MSNBC (which has a major man crush on this guy)…..Christie talked about the stuff he is doing in New Jersey he said that….”the unions were destroying thew Middle Class and that by pursuing them he was going to strengthen the Middle Class….(this is a paraphrase)……and of course Morning Joe was so9 pleased to hear that the public employees would be attacked that he could barely contain himself (after all he is a conserv and as such sees the evils behind unions)…….but after hearing his little mindless diatribe I have to ask……..

Just how are unions destroying the middle class, governor?  How would weakening or eliminating unions strengthen the middle class?

Since thanx to the work of unions, the middle class prospered and gave working people the opportunity to advance their standing in society…Thanx to the work of unions Americans were given the chance to live the American dream…Just how would Christie and his comrades strengthen the middle class?

These GOP governors are pursuing an agenda that they kept from the voter during the campaign….this is NOT unusual….but you would think that the American voter would be smarter by now……(pause here for raucous laughter)…….

What A Difference A Speech Makes

In my state of Mississippi, we are about to lose our beloved (not my beloved) governor, Haley Barbour and as with most other states the candidates are lining up to lead the state…..our Lt. Gov.  Phil Bryant (R) has announced his candidacy (like there was ever any doubt) and parts of his speech are below…..

Bryant said his campaign will be about “issues and ideas.”

“Let’s create the most job-friendly state in America to grow our economy now and for the future. By keeping taxes low, making sure lawsuit reform stays in place, and providing the right economic environment where businesses can grow and hire more employees, we’ll provide more opportunities for everyone.”

“We have to be innovative to redesign our educational system with a common sense approach to change,” Bryant stated. “By creating a skills-based curriculum in high schools, developing charter schools for failing school districts, and rewarding teachers for excellence, we’ll give our children a better chance for success in the future.”

“We must stop Obamacare and control the growth of health care costs on our state budget,” Bryant continued. “We can make Mississippi a healthier place by working together with health care providers and research institutions to tackle heart disease and diabetes.”

“Most importantly, we must always stand up for our conservative values of faith and family, the right to life, protecting our Second Amendment rights and fighting illegal immigration,” Bryant said.

I heard the speech and re-read it several times…..straight out of a GOP playbook…screw working people and keep the wealthy, wealthy…..same song…different liar……

We in the state have been promised jobs if we keep taxes low….so far we have low paying jobs and lots of bills because there is NO revenue through taxes…..then there is the education thing….which if it were not so sad would be a good joke……this promised has been made decades and the state still has one of the country’s worst education systems….this will not change…..education is of NO concern to the Repubs……health care……another GOP punch line…….they want the industry to work with government to help the people…..that has worked so well that Mississippi is at the bottom of the states on health care….another silly piece of lying……and then there is the family, faith, guns and immigrants…all GOP talking points……on and on….but the reality is that NOTHING will change for the state in the next eight years……we will be industry friendly, low wages, sickly and under-educated….but on the bright side….we will have our guns, hate immigrants and be able to pray on Sundays…all the things that rednecks live for…..I feel so lucky to be in the presence of greatness!

Oil Spill Theater

Daily Agitator

Just like ALL issues or situations…the political theater is in full swing……the Gulf oil spill is a train wreck that I cannot stop staring at…..and the politics of the spill are so f*cking absurd that I cannot stop keeping up with ……

We have the CEO of BP who cannot take his foot out of his mouth….we have news organizations that are trying to link the spill to Obama and his band of radical environmentalists and we have state politics speaking and accusing and….all in all playing politics….with a disaster of this magnitude, that should be treason or some equally serious crime…

Mississippi’s Haley Barbour has gone on record as saying that the drilling moratorium is more disastrous than the spill…,.and then there is Louisiana’s  gov. Jindal…who has spent more time in front of the cameras than Paris Hilton….he has accused the government of slow action…he has accused BP of withholding info and cash…he has…..oh Hell he has accused everybody but Christ for the oil problems.

He has especially bitched about not having the proper tools at his disposal to fight the oil spill…..B-U-T!

a CBS News Investigates report that Gulf coast governors haven’t been fully utilizing the 17,500 National Guard troops authorized by the federal government to help them with the oil spill,  Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s office offered a tart response.In a statement sent to ProPublica, Jindal spokesman Kyle Plotkin said that Louisiana would “call up more National Guard troops as the Adjutant General tells us he needs them.”

He followed up with a harsh criticism of the federal government’s response efforts.

“We spend more time fighting red tape and bureaucracy than we ever should have to if the federal government understood this oil spill as the war that it is.”

Jindal’s statement doesn’t address the specific question of why Louisiana is using only 1,053 of the 6,000 National Guard troops available to the state. The governor said that he would “deploy every resource” available to win the war against the BP oil spill, and complained that Coast Guard and BP authorization were required for individual tasks, which apparently slowed down the deployment of National Guard troops. However, the governor’s office told CBS News that he has not specifically asked for more National Guard troops.

He is playing a political game…..he is following the GOP line that the government is to blame….every time I see him on the tube he is throwing out political barbs at the president….he seldom answers direct questions of what HE is doing….he is playing the people for political advantage……personally I think the pigs like this are the assh*les we can live without.

If All Else Fails– Sue The Bastards!

Daily Agitator

We recall all the drama and theatrics of the health reform debate…all the jockeying for position…all the misinformation from both sides and of course we recall the vote….and all the crap that went with the vote….the vote came down the reconciliation came down, but not with its bit of drama either….it was signed and it is official now…we have a health reform law…..finally we can all breath easy……

And you thought it was all over but the crying….tee hee….boy were you wrong!

So sorry….but now the games begin!  By this writing about 18 of the 50 states have decided to sue the Federal government over the mandate portion of the law…they claim that it is unconstitutional and stomps on state’s rights…..they are gonna sue the bastards!

The top state lawyers in Florida, South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Michigan, Utah, Pennsylvania, Alabama, South Dakota, Louisiana, Idaho, Washington and Colorado joined in the complaint filed immediately after the president’s signing ceremony.  Their claims are that it will bust their state’s budget….the same budgets that the reps in said states have busted long before this situation….giving away tax revenue and such has already doomed most budgets.

If you will notice most of the states that are signing in on the lawsuit are states controlled by Repubs….go figure…..this is nothing more than a continuation of the opposition and the games they played leading up to the signing of the bill.  They do NOT have a good answer for the American people so they continue the damn silliness….

These people also the ones that say the American people are overwhelmingly opposed to the bill….but NEVER say just what it is that these people are in opposition of or what parts are not good for the people…..there are NO alternatives for these low class individuals, just opposition……

This whole exercise is one of futility….it will be a waste of time, energy and money…instead of looking for solutions to their budgetary problems they instead had rather play political games….these are the morons you voted for….happy?

Take The Money & Shut Up!

Do you remember all those Repub govs who did not want any of the stim money?  Some took it and others did so reluctantly, but there was always one who said he did not want any thing from Washington and that is the Gov of South Carolina, Mark Sanford.

South Carolina—-the third highest unemployment at 11.5%, had to cut $1 billion from its budget and has a sharply plunging tax revenue because of the recession.  A state that has a high percentage of poor people, low educational results and in other words a traditional Southern state.

South Carolina’s Supreme Court ordered Gov. Mark Sanford on Thursday to take $700 million in federal stimulus money aimed primarily at struggling schools.

The decision brings a likely end to months of wrangling between the nation’s most vocal anti-bailout governor and legislators who accused him of playing politics with people’s lives.

Now dickhead take the money and shut the hell up!

Yet Another Republican Moron Speaks

Is it possible that the US could be down to only 49 states soon?

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas while speaking at one of those Tea party thingys said:


“I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.”

And then he went on:

“Texas is a unique place. When we came into the union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that,” Perry said. “My hope is that America and Washington in particular pays attention. We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, who knows what may come of that.”

I thought about his Texican bravado and came up with this:

If they want to leave the Union then let them go….I say bye bye…..let the sanctimonious a/holes fend for themselves with border issues, hurricanes, just to mention a few and we will see just how fast they come crying back wanting help with their situations.  By the time thew drug gangs get finished with them they will be part of Mexico again….go ahead dipsticks, leave!

States Have Hand Out Too

Obama and congressional Democrats have promised that soon after Inauguration Day he will sign an economic stimulus bill that could exceed $500 billion. The governors intend to request about $176 billion of that — $136 billion for infrastructure projects and $40 billion to bolster Medicaid health programs that serve the poor and disabled.

As the economic downturn has swept from the housing market to financial institutions to the automobile industry, Obama has begun sketching out plans to address a recession that most experts project will be deep and long lasting. At the heart of his approach is a massive infusion of federal tax dollars.

Unlike the federal government, which can run a deficit, most states are required to balance their budgets. In tough financial times, Medicaid often faces a double squeeze, said Diane Rowland, executive director of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Just as the money is drying up, more people are in need of assistance.

It appears there is growing support for a sizable federal investment in infrastructure, which Rendell and Douglas said goes beyond the traditional road and bridge repairs to include public transit, water and sewer projects and even broadband Internet. The two governors said states have $136 billion worth of “ready-to-go” projects.