I want every working person in the country to pay Federal Income Taxes.
I don’t care if you make $10k a year, pay something, pay $100 (1%). Everyone should have some skin in the game so you’ll care. If you have nothing in the game then why should you care about government waste, pension abuses, healthcare cost overruns, tax rates…

johnd @ Wed 6 Jun 9:53 PM
Reply

I was watching Meet The Press this morning and David Gregory talked about his question to VA Senator debaters Kaine and Allen if there should be a “minimum” Federal Tax amount for ALL Americans and Democratic candidate Kane said he could support something like that. Asked about that question, Gov Patrick said he also could support something like that because “everyone would have some skin in the game”. Hmm…

I do wish everyone could pay into the Federal Income tax system since everyone would maybe care a little more about the system and where the money goes. Let’s be honest, if you aren’t paying into a system, how concerned are you about where that money goes? A starting point would be letting the Bush tax cuts expire which itself removed million soy Americans from paying ANY Federal Income taxes.

As I said back in June, I don’t care if it was even $100 bucks, we should all pay something!

The Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund has about $10 billion in assets, but is paying out more than $1 billion in benefits a year — much more than it has been taking in. That has forced it to sell investments, worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, to pay retired teachers. Experts say the fund could collapse within a few years unless something is done.

Now, this is not unusual and many cities, towns and states have dropped their responsibilities to their workers and now will be seriously screwed. How can Chicago (for one) recover from losing $1B a year to their pensioners, while receiving a very low return on their existing assets, plus combined with an ever increasing number of new pensioners? This is a disaster which doesn’t look like it will go away.

Having skipped its pension contributions for many years, Chicago is supposed to start tripling them in another year under state law. But the school district has drained its reserves. And it cannot easily turn to the local taxpayers because of a cap on property taxes. Borrowing the money would be difficult and expensive as well, because of a credit downgrade this summer. One of the few remaining choices would be to make deep cuts in other services.

Not helping matters is the recently signed teacher contract will cost Chicago tax payers another $200-400 Million depending on who you believe. This additional burden from a government which is stretched to the limit. What is Chicago going to do? The economy is going nowhere soon and even if it does pick up, it won’t be enough to save anything.

What is the logical outcome for Chicago?

Forced by Congress, the White House was required to report on how the Sequestration will effect the budget, on a line by line basis. The results are bad, very bad. My question is what are the leaders of our country going to do something about it? And when? Do they really have to wait till after the elections for “anything” to get done regarding the Bush/Obama tax cuts and the Sequestration? The full report from the White House is here.

“…most defense programs face a 9.4 percent cut, while most domestic programs would be sliced by 8.2 percent. Medicare would be trimmed by 2 percent, while other entitlements — not counting Social Security — would be sliced as much as 10 percent.”

Here are some of the hits from the story which will be coming…

Army operations and maintenance would lose nearly $7 billion
Navy more than $4 billion under a looming series of automatic cuts in federal spending
Educational achievement and special education programs would be shaved by $2.3 billion
Hospital insurance would fall $5.6 billion
Inquiries and investigations — a mainstay of the Republican House — would lose $11 million
Salaries and expenses in the House of Representatives would drop by $101 million
Defense Department operations and maintenance would lose $3.9 billion next year alone
Pentagon health care would be cut by $3.3 billion
Air Force and Navy aircraft procurement would be sliced by more than $4.2 billion
Funding to strengthen Afghanistan’s security force the year before the United States plans to withdraw its own forces would Fall by $1.3 billion
The National Institutes of Health would lose $2.5 billion
Rental assistance for the poor would fall by $2.3 billion
Food stamps would lose $543 million
The Federal Bureau of Investigations would lose $735 million for salaries and expenses
The Customs and Border Patrol budget would fall by $823 million, and the budget for the border fence — virtual and physical — would drop $33 million

Will a deal be reached on this? I just can’t see how Congress survives by making these cuts. It’s time for Simpson-Bowles and it’s time for our leaders to grow some fortitude and make the tough choices we all “hear” about.

Now I know you’re thinking “IS that Michelle Obama’s fast food protesting team… but it’s not. We are having a big problem in the arab world as protesters, chanting “Death to Americans…” are rioting, burning and the Arab nations are not doing a lot to stop it.

What has happened to all the work Obama did to bring these countries back to the US on friendly terms? Did Obama just get taken and US tax payers get taken for billions on US green backs just so we could get nostalgic scenes from Jimmy Carter’s Presidency?

I suspect that this excuse about the anti-Muslim movie is total bullshite! No more than riots after sporting events being related to the actual win (or loss in Vancouver’s case). This is a giant fiasco for Obama and I know many of you are holding your breadth and hoping your co-conspirators in the MSM can keep the lid on this, but if the chaos continues, they will not be able to and Americans will see a failed American policy. Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, Libya… The only happy people about this are Syria and Iran since the US’s attention has been redirected so Assad can keep killing hundreds and thousands of his people.

I’m sure Obama is all over this conflict, in between campaign stops. He spent an hour with the US Olympians today, I guess they’re more important than meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu since the “Olympian situation” could escalate into a war in the mideast.

We need an energy policy that gets us out of the Middle East once and for all!

Nearly 30,000 public school teachers and support staff represented by the Chicago Teachers Union have vowed to walk off the job starting at 12:01 a.m. (0401 GMT) on Monday if an impasse in contract talks is not broken. It would be the first teachers’ strike in Chicago in 25 years.

So 30,000 teachers are ready to strike, for money and not for “caring about the students” as so many union defenders try to spin when they defend union practices. But how are teachers doing relative to the average worker in the US. Well…

The National average wage in the US is $42,000 and… The average teacher salary in the US is between $41,000-$44,000 but… A Chicago Public Schools spokesperson said average pay for teachers, without benefits, is $76,000.

So, currently these teachers are making lots more money than the average US worker… more than the average teacher. But that’s not enough. No, they want more.

The union has said it wants more than the 8 percent pay raise over four years that Chicago offered. The school district says it cannot afford concessions as it is running a large budget deficit and major credit rating agencies have downgraded its debt rating.

So, the city of Chicago’s bond rating is in serious jeopardy due to rising costs and the teachers don’t really care, they want a raise. A raise in this terrible economy where 12,500,000 Americans can’t find any jobs, never mind making $75,000.

So who’s the bad guy who’s trying to fight these teachers… Big Bad Democrat Rahm Emanuel. See, party doesn’t matter when workers are demanding too much money so your budget can’t afford it.

Emanuel, a tough negotiator called a bully by the teachers’ union, wants to close schools, expand non-union charter schools, and let corporations and philanthropies run some schools. He also wants principals to be able to hire whom they want, and wants to use standardized test results to evaluate teachers.

So do you think the teachers should get a raise? Is this another case of unions just trying to create the best environment for the Chicago students? Or is this just unions doing their typical bullying of tax payers, even though they’re already doing quite well. I hope Rahm holds his ground and I hope Chicago residents remember how these teachers are holding a gun to their heads and screwing them. They are going to screw the very kids they claim to care so much about.

But many of those jobs were replaced by giant machines while other jobs were replaced by smaller robotic machines and even simple tools like pneumatic nailers and electric saws/routers…

I have been beating on unions here on BMG lately, and in conversations for most of my adult life. My tribute today is not to those unions but to most of the workers who are in those unions… as well as to the vast majority of American workers who are not part of any union. Thank you!

I hope we can all enjoy this holiday by being with friends and family, by enjoying this traditional “last” weekend of the summer. I also hope we can refocus the efforts of our leaders to understand what we have to do to the American workers to overcome the changes in our economy by training our workers to compete with not only Global economies but also the ever improving technology that continues to replace men/women with machines. Let’s build some more dams, some more bridges, repair roads… let’s look at our declining waterways, levees and dams to stop cities and towns from flooding during rainy seasons EVERY YEAR, let’s fix healthcare so it doesn’t continue to consume an ever increasing percentage of our GDP and let’s start fixing labor by fixing the trade agreements we have in place which favor other countries in stead OUR COUNTRY!

Have a great day!

Mathews, O’Donnell, Bashir, Maddow, Mr Ed, Weird Al Sharpton… ZERO credibility as journalists. I’d even give Chris Hayes a nod to say he’s in the tank, but he is somewhat reasonable.

MARTIN BASHIR: We have seen an early draft of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s forthcoming oration. Can I quote something from you? “For four years, Barack Obama has been running from the nation’s problems, he hasn’t been working to earn re-election. He has been working to earn a spot on the PGA Tour.” How about that?

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Well, we know exactly what he’s trying to do there. He is trying to align to Tiger Woods and surely, the — lifestyle of Tiger Woods with Barack Obama. Obviously, nothing could be further from the truth. They find every way they possibly can to –

BASHIR: Lawrence — don’t you think — don’t you think that what he’s really trying to do is to suggest that the president is not paying attention to the central issues that come with the responsibility he has? Is he really – Mitch McConnell really making a connection with Tiger Woods who, of course, has become infamous for chasing various cocktail waitresses around Las Vegas and so on?

O’DONNELL: Martin, there are many, many, many rhetorical choices you can make at any point in any speech to make whatever point up want to make. If he wanted to make the point that you just suggested and I think he does want to make that point, they had a menu of a minimum of ten different kinds of images that they could have raised. And I promise you, the speech writers went through, rejecting three or four before they land order that one. That’s the one they want for a very deliberate reason. That — there’s – these people reach for every single possible racial double entendre they can find in every one of these speeches.

More than a third of the city’s retired firefighters and police officers are drawing disability pensions that cost the retirement system and city taxpayers much more than regular retirement benefits.

While city officials and pension reform advocates agree the city is rightly obligated to provide for workers truly injured on the job who aren’t able to work because of their injuries, critics argue the high percentage of public safety retirees claiming expensive disability pensions clearly indicates abuse of the system.

Seriously, we have been discussing unions for a few days now and how valuable they are and what wonderful things they do for employees. I have spoken to state workers about their pensions and they cringe when they read stories like this. IT’S INSANE!!!!

In Worcester, 38 percent of public safety retirees draw disability pensions compared to 8 percent of other city retirees, according to a Telegram & Gazette analysis of Worcester Retirement Board data obtained under the state Public Records Law. The latter figure does not include teachers, who are covered under a statewide retirement system.

There should be a Federal Grand Jury summoned to find out how these guys are cheating tax payers of their money. And you guys would be pissed and not defend this type of abuse. Do you really thing 38% of public safety workers need to retire with a disability? Really. Remember that every dollar that goes to one of these cheats its a dollar that will not go to…

Worcester education
Worcester Social Services
Youth programs
Public Housing
Capital equipment
Off set rising healthcare costs

The costs are staggering…

Of the city’s 449 disability retirees, 169 are projected to receive more than $1 million in pension payments tax free. Disability pensioners range in age from 39 to 100, according to retirement board records.

And yes, it is sucking the life out of the tax payers and businesses that are trying to survive in Worcester. Please don’t cite some case of a Firefighter who fell down a ladder and is paralyzed. I want a person like that to get his pension and be on disability, that’s what this program is for and I support wholeheartedly. It’s the blatant abuse that makes me so ebullient. And the defense of things like that by the likes of union supporters here on BMG. How can it be defended. The only people to win are the “criminal” abusers.

Remember Albert Aroyyo. Yes he was found innocent, but he is stealing money from Boston tax payers every day. He is a shining example as are these Worcester crooks of why people are angry at unions and about why the unionized public employees are destroying the cities/town’s budgets, sometimes forcing them into bankruptcy.

BMG’s silence on these abuses (San Bernadino, Stockton, Scranton…) is very telling. Charge these law breakers but more importantly, change the GD laws/rules to stop the siphoning of tax dollars. How can you defend this?

In the wake of Wisconsin’s recall election, the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell and other commentators disappointed with the result are not blaming the electorate or the apparent success and popularity of Gov. Scott Walker’s reforms. Instead, they are singling out the Supreme Court’s 2010 campaign-finance decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, as the reason for Mr. Walker’s 7-1 spending advantage.

Citizens United held that associations of Americans, including corporations and labor unions, have a First Amendment right to make independent expenditures in support or opposition to candidates for public office.

In a sense, Citizens United did have an important effect on the Wisconsin election. But the effect was almost exactly the opposite of what many pundits imply.

Labor unions poured money into the state to recall Mr. Walker. According to the Center for Public Integrity, the NEA (National Education Association), the nation’s largest teachers union, spent at least $1 million. Its smaller union rival, the AFT (American Federation of Teachers), spent an additional $350,000. Two other unions, the SEIU (Service Employees International Union, which has more than one million government workers) and Afscme (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), spent another $2 million. Little or none of these independent expenditures endorsing a candidate would have been legal under federal law before Citizens United.

By contrast, the large spenders on behalf of Mr. Walker were mostly individuals. According to the Center for Public Integrity, these included Diane Hendricks, Wisconsin’s wealthiest businesswoman, who spent over half a million dollars on his behalf; Bob J. Perry, a Texas home builder, who spent almost half a million; and well-known political contributors such as casino operator Sheldon Adelson and former Amway CEO Dick DeVos, who kicked in a quarter-million dollars each. Businessman David Koch gave $1 million to the Republic Governors Association, which spent $4 million on the Wisconsin race.

These donations have nothing to do with Citizens United. Individuals have been free to make unlimited independent expenditures in support of candidates since the Supreme Court case of Buckley v. Valeo (1976).

So where are we really seeing the effects of the CU decision? Question two is if we really get the corporate/union money out of politics, are the Democratics ready to lose the life line of money which has saved their asses all these years. I don’t think so and this is a reason why we haven’t seen anything from either party trying to close this off.

The director of the Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Elmendorf, said Wednesday that currently planned sharp cuts in spending and increases in taxes at the end of the year would cause “a dramatic reduction in the federal deficit” and “a significant tightening of fiscal policy” which would “probably lead to a recession early next year.”

Analysts refer to this as the “fiscal cliff.”

President Barack Obama and Congress face the question of whether to step back from the fiscal cliff by not allowing the current tax rates to expire at year end and by postponing the spending curbs mandated by last summer’s Budget Control Act.

Before year end, Congress must also decide whether to allow a 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors to take effect – as required by a 1997 budget law — or whether to put it off, as it has done for the past several years.

SO… unless these morons in Congress do something, we’ll have another recession, 9%+ unemployment and Americans may not be able to handle it well. How do you think Doctors will react to a 27% cut in Medicare payments? I can a lot of Doctors not taking Medicare patients any more.

What’s going to happen?

Elizabeth Warren stepped up her attacks against Scott Brown over women’s issues today as a new poll showed her trailing the Republican senator by five points.

The automated phone survey conducted Aug. 16 through Aug. 19 by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic leaning firm, indicated Brown is ahead 49 percent to 44 percent, the first time he has led in the firm’s polling since June 2011. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

I think Scot Brown has played this Akin thing perfectly and I think Independent MA voters are liking it. I know polls are not indicative any results (unless it shows a Dem leading) but I think it is an interesting datapoint with 77 days left in the election.

(Reuters) – A federal appeals court ruled on Monday that Alabama and Georgia could enforce key aspects of their laws against illegal immigration that allow police to check the status of criminal suspects.

The decisions were in line with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a similar Arizona law, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta continued to block other parts of the two Southern states’ laws, which have been challenged by the federal government and civil rights groups.

There were a number of provisions of each state’s laws which the courts threw out however they did allow police to check the immigration status of criminal suspects. I good move in the right direction. Other states are enacting similar laws and should be joining these three.

I know we’ve gone back and forth over this with little movement off people’s stances on the subject. The biggest complaint I hear is this will cause racial profiling but I have deeper question to understand your motivation. If racial profiling could be completely avoided, would you still be against the law? I guess what I want to know is… Are you just ok with 12 million illegal aliens being in the US? Because if that’s the case, we can stop discussing things like this since your arguments are all red herrings and you simply don’t see these people being here illegally a problem.

I want them out and I don’t care how we get it done. I want our immigration program to be updated to significantly increase the numbers of people coming here through proper channels and procedures. I want a more robust migrant worker visa program. I want green cards offered to every graduate from a US school with an advanced degree. I want companies who hire illegals to be prosecuted. I want our laws changed so that countries (like Vietnam) who won’t take back someone we want to deport… have to take them back or suffer diplomatic consequences otherwise we release them into the US general public.

I’m a Republican and I want the Senate back, but not if it means elected idots like this guy.

Missouri Congressman Todd Akin, a conservative Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, sparked a furor and earned a rebuke from Mitt Romney’s campaign after saying in an interview broadcast Sunday that women’s bodies can prevent pregnancies in ‘‘a legitimate rape’’ and that conception is rare in such cases.

Maybe he could claim a temporary insanity or he was “merely disoriented from prescription medications Ambien and Phenergan”, but how do you come back from comments like…

“It seems to me first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,’’ Akin said. ‘‘If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,’’ Akin said of a rape victim’s chances of becoming pregnant.”

WTF????

I know this does not involve MA politics but I’ve commented on out of control Democrats from other states (Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) is afraid that the U.S. Territory of Guam is going to “tip over and capsize” due to overpopulation.) and I had to point out this GOP ignoramus.

A Pennsylvania judge Wednesday allowed a Republican-backed law requiring voters to show IDs to go into effect starting this Election Day, a setback for Democrats and civil rights groups who contend that such laws could deny many Americans the right to vote.

Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson said those challenging the law had failed to prove that it violates the state constitution by denying voters’ rights. He also disputed the challengers’ predictions of the number of voters at stake and said there is still time for those without proper ID to acquire it.

Now the fight is not over and the PA Supreme Court could hear this case next but the court has 3 Republican and 3 Democratic judges and a split court ruling would revert tot he lower court ruling, upholding the law. I thought this was going to pass muster and it looks like it may. The question is will this ruling encourage other states to enact similar laws.

I know that this is not about MA but we have discussed Voter ID laws recently here.

Vice President Biden said today that Mitt Romney’s regulatory policies will put people “in chains,” a comment the Romney campaign denounced as “a new low.”

At a campaign rally in Danville, Va., Biden quoted Romney as saying that “in the first hundred days he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules — unchain Wall Street.

“They’re going to put y’all back in chains,” Biden added, presumably referring to Romney and new running mate Paul Ryan.

I know, I know… that’s not what Biden meant… save it. Obama should apologize to America for this joke of a VP. What a dope!

The nearly bankrupt U.S. Postal Service on Thursday reported losses of $57 million per day in the last quarter and warned it will miss another payment due to the U.S. Treasury, just one week after its first-ever default on a payment for future retiree health benefits.

From April to June, losses totaled $5.2 billion, up $2.1 billion from the same period last year.

The mail agency said it is being hurt significantly by mounting expenses for future retiree health benefits. Those expenses, mandated by Congress in 2006, made up $3.1 billion of the post office’s quarterly loss, while workers compensation tacked on another $1.1 billion in expenses. The agency’s operating loss was $1 billion, mostly due to declines in first-class mail.

And the USPO missed the August payment for retiree benefits and…

The mail agency says it will miss the second $5.6 billion payment due on Sept. 30, also for future retiree benefits, as cash runs close to zero.

What is going to happen? The PO wants to curtail costs by halting Saturday delivery and a plan to close post offices across the country. But Congress won’t let them.

My question is how does the PO continue. Nothing I’ve heard talks about keeping the PO viable in the future. We need action and we need it quickly. Close these damn post offices and combine the facilities. Stop delivery on Saturday. Do we need to think about privatizing the Post Office?

Maybe Obama was correct while talking about private companies being able to do some things better than public/government entities back in 2009 when he publicly stated…

“… UPS and FedEx were doing fine, but it’s the post office that’s always having problems.”

We need to stop the bleeding, to the tune of

The USPS lost 14.1 billion in 2011 alone, where will it end?????

Your thoughts?

The second quarter numbers are in (via email; here’s a brief Globe story), and they’re even better than last time. Elizabeth Warren is a truly astounding fundraiser.

Warren’s overall take for April through June of this year was a staggering $8.67 million. That’s about $1.7 million better than last quarter. Overall (since the beginning of the campaign), Warren reports well over 40,000 donations from inside Massachusetts. The campaign also reports that June was Warren’s best single fundraising month yet, accounting for $3.1 million. Perhaps most impressive is this: over half the donations were for $25 or less, and 81% were $50 or less.

The campaign now reports $13.5 million cash-on-hand. Amazing.

But now Mitt Romney raises a boatload of money for the race and let the BS begin. Tell me why this is a “bad” thing. So is it good for challengers like EW… but wait, Mitt is the challenger.

Also…

Both campaigns sought to project broad bases of support. Romney’s reported that 94 percent of donations in July were $250 or less; Obama’s claimed 98 percent.

I think this is great news for Romney. But before you talk about anyone “buying the election”, consider this… in 2008 Obama outspent McCain $750 million to $288 million.

So, how do you view the support for Mitt?

If you are interested in donating to the Romney campaign… click here. [Link adjusted.  -ed.]

The U.S. House voted to extend several expiring tax cuts for all income levels through 2013, but the issue has a long way to go between now and the nation’s “fiscal cliff,” The Washington Post reports.
The House voted 256-171 — largely along party lines — to extend Bush-era cuts…

In other news (which I called)…

Hundreds of people jammed into the Burlington Mall’s food court Wednesday at the Chick-fil-A to protest, make a statement, and dine at the controversial fast-food chain, joining thousands across the nation. Dubbed “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, scores waited in a line that spilled outside the court’s perimeter, with an attendance so high that mall security maintained a constant watch.

How do you feel about extending them? I say, let them ALL expire. We all need to pay a little more in taxes!

And in other news around the political world…

Unemployment applications rose this month (again)…

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday said the U.S. economic recovery had lost momentum so far this year, but stopped short of offering new monetary stimulus even as it signaled further bond buys could be in store…

Another Sign Of The Dismal Economy, Economic Growth Slowed to 1.5% In The Second Quarter To The Weakest Pace In A Year…

And if this news isn’t bad enough, how about this possibility of Republicans taking control of the Senate (would Democrats suddenly love the fillibuster?)…

The Pentagon, facing smaller budgets and looking towards a new global strategy, has decided it wants to save as much as $3 billion by freezing refurbishment of the M1 from 2014 to 2017, so it can redesign the hulking, clanking vehicle from top to bottom.

This is the bad news…

The tank’s supporters on Capitol Hill say they are desperate to save jobs in their districts and concerned about undermining America’s military capability.

So far, the contractor is winning the battle, after a well-organized campaign of lobbying and political donations involving the lawmakers on four key committees that will decide the tanks’ fate, according to an analysis of spending and lobbying records by the Center for Public Integrity.

This is not about partisanship as both Democrats and Republicans are supporting the spending. This has nothing to do with Citizen’s United since it is good old fashioned bribery. This is a great example of how our country wastes so much freaking money not hints we don’t even need! The Pentagon doesn’t want the tanks so don’t spend the money building/fixing the tanks. I said the same thing last week concerning the F-35 fighter which is a huge budget buster that we don’t need.

When will we pull our heads out of our butts and realize how many bridges/overpasses could have been repaired instead of building tanks we don’t need or want? How many residents could have received tax breaks for solar panels or hybrid vehicles instead of outdated military equipment the Pentagon didn’t ask for?

Call your Senator and Congressman and say NO to this spending! And call the POTUS and tell him to veto this thing if it gets to his desk.

So Apple Computer is doing some dancing with their tax avoidance…

Story in my favorite news source MSNBC now called NBC

Tax experts say the company could easily eliminate these phantom tax obligations. That would boost Apple’s profits for the past three years by as much $10.5 billion, according to calculations by The Associated Press.

When Steve Jobs died, much was made about their slave labor operations in China… and many Americans were disgusted by the working conditions of Apple employees.

No we have Apple who has been passing sales through countries with no or little tax liability. And now we find out that Apple has $74 Billion being held in offshore bank accounts, $74 Billion!!!! They are informing shareholders that they may repatriate some of that income into the US… in the future… and are therefore allocating up to $10.5 billion as a possible tax liability. Of course, nothing says they ever have to repatriate this money and could simply never pay their tax bill.

So now that we know they operate slave labor manufacturing plants, funnel sales through other no/low tax countries (“Double Irish With a Dutch Sandwich,” which reduces taxes by routing profits through Irish subsidiaries and the Netherlands and then to the Caribbean.), avoid paying CA state taxes by using a Reno address…

So… how many people are ready to jettison their iPods, iPads, MACs, iTouch and all the other Apple products we all love? All of you? some of you? Any of you? I use all of these products from Apple and I love them all. I won’t be stopping my use of any of them and probably would continue using them no matter what Apple does, even if the company sent millions of dollars to the Obama Election fund. If some of you do stop then I bow down to you in reverence.

No wonder companies and people continue to behave badly, none of us really gives a shit…

OBAMA: [L]ook, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That’s how we funded the GI Bill. That’s how we created the middle class. That’s how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That’s how we invented the Internet. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for President — because I still believe in that idea. You’re not on your own, we’re in this together.

Does he have to diminish their sacrifice, their investment, their sweat… ? None of us would be here without our parents so do we all owe our success to our parents? Our computers wouldn’t work without electricity, power plants wouldn’t work without oil so do successful businesses owe their success to Exxon? Stop with the success precursors…

What a bunch of crap from Obama! Some guy/woman saves their money to buy a small business, risks it all and makes it. HOW does that person get any help? The roads and the country infrastructure is available to all Americans as we all pay for it (at least the 50% of Americans who pay taxes). Somebody else helped them… get off it! Is it so hard to give people credit for making it? finding it? Discovering it? Inventor Ben Franklin… no biggie if out wasn’t for Archimedes of Syracuse. Can’t Obama see these incredible people making a killing as doing it on their own?

Obama is missing the point about personal success and the initiative and desire which drives individuals. Go take your 401K money out and start a business, take that gamble and if you succeed then you did it. Be proud… I would be proud of you. But don’t confuse this working hard with a guy digging a ditch as working hard. The ditch digger is just labor. Hard work is over rated, I’ll take smart work over hard work any day!

Of course we are a nation and we do many things together. 911 is a great example of how we can come together when we have to. Sadly, it takes something as terrible as 911 to make this happen.

A Wall Street Journal analysis of political spending unveiled Tuesday found that organized labor groups dropped a combined $4.4 billion on political activities between 2006 and 2011, about four times more than previously estimated.

And this is well before to the Citizen’s United decision.

Speaking of which… I heard recently that after Scott Walker kicked butt in Wisconsin at the recall election, a lot of people were talking about how he bought the election (But Obama didn’t buy the 2008 election?), that the CU decision had no impact on the out of state money that was spent on the Walker recall.

So really, what “new” money is being spent after CU that wasn’t being spent prior to it?

BTW…

Union spending goes overwhelmingly to Democratic candidates and liberal causes. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political spending, 92 percent of the $58.5 million in direct candidate donations from 1990 to 2012 went toward Democratic candidates

So I am in favor of removing outside money from supporting these candidates, as long as that outside money includes Union Money.

Well here’s the bad news, The Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association (MPIUA) took this to court and the courts have sided with MPIUA and stated that your home owners insurance will not provide coverage nor defense for any claims arising from “host liquor liability”. So if you serve a minor (or any guest) at your home and they leave and get into an accident, you may lose your house. You may be able to get some other coverage to protect against this liability.

No comments are needed for this other than to please use your heads and don’t serve minors, no matter what the rationale or justification. This insurance reason is just another reason not to do it.

JohnD… the party pooper.

Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray’s fund-raising has plummeted since his highly publicized auto accident and entanglement in the Chelsea housing scandal.

My question to BMG is… “does anyone here really take Lt Gov Murray seriously as a legitimate candidate for Governor?” Even prior to the accident and the Chelsea issue, I think he’s been quite unimpressive and has shown very little leadership. I’m really not trying be be remarking as a partisan, I think he’s just not Governor material and many other more qualified Democratic candidates exist.

Thoughts?

A retired Lynnfield cop — whose dubious unemployment claim triggered a sweeping effort to reform state law — had his jobless benefits reinstated yesterday in a controversial decision that has sparked cash-strapped cities and towns to renew their bid to close the costly loophole.

In a nutshell, this Lynnfield cop retires and gets a $32,000 pension. He starts working police details to supplement his retirement income. But he hits the ceiling of $25,000 (after which this detail pay will get cut from his retirement pay). So… this guy files for unemployment to the tune of $400 a week. So he gets a pension check AND an unemployment check. The town files a complaint with unemployment and yesterday the Unemployment Board sided with the cop. WTF!!!!

Never mind the whole police detail bullcrap as I’m sure this 70 year old cop is not going to be saving lives or chasing bad guys while he sips his coffee and directs traffic. But he is a great example of how the public sector is sucking our funds dry while other worthwhile needy programs are strapped for cash. Due to the change in the MA law, many towns are creating sharp disposal programs which can be funded for only $2,000/year… how many towns could get similar programs for just what we’ll pay this scammer? This is a horrible precedent.

What is our pension reform Governor prepared to do about this? We need real reform and not the window dressing police detail reform scam that he dumped on us before.

Do something about this Gov Patrick! If he does, then I will publicly thank you and give you praise. And for all you union supporters and defenders, this is a great example of why people are so skeptical and cynical of unions… and why I disdain them so much!

Huge ruling in favor of Obama. Watch the GOP spin this in their favor.

Very disappointing day for many, maybe the majority if people in the US.

Wonder if we’ll hear about the terrible Conservative SCOTUS making another 5-4 decision based on politics.

File this under “we lost, you won” and remember that when you lose the next one. You win some and you lose some, stop blaming politics.

Talks about entitlement reform, pension reform, state workers benefit reform… were next to impossible, but we have seen the shift from “NO reform” to a negotiation of “how much reform”. Still not everything I would like to see (pensions based on last three years of employment… WTF???) but still it is progress. There will be window dressing reforms like our Gov’s Flagman/Police detail sham, but there has also been some real reform in state’s which are true two party states.

But this story may mean there’s a chink in the armor here in MA…

Unions won’t oppose teacher-seniority measure

Seniority’s role would be cut

The American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts scrapped plans to fight legislation that would reduce the role of seniority in teacher staffing decisions and instead will remain neutral on the issue, the state’s second-largest teachers union announced Wednesday.

I’m sure there is still a large group of politicians in the pockets of Labor, but maybe they are hearing the loud voices of many citizens who are tired of the out of date excuses of why some dogma of the past (teacher seniority) is not valid anymore. Maybe we can see some changes that truly would have impact since teaching our children is the goal of education, right… as opposed to not upsetting the applecart of union teachers. I would guess that if we could give some teachers who blog on this site some “truth serum” and asked about some of the more “senior” teachers, they would point to many who should be dropped in favor of some younger, energetic, brilliant superstars.

Scott Walker is the latest leader who has created an environment where citizens can expect results or make changes and not be stuck with what they inherited. He’s given people more power and they reconfirmed their original vote for him which I think shows they support his methods and direction. Another great move by him is allowing teachers and other union members to NOT pay union dues instead of the unAmerican rules we have now which forces teachers to pay the dues whether they like it or not (how can Liberals support such a rule?).

I hope this US and MA trend continues through 2012 and beyond…

This is a huge loss to union leaders and Democrats. I’m ecstatic about these results.

It was interesting to hear 36-38% of Union households voted for Walker. Maybe this is another case of union leaders being out of step with the union rank and file, nothing unusual there.

Is this only a Wisconsin phenomenon… I don’t think so.

In San Diego and San Jose, voters overwhelmingly approved ballot initiatives designed to help balance ailing municipal budgets by cutting retirement benefits for city workers.

Around 70 percent of San Jose voters favored the pension measure, while 66 percent of San Diego residents supported a similar measure.

I hope our leaders in DC realize that we need this type of leadership in our capital. People who make very tough decisions even when people complain loudly. We will never fix our country’s fiscal problems without some sacrificing and there will be plenty of blowback (police details in MA…). But true leaders fight for what is right even if they get threatened or screamed at. Thank you Gov Walker for doing the right thing, maybe not perfectly, but you did it and the voters backed you.

This does not play well for Democrats, including Pres Obama.

So… is it true? Does it matter? Would you care if Scott Brown did something similar? And lastly, how has this possibly damaging news item escaped the pages of BMG?

Just sayin’

Romney      775,015      47%     41 delegates      563   total delegates
Santorum    533,118      35%     10 delegates      263   total delegates
Gingrich      222,799        9%       0 delegates      135   total delegates
Paul            117,105        7%        0 delegates       50   total delegates

What wrong with these people below? Do they even read the paper to find out their candidates aren’t even running anymore?

Perry           6,768
Huntsman   6,198
Bachmann  3,959
Cain            3,492

Story

Former probation commissioner John J. O’Brien caught a legal break at his arraignment on bribery and four other charges yesterday, as a clerk magistrate agreed to keep confidential a prosecution document laying out the charges against him.

Prosecutors for Attorney General Martha Coakley had planned to file a detailed public statement of the case against O’Brien, 54, at his brief arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court. But the lawyer for O’Brien’s codefendant, Scott Campbell, persuaded the court to seal the prosecutor’s report to prevent further negative pretrial publicity.

As a result, the public will not be able to review details of an alleged 2005 bargain under which prosecutors say O’Brien held a fund-raiser for Campbell’s boss, state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, in exchange for a job for O’Brien’s wife at the Lottery, which was supervised by Cahill.

“If there was an issue, the assistant attorney general obviously should have raised it,’’ said Hennigan. “The attorney general can certainly provide the public with this information.’’
…

But officials in Coakley’s office said the clerk magistrate did not give the prosecutor a choice on the matter, telling Mullin he had to file the statement of the case under seal or not at all.

I think this smells.

A Suffolk County grand jury has indicted former probation commissioner John O’Brien on charges that he traded political donations to former state treasurer Timothy P. Cahill in exchange for a job for O’Brien’s wife.

The grand jury did not indict Cahill, who hired O’Brien’s wife and daughter in the weeks and months following the July 2005 fund-raiser at which dozens of probation department employees donated to Cahill’s campaign. But the panel indicted Cahill’s chief of staff at the time, Scott Campbell, who handled personnel matters for Cahill.

…

According to sources involved in the probe, investigators hoped Campbell would testify against Cahill, but he so far has not incriminated his former boss.

Here’s a story on MSNBC about Longshoremen in WA state commiting overt acts of violence and threatening that it will continue. How can this be defended?

Hundreds of Longshoremen stormed the Port of Longview early Thursday, overpowered and held security guards, damaged railroad cars, and dumped grain that is the center of a labor dispute, said Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha.

Six guards were held hostage for a couple of hours after 500 or more Longshoremen broke down gates about 4:30 a.m. PT (7:30 a.m. ET) and smashed windows in the guard shack, he said.

Held hostage? Isn’t that a very serious felony?

Most of the protesters returned to their union hall after cutting brake lines and spilling grain from car at the EGT terminal, Duscha said.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union believes it has the right to work at the facility, but the company has hired a contractor that’s staffing a workforce using other union laborers.

Are they just acting out the Teamster’s Union’s remarks from 3 days ago…

“Everybody here has a vote,” Hoffa said Monday. “If we go back and we keep the eye on the prize. Let’s take these sons of bitches out and give America back to America where we belong.”

Now I’m not saying that Hoffa was instructing his union thugs to go out and kill people but this is exactly the kind of over the top rhetoric we all condemned back when Congresswoman Giffords was shot. I wouldn’t call it a kumbaya moment but I think there was general agreement between both parties to tamp down the violent/acrimonious words.

There has been a disturbing return of such language from Maxine Waters and recently Hoffa… and I think this criminal activity by the Longshoreman needs to be nipped in the bud.

Duscha said. “A lot of the protesters were telling us this is only the start.”

…
The Longview blockade appeared to defy a federal restraining order issued last week against the union after it was accused of assaults and death threats.

What say BMGers, especially those loyal union supporters? Is violence ok?

From the NYT

The Obama administration is considering further actions to strengthen the housing market, but the bar is high: plans must help a broad swath of homeowners, stimulate the economy and cost next to nothing.

One proposal would allow millions of homeowners with government-backed mortgages to refinance them at today’s lower interest rates, about 4 percent, according to two people briefed on the administration’s discussions who asked not to be identified because they were not allowed to talk about the information.

It seems to me that this is a no-brainer. “Who” would object? Reducing millions of homeowner’s interest rates on their mortgages would stimulate billions of dollars worth of spending by people in all income levels and every town, city and state in the country.  I also think it would enjoy support from Republicans and Democrats… and the President.

Another positive outcome of a program like this might be a modification of the existing “refi” process which is laborious, intrusive and counter-productive. (assuming you are not taking extra money out) If you have a mortgage with bank “A” and find a lower rate with bank “B”, why doesn’t bank “A” just send you a one page mortgage modification letter changing the note to the lower rate? Instead, you spend closing costs, appraisal costs, lawyer fees, cut a tree down for all the paperwork… and ultimately Bank “A” loses the mortgage to bank “B” anyway. I know there’s more to it than this but let’s change it (Elizabeth Warren, we need some help here!)

So let’s get behind a program like this and help everyone refinance down to a lower rate, regardless of the loan-to-value ratio, regardless of their credit score, regardless of their income levels… and free up many billions to help out the economy.

What will it add up to, I don’t know but here’s an interesting fact from the NYT story…

As of July, an estimated $2.4 trillion in mortgages backed by Fannie and Freddie carried interest rates of 4.5 percent or higher.

WASHINGTON – President Obama said Monday he now supports a plan by

Republican Senator Scott Brown that allows states to opt out of the health care overhaul’s key requirements early, a concession that positions the president as willing to compromise on his signature accomplishment.

Obama’s shift was announced in an address to the nation’s governors, many of whom have sued the White House to prevent implementation of the health care law. While boosting the prospects of the Massachusetts senator’s bipartisan bill in the Senate, the new position is unlikely to placate the health care law’s detractors or gain approval in the GOP-controlled House. And such an endorsement will not win back support for Brown from Tea Party conservatives, who ferociously denounce the law as an overreach of federal power.

Is this significant?

What happens to states which opt-out? How long can they opt out for?

Story

Uncle Sam has a reminder for some people who took advantage of the first-time homebuyer tax credit three years ago: He wants his money back.

Americans who bought homes in 2008 using the government’s tax credit will be required to start repaying the credit beginning with their 2010 tax return, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

In an odd twist, those who took advantage of a nearly identical tax credit in 2009 or 2010 will not be required to pay it back.

So does this sound fair to you guys? Personally, I think someone screwed up by not having the same hook on those getting the break in 2009 and 2010.

Thoughts?

Is this how the story goes… poor Greek girl comes to America, meets and weds a guy who becomes a US Congressman and after he loses US Senate bid they divorce. She is a fairly staunch conservative who espouses “smaller government and a reduction in welfare” but decides to start a company called the Huffington Post which esposues a more liberal view of things. She sells the company for $315M to AOL.

How will she view herself now?

Ms. Huffington’s 13th book is a cri de coeur bemoaning the evisceration of the U.S. middle class and America’s slide toward Third World status. As she describes it to me, “that’s really a country where there are the super-rich, who live behind gates with guards protecting their kids from kidnapping, and the rest of us.”

The rest of “us”? You’re not one of us!

So… what will she do with her money? Maybe give it to middle class Americans so they won’t come looking for her behind her steel gates…

Or maybe… some here have been asking about a more “friendly” bank, so she could start the Huffington Bank of America with low loan rates and high CD rates, no banking fees… NO?

How about starting that widget factory where peole will get paid high wages, great benefits, great pensions, free healthcare and a friendly, happy, green environment… no?

Feed the poor, clothe the naked, pay college tuition for illegal immigrants, help people with upside-down mortgages, plow MA roads, build high-speed rails… or maybe just be happy that Obama extended the tax cuts for her class… the SUPER RICH! She was against the Obama tax cuts but I’m sure she’ll gladly adhere to those tax tables.

Good for Arianna, I hope she enjoys her great “American Success Story”, probably write another book and make more money. So the question is… Is she the old Conservative she used to be pulling a fast one on Liberals or will she walk the progressive walk?

New congressional projections show Social Security running deficits every year until its trust funds are eventually drained in about 2037.

This year alone, Social Security is projected to collect $45 billion less in payroll taxes than it pays out in retirement, disability and survivor benefits, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. That figure swells to $130 billion when a new one-year cut in payroll taxes is included, though Congress has promised to repay any lost revenue from the tax cut.

The massive retirement program has been feeling the effects of a struggling economy for several years. The program first went into deficit last year, but the CBO said at the time that Social Security would post surpluses for a few more years before permanently slipping into deficits in 2016.

Nice call by the CBO… oops!

So, I know SS has many defenders here and we could go back and find lots of BMGers saying to “remain calm” and how SS is not in trouble blah blah blah…

Social Security is in trouble.

THe good news is most of our “leaders” only “lead” when there is a crisis. It would be too pragmatic to actually fix things before they break… “if ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Maybe this shot across the bow will get them of their arses and make the necessary changes to get SS back in the black.

Story

The CBO analysis predicts the economy will grow by 3.1 percent this year, but that joblessness will remain above 9 percent this year. Dauntingly for President Obama, the nonpartisan agency estimates a nationwide unemployment rate of 8.2 percent on Election Day in 2012.

…

The latest figures are up from previous estimates because of bipartisan legislation passed in December that extended Bush-era tax cuts, unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless and provided a 2 percent payroll tax cut this year.

That measure added almost $400 billion to this year’s deficit, CBO says.

Without Obama’s tax cuts for the rich and the poor, plus his new 2% payroll tax, the deficit would have been much less but still very high.

How are so many people going to survive from now until 2012 with unemployment between 8.2-9.5%? How many people will go beyond the 99 week unemployment benefit?

This is not good news for the President or Democratic Senators!

Since well before the Tucson shootings, there has been a plea from many, including me, for cooler heads to prevail and for civility to return to our politics.

Does this sound civil?

In his floor speech ,  

Cohen said:”They say it’s a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels. You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, and eventually, people believe it. Like blood libel. That’s the same kind of thing.”

He continued to say that “Germans said enough about the Jews and people believed it – believed it and you have the Holocaust. We heard on this floor, government takeover of health care” and people have come to believe that too.

Really… Goebbels, nazis???

And then we had this (a page taken from the Alan Grayson playbook) …

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas)

“Frankly, I would just say to you, this is about saving lives. Jobs are very important; we created jobs,” Jackson Lee said. “But even the title of their legislation, H.R. 2, ‘job-killing’ – this is killing Americans if we take this away, if we repeal this bill.”

Now, before people start defending these two, I’d point to the senitments over the last two weeks on our “tone”. Defenders of Joe Wilson tried to say that Obama did in fact lie… blah blah blah. The point was you don’t “call people a liar” Joe, especially the POTUS and especially during a State of the Union.

I haven’t read any condemnation here about these remarks. We do know how these things spiral out of control and are best to nip them in the bud.

A few days ago Chrstopher asked for some favorite MLK quotes and I submitted this one which has been verbalized many different ways in our past…

“He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

When Republicans or Democrats start to turn up the rhetoric with comparisons to nazis and/or implying one side wants people to “die”, I think we have returned to 2010. The discussions will become heated for sure and we can’t condemn them for every “negative” word/phrase but unless you are ok with Republicans making these comparisons then speak up.

Were/are you serious about wanting a civil discussion from our politicians? The past is the past and I’m talking about the present. Well?

Final score… Pats 38-17

Danny Woodcock has a big game… how can you not laugh at their reactions?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

How are your conditions?

Signaling a desire to steer the West Wing in a new direction, President Obama announced today that he’s tapped former Commerce Secretary Bill Daley as his next chief of staff.

News of the move brought instant praise from the business community, which has had a shaky relationship with the White House over the last two years. But it’s likely to further inflame tensions between Obama and liberal Democrats, who aren’t fans of Daley’s ties to Wall Street or his centrist political leanings.

Speaking in the East Room of the White House, Obama praised Daley as “an experienced public servant, a devoted patriot,” and a friend.

So… good thing… bad thing…

- He’s 62 year-old executive at JPMorgan with decades of experience in Washington,

- He’s the son of the late Chicago Mayor Richard J.

- He’s the brother of the present mayor Richard M., Daley.

- He’s a political moderate, Daley has publicly argued that Democrats need to move more toward the governing middle.

- The AFL-CIO, whose former president once labeled Daley “squarely on the opposite side of working families.”

- Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, slammed the Daley appointment, calling it a “real mistake.” “Bill Daley consistently urges the Democratic Party to pursue a corporate agenda that alienates both Independent and Democratic voters,” Green said in a statement.  ”If President Obama listens to that kind of political advice from Bill Daley, Democrats will suffer a disastrous 2012.”

Is this a good thing for Obama politically? Is it good for the country? How do BMGers feel with Obama picking a big bank Exec? Was he getting big bonuses for the last 2-3 years?

DeLeo said he wants to force municipal workers to join the state’s health plan, even if their unions oppose the move. State lawmakers and Governor Deval Patrick have long resisted that change, saying unions must have a voice in determining their health plans.

Then this…

DeLeo, who has been fending off questions about a patronage scandal at the state Probation Department, also said he wanted to end patronage throughout state government. Public employees must “serve but one master — the taxpaying public,” he said.

And finally this…

DeLeo also vowed to “work closely” with the governor and with Senate President Therese Murray to revive casino gambling legislation that died at the end of the last session in a hail of finger-pointing and acrimony.

So, will anything happen here? What’s going on with the Probation inquiry?

And does anyone else find this part of the Globe story pathetic? (think back to my continuous whining about how the public no longer trusts our leaders… 3 out of the last 3)

Warmly welcomed to the House chamber were three former speakers – Salvatore F. DiMasi, who has been indicted on corruption charges; Thomas M. Finneran, who was convicted of obstruction of justice and disbarred; and Charles F. Flaherty, who was convicted of tax evasion.

I hope everyone enjoys the holidays, their friends and families, and please for the love of God be safe out there.

The stock market has taken a classic dive/recovery and millions of Americans lost/made trillions… but not on an equal basis between rich/middle/poor.

So the stock market starts to dive and Americans stay in the market, the market continues to fall and Americans follow the dogma of “staying in the market”, “ride the wave down and back up”, 401K account shrink at horrendoues rates until finally the masses “pull out”.

Now many of the smarter investors “did not” ride the wave down, they pulled out early and many actually invested wisely during this down market. The “less informed” investors pulled out near the bottom of the market and took huge losses. Now, after such a bad experience, will those same “less informed” investers get back into the market… nope. So in 2009/2010, they invest in Money Market accounts and CDs earning .75% or maybe 1% for tying up their money for 5 years with $3 Trillion in these types of low yield (but safe) investments. The wise investor got back in at the bottom of the market and watched tremendous gains over the last 18 months.

So poorer Americans just got poorer while richer American just got richer. Smart Americans have been buying homes over the last 12 months with extremely LOW housing prices making great investment choices. Risk taking Americans have added on to their homes over the last 18 months due to extremely LOW labor/build costs. Many Americans have refinanced their homes to rates which they will never see again. And Americans who have invested in Wall St have seen their investments double and triple. (Apple Jan 2009 $82, Dec 2010 $325). These are ALL very smart moves by people which nobody should criticize. Poorer Americans have not had the money or the confidence/experience to enjoy the benefits of a rebounding market, low housing prices or/and refinancing upside down houses. Has everyone here refinanced to lower rates?

So… how do we fix this? Do you really think we should “punish” the Americans with higher capital gain taxes who took the risk (and had the liquidity) to invest in all these markets when prices were low? I understand that this sequence of events alone has widened the gap between the rich and the poor, but I really don’t think we should punish risk takers or “reward” those who stood by the sidelines.

Your thoughts?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this afternoon launched into a vociferous defense of congressional earmarks, branding Republicans “hypocrites” and pushing back against President Obama.

Faced with the prospects of having to literally read the full 1924 pages of an omnibus spending bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) chose on Thursday night to pull the measure in favor of a continuing resolution to keep government funding.

WASHINGTON – Far-reaching legislation to avert a Jan. 1 income-tax increase for millions won overwhelming support in a Senate test vote on Monday, backed by an uneasy and unusual alliance between the White House and lawmakers in both parties.

By a vote of 83 to 15, the measure easily cleared the 60-vote threshold needed for most legislation to advance in the 100-seat Senate.

….

In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and his GOP counterpart, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, were joint sponsors of the bill, a symbolic gesture of bipartisanship on an issue that produced nothing but gridlock until midterm elections gave Republicans additional leverage in negotiations.

“We’re telling the American people to keep money that’s rightfully theirs, so they can spend it and invest it as they please,” said McConnell.

In a jab at Democrats, he added, “This is an important shift, and the White House should be applauded for agreeing to it.”

Do House Democrats (like the eternally annoying Anthony Wiener) really think they can stop this?

Add another $850 Billion to the Obama’s deficit!

A U.S. judge in Virginia on Monday declared unconstitutional a key part of President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law in the first major setback on an issue that will likely end up at the Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson, appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2002, backed arguments by the state of Virginia that Congress exceeded its authority by requiring that individuals buy health insurance by 2014 or face a fine.

This was always going to end up at the SCOTUS so let this be the pathway to let the court finally settle it.

Summary;

- Two year extension of ALL the previous Bush Tax cuts (now called the Obama tax cuts).

- A one-year payroll tax reduction that would cut the amount contributed to Social Security from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent

- Unemployment benefits for long-term jobless extended for 13 months.

- A lower estate tax rate would be extended temporarily.

- A payroll tax reduction  would take the place of the Obama-backed “Making Work Pay” tax credit that gave up to $400 to individuals and $800 to couples through the economic stimulus package.

So… how do you feel about this deal?

Today’s Globe has a story of how the judge sentencing Diane Wilkerson has received a large amount of letters asking for probation vs. prison time. They cite how Wilkerson has done so many wonderful things.

I have been saying how we need to purge the bad actors from public service to restore the trust from the public, and I would say at all costs. We have been suffering from the “we don’t trust our politicians” for far too long. Now is the time where groups like the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform are announcing measure which need to be supported or truly disastrous events could occur, much worse than anything we have seen during the last 3 years. But unfortunately, we don’t trust our leaders anymore. We don’t believe any tax increases will go to reducing the debt, we believe the people we elect will spend it on something else.

So (back to my original thought) how is it we get fooled this way by politicians? What the above titled four people share… is the ability to schmooze people and maybe even genuinely believe that as long as they can do good deeds and are allowed to get away with misdeeds. I can remember 30 years ago where scores of people from South Boston telling me how Whitey Bulger was “Robin Hood”. How he would stop at Columbus Park and give kids new baseballs, buy uniforms for kids who couldn’t afford them, help pay for someone’s medical bills who was broke… He was an urban legend, a hero. Of course, he was beating, torturing, stealing, raping, killing people… while he publicly acted like he cared. But people supported him even after much of the truth came out.

Today’s Globe talks about how Wilkerson helped a woman arrange a funeral for her grandson, Charles Yancey defends Chuck Turner “I know Chuck to be a man of integrity”. I guess he’s ok with elected officials breaking the law (so much for leading by example and being a role model for the community). What did Gov Patrick say about Turner… “I don’t have to have an opinion on everything. That’s up to the City Council,”. Governor, he was found guilty on all charges. You can tap dance while it is only “charges” but once the jury says “guilty” I think you can make a statement. Does the good people do outweigh their wrongs(crimes)? Does the High School quarterback being needed for the “big game” outweigh his most recent “date rape”?

Rangel is guilty on 9 of 11 Ethics violations (many of which sound like criminal violations as well). But his people support him overwhelmingly. Many of his fellow politicians will not critique him either.

Let’s stop circling the wagons when we find a bad apple. I hope that when the Fed probe and Martha Coakley’s investigation find wrongdoings, we don’t start circling the wagons again and announce why someone getting high paying public service jobs for their three kids, wife, ex-wife, brother and dog is completely above the board.

We need to restore the integrity of the “elected office” and we need the support of the people so we can support the upcoming “VERY DIFFICULT” choices which lie ahead for all of us.

Federal prosecutors are asking a US grand jury to weigh charges, including fraud, extortion, and conspiracy, in the widening patronage scandal that has staggered the state Probation Department.

US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz has ordered probation officials to preserve all documents that could be used as evidence in the criminal probe, including e-mails, laptop files, BlackBerry text messages, and all of the agency’s paper records.

I would guess the feeling of “cover” may have just evaporated since we may get an “objective” investigation of the entire Probation Department situation by the Feds. I would imagine there will be many State House politicians and Departmental Managers/Supervisors subpoenaed with threats of perjury so the truth should come out.

Let’s hope the investigation will result in the following…

- The public starting to “believe in” the integrity of the government… starting.

- Our leaders stop the “business as usual” attitude about these state jobs.

- A return of fairness and openness when it comes to hiring state workers.

- Public officials and employees stop “looking the other way” when they witness improper activities. They need protection for their “whistle blowing”.

- Better performance by State Government since workers will be hired for “what” they know and not “who” they know.

Naive, maybe. But it wouldn’t be the first time I wished for something to happen… and it does!

President Barack Obama on Monday called for freezing the pay of 2 million federal employees, saying the move is the first of many difficult decisions that must be made to slash the nation’s mounting deficits.

Kudos to President Obama for taking it on the lip. He took a shot to the mouth for 12 stitches and now he will be taking many shots from union officials for his proposed freezing of any pay raises. Now the reaction from some make it sound like these workers are getting a pay cut.

I think we are all going to have to take a hit and thanks to the President for starting at home. Let’s keep the spending reduction ball rolling and then we can talk revenue increases.

I know it’s only $5 Billion but a billion here, another billion there… and pretty soon you’re talking real money.

Attorney General Martha Coakley today said her office has launched an investigation into the state Probation Department in the wake of the findings by an independent counsel that found “pervasive fraud” in the way probation officers were hired.

Coakley’s office today released a copy of a four paragraph letter she sent to Republican leaders on Beacon Hill, who had urged her recently to open an inquiry after the report by Paul F. Ware Jr., a study that was prompted by a series by the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team earlier this year.

Hopefully she finds more bodies and gets to question some people under oath. They should fess up or be very careful about any perjury charges.

I have been a big advocate of our local credit union for a few years and believe in this concept strongly. Why not be able to drive by the place where your money is everyday and see that the lights are still on? The biggest challenge for smaller banks and CUs is offering the services which the larger banks can provide on significantly smaller budgets. But, as I told them, MS Word has thousands fo features which the average person will never use and smaller banks should focus in on the “critical” services which the majority of customers need as well.

What’s needed? Besides being FDIC (or NCUA) insured… First, be somewhat competitive with products (CD rates, checking account fees, mortgages…). Second, provide on-line banking services which look like they were written post “Windows 3.0″. And third, provide a warmer, friendly, “people-based” face for the company.

Now I have a few mortgages, car loans… with my local CU even though their rates were not “the best” but I needed to “walk the walk”. I also have them for some of my banking but not everything since I have “remote” children which I like to have linked accounts with and the local CU does not currently offer this level of service.

BOA and others have recently announced the end of “free checking accounts” which I think is a great opportunity for local banks/CUs to grab some of those customers, tired of being nickeled and dimed to death. And remember (from WIKI)…

A credit union is a cooperative financial institution that is owned and controlled by its members and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at reasonable rates, and providing other financial services to its members.

So they are “non-profits” as well. My suggestion to BMGers (if you don’t already do this) is to consider using their local banks and CUs for their banking needs, as long as they provide the  services you need and can be close on the rates you require.

NEW YORK – Msnbc TV host Joe Scarborough was suspended without pay for two days Friday for making eight campaign donations to Florida political candidates, in violation of NBC News ethics policy.

Scarborough, a former Republican member of Congress from Florida and host of the cable network’s “Morning Joe” program, said he agreed with the decision by msnbc President Phil Griffin, which was similar to the sanction Griffin imposed two weeks ago on another host on the network, Keith Olbermann.

What kind of world do we live in where regular people who happen to be TV commentators have lost their rights as American citizens to contribute money to the candidates whom they support? What loony form of facism is overtaking our airwaves and limiting the rights of the press? Enough insincere indignation?

SO, are many of you happy now? Joe made contributions and will be suspended for two days just as Olbermann was. Sounds fair to me and I’m glad Scarborough researched his records and found these contributions from 2004-2008. Rules is rules and have to apply to everyone. Wonder if any of the other MSNBC personalities have made any contributions over the years? Funny how both suspensions happened on Fridays.

In a nutshell, starting in Jan/2011, you will not be able to us FSA money to pay for OTC medications unless you get a prescription from your Doctor. So no more FSA reimbursement for Advil, cough syrup, NyQil, Band-Aids…

It’s not too late to use as much money as you have left in your 2010 balance to buy these items though. So if your kids use DimeTapp (or whatever) often, go buy 10 bottles out of this year’s money because it won’t be reimbursable next year.

They have also decreased the maximum amount which you can contribute to $2,500 per year per family.

If Republicans insist on keeping all the “Bush” tax cuts, what should Democrats do?

* let the cuts expire – 30 votes (83.33%)

* run in circles, scream and shout – 4 votes (11.11%)

* extend the cuts for a year – 1 votes (2.78%)

* keep all the cuts – 1 votes (2.78%)

Question now is, what do you think will happen?

My guess is extend for everyone for a period and deal with it in the future.

A side question is almost “every” economist is saying you cannot raise taxes now in the worst economic period in modern history… and yet BMGers picked that option overwhelmingly. Are we wrong or the economists?

The mother of a junior on the Needham High School girls soccer team says that the suspensions of several players on the team for alleged hazing was too severe for what she called a “misguided attempt at team building.”

Lots of other parents, relatives and Needham residents seem to be rallying around the team and calling this an “over-reaction”.

But what I’m confused about is how does this create teambuilding?

WBZ-TV reported that the hazing victims had been blindfolded and led around on dog leashes, then hit in their faces with pies. The team’s coach, Carl Tarabelli, was put on administrative leave, the station said.

Maybe Pie Throwing team building, but hardly something to make you want to be part of the Girls Soccer team.

I’m hoping they stick with the suspensions, fire the coach and start telling parents that we have rules and we can’t change the rules when it’s “your kid” getting caught. Dog leashes? Was Linda McMahon involved in this? Then this excuse…

This is something that has been going on for years.

Note to all, the new bullying laws/rules are still being develped in many school systems. When they are fully enacted, there “will be” student punishments/suspended. Principal’s judgement will be used to determine whether it is a “single” event or a pattern exists. When students do get punished or expelled, look for similar excuses from parents about “it was a joke”, “it happens everywhere”… They need to get in front of this message and this looks like a good place to start!

But another stark result was the GOP now holding 37 Governor seats around the country up from 24. Significant for the redistricting but also for budget/spending cuts at state levels.

Another remarkable number was the GOP now controls both houses in 26 states with an increase of 628 state legislative (including 14 states with both houses and the Governorship).

MA was certainly not part of this wave but I think we lost the battle in MA but won the war in the US. It will be interesting to see how states balance their budgets from these Republican run states vs states like MA. How does Governor Patrick intend to balance the $2.5B shortfall coming up?

Keith Olbermann, the pre-eminent liberal voice on American television, was suspended Friday after his employer, MSNBC, discovered that he made campaign contributions to three Democrats last month.

The indefinite suspension was a stark display of the clash between objective journalism and opinion journalism on television.

Wow.

You may think I’m putting a spin on this but I don’t care. We have organized, raised money and raised hopes. We ran against incumbents who have not had any serious opposition in decades. We have caused incumbents to spend down their large campaign war-chests which they’ve built over the years taking money from contributors even when they had no opposition.

For the next few years look for almost every seat in MA to be challenged and a new breed of alternatives to incumbents to arrive. Of course, time will tell if this happens or everyone goes back to sleep and things return to “normal’ (MA Dems run everything…).

Time will tell…

But today’s paper shows Chuck has decided to pull out the race card of all things.

“African-Americans were brought to this country as slaves. We were whipped and lashed and hung,” Turner said. “And they build an economy where we can’t even find a job . . . that keeps us fighting among ourselves, enables them to build prisons and keep their white working class employed and moving forward.”

It wasn’t because of your color, it was the “preacher’s handshake” defense and the never believable “I can’t remember…” defense and of course the “video of you taking the money” that sealed the deal.

Did Chuck notice we have an African-American President? Chuck, you were caught red handed, on film taking a bribe. The Feds don’t like that kind of thing no matter what color you are. You can bring another convicted felon, Diane Wilkerson into the conversation, but please remember the last three Speakers of the House in MA who were all brought down by bribery and corruption were white.

And I guess I thought more of Charlies Yancey than his race baiting words from yesterday…

“We all have to ask the question: Why was the FBI so hell-bent on destroying one of our strongest leaders?” he told the crowd. “I know that when W.E.B. Du Bois challenged racism and sexism in this country, they went after him. I know when Malcolm X stood up and said, ‘You are a human being,’ they went after Malcolm X. And I recall, within one year after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told us to get out of Vietnam, he was no longer with us. So what is it about people that challenge the powers that be?”

To Mr. Yancey and Turner supporters, I would say it is admirable to stick with someone who has been accused of a crime. It is even admirable when the evidence looks bad. Hell, it’s election season and you can’t turn on a TV without seeing a story about a candidate with sleezy details, ugly charges and outright lies… and we still support candidates. But when you have a chance to tell your story in court with an attorney, when you can confront any evidence and then a jury finds you guilty… maybe supporters should question their support. He is guilty of taking a bribe just as Wilkerson was guilty of taking a bribe. Period!

Guilty as charged on all four counts! He wasn’t the first politician to do this and he certainly won’t be the last.

Some of the highlights include…

- half a million public sector jobs will be lost

- about 18 billion ($28.5 billion) axed from welfare payments

- pension age raised to 66 by 2020,

- Queen Elizabeth II will trim the budget by 14 percent.

- 1.5 million “better off” families lose child benefit payments. – housing payments and about a dozen other benefits for poorer Britons will also be restricted.

- all areas of government (except health and education) face average cuts of 19 percent to their budgets.

– 8% reduction in defense spending.

and many more.

This program has been approved by both ideological sides of the UK government. The unions are going ape and some social welfare people are predicting doom and gloom.

My question to BMGers and Paul Krugman followers is, will this large scale auterity effort on the part of the UK answer the question whether cutting during a recession helps or hurts a recovery? Krugman has said continuously that this type of thing “will not work!”.

Well, I guess we’ll find out. So… if the UK does well by this plan does it prove Krugman wrong and if it drives the UK even further into economic collapse, will he be proven right?

Frank, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, has always been ardent in his defense of Fannie and Freddie. In 2003, he insisted that the two mortgage giants were not “facing any kind of a crisis.” In July 2008, just weeks before they collapsed and were taken over by the federal government, he publicly maintained that “Fannie and Freddie are fundamentally sound – they are not in danger of going under.” Frank recently told the Boston Globe’s Donovan Slack that “he missed the warning signs [in 2003] because he was wearing ideological blinders,” while in 2008 “he was deliberately trying to reassure the public.”

Brian McGrory starts off his story about Barney as follows…

Just about every Democrat in Massachusetts has a Barney Frank story, and very few of them would earn him the Citizen of the Year award.

Frank belittles members of Congress. He berates Capitol Hill staffers. It’s not that he doesn’t suffer fools; he doesn’t really suffer anyone.

And Barney is not taking his supposed lead for granted as he recently loaned his campaign $200,000 for a last press for reelection and had former President Bill Clinton come into town to stump for him. These are not the acts of a candidate with a solid lead.

Thomas Sowell of Investor’s Daily had a nasty article on Barney today …

Among longtime politicians who are being seriously challenged for the first time this election year, Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts best epitomizes the cynical ruthlessness that hides behind their lofty rhetoric.

… which he blames Barney for not only being part of the cause of the problem but then incredulously pointing his finger in the other direction…

When federal regulators uncovered irregularities in Fannie Mae’s accounting, and in 2004 issued what Barron’s magazine called “a blistering 211-page report,” Frank lashed out – not at Fannie Mae, but at the regulators who uncovered Fannie Mae’s misdeeds.

Will Barney Frank learn anything from this mess? I doubt it. If I were a betting man (Oh wait, I am a betting man…), I would still say Barney wins this race, but that is one bet I’d love to lose.

At birth, Hispanics can expect to live 80.6 years; that’s about 2.5 years longer than the non-Hispanic white population and about 7.7 years longer than blacks. Overall, the life expectancy for the total population was 77.7 years, according to 2006 data used in a report issued Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics.The longer lifespan is apparent despite well-documented health risks for Hispanics, including higher rates of obesity and diabetes and lower levels of education, income and access to health care, say researchers who have been puzzling over what’s known as “the Hispanic paradox” for years.

So… what does this mean? I have no friggin idea. But my point in bringing it up is we often read about life expectancy, infant mortality and other health metrics of the US vs. other nations and from those single data-points we jump to conclusions about our healthcare system. Maybe what this single datapoint shows is we have a very complex system of varying diets, varying lifestyles and maybe trumping all, varying genetics.

One might assume that all Americans living in the US would have similar health outcomes, with maybe the snarky remarks of some concluding the very rich having the best of all health outcomes. But this study agrees with many other previous studies that US Hispanics outlive both whites and blacks. In fact, it also finds that they live longer even though they have HIGHER level of obesity, poverty and diabetes.

Nearly 29 percent of Hispanics are obese, compared with nearly 24 percent of whites, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some 10 percent of Hispanics are diabetic, compared with just under 8 percent of the total population, according to the National Institutes of Health. Some 25 percent of Hispanics families lived below the poverty level in 2009, compared with 14 percent of U.S. families overall, according to new census figures.

So, maybe we should be more careful before we point to statistics coming out comparing country X’s level of any medically relevant condition compared to the USA’s since the answer to fixing it may be genetic vs. systemic (heathcare) or based on something else other than healthcare.

WASHINGTON – Doctors have injected millions of human embryonic stem cells into a patient partially paralyzed by a spinal cord injury, marking the beginning of the first carefully designed attempt to test the promising but controversial therapy, officials said yesterday.

This could be the beginning of something really exciting.

Although Geron eventually hopes to test the cells for many different medical problems, the first trial will involve 10 patients who were partially paralyzed by a spinal cord injury in the previous one to two weeks. Surgeons injected the first patient with about 2 million “oligodendrocyte progenitor cells,” created from embryonic stem cells, in the hopes they will form a restorative coating around the damaged spinal cord. In tests in hundreds of rats, partially paralyzed animals walked.

Of course there will be detractors from many sides, abortion protestors as well as morality protestors… but this could be the beginning of cures which currently don’t exist.

I’m hoping for success but in the event of failure I’m hoping we keep pushing against any uproar. Yes I’m a Republican and yes I am Pro-life but I am in favor of stem cell research in the US.

While answering a question about taxes at the North Shore Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday Patrick said “Personally, I’d like to see a progressive income tax and not a flat income tax. That’s where I’d like to see us go.”

I know many BMGers would also love a progressive income tax to punish all the successful working people in MA but how will other tax payers feel about it. MA residents have consistently been against a progressive tax and insist on a flat tax so the Governor is at odds with the majority of voters.

Why would Deval do this when he already has the left locked in place for the elections. Does he think independents want progressive income taxes?

SCOTUS

D-2518 IN THE MATTER OF DISCIPLINE OF THOMAS M. FINNERAN

 Thomas M. Finneran, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, is

suspended from the practice of law in this Court and a rule will

issue, returnable within 40 days, requiring him to show cause

why he should not be disbarred from the practice of law in this

Court.

I wonder if Sal DiMasi will make it that far?

Unions have pumped more than $1.3 million into the fight against a statewide ballot question designed to lower Massachusetts sales tax rate from 6.25 percent to 3 percent.

And supporters of the question only have $18,000 in the bank. (David vs. Goliath?)

$560K of the $1.3M came from MA Teachers while $500K came from the National Education Association.

A poll last week showed the public is leaning towards voting yes with a slight lead. These union muckers will be fighting hard for their union dues so the fight will not be easy. With the vote (and the Governor’s race) so close, I think it would great to get more opinions from the Governor about how we’re all so uninformed about Question #3. (maybe John Kerry can teach the Governor how to call the voters stupid uninformed?)

We could use a few more dollars so please dig deep and send a few bucks to ROLLBACKTAXES and let’s show the unions what we think of them.

About time

The Senate unanimously passed a bill late Wednesday to require television stations and cable companies to limit the volume of commercials and keep them at the level of the programs they interrupt.

The House has passed similar legislation. Before it can become law, minor differences between the two versions have to be worked out when Congress returns to Washington after the Nov. 2 election.

Praised be Allah, no more ear drum popping volume when the next Viagra ad comes on while watching Keith Olbermann and Rachel. Too bad they couldn’t have signed the bill today but I know Speaker Pelosi had to twist arms to get the House adjourned early so they could RUN AWAY from the Obama Tax Cut issue before the elections. What a bunch of babies!

Does this type of ad belong in American politicans?

Check it out on FACTCHECK.ORG

Here’s the original video from Webster.

The poll found that 81 percent of those polled get their news about the midterm elections from cable channels, like Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, or their websites, compared with 71 percent from national network news channels, such as ABC, NBC or CBS, and their websites.

Among cable news channels, Fox was the clear winner, with 42 percent of respondents saying it is their main source, compared with 30 percent who cited CNN and 12 percent who rely on MSNBC.

Shows many people now rely on Cable news vs. the traditional networks… and the cable channel of choice is FOX.

Fox’s opinionated personalities were also rated as having the greatest positive impact on the political debate in the country. Bill O’Reilly was rated as having, by far, the greatest positive impact, with 49 percent of respondents rating him positively, and 32 percent negatively.

Glenn Beck was the second most-positively rated personality, with 38 percent of respondents saying he had a positive impact, and 32 percent saying he had a negative impact.

…

MSNBC’s personalities were largely ranked as unknown by respondents: 70 percent said they had never heard of Ed Schultz, 55 percent said they had never heard of Rachel Maddow and 42 percent said they had never heard of Keith Olbermann.

Another good sign about November. Or… is this just another bad poll with meaningless results? I know, I know… the only poll that matters is when the people vote. Ok.

With just five weeks to the election, Republican Charles D. Baker has pulled even with Governor Deval Patrick in a gubernatorial race shaped by anti-incumbent sentiment and unusually high excitement among Republican voters, according to a new Boston Globe poll.

The poll results also suggest that independent Timothy P. Cahill is pulling voters equally from Baker and Patrick, raising questions about the conventional political thinking that his candidacy is undercutting Baker’s chance to defeat the governor in the Nov. 2 election.

In the Globe poll, taken last week, Patrick, a Democrat, won support from 35 percent of likely voters, compared with 34 percent for Baker, a statistical tie given the poll’s margin of error. Cahill, the state treasurer who left the Democratic Party last year, continued to lag far behind with 11 percent. Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein got 4 percent, and 14 percent said they remain undecided.

Don’t be concerned, it’s just a poll. And more importantly, it’s a poll which shows Baker even with Patrick so it must be wrong or flawed. Please go back to sleep and laugh about Charlie Baker’s mole, or bring up the big dig…

Message to Charlie, keep talking about…

- Gov Patrick not joining the ICE Secure Communities program (endangering MA resident’s lives)

- Gov Patrick just went on record again with the Boston Herald that he is in favor of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants (remember that when you write the next tuition check to the state)

- yes, Gov Patrick is still in favor of MA State Drivers license for illegal immigrants. (Governor, these people are breaking Federal laws).

The people will come out on Nov 2 and take back our government. BMGers believe election results are the only polls that matter and believe our “voices” are transferred to the people we elect. I hope they still feel this way when Republicans and conservatives begin speaking for BMGers.

Gov. Deval Patrick’s public safety administration has sat for a year on a request by federal immigration authorities to sign up for a controversial new program aimed at finding and deporting immigrants with serious criminal backgrounds, preventing local police outside of Boston from taking part in it, a FOX Undercover investigation has found.

This initiative from the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Immigration is simple. When someone gets arrested for a crime they get fingerprinted. The arresting police department checks the prints on a system which will identify criminals who have previously committed serious crimes and whether they are here in the US legally. At that point the police can call ICE to get the criminals.

But Deval has not signed the paper neccesary for Police Departments through the state (except Boston) to aprtace in the program.

Bruce Chadbourne, head of the New England field office of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention and removal division…

“Our goal is to pick up those who are priorities, which are Level 1, who are convicted for serious, heinous crimes — murder, rape, armed robbery. Things like that,” Chadbourne said. “We’ve picked up some very bad people and not just gotten them off the streets. We’ve removed them from the country.”

How serious of a crime will have to occur before Deval picks up his magic pen and signs on the dotted line to help protect the safety and lives of MA residents? I hope Charlie Baker reads the story since it would make a great campaign ad.

Yet another Democrat who wants the tax cuts extended for everyone (even those evil millionaire Bourgeois pigs… like Oprah…).

Most politicians are running from this one but it has to come to a head. Will our Leaders (chuckle, chuckle… leaders) have the fortitude (Deval calls it backbone) to vote one way or another on the Bush Tax cuts? Up for all, down for all or only add $202 Billion to the deficit by extending to middle class? What a quandry.

Anyone know how Congressman Lynch, after his trouncing of Mac (how long do we have to look at the “We’ve got your back Mac!…” banner on BMG, is he running for something else?), feels about the Bush Tax cuts?

Think we’ll see anything before November elections?

UPDATE *********** Not just Republicans.

Thirty-one House Democrats have signed a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) urging them to renew all Bush-era tax cuts.

The letter strikes at the heart of the argument posed by Democratic leaders that the country can ill-afford to extend tax cuts for the wealthy.

It suggests using excess revenue on the “pay-go scorecard,” which shows that Congress has a surplus in terms of paying for legislation that it has passed this year.

Many sources for both of these…

Last month Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) agreed to repay $31,000 in CBC Foundation scholarships that went to 23 relatives and children of a top staffer.

She claimed she didn’t know that the foundation’s rules prohibited nepotism.

23! You mean to tell me she didn’t think she was doing anything wrong by giving 23 relatives money? WHAT????? Are politicans so numb to ethical violations and hackery that she couldn’t smell something wrong here. And the the F was guarding the barn while she gave away all this money?

Well, I guess she can be excused since she didn’t know about the nepotism rule, ya sure. I hope the Congresswoman is clear on all the Congressional rules or she’ll be joining Charlie Rangel…

But she’s okay with everything.

“I have not done anything to violate any laws. I haven’t taken any new cars. I have not taken any money from the government and I feel fine going forward,” she said.

And this…

South Georgia Congressman Sanford Bishop (D-2nd District) says he will repay scholarship money that went to family members, but only after he blamed the scandal on his Republican opponent even before that challenger had said anything about it.

I guess it is the Republican’s fault since nothing would have ever happened if his opponent didn’t bring this whole thing up. What a party pooper.

What a bunch of losers! Who will be caught next with their hand in the cookie jar? Will they have huge cojones and excuse their own violations or dismiss them aka… “staff errors”… “nepotism is wrong?”… ? Will these dirtbags get reelected? Would you all support them?

The Joint Committee on Taxation report showed that extending the BTC to the middle class will add $202 Billion to the deficit…

So when people start throwing around the rhetoric about the Bush Tax Cuts benefiting only the millionaires in the country, they ned to get their facts straight and acknowledge 85% of the tax revenue from the BTC comes from people making UNDER $250,000.

How do Democrats plan to pay for these tax cuts?

New data from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation show that households earning more than $1 million a year would reap nearly $31 billion in tax breaks

…

The analysis, requested by Democrats on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, comes as debate heats up over tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration, most of which are scheduled to expire at the end of this year. Republicans want to extend all the cuts, which would cost the Treasury Department $238 billion in 2011, according to the taxation committee. President Obama and congressional Democrats have vowed to extend the cuts only for families making less than $250,000 a year and individuals making less than $200,000 — 98 percent of American taxpayers — in a plan that would add about $202 billion to next year’s deficit.

Tim, exactly how much do-re-mi will it take to get you out of this fight? I’ve asked you this on the air, and you laughed, as if I were kidding. I wasn’t. You said neither Deval nor President Obama have offered you anything to continue your kamikaze campaign for governor, so I think you’re available at what they used to call popular prices.

Cahill responded today in the Herald and it a “must read”. Think of a 7th grader writing a short story as you read.

Here’s my favorite line… Hmmm, Scott Brown-ish? Me like it!

Over the next 58 days me and my Jeep will be crisscrossing this state, asking people for their vote.

Cahill needs to remember the saying, “When you fight with a pig you both get dirty – but the pig likes it.”

HE WOULDN’T ANSWER!

Globe

He repeatedly dodged a direct answer when asked if he would implement the change if it were passed.

“I think we work real hard to try to show them how calamitous a choice that would be,” he said twice.

Does the Govenor believe he can simply dismiss the wishes of the MA populace? Is he ready to give MA residents a “Yankee salute”? Referendum petitions have been found by the courts to be binding.

But Deval has some funny views on “sacred ground”…

A Mosque in NYC, Deval wants it…

“The sooner we separate the peaceful teaching of Islam from the behavior of terrorists, the better for all of us,” Patrick said on WTKK-FM 96.9.

An American wanting to hold a peaceful rally on the Lincoln Memorial, Deval is against it…

Gov. Deval Patrick says the Lincoln Memorial is “sacred ground” to him, so he wishes Fox News commentator Glenn Beck had not held a rally there.

A legislative leader whose wife, former aide, and scores of financial supporters have received jobs in the state Probation Department is fighting a subpoena ordering him to appear before an independent counsel investigating allegations of corrupt hiring practices within the agency.

Independent counsel Paul F. Ware had ordered Representative Thomas M. Petrolati, the third-ranking leader in the House of Representatives, to appear before him last week to answer questions about his efforts to secure probation jobs for his family, friends, and supporters. Ware also demanded documents about Petrolati’s relationship with Probation Commissioner John J. “Jack” O’Brien, who was suspended from his job in May after the Globe revealed a pattern of political favoritism in hiring.

Is Sal looking for a roommate? Maybe Jack O’Brien will join them.

Does the gale and arrogance of Beacon Hill ever end? Oh wait I forgot, like Sal and Charlie Rangel and Diane W… these people a innocent until proven guilty.

Any takers on Petrolati being in office a year from now?

Update

Governor Deval Patrick described as “very troubling” today’s Globe report that state Representative Thomas M. Petrolati, the House’s third-ranking leader, is seeking to block his testimony before a special counsel investigating the State Probation Department.

“The probation department has become a rogue agency with a complete lack of transparency, and oversight,” Patrick said in a statement to the Globe.

Add this event to the “Why are people saying we need to take back our government”.

Next we can discuss the billions wasted in Iraq…

KHAN BANI SAAD, Iraq — A $40 million prison sits in the desert north of Baghdad, empty. A $165 million children’s hospital goes unused in the south. A $100 million waste water treatment system in Fallujah has cost three times more than projected, yet sewage still runs through the streets.

Bright’s remarks. “He had been asked a question from the audience about his support for Pelosi,” Woodruff told Sargent. “He said, `Let’s wait until that comes up. He listed a long list of reasons why Pelosi might not run for Speaker of the House.”

“The last one was, `heck, she might even get sick and die.’”

Censure? Ask him to step down? Stop sending him money? … or look the other way (he’s a Democrat)?

This week, Intel CEO Paul Otellini and Jim Tisch, CEO of Loews Corp. both blamed the President’s policies for creating an environment of “uncertainty” that is crippling America’s economy.

The Obama administration is “flummoxed by their experiment in Keynesian economics not working,” Otellini said Monday in a speech in Aspen.

Higher taxes and more regulation add an additional $1 billion to building a semiconductor manufacturing plant in the U.S. vs. overseas, the CEO said.

As a result, “the next big thing will not be invented here. Jobs will not be created here,” Otellini said, warning of “an inevitable erosion and shift of wealth, much like we’re seeing today in Europe…this is the bitter truth.”

Former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, one of the longest-serving senators in U.S. history and a tireless advocate for his state, was killed Monday in a plane crash southwest of Anchorage.

I’m sure I speak for many or all BMGers when I thank Senator Stevens for his 40 years in the US Senate and for serving during WWII.

Highlights of today’s announcement…

- Freddie Mac reported a net loss of $6 billion, or $1.85 per share.

- Freddie Mac’s conservator will request an additional $1.8 billion from the Treasury Department to keep its balance sheet in the black.

- Last week Fannie reported a net loss of $3.1 billion, or 55 cents per share, and will need another $1.5 billion from the Treasury.

The Fannie-Freddie bailout is soon to top $148 billion and, unlike American International Group’s, it stands little chance of being repaid. While AIG topped the bailout list with a one-time height of $182 billion, the firm has shaved the total down to under $70 billion, with a big chunk set to be repaid by year-end.

Thanks Barney! The $148 Billion is still growing and count on it to continue.

To all the critics of AIG, only $70 Billion of the loaned $148 Billion remain. As for the bank bailouts, two-thirds of the bank bailout money has been repaid and at a lucrative profit.

How many more Billions of $$$ will we have to pay for the abuses and excesses at Freddie/Fannie because Barney and the other Democrats wouldn’t even investigate what was going on? Thanks Barney!

When will GM be repaying their loans? What does that schedule look like.

Bank in Maxine Waters case was weakest to get TARP help

The bank at the center of a House ethics investigation of U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters was the weakest to receive funds from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program at the time of its rescue, according to an analysis by the Investigative Reporting Workshop.

When then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced creation of the so-called “Capital Purchase Program” in October 2008, he said it was directed at “healthy institutions.” Nevertheless OneUnited Bank of Boston received a $12.1 million capital injection from the Treasury Department on Dec. 19, 2008. The money has not been repaid, according to Treasury Department documents.

Barney Frank has already publically stated that he advised Waters to stay out of this bank’s problem and let him handle it, but she ignored him.

Hopefully the Democratic House takes less than the 2 years it took them to investigate Charlie Rangel. I also hope the Republicans who get elected in November take special care to look into this case and bring the investigation to a quicker conclusion.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, whose lawsuit against health care reform moved forward Monday, has ruled that his state’s law enforcement officials can ask to check the immigration status of anyone they arrest or even stop.

Cuccinelli’s legal opinion, written in response to a conservative state delegate’s request, could expand on a 2008 Virginia law requiring police to check the legal status of anyone taken into custody on suspicion of having committed a crime.

The opinion also explicitly compares standing Virginia law to the pending Arizona immigration law, which some Virginia activists see as a roadmap for their own state policy.

And from FOX…

“It is my opinion that Virginia law enforcement officers, including conservation officers may, like Arizona police officers, inquire into the immigration status of persons stopped or arrested,” he wrote.

…

Cuccinelli’s ruling could justify that kind of policy in Virginia. However, Cuccinelli reiterated in the opinion a prior finding that while state officers have the authority to arrest suspects on criminal immigration violations, they are advised against arresting over civil immigration violations. Overstaying a visa would fall under the latter category.

I’m sure Obama will challenge and I’m sure there will be another state to follow VA.

This issue will not go away!

BOSTON – Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is docking his family’s new $7 million yacht in neighboring Rhode Island, allowing him to avoid paying roughly $500,000 in taxes to the cash-strapped Bay State.

If the “Isabel” were kept at the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee’s summer vacation home on Nantucket, or in Boston Harbor near his city residence, he would be liable for $437,500 in one-time sales tax. He would also have to pay $70,000 in annual excise taxes.

Rhode Island repealed those taxes in 1993. That has made the state something of a nautical tax haven.

Kerry spokesman David Wade said Friday the boat is being kept at Newport Shipyard not to evade taxes, but “for long-term maintenance, upkeep and charter purposes.”

Wade noted the vessel was designed by Rhode Island boat designer Ted Fontaine and purchased in the state. It was built in New Zealand by Friendship Yachts.

I fully understand Kerry is legally allowed to skirt MA taxes by this move but talk about something looking bad. A US Senator doing this to the State he represents!

But my real problem and the point of this post…

In a time when the country has astronomical unemployment and we are doing everything we can to stimulate the economy (including spending our grandchildren’s money), couldn’t the esteemed Senator from MA build his $7 million yacht in AMERICA? Does he have to pour salt in the wounds of Americans as we pay people to do menial tasks (mile markers on highways) and skilled laborers like “boat builders” are unemployed and he builds his boat in New Zealand.

Bob recently posted about the Quincy Shipyard being a museum and not a functional shipyard. Was John Kerry a US Senator at that time? Maybe he supported building our naval ships in New Zealand too?

Thanks for sending a few more jobs overseas Senator Kerry, and please pass the Grey Poupon!

Well this is another classic case which will piss people off…

Jailed Haverhill firefighter wins $3,474 monthly pension

Summary…

This guy, firefighter Kevin Thompson, has been a habitual drunken driver since the 70′s. He was arrested numerous times in NH and lost his drivers license for life. He also was arrested multiple times in MA and lost his license in 1987.

Thing is, he’s been driving a Fire Truck for the city of Haverhill for 26 years.

That’s enough right there to be a big problem. But it gets better.



Then he got arrested in NH for driving with a suspended licenes and got sentenced to 4 months in prison. He continued to collect his pay check becuase he never told the Haverhill Fire Department that he was in jail. He used vacation and his Fire Fighter friends swapped work shifts to cover his ass.

That’s enough right there to be a big problem. But it gets better.

So… with this latest incident in play, he decides to quickly retire and get his pension before anything bad can happen (like this guy has any luck left in life). Bingo, he makes out.

The vote to give Thompson his pension was 4-0, with William Klueber, Donald “Jake” Shea, Charles Benevento and attorney James Cleary at the meeting. Board member Lewis Poore Jr. was absent. He is a retired Haverhill fire deputy chief and former acting chief.

Mayor James Fiorentini recently said Thompson’s application for retirement benefits was processed “in record time” with the assistance of Poore.

Whether you agree with me or not, this is exactly the kind of thing that will steal votes from Democrats, pro-union politicians and anyone who smells like they are part of the “system”.

What do you think should happen?

What should politicians (like Deval) be saying about this situation?

We should keep up the monitoring and reporting of any incident, whether it is voter intimidation by the New Black Panthers, Tea Party activists, Obama’s appointees or anyone else.

Some people belong under the bus!

Republican Sen. Scott Brown says he will cast a critical vote against a bill Democrats hoped he would support as they try to nullify a recent Supreme Court fundraising decision.

I have to admit that I wasn’t too happy when the SCOTUS decision came out regarding corporate political donations however, why should corporations be limited while unions are not?

Washington Post

The findings are an indication that corporate money is not flooding into campaigns as many predicted would happen after the landmark decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

So far this year, $24.7 million in independent spending has been reported to the Federal Election Commission, campaign filings show. Unions have spent $9.7 million (or 39 percent of the total), compared with $6.4 million (26 percent) spent by individuals and $3.4 million spent by corporations.

I’d support creating a law to limit political donations as long as it applied to all parties including corporations, unions and individuals.

A bloody day and night for American forces in southern Afghanistan has left eight U.S. troops dead, as Taliban militants step up their attacks in the face of an ongoing American-led offensive to capture the militants’ hometown.

I know the Boston Globe would publish the names of our soldiers killed in Iraq when George Bush was President, but this story about 8 of our brave soldiers dying in Afghanistan is nowhere to be found on the front page of the Boston Globe. Another case of the press protecting the President.

When will Obama realize this is a battle that cannot be won? We need to figure out how to win this thing OR bring our troops home from Afghanistan… now!

In July, Arizona will begin enforcing a new law that requires law enforcement officers to check someone’s immigration status if they have reason to suspect that he or she is in the country illegally. Do you think this is a good idea?

As of a few minutes ago when I voted the tally was

96%

Yes

3,138,697 votes

4%

No

132,039 votes

While I understand polls here which go against what some “believe” or “want” to be true are considered meaningless, doesn’t this overwhelming result (on MSNBC of all places) mean something?

I’m sure you could say Conservatives like myself have flooded the site and answered YES or more liberal people have somehow been left out of the poll, but I think there is certainly some signal in this poll and I think Obama is ignoring the voice and will of Americans who want our country to enforce the immigration laws.

Rasmussen says Sixty-one percent (61%), in fact, favor passage of a law like Arizona’s in their own state. 56% support the Arizona law while 28% do not support it.

PS Please note that MSNBC tried to mislead the public by stating the Arizona law incorrectly. Police officers can only check someone’s immigration status if they have detained them for suspicion of committing a crime. This is a very important distinction as the absence of this condition makes it sound like an illegal immigrant walking down the street could be arbitrarily stopped. Even with this attempted distortion, the public still supports the law with a 96% to 4% landslide.

The law clarifies the original law’s language around “reasonable suspicion” by requiring state and local law enforcement to reasonably attempt to determine the immigration status of a person only while in the process of a lawful  stop, detention, or arrest (the original language referred to “lawful contact.”) HB 2162 also stipulates that a lawful stop, detention or arrest must be in the enforcement of any other law or ordinance of a county, city or town of this state.