Katrina Vanden Heuvel from The Nation is on Twitter touting rock musician John Mellencamp as a possible successor to Evan Bayh-bye.
Mellencamp for Senator from Indiana! He's heartland rocker who tackles corporate power on behalf of family farmers/fighting foreclosures.
John Mellencamp 4 Senator from Indiana. Populist,beloved son of state my husband hails from: http://bit.ly/bb5hht
One of her Nation colleagues is on the magazine's blog pushing the same idea.
While I was never particularly fond of that little ditty 'bout Jack and Diane, Scarecrow was one of the best albums of the 1980s, and "R-O-C-K in the U-S-A" will always be a favorite. On the other hand . . . are you kidding me? John Cougar Mellencamp as a senator? John Cougar Mellencamp as a left-of-Dennis-Kucinich endorsed-by-The-Nation Democrat senator from Indiana? A cougar among the jackasses?
Not. Gonna. Happen.
Can you imagine this guy as a politician? Is he going to promise everyone a little pink house? If the Republicans filibuster one of his bills, will he throw cherry bombs at them until it hurts so good?
They deserve a fair shot - e.g. DAVY CROCKETT + ABE LINCOLN + GEORGE WASHINGTON, ETC, > HOW MANY AMER MILITARY-FRONTIER HEROES WERE DEEMED MEDIOCRE-TO-POOR WASHINGTON POLITICIANS = CONGRESSCRITTERS, OR EVEN VICEY VERSEYS?
Lest we fergit, RONALD REAGAN > POTUS harshly accused of "reading from Hollywood scripts", + having elderly or senior citizen age-related dementia when sworn in in 1981, i.e. "TOO OLD TO BE POTUS"???
#7
Ms. Vanden Heuvel is way too smart to be fooled. I personally sold her a a quadrillion carbon credits for her personal travel and and electricity use. Cash up front, bayyyybeee
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2010 21:48 Comments ||
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Katrina Vanden Heuvel points which way John Cougar Mellencamp should go, as a bemused Anita Dunn looks on.
Central Falls is one of the poorest towns in the state. It looks like the pictures everyone's seen of Detroit or Flint. There are lots of boarded up windows, abandoned buildings, decrepit factories with broken windows, etc. It's an absolutely depressed community. According to Wikipedia, the median income in the town is $22k.
Teacher salaries at the high school average $72-78k. Apparently 50% of the students at the school are failing all of their classes, and the graduation rate is also under 50%. In an effort to turn the school around, the superintendent requested some changes be made whereby the school day would be slightly extended, teachers would perform some extra tutoring, etc.
The union balked and refused the terms, so now she is firing the entire teaching staff of the high school and replacing them. This is yet another example of unions digging their own graves by refusing to negotiate or accept reasonable terms. Sentiment is on the side of the superintendent, at least among the folks I have discussed the issue with. Godspeed, Ms Gallo
#7
It ain't over until it's over. The process sounds like a violation of a union contract & so may not hold up in court. If it does hold up, that's when it will be big news.
#9
Terminations worked well for President Reagan when he had the PATCO Air Traffic Controller problem. Something tells me Barry or his henchmen will step into this one on the side of the NEA candlelight vigilantes. This is a precedent the current administration does not want or need.
#11
I wonder what would have the higher graduation rates, this school system or a library where students can read for 7 hours?
Posted by: ed ||
02/16/2010 14:28 Comments ||
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Would they want to read for 7 hours?
They would probably just hang out at the library with their friends, listening to their IPods and playing on the library computers.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/16/2010 15:12 Comments ||
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John, not so much romper room but study hall. Or detention hall for those who want to make trouble. With 50% of the kids already failing all their classes, what added value do these 100 teachers/administrators provide over that of 10 gym teachers who can enforce discipline? What value are they providing for $90/hour that having Johnny's mom volunteer for a few hours a week does not?
Posted by: ed ||
02/16/2010 16:09 Comments ||
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#15
Looks like no stimulus funds for Central Falls, RI.
#16
John, you just very accurately described my sons high school. if we didn't teach him at home, he wouldn't know squat. ask me sometime about the grading rubric for the honors math classes... my dog could get a B in that class. mathematically impossible to get below a C if you attend each day.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
02/16/2010 17:27 Comments ||
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It came as no surprise to our family that the absolute worst teacher our eldest had in HS was also the union steward.
#18
I don't see how a town where the average yearly income is $22K can afford to pay $72-78K to teachers. Good move on the part of Gallo. You will probably see more of this.
#19
Ah, here's the key info from further down the page at the link:
Gallo knows she can get it done because state Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist has mandated the overhaul, giving Gallo federal and state authority to transform the school
Faced with a ballooning budget shortfall, Los Angeles, one of the biggest and wealthiest cities in the US, is proposing cuts to compensate for the revenue shortage. The 212-million-dollar budget deficit hovering over the city is the severest shortfall during the past eight months, a number that could well be doubled by next year.
The shortage is attributed mainly to plummeting tax incomes stemmed from an economic downturn in the region and a reduction of property values accompanied by a 15 percent unemployment rate. And, I'll bet, a little John Galt ...
"The last time we saw this kind of drop in revenue was the Great Depression," Miguel Santana, the city's chief financial officer, told Reuters. "It speaks to how severe this budget crisis is."
To fix the problem officials have proposed several ways to replenish the city's coffers.
While first cuts were made in education and social services, now it is the turn of critical sectors of public life and basic safety to fall under the ax of deep budget cuts.
Among other things like leasing out parking garages to private operators, the city officials are bracing for job cuts.
"It's pretty simple. They are going to need to make some serious spending cuts," said Ian Carroll of Standard & Poor's.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said last week that he was considering plans to shed 1,200 to 2,000 of the city's government jobs in next year's budget, on top of the 1,000 positions the mayor ordered last week to be cut over the next few months.
Villaraigosa also suggested that unions should accept pay cuts to avoid large layoffs. "If everybody took a 5 percent cut, it would add USD 150 million to the general fund," the mayor said on Thursday at an event sponsored by the local business leaders. Can't happen. Makes too much sense.
Union officials have rejected the plan saying it is contrary to President Barack Obama's effort to create jobs across the country.
"We find it ironic that at the same time Congress is debating a jobs bill, the mayor of one of the largest cities in the country is talking about laying off 3,000 people," said Barbara Maynard, spokeswoman for the Coalition of LA City Unions. "The last thing Los Angeles or any city needs is to have more people on the unemployment line." Bet you never thought a union official would say something like that ...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Typical public employee unions that don't understand the difference between a public and a private job's effect on the economy.
How many of those jobs are in the $80 - $100k range?
#4
What the gov't unemployment numbers do not show:
Social Security inundated by new disability claims
As the worst recession since the Great Depression appears to be ending, the Social Security Administration grapples with an unprecedented flood of disability applications due to aging baby-boomers and heavy job losses.
Pending claims are expected to jump 70 percent this year, said Dan Allsup, spokesman for Illinois-based Allsup Inc., which represents people applying for disability payments.
CRAIG BOWEN'S SALARY during his final year as chief of the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District was about $221,000 a year. So how did he end up retiring in December with a tax-advantaged annual pension of $284,000?
The answer provides an amazing case study that highlights problems with public employee compensation and reveals tricks that allow workers to spike their pensions at the expense of their fellow employees and taxpayers.
The Bowen story has some similarities to the case I examined last month of Peter Nowicki, the chief of the Moraga Orinda Fire District who was able to turn his $185,000 annual salary into a $241,000 yearly pension. While each public agency has different rules that provide new ways to take advantage of retirement systems, many of the lessons can be applied across the board.
In Bowen's case, residents of the fire district serving Danville, San Ramon, Alamo, Blackhawk and Diablo should pay close attention because they got shafted. The San Ramon district's flawed compensation system and generous rules for pension calculations allowed Bowen to increase his starting pension from about $193,000 to $284,000 a year — a 47 percent increase. The pension will be increased in future years for inflation.
Bowen was only 51 years old when he retired at the end of 2008. If he or his wife lives another 30 years, that bump-up alone would add $2.7 million in today's dollars to his
pension. His total retirement payout for the next 30 years would be worth about $8.5 million in today's dollars — far more than most taxpayers have in their 401(k)s when they hit the half-century mark.
#8
You know GB, the real pisser is an annual pension of $284,000 is roughly ten times that of a retired GySgt with over 25 years of service. Now I ask you, who has faced more risk and hardship during their career? Just my two cents worth.
#9
Those spiking pensions then take early retirement, "saving" jobs and easing Obama's unemployment figures on paper. Sadly, the same problem is plagueing many cities and states across the nation.
If the convention center was a colossal and contentious public project, wait until you see Mayor Karl Dean's next undertaking: a multi-year, multibillion-dollar effort to renovate Middle Tennessee's mass transportation system. Maybe you have multi-years. Do you have multi-billions of dollars?
The payback to residents of the greater Nashville area, Dean says, will be a mass transit system to rival that of Denver, Charlotte and Austin. Is it gonna make a profit? When I think mass transit, I think Austin ...
In recent weeks, Dean has regularly pointed to Denver as an example for how to overhaul regional transportation. In 2004, the Mile High City created a sales-tax-funded light rail system at a cost of $6.5 billion. That's a number 11 times bigger than the Music City Center's $585 million price tag. "The money is scary," Dean said. "But when you think of the region -- and the Denver project is a big region like Middle Tennessee -- as connecting Gallatin, Hendersonville, Clarksville, Murfreesboro, Franklin, Wilson County ... it's going to be an extremely expensive thing and it's going to take years to accomplish."
Dean cautioned against delaying a massive transportation overhaul any longer. "I think transportation is so important, long-term, for the quality of life and economic viability of this region, that we have to do it," Dean said. "As long as we're rollin' in money we should spend it!"
Improving mass transit in the Nashville area has been a topic of conversation for many years, but there is evidence that the issue is moving past idle chatter. Last year Dean formed the regional mayors' caucus, which has met three times and will be meeting regularly on the issue of exploring a growing menu of mass transportation options. Following the lead of Denver, Dean also formed the Transit Alliance, which is a collection of business interests throughout the region that are supportive of the issue. Where's the money come from, bub?
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Tell him to buy everybody in Middle Tennessee a car. It'll probably be cheaper.
#2
Denver's light rail system is one of the more successful ones in the US. The actual cost was close to the initial budget and the completion was on time (although that means it took about 15 years to get the first 35 miles built).
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/16/2010 9:37 Comments ||
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No one will ride it. Why wait in the cold, rain, or heat for a train or bus when one can drive his or her vehicle? Waste of time and money.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/16/2010 12:12 Comments ||
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#4
No one will ride it.
Sure they will. As long as the fares are subsidized.
#5
It's not that difficult to get around Nashville. The city does not have a layout that is particularly amenable to a mass transportation systems such as light rail. Why not work with the existing bus system?
Illinois politicians are at it again. They're borrowing from the future to make state pension contributions today. Illinois has one of the most underfunded public pension plans in the nation.
When boomers start retiring, there won't be enough money to pay those pension promises. Both political parties are still trying to hide the magnitude of the problem.
In early January, while everyone was busy watching the nasty campaign commercials, the State of Illinois pulled an end-run on the budget process. On Jan. 7 the state sold $3.5 billion of "pension obligation notes." In simple English, the state borrowed money to finance the state's contribution to its five retirement systems.
These five-year debt securities carry an interest rate of 3.84 percent, tax free to bondholders. It's a much higher yield than you could get in the bank because of the risk involved. Moody's and Standard and Poors rated them at least 6 notches below the top AAA rating. In fact, all the rating agencies characterized the outlook for Illinois finances as "negative."
The money raised will go to shore up the Teachers Retirement System, which is scheduled to receive $2.08 billion of the proceeds, and the Illinois State Universities Retirement System, which will get $702.5 million from the bond offering. The Illinois State Board of Investment gets nearly $813 million for funds, including the Illinois State Employees' Retirement System, and the Judges Retirement System, and -- big surprise -- the Illinois General Assembly Retirement System.
But what happens in five years when those bonds must be repaid? Where will the state find $3.4 billion -- plus the interest that must be paid along the way? Will investors be willing to lend to them at any yield? Will the next governor return to Blagojevich's plan to lease out the state lottery and sell the toll roads? Or will this "Ponzi scheme" finally be exposed?
On that day, the war between the taxpayers and the public pensions will officially begin.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2010 00:00 ||
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You, the "Public Servants" are who makes more than those that pay for your "service". Your unions, your pay rates, your state programs, and YOUR PENSIONS will bankrupt the nation.
Very few "public servants" are worth the cash they are paid. The idea was you took a pay cut to have job stability and all that government junk bond you can get.
Well, that used to be. Now this is out of control and must be stomped out.
I do not believe it is always Patriotic to work for the government. I think it more Patriotic to work yourself out of a job when in government. Not to make more.
Learn the definition of Patriot also, democrats. You idiots.
#3
This is not just a problem in Illinois. As far as I can tell, this is the situation for all public pension plans nationwide, including Social Security. Pensions all depend on future revenues being used to pay future obligations. Pension obligations may be predictable, but future tax revenues ARE NOT. The states are learning this, one by one.
Some financial disasters can be predicted mathematically, and this was one of them.
The only public pensions that make sense to me are for retired military, due to the special natures of their work. All the other public officials can fund their retirements the old-fashioned way, by saving for it, like the rest of us have to. Unfortunately, all dollar-denominated savings are subject to devaluation of the dollar, which the federal government is hell-bent on doing.
A war between taxpayers and public pensions seems inevitable.
#5
The war over corporate pension plans has already been fought. We lost. Please elaborate. My working theory is that defined benefit plans are not sustainable, due to the key assumption I mentioned in my first post.
#6
Please elaborate. My working theory is that defined benefit plans are not sustainable, due to the key assumption I mentioned in my first post. Posted by Anguper Hupomosing
Your theory is spot on. The number of corporations or firms offering funded pension and retiree insurance plans has been dwindling precipitously for decades. I doubt the trend will reverse itself. We've simply "lost" them. Much cheaper foreign labor is the route being taken. The seed corn has been consumed.
#7
Defined benefit (aka pension) plans have all but been eliminated in the private sector. The funds are typically rolled into the workers' 401(k), so they no longer are guaranteed a life-long post retirement income stream.
Posted by: regular joe ||
02/16/2010 17:59 Comments ||
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#8
A 77%-To-88%-US-DEBT-To-GDP-RATIO come Year 2020 = EVEN IFF YOU RETIRE TODAY OR IN NEAR-TERM AT FULL BENEFITS, DOESN'T MEAN YOUR PENSION, ETC. IS SAFE AS NATIONAL ECON INSOLVENCY = FED-LOCAL GOVT INSOLVENCY ALSO.
The OWG + NATIONAL-GLOBAL SOCIALIST ORDER + "PAY FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD" US = GLOBAL TAXATION, etc which Amer Voters didn't vote for, either to begin with nor in the present nor in the near future.
YOU KNOW - BEING-A-GOOD-LEADER-IS-BEING-A-GOOD-FOLLOWER, JOHN PAUL JONES + JOHN WAYNE + REAGAN, "LEADERSHIP"!
#9
Lest we fergit, D *** NG IT MORIARITY, AT LEAST UNDER SOVIET COMMUNISM THE PEOPLE WERE PERMANENTLY POOR BUT OPTIMISTIC - WE WERE "OPTIMISTIC", D *** YOU!
U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg this morning underwent an endoscopy procedure after being diagnosed with a bleeding ulcer, his spokesperson said.
Lautenberg was taken by ambulance Monday night from his Cliffside Park home to an undisclosed hospital after becoming lightheaded and suffering a fall, said the spokesman, Caley Gray. Gray said the 86-year-old New Jersey Democrat was expected to make a full recovery and will be back to work soon.
Lautenberg was elected to his fifth term in the Senate in 2008, defeating former U.S. Rep. Richard Zimmer with roughly 55 percent of the vote.
Lautenberg returned Friday night from a whirlwind 11-hour trip to Haiti with a congressional delegation that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He was scheduled to have a news conference Monday in Newark to discuss the trip and state efforts providing relief.
#1
Too much "agita" for poor Frank, lately. He must've forgot his Maalox on that 11 hour trip to Haiti with Speaker Nan. or maybe it's the millions Madoff got from him that's still bothering him..
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/16/2010 12:28 Comments ||
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#3
Who is this Lautenberg? Rich, out of touch octogenarians are a dime a dozen in congress.
Posted by: ed ||
02/16/2010 14:54 Comments ||
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You mean Senator 'the fix is in' Lautenberg. No one remember the 2002 antics to get him to fill a Donk seat that was suddenly up for grabs. Let's remember. We don't need no stinking Constitution when the boys sitting on the bench to make it up as they go along.
When the Congressional Black Caucus wanted to pay off the mortgage on its foundation's stately 1930s redbrick headquarters on Embassy Row, it turned to a familiar roster of friends: corporate backers like Wal-Mart, AT&T, General Motors, Coca-Cola and Altria, the nation's largest tobacco company. Soon enough, in 2008, a jazz band was playing at what amounted to a mortgage-burning party for the $4 million town house. Most political groups in Washington would have been barred by law from accepting that kind of direct aid from corporations. But by taking advantage of political finance laws, the caucus has built a fund-raising juggernaut unlike anything else in town.
It has a traditional political fund-raising arm subject to federal rules. But it also has a network of nonprofit groups and charities that allow it to collect unlimited amounts of money from corporations and labor unions.
From 2004 to 2008, the Congressional Black Caucus's political and charitable wings took in at least $55 million in corporate and union contributions, according to an analysis by The New York TimesThe caucus says its nonprofit groups are intended to help disadvantaged African-Americans by providing scholarships and internships to students, researching policy and holding seminars on topics like healthy living.
But the bulk of the money has been spent on elaborate conventions that have become a high point of the Washington social season, as well as the headquarters building, golf outings by members of Congress and an annual visit to a Mississippi casino resort.
In 2008, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation spent more on the caterer for its signature legislative dinner and conference — nearly $700,000 for an event one organizer called “Hollywood on the Potomac' — than it gave out in scholarships, federal tax records show.
But caucus members have attracted increasing scrutiny from ethics investigators. All eight open House investigations involve [black congressional]caucus members, and most center on accusations of improper ties to private businesses.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/16/2010 09:41 ||
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.....it turned to a familiar roster of friends: corporate backers like Wal-Mart, AT&T, General Motors, Coca-Cola and Altria, the nation's largest tobacco company.
If it were anyone else the word extortion might be used. Why don't we just refer to it as a sort of insurance premium.
#2
I would be very interested to see what would happen to one of their "familiar roster of friends" if they said..."no".
And since when did the Times grow a set?
#4
"In 2008, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation spent more on the caterer for its signature legislative dinner and conference -- nearly $700,000 for an event one organizer called "Hollywood on the Potomac" -- than it gave out in scholarships, federal tax records show." Well that's enlightening.
So, is California's brittle Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer about to become the next Harry Reid? Which is to say, embattled at home.
Harry uses Botox too? He should ask for a refund.
For the second straight month the three-term senator is unable to break the 50% mark against any potential Republican opponents, the historical measuring mark of vulnerability for an incumbent nine months before an election.
For a Democrat in a Democrat state that gave Barack Obama 61% of its votes in 2008 (and still likes him more than many other places) to be mired in the mid-40's is a sign of real trouble. This is especially so given the fact that disgruntled voters gave Democrats control of the House, Senate and White House in 2008, expecting something to happen beyond another congressional pay raise.
#1
Watch Tom Campbell. He's polling higher than Carly Fiorina and has a message and track record that will resonate strongly this year. His time has come.
House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.) is out again.
After saying he was not running for Evan Bayh's Senate seat a few weeks ago, Pence was beginning to reconsider with Bayh's surprising retirement announcement Monday. But now Pence is out for good, even though the seat is now one of the strongest candidates for a Republican takeover.
After consulting with his political staff Pence announced Monday afternoon -- for the second time this political season -- that he is staying in the House.
There were several factors that Pence weighed in his potential run. First, he had already passed on the opportunity to run last month, citing the GOP's strong position in the House. Further, he's considered among the strongest candidates for governor of Indiana in 2012. Plus, Pence would need to gain thousands signatures by noon tomorrow for the Republican primary.
Privately, aides to Pence say he was also concerned about Bayh's $13 million in the bank, but now Pence is going to hope for a Republican takeover in the House, which could propel him into a top leadership position in that chamber. And then he could still run for governor in 2012.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Bayh blamed the partisan climate for his decision not to defend his seat. But where were his condemnations of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid axis as they attempted to use their supermajority to ram through the health care monstrosity, a plan that lacked sensible Republican ideas like tort reform and allowing purchases of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada?
Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona on Sunday threw more cold water on the chances that his party would cooperate with a Feb. 25 healthcare reform summit at the White House, protesting that Democrats already seem poised to force a bill through Congress.
Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Kyl echoed a claim that congressional Republicans have made for the past week, that President Barack Obama and House and Senate Democrats intend the summit as a public display and not a genuine dialogue. He quoted a recent Wall Street Journal article that asserted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has "set the stage" for using reconciliation to pass the bill. That controversial legislative tactic could allow the bill to pass the Senate with 51 votes instead of 60 as usually required to break a filibuster.
"What that means is they've devised the process by which they can jam the bill through that the president has supported in the past, without Republican ideas in it," Kyl told CNN host Candy Crowley.
"Reconciliation is not the process for comprehensive bills like this. It's for balancing the budget... I don't know why we would be having a bipartisan summit down at the White House if they've already decided on this other process by which they're going to jam the bill through."
Instead, Kyl called for redrafting the legislation from scratch -- another common GOP claim in recent weeks -- and argued that it should start with limits on medical malpractice lawsuits.
"It's not a matter of taking this or that out of the Senate-passed bill or the House-passed bill, it's a matter of starting with basic principles and going one step at a time, solving particular problems," Kyl said. "For example, everyone believes there's this 'jackpot justice' system we have and we need medical malpractice reform."
On the package of job-growth provisions that the Senate will take up when it returns from recess on Feb. 22, Kyl said Republicans still object to elements of the plan. He pointed to the Democratic approach to assisting state governments with expanded bonding authority and helping small businesses through tax breaks. Kyl said the federal government cannot afford a "subsidy" to state governments, and that the GOP prefers to assist small businesses by keeping tax rates steady and not allowing any increases.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2010 00:00 ||
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I wonder how many of those Congresscritters who are bailing out would do this.
It's not like they are gonna face the voters' wrath anyway, so why not line up some lucrative lobbyist/think tank job for 2011 and help San Fran Nan and Dingy Harry one last time on the way out, patting themselves on the back for doing the "right thing" for all of us ungrateful rubes?
#3
They ram this through, do not be surprised if the firearms come out and some people declare open season. Anyone voting for this cram down should be getting a protection detail and wearing kevlar, because there are crazy people who will go off. It will be ugly and the mainstream press will try to pin it on the Tea Party.
Truly amazing that they are this deaf to the vast majority of America, and to the very small violent minority.
#4
Truly amazing that they are this deaf to the vast majority of America, and to the very small violent minority.
They are not deaf. They want what they want, and will do whatever it takes to get it. The end justifies the means. One of the key tenets of Marxist ideology.
Also, they understand that if the are successful wit the cram down, it will be next to impossible for it to be undone. And yes, there will most like be open season declared and it won't be just crazies going after them.
For all its sophistication, progressive blather and urban (and urbane) attitude, New York has some of the sleaziest, dirtiest, lowest-class, greediest, and most corrupt and embarrassing politicians in the nation.
You've got to go far, maybe to Chicago, to find a political cauldron giving off the stink we're sniffing here at the crossroads of the world.
You've got addled Gov. David Paterson, spinning crazily this week over wild rumors that The New York Times is coming out with an article about his sexual and drug habits. The article has not appeared, and The Times, being The Times, refuses to comment. But the rumors have stirred up the buzzing media political establishment.
The hapless Paterson, enmeshed in some sort of psychodrama, has declared, "I have been depicted in a way that has been racialized, sexualized, hypersexualized and dissolute.''
Wait, there's more. "I'm black, I'm blind, and I'm still alive. How much better do they want me to be?" He was unloading himself on Wednesday on "Imus in the Morning'' on the Fox Business Channel, venting with radio host Don Imus, himself not the classiest act in town.
Paterson, who has being going hat in hand to media outlets to plead his case, covered himself in glory when, at a news conference on Tuesday in Albany, the state's capital, he said he would leave his office either by defeat at the ballot box or in a pine box. "The only way I'm not going to be governor next year is at the ballot box, and the only way that I'll be leaving office before is in a box." Great.
The governor's meltdown has long been in the making. A marginal politician who inherited whatever heft he had from his father, a powerful city pol, Paterson climbed from the state's No. 2 job to the big seat thanks to Gov. Eliot Spitzer (tough former prosecutor, aggressive campaigner, popular, big-time Democrat), whose sexual adventures with prostitutes forced him to resign in 2008. Paterson, immediately after being sworn in, let us know that he, too, had cheated on his wife.
Now it is 2010, election year. Paterson's popularity ratings are in the drain. Nobody wants him to run for a full term, nobody in the city, nobody in Albany, nobody in Washington. The White House -- Obama himself -- and the Democratic establishment are giving him the cold shoulder, signaling that they back Andrew Cuomo, the immensely popular state attorney general. No one is betting against Cuomo, who has not made an official announcement but is universally believed to be running.
Paterson's is not the only story stinking up the place.
What about the state senator who was expelled from the Legislature after his conviction for domestic assault for dragging his girlfriend down a hallway of his apartment building (he was acquitted of a charge that he slashed her face with broken glass, an incident his girlfriend now denies while she stands by her creep).
The expulsion marked the first time in a century that the Legislature has thrown out one of its own from office. That the State Senate, a place where mayhem, incompetence and low-down deals are rampant, took such bold action is seen as perhaps a sign that legislators who feed at the trough may be fed up with Albany shenanigans. More likely, the senators were fed up with their bumptious colleague, Hiram Monserrate, a Queens Democrat who used the threat of switching parties to gain whatever he wanted.
There's plenty more going on. Take City Councilman Larry B. Seabrook, a Bronx Democrat, who is accused of pocketing hundreds of thousands of city dollars for himself, his family and cronies. He was indicted for fraud earlier this week, charged with funneling about $1.2 million in City Council discretionary money (better known as the "slush fund") to nonprofits he controlled. Seabrook is likely to see some jail time, just like ex-Councilman Miguel Martinez, a fellow Democrat, who is behind bars for fraud.
Whatever else, Seabrook is stuck with the tabloid label "Bagel Larry" for doctoring a $7 receipt for a bagel sandwich and diet soda in order to get $177 in reimbursement.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Albany, NY is like Mos Eisley Spaceport: "You will never see a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Shortly after 8:00 a.m. on Monday's Morning Joe on MSNBC, noting that it was President's Day, host Joe Scarborough asked the day's panel members who was their favorite President. After the first two guests named Abraham Lincoln, to which co-host Mika Brzezinski agreed, she then announced her admiration for Jimmy Carter's post-presidential activities calling him her "favorite former President." She went on to call him the "best former President we've ever had," prompting Scarborough to quip, "You should be paid."
After Willie Geist poked fun at Brzezinski by declaring that Jimmy Carter was the best President because of "his bravery against that killer rabbit in Plains, Georgia," Brzezinski sulked: "Stop mocking him."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#3
Let's see. Carter runs away from Iran. Removes large US presence in the region. Russia promptly invades Afghanistan. Iran creates "Hezbollah" in Lebanon. Brzezinski gets the brilliant idea to outsource the battle against the Russians by using "holy warriors".
Carter runs away from Nicaragua allowing a communist insurgency to take over which promptly spreads into El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. Russians begin sending planes and missiles to Nicaragua.
Elevates a terrorist (Arafat) to the level of a head of state. Creates endless talks that ultimately result in nothing gained. Thousands killed on both sides.
Installs Robert Mugabe as head of Zimbabwe after a different leader was elected by the people.
The roots of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the eventual creation of al Qaida and then 9/11 ... Carter's lap.
The roots of the bombing of the US Marine and French Army barracks in Lebanon, Lebanese civil war, and multiple confrontations with Israel ... Carter's lap.
The killing of many Central Americans, support of Colombian Marxists, support of Marxist insurgence across Latin America ... Carter's lap.
Thousands of dead Palestinians and Israelis ... Carter's lap.
Thousands of dead in Zimbabwe and the best economy of Africa ruined ... Carter's lap.
That man is the best we have every had ... if you don't count any of the others. He is a walking disaster. We should call him "The Demolition Man"
His towering antisemitism after leaving office in disgrace has managed to get a few people killed too.
What's scary is Obumble is almost just like him. Didn't I say 2 or 3 years ago he had Carter's smile? The smile of a bumbling fool who manages to get a lot of people killed and is too blind to realize it.
#6
carter did not run away from Nicaragua. he was openly hostile to the county, took deliberate steps to prevent the Nicaraguans from buying ammunition and made statements in the press in support of the contras. Don't forget the Chrysler bailout and the 'wear a sweater' address.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
02/16/2010 1:29 Comments ||
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#7
Don't forget the Chrysler bailout
IIRC, Chrysler paid back the loans, and ahead of schedule. Not that this affects Carter's position as History's Greatest Monster.
#11
She is accurate if you mean it along the lines of "the country's fortunes dramatically improved the minute his successor took office because he can't do any more major damage". By that standard, yeah....he's been far better than any former president I can think of in the past 200+ years.
#13
His chief of staff throwing ice cubes down the decolletage of the Egyptian Ambassador's wife.
His brother caught pissing on the Lincoln Memorial
billy beer
Billy and Gaddafi
The robber he put in charge of Treasury Okay.. other then investigated connections with BCCI he did most of his robbery at his "world fairs" afterwards ...
Speaking of BCCI .. and Paki Nukes...
#19
It is my opinion that Carter should have taken a path more biased toward constructive engagement in Iran and Nicaragua. He should have said something like "we will support you for five years while you institute democratic reforms and if you don't, we walk away". The Shah could have instituted a more constitutional monarchy with more power being given to the Majlis.
He could have done the same with Nicaragua. To simply cut off all support and leave a huge vacuum in the country and the region is just BEGGING for someone to fill it.
Oh, and the Iran/Iraq war, the eventual invasion of Kuwait, and our invasion of Iraq can all be placed on Carter's lap, too. None of that would have happened if Iran were a strong ally and a functioning democracy in the region.
People are STILL dying due to Carter's mistakes. His policies have killed more people globally than anyone else since WWII.
#20
You left out the abandonment of all US claims to the big ditch, the Panama Canal now manned and operated at either end by Whampoa-Hutchinson, or more properly, the undercover PLA and PLAN of the CPRC (Communist People's Republic of China).
Gee, you think that is worthy of mention?
#21
He is certainly not the best by any means. He may end up not being the worst. There is some competition for this role. We have 994 days until the next Presidential election and some time for history to elapse or judge.
(CNN) -- The GOP's 2008 presidential nominee has earned a primary challenge from the right on Presidents Day.
J.D. Hayworth, a former congressman from Arizona and radio host, is scheduled to announce formally Monday that's he's challenging Republican John McCain for his U.S. Senate seat.
Hayworth was to announce his candidacy at a news conference at his new campaign office in Phoenix. The event kicks off a scheduled three-day, 10-stop campaign swing through Arizona.
Hayworth, who served six terms in the House of Representatives before losing his 2006 re-election bid, stepped down last month as host of a conservative talk-radio program in Phoenix. He said he respects McCain's service but said the senator's been in Washington too long and isn't conservative enough.
"We all love and think the world of John and John's place in history is secure," the 51-year old Hayworth said Friday. "But John no longer represents the common sense conservative philosophy that most Arizonans share."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Hayworth is being quite generous in his praise of mccain...
#2
in my estimation almost any praise of McCain outside his military service is generous. he is the prototypical RINO
Posted by: abu do you love ||
02/16/2010 1:18 Comments ||
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#3
#1 & #2 are correct. McCain is unprincipled and his attitudes on various legislation are all over the map. He is more than willing to sell out any kind of conservative economic principles or constitutional gaurantees.
Deserves praise for his service but I think that his POW time may have loosened too many screws.
Republicans are hoping to ride the surge that saw Scott Brown elected to the United States Senate.
But on the other side of the political world, Jill E. Stein has her own take on voter frustration and how it could translate into votes for the left in November.
"There were about 800,000 voters that just didn't come out," said Ms. Stein, the Green Rainbow Party candidate for governor. "They just weren't given a reason to come out. They have had their hopes raised and dashed too many times," she said about the apparent lack of excitement among many liberal voters during last month's special Senate election.
"Voters came out for Brown at about the rate they came out for McCain," when he lost big to Barack Obama here in 2008, she said. "But they did not come out for (Martha) Coakley at the rate that they came out for Obama."
Her belief that liberals want somewhere else to go besides the Democratic Party is one factor that led her to announce her run for governor last week.
"If people are actually voting for, like the nightmare candidate, you know what used to be called the nightmare candidate, as a protest, why not vote for the candidate who really represents your values?" she asked.
"There is an enormous welling up not only of a voter revolt, but also for real answers in growing local economies and renewable energy and in a healthy local food system," she maintained. "There is a desperate need for jobs. There is a desperate need for health care and the wolf is at the gate in many ways," Ms. Stein said of the appeal her party offers.
Double digit unemployment, crumbling schools, an epidemic of foreclosures, skyrocketing health care costs, unjust and racially biased CORI and drug laws, she said, are hurting working families. She believes "wonderful solutions" are available, but politicians have managed not to find them.
"I think we are going to see a grass-roots campaign here like we have never seen before," she predicted.
Ms. Stein's entry into the race means voters will see a four-way final contest for governor, assuming state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill continues his quest as an independent candidate. Gov. Deval L. Patrick and community activist Grace Ross are seeking the Democratic nomination. Republicans Charles D. Baker and Christy Mihos are seeking the Republican nomination.
Many voters will remember the 59-year-old Lexington resident from the 2002 debates in the race for governor, when she lost to Mitt Romney and Shannon P. O'Brien, capturing 76,000 votes -- 3.5 percent of the total, including 8,067 votes in Worcester County. She did better in her bid to unseat Secretary of State William F. Galvin in 2006, getting 351,495 votes or 18 percent to Mr. Galvin's 82 percent.
She is better known now than she was in 2002, she said, and she will be holding campaign events all over the state trying to tap frustration over the lack of ethics reform, workable health care and jobs.
"That's why we are talking about change not only to believe in, but change we can actually accomplish," she said. She said her message from 2002 still plays eight years later.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh, right. The Steyn I was hoping to read is not spelled with an "i". But this was almost as good - this moombat thinks the public wants more (and better) change! It's out there somewhere! She'll find it for you!
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/16/2010 7:37 Comments ||
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#2
She's from not far away from my house and is a loon even by the looney tune standards of this state.
She may be to the right of the Cambridge commies but that's about it.
#4
Her comment about "wonderful solutions" piqued my interest, so I took a look at the issues portion of her website. One wonderful solution:
What if we guaranteed every family in Massachusetts a tax-free living wage, so that taxation would never deprive a family of the earnings they need just to get by?
Judging from her use of the term "we", I assume Ms. Stein is saying that she and her husband will provide everyone in Massachusetts with a living wage. Thanks, Ms. Stein!
Posted by: Matt ||
02/16/2010 9:31 Comments ||
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#5
I've got about the same chance at being governor as she does. But at least this'll give the local kooks something to do for the next nine months.
#6
"If people are actually voting for, like the nightmare candidate, you know what used to be called the nightmare candidate, as a protest, why not vote for the candidate who really represents your values?" she asked.
So she's saying that she's the nightmare candidate?
#7
Sorry charger. To her the nightmare candidate is Scott Brown. She thinks that lots of lefties voted for him as a protest and if they want to protest they should vote for her. She doesn't realize that the lefties around here protest by not voting so they're not gonna put down the bong long enough to go our and vote for her as a protest.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Faced with a ballooning budget shortfall, Los Angeles, one of the biggest and wealthiest cities in the US, is proposing cuts to compensate for the revenue shortage. The 212-million-dollar budget deficit hovering over the city is the severest shortfall during the past eight months, a number that could well be doubled by next year. 
If the convention center was a colossal and contentious public project, wait until you see Mayor Karl Dean's next undertaking: a multi-year, multibillion-dollar effort to renovate Middle Tennessee's mass transportation system.
Illinois politicians are at it again. They're borrowing from the future to make state pension contributions today. Illinois has one of the most underfunded public pension plans in the nation.
Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona on Sunday threw more cold water on the chances that his party would cooperate with a Feb. 25 healthcare reform summit at the White House, protesting that Democrats already seem poised to force a bill through Congress.
For all its sophistication, progressive blather and urban (and urbane) attitude, New York has some of the sleaziest, dirtiest, lowest-class, greediest, and most corrupt and embarrassing politicians in the nation.
Shortly after 8:00 a.m. on Monday's Morning Joe on MSNBC, noting that it was President's Day, host Joe Scarborough asked the day's panel members who was their favorite President. After the first two guests named Abraham Lincoln, to which co-host Mika Brzezinski agreed, she then announced her admiration for Jimmy Carter's post-presidential activities calling him her "favorite former President." She went on to call him the "best former President we've ever had," prompting Scarborough to quip, "You should be paid."
(CNN) -- The GOP's 2008 presidential nominee has earned a primary challenge from the right on Presidents Day.
Republicans are hoping to ride the surge that saw Scott Brown elected to the United States Senate. 
