It's not
about being liberal or conservative anymore y'all. That is a hype offered by the fascist whores who want to confuse the people with lies while they turn this country into an aristocratic police state. Some people will say anything to attain power and money. There is no such thing as the Liberal Media, but the Corporate media is very real.
A bill that cleared a House committee Tuesday would largely remove private lenders from the
federal student loan industry, generating an estimated $87 billion savings over 10 years to fund
more government grants and loans.
The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 would eliminate an entire category of
student loans issued by private lenders and subsidized by the federal government, vastly expanding
direct lending by the government starting next July. Democrats would use the savings to fund a $40
billion increase in federal Pell Grant scholarships over 10 years, $10 billion in community college
upgrades and $8 billion in pre-kindergarten changes, among other uses.
Republicans opposed to the legislation say it amounts to a federal takeover of student lending.
Look, the government already controls the entire lending process -- it helps students directly and
it subsidizes private companies to direct funds to students. All Obama and his allies want to do is
make the process more efficient and cost-effective. And all Republican critics of the idea want to
do is keep the middleman in place to maintain the ideological facade of a "private" system.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who is starting to see through this mantra of privatization for
exactly what it is.
Wednesday, 22 July 2009 at 18h 35m 59s
The Budget Compromise
Click here for a discussion by David Dayen on the California budget compromise.
The voting has not yet occurred and it is quite possible that the lousy Rethuglicans might even now
actually still vote against the compromise.
Some people have to have it all their way. If you have a $10 item and I have $12, you refuse to
sell me the item for $10 because you know I have $12. Me telling you that I need the $2 to take the
bus after I buy the $10 item has no affect. You still want $12. The fact that no one will buy the
item at $12 doesn't faze you either. You saw my $12 as a market signal that prices need to go
higher and see dropping the price to $10 as a loss. Why should you give me an extra $2, right?
Exactly. That's what the Republican's are essentially doing. Crying about 2 bucks because they
think $2 more in their pocket is better than 2 times 10 million dollars to deal with the
economic budget crisis.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
UPDATE: Did you know that
Included in the budget is the first offshore drilling in California in 40 years, at the
Tranquillon Ridge site off the coast of Santa Barbara. This represents a power grab by the Governor
and the Legislature, taking the authority for drilling leases away from the State Lands Commission.
The drilling deal actually calls for an end date on the entire existing platform by 2022, but
that appears completely voluntary on the part of the PXP energy company doing the drilling, because
the federal government holds jurisdiction over the existing platform.
The deal would privatize welfare and social services enrollment, essentially a $2 billion dollar
annual giveaway to provide a function government has shown itself capable of providing. The
philosophy that brought you no-bid contracts to Halliburton in Iraq has come to California. other
states who privatized their enrollment systems have suffered higher costs and enrollment problems.
School districts can reduce the school year by a week under this plan to save money, and special
education students can be exempted from the High School Exit Exam.
Tuesday, 21 July 2009 at 18h 38m 21s
I love Robin Williams
Tuesday, 21 July 2009 at 2h 43m 17s
Ladies and Gentlemen : Ronald Reagan speaks, circa 1961
Keep in mind that Ronald Reagan's job in 1961 was as a hired vocal salesperson. Specifically he
worked for General Electric, which was one of the ivory posts of the early 60's American Corporations.
Not much has changed since 1961 in the minds of the Republicans. They are still battling
non-existent illusions because they are hired agents fighting for the narrow-minded interests of the
spoiled foolhardy elite who would rather profit from the costly dysfunctionalism of the health-care
crisis.
Monday, 20 July 2009 at 18h 15m 12s
The Republican empty talk machine
Speak softly, and say nothing at all.
A young lady asks Republican PartySock-puppet Chairmen Michael Steele, "Do
Republicans support an individual requirement to get coverage?"
Says Steele, after the questioner explained what she meant be "individual requirement", and after
Steele restates "require individuals to get coverage", Michael Steele says this:
Look, uh, this is one of those areas where there is a difference of opinion, and look, uhm, I don't
do policy. [reaches up to push glasses on his face] I'm not a legislator. My point in coming here
today was to begin to set a tone and a theme if you will and approach to addressing this issue
that's centered bottom up, that is centered on real people who are struggling with this issue every
single day...
Notice how he doesn't answer the question. Notice how he excuses his inability to say anything of
substance by uttering the phrase, "I don't do policy. I'm not a legislator."
In other words, "There are a lot of big insurance companies that fund the Republican party who like
the idea of mandatory coverage paid for by the individual, but look uhm, I don't do policy. My
point in coming here today is
to act like I care about the problems of real people, and I assure you that we are still struggling
every day to figure out how to increase the monetary revenue from the bottom up ...."
Monday, 20 July 2009 at 4h 59m 17s
Meet Wendall Potter
Click here for
a Bill Moyers interview with Wendall Potter, ex-CEO of Cigna Insurance who provides a great deal of
insight into the insurance company actions.
Monday, 20 July 2009 at 4h 19m 56s
This is hella funny
Sunday, 19 July 2009 at 19h 23m 23s
The paradigm of short term thinkgin
This myth of "can't afford social services" right now, so we should cut it off is ridiculous. Real
people are affected by these cuts. And the payments to a large majority of these "social services"
is actually meant to save the community and individuals a lot of money in the long run.
Investment in many different social services programs is a cost upfront that will become an
aggregate much larger expense if not created by government and paid for by taxes.
Some examples:
Do you pay a traveling nurses aid who can service 10 people in an 8 hour day for $12 an hour
plus transportation costs of $5 a patient -- thereby allowing older people to stay at home -- or
subsidize private nursing homes for $200 a day?
Do you cut the police community interaction officer that earns a $65,000 salary, or deal with
increased criminal incidents and the accumulated costs of increased crime in the larger community --
auto thief, jail costs, court costs, burglaries, injuries that require hospitalization, and death
services?
Do you fund a network of half-way houses for troubled teens and runaways, or do you ignore the
reality of that social phenomenom, the consequences of which are unwanted pregnancies, drug-abuse
and alcoholism, and increased criminal activity.
Do we cut funding for after school programs, or leave students on their own to find some way to
occupy their time among other choices, which thereby increases the number of youthful indiscretions
that occur -- or stunts the full development and choices our youth are exposed to in addition to
limiting their contact with good positive role models?
Do we cut funding for first-time mothers and create situations where more young girls will make
bad decisions because they are under incredible economic duress?
Spending on social services is also most needed during economic downturns so that the downside isn't
so deep that it prolongs the duration of the bottom. When the upfront investment in society doesn't
occur at the front-end of the economic downturn -- if we cut everything under the notion that we
"can't afford it" -- the only result is a more prolonged downturn that will be exponentially more
expensive than if we just paid the money in the beginning.
There are viable plans involving small tax increases which will enable the cuts to social services
to be manageable. But the governor and his Republican allies are acting like fools. They don't
understand economics and they don't care.
Saturday, 18 July 2009 at 22h 3m 50s
The current state of Health Care Reform.
For a Fourty minute audio assessment of all the various facts and players involved in the process of
Health care reform, Click here. Jonathan Cohn is interviewed on NPR radio on 16 July 2009.
The interview is very informative, and provides much insight about what has been going on, who the
major players are and what their moves and motivations might be.