It says something, I think that the State Chamber of Commerce that has invited Glenn Beck as a keynote speaker this week–Michigan–has a state economy that is functionally in a depression.
By the way, if you’re a reader in Michigan and are looking for an opportunity to rally against Glenn Beck, you can find more at Blogging for Michigan and at MSU Dems’ Facebook Event.
I hear the weather’s going to be nice for an evening rally, mostly sunny, 75 degrees…
Leen says:
You can download all signs for Billionaires for wealth care at their site
bet union members will be showing up…heh?
BoxTurtle says:
It’s really rough here in Ohio as well, but I doubt Beck speaking would help much.
I’m amazed at how well the clunker program worked. I think it’s the only Government program in my lifetime that did exactly what it was supposed to do…with no significant side effects. I think we should continue the program until nobody can make the mileage cutoff.
Boxturtle (Or perhaps we should all go pick tomatoes, it’s that time of year)
klynn says:
I did not know you were from Ohio. All these years and I missed that? I knew there was another reason I liked your comments!
The National Chamber of Commerce has been hitting central Ohio with tons of anti health care reform ads.
BoxTurtle says:
Yeah, seen those ads everywhere. Yesterday, the ads kept getting interrupted by football games however.
I live in Xenia, which is about 15 miles due east of Dayton, and I’ve lived in this area all my life. I’m HOPING I can find a computer related job in the area, so I don’t have to move to a strange land.
Boxturtle (Would HATE to move away from Youngs Dairy)
klynn says:
We’ll have to meet at Young’s sometime!
A close friend’s father’s construction company (hope that makes sense) rebuilt Xenia those fateful years ago…
BoxTurtle says:
We’re not the only ones in the area. There’s a Yellow Springs regular here, as well as someone from Trotwood. Probably other lurkers in the area as well.
Wonder how many we could get to Youngs at one time? I know I need NO excuse to visit the place!
Boxturtle (It’s 11:30am and I want ice cream. *sigh*)
Leen says:
Just read this. Yes we could do a FDL Ohio meet up. Hell we could meet in front of the state house in Columbus
behindthefall says:
I’ve _been_ there! Visited friends, out riding, they swerve off the road, point at some cows, say, “You HAVE to try this place!” I’d forgotten that.
Leen says:
Hey I was just in the neighborhood giving my mother a break from her duties with my father’s nursing home scene at Heartland of Beavercreek. would be great to get together with both you and Klynn and any other FDL pups in the neighborhood. Youngs dairy ( I think the ice cream is over rated) but great scene for the kids.
My other favorite place in that neighborhood is the Winds Cafe in Yellow Springs. The best eating around and not so expensive at lunch. Used to sale them vegetables when I was doing organic farming. They would buy everything I had and for a fair price. the owners of Winds are great and the food is out of this world
BoxTurtle says:
The last time I went to The Winds was years ago for lunch. Soup, a cold sandwich and the bread basket was the best choice and it cost me $15. It was HIGHLY recommended at the time. Perhaps I should give them another chance, I seem to be the only person ever disappointed there! They’re still highly recommended by the local food critic and others.
That bread basket was the high point of the meal. Many different fresh breads, some still warm, darn near worth the price by itself.
Boxturtle (Youngs overrated?!? You realize, when we finally meet, we’ll have to duel?)
klynn says:
Boxturtle (Youngs overrated?!? You realize, when we finally meet, we’ll have to duel?)
Boxturtle, your only words need to be:
“Young’s Jersey Dairy – The Dairy With Cows!” (klynn giggles at this all the time asking, “What IS a dairy without cows?)
Leen,
The State House isn’t a bad suggestion either.
Petrocelli,
Thanks for the link to the Harkin story.
Leen says:
we could plan a Billionaire for Wealth care date. I could probably put 10 folks together
Petrocelli says:
Despite the noise coming from the TeaBaggers and their leaders, I’ve always felt that the momentum is with supporters of the Public Option.
Of course, this news should not lead to complacency … we have to keep hounding Congress so that they pass a strong PO.
Leen says:
On the topic of tomatoes and what pickers make on Morning edition today
The pickers around have actually gotten a brilliant idea. Do you know what a heirloom tomato is?
Many years ago, a tomato was created in order to use automated harvesting. This is now about the only kind of tomato you can get, unless you grow them yourself. They have MUCH thicker skins, are more uniform in size and shape and IMO they sacrificed flavor to achieve that.
A heirloom tomato is the old style, without any questionable genetic enhancements. But they MUST be picked by hand, otherwise you get tomato juice. The pickers around here are growing fields of them, and selling them at farmers markets at a stiff premium. And if you don’t get there early, they’ll be gone.
Boxturtle (Always hit farmers markets FIRST thing in the morning)
BoxTurtle, I can grow good tomatoes m’self, but if you or anyone else can tell me how to get hold of real “heirloom” corn, I would be in your debt forever.
The variety I knew best when I was little was Golden Bantam, but there were many. They were all yellow and they were savoury, unlike the supersweet stuff we get now, which has driven out all the wonderful corn that I think of as real. In my memory, the supersweet stuff began to appear in the mid-seventies, and within a few years, there was nothing else. I would do … well, maybe not anything, but quite a lot to have some real corn again, one of the great memories of my childhood.
I never forget Taber! I grew up near Taber (Medicine Hat).
Well, I could grow some Golden Bantam next year, so I shall write to you about that, Petro. I was just hoping that someone here might have already done that and be willing to send a care package. *wink*
fatster says:
Didja follow up on the links I found for you @ 81? Hope so.
fatster says:
Rayne over on the next thread (Bybee) @ 17 seems to be in need of some poutine, or however it’s spelled.
Just finished a dinner of pan-fried ham slices and freshly picked white corn on the cob.
Feel much, much better – and poutine now sounds disgusting.
I might have tried it a couple hours ago, though, was so hungry.
fatster says:
Oh, twarn’t nuthin’, assuming I understood that there ferrin language you writ.
Was that Golden Bantam corn you had? A friend of ours is looking for same, and there are now search parties out here and up yonder trying to find her some.
Oh, no idea if it was Golden Bantam or not. The local family-owned farm market has a field of sweet corn directly behind their store front, and three big bins they refresh all day long with newly picked corn. Each bin is labeled: White, Yellow, Peaches-and-Cream.
And it’s good, just plain good. Nothing fancy, just sweet corn. Two bucks for six ears.
Watched a young woman in line ahead of me, probably a student on her way home from the local university, buying just two ears of corn this evening. She looked pretty pleased with herself, one little brown bag. A cheap and tasty dinner.
fatster says:
I’d play in the cornfields when I was a little girl. Just as the corn ears were forming, I’d pull a few off the stalks and pretend they were baby-dolls. Gorgeous, silky hair on those little corn ear baby-dolls. Later, of course, we’d harvest the ears, shuck them, promptly put them into boiling water for just a few minutes, take them out and slather them with butter. Mmmmmm. And, later still, we’d harvest the mature, dried ears and feed them to the farm animals. Ah, yes.
4jkb4ia says:
Yeccch! This was a response to the French fries and cheese curds by themselves.
MrWhy says:
So, EW, will you be attending Mr. Beck’s speech?
ApacheTrout says:
Another reason not to support any Chamber of Commerce.
greenharper says:
Would you make an exception for the Amherst (MA) Area Chamber of Commerce? It’s not affiliated with the National Chamber. It supports funding for our public libraries and museums. Yes, these bring the world to us (e.g., a major Robert Frost collection at the Jones Library; Emily Dickinson House; National Yiddish Book Center; Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art). But not everyone here understands. So kudos to our Chamber for doing so. Perhaps there are other such enlightened Chambers, as well?
chrisc says:
This is one of my pet peeves.
My local city gives the local chamber of commerce a subsidy every year, as do many cities.
Most of the money is for fundraisers for the chamber.
In addition, our city lets the chamber close public streets for “street fairs” which are also fundraisers for the chamber.
In return, the local chambers pay dues to the regional and national chambers of commerce.
Taxpayers dollars are funding an organization which advocates against health care reform, and decent wages.
It ain’t right.
fatster says:
The fix is in, we’re on the hook, and who can foresee when we will ever be rid of this costly mess created by and for the privileged few? The massive transfer of wealth continues.
Treasury sees indefinite support for financial sector
By Michael O’Brien – 09/14/09 11:28 AM ET
“An indefinite period of government support is still needed to backstop improvements in the economy, a Department of Treasury report said Monday. While substantial progress has been made in bolstering the U.S. financial sector, the Treasury report on “The Next Phase of Government Financial Stabilization and Rehabilitation Policies” said that billions in U.S. dollars are still needed to steady the economy.”
It’s been a year now since the rest of the economy crashed and when the banks were swiftly bailed out. This time last year, we were on the brink of an apocalypse caused by the greed of Wall St. bankers and traders. It cost us trillions to fix it up and cover it up, but the culprits have all been held accountable and the regulations restored and strengthened. There’s been an overhaul of the SEC, the ratings agencies have been replaced by agencies that actually have to do independent analysis and are not paid by the companies they are rating. And all the toxic, fraudulent derivatives are now traded on regulated exchanges. There have been massive changes in corporate management, clean ups in the regulating authorities, the Fed is fully transparent, and the new administration is staffed with experts and advisors who are pro-regulation and determined to set things straight.
As for Michigan and the other states like mine whose unemployment is the highest it’s been in thirty years — not to worry. Trade laws have been adjusted so that they are now more fair to American companies, we’ll soon have single payer health care so American companies can compete, and the corporations who enjoy all the benefits of being based in the U.S. can no longer build factories right over the border in Mexico and Canada, and they can no longer outsource millions of jobs without paying a penalty for it.
fatster says:
Could you please share some of whatever it is you take with the rest of us? Man, I like your picture a lot better than the one that’s depressing me.
Loo Hoo. says:
Don’t the health insurance execs owe Mr. Waxman some accounting today or tomorrow?
alabama says:
What does this man charge for his services?
BoxTurtle says:
Figure he’ll clear in the low five figures for that speech.
Boxturtle (Dow Thomas would have been much cheaper and much funnier)
alabama says:
What do you think, Box Turtle? Would $30,000 be in the low five figures? And let’s not forget the private jet, or the date with the lady from Welcome Wagon….
Treasure Island: isn’t that where the Michigan Chamber of Commerce meets every year for Presidents Weekend?
prostratedragon says:
Thanks for managing to have something to say about this, EW. I think part of my brain went numb when I saw the news.
readerOfTeaLeaves says:
Well, maybe this will start to denumb your brain?
Economic policy discussion this morning: around 3:30 in this clip, you’ll see Dylan Ratigan talk about the US economy as a system of ’systemic theft’ as he asks Sen Chris Dodd about problems with the banking system and how it need to be fundamentally revised.
Around 4:20, Sen Dodd points out that the disastrous blurring the lines between commerce and banking (which came out of the late 1990s ‘banking revisions’ when Phil Gramm) was disastrous.
Around 4:50, Ratigan points out that ‘too big to fail’ is fundamentally anti-competitive.
Around 5:35, Dodd unwittingly reveals that he’s probably been ‘captured’, because he claims that breaking up these big banks is somehow ‘too difficult’. That’s a little brain-numbing moment, but it appears that Ratigan doesn’t buy it. Neither should we.
To denumb your brain again, watch Prof. Elizabeth Warren’s conversation with Ratigan about the fact that all those ‘toxic assets’ remain on the books of US banks, and that’s only part of why we desperately need to revise our financial system — because currently, we do not have ‘capitalism’.
(I always find it heartening when someone cuts through bullshit and states the obvious, as Warren does when she points out that we do NOT have ‘capitalism’. Anyone know whether the Plantation Caucus, plus Hatch, Grassley, and Enzi, Reid, Schumer, and Blue Dogs have a clue about the obvious fact that Warren points out?)
My word for what we have now is ‘capturedism‘.
Finance captured our federal government, and by that means, it captured all of us.
Not something Glenn Beck seems to grasp.
But it appears that Beck has plenty of co-thinkers in Congress.
I put more hope in DNI Blair than I do in Congress at this point; at least Blair has publicly stated that the US financial risks are a national security issue. Shall we wait for Beck to call the DNI ‘unAmerican’ for those views?
Yesterday, I was stuck at a BBQ with two of your NeoCons … and I only had one Beer.
Good Times ! /s
fatster says:
Eeeeeeek! I’d have bailed.
Petrocelli says:
I went into a Jon Stewart/Colbert routine and I thought their heads would explode. Everyone else realized that I was poking fun at them but they were totally oblivious to anything outside their little minds.
fatster says:
You made my day, Petrocelli, and how!! Wish I could have seen that.
Petrocelli says:
Lessee, I told them that BHusseinO would replace Beck with Jesse Jackson, Rush with Al Sharpton, Donald Trump with Bin Laden (his real father) and Blackwater/Xe with the Black Panthers … and that was for starters … *g*
fatster says:
Oh, what a joy to read that. Just wish I could’ve been there. I’d have bought you another beer, fer sure.
D’ye know, I rode through Pickering on the train last week, and it really is the prettiest stop along the way. Pity about that nucular thingy, although it’s a nice neo-classical design and all.
Leen says:
Would that have been your prime minister?
Some interesting activities up there in Toronto
Mortensen: Israel uses Toronto to ‘whitewash illegal and inhumane actions’ http://mondoweiss.net/
Thanks very much for those links, Leen. I knew about the TIFF controversy, but I hadn’t heard the interviews or read Mortensen.
Klein is right, of course, that the original stroke — government sponsorship of a festival tribute to Israel — is politics and not art. I wish I could say that it is only the Cons who are complicit in these propaganda exercises, but there is now a semi-official parliamentary committee* with MPs from all parties working to wring its hands over the rise in Canada of the “new anti-semitism,” an investigation that I consider a serious offence against the section of our Charter that corresponds to your First Amendment (but who listens to me?). We don’t have a single MP who deserves to muck about in my conscience or instruct me or any other Canadian on what our “values” should be.
* I call them semi-official because they claim to be “independent,” but they are all MPs and the committee has office space in the Parliament bldgs. When has anyone ever offered me or Petro office space in those buildings? I ask you.
Crooks and liars has some great clips of Beck spewing lies up at their site
Leen says:
Check out this absurd add http://firedoglake.com/
Group Tied To Swift Boat Veterans, Willie Horton Ads Supporting Blue Dogs
What a crazy ass add. “Tell congress no government run health care”
We need some commercials with our seniors saying we think that medicare should be closed down because it is “government run health care”
My father a WWII vet/retired Teamster has been doing the nursing home shuffle the last couple of years (first time in these places so he has switched several times) A while back he was thinking about trying to organize a roll out (instead of a walk out, for those like him who are now wheel chair bound) due to some of the conditions, aides not being payed enough over worked, Heartland Nursing homes across the country (400 of them the Carlysyle group bought them out a while back) pull their hallway staffs (nurses, aides ) off the hallways to go to the dining hall (many residents stay in their rooms for meals) to attend to the residents. Often the residents sit there waiting for 15 minutes with no aides or staff in the dining room. Numerous family members tend to the patients by getting their bibs, drinks etc until the staff show up. The residents sit there like abandoned children (except that they are 75-108) staring at the walls waiting. It’s not the aides fault it is the corporations fault profit line. I have talked with numerous mucky mucks in the up line of Heartland…working my way up the ladder demanding that they higher serveral people to staff the nursing home dining room.
Excuses….we have frozen the salaries of the upper level folks due to Medicare and Medicaid cutbacks. Yada yada. Will continue to work on this.
From the first time I went in one of these places I began talking with aides, nurses, etc etc. Called legislators in Ohio about raising the wages of these aides state wide.
CAN YOU IMAGINE A ROLL OUT (OF SENIORS IN WHEEL CHAIRS) IN ONE OF THESE PLACES. My father is a bit hesitant even though he was a union organizer during his union days because it would be more than difficult to get all of these seniors on the same page. Love the idea.
Would be great to see some senior folks at the anti Glenn Beck rally with signs saying
“No government run health care programs! Cut off medicare and medicaid,,,, Now”
fatster says:
Which congresscritters are in charge of the Committees on Aging these days?
The younger aged disabled turned out in droves to get things done–and won. People in nursing homes have much more, if not total, difficulty turning out. Videos, documentaries and so forth are what are needed. The M$M probably wouldn’t want to be cooperative, but if a push came from the Committees on Aging and we citizens, we might be able to pull it off.
Leen says:
Have attempted to get Micheal Moore to continue with Sicko 2, 3, 4 etc. He could have gone for the home stretch with his Sicko theme.
Wanted him to go into nursing homes across the country and show what is happening CCCCHHHING
Seniors cut off of therapy (including my father and many more because they had hit the industries “plateau”) Who cares that you have paid into the health care system your whole life and this is the first time you have needed the system.
I have talked with so many folks sent home by United Health Care and UN Secure Horizons because they had hit their 90 days, “donut holes and plateaus” It is really sickening…watching old folks in wheel chairs wait in a line of six wheel chairs to get aide going to the bathroom. Or not able to figure out that it is their right to receive the kind of care they deserve (6000.oo per bed per month) in Ohio most nursing homes.
I do what I can. We need a heavy hitter like Micheal Moore to make this a focus.
fatster says:
and @45. I agree entirely.
Leen says:
I know the White House Grandmother has a big job watching out for her precious grandchildren. I have been wondering when the Obama team might use her or she might use them to promote more respect, encourage voluteering with our seniors (nursing homes etc) etc for our elderly.
A Grandparent Senior focus by the White House. What’s happening to the seniors in your neighborhood today?
I really do not think Obama is pressing the “it’s time to give back” in some way theme. I think people want some direction for giving back. Often people step up to the plate when they are encouraged or asked.
Lots of abandoned people in those nursing homes. Lots
klynn says:
That is such a difficult subject for our family. We had a grandmother who we tried to move closer to our family in order to care for her and she refused. We traveled as much as the budget could afford to visit, but it was never enough. More “healthy” family members who could visit her and care for her lived in a distant state from where she was located (that would be us). There were no jobs in our fields where she lived. Relocating to her area was financially difficult and left another set of grandparents without care as well.
Sometimes there are heartbreaking stories behind those who are alone in nursing homes. It is not a story of abandonment in every case.
Loo Hoo. says:
Those of us in San Diego are lucky because you can get a really nice,clean place with healthy food and 24/7 nurses (and doctors on call) for $900 per month in Tijuana. That’s the cost for Alzheimer’s patients. (I was checking for a friend about a year ago.)
Leen says:
wow…6000.oo a bed in most nursing homes in Ohio. In Heartlands across the country 2 two each room. One bathroom for four residents CCCCCHHHINg
It cost just under $2,000/month for my husband to live in a wonderful nursing home here for his last three years — secure unit for dementia patients, nobody ever in line-ups, and one of the finest and most humanely wise doctors I’ve ever met.
I had my complaints, and I would always wish for more more more for the lovely people I met in that unit. Age already scares younger people, and then dementia scares them even more, so what we mainly have is societies in profound denial about one of the major realities of our lives. Most people just don’t grasp the problem until it happens to them. I remember another partner turning to me one day in the unit, after we’d been complaining together about our clueless provincial health minister: “They pick us off one at a time, skdadl,” he said, and that is the terrible truth. We won’t change anything until we rise in numbers.
Leen says:
I agree totally. Have talked with many folks in your family’s position,and know Klynn that you would not abandon anyone
But there is a big BUT in there. I am very aware of many family members right in the neighborhood of some of these nursing homes and they do not visit their old folks or very seldom
I have talked with many many (at least 50 ) aides, social workers, folks who work at the desk in these places and nurses who have a very difficult time keeping their mouths shut when the family members do show up. It is difficult for them not to ask ‘why don’t you come more often”
hell in my own family I have younger siblings 46, 48 and 50 who have every excuse in the book about why they do not visit much or relieve my mother…as they play golf go to the work out center, coach 4 athletic teams etc etc. Now there are legitimate reasons for not being able to make it in to visit. But if you have time for other activities one should have time for our seniors. I have witnessed/heard family members completely bullshit other family members about how often they visit. I can make that call because I will have been in the nursing home hours that week tending to my father and to others. I’m telling you old folks say the ‘darndest things”
Now there are family members who give tender loving attention to their family members in these places but that is a small percentage. And you can be sure that many of the abandoned ones are well aware that they have been abandoned. You can see it in their faces and I have heard a few talk about it
There are hundreds of heart breaking stories that I have witnessed or heard from aides etc about our seniors waiting at the door of many of these nursing homes waiting hours days, weeks for their family members to arrive.
I have talked to the office people who tell stories of seniors dressing up in their holiday finest waiting for family members to show and they never show up.
O.K. there are legitimate reasons. But hate to say that more often than not…most of the abandonment is due to a culture that is too busy too self consumed to give an hour a few hour s week to these folks who spend hours waiting, hanging on to the last visit etc.
perris says:
very state has been in a depression for about 4 years, not just michigan
when real wages are going down (depressed), real assets going down, (depressed), real american investments going down, (depressed), real living wage jobs going down, (depressed)
and when as a people we borrowed more then we made for the first time since the great depression there is really only one way to look at the economy
it is a depression and has been for quite some time
klynn says:
EW,
Your Chamber has an interesting header on that web page.
2009 Future & Forum & Annual Meeting
Who writes like that? Really? Use ampersand much?
And were not some companies from Michigan named in a recent Boycott against advertisers for Beck’s show?
Leen says:
Who in their right mind would invite Beck? I mean come on at least try to act like you are shooting for the middle.
LabDancer says:
Back in the dawn of time, early on in my first degree program, I ran for was acclaimed to a position on the students’ union external guest speakers’ committee. It was about this time of year. The chair had been vice-chair the year before, was looking to run for SU president the next year, & wanting to make his mark, & being the only member of the committee who’d worked on campus the summer before, he’d gotten busy on his own & succeeded in booking Bobby Seale for the opening event during Rush Week, and Tom Hayden a couple of weeks after. At a college with dominant emphasis on the science & business faculties, & a student body profile where ‘all students of color’ [white didn’t count], leave aside blacks, didn’t hit 5%. The student body turned out in record numbers, on a percentage basis unmatched since, & the local press had a ball casting both events as freak shows & troubling glimpses in the mind of Our Yutes; IOW a huge success.
So the SU voted to suspend our chair from heading the committee pending an investigation of misuse of committee funds, imposed temporary ‘advisory’ status on our committee & the rest of us resigned in full huff.
The next October our former chair ran for SU president, on a platform that focused on budget restraint, including imposing a permanent SU board veto over all proposed committee expenditures, & reformation of the external guest speakers’ program to ‘ensure reflection of community values’. He was acclaimed.
Judge Rakoff in NY tosses the SEC/Merrill/BOA settlement.
A Federal District judge on Monday overturned a settlement between the Bank of America and the Securities and Exchange Commission over bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch executives just before the bank took over Merrill last year
…
The judge also criticized the S.E.C., which has been trying to step up the profile of its investigations unit. The judge quoted Oscar Wilde’s “Lady Windermere’s Fan” in the end of his ruling to say that a cynic is someone “who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
The proposed settlement, the judge continued, “suggests a rather cynical relationship between the parties: the S.E.C. gets to claim that it is exposing wrongdoing on the part of the Bank of America in a high-profile merger; the bank’s management gets to claim that they have been coerced into an onerous settlement by overzealous regulators. And all this is done at the expense, not only of the shareholders, but also of the truth.”
A federal judge threw out a $33m settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of America over allegations that BofA made misleading statements to shareholders, setting the stage for a trial next year that could embarrass the bank’s top management.
…
In Monday’s order, Judge Rakoff wrote that the settlement “does not comport with the most elementary notions of justice and morality, in that it proposes that the shareholders who were the victims of the bank’s alleged misconduct now pay the penalty for that misconduct”.
Quick, extremely interesting report at the FT link.
Wow.
Looks like the judge is not one bit happy with the butt-covering greedsters who operate the ‘capturedism’ system we’re getting screwed by… my, oh, my.
Thanks, Mary!
fatster says:
and @58. I’m lovin’ me some Judge Rakoff! And how.
Uh oh Voinovich just said (live) that
“if we dealt with the fiscal problem it would be easier to deal with health care” Where was he the last eight years?
then voinovich went onto say ‘we can’t afford the health care system we have now”
Oh boy is he one of the folks saying “no government health care program. Cut Medicare and Medicaid Now?”
Listen to Voinovich..oy vey
Now Voinovich is talking about his children and grand children who we can be sure have health care coverage. this man just does not seem to give a hoot about those without health care coverage
Will he go down opposing coverage for those who can not afford to get on the health care bus?
sounds like it. May make it easier to fill his empty seat with a Democrat if he goes down voting against health care reform
Gitcheegumee says:
This doesn’t surprise me at all.
Michigan is Mitt Romney Country.Mitt is a Mormon and so is Beck.
Beck doesn’t need to worry if ALL Fox ’s advertiser’s pull out-he’s got a bully pulpit with Chamber of Commerce, Mitt and his partners Bain Capital and Carlyle who own Clear Channel Communications.
They also own Dunkin Donuts,Dominoes Pizza and Baskin Robbins.
The COC is a BIG anti-union artifice. And what better state to fight the last vestiges of unionism whether it be auto, service industry,or health care than Michigan?
Romney and Carlyle bought out some nursing homes,too.
This was commented on at length last week here on a thread about drawing a line in the sand re: Beck,over at FDL.
beck and limbaugh spend all their air time weaving and spinning,
weaving and spinning,
lies
lies based on apparent truth.
lies intended to mislead americans who lack the knowledge or skepticism to evaluate those beck/limbaugh lies.
the chamber of commerce is, by far, the largest financial contributor to american politics.
i regard it as the political organization most dangerously destructive of the existing american political system (second would be the federalist society- also involved in corporate “welfare”, cf, actions of chief justice john roberts).
it would be useful to informative to trace the command and control system that provides these two political liars with their daily topics.
what beck and limbaugh’s popularity among ordinary folks says to me
is that the demo party MUST stop conceding “populism” to the republican party.
ordinary folk have ideas, emotions, and opinions.
they need a political focus for these that is a reflection of reality,
a focus that is in theirs, and their society’s, best interest.
democrats have failed to provide this populist rhetoric for years.
consequence?
the republicans are eating the dems’ lunch among “ordinary” voters.
it is astonishing that the importance of populist rhetoric eludes the democratic leadership.
Wonder if Billionaires for Wealthcare has a chapter in Michigan?
http://www.billionairesforwealthcare.com/
By the way, if you’re a reader in Michigan and are looking for an opportunity to rally against Glenn Beck, you can find more at Blogging for Michigan and at MSU Dems’ Facebook Event.
I hear the weather’s going to be nice for an evening rally, mostly sunny, 75 degrees…
You can download all signs for Billionaires for wealth care at their site
bet union members will be showing up…heh?
It’s really rough here in Ohio as well, but I doubt Beck speaking would help much.
I’m amazed at how well the clunker program worked. I think it’s the only Government program in my lifetime that did exactly what it was supposed to do…with no significant side effects. I think we should continue the program until nobody can make the mileage cutoff.
Boxturtle (Or perhaps we should all go pick tomatoes, it’s that time of year)
I did not know you were from Ohio. All these years and I missed that? I knew there was another reason I liked your comments!
The National Chamber of Commerce has been hitting central Ohio with tons of anti health care reform ads.
Yeah, seen those ads everywhere. Yesterday, the ads kept getting interrupted by football games however.
I live in Xenia, which is about 15 miles due east of Dayton, and I’ve lived in this area all my life. I’m HOPING I can find a computer related job in the area, so I don’t have to move to a strange land.
Boxturtle (Would HATE to move away from Youngs Dairy)
We’ll have to meet at Young’s sometime!
A close friend’s father’s construction company (hope that makes sense) rebuilt Xenia those fateful years ago…
We’re not the only ones in the area. There’s a Yellow Springs regular here, as well as someone from Trotwood. Probably other lurkers in the area as well.
Wonder how many we could get to Youngs at one time? I know I need NO excuse to visit the place!
Boxturtle (It’s 11:30am and I want ice cream. *sigh*)
Just read this. Yes we could do a FDL Ohio meet up. Hell we could meet in front of the state house in Columbus
I’ve _been_ there! Visited friends, out riding, they swerve off the road, point at some cows, say, “You HAVE to try this place!” I’d forgotten that.
Hey I was just in the neighborhood giving my mother a break from her duties with my father’s nursing home scene at Heartland of Beavercreek. would be great to get together with both you and Klynn and any other FDL pups in the neighborhood. Youngs dairy ( I think the ice cream is over rated) but great scene for the kids.
My other favorite place in that neighborhood is the Winds Cafe in Yellow Springs. The best eating around and not so expensive at lunch. Used to sale them vegetables when I was doing organic farming. They would buy everything I had and for a fair price. the owners of Winds are great and the food is out of this world
The last time I went to The Winds was years ago for lunch. Soup, a cold sandwich and the bread basket was the best choice and it cost me $15. It was HIGHLY recommended at the time. Perhaps I should give them another chance, I seem to be the only person ever disappointed there! They’re still highly recommended by the local food critic and others.
That bread basket was the high point of the meal. Many different fresh breads, some still warm, darn near worth the price by itself.
Boxturtle (Youngs overrated?!? You realize, when we finally meet, we’ll have to duel?)
Boxturtle, your only words need to be:
“Young’s Jersey Dairy – The Dairy With Cows!” (klynn giggles at this all the time asking, “What IS a dairy without cows?)
Leen,
The State House isn’t a bad suggestion either.
Petrocelli,
Thanks for the link to the Harkin story.
we could plan a Billionaire for Wealth care date. I could probably put 10 folks together
Despite the noise coming from the TeaBaggers and their leaders, I’ve always felt that the momentum is with supporters of the Public Option.
Of course, this news should not lead to complacency … we have to keep hounding Congress so that they pass a strong PO.
On the topic of tomatoes and what pickers make on Morning edition today
Chipolte raises pay for tomato pickers
http://www.npr.org/templates/a…..?thingId=3
The pickers around have actually gotten a brilliant idea. Do you know what a heirloom tomato is?
Many years ago, a tomato was created in order to use automated harvesting. This is now about the only kind of tomato you can get, unless you grow them yourself. They have MUCH thicker skins, are more uniform in size and shape and IMO they sacrificed flavor to achieve that.
A heirloom tomato is the old style, without any questionable genetic enhancements. But they MUST be picked by hand, otherwise you get tomato juice. The pickers around here are growing fields of them, and selling them at farmers markets at a stiff premium. And if you don’t get there early, they’ll be gone.
Boxturtle (Always hit farmers markets FIRST thing in the morning)
BoxTurtle, I can grow good tomatoes m’self, but if you or anyone else can tell me how to get hold of real “heirloom” corn, I would be in your debt forever.
The variety I knew best when I was little was Golden Bantam, but there were many. They were all yellow and they were savoury, unlike the supersweet stuff we get now, which has driven out all the wonderful corn that I think of as real. In my memory, the supersweet stuff began to appear in the mid-seventies, and within a few years, there was nothing else. I would do … well, maybe not anything, but quite a lot to have some real corn again, one of the great memories of my childhood.
*Gasp* … how could you forget Taber Corn ?
Skdadl, if you like anything at this site, I might be able to get it for you – check out the entire site and e-mail me with your list …
I never forget Taber! I grew up near Taber (Medicine Hat).
Well, I could grow some Golden Bantam next year, so I shall write to you about that, Petro. I was just hoping that someone here might have already done that and be willing to send a care package. *wink*
Didja follow up on the links I found for you @ 81? Hope so.
Rayne over on the next thread (Bybee) @ 17 seems to be in need of some poutine, or however it’s spelled.
EW is being very tolerant with us today, yes? *wink*
*shhhhhhhhh*
yes
A Mellow Thread. That’s what it is.
Agh, non, aucun des poutine, s’il vous plaît.
Just finished a dinner of pan-fried ham slices and freshly picked white corn on the cob.
Feel much, much better – and poutine now sounds disgusting.
I might have tried it a couple hours ago, though, was so hungry.
Oh, twarn’t nuthin’, assuming I understood that there ferrin language you writ.
Was that Golden Bantam corn you had? A friend of ours is looking for same, and there are now search parties out here and up yonder trying to find her some.
Oh, no idea if it was Golden Bantam or not. The local family-owned farm market has a field of sweet corn directly behind their store front, and three big bins they refresh all day long with newly picked corn. Each bin is labeled: White, Yellow, Peaches-and-Cream.
And it’s good, just plain good. Nothing fancy, just sweet corn. Two bucks for six ears.
Watched a young woman in line ahead of me, probably a student on her way home from the local university, buying just two ears of corn this evening. She looked pretty pleased with herself, one little brown bag. A cheap and tasty dinner.
I’d play in the cornfields when I was a little girl. Just as the corn ears were forming, I’d pull a few off the stalks and pretend they were baby-dolls. Gorgeous, silky hair on those little corn ear baby-dolls. Later, of course, we’d harvest the ears, shuck them, promptly put them into boiling water for just a few minutes, take them out and slather them with butter. Mmmmmm. And, later still, we’d harvest the mature, dried ears and feed them to the farm animals. Ah, yes.
Yeccch! This was a response to the French fries and cheese curds by themselves.
So, EW, will you be attending Mr. Beck’s speech?
Another reason not to support any Chamber of Commerce.
Would you make an exception for the Amherst (MA) Area Chamber of Commerce? It’s not affiliated with the National Chamber. It supports funding for our public libraries and museums. Yes, these bring the world to us (e.g., a major Robert Frost collection at the Jones Library; Emily Dickinson House; National Yiddish Book Center; Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art). But not everyone here understands. So kudos to our Chamber for doing so. Perhaps there are other such enlightened Chambers, as well?
This is one of my pet peeves.
My local city gives the local chamber of commerce a subsidy every year, as do many cities.
Most of the money is for fundraisers for the chamber.
In addition, our city lets the chamber close public streets for “street fairs” which are also fundraisers for the chamber.
In return, the local chambers pay dues to the regional and national chambers of commerce.
Taxpayers dollars are funding an organization which advocates against health care reform, and decent wages.
It ain’t right.
The fix is in, we’re on the hook, and who can foresee when we will ever be rid of this costly mess created by and for the privileged few? The massive transfer of wealth continues.
Treasury sees indefinite support for financial sector
By Michael O’Brien – 09/14/09 11:28 AM ET
“An indefinite period of government support is still needed to backstop improvements in the economy, a Department of Treasury report said Monday. While substantial progress has been made in bolstering the U.S. financial sector, the Treasury report on “The Next Phase of Government Financial Stabilization and Rehabilitation Policies” said that billions in U.S. dollars are still needed to steady the economy.”
More.
Not to worry about that depression economy.
It’s been a year now since the rest of the economy crashed and when the banks were swiftly bailed out. This time last year, we were on the brink of an apocalypse caused by the greed of Wall St. bankers and traders. It cost us trillions to fix it up and cover it up, but the culprits have all been held accountable and the regulations restored and strengthened. There’s been an overhaul of the SEC, the ratings agencies have been replaced by agencies that actually have to do independent analysis and are not paid by the companies they are rating. And all the toxic, fraudulent derivatives are now traded on regulated exchanges. There have been massive changes in corporate management, clean ups in the regulating authorities, the Fed is fully transparent, and the new administration is staffed with experts and advisors who are pro-regulation and determined to set things straight.
As for Michigan and the other states like mine whose unemployment is the highest it’s been in thirty years — not to worry. Trade laws have been adjusted so that they are now more fair to American companies, we’ll soon have single payer health care so American companies can compete, and the corporations who enjoy all the benefits of being based in the U.S. can no longer build factories right over the border in Mexico and Canada, and they can no longer outsource millions of jobs without paying a penalty for it.
Could you please share some of whatever it is you take with the rest of us? Man, I like your picture a lot better than the one that’s depressing me.
Don’t the health insurance execs owe Mr. Waxman some accounting today or tomorrow?
What does this man charge for his services?
Figure he’ll clear in the low five figures for that speech.
Boxturtle (Dow Thomas would have been much cheaper and much funnier)
What do you think, Box Turtle? Would $30,000 be in the low five figures? And let’s not forget the private jet, or the date with the lady from Welcome Wagon….
Treasure Island: isn’t that where the Michigan Chamber of Commerce meets every year for Presidents Weekend?
Thanks for managing to have something to say about this, EW. I think part of my brain went numb when I saw the news.
Well, maybe this will start to denumb your brain?
Economic policy discussion this morning: around 3:30 in this clip, you’ll see Dylan Ratigan talk about the US economy as a system of ’systemic theft’ as he asks Sen Chris Dodd about problems with the banking system and how it need to be fundamentally revised.
Around 4:20, Sen Dodd points out that the disastrous blurring the lines between commerce and banking (which came out of the late 1990s ‘banking revisions’ when Phil Gramm) was disastrous.
Around 4:50, Ratigan points out that ‘too big to fail’ is fundamentally anti-competitive.
Around 5:35, Dodd unwittingly reveals that he’s probably been ‘captured’, because he claims that breaking up these big banks is somehow ‘too difficult’. That’s a little brain-numbing moment, but it appears that Ratigan doesn’t buy it. Neither should we.
To denumb your brain again, watch Prof. Elizabeth Warren’s conversation with Ratigan about the fact that all those ‘toxic assets’ remain on the books of US banks, and that’s only part of why we desperately need to revise our financial system — because currently, we do not have ‘capitalism’.
(I always find it heartening when someone cuts through bullshit and states the obvious, as Warren does when she points out that we do NOT have ‘capitalism’. Anyone know whether the Plantation Caucus, plus Hatch, Grassley, and Enzi, Reid, Schumer, and Blue Dogs have a clue about the obvious fact that Warren points out?)
My word for what we have now is ‘capturedism‘.
Finance captured our federal government, and by that means, it captured all of us.
Not something Glenn Beck seems to grasp.
But it appears that Beck has plenty of co-thinkers in Congress.
I put more hope in DNI Blair than I do in Congress at this point; at least Blair has publicly stated that the US financial risks are a national security issue. Shall we wait for Beck to call the DNI ‘unAmerican’ for those views?
I don’t get why the Chamber of Commerce would be against healthcare reform. Doesn’t fixing healthcare costs help business?
What am I missing?
Who’s gonna sponsor their junkets ?
H.E.L.P. Chairman Harkin says strong public option will pass by Christmas – from rawstory
Go, Harkin!
Yesterday, I was stuck at a BBQ with two of your NeoCons … and I only had one Beer.
Good Times ! /s
Eeeeeeek! I’d have bailed.
I went into a Jon Stewart/Colbert routine and I thought their heads would explode. Everyone else realized that I was poking fun at them but they were totally oblivious to anything outside their little minds.
You made my day, Petrocelli, and how!! Wish I could have seen that.
Lessee, I told them that BHusseinO would replace Beck with Jesse Jackson, Rush with Al Sharpton, Donald Trump with Bin Laden (his real father) and Blackwater/Xe with the Black Panthers … and that was for starters … *g*
Oh, what a joy to read that. Just wish I could’ve been there. I’d have bought you another beer, fer sure.
How about starting with Senator Levin
This one’s for you.
Petro, you go to more BBQs than anyone I know. I think I moved the wrong way on the lake. *wink*
But if Nu-ku-lar BBQ’s ever become the trend, you’d have one over me … *g*
Aw, gee, and I was just starting to relax.
D’ye know, I rode through Pickering on the train last week, and it really is the prettiest stop along the way. Pity about that nucular thingy, although it’s a nice neo-classical design and all.
Would that have been your prime minister?
Some interesting activities up there in Toronto
Mortensen: Israel uses Toronto to ‘whitewash illegal and inhumane actions’
http://mondoweiss.net/
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/09/…..ebate.html
The Toronto Declaration hits Canadian airwaves, continuing the debate
Thanks very much for those links, Leen. I knew about the TIFF controversy, but I hadn’t heard the interviews or read Mortensen.
Klein is right, of course, that the original stroke — government sponsorship of a festival tribute to Israel — is politics and not art. I wish I could say that it is only the Cons who are complicit in these propaganda exercises, but there is now a semi-official parliamentary committee* with MPs from all parties working to wring its hands over the rise in Canada of the “new anti-semitism,” an investigation that I consider a serious offence against the section of our Charter that corresponds to your First Amendment (but who listens to me?). We don’t have a single MP who deserves to muck about in my conscience or instruct me or any other Canadian on what our “values” should be.
* I call them semi-official because they claim to be “independent,” but they are all MPs and the committee has office space in the Parliament bldgs. When has anyone ever offered me or Petro office space in those buildings? I ask you.
Here’s what Elizabeth Warren says we can do.
Thanks for this. I saw the summary on TV this morning before leaving for town.
Bob in AZ
She’s the best, Bob. Just the best. (IMHO, of course.)
http://crooksandliars.com/node?page=1
Crooks and liars has some great clips of Beck spewing lies up at their site
Check out this absurd add
http://firedoglake.com/
Group Tied To Swift Boat Veterans, Willie Horton Ads Supporting Blue Dogs
What a crazy ass add. “Tell congress no government run health care”
We need some commercials with our seniors saying we think that medicare should be closed down because it is “government run health care”
My father a WWII vet/retired Teamster has been doing the nursing home shuffle the last couple of years (first time in these places so he has switched several times) A while back he was thinking about trying to organize a roll out (instead of a walk out, for those like him who are now wheel chair bound) due to some of the conditions, aides not being payed enough over worked, Heartland Nursing homes across the country (400 of them the Carlysyle group bought them out a while back) pull their hallway staffs (nurses, aides ) off the hallways to go to the dining hall (many residents stay in their rooms for meals) to attend to the residents. Often the residents sit there waiting for 15 minutes with no aides or staff in the dining room. Numerous family members tend to the patients by getting their bibs, drinks etc until the staff show up. The residents sit there like abandoned children (except that they are 75-108) staring at the walls waiting. It’s not the aides fault it is the corporations fault profit line. I have talked with numerous mucky mucks in the up line of Heartland…working my way up the ladder demanding that they higher serveral people to staff the nursing home dining room.
Excuses….we have frozen the salaries of the upper level folks due to Medicare and Medicaid cutbacks. Yada yada. Will continue to work on this.
From the first time I went in one of these places I began talking with aides, nurses, etc etc. Called legislators in Ohio about raising the wages of these aides state wide.
CAN YOU IMAGINE A ROLL OUT (OF SENIORS IN WHEEL CHAIRS) IN ONE OF THESE PLACES. My father is a bit hesitant even though he was a union organizer during his union days because it would be more than difficult to get all of these seniors on the same page. Love the idea.
Would be great to see some senior folks at the anti Glenn Beck rally with signs saying
“No government run health care programs! Cut off medicare and medicaid,,,, Now”
Which congresscritters are in charge of the Committees on Aging these days?
The younger aged disabled turned out in droves to get things done–and won. People in nursing homes have much more, if not total, difficulty turning out. Videos, documentaries and so forth are what are needed. The M$M probably wouldn’t want to be cooperative, but if a push came from the Committees on Aging and we citizens, we might be able to pull it off.
Have attempted to get Micheal Moore to continue with Sicko 2, 3, 4 etc. He could have gone for the home stretch with his Sicko theme.
Wanted him to go into nursing homes across the country and show what is happening CCCCHHHING
Seniors cut off of therapy (including my father and many more because they had hit the industries “plateau”) Who cares that you have paid into the health care system your whole life and this is the first time you have needed the system.
I have talked with so many folks sent home by United Health Care and UN Secure Horizons because they had hit their 90 days, “donut holes and plateaus” It is really sickening…watching old folks in wheel chairs wait in a line of six wheel chairs to get aide going to the bathroom. Or not able to figure out that it is their right to receive the kind of care they deserve (6000.oo per bed per month) in Ohio most nursing homes.
I do what I can. We need a heavy hitter like Micheal Moore to make this a focus.
and @45. I agree entirely.
I know the White House Grandmother has a big job watching out for her precious grandchildren. I have been wondering when the Obama team might use her or she might use them to promote more respect, encourage voluteering with our seniors (nursing homes etc) etc for our elderly.
A Grandparent Senior focus by the White House. What’s happening to the seniors in your neighborhood today?
I really do not think Obama is pressing the “it’s time to give back” in some way theme. I think people want some direction for giving back. Often people step up to the plate when they are encouraged or asked.
Lots of abandoned people in those nursing homes. Lots
That is such a difficult subject for our family. We had a grandmother who we tried to move closer to our family in order to care for her and she refused. We traveled as much as the budget could afford to visit, but it was never enough. More “healthy” family members who could visit her and care for her lived in a distant state from where she was located (that would be us). There were no jobs in our fields where she lived. Relocating to her area was financially difficult and left another set of grandparents without care as well.
Sometimes there are heartbreaking stories behind those who are alone in nursing homes. It is not a story of abandonment in every case.
Those of us in San Diego are lucky because you can get a really nice,clean place with healthy food and 24/7 nurses (and doctors on call) for $900 per month in Tijuana. That’s the cost for Alzheimer’s patients. (I was checking for a friend about a year ago.)
wow…6000.oo a bed in most nursing homes in Ohio. In Heartlands across the country 2 two each room. One bathroom for four residents CCCCCHHHINg
It cost just under $2,000/month for my husband to live in a wonderful nursing home here for his last three years — secure unit for dementia patients, nobody ever in line-ups, and one of the finest and most humanely wise doctors I’ve ever met.
I had my complaints, and I would always wish for more more more for the lovely people I met in that unit. Age already scares younger people, and then dementia scares them even more, so what we mainly have is societies in profound denial about one of the major realities of our lives. Most people just don’t grasp the problem until it happens to them. I remember another partner turning to me one day in the unit, after we’d been complaining together about our clueless provincial health minister: “They pick us off one at a time, skdadl,” he said, and that is the terrible truth. We won’t change anything until we rise in numbers.
I agree totally. Have talked with many folks in your family’s position,and know Klynn that you would not abandon anyone
But there is a big BUT in there. I am very aware of many family members right in the neighborhood of some of these nursing homes and they do not visit their old folks or very seldom
I have talked with many many (at least 50 ) aides, social workers, folks who work at the desk in these places and nurses who have a very difficult time keeping their mouths shut when the family members do show up. It is difficult for them not to ask ‘why don’t you come more often”
hell in my own family I have younger siblings 46, 48 and 50 who have every excuse in the book about why they do not visit much or relieve my mother…as they play golf go to the work out center, coach 4 athletic teams etc etc. Now there are legitimate reasons for not being able to make it in to visit. But if you have time for other activities one should have time for our seniors. I have witnessed/heard family members completely bullshit other family members about how often they visit. I can make that call because I will have been in the nursing home hours that week tending to my father and to others. I’m telling you old folks say the ‘darndest things”
Now there are family members who give tender loving attention to their family members in these places but that is a small percentage. And you can be sure that many of the abandoned ones are well aware that they have been abandoned. You can see it in their faces and I have heard a few talk about it
There are hundreds of heart breaking stories that I have witnessed or heard from aides etc about our seniors waiting at the door of many of these nursing homes waiting hours days, weeks for their family members to arrive.
I have talked to the office people who tell stories of seniors dressing up in their holiday finest waiting for family members to show and they never show up.
O.K. there are legitimate reasons. But hate to say that more often than not…most of the abandonment is due to a culture that is too busy too self consumed to give an hour a few hour s week to these folks who spend hours waiting, hanging on to the last visit etc.
very state has been in a depression for about 4 years, not just michigan
when real wages are going down (depressed), real assets going down, (depressed), real american investments going down, (depressed), real living wage jobs going down, (depressed)
and when as a people we borrowed more then we made for the first time since the great depression there is really only one way to look at the economy
it is a depression and has been for quite some time
EW,
Your Chamber has an interesting header on that web page.
Who writes like that? Really? Use ampersand much?
And were not some companies from Michigan named in a recent Boycott against advertisers for Beck’s show?
Who in their right mind would invite Beck? I mean come on at least try to act like you are shooting for the middle.
Back in the dawn of time, early on in my first degree program, I
ran forwas acclaimed to a position on the students’ union external guest speakers’ committee. It was about this time of year. The chair had been vice-chair the year before, was looking to run for SU president the next year, & wanting to make his mark, & being the only member of the committee who’d worked on campus the summer before, he’d gotten busy on his own & succeeded in booking Bobby Seale for the opening event during Rush Week, and Tom Hayden a couple of weeks after. At a college with dominant emphasis on the science & business faculties, & a student body profile where ‘all students of color’ [white didn’t count], leave aside blacks, didn’t hit 5%. The student body turned out in record numbers, on a percentage basis unmatched since, & the local press had a ball casting both events as freak shows & troubling glimpses in the mind of Our Yutes; IOW a huge success.So the SU voted to suspend our chair from heading the committee pending an investigation of misuse of committee funds, imposed temporary ‘advisory’ status on our committee & the rest of us resigned in full huff.
The next October our former chair ran for SU president, on a platform that focused on budget restraint, including imposing a permanent SU board veto over all proposed committee expenditures, & reformation of the external guest speakers’ program to ‘ensure reflection of community values’. He was acclaimed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09…..=1&hp
Judge Rakoff in NY tosses the SEC/Merrill/BOA settlement.
Holy shit ;-)))))
So here’s my quick grab from the Financial Times:
Quick, extremely interesting report at the FT link.
Wow.
Looks like the judge is not one bit happy with the butt-covering greedsters who operate the ‘capturedism’ system we’re getting screwed by… my, oh, my.
Thanks, Mary!
and @58. I’m lovin’ me some Judge Rakoff! And how.
Hey Klynn/all
voinovich is up talking live about spending. he is just 8 years too late
http://www.c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN2_wm.aspx
Uh oh Voinovich just said (live) that
“if we dealt with the fiscal problem it would be easier to deal with health care” Where was he the last eight years?
then voinovich went onto say ‘we can’t afford the health care system we have now”
Oh boy is he one of the folks saying “no government health care program. Cut Medicare and Medicaid Now?”
Listen to Voinovich..oy vey
Now Voinovich is talking about his children and grand children who we can be sure have health care coverage. this man just does not seem to give a hoot about those without health care coverage
Will he go down opposing coverage for those who can not afford to get on the health care bus?
sounds like it. May make it easier to fill his empty seat with a Democrat if he goes down voting against health care reform
This doesn’t surprise me at all.
Michigan is Mitt Romney Country.Mitt is a Mormon and so is Beck.
Beck doesn’t need to worry if ALL Fox ’s advertiser’s pull out-he’s got a bully pulpit with Chamber of Commerce, Mitt and his partners Bain Capital and Carlyle who own Clear Channel Communications.
They also own Dunkin Donuts,Dominoes Pizza and Baskin Robbins.
The COC is a BIG anti-union artifice. And what better state to fight the last vestiges of unionism whether it be auto, service industry,or health care than Michigan?
Romney and Carlyle bought out some nursing homes,too.
This was commented on at length last week here on a thread about drawing a line in the sand re: Beck,over at FDL.
Surprise! 29% of us think news organizations generally get the facts straight.
there are lies,
damned lies,
and
glenn beck’s fact-based lies.
beck and limbaugh spend all their air time weaving and spinning,
weaving and spinning,
lies
lies based on apparent truth.
lies intended to mislead americans who lack the knowledge or skepticism to evaluate those beck/limbaugh lies.
the chamber of commerce is, by far, the largest financial contributor to american politics.
i regard it as the political organization most dangerously destructive of the existing american political system (second would be the federalist society- also involved in corporate “welfare”, cf, actions of chief justice john roberts).
it would be useful to informative to trace the command and control system that provides these two political liars with their daily topics.
what beck and limbaugh’s popularity among ordinary folks says to me
is that the demo party MUST stop conceding “populism” to the republican party.
ordinary folk have ideas, emotions, and opinions.
they need a political focus for these that is a reflection of reality,
a focus that is in theirs, and their society’s, best interest.
democrats have failed to provide this populist rhetoric for years.
consequence?
the republicans are eating the dems’ lunch among “ordinary” voters.
it is astonishing that the importance of populist rhetoric eludes the democratic leadership.
Go here: http://www.google.com/search?h…..&aqi=