Morgan County Alabama Democratic Party: Home Page

Constitutional AND Religious Hypocrisy
Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:54:33 GMT
DoozeyDem

Watch this video… of Shad McGill. A block of cheese like Lowell Barron is definitely more qualified to be a State Senator than this chap.

The Tribes in their sixties, seventies, and eighties now
Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:57:56 GMT
SaintSatinStain
The powers that be are not passive,
will not listen to civil discourse;
they have to feel uncomfortable and seriously threatened to listen.
We hit the streets instead of
the mattresses.
They will come at us harder, no sheet
music anthems, no willingness to bargain.
They almost control the military, police,
the prisons, and us. We have a little time.
Do it peacefully!
The Tribes in their sixties, seventies,
and eighties now, they can join in with their children and grandchildren do it
one more time.
Deploy peaceful force.
Hit the streets, save capitalism from the capitalists who only think of short term profit, inhumane profit, and the kind of profit that will eventually destroy them.
If the last the only consequence, we could sit back allow; they'll take us down with them.
Deploy
thousand megaton fierce
MLK force.
We dont fight for our lives; we fight
for our children, grandchildren, our civilization, our way,
life based on constitutional principles and humane.
Fierce Gandhi force.
For my friends who say I inflate
the problem,
I say, remember Sumer, ancient Egypt,
Greece, Alabama, and Rome.
dead.

Haley Barbour Pardoned and Released A Killer into the Arms of Self-Proclaimed "Anti-Christ"
Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:48:51 GMT
bluebearcat

This is the most disturbing political story I've seen in many a moon. Haley Barbour's pardons of white convicted murderers stank to high heaven, especially in light of his refusal to do the same for a black woman convicted of stealing $11 unless she'd agree to give up a kidney.
Among those pardons, one truly stands out for us here at Left in Alabama: David Glenn Gatlin.
Gatlin's crime was horrific. He drove nine hours to shoot his estranged wife in the head in cold blood while she held their infant son in her arms. The son survived, but he was discovered by police in a pool of his mother's blood. Gatlin also shot a family friend, who survived.
Gatlin commited the crime in 1993 and has been released after serving less than twenty years for such a heinous crime. Where did Gatlin end up?
Alabaster, Alabama. In a quiet residential neighborhood.
Gatlin is staying with a man named Earnest Jacks, who says he believes in "redemption." That's not enough for me to be OK with a man who murdered someone in cold blood and hasn't yet made so much as an apology living in my state, but Jacks should have stopped there. But he doesn't.
In essence, I am the Anti-Christ. But the Anti-Christ is not a bad person.
Jacks also has a plan for social security and it involves genocide against a certain group of people living in Florida and Arizona.
I will solve social security. How I will do that is I will bomb Florida and Arizona where there's thousands of them.
(Reporter) And God told you to do this?
(Jacks) Yes.
Jacks also has a plan to solve illegal immigration but Fox 6 thankfully didn't give him that platform.
Haley Barbour is responsible for releasing this despicable man into the arms of another person whose ideas seem just as sick as his past actions. There is evil in this world and Haley Barbour has apparently seen fit to unleash it on Alabama.

Shadrach McGill (GOP-Woodville) -- "I'm a Moron"
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:32:43 GMT
jthomas666

OK, so he didn't say that exactly. But he might as well have, for offering this little slice of logic:
First he defends the massive pay raise the state legislature gave itself in 2007, saying that by paying legislators more, they're less susceptible to bribes.
He then turned around and talked about a biblical imperative to keep teacher pay low.
Details after the break, but you'd best keep an airsickness bag handy.

Specifically:
"Teachers need to make the money that they need to make. There needs to be a balance there. If you double what you're paying education, you know what's going to happen? I've heard the comment many times, ‘Well, the quality of education's going to go up.' That's never proven to happen, guys.
"It's a Biblical principle. If you double a teacher's pay scale, you'll attract people who aren't called to teach."
If anyone had suggested doubling teacher's salaries, he might have a point. Out of curiosity, did raising the legislature's salary by 50% improve the quality of our government?
"To go in and raise someone's child for eight hours a day, or many people's children for eight hours a day, requires a calling. It better be a calling in your life. I know I wouldn't want to do it, OK?"
"And these teachers that are called to teach, regardless of the pay scale, they would teach. It's just in them to do. It's the ability that God give 'em. And there are also some teachers, it wouldn't matter how much you would pay them, they would still perform to the same capacity."
I guess there's no such thing as a call to public service anymore, only a rush to feed from the trough.
Let's review the logic here:
God calls people to teach.
Too high a salary attracts people without a calling
Therefore, low salaries will attract only those with a true calling, and will thus improve education.
Where the hell do we find these people?

I was working on my random notes for the new year, but got diverted to
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:44:09 GMT
SaintSatinStain
say this and, as my wont, improvise, go on tangents,
A topic nearly unrelated to the main topic, but having a point in common with it
(WordWeb).
Some folk always tell other folk how to feel. So do I. Though I believe that I tell them how to feel better, not worse.
I am a Jew. I am a black, or African American if you've been high jacked to use that imprecise one. I have blood relatives who died in both much aforementioned really bad events. Before you believe that I raise these above yourn. My religion says,
to kill one human is to kill all humans
and I try to live up to it. It's trying sometimes, such as now.
The so called aristocracy, folk with good breeding who, some, bred Africans, I indict for more crimes than the 'semi illiterates. Though I don't see that illiterates can't act morally. No necessary relationship between literacy and morality as the behavior in the south proves.
Those semi illiterates may not have fought for the lofty ideal of slavery, but intent doesn't matter, they acted as traitors.
I sometimes wonder if this country would have been better if all who fought for the Confederacy, and their families, had been shot or hung.
I remind my self of my total opposition to capital punishment, except for bicycle thieves.
I do have a more severe indictment for the landed gentry, the aristocracy; these are folk who knew or should have known better. Yet, some read Greek, read about Athenian democracy where women and slaves had few or no rights.
If I commit a homicide and semi illiterate does the state of Alabama execute me? If I am literate and commit a homicide does the state of Alabama execute me?
The semi illiterates were traitors too. I have friends whose ancestors fought for the Confederacy; they accept the fact that their ancestors were wrong. It's same as a friend in New York whose ancestors were Tories. You live with what is, our ancestors were fallible.
I have the fact of some ancestors were slaves, some African ancestors in this country were not, and probably some European ancestors fought for the Confederacy, I hope not.
Ivan, yes, there are other pressing matters, but perhaps you don't understand and feel the power of image, images. If you did you wouldn't consider removing Heart of Dixie a small matter. I don't know, I guessed you're not African American, black, coloured, a spook, jigaboo, jungle bunny, or any of the images that more or less have power. Images can cut and maim, especially the young.
I grew up among blacks and whites, yeah, a mixed neighborhood in a small Alabama town. Poor white folk were told that they were superior to middle class black folk who had more, traveled more, so some clung to that and it manifested itself in ugly ways to bring down those uppity niggers. Some, our immediate neighbors accepted us as friends because their religion said so and rejected those attitudes.
Intent may somehow lessen how I feel about some of those traitors, but they are still traitors. I agree, the leaders, the aristocracy deserve our disapprobation more, but the 'rabble' are culpable too. I have friends in the southern - white - aristocracy, and they disagree with you. Their family histories limn how disastrous and traitorous the secession was to the country.
We, least I, do not just fight for votes, and cosmetic changes in Alabama society; we fight for the brains of Alabamans, some so steeped in superstition and ancestor worship that the mention of science, empirical thinking, and community bewilders or angers.
The birther suits, spurious charges that he's a socialist, Muslim (no insult), or other, against the president come from some Alabamans because he is black. It's a descendant of that traitorous act of secession, these acts, the outward manifestation of Confederacy ideals and ideas.
If images don't have power I'm in the wrong biz, poet.
When someone, especially possible beneficiary says, Good Old Days, I reach for my shotgun.
Good Old Days (and Heart of Dixie) image clothes itself in white sheets and 19th century faux science.
I reach for my shotgun.
Sometimes wonder if a majority of our population, Alabama population, can learn to live free of ancestor worship, desire to impose their religiosity on all others, and opposition to science. Strange since north Alabama has benefited from science.
All Confederates were traitors, even General Lee, who felt bad about secession, didn't like it. I almost like him.
When Virginia declared its secession from the Union in April 1861, Lee chose to follow his home state, despite his personal desire for the Union to stay intact and despite the fact that President Abraham Lincoln had offered Lee command of the Union Army.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Lee)
He should have taken the job from President Lincoln.
So, Ivan, when you tell me image, Heart of Dixie, aint important, I know that you don't respect me, can't respect me. I know because I don't respect folk who refuse to admit that those who supported the confederacy or fought for it were traitors.
May be their descendants are traitors too.
Saying.

Jordan Pittman for DNC Delegate (AL-06)
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:15:38 GMT
JP

I’m Jordan Pittman and I’m running for a chance to represent Alabama’s 6th Congressional District as a delegate at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. I am a Tuscaloosa native and currently live in Birmingham where I’ve resided for over 2 years. I’m 26 years old and have been an active volunteer in Democratic Party politics for several years. I am running for delegate because I am eager to help re-elect President Barack Obama.
If you look at President Obama’s three years in office and his accomplishments, they are impressive. When you take into consideration the rise of the Tea Party, an opposition House of Representatives and top Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell saying his main goal was to defeat the president, Obama’s accomplishments look even more inspiring.
As a progressive, of course there are issues on which I’d like to see more action from the president and other leaders in the Democratic Party. However, it is up to us to push our elected officials and continue electing more progressives so that progressive ideals can be put into policy. If we work hard to re-elect President Obama and work hard to elect a Democratic majority in the House and Senate, there is a lot we can achieve over the next few years.
I am passionate about many issues. I think everyone deserves a chance to reach their full potential. I believe everyone has the right to an education, a clean environment and access to affordable healthcare. I also believe we need more people fighting for the 99%--the millions of Americans in poverty, those struggling from paycheck to paycheck and the middle class just trying to get ahead.
I’m also running so that the LGBT community has a representative from our area. Equality for every citizen of our country is a civil right, and again we must push our leaders until full equality is achieved.
If you’re a resident of Alabama’s 6th Congressional District, I hope you’ll vote for Jordan Pittman for Delegate to the DNC on March 13! I'd also appreciate it if you took a moment to like my Facebook page. Thanks!

http://www.facebook.com/jordan...

Parker Griffith is an idiot. Please vote for him.
Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:21:21 GMT
caterwaul

Parker Griffith is an idiot. Please vote for him.
Here’s the thing: Parker Griffith is a benign idiot, and Mo Brooks is a dangerous idiot. Parker Griffith in Congress is a much less hideous prospect than more Mo. Griffith is a devil we already know and he used to be a Democrat, and many Republicans (including officials of the party) regard him as a liberal.
Want to get rid of Mo Brooks? You can do it in the primary: Cast your vote for Parker Griffith. This is probably the only chance to dispose of Mo, because in the general he would almost surely defeat Mr. Holley. However Mr. Holley would have a fighting chance against Griffith.
In an unprecedented shift many local candidates have switched to the Republican party. The politicians have seen the writing on the wall and they have switched parties. There are no more conservative Democrats in the South. They are all now Republicans. The only hope a citizen has of having an impact in an election is by voting in the Republican primary.

A quick refresher on how the primary works in Alabama. You are required to choose one political party's ballot over the other because you cannot participate in the nomination of both parties' candidates. But anyone can vote in the Republican primary: Democrat, independent, Tea Party, Occupier, anyone. With no contested races on the Democrat primary, there is no reason to vote in that primary. There is, however, a real chance to stop Mo Brooks by using your vote against him in the Republican primary. If Griffith were to win the primary, then you could vote against him in the general election, and give Charlie Holley a chance of winning. If the presidential primary is still contested on March 13 you could also vote for Newt Gingrich, thus giving President Obama an easier contest in November. And by the way, I would like to see the Prez and Newt debate. I believe the Prez would shred the Newt.
Tuesday, March 13 marks your best chance to oust Mo Brooks from Congress. And yes - we all agree - Parker Griffith is an idiot. Please vote for him.

　

Alabama's Anti-Immigrant Law HB 56 Proving More Costly Every Day
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:23:02 GMT
americasvoice

It’s been a little while since we’ve mentioned Alabama’s HB 56, the harshest state immigration law in the land. With the state legislature coming back into session February 7, however, you'll be hearing more about attempts to repeal this terrible law. And boy, are there reasons to push repeal.

We’ve covered the humanitarian aspects of the law extensively. Today we wanted to highlight how HB 56 is hurting Alabama economically.

The Economist last week wrote this amazing post on HB 56’s unintended consequences for foreign businessmen in the state—recall how two foreign auto executives were detained in November for driving without an Alabama state license:

[HB 56] is not, however, designed to introduce visiting executives from Mercedes-Benz, which employs thousands at its factory in the state, to the pleasures of Alabama’s jails. But that is what happened to Detlev Hager, who was caught in November driving in Tuscaloosa with only German ID on him…

Samuel Addy, an economist at the University of Alabama, estimates the law’s total cost—taking into account productivity declines, increased enforcement cost, and declines in aggregate consumer spending and tax revenue since so many workers have left—in the billions…

Foreign companies have flocked to Alabama in recent years; they employ over 54,000 Alabamans. How many more will want to come if their employees risk being treated like Mr Hager, or worse?

An article in the Montgomery Advertiser this weekend underscores how the law might be making foreign businesses think twice about investing in Alabama:

An economic developer for Etowah County expressed concern Thursday that some foreign companies may be removing Alabama from their lists of possible locations for new facilities because of the state's tough new immigration law.

Mike McCain, executive director of the Gadsden-Etowah County Industrial Development Authority, spoke at a meeting of the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee, which was discussing proposed bills for the 2012 legislative session designed to help bring new jobs to Alabama.

Committee member Democratic Rep. Rod Scott of Birmingham asked McCain if he had sensed from any reluctance from foreign businesses because of the immigration law.

McCain said no companies have said they won't come to Alabama because of the law, but he's concerned some foreign businesses "may be crossing us off their list."

Later in the meeting, Birmingham attorney Alex Leath who works on economic development issues, told committee members it has been his experience that other states are using the immigration law against Alabama when recruiting new businesses.

"We did kind of hand them a stick so we shouldn't be surprised they are hitting us with it," Leath said.

More about why anti-immigrant laws such as HB 56 result in the opposite of economic benefits:

If there is such a thing as consensus among economists, it can fairly be said that they have concluded that illegal immigrants are a net plus for the U.S. economy. The stories of native Americans not filling jobs that illegals will do are legion, and indeed we have many "natural experiments" where a factory or farm was emptied of foreign workers by a federal raid and could not be replaced by American citizens.

But the evidence runs much deeper than anecdote. Recent studies, in fact, suggest that immigrants -- including "out of status" workers -- actually increase jobs for native workers as a result of reducing "offshoring" (sending jobs overseas) and making firms more efficient.

Some economic activity is simply forfeited by the loss of illegal workers. Consider the case of Alabama. Like Arizona and a number of municipalities and states passing laws empowering police, schools, and other state agencies to demand proof of legal status, Alabama enacted one of the most far-reaching laws to dissuade illegals from coming to or remaining in the state. This is what Mitt Romney recently called "self-deporting." And, in a sense, it works, because the small fraction of the Alabama workforce -- one half of one percent -- that was comprised of illegal immigrants up and left.

Well, it turns out that the agricultural sector in Alabama is suffering mightily as a result. Reportedly, crops are rotting in the fields and attempts to hire native workers have failed. The tens of thousands who fled not only provide labor that is otherwise hard to find, but they spend their paychecks at the local grocery, pay rent and utilities, and so on -- the "multiplier effect" that creates economic growth. If taxes are withheld from their paychecks, they will never be able to file for refunds (like the majority of taxpayers), meaning that they are subsidizing schools and hospitals and such at a higher rate than many Alabamans.

By the way, undocumented immigrants in Alabama paid about $130 million in state and local taxes in 2010. That’s a few million tax dollars the state won’t be collecting this year.

I am running for Delegate to the Democratic National Convention
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:27:06 GMT
Johnnymack55

My name is Johnny Phillips and I am running to be a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from the 5^th Congressional District. I am a lifelong resident of Lauderdale County. I am a 1973 graduate of Brooks High School in Killen and am employed by International Paper at their mill in Courtland. I also serve as President of United Steelworkers Local 1137 at the mill.
Why I am running to be a delegate is a long story that begins with the Alabama Democratic primary of 1966 …
I was in the 5^th grade at Elgin Elementary School in the spring of 1966. Our little school was the voting place for our community. When the man brought the booths out to the school, a few days before the primary (THE primary … I don't think we even had a Republican primary back then) our teacher/principal took the 5^th and 6^th graders out and showed us the machines. We were shown how they worked, how it would only let you vote for one for each office, etc. Then they let us, one by one, step into the booth, flip that big red lever that closed the curtain, and cast our votes. I was awestruck by the whole process … I will never forget the feeling when that curtain closed, the feeling of flipping that little black lever and seeing the x, MY X, appear beside the names I had chosen (which, by the way, I remember to have been Bob Gilchrist for Governor). This was the primary that Mrs. Wallace won and I also remember Jim Folsom, John Patterson, Richmond Flowers, Charles Woods and others being on the ballot for Governor.
Since that day, I have been very interested in the whole political process. I have watched these conventions ever since then and have always wanted to attend one, but only now feel that I can afford to do it.
I have not missed voting in an election that I was eligible to vote in since I turned 18. I am a lifelong Democrat. My family knows that, when I die, they can put in my obituary, “He never voted for a Republican”. I am a working man, lucky to have a good job and lucky to have attained the middle-class lifestyle that that job has provided - and that the Republicans want to take away.
My wife (of almost 38 years) knows that if I am elected, we will be responsible for all of our expenses and that this convention will most likely be our ‘vacation’ for this year. She still supports me in this effort. The Democratic Party is supposed to be the party of the working people, of the middle class. I am both. I think we need more representation at our convention from everyday people, not just elected officials and professionals. As I said before, I am running to be a delegate to the DEMOCRATIC National Convention, and I am a lifelong DEMOCRAT. I am running to be a delegate from ALABAMA’s FIFTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT, and I am a lifelong resident of Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District. I would sincerely appreciate your vote and support.
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” – Franklin Roosevelt

I am running for Delegate to the Democratic National Convention
Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:24:37 GMT
Michael A Blakely II

I just wanted to stop in and let everyone know that I am running for delegate in the 5^th district for the Democratic National Convention. I know that mooncat and company have been working hard for a long time now to be the progressive voice here in Alabama so I figured I would make the announcement here that I was running.
I decided to do this because I am, and always have been, a Democrat. I was raised to respect other people, love my country, and work hard. I was raised to understand that if you wanted to do something do it right and do it to the best of your ability. I was raised to understand that you do not judge a person by the color of their skin, but instead by the content of their character.

My upbringing instilled these things in my character and my heart told me that it was time to get more involved with our process so that is why I want to go to Charlotte this fall and be one of the six delegates to represent our district. First let me say that I did declare that I am supporting our President and am not going to the convention “undeclared”.
I did this because I feel that if we list all the things that President Obama has achieved, I feel that he deserves another term and our full support. We can debate over the things he has not done, but really I feel like everyone can understand that it is not from a lack of trying that he has not completed every promise he made to us in 2008.
As to the record just let me list a few of the things that I feel warrant my support of President Obama and why it convinced me to run for delegate declaring my support for him:
He enacted the Lilly Ledbetter fair pay act of 2009.
He signed on his first day in office the executive order banning gifts of any amount from lobbyists to executive branch employees.
He put new fuel economy standards in place for cars and trucks.
Saved General Motors and the whole supply chain through the bail out of the auto industry. This saved thousands of American Jobs and the proof is in the pudding - Chevy is now back on top of Toyota.
Appointed not one but 2 women to the supreme court, Sonia Sotomayor & Elena Kagan.
Captured or killed 22 of 30 top Al Qaida targets.
Showed us how the US can “lead from the rear” and be successful in his approach to Libya. Not one drop of American blood was spilled in that action and yet one of the true supporters of terrorists is now dead.
Brought the troops home from Iraq.
Has continuously showed that he is the mature adult in the room by not running around like a peacock every time something he wants to do gets done – i.e. no mission accomplished banners.
Got the affordable care act pushed through against all odds and we know what Joe Biden thinks of that “This is a big ______ deal!”
Last but not least Bin Laden was killed and fed to the fishes on his watch – the GOP likes to point out that “he” didn’t get him, but we all know what they would have said if President Bush got him and we can all just laugh at them for being so childish.
So in conclusion I would like to humbly ask for your vote so that I can go to the Democratic National Convention and proudly support President Obama.
Michael Anthony Blakely II

More boring but important stuff about money
Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:57:16 GMT
El Al Cool Jew

Ok, so by now I was hoping that Crazy Uncle Ronnie would be out of the race, but not only is he still in, his “the Fed is out-of-control” meme seems to be gaining traction. So I am going to have to do something I did not want to do: write a piece on the way the Fed operates.

I’m going to have to get a little mathy, but just one equation. It’s called the Equation of Exchange and was dreamed up by Irving Fisher, who was an economist who lived about 100 years ago. Here it is:

MxV=PxQ

where
M= the money supply,
V= the velocity of money
P= the price level, and
Y= national income.

So let’s unpack.

M is the money supply, which is influenced by a number of factors, including the Fed. The Fed actually has a number of ways of measuring the money supply, called M0, M1, M2, and M3. M0 is the most liquid and includes cash and deposits at the Fed, and M3 is the least liquid and includes M0+M1+M2+large CD’s and other illiquid deposits. The exact definitions are not important; what is important is they all move in tandem so for analytical purposes most economists just use “M” to represent the money supply.

V is the velocity of money, the number of times a dollar is spent in a year. Economists used to believe this number was a constant (about 5), but with the advent of credit cards, debit cards, and other forms of payment, it seems to be changing faster than it can be measured. However, money does have a velocity, even if we don’t know what it is.

P is the general price level, which goes up with inflation and down with deflation. For those of you who are mathematically inclined, it is a row vector of all the prices of all the goods in the economy.

Q is the real, physical output of the economy. Think of it as GDP. Again, for the mathematical, it is really a column vector of all the goods produced in the economy.

So, what does the Equation of Exchange tell us? Merely that the number of dollars spent in a year (MxV) equals the value of the economy’s output in a year (PxQ). Yes, this ignores a number of important things, like savings, exports and imports, but it’s just a model. Economists have earned Nobel prizes elaborating on this model but we’re just gonna keep it simple.

The Equation of Exchange is a very simple and powerful idea because, if you assume away the problems of saving, imports, and exports, it is a good way to see a basic and logically unassailable principle: That is, the money supply affects prices and output. If you increase M by adding money to the system, something on the right side of the equation (PxQ) has to increase. Of course, we hope it’s Q and not P; that is, the objective of increasing the money supply is intended to stimulate real output. But if you do increase M, you do run the risk of increasing P.

Most economists view this problem like this: If the economy has excess capacity (idle factories, high unemployment, etc.), then increasing M will increase Q. This is because people will have more money, will go and spend it, and more will be produced to meet that new demand. This is called expansionary monetary policy.

On the other hand, when the economy has little or no excess capacity, Q cannot go up in a response to an increase in M; it’s already as high as it can go. The result of an increase in M would be an increase in P, or inflation. What is called for then is a contractionary policy, a decrease in M. Of course, if the Fed decreases M, there is always a risk that some of the decrease on the right side of the equation will come from Q, causing a recession.

And there you have it. That is all of monetary theory. No matter what you read on this topic, the Equation of Exchange underlies all the thinking on this issue. Of course, dozens of Ph.D. dissertations are written every year adding some new insight or wrinkle to this analysis, but fundamentally this is it.

This should make it clear that money is important, and why the Fed has to be very careful, fair, temperate, and judicious in its monetary policy. The Paulites assert that it has not been any of these things, and in a previous post, I suggested some reasons why he has a point. That does not mean that we should scrap the Fed, but given how important their actions are, we should reforming them and watching them a lot more carefully.

In the next post, if I can bring myself to do it, I’ll explain how the Fed influences the money supply and how the commercial banking system implements the Fed’s policies. Bring your No-Doz.

Birth of a Liberal
Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:36:53 GMT
Iamaleftie

I remember Reagan's 30-year old trickle down economics theory that has defied the laws of gravity.

I remember when Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, touted the 16-year old "Contract with America" in 1994 as a mandate for Republicans to overhaul the way our Government operates.

I remember which party put politics before our country and interpreted their 1994 newly elected majority in Congress as giving them not only a mandate to reduce the size of Government, but also the authority to shut it down. Thus, they allowed Federal appropriations to expire, causing the shut down of the Government in 1995. And to this day, I loathe the sight and sound of Newt Gingrich. In my eyes, he personifies the worst abuse of authority I have ever witnessed from Government officials. Yep, I was there and I was personally affected. I didn’t know about party ideology at that time, but I do now.

I remember which party passed legislation during the 1990s giving tax breaks to corporations that moved their operations and US jobs off our shores in the interest of promoting “free” trade.

I remember which party was setting national policy while middle class households began supplementing stagnating wages with credit card debt, just to maintain their way of life.

I remember which party slashed veterans' benefits and severely underfunded the Veterans Administration, leaving a skeleton infrastructure to provide medical services for our Veterans.

I remember which party and which nonpartisan Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Alan Greenspan, promoted the free market system as self-regulating and Federal Regulations as unnecessary "interference" with that system from 1994 – 2006.

I remember which party controlled Congress and put Bill Clinton in a vise as they dismantled the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, thus allowing Commercial and Investment Banking services and products to not only blur, but to become "too big to fail". That’s when Bill Clinton buckled under the pressure of the financial interests representing Wall Street. And that’s when he sold his soul to the company store, in the person of Sandy Weill, former CEO of Citigroup. I didn’t know it then, but I know it now.

Yep, I remember which party made the legislative decisions between 1994 and 2006 that brought the financial system of this country to its knees in September 2008.

I remember Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulsen, having realized the Bush administration could not keep the financial system afloat until after the November 2008 election, brought the bailout proposal to Capitol Hill in Sep 2008. As I recall, he presented it to Congress as the ONLY solution to not only avoid the collapse of the US financial system, but also the collapse of the Global financial system. And, as I recall, the situation was so dire that there was no time for Congress to alter the proposal, let alone debate it. So, members of Congress, people just like us who decided to devote their lives to Public Service, basically had the bejesus scared out of them. So, they hastily passed the Total Asset Relief Program (TARP)giving essentially a $700 billion free pass to the financial industry, 6 weeks before the General election. Congress acted in good faith, assuming the financial industry would use those funds to reinvigorate the failing US economy that had been precipitated by their high risk investment activities. They lost the election, both Presidential and Congressional, but the Republicans need not have worried. The American electorate, famous for its short memory, has forgotten in the space of 3 years, which party took legislative actions over a 10-year period that gave the financial industry the lattitude to pursue unregulated investment risks. But I didn’t forget. I remember it well.

I remember which party’s administration was willing to sacrifice Secretary of State General Colin Powell's reputation to sell the second Iraq War to our Congressional representatives, the UN and the World.

I remember which party started the war in Afghanistan, only to put it on hold 2 years later, while it turned our attention, our troops and our tax dollars to support the 2^nd Iraq War, allowing our REAL enemies to regroup on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border and elsewhere, including from within our own citizenry.

I remember which party had our troops, both active and reserves, stretched beyond capacity to occupy lands and fight Wars with no foreseeable end, against unspecified enemies.

I remember which party pursued international policies that resulted in our country losing the respect and admiration of countries, both friend and foe, around the world.

I remember which party took a budget surplus in the year 2000, when Clinton left office and turned it into a trillion dollar budget deficit, fueled by tax cuts that exceeded projected revenues, unfunded DoD expenditures to support not one, but 2 wars, and lest we forget, the unfunded Medicare Part D Prescription Drug program. I didn’t know it then; but I know it now.

I remember which former Vice President, who only a few years ago said that Federal deficits don't matter, speaking out during the past 2 years about the burgeoning budget deficit "created” by the current administration in an attempt to avoid a deep recession for the vast numbers of unemployed who that party portrays as somehow having forgotten about “personal responsibility”. Yep, I remember.

I remember which party dismantled the government agencies that protect our food supply and our environment, by underfunding them, all aimed at keeping Big Government in check.

I remember which party’s representative, Joe Barton, characterized the current administration’s demand for compensation from BP oil as a “shakedown. My jaw dropped in disbelief, as I watched it on C-SPAN. My memory of that event is crystal clear.

I remember when Jimmy Carter restructured the Department of Health, Education & Welfare in 1979, into two separate Departments: Health & Human Services and Education. And I remember Reagan’s vow to abolish it. Carter’s decision made sense to me then and makes even more sense to me now, as the US educational system faces technological advances that are revolutionizing the teaching profession. From my perspective, the challenges are equivalent to the industrial revolution of the 19 century. I also know that both Bush the father and Bush the son declined to pursue abolition of the Department of Education, even though the political party they represented has vowed to abolish it since its inception.

I remember which party passed legislation creating Government-subsidized private health insurance plans, called Medicare “Advantage Plans” as part of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. It was passed with the rationale that such private plans would operate more efficiently than US-managed “Traditional” Medicare. But, lo and behold, by the time the health reform law was passed in March 2010, the US Government was subsidizing Advantage plans at a rate 15% higher than traditional Medicare. What a deal! http://www.ncpssm.org/news/archive/vp_medicare_advantage/.

I remember which party representatives voted AGAINST the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in Jan 2010, that allows pay discrimination suits to be filed by victims within 6 months of discovering pay discrimination practices, instead of within 6 months of when the unknown discriminatory pay practice commenced. Yep, I remember when Parker Griffith, then Representative of the AL 5th US Congressional District voted against it within 1 week of taking the oath of office.

I remember George W. Bush beginning his campaign to privatize Social Security in the summer of 2001, shortly before the terrorist attack on our country. I specifically remember the date because I had already become concerned about the increasing cost of health care in this country, and wrote Congressman Bud Cramer, asking why the President would give higher priority to privatizing Social Security than to addressing Health Care costs, which seemed to me to be spiraling upward. Of course, at that time I was totally oblivious to party ideology.

I remember which party doesn't believe the Federal Government should interfere in any way with business operations, but does believe it should interfere with the individual choice of a woman to abort a pregnancy.  I also remember the days before the legalization of abortion when women of means presumably left the country for medically safe abortions; whereas those without such means turned in desperation to back alley butchers who performed abortions in despicable, unsanitary conditions, often sacrificing the life of the woman who made that choice.

I remember which party wants to force its Christian beliefs on all US citizens and does not accept other religious beliefs as legitimate.

I remember which party says we have the best health care system in the world, and which fought for 14 months to maintain the status quo for those who can afford access to the best health care system in the world.

Yes, those are only some of the things I remember.

Presidents FDR, HST, JFK and LBJ, were all men who guided this country through times of trouble. Every one of them believed in a strong Federal Government. So, I agree with the GOP. It’s time to take our country back… Back to the time when our citizens believed our Federal leaders were working on our behalf, not to destroy our way of life, but to improve upon it.

Bored with Gold, we move on to actual Monetary Policy
Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:08:11 GMT
El Al Cool Jew

OK, so last time we discussed Ron Paul and the gold standard with respect to its impact on the foreign sector. Somehow, the discussion morphed into public works projects in the afterlife (which I suppose is part of the foreign sector), but no matter. Also, Herding Old Cats pointed out, correctly and gently, that claiming that a gold standard would be good for US exports was, how do I say this politely, dubious. Certainly there is no historical evidence for it. During the Depression in the 1930’s, the US was on the gold standard and certainly exports did not do well. I have four comments to make on this:

            1. The whole world was in a Depression, so other countries could not afford to buy US exports                                no matter how cheap they were,
            2. The world’s money system was caught in a “liquidity trap,” meaning interest rates could fall                   no further, and interest rates are a vital mechanism in currency valuations,
            3. The US’s main trading partner, Europe, was also on a metal standard (mostly silver), and
            4. International economics was never really my thing, so leave me alone.

I was going to do a blog on the domestic consequences of a gold standard, but I’m actually bored with gold now. If any of you are similarly bored, you may dispose of your gold by sending it to me.

But now I want to riff a little on Paul’s other bugaboo, the Fed.

Uncle Ronnie* is right about one thing. The Fed Stinks. The only thing is, any other monetary system that would be compatible with a modern postindustrial economy would be worse.

So, why does the Fed Stink? Let me count the ways:

1. It is owned by its member commercial banks. If you want to open a commercial bank and be included in the Federal Reserve system, you must buy stock in the Fed. This is great for banks and lousy for everyone else for SO MANY reasons, which we’ll come to.

2. The Fed is split into 12 regional banks in NY, San Francisco, Atlanta, Richmond, etc . Look at the $1 bills in your wallet. To the left of George is a circle with a letter in it. Surrounding the letter is the name of the Federal Reserve Bank that issued that dollar. Way at the top of the bill are the words “Federal Reserve Note,” just to make sure you get it. The Fed issues all money, even though the Fed is owned by the private banking system. Beginning to get the “stinks” part yet?

3. Even though it is privately owned, the Fed is governed by a politically appointed Board of Governors. This is a seven member board that sets the overall direction of monetary policy, about which more in due course.

4. The most important part of the Fed is the Open Market Committee (FOMC), which makes specific decisions concerning the conduct of monetary policy. This committee is composed of all the Fed governors, the Director of the FRB of NY, and four of the other regional directors on a rotating basis. Fun fact: Herman Cain (yes, THAT Herman Cain) was the director of the Kansas City FRB in the early 1990’s, though he never rotated onto the FOMC. Is the stink getting stinkier yet?

5. So, these are the guys and gals that determine monetary policy, which is probably the most important factor in setting prices and interest rates. It also heavily influences employment and income, at least in the short run.

Next time we’ll get into how they conduct monetary policy, both the ends and the means. At some point, I’ll be forced to defend Fed, in concept if not in execution, but that’s too distasteful for a Monday afternoon.

* My cousin is married to Rand Paul’s cousin, who he calls “Crazy cousin Randy.” This makes Ron Paul my third cousin (or uncle?) a dozen times removed. No, I have never met either of them. Ron or Randy, not my cousin’s husband, who is a normal, nice guy.

Hope for change in the Deep South
Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:32:40 GMT
Iamaleftie

5 January 2012
By~John Shelby Spong -Retired Episcopal Bishop of Delaware

There are times when one’s perceptions are challenged and one’s stereotypical prejudices are shattered. This happened to me in recent days when I fulfilled invitations to speak in three cities that one thinks of as traditional, heartland cities. They were Birmingham, Alabama, Tupelo, Mississippi, and Kansas City, Missouri. I share with my readers these experiences and my own response of being surprised by joy.

I went to Birmingham under the auspices of an organization called SPAFER, which stands for South Points Association for Exploring Religion. The brainchild of a Presbyterian minister named Ken Forbes, this organization was designed to allow people in the Bible Belt of the South to encounter a non-fundamentalist version of Christianity. In some ways, it is obviously a counter-cultural movement. At its beginning the traditional religious voices of the South responded to SPAFER by denouncing this movement and separating themselves from it, portraying it as “heretical,” perhaps, they hinted with great concern, even “communist.” I have been the featured speaker at SPAFER events on two previous occasions beginning in 2002. On one of these earlier events the Episcopal Bishop of Alabama, fearful I suspect of “guilt by association,” took pains to tell the media that I was not in Alabama under the auspices of the Episcopal Church. I was also invited to be a guest on a morning television talk show in which the co-hosts, who were husband and wife, were consistently rude and derogatory in their interview, which prompted me to ask them whether they were always this rude to their invited guests or if I was somehow being singled out for this special honor?
Religious rudeness seems to be thought of as a virtue in conservative or fundamentalistic circles and it always stems from an assumption that truth is something they and they alone possess.

The reality was, however, that crowds of people attended those lectures, making me aware that there is a silent, non-fundamentalist minority of some significance in the Bible Belt of the South, hungry for meaning and integrity in their understanding of Christianity. They cannot find this in their local churches so they sink into passive silence. Perhaps, because of their silence, this audience is simply not in the consciousness of the traditional clergy.

On this year’s trip, the audience was not as large, but it was still substantial. Its slightly diminished size can be accounted for, at least in part, by the fact that we were competing with the football game between number-one ranked LSU and number-two ranked University of Alabama. If not apparent in a larger attendance, there were, nonetheless, other signs signaling that a new breeze was blowing in the South. Many of the people who attended were social and economic leaders in the community. The Southside Baptist Church, a magnificent structure in downtown Birmingham, asked for the privilege of hosting the lectureship. The leadership of SPAFER, which originally was an Alabama only organization, has moved into other Southern cities in what they call “Roadhouse Communities,” that is, groups of ten to twenty people, meeting on a monthly basis, to explore their faith in ways that their churches would not allow them to do. The questions following the lecture where consistently thoughtful and were posed, not to counter some perceived threat to their religion’s security, but to clarify, to expand or to open new approaches. I left Birmingham feeling that a shift in consciousness in the deep South was well underway. One additional sign of that shift was visible in the huge levels of discomfort that these mainstream Alabama citizens now seemed to have with the “Arizona-type” anti-immigration laws recently passed by the legislature of Alabama and signed by the governor. One native Alabaman said to me in a letter that Alabama “seems not to be able to function without a visible victim. First, it was the African-Americans, then it was the homosexuals and now it is the brown-skinned Mexican immigrants.” Yet the over-reaction present in that anti-immigration legislation is now bringing wide spread economic pain to all segments of the society including un-harvested crops in the fields of Alabama farmers, something that those who pushed for the passage of these laws simply did not anticipate. Amendment and/or repeal of these laws is now obviously under discussion.
More...
http://johnshelbyspong.com/2012/01/05/the-monolithic-conservatism-of-the-american-heartland-is-not-so-monolithic/

I figured that I'd say the facts
Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:33:34 GMT
SaintSatinStain
I figured that I'd say the facts and the truth honestly, then many folk would say, hey, he's right, we gotta change.
Nope. There is something wrong with Alabamans.
I understand that the thought and feel processes in the brains of South Alabamans grew stunted, but expected a difference in the brains of North Alabamans.
North Alabama where more folk in science and technology think empirically, deal with fact, read science fiction..
I expected and got disappointment.
I remember when folk said that racism, a child of ignorance, so believed by many, include me, we defeat by education.
PhDs, doctors, lawyers, and indian chiefs live racist; live racists in spite of their education.
I think now, no, you can't educate racists away.
The limestone in the water makes folk stupid and mean, my next hypothesis, just sounds silly I dare write it amazes me.
What explains poor folk who vote for Senator Richard Craig Shelby and Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, two senators who vote for the landed, the rich, and super rich in the senate?
What explains the middle class, especially tech folk, educated folk, and whaaat explains the clergy?
I go back to my hypothesis about the limestone in the water.
I buy a filter soon.

I want to get on a list
Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:17:59 GMT
SaintSatinStain
I want to get on a list, so this I wrote on a petition submitted to a government department. Yeah.
Okay folks in the government, Interior, folk supposed to be smarter than me, please don't do it, think a second time about drilling in the Arctic.
Go to your kitchen, take an ice tray out of the freezer, dump the ice in the sink, then mix some water and oil, pour it in the ice tray and place it back in the freezer. Tomorrow go some place cold - such as walk in freezer - and separate the ice from the oil.

My experiment is less stupid than drilling
the Arctic.
President Obama acts smart, so he appointed smart folk to cabinet posts, including Interior. Please let it not be an act, your smarts. It will more than smart when potable water is scarce, ocean life, especially plankton, becomes extinct, the earth gets dirtier and more toxic, and in 20 or 30 years, almost uninhabitable.
I am less than a year from 70, so will miss the worst of it.
I will probably be dead.
I don't want my daughter and son dead along with me.
I want my granddaughters to live in a clean world, a world free from pollution.
So when you allow drilling in the Arctic and there is a spill that cannot be cleaned, who do we blame?
What do we do to you?
I say, we release the murderers who've only murdered fewer than a dozen people, and put you in the cells instead.
You are more dangerous to human life than serial killers.
You may kill our species.
I will work to un-elect or recall all politicians who commit to the drilling in the Arctic. I will work to impeach the impeachable. I will work to defeat each politician who supports this threat to the world.
I am peaceful. But.
What will the young, who will suffer a toxic planet in a decade or three, do to you who commit this dastardly act if you live that long?
What will they do to the corporations?
They will dismantle corporations.
I pray that they don't dismantle the humanity that people corporations.
They will dismantle capitalism.
I like humane capitalism peopled by really smart folk who are responsible.
Interior folk please allow the interior of your head to reconnoiter truth, the facts.
Refuse to allow drilling in the Arctic.
You may save corporations and capitalism, and as side effect, save
homo sapiens sapiens.
Act like one.

Ron Paul's Gold Problem
Sun, 08 Jan 2012 04:29:55 GMT
El Al Cool Jew

I know it’s a little weird to write a blog about Ron Paul on a lefty site, but bear with me. More than a few lefties are attracted to Paul because of his stances on civil liberties and the wars, so I expect that a few who are sympathetic to Paul’s views do look at this site occasionally.

Problem is, Ron Paul, in addition to his other faults, is a gold bug. He believes that the dollar should be tied to gold in order to prevent inflation. Well, he’s right. A gold standard would prevent inflation. It would also destroy the world economy.

In order to see what’s going on, we need to start at the beginning – that is, with the nature and purpose of money.

Money must serve three purposes. It must serve as

            A medium of exchange;
            A store of wealth; and
            A unit of account.

Lots of things can and have done this. Pacific Islanders have used shells, other societies have used stones, beads, wheat, silver, and, of course, gold. Gold was used as actual money as recently as the late 1800’s in the US. In fact, anything that a society agrees is money is, in fact, money.

So what makes gold better money than green paper bills? It has no intrinsic value, except for certain electronic and outer space applications. It is highly impractical to carry around gold as currency. It would be almost impossible to use in international transactions.   It can’t be kept as a bookkeeping entry. In fact, it fails two of the three standards above for being good, easy to use money. Also, it has no “intrinsic” value. You can’t eat it, you can’t sleep in it, you can’t drink it. It’s as intrinsically worthless as dirt.

Ah, but you say, Paul isn’t talking about using actual gold! He’s talking about using green pieces of paper redeemable in gold! Well immediately, you can see the problem. We’re back to green pieces of paper already! And those green pieces of paper are already redeemable in gold. Anyone on earth can go to the US Mint web site and purchase gold American Eagle coins ($1,862 per ounce), or, if you prefer, you can purchase gold from any of Glenn Beck’s advertisers. So redeemability really isn’t the issue either.

In fact, what Paul advocates, is that the dollar be redeemable in gold at a fixed value. This is very important. The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is about ten billion ounces, worth about $16 trilliion. Considerably less than the world’s GDP, but no matter. The point is that the amount of gold in circulation is for all intents and purposes fixed. Sure, the gold stock is added to through mining, but the growth rate is very slow. Pegging the value of the dollar to gold would prevent the growth of the money supply absent a commensurate increase in the gold stock. This is what a gold standard is all about.

So, good idea or not?

Well, doing this would prevent inflation. No question.

But what is the downside, as they say?

I can think of a lot, but let’s just start with a few.

First, if other countries did not adopt the gold standard, then they would have at least some inflation. Even a 3% inflation rate in, say, Japan, would Japanese prices 35% in 10 years, so that the Corolla that costs 1.3 million Yen ($16,000 US) today would cost 2.15 million Yen ($26,800 US) in 10 years. Since inflation in the US would have been zero during that 10 year period (in other words, no price or wage increases), Corollas would be dramatically more expensive in the US. While exchange rates might ameliorate some of this effect, remember that other countries that did not adopt the gold standard during this period would still be able to afford Corollas, so the Japanese would sell to them instead. More to them, less to us, and anything that is in shorter supply becomes more expensive. No way around this one, folks.

Then there’s the issue of US exports. In a zero inflation environment, US exports would be very cheap on world markets. As a result, manufacturing jobs in the US would be plentiful. Unfortunately, prices of US made goods would rise due to foreign demand, and producers would raise domestic prices since they would have the alternative of selling US produced goods in foreign markets for these higher prices.

Since the domestic money supply would be fixed and inflation would be zero, the higher prices that US residents would have to pay for domestically produced goods would have to result in lower prices somewhere else, most likely in a sector that does not have international exposure (since foreigners would still be able to pay higher prices for US goods). This could only be the service sector, leading to lower prices and wages for service workers like retail workers, cooks, and barbers. Those in industries with many international customers, like banks, agriculture, and aerospace would benefit from the higher foreign demand. The bottom line is that the US would be producing more for export and paying more for, and consuming less domestically.

There’s lots more wrong with a gold standard for dollars, but I’m going to stop there for now. Watch this space for more!

On Holding Down The Conversational Fort, Or, Jobs, Republicans, And Hooey
Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:13:04 GMT
fake consultant
As the next Congressional fight over payroll tax extensions and unemployment benefits and pipelines gets set up in the next few weeks for either its final chapter or to be kicked down the road a bit farther, one or the other, you're going to hear a lot from our Republican friends about how much they value work and workers; most especially, they'll tell you, they value American jobs for American workers.
After all, they'll say, creating American jobs is the most important thing of all.
But if we were to look back over just the last few months, some would tell us, we could quickly find examples of how Republicans promote ideas that don't seem to value work or workers at all, much less American jobs.
Well as it turns out, "some" seem to be right; to illustrate one of those examples we'll look back a month or two or three to a time some Republicans might wish was long, long, ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

A successful comedian usually becomes more megalomaniacal as the success barometer rises. Initial success might be achieved from stand-up but then the comedian envisions a sitcom, then Broadway, albums, extended tours, Europe, and then his or her own production company. These things are all fine. Don't do dinner theater. Don't open stuff, like shopping centers or bowling alleys. Don't do fairs, especially if you follow the pig contest.
--From the book "How To Be A Stand-Up Comic", by Richard Belzer

So...the House Republicans went and promoted and passed out their payroll tax cut plan, and within that plan was a demand that the Junkie XL Pipeline - sorry, that should be Keystone XL Pipeline - get special "expedited" approvals, despite the objections of those who are worried about their water supply, and we have to do this, right now, those same House Republicans tell us, in order to put more or less 6500 folks to work getting the thing built.
And as we mentioned above, this is because the House Republicans care about American jobs and American workers.
So...it may strike you as a bit odd that the exact same House Republicans sent to the Senate in September the "Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act" (HR 2587), which has only one purpose: it tells the National Labor Relations Board (the "NLRB") that if workers at a company decide to form a union, or the company even thinks a union might be coming, and the company, in retaliation, decides to move work from that plant - or, for that matter, decides to move the entire plant - then neither the NLRB nor the United States Courts shall have the authority to do anything about it.
All of this stems from an effort by Boeing to move work from Washington State to South Carolina in retaliation for union activity by the Puget Sound workforce; the NLRB has ruled that Boeing cannot move the work, and the Company and its friends in Congress have joined forces with other anti-Union Members of Congress to move this legislation.
Need a third-party expert opinion to help make sense of the NLRB's involvement and remedies? Consider this comment from University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Ellen Dannin, via Dennis Kucinich:
The NLRB has decades of experience with cases of this sort, and the National Labor Relations Act is clear that employer actions like Boeing's violate the law. If this were a murder case, it would be a case in which the police found a person saying : "I did it," while standing over a fresh corpse with smoking gun in hand.

Decades of experience, did she say? Yes she did - and she was right. In 1964, the Supreme Court ruled that the NLRB had the power to order remedies that include making companies "bring work back", the relevant case being Fibreboard Paper Products Corp. v. Labor Board, 379 U.S. 203.
The 250 law professors who wrote a letter explaining why HR 2587 is such a bad idea point out that it's not just about Boeing: companies will no longer have any reason to even bargain with unionized workers (or those who wish they were) before closing plants and moving work overseas, as they have to do now under the law; again, that's because no one will have the power of enforcement in these cases anymore.
As you might imagine, that's going to accelerate the departure of jobs overseas, and it won't take very long to get to 6500, which makes all that Republican fussin' and fightin' and sanctimoneoussin' about Keystone look a bit hollow, eh?
Let's jump to the side track, as it were, and take a moment to talk about why the question of which Party controls Congress matters: HR 2587 was introduced into the House, and if the Democrats controlled the Chamber it would have died in Committee, and that would have been that...but they don't, and it didn't, so the bill made it to the House floor, where it passed with no Democratic "aye" votes and six Republicans voting "nay".
Then it went to the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Sometimes Frustrating) has a bit more power than a Speaker of the House to kill any bill before his Chamber, if he's so inclined; in this case the bill sits on the Senate Legislative Calendar, and unless he says otherwise, that's where it'll stay. Of course if Mitch McConnell (R-Hates Obama With The Fire Of A Thousand Suns) were Majority Leader, he would have that bill on the Senate Floor in a heartbeat - and it would pass with a Republican majority, unless Democrats were willing to stand firm and filibuster the thing or the President was willing to use the veto pen, neither of which seems particularly certain.
A companion bill, S 1523, was introduced by Lindsey Graham; it was referred to Committee, possibly to never be seen again - which is also thanks to Harry Reid, with an assist from Tom Harkin, who is the relevant Chair.
At this point I was going to move on to the "what have we learned today" part of the deal, but before I do, I want to take a moment to show you just what kind of legislation our GOP friends will bring to the table, given the chance:
S 1720, the "Put All Your Crazy Eggs In One Basket Act" (not the real bill title, but close enough), was introduced by John McCain just before Halloween (it's now on the Legislative Calendar, not doing much), and it's a classic.
This one single bill calls for a Balanced Budget Amendment vote, a semi-flat income tax, repeals "ObamaCare", repeals Dodd-Frank (Wall Street reform), says you basically can't sue for medical malpractice anymore, says that if Congress fails to approve any Federal Agency regulation in 90 days, it's invalid, and then says no Agency can pass any regulation, of any kind, until unemployment hits 7.7%...and there's a lot more besides, including, I kid you not, forbidding the EPA from regulating the discharge of pesticides into water.
So now let's get to "what have we learned?"
How about this:
We are going to hear a lot over the next 60 days about how the GOP loves you, the American worker, but at the exact same time they are looking to...well...put all the crazy eggs in one basket, if they can get away with it, and at the same time they're looking to make it easier and easier to send more jobs to more countries than ever before, even to the point of trying to tell courts and regulators that they can no longer enforce laws Republicans can't get repealed.
As our GOP friends stand before you, these next couple months, professing their undying love, remind them of this conversation today, and HR 2587, and S 1720, McCain's "Crazy Egg Basket" bill, and then ask them if they think the GOP really cares about American jobs, or if they're just getting hustled by slightly-slicker versions of used-car dealership credit managers?
Then you lean in close, look 'em in the eye, smile just a bit, and you say to 'em: "And hey, while you're here...what do I gotta do to get you into a slightly used 1993 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon...today?"
Then you can both have a little laugh - while you take their money and run.

Just moved to Dothan
Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:14:48 GMT
jpmclendon
My family recently moved to Dothan and would like to meet some like minded, progressive people. Anyone know where some may hang out?

No papers please - a Food Ministry Christmas
Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:00:20 GMT
BobNBama
They came from all over North Alabama and southern Tennessee, black, brown, white and all shades in between. They were the volunteers on Thursday, December 22.
They came from all over North Alabama and southern Tennessee, black brown, white and all shades in between. They were the hungry, those who needed clothes or toys for their kids for Christmas.
It started off as a food ministry, but now it also fills other needs as well. English was the main language, but Spanish was often heard as well.
On the food line we were given strict instructions; two cans of green beans, two cans of carrots, two of pears, a bag of frozen sweet potato fries and two pounds of rice for each person. No more. Unless someone asked. Our customers in turn would not only tell us if they needed more, but when they had enough at home. "No rice today, I have enough and I don't want to take it when someone else needs it more".
The toy line was long. Each person got a ticket for two toys. The supply was limited, but no one complained. Shoppers were let in 15 at a time because the space was small and the demand was large. Hundreds were served by the end of the evening.
The toys were donated, as was much of the food. All of the help was by volunteers; an odd mix of individuals, a middle school basketball team, an alumni group from a fraternity and many different church and civic groups.
You heard Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, and God Bless you often. But what you never heard in this ministry the week before Christmas was, "your papers please". This ministry answers to a higher law.

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