5.02.2011
4.12.2011
Quote of the Day
For those of you as sick of Ayn Rand as I am:
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
John Rogers
4.11.2011
Great Question
Krugman asks what happened to Mr. Obama?
More broadly, Mr. Obama is conspicuously failing to mount any kind of challenge to the philosophy now dominating Washington discussion — a philosophy that says the poor must accept big cuts in Medicaid and food stamps; the middle class must accept big cuts in Medicare (actually a dismantling of the whole program); and corporations and the rich must accept big cuts in the taxes they have to pay. Shared sacrifice!
I’m not exaggerating.
Money quote:
I’m not exaggerating.
4.08.2011
3.16.2011
States to Avoid
NEW JERSEY: Last year, Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) budget raised taxes on the working poor and middle-class by cutting the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit and homestead rebates — yet still found money for lucrative corporate tax cuts. This year, Christie’s budget calls for $200 million in business tax cuts, while cutting mental health services, $540 million from Medicaid, and witholding property tax rebates for seniors until public workers give up many of their health and pension benefits. Many New Jerseyans have said they prefer a tax on millionaires to Christie’s draconian cuts.
MICHIGAN: Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) budget would make Michigan’s already regressive tax system even more unfair for the state’s poorest residents. The plan cuts taxes on business by more than 86 percent while slashing$1.2 billion in funding for “schools, universities, local governments and other areas.” Snyder also wants to raise personal taxes by 30 percent — an increase that will fall disproportionately on Michigan’s lowest income residents.
GEORGIA: Last week, the Georgia House passed an austerity budget that will increase health insurance costs by more than 20 percent for state workers, teachers and retirees and cut funding for state universities by $75 million. The House has already gutted the state’s HOPE scholarship program, and is now considering implementing a regressive new tax system that would lower income taxes for the rich while raising the sales tax on basic necessities. House Majority Leader Larry O’Neal (R), meanwhile, has introduced a bill that would implement a flat income tax rate and cut corporate taxes by 33 percent.
FLORIDA: At a Tea Party rally last month, Gov. Rick Scott (R) unveiled his budget, telling supporters he would make the state the most “fiscally conservative” in the nation. The budget would slash corporate income and property taxes, lay off 6,700 state employees, cut education funding by $4.8 billion, and cut Medicaid by almost $4 billion.
OHIO: Gov. John Kasich (R) has proposed cutting 25 percent of schools’ budgets, $1 million from food banks, $12 million from children’s hospitals, and $15.9 million from an adoption program for children with special needs. A Kasich staffer revealed yesterday that these cuts are more about politics then budget-balancing, telling the Cincinnati Dispatch that “even if there weren’t an $8 billion deficit, we’d probably be proposingmany of the same things.” The plan includes tax cuts for oil companies, a repeal of the estate tax and an income tax cut for the rich that former Gov. Ted Strickland (D) halted last year because of the state’s fiscal crisis.
IOWA: Gov. Tom Branstad (R) began this year proposing a budget that included a $200 million tax cut on commercial property taxes and corporate income but would freeze spending on schools, cut $42 million to state universities and lay off “hundreds” of state workers. Since then, the Governor has already begun laying off state nursing home workers andfrozen funding for mental health services. The budget is now moving through the politically divided legislature, where Republican-controlled House committees have gone even further, approving tax refunds for upper-income Iowans while cancelling infrastructure investments, eliminating preschool for 4-year-olds, closing Iowa workforce development offices, and making even deeper cuts to public universities.
PENNSYLVANIA: Gov. Tom Corbett (R) presented a budget last week that would cut taxes for corporations, while freezing teacher salaries, cutting dental care for Medicaid recipients, and eliminating more than half of the state’s universities. Yet the state has lots of revenue potential in northern Pennsylvania, where out-of-state energy companies’ “fracking” of natural gas has reaped them hundreds of millions of dollars in profits. Corbett has refused to tax these companies, many of which helped fund his gubernatorial campaign, and has instead opted to lay of more than 1,500 state workers.
MAINE: Despite calling for “shared sacrifice” Tea Party Gov. Paul LePage’s (R) budget would cut income taxes for Maine’s wealthiest one percent, while actually raising property taxes for the state’s middle class. This so-called “jobs budget” freezes healthcare funding for working parents, cuts money for schools and infrastructure and raises the retirement age for public workers. Yet LePage was still able to find more than $200 million in tax cuts for large estates, business and the rich.
WISCONSIN: The tax cuts Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed earlier this year worsened his state’s fiscal condition, so now Walker is planning to raise taxes on the poor, eliminate $26 million in tax credits for seniors and single mothers and cancel property tax rebates for low-income Wisconsinites making less than $24,000 a year.
SOUTH CAROLINA: Gov. Nikki Haley (R) has proposed ending the state’scorporate income tax, even while she calls for cutting physical education, K-12 schools, and Medicaid. Haley has received pushback from Republican colleagues: last week the legislature rejected her plan to force state employees to pay more for health insurance.
KANSAS: Facing a $493 million budget shortfall, Gov. Sam Brownback (R) has called for eliminating the corporate income tax while proposing a $50 million cut to education. With majorities in both Houses, Republicans have proposed a cut to the federal Earned Income Tax Credit that would push 6,500 families below the poverty line.
ARIZONA: Last October, as she ignored 26 other possible funding solutions, Gov. Jan Brewer (R) implemented painful cuts to the state’s Medicaid program, which resulted in 2 deaths and left 98 Arizonianswaiting for transplant funding. After months of protests, Brewer finally agreed to set aside $151 million in an “uncompensated-care pool to pay health-care providers for ‘life-saving’ procedures, including transplants.” However, House Republicans refused to restore funding for organ transplants because, as House Appropriations Committee chair Jon Kavanagh (R) said, “not enough lives would be saved to warrant restoring millions in budget cuts.” Then, while peoples’ lives were in danger, Brewer eagerly signed tax cuts for businesses that will cost the state $538 million.
Source: Think Progress
MICHIGAN: Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) budget would make Michigan’s already regressive tax system even more unfair for the state’s poorest residents. The plan cuts taxes on business by more than 86 percent while slashing$1.2 billion in funding for “schools, universities, local governments and other areas.” Snyder also wants to raise personal taxes by 30 percent — an increase that will fall disproportionately on Michigan’s lowest income residents.
GEORGIA: Last week, the Georgia House passed an austerity budget that will increase health insurance costs by more than 20 percent for state workers, teachers and retirees and cut funding for state universities by $75 million. The House has already gutted the state’s HOPE scholarship program, and is now considering implementing a regressive new tax system that would lower income taxes for the rich while raising the sales tax on basic necessities. House Majority Leader Larry O’Neal (R), meanwhile, has introduced a bill that would implement a flat income tax rate and cut corporate taxes by 33 percent.
FLORIDA: At a Tea Party rally last month, Gov. Rick Scott (R) unveiled his budget, telling supporters he would make the state the most “fiscally conservative” in the nation. The budget would slash corporate income and property taxes, lay off 6,700 state employees, cut education funding by $4.8 billion, and cut Medicaid by almost $4 billion.
OHIO: Gov. John Kasich (R) has proposed cutting 25 percent of schools’ budgets, $1 million from food banks, $12 million from children’s hospitals, and $15.9 million from an adoption program for children with special needs. A Kasich staffer revealed yesterday that these cuts are more about politics then budget-balancing, telling the Cincinnati Dispatch that “even if there weren’t an $8 billion deficit, we’d probably be proposingmany of the same things.” The plan includes tax cuts for oil companies, a repeal of the estate tax and an income tax cut for the rich that former Gov. Ted Strickland (D) halted last year because of the state’s fiscal crisis.
IOWA: Gov. Tom Branstad (R) began this year proposing a budget that included a $200 million tax cut on commercial property taxes and corporate income but would freeze spending on schools, cut $42 million to state universities and lay off “hundreds” of state workers. Since then, the Governor has already begun laying off state nursing home workers andfrozen funding for mental health services. The budget is now moving through the politically divided legislature, where Republican-controlled House committees have gone even further, approving tax refunds for upper-income Iowans while cancelling infrastructure investments, eliminating preschool for 4-year-olds, closing Iowa workforce development offices, and making even deeper cuts to public universities.
PENNSYLVANIA: Gov. Tom Corbett (R) presented a budget last week that would cut taxes for corporations, while freezing teacher salaries, cutting dental care for Medicaid recipients, and eliminating more than half of the state’s universities. Yet the state has lots of revenue potential in northern Pennsylvania, where out-of-state energy companies’ “fracking” of natural gas has reaped them hundreds of millions of dollars in profits. Corbett has refused to tax these companies, many of which helped fund his gubernatorial campaign, and has instead opted to lay of more than 1,500 state workers.
MAINE: Despite calling for “shared sacrifice” Tea Party Gov. Paul LePage’s (R) budget would cut income taxes for Maine’s wealthiest one percent, while actually raising property taxes for the state’s middle class. This so-called “jobs budget” freezes healthcare funding for working parents, cuts money for schools and infrastructure and raises the retirement age for public workers. Yet LePage was still able to find more than $200 million in tax cuts for large estates, business and the rich.
WISCONSIN: The tax cuts Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed earlier this year worsened his state’s fiscal condition, so now Walker is planning to raise taxes on the poor, eliminate $26 million in tax credits for seniors and single mothers and cancel property tax rebates for low-income Wisconsinites making less than $24,000 a year.
SOUTH CAROLINA: Gov. Nikki Haley (R) has proposed ending the state’scorporate income tax, even while she calls for cutting physical education, K-12 schools, and Medicaid. Haley has received pushback from Republican colleagues: last week the legislature rejected her plan to force state employees to pay more for health insurance.
KANSAS: Facing a $493 million budget shortfall, Gov. Sam Brownback (R) has called for eliminating the corporate income tax while proposing a $50 million cut to education. With majorities in both Houses, Republicans have proposed a cut to the federal Earned Income Tax Credit that would push 6,500 families below the poverty line.
ARIZONA: Last October, as she ignored 26 other possible funding solutions, Gov. Jan Brewer (R) implemented painful cuts to the state’s Medicaid program, which resulted in 2 deaths and left 98 Arizonianswaiting for transplant funding. After months of protests, Brewer finally agreed to set aside $151 million in an “uncompensated-care pool to pay health-care providers for ‘life-saving’ procedures, including transplants.” However, House Republicans refused to restore funding for organ transplants because, as House Appropriations Committee chair Jon Kavanagh (R) said, “not enough lives would be saved to warrant restoring millions in budget cuts.” Then, while peoples’ lives were in danger, Brewer eagerly signed tax cuts for businesses that will cost the state $538 million.
Source: Think Progress
3.15.2011
3.14.2011
Giant Douche or Turd Sandwich?
I report. You Decide.
Blue dog 'Democrat' and public option denier, retiring Senator Evan Bayh announces his after-retirement plans:
Bayh said he wasn’t sure what he would do once he left the Senate. “If I could help educate our children at an institution of higher learning, that would be a noble and worthy thing. If I could help a charity or a philanthropic activity, cure a disease, or do something else worthwhile for society, that’s what has motivated my life.” He also said he wanted to help create jobs.
Oops! That was last year
This is from TODAY:
Evan Bayh joins Fox News
Blue dog 'Democrat' and public option denier, retiring Senator Evan Bayh announces his after-retirement plans:
Bayh said he wasn’t sure what he would do once he left the Senate. “If I could help educate our children at an institution of higher learning, that would be a noble and worthy thing. If I could help a charity or a philanthropic activity, cure a disease, or do something else worthwhile for society, that’s what has motivated my life.” He also said he wanted to help create jobs.
Oops! That was last year
This is from TODAY:
Evan Bayh joins Fox News
3.10.2011
3.07.2011
3.03.2011
Chart of the Day
But of course, the $12 Trillion in US debt is the fault of union teachers who make $38,000 a year.....
2.27.2011
2.25.2011
'No One is Exempt or Escapes The Theme'
An interesting analysis of Faux News from a blogger at C&L forced to watch it for one full week:
I learned there is a "theme of the day", set at 3AM California time when Fox and Friends comes on with their faux friendly little coffee klatch. Yesterday's theme was "Liberals are less civil than Tea Partiers." It began last night with Bill O'Reilly's ongoing claim that he's unfairly accused of being unfair. But today, it was the overriding, dominant theme.
Every show serves their own flavor of the theme inside the context of the main story, which happened to be the Wisconsin showdown with Governor Walker. Whether they were talking about the reporter punking the governor, or protests in solidarity with Wisconsinites, it is hammered home over and over and over and over ...
They take the theme and flog it mercilessly for that day, then let up as the next theme emerges. It's a symphony of sorts -- a symphony with lots of percussion, dissonance, and out of tune clanging cymbals with a shrill, high-pitched, irritating whistle barely audible at all times ...
Sounds like such a fun place to work!
I learned there is a "theme of the day", set at 3AM California time when Fox and Friends comes on with their faux friendly little coffee klatch. Yesterday's theme was "Liberals are less civil than Tea Partiers." It began last night with Bill O'Reilly's ongoing claim that he's unfairly accused of being unfair. But today, it was the overriding, dominant theme.
Every show serves their own flavor of the theme inside the context of the main story, which happened to be the Wisconsin showdown with Governor Walker. Whether they were talking about the reporter punking the governor, or protests in solidarity with Wisconsinites, it is hammered home over and over and over and over ...
They take the theme and flog it mercilessly for that day, then let up as the next theme emerges. It's a symphony of sorts -- a symphony with lots of percussion, dissonance, and out of tune clanging cymbals with a shrill, high-pitched, irritating whistle barely audible at all times ...
Sounds like such a fun place to work!
Best Healthcare in the World?
It should be noted that despite having the highest cost of providing health care services to its citizens, the uniquely American approach of "it's a privilege, not a right" to health care has resulted in outcomes that are no better than the rest of the world (and in most instance, much worse).
I guess its nice to walk into a carpeted medical practice that has an abundance of support staff, orchestral music playing softly over Bose speakers whilst sipping a freshly brewed latte in front of a 50 inch flat panel TV. But I'd rather ensure we are all healthy.
Source: Aaron Carroll
2.23.2011
2.22.2011
Quote of the Day II
jeez....who was this guy? Freaking Nostradamus?
"This is what I mean by my constant insistence on 'moderation' in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid," - Eisenhower
He got the stupid part, but if only he was right about their numbers being small
Quote of the Day
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. … Is there no other way the world may live?” - Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1950
2.10.2011
2.09.2011
Life Begins at Conception
and ends at birth.....according to Republican lawmakers.
"Protect Life Act," a measure sponsored by the subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.).
The measure would prohibit federal funding for abortions under the national health-care law and also would prevent funding from being withheld from institutions that refuse to provide abortions. Abortion-rights advocates argue that the bill would allow health-care providers to refuse to provide abortions in cases where the woman's life is threatened and would prohibit women from using their own money to obtain insurance that covers a range of reproductive care. [washpo]
– Cutting $758 million from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which amounts to about a 6 percent cut to a program providing food assistance to low-income women and their infants.
– Cutting $210 million from Maternal and Child Health Block Grants, which amounts to about a 33 percent cut in a program giving low-income pregnant women, mothers and their children access to health care.
– Cutting $27 million from the Poison Control Center, which would essentially eliminate a program supporting local poison control centers and funding a hotline directing residents to their local poison control office. Poisoning disproportionately affects children, with half the exposures at the National Poison Control Center last year occurring to children younger than six.[tp]
Tuesday:
"Protect Life Act," a measure sponsored by the subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.).
The measure would prohibit federal funding for abortions under the national health-care law and also would prevent funding from being withheld from institutions that refuse to provide abortions. Abortion-rights advocates argue that the bill would allow health-care providers to refuse to provide abortions in cases where the woman's life is threatened and would prohibit women from using their own money to obtain insurance that covers a range of reproductive care. [washpo]
Wednesday:
Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) — released the specific cuts that House Republicans are proposing:
– Cutting $210 million from Maternal and Child Health Block Grants, which amounts to about a 33 percent cut in a program giving low-income pregnant women, mothers and their children access to health care.
– Cutting $27 million from the Poison Control Center, which would essentially eliminate a program supporting local poison control centers and funding a hotline directing residents to their local poison control office. Poisoning disproportionately affects children, with half the exposures at the National Poison Control Center last year occurring to children younger than six.[tp]
2.04.2011
1.21.2011
Reality Check
Image: Before and After view of the Afghan village "Tarok Kolache", destroyed by allied forces using 25 tons of explosives in October, 2010.
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