For over 25 years, Michael Rose has been recording and performing his brand of militant, hardcore Jamaican music to the delight of reggae fans around the world. As a solo artist, with Black Uhuru, and back as a solo artist, the “Ruff” Rose has achieved great success throughout his career, even as different Jamaican musical styles have phased in and out of popularity.
Perhaps the highest profile recognition came in 1984, when Michael Rose and the other Black Uhuru members (Duckie Simpson, Puma Jones, Sly Dunbar, and Robbie Shakespeare) won reggae’s first Grammy award for the album, Anthem. But the story doesn’t begin with Black Uhuru. In 1976, Michael Rose was already a seasoned performer, having honed his skills by performing on Jamaica’s hotel circuit.
President Obama: Vote for Cory.
Stand Strong, Mr. President! Rock Steady!
john miller @deaconmill
The people who say, “Our hatred of Obama isn’t racism, b/c he is half white” are same type of people who developed “one drop rule”.
1:55 PM – 14 Oct 2013
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/10/14/163633/64
Will House Republicans allow a retreat?
By Jonathan Bernstein
October 14 at 3:50 pm
New Washington Post/ABC polling confirms everything that we’ve been hearing: the Republican shutdown/debt limit strategy is a total disaster for them, at least as far as immediate public reaction is concerned. The survey finds a massive 21/74 percent approval/disapproval split on Republican handling of the budget negotiations; Barack Obama, on the other hand, has a negative but fairly mild 42/53 split on the budget.
All of this has sparked what appears to be, pending details, a clear retreat by Republicans in the upper chamber. As of this hour, the Senate appears to be very close to an agreement, along the lines that Greg Sargent discussed earlier, to get the government open and the debt limit raised. If Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell agree, then the Senate will surely support it, easily overcoming any last-ditch filibuster from radical Republicans. When the Senate gaveled in earlier this afternoon, both Reid and McConnell said they were optimistic — and in an even more encouraging sign, neither of them trotted out their usual talking points to bash the other side.
Even a 100-0 vote in the Senate, however, doesn’t open the government back up. The House will still have to act. We still haven’t heard any reaction from House Republicans, but reports have John Boehner meeting briefly with Mitch McConnell.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/10/14/will-house-republicans-allow-a-retreat/
Dems dare GOP to provoke another hostage crisis during 2014 elections
By Greg Sargent
October 14 at 12:59 pm
Politico reports that Senate Democratic leaders have offered Republicans a budget compromise:
A Senate Democratic aide confirms to me that this is roughly accurate, but adds some important additional points. For one thing, the aide tells me, Dems will demand a genuine concession in exchange for a medical device tax delay, such as the closing of loopholes on the rich and corporations. Democrats don’t expect Republicans to agree to any real concession, so they don’t expect the medical device tax to be part of the final deal.
Second, and arguably more important, is Dem thinking on the debt limit.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/10/14/dems-dare-gop-to-provoke-another-hostage-crisis-during-2014-elections/
Why that crazy tea party rally matters. A lot.
By Ryan Cooper
October 14 at 11:53 am
With the debt limit deadline only days away and negotiations over resolving the crisis stalled in the Senate, the tea party this weekend staged perhaps the most brazenly ridiculous rally in its short history. While it was of little significance in and of itself, it is starkly indicative of the depth of the GOP breakdown we’re currently witnessing.
The rally was also a reminder that it’s time to start thinking seriously about reforms that would make minimal governance possible in our current predicament.
So here’s what happened. Yesterday morning, a smallish rally of tea party conservatives descended on the World War II memorial on the National Mall, bashed through the barriers that the Park Service had put up, and proceeded to wallow in nuttiness. Their primary grievance appeared to be that Obama had closed down the national parks. So they marched down to the White House and piled up the barriers. CNN reported:
“I call upon all of you to wage a second American nonviolent revolution, to use civil disobedience, and to demand that this president leave town, to get up, to put the Quran down, to get up off his knees, and to figuratively come out with his hands up,” said Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch, a conservative political advocacy group.
Sarah Palin, as well as Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee were in attendance. At least one large Confederate flag made an appearance. Some Republicans actually imagined that this rally was somehow a game changer.
The incoherence on display was truly astonishing, even by tea party standards. Recall that this shutdown/debt limit extortion crisis was the explicit plan of House Republicans. Republicans have openly admitted that such a crisis must be used to get rid of Obamacare precisely because their loss in the last election leaves them no alternative. As Paul Ryan said last month: “The reason this debt limit fight is different is, we don’t have an election around the corner where we feel we are going to win and fix it ourselves…we are stuck with this government another three years.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/10/14/why-that-crazy-tea-party-rally-matters-a-lot/
Hey 3CP!
We can like a comment now! Yay!
HOOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a good thing, but I don’t see it
Oh shit! I don’t see it anymore either. And I was just clicking likes away before it vanished.
WordPress always meddling.
That “Like star” was appearing on other Word Press blogs and has also vanished now from them also.
Panic In the GOP: Disapproval of the Republican Party Hits A New Record High of 74%
By: Jason Easley
Monday, October 14th, 2013, 4:14 pm
A new ABC News/Washington Post is putting more pressure on Republicans to surrender. The poll found that disapproval of the Republican handing of the crisis has reached a record high of 74%.
If last week’s finding that a record 70% of Americans disapproved of the Republican Party’s handing of the government shutdown/debt ceiling scared Republicans, this week’s numbers explain why Mitch McConnell is running to Harry Reid to make a deal. In two weeks, disapproval of the Republican handling of the situation has gone from 60%-74%. A whopping 54% strongly disapprove of the way Republicans are handling the government shutdown and the debt ceiling. Congressional Democrats have a 61% disapproval rating on the handling of the shutdown and debt ceiling, but they are in a much better position than the Republican colleagues.
The Republican Party’s plan to blame all of this on President Obama has failed miserably. It doesn’t matter how many times Republicans refer to “Obama’s shutdown.” The president’s polling remains virtually unchanged. Fifty percent disapproved of the president’s handling of the crisis last week. This week that number has risen three points to 53%. The American people are blaming all of Washington, but they are blaming Obama a whole lot less.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/14/panic-gop-disapproval-republican-party-hits-record-high-74.html
House Republicans Want To Use Default As a Reason to Impeach President Obama
By: Jason Easley
Monday, October 14th, 2013, 11:56 am
With their backs against the wall, House Republicans are threatening to impeach President Obama if the nation falls victim to the default that they caused.
Here is Rep. Louie Gohmert saying that default is an impeachable offense:
The problem is who Gohmert wants to impeach for this.
Lauren Windsor, a reporter for The Young Turks asked Rep. Gohmert if he would support any deal to raise the debt ceiling. He answered, “It just depends on what it is,” he replied. “The word ‘deal’ concerns me… if it’s good for America.” She followed up by asking, “Would you allow us to default on our debt?” Gohmert replied, “No, that would be an impeachable offense by the president.”
Republicans failed to win the presidency in 2012. All of their legislative efforts to repeal the ACA have failed. The Supreme Court upheld the ACA as constitutional. Their attempts to destroy the healthcare reform law through a government shutdown and threats of default have crashed and burned, so some House Republicans have moved towards the pushing the big red button of impeachment.
Republicans have wanted to impeach this president since the moment that he took office. They have claimed that everything that this president has done is an impeachable offense, but even the most basic understanding of the constitutional separation of powers makes it clear that President Obama can’t be impeached for default. Article I Sec.8 of the Constitution gives the power of the purse to Congress. This means if Congress does not pay our bills, that will be violating the Constitution.
If President Obama tried to raise taxes or borrow money on his own to pay our debts, he would be violating the Constitution. Congress has to pay the bills. What Rep. Gohmert is suggesting is that President Obama should be impeached because House Republicans have violated the Constitution.
As Lloyd Carter wrote, House Republicans are trying to pull a backdoor impeachment, “The dance over the debt ceiling and the fight over the government shutdown are nothing less than impeachment on the cheap: a chance to negate the will of the majority by ostensibly placating the letter of the law. Unable to win the last two presidential elections or to persuade a Supreme Court majority that the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional, House Republicans have arrived at a point where default and closure are the next best things. This combustible brew of race, class, and economic anxieties bubbles all too closely to the surface.”
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/14/house-republicans-default-reason-impeach-president-obama.html
Proposed Senate Debt Ceiling Deal Is a Complete Crushing of the Republican Party
By: Jason Easley
Monday, October 14th, 2013, 3:24 pm
Do you want to know what Republicans get out of the proposed Senate debt ceiling deal? Nothing, but a crushing surrender.
Republicans will get no changes to Obamacare. They will get no further spending cuts. The government will be funded until mid-late December, and here’s the kicker according to Greg Sargent, “According to the Democratic aide, Dems are likely to demand a debt limit extension into early summer — nine months, rather than six – with the idea being that the closer to the 2014 elections we get, the harder it will be for Republicans to stage another debt ceiling hostage crisis. Democrats don’t want such a crisis. They would prefer that Republicans simply agree to extend the debt limit cleanly. But by pushing this so deep into the 2014 election season, they are giving themselves a kind of insurance policy that guarantees that if Republicans do stage another debt limit crisis, Republicans will pay a serious political price for it.”
If Republicans want the medical device tax repealed Democrats are going to demand that tax loopholes be closed for the wealthy and corporations, and Senate Democrats are even going to finally get the budget conference that they have asked the House Republicans for 18 times.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/14/proposed-senate-debt-ceiling-deal-complete-crushing-republican-party.html
No shit Sherlock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2uLTy3y9X0
Freudian slip Republicans have “OVER-RICHED.”
During the Obama Presidency Republicans Have Not Made a Single Concession to Help People
By: Rmuse
Monday, October 14th, 2013, 10:57 am
The inordinate desire to possess goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it all for one’s self beyond the dictates of basic comfort is greed, and it also applies to the desire for, and a pursuit of, wealth and power. Republicans exhibit inordinate greed for power over the government, and it explains their four-and-a-half year drive to take everything they can get their greedy hands on from the American people to give to their wealthy corporate and millionaire supporters.
It can hardly be disputed that throughout Barack Obama’s tenure as President, Republicans have not made one concession or presented one piece of legislation to benefit the people, and they have blocked every single attempt by the President and Democrats to help Americans with jobs and sustaining social programs. Despite that Democrats have not asked for, or won, any concessions from the GOP to help the people, a Republican Senator accused Democrats of being greedy for not paying a ransom for Republicans to do the jobs they were sent to Washington to do; fund the government and pay the nation’s debts.
Yesterday, Kentucky Senator and teabag hero Rand Paul accused President Obama and Senate Democrats of not negotiating to open the government or raise the debt limit because they were “getting greedy about this whole thing.” Paul was referring to Democratic demands that Republicans pass a clean continuing resolution to open the government and raise the debt limit unconditionally. It was a typical conservative ploy to project on Democrats and the President what Republicans are doing in holding the government and borrowing limit hostage in their war to control the government.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/14/obama-presidency-republicans-single-concession-people.html
Corker: Republicans are ‘in a bad place’
By Jonathan Easley – 10/14/13 07:44 AM ET
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) on Monday acknowledged that Republicans had taken a severe political hit from the government shutdown, saying the GOP was “in a bad place,” but getting closer to righting the ship.
“Look, we’re in a bad place,” Corker said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “Let’s face it, we all know that the House Republican strategy — that came from a few Senate Republicans, was the strategy that took us to where we are.”
A rash of Republican infighting has boiled over because of the shutdown, as establishment Republicans have stood up to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other members of the Tea Party, blaming them for instigating the showdown without a defined endgame.
Read more: http://thehill.com/video/in-the-news/328289-corker-were-in-a-bad-place#ixzz2hjCdHK5e
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
Source: CNN
A meeting between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders planned for Monday afternoon has been postponed, the White House announced, saying the delay would allow Senate leaders time to continue negotiating a compromise to end the partial government shutdown and avoid a U.S. default as soon as Thursday.
Negotiations heated up Monday on a Senate compromise to end the partial government shutdown and avoid a possible U.S. default, with congressional leaders heading to the White House after talks cited as progress toward a deal.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/14/politics/shutdown-showdown/index.html
Thanks for this update, Ametia.
YVW Watch the whining and ranting about Dems “caving” commence!
I like this
Waving a confederate flag in front of the home where our BLACK First Family lives is considered an act of aggression.These mofos want a fight.
Larry Klayman said President Obama is President of HIS people and this is who Ted Cruz shares the stage with. It’s reprehensible! Racists thugs!
So lemme guess, Larry, the 43 previous presidents where for “THEIR” people (WHITES)
Larry KKKlayman
YES!
OCTOBER 14, 2013
“Confederate flag at a tea party rally? Perfect”
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/national-interest/item/60825-confederate-flag-at-a-tea-party-rally-perfect-
YeP THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY STILL ARE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=cDsKNx0kiQw
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Natty Dreadlocks!
I’m soo crushing on Michael Rose! :)
I’ve watching you, young lady. LOL Of course I’m partial to the island brothas too!
Michael Rose..with his sexy voice. Bow Chica Bow Wow! ;)
LOL @ you two!
;)
Really sad. Makes you wonder what is next for these people, but they can always find a new low.
This is a joke, right?
No it’s not a joke. DU photoshopped the event. The confederate flag was waved and those two racist POS did attend.
How sick!
Sarah Palin is all up in it when it comes to pushing racism. I despise that bottom feeding trash.
I am with you! I totally despise her! From what I have heard of this witch she supposedly ‘got busy’ with a b-ball player who is of the black persuasion. Also she lost out in a beauty pageant to a young lady who is of the black persuasion. I think that she is extremely obsessed with President Obama and she does not want to see any black success at a high level. Her bread definitely isn’t done. Look at those glazed over eyes. I am soooooo glad that God is protecting My President and his family. They (Palin and company) are in major trouble with Him because the President is one of His Anointed and He said “Touch NOT My Anointed”. Palin is beyond ignorant and her ship will sink!
I agree. I hate to bring this up but I remember in 08 Stephanie Tubbs Jones coming on MSNBC and mocking then Senator Obama and actually called him a foreigner…saying I have no shame with people looking at Barack Obama in the clothing of his country. And right before he sealed the Democratic Nomination..she was dead.
@SGS Karma ALWAYS collect what’s owed her!
Totally!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-maReQCdTuY
“JOE MINTER’S YARD”
http://clui.org/ludb/site/joe-minters-yard
New York Times article — “Scrap-Iron Elegy”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/garden/joe-minters-african-village-in-america.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://allafrica.com/stories/201310140317.html
I have read most of Peter Abrahams books.
I recommend “Tell Freedom…Memories of Africa” and “Return to Goli”.
From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Abrahams
http://www.webpronews.com/are-police-dogs-of-the-lapd-racist-2013-10
NO; the owner/handlers are
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/oct/13/tallest-tree-forest-daniel-beaty-playhouse-review/
The sudden importance of the ‘s’ word
By Steve Benen
–
Mon Oct 14, 2013 9:49 AM EDT
Over the weekend, there was quite a bit of attention focused on competing plans to end the crises in Washington. Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) and Sen. Susan Collins’ (R-Maine) plans were both rejected because they called on Democrats to make concessions in exchange for nothing. But what about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) plan?
It didn’t generate as much chatter, but McConnell, who began talks with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Saturday, quietly floated a deal of his own: Republicans would agree to end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, if only Democrats agreed to accept sequestration-level spending for a long while. Dems balked.
It’s an issue that’s been on the periphery lately, but right now, the dreaded “sequester” matters a great deal.
Exactly. It’s been an open secret, but congressional Democrats have long planned to quickly make a transition — as soon as the government is open and the debt ceiling is raised, Dems want to use bipartisan talks to replace the sequestration policy, or at least mitigate its effects. It’s why there’s been some debate about the calendar — House Republicans originally planned to fund the government through mid-December, while Senate Democrats pushed for mid-November. The latter doesn’t want to keep the deliberately painful sequestration policy around any longer than absolutely necessary.
And in the process, a new front in the larger fight has taken shape.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/10/14/20959836-the-sudden-importance-of-the-s-word?lite
2 University of Chicago professors share Nobel Prize in economics
BY STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporter October 14, 2013 7:08AM
During his five decades at the University of Chicago, Eugene Fama’s name had often come up as someone in the running for the Nobel prize for economics.
But the Famas thought perhaps it would never happen.
People have talked about it for a long time, but so many people can win it,” Fama, 74, said Monday morning, after the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Fama and fellow U. of C. professor Lars Peter Hansen had won this year’s prize , along with Robert Shiller, a Yale University professor. “You put a low probability on it. So when it happens, it’s a surprise.”
Fama described himself as “thrilled,” particularly since he’s sharing the honor with his colleague at the U. of C.
He said had probably received 100 phone calls early Monday morning. He initially couldn’t talk to a Chicago Sun-Times reporter because he’d taken a moment to brush his teeth.
“We called all our kids and all our relatives and all our friends,” said Fama’s wife, Sallyanna Fama. “It’s just a big shock for us. It’s been years that we expected to win and haven’t — and we gave up.”
…………………….
In addition to Hansen and Fama, the U. of C. has four current faculty members who have won the Nobel prize for economics. Twenty-eight people associated with U. of C. have now won the economics prize.
http://www.suntimes.com/23141049-761/2-university-of-chicago-professors-share-nobel-prize-in-economics.html
A way out of the crisis
By Greg Sargent
October 14 at 9:06 am
With the debt limit deadline only days away, negotiations are stalled in the Senate over what looks to be the only way out of the crisis. The current plan that is the focus of talks would reopen the government at sequester spending levels until at least January 15th, lift the debt limit until January 31st, delay the medical device tax, and require both sides to enter formal budget talks. Dems are insisting on replacing the sequester with higher spending levels. But Republicans are balking.
So here’s what Dems should do. If Republicans refuse to budge off their insistence on lower spending levels, Dems should call their bluff by demanding a permanent disabling of the debt limit as an extortion tool as part of any short-term compromise. (Yes, Republicans will say No. But bear with me.)
If, somehow, a deal is reached this week in the Senate that involves Republicans giving ground on spending levels, Dems should make the push for a permanent disabling of the debt limit a key goal in the next round of formal, long term negotiations.
In the short term, if Dems accept sequester level spending into early next year in exchange for permanent disabling of the debt limit, it would not be an awful outcome. (Right now they’re prepared to accept sequester spending into late November.) Indeed, Norman Ornstein, a Congressional scholar who regularly decries the impact debt limit extortion has on our system, tells me he sees this as an “excellent deal.”
Such a permanent disabling could be accomplished via the previously-floated McConnell Provision, which would transfer authority over the debt limit to the president, while giving Congress a symbolic way to vote to disapprove of any hikes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/10/14/a-way-out-of-the-crisis/
Monday, Oct 14, 2013 06:45 AM CST
Debt limit defeat turns conservatives into neo-Confederate fantasists
A deal is close and the contours are clear. The Tea Party has been routed: So why are true believers delusional?
By Brian Beutler
There are apparently two ways to interpret the debt limit fight, now in its waning hours. One, based on the comically small zone of disagreement between principals, suggests the entire stand off has been a bunch of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Another, based on the sensational fantasies of movement conservatives, re-imagines the drama as a Battle of Gettysburg for the 21st century.
There’s an inverse relationship between these two perspectives. With the deadline approaching, it’s natural that the parties are now haggling over relatively minor details. But the proximity of a resolution is making dead-enders desperate and thus prone to delusion.
Here’s what they’re telling National Review’s Robert Costa.
This is a big story; House conservatives tell me it’s a “game-changer,” gives Right new momentum ahead of this week http://t.co/QRzlHrjOcf
— Robert Costa (@robertcostaNRO) October 13, 2013
The article is by the Associated Press, but the picture above it really tells the whole story. Conservatives see Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz and imagine a national groundswell is forming. They do not perceive two widely loathed politicians who bespeak the House GOP’s total isolation so exquisitely. They believe the latest small crowd of white conservatives protesting the closure of war monuments (which would be open had they not shut down the government) will upend the whole debate and reverse the tide of public opinion against them.
Or at least they believed it.
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/14/debt_limit_defeat_turns_conservative_into_neo_confederate_fantasists/
Mostly what we did was pray and sing.”
Posted by Kay at 9:05 am
Oct 142013
The Moral Monday protestors who were arrested were offered a deal, which many of them didn’t take:
It’s good they didn’t take the deal, because the testimony at trial has been interesting:
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2013/10/14/mostly-what-we-did-was-pray-and-sing/#comment-4663629
The Inevitable Republican Collapse That Will End the Shutdown The grim, angry, loopy, and predetermined conclusion to Washington’s crisis
BY NOAM SCHEIBER
Setting aside the hourly thrust and parry between Democrats and Republicans, here’s how the shutdown is likely to end: Senate Majority Harry Reid is going to strike a deal with his Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell at some point in the next few days. The deal will reopen the government for a medium length of time—possibly till January 15, when the next round of sequester cuts kick in—giving the two sides time to replace the sequester with something more appealing. The deal will also raise the debt ceiling—maybe for as little as a few months, maybe until after the 2014 election. Reid will give up almost no concessions in return for any of this, with the exception of one or two symbolic items, and he’ll probably get some higher-than-sequester level of government funding (a top Democratic priority) for a month or two starting later this year. Pretty much every Democrat in the Senate will vote for the deal, along with at least five and maybe as many as 20 Republicans.
As the minutes tick away toward default this Thursday, the Reid-McConnell arrangement will be the only deal in town. With no alternative to avoiding a default, House Speaker John Boehner will add some small face-saving alteration and bring it to the floor, where it will pass with several dozen Republican votes and a large majority of Democrats. In doing so, Boehner will reprise the same formula he deployed in resolving last year’s fiscal cliff fight. I know this because it’s how the GOP has gotten out of pretty much every self-inflicted PR disaster of the Obama era, and it’s where the best reporting available suggests we’re headed today.
Of course, I could be wrong on the details. If Reid plays his hand especially well, he may do a bit better—erasing more of the sequester now rather than deferring that task till later. If McConnell plays his hand especially well, he may get some slightly bigger concessions, like a delay or repeal of the tax on medical devices that was enacted under Obamacare. But those are the basic contours of what a deal will look like, and they’re notable for what they almost certainly won’t include: anything that has more than a trivial effect on Obamacare, any cuts to entitlements as the price of reopening the government or raising the debt ceiling (though Democrats may give a bit on entitlements in exchange for ending the sequester and some new revenue). Which is to say, the deal will include none the key demands the Republicans were hoping to achieve by shutting down the government.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115171/shutdown-2013-deal-will-end-it
Contraception restrictions remain a top Republican priority
By Steve Benen
–
Mon Oct 14, 2013 9:12 AM EDT
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), arguably the last moderate Republican in Congress, thought she’d offered Democrats a credible solution to the ongoing crises. The Maine senator told reporters yesterday she “bent over backwards” to try to work something out, before Democrats rejected her idea.
There were, however, two problems. The first is that Collins’ plan called on Democrats to make concessions in exchange for nothing — her idea would reopen the government for six months, raise the debt ceiling for a year, and require Democrats to accept sequestration levels and throw in a two-year delay of the medical-device tax in the Affordable Care Act. It was a one-sided deal — Democrats would make some concessions, while Republicans made none.
The second problem is that even if Senate Democrats took Collins’ slanted deal, it wouldn’t have made a difference since House Republicans said they’d refuse to even bring the bill to the floor. And why’s that? Because House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is thinking ahead.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/10/14/20959509-contraception-restrictions-remain-a-top-republican-priority?lite
GOP turns to Palin, Cruz on shutdown
By Steve Benen
–
Mon Oct 14, 2013 8:35 AM EDT
The government shutdown hasn’t gone quite the way Republicans had hoped. The party’s national support has cratered; the public holds them responsible for a wildly unpopular crisis; and it’s going to take a while for the GOP to recover from a self-inflicted wound this severe.
But no one should assume they’ve hit rock bottom. Yesterday’s theatrics in Washington were a reminder that the Republican Party’s far-right wing can still make matters worse
Brilliant. Flailing Republicans lack leaders and direction, but they’ll certainly get back on track now that the former half-term governor of Alaska is stepping out in front.
I’m not sure who was more delighted to see Palin and Cruz whining at a memorial Republicans closed when they shut down the government: far-right activists or the Democratic National Committee.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/10/14/20959227-gop-turns-to-palin-cruz-on-shutdown?lite
Obamacare: The Rest of the Story
By BILL KELLER
Published: October 13, 2013
Unless you’ve been bamboozled by the frantic fictions of the right wing, you know that the Affordable Care Act, familiarly known as Obamacare, has begun to accomplish its first goal: enrolling millions of uninsured Americans, many of whom have been living one medical emergency away from the poorhouse. You realize those computer failures that have hampered sign-ups in the early days — to the smug delight of the critics — confirm that there is enormous popular demand. You have probably figured out that the real mission of the Republican extortionists and their big-money backers was to scuttle the law before most Americans recognized it as a godsend and rendered it politically untouchable.
What you may not know is that the Affordable Care Act is also beginning, with little fanfare, to accomplish its second great goal: to promote reforms to our overpriced, underperforming health care system. Irony of ironies, the people who ought to be most vigorously applauding this success story are Republicans, because it is being done not by government decree but almost entirely with market incentives.
Using mainly the marketplace clout of Medicare and some seed money, the new law has spurred innovation and efficiency. And while those new insurance exchanges that are now lurching into business will touch roughly 1 in 10 Americans (the rest of us are already covered by private employer plans or by government programs like Medicare), these systemic reforms potentially touch every patient, every taxpayer.
“This is the 90 percent of the story that doesn’t make the headlines,” said Sam Glick, who follows health care reform for the Oliver Wyman consulting firm.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/opinion/keller-obamacare-the-rest-of-the-story.html?_r=2&
Our experience with Obamacare
Posted on September 26, 2013 by mwolske
The following is a letter sent to Representative Rodney Davis, Senators Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk, and President Obama, as well as to the editorial section of the News Gazette.
—————————————–
This past Monday while driving his motorcycle back to Champaign from Makanda, IL, our 23-year-old son, Eric, was hit by a minivan. His left femur was broken and the ankle and foot were shattered. But he had no trauma to his head, spine, or other appendages. He remained alert as he was moved to an ambulance, and subsequently to a helicopter. He was flown from Effingham, where the accident happened, to St. John’s hospital in Springfield. His femur has been repaired and will recover, but he will loose his lower leg below his knee. With prosthesis, he will likely be able to do almost everything he had been doing as an active young man.
While in the emergency room awaiting the surgery to repair the femur and assess the rest of the leg, he asked how much this all would cost. Fortunately, this accident happened after the portion of Obamacare took effect that allows children to remain on their parent’s plan until they are 26. I grew up rural poor and did not have insurance. But I’ve been fortunate to be part of the upwardly mobile in the U.S. and now have good insurance through my position as a senior research scientist at the University of Illinois. When I cut my finger to the bone in an accident as a child, I had my uncle, who had been a medic in Korea, wrap it at home. Now, my son can receive world-class care from the doctors, nurses, and therapists here at St. John’s without having the stress of long-term financial debt looming.
My work through the University has brought me into engagement with many community members who will be benefiting from Obamacare. This week, our family personally saw benefits of the plan. The traumatic event of the accident will be life changing but ultimately will not keep our son from achieving his dreams of becoming a leader within a community helping to build a more sustainable approach to agriculture. Trying to piecemeal together funds to cover the costs of the hospital stay, surgeries, prosthesis, and extended therapy from his vehicle insurance, federal programs, and bank loans, would have been crippling. Obamacare is not perfect and needs modifications to become better. It needs participants from both sides of the isle to come together with a critical eye to strengthen good components, add missing aspects, and remove unworkable pieces. What it does not need is to be defunded. All of us benefit when people, not just vehicles and homes, have quality insurance.
Martin and Angie Wolske
http://mwolske.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/our-experience-with-obamacare/
Overall, Obama Has Done More For Veterans Than Any President In the Past 30 Years.
Republicans and conservatives have spent 4 years spreading the lie that President Obama hasn’t done anything for veterans. They have repeated it 100x per day for all 4 years and spent millions promoting their lies. The thing about records is that they are recorded. So let’s set the record straight.
Quick Overview:
Initiated a new policy to promote federal hiring of military spouses. ref, ref
Improved benefits for veterans. ref, ref, ref, ref
Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development . ref
Worked to clear the backlog of veterans claims and streamline benefits to those who served. ref
Provided for the expenses of families of to be at Dover AFB when fallen soldiers arrive.ref
Donated 250K of Nobel prize money to Fisher House. ref
Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009. ref
Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2009. ref
Medal of Honor Commemorative Coin Act of 2009. ref
Promoted a bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots (“WASP”). ref
Ended media blackout on war casualties; reporting full information. ref , ref, ref , ref
Military Spouses Residency Relief Act. ref
Improved basic housing allowance for military personnel. ref
Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010. ref
Provided minimum essential health care coverage by Veteran’s Affairs. ref
Authorized construction/opening of additional health centers to care for veterans. ref
Korean War Veterans Recognition Act. ref
Blinded Veterans Association. ref
Major Charles R. Soltes, Jr., O.D. Department of Veterans Affairs Blind Rehabilitation Center. ref
Improved access for Veterans to receive PTSD treatment. ref
Green Vet Initiative to promote environmental jobs for veterans. ref
http://exposingreligionblog.tumblr.com/post/34790853235
The Dixiecrat Solution
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: October 13, 2013
So you have this neighbor who has been making your life hell. First he tied you up with a spurious lawsuit; you’re both suffering from huge legal bills. Then he threatened bodily harm to your family. Now, however, he says he’s willing to compromise: He’ll call off the lawsuit, which is to his advantage as well as yours. But in return you must give him your car. Oh, and he’ll stop threatening your family — but only for a week, after which the threats will resume.
Not much of an offer, is it? But here’s the kicker: Your neighbor’s relatives, who have been egging him on, are furious that he didn’t also demand that you kill your dog.
And now you understand the current state of budget negotiations.
Stocks surged last Friday in the belief that House Republicans were getting ready to back down on their ransom demands over the government shutdown and the debt ceiling. But what Republicans were actually offering, it seems, was the “compromise” Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, laid out in a Wall Street Journal op-ed article: rolling back some of the “sequester” budget cuts — which both parties dislike; cuts in Medicare, but with no quid pro quo in the form of higher revenue; and only a temporary fix on the debt ceiling, so that we would soon find ourselves in crisis again.
I do not think that word “compromise” means what Mr. Ryan thinks it means. Above all, he failed to offer the one thing the White House won’t, can’t bend on: an end to extortion over the debt ceiling. Yet even this ludicrously unbalanced offer was too much for conservative activists, who lambasted Mr. Ryan for basically leaving health reform intact.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/opinion/krugman-the-dixiecrat-solution.html?hp&_r=0
from Wikipedia
You can see his art at this link:
http://www.riccomaresca.com/portfolio/sam-doyle/
More paintings by Sam Doyle:
http://www.yourislandnews.com/2013/09/05/sam-doyle-self-taught-genius/
http://northbysouth.kenyon.edu/1998/art/doylefb.jpg
http://www.riccomaresca.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/sam_doyle_ricco_maresca_gallery_new_york.jpg?1362002335116
http://www.wnyc.org/i/620/372/c/80/photologue/photos/IMG_4632%20%28640×480%29.jpg
http://p2.la-img.com/355/26920/10127850_1_l.jpg
October 13, 2013 8:00 AM
“Delivery costs, declining readership buffet African-American newspapers”
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20131013/NEWS/310139946/delivery-costs-declining-readership-buffet-african-american
At Yale
“Inflammatory graffiti found in African American Studies department”
http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2013/10/14/inflammatory-graffiti-found/
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/california-african-american-museum-honors-648125
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/scientific-american-writer-called-urban-whore-refusing-work-free-video
National News Alert
Three Americans win Nobel Prize in economicsAmericans Eugene Fama, Lars Peter Hansen and Robert Shiller have won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Monday announced the final 2013 Nobel Prize, honoring the three “for their empirical analysis of asset prices.”
Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/3-americans-win-economics-nobel-for-analysis-of-asset-prices/2013/10/14/c487efbc-34c0-11e3-89db-8002ba99b894_story.html
Good Morning, Everyone! :-)))
Good Morning, Ametia and Everybody!
http://lscotthoughts.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/az-photo-sunrise-poem-2013-final.jpg
Good Morning, Everyone at 3CHICS!
Good morning, everyone!
Have a happy Monday!
This Week in God
By Steve Benen – Sat Oct 12, 2013 9:55 AM EDT
281
Associated Press
First up from the God Machine this week is a special kind of elected member of Congress who is convinced that President Obama may be ushering in a Biblical apocalypse. You get one guess as to which member of Congress is espousing this theory.
If you said, “Hey, that sounds like the sort of madness we might hear from Michele Bachmann,” give yourself a prize.
In an interview with Understanding the Times host Jan Markell on Saturday, Rep. Michele Bachmann accused President Obama of giving aid to Al Qaeda, which she said is proof that we are living in the Last Days. Of course, on the same day Bachmann gave the interview, a Delta Force operation approved by Obama nabbed a key Al Qaeda figure in Libya.
But according to Bachmann, Obama is now championing the terrorist group.
The Minnesota congresswoman referred to a decision by the Obama administration to allow vetted Syrian rebels not affiliated with terrorist organizations to help them resist chemical weapons attacks, which was spurred by the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons on civilians.
The right-wing Minnesotan said the president unilaterally “waived a ban on arming terrorists” — a development that did not occur in this reality — in order to “give arms” to al Qaeda, which also did not occur. Based on these imaginary events, which Bachmann perceives as real, the congresswoman openly speculated about the End of Days.
“[W]hat this says to me, I’m a believer in Jesus Christ, as I look at the End Times scripture, this says to me that the leaf is on the fig tree and we are to understand the signs of the times, which is your ministry, we are to understand where we are in God’s end times history,” Bachmann said. “Rather than seeing this as a negative, we need to rejoice, Maranatha Come Lord Jesus, His day is at hand. When we see up is down and right is called wrong, when this is happening, we were told this; these days would be as the days of Noah.”
It’s worth noting that House Republican leaders gave Bachmann a position on the House Intelligence Committee, giving her access to the nation’s most sensitive and highly classified materials, despite her apparent instabilities.
Indeed, as tempting as it may be to chuckle at Bachmann’s more fanciful delusions, let’s not forget that she’s an elected federal lawmakers who, for a brief while, was considered a competitive Republican presidential candidate.
Also from the God Machine this week:
* As Salon’s Katie McDonough noted the other day, Internet TV host Glenn Beck told his audience this week that parents should use verbal abuse and physical intimidation to teach their children that their rights “come from God” by getting “in their face” and making them cry. That sounds delightful and inspirational, doesn’t it?
* I don’t even know where to start with this story out of New Jersey: “In a bizarre case involving threats of kidnapping, beatings and physical torture — including the use of an electric cattle prod — two rabbis were charged in New Jersey on Wednesday in a scheme to force men to grant their wives religious divorces. Two others were also charged in the case, which grew out of an undercover sting operation involving a female FBI agent who posed as a member of the Orthodox community seeking a divorce” (thanks to reader R.P. for the tip).
* And radical TV preacher Pat Robertson told his viewers this week that they may unknowingly have demonic household items that will cause headaches. “What is important is: were these objects actually used in some kind of Satanic ritual? Some occult practice? If that’s the case, then there might be some demonic force that attaches to that which was used in pagan worship,” Robertson said. Good to know.
In the midst of crises, chaos grips Congress
By Steve Benen – Sun Oct 13, 2013 11:17 AM EDT
142
Associated Press
I’d thought about creating some kind of flow chart to capture ongoing developments in Capitol Hill, but quickly gave up. As Jonathan Cohn noted, it would have simply been too messy.
By my count, no less than four separate conversations are taking place right now: The White House is talking to House Republicans and, separately, it to Senate Republicans. In the Senate, moderate Republicans are talking to the Democratic leadership. In the House, Republicans from the party’s extreme wing are talking to Republicans from the not-so-extreme wing, all under the watchful eye of the caucus leaders.
And that’s just the official dialogue. Staff and outside interest groups are talking amongst themselves. The subject of these talks include myriad variations on how to write a bill reopening the government and giving it new borrowing authority, for different durations of time and under different conditions — or no conditions at all.
That ought to clear things up, right?
It’s been nearly two weeks since congressional Republicans shut down the government, and we’re just days from a debt-ceiling calamity, suggesting policymakers should theoretically be working towards some kind of resolution. But while there was a flurry of activity yesterday, it was largely a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.
House Republicans, for example, thought they’d presented the White House with a credible offer: Congress would temporarily raise the debt ceiling, the government would remain closed, Democrats would accept Medicare and/or Social Security cuts, and the severity of the sequestration cuts that neither party likes would be eased. President Obama declared this a joke, told House GOP leaders he could probably get a better offer from Senate Republicans, and so dejected House members promptly left Capitol Hill yesterday.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), meanwhile, thought she too had come up with a solution: Congress would reopen the government for six months and raise the debt limit for a year. Democrats would have to accept sequestration levels and throw in a two-year delay of the medical-device tax in the Affordable Care Act, and in exchange, Republicans would concede nothing. Yesterday, Democrats rejected this as wholly unacceptable, too.
And as a practical matter, it doesn’t much matter that Dems didn’t like it, since House Republicans said they’d refuse to even vote on the Collins plan — a plan in which Republicans give up nothing except temporary hold on some hostages — even if the Senate approved it and even if House GOP leaders could tolerate it.
So what happens now?
With House members having given up, at least for now, talks are now underway between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). What, if anything, they can expect to accomplish is unclear.
And even if they reached some sort of resolution, it may not matter, since House Republicans still appear to be in a sociopathic mood, and may simply reject anything that emerges from the upper chamber, no matter the consequences.
The anxiety levels are exceedingly high.
For what it’s worth, I remain fond of the “Congress does its job” plan. It goes like this: the government needs to be funded, and since the parties already agree on funding levels, Congress should do its job and reopen the government — neither side makes demands, neither side takes a hostage, neither side asks for concessions from the other, and neither side relies on extortion.
Similarly, the nation needs to pay its bills, and since the parties already agree that default would be catastrophic, Congress should do its job and extend the Treasury’s borrowing authority — neither side makes demands, neither side takes a hostage, neither side asks for concessions from the other, and neither side relies on extortion.
For reasons that only make sense to them, Republicans consider the “Congress does its job” plan to be wildly offensive and a proposal so outrageous, they’d rather hurt Americans on purpose than vote for it.
Tick tock.