Government shut down…impending debt defaults that could drive us into a recession, if not depression…. idiots in Congress with no grasp of reality or social conscience…..
Sounds like we need Fred and Ginger, to me!
Category Archives: Congress
State by State Impacts of Sequestration: Or How Bad GOP Policy Will Hurt You and Your Friends
There is a great page at the Washington Post showing the real, state by state, impacts of the Sequester that kicked in yesterday.
The Sequester which no one seems to be paying much attention to yet.
This is another one of those unnecessary crises that Washington Republicans specialize in creating.
And, of course, they don’t care in the least about the impacts on people or government services that help and protect us all. All they care about is choking off as many of these government services as possible to align with their doctrinaire, Conservative ideologue, Washington-bubble induced vision that all government is bad….
Maybe it will take the people feeling the impacts of these arbitrary cuts to realize how important government programs are for all of us….
It’s a shame when people only realize the importance of what they have when they lose it…
But that may just be human nature…..
Maybe it has to be personal…
The impacts to the Economy from the resulting job and income loses don’t mean much to most people unless it hits them directly….
Maybe this is what it will take for people to put some pressure on the GOP to stop acting like selfish, spoiled children and vote them out of office in the House and Senate in 2014.
Here is a link to the information at the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/sequestration-state-impact/
Filed under Congress, The Economy
Is Google Fiber Internet Service Driving Down Time Warner Prices?
God, I hope so…
There are few companies more justifiably hated than Time Warner. Their combination of outrageously poor customer service, ridiculous prices, poor quality signals, lack of responsiveness, and sheer arrogance is astounding.
And they and Comcast and a few others get away with it because they have a defacto monopoly in so many communities- thanks to their bought and paid for friends in Washington, as well as Raleigh and most other state capitols.
And let’s not even talk about how much better and cheaper internet, cable tv and phone service is in Europe and other parts of the world. That conversation always makes a few right wing heads explode as they are incapable of recognizing the fact that things aren’t always done best in the USA
Great article from AmericaBlog on what a little competition can do:
The Consumerist has an interesting story about this, and other similar stories seem to be popping up. Google Fiber is a new fiber optic Internet service, along with cable TV, that Google is building, with it’s first test cases in Missouri and Kansas. Google is offering multiple tiers of service, including a free level. It sounds rather amazing. And it seems that suddenly Time Warner Cable has found it in its heart to drop its prices significantly in the areas where Google Fiber is operating. Imagine that.
As it stands today, Americans pay outrageously high prices for Internet services, yet they still receive low quality. Overseas the competition is much greater, as is the internet speed — and our prices are MUCH lower than what you pay in the states for less service.
Thanks to plenty of friends in Washington, DC, American Internet Service Providers (ISPs, aka the Comcasts of the world) have mostly been able to get away with this lousy deal for consumers, but this may be changing. Unfortunately, Google Fiber is only present in Kansas City today, so the reports of pricing and quality are only there. Secondly, Google Fiber itself is pretty darned expensive.
As I’ve mentioned before, in “socialist” France we have numerous options all around €30 per month, that include high speed internet (including fiber optic, which I have), phone calls around the world at no additional charge and more TV channels than most will ever watch. Other countries in Europe have similar 3-pack deals and Asia reportedly has even better internet connectivity.
As much as the US is the center of the world for many things including leading internet companies, the people of the US are being ripped off with the internet services. (It’s not unlike pharmaceutical prices, which are much more expensive in the US than everywhere else.)
Computer guy via Shutterstock
Will Google Fiber drive prices down as some have experienced? Maybe. But the US still needs a lot more competition in more places to break the market apart from the stranglehold of a few players.
MORE: Is Google Fiber Internet service driving down Time Warner Cable’s prices?.
Beer Merger Challenged By Justice Department
I’m so relieved to know our Justice Department has it’s priorities in order…
I’m sure they don’t have anything more pressing than this to consider…
Of course, this does impact a large portion of the population that has to drink to deal with the fact that we have a bunch of incompetents (AKA: The GOP) in Washington focusing on irrelevant issues instead of addressing the most pressing needs of the country.
Forget the Tea Party, let’s start the Beer Party!
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Thursday filed a lawsuit to stop Anheuser-Busch InBev’s proposed $20.1 billion purchase of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo, which would unite the ownership of popular beers like Budweiser and Corona.
The government said the deal could lead to higher beer prices in this country because it would substantially reduce competition in the U.S. beer market, particularly in 26 metropolitan areas. It said the merged firm would control nearly half the beer sales in the U.S.
In response, Anheuser-Busch InBev promised a court fight to preserve its deal.
Americans spent at least $80 billion on beer last year. ABI’s Bud Light is the best-selling beer in the nation and Modelo’s Corona Extra is the best-selling import.
via Anheuser-Busch-Grupo Modelo Merger Challenged By Justice Department.
Filed under Congress, Politics, Uncategorized
Five Problems Bigger Than the National Debt
I am so tired of hearing politicians talk about the “DEFICIT” like it was the biggest threat to America since communism or some other previous excuse not to deal with real problems…
This is an entirely manufactured “crisis” and the “Conservatives” are trying to use it to kill programs they have always hated anyway- like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and VA Benefits. They are also using it as an excuse to cut federal jobs.
For example, I called the Veteran’s Administration 12 times today trying to check direct depositing my Mother’s benefits from my Father’s service. I wasn’t allowed to do it on the web because it is a Custodial situation. Each time I got a message telling me they could not take my call because of high call volumes and to call back later. It took 2 years to get the benefit application approved due to “staffing” issues- and then only with Congressional help…..Hire some people, goddammit!
This is madness….
Anyway….
I’ve had my say on this many times. We do not have any deficit problem that can’t be solved by higher employment, growth and investment in much-needed infrastructure projects. The GOP and their Democratic enablers are only making the situation worse by not addressing these core issues responsibly and intelligently.
Someone needs to break the DC bubble and it sounds like maybe, just maybe, there may be some sensibility leaking into the Capitol.
But they still have a long ways to go and need to start by not listening to the Tea Party fools and their Billionaire sponsors or the Corporate chieftains. Of course ending corporate welfare, such as subsidies to the oil companies, and making the wealthy pay their fair share by closing tax loopholes would also help…
I’ll keep hoping they will hear Paul Krugman’s voice calling from the wilderness. Meaning outside of DC and it’s suburbs…
From Yahoo Finance:
With even top Republicans such as Eric Cantor beginning to question the political wisdom of waging perpetual warfare over the deficit, it’s possible that Washington may slowly turn its attention to other, more pressing matters.What could be more urgent than deficit reduction? you may ask.My answer: Almost everything.If deficit reduction was ever urgent, it no longer is. We’ve already accomplished most of the deficit-reduction required in this decade, nearly enough to stabilize our debt, but at a great cost to current economic growth. We’ve sacrificed with high unemployment, tepid growth and underinvestment in public goods.Not to mention our inability to get anything else done while we bicker about deficits.The $16 trillion debt sounds like a terrible thing, but no one has been able to show how this high level of debt has had any negative impact on the economy or on the people so far. Has anyone come around looking for your share of it?Interest rates are very low, so the public debt isn’t crowding out private investment. The burden from interest payments is extremely low, less than half what it was when Ronald Reagan was exploding the federal budget back in the 1980s. We survived.
MORE: Five problems bigger than the national debt – Yahoo! Finance.
Filed under Congress, Politics, Uncategorized
Why Republicans Can’t Propose Spending Cuts
This article, in New York Magazine, is the best explanation I’ve seen yet for why the Republican’s can’t really offer serious ideas for spending cuts: There really aren’t many options.
As usual, the GOP has based their case on illusions, untruths and sound bite cliches….
I’m a firm believer that the government actually needs to spend more on infrastructure and social programs. The cuts should come from closing down George Bush’s wars of choice, unnecessary defense spending- that even the Pentagon says is unnecessary- and better management.
And, yes, raise the taxes on the rich and close loop holes that the rich and corporations use to avoid paying their fair share. End subsidies to big oil and corporate agribusiness.
The big opportunities are on the revenue side and with ending corporate welfare…..
From NY Magazine:
Republicans think government spending is huge, but they can’t really identify ways they want to solve that problem, because government spending is not really huge. That is to say, on top of an ideological gulf between the two parties, we have an epistemological gulf. The Republican understanding of government spending is based on hazy, abstract notions that don’t match reality and can’t be translated into a workable program.
Let’s unpack this a bit. We all know Republicans want to spend less money. So the construction of the debate appears, on the surface, to be a pretty simple continuum based on policy preferences. Republicans like Mitch McConnell say government spending is “out of control” and would, at least ideally, like to bring it into line with revenue entirely through spending cuts. Democrats like Obama endorse a “balanced” solution with revenue and taxes. Right-thinking centrists, like the CEO community and their publicists like Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei, think we should cut deeply into entitlement spending while also raising tax revenue. (VandeHei, in a video accompanying his execrable story, asserts, “There’s money to be cut everywhere.”)
There really isn’t money to be cut everywhere. The United States spends way less money on social services than do other advanced countries, and even that low figure is inflated by our sky-high health-care prices. The retirement benefits to programs like Social Security are quite meager. Public infrastructure is grossly underfunded.
via Why Republicans Can’t Propose Spending Cuts — Daily Intelligencer.
Thank You, John Roberts….
I really never thought I would say this to the man behind Bush v Gore and Citizens United…
Whatever his motivations- to save the name of the “Robert’s Court” or to do the right thing- I really think it was the prior- we all owe a debt of gratitude to the current Chief Justice today…
Now, we can all celebrate- just like he did in the past!
Filed under Congress, Health Care, Uncategorized
Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown
For my amusement….
I like to imagine this was Elizabeth Warren’s reaction to seeing Scott Brown’s Cosmo Centerfold….
As well as her reaction to his ability to serve as an effective Senator…
It certainly reflects mine…
For Reference: The Current Senator from Massachusetts:
Cute don’t cut it when compared to smart…..
One of the lessons of growing older…..
It’s time someone taught Scott Brown that….He’s cruised by for too long on his looks and manufactured image.
I’m hoping Elizabeth Warren will prove me wrong on my estimation of the intelligence of the American Electorate and be the first Woman elected President of the U.S.!
Don’t own the copyrights…just saw these pics on the web….
Republicans Do Remember That Women Vote, Right?
I’m not so sure they do remember that women vote….or they are planning to try to roll back that basic right next….
One of the reasons I’m blogging so seldom right now is that between the GOP Presidential Primary Campaign and the GOP War on Women, I am speechless at the stupidity of the GOP and really don’t see the point in commenting on a bunch of crazy old white men who think it is still 1952 and would obviously prefer to be having cocktails with Joe McCarthy and J Edgar Hoover…..
Then along comes a true rarity: A good column from Dana Milbank in the Washington Post….
It really has become obvious the GOP is starting to lose its War on Women- and its collective mind- when even DC insiders like Milbank recognize it and feel free to state it publicly….
The Republicans have really alienated women over the last few weeks with their drive back to the 1950’s. It’s becoming more and more obvious they are a bunch of rich, old, white men who want to keep their patriarchy alive- and feel threatened by uppity Gays, Blacks, Latinos, Asians and most especially Uppity, Slatternly Women- which to them seems to mean all women who aren’t their wives or, in some, but not all cases, their daughters…
They obviously seem to think women are all either sluts, who should have no rights, or Ladies, who should mindlessly support their husbands and do their bidding without question.
This is the 1950’s mindset they have and just assume everyone else has also….
Rush Limbaugh is justifiably catching hell right now for actually having the nerve- and stupidity- to concisely articulate the Republican position on women. It’s so obvious, he must be surprised at the blow back directed at him instead of Congress….
My favorite quote is from the female Oklahoma Lawmaker who said: “If I wanted the government in my womb, I’d f*#k a Senator.”
The Republicans are driving women over to the Democratic Party in droves with their intrusive anti-abortion legislation in Virginia- among other states- their anti contraception amendments in the Senate and the assault on Planned Parenthood and Women’s healthcare.
Can anything be more indicative of how out of touch the Republican Party is than the fact that we are actually discussing anti-contraception legislation in the 21st Century????
I’m starting to think there must be a lot more retro-closet cases than Ken Mehlman in the GOP if they are this afraid of “lady parts”…..
From Dana Milbank in the Washington Post:
When will Republicans stop their vagina monologue?
March is federally recognized as Women’s History Month, and Republicans have been celebrating the occasion in a most unusual style: with a burst of interest in women’s private parts.
On Thursday, the Senate took up an amendment proposed by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) that would allow employers to deny women birth-control coverage if the employer found contraception morally objectionable.
About 100 miles south of Washington on that same day, Virginia legislators passed a measure requiring a woman to be offered an ultrasound image of her fetus before aborting it. The legislation, which opponents say could also require some women who have miscarriages to be offered ultrasonic images of their dead fetuses, is the successor of a bill that would have required women to undergo an invasive “transvaginal ultrasound.”
Still on Thursday, the industrious Virginia House of Delegates also approved legislation bestowing rights on people, including a father, to bring a lawsuit over the death of the fetus.
On Wednesday, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, a powerful influence among Republican lawmakers, described as a “slut” the law-school student invited by House Democrats to testify in support of birth control. “It makes her a prostitute,” Limbaugh said of the woman, blocked last month by House Republicans from testifying on what became an all-male panel. “She wants to be paid to have sex.”
On Tuesday, Oklahomans held a protest at the state capitol to oppose a bill, passed by the state Senate and now being taken up by the House, that would bestow “personhood” on fetuses — one of many such efforts across the nation. Democrat Judy McIntyre, one of just four women in the 48-member state Senate, was so upset that, according to the Oklahoman newspaper, she held a protest sign proclaiming: “If I wanted the government in my womb, I’d [expletive] a senator.”
via Republicans do remember that women vote, right? – The Washington Post.
Study Links Low I.Q. To Prejudice, Racism, Conservatism
I am not at all surprised….
In fact, this just reinforces what I already thought and observed through life experiences….
And the elected Republicans and GOP base certainly down play and belittle science and education….
They are playing to their audience and reinforcing their fears and prejudices to get elected….
So they can take care of their rich friends and Corporations….
The only other reason people are “conservative” is the when the Rich are trying to preserve their wealth!
From the Huffington Post:
The study, published in Psychological Science, showed that people who score low on I.Q. tests in childhood are more likely to develop prejudiced beliefs and socially conservative politics in adulthood.
I.Q., or intelligence quotient, is a score determined by standardized tests, but whether the tests truly reveal intelligence remains a topic of hot debate among psychologists.
Dr. Gordon Hodson, a professor of psychology at the university and the study’s lead author, said the finding represented evidence of a vicious cycle: People of low intelligence gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, which stress resistance to change and, in turn, prejudice, he told LiveScience.
Why might less intelligent people be drawn to conservative ideologies? Because such ideologies feature “structure and order” that make it easier to comprehend a complicated world, Dodson said. “Unfortunately, many of these features can also contribute to prejudice,” he added.
Dr. Brian Nosek, a University of Virginia psychologist, echoed those sentiments.
“Reality is complicated and messy,” he told The Huffington Post in an email. “Ideologies get rid of the messiness and impose a simpler solution. So, it may not be surprising that people with less cognitive capacity will be attracted to simplifying ideologies.”
via Intelligence Study Links Low I.Q. To Prejudice, Racism, Conservatism.
Lost in the 21st Century 