More Stories from Political Pollution

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The unions argued that Wisconsin's law was an unconstitutional seizure of union property since unions now must extend benefits to workers who don't pay dues.  Dane County Circuit Judge William Foust agreed.

He said the law amounts to an unconstitutional governmental taking of union funds without compensation since under the law unions must represent people who don't pay dues.

m'eye thoughts:  Finally someone "gets it."   You want to belong to the club, you want to reap the benefits of membership, pay the dues.  

Read more at Addicting Info

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A protester at the Indiana statehouse last week.

Me either!

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No payback here, really, just doing my job, keeping the legislature safe, honest.

Read more at Winning Democrats

Greedy Alabama Gov. Says He Needs More Money to Pay His Chronies

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (R)

(Any underlines are mine.)

On Tuesday, March 15, the Alabama House of Representatives passed the fiscal year 2017 State General Fund Budget.  Along with the budget is a House amendment that would take money from the Governor's office and redirect it to the...State Medicaid Agency after it was reported that Alabama Governor Robert Bentley had written massive raises for members of his cabinet and his staff...

...Alcoholic Beverage Control Board Administrator Mac Gipson, Department of Economic and Community Affairs Director Jim Byard, Revenue Commissioner Julie Magee, and Insurance Commissioner Jim Ridling each received massive raises of $73,405 per year.  Medicaid Commissioner Stephanie Azar received a $64,008 raise. Bentley gave raises to 14 members of his cabinet and a number of his staff also received incredibly large raises.  Six reported received raises ranging from $21,000 to $34,000 a year.

GOP candidate for state board of education Jackie Zeigler said, "The Bentley administration says the state is broke.  They have denied pay increases for teachers, state employees, and retirees.  They closed five state parks and cut back others.  They closed 31 drivers license offices.  They gutted the State Auditor's budget.  They took 100 state troopers off the road.  Meanwhile, behind the scenes, they were giving themselves huge pay raises... This needs to stop."

eye'm thynkin':  At least the Alabama legislature is exercising some common sense.  The article goes on to name other plans, including tax increases, that Mr. Bentley has for his state.  (Maybe he has a few more buddies who can use an extra $73,000/year?)

It will be interesting to see whether he accepts the obvious legislative reprimand to his free-spending administrative ways or if he tries to justify his obvious, greedy money-grab.

Read more at Alabama Political Reporter

Birmingham City Council Thumbs Nose at State GOP, Votes to Raise Minimum Wage Immediately

Last August, the Birmingham, Alabama's city council voted to raise the minimum wage incrementally to $10.10 by 2017.

The Republican dominated state legislature hated that idea; so the party of small government decided to stick their small minds into Birmingham's business and proposed a law that would prevent any municipality within the state of Alabama from raising the minimum wage beyond the federally mandated rate of $7.25/hour.

Yesterday, before the state could act, Birmingham's city council cut the legislature off at the knees by voting to raise the minimum wage in their city to $10.10 effective immediately.

what eye thynk:  Why do Republicans insist on keeping people poor?  What gain is there in it for them?  If the people of Birmingham make more money, they will pay more in income taxes, putting more in state coffers.  Republicans love money, why don't they love this idea?

And as much as Republicans love cash, they hate any type of public assistance more.  By raising that $7.25 worker's pay rate to $10.10, the need for public assistance for that worker and his family may be eliminated. What's not to love here?

State Representative David Faulkner (R), who introduced the "Keep 'Em Poor" bill, defended it by saying that having different wages in different areas of the state would create issues.

On that he may be right.  It looks like Birmingham is about to have a housing shortage issue.

More Stories I Originally Posted at Political Pollution Page

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m'eye thoughts:  Wha-a-a-a-t?

Read more at Addicting Info

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What's next, tiny pink and blue guns advertised as perfect for baby shower gifts?

Read more at Raw Story

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Proof that not all billionaires are asshats.

Go to Political Pollution to view the video

(Sorry, I don't know how to share a video here.)

Fact-Checking the GOP: Kasich's Job Creation Claim, More Wishful Thinking Than Statistical Fact

The Statement:

During last Saturday's Republican Debate, Ohio Governor and presidential candidate John Kasich said, "We've grown jobs by 400,000--that's one of the fastest growing states in the country."

The Facts:

Yes, Ohio has gained 400,000 jobs since John Kasich became governor--all of that gain coming through private sector employers.

However, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics--which combines both private and public sector jobs in their rankings--Ohio is nowhere near a national leader in job creation.  In fact, statistically, Ohio ranks 24th out of 50 states in job creation.  

Under Governor Kasich, Ohio's non-agricultural employment numbers have grown 7.6 percent. Compare that to the national average of 9.4 percent and you get the idea just how unsupported is Mr. Kasich's boast.  

Mr. Kasich would like us to believe that, removing public sector jobs (which have diminished under his leadership) from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures will show what an ace he is at job creation, but that accounting doesn't move Ohio much closer to leadership status.  Counting only private sector job creation moves Ohio from 24th to 22nd.

George Zeller, a Cleveland-based economic researcher, said his monthly statistical data indicates that Ohio has trailed the U.S. average job growth rate for 38 straight months--for over three years of Mr. Kasich's five-year hold on Ohio's top office.

The bordering states of Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky all rank higher than Ohio, no matter which criteria is used to support Governor Kasich's boast, so he can't blame it on geography.

m'eye Verdict:  

Governor John Kasich may actually believe that 400,000 new jobs makes him an Olympian in the job creation race, but the whole story says he is still on the practice squad.

I'll give him credit for know HIS numbers, but for selectively ignoring everyone else's and claiming a leadership role he is nowhere near to earning, Mr. Kasich earns 3 out of 5 Gops.

GOP Forgets Pledge to "Govern Responsibly," Now Refuses To Govern At All

                   AP Photo Charles Dharapak

For all the talk about President Obama coming up short when reaching out to congressional Republicans, we're occasionally reminded who's ultimately to blame for the partisan dysfunction in the nation's capital.

Today, for example, the White House will unveil its final budget blueprint to Congress...

...(It includes) the kind of ideas that would be the start of an important budget debate with Congress.  Except, as the New York Times reports, Republican lawmakers have announced they're not even willing to have this conversation:  they don't know what's in the administration's budget plan, and they don't care.

"Breaking with a 41-year-old tradition, the Republican chairmen of the House and Senate budget committees announced that they would not even give the president's budget director, Shaun Donovan, the usual hearings in their panels..."

"G. William Hoagland, who was the Republican staff director at the Senate Budget Committee for much of the 1980s and 1990s, and is senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, said he could not recall a year since the modern budget process took effect in the 1970s when a president's budget director was not invited to testify before the budget committees...

...At a press briefing on Friday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters:

..."It says a lot of things, I think.  It certainly does raise some questions about how serious Republicans actually are about governing the country."

eye'm thynkin':  No matter how much things change, they remain the same.

Read more at MSNBC

February 8 - A Few More Stories I Originally Posted at Political Pollution

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m'eye thoughts: "So much for Trump being an expert 'deal maker,' as he just got played by a small charity to the tune of $100,000."

I applaud this veterans' group for refusing to be used by the Trump campaign and still getting their money.

Read more at Addicting Info

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These selfish jerks will never be able to spend the money they have in their life time.  Now these "patriots" think they're being picked on by being asked to support the country that made them rich in the first place?  

Give me a break.

Read more at Think Progress

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"The worst part of Reagan's legacy, as it pertains to average Americans, is the change he brought to

the American economy known as 'supply-side economics.'  The theory was that giving the people at the top large tax breaks would cause them to invest their windfall in new businesses and the expansion of old ones, thereby creating new jobs.  When Reagan largely stopped enforcing the Sherman Antitrust Act, the country saw an unprecedented number of business mergers, acquisitions, and leveraged buyouts.  Small businesses suffered as already large companies became behemoths.  So instead of creating new businesses or expanded capacity, businesses simply bought up other existing businesses."

And so it continues today.  Reagan created the honey pot, and the rich are so addicted to the taste, they think they'll die if they're forced to share.

Read more at If You Only News

Will Public Unions Survive SCOTUS?

"Today, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that could do more to damage public employee unions than anything the Republican party has done in decades...

...Can conservative opponents of organized labor use the courts to break public unions...?

If you are a government employee in a unionized workplace--a teacher, for example...you and all of your colleagues pay a set fee to the union, to cover the costs of the union's work to negotiate a contract that you work under.  This is simply the principle of everyone paying their fair share for work that benefits everyone.  If you are a teacher and you happen to dislike teachers unions for some political reason, you are not required to be a member of the union; if you do not want to be a member of the union, you cannot be required to pay fees to cover strictly political activities that the union undertakes, like lobbying or political donations to favored candidates.  But since the union negotiates the contract that covers everyone, you are still required to pay your fair share fee, called an 'agency fee,' to cover bargaining costs.

The Friedrichs case aims to do away with the requirement that those who enjoy the benefits of public union contracts pay an agency fee to cover the cost of getting those contracts in the first place.  Why?  The legal argument in the case is that all union activity is inherently political."

eye'm thynkin':  These anti-union conservatives want something for nothing--they want to benefit from a contract, but not pay for the effort it takes to come to a contract agreement.  

Basically they're saying that demanding to be given something for nothing when you're a public employee is fine, but asking to be given assistance when you're poor, elderly, or unemployed makes you a "freeloader." Conservative logic at its finest.

Read more at Gawker

We will be missed.

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, Making Sure the Poor Stay That Way, Hallelujah!

what eye thynk:  Last month I wrote about Kentucky's voters electing a new governor, Matt Bevin (R), despite his having run on a platform of promising to dismantle healthcare in Kentucky, and then crying foul when they realized that Governor Bevin was going to dismantle healthcare in Kentucky. (Logic is apparently not a strong point among Kentuckians.)  

It is early days in his administration, and so far, Mr. Bevin has managed to side-step any questions on his intentions regarding the healthcare situation in his state.  I imagine it's proving tricky to find a positive way to spin the "Hello, this is your notice that you no longer have healthcare" letter.

Mr. Bevin has, however, lost no time in finding a way to keep the working poor in their place.  In July of this year, under an executive order signed by former Governor Steve Beshear (D), Kentuckians employed by state agencies and vendors saw their pay rate raised from $7.25/hour to $10.10/hour.  

New Governor Matt Bevin has rescinded that order.  The people who are already being paid at the higher rate will continue to receive it; but going forward from this point, all new hires will be paid at the lower and unlivable wage of $7.25/hour.

As David Smith, executive director of the Kentucky State Employees Association put it, "Really?  Out of the things you could have done since you have been elected, that's something you choose to come right out of the gate with? Come on."

Come on, indeed.

It should put the minds of Kentucky's citizens at ease though to know that Rowan County clerk Kim Davis has been saved from any further jail time.  Governor Bevin issued an executive order of his own, ordering that the names of elected clerks be removed from all marriage licenses in the state to "ensure that the sincerely held religious beliefs of all Kentuckians are honored."

One less thing for Kentucky's poor to worry about while they wait to find out if they can afford their blood pressure medicine.

Congress Passed a $1.1 Trillion Bill That Nobody Read

what eye thynk:  Our only hope is that President Barack Obama attacks this disastrous bill like a Line Item Veto Gold Medalist.  A crash course in speed reading wouldn't hurt either. At least he'll have more time to read it than Paul Ryan permitted his fellow Representatives. 

Eye Recommend:
(Any underlines are mine.)

EVEN BREITBART IS PISSED AT PAUL RYAN ABOUT THIS ONE..., by Michael Danielson

Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado posted on Facebook on Thursday, giving the general public a revealing look at the kinds of bullshit shenanigans that Congress allows itself...

Shenanigans like:

1) They didn't create a budget bill.  Instead, they 'hid' the budget inside an older, irrelevant bill by editing the bill entirely away and replacing it with the budget.

2) They did this so that they could get around the mandatory 3-day 'inspection period' that Congress attempts to enforce on itself, so that these enormously complex laws can actually be read.  Also, so that they could schedule a meager hour of House time to debate the bill... One hour.

3) They revealed the deception at 1AM Thursday morning when they deposited an inhumanly large amount of text on each Congressman's desk (welcome to the Paul Ryan era of passive aggressive tricksterism) expecting them to read and understand it by the scheduled time of 9:15AM Friday morning, for that one hour of debate to start.  2,009 pages of text...one hour of debate...starting just 32 hours after the pages were delivered...

...So why did the GOP want to hide the Omnibus bill and keep it from debate using all these classic tactics of unadulterated government corruption?  Simply put, there's something in it for absolutely everybody to hate.

Brietbart .com unleashed a scathing editorial calling the Omnibus bill "a total and complete sell-out of the American people masquerading as an appropriations bill."

When Brietbart hates it, you know its bad.

Time Magazine pointed out rather brusquely that the bill includes riders that allow the U.S. to start exporting oil again, that protects political "dark money" groups from the IRS, that prevent the SEC from forcing corporations to reveal their campaign finance donations, and that take $35 billion in funding away from Obamacare.

Protecting their money-men and destroying healthcare for millions of Americans--the two most important tenets of Republicanism. Check.

HuffPol derided the Omnibus for slashing $93 million from the WIC program that combats child hunger, revokes a significant part of the Dodd-Frank Act designed to prevent the 2008 crash from recurring and pays $93 million to Lockheed-Martin for warplanes that we literally have no use for.

Hungry children are poor children and their families don't vote Republican, so why feed them?  Our bankers told us they don't like Dodd-Frank, and we want shiny, new airplanes when the time comes to drop those nuclear bombs and save the world! 

The House passed the Omnibus bill on December 11 with a vote of 219-206.  The Senate followed on December 13 with a vote of 56-40.  

Washington corruption wins, America loses...again. 

You can read Mr. Danielson's article here.

Senate Votes On Spending Bill - Guess Who Didn't Bother to Show Up?

(Any underlines are mine.)

"Sen. Marco Rubio missed Friday's Senate vote approving a massive $1.8 trillion end-of-the-year spending bill and tax package--a day after he suggested that he could try to slow the legislation down.

The Florida Republican, who is running for president, was the only 2016 contender to miss the vote, which is the Senate's final vote of the year.

Rubio defended his absence in an interview, telling CBS News that 'in essence, not voting for it, is a vote against it."

eye'm thynkin':  How about, we decide to not pay you, since "in essence" not bothering to vote (that's your job!) is like extending you a political welfare check?  It only seems fair since we know how much you hate the idea of public assistance for those too lazy to work.  

Or maybe you just couldn't figure out how to use your campaign credit card to buy a plane ticket back to the office?

Read more at The Hill

American Un-exceptionalism...

Carly Fiorina Demonstrates Loyalty to Her Talking Points, Facts Be Damned

what eye thynk:  I thought Tuesday's debate was full of soft ball questions, designed to make the candidates look good.  There were some minor fireworks, but it seemed like the fizzles outnumbered any real display of color.  Basically, it was a summary of the same talking points the candidates have been spouting for weeks at every campaign stop.

My favorite moment was when Carly Fiorina demonstrated either that she is completely incapable of keeping a list of figures in her head or that she is the quintessential Republican--fact adverse and proud of it.

Gerald Baker:  "Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month.  Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month.  Under George w. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month.  If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton.  How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans?"

Carly Fiorina:  "Well, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day.  I would guess she was 40 years old.  She had several children... And she is going to bed afraid for her children's future.  And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time.  Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats."

Uh huh.

Kentucky Elects Governor with No Experience. A Precursor of 2016?

Kentucky Governor-elect Matt Bevin (R)

If you're like me, you are waiting for the day when "real" Republican voters go to the polls and demonstrate that they are not as delusional as those being counted by poll takers.  They will demonstrate their common sense by refusing to vote for inexperienced clowns like Donald Trump or Ben Carson.  They will demonstrate their awareness for self-preservation by refusing to vote against their own personal interests.  

This story out of Kentucky makes me think maybe I'm the delusional one.

(Any underlines are mind.)

 Eye Recommend:

FORMER GOP 'CON MAN,' NEWLY ELECTED GOVERNOR, by Steve Benen 

Under two-term Gov. Steve Beshear (D), Kentucky has been one of the best-run states in the nation.  Not only is the Bluegrass State's unemployment rate at a 14-year low, but Kentucky has been so successful in implementing health care reform, it's cut its ininsured by over 40%.

Perhaps the state's voters grew tired of success and decided to go in a different direction. 

Governor Beshear was not on the ballot on Tuesday, but State Attorney General Jack Conway (D) who worked hand in hand with Mr. Beshear to steer Kentucky's success was.  Nevertheless, Kentucky voters chose to ignore the Beshear/Conway success record and instead elected Matt Bevin (R) to lead the state.

Bevin's road to the governor's office was, for lack of a better word, improbable.  A year ago, the right-wing candidate, who's never served a day in public office, launched a primary fight against incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).  Republicans quickly labeled Bevin a "con man" who lies "pathologically."  The first-time candidate was exposed (as) a man who lied about his educational background, and who even struggled in the private sector--his business needed a taxpayer bailout.

At one point, he even delivered a speech at a cockfighting gathering and then lied about that too...

...What happens now is likely to have a major impact on many of his constituents' lives.  One of the central tenets of Bevin's odd platform has been scrapping Medicaid expansion, which would have the effect of taking away health care benefits from many low-income families statewide.  And because outgoing Gov. Steve Beshear (D) used executive orders to create much of the state's health network, the new right-wing governor-elect will have the power to undermine the health security of a significant chunk of Kentucky's population rather quickly...

...This sets the stage for the first real test of whether far-right officials are prepared to hurt their own constituents, on purpose, to advance a partisan goal. 

During the first ACA sign-up period, I laughed at several stories about Kentucky citizens who were proud to tell reporters that Kentucky didn't need the devil's brew of "Obamacare," because they had Kynect which was a much better program.  People in Kentucky refused to accept the fact that Kynect was the state portal to the ACA. The liberal media was simply lying to them. 

State Republicans were only too happy to support that myth.  Remember Mitch McConnell promising that, if he was re-elected, he would repeal the evil ACA "root and branch" while leaving the newly enjoyed healthcare benefits available to his state's citizens in place?  Mr. McConnell was not at all concerned that he was out and out lying as long as he got sent back to Washington.  And voters were willing to believe him, no matter how many times it was pointed out by his opponent that what he promised was impossible.

Yesterday, it was Kentucky voters who were given a "real test," and they failed miserably.  Republicans have been poisoning the well of common sense for nearly eight years.  If yesterday was any indication, conservative Kentucky voters are totally unaware they have been drugged into believing that the only thing standing between them and the good life is a Democrat.

Kentucky voters looked at a growing state economy, a shrinking unemployment rate, a record number of citizens with health coverage and chose to elect a braggart with no government experience who has promised to make their lives tougher by returning them to the time when health coverage was not a right but a privilege reserved for those who could afford it.  In essence they elected Donald Trump and Ben Carson.

But this can't happen in 2016.  Can it?

You can read Mr. Benen's complete article here. 

Happy Republican Halloween!

From 1996...

...ZZZZZ.

Ben Carson-isms, Just In Time for Halloween

what eye thynk:  In case you are thinking Ben Carson is a step up from Donald Trump, consider these "Ben Carson-isms."

1 - "Women who get abortions are like slaveholders.

2 - Obamacare is the worst thing since slavery.

3 - 'Hitler' could happen in the U.S. today.

4 - Jews could have prevented the Holocaust if they had guns.

5 - College campuses should be monitored for liberal political speech.

6 - Muslims should be disqualified from the presidency.

7 - There's a war on 'what's inside of women.'

8 - Being gay is a choice because prison turns people gay.

9 - There is no such thing as a war crime.

10 - Obama is depressing the economy to keep people on welfare.

11 - Obama signed immigration reform to bring in government-dependent voters.

12 - Congress should be able to remove judges for voting for marriage equality.

13 - Anarchy could cancel the 2016 election."

And if those aren't enough:

1 -"Evolution and the Big Bang theory are the work of the devil.
2 - Asked why victims of mass shootings don't just attack the gunman.
3 - Thinks that atheism is a religion.

4 - Says it's unconstitutional for courts to rule on the constitutionality of laws.

5 - Referred to President Obama as a psychopath because he looks great "like most psychopaths."

This is what happens when politicians try to out do each other for an evening news sound byte and nobody asks questions. Anything can be stated as true because someone, somewhere, will believe it--the more ridiculous the better.  Nothing is sacred.    

Read more at Think Progress and News Corpse

October 26 - More Stories You'll Find at Political Pollution

1 - Despite What Donald Trump Tweeted, Ford is Still Building a Massive Plant in Mexico

m'eye thoughts: Mr. Combover is starting to believe his own lies.  Trump via Twitter "...because of my constant badgering at packed events, (Ford) is going to cancel their deal to go to Mexico..."

Go to  Political Pollution

Why wasn't there more security in Benghazi?

Maybe the GOP should look at their own record on this.