Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Check out the Politiwhat blog’s story “The American Imperative”
Folks, if you like my blog, you almost certainly will like the Politiwhat blog as well . . . a good friend of mine writes this and came up with a very scholarly and erudite post about the killing of Osama bin Laden and how it should not be the impetus to precipitously pull people out of Afghanistan.
Here’s a link to his very interesting blog post:
http://politiwhat.wordpress.com/2011/05/07/foreign-policy-the-american-imperative/
Go read it, and educate yourself.
Updates: More pending recalls (Dems and Rs), etc.
Before we get to the latest folks being recalled, the first update has to do with the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. The two sides (Prosser and Kloppenburg) have come to an agreement about the recount, and it will start next Monday. Please see this story for further details, which gives details about how this particular state-wide recount (the first in twenty-two years) will take place:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/120518594.html
Now, as for the newest pending recalls — the drive to recall the Republican 8 continues, as the committee to recall Republican Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) turned in 30,000 signatures — significantly more than the 20,043 signatures required by law (1/4 of the last election) — to see her recalled.
However, we now have three Democrats — Jim Holperin (D-Conover), Bob Wirch (D-Kenosha) and Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) — who have had recall petitions filed against them. The signatures needed for Holperin was 15,960, with over 23,000 turned in; the signatures needed for Wirch was 13,537, with over 18,000 turned in, and the signatures for Hansen was 13,852 with nearly 19,000 turned in.
See this link for further details:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/120430074.html
The main difference between the Dems and the Rs at this point is that two of these three Dems appear to be in “safe,” heavily Democratic districts — Hansen and Wirch both have districts that went for Kloppenburg in the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court election, while Holperin’s district is the only one I’d really tend to be worried about — while all five of the Rs with recalls pending could easily lose and lose big.
Here’s a quote from the rally to recall Alberta Darling held on Thursday, April 21, 2011, courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article of the same date (link posted above):
Kristopher Rowe of Shorewood, a Darling recall leader who created the Facebook page that sparked the campaign, told several hundred people at the Kletzsch Park rally that they weren’t done until Darling was voted out of office.
“We’re going to finish, and we’re going to finish strong,” he said.
Now, you might be wondering why, in particular, recall groups have focused on getting rid of Alberta Darling. It’s because she was co-chair of the committee that allowed Gov. Scott Walker (R)’s “budget-repair bill” into the whole Senate; she had all the power in the world to stop that bill from ever coming to light unless/until some of the worst problems with it were fixed, yet she refused to use it.
Further from the Journal-Sentinel article:
Darling is the fifth Republican state senator against whom petitions have been filed.
Darling, a co-chair of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, is a central figure in the budget battles that spawned recall efforts against eight Republican and eight Democratic senators. Her opponents clearly will try to hang the budget on her, as did one rally speaker, who referred to the proposed budget as “both immoral and bad economics.”
As I’ve said before, the other four Republicans with recalls pending are: Luther Olson (R-Ripon), Dan Kapanke (R-La Crosse), Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) and Sheila Harsdorf (R-Hudson/River Falls).
And finally, it is confirmed that both Sheldon Wasserman (former Rep., who nearly beat Darling in 2008, losing by about 1000 votes) and Sandy Pasch (the current Rep., D-Whitefish Bay) are seriously thinking about challenging Darling in the pending recall election. (Note that the Journal-Sentinel had a PolitiFact article today saying it’s wrong to say any of these Senators have been recalled; all we can say is “recalls pending,” as I’ve been saying, or that the “recall petitions have been filed.”) Both are strong candidates, and the Journal-Sentinel rates this race as “the most competitive race . . . in the Milwaukee area” (there are five Senators, both R and Dem., who will have to run in recall elections providing the signatures hold up).
Because of the pending recount in the Kloppenburg-Prosser judicial race, it’s possible the recall petitions will take longer to “‘vet” than usual; the Government Accountability Board has been quite busy this year, with no signs of letting up, and it’s the GAB that must oversee both things.
Finally, in personal news, I have one good thing to report. I wrote 2000 words into part 47 of AN ELFY ABROAD last night, breaking a log-jam that had lasted three weeks after first talking with a friend about the story, then hearing from a different one why I should just give it up already. (Obviously I disagreed with my second friend.)
Otherwise, I just hit the six year and seven month observance in my personal “grief journey” . . . I tried hard to distract myself and even succeeded for a while, but then I wondered, “What the Hell am I doing?”
WI Senate Rs make questionable procedural move
In Wisconsin, you are obligated to give 24 hours notice before calling a conference committee on any given bill, but the Senate Republicans did not do so today in order to, in advance, get the Assembly’s notice and bring the Assembly back to vote. And they did it all within five minutes.
Why did they need to do this? Well, Scott Walker knew he was losing the battle of public opinion, so he had the Senate Republicans strip the language regarding the public employee unions out of the “budget repair bill” — after saying for weeks this was a fiscal issue, now it apparently isn’t? — while the conference committee passed 4-0 (with lone Democrat, Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, unable to vote as he pointed out this conference committee was a violation of Wisconsin law and statute as he wasn’t given 24 hours notice, nor was he given any idea of what, exactly, he was voting on as there wasn’t a bill summary as there usually is).
Here’s a story from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that goes into most of the particulars (not speaking about Barca’s part in it, oddly enough; the Kenosha News doesn’t have anything yet, either, as of 7:02 PM CST):
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/117656563.html
Note that I witnessed this extraordinary event by watching WTMJ TV (channel 4 in Milwaukee, WI), and saw Barca’s comments for myself; if I can get a transcript of what Barca actually said, I will be glad to update this post and add his remarks.
Here’s part of the article, quoting Robert Dreps, a noted Wisconsin attorney:
Attorney Robert Dreps, an expert on the state open meetings law, said he did not believe the conference committee could meet with such short notice.
State law generally requires a 24-hour notice for public meetings, but can be called with just two hours notice when more notice is impossible or impractical, said Dreps, who has represented the Journal Sentinel in the past.
“I can’t imagine how they can meet that standard,” he said.
I’ve never seen this before in all my life; a conference committee called before a bill was passed? With no bill summary? No 24 hours notice? Then the Senate passing the non-fiscal items (i.e., stripping the collective bargaining of unions) in an 18-1 vote in about two minutes (starting at 6:12 PM and ending at 6:14 PM)? Only Dale Schultz, a Republican from Richland Center in western Wisconsin, voted no.
Note that by declaring this a non-fiscal measure, the quorum needed was lower — but that may not be a legal maneuver either. As I get more information, I will add more and more to this blog in the days ahead.
How can anyone say this was clear, transparent, or “doing the people’s business” in any way, shape or form with a straight face?
More to the point — how does this help the “Republican 8” who are vulnerable to recall efforts this year? How does this help the people of Wisconsin, period?
*** UPDATE THREE as of 11:43 P.M.: Note that there is a Web site to help recall the “Republican 8” state Senators who are available to be recalled right now. Those Senators are Glenn Grothman, Mary Lazich, Dan Kapanke, Sheila Harsdorf, Robert Cowles, Randy Hopper, Luther Olsen, and the most likely one to be recalled of them all, state Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills (this is a suburb of Milwaukee which contains Marquette University). At the moment the Web site sends everyone to an Act Blue page, so I have taken down the link . . . if that site goes back to a normal place, not taking people to Act Blue (I’m for Act Blue in general but not when I’m trying to go somewhere else), I’ll restore the link. ***
**** UPDATE FOUR: The link has been restored to show staging directions — places and people to see to get recall petitions for the Republican 8, so here you go:
http://www.recalltherepublican8.com/
**** END UPDATE FOUR AND GO, RECALLERS! ****
Right now, as of 7:11 p.m. CST, the protestors are back on the streets of Madison** and are furious. This just shows, once again as if we hadn’t figured it out, how duplicitous Scott Walker and his cronies in the state Senate really are.
My best guess is that these Republicans really don’t think they’ll be recalled, or that those who aren’t yet vulnerable to recall believe next year things will have calmed down and that they’ll easily hold their offices. But I have news — anyone who voted “yes” on this horrible thing in the Senate today will be recalled, whether this year or next. (I think Dale Schultz is safe as he voted “no.” The rest of the Senate R’s had best look out.) Because this clearly was not what the voters of Wisconsin wanted, and if the Republicans really think this was the right thing to do, well, they’re going to have to pay for it with their careers.
As State Senator Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) put it,
“This is a travesty is what it is,”Larson said about the vote. “I can’t sit by and let them kill the middle class.”
Larson said Republicans will pay a political price for curtailing collective bargining for public-sector employees.
“Everyone who is party to this travesty is writing their political obituary,”Larson said.
Amen, brother!
** UPDATE ** Here’s an article from the Kenosha News that points out what Peter Barca actually did:
http://www.kenoshanews.com/newsnow/newsnow.php#1171804
And here’s a statement from that article from state Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Ashland, one of the “Wisconsin 14”:
Before the sudden votes, Democratic Sen. Bob Jauch said if Republicans “chose to ram this bill through in this fashion, it will be to their political peril. They’re changing the rules. They will inflame a very frustrated public.”
Once again, and with feeling — can I get an “Amen, brother” on that one, too?
** UPDATE TWO *** Here’s something from Talking Points Memo about what Peter Barca attempted to do:
Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D) attempted to make a motion to delay the meeting or make amendments — and was not recognized for a motion by the chair, state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. Barca argued, over Fitzgerald’s attempts to say there would be no motions, that the conference committee violated the state’s open meetings law, which requires at least 24 hours notice before a government meeting, unless there is good cause to act more quickly.
Read more at: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/peter-barca/2011/03/
** Note that in Kenosha, which is the southern-most city in Wisconsin that’s right next to the state line with Illinois, there was a protest march in favor of the “Wisconsin 14” Democratic Senators and the public employee unions, which drew 1200 people in the middle of a working day. This tells you that people remain fired up about this issue and are not going to stop protesting, and that was before what Scott Walker (and his 45-minute meeting earlier today with Senate Rs) and his cronies did this evening.
The protests will continue until morale improves — and in this case, morale will only improve with every single last Republican being recalled, including Scott Walker. So look for recall after recall this summer, and recalls again in January of 2012 until every Republican who approved of this gets recalled.
Scott Walker: Bad for Wisconsin
The state of Wisconsin continues to be in turmoil due to Governor Scott Walker (R) and his blatant attempt at a power-grab. For the third week in a row, protests are going on all over the state — so what does Walker do about it?
Nothing. (That’s right. Zero. Zip. Diddly-squat.)
But the Republican Governors’ Association and the Republican National Committee, along with “independent” groups like the Koch Brothers’ funded “Americans for Prosperity” and the misnamed “Wisconsin Club for Growth” have television ads all over the state claiming that Scott Walker is “leading” while the “Wisconsin 14” (or “Fab 14” as some are now calling them) have “refused to do their jobs.” This is an attempted framing of the narrative that’s a complete and utter distortion of the facts, and is one I’m just not willing to allow.
The facts are these. On February 11, 2011 (a Friday), in the afternoon, Scott Walker sent what he called a “budget repair bill” to the Wisconsin state house (lower house is the Assembly, equivalent to the national House of Reps., while the upper house is the state Senate) which called for an end to collective bargaining along with deep cuts in Medicaid along with the state-run Badger Care program which takes care of low-income adults and children. Walker stated at that time that if his “budget repair bill” wasn’t passed, the Wisconsin state workers would end up with layoffs (rather than the mandated “furlough days” under the previous Governor, which continue to be in effect through June 30, 2011; these are days the workers do not get paid, and state government does not function), and he urged the bill’s swift passage.
The reason this didn’t happen — the swift passage — is because the fourteen Senate Democrats (out of thirty-three) fled the state. You see, by doing this, they denied Scott Walker’s bill a quorum in the state Senate. At that time, every single Republican would’ve voted “yes” on this bill, including my state Senator, Van Wanggaard (R), even though Wanggaard is a former policeman, a former policeman’s union member, and worst of all, a former policeman’s union representative. (This seems mighty hypocritical to me and I’ve said so; my e-mail to him was very short and succinct. I said, “Vote against this bill or prepare to be recalled.” That’s because I dislike hypocrisy with a passion and Wanggaard, along with Scott Walker himself, did not campaign on such radical and extremist ideas.)
At any rate, the “Fab 14” left the state and have been in Illinois ever since. But the Assembly eventually passed this bill — though legal efforts are underway to see if chicanery was involved as the Assembly had been in session for over 63 hours and somehow, many Dems in the Assembly weren’t allowed to vote while some of the R’s weren’t even in the room yet were counted (by osmosis? Wisconsin’s state constitution does not allow for votes via proxy; you must actually be in the Assembly chamber to vote.) — while the Senate remains stalled out due to the “Fab 14” staying out-of-state.
Yesterday, two things happened of consequence. One, the Capitol building was locked, which is against the Wisconsin state constitution (this had been going on for a few days at night, but yesteday apparently was the first day the building was locked as a whole), and two, State Senator Glenn Grothman (R), called the Wisconsin protestors who’d been occupying the statehouse (as is their legal right under the Wisconsin state constitution) “slobs,” re-iterating his comment from the day before, this time on Lawrence O’Donnell’s “The Last Word” primetime show on MSNBC.
Now, the importance of the Grothman comment was this: O’Donnell brought on four protestors, one a very articulate young, female student, one a skilled tradesman in his forties, one a nurse in her late forties-early fifties, with the other woman’s age being unable to be determined by me (but she was obviously a professional woman); her profession was announced but somehow I lost track. At any rate, these four were far from “slobs,” yet Grothman refused to relent; instead, he poured on the vitriol, saying that most of the people occupying the capitol building were “students, or unemployed people, having a holiday, banging their drums and screaming” at him, and that this had never happened in all his years in the state Senate.
But this is the age of YouTube, my friends . . . Grothman’s comments are assuredly there by now, and there’s a big problem for him in them. You don’t call Wisconsin protestors’ by the derogatory word “slobs.” Especially when some of them come from your district, the 20th (representing West Bend and parts of Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, Ozaukee, and Dodge counties), and most especially when you are the Assistant to the Senate Majority Leader (second in line). This looks really, really bad to call Wisconsin protestors, who are also taxpayers and voters, “slobs.”
The good news from my perspective is that Glenn Grothman is in danger of being recalled. Here’s a link from the Capitol Times (Madison, WI):
And here’s a story from the Daily Kos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/03/951991/-Wisconsin-Recall:-$-and-Volunteer-Drive-Day-2
The fact of the matter is that Grothman, along with seven other Republican Senators, are in danger of recall, while three of the five Senators on the Democratic side who’ve been targeted may have real problems holding their seats (especially considering they’re all out-of-state at this time). I would tend to think Grothman’s comments regarding the protestors and taxpayers and voters of Wisconsin would drastically hurt him no matter how much money the Republican Party of Wisconsin throws his way (much less people like the Koch Brothers, who are out-of-state but are extremely wealthy; the $43,000 they gave to Scott Walker is pocket change for them).
At any rate, this is what Scott Walker has done so far. He’s divided the state — right now, according to a recent poll from the Public Policy Institute (a reasonably neutral place), 52% would vote for Tom Barrett (the Democratic candidate in the last election) while only 45% said they’d vote for Walker if the election were held today with the knowledge that Walker wants to break public employee unions. Here’s a link to that:
And the beat goes on, because of Walker were vulnerable to recall today (he is not, as my state Senator Wanggaard also isn’t; they both have to be in office one full year before they can be legally recalled), he’d be in deep trouble because 48% would vote to recall him, while 48% wouldn’t, and the other 4% are “undecided.” (Note these poll numbers were taken before Walker’s recent budget bill for fiscal year 2011-12; in that bill, Walker would cut something like $900 million from the public schools/public educational efforts. These numbers to recall will go up, and the numbers of people dissatisfied with Walker will also go up due to that.)
As the Guardian (a UK newspaper) noted, Scott Walker may be an ex-governor far sooner than anyone would’ve imagined; see this link for further details:
You see, Wisconsin voters don’t like it that the state isn’t able to do its business, but most of them are placing the onus of responsibility on the Governor, Scott Walker, rather than the fourteen Senators who did the only thing they could do to slow down or stop the “budget repair bill” — and they are right.
Scott Walker, in short, is very bad for Wisconsin. Hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites all over the state have gone out to protest, while hundreds of thousands more have expressed their support for the “Fab 14” and have written letters to the editor condemning Walker’s actions. (One or the other.) And there are all these recalls going on for the Republican Senators that I discussed — those vulnerable to recall now — while assuredly if this “budget repair bill” ever passes with Van Wanggaard’s support, he’ll be recalled as soon as humanly possible, too.
The only hope the R’s have in Wisconsin right now is that people forget all these protests, forget the money-drain having extra police and fire in Madison has been, forget Scott Walker’s grandstanding and inability to compromise (when politics is supposed to be the “art of the possible,” meaning compromise is a must), and forget that his Lieutenant Governor, Rebecca Kleefisch, has stood right behind Walker and has not only affirmed her support for the Republican party line, but has said she’d do the same thing in his place. (The latter is what will end up getting her recalled, too, as she didn’t campaign on such drastic tactics, either.)
So it’s obvious, folks, what needs to be done. Walker needs to be recalled as soon as humanly possible, as does Kleefisch, as does every Republican Senator who has expressed unwavering support for this horrible bill — now or later. And if Van Wanggaard is smart, and wants to hold onto his seat for his four-year term (assuredly he’ll be out once he gets recalled; this is the only shot he has to keep his seat), he’ll vote against Walker’s horrible “budget repair bill.”
But no one said he has to be smart, and I for one am hoping he won’t be because I’m itching to work on recalling this man as I cannot stand hypocrisy in any way, shape or form.
——-
** Note: My late husband Michael couldn’t stand hypocrisy either, and I really wish that he were here to help me work on the recall effort. Michael was an honest, able, ethical man who was deeply principled and would be appalled at all of this. I stand against Scott Walker and all he stands for, with the certain knowledge that my husband would back me and understand exactly why I must do this.
Gov. Scott Walker Miscalculates over “Budget,” Tries to Bust Unions — Battle Ongoing
Folks, I’ve never seen anything quite like what’s going on in Wisconsin this past week.
I’d said last November, right after Scott Walker won the right to be incoming Governor, that if he and the Republicans believed him being elected was a “mandate” to do anything other than what he’d said he’d do — that is, govern wisely and well, with consensus — he had another think coming. The Democrats had miscalculated their position in 2008, which is what led to the 2010 elections going so much in the direction of the Republicans . . . and now, with Scott Walker’s insistence on getting rid of the collective bargaining rights for state public employee unions as part of his “Budget Repair Bill,” he, too, has miscalculated.
When Scott Walker campaigned in Wisconsin, he said he was a centrist, who wanted a balanced budget, who would do modest and effective things — and how that was interpreted was that he wouldn’t change very much (trust me, changing whether state public employee unions are allowed to collectively bargain with the state is a huge change, especially as we’ve had these provisions in place for well over fifty years). Yet Walker’s view of “modest” is exactly what he put up — a bill that would strip all public employee unions of their right to collectively bargain; a bill that would force unions to re-certify every year; a bill that has caused massive unrest throughout the entire state of Wisconsin, massive protests (over 35,000 today was estimated; 30,000 on Thursday; 25,000 on Wednesday; 15,000 to 20,000 on Tuesday, in Madison alone, with additional protests outside Republican lawmakers’ homes throughout the state and at least two protests at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire campus andthe University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh campus, with over 2,000 people showing up to protest at Eau Claire and an unknown number in Oshkosh), and 56% of the state being against Gov. Walker’s so-called “modest proposal.”
Here’s a link to the most recent story, where the Wisconsin Assembly (our lower house) was going to take a vote without the Democratic members even being present; when the Dems showed up and demanded their rights to be heard, the vote was “rescinded” — meaning it’ll have to be taken again, with the Dems present. That vote will take place next Tuesday, as President’s Day is Monday.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/116470423.html
And that’s not all; our Democratic state Senators (upper house) have walked off the job, all fourteen of them, and have gone to neighboring states (currently, they are supposed to be in Illinois) so the Senate will not have a quorum and cannot pass this bill; here’s a link to that story:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/116381289.html
There also are many, many stories about how Gov. Walker insists this is a “modest” proposal which shouldn’t “shock anyone,” and a story was aired tonight by Greta Van Susteran on Fox News that quoted Wisconsin’s Lieutenant Governor, Rebecca Kleefisch, as once again calling this a “modest” proposal that “shouldn’t have taken anyone by surprise.”
Yet this is a surprise, folks, precisely because Walker and Kleefisch didn’t explain what they planned to do to balance Wisconsin’s budget. They certainly didn’t say that they planned to de-certify unions, public or private; they certainly didn’t say anything about that in this particular state, where unions have a rich history, the state that gave the United States as a whole the forty-hour work week, vacation pay, worker’s compensation and a form of Social Security for retirement. (Yes, Wisconsin was first in the nation for all of those things.) Because if they had, I can assure you, they would’ve lost. Big-time.
At this point, Walker and Kleefisch are on the “recall road,” because Wisconsin taxpayers truly didn’t expect this out of their elected officials and are protesting in record numbers against this bill. The Wisconsin constitution allows for government officials to be recalled if they’ve been in office for one full year; right now, Walker and Kleefisch have been in office only about five weeks, so we have a long way to go before we can recall. But protests like this will not be forgotten, not in a year, not in five years . . . not ever.
All I can say, aside from the fact that I am against Gov. Walker’s proposal because he didn’t campaign on it and it looks like a naked power-grab to me, is that soon, the (R) in back of both Walker and Kleefisch’s name will not stand for Republican. Instead, it will stand for “recall,” or better yet, “recall and replace.”
I’m telling you now, and for the record — unless Gov. Walker backs down with the demands to disallow collective bargaining in the state of Wisconsin for public unions, he can and will be recalled. (Lt. Gov. Kleefisch, too.) Guaranteed.
So I urge you, please do not believe the hype, or Gov. Walker’s attempt to frame the narrative. The non-violent, peaceful protests here are because of one thing and one thing only: because Gov. Walker overstepped his authority. Wisconsin’s voters do not like what Walker has done here even if they think he has a point about the budgetary shortfall. **
————
** Note: I am in this category. I also believe that anyone who supported the Tea Party’s right to protest should support these folks’ right to protest against a Governor trying to take too many rights away, too quickly, without a public debate.
** Gov. Walker proposed this “budget repair bill” last week Friday. And in a week’s time, the state is up in arms. (Does that really tell anyone out there the state supports Walker? How about that survey saying 56% are against him I talked about before? Were those 56% all in error?)
US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) Shot at Town Meeting; 6 dead, 12 wounded
While driving today, I heard the distressing, horrifying news that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) had been shot at a town meeting this morning at 10 AM local Arizona time; she was shot in the head at point-blank range. Six others, including federal judge John Roll, a child, a baby, and one of Ms. Giffords’ aides, are dead according to various wire reports, while Ms. Giffords has already undergone successful neurosurgery. Her condition is considered critical, but stable, at this time; no one knows whether she will fully recover, but all hopes are high.
Here’s a link to the most recent wire report I could find:
Notice this is a UK newspaper, but their information is accurate as far as I can tell from monitoring CNN and Fox News this afternoon.
As Speaker of the House John Boehner said:
“An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society.
“Our prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, all who were injured, and their families. This is a sad day for our country.”
I agree; this is truly awful. Horrifying. Disgusting. Distressing. And insane.
The gunman, whoever he is — all we know is he’s 22 or 23 years old, though this article identifies him as Jared Laughner — needs to be seriously questioned at to what, exactly, he thought he was doing. Because no matter how much you hate your elected representative — though Ms. Giffords was said to be well-liked by colleagues and voters — the only thing to do is this: VOTE THEM OUT. DO NOT SHOOT THEM. (OR ANYONE ELSE SPEAKING WITH THEM.)
** CNN just identified the shooter (I want to use much stronger verbiage, believe you me) as Jared Lee Loughner, 22. Note the variation in spellings. This still may not be the right identification.
Reading “The Predator State” by James K. Galbraith.
I’m not quite done with this book yet, folks, but I have to say the ideas in this book bear much closer scrutiny.
In “The Predator State,” James K. Galbraith shows that even most of the hard-line conservatives (almost always Republicans) in the United States of America have given up on the old Reagan-era “supply-side economics” that they, unfortunately, campaigned on during the 2010 election. These ideas have been proven to be unworkable and perhaps unattainable, including the idea that tax cuts for the extremely wealthy will stimulate economic growth. (It doesn’t. Instead, all it tends to do is give the incredibly wealthy person more money to put in a Swiss bank account, or invest — usually overseas — and even investing here in the United States is problematic because of how companies are now run to maximize “shareholder value” rather than actually create good products and get them out before the marketplace and thus do some good for society.)
The American electorate was volatile and angry in 2010; I get that.
But to now have a bunch of Republicans in there saying stuff they don’t even mean — at least, I hope they don’t because if they do, that means they know less about the economy than I do (perilous thought, that) — really bothers me. And that one of those who should know better is now the new Governor of the state of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, is incredibly upsetting.
In addition, the recent “tax cut” bill that was passed actually raises taxes on those making under $20,000 a year. What sense does this make?
So, taxes have been lowered for the incredibly wealthy — or in this case, the low taxes for the very wealthy have been extended. And taxes have been raised for the poorest of the poor, those below the poverty level.
And this is supposed to be the “best country in the world?”
How can this happen in a country that’s supposed to represent fairness (i.e., “liberty and justice for all”) for all, including economic fairness?
How is this right? How is this just? How is this understandable, or make any sort of economic sense?
I mean, the old phrase “you can’t get blood from a stone” comes to mind, here; those of us who make under $20,000 a year don’t have anything extra to give the government, and those who make over a million a year obviously do except in rare cases. So if you up their percentage, say, by 2%, you’re not hurting them very much, where you’re really hurting someone who’s at the poverty level or below. (Poverty level, right now, is around $21,000 United States dollars for one person if I recall correctly.)
Unless the real strategy to keep illegal aliens out is to persuade the rest of us poor people to leave, too . . . and I think Germany, in the 1940s, proved that the strategy of kicking people out for any reason (in that case, it was due to racism/genocide) is an unproductive, losing strategy indeed.
And since that makes no sense, either, all I can conclude is that this is yet again another exercise in “framing the narrative,” trying to make what’s really going on in this country — many good people being unemployed through no fault of theirs, all of those unemployed people being unable to pay all their bills through no fault of theirs, and very little being done about actual job creation — seem the problem solely of the Democrats, rather than what it really is: a failure of leadership from both political parties.
Barb Caffrey's Blog 