Eric Cantor says “no more emergency measures.”
President Bartlett says, “Shut it down.”
What will President Obama say?
Recent Comments
 | suzy blah blah on March against Monsanto this… |
 | Eric Kirk on March against Monsanto this… |
 | "Henchman Of Justice… on March against Monsanto this… |
| "Henchman Of Justice… on March against Monsanto this… |
| "Henchman Of Justice… on March against Monsanto this… |
| "Henchman Of Justice… on March against Monsanto this… |
| "Henchman Of Justice… on March against Monsanto this… |
 | moviedad on How does vinegar mix with tin… |
 | That Other Anonymous on March against Monsanto this… |
 | Forest Queen on March against Monsanto this… |
 | Anonymous on March against Monsanto this… |
 | Cookie on March against Monsanto this… |
 | bolithio on March against Monsanto this… |
| Forest Queen on March against Monsanto this… |
 | Mitch on How does vinegar mix with tin… |
36 comments
Comments feed for this article
March 29, 2011 at 5:04 pm
Moonshadow
I find the cavalier attitude in D.C. over the impending shutdown to be repugnant. If they really care about their constituents and the citizens of this country they’d be working far harder to find a solution. Take a look at this NPR article from February about the consequences of a shutdown.
this pissing match between the Republicans and Democrats will hurt and harm real people. It is about time they got with it and did what they were elected to do, which is run the government for ALL of us.
What a bunch of self centered boors . . . all of ‘em!
March 29, 2011 at 6:06 pm
Plain Jane
It’s blackmail for more spending cuts that we can “afford” at this point. They are also introducing legislation to essentially cut the minimum wage in states which are higher than federal by allowing employers to deduct any health insurance costs they provide. Soon they’ll have the unemployed viewers of Fox demanding a cut in the minimum wage so companies could afford to hire more workers. They’ll do ANYTHING to destroy Obama’s and Democratic congress re-election chances as well, including wrecking the economy. Of course, it isn’t their REAL constituents who will suffer. Imagine a Republican White House, Congress and majority SCOTUS. What fun.
March 29, 2011 at 6:07 pm
Plain Jane
Was it Michigan who just cut the maximum unemployment benefits by several weeks? And then what?
March 29, 2011 at 6:32 pm
Sally
Those of us who regret not “taking to the streets” after the 2000 so-called “election” better start communicating. When I became “politically aware” as a teen in the 1970′s, I was naive enough to believe that 3mile island, the Vietnam war, and the revelations of Watergate would put this country on the right track. Yes, I was very naive. Now I am in my 50′s, and, although I don’t have kids, I care about YOUR kids, grandchildren, and great-great-great grandchildren. I care about my Mom on Social Security, plus your Mom, or your Aunt, or your Uncle. Since my very first “post-babysitter” job in the 1970′s, when they started deducting taxes for social security, etc. I’ve never begrudged it, because I respected my elders, and I hoped to someday be a “respected elder” who could count on that little “supplement” I had paid money into for decades. Social Security is NOT an “entitlement”… it is a trust fund we have all contributed to, since we were teenagers.
March 29, 2011 at 6:38 pm
Sally
Don’t mean to “rant”, but between all the troubles around the globe, trying to stay afloat at home, trying to keep my job/business afloat, trying to take care of my 81 year old mom, etc… it’s very frustrating to see creeps like Walker, et al… trying to bust unions. Geez… shouldn’t we worry more about the safety of our Nuclear Power Plants? (as if they were ever safe, or as if they will ever BE safe!)
March 29, 2011 at 6:45 pm
Eric Kirk
I find the cavalier attitude in D.C. over the impending shutdown to be repugnant. If they really care about their constituents and the citizens of this country they’d be working far harder to find a solution.
There’s no solution, because the problem is a new ideological element which won’t allow the Republican mainstream to compromise. It’s the Tea Party way or the highway. Or not the highway if it’s federally funded.
March 29, 2011 at 7:08 pm
Moonshadow
Well then, Eric, we might all just end up going down with the ship the way things are shaping up.
March 29, 2011 at 7:12 pm
Eric Kirk
I think that’s what the voters accomplished last fall.
March 29, 2011 at 7:14 pm
Fred
Social Security is NOT an “entitlement”… it is a trust fund we have all contributed to,….
Not quite. There isn’t any SS trust fund, per se. The money that funds your mother’s Social Security check comes from the same account that funds nearly all other federal government services. There’s no vault hidden away somewhere with everyone’s SS money in it waiting to be disbursed.
I’m not trying to argue for or against Social Security, but if it was some private company doing the same thing, I think most folks here would be demanding prison time for those involved.
March 29, 2011 at 7:14 pm
Sally
Moonshadow, I disagree. Let’s keep engaging each other, and try to bail out whatever ship we want to keep afloat.
March 29, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Tom Sebourn
http://www.politicususa.com/en/cantor-treason
This guy doen’t have our best interests in mind. He works for another country and you see the quotes in the above link. Sally and Jane, word.
March 29, 2011 at 7:19 pm
Eric Kirk
We can keep engaging, but the bottom line is that the bulk of the Tea Party believed they were elected with a mandate to cut spending drastically and view any compromise whatsoever as failure. They’ve said so, and the Republican leadership has thrown in the towel. But the rest of the country can’t give in to those cuts, which would be devastating on various levels. I knew this was going to happen last November. I’m not sure where we can go with it.
Tom – Cantor is caught between the rock and hard place. There’s really nothing he can do except pick sides. Maybe enough Republicans will bail, but many of them won’t win reelection because the basic problem is that conservatives vote like clockwork and liberals vote when they feel inspired.
March 29, 2011 at 7:26 pm
Moonshadow
And how are we going to do that when those crazy tea party republicans keep poking more holes in the boat faster than we can plug them or bail?
March 29, 2011 at 7:26 pm
Eric Kirk
And there are some Republicans who won’t vote for any funding of the health care reform. So what is the “problem” to be solved?
March 29, 2011 at 7:40 pm
Tom Sebourn
Fred I sort of agree with you. The money is in US bonds. The amount can be identified and with a leader like, dare I say Al Gore, could be kept separate.
It was paid in and it is still being paid in. Problem is, without jobs, people aren’t paying in anymore. Those with jobs haven’t gotten a raise. If people had more jobs and raises, the tax pool would be larger. The problem would almost solve it self. These people like Eric Cantor don’t know how to create a climate that will provide good paying jobs so they shut down the country instead
McClatchy News said yesterday that the last quarter saw US corporate profits up to the highest ever recorded. Worker productivity was also up as it has been for the last decade or more.
This is all out warfare on the US middle class, the poor, the sick, the handicapped, children, and the elderly on pensions.
With a list like that of people that they want to destroy, It’s hard to imagine how corporations get enough votes for their candidates that are enabling and sometimes outright advocating against these people.
It like a bunch of people voted to elect people that would do away with their entire way of life and most of them are cheering them on as they loose their jobs, health care, education system, safety nets and a country that was once made up of states instead of greedy corporations.
March 29, 2011 at 7:42 pm
Tom Sebourn
And rant rant rant…
March 29, 2011 at 7:43 pm
pathetic actually
fred, i think if you’re gonna split hairs, you should get it right. it is true that the Feds have not maintained the strict separation of funds that have existed in the past, but your analysis is flawed. money does get transferred around by the Guvmint in a rather loose manner, but benefits are paid by current workers’ taxes.
the money that “funds your mother’s Social Security check” comes from an account(actually more than one account) consisting of the OASDI(old age survivor and disability insurance) and Medicare taxes collected currently from people who are still working and matching contributions from their employers. The SS part is 12.4%(workers’ shares cut 2% this year, at least) and Medicare 2.9%–self employed folks pay somewhat less than the total paid by employees and employers. Social Security taxes apply to the first $100,000 or so of wages and SE profits, Medicare tax to all wages and SE income. if the Feds collect more than needed to pay out benefits, that money is transferred to the US’ general funds, in exchange for some sort of notes or bonds. with the 2% reduction enacted last year for employee shares, it seems less than likely there will be such a surplus this year. i bet you can find a report from the CBO or SSA that projects those figures.
March 29, 2011 at 8:01 pm
Ernie's Place
The government seems to be nothing more than puppets for the corporations anyway. Without the government in the way the corporations can become the slave masters. They can eliminate the unions and we will all be working again… for a dollar a day and no benefits.
March 29, 2011 at 8:53 pm
Tom Sebourn
They did promise to take our country back Ernie. Who knew they meant back to those dark days.
March 30, 2011 at 9:00 am
nick bravo
The government is not your caregiver! sadly, most people think it is. The state has fooled you into believeing that everything they do is for some humanitarian reason when in reality its to control you. They make you dependant on them for crumbs while refusing to allow you to compete. Then when they decide to take away your crumbs you will cry and starve rather than stand up and fight for what’s yours. You have sold your humanity for trinkets and now the trinkets are turning to dust.
March 30, 2011 at 9:01 am
Eric Kirk
And they corrupt our precious bodily fluids in the process!
March 30, 2011 at 10:30 am
huufc
The federal budget was due last year, October first. The democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the White House. They did not do their job.
There is no money folks. Almost half of the proposed budget is borrowed money, how long can we continue to go on like this?
March 30, 2011 at 11:13 am
Eric Kirk
how long can we continue to go on like this
By some estimates, five or six years if we had too.
March 30, 2011 at 11:20 am
huufc
Well then what?
March 30, 2011 at 11:32 am
Eric Kirk
Hopefully by then the economy will have expanded and increased revenues. That is how we have dealt with every other deficit in our history. You build it up on the downslide to cushion the fall and hasten the recovery, then you burn it off on the upswing. It’s how Reagan pulled us out of the recession of 1981 (which had been aggravated by supply side economics), and how Clinton pulled us out of the Bush recession of the early 90s. And quite frankly how Bush pulled us out of the recession Clinton left us.
March 30, 2011 at 3:53 pm
Eric Kirk
Rumors of a “breakthrough.”
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/top-democratic-says-breakthrough-possible-to-avert-government-shutdown.php?ref=fpblg
March 30, 2011 at 4:53 pm
Mitch
I may be the last person in the US to have seen West Wing. That clip left half of me saying “if only it were that simple” and the other half going “YEAH! RIGHT ON! DUDE!”
The third half wanted to punch out the young Republican.
March 30, 2011 at 4:54 pm
Mitch
Actually, it wasn’t the third half. It was both of the first two halves. The third half wanted to boil the prick in oil.
March 30, 2011 at 8:41 pm
Eric Kirk
Mitch – my good friend John Rogers refers to West Wing as liberal political softcore porn.
March 30, 2011 at 8:56 pm
Anonymous
Is it my imagination or does that young republican guy look like Eric Cantor?
March 31, 2011 at 5:08 am
Plain Jane
It gets ever more absurd.
“The March Washington Post-ABC News poll finds the public would blame Republicans over President Obama for a shutdown, 45 percent to 31 percent. Just a couple of weeks earlier, they were even.
To overcome this, House Republican leaders announced a novel solution: They would suspend the Constitution to have the House enact a law without the agreement of the Senate. They will pursue this exotic maneuver on Friday — April Fool’s Day.
Majority Leader Eric Cantor, announcing this “Prevention of Government Shutdown Act,” told reporters that if the Senate “does not act, H.R. 1” — that’s the $61 billion of cuts favored by Republican freshmen — “becomes the law of the land.” Just like that!
After several questions about this proposal, Cantor admitted that for his scheme to work, the Senate would first have to agree to surrender its constitutional authority.”
link
March 31, 2011 at 10:40 am
Anonymous
Eric. What’s with the reports that the court of appeal reported DDA McLaughin to the state bar for misconduct? What did he do?
March 31, 2011 at 11:53 am
Eric Kirk
Don’t know. Can you link me to a report?
March 31, 2011 at 11:58 am
Eric Kirk
Rose has the appellate court decision. I don’t have time to read it right now, but it does appear to be the case that something was reported to the bar.
http://watchpaul.blogspot.com/2011/03/interesting-case-about-to-hit-fan.html
March 31, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Eric Kirk
Well, I got drawn in and responded at Rose’s site. Now I do have to get back to work.
March 31, 2011 at 8:26 pm
Dorothy
If ya want to know what’s happened to all the money, check out the recovery.gov website. You can google California top funded recipients-recovery.gov. Billions given away in three rounds so far, just in California. Scroll down and see if you can find the end of the lists.
But no arra grants for any kind of regulatory oversight. Thousands of regulations, but no money for any oversight. Regulatory oversight gets the axe.
By the way, recovery.gov IS THE OVERSIGHT for this giveaway of the U.S. Treasury. Check it out.