A Brief Biography: Rita Dove served as Poet Laureate of the United States and Consultant to the Library of Congress from 1993 to 1995 and as Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia from 2004 to 2006. She has received numerous literary and academic honors, among them the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and, more recently, the 2003 Emily Couric Leadership Award, the 2001 Duke Ellington Lifetime Achievement Award, the 1997 Sara Lee Frontrunner Award, the 1997 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, the 1996 Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities and the 1996 National Humanities Medal. In 2006 she received the coveted Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service (together with Anderson Cooper, John Glenn, Mike Nichols and Queen Noor of Jordan — see the press release, newspaper coverage and photos), in 2007 she became a Chubb Fellow at Yale University, in 2008 she was honored with the Library of Virginia’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2009 she received the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal and the Premio Capri (the international prize of the Italian “island of poetry”).
Rosa
How she sat there,
the time right inside a place
so wrong it was ready.
That trim name with
its dream of a bench
to rest on. Her sensible coat.
Doing nothing was the doing:
the clean flame of her gaze
carved by a camera flash.
How she stood up
when they bent down to retrieve
her purse. That courtesy.
The Enactment
“I’m just a girl who people were mean to on a bus. . . . I could have been anybody.”
–Mary Ware, nee Smith
Can’t use no teenager, especially
no poor black trash,
no matter what her parents do
to keep up a living. Can’t use
anyone without sense enough
to bite their tongue.
It’s gotta be a woman,
someone of standing:
peferably shy, preferably married.
And she’s got to know
when the moment’s right.
Stay polite, though her shoulder’s
aching, bus driver
the same one threw her off
twelve years before.
Then all she’s got to do is
sit there, quiet, till
the next moment finds her—and only then
can she open her mouth to ask
Why do you push us around?
and his answer: I don’t know but
the law is the law and you
are under arrest.
She must sit there, and not smile
as they enter to cary her off;she must know who to call
who will know whom else to call
to bail her out . . . and only then
can she stand up and exhale
can she walk out the cell
and down the jail steps
into flashbulbs and
her employer’s white
arms—and go home,
and sit down in the seat
we have prepared for her.
Happy Hump day, Everybody!
Breitbart accuses MSNBC of being controlled by Soros, Podesta, Ayers and Media Matters
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/04/breitbart-accuses-msnbc-of-being-controlled-by-soros-podesta-ayers-and-media-matters/
In a contentious interview with MSNBC’s Martin Bashir Wednesday, Andrew Breitbart accused the network of being controlled by George Soros, John Podesta, Bill Ayers and Media Matters’ Eric Boehlert.
Breitbart also admitted during the interview that he had not watched the entire Shirley Sherrod tape before posting it to his website.
Breibart did not destroy anything except his own credibility. He’s a narcissist pig. He needs the taste slapped out of his mouth. I hope Shirley Sherrod sues his ass to the knees!
Racist Obama Email: Marilyn Davenport Insists It Was Satire
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/20/racist-obama-email-marilyn-davenport_n_851772.html#comments
FULLERTON, Calif. — A Southern California GOP official who sent an email depicting President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee said Wednesday she considered the email political satire – not racist – and would not step down, even as local party leaders called for her resignation and launched an ethics investigation.
Speaking publicly for the first time outside her Fullerton home, Marilyn Davenport read from a written apology she first issued two days ago and said her constituents were urging her not to resign her position on the Republican Party’s Orange County Central Committee.
The press conference came as Obama arrived in San Francisco for a three-day visit that will also bring the president to Los Angeles on Thursday for a fundraising event.
“I feel that it was inappropriate and I offended people,” Davenport said, flanked by her husband and by longtime GOP activist Tim Whitacre, who organized the press event.
“I think it’s only racist when the intent in my heart is to make it that way, and that was not the intent in my heart,” she said.
Satire? Lying bish! Who the hell does she think is buying her bull?
Will.i.am is Joining Forces, Will.u?
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/
Will.i.am is Joining Forces to support America’s military families. Joining Forces is a national initiative to mobilize all sectors of society to give our service members and their families the opportunities and support they have earned. First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden are asking all Americans to get involved in any way they can.
“No act is too small” Will.i.am said in a video message. Watch the video and join Mrs. Obama, Dr. Biden and Will.i.am to recognize, honor, and support our military families. Visit JoiningForces.gov and learn how you can involved.
April 20, 2011
THE KOCHS’ OTHER ELECTION PROPAGANDA…. The infamous Koch brothers were responsible for financing all kinds of election propaganda in advance of the 2010 midterms, mainly through its campaign attack operation, Americans for Prosperity.
But there was another level of election propaganda we didn’t see. It was directed at the far-right billionaires’ employees.
On the eve of the November midterm elections, Koch Industries sent an urgent letter to most of its 50,000 employees advising them on whom to vote for and warning them about the dire consequences to their families, their jobs and their country should they choose to vote otherwise.
The Nation obtained the Koch Industries election packet for Washington State — which included a cover letter from its president and COO, David Robertson; a list of Koch-endorsed state and federal candidates; and an issue of the company newsletter, Discovery, full of alarmist right-wing propaganda.
Legal experts interviewed for this story called the blatant corporate politicking highly unusual, although no longer skirting the edge of legality, thanks to last year’s Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which granted free speech rights to corporations. […]
“This sort of election propaganda seems like a new development,” says UCLA law professor Katherine Stone, who specializes in labor law and who reviewed the Koch Industries election packet for The Nation. “Until Citizens United, this sort of political propaganda was probably not permitted. But after the Citizens United decision, I can imagine it’ll be a lot more common, with restrictions on corporations now lifted.”
I remember an incident from October in which an individual McDonald’s franchise owner in Ohio included voting instructions to his employees with their paychecks. This was a fairly big story, and reeked of voter intimidation, leading to a written apology.
But that was just one fast-food place with a modest staff; Koch Industries is something else entirely.
A month before Election Day, Koch’s COO told company employees, “As Koch company employees, we have a lot at stake in the upcoming election. Each of us is likely to be affected by the outcome on Nov. 2. That is why, for the first time ever, we are mailing our newest edition of Discovery and several other helpful items to the home address of every U.S. employee.” This included a list of candidates, nearly all Republicans, the company believed would “advance policies supporting economic freedom.”
How “helpful.”
Employees were also told if the chosen candidates lost, “the overwhelming majority of the American people will be much worse off if government overspending is allowed to bankrupt the country.”
The Nation talked to some experts who could think of no modern examples of similar corporate electioneering, but the consensus seemed to be that, post Citizens United, this is legally permissible.
—Steve Benen 2:55 PM
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029039.php
PBO is conducting the facebook townhall now. It’s streaming live.
Top Republicans try to scotch birther theories
Peter Wallsten and Krissah Thompson, Tuesday, April 19, 9:29 PM
Top Republicans who see the “birther” movement as a potential harm to their party are again disavowing the disproven conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was born overseas and is ineligible to be president.
The issue seemed to have receded from mainstream debate, but it has reemerged in the party’s early presidential nominating jockeying and in some state capitals. Democrats increasingly see the matter as a potential political boon, firing up an otherwise deflated party base around the sense that the country’s first black president is under fire because of his background.
On Monday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer became the highest-ranking Republican official to confront the matter, vetoing legislation to require presidential candidates to show a birth certificate or other document, such as a circumcision record, to prove eligibility.
The move by Brewer came as real estate mogul Donald Trump has successfully elbowed his way into the top tier of GOP presidential hopefuls largely by questioning whether Obama was born in the United States.
Brewer’s assessment that the bill was “a bridge too far” followed statements in recent days by other senior party officials and strategists who sought to put distance between the GOP and the birther movement — some more bluntly than others.
Karl Rove, the former George W. Bush strategist who advises the pro-GOP group American Crossroads, went on Fox News on Friday night to declare that Trump was “off there in the nutty right” and was a “joke candidate” for making Obama’s birthplace a centerpiece of his possible candidacy.
Likely GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty also have said in recent days that Obama was born in the United States.
Pawlenty even turned the matter into a stump-speech punch line. “Now, I’m not one to question the authenticity of Barack Obama’s birth certificate,” Pawlenty told a tea party rally over the weekend in Iowa. “But when you look at his policies, I do question what planet he’s from.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/top-republican-try-to-scotch-birther-theories/2011/04/19/AFsrhU8D_story.html
IT’S TOO LATE MOFOS. We’ve got VIDEO, VIDEO, VIDEO, GOOGLE, GOOGLE, GOOGLE!
YOU CAN’T PUT THE MOFO GENIE BACK IN THE BOTTLE. TOO PHUCKING LATE!!
U.S. unveils new terrorism alerts, scraps colors
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/20/us-usa-security-alerts-idUSTRE73J32P20110420
(Reuters) – The Obama administration on Wednesday unveiled a new warning system to alert Americans about specific terrorism threats, formally pushing the much-ridiculed color-coded warnings into the trash bin.
The new alerts will warn of either an “imminent threat” or an “elevated threat” with a summary of the potential threat as well as an expiration date. They could be extended, but unlike the old system there will not be an over-arching warning.
“The terrorist threat facing our country has evolved significantly over the past ten years,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement. In February she warned the terrorism threat was at its greatest since 2001.
Paul Ryan Gets Booed By Constituents For Opposing Tax Hikes On Rich (VIDEO)
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), architect of the House GOP’s budget, drew a resounding chorus of boos at a town hall appearance in his district after touting the benefits of tax cuts for the wealthy.
In a video posted by ThinkProgress, an attendee at the event this week told Ryan that he believes the rich should pay higher taxes to help close the deficit and strengthen Social Security.
“The middle class is disappearing right now,” he said. “During this time of prosperity, the top 1 percent was taking about 10 percent of the total annual income, but yet today we are fighting to not let the tax breaks for the wealthy expire?”
Ryan protested that “We do tax the top,” before being drowned out by the audience’s jeers.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/paul-ryan-gets-booed-by-consituents-for-opposing-tax-hikes-on-rich-video.php
April 20, 2011
BIG BUSINESS TO REPUBLICANS: STOP SCREWING AROUND…. In recent weeks, the financial industry and Wall Street executives have pressed Republican leaders on raising the debt ceiling. As far as the industry is concerned, the GOP not only has to step up and do the responsible thing very soon, Republicans shouldn’t even talk about anything to the contrary.
As it turns out, Wall Street isn’t the only natural Republican constituency urging the party to stop screwing around.
The Obama administration will likely have the support of major business groups as it works to round up Republican votes for raising the federal debt ceiling.
Groups such as the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) plan to step up their advocacy for a debt-limit increase as the deadline for congressional action draws closer.
Lobbyists for several major trade associations told The Hill that they have already had discussions with first-term House Republicans about the necessity of lifting the debt ceiling to avoid a default on U.S. debt.
For those who don’t keep up on the world of D.C. lobbying, it’s worth emphasizing that the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Manufacturers are some of Republicans’ closest allies. These business powerhouse organizations tend to be staunch opponents of Democrats and the progressive agenda, and look at the GOP as a close ally, if not a partner.
And all of these business lobbying organizations are telling their Republican friends the same thing: raise the damn debt ceiling.
We have been very upfront. We support an increase in the debt limit. We need to meet our obligations,” said Dorothy Coleman, vice president of tax and domestic economy policy for the NAM. “There is a huge downside to default.” […]
Business lobbyists didn’t mince words when describing what could happen to the economy if the country’s debt ceiling isn’t raised.
“This would be akin to a major international corporation just saying, ‘We are not going pay our bills next week’ — but multiply it a thousand-fold, a million-fold,” [NAW President Dirk Van Dongen] said.
It’s unusual when we see this much unanimity about a controversial policy measure. How often do Democratic leaders, Republican leaders, the Federal Reserve, Treasury officials, economists of all stripes, Wall Street, and Big Business lobbying powerhouses all say they want the same thing at the same time?
With all of this agreement, a resolution should be easy. Indeed, given how infrequently all of these institutions endorse the same idea, this seems like the sort of thing that could be wrapped up in an afternoon.
But when dealing with today’s congressional Republicans, nothing is ever easy. There’s no firm head-count just yet, but by all appearances, a significant chunk of the House and Senate GOP are willing to ignore the collective judgment of sane, self-interested people everywhere, and instead listen to right-wing activists who don’t really know what they’re talking about.
—Steve Benen 10:35 AM
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029032.php
Paul Ryan Booed at GOP Town Hall
BWA HA HA What a liar, and trying to pin his bullshit rhetoric on POTUS.
I’ll post this again.
PAUL RYAN COLLECTED SOCIAL SECURITY CHECKS AFTER HIS FATHER DIED!
READ IT HERE:
http://www.wpri.org/WIInterest/Vol19No2/Schneider19.2.html
Posted at 10:56 AM ET, 04/20/2011
Has the media helped Trump fabricate presidential candidacy out of thin air?
By Greg Sargent
Pew offers the most compelling evidence yet of what’s now become overwhelmingly obvious: The media’s willingness to treat Donald Trump’s candidacy as a real possibility is primarily what has turned his candidacy into a real possibility:
Donald Trump has drawn a lot of attention in a slow-starting race for the GOP nomination. Roughly a quarter of all Americans (26%) name Trump as the possible Republican presidential candidate they have heard most about lately, far more than volunteer any other candidate. Among Republicans, 39% name Trump as most visible — more than all other possible GOP candidates combined.
Trump has shrewdly figured out that the quickest and easiest way to get attention from media outlets and GOP establishment figures alike is to traffic extensively in birther falsehoods. Media outlets have, in fairness, done a good job in debunking Trump’s newly-minted birtherism. But as I noted here the other day, there’s simply no percentage in debunking them — that’s exactly what he wants us to do.
Indeed, Trump’s birther strategy has given rise to what might be called the Trump conundrum: Is there any real point in fact-checking someone who has adopted a deliberate strategy of trafficking in lies in order to get media attention?
As Trump well knows, media attention — positive or negative — is the only currency that counts at this stage of the game. And as the Pew poll bears out, his strategy is working brilliantly.
By Greg Sargent | 10:56 AM ET, 04/20/2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/has-the-media-helped-trump-fabricate-presidential-candidacy-out-of-thin-air/2011/03/03/AFWgcwBE_blog.html
Posted at 12:42 PM ET, 04/20/2011
Three months have passed. Where’s the GOP’s health plan?
By Jonathan Bernstein
Exactly three months ago today, House Republicans promised that they would follow up on their vow to repeal the Affordable Care Act by offering their own solutions to replace it. In a USA Today Op ed on January 20th, they promised to hold hearings, draft legislation, and promote specific remedies to the health care problems they agreed need to be addressed.
We’re still waiting.
The January Op ed came right after the House vote to repeal Obama’s health reform law, and in it, Republicans pledged that repeal was only the opening move in a repeal-and-replace agenda:
Repeal is the first, not the last step. Compassionate, innovative and job-creating health care reform is what’s next.
Dave Camp, John Kline, Paul Ryan, Lamar Smith, and Fred Upton wrote: “Replacing this law is a policy and a moral imperative.” And yet three months later, it’s unclear what, if anything, they’ve done to follow up on this moral imperative. Indeed, their 2012 budget passed last week included “repeal” but nothing at all about “replace.”
Granted, the House Republican budget doesn’t ignore health care. It would make dramatic changes to Medicare in the long-term (while flip-flopping on health reform’s Medicare Advantage cuts that Republicans campaigned on last year). But that does nothing at all to fulfill the specific GOP pledges of “prioritizing affordability, improving transparency, and creating a true, functioning marketplace for health insurance.” Nor does it do anything about pre-existing conditions or “promoting healthier lifestyles.”
And yet Republicans promised to come up with specific ideas to do all these things as part of their vow to repeal and replace. That’s what they ran on in 2010 — not on slashing Medicaid and turning Medicare into a voucher program.
Hey, reporters! Isn’t it time to press Republican leaders what happened
to “replace”?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line
Breaking News Alert: NTSB launches investigation of plane incident involving Michelle Obama
April 20, 2011 12:37:25 PM
—————————————-
The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an official investigation into the incident on Monday where a plane carrying first lady Michelle Obama had to abandon its initial landing attempt at Andrews Air Force Base because it was too close to a military cargo jet.
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/6041ZA/FXQRE4/X8OEMA/EBXXII/UXPJD/QR/h
Investigate!
Something stinks about this whole situation. If a MOFO tryna harm our FLOTUS…. lawdy, hold my earrings, SG2.
Let them try to harm our FLOTUS…All hell would break loose! Hell has no fury…if anyone put a hand on our FLOTUS. That plane was carrying precious cargo! Better recognize!
like I said…
HELL TO THE NAW…
you don’t get to run away from the Birthers..
UH UH
……………………..
Bachmann Gets Cornered On Birtherism: ‘Move On, End Of Story’ (VIDEO)
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) tried to hedge on the matter of birtherism — using the line used by some Republicans who fall short of fully endorsing the conspiracy theory, while saying that Obama should just release his birth certificate (which he already did three years ago). To which George Stephanopoulos answered: Obama has released his birth certificate — and here it is.
During the interview, Stephanopoulos asked Bachmann about how a prominent supporter of hers in Iowa has introduced a “birther bill” in the state legislature, which would require presidential candidates to supply their birth certificates to the state.
“Well, Governor Jan Brewer just vetoed that bill in Arizona,” said Bachman, “because she felt that that was a bridge too far — that it wouldn’t be up to the authenticators in each state to do that, that that would be a federal issue. There is a federal piece of legislation that hasn’t gone anywhere that would also require that candidates put forward their birth certificate. I have no problem giving my birth certificate, it wouldn’t bother me at all. I’ve got one, its authenticated, take it.”
“Well, but so does the president,” Stephanopoulos replied.
“According to the bill a candidate for president or vice president shall attach to and file with the affidavit a copy of the candidate’s birth certificate certified by the appropriate official in the candidate’s state of birth.’
“That’s right,” said Bachmann.
“Well I have the president’s certificate right here,” Stephanopoulos replied. “It’s certified, it’s got a certification number, it’s got the registrar of the state, signed. It’s got a seal on it. And it says: ‘This copy serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceeding.'”
“Well, then that should settle it,” said Bachmann. She added: “That’s what should settle it. I take the president at his word and I think — again I would have no problem and apparently the president wouldn’t, either. Introduce that, we’re done. Move on, end of story.”
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/bachmann-gets-cornered-on-birtherism-move-on-end-of-story-video.php?ref=dcblt
Conservative Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski Draws Big Money Primary Challenge
Despite heated words in progressive circles during the health care vote, House Democrats who bucked the party last year and voted against the Affordable Care Act had little to fear from primary challengers. Until now: Dan Lipinski is facing a highly credible challenge in his Chicago district from the left that could put his health care vote front and center
John Atkinson, a health care activist and insurance executive, is laying the groundwork for a high-spending campaign, reports Politico. Atkinson has not formally announced a run, but calls health care his “threshold issue” and says that Lipinski’s opposition to the ACA “caused me to open my eyes a little bit.”
Atkinson opened some eyes of his own with a huge $535,000 fundraising quarter this year, the most of any Democratic challenger. $270,000 came out of his own pocket.
Lipinski, who is pro-life, voted against the final health care law because he felt its language on abortion wasn’t sufficiently restrictive. He took office in 2005 after succeeding his father, Bill Lipinski, who held the seat for over two decades. The seat is solidly Democratic, voting 64% for President Obama in 2008, providing an opening for a progressive challenger.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/conservative-democratic-rep-dan-lipinski-draws-big-money-primary-challenge.php?ref=dcblt
New Dem PAC Launches Attack Ads Against GOPers Who Voted To End Medicare (AUDIO)
A new political action committee dedicated to ending the Republican majority in the House unveiled its first major ad buy Wednesday — attacking Republicans for voting to end Medicare while giving wealth Americans a tax cut.
“House Republicans are breaking the trust our country has with its seniors by ending Medicare as we know it, making them pay more for prescriptions drugs, and by forcing them to turn to the private health insurance market,” said Alixandria Lapp, Executive Director of House Majority PAC, in a statement. “House Republicans have no problem asking seniors, middle class families and veterans to make sacrifices, yet refuse to do the same for big corporations and millionaires who would receive trillions in new tax breaks. We will hold House Republicans accountable for their backwards priorities.”
The six figure radio buy will target Republicans in 10 districts. You can listen to the audio of the ad targeting Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) below. He gained notoriety recently by complaining that he has a hard time raising a family on his congressional salary.
The other Republicans are Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Rick Crawford (R-AR), Allen West (R-FL), Chip Cravaack (R-MN), Charlie Bass (R-NH), Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY), Joe Heck, R-NV), and Blake Farenthold (R-TX). A separate ad on Spanish language radio will target Rep. Francisco Canseco (R-TX).
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/new-dem-pac-launches-attack-ads-against-gopers-who-voted-to-end-medicare-audio.php
you know how I feel…
wanna dog federal money?
your ass doesn’t need any.
from the Congressman, who has the nerve to vote against earmarks, but then sneak in like a thief in the night, sending those requests to agencies for the money after the vote..
HELLL NO
and, if you’re a Congressman, who votes against healthcare for others..
guess what?
not only does your ass should be cut off from all that evil ‘ guvmint’ healthcare..but, also everyone in your office who works for you …send their asses to the ‘ free market’ with a fucking voucher.
and, now, these mofoing ‘ the stimulus was evil’…’we can secede from the Union’ Governors.
OH HELLLLL NO.
nope…no evil federal monies for you.
…………………………
Republican Governors Quietly Accept Federal Dollars — While Attacking Federal Spending
Republican governors stormed into state houses this January after campaigning against federal spending, and various so-called state bailouts. They won in part by painting a slanted picture of fiscal mismanagement by their Democratic predecessors.
That rhetoric — and the rhetoric of their more senior Republican peers — continues to this day, and occasionally translates into genuinely puzzling acts of malgovernance. Florida Governor Rick Scott, for example, turned down $2.4 billion in federal funds to build a high-speed rail line from Orlando to Tampa.
But in other ways, their failure to publicly embrace additional federal commitments during tough economic times has left them behind the eight ball, politically. As the costs to their states of providing needed social services has risen, and their revenue has fallen, they’re looking for sub rosa ways to take the money without catching flak from their bases.
Shortly after taking office, Ohio’s new governor, John Kasich, spoke with his home state Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Kasich wanted to gently wind down a federal matching funds expansion, which was set to expire, and he wanted government help to do it.
“When the Medicaid money runs out, when the [federal matching] money is all spent, what are we going to do to wind it down?” Brown told me in an interview in February. “And he’s hoping to get some help to wind it down. But I said I think the only way we come up with any money here is if you get — if it’s [Chris] Christie, and [Rick] Snyder in Michigan and you and Scott Walker, and some other governors, but particularly you four saying you want it, and working to get House and Senate Republican support.”
That’s Kasich the governor. Kasich the campaigner practically swore off seeking federal money, and attacked his Democratic rival, then-Gov. Ted Strickland, for “going to Washington on [his] knees with a tin cup begging for somebody else to bail us out.”
“Kasich would probably like the help, but he doesn’t think it’s possible,” Brown said at the time. “I don’t think the will’s here, certainly not on the Republican side. … Kasich was reasonable about it and I’m sure would like some help, as the last FMAP to kind of phase it out. I can say that.”
More recently, Kasich included a line in his two-year budget proposal that assumes the federal government will cut Ohio some slack on interest payments it owes to Washington.
His spokesman Rob Nichols confirms the February conversation with Brown. Nichols told me Kasich plans to make structural changes to Medicaid in light of the fact that there’s not going to be a new federal infusion. More on that plan here. He said he hopes that the federal government provides some lenience on the interest payment Ohio owes, and said Kasich’s ethos about federal stimulus has always been, “do not operate your day to day operations of your government with it — use it to make [one-time] structural improvements.”
This is a pattern that’s repeating itself across the country in comparable incarnations.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/republican-governors-quietly-accept-federal-dollars-despite-spending-attacks.php#more
Republican Governors Quietly Accept Federal Dollars — While Attacking Federal Spending
Thieves in the night! Hell No! Don’t give them a damn thing.
U>me< /o/o adn Gov Rick slick-haired Perry doesn't need any gubment $$$ either.
U>ME< Don't give'em shit. And Gov. Slick-haired Rick Perry, NO gubment $$ for you either.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/live
Facebook Town Hall with President Obama
Facebook Headquarters, Palo Alto, California
April 20, 2011 4:45 PM EDT
Bring us the goods, SG2! :-)
Tyler Perry To Spike Lee: ‘Go Straight To Hell’
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/20/tyler-perry-spike-lee-go-to-hell_n_851344.html#comments
The long-simmering war of words between Tyler Perry and Spike Lee is heating up again.
Perry, in both a message on his website and a press conference to promote “Madea’s Big Happy Family,” hit out against Lee, who in 2009 said, among other things, that Perry’s films “harken back to ‘Amos n’ Andy’.” While Perry’s website message was vague and resilient, defending his work as both spiritually uplifting and fun, his words for Lee were blunt and harsh in the press conference.
“I’m so sick of hearing about damn Spike Lee,” Perry said during the press conference (via Box Office Magazine). “Spike can go straight to hell! You can print that. I am sick of him talking about me, I am sick of him saying, ‘this is a coon, this is a buffoon.’ I am sick of him talking about black people going to see movies. This is what he said: ‘you vote by what you see,’ as if black people don’t know what they want to see.”
Why can’t we ALL just get along. LOL Spike Lee needs to take some Exlax and let it go. THAT.IS.ALL.
Here’s your morning cup of java, SG2: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__j-Yh5rKmeY/Sh2rGgOB69I/AAAAAAAAAjQ/o5mFlyVP8pk/s400/cup-of-coffee.jpg
Drink up!
Thank you!
I need coffee! SG2 is tired this morning.
if BIG HAIR, weren’t leading in GOP Polls, Rove wouldn’t be saying shyt about him
naw, mofos, you don’t get to walk away from the Birthers after encouraging them for 2 years.
you OWN THEM – LOCK, STOCK AND BARRELL
………………..
Karl Rove: I Tried To Offer Trump A Way Out Of The Birther Talk (VIDEO)
Karl Rove, among the big name conservatives who are openly hostile to Donald Trump’s birther-centric sort of-presidential campaign, apparently tried to give Trump a rhetorical way out of his talk about President Obama’s birth certificate.
On Fox News on Monday, Rove described how Trump apparently took the advice to heart — and then immediately ignored it.
It’s the latest round of the war of words between Trump and Rove, which kicked off when Rove told Fox that Trump was “joke candidate.”
Rove told Fox on Monday, as he did last week, that Trump’s lost his way with the birther talk. He said that Trump’s birther focus was “beneath him” and suggested that Trump’s business background could be a real asset to the Republican field.
He even offered Trump a way out of the birther corner he’s painted himself into when, as Rove put it, Trump’s “political guy” called him to complain about the first Fox interview.
Michael Cohen, who ABC News called Trump’s “political pit bull” did not respond to a request for a comment left on his cell phone.
At first, Rove said, team Trump seemed interested in the help Rove offered.
“He told me well it’s not Mr. Trump’s fault. He says the press keeps asking him about it,” Rove said, describing the conversation about birtherism. “I said next time he’s asked about it why doesn’t he say ‘that’s the last I’m going to say about it.’ He called me become a half hour later and said ‘Mr. Trump appreciates your advice and that’s exactly what he’s going to do.'”
And that was the end of that. Until Trump opened his mouth again.
“Then [Trump] goes out yesterday and says, this birth issue — birther issue, the birth certificate issue — is a real big issue,” Rove said. “Fine, go ahead and do that. It marginalizes the guy who has potential to contribute.”
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/karl-rove-i-tried-to-offer-trump-a-way-out-of-the-birther-talk-video.php
THIS: “you OWN THEM – LOCK, STOCK AND BARRELL.”
Fuck Trump and the raggedy-headed carpet he rode in on!
April 19, 2011 The One About Reagan’s Anti-Union Chickens Coming Home To Roost.
There has recently been a tidal wave of Air Traffic Controllers falling asleep on the job, during late night shifts, when often staying awake presents the single most daunting challenge they’ll face all shift.
This has happened in places as diverse as Seattle, Washington; Reno, Nevada; Lubbock, Texas; Knoxville, Tennessee; Washington, D.C. and Miami, Florida.
Needless to say every one is VERY CONCERNED. They are busily harumphing, talking about responsibility, and accountability, and their “watch”, and all the usual things that they talk about whenever something big enough, and bad enough happens long enough to enter into the little bit of the American people’s brainspace not taken over by obsession with what celebrity has a sex tape “leaked” this week, or who is going to win on American Idol.
Some are even actually talking about the underlying cause. Namely that the over night shifts are understaffed (all too often by only one person), and that there are not nearly enough air traffic controllers to go around.
But it seems that almost no one, (and certainly not the main stream media) has the guts to stand up and speak the truth about where the real root of many of these problems lay.
To put it simply, it’s Ronald Reagan’s fault.
In August of 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization declared a strike, seeking things like better working conditions, and a shorter work week.
That’s right the air traffic controllers wanted to work LESS. Because they knew even back then that there was entirely too much risk of an overly tired controller falling asleep.
So Reagan simply ordered the controllers back to work and those that did not comply were fired and blacklisted from Federal jobs in the future.
PATCO was destroyed, and a new, neutered union was born, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
I would imagine that the situation for NATCA is a bit like being Henry the Eighths second wife. I’m sure they have done the best they can to look after their members best interests, but when almost all of the power and leverage is on the side of the FAA, and the airlines and airports such as the ability to summarily implement changes regardless of whether there is any challenge from the union, it means that they are really there more for the illusion of advocating for the Controllers than for the reality of it.
Meanwhile, you have the entire aviation industry being guided by profit motivation above any other, including or perhaps especially safety.
And what happens when these misguided motivations result in mishaps like the recent spate of sleeping controllers? Why spin doctoring and blame placing of course. The head of the FAA going on Fox news and offering no defense while the shows host insinuates that the problem is the Union.
There will be fevered hunts for the cause of the problem for a bit. Until a new problem comes along. All the while the facts will not have changed.
Ronald Reagan destroyed Unions in this country. It’s just that simple.
And today, the Wrong Wing is proudly trying to finish what he started, making it so that there is simply no such thing as a Union, in any meaningful sense. Making it impossible to form or join one.
If they have their way, there will come a day when there is no one speaking up for the workers. A day when no matter what the job, no matter how important it might be, we will be presented with the only choice our self-appointed Corporate Masters wish us to have. Namely, Like It, or Lump It.
Keep The Faith My Brothers And Sisters!
http://theoneabout.posterous.com/the-one-about-reagans-anti-union-chickens-com
Repeat after 3 Chics, IT’S ALL REAGAN’S FAULT!
POTUS TAKES HIS MESSAGE ON THE ROAD…. President Obama’s debt-reduction speech last week was fairly well received by much of the left, in large part because it helped establish a series of contrasts. Congressional Republicans offered a right-wing budget vision, and the president offered a forceful condemnation. The GOP rejects progressive governance, and Obama delivered a spirited defense. Republicans want to eliminate Medicare, and the president ruled out the possibility.
But one speech only helps lay a foundation. It’s imperative that Obama keep reinforcing the message, using his bully pulpit and showing the necessary follow through.
To that end, the president hosted a town-hall event in Annandale, Virginia, yesterday. If there were any fears he’d start to back down from last week’s stance, they were quickly assuaged — the contrasts Obama drew last week have become his principal message.
The president again blamed Republicans for the budget mess:
“For a long time, Washington acted like deficits didn’t matter. A lot of folks promised us a free lunch. So I think everybody needs to recall, we had a surplus back in 2000, 11 short years ago, but then we cut taxes for everybody, including millionaires and billionaires. We fought two wars and we created a new and expensive prescription drug program, and we didn’t pay for any of it.”
And demanded tax increases on the wealthy:
“We can’t just tell the wealthiest among us, ‘You don’t have to do a thing. You just sit there and relax, and everybody else, we’re going to solve this problem.’ Especially when we know that the only way to pay for these tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans is by asking seniors to pay thousands of dollars more for their health care, or cutting children out of Head Start, or doing away with health insurance for millions of Americans on Medicaid — seniors in nursing homes, or poor children, or middle-class families who may have a disabled child, an autistic child. This is not a trade-off that I’m willing to make. It’s not a trade-off that I think most Americans think is fair, no matter what party you belong to. That’s not who we are as a country. We’re better than that.”
I saw someone suggest the other day that the president seems to have “found his voice” again. I hope that’s true, and it certainly seemed to be the case yesterday.
At the same event, the presiednt went on to explain the value in investing in infrastructure:
“So, yes, we’re going to have to save wherever we can; and my proposal makes some tough cuts to some worthy programs and services that if we were in better times I’d continue to fund. But I’ll tell you what I’m not going to do. We’re not going to reduce the deficit by sacrificing investments in our infrastructure. We’re not going to allow our roads and our bridges to grow more and more congested while places like China are building new roads and new airports and thousands of mile of high-speed rail. If we want businesses to locate here in the United States of America and create jobs here, we’ve got to make sure that America is built to compete. We’ve got to have the best roads. We’ve got to have the quickest trains. We have to have the fastest broadband networks. That’s who we are.”
And ruled out GOP demands for education cuts:
Finally — and I know this is near and dear to your hearts — we’re not going to reduce our deficit by cutting education and eliminating college scholarships. In a world where our students face stiff competition from students from other countries, why would we make it harder for you to compete?”
And again denounced the Republican plan to eliminate Medicare:
“The House Republicans just passed a proposal, and their main plan to reduce our long-term deficits and debt is to turn Medicare into a voucher program. What would happen would be that right now seniors, when they get — once they’re on Medicare, you basically are able to get the care that you need and Medicare covers it for you. What would happen under this proposal is you’d get a set amount of money; you could then go out under the private market place and buy insurance, but if the voucher you were getting for $6,000 or $7,000 and the insurance company said it’s going to cost you $12,000, well, you’re going to have to make up that difference. And so it’s estimated by the Congressional Budget Office, which is an independent, bipartisan sort of referee in Congress that determines these things — they figure that seniors would end up paying twice as much for their health care as they are currently. At least twice as much.”
Obama will remain on the road, by the way, participating in a facebook town hall in California today, and another event in Reno, Nevada, tomorrow.
I’d recommend he stick to this message.
—Steve Benen 8:00 AM
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029028.php
President Obama NEVER, EVER lost his voice. He needs more people in his party to SUPPORT his VOICE.
I loved how he spoke on America’s INFRASTRUCTURE and cited the MINNEAPOLIS 35W BRIDGE collaspe of 2007. **LOOKS @ 2012 POTUS CONTENDER FORMER MN GOVERNOR TIM PAWLENTY**
Eclectablog mentioned on Rachel Maddow last night. Congratulations Ecletablog!
Watch here:
http://www.eclectablog.com/2011/04/eclectablog-gets-mentioned-on-rachel.html
He’s been doing a fabulous job covering the horror that is Michigan
He sure has, and deserves the props.
Your’e welcome, Eclectablog! That’s mighty eclectic of you. LOL Keep up the great works. Americans need your voice.
Thanks for the shout-out, Ametia. It was pretty exciting, even if she did call me “Electablog” instead of “Eclectablog”. (Neither of which is your version “Ecletablog” =Þ ) LOL!
Congrats, Eclectablog!
April 20, 2011
BY WIDE MARGINS, AMERICANS OPPOSE REPUBLICAN AGENDA…. To hear congressional Republicans tell it, they have their finger on the pulse of public opinion. The “American people” stand behind the far-right GOP agenda, not those rascally Democrats. After seeing the Greek debt crisis on TV, Americans even support slashing entitlements.
It’s hard to overstate how hopelessly misguided this is. The American mainstream and congressional Republicans have wildly different priorities and beliefs. If the GOP is working under the assumption that voters love its agenda, the party is making a tragic mistake.
A McClatchy-Marist poll released yesterday found a whopping 80% of the country opposes cutting Medicare or Medicaid as part of a deficit-reduction plan. Even among self-described conservatives, 69% want Congress to leave Medicare and Medicaid alone. What’s more, by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, Americans also support raising taxes on the wealthy. What Americans want, in other words, is the opposite of what Republicans are offering.
New data from the Washington Post-ABC News poll bolsters the point.
Despite growing concerns about the country’s long-term fiscal problems and an intensifying debate in Washington about how to deal with them, Americans strongly oppose some of the major remedies under consideration, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The survey finds that Americans prefer to keep Medicare just the way it is. Most also oppose cuts in Medicaid and the defense budget. More than half say they are against small, across-the-board tax increases combined with modest reductions in Medicare and Social Security benefits. Only President Obama’s call to raise tax rates on the wealthiest Americans enjoys solid support.
Opposition to cutting Medicaid is very strong, with 69% against the idea. Opposition to cutting Medicare is even more overwhelming, with 78% opposed. The only popular idea for deficit reduction is “raising taxes on Americans with incomes over 250-thousand dollars a year,” which is endorsed by 72% of the country. Even most rank-and-file Republicans agree with the idea.
The same poll, without identifying names or parties, described Paul Ryan’s House budget plan, as it relates to Medicare. A 65% majority opposes the agenda, and wants Medicare to stay intact.
What’s more a 59% majority wants policymakers to take a balanced approach — some tax increases, some spending cuts — to deficit reduction, which is the opposite of what Republicans think.
In 2009, after a massive misinformation campaign undermined public support for health care reform, congressional Republicans decided that opinion polls are the single most important factor policymakers should consider, especially when dealing with controversial changes to the status quo. For politicians to simply ignore overwhelming poll results was offensive and arrogant, undermining core American ideals like “consent of the governed.”
Here’s a question for those same Republicans, two years later: do you still believe that? And if so, don’t you have a responsibility to scrap your wildly unpopular budget plan?
—Steve Benen 8:30 AM
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029029.php
PAUL RYAN COLLECTED SOCIAL SECURITY CHECKS AFTER HIS FATHER DIED!
READ IT HERE:
http://www.wpri.org/WIInterest/Vol19No2/Schneider19.2.html
Dylan Ratigan Called President Obama A Little Boy! (A Reminder)
This is a blast from the past that I dug up in honor of Dylan Ratigan praising the blatantly racist Andrew Breitbart on his show today. You know, Arianna Huffington’s buddy and co-founder of her sell out rag. Twitter lit up this afternoon during the show as everyone wondered what in the hell is Ratigan doing. I think most know that Ratigan is not a liberal or anything close to a liberal. Doesn’t he look like every bully from every school yard you’ve ever been on. Enjoy this oldie but goodie, I’m heading to a Jeff Beck concert.
Yesterday I posted about Dylan Ratigan’s rant on Morning Joe where he referred to President Obama as a “little boy” and made a reference to him bending over for Wall Street. I commented on many “progressive” blogs about what I had heard and put up a post on this blog. I googled it shortly after I posted and found my post right there at the top of Google’s results. I thought to myself, woe…no one else caught that or if they did, they didn’t think anything of it? W.E.E. See You picked it up and did a post with the video of it. All day long I kept checking the big blogs and nothing, no mention of what I think were incredibly offensive comments towards our president. Not just the “boy” reference, a code word from days gone by, but the lack of respect for the office of the president itself. What a huge insult to the leader of the free world and what it stands for. I wondered if I was the only one who had seen it, are Morning Joe’s ratings so low now that no one is actually watching it? It is the lowest rated morning show on TV, you know?
Now imagine if Rush Limbaugh had said that. What do you think Media Matters would have all over their front page? Daily Kos? Huffington Post? TPM? Why has Dylan Ratigan been given a pass? Is it because he works for MSNBC, the Fox News of the left (according to some, not me)? I certainly had a lot of hits yesterday because of my post, I think it is because so many people saw it and were wondering where the outrage was and Jonathon Capehart linked to my blog as an example of Dylan “getting smacked around”, poor poor Dylan.
Now don’t get me wrong, I support my fellow leftie bloggers for the most part, a few exceptions, but I can’t believe they are ignoring this and letting Ratigan get away with it. His form of populist ranting is the worst kind, you might notice how he keeps reminding us throughout his rants that he is just representing the masses. It’s very subtle, but if you look at a transcript of what he says, he constantly drops in those populist cues. It’s very much a brainwashing technique, ala the Republican spin-meisters. Notice how he makes a general statement that most everyone can agree with, then he sprinkles in his supply-side economics propoganda and then returns to a populist statement. Since the bullshit is couched between two reasonable statements, well then the bullshit must be true too.
I’m not done with Ratigan either, stay tuned for more analysis of this wolf in sheep’s clothing.
http://extremeliberal.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/dylan-ratigan-called-president-obama-a-little-boy-a-reminder/#comment-3329
Who can forget that turd Ratigan calling President Obama a “little boy.” And of course the other blogs weren’t covering it, because they prolly echoed teh same sentiment as Ratigan.
Briebart was making his round yesterday I see. Here’s a video of him on CNN’s In the Arena with Eliot Sptizer last night.
http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/19/andrew-breitbart-doesnt-want-to-react-to-the-news-he-wants-to-drive-the-news-cycle/
Poll: Best way to fight deficits: Raise taxes on the rich
Posted on Monday, April 18, 2011
By Steven Thomma | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — Alarmed by rising national debt and increasingly downbeat about their country’s course, Americans are clear about how they want to attack the government’s runway budget deficits: raise taxes on the wealthy and keep hands off of Medicare and Medicaid.
At the same time, they say that the government should not raise the legal debt ceiling, which the government must do soon to borrow more money, despite warnings that failing to do so would force the government into default, credit markets into turmoil and the economy into a tailspin.
Those are among the findings of a national McClatchy-Marist poll taking the country’s pulse just as President Barack Obama and Congress launch what could be a multi-year debate on the role of government and how to finance it.
Obama heads to northern Virginia on Tuesday and California on Wednesday to pitch his long-term budget proposals, as lawmakers from Congress are taking a spring recess, with most in their home districts.
On tackling the deficit, voters by a margin of 2-to-1 support raising taxes on incomes above $250,000, with 64 percent in favor and 33 percent opposed.
Independents supported higher taxes on the wealthy by 63-34 percent; Democrats by 83-15 percent; and Republicans opposed by 43-54 percent.
Support for higher taxes rose by 5 percentage points after Obama called for that as one element of his deficit-reduction strategy last week. Opposition dropped by 6 points. The poll was conducted before and after the speech.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/04/18/112386/poll-best-way-to-fight-deficits.html#ixzz1K4DyZlBY
Good Morning, Everyone. Happy HUMP day! :-)))
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Good Morning, rikyrah. :-)
Good morning all!!
Mornin’ Dannie!
Inspiration for today….
The LORD is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid?”
Psalm 27:1
Amen