On Wednesday, October 20, 2010 NPR fired Juan Williams due to opinions he shared on "The O'Reilly Factor." This led to lengthy discussions regarding 1st Amendment rights on talk radio and pledges to defund NPR from Jim DeMint, Eric Cantor and others. The threat against NPR is the usual right wing shell game.
No one has taken Juan Williams free speech nor threatened his 1st Amendment rights. The 1st Amendment guarantee means he can't be thrown in jail but it does not guarantee employment. Many agree with Juan Williams and others disagree. Some think NPR was wrong to fire Williams, some are happy that he's gone. No matter your belief about the firing, it has nothing to do with the 1st Amendment.
The right wing attack lacks merit. In absence of any substantive policy (other than channeling 8 years of George W. Bush), beating up "liberal, elite" NPR is yet another attempt to distract voters from real issues. More appalling is the very same people that decried big government intervention with the American auto industry which saved thousands of jobs, are willing to jump into a corporate HR decision over a single employee.
The last 22 months have been a low light for efficient government. Allowing DeMint, Cantor and the rest of the Republican party a larger contingent will only further slow down our government. Vote Dem 2010.
Showing posts with label Jim DeMint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jim DeMint. Show all posts
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Mignon Veasley-Fields, Role Model, Hero but only half right.
When I got a chance to review email Friday night, I found another outstanding article from Donalee King. Donalee reviewed an exchange between Ed Schultz and Mignon Veasley-Fields. Ed Schultz has been the strongest media voice advocating on behalf of the 99ers. Ms. Veasley-Fields, a 99er has also been an advocate for the unemployed, consistently available to educate about the plight of the 99ers. When Ms. Veasly-Fields (I know her as @agape122) speaks for the 99ers, she speaks for me.
In conversation with Ed, Ms. Veasley-Fields laid blame for the failure of S3706 on both parties in Congress.
Do you agree or disagree about using stimulus funds for unemployment? What about unity of message for the 99ers?
In conversation with Ed, Ms. Veasley-Fields laid blame for the failure of S3706 on both parties in Congress.
"Well Ed, yes, we have committed that we are going to encourage our fellow 99ers to vote for either party that their choice. However, ??Ed, yesterday was very disappointing for us. And even though we are trying to tell them to vote, many of them are not going to vote even though the No NOVO says to go ahead and do this. They were disillusioned by what they saw on the Senate floor yesterday. We were grateful for Senator Stabenow for her effort, but we thought it was just sort of put together really quickly like a dog and pony show in order to get us to vote for them. This is a sentiment across this nation." Ms. Fields told Ed.
Schultz countered: "But if the Republicans, but Mignon, if the Republican Senator had not stood up, this would have gone through, and you would have had the votes, and you would have gotten an extension. It's the Republicans. Why take it out on the Democrats, the majority Party that time and time again has been there for the unemployed?
"To which Mignon replied: "Well you know, Ed, we have gone back in the history of the tiers. We as 99ers have tried to figure this out ourselves. What has happened is we can remember the time in which the Republicans said, "Sure, get another tier. Use the stimulus funds. And the Democrats said, 'No, we need to find sourcing for unemployment.' So now we're thinking back on that, and we're realizing it's not the Republicans. It was the Democrats that caused us to be in the situation that we're in. We want the Democrats to come back before this election, and we want them to come back and rectify this, Ed."
I don't need to comment on the actions of the Republican caucus, their actions are self-declaratory. So I am going to concentrate on the Democrats and their total mismanagement of the legislative process.
Even before Senator Bunning blocked benefits in February, the Republicans made their strategy obvious: Party unity to block everything. Still the Democrats attempted to include the Republicans in the legislative process. Memo to Charlie Brown (as played by Harry Reid): No matter what Lucy (as played by any Senate Republican) says, nor how much you want to believe her, as sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, Lucy will pull the football away. You will always land flat on your back, every time. As long as the Dems continue to play Charlie Brown, progressive agenda items (extended unemployment benefits) will remain blood battles. Until the Democrats approach the unemployment safety net and job creation together as a long term issue the results will be substandard.
Use of "dormant" stimulus funds to pay for any Tiers of unemployment benefits is questionable politics and curious policy. Politically, I doubt the Republican's sincerity (see memo to Charlie Brown above) in voicing this suggestion. Ignoring Tea Party crazy candidates, Republican Senators are the party of David Vitter, John Ensign and Jim DeMint; hypocrisy and arrogance defined. As for policy, the "unspent" stimulus funds are already allocated to specific projects. Spending these funds on a safety net today makes them unavailable for job creation tomorrow. Without continued job creation there will be a greater need for the same safety net in the future, merely shifting burden within the same demographic. This type of "Darwinism" is often replicated in a laboratory experiment: Starve some mice, put 1 or 2 pieces of cheese in their common area and watch the mice fight it out. As policy this tactic is a favorite of the wealthy. Keep the disadvantaged fighting amongst themselves. While competing against each other for limited resources the disadvantaged won't organize for their common good. The result maintains the status quo, a primary goal of well healed conservatives and totally contrary to a progressive agenda.
Hungry and homeless are neither progressive nor conservative issues. Hunger and homelessness are human issues. Unfortunately the current conservative responses to these social issues are...? I don't know the conservative response to hunger and homelessness because I haven't heard any. Clearly, I disagree with using unspent stimulus funds to pay for extended unemployment benefits. But it's okay to disagree with someone, even a hero like Mignon Veasley-Fields. It's counterproductive to squabble like hungry lab rats.
Schultz countered: "But if the Republicans, but Mignon, if the Republican Senator had not stood up, this would have gone through, and you would have had the votes, and you would have gotten an extension. It's the Republicans. Why take it out on the Democrats, the majority Party that time and time again has been there for the unemployed?
"To which Mignon replied: "Well you know, Ed, we have gone back in the history of the tiers. We as 99ers have tried to figure this out ourselves. What has happened is we can remember the time in which the Republicans said, "Sure, get another tier. Use the stimulus funds. And the Democrats said, 'No, we need to find sourcing for unemployment.' So now we're thinking back on that, and we're realizing it's not the Republicans. It was the Democrats that caused us to be in the situation that we're in. We want the Democrats to come back before this election, and we want them to come back and rectify this, Ed."
I don't need to comment on the actions of the Republican caucus, their actions are self-declaratory. So I am going to concentrate on the Democrats and their total mismanagement of the legislative process.
Even before Senator Bunning blocked benefits in February, the Republicans made their strategy obvious: Party unity to block everything. Still the Democrats attempted to include the Republicans in the legislative process. Memo to Charlie Brown (as played by Harry Reid): No matter what Lucy (as played by any Senate Republican) says, nor how much you want to believe her, as sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, Lucy will pull the football away. You will always land flat on your back, every time. As long as the Dems continue to play Charlie Brown, progressive agenda items (extended unemployment benefits) will remain blood battles. Until the Democrats approach the unemployment safety net and job creation together as a long term issue the results will be substandard.
Use of "dormant" stimulus funds to pay for any Tiers of unemployment benefits is questionable politics and curious policy. Politically, I doubt the Republican's sincerity (see memo to Charlie Brown above) in voicing this suggestion. Ignoring Tea Party crazy candidates, Republican Senators are the party of David Vitter, John Ensign and Jim DeMint; hypocrisy and arrogance defined. As for policy, the "unspent" stimulus funds are already allocated to specific projects. Spending these funds on a safety net today makes them unavailable for job creation tomorrow. Without continued job creation there will be a greater need for the same safety net in the future, merely shifting burden within the same demographic. This type of "Darwinism" is often replicated in a laboratory experiment: Starve some mice, put 1 or 2 pieces of cheese in their common area and watch the mice fight it out. As policy this tactic is a favorite of the wealthy. Keep the disadvantaged fighting amongst themselves. While competing against each other for limited resources the disadvantaged won't organize for their common good. The result maintains the status quo, a primary goal of well healed conservatives and totally contrary to a progressive agenda.
Hungry and homeless are neither progressive nor conservative issues. Hunger and homelessness are human issues. Unfortunately the current conservative responses to these social issues are...? I don't know the conservative response to hunger and homelessness because I haven't heard any. Clearly, I disagree with using unspent stimulus funds to pay for extended unemployment benefits. But it's okay to disagree with someone, even a hero like Mignon Veasley-Fields. It's counterproductive to squabble like hungry lab rats.
Do you agree or disagree about using stimulus funds for unemployment? What about unity of message for the 99ers?
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