Boehner Spokesman: Auto Industry Revival Is ‘Nothing To Celebrate
By Pat Garofalo on Jun 5, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Last week, the Obama administration announced that Fiat has agreed to buy the final government share in Chrysler, officially completing that company’s trip through federally managed bankruptcy. The U.S. losses from the auto industry rescue, according to the latest projections, will be much lower than estimates showed over the last few years.
In the first quarter of this year, all three of the Big Three auto companies were profitable. As President Obama said, were it not for the government rescue, “by the time the dominos stopped falling, more than a million jobs, in countless communities, in a proud industry that helped build America’s middle class for generations, wouldn’t have been around any more.”
But Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) would rather have seen those jobs disappear, as his spokesman said yesterday that the auto industry’s revival is “nothing to celebrate”:
“The administration’s auto bailout is nothing to celebrate,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican. “The model the White House should be touting is Ford, which, instead of relying on a taxpayer-funded bailout, saw trouble coming and made the tough decisions necessary to preserve jobs and weather the storm.”
This is hardly the first time that Boehner has been utterly unsympathetic to the prospect of widespread job losses. Back in February, for instance, Boehner said “so be it” when asked about the loss of federal jobs that would occur if the House Republicans’ desired spending cuts were implemented.
Boehner is also highlighting Ford’s refusal of money as if Ford did not benefit from the auto rescue. But as the Wall Street Journal noted, Ford will “benefit from many of the concessions that General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC exact from the suppliers, unions, dealers and debt holders shared by all three companies.”
Since the President has already made it clear that he's running on the success of the Auto Industry Bailout, which EVERY REPUBLICAN is on record for being AGAINST...suddenly, it's 'nothing to celebrate'.
The continued success of the American Auto Industry, as well as all the ancillary jobs that were saved when it was bailed out by the Government - get that.... it's 'NOTHING TO CELEBRATE'.
I swear, if the DNC doesn't run an ad in EVERY AREA where there's a new plant going up, and where those are STILL operating, with quotes from Orange Julius and Flipping Mitt's ' Op-Ed' about letting Detroit die, then they are idiots. These ads, in additional to the ones employing folks in the high-speed rail projects, need to play in a continual loop in districts all around the country.
From TPM.com: Democrats Break Down Impact Of GOP Medicare Plan District By District
House Democrats have broken down the massive changes to Medicare and Medicaid proposed by the House GOP into a convenient take home size.
Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman (CA) and Frank Pallone (NJ), voters can now see what Democrats say is the direct impact of the Republican plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system on every congressional district in the country.
The Democrats need to make sure that this is in bold linkage on every Congressional and Senatorial Website, as well as the DNC.
They need to get this into the hands of as many folks as possible. I hope you will spread the word about the site, because it has not only Medicare impact, but Medicaid impact.
I'll say it again...the Democrats need to stop running away from defending MEDICAID. They need to stand up, and put out the REAL FACE of Medicaid dollars: a White Grandma or Grandpa in a Nursing Home.
Why Grandma Will Be At The Door, Suitcase In Hand by Julie Gulden .
Republicans are taking it on the chin for trying to dismantle Medicare. Wait til the public realizes that Medicaid, which they are also trying to tear apart, is what makes it possible for Grandma to stay in a nursing home. Roughly 70% of nursing home residents are on Medicaid. I'm betting that many of you have a parent, grandparent, uncle or aunt who is in a nursing home and the cost is being paid by Medicaid. http://www.wsws.org/...
Medicaid serves low-income children, pregnant women, the elderly, blind and disabled—an enormous but politically disenfranchised segment of the population. Currently, some 60 million Americans receive health care through the program, including one in three children, four in ten pregnant women, and 70 percent of nursing home residents.
Average Cost of a Nursing Home Room Tops $83,000 a Year
Nursing home and assisted living rates rose significantly from 2009 to 2010, according to the 2010 MetLife Market Survey of Long-Term Care Costs. Private room nursing home rates rose 4.6 percent to $83,585 a year or $229 a day, while assisted living facility costs climbed 5.2 percent on average to $39,516 a year or $3,293 a month.
$148,579 is what the AVERAGE 65 year old (and older) 401K account is...but some very high earners tilt that number to the high side. The median is more accurate in that 50% have more and 50% have less. The median number is $60,800. This is the point at which you gasp and start caculating Grandma's assets. Does she own a home? Hope so! Because she can't last even a full year in a nursing home on that $60,800. Typically, Grandma could move in to the nursing home, spend down her savings, and when most of it was used up, in comes Medicaid to save the day.
What have I been saying over and over since it was revealed that the Ryan plan contained the end of both MEDICARE AND MEDICAID?
That folks need to just start talking to people wherever they are. Ask them if they know someone who is in a nursing home. Hell, stand outside of nursing homes on the weekend, and ask those going inside to visit:
DO YOU HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY FOR GRANDMA AND GRANDPA TO STAY HERE?
If the answer is no, then tell them they have no business voting Republican.
The Democrats needs to stop being afraid of Medicaid. Their stupid asses let the GOP demagogue MEDICAID to where the ' face' of Medicaid is someone poor and their children, when, in fact, the FACE of Medicaid, in terms of dollars, should be that WHITE SENIOR CITIZEN, who more than likely has sheltered their assets so that their kids can put them in the nursing home using MEDICAID DOLLARS.
And, THAT, is who needs to become the posterchild for MEDICAID.
Gov. Christie Thinks A Family Making $6,000 A Year Is Too Rich To Qualify For Medicaid By Marie Diamond on Jun 2, 2011 at 10:00 am
Despite recent polls that show Americans are just as protective of Medicaid as they are of Medicare, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is trying to gut the popular program in his state and prevent 23,000 people from receiving benefits. Christie has proposed cutting Medicaid eligibility to absurdly low levels: from the current maximum income of $24,645 to $5,317 a year for a family of three. Apparently, the governor believes a family of three making $6,000 a year is simply too rich to receive Medicaid.
The New Jersey press has reported that the main effect of his proposal would be to slash help for the working poor, tearing a huge hole in the state’s social safety net:
Adults in a family of three that makes as little as $103 a week would earn too much to qualify for health care provided by Medicaid under a sharply curtailed program Gov. Chris Christie wants the federal government to approve this year, according to state officials and advocates briefed on the proposal.[...]
The Christie administration is expected to propose cutting the maximum income level of Medicaid from $24,645 to $5,317 a year for a family of three [...]
“That is about a third of the poverty level,” Castro said. “That means that an uninsured parent working full time at a minimum-wage job wouldn’t be eligible. … A parent who works half-time for minimum wage wouldn’t even qualify.
“Unfortunately, the only way these parents can become eligible for health coverage in the future is if the parent applies for and is eligible for welfare,” Castro added. “That sends the wrong message.”
Fla. Gov. Scott cuts vaccinations for postpartum women on Medicaid By Ashley Lopez | 06.01.11 | 12:47 pm
Add another cut to the already long list of health care services that Gov. Rick Scott vetoed last week: $1.8 million dollars in vaccinations for postpartum women on Medicaid.
According to the recently released Florida “End of Session Report,” a provision in the Agency for Health Care Administration budget would have provided funding for Tdap vaccinations for women who just gave birth and are enrolled in Medicaid. However, this line of the budget was vetoed, along with other health services for mostly low-income women and children.
In a 2008 press release from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency recommended the use of this vaccination for the “prevention of Pertussis, Tetanus, and Diphtheria among pregnant and postpartum and women and their infants.”
Scott’s cut is just another in a growing list of health services for women that were eliminated from the already-slim state budget. Among more than $2 million in services that were cut was also a pilot program that would provide specialized care to at-risk first-time mothers.
Scott has called programs he cut “special interest waste” and “short-sighted, frivolous spending programs.”
Poor children getting vaccinations is 'special interest waste'.
For the children who will become ill as a result of these cuts...
Wis. GOPer: ‘Tons’ Of Govt. Workers In My District — And I Hope They’re Asleep On Recall Day
Wisconsin state Sen. Dan Kapanke, a Republican facing a recall election in the battle over Gov. Scott Walker's anti-public employee union legislation, might come to regret some of the language he used to fire up local Republicans in his western Wisconsin district.
As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, a secret audio recording of a talk that Kapanke gave on May 25 reveals Kapanke bemoaning the presence of a large number of public employees in his district -- and his tongue-in-cheek hopes that they'll be asleep on election day:
"So, we're going with our campaign, we're doing whatever we can. But we've got tons of government workers in my district -- tons, from La Crosse to Prairie du Chien and to Viroqua and to Ontario and to Hillsboro, you can go on and on and on. We have to overcome that. We gotta hope that they, kind of, are sleeping on July 12th, or whenever the date is."
Sometimes, things just write themselves, don't they?
Just wanted to bring you the latest from Florida and their attempts for VOTER SUPPRESSION just in time for the 2012 Election.
Unlike most times, when it's the ' fringes' talking about VOTER SUPPRESSION, I am heartened that more and more folks seem to see the OBVIOUS as to what's going on.
GOP won’t let democracy get out of hand BY CARL HIAASEN chiaasen@miamiherald.com
According to a new Quinnipiac University poll of Florida voters, Rick Scott is now one of the country’s most unpopular governors, a dubious feat after only four months in office.
It’s bad news for Republican Party bosses, but all is not lost. Scott recently signed a new election bill that is callously designed to suppress voter turnout, making it harder for many disgruntled Floridians to cast a valid ballot in 2012.
Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state, so GOP leaders are desperate to find ways to keep certain people away from the polls. One of the Legislature’s top priorities was to change the voting rules to avoid a repeat of 2008, when Barack Obama won the state’s 27 electoral votes on his way to the presidency.
Obama benefited from early-voting days, which proved popular among minorities, college students and retirees. Republican officials became incensed during the election when then-Gov. Charlie Crist — one of their own — decided to extend polling hours to accommodate the long lines.
The nerve of that guy, making it easier for common citizens to vote!
Determined not to let this whole democracy thing get out of hand, the GOP-held Legislature crafted a bill that reduces the number of early voting days from 15 to eight, and requires some voters who have moved to cast provisional ballots, a deliberate inconvenience aimed at students.
Historically, provisional ballots are counted at a much lower rate than regular ones, meaning many young voters won’t get heard — exactly what Scott and the Republican leadership want.
The new bill also throws out a rule that had been in effect for 40 years allowing Floridians to update their legal addresses when they arrive to vote. Now you can only do that if you moved within the same county.
To hinder community groups that register first-time voters, the law requires volunteers for organizations such as the League of Women Voters to register with the state as if they were sex offenders.
Public Schools Charge Kids for Basics, Frills By STEPHANIE SIMON MEDINA, Ohio—Karen Dombi was thrilled when her three oldest children were picked for student government this year—not because she envisioned careers in politics, but because it was one of the few programs at their public high school that didn't charge kids to participate.
Budget shortfalls have prompted Medina Senior High to impose fees on students who enroll in many academic classes and extracurricular activities. The Dombis had to pay to register their children for basic courses such as Spanish I and Earth Sciences, to get them into graded electives such as band, and to allow them to run cross-country and track.
The family's total tab for a year of public education: $4,446.50.
"I'm wondering, am I going to be paying for my parking spot at the school? Because you're making me pay for just about everything else," says Ms. Dombi, a parent in this middle-class community in northern Ohio.
Gil Scott-Heron was one of the voices of my Progressive conscience. Although he was far more to the left than most. I have moderated and become more Conservative as I have gotten older. I didn’t agree with all of his positions of course, but he was so big that it didn’t matter.
I first discovered Gil Scott-Heron in the late 1980’s during the brief resurgence of the Black consciousness movement, of which I was in tune with at the time. Carlton Ridenhour was probably responsible for that introduction…. I can’t recall exactly. But it was definitely during that period. But I didn’t really dive into his music until later, in the 1990’s, when I began to really study the history of music. He only grew on me from there. I wasn’t impressed with the “Godfather of Rap” nonsense…. Which is a title that he actually didn’t want. In fact, he is quoted in the New York Times giving a rather humorous response to that suggestion. Yet the media (including print media) keeps repeating this misinformation. I didn't like him for his connection to Rap, but in spite of it. It has been highly annoying to hear him being branded with that label repeatedly. Message to reporters who have no idea about music and musicians from the Black American experience - ask an enthusiast, amateur musicologist, or academic familiar with the artist before writing anything.
I also didn’t care for the militant label. What I liked most about Gil Scott Heron was his vision, musicianship, songwriting, and the fact that he felt free and told it like he saw it. I also was impressed by the fact that he never sold out…. Meaning he never put the pursuit of commercial success over his craft and the need to be a voice for the voiceless and the invisible. There are not too many of these kinds of artists around anymore…. And there have not been many throughout modern history, excluding the great bluesmen. At least there have not been many like this who had a national stage. Dylan comes to mind… Joan Baez, Marvin Gaye as well (just so happened the “What’s Going On” album went big…and that was partly because Marvin Gaye had already been established as a world phenomenon by the early 70’s when the album was completed. But the point is… Marvin Gaye had to fight with Motown to do a socially conscious album). Others include Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway, Nina Simone, Odetta, and a few others. With the exception of Bob Marley, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, the vast majority of artists in this vein don’t become huge commercially. They sacrifice (some more than others) the trappings of fame and fortune in order to respond to another calling. That is what was most impressive to me about Gil Scott-Heron. Here was a man, an immensely talented artist and songwriter, who could have had more commercial success had he chose that route. Just on his writing ability alone he could have gotten a nice Sr. writing gig at Motown or Philadelphia International. He could have taken the road paved with gold, but instead chose to take the narrower route, barely paved at all. You would be hard pressed to find artists like this today who have another calling. Unfortunately, the era of the Nina Simone’s and the Gil Scott-Heron’s is passing, as consciousness in music is fading.
Gil Scott-Heron (at his height) represented a time in Black culture when there was a Black culture worthy of our attention and examination. He represented a time when it was not only OK to embrace being Black, but it felt good. It was a time when you could be proud to be Black.... not embarrassed. You didn't have to hate it. It was a period, post-MLK and post civil rights act, when Blacks were just starting to make real strides in terms of improving their socio-economic, political, and educational positions. There were reasons to be proud and hopeful. I can't say that the pride is there for me today in nearly the same way. The image of Blacks has taken a beating... much of the work that the civil rights pioneers did to restore and boost the Black American image has been squandered. We have the likes of BET, Beyonce, Rihanna (and others... pick just about any female Rap/R&B act) to thank for that, along with the Rap culture. I think most regular readers should know how I feel about rappers.... so I won't rehash. But with only a few exceptions, I put them somewhere in between child molesters on the low end & con artists on the high end.
His vision was prophetic. The 'Winter in America' that he wrote about…. We are in it right now. In it, he lays out the consequences of a nation with misguided priorities….one that invests in war, but won’t invest nearly as much in its people, that spends more for killing than for educating its children, one that facilitates greed in the private sector (ie Wall Street) but fails when it comes to facilitating justice and fair play for working people. It is definitely Winter. In fact, we are still in the blizzard that hit us back in September, 2008. ‘We Almost Lost Detroit’? That’s a song about nuclear energy. (Let’s not forget Chernobyl and the world is still dealing with Fukushima). In ‘We Beg Your Pardon’ he was talking about the crooks who escaped from Watergate with a slap on the wrist, but he could have just as easily been referring to the political bullies in the Bush Administration who misused their positions or to the Wall Street crooks who left the scene of their crimes unscathed, while the rest of the Country has been forced to deal with the consequences. He was ahead of his time. Yet as he served as a messenger he also served as an example of the frailties & vulnerabilities of man. He had his own demons and addictions that dogged him. Most of the really great artists had something that dogged them…. Drugs, mental illness…. alcoholism…insecurities…family problems… something. Gil Scott was no exception. These things serve to make these great artists even more authentic. It shows that they are down in the muck of life right along with the rest of us…and Gil Scott-Heron never put himself above those who were listening to his music. When I hear about the jackasses in entertainment today…with their entourages, tour trailers, demands for accommodations, I am both amused and dismayed. They have no sense of a higher purpose or higher calling at all. Money is the God or higher calling that they serve…. Material things. That’s basically it for the vast majority of today’s entertainers. In a nutshell, they f______ make me sick. This is the main reason I don’t watch much empty-v. Although some of their social programming has gotten better. All in all, it still represents a dying culture.
My favorite Gil Scott-Heron album would have to be ‘Pieces of a Man’. This is a masterpiece. One of the best albums I have ever heard. I would put it on par with Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On‘, Marley’s ‘Exodus’ or ‘Catch A Fire’, or Stevie Wonder’s ‘Innervisions’. The only real difference between ‘Pieces of a Man’ and these other masterworks is that the others are much more well known, and had more reach. Here is a partial discography with his most important albums. If I had to pick 12 favorites, they would be:
"The two parties have combined against us to nullify our power by a ‘gentleman's agreement' of non-recognition, no matter how we vote ... May God write us down as asses if ever again we are found putting our trust in either the Republican or the Democratic Parties." -- W.E.B. DuBois (1922)
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