Currently viewing the tag: “Republicans”
About three miles south of Beverly Hills in the upper-middle class neighborhood of Beverlywood is Hamilton High School. An otherwise ordinary Los Angeles Unified School District-sponsored juvenile detention center, Hamilton is home to a couple of well regarded magnet programs, particularly the Academy of Music Magnet. The Music Magnet is the old stomping grounds of pop stars, Broadway talent, and even Hollywood A-listers who were drawn to a public school program that has a focus on the arts. Yet, even this rare LAUSD high school that students actually want to attend has become a casualty of the horrendous budget crises in the state of California.
Reporter Steve Lopez was dispatched to the scene to write up the various cutbacks for the Los Angeles Times. Lopez is known for being the journalist whose articles on a schizophrenic musician inspired the Robert Downey Jr./Jaime Foxx film The Soloist. Then all of a sudden, what had the makings of a compelling human interest piece on one of the handful of quintessentially Hollywood high schools quickly devolved into a sob story about how these poor teachers and students have been victimized by the dastardly Republicans and their resistance to tax hikes.
How did he do this?
First, Lopez paints a rosy picture of the school by glowingly describing a performance by the jazz band and cherry-picking quotes raving about teachers; his portrayal of Hamilton is a lot like Sean Penn’s depiction of Iraq in Team America:
As it happens, Hamilton is my local high school and I have family and friends who have graduated from the Music Magnet in recent years. To put it bluntly, many of their experiences didn’t resemble the mythical land of incredible teachers and students anxious to learn that Lopez describes. An anonymous Hamilton graduate told me she recalls students doing cocaine in the state-of the art auditorium (which was overhauled with a lavish grant to the Music Magnet)—in fact, the source recalled students showing up to class on an assortment of drugs. Faculty members were seen “celebrating” with students at cast parties after plays.
And I thought programs like these were meant to keep kids off drugs.
The better students still spent a large portion of class time listening to their ipods.
Not surprisingly for an arts magnet-or any school, for that matter-there have been allegations of political propagandizing by the Music Magnet teachers, both within and out of the context of the course material. Among other examples, one of the choral teachers indtroduced the class to an ode to George W. Bush called “THE DOOFUS MARCHES ON: Battle Hymn of the Republicans.” The chorus:
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya!
Glory! Glory! What’s It To Ya!
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya! T
This Doofus marches on.
I’m not sure what’s more on the nose: the indoctrination or the humor.
One of these spectacular teachers Lopez mentions in the article taught an acting class; an anonymous source sums up the class experience this way: “She taught me nothing about acting but a lot about AIDS.” Another teacher mentioned in the article, according to an alum, “pushed an anti-Bush agenda” and openly discussed his alcohol abuse with the students during class time.
These examples are from the highly touted Music Magnet; I have even more frightening anecdotes from the main school.
But the stuff that doesn’t make Hamilton High seem awesomely awesome didn’t make it into Lopez’s piece. What did slip past the editors, however, was a four paragraph tirade against Republicans:
But during tough times, even GOP hero Ronald Reagan and rock-solid conservative Gov. Pete Wilson temporarily raised taxes along with making tough cuts. Today, California’s Republican legislators have so far refused to support Gov. Brown’s plan to let voters decide whether they want to go that same route: to balance the budget half with cuts and half by temporarily extending tax increases.
Nor have the Republicans explained how they’d whack $ 26 billion without putting more teachers out of work and destroying schools in their own districts. And where, by the way, are the parents in those districts? Are they going to watch in silence as their kids get hammered?
At Hamilton, booster club president Chris Kenemuth told me she’s a Republican who doesn’t mind paying taxes to save great programs. She’s been trying to contact Republican legislators to let them know how she feels, but they’re not responding.
Of course not. What can they say that doesn’t shame them further? And how would they explain who wins when you fire teachers and demoralize students; when you take something that works and destroy it?
If this is Mr. Lopez’s honest analysis of what ails L.A. city schools, maybe he’s been spending too much time in the auditorium partaking in the aforementioned extracurricular activities with the jazz band… and various faculty members.
One of reasons we’re in this mess is because tax rates are already so damn high in this state (not to mention in the city of Los Angeles) that businesses are leaving in droves and taking their jobs, and potential tax revenue, with them. So what should we do? According to Lopez, raise ‘em up some more so that LAUSD, which boasts about a 40% graduation rate, can continue to phone it in for our kids. What’s incredible about this number is that LAUSD wants to move students along; show up and complete most of the course work, and they’re good to go. This is apparently a tall order for most families. To be fair, the Hamilton Music Magnet has an exceptional graduation rate, but doesn’t that say more about the already motivated students and parents than it does about the effectiveness of the program?
The CATO Institute published a report last years estimating that each student in Los Angeles Unified cost tax payers over $ 25,000 per year for fiscal year 2008. You read that right. Given the graduation rate, that’s over $ 62,500 per year per graduate. LAUSD itself only cops to shelling out about $ 10k, but even that’s still more than the average private school tuition for the L.A. area (here’s an article that explains the discrepancy between the reported and actual cost). But again, if you’re a liberal, there is no price too high for our kids to have a public school environment to do drugs hate Bush learn jazz trumpet.
Lopez asks, “and as for those teachers who remain, will their class sizes shoot past the 40s and into the 50s?” He should be asking, given all the money spent, why are they already in the 40s?
In the eyes of Lopez, the liberals and Democrats who have run California and the City of Angels for the last generation are free from blame, and same goes for the unions that have put America’s public school-going children at the mercy of a system without incentives that’s designed to protect the bad teachers at the expense of the students and good teacher… I mean teachers.
If any public school could be exemplary in Los Angeles, it’d be Hamilton, but not even the most talented kids, the “magnet” status, or the occasional generous donation could make this program a clear success.
Of the Hamilton High School alumni I know, many seemed to have a rich and educational experience, others had their time and your money wasted, and most fell somewhere in between. Personally, I took music every year of school starting from sixth grade up until I received a minor in music from UC Berekely, so I am all for including music as part of formal education and Hamilton may well be the best we can do at this point in time. Still, many who have taken that journey through Hamilton High School Music Magnet and the people close to them know that it’s not at all the picture of perfection described in Steve Lopez’s one-sided report. And the GOP okaying a mid-recession tax hike isn’t going to change that.
But this Hollywood and it’s the L.A. Times, and I do love a good fantasy.
Households across the country are still feeling the effects of the Great Recession, with unemployment falling very slowly, while foreclosures are still increasing, along with poverty rates and oil prices. Family wealth is currently down $ 12.8 trillion from its 2007 peak.
However, one group of Americans is doing very well — corporate CEOs, whose pay is returning to pre-recession levels:
At a time most employees can barely remember their last substantial raise, median CEO pay jumped 27% in 2010 as the executives’ compensation started working its way back to prerecession levels, a USA TODAY analysis of data from GovernanceMetrics International found. Workers in private industry, meanwhile, saw their compensation grow just 2.1% in the 12 months ended December 2010, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Median CEO pay last year was $ 9 million, the highest since 2007. The median CEO bonus was $ 2.2 million. These gains come as income inequality in the U.S. is already the worst its been since 1928. “We have the recipe for controversy over CEO pay: big increases in CEO pay that show up following run-ups in stock prices coupled with high unemployment rates,” said Kevin Murphy, professor of finance at the University of Southern California.
But right now the discussion on Capitol Hill is centered on how much should be cut from the non-defense discretionary portion of the budget during the remainder of 2011; these cuts will fall almost exclusively onto middle-class and low-income families. Senate Democrats have attempted to reframe the discussion to include new sources of revenue, including a tax on millionaires, but yesterday, House Republicans reiterated that taxes are off the table.
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), for instance, derided the idea as a “job-crushing tax hike,” while House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said that it would be “a terrible move in the current economic environment.”
But raising taxes on millionaires is not, in fact, the same as raising taxes on job creators. According to a recent Wall Street Journal-NBC poll, an overwhelming majority of Americans (81 percent) say that adding a surtax on millionaires is an acceptable way to reduce the budget deficit. This is far higher than than the percentage that say that would accept recent moves by the GOP like attempting to defund Planned Parenthood or cutting funding for the Affordable Care Act.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) recently released a bill that would implement a graduated income tax on millionaires that would raise $ 78 billion. Allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for those making more than $ 1 million could, in one instant, reduce eight percent of the medium-term budget deficit.
Last night, Colorado’s House Judiciary Committee failed to advance Senate Bill-172, which would have allowed residents to enter into civil unions and provided same-sex couples with critical legal protections. The bill passed the Senate last week, but a motion to move the measure onto the Committee on Appropriations did not garner a majority and fell in a 5-6 party line vote. As the Denver Post reported, “it was clear that the vote was painful for some Republicans, including Rep. Brian DelGrosso of Loveland, whose uncle is gay. He bowed his head when voting “no.” “It was tough,” DelGrosso said afterward.”
Douglas Napier of the Alliance Defense Fund led the formal opposition against the bill and maintained that civil unions would likely lead to same-sex marriage, despite a 2006 voter-approved constitutional amendment that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The debate quickly disintegrated from there, as witnesses began quoting the Bible, regurgitating thoroughly debunked claims about ex-gay therapy and even predicting the end of times. The Family Research Institute’s Dr. Paul Cameron — whose so-called ‘research’ on homosexuality has been condemned and refuted by most major medical organizations in the United States and Canada — provided the most colorful testimony. Some highlights from the hearing:
– “If you take all your clothes off and stand in front of a mirror, and your plumbing is on the outside, you’re a male.”
– “Every Coloradoan now has basically a $ 112 AIDS tax from gays in the United States…if we as a society allow it to be accepted, we will get more of it…when gays are partnered they are more apt to get sexually transmitted diseases.”
– “They found Sodom and Gomorrah two years ago buried underneath the ash heap so that proves right there by archaeology that any society that allowed homosexuality, including the Jewish society, disintegrated completely.”
– “If you vote otherwise, you are going to help end — not tomorrow, the sun will come up — but you will help to end this most successful civilization.
Listen:
Meanwhile, Napier argued that SB-172 used all of the “buzz words” of marriage equality and warned the committee that a federal court could seize on the legislation to establish same-sex marriage in the state. At one point in his testimony, Napier maintained that gay and lesbian relationships should be denied recognition because heterosexual couples would be able to exploit civil unions to avoid some of the responsibilities of marriage, including child rearing. Rep. Daniel Kagan (D) challenged Napier’s logic, pointing out that under current law, same-sex partners have no legal obligation to rear children. “[Y]ou seem to prefer that there be no obligation toward children on behalf of the parents who are not the legal parents of children under this current status quo but would become legally obligated as a parent,” Kagan said. “I just have tremendous trouble understanding why no protection for children is preferable to you than the protections of children that would be afforded by this bill.” [Listen to the full exchange here]
“Today’s vote was out of touch with everyday Colorado voters. With 72% of Coloradans in support of civil unions, House Republicans are out of the mainstream,” Brad Clark, Executive Director of One Colorado, a statewide LGBT advocacy organization, said in a statement following the vote. “Once again, they have turned their backs on Colorado families and kids.” The committee also defeated an amendment to the bill that would have put the question of civil unions to a voter referendum in 2014.
In celebration of April Fools Day, Republicans put out a mock ad for President Obama’s re-election campaign which features Obama riding a unicorn over a rainbow with the tagline: “Four more years: America needs more changing.”
Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire
About three miles south of Beverly Hills in the upper-middle class neighborhood of Beverlywood is Hamilton High School. An otherwise ordinary Los Angeles Unified School District-sponsored juvenile detention center, Hamilton is home to a couple of well regarded magnet programs, particularly the Academy of Music Magnet. The Music Magnet is the old stomping grounds of pop stars, Broadway talent, and even Hollywood A-listers who were drawn to a public school program that has a focus on the arts. Yet, even this rare LAUSD high school that students actually want to attend has become a casualty of the horrendous budget crises in the state of California.
Reporter Steve Lopez was dispatched to the scene to write up the various cutbacks for the Los Angeles Times. Lopez is known for being the journalist whose articles on a schizophrenic musician inspired the Robert Downey Jr./Jaime Foxx film The Soloist. Then all of a sudden, what had the makings of a compelling human interest piece on one of the handful of quintessentially Hollywood high schools quickly devolved into a sob story about how these poor teachers and students have been victimized by the dastardly Republicans and their resistance to tax hikes.
How did he do this?
First, Lopez paints a rosy picture of the school by glowingly describing a performance by the jazz band and cherry-picking quotes raving about teachers; his portrayal of Hamilton is a lot like Sean Penn’s depiction of Iraq in Team America:
As it happens, Hamilton is my local high school and I have family and friends who have graduated from the Music Magnet in recent years. To put it bluntly, many of their experiences didn’t resemble the mythical land of incredible teachers and students anxious to learn that Lopez describes. An anonymous Hamilton graduate told me she recalls students doing cocaine in the state-of the art auditorium (which was overhauled with a lavish grant to the Music Magnet)—in fact, the source recalled students showing up to class on an assortment of drugs. Faculty members were seen “celebrating” with students at cast parties after plays.
And I thought programs like these were meant to keep kids off drugs.
The better students still spent a large portion of class time listening to their ipods.
Not surprisingly for an arts magnet-or any school-there have been allegations of political propagandizing by the Music Magnet teachers, both in and out of the context of the course material. Among other examples, one of the choral teachers indtroduced the class to an ode to George W. Bush called “THE DOOFUS MARCHES ON: Battle Hymn of the Republicans.” The chorus:
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya!
Glory! Glory! What’s It To Ya!
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya! T
This Doofus marches on.
I’m not sure what’s more on the nose: the indoctrination or the humor.
One of these spectacular teachers Lopez mentions in the article taught an acting class; an anonymous source sums up the class experience this way: “She taught me nothing about acting but a lot about AIDS.” Another teacher mentioned in the article, according to an alum, “pushed an anti-Bush agenda” and openly discussed his alcohol abuse with the students during class time.
These are just the examples from the highly touted Music Magnet; I have even more frightening anecdotes from the main school.
But the stuff that doesn’t make Hamilton High seem awesomely awesome didn’t make it into Lopez’s piece. What did slip past the editors, however, was a four paragraph tirade against Republicans:
But during tough times, even GOP hero Ronald Reagan and rock-solid conservative Gov. Pete Wilson temporarily raised taxes along with making tough cuts. Today, California’s Republican legislators have so far refused to support Gov. Brown’s plan to let voters decide whether they want to go that same route: to balance the budget half with cuts and half by temporarily extending tax increases.
Nor have the Republicans explained how they’d whack $ 26 billion without putting more teachers out of work and destroying schools in their own districts. And where, by the way, are the parents in those districts? Are they going to watch in silence as their kids get hammered?
At Hamilton, booster club president Chris Kenemuth told me she’s a Republican who doesn’t mind paying taxes to save great programs. She’s been trying to contact Republican legislators to let them know how she feels, but they’re not responding.
Of course not. What can they say that doesn’t shame them further? And how would they explain who wins when you fire teachers and demoralize students; when you take something that works and destroy it?
If this is Mr. Lopez’s honest analysis of what ails L.A. city schools, maybe he’s been spending too much time in the auditorium partaking in the aforementioned extracurricular activities with the jazz band… and various faculty members.
One of reasons we’re in this mess is because tax rates are already so damn high in this state (not to mention in the city of Los Angeles) that businesses are leaving in droves and taking their jobs, and potential tax revenue, with them. So what should we do? According to Lopez, raise ‘em up some more so that LAUSD, which boasts about a 40% graduation rate, can continue to phone it in for our kids. What’s incredible about this number is that LAUSD wants to move students along; show up and complete most of the course work, and they’re good to go. This is apparently a tall order for most families. To be fair, the Hamilton Music Magnet has an exceptional graduation rate, but doesn’t that say more about the already motivated students and parents than it does about the effectiveness of the program?
The CATO institute published a report last years estimating that each student in Los Angeles Unified cost tax payers over $ 25,000 per year for fiscal year 2008. You read that right. Given the graduation rate, that’s over $ 62,500 per year per graduate. LAUSD itself only cops to shelling out about $ 10k, and even that’s still more than the average private school tuition for the L.A. area (here’s an article that explains the discrepancy between the reported and actual cost). But again, if you’re a liberal, there is no price too high for our kids to have a public school environment to do drugs hate Bush learn jazz trumpet.
Lopez asks, “and as for those teachers who remain, will their class sizes shoot past the 40s and into the 50s?” He should be asking, given all the money spent, why are they already in the 40s?
In the eyes of Lopez, the liberals and Democrats who have run California and the City of Angels for the last generation are free from blame, and same goes for the unions that have put America’s public school-going children at the mercy of a system without incentives that’s designed to protect the bad teachers at the expense of the students and good teacher… I mean teachers.
If any public school could be exemplary in Los Angeles, it’d be Hamilton, but not even the most talented kids, the “magnet” status, or the occasional generous donation could make this program a clear success.
Of the Hamilton High School alumni I know, many seemed to have a rich and educational experience, others had their time and your money wasted, and most fell somewhere in between. Personally, I took music every year of school starting from sixth grade up until I received a minor in music from UC Berekely, so I am all for including music as part of formal education and Hamilton may well be the best we can do at this point in time. Still, many who have taken that journey through Hamilton High School Music Magnet and the people close to them know that it’s not at all the picture of perfection described in Steve Lopez’s one-sided report. And the GOP okaying a mid-recession tax hike isn’t going to change that.
But this Hollywood and it’s the L.A. Times, and I do love a good fantasy.
Maine State Rep. David Burns is the latest of many Republican lawmakers concerned that employers aren’t allowed to do enough to exploit child workers:
LD 1346 suggests several significant changes to Maine’s child labor law, most notably a 180-day period during which workers under age 20 would earn $ 5.25 an hour.
The state’s current minimum wage is $ 7.50 an hour.
Rep. David Burns, R-Whiting, is sponsoring the bill, which also would eliminate the maximum number of hours a minor over 16 can work during school days.
Burns’ bill is particularly insidious, because it directly encourages employers to hire children or teenagers instead of adult workers. Because workers under 20 could be paid less than adults under this GOP proposal, minimum wage workers throughout Maine would likely receive a pink slip as their twentieth birthday present so that their boss could replace them with someone younger and cheaper.
And Burns is just one of many prominent Republicans who believe that America’s robust protections against the exploitation of children are wrongheaded:
- Maine State Sen. Debra Plowman (R) introduced a separate bill that would extend the number of hours employers can require a minor to work. Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) backs this proposal.
- Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) delivered a lengthy lecture where he claimed that federal child labor laws violate the Constitution. His Republican colleagues in the Senate rewarded him with a seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee — the committee with jurisdiction over constitutional questions.
- Missouri State Sen. Jane Cunningham (R) introduced a bill which would “eliminate[] the prohibition on employment of children under age fourteen. Restrictions on the number of hours and restrictions on when a child may work during the day are also removed.”
- Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s (R) most recent brief attacking the Affordable Care Act relies heavily on a discredited Supreme Court decision striking down a federal child labor law that was overruled decades ago.
- Judges Roger Vinson and Henry Hudson, the two outlier judges who struck down the ACA, also relied heavily on this discredited anti-child labor decision in their decisions.
Republicans’ contempt for workers is hardly news. GOP governors throughout the country have declared war on collective bargaining, and the national minimum wage remained stagnant for nearly a decade the last time Republicans controlled Congress. Nevertheless, the GOP’s increasingly widespread assaults on child labor laws is a significant escalation from their longstanding war on adult workers.
Maine State Rep. David Burns is the latest of many Republican lawmakers concerned that employers aren’t allowed to do enough to exploit child workers:
LD 1346 suggests several significant changes to Maine’s child labor law, most notably a 180-day period during which workers under age 20 would earn $ 5.25 an hour.
The state’s current minimum wage is $ 7.50 an hour.
Rep. David Burns, R-Whiting, is sponsoring the bill, which also would eliminate the maximum number of hours a minor over 16 can work during school days.
Burns’ bill is particularly insidious, because it directly encourages employers to hire children or teenagers instead of adult workers. Because workers under 20 could be paid less than adults under this GOP proposal, minimum wage workers throughout Maine would likely receive a pink slip as their twentieth birthday present so that their boss could replace them with someone younger and cheaper.
And Burns is just one of many prominent Republicans who believe that America’s robust protections against the exploitation of children are wrongheaded:
- Maine State Sen. Debra Plowman (R) introduced a separate bill that would extend the number of hours employers can require a minor to work. Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) backs this proposal.
- Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) delivered a lengthy lecture where he claimed that federal child labor laws violate the Constitution. His Republican colleagues in the Senate rewarded him with a seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee — the committee with jurisdiction over constitutional questions.
- Missouri State Sen. Jane Cunningham (R) introduced a bill which would “eliminate[] the prohibition on employment of children under age fourteen. Restrictions on the number of hours and restrictions on when a child may work during the day are also removed.”
- Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s (R) most recent brief attacking the Affordable Care Act relies heavily on a discredited Supreme Court decision striking down a federal child labor law that was overruled decades ago.
- Judges Roger Vinson and Henry Hudson, the two outlier judges who struck down the ACA, also relied heavily on this discredited anti-child labor decision in their decisions.
Republicans’ contempt for workers is hardly news. GOP governors throughout the country have declared war on collective bargaining, and the national minimum wage remained stagnant for nearly a decade the last time Republicans controlled Congress. Nevertheless, the GOP’s increasingly widespread assaults on child labor laws is a significant escalation from their longstanding war on adult workers.
Maine State Rep. David Burns is the latest of many Republican lawmakers concerned that employers aren’t allowed to do enough to exploit child workers:
LD 1346 suggests several significant changes to Maine’s child labor law, most notably a 180-day period during which workers under age 20 would earn $ 5.25 an hour.
The state’s current minimum wage is $ 7.50 an hour.
Rep. David Burns, R-Whiting, is sponsoring the bill, which also would eliminate the maximum number of hours a minor over 16 can work during school days.
Burns’ bill is particularly insidious, because it directly encourages employers to hire children or teenagers instead of adult workers. Because workers under 20 could be paid less than adults under this GOP proposal, minimum wage workers throughout Maine would likely receive a pink slip as their twentieth birthday present so that their boss could replace them with someone younger and cheaper.
And Burns is just one of many prominent Republicans who believe that America’s robust protections against the exploitation of children are wrongheaded:
- Maine State Sen. Debra Plowman (R) introduced a separate bill that would extend the number of hours employers can require a minor to work. Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) backs this proposal.
- Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) delivered a lengthy lecture where he claimed that federal child labor laws violate the Constitution. His Republican colleagues in the Senate rewarded him with a seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee — the committee with jurisdiction over constitutional questions.
- Missouri State Sen. Jane Cunningham (R) introduced a bill which would “eliminate[] the prohibition on employment of children under age fourteen. Restrictions on the number of hours and restrictions on when a child may work during the day are also removed.”
- Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s (R) most recent brief attacking the Affordable Care Act relies heavily on a discredited Supreme Court decision striking down a federal child labor law that was overruled decades ago.
- Judges Roger Vinson and Henry Hudson, the two outlier judges who struck down the ACA, also relied heavily on this discredited anti-child labor decision in their decisions.
Republicans’ contempt for workers is hardly news. GOP governors throughout the country have declared war on collective bargaining, and the national minimum wage remained stagnant for nearly a decade the last time Republicans controlled Congress. Nevertheless, the GOP’s increasingly widespread assaults on child labor laws is a significant escalation from their longstanding war on adult workers.
At the same time as Republicans are trying to force the IRS to audit abortions (even while forbidding use of the word “uterus”), they are trying to cut Obama’s request for international aid by 16%. Doing so, USAID Rajiv Shah testified yesterday, would kill 70,000 children.
“We estimate, and I believe these are very conservative estimates, that H.R. 1 would lead to 70,000 kids dying,” USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah testified before the House Appropriations State and Foreign Ops subcommittee.
“Of that 70,000, 30,000 would come from malaria control programs that would have to be scaled back specifically. The other 40,000 is broken out as 24,000 would die because of a lack of support for immunizations and other investments and 16,000 would be because of a lack of skilled attendants at birth,” he said.
Check out that last one: the Republicans want to kill 16,000 children by cutting the money for childbirth attendants.
I guess according to the GOP moral code, it’s okay to cause the death of children at childbirth, but letting a woman terminate a pregnancy before that point is a mortal sin.
Related posts:
During a debate in Florida’s legislature, state Rep. Scott Randolph (D) argued that Republicans “are against regulations — except when it comes to the little guys, or serves their specific interests,” the St. Petersburg Times reports.
“At one point Randolph suggested that his wife ‘incorporate her uterus’ to stop Republicans from pushing measures that would restrict abortions. Republicans, after all, wouldn’t want to further regulate a Florida business.”
However, GOP leadership was not amused and chastised the lawmaker for using the word “uterus” because “it is important for all Members to be mindful of and respectful to visitors and guests, particularly the young pages and messengers who are seated in the chamber during debates. In the past, if the debate is going to contain language that would be considered inappropriate for children and other guests, the Speaker will make an announcement in advance, asking children and others who may be uncomfortable with the subject matter to leave the floor and gallery.”
Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire
This morning, several reports said that Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) and the White House are close to settling on a level of spending cuts for the remainder of 2011. The so-called compromise would put spending $ 33 billion below current levels (or roughly $ 74 billion below President Obama’s 2011 budget request). However, Boehner said during a press conference today that “there is no agreement on numbers and nothing will be agreed to until everything is agreed to.”
President Obama has consistently said that he’s willing to meet the GOP halfway when it comes to the level of spending cuts. But if this is where the deal ultimately lands, Democrats will have come three-fourths of the way from the Obama budget to the $ 100 billion below that budget ($ 61 billion below current spending) that the Republicans passed in their bill, H.R. 1. Here’s a handy version of the situation, in graphic form:
Whether measuring reductions from current spending or the Obama budget, it’s clear that Democrats have moved significantly, while Republicans have offered nothing in return. As Center on Budget and Policy Priorities president Robert Greenstein wrote, “that’s been the story of the fiscal 2011 appropriations cycle — a story of the goal posts being moved by Republican demands for ever deeper cuts; Democrats moving toward these deeper cuts over time; and Republicans charging that Democrats have not offered enough by way of cuts.”
Still, Boehner today asserted that “we are going to fight for H.R. 1″ and all of its economically destructive cuts. Even at the “compromise” level, the cuts would undermine competitiveness and job creation, in an already weak economy.
Republicans, who attacked the AARP for their support of the Affordable Care Act, are lashing out against the organization for allegedly profiting from the law and are hauling representatives of the group to testify before a Congressional committee tomorrow. In a report released yesterday by the House Ways and Means Committee, the GOP accuses AARP of profiting from the law’s cuts to Medicare Advantage, arguing that reductions in the program would “lead seniors to seek supplemental insurance, including Medigap, which AARP endorses and which, the congressmen said, would provide AARP with a bigger take than Medicare Advantage plans it endorses.” Republicans claim that AARP stands to gain $ 1 billion in fees from the Medicaid Advantage reductions.
But the GOP hasn’t always been so down on the organization. In fact, in 2003, when AARP endorsed the Republican-backed Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, Republicans praised the organization without accusing it of potentially profiting from the effort:
REP. PETE SESSIONS (R-TX): “What is surprising to hear the Democrat Party lambaste AARP. The AARP is that organization for senior citizens all across the country who I think has made a very wise and careful decision to look at his prescription drug plan and have clearly said GOP is right on the policy and right on what will give long-term success to this nation.” [2003]
REP. BILL THOMAS (R-CA): “[I]f we are trying to destroy Medicare, why is the American Association of Retired People supporting this proposal? Why is the AARP in favor of this bill?…AARP has chosen to be with seniors, and they have chosen to be with us.” [2003]
REP. JOE WILSON (R-SC): “Additionally, I’m happy to be here because of the support of the AARP of the plan which is before us at this time. I’m a member of the AARP and I’m proud of their promotion of the best health plan that they feel can be produced and that’s the bill before of us this week.” [11/21/2003]
REP. PHIL GRINGEY (R-GA): “Thirty-five million senior members of AARP, 330,000 physician members of American Medical Association who are providing care to hundreds of millions of Americans and 40 million Medicare beneficiaries…Mr. Speaker with so many for prescription drug and Medicare modernization benefit for our beloved seniors who could be against it and why?” [11/21/2003]
In fact, the Republican’s own report reveals that AARP began began selling Medicare Part D drug plans after 2003 and saw its revenues nearly triple. The organization maintains that it keeps its insurance subsidiary’s activities separate from its nonprofit work.
ThinkProgress intern Kevin Donohue contributed significant research for this post.
What if a Wisconsin Republican was caught on video talking about tough it was for his family to get along on his $ 174,000 a year salary at a time when the state’s Governor is not only cutting but eliminating collective bargaining for public unions? What if it wound up on the Internet? On the Republican Party’s own site.
What if a big liberal website then put it on You Tube? What if the Republicans — realizing that does not exactly make their politico or party look good – then demanded it be pulled from You Tube? And what if the website, feeling there is a principle at stake, talked to its lawyers and decided it is within its right to put it on its OWN big, hugely popular site, which is viewed by many in the new and old media?
Yes, it happened. And you can read about it — and view the video for yourself — HERE.
More proof Republicans are nervous a government shutdown will hurt them politically:
National Journal reports the House GOP “plans to pass on Friday a measure called the ‘Prevention of a Government Shutdown Act.’ Passage will do nothing to avoid a government shutdown since no deal has been reached with Democrats in the Senate and the White House. But it will give the House GOP the opportunity to claim that they’ve tried to prod the Senate toward a deal on spending cuts.”
Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire
The latest continuing resolution to fund the federal government runs out on April 8. While the last six deadlines have ultimately produced a temporary budget agreement between Republicans and Democrats, both sides say they are fed up with the piece-meal approach and want to hammer out a final budget for the rest of the year.
It’s looking more likely that this latest impasse cannot end without a government shutdown. This week, House Majority leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) declared that the American people would hold Democrats accountable for such a result. And this morning on Fox & Friends, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) repeated the talking point:
BACHMANN: We learned from Harry Reid, we learned from Chuck Schumer what the whole game plan is on the Democrats’ side. They are giddy about seeing the government shut down. That’s what they want. We can’t forget that. The Democrats want the government shut down.
In fact, Republican intransigence is the driving force behind the likelihood of a shutdown. Previous resolutions cut $ 10 billion from the budget, and the Democratic leadership has offered a total of $ 30 billion in cuts through the end of the year. This is roughly what Republican budget chairman Paul Ryan suggested at the start of the debate, before a Tea Party upheaval forced the House Republicans to pass a bill with both $ 61 billion in spending reductions and a series of controversial budget riders gutting funding for Planned Parenthood, health care reform, and the EPA.
Republicans now insist this budget must be the bare minimum for negotiations moving forward. They have also pointedly refused to consider savings in other parts of the budget, including defense spending or wasteful corporate tax subsidies.
Republicans have, of course, claimed again and again that they have no desire for a shutdown, and that it will be the fault of the Democrats if one occurs. The record, however, says otherwise. Watch this video report:
Whatever Eric Cantor may think, recent polls say it’s the Republicans that the public would hold accountable for a shutdown. As the video evidence demonstrates, there’s good reason for Americans to believe that.
