Kevin Shaw's blog
Vote Early, Vote OFTEN...Like, now!
If you are a DFA member, you should have received a message yesterday from Michael Langenmayr at DFA's Burlington HQ inviting you to vote in DFA's straw poll on this year's two major statewide races.
DFA does a lot of work both in front of and behind the scenes to support candidates that their membership identifies as important to them. Don't miss this opportunity to weigh in on who those candidates will be in PA and help ensure DFA's national influence benefits candidates in our state.
WHO SHOULD DFA SUPPORT? CLICK HERE TO VOTE NOW
While you are certainly free to support any candidate in the US Senate and Gubernatorial races in the poll, MontcoDFA has formally endorsed Joe Sestak and Joe Hoeffel in their respective races and we would encourage you to support them. Both candidates offer real alternatives to the usual crowd of PA politicians and are rapidly gaining ground against their opponents as they campaign across the Commonwealth. The theory that neither could prevail against the established Democratic machine is rapidly being disproved. That's because voters like you see in them the honesty, sincerity, pragmatic approach to the issues, and dedication to public service that we, as progressives, demand in our public servants. Both have refused to mount sound-bite, name-calling campaigns and are really talking about issues important to Pennsylvanians.
So please take a minute to weigh in on who you want to see as our next US Senator and Governor.
Onorato Campaign Comes Unhinged
Or was it unhinged to begin with?
If you missed all the drama of the last couple of days, you've missed a clumsy, ill-considered attempt by Dan Onorato to bump Joe Hoeffel form the ballot. Mere minutes before time expired to challenge ballot petitions, Onorato's campaign filed to challenge Hoeffel's petitions. But then, the very next day, the challenges were withdrawn.
The Onorato campaign's reason:
A person familiar with the Onorato campaign told PoliticsPA the challenge was withdrawn after Hoeffel failed to try and knock Williams, from Philadelphia, off the ballot. Onorato, from western Pennsylvania, would seem to have a better chance at winning the Democratic nomination against two southeastern candidates, who would split the region’s vote, instead of just one.
I haven't seen a more cynical, calculated, politically motivated strategy since Dick Cheney changed his registration from Texas to Wyoming in 2000 to circumvent a Constitutional requirement that the POTUS and VPOTUS be from different states. Does Joe Hoeffel have good reasons to try to bump Tony "Throw the parents in jail for the sins of their children" Williams off the ballot? Sure. There's a lot of loyalty in the Philly Democratic machine. Heck, he's only there because the state Dem machine, and Bob Brady in particular, is afraid of Joe. I mean, there's power and influence at stake here! And, corporatists of both parties will do whatever they deem necessary to hold on to it to the exclusion of the voters.
But, while Joe took the high road, the Onorato campaign showed themselves as the depraved professional political classists we've come to expect in PA politics and they presumed Joe was the same. Thank goodness they were wrong.
Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way
I'm sure it's merely coincidence, but shortly after the passage of the Jobs Bill by the Senate today, the DowJones spiked forty points. Or is it? Maybe one of the most deleterious effects of all the Republican stonewalling of the last year is on the economic front. They would like to think that they are making life difficult for Obama and the Democrats, but the rest of us are suffering, too.
After all, we're talking about health benefit reform, fianancial system reform, tax incentives for hiring, investing in the Green economy, and more; all subjects that have enormous impacts on businesses and their planning for the near future. So if you are a business, what are you going to do? You'll wait and see what comes out all these discussions. Unfortunately, this "wait and see" attitude slows down the economy, making it harder for regular people to find jobs, rearrange their retirement funds, and plan their own futures, which just exacerbates the situation.
I hope the electorate will remember this when the Roadblock Republicans come around in the Fall, asking for votes and trying to convince people that it is the Democrats are who are making their futures appear bleak.
Freedom Obviously Means Something Different to Republicans
When they talk about Freedom®, Senate Republicans must have a different meaning than the rest of us. It seems Freedom® to them means the ability of selected corporations to be free of the laws that govern the rest of us. It certainly doesn't mean the freedom of association as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution. To wit:
This week, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) slammed the brakes on a Senate bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), objecting to a change in the House version of the bill that fixes an inequity in labor law that makes it more difficult for truck drivers at Memphis-based Federal Express to unionize than drivers at other shipping companies. Fellow Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander (R) applauded Corker's effort, pledging to "use every right or privilege I have as a senator to make sure that in the end of the process, the legislation does not include the unfair provisions singling out FedEx that's in the House bill." The senators' effort to prevent what they call an "unfair" provision singling out FedEx labor workers is itself a contradiction because, as Jim Berard, a spokesman for House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) noted, the House language seeks to "treat people who have the same type of job equally under federal labor laws." FedEx has successfully lobbied for years to remain classified as an airline subject to Railway Labor Act (RLA), a law that is technically supposed to apply only to airlines and railroad companies and stipulates that workers can't form local unions. CEO Fred Smith -- "who raised more than $100,000 for 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain and was George W. Bush's fraternity brother" -- defends this exception, adding, "I don't intend to recognize any unions at Federal Express." The language that Corker objects to would bring FedEx under the National Labor Relations Act like other shipping companies, such as UPS. Corker announced Wednesday that he will release his hold on the bill after receiving assurances from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) that the FedEx provisions would not appear in the Senate bill. - CAP's Progress Report
It would seem that to their minds, the greatest threat to Freedom® is a group of workers standing together for their family's economic security and their rights as Americans. Canada is looking better all the time.
Right Wingers Wreak Havoc on Philadelphia Town Meeting
Submitted by Kevin Shaw on August 3, 2009 - 12:50pmUpdate: Audio report from WHYY
Denise Dennis on Huffington Post:
Philadelphia, PA -- August 2 - This afternoon, at the National
Constitution Center in Philadelphia, I saw the face of ignorance and
hate--and it wasn't pretty.
When Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius and
Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) came to the National Constitution Center
to answer questions about health care reform, they were greeted by an
overflow crowd of approximately 400 people, the majority of whom were
supporters with legitimate questions.
Mary Clark Hits the Nail On the Head
Submitted by Kevin Shaw on August 3, 2009 - 11:23amEnd Government Run Health Care Now!
Submitted by Kevin Shaw on August 1, 2009 - 7:29pmBest Person Of the Week:
Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) for proposing an amendment banning Medicare. The Republicans, who claim to be loudly opposed to government-run healthcare, voted against the amendment.
Rove Gets One Thing Right
Discussing the ramifications of investigating CIA torture, Rove told Reuters:
Karl Rove, who was a top aide to former President George W. Bush, accused Obama of seeking to conduct "show trials" a day after the president left open the possibility of prosecuting officials who provided legal analysis of interrogation procedures.
Rove told Reuters: "If the Obama administration insists on criminalizing policy disagreements, how can they place any limits on who they prosecute?"
"Everyone in the interrogation process would have to be treated the same," he said, including the CIA agents, the physicians who monitored interrogation sessions, and the lawyers who researched and wrote the memos.
The chain could reach "to the leadership of the intelligence community to the legislators in both parties and the Bush administration officials who were briefed on these memos and agreed to them," he said. [Emphasis added. - Ed.]
"It is now clear that the Obama White House didn't think before it tried to appease the hard left of the Democratic Party," Rove said.
So be it, says I! Throw them all out and start fresh is rapidly becoming my new mantra.
Casey: Bill Protecting Worker Rights More Necessary in Recession
March 10, 2009
WASHINGTON, DC- Following a Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing today on Rebuilding Economic Security: Empowering Workers to Restore the Middle Class, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) released the following statement:
“In my judgment, it is appropriate at this hearing to discuss the Employee Free Choice Act, but also the trauma that the American family is living through in this recession. We need to talk about helping to provide economic security for families who don’t have it. One of the best ways to ensure economic security for workers and their families is for that worker to be a member of a union.
“The other side has done a good job of making their arguments. I give them credit for their political skill -- even if their arguments are not always accurate.
“What you don’t hear is that the Employee Free Choice Act actually gives workers two different ways to choose whether to form a union: through an election process or through majority sign up. The choice is up to the workers.
Cover Your Assets
The banking crisis explained so anyone can understand it, without insulting your intelligence.
Only on NPR's This American Life!
The collapse of the banking system explained, in just 59 minutes. Our crack economics team—the guys who explained the mortgage crisis, Alex Blumberg and NPR’s Adam Davidson—are back to help all of us understand the news. For instance, when we talk about an insolvent bank, what does it actually mean, and why are we giving hundreds of billions of dollars to rich bankers who screwed up their own businesses? Also, two guys go to New Jersey to look at a toxic asset.
Jindal Admits Katrina Story Was False
On TPM Muckraker:
Remember that story Bobby Jindal told in his big speech Tuesday
night -- about how during Katrina, he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a
local sheriff who was battling government red tape to try to rescue
stranded victims?Turns out it wasn't actually, you know, true.
Is anyone surprised?
Why I Pay My Taxes
In the current issue of Harper's Magazine, Ben Metcalf expresses his delight in paying at least a small amount toward America's ability to wreak havoc on the less well-armed populations of the world...
I have, from the comfort of my couch, made the nations to cower before me. I have, during commercial break trips to the bathroom, left whole continents behind me in ruin. I have watched through bored and sleepy eyes as the millions came begging for mercy, and I have, without ever lifting a finger, but only allowing one to descend upon a button of my remote, turned my plump and kingly thumb down.
MoveOn Endorses Obama
From Eli Pariser:
Dear MoveOn member,
With hundreds of thousands of ballots cast across the country, for the first time in MoveOn's history, we've voted together to endorse a presidential candidate in the primary. That candidate is Barack Obama.
Something big is clearly happening. A few weeks ago, MoveOn members we surveyed were split. But with John Edwards bowing out, progressives are coming together. Obama won over 70% of the vote yesterday, and he's moving up in polls nationwide.
As comments poured in from MoveOn members across the country, the sense of hope was inspiring. Here's how Christine Y. in New Jersey put it: "I've never felt so strongly about any one candidate in my entire life. He's truly an inspiration to all of us-especially the younger generation. I will stand by him 100% for as long as he's willing to stand up and fight for this country!"
Greg Palast - One Bush Left Behind
Here’s your question, class:
In his State of the Union, the President asked Congress for $300 million for poor kids in the inner city. As there are, officially, 15 million children in America living in poverty, how much is that per child? Correct! $20.
Here’s your second question. The President also demanded that Congress extend his tax cuts. The cost: $4.3 trillion over ten years. The big recipients are millionaires. And the number of millionaires happens, not coincidentally, to equal the number of poor kids, roughly 15 million of them. OK class: what is the cost of the tax cut per millionaire? That’s right, Richie, $287,000 apiece.
