Month: July 2011

If You Don’t Know About ALEC, You Don’t Know What’s Really Going On

Trish

Whether you live where “Koch brothers schemes get turned into the bat-$#*@ crazy legislation that just happens to pop up, seemingly out of nowhere, in virtually identical form, in 15 states at once,” you’ll want to know about ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. This corporate-funded shadow group is transforming our country, and not in a good way. Watch the video for just one example: privatizing prisons. And remember, although it’s not pointed out in the video, private prisons only want the low-risk, high-profit population. As with health care and Social Security, they want to skim the profitable folks off the top and leave the sickest, the oldest, and, in case of private prisons, the baddest-assed to the government.

Scott’s Law is Likely to Increase Crime in Florida

Trish

3,406

Number of Florida non-violent felons who re-offended after their rights were automatically restored under a program instituted by former Gov. Charlie Crist. They represent about 11 percent of the 30,672 people whose rights, including the right to vote, were reinstated. Before Crist launched the initiative, about one-third of prisoners released were back in jail within three years. The results lead criminologists and others to conclude that encouraging offenders to reintegrate into society makes them less likely to commit further crimes. Gov. Rick Scott recently signed Republican-drafted legislation overturning this automatic process, and requiring felons who have served their time to wait five years before applying to have their rights restored.

U.S. Representative Tweets About ‘Islamic Terror’ in Norway

Trish

DennisRossTweet

The world is finding out about the man suspected of the worst terror attacks in Norway’s history, in which first a bomb killed at least 30 in Oslo, and then an additional 67 people were gunned down at a nearby youth camp. The suspect is 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik and it appears he is a rightwing Christian, anti-Muslim extremist who hates Marxists.

He is the very opposite of — as Florida Teapublican U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross tweeted when news broke of the bombing and mass shooting — forces aligned with “Islamic terror.”

It appears Ross wanted to phone in (or in this case, drop a 140-character line) a quick condemnation of the horror and get on with his weekend. His knee-jerk assumption that any act of terror must be perpetuated by Muslim extremists is embarrassing for both his party and his state.

Comments on Facebook, where Progress Florida posted the image of the tweet shown, are not kind to Ross:

  • When Rep. Ross departs the mortal coil, the average IQ of Floridians will skyrocket. How does someone with a Fallwell-Robertson understanding of the world get elected?
  • Dennis is MY Congessman and I cannot tell you how unhappy I am with him. He used to be a smart moderate until he embraced the tea party.
  • Sadly, this kind of crap resonates with a LOT of voters. Never underestimate the combination of stupid + xenophobia x fake patriotism.
  • Maybe he can re-tweet: “We stand with you against right-wing ultra-conservative Christians.”

No word on that last idea but we won’t hold our breath waiting for anyone to step up and condemn Christian violence.

Boehner’s Story on Debt Deal Changes: Tells Caucus ‘Deal Was Never Reached,’ Then Tells Media Obama Walked away from Deal

Jon Ponder

This sequence of events from Friday night puts the lie to Speaker Boehner’s assertion that it was Pres. Obama, not Boehner, who shut down negotiations on the debt ceiling crisis:

Boehner to House GOP at 6 p.m.: “The deal was never reached.” Boehner to media an hour or so later: “It’s the president who walked away.”

“It’s the president who walked away from his agreement and demanded more money at the last minute,” [Boehner said, during the news conference he called around 7:15 Friday night.]

The speaker has said that he needs a bill in hand by Monday to ensure House action by midweek and still leave enough time for the Senate to act before the Treasury runs out of money. Prior to the breakup, discussions were already underway among Senate leaders Friday about how to proceed with a fallback, and there has been speculation of a four to six week extension to get past the immediate crisis.

But this short term approach faced united Democratic opposition after the collapse, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saying flatly Friday night that it would be “unacceptable.”

“The deal was never reached, and was never really close,” the speaker wrote in a letter to House members released at 6 p.m. — after the financial markets had closed. “In the end we couldn’t connect. Not because of different personalities but because of different visions for our country.”

Jonathan Chait reacts:

[…]

Poll: Majority of Voters Would Consider Voting against Their Current House Member

Jon Ponder

63%

Of voters say they would consider voting for someone other than their current congressional representative in the House elections next year, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll. That is the highest anti-incumbency number recorded in the poll since the question was first asked in 1989. In 2010, by comparison, just over half of voters said they would vote against their incumbent representative, and on Election Day, Republicans won 63 seats and took control of the House, arguably making this an early indicator that control of the House could be in play again next year.

Taxes Not Worth Fighting to the Death Over

Buck Banks

TIM RUSSERT: Is the energy tax a fight until death, or are you willing to compromise a little bit with Senator Boren, modify it a bit?

SEN. MOYNIHAN: Fight until death over taxes? Oh no. Women, country, God, things like that. Taxes? No.

— From a 1993 appearance on Meet the Press by the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) during the debate over a congressional budget deal.