Mitch Daniels is starting to pique my interest. I like his ideas and demeanor and tone and I need to investigate him some more.
Start: Any opinions on your Governor from our IN cycburbians?
Mitch Daniels was on the Daily Show last week and I bet he regrets that decision now. I initially thought he was a fairly pragmatic individual but seeing him unable to justify many of his policy positions was painful to watch. It was a 20+ minute interview of him just giving non-answers to Jon Stewart's questions and falling back to typical Republican rhetoric. It may have just been a bad interview but it did alter my opinion of him.
At the very least, I respect how he believes economic issues should be prioritized over social ones. I'd have a lot more respect for the Tea Party if they followed that advice.
Mitch Daniels is starting to pique my interest. I like his ideas and demeanor and tone and I need to investigate him some more.
Start: Any opinions on your Governor from our IN cycburbians?
The shift became more noticeable in 1964, when the Republican Party nominated Sen. Barry Goldwater as its presidential nominee. It was Goldwater's ardent stance against the Civil Rights Act that led President Lyndon Johnson to garner 94 percent of the black vote.
What's interesting to note is the greatest threat to passage of the bill came from white Southern Democrats, known as Dixiecrats. Moderate Republicans played a crucial role in getting the Civil Rights Act passed, yet as the GOP began to go against civil rights, the national Democratic Party saw a chance to solidify the black vote.
In 1968, Nixon returned to the national stage with his Southern Strategy, a detailed plan of racial politics that ignored, denigrated and dismissed black voters while playing up racial issues as a way to gain support from white voters.
All of this was an outgrowth of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which led President Johnson to say his signing of the law would deliver the South to the GOP for the next generation.
Sad to say that the religious vote in the formerly solid Democratic south is very, very strong and a real worry on Romney remains that his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints could well swing several of those states to the other side.
It frustrates me, too, but religion IS an issue. How would an openly-practicing Muslim do nationwide, even if he or she follows all of the other 'correct' lines in the eyes of most voters?
Mike
Maybe we can once the Cuban government gives the Bacardi distillery back to the Bacardi family (their rums, many varieties of which are USA 'domestic', with a major presence in San Juan, PR, were Cuban until the Castro Brothers stole the distillery from them).Hey, I have a great idea - let's end the Cuban trade embargo. That is, unless we think Fidel Castro might try to stage a comeback...
The reason the embargo hasn't been lifted is that Cuba went ahead and arrested a USAID contractor for setting up internet in a Jewish community on the island. He was sentenced to 15 years for trying to overthrow the government. Understandably, relations won't improve till that guy is released.Hey, I have a great idea - let's end the Cuban trade embargo. That is, unless we think Fidel Castro might try to stage a comeback...
Maybe we can once the Cuban government gives the Bacardi distillery back to the Bacardi family (their rums, many varieties of which are USA 'domestic', with a major presence in San Juan, PR, were Cuban until the Castro Brothers stole the distillery from them).
Mike
Maybe we can once the Cuban government gives the Bacardi distillery back to the Bacardi family (their rums, many varieties of which are USA 'domestic', with a major presence in San Juan, PR, were Cuban until the Castro Brothers stole the distillery from them).
Mike
Maybe we can once the Cuban government gives the Bacardi distillery back to the Bacardi family (their rums, many varieties of which are USA 'domestic', with a major presence in San Juan, PR, were Cuban until the Castro Brothers stole the distillery from them).
Mike
Hamas frees Israel's Gilad Shalit in prisoner swap
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/18/world/meast/israel-prisoner-swap/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Not sure what I think about this. Is the life of one soldier worth the life of 1,000? What if those 1,000 now kill 10,000?
That is a tough one. Can someone with military background explain the expectations if taken captive by a terrorist group? Would you expect to go home, or just accept that you would probably not ever get out?
His biggesat campaign promise was Jobs, Jobs, Jobs ]
No American lives were lost and only about 1 billion dollars was spent and we rid the world of Qaddaffi. Quite a contrast to over 1 trillion dollars and thousands of American lives lost to rid the world of Sadaam Hussein.
While I am not a big fan of president Obama, his foreign policy successes are pretty amazing. securing Russian nukes, withdrawal from Iraq, overthrow of Qaddaffi, killing of Bin Laden, pretty much defeating Al Qaeda. It's interesting to hear alot of the opposition claim he is so weak on national security. I think if he was a republican the GOP would be calling him the bestest evah
No American lives were lost and only about 1 billion dollars was spent and we rid the world of Qaddaffi. Quite a contrast to over 1 trillion dollars and thousands of American lives lost to rid the world of Sadaam Hussein.
While I am not a big fan of president Obama, his foreign policy successes are pretty amazing. securing Russian nukes, withdrawal from Iraq, overthrow of Qaddaffi, killing of Bin Laden, pretty much defeating Al Qaeda. It's interesting to hear alot of the opposition claim he is so weak on national security. I think if he was a republican the GOP would be calling him the bestest evah
Let me go point by point-
Russian Nukes- I don't trust them to fulfill their end of the bargain
Withdrawal from Iraq- Way after he said he would. He's basically following the Bush Iraq withdrawal plan
Overthrow of Qaddaffi- Shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place
Killing Bin Laden/Defeating Al Qaeda- Stuff that was in motion for 7 years before he became president. He's reaping the rewards of hard work of the Bush administration on those things.
With that said I should openly admit I dislike Obama just as much as I disliked Bush before people think I'm some sort Bush lover/Obama hater.
I respect those who don't like Obama. His economic record hasn't been great - unquestionably (though the degree to which republicans share in that blame is debatable). But if one is going to dislike Obama's presidency, at least do so for domestic policy reasons and not foreign policy reasons. Obama's foreign policy approach has largely been unassailable.
Point by point
Russian nukes - if it fails, not really Obama's fault.
Iraq - Bush refused to ever set a timeline, Obama did set a timeline. Obama is following his timeline.
Qaddafi - If you argue we shouldn't have gotten involved there, then where does that leave Iraq? $1 billion to overthrow a dictator without a SINGLE loss among coalition troops is a bargain by any measure.
Bin Laden - True it's been in operation for a long time, but Obama seriously stuck his neck out by authorizing a military invasion of Pakistan to get him. Had OBL not been at that compound, it would have been a HUGE gaffe for the POTUS, not to mention a foreign policy disaster the likes of which we haven't seen since the Bay of Pigs. Thus, Obama certainly deserves credit for that. With respect to Bush, Bush had his chance at Tora Bora, and dropped the ball in favor of Iraq - a country that hadn't attacked us and that didn't have WMDs.
I respect those who don't like Obama. His economic record hasn't been great - unquestionably (though the degree to which republicans share in that blame is debatable). But if one is going to dislike Obama's presidency, at least do so for domestic policy reasons and not foreign policy reasons. Obama's foreign policy approach has largely been unassailable.
I agree Libya was cheap, but I don't care. We have too much debt for to be spending billions frivolously, and let other countries police the world. .
Great news for America! "Joe The Plumber" has announced that he is a candidate for the U.S. House. He is one of the candidates lining-up to face either long-term Representative Marcy Kaptur or oft-newsworthy Dennis Kucinich. Kaptur and Kucinich are likely to oppose each other in the primary......thanks to one of the most-convulted-ever examples of gerrymandering. The new district winds along the Lake Erie coast from central Toledo to central Cleveland.
As for Toledo-area "Joe".....he intends to fix what is "wrong" with America. Nice!
:-c
Bear
If I understood correctly, he's running in a newly created district that is about as democrat as it gets... He has about as much chance of going to Congress as I do.
I think that's the thing though. A president is essentially a figurehead unless he can get congress to cooperate with him. Obama is obviously having a great deal of difficulty with that which makes it appear he's changed little since Bush.
I can not see any noticible difference between Bush and Obama in my daily life so to my family it just doesn't really matter. I do not think we can blame Bush or Obama for the economic crisis. The market is so much larger than any one person, regardless if he is the president. To do so is ignorance of the system - we don't live in a dictatorship so anything he does needs approval by congress, therefore it's not just one person.
An interesting little article about Congress' net worth.
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/57_51/And-Congress-Rich-Get-Richer-209907-1.html?pos=hftxt
Members of Congress had a collective net worth of more than $2 billion in 2010, a nearly 25 percent increase over the 2008 total, according to a Roll Call analysis of Members' financial disclosure forms.
Nearly 90 percent of that increase is concentrated in the 50 richest Members of Congress.
A little known fact about congress is that members of congress have exempted themselves from insider-trading laws and they routinely make large amounts of money based on insider and classified information.
More fuel for Occupy protesters:
http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/11/03/corporate_tax_study_some_on_fortune_500_paid_no_taxes.html.html
Suddenly, the United States looks like the rest of the furious, protesting, not-completely-free world. Indeed, most commentators have not fully grasped that a world war is occurring. But it is unlike any previous war in human history: for the first time, people around the world are not identifying and organising themselves along national or religious lines, but rather in terms of a global consciousness and demands for a peaceful life, a sustainable future, economic justice and basic democracy. Their enemy is a global "corporatocracy" that has purchased governments and legislatures, created its own armed enforcers, engaged in systemic economic fraud, and plundered treasuries and ecosystems.
What effects would a repeal of those reforms have on Ohio's state and local fiscal situation?Ohio's Issue 2 goes before the voters in the Buckeye State on Tuesday. If the vote is NO the Republican-led major changes to Ohio's collective-bargaining laws, etc. yadda will be swept away. This single issue could well be a national barometer mark on very-restrictive (Tea Party-like) legislation (and politicians who were voted in).
Bear
What effects would a repeal of those reforms have on Ohio's state and local fiscal situation?
Mike
Much of the reforms would do little to nothing for the budgets of local communities. It does do a great job of transfering the burden from the state level to the local level. Something that our very bad Governor Kasich has continued to do. Instead of dealing with budget issues at the state level, he has pushed for legislation that puts the burden on local governments and asks them to raise taxes because he isn't willing to do that.
There are a lot of reasonable requests in SB5 (which is Issue 2), but in the end the real issue is the fact that the bill was pushed through without thought, because Kasich knew that once people understood what was in it, they wouldn't support it.
What will happen once it is repealed is that they will go back and approve individually the pieces that make sense... like they should have done originally.
And unless the Democrats can't find anyone to run... Kasich will get voted out after one horrible term... maybe at that point local government will recover from his horrible policies...
So what will Ohio now do to prevent themselves from becoming the USA's equivalent of Greece? The state's budget problems are still there in full force.Well the State of Ohio spoke pretty loudly... 61% - 39% that they didn't think Governor Kasich's hastily put together bill was right for Ohio.
I find it annoying that all the news could talk about is how it is a mixed message that Ohio gave with the complete trouncing of Issue 2, but passing Issue 3 which said we don't support the healthcare mandate. They are two separate issues with a different message.
Issue 3 was pointless since Ohio still has to follow Federal law. It was nothing more than a symbolic vote which isn't indicative of anything. Honestly I'm not even sure why someone went through the effort to get the petitions to stick that on the ballot in the first place.I find it annoying that all the news could talk about is how it is a mixed message that Ohio gave with the complete trouncing of Issue 2, but passing Issue 3 which said we don't support the healthcare mandate. They are two separate issues with a different message.
Issue 3 was pointless since Ohio still has to follow Federal law. It was nothing more than a symbolic vote which isn't indicative of anything. Honestly I'm not even sure why someone went through the effort to get the petitions to stick that on the ballot in the first place.
So what will Ohio now do to prevent themselves from becoming the USA's equivalent of Greece? The state's budget problems are still there in full force.
Also, there are several major differences between Ohio's situation and the one here in Wisconsin:
-Wisconsin's reforms exempted police, fire and EMS.
-Wisconsin's reforms are already in place and functioning - to amazing effect.
Just allowing school districts to shop around for health coverage for their teachers, instead of requiring them to use the union's own insurance company as under the old contracts, has saved them millions and millions of dollars for identical coverage, The level of the savings from just that caught even the most optimistic conservatives off guard. Public services are all still functioning normally, there have been very few layoffs of government workers and some agencies are actually expanding their workforces (for example, Manitowoc County just announced that they are hiring additional snowplow drivers for the season that they otherwise would not have). Many school districts are now operating in surplus and are expanding their teaching staffs where they otherwise would not have. Those agencies that are not seeing these benefits and are even laying people off are mainly ones that opted to renew their old union contracts before the law took effect.
-Wisconsin's state budget is now balanced with a surplus. The previous biennial state budget was $3 billion plus in deficit.
Will there be a recall effort against Governor Walker and other state legislators? It's already in the pipeline. Will it work? The jury is out.
Blide said:Issue 3 was pointless since Ohio still has to follow Federal law. It was nothing more than a symbolic vote which isn't indicative of anything. Honestly I'm not even sure why someone went through the effort to get the petitions to stick that on the ballot in the first place.