Tag: Political Sideshow

BP Must Pay!

From the VOMITORIUM

From time to time there are some things that happen in the political world that can be best described as a………..BLOWJOB!  And now it has Florida on its knees…..(pun intended)

It seems that Florida’s governor, Charlie Crist has a new idea:

Gov. Charlie Crist authorized property appraisers Wednesday to calculate lost real-estate values caused by the Gulf oil spill, so homeowners and businesses can send the tab to BP.

The governor signed an executive order authorizing property appraisers in 26 counties under threat from the oil spill to give property owners an updated assessment on their homes and businesses if they believe they have lost value because of the spill. Property owners could use the document to file a claim for damages against BP, although they wouldn’t necessarily have their tax bills lowered.

“It is logical to predict that the oil spill will result in declining property values,” Crist said at a news conference. “Businesses and families of the Gulf Coast did nothing to warrant this loss, but they bear the burden of it.”

State law requires property to pay taxes based on the value of their property in January. But in many cases — particularly for hotels and businesses dependent on the beach — their property values have dropped as much as 30 percent since then.

His action drew approval from some affected property appraisers, although staff time and cost of reappraisals will be tough on cash-strapped counties.

This is a helluva idea, right?

This is just plain stupid!  It is just another political ploy to gain votes in Crist upcoming election against Rubio.  This will probably never happen….why?  Florida has suffered much from the economic meltdown…how does one prove that the oil spill is the cause of loss of value?

If you read my stuff you know that I think that BP should be held accountable for their damage because of the oil spill….but this idea is just plain moronic…..does that mean that I can sue AIG or Goldman-Sachs for the loss of value of my property because they gambled with my money?

This is all so much political theater….after all, he has an election to win.

Obama DID Have Some Success

The media has been all over the so called “failures” of Obama in his first year as president….health reform….cap and trade….card check…..although I do not consider anything a failure on his part, just business as usual in Washington…..but beyond that some attention should be drawn to what some call his first year successes……

Thanx to mediamatters.org for the list….my commentary will be in italics…..

Passing stimulus, generating jobs. On February 17, 2009, Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus bill into law. In December 2009, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office issued a report estimating that “in the third quarter of calendar year 2009, an additional 600,000 to 1.6 million people were employed in the United States” due to that legislation. According to the White House Council of Economic Advisers, CBO has increased its estimate to 800,000 to 2.4 million additional employed through the fourth quarter of that year. Moreover, a November 20, 2009, New York Times article reported that the “consensus” among “dispassionate analysts” is that “the stimulus package, messy as it is, is working,” citing nonpartisan analyses of gross domestic product and total employment figures by several companies specializing in economic forecasting.  This was wasted money…the plan should have been to create demand, not liquidity for the banks…….l

Eliminating wasteful spending. Obama was able to achieve some significant cuts to wasteful spending — most notably, the elimination of the F-22 fighter jet program after he successfully lobbied the Senate to vote to strip out financing for more jets from a defense funding authorization bill. The Washington Times reported on January 14 that Obama won “60 percent of his proposed cuts” and also managed “to get Congress to ax several programs that had bedeviled President George W. Bush for years.”   Another good idea……unfortunately the “savings” will come from much needed domestic programs….while the biggest bureaucracies will continue with their feeding frenzy of taxpayer money…..

Sotomayor nomination. On May 26, 2009, Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court to replace the retiring Justice David Souter. She was confirmed by the Senate on August 6, 2009, and sworn in August 8, making her the first Hispanic justice, and only the third woman, on the court. Good one!

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The first bill President Obama signed into law, on January 29, 2009, was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which expands the rights of workers to sue employers over wage discrimination claims.  About damn time…thumbs up!~

SCHIP expansion. On February 5, 2009, Obama signed a bill expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover 4 million more lower-income children.  Well Done!

Public lands bill. On March 30, Obama signed an omnibus public lands bill, which The New York Times reported “allows for 2 million more acres to be declared wilderness… [with] more than 1,000 miles designated as scenic rivers, and adds land for national trails.”  Not much news coverage but an excellent bill…at least on the surface…..

Credit card reform. On May 21, 2009, Obama signed into law a bill providing what USA Today called the “most sweeping changes to the credit card industry in 40 years,” adding restrictions on interest rate increases and fees and restricting the marketing of credit cards to college students. Good idea, but does not go far enough to reining in these guys…..

Transparency. The Washington Post reported that moves by the Obama administration to improve government transparency “included a ban on lobbyist gifts; restrictions on the hiring of lobbyists; publication of White House visitor logs and other records; and a move to bar lobbyists from serving on advisory boards.” A report by Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, and U.S. PIRG stated that: “The cumulative effect of the Administration’s actions has been to adopt the strongest and most comprehensive lobbying, ethics and transparency rules and policies ever established by an Administration to govern its own activities.”  All in all a very good idea….just is not working out the way it was envisioned….

Tobacco regulation. On June 22, 2009, Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which, for the first time, gave the U.S. Food & Drug Administration the authority to regulate the manufacturing, marketing, and sale of tobacco.  This one sucks…but then I smoke…..

National service. On April 21, 2009, Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which expands the scope of AmeriCorps and provides opportunities for young people and senior citizens to join in service programs. This one got all kinds of flap from the lunatic Right…..so I guess I think this one is a good one…..

Stem cell research. On May 9, 2009, Obama signed an executive order easing restrictions on the use of federal money for embryonic stem cell research.  About damn time!

See people….the Obama team has had some small successes…regardless what the Right would have you believe….In my opinion…not nearly enough or even close….but we will see how they fair during his second year in office…..

Stay tuned…..it can only get more bizarre as the year grows older…..


The Next Legislative Sideshow

I have said that the next political theater, in the next year, will be energy and immigration…….well my prediction was a bit early

Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., on Tuesday filed the first comprehensive immigration reform bill in the current Congress, giving renewed hope to millions of undocumented immigrants in South Florida and around the country.

Provisions in the Gutierrez legislation — Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 — are somewhat similar to those in prior bills.

Undocumented immigrants in the United States prior to Dec. 15, 2009, would be encouraged to come forward and register with the government in exchange for a future path to residency and citizenship.

Certain immigrants in deportation proceedings, facing removal or ordered to depart would be able to apply for legalization under Gutierrez’s bill. Applicants would pay a $500 fine — lower than the thousands of dollars sought in prior bills — and must have clean criminal records. If approved, applicants would receive a six-year visa, which eventually could be replaced by a green card — the path to possible citizenship.

The bill also incorporates provisions of the DREAM Act, separate legislation filed earlier that would provide green cards to children of undocumented parents who are in high school or college and were brought to the United States as minors.

Can you hear that?  It is Lou Dobbs jerking off in the corner for now he has yet another apple to lock his teeth into…..since he may have political ambitions…it will be interesting to see if he attacks this in his usual way….or will he remain silent with the hopes of rants past will not come back to haunt him?  He smells a political future and will do what he may to have that voice….for the people……..now that is total crap!  If he goes into politics it will be for fame and fortune….and of course that darn pesky thing called POWER!

Is Medicare Truly Doomed?

If one listens closely to all the conservative talkers and a couple of the cowardly Dems we will no doubt believe that Medicare is going bankrupt by 2019….there is even a couple of the doomsayers that say it will be in 2013….this is the argument that they are all using to cut the program or to try and drive that last nail into the coffin…..

This program which has benefited numerous individuals since its inception will become the play toy of politicians in the next year….even Dems are saying that program reform will help save it, and there are the Repubs that want to eliminate it completely in favor of a damn silly idea…HSAs (health saving accounts)….that is a brilliant plan…..

But what and when is Medicare going to go bankrupt?

News accounts sometimes treat Medicare’s bankruptcy as a predetermined fact. Nothing could be further from the truth; the notion of bankruptcy as destiny distracts from Medicare’s capacity to alter its own future.The trustees’ reports always stress that the projected date of insolvency assumes no corrective federal action or policy changes. But history shows that Medicare always has taken action to solidify its finances. In the 1980s, Medicare reformed its payment system for hospital and physicians, slowing down growth in program spending and pushing back the estimated date of trust fund exhaustion. More recently, the 1997 Balanced Budget Act included a series of Medicare reforms that dramatically controlled spending.

There is the stumbling point of all the predictions about the impending bankruptcy of Medicare……it is crap!…..it is the assumption that the government will do NOTHING or that there will be NO new payments into the system by taxpayers….

But regarless of the facts above….no matter who is in the White House…there will be reforms ot Medicare…..an attempt to save it from itself….but what will these reforms look like?

— Raise the payroll tax to bring in more revenue and because that political discussion has been postponed for so long it now becomes problematic. The trustees said Part A “could be brought into actuarial balance over the next 75 years by an immediate 108 percent increase in program income or an immediate 48 percent reduction in program outlays (or some combination of the two).”

— Reduce benefits for Medicare beneficiaries. The problem is that no one who wants a political future wants to go there.

— Cut payments to providers. This option is the one most favored by lawmakers. In Part A it would be the nation’s hospitals. After all, they can and do give the money back in the following year or so.

Those are the “reforms” that I see as the options the Congress will face as an attempt to “save” Medicare.  Next year will be a good year for analysts like me…..this year was a good one with the economic crisis and the health reform debate……will generate a plethora of posts and arguments…..

The prediction of Medicare’s death is seriously exaggerated…..the only reason it comes up at all is because the prediction can be used to gain political clout and show how “inefficient” a government run program can be…..it is all a game…it is all a lie…..

Do They Think Before They Speak?

First of all….to answer the question….NO!…these morons think they are above reproach…

In the past I have come down hard on the conservatives for the dumb ass things they have said and even on occasions I have called Dems for their stupidity…..but the best so far has been the moronic, ill thought out comment by Senate majority leader Harry Reid:

“Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all Republicans have come up with is this slow down, stop everything, let’s start over,” said Reid. “You think you’ve heard these same excuses before, you’re right. When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said, ‘Slow down, it’s too early. Let’s wait. Things aren’t bad enough.’ When women spoke up for the right to speak up, they wanted to vote, some insisted, ‘Slow down, there will be a better day to do that. The day isn’t quite right,’ “

Someone needs tro find the guy or gal that wrote such BS and take them out to the wood shed and whack their pee-pee….instead of having a substantial debate on the health reform measure, Reid reads the above from notes and gives the Repubs more ammo to change the focus of the bill.  Good going you morons!

Once it was uttered then he gave all the mouths on the Right something to jerk off over…..they have the Dems fighting each other over abortion and now the majority leader has given them yet more ammo in the tactic of delaying the vote on the bill….

With all that said, I would like to point something out……Reid is an idiot!  But I listened to his comments and have read all them stories on them….and as of yet I cannot see where the comment was leveled as an insult….he basically said that the present day opponents are using the same tactics as was used during the slavery debate…..he did NOT call anyone a racist…….he said the opponents to ending slavery used tactics like delaying, etc to try and beat the proposed freeing of slaves……..

But wait……is not the Repubs using the very same tactic today?  Is not the fake outrage just a way to slow the debate?  So basically, while what Reid said was moronic, it is never the less TRUE!  Why would you, Sen. Reid, willingly give your foes more ammo to aid them in their tactics to kill the bill?

Boehner Pulls A Boner

Daily Agitator

First, I do not know why but every time I use the word Boehner…the word Boner comes to mind……

And then there are reports or stories that make one shake their head and ask why……

In the recent past I have heard the name John Boehner being batted around as a possible speaker of the House if the GOP ever returns to power…he does get lots of face time on TV especially on FOX News, after all he is the minority leader and should be the spokesperson for the Party in the House.

Yesterday there was a “spontaneous” rally in Washington against the Health Reform Bill that is being considered…..there were the usual suspects….references to socialism, nazis, and just plain hate for the president and Pelosi……I watched some of it on TV and thought it was a “white power” protests….the GOP really needs to find someone with a different color face to be in the crowd.

I have written many times on these “spontaneous” out pouring of hate, but today I want to talk about the leader of the GOP in the House……John Boehner got up in front of the 4000 or so protesters to egg them on….he had the usual babble and then he pulled out a copy of the Constitution and said “this is my copy of the Constitution and I will read from it” (paraphrase)….

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness…….

(I will give a long pause here for contemplation)……..I realize that to be a member of a certain party you need an IQ check but this is moronic…..Boehner was holding the Constitution and reading the Declaration of Independence….you would have thought one of his fellow GOPers would have told him he was screwing up…..they did not….maybe they do not know the difference either….ever think of that?

These are the LEADERS of American governance and they do NOT even know the difference between the two documents….this whole things reminds me of something Plato said:

The penalty good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves.

The part that should scare the people is…. these are the people that are defending the Constitution….they say so in their oath of office….and yet they have NO IDEA what it actually says….. Do they still teach Civics in school?……

If HE, Boehner,  is the future of the GOP….then members should worry or at least run for the nearest exit….

And The Winner IS…………Obama!

The Nobel Peace Prize that is…….Pres. Barack Obama….OMG!…Here comes the noise from the Right…..the questions….what has he done?  So on and so on……actually, it is the HATE that will come through.

Just like the loss of the Olympics many on the Right will feel that they should speak out on this outrage…..my question is…if not him then who?

Qualifications?….what a crock!  I suggest that most of the conservative talk show hosts like Limbaugh, Beck and the rest are not qualified to be pundits….them do not depend on facts just the spin they care to carry.

Once again the Right seems to be against America being a winner anywhere…or maybe it is just the color of the man’s skin that bothers them the most.  There seems to be an overwhelming desire for the country to fail or to avoid any recognition…is it hate for the country or just that for a black man?

Time for these little pricks to be eliminated from the political landscape…they are doing NOTHING to make America stronger…they are however doing all in their power to turn the citizens on each other……that is something Americans should not allow…..but they do….and in doing so I question their motives…….

If these people cannot keep America first or appreciate the recognition, then maybe they should be the ones to pack up and find another country to INFECT!

Die Quickly–An Update

Florida’s representative Grayson has angered the House GOP (so what’s new?) and they have demanded that he apologize for his comment that the GOP health plan was for Americans to die quickly.

He caved, but not exactly what the GOP was looking for….

“I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven’t voted sooner to end this holocaust in America,” a defiant Grayson said on the House floor Wednesday.

The “holocaust” Grayson was referring to was the 44,000 Americans that a recent study says die each year because of inadequate access to health care. The representative cited the Harvard study (PDF) in what appeared at first to be an apology, but quickly turned into a retort.

The number of dead “is 10 times more than the number of Americans who have died in Iraq and who died in 9/11,” Grayson said. “But that was just once. This is every single year. That’s right. Every single year.”

The GOP has seized on the “holocaust” comment, not only did he NOT apologize to the House for his comment he took them to task.  He did just what Wilson did….he apologized to the people that he wronged…Wilson’s only apology was to the Prez and Grayson’s was to the people…I would say that it was done and all should be forgotten….the GOP thinks Wilson did the right thing, then Grayson has done the right thing.

BTW, lat week “Balls of Steel” award went to Sen. Rockefeller….continuing a new tradition, this week’s winner is Rep. Grayson of Florida.  Kudos…….

Die—–Die Quickly!

Tit for tat…..I was wondering when a Dem would be stupid and say something that the Repubs would seize on and demand an apology….well, I did not have to wait long…now did I?

The Ministry of Information of the GOP is reporting:

Taking a page from Democrats who disciplined Rep. Joe “You Lie” Wilson earlier this month, Republicans are seeking their own pound of flesh from a Democratic congressman who said Tuesday that the GOP wants Americans to “die quickly” if they get sick.

Rep. Alan Grayson,a first-term Democrat known for being provocative, refuses to apologize for the comments he made on the House floor Tuesday night while criticizing Republican health care proposals.

Republicans are likening Grayson’s remark to Wilson’s widely criticized shout of “You lie!” during President Obama’s address to Congress earlier this month. They say Democrats should insist that Grayson apologize just as they did Wilson.

In case there was any doubt…this report is from FOX News.

These little minds are acting like 3rd graders….when will they grow up?  Grayson was a moron for giving the GOP the opportunity to play the blame game.  Sorry, guys but being disrespectful to the president and what Grayson did are two separate situations.  If we like let us go back a few months and demand apologies for members that question the Prez citizenship or the members that call him a Nazi or that all Dems are un-American or that Dems would kill Grandma or ………oh hell that is enough they are giving me gas.

If they want an apology then they, all of Congress,  owe the American people an apology for their blatant disregard of the people they are elected to serve.  Or how about they apologize for being a prostitutes for big business.  Or apologize for wasting time and money on their childish little games.

When will the American people tire of these childish little games?

The Energy Debate

The next great side show coming from Washington will be the energy bill….after the health debate runs its course then energy will replace it as the stuff lies are built on…will it be the same as the health debate?  Or will it be a civil discussion?  It will most likely be a lot of things but civil is not one of them.

I would like to help my readers be prepared for the song and the dance of the next “great” debate…..ENERGY.

But I will bet that you, my reader, is asking what is the debate going to be?  A good question and I have a good answer for you.  There are three plans that should be considered; one from the Dems, then one from the GOP and then l;astly the yellow dogs…oh my bad the Blue Dogs……

First, the Dems plan:

The most aggressive provision in the legislation aimed at curtailing U.S. oil consumption is language requiring auto manufacturers to build cars that use less fuel. But the language requiring an increase in corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, standards for vehicles and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020s is expected to face fierce opposition from Democratic lawmakers hailing from Michigan, home to the domestic auto industry.

The bill’s other significant provision would ramp up the federal renewable fuels mandate enacted in the 2005 energy bill and require 36 billion gallons of renewable biofuels to replace fossil fuels in the nation’s fuel supplies annually by 2022. The current standard sets a goal of 8.5 billion gallons per year in 2008.

The biofuels proposal would also move production away from corn-based ethanol, which was the big winner under the Republican-drafted biofuels agreement. The legislation would require cellulosic ethanol alternatives that rely on grasses and agricultural waste to be used to meet 60% of the increase in renewable fuel production in 2022.

The bill contains a host of other modest conservation and efficiency measures that would improve energy efficiency for light bulbs and home appliances, encourage research for so-called clean-coal technology, and set a national goal for reducing gasoline consumption.

The bill is also noteworthy for what it doesn’t contain — language addressing climate change and a cap on greenhouse-gas emissions created by burning fossil fuels. Democrats have steadfastly pushed for climate-change provisions in past Republican energy bills.

This bill is similar to the health bill and the financial bill…it is a tweak not a REFORM.

Then we move on to the plan of the GOP…..their proposal is called the American Energy Act:

Both the Presidential and Congressional moratoriums were lifted last year and the previous Administration published a draft leasing program to lease previously unavailable Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) areas. The current Administration has delayed the draft leasing program. This bill would put the leasing program in place immediately to facilitate the environmentally responsible development of these additional OCS areas.

Directs the Interior Secretary to establish a competitive oil and gas leasing program in the Arctic Coastal Plain to be conducted in an environmentally-sound manner. The bill repeals a prohibition against the production of oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Before conducting the first lease sale, the Secretary would prepare a NEPA impact statement with respect to the actions authorized by this subtitle.

Requires the Secretary to hold a lease sale within 180 days of enactment, offering 10 parcels for lease for research, development, and demonstration of oil shale resources, under the terms offered in the solicitation of bids published on January 15, 2009.

Allows the EPA Administrator to authorize financial assistance to facilitate the hiring of personnel with experience in fields relevant to consideration of Federal refinery authorizations. A Federal agency would also be able to provide technical, legal, or other nonfinancial assistance to a State or tribe to facilitate its consideration of Federal refinery authorizations.

Provides competitively awarded cash prizes to advance the research, development, demonstration, and commercial application of innovative energy technologies and new energy sources. The bill allows funding for the prizes to come from appropriated funds, provided by the administering entity, or funds raised through grants or donations. The bill prohibits the Federal government from being entitled to any intellectual property rights derived as a consequence of awarding a prize. The bill requires that a portion of the funds in the American Renewable and Alternative Energy Trust Fund be available to carry out the prize program. Finally, the bill prohibits any prize money from being taxed by any Federal, State, or local authority.

Authorizes an accelerated regulatory process for new reactor applicants, which meet certain conditions, in order to cut the time needed to permit new plants by roughly 50 percent. Under the two-year program, eligible applications must:

Include a design already certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC);

Include a site at a location already licensed for operating reactors,

Be submitted by an operator in good standing with the NRC;

Have a full and complete Combined Operations and Construction License application; and

Demonstrate a financial commitment to secure long-lead components.

Expands an existing energy investment tax credit for renewable energy equipment to include nuclear and clean-coal equipment. The bill clarifies that no “double benefit” can be received by collecting both the investment tax credit and the existing production credit for nuclear power.

There you go Repubs are heavy on helping the oil industry retain its strangle hold on the economy and as usual, there is the proposal for tax cuts and incentives.  And as usual they are in the pocket of the nuke industry.

Even Obama is talking about clean coal….there is NO such thing….one can try to clean up the emissions but NO coal is clean burning.  The term “clean coal” is referring to the technology of controlling the emissions.

Analysis from the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF) of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), which passed in the House, explained why the bill is so popular. Provisions in the bill designed to offset higher energy prices for typical consumers would reduce energy bills by $63 billion between 2012 and 2020, if implemented this year.
According to recent media reports, right-wing led business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) have financed congressional lobbying and national media campaigns to block the bill, claiming that controlling pollution would harm profit margins.

The impact of this multi-million dollar campaign has been felt. A Senate version of the climate change bill excludes mandatory renewable energy standards. And in a call for “bipartisanship,” Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., is pushing for a climate change bill far weaker than the bill he supported in the last session of Congress and that provides major exceptions for the coal and nuclear energy sectors.
A recent survey released earlier this month revealed that more than six in 10 voters in the home states of 16 Senators who may cast key votes on climate change legislation support a bill like the one already passed by the House of Representatives. Voters also said they would be likely to vote for their Senator in the 2010 elections if they voted for such a bill.

My point is when this debate heats up it will be an argument for  retaining coal or helping the environment…the health bill and debate may be a precursor to the next great debate…ENERGY.