I was recently taken to task for calling the President a weenie, and the context I used it in was that he cannot seem to make a stand on anything and keeps caving to the Republicans. Sorry, but if that's the description of a weenie, then he is one.....
But it appears Paul Krugman, the only remaining great columnist from the Times, agrees with me. The title of this article is "The President is Missing", and he lays out what might happen in the next few months with Obama's "negotiating" style.....decimation for social programs for the middle class.....
What have they done with President Obama? What happened to the inspirational figure his supporters thought they elected? Who is this bland, timid guy who doesn’t seem to stand for anything in particular?
I realize that with hostile Republicans controlling the House, there’s not much Mr. Obama can get done in the way of concrete policy. Arguably, all he has left is the bully pulpit. But he isn’t even using that — or, rather, he’s using it to reinforce his enemies’ narrative.
His remarks after last week’s budget deal were a case in point.
Maybe that terrible deal, in which Republicans ended up getting more than their opening bid, was the best he could achieve — although it looks from here as if the president’s idea of how to bargain is to start by negotiating with himself, making pre-emptive concessions, then pursue a second round of negotiation with the G.O.P., leading to further concessions.
And bear in mind that this was just the first of several chances for Republicans to hold the budget hostage and threaten a government shutdown; by caving in so completely on the first round, Mr. Obama set a baseline for even bigger concessions over the next few months.
Remember the Paul Ryan Republican budget proposal that all of the media took seriously, and last week's story from the Times skewering the stupidity of the proposals? Here Rachael Maddow in her inimitable style nails it again.....good TV.....in the second half of the clip she interviews Gail Collins.....9 minutes....
I'm sure you have seen many clips from Fox and Friends, the Fox News morning show, so this SNL satire of the intrepid trio should ring a bell....there's even Helen Mirren at the end.....5 minutes...
A story from a Pensecola paper titled "I'd Rather Not Live in a National Punchline", and he spells out just how bad the systems already are in Florida, before the crook in the Governors office started hacking away.....we really, truly have one of the most corrupt state governments in the country.......
There used to be a saying among government officials when faced with having to explain any particular shortcoming of Florida: "Thank God for Mississippi." Or Alabama.
Because no matter how poorly Florida funded education, health care, you name it, they could usually count on Mississippi or Alabama to do worse.
Used to, anyway.
Health care advocates say Florida was 49th in per capita funding for people with disabilities before Gov. Rick Scott cut funding. (I couldn't track down who was 50th, although one article said Florida already trails every other state in the Southeast.)
But things are changing so fast in Tallahassee that Florida could be unrecognizable in four years ... unless you remember what it was like in the 1960s before people demanded change.
..............................
But for over a decade now, much of that has been under assault. Lobbyists won tax exemptions for corporations and killed the intangibles tax, shifting the burden back on the middle- and lower-income residents. The safety net for the poor and the mentally and physically disabled was pruned back — and now chopped.
Today, according to the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy, among states Florida is:
Third-worst in the percentage of children under 18 without health insurance; 47th in child health care; third highest in unemployment rate; 46th in the maximum weekly unemployment benefit ($275), and 49th in the percentage of unemployed who receive benefits; 19th in the percentage of residents in poverty; first in delinquent mortgages and mortgages in foreclosure; 46th in per capita income growth; 47th in teacher salaries; 43rd in state tax revenue per capita; and Florida has the second most regressive tax system.
And while state workers are now the official bogeyman, by two measures Florida has one of the most efficient state governments: the second-lowest number of state employees per 10,000 population, and the lowest state employee payroll cost per resident.
Meanwhile, Florida is dead last in per capita expenditures for education.
So, naturally, Tallahassee sees the answer as cutting everything to allow further corporate tax cuts ... in a state where we do rate highly in at least one measurement: low corporate taxes.
A small town in the midwest throws a gay pride parade for it's only gay person - Onion Local News has the story....2 minutes....
Excellent article from Robyn Blumner in the St. Pete Times about the Republican assault on the uteruses of America. What is this irresistible urge to tell women they aren't competent to make their own choices?
So if this ever comes up in conversation with an abortion loonie, here's your script....
There are 6.7 billion people in the world. All of this teeming mass of human life is sacred? Or is it just the foetuses.....
And there's the economics - an early abortion is $300 to $500, $25 for the morning after pills - the cost to society to raise a baby to 18 averages out to around $225,000.....so if the baby isn't wanted why would a rational country force a mother to have one? Especially a poor single minority mother......
And there's the support for the baby once it's born - Republicans in every state are gutting the safety net systems for children and poor families, so they want to force women to have unwanted kids and then abandon the child once it's born.....
Watch out, ladies, the government is coming after your reproductive rights.
Election victories by a raft of self-proclaimed "small-government" Republicans mean that Big Brother is on the warpath against women's autonomy. We've seen this before, but this time it's a true onslaught. In Florida alone there have been at least 20 abortion-related bills filed. The state's 1 million unemployed will just have to wait while the Legislature attends to the serious business of forcing women seeking an abortion to have an unnecessary ultrasound.
This year, Republican politicians see their best opportunity since 1973 to insinuate themselves between women and their doctors. GOP control of more statehouses and governorships has coincided with a U.S. Supreme Court primed by Bush-era appointees to slice and dice Roe vs. Wade.
Most interesting song from a modern folk group - Mumford and Sons with 'Little Lion Man"......just a piano, double bass, banjo and guitar producing a strangely fascinating melody....if you like country music you should like this one....4 minutes....
Todays religious joke
A 54 year old woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital.
While on the operating table she had a near death experience. Seeing God she asked "Is my time up?"
God said, "No, you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to live."
Upon recovery, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a face-lift, liposuction, breast implants and a tummy tuck.
She even had someone come in and change her hair color and brighten her teeth! Since she had so much more time to live, she figured she might as well make the most of it.
After her last operation, she was released from the hospital. While crossing the street on her way home, she was killed by an ambulance.
Arriving in front of God, she demanded, "I thought you said I had
another 43 years? Why didn't you pull me from out of the path of the ambulance?"
God replied: "Shit! I didn't recognize you."
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