Robert Reich schools Paul Ryan’s economic advisor on why inequality matters

By David Ferguson
Saturday, December 28, 2013 12:37 EST

Robert Reich schools Paul Ryan’s economic advisor on why inequality matters (via Raw Story )

On Friday’s edition of “PBS News Hour,” former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich took Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)’s economic advisor Scott Winship to task for saying that income inequality isn’t a significant problem in the country. In November…

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Wis. Teacher Refuses Award From Paul Ryan During MLK Ceremony: ‘Lackey for the 1%’

Jan. 27, 2012 11:54am Madeleine Morgenstern

High school social studies teacher Al Levie refused to accept an award from Rep. Paul Ryan during a ceremony last week. (Image source: YouTube)

A Wisconsin teacher refused to accept an award from Rep. Paul Ryan during a ceremony last week, saying he couldn’t do so “in good conscience” because of the Republican congressman’s politics.

Al Levie, a high school social studies teacher in Racine, Wis., was one of three recipients of a Martin Luther King Jr. humanitarian award during a celebration honoring the late civil rights leader. Ryan, who represents the district, was on hand to present congressional recognitions to each award winner, the Kenosha News reported:

After Ryan spoke, Levie criticized the congressman’s policies before being walked off the stage. Levie had earlier stated that he would like to see collective bargaining restored in Wisconsin, fair immigration reform and a fair tax system among other suggestions.

In a video of the ceremony, Ryan is seen stepping from behind the podium to hand the award to Levie, who backs away and instead turns to speak to the audience. His words aren’t audible, but according to the video’s captions he said, “I can’t in good conscience accept this award, as a humanitarian, Paul Ryan stands for everything I don’t believe in.”

“Oh come on,” one person is heard saying.

“For the kids!” someone else adds.

The video was posted by Wisconsin Jobs Now, a coalition of community groups from across the state that advocates for “the 99 percent.” Levie appeared on the video afterward to explain his protest.

“I would not accept the award from Paul Ryan because Paul Ryan is a lackey for the 1 percent,” he said. “Paul Ryan had no business at a Martin Luther King event, it’s totally hypocritical. On the one hand he votes to slash health care, while on the other hand, King dedicated his life and he died for it, for people to have adequate healthcare, to have adequate jobs.”

“King made it very clear that he was on the side of working people,” he continued. “Ryan on the other hand, he has absolutely no affinity for the working class and for him to come to an event where somebody of King’s stature was honored is wrong.”

According to the Racine Journal Times, Levie serves with Voces de la Frontera, an advocacy group for immigrant and low wage worker rights, and is part of the local NAACP. He’s also a teacher and program director for the Wisconsin Correctional Service.

Освободившись киска член Бунт хочет Путина из : "Мы все еще хотел бы сделать то, что они разместили нас в тюрьму за '

Освободившись киска член Бунт хочет Путина из : "Мы все еще хотел бы сделать то, что они разместили нас в тюрьму за 'По Agence France -PresseПятница, 27 Декабрь 2013 7:50 ESTНадежда Толоконникова Pussy Riot AFPОсвободил член Pussy Riot панк-группы заявил в пятницу рокеры еще хотел президента России Владимира Путина из власти , добавив, что она хотела бы освободил экс- магната Михаила Ходорковского баллотироваться на выборах и заменить его."Насколько обеспокоен Владимир Путин , наше отношение к ним не изменилось ", сказал Надежда Толоконникова вместе со своим напарником Мария Алехина , выступая на их первой пресс-конференции после их освобождения в начале этой недели ."Мы все же хотел бы делать то, что они разместили нас в тюрьму за . Мы все же хотел бы изгнать его " .В феврале 2012 года несколько членов Pussy Riot прыгнул вокруг алтаря церкви и пытались петь то, что они называют " панк молитва ", призвав Девы Марии "загнать Путина из ".Они сказали, что осуждая политические связи между Путиным и Русской Православной Церкви и не хотел обидеть верующих .Она сказала, что хотела бы критик Кремля Михаила Ходорковского , который был на прошлой неделе выпустила под помиловании , баллотироваться на пост президента ."Я бы очень хотел , чтобы пригласить Михаил Борисович на этот пост ", ссылаясь на критику Кремля , который провел более десяти лет в тюрьме по имени и отчеству .«Я солидарен с тем, что , " добавил Алехина .Отвечая на вопрос на пресс-конференции для описания Путина , Толоконникова сказал, что был "закрыт , непрозрачный » и « чекист », используя термин, с советских времен для члена служб безопасности.Ранее в пятницу молодые женщины, которые как имеют маленьких детей , вернулся в Москву после воссоединения в Сибири .Алехина , 25, уже прошел через Москву после освобождения из ее колонии на ее пути встретиться Толоконникова , 24, сразу же после ее освобождения из-под стражи в Сибири.Их выпуск на два месяца раньше от своих двухлетних срокам тюремного заключения было принято после амнистии поддержке Путина.После трюка на Христа Спасителя Алехина , Толоконникова и Екатерина Самуцевич , 31, были выявлены , позже арестован и в августе 2012 года признан виновным по обвинению в хулиганстве на почве религиозной ненависти .Самуцевич был выпущен в октябре после того, как дали условное наказание, , но Московский городской суд оставил в силе по апелляции двухлетние сроки тюремного лагеря для Толоконникова и Алехина .

Monday, Aug 26, 2013 05:31 AM -0700

Forget impeachment, this is the really alarming GOP threat

Impeachment and government shutdown are empty threats. But top Republican Tom Coburn is now proposing economic ruin

Brian Beutler

 

Tom Coburn (Credit: AP/Sue Ogrocki)

 

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., made headlines last week for entertaining the idea, at a meeting with constituents, that President Obama might be impeachable.
But it’s what he said about the plausibility of ending Obamacare — not about the wild fantasy of impeachment — that deserves real attention.
Coburn was an early and vocal critic of conservative efforts to make funding the government contingent on President Obama agreeing to defund his own healthcare law. He warned conservatives that Obama would never agree to this, the government would shut down, Obamacare implementation would continue apace, Republicans would face backlash, cave and the whole strategy would fail.
That analysis remains correct, and Coburn’s conservative bona fides made it easier for other Republicans to line up against Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Mike Lee, R-Utah; et al., against the defund strategy.
Well, it turns out Coburn isn’t so levelheaded when it comes to the debt limit.
On Wednesday, a constituent asked Coburn, “What other alternatives are out there to keep this horrible bill from being implemented on October 1?”
Coburn, as my colleague Joan Walsh noted, responded thusly:

Oh, well the debt limit. The debt limit. The debt limit. You attach it to the debt limit. The point is that you attach a repeal of the mandatory spending to the debt limit. Otherwise the debt limit doesn’t go up.
Let me make a point…the one thing that average American agrees with us is the government wastes money. The one thing that the average American agrees with us is that trimming down the size of the federal government is a good thing. That’s an 80 percent issue in this country. Restricting the debt limit does both that and repeals the Obamacare. Or at least delay it for a couple years. Because it’s an absolute disaster.
Remember, we lost the ’12 election because no one knew what we were for, but we also lost the independent voter…because we didn’t seem reasonable to them in our approach to governing. People didn’t know what we were for. We talked about what we were against. And what we ought to do is put out a message of “here’s where we can actually do something that will actually make a difference for our kids. Not only will we have an impact on Obamacare, we’ll also have an impact on spending.”

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You can watch it starting at about minute 41.
The strategic logic here is amazing on a number of levels. First, Coburn identifies the Republicans’ two big problems with voters as unreasonableness and a negative agenda, then proposes solving them by threatening to destroy the economy unless Obama agrees to roll back a bunch of stuff, including the Affordable Care Act. He’s clearly never heard the “doctor, doctor it hurts when I do this!” joke. And he’s a doctor!
He also defines the difference between a positive and negative agenda as a public relations campaign selling the latter as the former. This is the GOP’s Field of Dreams: If you destroy something, but tell people you’re building it, they will come.
But the most important part is that Coburn either believes this strategy will work, or knows it won’t and is willing to pander despite the dangerous potential consequences: default, lender panic, interest rate spikes, economic collapse. Now, I remain confident that Congress will increase the debt limit without incident and without Obama conceding anything significant. But either way the turn is troublesome.
Coburn is one of Obama’s closest personal friends in the Senate. But he also has impeccable conservative credentials, and his imprimatur on both strategic and substantive issues carries unusual weight with his colleagues. Where Coburn goes, they often follow. So when he came out against the government shutdown strategy, it implied the existence of a stable core of sanity at the center of the Senate GOP conference, in the same way that the rotation patterns of spiral galaxies imply the existence of dark matter.
Of course, there are plenty of other Republicans in the Senate, and Democrats only need five or six of them to decide they have nothing to gain by replaying the 2011 strategy. We’ve already seen more than that break ranks to pass immigration reform and confirm several Obama nominees. But if Coburn takes the position that gutting Obamacare is a terrible demand in a government shutdown fight, but a big winner in the debt limit fight, there won’t be much room for error.

Brian Beutler is Salon's political writer. Email him at bbeutler@salon.com and follow him on Twitter at @brianbeutler. More Brian Beutler.

If Republican Led ‘Real America’ Was a Country It Would Be the 3rd Poorest on Earth

If Republican Led ‘Real America’ Was a Country It Would Be the 3rd Poorest on Earth 

 

By: Rmuse                      more from Rmuse

Saturday, December, 28th, 2013, 10:11 am

 

 

 

Republicans and their teabagger comrades are wont to claim they are the real Americans, and those residing in the former Confederacy like to claim they live in the real America. Never mind that over 150 years ago they waged the nation’s deadliest war to tear America apart, or that they threaten a nullification crusade and secession that led to the Civil War. Republican governors, primarily from Southern states and all ALEC alumni, are running a television ad campaign touting the achievements of Republicans in Southern states they intend on spreading to the rest of the country. It is doubtless the America they created in the South is the goal the Koch brothers, Republicans, and American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) have for the entire nation. However, if the entire country ever resembled the Southern United States, it would rival the poorest third world nation on the planet and besides less-than-poverty wages, 30% of children living in  dire poverty, and religious fundamentalism as higher education, it would be very deadly indeed.
As if the Southern states did not already distinguish themselves with seriously depressing statistics in every quality of life category, eleven of the top 12 states with the highest mortality rates are located in the South. As a contrast, the top 10 states with the lowest mortality rates are in the Northeast and Western United States and of the 25 states that are above the national average, 19 are blue and just six are red. Conversely, of the 25 states below the national average, 17 are red and just eight are blue. It is no coincidence that states with no environmental policies, little to no access to healthcare or insurance, and no workplace regulations are uniquely Republican-controlled Southern states and all contribute to the higher than normal mortality rates.
Every factor contributing to higher than normal mortality rates is the result of conservative policies that  were paid for by the Koch brothers and enacted by ALEC with propaganda from Americans for Prosperity, the Heritage Foundation, and Wall Street. They are all organizations representing corporations benefiting from low wages, no corporate taxes, no environmental protections, no labor protections, and no healthcare for what Southerners call the real America.
It is difficult for reasonable Americans to comprehend why people living in the Southern United States vote for Republicans when their policies have transformed the former Confederacy into a poverty-ridden region including the 14 states with the highest child poverty rates in the nation, and in many cases highest in the world.  The South also has the distinction of having the lowest graduation rates in the nation because conservatives have convinced ignorant Southerners that higher education is the purview of snobbish Democrats who will turn good Christian children into dirty fascist liberals, so why graduate from high school. It is likely why Southerners elect Republicans who promise to transfer taxpayer-funded public school money to private religious schools to teach the next generation that destroying the environment is of no consequence because Jesus is returning to “rapture” the faithful to heaven and leave sinners behind to suffer a polluted environment during the War of Armageddon.
Every one of the low Southern state ratings are due to voter ignorance that drives them to vote against their best interests and elect representatives beholden to the Kochs and ALEC that created a workforce that made the South the preferred third-world wage-base for first world nations outsourcing their manufacturing. Southern states have supplanted countries like Indonesia, India, and Pakistan because their residents reliably elect Republicans who enacted ALEC legislation such as right to work for less laws, no overtime pay, no workplace safety, and no vacation time every civilized nation provides their workforce.
It is possible Republicans take advantage of Southern state residents due to their predilection to fundamentalist Christianity, and it informs the ease at which Republicans convince voters that “the other,” “un-American,” and “not like us” President is in a crusade to destroy America as a Christian nation. It is no coincidence that Southern  Republicans pass “no Sharia” laws, Draconian abortion laws, and convince residents voter suppression laws are necessary to preserve their Christian way of life. It is likely that many Southerners understand they live, work, and will die prematurely in a hazardous region of the country, but if Christ’s return is just around the corner, why worry or change?
Americans living in the Southern states have the lowest wages, least access to healthcare, highest mortality rate, highest child poverty rate, lowest graduation rate, and least amount of protections for their residents.  But they have no-one but themselves to blame because they elect Republicans out of fear, ignorance, and in some distortion of reality; a sense of pride that they are the real Americans living in real America. However, it is a conservative construct because the Koch brothers bought and paid for it to realize their vision of a transformed America.
It is getting difficult to feel empathy for ignorant Southerners, and if not for the people who want better wages, education, food and healthcare for their children, and a safe environment to work and live, it seems it would be in America’s best interest to let the South secede. However, this is America and decent Americans will continue sending their tax dollars to house, feed, provide healthcare, and attempt to educate a population that is determined to undermine the entire nation and fulfill the Koch brothers’ dream of fifty states as hazardous as the South.

If Republican Led ‘Real America’ Was a Country It Would Be the 3rd Poorest on Earth was written by Rmuse for PoliticusUSA.

© PoliticusUSA, Sat, Dec 28th, 2013 — All Rights Reserved

→ Read more about Rmuse ←

15 wins for the progressive movement in 2013

By Joshua Holland, Moyers & Company
Saturday, December 28, 2013 10:56 EST

15 Wins for the Progressive Movement in 2013 (via Moyers & Company)

In politics, as in sports, you can’t win ‘em all. With a divided government and a House of Representatives firmly in the control of tea partiers, it was a tough year for progressives in Washington – one marked by the painful cuts of sequestration…

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10 Ways Christians Can Be Allies To LGBTQ People

10 Ways Christians Can Be Allies To LGBTQ People

by Believe Out Loud

10. Affirm that LGBTQ people are made in the image of God:

9. Share resources: 

8. Speak up for LGBTQ people:

7. Extend God's welcome to all:

6. Invite others into a relationship with Jesus: 

5. Get involved in your community: 

4. Read the Bible:

3. Follow the example of Jesus:

2. Model unconditional love:

1. Be a witness as an LGBTQ Christian!

#BOLTalk: As a Christian, how are you an ally to LGBTQ people?
Join the conversation on Facebook!

- See more at: http://www.believeoutloud.com/latest/10-ways-christians-can-be-allies-lgbtq-people#sthash.ixAPwwJb.dpuf

Noam Chomsky: We’re no longer a functioning democracy, we’re really a plutocracy

By Travis Gettys
Friday, December 27, 2013 13:59 EST

Noam Chomsky: We’re no longer a functioning democracy, we’re really a plutocracy (via Raw Story )

The world faces two potentially existential threats, according to the linguist and political philosopher Noam Chomsky. “There are two major dark shadows that hover over everything, and they’re getting more and more serious,” Chomsky said. “The…

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Saturday, Dec 28, 2013 05:30 AM -0700

Why I fled libertarianism — and became a liberal

I was a Ron Paul delegate back in 2008 -- now I'm a Democrat. Here's my personal tale of disgust and self-discovery

Edwin Lyngar

 

A photo of the author

The night before the 2008 Nevada Republican convention, the Ron Paul delegates all met at a Reno high school. Although I’d called myself a libertarian for almost my entire adult life, it was my first exposure to the wider movement.
And boy, was it a circus. Many members of the group were obsessed with the gold standard, the Kennedy assassination and the Fed. Although Libertarians believe government is incompetent, many of them subscribe to the most fringe conspiracy theories imaginable. Airplanes are poisoning America with chemicals (chemtrails) or the moon landings were faked. Nothing was too far out. A great many of them really think that 9-11 was an inside job. Even while basking in the electoral mainstream, the movement was overflowing with obvious hokum.
During the meeting, a Ron Paul staffer, a smart and charismatic young woman, gave a tip to the group for the upcoming convention.
“Dress normal,” she said. “Wear suits, and don’t bring signs or flags. Don’t talk about conspiracy theories. Just fit in.” Her advice was the kind you might hear given to an insane uncle at Thanksgiving.
Then next day, I ran into that same operative at the convention, and I complimented her because Ron Paul delegates were being accepted into the crowd. I added, “We‘re going to win this thing.”
“Bring in the clowns,” she said, and smiled before I lost her in the mass of people.
I will never forget that moment: Bring in the clowns. At the time, I considered myself a thoughtful person, yet I could hardly claim to be one if you judged me by the company I kept. The young lady knew something I had not yet learned: most of our supporters were totally fucking nuts.
I came by my own libertarian sensibilities honestly. I grew up in a mining town that produced gold, silver and copper; but above all, Battle Mountain, Nev. made libertarians. Raised on 40-acre square of brown sage brush and dead earth, we burned our own garbage and fired guns in the back yard.
After leaving my small town upbringing, I learned that libertarians are made for lots of reasons, like reading the bad fiction of Ayn Rand or perhaps the passable writing of Robert Heinlein. In my experience, most seemed to be poor, white and undereducated. They were contortionists, justifying the excesses of the capitalist elite, despite being victims if libertarian politics succeed.
If you think that selfishness and cruelty are fantastic personal traits, you might be a libertarian. In the movement no one will ever call you an asshole, but rather, say you believe in radical individualism.
Yet I don’t want to gloss over the good things about libertarians. They are generally supportive of the gay community, completely behind marijuana legalization and are often against ill-considered foreign wars, but a few good ideas don’t make up for some spectacularly bad ones. Their saving grace is a complete lack of organizational ability, which is why they are always trying to take over the Republican Party, rather than create a party of their own.

The Ron Paul delegates were able to take over the Nevada convention in 2008, howling, screeching and grinding it to a painful halt. I was part of the mob, and once we took over, we were unable to get anything done. The national delegates were appointed in secret later.
The Republican convention didn’t turn me off of libertarians, but I started losing respect for the movement while watching the financial meltdown. Libertarians were (rightly) furious when our government bailed out the banks, but they fought hardest against help for ordinary Americans. They hated unemployment insurance and reduced school lunches. I used to say similar things, but in such a catastrophic recession isn’t the government supposed to help? Isn’t that the lesson of the Great Depression?
Through all the turmoil, the presidential election went ahead. Although I didn’t vote for him, I wept when Barack Obama took the oath of office in early 2009. They were tears of bewilderment, joy, pride and hope, despite the fact that I did everything within my own limited power to keep the moment from ever happening.
From the ashes of the election rose the movement that pushed me from convinced libertarian into bunny-hugging liberal. The Tea Party monster forever tainted the words freedom and libertarian for me. The rise of the Tea Party made me want to puke, and my nausea is now a chronic condition.
There are a lot of libertarians in the Tea Party, but there are also a lot of repugnant, religious nuts and intolerant racists. “Birthers” found a comfy home among 9-11 conspiracy people and other crackpots. After only a few months, I had absolutely no desire to ever be linked to this group of people.
As evidence, I offer the most repugnant example of many complaints. I’ve heard the n-word used in casual conversation from people I would never expect.  Some people might not believe it or think I’m playing the race card, but I’m not. I’ve heard the word more than I care to admit and more often in the run-up to the 2012 election. Perhaps because I’m a big, fat and bald white guy with a mean goatee, racists think I’m on board with them. I am not, and I’m ashamed to admit that my cowardice at confronting this ugliness makes me complicit.
During Obama’s first term, I also went to graduate school for creative writing at progressive college, and I settled into my marriage with my wife, a Canadian and “goddamn liberal.” I can’t point to just one thing that pushed me left, but in Obama’s first term I had a change of heart, moving from a lifelong extreme into the bosom of conventional liberalism.
I began to think about real people, like my neighbors and people less lucky than me. Did I want those people to starve to death? I care about children, even poor ones. I love the National Park system. The best parts of the America I love are our communities. My libertarian friends might call me a fucking commie (they have) or a pussy, but extreme selfishness is just so isolating and cruel. Libertarianism is unnatural, and the size of the federal government is almost irrelevant. The real question is: what does society need and how do we pay for it?
A month before the 2012 election, I changed my party affiliation to Democrat. I am a very late bloomer, that it took me so many decades to develop my own values. I was thirty-nine.
I don’t think regular Americans have any idea just how crazy libertarians can be. The only human corollary I can offer is unquestioning religious fervor, and hell yeah, I used to be a true believer. Libertarians think they own the word “freedom,” but it’s a word that often obfuscates more than enlightens. If you believe the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quote “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free,”  then libertarians live in a prison of their own ideology.

More Edwin Lyngar.

Forbes contributor says Scott Walker 'should know better' than to hold secret tax talks

  STEVEN ELBOW | The Capital Times | selbow@madison.com

Scott Walker

Steven Elbow

Steven Elbow joined The Capital Times in 1999 and has covered law enforcement in addition to city, county and state government. He has also worked for the Portage Daily Register and has written for the Isthmus weekly newspaper in Madison.

After Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, with Revenue Secretary Rick Chandler, launched a series of rountable discussions on tax reform, Gov. Scott Walker, who asked them to conduct the discussions, suggested that maybe the state income tax should be eliminated.
Why was that a surprise? Well, because the discussions were between Republican officials and business leaders. The public and press were not invited. Kleefisch explained to the Beloit Daily News that, "people aren’t as candid when there are cameras and reporters in the room.”
A number of in-state folks have been appalled by the exclusion of the public from discussion on a subject that could profoundly affect their pocketbooks.
For instance, on Dec. 15 the LaCrosse Tribune editorialized: "Closed meetings are simply poor public policy ... while we may not all contribute to political candidates or align ourselves with political parties, we all pay taxes."
But now the exclusion of the public from the discussion has attracted attention from out of state. On Friday, Forbes contributor and tax analyst Cara Griffith took note of the process and had this to say:
“Perhaps Kleefisch didn’t think this all the way through because closing the discussions was a bad decision. First, it sends the message that the administration is willing to let business leaders drive tax reform. While business leaders and trade associations should be vital contributors to a dialogue about tax reform, the discussion should not specifically exclude the public or the press.”
She concludes her column with this:
“[C]losing the meetings sets the precedent that it is acceptable to have meetings behind closed doors and that it’s acceptable to pick and choose who has a voice in the tax reform debate. Walker and his administration should know better.”

Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/forbes-contributor-says-scott-walker-should-know-better-than-to/article_ee82ca31-1d26-586f-8c31-beacabbabf9b.html#ixzz2omqlqsGF

Five Tea Party Challengers: The Ted Cruz Wannabes

 

Five Tea Party Challengers: The Ted Cruz Wannabes

By Patricia Murphy

December 27th 20135:45 am

followMore Stories by Patricia Murphy

Come 2014, these five ambitious Senate hopefuls might storm their way onto Capitol Hill and change the Republican Party, with Ted Cruz as their hero.

If Ted Cruz seems like a one-of-a-kind, give it time. A slew of young, hard-charging, Tea Party-endorsed Senate wannabes is looking to knock off the Republican establishment again in 2014. Some have better chances than others, but all have the unmistakable Cruzian commitment to refusing to toe the Republican Party line and make headlines while doing it. If you haven’t heard of them yet, you will.
Chris McDaniel
Of all of the upstarts challenging Republican senators in 2014, something about Chris McDaniel makes him stand out from the rest. It may be his way of speaking, sort of Ted Cruz-meets-Joel Osteen-meets-Bill Clinton, a folksy, freedom-loving, doom filled warning for Mississippians that their way of life is disappearing on Thad Cochran’s watch. “The Republic is in trouble,” he said when he announced his run for the Senate. “You sense it. Millions of people feel like strangers in their land.”
The 41-year-old state senator also stands out for the support he’s gotten from Washington-based conservative groups at odds with the Senate Republican leadership. Within hours of Cochran’s announcement that he’d run for reelection, McDaniel had picked up endorsements from the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, Senate Conservatives Fund, Tea Party Express, and The Madison Project, making him the only candidate so far to receive all five.
Finally, as a lawyer and former nationally-syndicated talk radio host, McDaniel also stands out for the whistle-clean blows he delivers to anything he says isn’t expressly granted by the Constitution. Obamacare? “Kill the bill,” he told AFR Talk Radio. Increase the debt ceiling? “No chance.” His approach to legislating in Mississippi and D.C.?  “No compromises, no surrenders.”
The Madison Project calls McDaniel the easiest challenger to get behind in 2014, in part because of his “uninfringeable desire to storm the castle,” a quality that could help him fit right in alongside now-veteran castle-stormers Cruz, Rand Paul, and Mike Lee if he makes it to D.C.
Milton Wolf
This 42-year-old radiologist is another favorite of Tea Party activists, in part because of the irony that the conservative doctor, who is running on an anti-Obamacare platform, is also a distant cousin of President Obama’s Kansas family.
With that distinction to his name, the one-time Rice County cow-milking champion is now running in the GOP primary against three-term incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts, a plain-talking conservative himself whom Wolf tags as insufficiently willing to go up against the party leadership when circumstances demand it.
In a column for Breitbart.com titled, “Sorry GOP, ‘R’ is Not Enough,” Wolf slammed Republicans, including Roberts, for “being complicit with tax hikes, earmark spending, endless borrowing, and debt ceiling increases.”
Wolf, who has been endorsed by the Senate Conservatives Fund and Madison Project, told Pajamas media that he’s a reluctant rebel against the machine. “I wish I didn’t have to do this … Our party let the country down.” But he added that Ted Cruz inspired him to believe Republicans can be different. “I was so proud of him, to see him in that 21-hour filibuster, that gave me great hope.”
Ben Sasse
Despite having degrees from Harvard (undergrad) and Yale (Ph.D.), a job as the country’s youngest college president, and a resume full of tours in the George W. Bush administration, Sasse (pronounced Sass) describes himself as a “right-wing conservative.” The Weekly Standard calls the polished 41-year old a “virtuoso,” while a number of Tea Party groups, including the Senate Conservatives Fund, have picked him as their favorite to replace the retiring Nebraska senator Mike Johanns in the crowded GOP primary.
Even with all of those accolades to his name, it may be his inadvertent feud with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that has endeared Sasse the most to right-of-center activists, who see Sasse as a potential ideas factory along the lines of Paul Ryan (“but more conservative,” says one), who has also endorsed him. After producing a campaign video calling on “every Republican in Washington, starting with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, to show some actual leadership,” Sasse reportedly got an earful from McConnell and his aides at a Washington meet-and-greet. Although neither has confirmed the row, the episode has become the stuff of legend for activists looking for a few good men to take on The Man.
Joe Miller
If Joe Miller looks familiar, he should. The 46-year-old Yale-trained lawyer and West Point grad ran for and won Alaska’s GOP primary in 2010, defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski on a wave of Tea Party energy and a Sarah Palin endorsement. But Miller became the first Senate nominee in more than 50 years to lose the subsequent general election to a write-in candidate: Lisa Murkowski.
Miller is back again for a 2014 GOP primary, this time to take on Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Begich. If he makes it to Washington this time, Miller says he would join what he considers the “Liberty Caucus” helmed by Ted Cruz. “I would absolutely be hand-in-hand with both he and Mike Lee, Rand Paul and the work that they’re doing.”
Democrats are quietly crossing their fingers for a Miller victory in the primary, believing that any Tea Partier who managed to lose in Tea Party-fueled 2010 will be a sure thing to lose again. Miller’s ill-fated general election run was marred by disorganization, highlighted by a bizarre episode in which Miller’s private security firm handcuffed a reporter for The Alaska Dispatch, an online news site, when the reporter tried to question Miller at a town hall meeting.
Matt Bevin
If any Washington pol embodies Goliath for the Tea Partiers’ vision of their Davidian struggle against the powers that be, it’s Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the googly-eyed yet ruthless power broker who is up for reelection in his home state of Kentucky. Enter Matt Bevin, the 46-year-old businessman who runs his family’s bell company and announced this year he would take on McConnell in the state’s GOP primary. Although Bevin has struggled to make a major impact in either fundraising or polling since his announcement, national Tea Partiers and the Senate Conservatives Fund have nonetheless flocked to Bevin’s candidacy as a way to push McConnell to the right and successfully keep the renowned dealmaker on the sidelines of his own leadership.
Even if Bevin fails to pick McConnell off in the primary, he will have succeeded as part of a Tea Party strategy to support a challenge, any challenge, to a Republican incumbent as a way to keep GOPers on notice that the days of Republican lawmakers running unnoticed and unopposed are over.

Alabama Lawmaker To Introduce Resolution Honoring Gay-Bashing 'Duck Dynasty' Star

AP Photo

Caitlin MacNeal – December 26, 2013, 4:52 PM EST

Alabama State Sen. Jerry Fielding (R) announced Monday that he will introduce a resolution honoring "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson, who was suspended from the A&E reality television show after making controversial anti-gay comments in an interview with GQ magazine, the Daily Home reported.
"Phil Robertson's family values are shared by the vast majority of Alabamians, who are rightfully concerned by the vitriol aimed at his Christian stance," Fielding said in a statement. "There's a clear double standard in the media favoring a liberal worldview. When it's used to silence and punish Christians for stating their beliefs, that's when we must defend the rights of individuals to exercise their free speech without fear of politically-motivated repercussion. I join thousands across Alabama and our country by standing with Phil Robertson, and urge A&E to reverse their action against him."

The senator will introduce the resolution on Jan. 14 when the state Senate convenes for the next session.
In the resolution, Fielding lauds Robertson and his family as "ambassadors of the love and grace of the Heavenly Father through their exemplary lives on and off the camera."

Jesus rebranded, now with more capitalism

Jesus rebranded, now with more capitalism

Gaius Publius

by Gaius Publius | December 26, 2013 - 9:48am 

 

  from Americablog Jesus as you’ve always known him, now with more capitalism. I thought this video was fun, and totally timely.
The creator is Mark Fiore, who writes:

Amidst the imagined attacks on Christmas, Rush Limbaugh and some Fox News characters accused Pope Francis of being Marxist after he said some critical words about our economic system. Never mind that Pope Benedict had similar complaints. Everything has been coming up Pope Francis lately, who was picked as Time’s “Person of the Year” and was featured on the cover of the New Yorker. Having been raised Catholic and having done plenty of cartoons about the scandals in the Catholic Church, I’m happy that we’re talking again about things like helping the poor, imagine that.

Click the image to open video in a new tab:

Jesus speaks — just press his Sacred Heart:

“Go, sell your possessions, and use the money to . . . start a growing, profitable business! Come, follow me.”
“The love of money is at the root of all . . . successful entrepreneurs!”
“If they’re hungry, sell them something to eat.”

And my personal favorite:

“Verily, the first shall be first and the last, last. Why do you think they’re called first and last?”

More where that came from. The film is a nice take on the war on Christmas. Happy Season, all. May yours be merry and bright.
GP
To follow or send links: @Gaius_Publius
_______


Contributing Editor. Americablog.com
Twitter: @Gaius_Publius

About author Gaius Publius is a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States. He is Contributing Editor at Americablog.com and working on several book-length projects, including two on global warming and the coming climate crisis.

Ann Coulter Trolls With Racist Article As President Obama Wishes a Happy Kwanzaa

Ann Coulter Trolls With Racist Article As President Obama Wishes a Happy Kwanzaa

By: Justin Baragona more from Justin Baragona

Friday, December, 27th, 2013, 10:57 am

Late on Thursday evening, President Obama and the First Lady issued a statement to those celebrating Kwanzaa. This was consistent with their statements this holiday season for Christmas and Hanukkah. Considering that anywhere from 2 to 5 million people in this country alone observe and celebrate the  holiday, and both the President and FLOTUS are African American, it should be both uncontroversial and expected for POTUS to make a statement.
The official statement from the White House was this:

"Michelle and I extend our best wishes to all those celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season." —President Obama
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 26, 2013

Michelle and I extend our best wishes to all those celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season. Today marks the beginning of the week-long celebration of African American culture through family activities and community festivities that bring attention to Kwanzaa’s seven principles of unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Though each principle represents the essence of this holiday, they also represent the shared values that bind us as Americans.
As families and communities across our country come together today to light the Kinara, our family sends our hopes for a prosperous and healthy new year.

For the most part, there was not much outrage from the right regarding this press release and tweet. But, it wasn’t for lack of trying by the right-wing’s favorite troll, Ann Coulter. Around the same time that the President was releasing his statement, Coulter posted an article to her website where she decided to explain the ‘true’ origins of Kwanzaa. Basically, it is all the result of the FBI and CIA mixed with ’60s counterculture sprinkled with Marxism and collectivism. Basically, another liberal plot to bring down our society as we know it.
For anyone that knows Coulter, this is pretty much her shtick. She must demonize and whip up a frenzy about anything that can considered liberal or progressive. And, as is typical of her, when it comes to matters of race, especially African-Americans, she needs to make sure to ‘whitesplain’ everything to them. In this case, it is about Kwanzaa.
The very worst part of the article, and what Coulter will obviously defend as ‘humor’ or ‘sarcasm’, came at the very end. After pointing out (without any shred of evidence) that Kwanzaa is ‘celebrated exclusively by idiot white liberals’ and that blacks in America only celebrate Christmas (because, of course, SHE KNOWS), she provided this nice little ‘song’ that is supposed to be sung to the tune of Jingle Bells:

Kwanzaa bells, dashikis sell
Whitey has to pay;
Burning, shooting, oh what fun
On this made-up holiday!

Much like everything that Coulter writes or says, it is all just a confused word salad of jumbled ideas that is searching for an all-encompassing theory about why liberalism is bad. When she is called on her BS, she dismisses it out of hand as just dumb liberals just not ‘getting it.’ The same goes when someone points out a blatantly racist or bigoted statement she has made. She always takes the Rush Limbaugh defense. Essentially, she said it in a humorous context and overly sensitive PC-types are making too much of it.
This will be the case here. That is, if anyone even cares. In the end, Coulter has gone so far down the rabbit hole that even conservatives tend to not listen to her anymore. She is so one-note and absurd that she has a tough time finding anyone other than Fox News to bring her on. And even with Fox News, you can tell most of the hosts don’t take her seriously anymore. She has gone well past her expiration date but nobody on the right has been able to tell her its over. Instead, they just stop picking up the phone.

Ann Coulter Trolls With Racist Article As President Obama Wishes a Happy Kwanzaa was written by Justin Baragona for PoliticusUSA.

© PoliticusUSA, Fri, Dec 27th, 2013 — All Rights Reserved

Kansas follows Missouri’s path in testing suspected drug users on welfare

Kansas follows Missouri’s path in testing suspected drug users on welfare

December 26
By BRAD COOPER
The Kansas City Star

Next year, Kansas starts testing suspected drug users on welfare. If Missouri and other states are any indication, Kansas will spend a lot to nab very few.

Republican Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina vetoed a drug testing bill last August,
saying it was too costly and ineffective.

Missouri this year became the most recent state to install drug testing for welfare recipients. After eight months and 636 drug test requests, the program turned up 20 people who tested positive and about 200 who refused to comply. Roughly 32,000 people in the state have applied for assistance since testing began.

The program’s price: nearly $500,000.

“I think it’s just astronomical,” said Rep. Stacey Newman, a St. Louis County Democrat. “It’s a horrible waste of state resources.”

Welfare drug testing — now in place in at least nine states — has been promoted by those who see it as a way to stop public dollars from buying illegal drugs and to give the poor a strong incentive to avoid substance abuse.

“It’s doing its job,” said Rep. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican. “People are taking a test and being held accountable for taking state aid.”

Like most other states, Missouri and Kansas test welfare recipients who are suspected of drug use, sometimes flagged by tests or a questionnaire.

Critics say drug testing singles out the poor, who they say are no more likely to use drugs than the general population. Those doubters continue to raise questions about the cost of drug testing and whether it’s producing the results supporters intended.

Two states this year — North Dakota and Virginia — rejected bills that would have mandated drug testing for welfare recipients. Those measures would have cost between $400,000 and $500,000.

Last August, Republican Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina vetoed a drug testing bill, saying it was too costly and ineffective.

Lawmakers overrode his decision, but McCrory vowed not to implement the law until legislators appropriated enough money to pay for the program.

“This is not a smart way to combat drug abuse,” McCrory said in a statement when he vetoed the drug testing measure.

Other states that have been testing welfare recipients have seen results similar to Missouri’s program.

• Out of 4,086 drug tests in Florida from July through October 2011, 108 tested positive. Court rulings stopped the program on the grounds it violated welfare recipients’ constitutional rights by requiring them to undergo testing regardless of whether they were suspected of using drugs.

Florida spent $115,000 on the testing and was forced to reimburse welfare recipients who had lost their benefits $600,000.

• Eighty-three out of 1,890 people screened for drugs in Oklahoma tested positive from November 2012 through May 2013, the most recent data available from the state. The state spent about $83,000 on testing.

• Only 14 people have tested positive in Utah out of 6,007 who have been screened for drugs from August 2012 through the end of October. The state has spent roughly $32,000 on the program.

“I have not seen any kind of credible data to this point to suggest these kinds of programs help people who are on drugs,” said Jason Williamson, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Criminal Law Reform Project.

Drug testing costs vary widely from state to state. The expenses depend on who pays for the drug tests and treatment, whether computer systems need modification and if the program requires more staff time.

In Missouri, the legislature appropriated $493,000 for drug testing for this fiscal year, including $336,00 for testing and tracking. That included $157,000 for staffing administrative hearings for people denied benefits.

From March 1, when the program started, through October, the state received 32,511 welfare applications. Of those, 636 were referred for drug testing.

Twenty tested positive, 194 refused to comply and 208 tested negative. Results were still not known for 214 people.

Even with fewer than two dozen positive tests, lawmakers who supported drug testing see signs of success.

They point out that nearly 200 people refused to comply with testing. Those people are denied access to welfare benefits for three years under the law.

“I almost see that as an admission you would fail. Why else would you not take it?” Brattin said.

Not so fast, says Newman, the St. Louis Democrat. There’s no telling why people refused to cooperate with the system. “Nobody knows those reasons.”

Kansas Sen. Jeff King, who authored the state’s testing plan, believes a certain number of people will not apply for benefits if they think they will test positive. He says that needs to be considered in evaluating any drug testing plan.

“There will be people who know they will test positive that will not put in applications because they know they will test positive,” said King, an Independence Republican.

Kansas is not expected to start testing welfare recipients until July 1. The state estimates it will cost nearly $1 million to implement, including about $600,000 for one-time computer system upgrades.

The state projects it will save about $700,000 from people who are temporarily or permanently denied assistance.

While money is a factor, advocates see drug testing as a way of helping people kick their drug habits and land a job.

The Kansas law cuts off benefits for welfare recipients who are reasonably suspected of drug use and test positive.

The benefits can be restored when a recipient completes a drug treatment and job skills program paid for with federal welfare funds.

A second failed test results in a yearlong loss of benefits, while a third positive test results in losing the benefits permanently.

Like Missouri, a third party — an aunt or a grandfather, for instance — can apply for benefits on behalf of children whose parents fail a drug test.

The laws in Kansas and Missouri avoid the constitutional problems found with Florida’s law because they only test people suspected of drug use.

Federal courts have blocked blanket drug testing programs for welfare recipients in Michigan and Florida because their laws violated constitutional protections against unreasonable searches.

Welfare applicants in states such as Missouri, Oklahoma and Utah are required to answer questions that signal reasonable suspicion for further drug testing.

Additionally, people in Missouri may be tested if a search of Missouri Highway Patrol records indicate they have been arrested or convicted of a misdemeanor or felony drug offense in the previous 12 months.

Anyone testing positive and who doesn’t complete a treatment program will be ineligible for benefits.

Benefits continue if a person gets treatment and doesn’t test positive for six months.

As Kansas draws up its drug testing rules, there is concern about how “reasonable suspicion” will be defined.

“The question becomes, who gets to determine what reasonable suspicion is and will that be applied in a fair manner?” said Tawny Stottlemire, executive director of the Kansas Association of Community Action Programs, a Topeka-based nonprofit group that fights poverty. “If the reasonable suspicion thing is handled appropriately, I am not expecting a huge flood of people being dropped from public assistance.”

To reach Brad Cooper, call 816-234-7724 or send email to bcooper@kcstar.com.