His words, not mine.
Fantastic catch by the Daily Kos. Hey you have to give Congressman Ryan a little credit for throwing a tinge of honesty into this morning’s budget bluster…
“This to us is something that we’re not going to give up on, because we’re not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people.”
In the face of many storms we’ve weathered, a few aspects of the American experience have remained stalwart… death, taxes and Michelle Bachmann’s uncanny ability to be void of all logic and reason. These principles were sure, and come hell or high water, we could turn to them for stability.
But that third principle, though still very real, has got some new challengers in the “crazy town” department. Wisconsin Congressman and losing Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan unveiled the House GOP budget today. One read-through of this makes Michelle Bachmann’s ravings sound almost sensible.
We now finally have specifics on the US House plan for the federal budget. I of course am no budget analyst, so I highly recommend reading other opinions like Ezra Klein, Matthew Iglesias and Andrew Taylor for a thorough rundown. But here are the big points.
Some of the proposals we’ve come to expect from the GOP… promises to lower tax rates for everyone (though they’ve now relented to keep tax increases passed in January on the books) and of course the continued witch hunt to repeal Obamacare. But here is the real kicker… The GOP/Ryan budget assumes savings from Obamacare, while also assuming its repeal. That in itself doesn’t even make sense. How can you reap savings from a law that you don’t want to exist in the first place?
And then, as expected, there are massive cuts to social programs. The way much of this is achieved is by exchanging funding per constituent that states receive for block grants… a sum of money given to each state to spend the way they want to. That sum of money would decrease over time, and then pass on the responsibility for programs like Medicaid, SNAP and other vital services into state hands. That relieves federal responsibility by passing the taxing burdens onto the states.
Sounds great, only it will cause many already stressed state budgets to be pushed into crisis mode. As the state population increases and the block grant does not, people will continue to be denied these critical programs. All in the name of “fixing the deficit”. In a growing state like Texas, with a massive population of low-wage workers and uninsured, block grants are nothing short of creating a ticking time bomb. Nevermind that the policies President Obama has enacted are already bringing down the deficit as is, the GOP insist on robbing people that already have fewer options than everyone else. Under their plan, all of these cuts are made while increasing the giveaways to our nation’s wealthy.
And that’s why the GOP budget is a total fantasy. Let’s hope it stays that way too.
Now I know that I’m technically a “Texas” Leftist… as defined by the name… but some things are just so offensive that they have to be called out regardless of political division. And in full disclosure, I am a native Arkansan, so things that happen in my former home state tend to cut me to the core.
Arkansas’ Republican-controlled state legislature is in full assault of the rights and liberties of American women. As if jaw-dropping legislation last week to ban abortion (in DIRECT violation of Roe V. Wade) wasn’t enough, they went on to override Governor Mike Beebe’s veto of the bill so that it would become law anyway.
But today’s reporting from Leslie Newell Peacock of the Arkansas Times literally takes the cake. Now state lawmakers, led by State Representative David Meeks, are seeking to restrict both Contraception and in-vitro fertilization. HB1898 is entitled the “Healthcare Freedom of Conscience Act”, but clearly it is anything but free.
As someone who was born and raised in the state of Arkansas, I can tell you why Representative Meeks chose to emphasize religious affiliation. The two largest hospital conglomerates in the state of Arkansas are religiously affiliated… Baptist Health and St. Vincent Infirmary. Both are based in Little Rock, but they also operate many of the state’s smaller (but critical) rural hospitals. These institutions are vital members of the health community, and if one or both were to change their women’s health procedures regarding contraception, it would be a tragedy for Arkansas families. That’s what Meeks wants… if they take a grand stand and cease services, it will put pressure on the smaller hospitals to follow suit. There is hope that these hospital professionals wouldn’t ever elect to prevent women from receiving these health services, but in the “fact-free” climate of today’s Republican politics, one can never be so sure of what’s going to happen.
The challenges for the Natural State continue to mount, but thankfully, another election is fast approaching in 2014. The GOP is proving that they are not good for Arkansas.
Besides the blog and an active Twitter account, I am also an avid consumer (and fan) of HuffPost Live, a new media experience created by Huffington Post. What is best about it in my opinion is the connection that it creates between media “producers”– the host, the guests, the information they present, and the “consumers”– the audience. In the HuffPost Live community, these lines become blurred where the audience joins in the conversation, and becomes a part of the show in real time. Of course many shows have had this format in the past… call-in radio, etc. But with HPL, two things are new and encouraging for this process. For one the content generated is immediately recorded and saved to the website, therefore it can be shared throughout social media as soon as the segment concludes. It’s a great way to grow the content and its influence.
Today was a really great discussion with California’s Lieutenant Governor (and former San Francisco Mayor) Gavin Newsom. He was discussing his new book, Citizenville, in which he seeks to encourage a new understanding about the role of government in our lives. He talks about how rapidly technology has developed, yet those innovations aren’t being utilized to improve and revolutionize how government works.
Watching the conversation, I simply couldn’t help but point out one instance in which my local government of Houston, Texas has made a great advancement. The Houston 311 App moves city services (road maintenance, hazordous buildings and lots, etc.) to a smart phone app. This allows not only for instant reporting, but also serves as a “citizen catalog” where these issues are documented for others to see. If I run over a pothole, and stop to report it via the 311 app, I can look up to see if the issue has been reported previously. I can also scroll through to find other local issues, and vote them up or down if I feel they’re also important. Though the app has only been out for a few months, it’s been working very well. I’ve even reported one issue that was repaired within a week. It’s a great example of the very changes that need to occur throughout the public sector.
As you can see from the clip, segment host Josh Zepps (while interviewing Lt. Gov. Newsom) decided to share my comment about Houston 311…
Sure, it may seem like a small thing, but to me and many others who use social media, these are the very steps that we can use to focus media towards more issues that citizens care about. It’s a way to amend and expand the national conversation. Oh, and be sure to watch the end of the segment. Lt. Governor Newsom confirms that he is planning to run for Governor of California if Jerry Brown decides to sit out in 2014. Should be an interesting race to watch.
Now that we are 7 months past the historic Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act, and 4 months past the historic reelection of President Obama and Democratic control of the Senate, the Lone Star state is still caught in Obamacare limbo. Texas Governor Rick Perry and Republicans are still rejecting the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. That of course is nothing new. But what is new about the situation? Texans are starting to pay attention.
On Tuesday March 5th in Austin, thousands rallied to support Medicaid expansion, marching up Congress ave to the capitol building. As Chuck Lindell of the Austin American Statesman reports, the concerned citizens came armed with the facts behind the state’s desperate situation with Health Care….
“We have the opportunity today, and over the next couple of months, to strengthen something that we know makes a difference in all of our lives,” Mimi Garcia with Texas Well and Healthy, a health care advocacy organization, told the crowd.
“Texas Medicaid works,” Garcia said, listing beneficiaries that include children, senior citizens and people with disabilities who are able to live in their communities “and the millions of Texans who are waiting for health care coverage.”
Fellow Houston blogger Charles Kuffner has written extensively about the emergence of the Arkansas option… a unique compromise that Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe (a Democrat) has worked out with his mostly Republican legislature. It’s an offer to still take the dollars from Medicaid expansion, and have the state cover the additional people through the private market. The state would use the insurance exchange to match eligible citizens up with a plan.
I disagree with Mr. Kuffner on this, and I think it would be a bad idea for Texas in the long run. Here’s why we need to bite the bullet and just take Medicaid. One reason? Texas is big… a much bigger state and therefore a much bigger problem. Lest we forget, Harris County has more people than the entire state of Arkansas, not to mention more uninsured peoople. Where the Natural State could build an exchange relatively quickly to recruit private plans, the Lone Star State would be… well… ALONE in how massive a problem this would present. Not to mention that Arkansas is already working on it’s exhange marketplace, and Texas has yet to even lift a finger for ANY aspect of Obamacare compliance. At 17 percent, Arkansas also has a lower percentage of uninsured people to cover (verses a whopping 26 percent for the state of Texas).
Also the likelihood is that the “Arkansas option” will be more expensive than taking government Medicaid. That expense is compounded even further in Texas because we do so little to regulate private companies to begin with. The state doesn’t ask any requirements of the private market saying that certain groups must be covered, nor does it watchdog any prices for insurance plans. A company can openly discriminate and charge much higher rates to at-risk patients. Arkansas doesn’t do much, but the does have some bare minimum protections that are better than Texas. My opinion is this… Medicaid isn’t perfect, but what it does for the state is set a standard that will affect even private health plans when expanded. Without that floor, millions Texas families continue to fall pray to the “Wild West approach” to health care, and waste even more taxpayer dollars in the process.
This week’s rally on the Capitol is a good start, but it’s time for Texans to provide swift action to make this Medicaid expansion happen. Democrats, if you’re looking for a cause to take up in Texas, this is it. Too many families are waiting on our government to make the right decision for our state. Every day they delay is a day closer to unnecessary health complications, and sometimes personal tragdies. Texas matters… and it’s high time that lawmakers be reminded of it.
(photo credit: Deborah Cannon from Statesman.com)
Ask any American on the street how they might characterize the last five years of this country’s history, and I guarantee you that the first word they think of would NOT be “stable”. They’re more likely to say just the opposite. Even if they themselves are employed, have gotten a raise or expanded their business, it’s extremely likely that they know people that are much worse off. They know people who used to be doing ok, but are in a worse economic situation than they were a few years ago… and through no fault of their own.
And in that environment of great “collective struggle” comes the big news from this week… the Stock market is booming again, with the Dow Jones trading at its highest volumes ever. For March 5th, 2013, the Dow closed at 14,253… beating its previous record high from 2007. On Wall Street right now, people are making money by the minute.
But what about the rest of us? An article from the Atlantic sums up the picture the 99 percent. Median household income sits at a 10-year low…
National unemployment continues to stammer about the 8 percent mark, but companies have more cash on hand than any time in recent history. What the disconnect is here? If corporations are hoarding cash now, what incentive do they have to hire workers again? Isn’t that how capitalism is supposed to work?
Well, it’s not working because GOVERNMENT is not working. I’m not against Wall Street or the Dow Jones… it’s good to see our stock market roaring back from the collapse of 2008 and the doldrums. But the big corporations are doing so without giving a single thing back to the American people. As Katrina vanden Heuvel points out in a Washington Post Op-ed, the financial sector is not being taxed on any of these transactions. They are getting to do them for free, while the United States Government struggles to decide which kids get Head Start programs and which do not.
Just as Wall Street proclaims that happy days are here again, the rest of us are facing a National Crisis. As Paul Krugman notes from a recent New York Times piece, public investment has ground to a screeching halt. Even if some state and local governments are slowly beginning to crawl out of the hole, there’s no way they can do that fast enough on their own. So we, the American people, keep slogging through while our roads and schools continue to crumble, and our communities’ future continues to be deferred. The missing link between Wall Street prosperity and main street is public investment. But if we don’t tax, there’s no way we can invest.
I hope the readers of my blog remember today for what it is. It is a day where Wall Street gets to celebrate how much money it is making, while the rest of us suffer in silence. It is a day that politicians can breathe easy knowing that they’ve successfully defended the wants of the few over the needs of the many. It is another day where pervasive income inequality continues to take a heavy toll on this nation. It is a day when more of our nation’s children will go hungry without enough food to eat, a safe school to study, or a source for them to develop positive social bonds. It is a day where we let the 1 percent rob the rest of us of the lives we struggle to attain.
The only question left to ask… how long will it be before the rest of us get fed up?
Sometimes good TV is just good TV.
Appearing on The Daily Show with John Stewart, MSNBC host and political commentator Rachel Maddow made a somewhat surprising comment. Granted, fans of the Left-leaning host know that she’s likely no friend of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. But in discussing Scalia’s harsh comments during testimony of the Voting Rights Act, Rachel let the world know how she really feels.
“He’s a troll.”
She explained that Justice Scalia basically says provocative statements in the court hearings “for effect” and that “he knows what he’s doing”… grouping one of the nation’s most crucial figures in with the most embarrassing of bad blogger comments.
But after referring to the right to vote as a “racial entitlement”, can you blame her? Though Ms. Maddow is known for her typically objective reporting, it’s good to hear her unfiltered opinion once a while.
Especially when she’s right.
