take your answer off the air...

  • HorsesAss.Org: the straight poop on WA politics & the press
    progressive brilliance from the guy who pointed out Tim Eyman's nascent horse's-assedness
  • Talker's Magazine
    The quirky talk radio trade mag. Check the Talk Radio Research Project- it's not very scientific, but places on the top 15 talkers list (scroll down to Talk Radio Audiences By Size)) are as hotly contested as Emmys (and mean just about as much).
  • The Advocate
    No, not THAT Advocate... it's the Northwest Progressive Institute's Official Blog.
  • Media Matters
    Documentation of right-wing media in video, audio and text.
  • Orcinus
    home of David Neiwert, freelance investigative journalist and author who writes extensively about far-right hate groups
  • Hominid Views
    "People, politics, science, and whatnot" Darryl is a statistician who fights imperialism with empiricism, gives good links and wry commentary.
  • Jesus' General
    An 11 on the Manly Scale of Absolute Gender, a 12 on the Heavenly Scale of the 10 Commandments and a 6 on the earthly scale of the Immaculately Groomed.
  • Howie in Seattle
    Howie Martin is the Abe Linkin' of progressive Seattle.
  • Streaming Radio Guide
    Hellishly long (5795!) list of radio streaming, steaming on the Internets.
  • The Naked Loon
    News satire -- The Onion in the Seattle petunia patch.
  • Irrational Public Radio
    "informs, challenges, soothes and/or berates, and does so with a pleasing vocal cadence and unmatched enunciation. When you listen to IPR, integrity washes over you like lava, with the pleasing familiarity of a medium-roast coffee and a sensible muffin."
  • The Maddow Blog
    Here's the hyper-interactive La Raych of MSNBC. daily show-vids, freakishly geeky research, and classy graphics.
  • Northwest Broadcasters
    The AM, FM, TV and digital broadcasters of Northwest Washington, USA and Southwest British Columbia, Canada. From Kelso, WA to the northern tip of Vancouver Island, BC - call letters, formats, slogans, networks, technical data, and transmitter maps. Plus "recent" news.
  • News Corpse
    The Internet's chronicle of media decay.
  • The Moderate Voice
    The voice of reason in the age of Obama, and the politics of the far-middle.
  • News Hounds
    Dogged dogging of Fox News by a team who seems to watch every minute of the cable channel so you don't have to.
  • HistoryLink
    Fun to read and free encyclopedia of Washington State history. Founded by the late Walt Crowley, it's an indispensable tool and entertainment source for history wonks and surfers alike.

right-wing blogs we like

  • The Reagan Wing
    Hearin lies the real heart of Washington State Republicans. Doug Parris runs this red-meat social conservative group site which bars no holds when it comes to saying who they are and who they're not; what they believe and what they don't; who their friends are and where the rest of the Republicans can go. Well-written, and flaming.
  • Orbusmax
    inexhaustible Drudgery of NW conservative news
  • The Radio Equalizer
    prolific former Seattle KVI, KIRO talk host speaks authoritatively about radio.
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« Labor Day weekend potpourri | Main | Day 1 from Charlotte »

September 03, 2012

Comments

Proregressive

Forcing me to join a labor union in order to be employed is just wrong.

I support your right to organize should you choose to do so, but that should be the choice of the individual and not a requirement for a job.

Progressives claim to support "choice" except not in this regard. What gives?


Conservative

If you don’t trust collective bargaining you have the choice to work in a non-union shop. Why don’t conservatives get that?

KS

Conservatives do get that - pull your head out of the sand. There's a false narrative out there about unions;

(From Forbes.com)

"Even if you start from when the recession ended in June, 2009, the decline since then has been greater than it was during the recession. Three years into the Obama recovery, median family income had declined nearly 5% by June, 2012 as compared to June, 2009. That is nearly twice the decline of 2.6% that occurred during the recession from December, 2007 until June, 2009. As the Wall Street Journal summarized in its August 25-26 weekend edition, “For household income, in other words, the Obama recovery has been worse than the Bush recession.”

The Journal elaborated, “The President portrays the financial decline of American families on his watch as part of a decades-long trend. He’s wrong. Real income for middle income households rose by roughly 30% from 1983 to 2005, according to the Congressional Budget Office.” And MSNBC hosts, listen up, you might learn something. The Journal further explains, “The political left likes to blame the ebbing of union power. But non-government unionization fell dramatically in the 1980s and 90s, and incomes rose.”

BlackRhino

"There's No Mystery To Slow Economic Growth: Progressives Are The Problem"

Peter Ferrara

He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President George H.W. Bush.

This is the author of the Forbes piece KS is referring to. “Stretching the Truth” Rmoney 2012.

Finis Hominis

What gives?

Posted by: Proregressive | September 03, 2012 at 10:45 AM


If you don’t trust collective bargaining you have the choice

Posted by: Conservative | September 03, 2012 at 02:07 PM


Conservatives do get that

Posted by: KS | September 03, 2012 at 03:12 PM


Then why whine?
Republicans…lie when you want to get your way, whine when you can’t.

Coiler

Probably thought Oliver North got a bum deal...

KS

Mr. Ferrara was not stretching the truth, Black Rhino was, as he has nothing factual to support his claim except making he and his ilk look bad. Very transparent.

Some more food for thought - from James Pethokoukis, Economist - read the whole thing;

"The Romney-Ryan campaign is now explicitly comparing President Obama to former President Carter. Paul Ryan yesterday: “You see, the president has no record to run on. In fact, every president since the Great Depression who asked Americans to send them into a second term could say that you are better off today than you were four years ago, except for Jimmy Carter and for President Barack Obama.”

So are Americans better off today than they were when Obama took office in 2009 — or not?

The superficial answer is “Yes, Americans are better off.” In January 2009, America was in a recession; today, the economy is slowly growing. In January 2009, America was losing jobs; today, it is adding them.

But that is setting the bar pretty low and framing the question absurdly narrowly. It also completely ignores the historically-anemic nature of the current economic recovery.

I would ask the question in a different way: “Is America better positioned to compete, prosper, and innovate today than it was four years ago?”

And the answer to that question is, unfortunately, a decisive “No, America is not better off.”

1. The weak recovery and continued high unemployment is permanently hurting the American jobs machine. As Citigroup said in a recent research note: “Long bouts of higher unemployment are empirically linked to losses of human capital, raising structural unemployment. The OECD estimates that a rise in the U.S. unemployment rate of one percentage point over a multi-year period has the impact of raising the natural rate of unemployment by about 0.2 percentage point.”

In other words, the productive American workforce is wasting away month by month, year by year."

I don't expect most of you to like this , but just doing this as a service to educate those who choose live in the progressive cocoon.

KS

That was only a portion of this article; to challenge yourself and comprehend the whole thing, see;

http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/09/why-america-is-much-worse-off-that-it-was-four-years-ago/

Whatever

Peter Ferrara

He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President George H.W. Bush.

So, BR, you seem more interested in Ferrara's politics than the CBO statistics quoted in the article. Figures.

BlackRhino

James Pethokoukis is the Money & Politics columnist and blogger for the American Enterprise Institute.
You know, the same American Enterprise Institute which brought you…
John R. Bolton
Newt Gingrich
Richard B. Cheney

No thanks KS, I am no more interested in reading Pravda.

BlackRhino

Whatever;

Sometimes the message is tainted by the messenger. Especially when the messenger is a political hack, interpreter of the data and the creator of the message.

So, whatever…

Whatever

You're right about that--whether it be a conservative or a liberal.

KS

Pethokoukis may be part of the AEI like those others mentioned, but you have no case on how that affects his credibility, just ideological disagreement.

Now, here is AP's fact check on last night's proceedings at the DNC (and AP leans left);

"Speakers at the Democratic National Convention portrayed President Barack Obama's presidency in glowing terms Tuesday evening, but many left out important details or embellished his record.

Others mischaracterized programs backed by Republican challenger Mitt Romney and GOP running mate Paul Ryan.

Obama's landmark health care overhaul, which Republicans lacerated at their convention last week, and his job-creation performance were among the initiatives burnished the most.

First Lady Michelle Obama was the main draw and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro the keynoter, but more than four dozen other speakers made presentations.

Among the mischaracterizations:

SAN ANTONIO MAYOR JULIAN CASTRO: "Despite incredible odds and united Republican opposition our president took action. And now we've seen 4.5 million new jobs."

THE FACTS: While that figure has become a White House talking point, it's only part of the story. It's a cherry-picked number that refers just to private sector jobs created in the last 29 months, from the trough of the recession through July. Governments — especially state and local ones — have continued shedding jobs.

The economy lost 8.8 million jobs from the time employment peaked in January 2008 until it hit bottom in February 2010. Between then and this July — the most recent month for which there are figures — just 4 million jobs have been recovered. Never since World War II has the economy been so slow to recover all the jobs lost in a downturn.

___

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: "Instead of sending your checks to your insurance companies, your insurance companies are sending a check to you. ...If you already have health insurance you like, you can keep it."

THE FACTS: Under the new health care law, insurers must issue rebates if they fail to spend at least 80 percent of premiums — Sebelius incorrectly said 50 percent — collected on medical care and quality improvement. But mostly it's the employer, not the worker, who gets the check.

The Obama administration says that about 13 million people will benefit from health insurance rebates averaging $151 per household. But the number of families actually getting a check will be much smaller, experts say.

For one thing, employers can plow all the rebate money — including the worker's share — back into improving the company's health plan. For example, they could reduce the premium for the following year.

Employers typically pay 82 percent of the premium for a worker, and 72 percent for a family plan.

Most workers and their families are covered by job-based health insurance, and the new law does not stop employers from changing their plans from year to year, as they do now.

___

SEBELIUS: "So instead of the Medicare guarantee, Republicans would give seniors a voucher that limits what's covered."

THE FACTS: She left out crucial details in describing the Romney-Ryan Medicare plan. It would not apply to the nearly 50 million current Medicare recipients but to future retirees who would join the program starting in 2023. Current beneficiaries could remain in the traditional program, while new retirees would get a fixed payment from the government that could be used either to purchase a private insurance plan or a new government program modeled on traditional Medicare.

Romney and Ryan say they have no intention of limiting medical care for seniors — only restraining the growth of costs. And traditional Medicare also has its limits. It does not cover everything. Long-term care is not covered, only limited nursing home stays. And most must seniors pay out-of-pocket for dental care unless they have private insurance that covers it. Medicare has copayments and annual deductibles, and that's also a form of limiting coverage.

___

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID: "We can only imagine what new secrets would be revealed if he showed the American people a dozen years of tax returns like his father did.... Mitt Romney says we should take his word that he paid his fair share. His word? His word? Trust comes from transparency, and Mitt Romney comes up short on both."

THE FACTS: Reid has challenged Romney on his tax returns before, but this time Reid omitted an earlier charge that over the past decade, there were some years when Romney paid no taxes — an uncorroborated claim that Romney insists is false.

Romney has released just one tax return, from 2010 and says he'll release his 2011 return once it's finished. He has steadfastly declined to make more than two years available.

___

CHICAGO MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL: "I remember when the president received a report that the auto industry had a few weeks before collapse... And because (he) made the right choice, over one million Americans are still working today."

THE FACTS: Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff at the time, makes it sound like Obama was the one who saved General Motors and Chrysler. (Ford never applied for federal help). But, actually, the auto bailout program was started by President Bush, then extended and expanded by Obama.

___

REID: "We learned he chose Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island tax shelters over American institutions."

FORMER OHIO GOV. TED STRICKLAND: "Mitt Romney has so little economic patriotism that even his money needs a passport. It summers on the beaches of the Cayman Islands and winters on the slopes of the Swiss Alps."

WOMEN'S EQUALITY ACTIVIST LILY LEDBETTER: "...doesn't sound like a lot to someone with a Swiss bank account, Cayman Island investments and an IRA worth tens of millions of dollars."

THE FACTS: These are references to a $3 million account that Mitt Romney held for several years in a bank in Switzerland and investment funds set up in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. A trustee handling Romney's blind trust said that the Swiss account was active from 2003 until it was closed in 2010. The trustee said the account had been opened for "diversification." Romney still has active investment funds based in the Caymans, Bermuda, Luxembourg, Ireland and other foreign sites."

BlackRhino

You're right about that--

Posted by: Whatever | September 05, 2012 at 05:20 AM


Huh? Imagine that. Well does that answer your question?

Whatever

Of course, you left off my qualifier that it applies to both sides. You haven't addressed the CBO stats in the article--are they fact or fiction?

Whatever

Better yet, let's move on to what's happening at the Democratic Convention this week:

From
FactCheck

and from
CNN

And that's only day one.

BlackRhino

Come on Putz, read this real slow. Sometimes the message is tainted by the messenger. Especially when the messenger is a political hack, interpreter of the data and the creator of the message.
Please extrapolate; I do not read propaganda, it’s the pabulum of conservatives.

Whatever

OK, I get it. You have no answers, just plenty of snide commentary with some name-calling thrown in. What a waste of time.

BlackRhino

Same ol’ Putz, when you can’t get your target you denigrate.

Finis Hominis

"I do not read propaganda"


looks like a answer to me

Mercifurious

Proregressive recycles GOP talking point swill:
"I support your right to organize should you choose to do so, but that should be the choice of the individual and not a requirement for a job."

I don't think you really understand the concept of a "Union". It really is no different than voting for President (or Senator, Rep, Gov., etc). You have the CHOICE of candidates. But if you're candidate LOSES, you don't get a complete tax exemption for 4 years. You DO have the right to leave the country (hell, many do!).

No different than collective bargaining. You have the CHOICE to vote "no" for the Union. If you LOSE, you don't get a union dues exemption. You DO have the right to leave the company - even seeking contract work! (not many do, but the choice is there!)

Get it? Or do you still feel like a helpless victim? (yeah, I thought so)

The Brass

Victim politics, only a Republican.

nameless

What a waste of time.

Posted by: Whatever | September 05, 2012 at 07:25 PM


tell me you didn't sit by your computer all this time just to hear what you wanted to hear...

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