Month: October 2013

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of plutocrat losers.

The Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which is dedicated to the destruction of social security and Medicare, and reversing the New Deal, Fair Deal, and Great Society of the 20th Century to take us back to the halceon days of the Gilded Age of the 19th Century when robber baron plutocrats like them ruled the day, is the organization behind its front group "Fix The Debt," whose public face is the comic duo of Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson from the failed National Commission on Fiscal Responsiblity and Reform aka the "Catfood Commission."

I have frequently reminded readers that "The Washington Post partnered with Pete Peterson to write about the deficit, er, spread his propaganda. The Washington Post Lets Pete Peterson Write The News On The Deficit." Other news organizations also have given ready access to Fix The Debt, without any disclosure as to who they are or disclaimer of their conflicts of interest. See Fix the Debt Leaders and Conflicts of Interest – SourceWatch.

The Pete Peterson front group "Fix the Debt" staged a question-and-answer chat on Twitter Thursday, and got massively trolled. 'Fix the Debt' reaches out on Twitter, gets massively trolled:

Its goal presumably was to reach America's smartphone-savvy youth with its message that Social Security and Medicare payments to their grandparents are going to land them in the poorhouse a few decades from now. 

It's fair to say that "Fix the Debt" got more than it bargained for.
Twitterers from all over responded to the invitation with pointed,
tactless and downright impolite questions. Many of them aimed to discern
how paring social insurance benefits for the elderly and infirm will
make society stronger, which is the core of the organization's
worldview. Those so inclined can still post their thoughts at
#fixthedebtqa.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Dave Johnson at crooksandliars.com makes an important point, Misunderestimating Who They Are: They Like To Destroy Things:

There is a miscalculation at the core of Democratic strategies for
ending the shutdown and avoiding default. Democrats keep saying, "They
wouldn’t really do that." But this calculation doesn't "get it" about
who and what the country is dealing with.

Here is the miscalculation: If you listen to right-wing radio, watch
FOX News and read their online media and take it seriously (because they
do) then you would know that many on the right don’t want to live in a
country that has Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare, the minimum wage,
Food Stamps, immigration, public schools, infant nutrition programs and
the rest of the things government does to make our lives better. And they don't want anyone else to live in a country that has those things, either.

They are willing to destroy the village to keep the village from
having those things. If you don't "get that" before entering into
negotiations, you're at risk of making a terrible mistake — like the
sequester.

This reminds me of the anecdote that Alfred tells Bruce Wayne in the Dark Knight movie, and concludes:

Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They
can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just
want to watch the world burn.

Video below the fold.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The City of Tucson votes by all-mail balloting (there is an early voting location for those of you who want to vote in-person). The ballots are being mailed to all registered voters in the City of Tucson beginning today. It should take you less than five minutes to mark your ballot, sign and date the affidavit envelope, and return your ballot by return mail. So quick and easy . . . you have no excuses!

2013 City of Tucson Election:

· Thursday, October 17: Ballots mailed to registered voters.

· Friday, October 18–Tuesday, November 5: Voting Location Open at Tucson City Clerk Elections Center, 800 E. 12th St. October 18-November 4, open Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. November 5, open 6:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.

· Thursday, October 31: Last day to mail your ballot to ensure it is received by the City Clerk’s Office by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 5.

· Tuesday, November 5: Election Day. Polls are open from 6:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.

Your choices for Tucson City Council are pretty clear — reelect the incumbent council members:

Ward 3 – Karin Uhlich (D) incumbent

Ward 5 – Richard Fimbres (D) Incumbent

Ward 6 – Steve Kozachik (D) Incumbent

There are two noncontroversial propositions on the ballot. Council member Regina Romero's office provided this explanation of the ballot measures:

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In this new series, "Questions for Martha McSally," we pose questions to
the McSally campaign about her positions on current hot topics — I am
not going to give her a free pass until after the GOP primary like our local media did in 2012.

I previously posted back at the end of September, Questions for Martha McSally: Government shutdown and default on the national debt. I'm still waiting for a reply.

Alex Seitz-Wald at the National Journal has taken notice of the point that this blog has been driving home in this series of posts for months: Martha McSally refuses to answer substantive questions from the media. Shutting Down the Government Over Obamacare Is the New Obamacare:

It's happening in southern Arizona, where Republican candidate Martha
McSally "wouldn't take a stand [on the shutdown] despite multiple
requests for her position from The Republic, Arizona Daily Star, Green Valley News/Sahuarita Sun and KVOI-AM (1030)," as the Arizona Republic reported this month. "She would say only that the shutdown is 'a failure of leadership,' " the paper's Rebekah Sanders added.

While the Arizona political media is falling all over itself today to report McSally's fund raising for the previous quarter, the Tucson Weekly takes pains to note that McSally is still avoiding answering any substantive questions from the media. CD2: McSally Outraises Barber Over the Last Three Months:

Rodd McLeod, a political strategist working for Team Barber, took a shot at McSally's tendency to duck questions from the press.

"At a time when our country has been brought to the brink of
financial disaster by Washington Republicans, Martha McSally should be
honest with Arizonans on how she'd address the issues we face, rather
than hiding behind campaign press releases," McLeod said via email.

McLeod tells The Range that Barber raised $318,584 in the third quarter and had $767,203 in the bank as of Sept. 30.

If there's any doubt that the campaign battle is already on, a source
with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tells The Range
that the DCCC will be using automated phone calls to connect voters with
McSally's campaign HQ to berate her because she "refuses to disown
Washington Republican's shutdown."

Posted by Bob Lord The vlie nature of the Tea Party is common knowledge. We all agree they have no redeeming qualities. Unless you're a Democratic leader, especially in the Senate. Because if we didn't have the Tea Party, folks might focus more on what a pathetic cast of characters we have representing us from the … Read more