The President takes his sequester road show to a shipyard in Virginia.
Dozens of Republicans petition the Supreme Court to overturn DOMA.
Sandy-ravaged Staten Islanders agree to sell their homes to the state.
A Silicon Valley venture capitalist gets into the gun buyback biz.
CPAC has apparently snubbed Chris Christie.
Don't call Sheldon Adelson "foul-mouthed."
Who should pay to defend former Sen. Larry Craig for his notorious bathroom arrest?
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It makes sense, I guess, to not rebuild homes that were destroyed by Sandy that would just get wiped out by the next one.
So NY will ask for federal housing funds to buy these homes. Would these homes have been rebuilt using the Sandy Disaster relief funds? Why couldn't that be used?
How about this - if federal money is spent to rebuild structures (homes, businesses) in coastal areas that are vulnerable to hurricanes, it is done at the owners risk.
How about this - if federal money is spent to rebuild structures (homes, businesses) in coastal areas that are vulnerable to hurricanes, it is done at the owners risk.
We need to stop these types of irresponsible building practices. Coastal and ecologically sensitive areas should be re-zoned to prevent any new building. Re-invest in cities and infrastructure.
I agree that people shouldn't live where there's no water (desert) or major floodplains. However, you CAN build tornado and hurricane-proof homes that are cost-effective. Dome homes or earth-sheltered homes are some of the solutions for extreme climate conditions...they can be really beautiful, and are super-energy efficient (always a good thing.)
And let's also stop building homes in earthquake regions. While homes can be built to standards to withstand a 6 or 7.0 quake, nothing is going to completely save a home or building that is a 9.0. Oh and let's not forget tornado alley! Don't want to rebuild there either. Might have a tornado and nothing is going to keep those homes safe.
While I agree that ecologically sensitive areas should not be built up, we should have though of that 150 years ago.
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I'm reading about Va republicans RAISING TAXES by unfairly taxing hybrid vehicle owners.
http://wydaily.com/2013/02/25/senate-oks-transportation-bill-increased-sales-tax/
The majority republicans in Michigan are talking about doing this too. They're arguing that people who buy hybrids aren't "paying their fair share".
They really do think the public won't notice how horribly stupid they are.
I heard that Oregon is considering charging people by the mile. They would track their mileage with GPS installed on the car. Given advances in GPS technology I wouldn't be surprised to see many states considering this. Cars are more efficient and hybrids can avoid the gas pumps altogether which equals less money for the states.
according to your link, janet, hybrids won't be taxed, only electric and other non-gasoline powered vehicles. and i really don't see how it is unfair to expect everyone who actually uses the roads to contribute to their upkeep.
actually, Nightwriter, in Washington state where we will soon pass a similar law, it is us liberals pushing it. electric cars do the same damage to the roads as any other car, but pay no taxes towards maintenance.
@karen- washington state is also part of that test that oregon is conducting. privacy concerns aside, i drive a LOT of miles, would rather just pay the gas tax than add another computer to my car....
This is what happens when states rely on the gas tax. Drivers buy more fuel-efficient cars, and states have to look at other ways to maintain their roads. In my opinion, Oregon's GPS solution is too intrusive. I don't have the answer, but if we want to continue to drive on roads, then we need to figure out a fair way to pay to maintain them.
Gov. McDonnell's bill ELIMINATES the 17.5 cents/gal at-the-pump gas tax and raises the state sales tax on everybody and says this will raise enough revenue to maintain roads. So if nobody else is paying the gas tax and my sales taxes go up just like everybody else's I think I am paying my fair share. And yes, hybrids are included. (I think the wording was changed in the original article I linked.) According to several other sources, like this post from a contributor to Rachel's blog from yesterday, hybrids are included. It ends with this statement.
"* Update: It's worth emphasizing that the Virginia bill inexplicably includes a new taxon hybrids or any alternative-fuel cars, because GOP policymakers in the state hope to discourage consumers from buying more fuel-efficient vehicles. When I said the transportation package includes some worthwhile provisions, I certainly wasn't referring to this."
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/25/17088457-the-prerequisites-to-bipartisan-compromise?lite
I live in NC and pay a "road tax" every year, because I own a car. I think that this is much more sensible. The tax is levied against the value of my car though and I don't know why that matters.
"The judicial resolution to this dispute (the Craig lawsuit) could have a broad reach."
Much like the senator himself. *tap* *tap* *tap*
Overturning DOMA would be a great thing! Of course we still need Congress to pass VAWA.
Tim Evans, an award winning reporter from the Indianapolis
Star, wrote an extensive article on the Dan Brewington, Freedom of Speech
Issue. http://danbrewington.blogspot.com/2013/02/brewingtons-freedom-of-speech-case.html
Dan is a blogger, currently serving a 5 year sentence in a medium prison facility in Putnamville Correctional Facility. UCLA Professor Eugene Volokh wrote an amicus brief a recruited a most diverse list of supporters: Attorney James Bopp, Hoosier Press Association, Eagle Forum, Professor Sheila Kenney (former executive director of the ACLU of Indiana). In today’s world it is unlikely these people would agree on anything.
This case can alter Freedom of Speech in Indiana.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20130224/NEWS/302240067/
The story also appeared in
USAToday online 2/25/13
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/25/indiana-court-free-speech/1946089/
So nobody in the comments section has picked up on the Sheldon Adelson topic, yet?
I suppose he believes he can have it both ways, considering all the money he has amassed by taking advantage of people with gambling compulsions. I'm not saying it's necessarily unfair advantage, but it's just so sleazy. To my mind, he's the grossest caricature of capitalism run amok.
And now he thinks he shouldn't have been disrespected by a reporter who described him as frequently using uncouth language. Wow. Maybe there are other areas of his life that should be cleaned up, and starting with his word choice might be a good beginning.
Seeing death-threats in your mail? Insulted on a daily basis? There is not an app, but a radical solution for that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri7Lxhusvsc&list=WL608E73C71CE5FAD0
Interesting video made by some Swedish journalists reading out loud hate mail sent by anonymous people. Probably the best way to both show human stupidity and the violence of the hate by those who don't like what you are doing. It is subtitled in French, so try and check if it is possible to re-translate in English. Special-mention to the pro-Breivik hate male, possibly the most disgusting of them all.
With this resignation of the Pope and others you could wonder if God, Jesus, and the light really have forgiven these men for all the atrocities they have done? That answer would probably be NO the way this is looking. There must have been an extra premonition that the Catholic Church has never revealed to anyone, but keep denying that there is one that exists.
I am still plowing along on that investigation about where the drive for "small gubmint" is really reducing the number of gubmint employees. There is unfortunately a lot of dirty data in the BLS spreasheets due to missing numbers for many public school jobs, but the overall statistics are not pretty- showing that most of those lost 300K jobs fell hard on some communities while other districts actually increased jobs.
The ugly truth is that sequestration has been going on since the 2008 meltdown, due to massive losses of local revenue. Over half those 500,000 "Big government" jobs were not shed at the federal level, but at the local level- with over 300,000 teachers lost.
Instructions for wonks:
This BLS data proves where the "small government" hammer has been hitting hardest. These aren't strangers- these are the Teachers we owe so much to. Yet they are painted as monsters- those "big gubmint" workers the GOP paints as shiftless clock punchers looking for a gubmint handout or a free pointless job.
They succeed at this by distorting the reality. And the reality is in those numbers, and the faces behind them. From our personal experience we know that's not who these people are. They are people will lower middle class incomes just trying to scrape by while fighting the good fight for increasing our nation's ability to think clearly. As for crticism? Why didn't we recognize this group would be hit hard? Was it some huge mystery, because it seems to me that this happens every recession we get into. The Obama adminstration was desparately looking for Shovel Ready Jobs to spend stimulus money on. What about those local school districts that had to cut their workforce by 33%?!? Did it take rocket science to predict these jobs cuts? No. It's great we want to expand to pre-K, but as far as wealth disparity goes, let's look at keeping our teachers in jobs and not increasing class sizes.
It seems pretty obvious we need to federalize funding of the schools in order to insulate these districts from these economic shocks. Regarding tax policy to address wealth disparity, note this would also tend to shut down regressive tax policies that local governments rely on.
This is a question not just about fairness, but our national security. As we dumb down, so goes our capacity to innovate, and our leadership in the world. But don't believe me. Take a look at those BLS numbers.
I don't know if anyone is interested in this story- there are huge cuts in some of these BLS areas and I need to see which are real (aren't caused by omitted statistics). The pattern at the states is suggests a pattern. There is tax revolt California in there. It should come as little surprise that the hardest hit states are red at the local level.
STATE 2011_EMP 2008_EMP Diff growth or loss
KS 27090 36110 -9020 -25%
OH 149950 193080 -43130 -22%
DC 59720 74660 -14940 -20%
CA 396450 494140 -97690 -20%
AL 44140 54110 -9970 -18%
OR 44470 53590 -9120 -17%
IN 29360 34220 -4860 -14%
WV 11480 13250 -1770 -13%
IA 45290 5213 -6840 -13%
MT 12520 14330 -1810 -13%
MN 73570 83520 -9950 -12%
ID 13430 15130 -1700 -11%
No one wants this, right? No one profits from dumbing down the population, right??
Right?
....Oh crap.
Let me understand this!!
The Federal ANS State Governments that 'are out of money', are planning to furlough Teachers, Policemen, Firemen, and 1000's more ARE GOING TO USE THE MONEY THEY SAVE TO BUY BEACHFRONT PROPERTY FOR PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR?
This is beyond insanity. Just pure class warfare at its GOP finest!!!!
Shock Doctrine. It's disaster capitalism at its finest.
There have been programs to buy homes in dangerous areas for years. There was one in areas of Texas prone to flooding. Im not sure if it is still in effect but I remember covering a few stories about when I worked at the Orange Leader..Its just common sense especially in certain areas like flood prone Gulf Coast lowlands...A lot of the new ideas we are hearing about have been common practice for years even in conservative states