South Carolina's Next Senator

South Carolina Rep. Tim Scott.  The soon-to-be appointed African-American senator, replacing Jim DeMint who is off to head the Heritage Foundation.

Directly from the horse’s mouth:

On gays:

I also support traditional marriage, and spoke out against the President’s decision to no longer allow the Department of Justice to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court.  I absolutely believe in keeping the institution of marriage as one solely between a man and woman.  We must not allow the government to distort the meaning of marriage and instead, focus on building stronger families across America.

Agreed. Government needs to stop distorting the meaning of marriage and focus on building stronger families across America – like in the 9 states and the District of Columbia, where same-sex marriage is legal. 

On immigration:

Strict immigration reform is a top priority in Congress.  Strengthening and enforcing immigration laws not only serve to help our distressed economy, but to address national security concerns.

Because after all, they are taking away our jobs and robbing our kids.

On guns:

As Americans, we have the right to defend ourselves, our families and our property, and the federal government should never interfere with this right. I’ve cosponsored more than half a dozen bills protecting the rights of gun owners, including the Firearms Interstate Commerce Reform Act and the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act.

That’s right.  More than half a dozen bills.

On healthcare:

I support common-sense reforms that include increased competition and choice of plans to lower costs, protecting the sacred doctor-patient relationship, ensuring those with preexisting conditions have access to affordable coverage, expanding health savings accounts, and enacting medical tort reform which will save us billions by decreasing “defensive medicine.”  These market-based, patient-centered improvements are the key to expanding access, increasing coverage, and providing quality, affordable health care to all Americans.

Competition and choice.  Competition and choice.  Competition and choice…

On abortion:

I cosponsored two pro-life bills which have now passed the House of Representatives, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act and the Protect Life Act. I also supported legislation, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, to repeal part of the national health care reform law that violates the freedom of religion granted to us by the First Amendment. Government is already overreaching into our homes and businesses; it can’t be allowed to do the same with our faith.

In case you missed it, the Protect Life Act is the one that would allow federally-funded hospitals that oppose abortions to refuse the procedure, even in cases where a woman’s life is at stake,

The post-November 2012 face of the Republican Party.  The new face seems a lot like the old one. 

Except, for the obvious.

Guns, God and…

money, to complete the metaphor – so to say.  Or in other words, why there will never be meaningful gun control in this country.

Former Arkansas Governor (and more-than-one-time Republican Presidential nominee wannabe) Mike Huckabee on last Friday’s school shooting tragedy in Newtown, CT:

"We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools," Huckabee said on Fox News, discussing the murder spree that took the lives of 20 children and 6 adults in Newtown, CT that morning. "Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?" 

Law enforcement has released few details on the alleged gunman, but Huckabee suggested that the separation of church and state may have spurred his rampage.  

"[W]e've made it a place where we don't want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability -- that we're not just going to have be accountable to the police if they catch us, but one day we stand before, you know, a holy God in judgment," Huckabee said. "If we don't believe that, then we don't fear that."

And the so-called backtracking:

Speaking on Fox News on Monday, Huckabee clarified that he didn't believe an increased religious presence at Sandy Hook could actually have directly prevented that particular shooting from taking place.

“I’m not suggesting by any stretch that if we had prayer in schools regularly as we once did that this wouldn’t have happened, because you can't have that kind of cause and effect,” said Huckabee. "But we’ve created an atmosphere in this country where the only time you want to invoke God’s name is after the tragedy.”

I only understand 2^nd amendment rights in a purely intellectual light.  The thought of being anywhere near a gun, makes me shiver.  And I only understand the concept of god, as a purely intellectual concept – I was religious studies minor in my youth.

So while the spiritual side of me is trying to understand god coming into a classroom and stopping a shooting, the intellect can only see a bunch of folks trying to co-opt headlines for the purposes of pushing their version of religion, on me.

Speak No Evil

How in the world Mitt Romney thinks he can go to South Florida and not say a word about Medicare or Cuba, is beyond me.  But I guess thinking it, makes it so.  Because he did it.  The emphasis is mine:

Mitt Romney mentioned the word Medicare only twice Monday in his first Florida stop in St. Augustine after picking a running mate, but no one doubts it will be a central part of the campaign fight in this must-win state. 

“The president’s idea for Medicare was to cut it by $700 billion,” Romney said during a morning rally in St. Augustine. “That’s not the right answer. We need to make sure we can preserve and protect Medicare.” 

On his second stop in in West Miami-Dade at El Palacio de Los Jugos, the Republican presidential nominee was greeted by a large, enthusiastic crowd where he gave his standard stump speech — absent a single mention of Medicare or Cuba, typical talking points in Miami’s exile community. 

He really is determined to talk about nothing during this campaign.  I know a lot of folks say there are many things he simply can’t talk about.  That he can’t talk about his religion, at risk of alienating an evangelical base.  That his not-so-nice comments in London about the Olympics, makes it harder for him to glorify his days with the Salt Lake games.  That in not releasing his tax returns, he risks making the unpopular elements of his tax plan a center of the campaign.  That in not addressing the issues related to his employment status at Bain, and questions of job outsourcing and business closures, the we-need-a-businessman-in-charge argument becomes a mockery.

And then all the things he won’t talk about it, at risk of reminding the American public of his propensity to flip-flop.

But going to West Miami-Dade and not a word about Cuba?  Sheesh.

I guess putting Paul Ryan – the great intellect and ideas man – on the ticket isn’t rubbing off on Romney.

Can’t You Do Better Than, That???

Funny all this talk about how Republican Vice-President-wannabe Rep. (and House Budget Chair) Paul Ryan is some brilliant, intellect.

NORFOLK, Va. — In the shadow of a military battleship, Mitt Romney formally named Paul Ryan as his running mate Saturday, saying that the 42-year-old Wisconsin congressman was the “intellectual leader” of the Republican Party with the experience to tackle the fiscal crises facing the nation and the temperament to be effective.

Funny all this talk about how everyone – on both sides of the aisle likes and respects him. 

People have always liked Ryan. The story of his political life has been his success in charming people — including a string of powerful friends in Congress, think tanks and the conservative media — in small rooms.

Funny all this talk about how this election is now a serious debate about “the issues.”

Thank you, Mitt Romney. Your choice of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan as your running mate might kick off the kind of serious fiscal debate the nation needs. Depending on how President Obama responds, such a discussion could set the stage for serious budget and tax reform in 2013.

Well then why-oh-why, could former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu (and big-time Romney rah-rah man) do no better than this on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, last night?

 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Nothing about how Ryan’s Medicare re-hauls are positioned within valid, intellectual political, social and economic frameworks.

Nothing about how Democrats might have disagreements with the plan, but still respect Ryan for his stances.

Nothing about this being a serious debate, where good people can disagree.

All because HE would rather have private insurance to a government run plan, any day. Because in that good Republican way, it’s all about ME!

Happy Weekend, All!

An ode to the V.P. Sweepstakes!  So spot on, in so many ways.



Enjoy the weekend!  And the endless punditry....

What’s Wrong With All of Them?

Ok.  Let’s start with the top.

Reince Priebus, the Chair of the Republican National Committee thinks “it’s ridiculous” that 63 percent of the American public thinks presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney should release more tax returns.

So now, the likes of me are “ridiculous” and to be simply dismissed.  No room for discussion.  No room for disagreement.  No room for intellectual debate.  Sixty-three percent of us are simply, “ridiculous.”

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney reminded us last week, that we are not Israel.

“It’s individuals and their entrepreneurship which have driven America,” said Romney. “What America is, is not a collective where we all work in a Kibbutz or we all in some little entity, instead it’s individuals pursuing their dreams and building successful enterprises which employ others and they become inspired as they see what has happened in the place they work and go off and start their own enterprises.”

Next up, he reminded us we are not Japan.

During his speech at a Thursday fund-raiser, the Republican candidate remarked, "We are not Japan. We are not going to be a nation that suffers in decline and distress for a decade or a century."

Who is next to insult, on the not-ready-for-prime-time tour?

Oh, and just call Senator Republican Leader Mitch McConnell – obstructionist.  From Greg Sargent over at Plum Line, in the Washington Post, quoting Michael Grunwald’s new book on the making of the stimulus:

Grunwald has Joe Biden on the record making a striking charge. Biden says that during the transition, a number of Republican Senators privately confided to him that Mitch McConnell had given them the directive that there was to be no cooperation with the new administration — because he had decided that “we can’t let you succeed.” 

Here’s the relevant passage, from page 207: 

Biden says that during the transition, he was warned not to expect any cooperation on many votes. “I spoke to seven different Republican Senators, who said, `Joe, I’m not going to be able to help you on anything,’ he recalls. His informants said McConnell had demanded unified resistance. “The way it was characterized to me was: `For the next two years, we can’t let you succeed in anything. That’s our ticket to coming back,’” Biden says. The vice president says he hasn’t even told Obama who his sources were, but Bob Bennett of Utah and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania both confirmed they had conversations with Biden along these lines.

Now, on to the VP sweepstakes…

Thinking maybe there is one high-profile Governor from Louisiana who has been struck from the list:

Thanks to a new law privatizing public education in Louisiana, Bible-based curriculum can now indoctrinate young, pliant minds with the good news of the Lord—all on the state taxpayers' dime. 

Under Gov. Bobby Jindal's voucher program, considered the most sweeping in the country, Louisiana is poised to spend tens of millions of dollars to help poor and middle-class students from the state's notoriously terrible public schools receive a private education. While the governor's plan sounds great in the glittery parlance of the state's PR machine, the program is rife with accountability problems that actually haven't been solved by the new standards the Louisiana Department of Education adopted two weeks ago. 

For one, of the 119 (mostly Christian) participating schools, Zack Kopplin, a gutsy college sophomore who's taken to Change.org to stonewall the program, has identified at least 19 that teach or champion creationist nonscience and will rake in nearly $4 million in public funding from the initial round of voucher designations.

And please, please, please make it Wisconsin Representative (and House Budget Chair) Paul Ryan.  For one, conservatives seem to really think they can manipulate Romney into making the pick – which says a lot about Romney’s relationship with ALL sectors of the Republican Party.  No one seems to believe he stands for ANYTHING.  From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal:

The case for Mr. Ryan is that he best exemplifies the nature and stakes of this election. More than any other politician, the House Budget Chairman has defined those stakes well as a generational choice about the role of government and whether America will once again become a growth economy or sink into interest group dominated decline. 

Against the advice of every Beltway bedwetter, he has put entitlement reform at the center of the public agenda—before it becomes a crisis that requires savage cuts. And he has done so as part of a larger vision that stresses tax reform for faster growth, spending restraint to prevent a Greek-like budget fate, and a Jack Kemp-like belief in opportunity for all. He represents the GOP's new generation of reformers that includes such Governors as Louisiana's Bobby Jindal and New Jersey's Chris Christie.
As important, Mr. Ryan can make his case in a reasonable and unthreatening way. He doesn't get mad, or at least he doesn't show it. Like Reagan, he has a basic cheerfulness and Midwestern equanimity.

Let’s see.  Decimating Social Security and Medicare vs. “basic cheerfulness and Midwestern equanimity.”  We’ll see who can win that one.

And the Wall Street Journal isn’t the only conservative mouthpiece on board with Paul Ryan.  The National Review, here.

For a long time now, I have thought for sure it would be Ohio Senator Rob Portman.  Now, I am not so sure.  I am starting to think Mitt Romney really wants someone he likes and gets along well with, on the ticket.  And yes, someone who is a lot like him.  Alike.  Sort of like Clinton-Gore. 

That just might be former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.

You Just Don’t Understand!

From wannabe-President Mitt Romney today:

“I just don’t think the president, by his comments, suggests an understanding of what it is that makes America such a unique nation,” Romney said. “Why people have come here for hundreds of years. It’s because this is the land of opportunity. We welcome people here with dreams and say to them, ‘Come build it.’ Not, ‘Come here because government will give it to you.’” 

Because, after all, why would the son of an African man from a small village who managed to get a graduate degree in economics from Harvard, understand what makes America such a unique nation.

Because, after all, why would the son who watched his single mother obtain a PhD, understand what makes America such a unique nation.

Because, after all, why would that same son (of that same single mother) who succeeded in getting one of the best educations this country could offer, understand what makes America such a unique nation. 

Because, after all, why would this country's first African-American president, understand what makes America such a unique nation.

Because, after all, fill-in-the blank…

Happy Birthday, Woody Guthrie!

This week, famed American folk singer Woody Guthrie would have turned 100 years old.

And this week, a number of famed Republican lawmakers gave us a very, very good idea of where they think the country should be headed. In reality, it’s not that they don’t have solutions to America’s problems. It’s just that they think American has, well – very few problems.

California Republican House member David Dreier does not think being diagnosed with a tumor while uninsured is a problem America needs to deal with.

"While I don't think that someone who is diagnosed with a massive tumor should the next day be able to have millions and millions and millions of dollars of health care provided, I do believe there can be a structure to deal with the issue of pre-existing conditions," Dreier said. 

Some schmuck’s problem, yes. American’s problem? No.

If you had any questions about what real Americans do, they dodge taxes. South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham:

Mitt Romney shouldn’t be criticized for using off-shore tax havens because “it’s really American to avoid paying taxes, legally,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday. [...] 

Graham argued that Congress is responsible for tax avoidance because it has crafted such convoluted rules and said he was fine with Romney’s taking advantage of the loopholes. 

“As long as it was legal, I’m OK with it,” Graham said. “I don’t blame anybody for using the tax code to their advantage. I blame us for having it so complicated and confused. Pick a rate and make people pay it.”

Now let’s see him try to do something about the loopholes.

And if you can get into Harvard but can’t afford it, it’s not the country’s problem. What are the chances it’s the poor, Ivy League graduate who is going to find the cure for cancer, anyway?

On the campaign trail Wednesday night in Virginia, Mitt Romney took on the topic of education. While extolling the virtues of America as “the land of opportunity for every single person,” Romney said that he believes students should only be able to get as much education “as they can afford”: 

I think this is a land of opportunity for every single person, every single citizen of this great nation. And I want to make sure that we keep America a place of opportunity, where everyone has a fair shot. They get as much education as they can afford and with their time they’re able to get and if they have a willingness to work hard and the right values, they ought to be able to provide for their family and have a shot of realizing their dreams.

Not sure who this land was, is – or will be made for. To that end, happy birthday, Woody Guthrie. Seemingly, we hardly knew you.

Crossing State Lines

A few days ago, Florida Republican Senator (and maybe wannabe-Republican-Vice-Presidential-candidate) Marco Rubio said “RomneyCare” was not nearly as bad as the Affordable Care Act because if you didn’t like the individual mandate in Massachusetts, at least you could leave the state. The only option now – if you disagree with last week’s Supreme Court decision, is to leave the country.


Yeah, right. Leave your home state. Leave your job. Your home. Your family.

Today, Republican Florida Governor Rick Scott said his state will opt out of parts of the Affordable Care Act:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Gov. Rick Scott has decided to opt out of parts of the Affordable Care Act that are optional for states. 

That means Florida will not expand its Medicaid program to cover an extra one million Floridians. Plus, the state will not create an insurance exchange to help people find health coverage.  

Gov. Scott believes those parts of the health care law will raise the cost of living for Floridians and hurt the private sector's ability to create jobs.   

"We're trying to do things that help the state grow jobs. We're trying to help Floridians who don't want their cost of living to go up and these pieces of legislation from Obamacare don't help those goals at all. In fact, they probably hurt those goals," said Scott's spokesman, Lane Wright. 

Just waiting for Sen. Rubio to tell the good citizens of Florida to leave the state, if they disagree with Gov. Scott’s decision…

#LackofImagination

Frankly, I think #lackofimagination would make a good, new hashtag.  Here's the skinny on #FullRepeal.

From the Republican National Committee:

#FullRepeal: Stopping ObamaCare Is Now Up To The American People- bit.ly/LFLauD
— RNC (@GOP) June 28, 2012

From Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor:

On July 11th, the House will once again vote to repeal ObamaCare.#healthcare #fullrepeal
— Eric Cantor (@GOPLeader) June 28, 2012

From Speaker of the House John Boehner:

Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court underscores the urgency of #fullrepeal of #ObamaCare j.mp/LFJTni #4jobs
— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) June 28, 2012

Since it's all about taxes, Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso:

#SCOTUS decision confirms President broke promise not to tax middle class.Law remains bad for patients, providers & taxpayers. #Fullrepeal
— Sen. John Barrasso (@SenJohnBarrasso) June 28, 2012

And since it's REALLY all about taxes, Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo:

RELEASE: POTUS said he would not raise taxes on families making less than $250,000, but #obamacare does. #fullrepeal bit.ly/M932O7
— Senator Mike Crapo (@MikeCrapo) June 28, 2012

Oh, and let's not forget it's all about freedom.  Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich:

@Sarah_Boxer economy will be second to obamacare because choice between govt monopoly and freedom will be so big-obama loses on both issues
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) June 28, 2012

And because they seem to be habitually unable to tell us how they are going to do any of this, Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Rep. Paul Ryan:

With the right leadership, we will pass #FullRepeal & advance real health care solutions for the American people. ow.ly/bTgWR
— Paul Ryan (@RepPaulRyan) June 28, 2012

Note to Rep. Paul Ryan.  We have "the right leadership."  Wake me up when the Republicans have a plan.

#lackofimagination

SCOTUS Day

Now that the Republicans have to stop demonizing the President as a monster hell-bent on circumventing the Constitution, public opinion on the Affordable Health Care Act may change.  Watch Mitt Romney stop talking about health care, altogether.  Avoidance is his style, anyway.  Given the history of health care reform in Massachusetts – and the former Governor’s place in implementing it – it’s the last thing he wants to talk about.  He will go back to talking about jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, at least from the Bain & Company perspective.  The jobs talk is what candidate Obama will be running against.  Starting, now.

Republicans say they will continue to harp on this through November.  Maybe they will, and maybe they won’t.  Romney himself, won’t.

This was in part, a moral decision on the part of Chief Justice Roberts.  To the extent that the Republicans had nothing to counter offer in the area of health care reform, lack of imagination worked against them on this one.  There are ramifications to lack of leadership. 

It will be interesting to see if Republicans can get beyond their disdain for this law and the line-in-the-sand they have drawn.  The “stark choice” discourse they are presenting.  The “American’s will have the choice to overturn in November…” dialogue.

If they don’t have something concrete to offer, they will lose again. 

Lack of imagination, has consequences. 

SCOTUS Eve

Too funny  Nothing else to say...

SCOTUS Eve. Putting out milk & cookies. I can't wait to find out what Commerce Claus brings me!
— delrayser (@delrayser) June 28, 2012

Good night, all. Until tomorrow morning!

Military, Or Bust

So, Mitt Romney thinks the only way undocumented children of illegal immigrants growing up in the United States should be entitled to citizenship is if they serve in the military.  DREAMERS and their advocates, not-so-much-happy.  The emphasis is mine:

“You’re basically putting undocumented youth in a corner where they have to choose whether they enlist in the military to continue living a life in the shadows,” said Mayra Hidalgo, an undocumented college graduate planning to seek a graduate degree now under the new White House policy ending deportations of DREAM-eligible youth. 

Hidalgo confronted Romney after his NALEO speech, asking him what he’d do for people like her. She went away from the encounter without an answer, she said. 

“We are just as American as anyone else, we’re just missing a piece of paper,” she said of Romney’s plan. “We deserve to have the choice and say in where our future’s going to take us. We deserve to have control of our lives enough in which we can say no or yes concerning joining the military.” 

Other advocates for undocumented children say that compromising on the education path for DREAMers would deny the country more highly-educated citizens, which is what politicians on both sides say the country needs to grow.

They are indeed as American as anyone else.  As American as Mitt Romney’s father, born in Mexico and coming to the United States at age 4.  Just missing the piece of paper, he had.

I’m not really sure if Republicans really believe it is a crop of more highly educated citizens this country needs, in order to grow at this time.  Call me cynical, but even if they do believe this, I am even less sure they want them to be of the Latino-Hispanic-stripe.

Today's Take on Latino Family Values

This is precisely why Republicans will never truly make inroads with Latino and Hispanic voters. The emphasis is mine:

Criticizing President Obama’s decision to grant immunity and temporary legal status to some young undocumented immigrants, Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien Monday that undocumented teens “had a say” in their family’s decision to travel to the U.S. illegally.  

“Well, you are also talking about people that came over at 16 years of age,” Farenthold said. “At that point you had a say in it and that looks more like amnesty.”  

“You think a 16-year-old whose parents are coming across the border has a say in whether or not they’re just going to stay behind in their country?” Soledad asked.  

“They’re certainly in a position to have a conversation with their parents about it,” Farenthold said.  

“A 16-year-old is in a position to have a conversation with their parents about coming across the border, do you think?” said Soledad, skeptically.  

“Believe me, my 16-year-old daughter has given me input on everything — pretty much everything the family wants to do,” said the Texas Republican. 

For the folks that try to portray themselves as the family-values-party, they sure don’t understand Latino family values. A sixteen-year-old knowingly and willingly agreeing to be separated from parents?

Oh, and giving input on “pretty much everything the family wants to do?” Not so much, either.

Keep On Dreaming

The power of the bully pulpit, when running for re-election.

The written word, here. Better than the image below, but I just could not help myself.

The spoken word:

   

Now, if only Mitt would put the not-too-popular-among-Latinos Florida Senator Marco Rubio on the ticket, and see the Republicans lose any, any, any chance of ever making a dent with us.

Not that they had much of a chance to begin with. We’re not stupid, and as I have always said, if Republicans really think they have a natural ally in Hispanics and Latinos, they are truly out of touch with reality.

It's Not My Fault, Man

Lots of talk this morning about statements made by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

I strongly believe that one of the legacies of the GWB administration is an overwhelming, cultural sense of – lack of responsibility. Nothing is my fault any more. Everything is the fault of, the other guy. This is very, very, very bad for America, me thinks.

Seemingly, it’s a family affair. The emphasis is mine:

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush today said that both Ronald Reagan and his father, George H.W. Bush, would have a hard time getting nominated by the more conservative voters in today’s Republican Party.

“Ronald Reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, as would my dad, they would have a hard time if you define the Republican party, and I don’t, as having an orthodoxy that doesn’t allow for disagreement, doesn’t allow for finding some common ground,” Bush said, according to Buzzfeed, which reported Bush’s giving the comments at the headquarters of Bloomberg LP in New York City.  

Bush, a much-discussed contender to be Mitt Romney’s running mate, said he sees the ultra-conservative and partisan standards of today’s GOP as “disturbing,” but called “this dysfunction … temporary.” 

And this:

Bush railed against both sides, but blamed President Obama for much of the clashing.  

“His first year could have been a year of enormous accomplishment had he focused on things where there was more common ground,” Bush said, arguing that he believed Obama made the “purely political calculation” to run a more partisan administration. 

So, let me see if I get this right. Clashes between the left and right – mostly driven by President Obama – have caused the Republican Party to drift to the right. So much so, that Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush might not be elected president in today’s climate. And this is a bad thing. But problems within the party are not the root cause. The president, is.

Take responsibility.

Oh yeah. Republicans and Democrats, alike.

Message From Wisconsin: What We’re Losing

I say losing – instead of lost – because the jury is still out. The fat lady has yet to sing.

We have not completely lost. But we are losing. We are losing the war of words. We have lost control of the discourse. The dialogue. 

My mother is to blame for everything that is wrong with this country today. My mother, the immigrant, who came to this country in her mid-30s with 10 years of teaching experience behind her. My mother, who re-trained as a teacher in this country during the bad economic times of 1970’s, New York City. My mother, who waited for years to get a permanent teaching job in the public school system. My mother, who really didn’t teach that many years. My mother, who in her retirement, is far, far, far from rich, but well-taken care of enough that my sister and I don’t have to lose any sleep. My mother, who as a fairly young widow, put her two daughters through school at fine East Coast colleges.

My mother was a public servant. She entered into a social contract with the citizens of her adopted city, to serve. Her salary would never be great, but in return she would have deferred benefit when she needed to be taken care of. She would have a decent pension and health care in her old age. And maybe because a few worries would be taken off her head during her senior years, she would have the where-with-all to continue to contribute to her society, in other capacities.

And now, everything is her fault. And the fault of others, like her.  Public servants.

So yes. We are losing. We are losing the war of words. We have lost control of the discourse. The dialogue.

And there is no better evidence of that fact than the trial balloon Mitt Romney thinks is acceptable to float.

Romney said of Obama, “he wants another stimulus, he wants to hire more government workers. He says we need more fireman, more policeman, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It’s time for us to cut back on government and help the American people.” 

Better yet, watch the video, if you can stomach it.

 

I would be lying if I said I knew what the message from Wisconsin was this week. I can’t wrap my head around it. Can’t put myself in the place of those who support Gov. Walker.

But my message to the Democrats? We have to fight the war of words. We have to take back the discourse. We have to take control of the dialogue. We have to burst the trial balloon.

And I am not sure we have the guts to do it.

Happy Friday!

Just getting around this week to paying tribute to another one of the greats, Doc Watson.

 

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, Lord, by and by
There's a better home awaiting
In the sky,
Lord, in the sky.

RIP, Doc Watson. And Earl Scruggs, too. Two great losses this year. So far.

Why I Want to Be Your President: The Republican Round Up

And then there was, one.

As of Tuesday, 29 May 2012, Mitt Romney is it.  No longer 2012-Republican-Presidential-nominee-wannabee.  He has clinched the GOP nod.

The Associated Press has projected he has won the Texas GOP primary, and ABC News estimates he will win 97 of Texas’s 155 delegates, giving him the 1,144 needed to win the nomination.  

“I am honored that Americans across the country have given their support to my candidacy and I am humbled to have won enough delegates to become the Republican Party’s 2012 presidential nominee. Our party has come together with the goal of putting the failures of the last three and a half years behind us. 

I have no illusions about the difficulties of the task before us,” Romney said in a statement. “On Nov. 6, I am confident that we will unite as a country and begin the hard work of fulfilling the American promise and restoring our country to greatness,” Romney said.

So, has anything changed, now that’s he’s the man? Seemingly, not. He still has the same cynical reasons for wanting to be my President.

On Tuesday, Donald Trump joined him at a fundraiser at the Trump Towers near the Las Vegas strip. Donald Trump. Of continued delusional, crazed birther rants against President Obama. And Romney’s response?

“You know, I don’t agree with all the people who support me and my guess is they don’t all agree with everything I believe in,” Romney said. “But I need to get 50.1% or more and I’m appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.”

On Wednesday night he mingled with California donors and told the story of Staples, one of the companies backed by Bain Capital, the private equity firm he used to run.  The emphasis is mine:

It looked a lot different, Romney said, than the glass-walled headquarters the green energy company Solyndra built and maintained with the help of federal loan guarantees before it went bankrupt last year. 

“This was real people’s money,” Romney said of the Staples investment. “It wasn’t taxpayers’ money.”

There’s a difference between real people’s money and taxpayer’s money?  I wonder if public servants know this.  By now I am sure they know it’s real people who get out of paying taxes. 

How perfectly cynical.

On Thursday, the media blasted Romney for criticizing President Obama on foreign affairs, but saying little about what he would do differently.  Here, here and here.

Anything – or nothing – to get that 50.1%.

Class Act

Nice.

Followed by even nicer.

Personally, I love exposing the Right's total lack of class.

Your Average Mitt

I admit to not being much for understanding the discourse around Americans needing to relate to a Presidential candidate. The who-would-you-want-to-have-a-beer-with, talk. But not being able to relate at all, to a Presidential candidate – this is a good example.

Things Get Awkward On Mitt's Bonding Tour Of The U.S.

I’m not much for condemning a Presidential candidate for being awkward, either. But how attractive a candidate is personally to Americans and how much said candidate can relate to the average Joe is a lot more about how genuinely interested a politician is in my life – or your life, or in the diversity that is average American life today, for that matter – than anything else.

And on that count, for the life of me I can’t figure Mitt Romney out.

Zero Sum Gain

This is not a surprise. Haven’t heard any reaction to it yet, though.

The largest wave of immigration in history from a single country to the United States has come to a standstill. After four decades that brought 12 million current immigrants—more than half of whom came illegally—the net migration flow from Mexico to the United States has stopped—and may have reversed, according to a new analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center of multiple government data sets from both countries. 

The standstill appears to be the result of many factors, including the weakened U.S. job and housing construction markets, heightened border enforcement, a rise in deportations, the growing dangers associated with illegal border crossings, the long-term decline in Mexico’s birth rates and changing economic conditions in Mexico.

The report is based on data analysis from sources in the U.S. and Mexico. Very interesting to think about how the differing factors might be working together.

You can read the entire Pew Research Center report, here.

Rest In Peace, Levon Helm

Three great voices. One GREAT drummer.

 

 It's a time I remember, oh so well...

This-A-Way or That-A-Way

Either likely Republican nominee former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is two points ahead of President Obama, or President Obama leads Mitt Romney by nine.

Poll results were released an hour from each other.

Dance Me to the End of Love

To my wonderful husband, a very Happy 12th Anniversary!

 

 On tax day, no less.

The War-On-Women: The Caterpillar Edition

Well, if the Republicans really want me to stop thinking they are on the front lines of the war-on-women, maybe they should have a little talk with their Republican governor in Arizona. Life before conception.

Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed a bill on Thursday that prohibits abortions in the state after 20 weeks. The bill, passed earlier this week by the state legislature, essentially bans abortions after 18 weeks because gestational age of the fetus will be calculated based on the last menstrual period of the woman.

  

In a press release (PDF) Governor Brewer defended her decision, saying "this legislation is consistent with my strong track record of supporting common sense measures to protect the health of women and safeguard our most vulnerable population - the unborn." Arizona Senator Linda Lopez responded to the law, saying "once again, (Brewer) and the Republicans in the Legislature have decided that they know better than women. They are again saying that women are incapable of making those decisions." 

But instead, we get this. Caterpillars.

 

We’ve declared war on the Vatican? The sovereign state of the Vatican?

Missed that headline.

Romney-West, 2012

How perfectly interesting:

Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Monday that Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) would be an "excellent choice" for Mitt Romney's vice presidential candidate, joining a chorus of conservative Republicans who have tabbed the Tea Party freshman as a potential addition to the ticket.

"He is well-spoken, he is direct, he is from Florida and folks in Florida love him — with Florida being one of those key states in the Fall. But most importantly, Col. Allen West is a dedicated patriot who has served in the military, and who is willing to serve his country again. I think he would be an excellent choice," Cain told conservative talk radio host Steve Gill. 

Congressman Allen West. The man who has told President Obama to “get the hell out of the United States of America.”

Congressman Allen West. The man with questionable tastes in hiring practices.

Conservative talk radio host Joyce Kaufman is stepping down from her new position as chief of staff for incoming Republican Rep. Allen West after her comments may have incited a threat of violence that led to three-hour lock-down at 300 Florida schools yesterday.

Kaufman has come under scrutiny for some incendiary comments. On her Florida radio show Tuesday, Kaufman characterized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as "garbage," and the Associated Press reports she said at a recent Tea Party rally that if "ballots don't work, bullets will."  

MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" this week spotlighted the controversy over Kaufman. 

Congressman Allen West. The man who has redefined Islam as a “theocratic political ideology.” It’s not a religion, mind you.

Congressman Allen West. A man who fashions himself a modern-day Harriet Tubman. Leaving the plantation. Via the Underground Railroad.  Take a listen:

 

Congressman Allen West. When administration officials condemned a group of U.S. Marines for urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters, he said the soldiers should be punished but, “As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell."  So much for freedom of speech.

Congressman Allen West.  A man who thinks wearing a hoodie could be interpreted as a security risk.

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) on Thursday condemned what he called Rep. Bobby Rush’s (D-Ill.) “immature gimmickry” in wearing a hooded sweatshirt on the House floor earlier this week. 

The Tea Party favorite said in wearing the hoodie, Rush could have been someone who “walked off of the street.” 

West said the incident might be funny now, but he speculated that at the time, Capitol Police were likely concerned. 

“Initially, they did not know who it was and they were concerned that someone had just walked off of the street or kind of had broken away from a tour group,” West said on conservative Laura Ingraham’s radio show. 

Try unpacking that one.  

By all accounts Allen West is an accomplished man. A distinguished military career and two graduate degrees. Romney-West. I say, bring it on!  Too bad, it won't happen.

Forget Harvard

Really almost too silly to comment on:

 As you’ve probably heard, Mitt Romney poked fun at President Obama today over his time in the Ivy League. “We have a president, who I think is a nice guy, but he spent too much time at Harvard,” Romney said. 

Romney, apparently, hopes to paint Obama as the one who’s really elitist and out of touch. Yesterday he said Obama has spent too much time on Air Force One. Today’s barb is cut from the same cookie-cutter. 

Of course, using Harvard as an example of this seems questionable. As a number of people were quick to point out, Romney himself spent some time at Harvard, too — in fact, he earned two advanced degrees there. 

A gaffe?  Code talk for saying three years is three-years-too-long for someone of President Obama’s background to have spent at Harvard?

Probably just typical, phoniness.

Don't Know Much About History

O.K. I am a graduate student in the CSU (California State University) system. And yes, it’s a mess. Cal State officials announced last month that they plan to freeze enrollment next spring at most campuses, and wait-list all applications for the following fall, due to budget uncertainty. I am not sure I would encourage my own daughter to attend the University of California (UC) – including UCLA or UC Berkeley.

 But this, is ridiculous:

 

A succinct analysis:

It’s unclear whether Santorum was referring to the University of California system or the California State University system, but it doesn’t matter. Both offer American history courses at all their campuses, with one exception. UCSF doesn’t offer any history courses — because it’s a medical school.  

All 23 CSU campuses offer a variety of American history courses, said CSU spokesman Mike Uhlenkamp. Students are required to take several of those courses or test out of them in order to graduate.  

And the nine undergraduate UC campuses (Berkeley, Irvine, San Diego, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, Davis, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara) offer the courses and have a similar graduation requirement.  

If Senator Santorum wants to use the example of California to make a point about the disaster that is public college and university education in 2012, he has a lot to work with.

Too bad he blew his chance to make any valid points.

Hats in Church

Well, not exactly hats in church. More like hoodies on the floor of the House.

Hoodies on the House floor are verboten, apparently. Rep. Bobby Rush (D) of Illinois was scolded and escorted from the chamber of the House of Representatives on Wednesday morning, when he attempted to give a speech on the need for a full investigation of the Trayvon Martin shooting while wearing sunglasses and a gray hooded sweat shirt.

“Racial profiling has to stop, Mr. Speaker,” said Representative Rush while doffing his suit jacket to reveal his hoodie garb. “Just because someone wears a hoodie does not make them a hoodlum.

Rush continued to speak while the presiding officer, Rep. Gregg Harper (R) of Mississippi, banged the gavel, ordering him to desist. Eventually someone from the office of the House sergeant-at-arms appeared and escorted Rush, hoodie and all, off the floor.

I am a stickler for protocol of this type. But not this time. I’m with Nancy Pelosi on this one:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi applauded Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., who was admonished Wednesday for wearing a "hoodie" sweatshirt during a speech in memory of Trayvon Martin, a teenager who was killed in February.

"I think that Bobby Rush deserves a great deal of credit for the courage he had to go to the floor in a hoodie, knowing that he would be told he was out of order," Pelosi told reporters Thursday. "He quickly left the floor, he wasn't contentious about it. But he made his point. He called attention to a situation in this country that needs to be addressed in a way a man in a suit and tie might not be able to do."

If anyone knows some rules are meant to be broken sometimes, it’s Rep. Bobby Rush.

I wonder what the scuttlebutt would have been if he had been allowed to finish up without incident.

But alas.  The Republicans are too clueless to have acted in any other manner.  And certainly not brave enough to have stood up to the political firestorm that would have followed.

The Strange Case of the Hoodie: Personal or Political?

President Obama:

But my main message is to the parents of Trayvon. If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.

2012-Republican-Presidential-Nominee-Wannabe Newt Gingrich in an all-too-predictable, cynical response: 

What the president said, in a sense, is disgraceful. It’s not a question of who that young man looked like. Any young American of any ethnic background should be safe, period. We should all be horrified no matter what the ethnic background.

Geraldo Rivera, who took a lot of slack for his appearance on Fox News with this one.  The emphasis is mine:

When you see a kid walking down the street, particularly a dark skinned kid like my son Cruz, who I constantly yelled at when he was going out wearing a damn hoodie or those pants around his ankles. Don't let your kid—you know the old Johnny Cash song, don't take your gun to town, son. Leave your gun at home. There is some things that are almost inevitable. I'm not suggesting that Trayvon Martin had any kind of weapon or anything, but he wore an outfit that allowed someone to respond in this irrational, overzealous way and if he had been dressed more appropriately, I think unless it's raining out, or you're at a track meet, leave the hoodie home. Don't let your children go out there.

Well, perhaps not as simple personal or political.  Sometimes the line is finer than I care to admit – no matter what your political persuasion.

Cuba and the Church

Cross-posted at ProgressivePatriotGirl.tumblr.com:

I tend to agree with the Washington Post on this one.  Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba benefits the Vatican, and Fidel and Raul Castro. The Cuban people, not so much.

When Pope John Paul II visited Cuba in 1998, he called for the island nation “to open to the world and for the world to open to Cuba.

Pope Benedict XVI now will walk in that wider doorway.

The official reason for the trip is pastoral. Just weeks before his 85th birthday, Benedict is mustering his strength to bring encouragement to the Cuban flock after his first stop in Mexico this week.

The pope will bless the patroness of Cuba, La Caridad, the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, on the 400th anniversary of her statue found floating in the sea.

The article goes on to say how weak churchgoing is in Cuba, despite the fact that an estimated 4 million came to see La Caridad as the statue toured the island in the last 15 months.

Well sure church going is weak in Cuba. Cubans threw the Catholic Church off their backs along with the Spanish priests associated with pre-1898 repressive rule a long, long time before Fidel Castro was even born. Even I regularly burn a candle of La Caridad – and I am not, and have never been Catholic.

Culture and religion are not the same thing. And in the case of the Catholic Church and Cuba, something the Vatican has never quite gotten a hold of.

Etchy-Sketchy

Well, this time former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney really did do something to stimulate the economy. The emphasis is mine:

Mitt Romney probably never wants to see another Etch A Sketch, but investors don't feel that way: The toy that caused a campaign faux pas Wednesday led the stock of its owner, Ohio Art Co., to more than double.

Granted, that’s with thin trading volume on the over-the-counter market. The 141% jump pushed the value up $5.65 to close at $9.65 a share.

What’s bad news for Eric Fehrnstrom -- the Romney senior aide who, on Wednesday, likened his boss’ policy strategy to the Etch A Sketch’s ever-changing chameleon ways, and on CNN no less -- is great news for Ohio Art.

Rachel Maddow may also have added to Ohio Art Co.’s good fortune last night on MSNBC. Too funny.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Mitt Romney won’t lose this election because of this comment – especially since it came from someone in his campaign instead of the horse’s mouth. But this will stick. Four years after the 2008 election we are still talking about John McCain not knowing how many houses he owned.

This, is sort of like, that.