Drill, Baby, Drill

Remember how the right-wingers jumped up and down supporting Sarah on this?  Remember those conversations with your family and neighbors who said: "I'm for drilling off-shore if it lowers my gas bill?"  Remember that sinking feeling when Obama tried to be, you know, all bi-partisan and stuff and supported off-shore drilling?

Who was right?  The verdict is in.  Unfortunately.

Disaster Worse Than Exxon Valdez?

Or, as Keith Olbermann put it: "How's that whole Drill, Baby, Drill thing workin' out for ya now?"

Scott Brown: Trading the Pick-up for a Benz?

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown - the upstart GOP maverick who has threatened to filibuster the Democrats’ move to rein in Wall Street - raked in hundreds of thousands from investment banks blamed for the economic meltdown - including Goldman Sachs, according to a Washington, D.C. watchdog.

“What will be interesting will be to see whether he takes his cues from the working guy or if he represents the people on Wall Street,” said David Levinthal, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics which compiled Wall Street campaign contributions.

Brown spokesman Felix Browne promised to get back to a reporter, but never did.

link to Boston Herald story

Tongue-Tied?

Notice how quiet the Tea Party crowd is on financial reform?  Funny, huh?

Good News

Just as the insurance company rate hikes in California added a dose of reality to the debate on health care reform, the SEC charges against Goldman Sachs undercut Republican efforts to create their own reality on financial reform.

Poor Scott Brown.  He gets on national tv and makes some stuff up about job losses in Massachusetts and returns to Washington to discover that the Republican leadership is in full retreat.  I guess he missed the memo.

Financial Reform: The Next Battle

Now, unsurprisingly, these reforms have not exactly been welcomed by the people who profit from the status quo – as well their allies in Washington.  This is probably why the special interests have spent a lot of time and money lobbying to kill or weaken the bill.  Just the other day, in fact, the Leader of the Senate Republicans and the Chair of the Republican Senate campaign committee met with two dozen top Wall Street executives to talk about how to block progress on this issue.

Lo and behold, when he returned to Washington, the Senate Republican Leader came out against the common-sense reforms we’ve proposed.  In doing so, he made the cynical and deceptive assertion that reform would somehow enable future bailouts – when he knows that it would do just the opposite.  Every day we don’t act, the same system that led to bailouts remains in place – with the exact same loopholes and the exact same liabilities.  And if we don’t change what led to the crisis, we’ll doom ourselves to repeat it.  That’s the truth.  Opposing reform will leave taxpayers on the hook if a crisis like this ever happens again.

Barack Obama

President of the United States of America

link to White House Briefing Room

John Stewart: A Farewell to Arms

Fox News supports German annexation of Danzig--proof in the video!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
A Farewell to Arms
www.thedailyshow.com
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Gail Collins Thinks Like Me

Thanks to the tax credits in President Obama’s stimulus plan and other programs aimed at helping working families, couples with two kids making up to $50,000 were generally off the hook this year.

According to the Gallup polls, 45 percent of Tea Party supporters have incomes under $50,000. According to a New York Times/CBS News poll, Tea Party activists are virtually the only segment of the population in which a majority feels its tax burden is unfair. 

Naturally, anti-tax groups held rallies to thank the president for doing so much to reduce the burden on the half of the country least able to pay. Not.

link to article

Some Real Data for Tax Day

Sarah Palin is so 1980s.  If she is really against taxes, you would think she would be congratulating President Obama for his HUGE tax cut last year.  Instead, she continues to try to convince the uninformed that Democrats support higher taxes on the middle class.

Here's the reality:

Income taxes: A family of four in the exact middle of the income spectrum will pay only 4.6 percent of its income in federal income taxes this year, according to a new analysis by the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center.  This is the second-lowest percentage in the past 50 years.

Overall federal taxes: Middle-income households are paying overall federal taxes — which include income as well as payroll and excise taxes — at or near their lowest levels in decades, according to the latest data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

"It's Just Diddly"

Eugene Robinson

"If he has never done so, (Republican Governor of Mississippi) Barbour should hold in his hands some of the leg irons, manacles and other restraints that were used to subdue the Africans. He should visit some of the plantations where slave cabins still stand -- there are plenty in his state -- to get a sense of how the Africans lived. He should spend a long, hot day picking cotton. He should read the accounts of plantation life written by former slaves, and then he should explain why there is any reason to "honor" soldiers who fought to perpetuate a system that could never have functioned without constant, deliberate, unflinching cruelty".

Are They SpentYet?

Posted on a Blog from Nashville:

"The Tea Parties here seem to be splitting into fundamentalist, libertarian, and country club factions, mirroring the divisions within the GOP. I expect them all to be re-absorbed within the Republican Party by election time."

Sounds about right to me.

A governor on a roll - The Boston Globe

A governor on a roll - The Boston Globe

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Just Thinking

Why hasn't Massachusetts declared April "Victory over the Slavers" month?  I had Canadian ancestors who came down here to fight against slavery.  They died at Gettysburg.  They did not come down to the States to fight for preservation of the Union.  They fought and died to eliminate slavery.  Union soldiers sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic as they went into battle: "We died to set men free."  

The Republican Governors of numerous former traitor states (not just Virginia) have declared April "Confederate History Month."  If they are going to honor their commitment to slavery shouldn't we honor our commitment to freedom?

5th Annual Three Towns & Two Cities Democratic Breakfast

5th Annual Three Towns & Two Cities Democratic Breakfast

The 5th Annual Three Towns & Two Cities Democratic Breakfast will be held on Saturday, April 10, 2010, at Nicholson Hall, 9 Harris Street, Newburyport, MA. Tickets are $25. Seating is limited.

There will be a Coffee and Social Hour from 8:30-9:30AM followed by the Program and Breakfast at 9:30AM.

The Democratic committees of Amesbury, Newbury, Newburyport, Salisbury, and West Newbury join together to invite you to a hearty buffet breakfast with state and local political leaders discussing relevant issues. Confirmed guests to date include

• Congressman John Tierney,
  
• Governor Deval Patrick,
  
• State Senator Stephen Baddour,
  
• State Representative Michael Costello,
  
• State Treasurer candidate Steve Grossman,
  
• State Auditor candidates Suzanne Bump, Guy Glodis, and Mike Lake,
  
• Essex County District Attorney Jon Blodgett, and
  
• John Walsh, Chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
  

Bob Allison of Newburyport will provide musical accompaniment. HOBO Caterers of Salisbury Beach will provide hearty buffet breakfast.

Proceeds from the breakfast will be used to support the sponsoring town and city committees. Sponsorships of $50, $100, and $200 are available. Tickets should be purchased ahead of time but a limited number will be available at the door. Those interested in sponsoring the event or in purchasing tickets should contact:

• Amesbury, Jane Seibacker at jsiebecker@verizon.net,
• Newbury, LuAnn Kuder at lakuder@hotmail.com, 978-270-4816
• Newburyport, Ed Cameron at edcameronNBPT@gmail.com, 978-518-0786
• Salisbury, Lou Masiello at thesummerwind300@comcast.net, 978-465-8741
• West Newbury, Kathy Pasquina at kathypasq2@hotmail.com, 978-363-2274

Press: For more information about this event, please contact Lou Masiello at thesummerwind300@comcast.net or call 978-465-8741.

Health Insurance Cap---Message from Governor, April 1...no foolin'

April 1, 2010

Friends,

Today, the Commissioner of Insurance has disapproved all excessive or unreasonable health insurance premium increases. I directed this review, on an emergency basis, because sharp and repeated rate increases are crushing small businesses and working families in the Commonwealth. I wanted to make sure that you understand exactly what we are doing, why we are doing it, and what it means for you.

What are we doing?

The Commissioner of Insurance has rejected all health insurance premium increases for small businesses that he deems to be excessive. The Commissioner’s decision means that the rates that were in effect in April of last year will remain in effect for those companies that were disapproved.

Why are we doing it?

Because enough is enough. Small businesses are being crushed under the weight of health care costs that keep rising sharply year after year. Instead of hiring and growing our economy, they are trying to manage under unreasonable pressure from the cost of health care. Big insurance companies and hospitals have been talking about the problem for years but doing little about it. Small businesses and working families need relief now while we continue working with the industry on long-term solutions to control the costs of health care.

What does this mean for you?

If you own a small business and the premium increase charged by your health insurance company has been disapproved by the Commissioner, it means you will be getting a rebate or credit for the premium increase that you paid. That will give you some economic breathing room and allow your business to keep growing. Critics will say that we have been too aggressive, but the time has run out for circular conversations. Small businesses cannot wait any longer.

How can you help?

Support our efforts to help small businesses and working families today. Talk to your local representative and senator, friends, neighbors, and coworkers, and ask them to stand with us as we support this necessary step to provide relief for small businesses now, and get people back to work.

Thank you.

Speaks for Itself

We've Seen This Before

Not satisfied with U.S. history, some conservatives are rewriting it

"The Jamestown settlers? Socialists. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton? Ill-informed professors made up all that bunk about him advocating a strong central government.

Theodore Roosevelt? Another socialist. Franklin D. Roosevelt? Not only did he not end the Great Depression, he also created it.

Joe McCarthy? Liberals lied about him. He was a hero".