Nice to see the future corporate lobbyists of America sticking together.
Let’s at least be clear about what’s being traded in America today. They think you’re stupid, that you can be distracted, and that they know best. They’ll take your money for their campaigns, pat you on the head, thank you for carrying heavy boxes for them, and then fuck you over in a heartbeat on the issues you care about the most.
Then they’ll insist that only “moderates” can do well. They’re not actually “moderate” on issues, because they’ll gladly abandon their faux outrage over the deficit when corporate coffers need a boost, they’re just “moderate” about not losing their power. If this sounds familiar, it’s because these kinds of people are properly called Republicans.
Baird will most likely screw us on health care again, and Heck won’t even take a fucking stand. There’s your “moderates” for you.
I’m getting phone calls from OFA urging me to “contact my Congressman to support health care reform” while at the same time another faction of the party is trying to kill it. I think we have a big problem here, people, and the problem is that certain people think it’s their political party, and the rest of us are just ATM’s and porters.
Now, most campaigns won’t turn down an endorsement, but given the antipathy towards Baird in the district, this move by the Heck campaign starts to look like a misstep, if not a blunder. But the insiders can’t help themselves, because they usually don’t need to worry about the petty concerns of those silly little voters, or even large blocs of rank and file activists; it’s all about proving to the other insiders that they’re a kewl kid. The voters can be dealt with in 30 second tee-vee ads later.
Enough is enough. We need someone principled in this seat, at long last, and Craig Pridemore has the support of hundreds of ordinary folks in the district. Those in the Puget Sound region who dismiss Pridemore’s chances based on ordinary metrics (ooooh! lookie! Denny has his own money!) clearly have no idea what makes Craig tick, nor his dogged determination in previous races where he defeated well-financed Republican incumbents. I don’t think some folks understand that over the years Craig has built up a tremendous and devoted group of admirers because he always fights for the regular people, even when the odds are against them.
Speaking of Denny Heck endorsements, the NYT had an interesting article late last year on how the lobbying game is really played, and it mentions another WA-03 Congress-critter who has endorsed Heck, former House member Don Bonker of APCO Worldwide. Fun times, flying a conservative Repuke like James Sensenbrenner and his wife to Liechtenstein on a pleasure junket, staying at a ski resort and touring first-class vineyards and wine cellars. Sweet, and apparently all legal if the money is placed in the correct non-profit entities. I’m sure having his buddy Heck in office would enhance Bonker’s professional prestige quite a bit more.
I wish Baird and Heck had attended a Coffee Party meeting yesterday so they could see just how far out of touch they are with ordinary hardworking Americans.
Oh, and all you noisy Tea Partiers out there — the silent majority is stirring and you’re about to be shoved aside. Coffee Party went from 200 members to 110,000 members in 2 weeks.
At the event I attended yesterday, the organizer expected 3 or 4 people to show up; he got 50, and two issues dominated the discussion: These are people who want health care reform to pass, and want campaign finance reform to get corporations and the influence of money out of politics.
Yes, Tea Parties, the “real” America is coming … and you’re not it.
King County Conservation District Election
If you live in King County, don’t forget to vote for Kirk Prindle in the King County Conservation District election on Tuesday.
@2
I’ll be posting a reminder for this tonight.
Pridemore can win the primary and the general election, but he has to get himself out in front of the voters. Right now he should try to meet every democratic PCO in the district and attend at least one meeting of each Democratic LD organization. Past that he needs to go to all of the various community festivals and farmers markets and try to speak in front of as many local community organizations as he can.
I strongly suspect Heck is going to try to run an almost purely media campaign and is going to rely mostly on newspaper endorsements, direct mail, radio, and TV advertising. With the district split between two major media markets (Seattle and Portland) this is going to be expensive and difficult to match.
How Bankers Took Over America
“From 1973 to 1985, the financial sector never earned more than 16 percent of domestic corporate profits. In 1986, that figure reached 19 percent. In the 1990s, it oscillated between 21 percent and 30 percent, higher than it had ever been in the postwar period. This decade, it reached 41 percent.
Pay rose just as dramatically. From 1948 to 1982, average compensation in the financial sector ranged between 99 percent and 108 percent of the average for all domestic private industries. From 1983, it shot upward, reaching 181 percent in 2007. The great wealth that the financial sector created and concentrated gave bankers enormous political weight — a weight not seen in the U.S. since the era of J.P. Morgan (the man).”
http://www.theatlantic.com/mag.....coup/7364/
Why Mexicans Will Take Over A Depopulated America
“More than one-third of workers under 35 live with their parents.”
http://www.time.com/time/speci.....-2,00.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: No job & no spouse = no kids. If this continues, in just 2 or 3 generations, there will be no “native-born” Americans left and all Mexico’s excess population has to do is just move in.
I’m posting my weekend magazine article roundup in this thread. Stay with me, there’s more good stuff to come.
Drop Out, Turn On, Tune In
Maybe the hippies of my generation got the concept right and only the sequence wrong. As employment, money, and the social safety net become obsolete, maybe their grandkids and great-grandkids will finish what they started — the reinvention of American society.
In any case, this article is worth reading for its perspective on what the future might be like for today’s young Americans facing a jobless/moneyless future:
“Middle-class kids are taught from an early age that they should work hard and finish school. Yet 3 out of 10 students dropped out of high school as recently as 2006, and less than a third of young people have finished college.
“Many economists attribute the sluggish wage growth in the U.S. to educational stagnation, which is one reason politicians of every stripe call for doubling or tripling the number of college graduates.
“But what if the millions of so-called dropouts are onto something? As conventional high schools and colleges prepare the next generation for jobs that won’t exist, we’re on the cusp of a dropout revolution, one that will spark an era of experimentation in new ways to learn and new ways to live. …
“Imagine a future in which millions of families live off the grid, powering their homes and vehicles with dirt-cheap portable fuel cells. As industrial agriculture sputters under the strain of the spiraling costs of water, gasoline and fertilizer, networks of farmers using sophisticated techniques that combine cutting-edge green technologies with ancient Mayan know-how build an alternative food-distribution system. Faced with the burden of financing the decades-long retirement of aging boomers, many of the young embrace a new underground economy, a largely untaxed archipelago of communes, co-ops, and kibbutzim that passively resist the power of the granny state while building their own little utopias.”
http://www.time.com/time/speci.....-1,00.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Let’s face it, America as we’ve known it is finished, the socioeconomic construct the Baby Boomer generation initially rebelled against and ultimately embraced with a vengeance is falling apart. What will permanent depression, hyperinflation, outsourcing the entire economy, massive debt default, and irreconciliable political conflict leave in their wake? One of two things: Revolution and civil war, or communes — lots of communes. And maybe, just maybe, flashing your fellow citizens the peace sign is a better idea than flipping them the bird.
‘Scientific Whaling’ My Ass!
Japan claims its slaughter of nearly 1,000 whales a year in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary is “scientific research.”
Bullshit.
Those whales end up in restaurants, not scientific laboratories:
“In June 2005 I attended an annual whale-tasting event held by the Japanese Whaling Association at the national legislature in Tokyo. Whale restaurants from around Japan served their best cetacean recipes — whale sushi, whale sashimi, whale on crackers, canned whale, whale with Osaka noodles — to black-suited Japanese legislators, grazing from one table to the next.”
But, as this article points out, most Japanese don’t eat whale meat and the Japanese government’s thick-headed insistence on scooping up the world’s whales for its domestic meat markets — the only country that does so — may be only a stalking horse for a bigger agenda: Japan wants to fish bluefin tuna to extinction.
How much goddam sense does that make? I mean, if they go extinct, then your harvest is none, right? Isn’t it smarter to stop fishing for a while to allow the stocks to rebuild themselves, then manage the fishery for sustainable? Isn’t a regulated harvest more than no harvest?
The Japs are stupid. No wonder they lost the war.
http://www.time.com/time/healt.....07,00.html
Re 1
If you’re right, good. I don’t know that I agree with most of your issue stances, but an involved and informed electorate is ultimately good for the Republic. If the ideas of the Tea Party movement, the silent but resentful many who feel that government is out of control, or the Republicans aren’t what the country wants that is the will of the people. And I’d support democracy, even if I didn’t like the direction it went.
I happen to think that the more people know the more conservative they will become. The marketplace of ideas is where this will settle out.
Why Democrats Shouldn’t Negotiate With Republicans
Forget bipartisanship. We badly need financial reform, but Republicans would rather let America sink:
“Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd announced Thursday that he can’t keep negotiating a financial reform compromise with Republican senator Robert Corker ….
“When I spoke to Corker … he suggested that Obama’s relatively modest proposal to recoup the costs of the financial bailouts by taxing the risk-taking of large banks made him wonder if he was living in Venezuela.”
http://www.time.com/time/polit.....26,00.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: My fellow Americans, I hate to tell you this, but our problems won’t be fixed until you vote to throw all the Republicans out of Congress and give Democrats 100% of the seats in both houses. When that happens, maybe we’ll be able to get a working majority for saving what’s left of our once great country, although even that is doubtful as long as you keep sending Blue Dog Democrats to Congress under the mistaken belief they’re actually Democrats.
@10 “I happen to think that the more people know the more conservative they will become.”
That’s a remarkable statement considering that all empirical experience to date shows that the more conservative people are, the more ignorant and uninformed they are.
“The marketplace of ideas is where this will settle out.”
Really? You actually think there’s still “a marketplace of ideas” in this country when the right’s “political dialogue” looks like this?
http://image3.examiner.com/ima.....oePage.jpg
http://www.nerve.com/CS/blogs/...../moran.jpg
http://newsbusters.org/static/.....20Sign.jpg
http://likeawhisper.files.word.....er2mtc.jpg
Let me tell you something, friend. The only way we’ll make progress on solving America’s problems is by ignoring the crazy, howling, out-of-control rightwing mobs. That’s how it is.
Sorry, Lost, but you’ve already blown whatever credibility you ever had on this blog, and your insipid shilling for a failed ideology does nothing to repair your reputation as a rote non-thinker.
Grading Obama’s Stimulus
Perception isn’t necessarily everything; what ultimately matters is the reality on the ground.
“The general public’s opinion of the bill that authorized the government to spend $787 billion to create jobs and end the recession is that it has been a dud. According to a recent CNN poll, nearly three-quarters of Americans think that at least half the money spent has been wasted.”
http://www.time.com/time/speci.....58,00.html
1. Build America Bonds. Grade: A. “During the financial crisis, the municipal bond market seized, making it tough for states and local governments to raise money. Many credit the Build America Bonds program with reviving the muni-bond market.”
http://www.time.com/time/speci.....59,00.html
2. Fiscal Support For State Governments. Grade: A. “Much of the stimulus money spent thus far has been sent directly to state governments to help them balance their budgets. Economists from both sides of the political spectrum see this as a win. ‘State budgets are very pro-cyclical,’ says Reinhart of the [conservative] American Enterprise Institute. ‘To the extent the government was able to stop contraction in local government spending, we were better off.’”
http://www.time.com/time/speci.....60,00.html
3. Extending Unemployment Benefits. Grade: B. “Liberal economists have long said that unemployment benefits are one of the best forms of economic stimulus. And that’s exactly what happened this time. But some conservatives say increasing unemployment benefits encourages people to spend less time or effort looking for a job. And indeed, during the past year, the number of months that the average unemployed worker stayed out of work climbed, despite a somewhat improving economy.”
http://www.time.com/time/speci.....61,00.html
3. Home Buyer Tax Credit. Grade: C. “Economists fear that many of the people who got the tax credit would have purchased a home anyway.”
http://www.time.com/time/speci.....62,00.html
4. Infrastructure Spending. Grade: D. “Most of the money allocated to infrastructure has yet to be spent. There simply weren’t that many construction programs ready to go. In the end, this may result in the best use of the government’s money, but it is not likely to stimulate the economy anytime soon.”
http://www.time.com/time/speci.....63,00.html
Life Shouldn’t Be A Lottery
A major component of the American Myth is the argument that success flows from “working hard.”
In fact, it is ownership of capital that produces big incomes, and the surest way of acquiring wealth in America is being born to it, closely followed by marrying into it.
Oh sure, I’ve known people who are — or, I should say, were — self-made. They worked hard, built successful businesses, and lived well … for a while. But market changes or a recession knocked the legs off their stools, and they’re broke now.
Likewise with many workers. They were loyal to the company and worked hard. But the company doesn’t exist anymore and the pension fund is bust, and now all they’ve got to show for a lifetime of hard work and company loyalty is gray hairs, expiring unemployment benefits, and bills they can’t hope to pay.
Working hard and playing by the rules doesn’t mean a damn thing when you lose anyway. Is it right to just blow off their bad luck? (It’s even worse than that. Conservatives will tell you they lost out in the wealth lottery because they’re “immoral.”)
This is why we need a social safety net.
Conservatives love to tell us, “life isn’t fair.” No, it’s not, so why shouldn’t we make it more fair? Do we have to curl up in a ball and let life’s vicissitudes kick us bruised and bloody? Isn’t it more sensible to take control of our own destiny?
Remember, when conservatives want to remove the safety net under the trapeze, they don’t plan to go up there themselves. They want you to fall and break your neck. Why would you listen to such people, or agree with them, or vote for them? That makes no sense.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com.....72.jpg?v=0
Re 12
That is pure propaganda, without much actual reference to what conservatives actually believe.
How, in this ‘no wealth is earned wealth’ world do you explain immigrants who use the values you disdain to make a good life for themselves?
How do you explain those who do well in recession because they planned for it?
Conservatives don’t believe that bad luck equals immorality, not the ones I know. They do believe that in the times of existential crisis we learn lessons in life and about ourselves that your social safety net would eliminate. They do believe that part of maturity is taking the good with the bad, and accepting that good can come from both given the choice. They do believe that a good society is made up of grown ups, not the permanent toddlers progressive policies lead to.
I can respect your life of hard won lessons, without agreeing with the conclusions you draw. I can respect your service to the country and to your state in your career.
I can’t respect attempting to take much of what makes life interesting away from people.
@15 “That is pure propaganda …”
Of course it is — I’m a partisan hack and propagandist. But so are you! The difference between us is I admit it.
@15 “Conservatives don’t believe that bad luck equals immorality”
Then why do they run people down in this manner?
@15 “They do believe that in the times of existential crisis we learn lessons in life and about ourselves that your social safety net would eliminate.”
This is crock at so many levels I hardly know where to being.
First of all, nobody ever learns anything from “life.” At least, not the people who run things, and determine the fates of the rest of us. If they did, why do we keep having existential crises? Bank panics and credit collapses weren’t invented in 2007. They’ve been around for hundreds of years. In this country, a century and a half of laissez-faire economics failed to prevent them, so why continue down that road? The only “lesson” here is that conservatives have learned nothing from history.
Most people who lose their jobs or pensions do so for reasons beyond their control. What is the rationale for punishing them to teach them “lessons in life?”
Here’s two lessons I’ve learned from life:
1. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
2. Buy insurance.
Social security diversifies my retirement income in case something happens to my pension or investments. It’s also insurance against disability, loss of my spouse’s income, and poverty in old age. The lesson I’ve learned from life is that social security is worth paying for and we should keep that program to hedge ourselves against life’s risks.
Is it a worker’s fault if his employer goes out of business? Should he be punished for not chosing his employment more carefully? Should we make workers responsible for figuring out which businesses will prosper and which won’t?
Do you seriously expect borrowers to say to themselves, “I shouldn’t accept this bank loan because I won’t be able to pay it back if the economy goes sour and I lose my job?” Doesn’t it make more sense to manage risks to the banking system by regulating what loans bankers can make?
It’s one thing to say people should lose their investments if they make bad investing decisions. It’s qualitatively different to argue that people should lose the necessities of life because of misjudgments or — more commonly — events beyond their control.
Do you really expect young people who are still lower down on the income ladder and facing the expenses of acquiring homes and raising families to be able to self-insure against recessions, prolonged unemployment, or disability? Maybe 1% or 2% of the population have enough income and wealth to do that. A policy that doesn’t meet the needs of 98% or 99% of our people isn’t a policy we should adopt.
I’ve spent a lifetime immersed in politics and public policy, and I’m familiar with “conservative principles.” My opinion is those “principles” aren’t good enough for our country. I’m a liberal because the social safety net that liberals have built is what best serves the majority of our people.
The Coffee Party is merely against the Tea Party. The Tea Party is based on COnstitutional Conservatism. The Coffee Party..is against the Tea Parrty.
BTW Rog–Thanks for drawing attention to the Tea Party Movement. It is a philosophical movement…thus needs no leader.
The Coffee Party–a bunch of government workers formed by the SEIU.
The issue is about Government WOrkers TOTAL COMPENSATION being unsustainable. In Washington, where Salaries and Benefits are 60% of the TOTAL BUDGET and virtually untouched in the massive Defict reconciliation plan…it will be the issue the next 2 elections for sure.
Hey Rog–
Did you KLOWNS talk about this?
Reid and Plastic face Pelsoi have their highest unfavorables yet!!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Let’s see if the Coffee Party turns around the unfavorables for Obam-Mao, Plastic Face and Hairy….as well as the Tea Party turned around their favorables.
Remember, Obam-Mao was +32 Strong Approval post-inauguration. He is -15 yesterday.
That’s a 47 point move!..courtesy of the Tea Party movement.
Coffee Party—a bunch of planted SEIU and other State Government Union folks.
Hoping for 3-4 and got 50?
Yeah right Rog.
Who independently verified any of this??
Baird & Heck are not going to respond to a handful of irrational, screaming leftist lunatics Jon. (That’d be YOU!)
Look at todays poll.
You KLOWNS have lost your clout. It’s gone.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Seems like you are having a difficult time coming to grips with the death of Atheist Progressivism. The Death by suicide started the day Obam-Mao was inaugurated. It continued as a result of his chronic lies and misrepresentations. His vast deficit spending.
His Porkulous failure. The Radicals & Tax cheats he appointed. the list goes on & on.
Wake up Jon…you Klowns are brain-dead and on life support.
@19: Dear Klynical moron:
As to a wake up….thanks for citing a meaningless poll by a biased polling outfit connected to the republican party. Still wating for you to put up the Bush numbers on that poll….I believe it was -61. So much for objectivity…your hero Bush was soooo much worse.
Oh, and republicans did what in the last election? Thought so.
@19 “you Klowns are brain-dead and on life support”
Project much? In case you didn’t know, it’s a Psych 101 thing.
cnr–
Ummmmmmmm, Rasmussen is the most accurate poll the past 5 years. It is Democrat-leaning as evidence by the Mass Senate Race where they had Brown-Coakley a toss-up and Brown won by 5.
Rasmussen’s success is identifying LIKELY VOTERS.
Also, Rasmussen has Obam-Mao at +32 Strong Approval post-inauguration. The very same poll is now -16.
Go ahead and try to discredit the Poll with the best track record. Go ahead and use the DailyKos and MSNBC.
You are childish cnr.
Squealing your objection merely because you dislike the result…with zero facts to back up your claim of R-bias.
Dreamers! Must be the pot-smoking.
The worse things get for the Atheist Progressives…the more pot you smoke…the more irrational you become!!
Connect the dots cnr.
@19 “The Coffee Party is merely against the Tea Party.”
That would be a good start for any new political movement, unless you believe in mob rule.
@19 (continued) Hey Klown! The Coffee Party went from 200 members to 110,000 members in 2 weeks! Impressive, huh? Looks like there’s a lot of concern among rank-and-file voters about the mindless idiocy sweeping the country.