Congressman Parker Griffith's new best friend is probably the most polarizing member of the GOP. House Republican Leader John Boehner, "The Man with the Tan" will be the "special guest" at an upcoming $100 a couple fundraiser for the party-switcher Griffith.
While Griffith hopes his buddy Boehner will draw a crowd with open wallets, there's also word that another crowd will form to protest the former Democrat and the tan one. The Tea Party is getting out the word to gather too. According to one tea bagger, they've been flooding Boehner's office with phone calls telling the Republican from Ohio to stay out of Alabama business. Meanwhile, Democrats may take this opportunity to protest too.
Choose your corner. Come early for a ringside seat. It all goes down Monday, March 8, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Huntsville Marriott Ballroom.
Due to circumstances beyond my control, we missed mooncat by minutes today. But my intrepid cameragirl and I were welcomed by several nice people and Mr. Shepard was gracious enough to give me a few minutes of his time.
Dang, but screen captures are funny on the YooToobz. They say it's the middle frame, but I've noticed that's not at all true. It seems to lie at a random point 33-50% of the way through the video.
We are having some real interesting discussions about AL-07. Great diaries about what the Hilliard and Sewell campaigns have been doing. As a Smoot for Congress supporter I would like to share a couple of links about this campaign.
Shelia at this point may be in third in monetary support but she has certainly been visible in the ground throughout the district. Here a couple links about her visits to Demopolis.
"We have built senior citizens centers under my leadership, community centers, new housing. We brought jobs. We've got our third data operations center going in at one of our parks, and we just got Home Depot."
Smoot said that this region of Alabama should focus on bringing in jobs that fit its area, dealing with agriculture and the waterways.
"First, we've got to have an action plan, not a piecemeal plan," she said. "Secondly, we have got to explore those jobs that we think are not attainable: 'green' jobs, technology, biotech, agribusiness and aquabusiness. You've got all the water, you've got all the trees, the soil. You can create a model that brings in jobs around those very resources."
I'd had every hope of posting this yesterday -- along with a profile of Alabama State House candidate Joe Hubbard of the lovely 73rd District (Montgomery - look for this over the weekend) -- but I'm secretly glad I wasn't able to do so until after the State of the Union.
Unfortunately for Congressman Bright, he didn't quite get everything he hoped for out of the evening: President Obama remains firmly opposed to the Bush tax cuts (for which I am personally grateful) but did support a return to pay-go policies, a big plus for most fiscal conservatives.
In the call, though, Rep. Bright mentioned a fifteen point Blue Dog Blueprint for fiscal released earlier this week - thanks to a bit of e-mail tag, his office was kind enough to provide me with a copy, and I thought it would be interesting to see how their goals matched up with the State of the Union.
The blueprint and SotU hits/misses below the fold.
A number of former members of the U.S. Senate and House, including former Senators Bill Bradley and Warren Rudman head up YouStreet.org. The organization is working for public financing of federal campaigns to reduce the influence of campaign donations on all the issues this country faces.
YouStreet should be better known, especially in light of recent events that have exposed the corporate underbelly of our campaign financing system.
This discussion about the corruption of Congress is from Wednesday's Morning Joe. Bernstein is on point about the problem and the solution when he says "There ought to be a citizen movement about it, and there has to be some mechanism for public funding of campaigns..."
BTW, Parker Griffith gets a mention though not by name.
I believe government works. The Republican party says government doesn't and shouldn't work unless the discussion is about defense spending.
A year ago it was chaos, it looked as if the economy was going to implode. Like many generations before us we learned the lesson that an unregulated market builds bubbles. On the inflate many get rich off of transaction fees and rising asset values. When the bubble pops the negative feedback loops or vicious cycles are devastating. We saw the transferred devaluations move from housing values to Wall Street securities and from there to all sectors of the economy. Autos, small banks, 401ks, mutual funds, university endowments. It wasn't clear when the wave would stop but we knew something had to change. The government's normal economic tools were used up after too many bubbles and they were wrong in scale for the job. As a last resort the government stepped it up with a once in a lifetime set of moves like TARP and the ARRA also known as the stimulus. Yet 9 months after the stimulus was passed it's critics are fiercely attacking it. They say it's not working, it's wasteful, it should stop.
There has been a great wailing and gnashing of teeth over the past day or so as those who follow the healthcare debate react to the Stupak/Some Creepy Republican Guy Amendment.
The Amendment, which is apparently intended to respond to conservative Democrats' concerns that too many women were voting for the Party in recent elections, was attached to the House's version of healthcare reform legislation that was voted out of the House this weekend.
The goal is to limit women's access to reproductive medicine services, particularly abortions; this based on the concept that citizens of good conscience shouldn't have their tax dollars used to fund activities they find morally repugnant.
At first blush, I was on the mild end of the wailing and gnashing spectrum myself...but having taken a day to mull the thing over, I'm starting to think that maybe we should take a look at the thinking behind this...and I'm also starting to think that, properly applied, Stupak's logic deserves a more important place in our own vision of how a progressive government might work.
It's Political Judo Day today, Gentle Reader, and by the time we're done here it's entirely possible that you'll see Stupak's logic in a whole new light.
Anyone interested in helping me show a little love to Congress (and the public option) in Montgomery this Thursday?
Apparently my local tea party group is planning a 'Kill the Bill' demonstration on the capitol steps from 9am to 11am. How I get these e-mails, I'll never know. They're going to 'ceremoniously kill the bill' and put it in a coffin for burial.
I can try to get some signs made (mm, poster board) and can bring a few liberal-themed t-shirts for us to don. I am also happy to try and print out some fact sheets.
I know it's early, and it is a Thursday, but the tea partiers want a big media presence, and I would love to make it easier for any news crews who show up to get some balance.
Anyone in? Again, it's this Thursday on the capitol steps in Montgomery, 9am to 11am. The bill will be 'killed' at 11am, so a 10a-11:30a window is ideal I imagine.
Edit: At the very least - anyone know if I would need a permit for a counter demonstration? Google isn't helping me out much here.
So we are now finding out the answers to some of our questions about which members of Congress actually represent We, the People...and which ones represent, Them, the Corporate Masters.
We have seen a Democratic Senator propose a policy that would put people in jail for not buying health insurance and a Democratic President who has taken numerous public beatings from those on the left side of the fence for his inability to ram something through a group of people...and yes, folks, the entendre was intentional.
But most of all, we've been asking ourselves: "why would Democratic Members of Congress who will eventually want us to vote for them vote against something that nearly all voting Democrats are inclined to vote for?"
Today's conversation attempts to answer that question by looking at exactly how money and influence flow through a key politician, Montana's Senator Max Baucus-and in doing so, we examine some ugly political realities that have to be resolved before we can hope to convince certain Members of Congress to vote for what their constituents actually want when it really counts.
There was a lot of hype about Rep. Donna Edwards in the progressive community when she ran for a congressional seat in Maryland a few years ago. I was highly skeptical, but the more I see and hear her, the more I am impressed.
Here she is recently on TheRealNews.com, where some real journalism is being done, talking about the public option and the role of progressives regarding the President.
Joe Wilson and Louie Gohmert were not the only Republican members of Congress behaving badly last night during one of the most compelling speeches by a POTUS. These two townhallers were not the only members of GOP Gone Wild. The elementary and middle school kids would have been suspended had they interrupted the President like this on Tuesday. Other examples of boorish behavior below the thread.
So it's the day of the big speech, Mr. President, and we got trouble with a capital "T" right here in Health Care City.
What are you gonna do? Do we follow the traditional Democratic Party legislative process of passing...something...at any cost, assuming the entire time that the Left and the Netroots will "go along with the program", or is there a risk that the calculus doesn't work as well today as it did in 1994 and 1996?
Well, lucky for you, I'm a fake consultant, and I know a few things about your "target market", so before you answer that question...we need to talk.
We've all been hearing the "Town Hall Meeting" stories the past few days, and the images presented have been of gatherings where you might see some current or former official "death panel" for the benefit of the crowd, where the few people who shout the loudest bully the rest into silence, and where threats of physical intimidation are part of the debate.
I attended one of these meetings, and based on what I saw I'm here to tell you that it is possible to hold an event that features none of the images previously described.
Instead, what I say was an event where people asked their questions, the Congressman answered-and from time to time the angry members of the audience got their shout on, too...but not in a way that was able to ever take control of the venue.
There were helpful lessons that can be applied by others who want to have these meetings, and today's conversation examines what can be done to make them work for you, too.
Just how bad has the coal ash situation gotten in the United States? So bad that the Department of Homeland Security has told Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) that her committee can't publicly disclose the location of coal ash dumps across the country.
The pollution is so toxic, so dangerous, that an enemy of the United States -- or a storm or some other disrupting event -- could easily cause them to spill out and lay waste to any area nearby.
The personal financial reports, due late last week from members of Congress, show that many lawmakers hold investments in insurance, pharmaceutical and prescription-benefit companies and in hospital interests, all of which would be affected by the administration’s overhaul of health care.
A “small herd” of rightist Black politicians is seeking statewide office, further mangling Black politics in the process. In practice, this trend allows white voters “to decide which kinds of Black politicians rise to state and national prominence.” Among the latest entries is Congressman Artur Davis, running for governor of Alabama. Rep. Davis is consistently ranked among the worst members of the Congressional Black Caucus – which is the source of his white, corporate appeal.
Sorry folks, but this President is not fighting for real health care reform. It's nibbling that leaves insurance companies still running the show. And the banks, the banks that brought us to financial ruin and then got bailout money, are laughing at us about how easy it was to get back to 'business as usual.' And scientists keep saying that if we want to keep living, you know, on Earth, it's kind of essential we reduce carbon dioxide by 40% in the next ten years. Obama's bill calls for 4%.
This is not getting the job done, and this is not what I voted for.
That will tell you the mailing address and other instructions. Comments or a request for a written hearing must be submitted soon, at least by 35 days from the posting date of June 3.
(So many great reasons to support Josh Segall for Congress! Oh, and I added this great "farm" photo. - promoted by countrycat)
Joshua Segall may be the first ever Farmers' Market Candidate for Congress. He runs a program called Homegrown Alabama that focuses on getting schools to buy their food from farmers.
Joshua was defeated in his first attempt to unseat Bush-Republican Representative Mike Rogers last fall. But this week the rematch was announced
"It's time for a new direction. I am a fiscal conservative who will work to create and attract 21st Century jobs to east Alabama so that hardworking people can get ahead," said Segall.
"Alabama is suffering under irresponsible policies that bail out greedy executives who created this mess and leave hardworking Alabama families holding the bag. Rogers supported the Wall Street bailout, but did nothing for Main Street Alabama. He voted to send Alabama jobs overseas, when what we needed was a plan to create good jobs at home. It's time to stand up to special interest politics and put Alabama families first once again," said Segall.
Amid our usual diet of PACT, typos, and TroyBoy, did anyone catch this?
At least 13 firms receiving billions of dollars in bailout money owe a total of more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes, a key lawmaker said Thursday.
Banks and other firms receiving federal money were required to sign contracts stating they had no unpaid taxes, Lewis said. But he said the Treasury Department did not ask them to turn over their tax records.
Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, told the hearing that if an executive signed a contract knowing that information about unpaid taxes was false, "that would potentially be a crime." He said his office will look to see if crimes were committed.
Potentially be a crime? If you lie on a legal document, isn't it perjury?
Good Lord, we turn around for a few days, tending to our Alabama stuff, and look what boils up out of Wall Street! The scumbaggery knows no bounds.
Congress is at least paying some attention. Artur Davis is introducing a new bill:
Under Congressman Davis’ bill, the IRS would be required to independently certify that any company seeking federal assistance is completely current on its federal taxes, with no outstanding liens or other unpaid tax liabilities.
“Since 13 companies apparently misrepresented their status with the IRS, it is time to stop trusting these institutions to tell the truth and demand that the IRS verify whether institutions receiving TARP funds are up to date on their taxes,” said Congressman Davis.
Davis pointed out, “If a businessman in Alabama is behind on his taxes, he will be rejected for a small business loan. How can we have a lower standard for multimillion dollar banks who can’t be bothered to pay their taxes?”
Now, it should not require a special bill in Congress to get the law enforced, should it? But in all fairness, there is so much scumbaggery about that the IRS is probably a bit distracted now. I guess this bill will at least draw thier attention to this particular stench, out of all the putrid reek that federal skeleton crew of regulators and enforcers must deal with.
Congressman Davis should not have to do this, but he's doing what needs to be done.
One wonders if that absence will draw fire from women's health advocates, some of whom believed the family-planning provision could make a quick comeback after it got dumped earlier this month. When GOP governors such as Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty are using Medicaid family-planning money as an excuse to cut their budgets, how can congressional conservatives get away with slamming the program as taxpayer-funded abortions?
Congressman Parker Griffith's new best friend is probably the most polarizing member of the GOP. House Republican Leader John Boehner, "The Man with the Tan" will be the "special guest" at an upcoming $100 a couple fundraiser for the party-switcher Griffith.
Joshua Segall may be the first ever Farmers' Market Candidate for Congress. He runs a program called Homegrown Alabama that focuses on getting schools to buy their food from farmers. 
