Today's edition of quick hits:
* For President Obama, avoiding next week's sequestration cuts should be a "no-brainer." I'm reasonably certain congressional Republicans disagree.
* This sounds like yet another overly-generous offer: "President Barack Obama supports $2 in spending cuts for every $1 in revenue for a sequester replacement bill, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Friday."
* Democratic governors are getting increasingly involved in lobbying Congress to fix the sequester before it's too late.
* I have no idea what Senate Republicans think they got out of the additional week: "A week has passed since a Republican filibuster stalled Chuck Hagel's nomination to be defense secretary, and yesterday we received even more evidence that Hagel will win confirmation on Tuesday."
* Have I mentioned lately that austerity is a bad idea? "Credit ratings agency Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Britain's government bond rating one notch from the top AAA to AA1, citing weaknesses in the economy's medium-term outlook."
* Yes, Obamacare deserves a fair amount of credit for this: "The number of double-digit rate increases requested by health insurers has plummeted over the past four years, according to a Friday report from the Obama administration."
* In the abstract, spending cuts are popular. In specific, they're wildly unpopular.
* The Heritage Foundation's Hans von Spakovsky had a "no good, very bad week." I can't say I find that especially disappointing.
* The Democratic super-majority in California's state legislature is no more.
* Rush Limbaugh is increasingly invested in the notion that he's "embarrassed and ashamed of this country." Don't liberals get in trouble if they say anything remotely similar to this?
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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The data is already in, folks. Austerity makes things worse.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/06/american-austerity-why-the-states-cutting-spending-are-doing-worse/258825/
Assuming this is true, it's the result of most states requiring a balanced budget. Worse, this survey promotes irresponsibility. If the 'state' is promoting going into debt, what does that tell individuals?
A simplistic post by an ignorant right wing troll. How wonderful.
"Hans von Spakovsky"
Ok now tell me that is not a Super Villain name...I mean seriously It should be
"Hans von Spakovsky Agent of Hydra"
I think you mean Spectra, don't you? That was James Bond's nemesis.
The villainous organization in the James Bond novels was SPECTRE. HYDRA is the opponent of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Marvel comics. And Cobra is the enemy organization in G.I. Joe.
/geek
I guess he could not be part of the Gargoyle gang because Johnny Socko is a little too Japanese.. Shame.
If you have followed his career you would realize that Hans is more comic book villian than James Bond. I would vote for HYDRA. Right now he finds himself on the outs with conservatives who have discovered that his sneering brand of voter suppression hurt them more than helped them in the last election. If I close my eyes I can imagine Hans prancing around in a black cape and high hat checking his voter cages and plotting his next brilliant plan to make voting hard for old black people.
...avoiding next week's sequestration cuts should be a "no-brainer."
If this was so, it would be solved, because there is plenty of "no brains" in Congress!
Obama has offered, "I am willing to cut more spending that we don't need, get rid of programs that aren't working".
You would think everyone would take him up on that. Wait- isn't this year 5 of his administration? He is stating that he has been allowing this? We need to take every program that isn't working and slash it immediately. And get rid of the spending we don't need.
Has anyone suggested to Limbaugh that maybe he should go somewhere else, say Costa Rica, the way he keeps promising, or the Dominican Republic where he apparently already spends a lot of time?
Could the CIA rendition him?
He left long ago for fantasy land.
Visions of Hippos dancing in Tutus across a floor of sugar plums. Where more trees exist now than before we started cutting them down and women wear stormtrooper uniforms as they pop the pill and melt guns into plows!
i would be happy to help rush move to another country. really. he could take the 20 million a year he makes talking up the gop to the cave dwellers. really, i would drive rush to any airport as long as he said he would leave for good. wait a minute, rush does lie a lot so i would need his exit agreement in writing!
No, no, no. no, no. Rush is one of the best friends the Dems have. As long as he's perceived as one of the Republican Party's leaders, his overheated rhetoric does plenty to drive moderates and independents into our camp at election time.
The Limbaughs, Becks, and Michael Savages--and the many right-wing wacko Rush wannabees--are doing their part daily to make the Republicans irrelevant.
I am a bit ashamed of my country for allowing this ranting fool to stay on the air. I have always been a strong supporter of the 1st Amendment, which means the only way to get rid of him is for his listeners to stop listening to him. But what makes me really ashamed of many of my fellow Americans is that they listen to and believe the lies this fool shouts every day.
Obama's getting soft again... are we moving toward another 'balanced' solution to yet another manufactured financial crisis that ends with all cuts and no revenues like in 2011?
If so then you can bet that when people see the result the republicans will blame Obama.
What about the $600 Billion in new revenue that they got just a couple months ago?
did you forget about the $1 trillion in cuts they had agreed before that? algebra is a wonderful thing. you should try it sometimes
Excuse me, where is that Trillion in cuts you've mentioned? I certainly haven't heard any protests similar to the ones currently. Could they be fake cuts? Hmmmm? And yes, that would mean Obama lied to you.
blanks, you are the dumbest @sshole alive. You don't know anything besides what fox news feeds you.
Here are the FACTS:
Since the start of fiscal year 2011, Congress and the president have cut about $1.5 trillion in programmatic spending, raised about $630 billion in new revenue, and generated about $300 billion in interest savings, for a combined total of more than $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/budget/news/2013/01/08/49137/the-deficit-reduction-we-have-achieved-so-far/
Which means you are a lying troll.
Zhana- yes, in fact, in algebra there is a conceptual imaginary number.
I'd be OK with Obama's offer ($2 in cuts, for each $1 in revenue), on the condition that Republicans name, out loud, all the spending cuts they want to see (where and how much), and and that the President vets those through the public. Hey, I'd even allow them to name the revenue sources and vet those, too, in public. Because, knowing my Republicans, they'd only come up with the kind of revenue sources that hurt pretty much everyone, except the 1-2% at the top.
Yeah....that $600 Billion in additional revenue passed 2 months ago hit the middle class hard....no,wait.
Yeah, skip, you're so right. And those cuts -- more than a trillion dollars worth of them which were passed even before that -- were ever such a comfort to them, too. Especially on top of all the state and local ones.
You're right, Skip. That means we now need to start going after the 1-2%. Let's start with that 15% tax rate on hedge fund managers. It makes no sense from a tax law theory or accounting practice standpoint.
And, after that, we can close a whole bunch of loopholes that benefit corporations shifting money from country to country to do nothing but avoid taxes.
If Democrats had the discipline to go after just the carried interest rate, nobody would get upset about it. But no, class warfare inevitably follows.
Yeah! Class warfare!!! All the republicans want to do is this:
Their replacement plan was called the Spending Reduction Act of 2012 and of course it eliminated the cuts to Defense spending. They replaced them with the following:
But hey, it's the democrats that want to engage in class warfare!
On the SCOTUS hearing the Voting Rights Act case...
If it is struck down, do we as a country have the ability to pass a comprehensive Voting Rights Amendment? I don't think so...
Just the last decade or so: They passed an education bill that made it worse and did not cure the education epidemic in this country. They fought a war and are still fighting a war on terror that hasn't made us safer. They passed healthcare reform that doesn't address the problems with the healthcare industry or give appropriate power to the buyer. They passed a wall street reform bill that hasn't fixed what crashed the economy or restored a fair market place. They fight a drug war that hurts everyone and wastes money... Nothing can be fixed, nothing, while incumbent economic interests reign over this government and reign over both political parties. So what hope does voting have? None?
U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 4, para. 1:
"The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribe in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators."
The last phrase has been replaced by the Amendment XVII which provides for the popular election of Senators. As to the rest, the Congress can, any time it wishes, pass legislation stating the day elections are to be held, the hours polling stations are to remain open, the ballot method(s) to be used and what ID, if any, is required.
Of course, this legislation would only apply to Federal elections, but as most states use Federal election standards as a guide for local and state elections, any such Federal rules/regulations would most likely spill over to local/state elections.
I can't guarantee that such legislation would pass if Democrats controlled the House, Senate and Presidency, but I d*mn well know it won't as long as Republicans control any part of the Federal government (including the SC)!
And Republican governors are getting involved in lobbying the president. My governor ("Transvaginal Bob" McDonnell) published a letter calling on the president to take action to avert "his" sequester. In other words, doing nothing useful and playing politics with cuts that are going to hit people in his state especially hard.
Asshat.
Related to another of today's items, he also appointed Hans Van Spakovsky to the electoral board for my (heavily Democratic) county. Never miss a chance to screw over Democratic voters! He's only the governor of the people who voted for him, right?
Lying is symptomatic of the disease Moronosity. The pathogen spreads quickly ,especially among those with a herd mentality. Though all are targets of this pathogen it seems to die quickly in hosts who resort to sound reasoning.Some have traced the disease and concluded that it arrived with Rupert Murdoch, perhaps an unwilling carrier infected during his visits to China.Though it can be cured there are those who are overcome by the pleasure it provides in providing them with delusions of grandeur, lack of civility,feeling of righteousness and total oblivion.
Bar keep another....
well their is one good thing about the koch boys and murdock. at their ages they probably won't be with us that long. good riddance!
Hans von Spakovsky's parents were a White Russian and a German, who undoubtedly came into the U.S. via the CIA's Operation Paperclip. They were relocated to Huntsville, Alabama in the middle of the newly created community of Nazi rocket scientists. It should not be surprising that Hans grew up to be a Republican political operative whose purpose in life seems to deny the right to vote to minorities and liberals.
It would be nice to hear just one democrat remind our republican friends of a recent war in iraq that wasnt paid for adding to our deficit. Instead of forcing their hand and coming up with the funds to pay for their stupid war they want more of our social security and medicare and they want to call for "fairness". Let their rich republican supporters pay for their own dam war all under the mantra of smaller government, bull@!$%#
The anticipation is palpable.
Republicans, you've just created your umpteenth manufactured crisis which will probably tear the legs off the recovery. What are your plans now?
"We're going to DisneyWorld! And if congressional perks are worth their salt, we'll be taking a grand tour of the National Parks which will be closed to the general public due to automatic cuts, providing for an unencumbered experience. Waaaaaahhhoooooooo!"
Limbaugh's repeated complaints and threats to leave the country aren't to be taken lightly. On a day when Ann Coulter and Rick Perry were heckled and hissed at in public, when Byzantine actions on women's issues were taken in more than one state, and Marco Rubio impersonates Joe McCarthy, it's obvious (at least to me) that the GOP canker is leaking all over the place. Hopefully what's left will scab over and heal. We might have a truly fair fight in that scenario.
Here we go. The cave exploration expedition Republicans put on during every negotiation never fails to get ol' President Mammoth Cave steering the U.S.S. Plutocracy sharper starboard. All they have to do is wait it out and President Cave never fails them.
everyone needs to remember that bills come and bills go. some stay around for a while and some get changed over and over. so what you see signed into law today could be amended in; lets say a new congress! things ebb and flow in fantasy land, because we never know what bad thing might come out of the walls next. watch sara palin run for govenor of arizona in 2 years!
I can't help but feel that the entire "ideology" of the gop is just sheer laziness. Boehner can just keep repeating the same line over and over and people will just accept it as new. There's an echo of (fingers in the ears, prepubescent voice) "I can't hear you!"... It's disgusting.
What Republicans are looking for in these sequester cuts and their insistance on AUSTERITY CUTS, is to totaly collapse the fragile U.S. Economy. There by making it almost impossible for the American people to vote for ANY democratic candidate who runs for president in 2016...
They know and so those Obama and Democrats in Congress, that if these cuts take place and the AUSTERITY measures the Republicans are proposing take place. The U.S. Economy will TANK !.. and along with it ANY hopes of keeping the Whitehouse in Democratic hands on 2016!...
It's that simple... Elections, Elections , Elections thats all it is...
These are the same republicans who took us into war in IRAQ and Afghanistan on a chinese credit card ! Which is costing this Nation about $2.000.000.000.00. Trillion dollars and counting, The same republicans who gave George Bush the senior prescription drug program that was not paid for.
And NOW they want to portray themselves as fiscally responsible budget hawks !...
And since we have a Democratic president who just happens to agree with them !..
Never mind the 8% UNEMPLOYMENT RATE caused by the "TOO BIG TO JAIL" Banks which TANKED our economy in 2008 and have given us the GREAT RECESSION !..
Never mind that NOT ONE of those crooked C.E.O.'S has yet to face any jail time !..
ALL thanks to that Prick in the D.O.J. ERIC HOLDER !...
Republicans and SOME Democrats... seem hell bent on tanking this WEAK economic recovery by any means neccesary !..
I say it's time to bring out the torches and set Washington on fire !..
I am beginning to wonder whether the GOP members of Congress are not planning to let the sequester happen so that the right-wingers in their states/districts will see how bankrupt their austerity ideology is and then the GOP can vote for the President's plan and say they had no choice and it was all the President's fault.
The GOP has so much invested in austerity that the only way they can vote against it is for their constituents to demand that they do so. When the defense workers get laid off, the meat inspectors get laid off and meat disappears from the market and meat packers get laid off, when airports have delays, in other words when the American people begin to see the real effect of austerity then the GOP will come around.
The republicans in Congress will come around, when a wave election comes in on 2014 and sweeps them out of office, there by making them the totaly Irrelevant party !. The G.O.P will become the new T.I.P.
The Totaly Irrelevant Party !...
that is what they are poised to become after 2014 !..
PeePartyPatriot: I do not think our economy can wait until 2014. We, and by that I mean the people and the business community, must make it so uncomfortable for the obstructionists that they take action before these cuts devastate our country.
OT
Where is the thread about Gov. Rick Snyder's takeover of Democracy in Michigan?
I really have to wonder about the sensitivity of Rs suddenly. It's only visible when the TPubs get called out for being the do-nothing protect the wealthy that they are.
There's not a speck of sensitivity when it looks like the elderly would lose Meals on Wheels and heating bill relief. Not to mention my sister in laws job is at Meals on Wheels.
I had occasion on my job to visit the home of an elderly shut in veteran in a wheel chair, whose only food source and/or contact seemed to be with Meals on Wheels.
There wire piles of milk cartons among the trash he could not haul out. His story was dire and he seemed to have nobody else to assist him.
Eventually the man died, but later rather than sooner because he had healthy food delivered from Meals on Wheels. I shortened the story.
How many of these people? I could ask my sister in law. She prepares the food and loads the trucks. She does not need to lose this job, even though it doesn't pay much.
What a lousy thing to do, instead of sitting down and actually doing a long term deal. And we all have to wait, watch anxiously and listen the them whining about how they are not getting what they want, yawning and nibbling at the edges.