Submitted by maggie mae on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 22:00 While I applaud the action of the Wisconsin state senators that is effectively stopping passage of a bill that will remove the ability of workers to collectively bargain in the state, I have to wonder at the long term consequences of the current political climate that is laying waste to the lives of ordinary people.
We are hearing from the Wisconsin governor that elections have consequences. That sounds very (maybe exactly) familiar to what Democrats were saying when they were trying to get votes scheduled in the Senate. And how is this action – use of the quorum to stop passage of a bill – any different from the use of cloture by Senate Republicans? Seems a little drastic but it is the tool available to the Wisconsin Democrats.
Where do we go from here – detention of elected officials in order to keep them around for votes? What happened to compromise? So far all concessions have come from the unions. And for anyone who needs a reminder, collective bargaining has resulted in better wages, benefits and work conditions for everyone – not just union workers.
Submitted by maggie mae on Sun, 01/02/2011 - 21:42 After securing tax cuts for the middle class, DADT and the Start Treaty, President Obama has announced priorities for next year including: Dream Act, immigration reform, Gitmo shutdown, education, energy, budget deficit and debt.
And while Obama plans to move forward in many areas the Republicans have announced that there will be no compromise. Sounds like we are in for a non-productive year filled with sound and fury that accomplishes nothing.
War may break out on the home front but there is good news abroad. If you have not been paying attention you may have missed news from the Middle East – there has been a halt in Israeli/Palestinian violence and economic conditions in the West Bank are improving. In addition there appears to be growing co-operation between Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Now we just need to find a way to prevent Obama from returning Manhattan to the Native Americans.
Submitted by maggie mae on Sun, 10/10/2010 - 19:31 Dear Meg:
Regardless of whether or not you knew your dear friend Nicky Diaz was an illegal alien, can’t you find a few dollars to help her? You spent $140 million trying to buy the governorship of California but you cannot spare a few dollars to help Nicky – the Nicky who you described as one of your family. If this is how you treat family, how will you treat the citizens of California – the poor, unemployed, ill or mentally disabled? You can’t fire them.
Submitted by maggie mae on Fri, 08/27/2010 - 18:16
The Ground Zero Mosque Controversy.
What is worse – being dumb or playing dumb to gain votes?
It is a mosque? No, it is not a mosque – it is a proposed community center with a swimming pool, a theatre and a space for prayers.
Submitted by maggie mae on Mon, 07/26/2010 - 20:56 Governor Christie, you keep nibbling at the budget problems – never taking a full bite. You pushed the overall budget problems down to municipalities by putting a cap on local budgets. Now you want to put a cap on school superintendent salaries. Instead of a big bite approach is this the carrot and celery approach – keep nibbling at local budgets? And what did school superintendants do to you? If this were Obama trying to cap the salaries of Corporate America you would be one of the first in line to condemn him. It is OK to cap the salaries of school superintendants but is not OK to cap salaries in the business sector? Can anyone please explain this logic?
For the good of the state, you really need to keep that weight off. But don’t be afraid to take a full bite – it is the only way to solve the budget crisis.
Submitted by maggie mae on Thu, 07/01/2010 - 22:20 Another day older and deeper in debt.
- No amount of belt tightening will significantly reduce the deficit.
- We will not reduce the deficit until the economy picks up.
- The economy will not pick up until we have jobs and people are spending.
- One of the best ways to provide jobs is passage of an energy bill.
- An energy bill will reduce dependence on foreign oil.
- Reducing dependence on foreign oil will reduce the deficit.
- The problem is not the deficit – it is jobs and oil consumption.
Keep digging that coal and digging deeper in debt.
Submitted by maggie mae on Mon, 06/14/2010 - 21:22 Joran van der Sloot is being called a serial killer after confessing to the killing of Peruvian Stephany Flores. I do not remember him being convicted of another murder. He has confessed to killing Natalee Holloway but he has also denied any involvement – strange behavior but not abnormal given his situation and the media attention.
Just suppose that van der Sloot is innocent. Since he was seventeen, he has been hounded for 5 years and followed by parasites trying to make a story. The constant negative attention may have triggered the rage that led to the Flores murder. And the fact that his family is bankrupt paying for his defense could explain his absurd extortion attempt and his seedy business deals – explain, not excuse. Whether innocent or guilty, his behavior has been revolting and I certainly would not want him near any of my family members. But I have to ask myself if the Flores murder was a self-fulfilling prophecy that was aided and abetted by the FBI. He was treated as a murderer and he became a murderer.
What do I know? I also believed in the innocence of Floyd Landis until he confessed to using performance enhancing drugs. But why would the FBI give van der Sloot the money that enabled him to go to Peru? Am I the only one bothered by this?
Submitted by maggie mae on Sat, 06/12/2010 - 06:45 Has Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour been inhaling oil fumes from the Gulf of Mexico? Or maybe he just got too close to the dispersant that BP is using. During an interview by Chris Wallace on Fox News, Barbour was condemning the Obama moratorium on off shore drilling. Why? Because he is worried that the oil companies may pick up their oil rigs and depart for Somalia if they are required to wait 6 months. This is such a ridiculous argument it is depressing. The moratorium is a pause to allow time to determine the best way forward for future drilling so that another disaster is avoided. Wouldn’t responsible companies – is that becoming an oxymoron – want to avoid a BP like disaster? The moratorium is to allow time for reviewing not only the technology but also the response to an oil spill. One of the outcomes of the oil spill is the realization that BP’s response plan is a fairy tale and the government does not have the expertise to solve the problem.
Also, Barbour was very unhappy with the negative news coverage of the oil spill. Is there anything positive to report? He definitely inhaled something.
Submitted by maggie mae on Sun, 05/23/2010 - 21:53 Rand Paul felt that it was necessary to cancel his appearance on Meet the Press because he wanted to avoid the “liberal bias” of the media. The most disturbing aspect of that statement is that anyone would think David Gregory has a liberal bias.
Rand Paul – like his father – has questioned the role of government in our lives. This is a discussion that we should be having – not questioning the validity of evolution or Obama’s birth certificate. Don’t get me wrong – I believe in government regulation and the need for a healthcare mandate. But we need to move beyond the sound bite and start an honest discussion of government policies that affect our lives.
Does Rand Paul know that there are a number of Senators with a liberal bias? Is he saying that he will not be able to work with them? If that is the case Rand Paul does not belong in the Senate.
Submitted by maggie mae on Sun, 04/04/2010 - 17:30 Remember Katherine the bitch from Taming of the Shrew? When trying to describe her marriageable qualities the best that could be said was “small choice in rotten apples.”
While watching Kate Gosselin on Dancing with the Stars, I was reminded of Katherine the Shrew because Kate’s dancing skills can only be described as “small choice in rotten apples.”
Kate the Klutz is so bad the gong should be resurrected just for her. But surprisingly she will be around for another week. I wonder who voted for her. Maybe the question is why did they vote for her? The pity vote? Maybe that explains how idiots get elected to Congress – members who do not know the difference between discretionary spending and entitlements, who tell their constituents not to fill out the census form or who deliberately mislead voters regarding legislation on healthcare and energy. Are these members of congress in the pocket of special groups or just plain dumb? Like the member of congress who was worried that Guam may tip over if we send too many service members to the island.
The members of Congress are becoming “small choice in rotten apples.”
At least Tony Dovolani will not be stuck with Kate until the next general election.
Submitted by maggie mae on Sun, 03/21/2010 - 09:31 Who out there voted to elect NJ Governor Chris Christie and would now like to change their vote? If you did not actually vote for Christie but really voted against Corzine because he did not reduce property taxes, I have news for you: your property taxes will be rising.
Submitted by maggie mae on Sun, 03/07/2010 - 19:31 Not long ago Sarah Palin was asked by Chris Wallace if she was planning to run for president. She answered:
Submitted by maggie mae on Sun, 02/28/2010 - 22:44 Jenny Sanford has been granted a divorce from Mark Sanford. With the divorce and the end of his term as governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford’s sordid – but entertaining – affair is coming to an end. His “Sparking in Argentina” interlude has been the inspiration for this website because it reflected the worse of the political discourse as he and his supporters found every excuse to exonerate his inexcusable behavior.
Submitted by maggie mae on Sun, 01/24/2010 - 22:53 This summer we watched healthcare reform move briskly through the House and sputter in the Senate. We were entertained by the Tea Baggers, New Age Sons of Liberty carrying their guns and senior citizens on Medicare decrying socialism. It was Bizarro World.
The fall season seemed to energize the Senate Finance committee enough to push a bill through to the full Senate where it hit a roadblock. But we supposedly had a breakthrough until Lieberman just said “NO” to expanding Medicare. With a long list of backroom deals, finally a XMAS vote. The sausage was made.
Senate bill and House bill just needed conferencing – that thing that melds the two bills together through more back room deals and turns the sausage into scrapple. Not that there is anything wrong with scrapple. It can be really good if cooked correctly and served with a lot of syrup.
But I now realize that healthcare reform may only be a Fata Morgana – a mirage visible on the distant horizon, mesmerizing, enticing, constantly changing shape. And everyone seems to see something different: it bends the cost curve, it is too costly, it closes the donut hole, it cuts Medicare, it is not really reform, it is too complicated, it is too big.
If we pass up this chance to get healthcare reform,
Will our souls be OK?
Submitted by maggie mae on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 22:31
Yes, Coakley lost but the sky is not falling regardless of what the politicians and pundits on both sides are saying.
Submitted by maggie mae on Tue, 12/15/2009 - 17:21 While I have been frustrated with the Senate dithering on the Healthcare Bill, I thought that it was all worth the self agonizing and media hyper scrutiny when the Democrats came up with the Medicare buy in for adults 55 and older. At that point even Lieberman stated that it looked promising – which is not surprising since he has been advocating for the Medicare option since his VP run with Gore.
So, what has happened to change his mind? Since he admitted that he does not have details on the Medicare option we can only surmise that he is against it just to be against it. The desperate sick people in need of healthcare do not matter – it is all about Joe and his colossal ego that resides inside his teeny tiny conscience. In Joe’s world it is all about Joe – a true narcissus whose idea of his own self-worth is only magnified every time he opens his mouth.
Just Say No Joe has to go but it is up to the people of Connecticut to remove him from office. While that action will not help to push the bill forward it will make me and a lot of people feel better. It is that or the Tarpeian Rock.
Submitted by maggie mae on Sun, 12/13/2009 - 17:06
Submitted by maggie mae on Sun, 11/08/2009 - 10:30 Regardless of the political spin, last Tuesday’s election results do not signal the direction the 2010 elections.
First, Democrats lost two governorships and the outcome could have been predicted months ago. Regardless of the fact that both democratic candidates were lacking, it is the norm for the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia to go to the party that lost the 2008 presidential election. Historically, they are contrarian elections and do not prognosticate for the next election results.
New York 23 is an example of unwanted interference in local politics. Republicans seriously blundered and lost a seat they should have easily won.
Democratic success in the 2010 election will rise or fall in inverse proportion to the unemployment rate. And Republicans know this.
We need jobs and it is time that both parties get serious about the problem – the unemployment rate has risen above 10%.
Democrats need to stop being tentative and worrying about the next election and Republicans need to stop running interference.
Or the electorate may bring down a plague on both your houses – it will be time for a viable third party.
Wonder if Bernie Sanders has plans for 2012.
Submitted by maggie mae on Sat, 10/31/2009 - 08:11 So saith Barney Frank to Ralph Nader: you luxuriate in the purity of your irrelevance.
As usual, Barney Frank is able to encapsulate his thoughts in an entertaining phrase.
Sadly, it is the truth.
Ralph Nader is an advocate for consumer and environmental issues. He helped shape auto and consumer safety laws that made manufacturers responsible for their products and made our lives safer.
But Ralph Nader has become irrelevant – not his ideas but Nader himself. It is not the message – it is the messenger. The really sad part is that we need Ralph Nader to advocate for business responsibility and campaign reform – but no one is listening to him.
Nader may have been unfairly blamed for Gore’s lose to Bush but he reinforced the idea with his angry rhetoric denouncing the Democratic Party and hoping to destroy it. He alienated progressive candidates that he should be working with. No one is green enough or pure of heart – except Nader.
Barney has it right – Nader luxuriates in the purity of his irrelevance.
Submitted by maggie mae on Sat, 10/24/2009 - 15:51
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