“Doctor why have you stopped the bypass surgery - the patient is dying!”
“I’m sorry. It’s not bipartisan.”
When “bipartisanship” clogs health care reform, we should bypass it.
[Hat tip to Senator Bernie Sanders for the inspiration.]
My ten-year old excitedly tells my seven-year old while watching American Idol:
It’s the guys from Fairly Odd Parents!
[...]Press release from U.S. Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin
For Immediate Release
April 9, 2009
DURBIN AND ILLINOIS DELEGATION ASK DOT TO SUPPORT REVIVAL OF ILLINOIS TRAIN CAR INDUSTRY
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) today led the Illinois Congressional Delegation in asking the Secretary of Transportation, [...]
Boy, I hope Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to set up a good cop/bad cop dynamic with MoveOn and Americans United for Change. The only other alternative I see is depressing.
[...]In a TPM article that I otherwise think gets it right, “MSNBC Reports Defense Cuts, Guest Corrects Record,” reporter Brian Beutler writes that
“I don’t think this tendency [to report a modest budget increase as a “steep” budget cut] stems from an intentional malice - it’s more of an [...]
Matt Yglesias has an interesting piece about educational levels around the Great Depression compared to today that reflects on Paul Krugman’s pessimism about the economy and Ryan Avent’s optimism. The question is where will our economic recovery come from (and how soon)?
I’m no economist, but my sense [...]
While I haven’t written much about it due to time, there’s been a tremendous amount of nonsense (polite term) going on with the College of DuPage (COD) Board of Trustees over the last few years. Trustees resigning because of board ineffectiveness and poor leadership with the incumbent trustee [...]
Ryan Avent points to a study showing that in some cases reduced vehicle traffic has gone below the “tipping point” where congestion gets really bad and produces traffic jams
“In other words, roads work really well up to a point, and then they work really badly. And many, many roads [...]
Scary. I was listening to NPR this AM and thought of Dean Baker when this went on. It appears he was thinking the same thing.
[...]My almost seven-year old informed me last weekend that it was “dumb” that we have only two days off on the weekend because if you need to go to California that takes two days, and then when you get back you’ve missed two days of school. He thought “the Mayor” [...]
A [neo-progressive?] is a conservative who is bugged by reality.
It’s striking that just a couple days after David Brooks complained about conservative nihilism we have the leading exemplar, Bill Kristol, writing an article that advocates conservative nihilism openly.
How far conservativism as a movement has fallen. How much further, [...]
Tonight Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal channeled the worst of Al Gore and Bert (of Bert and Ernie fame) in his GOP response to President Barack Obama’s economic address to congress. The contrast with Barack Obama’s speech made things even worse. Obama was gracious and addressed major issues with the maturity [...]
Here’s my prescription for a (possibly) competitive Republican Party that I wouldn’t vote for but others might: socially conservative, fiscally liberal Republicans. They would emphasize opportunity through things like infrastructure spending, a substantial (but responsible) social safety net, etc. That brand of GOP, kind of an anti-libertarian party, probably could [...]
Senator Charles Schumer says we should stiff governors who want to take only selective stimulus money for political gain. I agree - this isn’t a game, it’s a world depression. Take the money and do some good - or don’t take it and face your voter’s wrath.
[...]Dear Mr. President,
Recently you discussed wasteful military spending with Senator John McCain, who pointed out that a new naval helicopter assigned to you might reflect wasteful spending. Examples like this, however, aren’t the only examples - even in the Navy.
I am equally concerned about a past practice of having [...]
Some federal legislation is confusing and hard to evaluate. Sometimes it’s due to complexity - other times it’s because opponents create complexity to mislead the public. Congressman Peter Roskam recently decided to confuse what the recently passed stimulus package does - and then criticize it for what it doesn’t [...]
Wear it.
Roland Burris is trying to make a virtue out of failed fundraising. Never thought I’d have to update this post:
Roland W. Burris will you please go now!
The time has come.
The time has come.
The time [...]
This morning on WGN John Williams interviewed Congresswoman Judy Biggert of Hinsdale. John asked Congresswoman Biggert about Congressman Michael Capuano yelling at banker CEOs yesterday at a congressional hearing, quoting him saying, “So basically all or most of you engaged in all or at least some of [...]
We’d rather continue to substantially cut taxes, especially those at the upper end, while sacrificing our society’s future economic competitiveness and health through reduced infrastructure spending, reduced education spending, and reduced health care spending among others. On that latter topic, Ezra poses the challenge:
“A decent society doesn’t spen[d] $70 [...]
Michael Steele has recently admitted that he took part in a ghost payroll scheme, receiving money from the state of Maryland from 2003 to 2007, without working at a job there. Those years coincided with Steele’s term as Lt Governor of the state - some sort of volunteer position [...]
Washington, D.C. - Republican Senators accused of obstructing the national economic stimulus package pointed out that with 142,099,000 Americans employed in January, and job losses that month of almost 600,000 people, they could keep their own jobs for about 20 years with similar monthly job losses before no one [...]
Almost absent from the dominant discussion of the federal stimulus package (and bailouts) is any attempt at progressive change that goes beyond the surface of ‘what we buy.’ I spoke yesterday about tying taxpayer expenditures to a living wage - but I’ve been thinking about this type of [...]
Today President Barack Obama capped executive pay for companies receiving U.S. taxpayer bailout money. In his speech, President Obama said,
“We’ve all got to pull together and take our share of responsibility. That’s true here in Washington. That’s true on Wall Street. The American people are carrying a huge [...]
Today, responding to news about a stimulus amendment giving tax breaks to car buyers that increase with the price of the car commenter “Car Free Nation” at Streetsblog said,
“So 11 billion to pay for cars for the rich (it’s a tax break, the more you earn, and the [...]
[Cross-posted at Midwest High Speed Rail, Improving Amtrak Incrementally]
Chicago Union Station, Great Hall
Thursday, January 29th, 12:30 pm
Contacts:
Representative Elaine Nekritz, Chair of the Illinois House Rail Committee
Paris Ervin, Illinois Department of Transportation
Rick Harnish, Midwest High Speed Rail Association
Laura Kliewer, Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail [...]
Tonight after being sworn in as Illinois Governor, Pat Quinn gave a heartfelt speech urging “the people of Illinois to make the sacrifices necessary to address the serious challenges we have before us,” including “the integrity challenge, the challenge of our economy and the challenge that we be able [...]
With William Kristol happily gone from the New York Times Opinion section I have a suggestion - why not replace the right-wing columnist with a left one? Before Kristol you tried a libertarian - what about trying a communitarian? or perhaps someone from the environmental community or labor? [...]
[Cross-posted at Midwest High Speed Rail , Improving Amtrak Incrementally blog]
Both the Illinois Senate (SR 0019) and House (HR 0030) have resolution bills calling “on Congress and President-Elect Barack Obama to maximize the investment in expanded and improved passenger train service as part of the American Recovery [...]
Talking Points Memo has taken Ex-Merrill CEO John Thain to task for a $1.2 million office renovation while his “company was swirling down the drain.”
TPM asks “just what was wrong with the old office?”
The October 29, 2007, Wall Street Journal story on Stanley O’Neal’s office clarifies the [...]
From the Stephanie Kifowit for Mayor Campaign (www.kifowit4mayor.com):
Alderman Kifowit Abstains from Donations from Contractors and Developers who do Business with the City of Aurora.
Aurora, IL: At the Government Operations Committee last year, Alderman Kifowit called for a complete ban on contributions from contractors and developers who do [...]
If you’re interested in transportation policy you might want to take a look at my first post at Midwest High Speed Rail - where I use a Google Map to show rail projects that are ’stimulus ready’ for the incoming Obama Administration.
Talking Points Memo has a nice article on some of the people currently running TARP, the unaccountable group lead by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that (currently) has spent/(mis)managed around $350 billion taxpayer dollars for something that has to do with banks (I wish I could be more specific - [...]
Here’s are some thoughts about what the new year may hold - some seem pretty obvious, others are educated guesswork - while many are positive, some are not.
In Illinois:
- Soon-to-be former Governor Rod Blagojevich will be impeached.
- Soon-to-be Governor Pat Quinn will get ethics legislation through the General Assembly [...]
[Warning: links to profane language. Hat tip Larry]
Whiskey Fire has it right. While the prediction business has suffered from an incredibly unpredictable year (the governor literally putting a U.S. Senate seat for sale, John McCain the GOP presidential standard bearer (not to mention Sarah Palin and on the [...]
[Hat tip ICPR @ Illinoize]
The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform gives you information about political reforms to prevent corruption, seeks input and provides opportunities to write letters to remove Rod Blagojevich as governor at their site Boot Blago!.
Apparently there was some administrative (Blago)glitch last election - and after an unnecessary delay, Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn finally gets to take office as governor.
November 3, 2006, four days before the 2006 Illinois gubernatorial election found me humming this:
“…Everybody’s in despair,
Every girl and boy
But when Democrat [...]
I’ve heard of leg lamps, but not Moose Leg Lamps.
The post on Craigslist advertising the Moose Leg Lamp seems to imply it’s fashionable - “Going for as high as $350 on eBay. [...]
Independent and Democratically-aligned U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman has been beyond the pale for Democrats for a long time. He recently ratcheted things up while supporting Republican John McCain over Democrat Barack Obama for President, attacking Obama with scurrilous, false and personal attacks during the campaign. As an added bonus for [...]
I’ve been asking myself how Bill Ford for years could tout the ‘future environment’ of more environmentally friendly cars - and the company he largely controls could ignore the environment to its current peril.
Here’s a take on how it happened.
Sometimes you hear something repeated as a talking point that’s so obvious you wonder why they bother. Here’s Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s carefully designed $700 billion Wall Street bailout that later was only slightly elaborated in a three page proposal to congress:
Clearly there’s [...]
Over the past week plus I’ve been thinking about the incredible irony of a company forced to produce it’s future, determined to destroy it’s future, and succeeding - leading to its destruction. In the 1990’s GM killed an electric car it was forced to produce by California. Today [...]
I was originally against the $700 billion bailout because of a profound lack of trust in the Bush Administration. I regret to say I was right.
The two major objections I had were that the real costs of the bailout would be hidden and that while asking for new powers [...]
Rob and Nicole Freedman (pictured just below) took the shots
The crowd
Obama
[...]Not since 1988, when Republican George H.W. Bush won the presidency by about 7%, have we had a presidential election won by a clear majority. President Clinton served eight years with a plurality of votes, and George W. Bush served eight years with less than a majority the first term, [...]
Congratulations to all the candidates of all parties this cycle. Democrats locally worked harder than I’ve ever seen before, and their efforts made major headway, with an unprecedented number of competitive races. Congratulations to incoming President Barack Obama, who I’ll talk about more in another post.
Congratulations to the re-elected incumbents: [...]
I was looking at the results in the Daily Herald and found this:
I found this so amazing I double-checked - and House Minority Leader Cross won 60-40. Go figure.
[...]Former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan is a devotee of reactionary individualist philosopher Ayn Rand, author of the novel “Atlas Shrugged” that demonstrated her philosophy in literature. “Alan Shrugged” is a brilliant title for David Corn’s article.
“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”"
Hosea 8:7
Political parties often constitute uneasy alliances. The Republican Party has had to get the bulk of its votes from people voting against their economic interests. While the GOP has gotten these votes, they came at a price. A [...]
From Arran commenting on Spencer Ackerman’s “McCain Advisers Freaked Out by Al Qaeda Preference for McCain”:
“‘Palls around’ with ‘washed-up terrorists’
- or -
endorsed by Al Qaeda, the real deal
note the lack of quotes on that second option.“
It’s just shabby.
Now don’t get me wrong, I believe that grooming and clothing costs within reasonable bounds are justifiable campaign expenses (particularly if you’re doing things you normally wouldn’t do grooming- or clothing-wise for the political campaign). But you can’t have it both ways. If John Edwards got attacked [...]
You can think of the prior post as ‘lack of money indicating salvation’ because GOP operatives can’t afford to slime Obama with dishonest attacks.
Consider Part II to be Democratic Congressional Candidate El Tinklenberg raising close to a million dollars in response to Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s outrageous [...]
There are real world consequences for supporting policies that destroy the economy. One is that you can’t afford to support those policies. The irony.
Former Bears Coach Mike Ditka running for U.S. Senate in 2004? I remember it well.
Some remember it differently.
Anyway, hat tip to Jake, who was great at what he did. It was a big loss for the IL-GOP when he moved on.
I was and am proud to have supported Bill Foster for the Congressional 14th District seat in the special election earlier this year. Bill’s victory was a great victory for the residents of the 14th District, who have gained a hardworking, serious representative fighting for their interests in Congress. It’s [...]
I found this proposal and the background fascinating. Most Americans (myself included) really are woefully ignorant of Canadian history.
I’m sure a lot of high-end, professional PR firms accidentally send the press internal client emails that make them look good. Sure they’re different email addresses and likely on different email lists - but it happens. Really. I’m sure. Kinda like that “sure-thing” financial proposal I meant to send to [...]
I’m becoming more and more convinced that a bailout package spending hundred of billions of dollars (arguably trillions in total) is just another way to forestall America investing in itself - much like the Iraq War. Why do we have the most expensive and least comprehensive health care coverage [...]
Henry Paulson might be forgiven for omission of facts in these troubled financial times - telling us everything might further erode the standing of businesses, and an economy, that might otherwise do better. But there’s a difference between that and lying and making things up (like the number [...]
This originally was a post by a different name about Barack Obama’s Republican opponent in the presidential race. In that post I analyzed how that opponent said he had “suspended” his campaign, when in fact all evidence (which I documented) points to him doing the complete opposite with the exception [...]
It’s interesting that even in local races, in the face of a hiring freeze in Naperville and a budget requiring cuts, in the face of a recent county-level budget meltdown requiring record property tax increases, etc. that the claim is made that things are going great in Naperville and DuPage [...]
It’s over.
John McCain has suspended his campaign for Presidency.
When John McCain declared in the Georgia crisis, “We are all Georgians,” McCain did not suspend his campaign, Georgians could fend for themselves.
When John McCain declared in America’s worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, “the fundamentals of our economy [...]
1. When they talk about costs in a crisis, assume true costs will be ten to 100 times estimates and that they will hide the real cost.
In this current Wall Street crisis please note that the $700 billion bailout does not include the bailout costs of Bear Sterns [...]
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s Senate testimony January 25, 2001:
“The most recent projections…make clear that the highly desirable goal of paying off the federal debt is in reach before the end of the decade.
….
But continuing to run surpluses beyond the point at which we reach zero or [...]
We’re not even talking France here (not that that would be acceptable either - but you know those funny politicians on the right). Matt has the audio here. The McCain Campaign’s official position is that John McCain won’t meet with our ally Spain’s Prime Minister - even though we’re [...]
Yesterday Jonathan Cohn expressed concerned about Barack Obama’s recent two minute ad not properly laying blame for the economic crisis on the conservative deregulation policies of President Bush and the GOP. Today I got an email from the Obama campaign, pointing to the ad, but framing it slightly differently:
“The [...]
It’s likely poor form to quote a blog post in its entirety, but conservative Atlantic Monthly blogger Megan McArdle succinctly and accurately nails John McCain for inability and unwillingness to act on America’s economic crisis:
“So John McCain wants a commission on what to do about the financial markets. I’m [...]
While I’m no expert on these matters, I’ve read two pieces on the AIG bailout that strike me as particularly worthwhile.
Alan Kohler makes an argument about what really happened and is happening that, unfortunately, sounds right to me. It isn’t good news if true.
Michael will seem like family in your travels - and he’s bound to improve your jokes!
[Rumors of Michael Palin’s own bid for Vice President are false, if humorous.]
Late last week 13th District Democratic candidate Scott Harper joined fellow Democrats Jill Morgenthaler in the 6th District and Colleen Callahan in the 18th District on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Emerging Races” list. This list of “Democratic candidates [that] have generated excitement in their districts [...]
[Hat tip Ezra Klein]
James Fallows spell out what’s wrong with Sarah Palin not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is here. I was going to blog my own thought about it that boiled down to this: doesn’t she read the newspapers? Any decent newspaper, especially in the Op-Ed section, [...]
I’m against piling on court fees and charges for people convicted of crimes when those costs aren’t directly part of the sentencing fine for the crime. It can further criminalize lower income people, who can’t pay the fines and end up in more trouble, and it makes it tougher [...]
Travis Sharp beat me to writing it (I found his piece while looking for sources).
Here’s TPM’s coverage of General Petraeus saying we may never have “victory” in Iraq.
There’s been recent discussion of whether Republican Illinois State Senator Kirk Dillard blew it when Dillard appeared in an ad for Barack Obama in the Democratic Presidential Primaries. At the time I thought it was a smart move on his part - possibly with an eye to [...]
There are still rescue workers suffering illness from the September 11th attacks on New York - and some still are not receiving treatment, or sufficient treatment due to lack of health coverage. It’s a national scandal and disgrace.
Yep, the U.S. Congress killed the infamous ‘bridge to nowhere’ that GOP Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin supported, as governor she kept the money for state transportation, and yes, her Alaska is still building the road to the bridge that they were going to build to nowhere.
But now that [...]
Thanks to the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Americans are all homeowners now - it’s just that not everyone can live in one.
Sometimes I get unusual press releases, but this is a first (my commentary in brackets):
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
IT’S ALIVE!
[This sounds dangerous - should we release it?]
THE WB IS OFFICIALLY BACK IN BUSINESS, WITH THE PUBLIC LAUNCH TODAY OF THEWB.COM
New Destination Features Original Series From Top Hollywood Creators and
Digital Mavens, and [...]
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin has a new website, www.PickChicago2016.com, to gather petition signatures urging the International Olympic Committee to pick Chicago for the 2016 Olympics. The site allows visitors to submit a video saying why Chicago should host the Olympics. A winning video will be selected and [...]
Here’s what I’ve recently written about expanding free public transit in Illinois. The Chicago Sun-Times reports Governor Rod Blagojevich signed into law a major new expansion of free public transit yesterday for low income people who have disabilities. To qualify individuals must enroll (or already be enrolled [...]
The situation in the country of Georgia appears terrible - and the U.S. is extremely unlikely to exert military force to save their ally from the Russians, who have taken control of the country and seem likely to divide and annex a portion of it. A lot of people, myself [...]
Today in Denver Governor Rod Blagojevich recognized the problem. It’s a good first step.
[I heard the quote first on NPR - but Margaret Lyons in the Chicagoist has her take on it too.]
Few commentators I’ve read have mentioned (and none really emphasized) Joe Biden’s utility as a way of pacifying (and perhaps co-opting) the Washington, D.C. inside opinion leaders and the press. Biden was the only person on the public short list that combined that appeal with the ability to land a [...]
Like many Americans facing the housing crisis, John McCain apparently doesn’t know if he still owns his home. Unlike almost all Americans, that’s because John McCain has lost count of how many homes he owns.
When asked by Politico how many homes he has, John McCain said, “I think [...]
Daniel Betts moved from Denver with his family to become Executive Director of the Naperville Park District. He lasted four to five months on a three-year contract and now leaves with an $86,000 severance package plus COBRA according to the Daily Herald and Naperville Sun. The Herald [...]
From the Scott Harper Campaign:
Join the Scott Harper for Congress campaign watch Senator Barack Obama accept his parties nomination for President. The party will be from 7-11 p.m. on August 28 in Bolingbrook. The venue will be Tailgaters Bar and Grill on 431 W Boughton Rd., Bolingbrook, IL [...]
One of the best programs we’ve ever had for increasing American prosperity and decreasing poverty.
John McCain dumps on Paris Hilton in a commercial slamming Obama for being like her (i.e. famous and, by implication, insubstantial). Paris Hilton might be expected to slam McCain back, but instead seems to come up with a smart retort showing policy chops - why not incorporate John [...]
I took a look at McCain’s “The One” commercial and came away with two impressions: it obviously had a lot of symbolism I wasn’t getting and it seemed low budget, kind of Monty Pythonesque. Then, thanks to Kevin Drum I read Amy Sullivan’s analysis of the commercial [...]
[Hat tip to Ezra]
Instead of funding the Iraq War, Americans could have done a lot with the money - like give each of us a Toyota Prius or supply the Irish with beer for 1,000 years. War or Car? offers some necessary perspective on the Iraq War’s financial [...]
When Governor Rod Blagojevich made public transportation for seniors free at the beginning of the year he did something right. Given it’s Governor Blagojevich, he didn’t get there the right way and it might even be that having the “right” policy in this case was incidental or accidental, [...]
