US POLITICS SPRING 2011: Let's just call off this country.

so GE is stealing from us, there are crazy prosecutors in indiana, elizabeth warren should have been in 'the fighter' instead of mark wahlberg

lets do this

geraldine ferraro RIP!

Wow...Sorry that my last memory of her will be the dust-up during the Obama campaign. With some distance, I can see that the pile-on was probably unfair; there was enough wiggle room in what she said that one could have given her the benefit of the doubt.

The rich get richer, poor swindlers go to jail.

"Apparently, though, it’s only a high priority if the target is a borrower. Mr. Mozilo’s company made billions in profit, some of it on liar loans that he acknowledged at the time were likely to be fraudulent and which did untold damage to the economy."

but mozilo gets off, and this engle dude does time. makes me sick

yeah, geraldine ferraro. i must admit my opinion of her was soured a lot by the primaries, but damn

parody?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christina-patterson/why-in-spite-of-everythin_b_840966.html

single-payer health care in vermont?

http://www.wptz.com/r/27317316/detail.html

It passed 92-49

:-0

that's alot of state reps

did G Ferraro's mobbed-up husband survive her?

John Anthony Zaccaro (born April 5, 1933) is a real estate developer and owner of P. Zaccaro & Company, which was founded by his father Philip Zaccaro in 1935. The company acts as a landlord for properties in the Little Italy, Chinatown, and East Side areas of Manhattan and in Queens. He is the widower of the late Geraldine Ferraro, former U.S. House of Representatives member from New York and the 1984 Democratic Party Vice Presidential nominee.

Cokey the Shill just gave the usual substance-free 'remembrance' of this figure of purely symbolic significance.

fwiw, Matt Taibbi to a reader:

.

As for Obama, I just disagree that he did all he could, in health care or elsewhere. I just don't fall for the storyline that deep down inside he wants to do all these wonderful progressive things, but is halted by political circumstance. The evidence doesn't support the idea that he actually wants these things, deep down. The evidence does, however, support the idea that he has very effectively marketed himself to progressives as someone who secretly sympathizes with progressives. I have conflicting feelings about Obama, and think there is some good in him still, but I've given up the idea that he could be a champion for any kind of real reform of anything.

btw, GE-pays-no-taxes story seems forgotten already. Surprise!

they not only paid no taxes, they got like a $3 billion refund! but that's okay. small business owners. austerity. socialism

Don't worry, the GE story will enrage the tea partiers, I'm sure bachmann will make this a central campaign issue in the Apocalypse '12 election

newt's shamelessness is like a superpower

http://vodpod.com/watch/5853068-gingrich-my-infidelities-helped-me-understand-how-to-impeach-clinton

unbelievable

gonna miss bob herbert's 'times' column

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/opinion/26herbert.html?_r=2&hp

When the most powerful country ever to inhabit the earth finds it so easy to plunge into the horror of warfare but almost impossible to find adequate work for its people or to properly educate its young, it has lost its way entirely.

x-post

I need to find the link but someone asked Newt questions about corporations getting away with paying no taxes, and he simply responded that the companies are still helping America by creating jobs, and that the companies were not breaking the law and were using legally allowed exemptions.

GE of course is shipping many jobs overseas.

i didn't realize herbert was moving on! and with such a humble, one paragraph goodbye:

This is my last column for The New York Times after an exhilarating, nearly 18-year run. I’m off to write a book and expand my efforts on behalf of working people, the poor and others who are struggling in our society. My thanks to all the readers who have been so kind to me over the years. I can be reached going forward at bobherber✧✧✧@gm✧✧✧.c✧✧.

john yoo, obama fan

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704050204576218540505216146.html

yeah gonna miss herbert, he was a good one

Since Obama was inaugurated, the Dow Jones has increased more than 50% -- from 8,000 to more than 12,000; the wealthiest recieved a massive tax cut; the top marginal tax rate was three times less than during the Eisenhower years and substantially lower than during the Reagan years; income and wealth inequality are so vast and rising that it is easily at Third World levels; meanwhile, "the share of U.S. taxes paid by corporations has fallen from 30 percent of federal revenue in the 1950s to 6.6 percent in 2009." During this same time period, the unemployment rate has increased from 7.7% to 8.9%; millions of Americans have had their homes foreclosed; and the number of Americans living below the poverty line increased by many millions, the largest number since the statistic has been recorded. Can you smell Obama's radical egalitarianism and Marxist anti-business hatred yet?

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/03/27/koch?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+salon%2Fgreenwald+%28Glenn+Greenwald%29

adam, don't you know that if Obama is doing things that seem to run counter to Marxism and radical egalitarianism, that just means we have to redouble our preparation for this country's inevitable descent into Obama-Marxism and radical egalitarianism? he's trying to fool everyone by not acting like a Marxist, so that no one will be prepared when he finally unleashes hell on everyone!!!

hold on, i'm sure there's some relevant revelations line that talks about the antichrist fooling everyone until the horrific reveal

Yeah, Obama is playing the long game. It's only when the republicans take both houses of congress and the white house, and then alter all laws to adhere to turn of the (20th) century moral and free market standards, when - bam! He'll go all red scare on their asses.

And by red scare, I mean Satan.

Satan is a communist, btw. That is why he is red.

Gibbs might be facebooking around soon

Facebook is in talks to hire Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s former White House press secretary, for a senior role in helping to manage the company’s communications, people briefed on the negotiations said.

...Mr. Gibbs, who left the White House in February after two years on the job, had been planning to help establish President Obama’s re-election campaign before taking a private sector job, these people said.

Facebook, however, is pressing Mr. Gibbs to consider the job more quickly, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the conversations were supposed to remain confidential.

A job for Mr. Gibbs at Facebook could be worth millions of dollars. While details of his potential compensation package have yet to be discussed, people briefed on the talks said that he would receive a cash salary as well as shares ahead of the initial offering. Facebook is being valued by some investors at more than $60 billion and could be the largest offering in history.

Nope, instead of the GE story getting more legs, tv gave us a corporate boo-hoo tale last night. I watched 60 Minutes on CBS with their story on how Cisco Corporation and others are moving operations overseas, especially to Ireland, because the listed corporate tax rate of 35% in the US is just too high while the rate in Ireland is much better. Cry, cry, cry. The Cisco CEO insisted he was just doing what was best for the shareholders and that if the US would only lower the official rate, more US corporations would stay here. The interviewer at one point quietly mentioned that in the past the corporate tax rate was lowered but it did not increase job growth here, but she never said that to the smarmy Cisco CEO. There was also no discussion of international corporate tax races to the bottom or changes to let shareholders have more influence or income inequality.

Yep, I saw that too. Unbelievable. And then, the segment closed with a solemn "legislation is currently being debated in congress that would help to address the tax burden for US corporations. The Obama administration opposes the bill."

TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK

started a new thread on related issues: The new global elite: classic or dud

On Tuesday the US Supreme Court will be hearing arguments on whether Walmart will be subject to the largest class action in history-- brought on behalf of women employees. I expect Walmart will get a 5 to 4 victory.

I have been shot down here in years past for suggesting that 60 Minutes practices no journalism worthy of the name, but that sounds like par for the course for them last night.

Surprise, surprise-Dems giving in on congressional budget deal before negotiating even starts. Below is from an Ezra Klein Washington Post column linking to others. Washington Monthly also mentions it

Democrats are planning to offer $20 billion in additional cuts, report Janet Hook and Damian Paletta: “The White House and Democratic lawmakers, with less than two weeks left to avoid a government shutdown, are assembling a proposal for roughly $20 billion in additional spending cuts that could soon be offered to Republicans, according to people close to the budget talks. That would come on top of $10 billion in cuts that Congress has already enacted and would represent a deeper reduction than the Obama administration and Senate Democrats had offered previously in negotiations. But it isn’t clear that would be enough to satisfy Republicans, who initially sought $61 billion in spending cuts and face pressure from tea-party activists not to compromise.”

The final compromise is likely to end up matching the the House leadership’s opening bid, write Michael Ettlinger and Michael Linden: “Unfortunately the administration backed away from its budget even before the negotiations started, and the Tea Party is calling the shots in the House. So instead of negotiation between the president’s original level and House leadership’s original level, we’re stuck negotiating between the Tea Party’s $100 billion, and the new status quo’s $50 billion. That means the likely compromise is right where the House Republican leadership always wanted it: around $74 billion. That’s not much of a compromise if we end up with what the House Republican leadership wanted in the first place.

It's not really "giving in" when you don't believe in anything.

"When the most powerful country ever to inhabit the earth finds it so easy to plunge into the horror of warfare but almost impossible to find adequate work for its people or to properly educate its young, it has lost its way entirely."

this is a self-evidently stupid sentence

Unfortunately the administration backed away from its budget even before the negotiations started, and the Tea Party is calling the shots in the House. So instead of negotiation between the president’s original level and House leadership’s original level, we’re stuck negotiating between the Tea Party’s $100 billion, and the new status quo’s $50 billion.

With a very limited understanding of the history of federal budget negotiations, this seems unprecedented. The party with the strongest influence on the final budget has shifted back and forth over time between congress and the president. But for the past several decades, the administration's proposal has at least served as a starting point for negotiations.

This is baffling, weak shit from democrats. Especially when the recent experience of governors who impose harsh austerity measures suggests that "the public" actually doesn't really support sharp cuts, once they see what the impacts are.

Is anyone going to try to defend their "strategy" again?

nah. this is all par for the course.

SHHH. Obama is playing A Long Game! Long game in session, everyone!

if you mean he's playing the long game to get re-elected, that is true!

Seriously, WTF. On the EPA front, I've spent the last few months thinking that the worst case scenario was a 30% cut (the GOP proposal). Now it turns out that, because democrats are apparently spineless, 30% is pretty much a starting point? Assuming that the tea party's "idea" is to pretty much eliminate the EPA?

(xposts) I never watch 60 Minutes, but John Chambers fuck you:

Cisco Systems Inc CEO John Chambers received about $18.9 million in compensation for the latest fiscal year, a 33 percent increase from last year's payout due to more generous bonus and stock awards, according to an Associated Press calculation of figures filed with regulators.

By the end of the company's fiscal year that ended July 30, Cisco's sales had recovered from a deep swoon caused by the recession. That entitled Chambers to $4.6 million under the company's "incentive plan."

In the previous fiscal year, Chambers wasn't eligible for such a payout because of the sales downturn, but the board awarded him a "discretionary bonus" of $2 million anyway.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/hardware/Cisco-CEOs-salary-doubles-in-2010/articleshow/6547556.cms

It's really much worse than it looks.

Bam's reelection strategy is same as Blowjob Billy's: To govern like a Republican who doesn't talk like a crazy person.

i really doubt this president has the balls to go through with a shutdown

or maybe put another way, clinton loved the gamble and obama hates gambling, more or less

I kinda go with the psychological analysis take on Obama that I read which suggested that based on his upbringing he has this desire to try to always go with what he deems to be compromise choices in an effort to fit in. Sadly that means he will go give in to the Republicans and the White House (with its economic team now nearly all 'business'-oriented) will quietly pressure Harry Reid to give in...

Republicans say any comprehensive deal to rein in the deficit must include changes to Social Security.

But Mr. Reid, like many fellow Democrats, argues that Social Security shouldn't be part of such a deal because it faces no immediate financial problems and therefore isn't part of the deficit problem.

and the White House (with its economic team now nearly all 'business'-oriented)

now?? NOW?????

Christina Romer and Paul Volker used to speak up a bit for the rest of us, although they were ignored for the most part, and are no longer part of the Obama administration. Plus he had a different economic team durig his campaign.

haven't read the GE story yet but this looks like a good gloss on it

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/scocca/archive/2011/03/28/ronald-reagan-cared-more-about-protecting-americans-from-corporate-greed-than-barack-obama-does.aspx

From The Economist:

“…News Corporation and its subsidiaries paid only A$325m ($238m) in corporate taxes worldwide. In the same period, its consolidated pre-tax profits were A$5.4 billion. So News Corporation has paid an effective tax rate of only around 6%. By comparison, Disney, one of the world’s other media empires, paid 31%.

...

“By taking advantage of a provision in the law that allows expanding companies like Mr. Murdoch’s to defer taxes to future years, the News Corporation paid no federal taxes in two of the last four years, and in the other two it paid only a fraction of what it otherwise would have owed. During that time, Securities and Exchange Commission records show, the News Corporation’s domestic pretax profits topped $9.4 billion.”

http://www.alternet.org/story/150327/how_you_end_up_bankrolling_fox_news:_news_corp._and_rupert_murdoch_weasel_out_of_paying_taxes?akid=6703.275643.An3hXS&rd=1&t=8

FUCK MICKEY MOUSE

?

http://www.scotusblog.com/?p=116863

this case is nearly beyond me. the argument that a campaign finance law that provides extra funding for publically financed campaigns that are faced with the budgets of campaigns run by self-financed millionaires is a free speech issue makes no sense

until you realize that Citizens United case really cemented the equivalence of Free Speech and Money so firmly into legal thought, that the idea of someone else being provided equivalent funds can be seen as a disincentive to you continuing to speak yourself (i.e. spend more money on your own campaign)... but the truth, that this has nothing to do with actual Free Speech, or ideas, or message anymore -- this is just Money -- this is so utterly warped I got lightheaded even trying to follow these arguments

the Plutocracy is being signed into common-law one decision at a time

so who's watching this speech in a few minutes?

people playing the "let me be clear" drinking game?

I don't watch speeches

yikes.

LOL at the notion of anyone threatening a dictator of 40 years and change that time is not on his side.

almost got into an argument with my dad about obama and this war tonight :(

a lot of what i end up thinking about in times like this is that obama, who i believe is one of the most decent and intelligent people to have ever ascended to this position of global hegemonic CEO, is much more powerless than we think he is given the "overton window" he has to work with, both globally and domestically. this speech was disappointing in incredibly familiar ways. he said the kinds of things that a president in 2011 would HAVE to say. (i like to think that someone of obama's intelligence is acutely aware of how straitjacketed he is by his role, but i don't know.)

and further, it makes me think that the task of the left is to work hard at making more things possible for an intelligent president, to loosen the straitjacket or at least make it fit differently. and to prise that window open will take - i believe - something fairly radical. not one radical act, but sustained radical thinking. i don't think there's any other way (sorry ezra klein).

but the exciting thing is, the world system is so caddy wampus, so unstable and out of kilter, so far from equilibrium, that the smallest pushes can create big chain reactions. look at egypt. look at wisconsin. so i see it as an encouragement to go ahead and push. go ahead and try. this is the time when small factions can have huge effects.

Tracer, I love to read your thoughts on politics. You should come back to America and organize us all/lead us to victory.

it makes me think that the task of the left is to work hard at making more things possible for an intelligent president

How?

As for Obama, I understand not wanting to project Bush style arrogance but in trying to avoid that he sometimes ties himself in knots or just takes Bush-like actions but in a passive manner that may look different but has the same sad result.

How?

Wisconsin is a good example.

it is, but it's also reactive.

not gonna happen until things get REALLY awful. and maybe not even then.

not with THAT attitude, it won't

by the way thanks for saying that, Virginia!

morbius WHAT'S not gonna happen? not following you. what i'm saying is that i believe we live in a time when little things can make a big difference. of course that's always the case but i think you need less luck in 2011 than you usually do.

Why worry about Obama and Dems letting us down when we can laugh at Newt Gingrich (Washington Monthly linked to this):

"I have two grandchildren: Maggie is 11; Robert is 9," Gingrich said at Cornerstone Church here. "I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American."

Secular atheist AND dominated by radical Islamists! I am sure Professor Newt can explain how it will be both

TH:

"work(ing) hard at making more things possible for an intelligent president, to loosen the straitjacket or at least make it fit differently"

See, you still believe an intelligent non-bastard can be elected president. Under the current system, I don't. And as long as we have NO possibility of campaign finance reform (under that Supeme Court corporate personhood decision), there's no altering that. The game is solidly rigged.

lol @ holding up Wisconsin as an example of anything. in case no one noticed, the left lost that battle.

battle isn't completely over. or at least, the recall movement is still plenty active

but the Left won the narrative on that, Shakey, and Walker's career is v probably ruined....

I think he's an intelligent non-bastard who upon swearing in had his innards replaced with Chief-o-bot 2000 parts, the same basic config that all presidents have received since World War II. When he leaves office his innards will be returned to him. It's our job to change the world enough that Chief-o-bot 2000 looks outdated.

meanwhile, forbes asks the burning question: "unpaid jobs -- the new normal?"

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/25/unpaid-jobs-the-new-normal/

the slight hope i have left is obama wins a second term and takes off the gloves without having to ever worry about running again. but i am also a huge sucker

xp ehhh kinda, I think the best you're gonna get is complete reprogramming.

But I do think you're gonna get that: you've been completely otm itt Tracer, and I totally am willing to believe that Wisconsin is just the beginning of something...

the slight hope i have left is obama wins a second term and takes off the gloves without having to ever worry about running again. but i am also a huge sucker

innards do not get returned before their time

Here's Obama's idea of negotiating right now:

For example, Obama proposed in his most recent budget request reducing commodity payments to wealthy farmers for a savings of $2.5 billion over the next decade (though the proposal would save nothing this year). The budget also proposes to eliminate Pell college grants for summer school, for a savings of $60 million this year. And it offers a host of provisions intended to streamline the major government health programs, Medicare and Medicaid, in part by expanding federal program integrity authority.

Republicans are resisting this approach. W. Post

I don't get the Pell cut proposal.

In Wisconsin the left needs to finish the job there via recalls, court challenges, and eventually getting legislators who will restore collective bargaining.

oh i don't think a second obama term will be much different than the first

but the Left won the narrative on that, Shakey, and Walker's career is v probably ruined....

my guess is Walker doesn't give a fuck about the governership and has his eye on national office - which, with the gratitude and support of the Koch bros and the notoriety this stunt has brought him, seems entirely within his reach to me

um I hate to point out the rather obvious historical fact that the vast majority of presidents' major legislative accomplishments fall in the second term. there may be a brief flurry of activity, particularly on the foreign policy front, following re-election, but for the most part it's diminishing returns with a second term.

Obama is going to win re-election handily. dunno if I'll bother voting for him or not, there's no way any Republican candidate has a prayer in California so my vote is probably moot.

um I hate to point out the rather obvious historical fact that the vast majority of presidents' major legislative accomplishments fall in the second FIRST term

my guess is Walker doesn't give a fuck about the governership and has his eye on national office - which, with the gratitude and support of the Koch bros and the notoriety this stunt has brought him, seems entirely within his reach to me

I highly doubt this; I mean, anything's possible, but c'mon...

well he seems pretty blase about his prospects in Wisconsin

maybe he's eyeing a senate seat or something

I think he just wants a fuck-ton of cash, which a former governor with tea party idealogical bona fides can probably make pretty easily.

Obama hasn't had his innards replaced: he's governed exactly as we expected in 2008. My only surprise is his indifference about explaining his connections to the plutocracy.

?? i think the answer is right in front of us: he's a true believer. he thinks smashing the whole range of wisonsin's public assets is the best thing to do, because their existence is coercive and the people who administer them and depend on them are parasites.

xp re: walker

I don't see "true believer" and "opportunistic shitheel" as being mutually exclusive

if Wisconsin goes through with the recall & manages to oust him and then goes ahead and elects him to the Senate, well then Wisconsin is fucking stupid.

There I said it

Rub on your titties

LOL

as far as the future goes, i really don't know what to think. two things really get under my skin tho:

one, americans (big caveats here of course, americans aren't any single thing) have reacted to the current moment by becoming more conservative, by self-description

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/03/the-conservative-states-of-america/71827/

so if the country becomes meaner, more unequal, more precarious, it'll be more or less what it asked for.

second, all the apocalyptic elements of american political life are now totally mainstream.

http://depts.washington.edu/uwiser/racepolitics_research2011.html

To capture the difference between the two camps, we asked whether or not people thought the following proposition true: “Barack Obama is destroying the country.” If Tea Party conservatives were as extreme as some suggest, we thought asking a question of this type, i.e., fairly extreme, would tease out differences between the two camps. The data suggest the two conservative factions are divided on this question. Under these circumstances, 6% of non-Tea Party conservatives believe the president is destroying the country versus the 71% of Tea Party conservatives who believe this to be true.

i bang on about this constantly, but i don't think "tea party conservatives" are a new thing -- they've always been a part of the american right. but now they've been given a name, and are treated in a weird way as a parallel faction to regular-old republicans, even though they ARE regular-old republicans, of a kind. they've been empowered instead of kept in the closet. dealmaking is now basically impossible.

so, we're getting poorer and angrier, and the poverty and anger so far have only served to push the lever in a worse direction

they've always been a part of the american right. but now they've been given a name, and are treated in a weird way as a parallel faction to regular-old republicans, even though they ARE regular-old republicans, of a kind. they've been empowered instead of kept in the closet

This is exactly what I've been saying for months. If they're "new," credit timing and their ability to coalesce. But we dealt with these types in the recent past: the anti-Clintonites of the nineties, and the cadre of young professional lawyer types that came of age in the Reagan administration.

To be honest, with the exception of Goldwater's candidacy, before Reagan I have trouble defining what "conservatism" meant besides "anti-liberal."

Ford, Nixon, Rockefeller, Dole, Poppy Bush – what were they besides reluctant liberals?

Tea Party used to be, like, John Birchers and scary anti-communists and stuff. The angry "populist" contingent. It's not a new thing though that they want to control or drive the Republican Party, they've been doing that for at least twenty years.

Ford, Nixon, Rockefeller, Dole, Poppy Bush – what were they besides reluctant liberals?

LOL. Nowadays all the Democrats are reluctant conservatives.

but the Left won the narrative on that, Shakey, and Walker's career is v probably ruined....

in 1998, i thought that Newt Gingrich's career was v. probably ruined ... but no it wasn't. see any of another bunch of GOPers who "bounce back" after some catastrophe that would've done in a Dem.

Obama is also a "reluctant liberal" (when he's actually governing, when he's campaigning that's a different matter)

I don't know, Eisbaer: I saw little difference between his and Bill Clinton's campaign promises (and banal "change" theme).

also: Newt Gingrich IS ruined. He has less than zero chance of even coming in fourth place.

for one thing, Iowans won't tolerate his marital indiscretions; and the neocon wing things he's batshit.

yeah Gingrich is totally delusional at this point

pretty amazing to see the loser/deluded/opportunist candidates really swinging for the fences with the gutter-right stuff. trump is a birther! etc

to be fair the gop itself was dead just two years ago. now they have the house

the slight hope i have left is obama wins a second term and takes off the gloves without having to ever worry about running again. but i am also a huge sucker

Yes, getting fooled again when you actually remember this myth about Bill Clinton in 1996, no less.

Alfred generally otm. Obama was clearly this bastard before he was sworn in; just a bit worse now.

I don't think Gingrich will ever hold elective office again, or that he really wants to. Just needs a stage and a mic.

you make him sound like Nas

guys Santorum blames Social Security insolvency on abortion

wait what

does he really...?

I mean...

hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

too many aborted workers not paying into the system!

because y'know, there's just WAY more jobs than employable people in the country right now

if only companies looking to hire new employees had more people to choose from...

*shakes head sadly*

Steyn made a similar argument some while back saying, in a spectacular amalgam of abortion illiberalism, middle-class angst, racism and anti-immigrant prejudice, that as long as we allowed abortion, we were forced to allow too many un-assimilatable foreigners in to prop up economic growth and institutions like social security and that such increasing diversity was eroding ppl's liking for social security since (presumably white) more and more Americans felt that some other groups were cheating or gaming the system. In other words, he was arguing for a more 'American' underclass.

jim mcdermott for president
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KVT5BElFtk

sooo the kid who does all those tim pawlenty action trailers is a puma

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2037966/revealed-banksy-online-political-video

funny

lol at 'remember november' and 'tea-paw'

but the Left won the narrative on that, Shakey, and Walker's career is v probably ruined....

Walker's career is probably stronger than ever. I imagine he proved himself 100x over as a steadfast knight in the oligarchy's war on the slob class. He even got 'Are teachers bottom-feeding scum?' as a serious talking point in the political spectrum. The bill still got passed and an historical protest movement was shut out of the media. In what ways have the Left won on this?

how is Walker's career stronger than ever? If the recall election ousts him, which seems very probable at this moment, what other options does he have?

If the recall election ousts him, which seems very probable at this moment, what other options does he have?

Fox News, of course. or a cush job at some right-wing think tank.

He's defeating the evil unions, he's standing up to walkouts, he's gotten people to hate on public school teachers, he's completely and utterly shameless in everything he does. If he doesn't have a future in politics, then I bet the corporate sector (or the revolving door between the two) has a place for him. Yeah, Fox News, maybe a Think Tank, maybe working directly for the Koch bros. He's certainly proven his worth to the Right.

^^^yep. he may well lose the governorship but I bet his attitude is "fuck it, my work is done here. Now on to my higher/more well paid calling"...

I'm pretty sure Rick Scott will suffer the same fate.

Rick Scott can just lol about in all that Medicaid money that he's diverting his way.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/gop-rep-im-struggling-on-my-174k-salary-video.php?ref=fpb

maybe there should just be a WI thread, at this point.

lol Real World alum

here's some morning entertainment:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/03/ayers_affirms_he_wrote_dreams.html

pretty good rule of thumb: never trust anyone without a sense of humor

Apparently some conservatives were so dumb they took this for an AHA! moment.

i think that's this guy's whole career basically

hahahaha oh my god

definitely click through to that blog if only to enjoy the painting of uncle sam shitting on a log

So House Speaker Boehner is supposedly trying to put together a budget with the support of non-Tea Party Republicans and Blue Dog Dems that he thinks the White House and Senate Dems will go along with. This is looking ugly no matter how it works out. The Dems are not, as Clinton did, making a strong case that we will not allow cuts to x,y, and z (health, education,...)they're simply disagreeing on how much to cut. Not surprising but still disappointing.

saw Blue Dogs described as "moderate Dems" on MSNBC crawl this morning

bcz there are no conservative Dems, what are ya, crazy

yeah, Ronald Reagan might end up being a Blue Dog Dem were he alive today.

had he switched to Republican when he gave red actor names to HUAC?

He didn't formerly switch parties until the early sixties.

well see, he was a crusadin' witchhuntin' bluedoggin' Democrat

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/education/30paddle.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=corporal%20punishment&st=cse

i just want to meet someone who thinks this is ok - fucking baffling to me. guess i shouldnt get nostalgic for the early obama days but seems like they should have banned federally when they had the chance in his first year or 2

generally speaking, if the school does something to a kid that sends the kid to the hospital, the school should be fucked

still I'm an awful person because I got to the point in the article where the spokesman/founder of People Opposed to Paddling Students appeared and couldn't stop giggling at the stupid name

i don't think a school should have the right to hit a child period

i also giggled/rolled my eyes at POPS, lol

Magnitude should be their spokesperson.

http://www.todayinsport.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/jasper2.gif
"giggling at the stupid name? you better bet that's a paddlin'..."

Full Ohio Senate and House just passed their union-busting bill to send on to Gov. Kasich, right after the Speaker had all the bill opponents ejected from the gallery and referred to them on a live mic as "goddamned visitors." Ohio State Highway Patrol, who opposed the bill, had to forcibly remove everyone.

oh shit

it's okay guys we "won" in Wisconsin lol

Not sure anyone was arguing that we "won" in Wisconsin, only that it wasn't pointless, and that there were benefits to the protests.

but the Left won the narrative on that, Shakey, and Walker's career is v probably ruined....

― Oh Shit People Like Your Ballads Oh Nooooo (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, March 29, 2011 11:21 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Called it too soon I guess

...though huge throngs of opponents is not what I'd consider qa sign of a decisive victory

I call "getting your bill passed unchanged" a sign of decisive victory

Without a full caucus, by midnight meetings!

Are the Dem. State Senators still in jail?

I call "getting your bill passed unchanged" a sign of decisive victory

yep. keep yr eye on the ball, policy is what ma.tters

I pretty clearly referred to the narrative in the post Dan c-&-p'd above.

in the face of concrete law, the narrative isn't really that important

You're right, narrative isn't importantn but wouldn't it be nice if the public had an option to believe in something different?

ugh can we ban the word "narrative"?

Pleased about this (at least until Morbius inevitably tells me why I shouldn't be)

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/white-house-threatens-to-veto-key-legislation-over-union-busting-provision.php?ref=dcblt

After all the handwringing in this board about the Dems' failure to sell universal health care to the people, now we're just willing to pretend things like "narrative" don't exist. Let's just dissolve all unions asap.

narrative exists for cable hosts and the 2% who watch em. rest of America is busy skipping meals to afford a smartphone.

haha that describes way too many people I know

SO Biden has been authorized to negotiate for the White House and has indicated that they can negotiate on the policy riders the Republican House wants. So which of these subjects of riders is the White House gonna throw under the bus: 1. Planned Parenthood; 2. NPR; 3. The EPA.

OK, so it turns out that the Ohio House Speaker didn't call people in the gallery "goddamned visitors," but what he said was actually stupider:

It’s hard to hear, but here’s exactly what Speaker Batchelder said:

“Well, she may, or she may not goddamn get it.”

You’ll notice that Batchelder is talking to one of the House clerks while looking over to his left while he says it. We’ve confirmed with a House source that the clerk was informing Speaker Batchelder that House Assistant Minority Whip Debbie Phillips (D-Athens) wanted to make a parliamentary point of personal privilege.

In other words, she wanted to assert her personal right as a Member of the House to honor someone who had died, particularly someone who died today.

Representative Phillips wanted to honor the memory of Bill Sams, the Council 8 Regional Director for AFSCME and President of the Southeastern Ohio AFL-CIO. A former lawyer, a husband, father, and grandfather. Bill Sams had just been at the SB 5 protests the day before at the Statehouse. He would have been there today except he died.

That’s what Speaker Batchelder was cursing about.

This link has footage -- check out the chanting from SB5 opponents in the gallery.

After all the handwringing in this board about the Dems' failure to sell universal health care to the people, now we're just willing to pretend things like "narrative" don't exist. Let's just dissolve all unions asap.

Narrative matters when you are arguing a position. If your argument loses, the narrative you've built also loses, plus there is now a concrete piece of law that directly refutes it.

It isn't really that hard to think through IMO.

Republicans never let silly things like laws prevent them from continuing to voice their own narrative. They count on people not understanding or remembering what is the law.

and that is a sure path to victory most times.

Narrative matters when you are arguing a position. If your argument loses, the narrative you've built also loses, plus there is now a concrete piece of law that directly refutes it.

It isn't really that hard to think through IMO.

yeah but Republicans just keep on alienating more and more people; the Tea Party can't expect to keep winning elections if the majority thinks they are going to get fucked over

That doesn't change the fact that when they fall out of power, all of the energy will end up being put towards moving things closer to today's status quo than anything else, which is still a victory for the right.

Basically, my point is that the narrative can't and shouldn't be the goal; the narrative is a tool, and one that Democrats don't know how to use.

rest of America is busy skipping meals to afford a smartphone.

I skip meals because it makes me feel good.

yeah but Republicans just keep on alienating more and more people

which means less and less with the only 'people' mattering the corporations 'who' pay for campaigns. 'the people' can only vote for the last two candidates standing

http://i.imgur.com/17jxH.jpg

i'm sort of against stuff like this but i have to give grudging props for excellent use of monopoly dude

Also "spats."

I lolled at "real estate"

also the tear drop on the picture

dog cologne

it would have been too personal/stalkery into Real World minutiae to add "Peanut Butter (for the wife)" but I would have smirked

"To Doug, the 'real world' happens on TV, and he hasn't lived there for quite some time..."

Missed opportunity for all sorts of Real World punnage and pwnage - seriously, someone should get hold of a few of his episodes and GET TO SPLICING.

Narrative matters when you are arguing a position. If your argument loses, the narrative you've built also loses, plus there is now a concrete piece of law that directly refutes it.

It isn't really that hard to think through IMO.

You could probably make an argument that the Left's narrative was actually hurt here, that by leaving the state and extending the battle it just gave a very corporate US media more and more of an opportunity to flood the airwaves with anti-union propaganda. "Have working-class Americans sacrificed enough?" Even the 'liberal' outlets were taking the question seriously, and repeating it over and over during that week.

Though i can't fault the protestors at all and stand 100% behind them.

the lag time did give wisco folk time to deliberate. now they're taking shots at duffy at his town halls

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/break-out-tiny-violins-wi-rep-eager-c

You could probably make an argument that the Left's narrative was actually hurt here, that by leaving the state and extending the battle it just gave a very corporate US media more and more of an opportunity to flood the airwaves with anti-union propaganda. "Have working-class Americans sacrificed enough?

Or the Dems could have won the elections in November.

but then we wouldn't be having so much fun now at high noon on capitol hill

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/03/31/federal_budget_showdown_riders/index.html

really hoping the shutdown goes through tbh

(scott walker apparently has backed down, by the way)

http://budget.wispolitics.com/2011/03/huebsch-suspends-implementation-of.html

I don't understand what court orders that is referring to

dane county circuit court judge maryann sumi issued a temporary restraining order because the wisco budget-repair bill was passed unconstitutionally. the secretary of state, who publishes the laws, complied, so walker's administration went around him and published it via another state office. sumi reiterated her restraining order, and added a $2000 a day contempt of court penalty for non-compliance. apparently that was enough to get the walker administration to obey her ruling

huh, interesting. what are the grounds for arguing it was passed unconstitutionally? they had a majority present, didn't they?

btw for some real fun check out what the right wing blogs are saying about maryann sumi

her kid is a big lefty & union macher, oh nooooo

xp the grounds of the stay are that WI has some kind of open meeting law that dictates the timing/procedure for bills (of a certain kind?) and the GOP went right through those. it's related to but not identical to the quorum & majority stuff going on at the time

right I remember there being some complaining about it being passed in the middle of the night or something. ah arcane procedural laws

ok shakey if you haven't actually been following Wisconsin (and you clearly haven't) then just stop making these pathetic announcements about how 'we lost' ok? the battle is still very much in play there

Is Amateurist still around? As much news as we get from those parts, the better

lol dude sorry I wasn't up on today's second temporary injunction and the convoluted legal maneuvering going on, how dare I voice an opinion

not to silence you or anything, but I really wouldn't call what's going on there 'losing'

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/13/main-street-bigger-than-tea-party/

look dude get back to me when the legislation is repealed/struck down k thx bye

ah who knows, you're right in that if it doesn't keep up, it's all for nothing, but that's why blithely chiming in with the 'opinion' that we've all already lost is like watching you spit in the direction of 100,000+ people

look the initial goal was to defeat the legislation and vote it down. that didn't work. getting it struck down through the courts or through repeal is an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT BATTLE

really it's kind of analogous to Prop 8 here in California - there was the battle to vote it down in the general election (which failed), and since then there's been continual legal efforts to get it repealed, which has been a much longer, more complicated, less high profile process (and one that's been impacted by developments at the national level), which is still unresolved years later. But the fact remains that the CA electorate in '08 voted to be homophobic assholes, the pro-gay rights movement can't really claim a "victory" just because it was a high profile battle and the losers were really visibly angry about it afterwards. they lost the election.

I see what you're saying. But I don't agree that the issues at hand compare to the wedge issue of Prop 8, all I see is that the crowds are finally starting to show up in numbers on the right side of the battles.

let me put it this way: I am more proud of the public response in Wisconsin than I was for even one moment during all of 2008 -- election night in SF was a huge party, but even that was more a moment of sane relief than anything we could truly be proud of, and we all knew the idealism in the air was naive. I don't think it is naive to be encouraged by Wisconsin, so I hope you can understand why my temper would be short with someone content to post that battle is procedurally lost, when in fact the daily news coming from Wisconsin shows that 'procedure' is actually hanging by the slightest of threads

i think that shakey's take is more or less correct. and yes, i know that the union-busting law is tied up in court now (as if the teabaggers let technicalities like laws and regulations stop them from ramming through what they want) and the protests were encouraging. still, worst comes to worst if this bill goes back to the WI legislature before any recall or no GOPers switch their votes and the WI Dem Senators don't skip town again then the bill becomes law (perhaps there will be more legal proceedings, but like shakey said that's a different battle).

and given that the Teabags in the OH and NH legislatures have been ramming through their own union-busting bills it isn't as if the bastards are all that chastened.

we're all on the same team. I guess all I'm saying is that I'm hoping in five years, we're all going to remember that it began in Wisconsin

shakey, this is probably way more wisco ground game than you want to know, but the reason it's potentially a big deal is because now it may be ruled that the budget-repair bill was passed illegally. the case is very strong. there needed to be at least 24 hours from when the vote was announced until the votes could be cast. instead there was only a two-hour interim. wisconsin has on the books among the strictest transparency laws in the union, if not the absolute strictest. walker rushed it through (illegally) because the recall heat was already so bad that he didn't think it would pass if they waited longer. that hasn't changed. now, if they have to revote, which sumi's judgment is tantamount to, then the asshole conservative legislators, quaking in their boots about recall initiatives, just might cave

and just in case anyone hasn't seen the youtube of the budget-repair bill being passed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5sx-4i5y0E

^^ stuck at 78,000 views, which is demoralizing. this clip struck me as something that would go viral.

Meanwhile a friend is crushed by Ohio's anti-union bill. His family (twins on the way) stands to lose about $10,000, plus losses in insurance, retirement, salary... shit it might wind up being more like $15K depending. His next move? To cut school funding statewide. So he worries his wife may be out of a job entirely.

But the Tea Party wants to protect these people.

they're only doing what's right for the country. public education is bankrupting us. why should my property taxes pay for your kids' teachers' health insurance? we need to switch over to a private, for-profit charter school system

i mean, they really think that way

Short-circuit the whyshouldeyes by answering 'because millions of taxpayers have contributed directly and indirectly to improve your quality of life and now it's your turn, suddenly it's unaffordable and other people's kids/health/wellbeing are not your problem?"

they're only doing what's right for the country. public education is bankrupting us. why should my property taxes pay for your kids' teachers' health insurance? we need to switch over to a private, for-profit charter school system

some folks may not go the final step (i.e., privitize the schools and other public services). but the view that government workers are living high on the hog and on the backs of people who work in the private sector is shared by folks who aren't Teabag enthusiasts. this is so b/c of how private employers have decimated employee benefits and working conditions -- so, the thought goes, why should my tax dollars pay for goodies that I don't get at work? (instead of folks thinking, i should press my boss to get what the government/unionized workers are getting).

divide and conquer, as always.

not condoning the view, but that is how the thought process goes and it's frighteningly common. and the toothlessness of the Obama-era Dems ain't helping matters any.

When times are good, the same fucking people make fun/patronize of public sector workers for not going after jobs in banking and law and/or making very little money. So which is it going to be?

the thing that is stupid is that most salaried employees in jobs comparable to public sector jobs are making a good amount more money, so one of the reasons benefits are so good* in the public sector is to attract talent

people in this country are fucking idiots, partially because of the ongoing attack on public education and partially because we are indolent dicks

* and let's not kid ourselves, no one is becoming the next Carnegie or Rockefeller working a public sector job

That stripe of fucking idiot is not unique to America.

now, if they have to revote, which sumi's judgment is tantamount to, then the asshole conservative legislators, quaking in their boots about recall initiatives, just might cave

really? have any of them made any public statements reflecting this "quaking"?

not that i'm aware of. this is more circumstantial speculation based on the initial haste that botched it, their reactions since, and the recall campaigns themselves, dogging dudes like sean duffy

in fairness, dudes like Sean Duffy should get dogged 24/7 regardless of whatever else is going on

they should run puck against him (if puck's still alive even)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGB8Uuffi4M

Yikes!

That is sad

he looks like a cross between ezra koenig and one of those high school goofs with the combovers from that football show on mtv

that guy never gets laid

lol @ kevin

you guys....

i am a tea partier now

i've been converted

i love this country

that guy never gets laid

― in my world of loose geirs (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, March 31, 2011 10:40 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark

pathological liars get laid a lot, don't they?

They might say they do; that's the problem with pathological liars...

does Ezra Koenig get laid

um, my guess is yes

^^^search result for "Ezra Koenig pimpin" btw

You tried it Shakey eh

They might say they do; that's the problem with pathological liars...

― nights of d. cameron (suzy), Thursday, March 31, 2011 10:56 PM (36 minutes ago) Bookmark

it just seems to me, from personal experience, that people with no conscience end up getting laid a lot.

look the initial goal was to defeat the legislation and vote it down. that didn't work.

Not really. Look, the R's have majorities in both houses and the governorship. There was never any question the law was going to be voted in. And there's no question the law can be passed legally, even if it hasn't been yet; there's no constitutional objection, only a procedural objection.

The initial goal was to DELAY. And that's still the goal. Delay, delay, delay, to shine a bright light on the guts of the budget bill and to radicalize Dems in WI and elsewhere. And it worked. You think there'd be thousands of Democrats knocking on doors for a State Supreme Court candidate and gathering recall petitions if Walker had gotten his bill through in three days with no news coverage? Nope, we'd just be sitting around complaining about the governor sucking.

happy friday everybody!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13738865/r-BOEHNER-TEA-PARTY-huge.jpg

^obv a shop, but i lold

Wisconsin Democrats just announced that local activists submitted over 100% of the signatures needed to "recall" Wisconsin Republican senator Dan Kapanke from office!

After local officials certify the signatures, a new election will be scheduled for Kapanke's seat. Today's news is sending shockwaves throughout Wisconsin, and will give huge momentum to efforts in other Senate districts to gather recall signatures.

from boldprogressives.org

from politico:

The filing will start a 31-day period during which the state’s Government Accountability Board will examine the signatures. Kapanke can challenge the signatures during the first 10 days of that period, and Republicans, Democrats or the board itself can request more time to assess the filing.

Democrats have not indicated who they might run against Kapanke in a recall election.

Traditionally a Republican constituency, police and firefighters are rapidly turning to Democrats after assaults on their union rights in Wisconsin, Ohio, and elsewhere. “Who are these evil teachers who teach your children, these evil policemen who protect them, these evil firemen who pull them from burning buildings? When did we all become evil?” asked the national president of the Fraternal Order of Police.

Nope, no benefit to consistently drawing attention to Wisconsin/Ohio cronies, none at all

Yes, if Republicans were planning ways to piss off Scranton Man, this idea's worked beyond anyone's wildest dreams.

If only the protesters would have realized that their actions could not impact the passing of the legislation...think of all the wasted time...think of all of the nu-Golden Age television they could have been watching

In other news:

The original story floated the possibility that the White House might only give on EPA plans to clean up Chesapeake Bay or shut down mountaintop mines — and not on the core GOP proposal of scuttling EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gases.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/will-white-house-agree-to-weaken-epa-officials-say-no/2011/03/03/AFwVyrAC_blog.html

The worst negotiators

Goddamn it... "Whitehouse to ceede nation to tea party 'because they asked in good faith,' states President"

zpost

Yep. The cowardice is just amazing One of the main projects I work on is currently slated to be ELIMINATED.

That was meant to be an xpost but whatever, tgif and so on

April Fools

I saw only for a minute an Ohio firefighter getting interviewed on one of the big cable-news channels...I wonder if the union-busting legislation in Ohio will get more equitable coverage than in Wisconsin...?

burn cantor burn

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/01/peter-defazio-april-fools/

78% of CA voters back raising taxes on the rich to close state deficit

unsurprisingly, state GOP still completely opposed to any taxes of any kind

during the biggest boomtime in US history, who received "at least" 5.3 billion dollars from government piggy banks? step forward, boeing co.

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/31/135016289/u-s-subsidies-to-boeing-illegal-wto-rules

(^ from our own Gorge)

One of the main things that I work on at the EP4 (unnecessary googleproofing, sry) is about to get cut as part of the budget "compromise". For some reason, a number of Open Data Initiatives, including Data.gov, USASpending.gov and the Sunlight Foundation, have been targeted for elimination, despite the fact that they are drops in the bucket of the federal bucket.

http://www.vizworld.com/2011/04/open-data-initiatives-fall-victim-budget-cuts/

If anyone has a few minutes to offer some support, it would be greatly appreciated:

http://sunlightfoundation.com/savethedata/

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/schumer-dems-didnt-get-screwed-in-spending-fight.php#

If Schumer and the White House are pushing to cut different things than the House bill did,as Chuck claims in the attached link, why aren't they at least pushing this to the media. I guess they just like to cave in private and must not think that they have a shot at cutting corporate farm aid instead of the EPA, pell grants, and Head Start.

still really hard to accept this budget discussion's going down the way it is after the december unemployment benefits/tax cut hostage situation. i wonder if the gop is more shameless than the democrats are spineless, if in fact it's not all kabuki theater to begin with

http://www.thenation.com/article/159577/jim-messina-obamas-enforcer

must read!

change we can believe in (pffffffft)

bye-bye dan kapanke (r-wisconsin)?

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_d5240e94-5c0c-11e0-b582-001cc4c002e0.html

Dan Kapanke to be recalled? Ya don;t say...

Wisconsin Democrats just announced that local activists submitted over 100% of the signatures needed to "recall" Wisconsin Republican senator Dan Kapanke from office!

After local officials certify the signatures, a new election will be scheduled for Kapanke's seat. Today's news is sending shockwaves throughout Wisconsin, and will give huge momentum to efforts in other Senate districts to gather recall signatures.

from boldprogressives.org

― curmudgeon, Friday, April 1, 2011 6:52 AM (6 hours ago)

Florida, always good for a laff.

Republicans voiced concern about young pages hearing the word uterus.

what the

new election does not automatically equal a recall (lol the Dems need a candidate first, guys) but that is good news

Scientific terms for anatomy are apparently graphically offensive in Florida. He should have been less blunt and called it a "you know, down there."

"ladybusiness"

her stork

grounds for a poll imo

i'd poll pareene's april fools but i'm too lazy

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/01/everyone_kidding/index.html

If you poll it, I will vote for 'Bachmann added that she's not actually running for president. "God, can you imagine?" '

world's douchiest congressman ever says no more social security
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MQID6sV6m0

Probably a Freudian slip, wherehe intended to say "cannot exist as they are presently constituted", but he inadvertently said what he really thinks is true. I'm sure he'll deny he meant what he said.

At least 70,000 children around the world could die if funding for global health programs is cut under the Republican budget proposal, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shahwarned warned Congress Thursday.

"We estimate, and I believe these are very conservative estimates, that H.R. 1 would lead to 70,000 kids dying," he said.

Shah said that 30,000 of those deaths would come if malaria control programs have to be scaled back, 24,000 would die from lack of support for immunizations, and another 16,000 would die at birth.

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! it's time to tighten the fucking belt!

you know, someone should suggest to rick scott that you could REALLY save money by just throwing the mentally handicapped into the atlantic ocean

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/os-scott-cuts-disabled-20110331,0,7724142.story

also i'm dying @ that uterus article -- dems should introduce a motion to be able to call "earmuffs"

in other news, transocean awarded their executives bonuses for "safety" last year and it's just really hard to argue with that isn't it

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e2b81ec4-5cca-11e0-ab7c-00144feab49a.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz1ITw3bTGP

here's the article if prompts a register wall

Please respect FT.com's ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsa✧✧✧.supp✧✧✧@f✧.c✧✧ to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e2b81ec4-5cca-11e0-ab7c-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1ITx8yqDO

Transocean, the world’s largest offshore rig company, awarded its executives bonuses for 2010, citing “the best year in safety performance in our company’s history,” in spite of the Macondo disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a regulatory filing.

“Notwithstanding the tragic loss of life in the Gulf of Mexico, we achieved an exemplary statistical safety record as measured by our total recordable incident rate and total potential severity rate,” Transocean said in a filing.

“As measured by these standards, we recorded the best year in safety performance in our company’s history, which is a reflection on our commitment to achieving an incident free environment, all the time, everywhere.”

The Macondo disaster, which involved the explosion, burning and sinking of Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon rig, killed 11 people (nine of them Transocean employees) and injured 17 before leaking oil into the gulf for three months in the industry’s highest-profile accident since the 1989 ExxonMobil Valdez spill in Alaska.

Transocean has blamed BP, as operator, for decisions that led to the accident, while BP has said its contractors bear some responsibility.

The Swiss-based company agreed to compensate executives in a decision especially notable after bonuses were withheld in 2009 to underscore the importance of safety following four deaths.

Transocean said it sets the compensation of its executive officers based on their ability to achieve annual operational objectives that further the company’s long-term business objectives and create sustainable long-term shareholder value.

The company approved base salary adjustments averaging a 3.8 per cent increase per individual, excluding the chief executive, whose base salary reflected his promotion into the CEO role.

In addition, given that Transocean’s bonus plan provides for cash awards based on performance under safety, financial, newbuilds and enterprise resource planning objectives, the company determined to pay cash performance awards for fiscal 2010 at 44.8 per cent of the target bonus opportunity for each individual.

The company also approved long-term incentive awards in the form of stock options and addressed retention concerns with “special one-time retention awards.”

“The Committee determined that the cash performance awards made to the named executive officers for 2010 were appropriate in recognition of the company’s achievement of the objectives set at the beginning of 2010 relating to significantly improving the company’s safety record and the successful implementation of our enterprise resource planning system,” Transocean said.

Do they teach that in business school? It seems like all corporate ceos and high-ranking officials want their bonuses no matter what.
Shareholders need to be given more power to oppose such things, but I guess Wall Street and Congress would never allow that.

lols from krugman

So I think that it is my civic duty to report that yesterday, as I got off Amtrak 161 from Trenton to Washington — having spent 2 1/2 hours being made more amenable to collectivism, not to mention finishing another chapter for 3rd edition — I saw George Will leaving the business class car. (I usually prefer the coach quiet car)

Ha. That's great.

Will Obama speak up about the current budget battle or the proposed Ryan longterm plan to cut corporate taxes and rich people taxes while "changing" medicare and medicaid and slashing domestic spending?

I read in the W. Post that Obama is keeping quiet and allowing Congressional Dems to handle things, because Tea Party types won't listen at all to anything associated with Obama, but they theoretically will consider something offered by Congressional Dems. Oh brother.

Bam sent his re-election e-mail. Let the billion-dollar full-time whoring begin!

Since the Obama lets congressional dems handle thing strategy has always seemed to pan out for him in the past. I wonder if Obama would put something important, like, say, his reelection campaign, in the hands of congressional dems?

Well everyone knows how popular Congress is.

I read in the W. Post that Obama is keeping quiet and allowing Congressional Dems to handle things, because Tea Party types won't listen at all to anything associated with Obama, but they theoretically will consider something offered by Congressional Dems. Oh brother.

of course ... Heath Shuler scares the sweet Bejesus outta the Teabaggers, the same way he struck fear in the hearts of secondaries defending against him when he was in the NFL ...

also, we got socked with this tax deal in large part b/c Obama deferred to the "wisdom" of the Congressional Dems (who could've had something less-Teabag friendly this past summer).

as my Dad used to say (about me haha), how could someone so smart be so dumb?!?

S'all good: all we care about is reelecting him.

In other news, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court is back to creating new meanings for the 1st amendment

Americans United for Separation of Church and State today criticized a U.S. Supreme Court ruling dismissing a challenge to tax aid to religious schools in Arizona.

In a 5-4 ruling, the high court today turned back a legal challenge to an Arizona scheme that allows taxpayers to take a 100 percent credit for donations to “school tuition organizations” that fund religious and other private schools. The court said the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the case.

“This misguided ruling betrays the public school system by directing tax dollars to religious schools,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case. “The court, with the full support of the Obama administration, has slammed the courthouse door in the face of Americans who don’t want their tax dollars to subsidize religion.”

Under the controversial program, nearly 92 percent of the funds collected have gone for tuition at religious schools. Taxpayers challenged the plan as a violation of church-state separation.

Kennedy wrote the decision and was joined by Scalia, Roberts, Thomas, and Alito. Kagan wrote the dissent.

"has always seemed to pan out for him in the past"

ie, nobody rushed the White House w/ torches and burned it down? Defining 'success' down.

the congressional GOP's reason for existing is to be anti-obama. it doesn't really matter what he might propose, as soon as his name is on something, it'll be their sworn duty to put it in the ground. maybe his popularity with everyone else is worth more, but i kind of doubt it. staying out of the budget fight might be the best thing for him to do if they actually want a deal & avoid a shutdown.

But someone should be making the case for a strong Dem deal and not a weak one.

x-post
The court, with the full support of the Obama administration, has slammed the courthouse door in the face of Americans who don’t want their tax dollars to subsidize religion.”

Lots of good news today, like Eric Holder reversing himself on KSH

all my outrage is going toward connick v thompson right this second!

It leaked that Holder was gonna spit the bit about a month or two ago, no?

Harry Connick, Jr's dad!

i know right? i didn't know that. he just got a half percent more interesting to me frankly.

dahlia lithwick called thomas' decision in connick "a master class in moral apathy" or something like that

For those interested:

http://www.slate.com/id/2290036/

Yeah, I can't imagine anything making my moral apathy for Thomas and Alito any greater than that piece.

These Republican governors. From Huffington Post:

Eight Republican state senators have issued a rare public rebuke of Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R), writing an op-ed expressing "discomfort and dismay" with some of his recent comments directed at labor backers.

The controversy centers around LePage's recent decision to order a mural depicting the state's workers' history removed from the Department of Labor, arguing that it was biased against businesses and employers. When asked how he would react if protesters carried out their plan to form a human chain around the mural, LePage replied, "I'd laugh at them, the idiots. That's what I would do. Come on! Get over yourselves!"

Removing a mural about the history of your state for so-called ideological reasons...THOSE ARE YOUR PEOPLE. Unbelievable.

That whole thing is just the pinnacle of dumbfuckery. He also wants to change the names of rooms that are currently named for people like Cesar Chavez to name them after "mountains or something." And feels that the Department of Labor is not sufficiently sympathetic to business. HEY ASSHOLE YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT THING FOR THAT, IT'S THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.

Yeah that is kinda next level. I "get" stupid anti labor legislation, but erasing benign historical murals is some baldfaced cackling villain type shot

They're like cartoon super-villains, without any caricaturing at all.

Baldfaced cackling villain type shot (nice Cheney-lip there, Mr. LePage:)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jja3NaVUusM/TWZbjAbfEcI/AAAAAAAAjT8/Tnzdo2TliQs/s1600/PaulLePageFaceCloseup.jpg

Steve Benen in The Washington Monthly also mentioned "the anti-union scheme, the plan to roll back Maine's child-labor laws, the tax cuts for the rich, the pointless fight with the NAACP" and concluded:
Maine voters pretty obviously made a mistake in November, electing LePage in a three-way contest where the sensible vote was split, but in case anyone's curious, the state does not have a legal mechanism that allows for the recall of a governor.

Impeach?

Just keep asking them how this creates jobs.

i still read this thread, some of the major news sites, one national and one local newspaper.... and all i can say is that i just don't give a fuck any longer. i keep track of it all, but all i can do is just shake my head.

hmm. http://www.salon.com/news/afghanistan/index.html?story=/opinion/greenwald/2011/04/04/free_speech

Bam sent his re-election e-mail. Let the billion-dollar full-time whoring begin!

― your generation appalls me (Dr Morbius), Monday, April 4, 2011 10:25 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark

Starting a new war & announcing your Presidential campaign seem like two things that you should want to keep separate from each other, at least if you want my vote. Try and space them apart by a month, it's the least you can do.

he doesn't want your vote fyi

actually i was talking to him on the phone yesterday after the white sox game and he did specifically bring up adam bruneau's name

oh ok

Obama should head a telethon to raise money simultaneously for his reelection and the wars.

he would make a badass telethon host probably

oliver stone could direct

But Obama didn't start this war! He's only, er ... helping it along? Trying to speed things along?

i think they were referring to the other war

which war are we talking about
xpost

Did I miss a war?

Obama hosting a sort of Jerry Lewis-styled variety show telethon to fund his reelection and military campaigns would be both a new high and a new low in American politics on a Mike Judge level.

which tbh i'm still not prepared to call an 'american war' no matter how many punk frontmen and msg board posters try to convince me otherwise xxp

xpost

So I look in my academic-job-related-email-address-inbox and there's an email with the catchy subject line "Fecal matter sodomy"

Grimly fascinated, I open it and the text reads:

If you vote for the Democrats and some Republicans, homosexual fecal
matter sodomy will be the law of the land for your children and
grandchildren, and the U.S. military's reputation will be destroyed. About
90% of Blacks, 70% of Hispanics, and 50% of Whites have been voting for
fecal matter sodomy. This behavior is repulsive, offensive, and divisive.

Jim, www.debatejim.com

Today’s Democrat voter would rather vote for politicians who promise the
most of other people’s money, who destroy the entire economy in the
process, than they would vote for politicians who reduce taxes and
spending so that Democrat voters can have a secure job.

the link takes you to this Xtian conservative dickhead's website featuring truly pathetic snaps of him in a karate outfit attacking "B.S." (do you see?) etc. Has anybody else received this? Apparently he's spamming the hell out of universities nationnwide to prove that "no one is willing to debate with me, these sheeple are afraid of the truth". Could it be that the fecal approach isn't making people yearn for further, uh, contact? Gotta give it to him, it would make a pretty sweet login name

plunging a clogged toilet is essentially fecal matter sodomy right?

The crazy racist "90% of Blacks are voting for fecal matter sodomy" thing, oh man, I just . . .

90% of Blacks, 70% of Hispanics, and 50% of Whites have been voting for
fecal matter sodomy

lmfao

http://i53.tinypic.com/1zdvh1l.gif

dude i'm listening to that last lcd soundystem show while watching that, you have no idea how tripped out i am

Z S u are a treat

Remember everyone: as an American, come election time, it is your duty to VOTE FOR FECAL MATTER SODOMY

I'm imaging a squishy stool in the form of Harvey Feirstein addressing the nation from the Oval Office.

i'm a single issue voter. and that issue is fecal matter sodomy.

vote for obama

90% of Blacks

it's as if the only thing he knows about African-Americans came from listening to the Outhere Bros' "i wanna fuck you in the ass" a few too many times.

maybe he's angry at santorum voters

Former Bush speechwriter and current Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson's spin on budget talks. Could the excerpted sentence below about Obama be right?

I also need to find a tax expert who can systematically show that the Ryan plan, despite supposedly getting rid of corporate tax loopholes and farm subsidies, is a scam. I've read people attack it in general terms.

So Obama has managed to lighten his liberal baggage, turn Republicans against each other and ensure they would be (justifiably) blamed for a shutdown. Not a bad month’s work.

This strategy may succeed because Republicans are genuinely divided. One bloc — the faction of the serious — is led by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), author of the 2012 House Republican budget. Few details of that document are surprising, but the cumulative effect is comprehensive and impressive. House Republicans propose major tax reform, including lower top rates, a broadened tax base and the closing of loopholes. The plan sets hard spending caps and adopts a number of recommendations from the president’s fiscal commission, which were largely ignored by the president himself. Ryan’s proposal takes on corporate welfare and farm subsidies, consolidates job-training programs, and includes welfare and litigation reforms. Most important, Ryan begins the Medicare debate in earnest, proposing a system of means-tested premium supports — taking seriously the challenge of 80 million baby boomers beginning to make their way into the system. Unlike his more libertarian colleagues, Ryan makes the case that entitlement reform, properly designed, can actually strengthen the social safety net for the poorest.

The less-than-serious faction of the Republican Party is intent on squeezing more savings out of the 2011 budget or pursuing a government shutdown as an end in itself.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/on-the-budget-obama-has-republicans-cornered/2011/04/04/AFbin9eC_story.html

Any plans to reduce "entitlement spending" are bullshit, especially after the Obama administration accepted the Bush tax cuts in November, but no one in Washington wants to have that discussion. So this is all a lot of posturing.

Dahlia Lithwick: the Obama administration's capitulation to its critics on trying KSM by military commission is cowardly, stupid, and tragically wrong.

lol at describing ryan's budget proposals as "serious"

Gov. Walker hires lobbyist's inexperienced son for $81,500 job.

http://www.startribune.com/local/119207744.html

Federal government tells Maine governor, "Uh, we paid for that painting."

The federal government is stepping into the labor mural controversy in Maine, demanding that the state either put the artwork back up at the Department of Labor or repay the cost of the mural.

In a letter first obtained by the Associated Press, Gay Gilbert, a senior U.S. Labor Department official, writes that the federal government appropriated the funds to Maine for the mural.

"We understand, however, that the mural is no longer on display in your headquarters," writes Gilbert. "Thus, it is no longer being used for an administrative purpose permitted by the Reed Act. Accordingly [...] the state must [...] return to its UTF [Unemployment Trust Fund] account the amount of the Reed Act funds represented by the mural."

While some of the state GOP there hop off the bus:

We should be focused like a laser on the agenda the governor laid out – reducing our tax burden, getting rid of unnecessary government regulation that stifles innovation and entrepreneurship, and putting into place thoughtful welfare reform.

Instead, we find ourselves continually diverted, responding to yet another example of our chief executive picking a personal fight not worth fighting. "Government by disrespect" should have no place in Augusta, and when it happens, we should all reject it.

Every day a new cartoonish action by a governor...

http://www.samefacts.com/2011/04/watching-conservatives/moment-of-deceit/

A blogger taking on David Brooks predictable endorsement of the Ryan budget proposal.

Oh gawd, our country's longterm budget fate is in the hands of the Gang of 6 in the Senate...

The larger budget battle will begin even before the 2011 fight is resolved. Ryan plans to open a voting session Wednesday on his 2012 blueprint in the House Budget Committee. If approved, the measure would then go to the House floor, where GOP aides declined to speculate on its fate.

If approved by the House, the blueprint would go the Senate, where the Democrats who control the upper chamber are unlikely to accept much of Ryan’s vision for the nation’s fiscal future. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) is instead at work with five senators of both parties on a deficit-reduction strategy that is likely to trim spending on entitlement programs less dramatically than Ryan’s plan while raising additional revenue through an overhaul of the tax code

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/house-republicans-unveil-35t-budget-blueprint-for-2012/2011/04/05/AFT6IDjC_story.html?hpid=z1

Vote for Obama and the Dems, they will:

trim spending on entitlement programs less dramatically

well this is technically o/t but it's great reading so far, peeps who read this thread might be into it: perry anderson on lula's brazil

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n07/perry-anderson/lulas-brazil

When, midway through his second term its test came, he handled it with aplomb. The crash of Wall Street in 2008 might be a tsunami in the US, he declared, but in Brazil it would be no more than a ‘ripple’ – uma marolinha. The phrase was seized on by the press as proof of reckless economic ignorance and irresponsibility.

But he was as good as his word. Counter-cyclical action was prompt and effective. Despite falling tax revenues, social transfers were increased, reserve requirements were reduced, public investment went up and private consumption was supported. In overcoming the crisis, local banking practices helped. Tight controls, holding multipliers of the monetary base well below US levels, and greater transparency had left Brazilian banks in much better shape than those in the US, protecting the country from the worst of the financial fall-out. But it was concerted, vigorous state policy that pulled the economy round. Lula’s optimism was functional: told not to be afraid, Brazilians went out and consumed, and demand held up. By the second quarter of 2009, foreign capital was flowing back into the country, and by the end of the year the crisis was over.

...however, while i'm talking to myself, why do old-line marxists always pull sneaky shit like this when they write? god let it go already

Consecration of the new position he had won for his nation came with the formation of the BRIC quartet in 2009, bringing the heads of state of Brazil, Russia, India and China together in one-time Sverdlovsk, with a communiqué calling for a global reserve currency

ahem...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg (Russian: Екатеринбу́рг, also romanized Ekaterinburg), formerly Sverdlovsk (Свердло́вск) is a major city in the central part of Russia, the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast... Between 1924 and 1991, the city was known as Sverdlovsk (Свердло́вск), after the Bolshevik party leader Yakov Sverdlov.

Wrong thread?

nope!

in yr FACE, dowd

http://twitter.com/#!/TheRickWilson/status/55254121749544960

haha jeez

that's the city where nicholas & family were imprisoned and shot. obv the soviets changed all kinds of town names but that one always struck me as kind of ashamed.

ekaterinburg i mean.

I look duly ashamed by my failing to understand the link between the renaming of Soviet cities and US politics. :)

WashPo: "House Republicans huddled late Monday and, according to a GOP aide, gave the speaker an ovation when he informed them that he was advising the House Administration Committee to begin preparing for a possible shutdown."

sorry i was just complaining as an aside about perry anderson's writing

the point was to compare lula to obama, kind of

house republicans eagerly anticipating a short taste of the government free world they urgently seek

Glenn Greenwald today:

One thing is for certain: right now, the Democratic Party is absolutely correct in its assessment that kicking its base is good politics. Why is that? Because they know that they have inculcated their base with sufficient levels of fear and hatred of the GOP, so that no matter how often the Party kicks its base, no matter how often Party leaders break their promises and betray their ostensible values, the base will loyally and dutifully support the Party and its leaders (at least in presidential elections; there is a good case that the Democrats got crushed in 2010 in large part because their base was so unenthusiastic).

In light of that fact, ask yourself this: if you were a Democratic Party official, wouldn't you also ignore -- and, when desirable, step on -- the people who you know will support you no matter what you do to them? That's what a rational, calculating, self-interested, unprincipled Democratic politician should do: accommodate those factions which need accommodating (because their support is in question), while ignoring or scorning the ones whose support is not in question, either because they will never vote for them (the hard-core right) or will dutifully canvass, raise money, and vote for them no matter what (the Democratic base). Anyone who pledges unconditional, absolute fealty to a politician -- especially 18 months before an election -- is guaranteeing their own irrelevance.

It was often said that Bush/Cheney used fear as their principal political weapon -- and they did -- but that's true of the Democratic Party as well. When it comes to their base, Democratic leaders know they will command undying, unbreakable support no matter how many times they kick their base, because of the fear that has been instilled in the base -- not fear of Terrorists or Immigrants (that's the GOP's tactic), but fear of Sarah Palin, the Kochs and the Tea Party

that they have inculcated their base with sufficient levels of fear and hatred of the GOP

Seems to me the GOP have done most of the heavy lifting to make this happen.

i think that's right on, but weirdly only half true. the contemporary american right IS terrifying, and not only the "GOP" but the socially-rooted backlash itself that the official party is trying hard to chase after and domesticate.

greenwald has this funny trait of being unable to heap scorn on one party at once

lol xp

greenwald has this funny trait of being unable to heap scorn on one party at once

Because there's plenty of blog colleagues who heap scorn on the Republicans already?

I read Greenwald these days when I need a slap to remind me why I left the Democratic party years ago.

sucker, I never joined

which means you're probably ahead of me in the bar in heaven.

although I think the only time I haven't voted for a Democrat was 1992, when I voted for my dad for President

(my logic being if I was voting for the person I'd like to see running the country, that person was him, and really screw both Clinton and Bush)

actually that's not true, I've voted Green in local elections several times

i think that in both economics and nat'l security Something Is Happening Here that is bigger and deeper than whatever one half (or the other) of our duopoly is up to in narrow terms.

any day's news will remind me why I'm not a Democrat...

Although I am usually a registered Democrat bcz in NY, the primary is usually the election. (This was until we started having Republican mayors.) However, I may ditch that in the near future, as I imagine our govs, sens and mayors will be scum (and the congresspeople interchangeable) for the rest of my residency.

Well, sure, goole, that's why paranoics like Oliver Stone have something genuine to worry about.

But election-wise we are stuck unless you consider the write-in vote for DJP's Dad an option...

What will Harry Reid do today? Below is from Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent. Reid is supposed to meet with Boehner this afternoon without Obama. Boehner's meeting with Obama apparently included the below:

With a government shutdown looming and budget talks apparently at a standstill, Democratic aides are accusing the GOP of moving the goalposts for compromise yet again.

A senior Senate Democratic aide tells me that in today's private meeting at the White House, Speaker John Boehner signaled to the President and to Harry Reid that Republicans were not willing to support any budget compromise that can't garner the votes of 218 Republicans in the House. That would be a break from the GOP's previous posture: Republican leaders had appeared willing to reach a deal that could pass the House with Republican and Democratic support, even if it meant losing some Republicans.

why the hell don't they call the bluff

218/242

i wonder what the significance of this number is

Hell. I didn't leave the Democratic party so much as they left me.

^Reagan quote

i gave a little money to the obama campaign in 2008 because i figured if i was gonna vote for him i might as well do something that mattered more, and the democratic party sent me a like WELCOME TO THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY! letter and card and like BADGE, and i wasn't sure if i was actually in them or if i was in some kind of ranger-rick junior democratic party deputy club for people who made $20 donations, and i sat down and wrote this sort of mid-sized email like, hey, pulling for you guys in 08 and honestly have been pulling for you guys in every election i've been conscious for, but i don't really actually want to like be in your party because i mean you know the national security state and the corporate domination of the legislature and the betrayal of labor and the rightward collapse of the party system. so i'm not in the democratic party, as far as i know.

but i used to be.

your penultimate post reads like an excised verse from "Losing My Edge."

someone will be writing a three-paragraph exegesis of it any minute now i hope

i sat down and wrote this sort of mid-sized email like, hey, pulling for you guys in 08 and honestly have been pulling for you guys in every election i've been conscious for, but i don't really actually want to like be in your party because i mean you know the national security state and the corporate domination of the legislature and the betrayal of labor and the rightward collapse of the party system.

rofl. did you go through a couple drafts? its really hard to let political parties down gently.

probably would have been better to do it in person

im a registered democrat because when i registered to vote everyone i knew was all about being "independent" and "eff the two party system" or whatever stuff 18-year-olds say so my contrarianism/self-loathing projection kicked in and i registered as a democrat

i'm still registered as a Democrat. i also live in Hudson County NJ where even corpses are registered Democrats and anyway i can still vote in primaries and thereby do my part to keep a check on some of the scuzziest scuzballs that Hudson County tends to puke out onto the world.

i gave up on obama after scotty brown was elected (shoulda given up on him after he appointed geithner -- when it really became clear that The Fix Was On -- but can't turn back the clock).

speaking of dem politics, debbie wasserman-schultz is the new chair of the DNC

And Boehner now wants 40 billion in cuts rather than the 33 he originally proposed.

so, shutdown, then

im a registered democrat because when i registered to vote everyone i knew was all about being "independent" and "eff the two party system" or whatever stuff 18-year-olds say so my contrarianism/self-loathing projection kicked in and i registered as a democrat

― ban drake (the rapper) (max), Tuesday, April 5, 2011 4:29 PM (1 hour ago)

lol otm! same here - other reason is primaries votin

I'm a proud registered Dem, because to 99% of the population, Dem still means what it used to (maybe) mean. Of course, that's part of the problem, but I have no prob identifying as such, despite my frustration. Anyway, xposty, that Greenwald logic is stupid. I'd hazard that Obama is not taking Dems for granted but actually losing the support of both people on the fence and disappointing, jaded supporters blowing off the voting booth.

That's what Greenwald is arguing -- and taking Dems for granted isn't a strategy, just a given, since he assumes most of us will vote for him without question.

I could post this on a baseball thread, but I'll put it here instead. Ross Douthat wrote a column in response to a piece by baseball writer Bill James:

http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/where-are-the-shakespeares-of-topeka/#more-12581

James's response upon being alerted to this by a reader: "Who or What is Ross Douthat?"

I agree that Obama doesn't have to worry about his base voting for another candidate. His problem is disenchanting his base into not voting for anyone.

...thereby ensuring a solid Republican majority in Congress.

for better or worse thats not going to happen. self-identified liberals still support obama by a wide margin; losing his "base" in the sense of the lefty netroots types might be a problem if he had to go through a primary with hillary again. but he wont!

Or it's entirely possible Obama wins but loses the Senate. Reagan's landslide in '84 didn't flip the House to the GOP.

all i care about right now is, will i get my fucking federal tax refund before the end of April?!?

Doesn't the website tell you? If you filed on a certain date, isn't the direct deposit refund scheduled for a particular pay date?

Maybe I shouldn't pay that big tax bill if there isn't going to be anyone to cash the check.

Or it's entirely possible Obama wins but loses the Senate. Reagan's landslide in '84 didn't flip the House to the GOP.

I think this is unlikely given the GOP governor shenanigans and the impending shutdown. GOP is so fucking stupid and self-destructive (well, just destructive in general) it's really breathtaking to behold.

i file tomorrow or thursday ;_;

(more accurately, my accountant files tomorrow or thursday)

there is a scheduled deposit date -- but if the gov't is shut down, then i dunno if they'll make the deposit

His problem is disenchanting his base into not voting for anyone.

Exactly. When elections are won by slim margins, that silent majority sitting on their hands will matter more and more. But then I guess that's the obvious outcome when huge hunks of the population are more or less extraneous to the national debate.

GOPthe American public is so fucking stupid and self-destructive (well, just destructive in general) it's really breathtaking to behold.

fixed

TurboTax = greatest invention ever.

lol yes

otoh this is the kind of GOP bluff-calling I wish had happened back when the Dems had a congressional majority

xp

Never a good idea to underestimate or insult the public, Eisbaer

Oh shit good point about the shut-down. I need to file that, too.

TurboTax = greatest invention ever.

Yup. A couple hours the first week of February, filed everything for me, got my federal kickback a month ago. (Still waiting on NEW YORK STATE, where I don't even live any more, and which is obviously milking my money for whatever pathetic interest they can squeeze out of it before returning it to me.)

I have TT, it got hung up on some state tax numbers where you have to have your data from LAST year. Can't find the paperwork tbh.

no state taxes here. lol Florida. That's why we get eminences like Rick Scott.

you get what you pay for

the feds wasted no time taking a sizable chunk of my money this year :(

i did a freebie filing thing linked from the IRS website. for someone like me (no deductions) it worked very well. also reminded me of the "making work pay" shot in the arm

All right you bastards, I filed my taxes. Fucking Turbo Tax, all this time I thought I had to find my actual paperwork from last year, and you were STORING the information ALL ALONG but weren't telling me.

i've had to go to an accountant the last few years b/c of all sorts of business deductions (and i want/need to have my hand held by someone i can sue if my ass gets audited a tax professional). before that i used TurboTax myself.

ugh, wisconsin state supreme court election results are still undecided, it looks like. record-breaking turnout, and the gap between the conservative incumbent judge (prosser) and kloppenburg is <600 votes.

And in Washington, I'm guessing Dems will go up from 33 toward 40 billion, because caving will look like an adult compromise to them. The question is whether that will even be enough for Boehner's tea party membership.

I forget, is Turbo Tax free? (I know, nothing is)

"disappointing [sic], jaded supporters"

I don't think "jaded" and its connotation of arrogance applies here. No matter that ever exopecting him to be more than a corporatist was a pipe dream, when the prez has thrown your interests in the shitcan on a steady basis and you have little recourse, disappointment and/or disgust is bound to follow.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/04/963244/-Budget-Battle-Royale!

I never expected him to be more than a corporatist - it's the 21st century, we're all corporatists - but I admit I did not expect him to to shitcan (or at least express ambivalence or indifference toward) my interests. Especially when he had such momentum and common sense on his side. Extending the Bush cuts was a final straw for me. Broke my heart. I concede the realities of congress and numbers, but he never really seemed to make much effort to thwart such a prima facia bad vote. Instead of all the passive aggressive dithering, Obama should have lead the charge *demanding* the Bush tax cuts be rolled back, for the sake of the country/future/budget/children. But no, he rolled over and emboldened the opposition even further, while allowing the up-is-down debate to further confuse/turn off an even more hypocritical, selfish, ignorant population.

Obama should have lead the charge *demanding* the Bush tax cuts be rolled back, for the sake of the country/future/budget/children.

^^^ this, x 1,000,000.

Come on, its not like the super rich 'job creator' class have let us down in any significant way over the past few years... j/k

You just have to give them a chance, man. Once the tax refunds start rolling in ...

x-post--you have to pay for turbo tax but sometimes you can get a reimbursement or deduct it as an expense.

I've never understood why Democrats haven't run with "fairness" as a meme

Because "fair" means "equitable" means "wealth redistribution" which means "pinko."

Man somebody ate his Cynic-os today.

Frankly, I'm just happy a local tax referendum was passed yesterday to bolster the school budget for the first time in decades. 55% to 44% or so.

To be fair all UK parties ran on fairness in the last few elections and the distribution of impact from the crisis and recession is much the same.

"Fairness" .. "fat cats doin favors for their friends" .. this stuff should be easy. I know everybody has bought into David Brooks' contention that Americans all imagine themselves as pre-millionaires, but I think those days are done, (if they ever even existed as a legitimate mass phenomenon, which I doubt).

Ed sure, every catchphrase can be deployed cynically or hypocritically but the fact that everyone in the UK wanted a piece of "fairness" proves its potency

The point is more that boehner could come out and call tax cuts fair, call cutting medicare and social security fair. (Fair distribution of limited resources or somesuch)

Chuckie Schumer halfheartedly floated the "fairness" of letting the Bush tax cuts expire for millionaires only around January (or December?), and it went nowhere. cuz it's hard to live on a million.

Americans all imagine themselves as pre-millionaires, but I think those days are done

But see, it's just that easy! Campaign that the fat cats are *preventing* you from becoming a millionaire due to their selfishness and greed.

Paul Ryan to seniors: drop dead

all this haggling over 33-40 billion dollars is some weak theater. 40 billion is fucking chump change.

Meyerson in the Washington Post describes Ryan's proposal as an attempt to "repeal the 20th century"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/whos-hurt-by-paul-ryans-budget-proposal/2011/04/05/AFfP7PlC_story.html

national problem: it's getting really expensive to provide government services, especially health care for the elderly.

ryan solution: don't!

let's just turn them into paste

the fix was in from the get-go with Barry (tip-off to ILXors should've been gabbneb's shameless man-crush on him). the Dems don't run on "fairness" b/c that'll mean they get less money from gay agnostic hedge-funders of color (who'd go GOP for tax/economic reasons if the GOP weren't so homophobic, ignorant and bigoted).

That's a pretty good way to put it. I become more & more fascinated by the moral conditions that were in place in order to support the New Deal & then the Great Society, and what kind of moral slippage we've had since then to make so many people think that we should dismantle those accomplishments. Or at least: there's been such a moral slippage amongst our elite; the general populace still favors a generous welfare state.

My own view is that the accelerating decline of religious belief amongst elites will further propel the dismantling of the welfare state in the USA.

xp to the Post article post

My own view is that the accelerating decline of religious belief amongst elites will further propel the dismantling of the welfare state in the USA.

― Euler, W

Huh?

to ensure that America’s safety net does not become a hammock (from the Post article)

This meme needs to die, like, NOW.

I mean that I think the normal human state of affairs is to be selfish. A welfare state is a construct of capitalism, built on self-interest, & the motivation historically for support that construct was moral: it's the right thing to do. But that moral stance is either directly the result of religious commitments, or a remnant of a religious commitment in one's more or less direct heritage (you were raised that way, or raised amongst such people, for instance). I don't think non-religious capitalists would have any reason to support a welfare state.

x-post-For some naive reason I was surprised that Ryan would actually say that in print. I like that some have responded that the folks chillin in the hammocks are the well-to-do and corporations who Ryan is giving tax cuts to.

To Euler:
Was FDR religious? I am not sure that having a remnant of a religious committment is or was somehow required to support the notion of taking care of those with less(welfare state). Also, lots of conservative folks loudly assert how religious they are and oppose the welfare state (you can assert if you want that they're not really religious or that they're misunderstanding the meaning of religion, but that's just muddying the waters regarding the roots of morality based compassion).

>>folks chillin in the hammocks

Ryan didn't coin this; it's been making the rounds lately and I find its implied -- hell, overt -- racism mindboggling. As if corporations and factory farms aren't beneficiaries of some of the most generous "welfare."

And yeah, the whole religious component is an interesting one, given the ostensibly Evangelical Tea Party have been some of the loudest proponents of gutting the system, and turning "social justice" into code for "liberal agenda."

http://spinstrangenesscharm.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/the-tea-party-as-a-social-justice-movement/

I don't think non-religious capitalists would have any reason to support a welfare state.

Yes, they would, because it's good economics for christssake! I hate this ground-ceding shit where taking care of the least of these "may not be the best move fiscally, but..." because it most certainly is!

I think there's a legit argument to be had about welfare state stuff for the middle class, but when it comes to food stamps, unemployment insurance, the minimum wage, social security, etc. it is definitely in everyone's best interests, including the upper class, to continue these programs.

The 'morality' behind classic capitalism was bolstered by a certain smug Calvinsim but that has often not been the case with other protestant sects nor with many Catholics for whom Caritas was real moral imperative usefully put into practice w/ a welfare system.

The difference between classic liberals and modern 'progressives' was that liberals were decidedly pro-capitalism but that they saw the social utility in unemployment insurance, old-age pensions and healthcare, even if only as a bulwark against the real, illiberal threat of socialism.

michael white beat me to the punch re Catholicism and the welfare state. the Church, for all of its faults, has a strong (and praiseworthy) tradition of emphasizing aid to the poor and unfortunate. when you look to European Christian Democratic parties (an important element of the political right in continental Europe), they strongly support social welfare programs as an outgrowth of this view. to the extent that people today are less willing to accept the Church's authority on any number of things, i can agree with an argument that the decrease in religious belief amongst nominal Catholics would have a ripple effect wr2 support for social welfare policies.

i can't speak for protestants b/c i'm not protestant and have at best scanty knowledge of their traditions and beliefs on these issues.

My own view is that the accelerating decline of religious belief amongst elites will further propel the dismantling of the welfare state in the USA.

I see a silver lining in this.

think it's also important to note that prior to the Depression/New Deal shit was REALLY REALLY BAD for the working class: child labor, no wage controls, no workplace regulation, no health codes. large swathes of the population worked at low-paying jobs that endangered their lives on a daily basis and shortened their lifespan in the long-run. People working themselves literally to death, for next to nothing. This provided a really solid basis for support of a welfare state. And shit just isn't that bad for the majority of votes in this country, who are basically still rich enough to be fat, stupid, and myopic.

in an american context the willingness to support state welfare wasn't driven by catholics alone. richard rorty's grandfather walter rauschenbusch was active on the protestant (baptist) side in the nineteenth century and early twentieth:

http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/htallant/courses/his338/students/kpotter/

the progressive movement was definitely religious! but id think europe--scandinavia in particlar--points toward a model of welfare-state capitalism in a country that largely doesnt participate in religion?

yeah the big wrinkle in this argt is that the party of god in the US is the one taking the welfare state apart.

for 'religion' in this equation, you could sub in 'some sense of solidarity with the broad mass of americans', which i want to say is definitely on the decline, but i don't have a quantity for it or anything

Jews still mostly vote Democrat.

good ol jews

Except for the neo-con ones!

Obama meeting again with Boehner and Reid tonight. Boehner was quoted as still pushing for the policy riders. I hope Obama does not cave on those(Planned Parenthood, EPA, and NPR)

I'm on the run right now so I can't reply back in detail now but I wanted to say quickly that goole's point is a good one, but that in The_West religion has traditionally been the glue of social solidarity & I don't see what else can replace it.

internet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Ibgvv2fv8

can we take bets on the gov't shutdown?

am kinda hoping that Tea Party jokers all come out in FAVOR of the shutdown, since this is their ultimate goal, right? for there to be no federal govt?

2011 US POLITICS PREDICTATRON

i predict a shutdown, not sure on the length, going to go with a full work week.

is there any reason to doubt that this is just going to be 1995 all over again?

I love this implication that Democrats are the primary recipients of social security, medicare, and medicaid.

1995 in what sense? the length, the political ramifications?

the entire scenario! over-reaching GOP nutjobs in the House force a gov't shutdown, gov't shuts down for a couple weeks, public goes apeshit, blames the GOP, Dem president crushes exceptionally weak opponent in next election. the only real variable to me seems to be how big a shift in Congress we might see, and whether the majority tilts back to the Dems.

As far as actual policy goes, this will just poison the well for the rest of the year, and no major legislation will pass on either side.

i gotta say i dont really trust obama to uh "message" well w/ shit like this anymore

on the other hand it seems like structurally people just tend to blame legislatures in these situations and the executive emerges unscathed

either way im REALLY looking forward to the debt-ceiling fight

if the gov't shutdown will those who go unpaid still go to work? will their salaries, soc. security etc be re-paid or will it be lost?

people get IOUs and still go to work iirc. which is great for the economy!

thx

over-reaching GOP nutjobs in the House force a gov't shutdown, gov't shuts down for a couple weeks, public goes apeshit, blames the GOP, Dem president crushes exceptionally weak opponent in next election. the only real variable to me seems to be how big a shift in Congress we might see, and whether the majority tilts back to the Dems.

wouldn't be that surprised to see most of that happen, yep. but there are other scenarios, too. two of the biggest differences between 1995 and now are that:

1) crazy media (angry talk radio/fox) is even more dominant now than it was then. there's a giant echo chamber out there waiting to blame the shutdown on democrats, 100%, no matter what the facts are.

2) the perception of bill clinton's role in 1995 vs. the perception of obama's role in 2011. bill clinton took a hard stand and made newt gingrich look like a little fucker. obama is...going to do whatever...the most people...think he should do?

I'm with max: history doesn't repeat itself in the same ways. Obama is not just a shittier communicator than Bill Clinton, but unable to draw from the same reservoirs of anger and self-pity which made him effective in crisis moments.

1) crazy media (angry talk radio/fox) is even more dominant now than it was then. there's a giant echo chamber out there waiting to blame the shutdown on democrats, 100%, no matter what the facts are.

nah this is pretty much the same. Fox viewership is vastly overstated.

2) the perception of bill clinton's role in 1995 vs. the perception of obama's role in 2011. bill clinton took a hard stand and made newt gingrich look like a little fucker. obama is...going to do whatever...the most people...think he should do?

this is hard to predict tbh. but Obama's gearing up for election so he may break out the demogoguery. I dunno

if the gov't shutdown will those who go unpaid still go to work? will their salaries, soc. security etc be re-paid or will it be lost?

shutdowns are funny because they end up destroying the egos of a lot of people. federal employees are divided into two categories: "essential" and "non-essential". the essentials will go to work and get real paid. the great majority will be designated as "non-essentials", and will not work. in fact, we are BARRED from coming to work, even on a voluntary basis. people are supposed to turn off the blackberries and not even read work-related emails. we will certainly not get paid during a shutdown, if/when it occurs. afterward, there's a chance that we'll get back-pay (as happened in 1995), but that's something congress has to vote on. given the recent past, i would put the chances of us getting back-pay at about -134%

hmmm I guess IOUs are just how it works at the state level (we've done it several times in CA)

And, once again, I'm pretty pissed at cable and broadcast news not bothering to parse the details of Paul Ryan's plan; they're more concerned with the shutdown itself and Who Will Blink First.

via mike konczal, former NEC director bo cutter:

Fourth, if a compromise is reached the Tea Party will think they won that battle. There would be no good reason not to push the limit again in a debt ceiling fight. That fight involves very real dangers; the administration would be forced to err on the cautious side and House Republicans simply do not know enough about the issue to understand how recklessly they are behaving. The way to win the debt ceiling battle is to beat the Republican Congress like a rug in the current fight. The time to win the debt ceiling battle is right now.

http://www.newdeal20.org/2011/04/05/let-the-government-shut-down-40769/

all they have ever cared about and all they will ever care about is DRAMA. substance is for nerds.

xp

may as well link to Krugman's post on the absurdity of the Ryan plan to save everyone one of yr 20:

Paul Ryan's Multiple Unicorns

...So Ryan is claiming that unemployment will plunge right away; that by 2015 it will be down to the levels at the peak of the 1990s boom (and far below anything achieved under the sainted Ronald Reagan); and that by 2021 it will be below 3 percent, a level we haven’t seen in more than half a century. Right.

...Then there’s the Medicare business. According to the CBO analysis, a typical senior would end up spending more than twice as much of his or her own income on health care as under current law. As Dean Baker points out, this means that seniors would end up paying most of their income for health care. Again, right.

But in a way, the worst part isn’t the Medicare plan: it’s the fact — which so far has not penetrated the debate — that the biggest source of supposed savings in the plan isn’t actually health care, it’s an assumption that federal spending on everything except health and Social Security can somehow be squeezed, as a percent of GDP, to a small fraction of current levels.

...Notice the marked area at the bottom: Ryan is assuming that everything aside from health and SS can be squeezed from 12 percent of GDP now to 3 1/2 percent of GDP. That’s bigger than the assumed cut in health care spending relative to baseline; it accounts for all of the projected deficit reduction, since the alleged health savings are all used to finance tax cuts. And how is this supposed to be accomplished? Not explained.

This isn’t a serious proposal; it’s a strange combination of cruelty and insanely wishful thinking.

by this point in the first gov't shutdown, Clinton had already defined what he would fight for (which was unexpected considering his waffling for most of the first two years). What's Obama done besides call Boehner and Reid over for a beer summit?

well, he did re-invite them for another pizza party tonight.

why the hell does obama even want to be president again?

he also made sure to tell everyone to get serious and grow up

why the hell does obama even want to be president again?

this is a good question, honestly

I'M FIRED UP

why the hell does obama even want to be president again?

I will remember this for the next US Politics thread.

the reason i asked about particluar details about the shutdown is that my dad is on social security (and is a tea party symapathizer)

Anyway, this Ryan budget is not being negotiated right now is it? is this for next year? sorry, i've been out of it lately

your dad needs to sacrifice for the good of the country FYI. also some banker needs another ivory backscratcher.

hahaha, that reminds me, the half-hearted way he tried to reintroduce that meme earlier this week was hilarious:

"I'm Fired Up, I Don't Know About Everyone Else"

i stopped even wondering what he's thinking (two strokes paid for by medicare)

xpost

man I don't even remember who ran against Dole in the '96 primary. Was that the year Buchanan bolted the party? I know Perot helped tip the balance to Clinton, Obama won't have that in his favor.

Steve Forbes.

Loved this from TPM:

The Heritage analysis bases its numbers on a "dynamic" model that it says takes into account the explosive growth unleashed by tax cuts. As a number of commentators have noted, it's the same approach that led them to conclude the Bush tax cuts would reduce the deficit and create millions of new jobs -- instead they exploded the deficit and unemployment worsened, eventually skyrocketing.

Krugman also points out that the Heritage Foundation is trying to make it's stupid unemployment projection for the Ryan plan disappear down the memory hole.

ah this fucker

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Alan_Keyes.jpg/116px-Alan_Keyes.jpg

love that this is Keyes's wikipedia photo btw

Again, it doesn't matter who wins in 2012 if Obama caves on this.

really. you're saying it won't matter if Sarah Palin is president.

or Newtie

or Trump lol

Now you're just drunk.

not yet!

http://rlv.zcache.com/newtie_bumper_sticker-p128417796923059406trl0_400.jpg

ROFLZ

A tale as old as time.

stop it you guys are killing me

you can't reverse course now, shakey

you know things are going really well when we're wishing clinton was president again